killing dreams one revolution at a time

on our way to the desert

2012-01-26T05:00:00.001-05:00

This time next week we will be in Arizona riding our bicycles.

I can not wait to be riding in the desert again. This month has been just as hectic as December and I probably rode a bike less than five times. Damn job getting in the way of everything 'fun' related...

winter riding.... err. work

2012-01-16T06:00:00.004-05:00

First full weekend in January was a day spent snowboarding and a day spent installing a chimney liner and my new (to me) wood stove.

Second full weekend in January was a day spent filling a truck full of wood and helping a friend (whom gave me the wood) with some brush and tree clearing on his farm. Sunday (yesterday) was spent at a yoga class, splitting wood, running the stove more to burn off the new paint smell and slowly redoing the brake lines in my Jeep as they decided to rust through and fail on me earlier in the week.

Not much biking but taking a page out of the Monte book.

This

(cutting back the fields on the farm... delimbing the trees and creating a brush pile and a firewood pile)

To this (some good dried out ash)

to this

and about this in part of an afternoon

Not quite the capacity of Monte's doing but we'll see where this takes me. It got me outside in 15-20F weather though so I've got that going for me. Still have to finish splitting the remaining and a whole 'nother pile not in that photo.

I did get a 2hr mountain bike ride in last Wednesday night. Tried out my new Niner crabon handlebars. Its good to be back on carbon bars. They dampen the ride so much better than aluminum. I had a pair of Salsa aluminum bars (12deg sweep and 640mm width). The new bars are 9deg sweep and at the stock width (710mm). Its wide but after a few rides we'll see if I want to keep them there or take 'em in 10 or 20mm.

During the week I did get some work done on the 'cross bike.

SRAM Force crankset with a Spot Brand 42T chainring (for now)

Shimano Pro Vibe 7s handlebars (46cm) with Thomson X4 stem and SRAM 500 levers.

Avid Shorty Ultimate brakes.

Had some interference issues with the rear brake bosses but after some sanding and filing and grease I got them to work without any binding.

Victory!

Still have to wrap the bars, get a crabon steerer plug so I can set up the stem and headset, dial in the brakes and throw in a rear cog. My wheelset should be done soon but in the meantime I've thrown on my road wheelset.

Oh yeah, and I registered for the Bearscat50 fifty mile mountain bike race. I had so much fun last year that I figured I'd do it again. Love riding that terrain. It was going to be the race I do that is furthest from my house but I might have one or two that are further (excluding Singlespeed Arizona). Stay Tuned as I am finalizing the events I plan on attending and the twist I am applying to all of them.

beginnings of a new bike

2012-01-09T07:16:00.000-05:00

Time to build another bike. I've been looking forward to this bike for a while now.

look sir, droids!

2012-01-02T18:40:00.002-05:00

I wanted an additional set of mountain bike shoes, a pair with a slightly softer sole. One so I don't have to ride a very stiff soled shoe all the time (predominately when I'm commuting to work and such) and two because having a second pair of shoes is great when the other pair gets wet from a muddy race or ride.

Enter the 2012 Shimano SH-M162 in what Dicky refers to as "Stormtrooper White". Not quite THE stormtrooper white but... well... close enough. This color was all that was available when I ordered them. Having ridden black shoes all my years of bicycling I was somewhat reluctant to get white shoes but wanted these shoes as they are a step down from my SH-M240s and I wanted a pair with a slightly softer sole. After a few rides with them I actually like the white. There is a proper balance of white, black and gray in them so they do not seem overly flashy.

I believe they take the place of the SH-M161 which is the top model mountain shoe that is not heat moldable. Two velcro straps with a ratching ankle strap. Some additional protection on the outside of the ball of the foot.

The sole has quite a bit of lugs on it. I've found them quite comfortable when having to hoof it off the bike up a steep incline. There are also provisions for toe spikes should you want them.

After a few rides with these shoes I really like the fit. The footbed that comes with them fits the large arch of my feet well. The heelcup provides adequate support for the ankle while I also did not notice any lifting of my foot when walking.

Under heavy loads (steep inclines where I'm pedaling at a very slow cadence) I can feel some flex in the sole but I was anticipating some flex as the soles are not as stiff as my M240s. The M240s have a carbon reinforced sole and these M162s have a glass fiber reinforced nylon sole. The uppers have synthetic leather with lots of mesh.

I switched from SIDI shoes to Shimano shoes about a year ago when I bought my M240s. I've come to like the fit of Shimano shoes better than the SIDIs I have worn for years. I have a long narrow foot so the standard width SIDI shoes was too wide and I have found that the narrow width was a shade too narrow as my feet felt cramped. A size larger in SIDI would have been too big. The Shimanos seem to fit inbetween that and have been very comfortable for me whether I am wearing a thick wool sock of a thin polyester sock. I am looking forward to more time with these shoes.

rolling into the new year / thanks

2012-01-01T20:16:00.001-05:00

As we ride into twenty twelve, literally, it is often a time to reflect back on the previous twelve months. Twenty eleven was all over the place on many levels. My fitness came and went depending on how much time I spent in the office. The weather dictated most of what we were to do (most of the fall was a wash, literally, as the trails were too wet to ride). My racing had its share of ups and downs but above all it was fun and shared experiences with many of my friends made for an enjoyable season of racing my bike. New friendships developed and old friendships continued.

There is a reason why I like to ride bicycles with the people that I ride with. We are all having fun and super stoked to be doing what we do. This is why we can be found riding together.

With all of that, the first of January in the year twenty twelve was met with 50F weather and sunny skies. Matt, Luther, Ginger and I went out for a ride to forget about everything else we have going on and to start the new year on a relaxing and enjoyable front.

After a frantic scramble this morning to build bikes, find gear and get everything together we had a nice casual ride around Mansfield Hollow out in eastern Connecticut.

There were quite a few people out hiking today and everyone we encountered had a smile. This is a good sign.

Tomorrow I will talk about Storm Troopers and bicycling. [Yes, I said tomorrow. This may or may not be a new leaf.]

Thanks again everyone! Thank you for being there for me when it was needed. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for the fun and laughter we've had on ever ride (and non-rides). It was yet another year of fun times riding bikes with great friends and riding bikes with newfound friends. Riding bikes in new places and riding bikes in old favorite places. This is what it is all about. Thanks!

back in Pisgah

2011-12-27T13:09:00.000-05:00

Spending a much needed break from work here in the mountains of North Carolina. It has been two years since I last visited North Carolina. Last time the weather was not as condusive for hiking and bicycling. This year it is (no snow, 40-50s during the day).

I did bring my bike with me. How could I not when I am minutes from Pisgah National Forest?

It has been a very relaxing couple of days spending time with my parents and siblings that I don't get to see that often. I have been resting, reading books and hiking with the dog. My phone doesn't even work well here so it has been nice to get away. For some reason I felt like writing today so I'm borrowing my father's teathering from his phone. Probably the last time I do this while down here.

Sunrise from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Yesterday I met up with Dicky and Zach (who for some reason I kept calling Josh. I blame it on Dicky's lack of proper introductions) for a ride at Wilson's Creek. The same Wilson's Creek where Dicky enlarged his ankle.

I think we rode somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 to 5 hours give or take. Longest ride I have done since the beginning of the summer. I knew I was in for a treat since I haven't been riding much the past few weeks/months but no matter how I would feel I told myself this is a much needed ride. Especially since I opted to not touch my gearing and ride what I ride at home in CT (51.9 gear inches).

We started with a long slog up the road for a few miles and probably well over 1,000 vertical feet. Any numbers I throw out will be wild guestimates as none of us had any devices to record such data. Not even Dicky's new oh-so-smart-phone (which is quite humorous watching him try to navigate through it).

We were rewarded with some very long descents that were a blast to ride. The cool thing about this area of Pisgah is most of the climbing we can ride on our singlespeeds. We'd then go up another climb. We repeated this process 4 or 5 times (give or take, I wasn't really counting).

The weather was great. It started just above 30F and climbed to the upper 40s / lower 50s during the day. Perfect for some wool jerseys.

At one point we crossed a raging river where we had to jump from rock to rock.

Later on we had to forge another river in knee-deep cold water.

It was cold for the first two steps but then it was not that bad. The remainder of the ride was tolerable too. I was surprised as my feet get cold easily but I was comfortable.

The last descent was just as awesome as the first. A giant ridge line with tight singletrack and rolled into some benchcut that meandered around the mountainside.

After about three hours or so, I started feeling the effects of not staying hydrated and not riding much the past few months. The last two climbs were tough on me but despite my slower pace than anticipated I did manageto keep going and finish the ride as planned.

winter rides

2011-12-23T08:09:00.002-05:00

Well, we thought winter was on its way. It was below freezing for longer than 24hours last weekend. Somehow this week it got back up into the 50s and decided to rain a bunch and flood our trails again. We can't really win this fall/early winter. Its either rain or no rain but trails too wet to ride on.

Despite all the work I've been doing around the house I did get out for a ride last Sunday with my friend Joey. It was a cool 25F out but we were comfortable and I was excited to go for a ride (haven't ridden in a few weeks). He was playing around with his new video camera. Not bad but there's more work to be done.

I did squeeze in a ride to work on Tuesday. That was a nice relaxing ride along Hartford's Riverfront.

My friend Tony (one of the contributors to the beat bike blog) found a kid bike trailer at the East Hartford transfer station (dump) a few months ago and gave it to me because I was interested in putting together a utility trailer for groceries and such. After it sitting outside for months I finally got around to stripping it and planning its next incarnation.

I decided I'll get some aluminum sheet metal and use that as a floor instead of plywood. I can then also conform the aluminum to the frame which will bring the floor closer to the ground (lower center of gravity). Working on placement of a bicycle mount as you can see. That is important for something I have up my sleeve....

we're in trouble now

2011-12-22T20:04:00.002-05:00

I somehow lost my rear brake on Sunday's ride. Planning on bring my bike with me this weekend so I can ride Pisgah while in NC next week I opted to actually do some maintenance on my Superfly.

While I was trying to figure out why the lever and pistons would not retract I also noticed my rear wheel was sluggish and some of the spokes were loose. Guess this is what I get for not touching my bike in six months.

I got to this point and was walking down the path of panic. I now had a rear brake in pieces on the bike with mineral oil dripping onto the floor and a DT hub strewn apart on my workbench. I hadn't eaten anything since noon and it was now approaching 10pm. Blood sugar low, time is running out before it was bed time, having never touched a hub other than a Mavic I navigated away from Bad Brains on my phone and in a pseudo panic ridden state called George and left some run-on sentence voicemail.

I then walked away...

And found my computer upstairs and started googling about what happens when you use pharmacy mineral oil in Shimano brakes and what else of my DT hub can come apart and be cleaned without any fancy tools.

Lesson # 1
Do not use pharmacy mineral oil in Shimano brakes. I am ashamed of doing such a thing when all it took was a minute of searching on the internets great alternatives to the red Shimano Mineral oil you can find in your local bike shop.

Only Pentosin hydraulic fluid I have is CHF 11S which is synthetic so I can't use that. I did have some Finish Line 10w fork oil laying around so I used that to both flush the brake system out and fill it up for proper use. A liter of Pentosin CHF 7.1 is on order and I'll move forward using that fine hydraulic fluid.

Lesson # 2
Came to find out that DT hubs are super easy to take the freehub apart, clean and re-grease. Probably easier than Mavics since you don't need any tools. I also confirmed my suspicion by counting that I actually do have the 36 pawl upgrade. I then greased the freehub with some automotive white lithium grease and then greased the seals of the axle flanges with some Pauls waterproof grease.

All back together again and in bed by midnight.

on the trail again

2011-11-21T05:51:00.044-05:00

Sunday was a bright and sunny, upper 50F day so after we did some chores around the house we attempted to get a mountain bike ride in. We opted to ride local so we took a shot at navigating the trails around the West Hartford Reservoir. Upon entering the reservoir we were greeted by a fallen tree from the Oct snow storm that someone trimmed a bunch of branches off so you can run underneath it.

Our loop consisted of the outer trails that circumnavigate the reservoir system. We immediately saw a ton of cleared trees that had fallen across the trail but once we got up onto the ridgeline the fallen debris lessened and lessened.

I am thankful for whomever has been out clearing the trails as I haven't had much time to devote beyond my house (even to ride). We can only guess that the water company and/or the local IMBA chapter have been the ones hard at work clearing the fallen trees. Thank you.

Near the northern section of the reservoir, and along the ridgeline, we quickly found out they are building even more houses. This has been on-going over the last seven plus years. I am not sure if the water company sold the land to contractors or it was private land from the get-go. Either way, I continuously get frustrated when I see these 4,000sq-ft+ homes are build within feet from the bicycle trails and the water company property.

If I remember correctly, this tree fell during Huricane Irene back in late August.

Some more damage. Trees completely up-rooted from the heavy weight of the snow on their leaf cladden branches.

Other trees, weak at the root, also gave way.

All in all, it was nice to be out riding the bike in the woods again. Felt like an October afternoon with how warm it was (short sleeve jersey and shorts). I guess we're getting the full duration of Autumn we were supposed to have that the Oct 30th snow storm took away from us for a few weeks.

a halloween we won't forget

2011-11-15T21:39:00.002-05:00

We are still recovering from Halloween this year. My last post was about a good bike ride that should have taken place on Oct 30th. That never happened.

On October 30th most of our state of Connecticut was without electricity, under 8 to 20 inches of very wet snow and quite a few of us could not get out our houses' front door.

Huh?

What are you talking about?

On Saturday Oct 29th a crazy Noreaster ripped through New England kind of like how Hurricane Irene did two months prior. The difference here was that southern New England (aka: Connecticut) was destroyed while northern New England (aka: Vermont) was partially spared. That above photo was taken around midnight on Saturday the 29th as we were attempting to drive the four miles back to my house after a wedding we attended. Every road was met with fallen trees, fallen power lines, fallen tv and telephone lines. Most were impassable. After lots of driving down what was now dead-ended roads and sometimes even driving across people's front yards we made it home. Almost one hour after we departed the wedding four miles prior.

They say it was Winter Storm 'Alfred' but I am just calling it Halloween 2011 from hell. You might say this is old news but tonight is the first time I can write about it as I finally got my internet connection back at my house. That was after living in the dark for over a week (9 days to be exact) waiting for the utility company to restore electricity (the restoration efforts of Connecticut Light & Power are also in question by many) to my town (West Hartford) and house.

(Right down the street from me. This is why we didn't have electricity for 9 days.)

While this hardship did not affect me much (we still had hot water and had a gas stovetop to cook on and a fireplace to keep warm) it certainly affected many people across the state. During this time I still had to make my way across a dark city to work every day. The eight inches of snow in my yard also melted before electricity was restored to our house. Two days of clean-up about a week after the storm my house and yard were pretty much back to normal. A few days later the electricity came back on. A week later (today) my internet and television is back to life. I actually liked our time away from reality. My phone didn't work in the office and we would just read books or stare at the fire in the evenings.

From my observations, this is still nothing like what Vermont and Northern New York went through when Hurricane Irene came through two months ago. Those residents lost homes and livelyhoods. We lost electricity but still survived with our homes.

As a result of all this, I haven't been riding my bike much. Last week I got back on a mountain bike but all we could ride were forest service roads as all the trails are impassable. This past weekend I volunteered to help clear up the local greenways and rail trails. Since I ride them I felt it was my duty to help clean them up.

There is a rail trail in there somewhere...

One of the local bicycle shops (Pedal Power) and the local rail trail association (in Vernon CT) got together to rally some troops to help clean up. I was one of those troops.

The rail trail is back!

I enjoyed helping out. Felt like I was doing my part. My next step is to pick up a folding bow saw and head to the bike trails for some clean up on my own. I have no idea what people have been doing but quite a few of the trails I ride do not get ridden too much so its probably up to me to clear them.

Our town has been picking up all the brush and shredding it. The pile has gotten enormous and is still growing!

While walking the dog every morning I have been staring at the power lines. The utility companies cut quite a few corners in restoring power just to get everyone back on the grid. I doubt they will get all those short cuts permanently repaired before winter sets in. They haven't finished from Hurricane Irene two months ago! After thinking back up on our week plus experience (we were the 2% of the entire state [and 800,000+ people out of power] that had our power restored last) without electricity we realized it isn't that back. I have a natural gas water heater and stove so we can still get hot water and cook food. My relatively new boiler for the home heating system has a blower on it so it requires electricity. I could go spend $800 on a generator to run the boiler or I could spend about that much on a wood burning stove set-up to keep us warm when winter sets in.

I opted for the wood burning stove. I found a nice small boiler plate steel (its a Fisher, same design as the old CT made 'All Nighters') one on craigslist and picked it up today. Next is to paint it, put a liner in my chimney and hook it all up for operation.

Bike rides to and from work have resumed. Our Wednesday night rides have resumed but we're stuck on the forest service roads for now. I am thinking about what events I want to participate in next year. There's some peer pressure surrounding the Breck Epic but I also have another crazy scheme up my sleeve that I am just about ready to commit on. More on that later.

You can see more photos I took from the storm here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/omega29/sets/72157628012944623/

The Halloween WilliBrew Ride

2011-10-28T21:59:00.001-04:00

Need something to do this weekend?

Sunday is the third installment of a fun bike ride from Pedal Power in Vernon CT out to the Willimantic Brewery in Willimantic CT. Probably about 20 or so miles of rail trail riding with a giant posse and such.

Costumes are encouraged. I got my Halloween bike all ready.

Details:

That image was from the book-of-faces 'event' page (here).

Here is the official route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/438084

We are going to drive out to Willimantic to meet up with a bunch of friends, then ride to Vernon to meet up with the posse and then ride back to Willimantic.

Come on out. It'll be a grand ol' time.

Northeast Kingdom 2011

2011-10-19T23:36:00.002-04:00

The other weekend (Columbus Day weekend), Ginger and I ventured up into the NorthEast Kingdom to ride our bikes for three days. A much needed break from the house and crap at work. The last time I rode the Kingdom Trails was back in 2007 when I was trying to fix my pinched sciatic nerve. This was certainly a must need trip.

The weather was phenomenal... sunny all weekend. temps around 50/60 in the morning and topping out in the low 80s (actually a high for northern VT in Oct). Trails were tacky in the morning and dry throughout the rest of the day. Perfect conditions. Crowds were fairly large as Peter chose to hold Canadian Thanksgiving that same weekend. It was also prime time for leaf peepers so Vermont was quite busy that weekend.

We shot up there after work on Friday. Rode just about all day on Saturday, mainly the Darling Hill area. Sunday we meet up with Emile and his wife and rode with them for a few hours in the morning. Then went our own ways and met up with George for an afternoon of riding.

The top of 'Webs'

Flying through 'Webs'

'Sidewinder' didn't exist last time I was there. It is pretty much 'Tap & Die' on steroids.

The beginning of the morning chaos.

George took us on some trails that were less frequented. It was a nice break from the crowds. The crowds actually weren't that bad. Very tolerable considering you would encounter groups of riders ever 15 minutes or so.

Apparently Sasquach has found his way into Vermont.

Doesn't get much better than this... Actually it does. One trail meanders in and through a maple tree grove. Lots of maple syrup being harvested while you duck around the syrup lines running from tree to tree.

Burke Mountain off in the distance.

You ride on some roads that look like this in the Vermont 50.

We bid farewell to George and rested up for another day of riding.

Day three we opted to stay up near Burke Mountain. We had a free lift ride at Burke so we took advantage of it.

Burke Mountain Ski Resort just opened their new bike park this past summer. Now you, too, can ride a lift up and fly down Burke with your DH/AM/whatever bike you are riding. They even built a few man-made trails which are pretty sweet.

Yes, I rode my hardtail. Actually navigated the downhill routes pretty well (didn't clear any table tops though. That's for next time... On another bike.).

Such a great weekend to officially kick off autumn, the best time of the year to ride.

my summer vacation

2011-10-11T22:10:00.001-04:00

It has been a while. On one hand I could argue that sitting infront of a computer after work (or before work) is not my cup of tea and therefore I have not been there. On the other hand I could argue that I've had a lot to do the past month and a half. Which ever hand you feel is appropriate, fact of the matter is I have not written much here and have not really ridden my bike much since early August.

Back in August, folks out in the Rocky Mountains where looking for me..

To their disappointment (and partially mine, because I'd love to be riding in Colorado in August), I was at home swinging hammers going from this:

to this:

which lead to this:

and then we finished the walls and floor. Made for a nice gallery for Peter

but ultimately became this:

Beyond that there were a lot of learning along the way as well as lot of stuff behind the scenes like a whole new plumbing system:

The good news is that is all behind us now and it is FUN cooking meals. We are fully operational like that man-made planet in the sky. I just have some trim work which I'll do later this winter. The window and door trim won't make us vulnerable to proton torpedos so that is another positive. [Victory!]

With that behind us I did find some time to get on the bike: A few days here and there commuting across Hartford on the fixie to be exact.

I also found a good home for my last 26" wheeled bicycle.

There is a sad part in that after I cleaned it up nice and dialed in the derailleurs and suspension settings, the bike seemed quite fun to ride (around the yard). With all this reading about various weapons I have been getting the urge for another suspension bike. The Vicious I just sold wouldn't fit that urge though (think things like Highland). We'll see where I go with this...

Yesterday, was an unpaid day off. Ginger and I spent the three-day weekend riding bikes. George also came out to play on what is known as 10-9 (Bike Messenger Appreciation Day). More on that tomorrow.

Rode to work again today. Autumn is here in CT. Was a great ride to and fro. Looking forward to tomorrow's ride to work..

gloves

2011-08-08T21:25:00.002-04:00

Some Ergon gloves were at my doorstep awaiting my return from work today.

They fit right in adjacent to last night's blueberry pie.

I received a pair of HX2 full finger gloves and HA2 full finger gloves. The HX2s are designed for the Cross Country or 'Marathon' racer. They are slim, lightweight and designed to compliment the GX and GS series grips such as my white GS1 grips. The HA2 gloves are designed for that 'All-Mountain' rider in you. They contain Kevlar inserts in the palm area of the hand for increase durability while an optimum array GA and GE series grips. I'll have to give them a try with my GA1 grips.

These are the HX2s. I have a size Large and they are a perfect fit.

Nothing like a snug fit.

The HA2s are a slightly looser fit than the HX2s but a size Large is still the ticket here.

The palm differences with the HX2 on the left and HA2 on the right. The black of the HA2 is tough to capture the details of fabric but all the black is the base fabric in the palm and much thicker than the black palm fabric of the HX2s. The black palm fabric of the HX2s reminds me of the palm fabric on my Fox Digit and Oakley Factory gloves. The white fabric on both gloves is the same. Note the kevlar insert on the HA2 while there is just additional padding in the same region on the HX2. Also note the silicone finger tips for increased grip.

The thumbs on both gloves are perforated to allow adequate ventilation. I tend to wipe my running nose a lot with my thumbs so we'll see how this holds up over time.

Thinking about this post made me rummage through my pile of mountain bike gloves and pull out my current favorites for a comparison. Those favorites being a pair of GiroXen gloves (bottom left), Fox Digit (bottom middle) and Oakley Factory (bottom right).

I have an entire season on the Giro gloves and there's only one seam that's pulling apart (palm/wrist junction). This is the most common place I blow gloves out. My previous pair of Fox gloves had a problem in that same region. Beyond that these gloves have been so comfy and have been my go-to pair since I picked up the Fox Digits and Oakley Factory gloves about a month ago. The Fox Digits are a snug fit like the Ergon HX2s, which I prefer. The Digits have one layer of fabric throughout the entire palm (see below).

Hoping to try the HX2s on Wednesday night's mountain bike ride. That is our freak of nature flash torrential rain storms let up on Wednesday.

Thanks Ergon!

darkhorse 40

2011-08-03T23:33:00.001-04:00

Continuing where I left off on Monday.

Photo: Darkhorse Cycles

The elite Men went off ahead of us singlespeeders. Cavanaugh was in that group, on his singlespeed, hoping to duke it out with Monte. Knowing the start would be long and drawn out on Ridge Road (a dirt gravel road) I was hoping for an easy roll out like we did at the Bearscat50. Turned out to be just that.

Hawaiian Mike's GPS Data showing the DH40 course.

There were two uphills on Ridge Road. The first one wasn't that bad and we all kind of stayed together. I was up front sitting on Roger's wheel for most of the start. I wanted to be where he was knowing he would be up with the leaders. Jay-Pro from Bike29 was also up there with me. Pace was nice that I actually had a few conversations with our fellow singlespeeders. We ultimately passed the trail we turned onto Ridge Road from in SSAP and I knew there was a steeper gradual climb thereafter and then a downhill to a right turn to another right turn to Major Mike.

Somehow I was now on the left side of the road on Jay-Pro's wheel with Roger on the right side of the road. I lost my concentration on the 'race' at hand and Roger attacked up the climb. A few precious seconds later I swerved around Jay-Pro (off the road) and took off after Roger. A bunch of guys from the pack cheered me on and I did my best to reel Roger in. Unfortunately my body wasn't having much of this pace and I could not close the gap down on Roger. My stomach was bloated from all the water I drank before the race started. I glanced over my shoulder and no one was on my wheel. It was the two of us out in "no man's land".

I gave it more, as much as I could, to continue pulling away from the pack. Turning into Major Mike I could see Roger just beyond one turn ahead of me.

"I'm gaining"

I heard voices behind me but with the tight turns it was a few turns away. They were gaining on me.

"Okay... settle into a pace. There's 38ish more miles. Ride consistent like you did at Bearscat."

Coming down the backside of Major Mike Roger and I caught up to the tail end of the elite field. The singletrack is tight and there was still a lot of race to go so I opted to pass conservatively and not force people to move out of my way. This is where Roger pulled further ahead of me but I did not let that get to me. My focus was to try and ride consistently. Consistently got me a good ride at SSAP and a win at Bearscat. Not riding consistent allowed me to yo-yo back and forth through the Trans-Sylvania Epic.

By the time we got back onto New Road Jay-Pro caught back up to me. Two other singlespeeders passed me like I was standing still and Roger was way off the front. Jay-Pro and I rode through the next section of singletrack before dumping back onto New Road and up the climb to the top of the apple orchard. I knew this climb was coming and in many years past it has always killed me so I took it easy. The climb wasn't as bad as I recall and I motored right up it pulling a bit ahead of Jay. After all, Jay was running a 34-19 and I had a 34-17. Jay caught back on and we continued to ride together and chat up a storm.

Photo: E.J.Johnson

Probably around the 10 mile mark (furthest away from the start) I noticed Jay lost the bottle he had on his seat post so let him drink a bunch from one of mine. We we pretty stoked on the pace we had as no one was catching up to us and we were slowly catching up to others ahead of us. We just had to maintain this pace throughout the rest of the race.

Coming back around the lake/river/whatever it is we crossed the water station again and Jay pulled over to fill his bottle while I kept on going. This was the last time I saw him until I was on the side of the trail at mile 18 fucking around with a flat. I felt good and kept pushing it. There were a bunch of short steep climbs between 10 and 18. One of which I recall T-hom changing a flat while his bike hung from a tree in a DH40 a few years ago. I usually can't ride any of those inclines but I motored right up them on the first lap.

"Wow. This is shaping up to a good day. I've never been able to ride those in a race."

Somewhere back here was the beer stop. I also caught up to Jim from High Gear and somehow pulled away from him. Stopped for a cup of Harpoon IPA (but it was mostly foam) and then took off to finish the lap. I knew there wasn't much left on this lap for I had a good idea of where in Stewart I was. I'd feel some very slight twinges in my legs but continued to drink and eat. Most of me was confident I'd be okay on the 2nd lap but a small percentage of me was worried about repeating last year. I tried not to let it worry me.

Photo: GTLuke @ teamnotights.com

(I really like this photo. It was an off-camber left turn going down hill)

Coming around a corner I heard a hissing sound but looked down and my tires appeared to have adequate pressure.

"Guess Stan's is working..."

A few more turns later I almost rolled my back tire off the rim. There was hardly any air left now. I refilled it with my one and only CO2 (a friggen' 'big air') but it started pissing Stan's sealant out of the bead area of the tire. I tried shaking the rear wheel (still in the bike) and it would slowly seal up but not quick enough.

"I'm wasting precious time. What the hell am I doing?"

I then decided to just throw my damn tube in the rear wheel. Dripping with sweat since it was pushing 90F out and I'm now standing around in a hot forest, I got the tire apart and got my tube ready. Lots of people where passing me and every singlespeeder that came by had this shocked reaction seeing me on the trail. They were also polite enough to ask for help but I was in such a fumble that I didn't ask for more CO2. That is, until Frank-The-Tank from Bethel Cycle came by. I blurttered CO2 out and he stopped and threw me his 'big air'. The threaded portion was covered by a sticker so I had to somehow get that sticker off.

A quick glance of the inside of the tire prior to installing the tube showed a black item in a pool of white Stan's tire sealant.

"What the hell is this?"

I rotated the wheel and immediately noticed it was a 2inch long nail in my brand new Maxxis Ikon tire coming through the tread. I ripped the nail out of the tire and threw it very far off the trail and into the woods. Jay-Pro rolled by and asked if I needed anything but I figured I was good with Frank's 'Big Air' so I shook my head no. Once the tire was back together I couldn't get my inflator to puncture Frank's CO2 to fill the tire up. While I was monkeying with the CO2 and Inflator I somehow emptied the CO2.

"Lovely"

Jim from High Gear rolled by and it was probably many minutes since I first stopped. He had two smaller CO2s and loaned them to me and then took off shouting

"You'll catch back up, and then we'll ride together. Don't you drop me like last time. We'll have fun."

I got my bike back together, stuffed all my empty Co2s and tools down the front of my jersey (and zipped it up) and then took off with a rock solid rear tire. Bouncing my way to the start/finish I still never saw Jim. I rolled up to Ginger and shouted that I'm stopping and had a flat. Jay-Pro already rolled through and informed her I had a flat so she had my second Awesome Strap with a spare tube and Co2 ready for me. I unzipped my jersey and emptied what was shoved down the front, grabbed three new bottles and took off looking for Jim.

The second lap was slower for me. My legs were getting very tired and the muscles were on the verge of cramping through most of the 2nd lap. I tried turning up the pace a few times to get away from some geared riders that would ride waaay too slow through the singletrack but they'd catch back up to me on the doubletrack and flats. I'd then realize that the effort to pull on them was too much and needed to throttle back some to keep my legs in check. I still had another 15 miles to go and didn't want to cramp so bad my legs would lock up. That would surely guarantee that I'm finishing waaay in the back of the pack (like last year).

I didn't see Jim until shortly before the beer stop. I was just about out of water (in all 3 bottles) and running dangerously low on food. Jim said there were a few singlespeeders right up a-ways (but we couldn't physically see them) and told me to get on it and catch them. I couldn't ride any faster as I had nothing more without locking my legs up. Jim pulled on me as we rolled up to the beer stop and I figured this was a good time to take a quick break and let my legs recover. I downed one cup of beer. It was so good that I figured I had time for another one.

After two beers I took off and caught back up to Jim and wound up passing him and pulling away from him. We're probably at mile 38 now and it was a short stretch on the gravel road towards the finish. A singlespeeder from NJMTB caught up to Jim (they knew each other) and Jim told him to get on Jim's wheel and he'd pull him up to me so we can duke it out. I put the hammer down and tried pulling away from them on the flat. We had a short section of trail (part of the SSAP prologue) and then across the road to more trail to the finish.

Right before that short section of trail Jim caught up to me. I looked over my shoulder and so did the singlespeeder.

"Great.... I have just enough energy to finish on my dime at my pace. I have nothing to pull away from someone or match their pace. I'm gonna lose another spot.."

Jim and this gentleman passed me and I couldn't do anything. It was painful to watch them pull away from me. I tried going faster and my legs had something in them to allow this to occur. We crossed the road into the last section of singletrack. There was a short steep climb right off the road. Jim let me pass him and I ran up that climb but the singlespeeder was gone. I rode a little bit at my pace until I came around a corner and saw his jersey through some trees. Knowing we were less than a mile (probably less than 1/2 a mile) from the finish I knew I could just give it everything and not worry about the ramifications. I dug deep and was able to pull myself back up to him.

This section of trail was very twisty and tight singletrack. No room to pass and one rock garden. Now that I'm on his wheel I had no where to pass. It was such a painful tease. I'd try to pass but the trail would turn and there was no room. I tried in the rock garden but he rode it just as fast and well as I did. All I could do was stay on his wheel and perhaps make one last move 10ft from the finish line.

Coming through the singletrack we entered into the corner of this field and had a sweeping left turn back into the singletrack. I made my move and it stuck. I was now infront. Back into the singletrack with an immediate right turn only to drop this sandy face onto the pavement into a right turn into the finish line. I made my move at the very last section of trail and it stuck allowing me to finish in 9th place singlespeed. That was impressive. I don't know where that last bit of energy came from and how I was able to make that pass but it worked. Talk about coming down to the wire.

9th place in the singlespeed field with a time of 3hrs 38minutes. About 20 minutes behind Roger who won the singlespeed field. About 7 minutes behind 3rd/4th and 5th place (where I expect I would have been had I not flatted). It is a new personal record for me in the DH40 and the first time I've been in the top 10 for this event.

Bike29-George had a good event too. here and here He, too, set a new personal record while also testing new equipment! Impressive. Great ride.

Mandy won the women's singlespeed field and Jay-Pro came in 5th in the men's singlespeed field. New personal records set by Team Bike29! It was a good day.

Thanks again to the entire team at Darkhorse Cycles. These events are fun and challenging and the terrain is so enjoyable to ride. I will continue to partake in their events as long as I am living on the east coast.

(T-Hom... I think this might be a 'short' one at only 2000 words)

'11 darkhorse40

2011-08-01T08:09:00.001-04:00

Another Darkhorse40 has come and gone. This one was a lot of fun on many levels.

It was another hot day as in years past, while the trails were fairly dry which has been difficult to find in Stewart this year. The course was much different than last year and a lot of fun. It is nice to get on different trails within Stewart Forest that have not really been used in previous races before. That makes for an exciting event and also attracts the same people year in and year out (along with lots of new people).

This year was a full house. 400 something total racers converged on Stewart Forest over in New York. The singlespeed field has 46 racers complete the event with a few more starting. In a field that large you are bound to have quite a few really fast guys in the mix. We had our work cut out for us yesterday..

Photo: GTLuke @ teamnotights.com

After 40 miles of racing, one flat tire and a bunch of forearm and leg cramping on lap two I finished in 9th place within the Singlespeed field at a time of 3hrs 37minutes. This is a new personal record for me. Certainly being in the top 10. Last year I had a lot of issues with the heat and finished in 3hrs 56minutes waaay back in 33rd place.

I was riding with Jay from Bike29.com for most of lap one and even pulled away from him sometime before I flatted. He finished 5th and only 7 minutes ahead of me. When I tell you about my flat you'll see why I lost those 7 minutes.

All in all it was a fun day and my body is still recovering. Its mainly just tired. Not tired from cramping but tired from working so hard.

Thanks again George, Mike and Hawaiian Mike for a stellar job well done. It was another successful Darkhorse Cycles event.

vermont in the summer - pt2

2011-07-29T23:41:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the delay. Somehow I found myself quite busy this week both during business hours and when I arrived home for the evening.

Back to last weekend, a fun filled weekend in Vermont. I arrived at Bike29 headquarters early afternoon on Saturday. It was pretty darn hot but the shop was air conditioned. I spent an hour or so going through my bike; swapping tires out, truing wheels, changing wheel skewers, drooling over George's new Niner Jet9 RDO. 3pm rolls around and I'm starving so we rode our bikes down the street and I had a nice grilled chicken sandwich and a smoothie to hold me over until dinner time.

Bikes ontop of the car and we're off to Stowe to ride what the locals call the 'town loops'. There was a climb from the parking lot which turned into rolling, rooty and twisty singletrack for the remainder of the ride. This is George's equivalent of the GM Proving Grounds; A place where he tests all of his new bikes. With how rooty it was, it seemed like a great place test out a new 100mm travel 29er full suspension. Only one problem: neither of us remembered to bring along a shock pump for fine tuning the suspension on George's bike. Needless to say he had to deal with it and not I. haha.

I really liked those trails. They were tight turns and roots galore. I haven't ridden trails full of that many roots in a long time. It quickly made me realize that all the trails here in CT are mainly rocks and rock faces. It was pretty cool for a change of pace. The very last trail was a sweet descent back to the parking lot. Despite the heat it was a ton of fun for the two of us. Most of all we were stoked to just be out riding and enjoying the ride. Something the two of us independently have kind of needed the past month and a half.

Back into Waterbury, we dropped our gear off at the shop, got cleaned up and went to the local watering hole, The Alchemist. They only sell the beer they brew on site. It was some of the best IPAs I've have in a long time. Despite the good food and good beer we retired at a reasonable hour the evening.

The next morning went rather quickly even though we thought we had plenty of time. After packing up George's car and getting some breakfast we headed towards Willington VT for the main event, as mentioned in my previous story. The event was called the Eastern Cup and was held at the Catamount Family Center in Williston VT. At the time I did not know anything about this place or the history of this evening. This past week I learned more about the history of this event (which I'll get into later).

We opted for the 6hour race, which was new, and opted as a duo team. Car Ram-Rod was our team name and we even wrote it down.

After registering we heard over the loudspeaker that we had only but a few minutes until the race would start. They were starting the 6hour racers, cat2 and cat3 racers at 9am. George and I kept arguing over who would go first and wasted precious time arguing where we could have been preparing for the race. The arguing actually went like this..

"you want to go first?"

(shrugging shoulders)

"I could, if you don't want to.."

and so on and so forth. Then the loudspeaker said 'two minutes' and I gave in and said

"I'll go while you set up camp."

Like a well oiled machine, My bike was all set up, my bottles filled and I was out of that telephone booth like Clark Kent and onto the races.

Photo: Shot in VT

And just like that, the race was off. I found myself in a line of riders meandering around the field and ultimately off into the woods and into the singletrack. I knew my pace shouldn't be too terribly fast as we were riding for a total of 6 hours but I also couldn't help such a fast pace out of the gate. Two or three guys took off the front and disappeared while I was trying to navigate some very tight and twisty singletrack in a train of people. The front half of the lap could have been fun but I wasn't having too much fun as the group I was in was not consistent through the turns (I kept having to slam on my brakes and speed up). Riding a singlespeed amongst a bunch of geared riders in tight trails like this is not much fun.

Meanwhile, George was busy setting up camp (a pop-up tent in the parking lot with R2).

Photo: George

This is not your ordinary droid, This droid was full of ice and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Back to the race... We rounded a right turn to a pseudo wide climb and I busted left and took off past everyone in front of me. I had enough and needed to forge ahead without being on someone's wheel. I felt good and felt strong so this surge didn't seem un-necessary. After that surge I rounded another corner and into the second half of the course (without anyone ahead of me). The second half was a ton of climbing up onto this ridgeline, not once but twice with a few very short punchy inclines thrown in the mix just because. The rest of the group didn't really catch back up to me until the second climb. Those that did were the solo 6hr guys and by now I was in a good rhythm for myself and had no qualms with letting anyone pass me. I am ultimately back to the start/finish and it was about 40ish minutes since I began. George was there waiting for me and I pulled off to rest while he took off on his first lap.

This is where things are strange for me... 40 minute hard efforts followed by about a 40 minute rest? My body and my mind do not really know what to do with this but I managed. I refilled my bottles, had a PBR and started munching on a clif bar. During the race my rear brake rotor was rubbing with the caliper so I had the bike stand out and was tinkering with my bike. I'd think I had it and then went for a spin around the parking lot only to find it still rubbing under load. Something was deflecting. I kept tinkering with it some more and wasn't really paying attention to my watch.

Next thing I know George shows up. I look at my watch and I forgot when I came in and George went out. All I could muster was...

"Already?"

To which he gave me a ration of shit and then asked if I was okay. I was and quickly hopped on my bike nad headed out for another lap. Not the cleanest of pit stops / rider transitions but we would ultimately get better at this as the race went on.

The second lap seemed to go a bit smoother than my first lap. I kept trying to ride the twisty stuff more consistently. My first lap felt like I was on the brakes too much. Still feeling strong, I muscled my 34-19 up those climbs on the back half of the lap with little effort. Another 40 minutes pass and I'm back in the pits only to realize I didn't drink any water or eat anything on that lap.

"Hmm..."

Another PBR, another bottle of water and more Clif Bar while George was out on his second lap. I also paid close attention to my watch on this lap so I knew when to be back near the start/finish for George's arrival. I then had a gel right before George arrived and was subsequently out on my third lap feeling really good.

I finally got the hand of this course on lap three. The twisty and fast front half was ridden about as smoothly as I could. I had a very good pace going and didn't really touch the brakes too much. I knew my pace was good when I saw the solo 6hr 'fast' guys a few turns ahead and a few turns later I was the caboose of their train.

Photo: Shot in VT

Right before the end of the front half and the beginning of the second half I passed all the 6hr 'fast' solo guys and found myself off the front of their group going up all the climbs. I was having fun and riding strong and fast (what appeared to be). The last short punchy incline I felt my legs twitching. Guess I wasn't eating and drinking enough even though I did drink a whole bottle on lap 3.

Entering the pits after lap 3 I briefly mentioned to George that I started feeling the cramps coming. He gestured for me to eat some bananas and drink more fluids. He then went off to rally a third lap.

I finished a bottle and had two bananas and then sat around (in the shade) resting while George was tearing it up his the 3rd lap. I hoped on my bike and spun my legs as I meandered around the parking lot and other non-race areas near the start/finish. Ran into a local guy I have been mostly riding with on each lap. He was fast and quite consistent and our paces were a pretty good match. We were having fun going back and forth while out on the course. Turns out he was also racing duo so it was both good rivalry and good clean fun riding bikes together.

George finished his third lap and we had a little pep talk. We both went into this event wanting to have fun and really only had the notion of doing three laps each. I left him hanging when he started his third lap by expressing concern that my legs didn't have much more in them (an artifact of not really eating and drinking much in the 75-80F weather) but did inform him in our pep talk that I felt a bit rested and can get another lap in. The decision was made to keep riding and I then went out for my fourth lap.

Just like the previous two laps, I rode quite consistent through the first half of the course. When I got to the gradual (pseudo false-flat) climb which I considered the start of the back half I felt my legs become very heavy. They were never this sore on this section of the course so I got worried about the steeper sections to come. Drank more fluids and had one gel (the only food I had with me) and seemed okay for the next big climb. Rather than being on the gas all the time I pulled back a bit here and there to conserve energy. It seemed to be working as I was able to make it up the second big climb (a bunch of tight switch backs).

Being able to get through the big climbs on my fourth lap with great success I figured I was in the clear to finish. My watch also showed me finishing in the 40-45min range like every previous lap. Unfortunately there were two more really short punchy climbs alongside a grassy powerline that I had to go up. The first one I made it up but just barely. In fact, it did me in and my legs were pretty much cramping. The second climb I had no chance and actually got off the bike on the course, for the first time the whole race. As soon as I got off the bike I couldn't stand and had to sit in a squat. Water bottle was now empty and I had no food with me but was also a few short minutes from the finish line. What a shitty place to be. On one hand I was upset with myself for being subborn and not eating/drinking enough. On the other hand I felt like I let George down. The later is what got me back up and hunched over my bike as I dragged myself up this incline. At the crest I forced myself back onto the bike and forced myself to pedal. My legs actually cleared up a bit but when I tried to turn the cadence up to ludacris cadence on the field entering the start/finish I had nothing and couldn't go any faster.

I did finish that lap and my slowing down near the end only left George with about 50-55minutes to do his fourth lap before the six hour mark. He acknowledged that he had it in him and took off. While George fought against the clock and rode a 6-7mile time trial through the woods I went back to the car and got some food and beer in me and cleaned up. I did not know this at the time but George was riding himself inside out on that fourth lap. He was riding very strong, and consistent, all day so it was to no surprise to me that he'd be equally as consistent on his fourth lap. I was stoked for his ride and stoked for my ride and stoked for the day. The weather was perfect, sunny and in the mid to upper 70s with very low humidity, and above all; we were having fun riding bikes [in a race].

Photo: Shot in VT

That photo above is George riding himself inside out. Just look at his face. He's a man on a mission. On such a mission that he burped his front tire somewhere not that far from the finish of the lap. Probably near where my legs said 'fuck you'. Now, George isn't one to take up running. I also was at the finish waiting for him to come riding in and had a cold PBR waiting for him. I didn't see him and the time was getting damn near the end of the race. A minute or two later I saw someone come around the corner on foot, running, towards the finish line. It was George. Running! It turns out he was so stoked for our ride and so bummed that he burped his front tire that he decided to run it in and try to beat the clock. Beat the clock he did! He finished with less than five minutes to spare for the 6hour mark. I then handed him a cold PBR and we called it a day of bike riding/racing. You can read his re-cap here.

What a ride. What dedication from us both. I think we both fueled of each other's excitement throughout the day. This aspect of a duo or even a quad format in a 6/12/24 hr race is quite rewarding. The positive attitude and stoke for each other keeps each other going. Well, that's at least what we appeared to be doing on this fine Sunday.

As more people would slowly trickle in we hung out at our pit and grilled some jalapeno chicken sausages and recapped on the day's events with each other and George's friends from the area. This is exactly what we needed and what we needed going into this year's Darkhorse40. We stuck around for the awards ceremony and found out we took 2nd place in the duo category.

Photo: George

The gentleman I was riding with most of the race took the win. They took the win by a mere two minutes on account of George's flat and run in. George saw their teammate pass him while he was running.That was a fun weekend. We both look forward to doing it again soon. I see another trip back to Vermont in September. Maybe I'll be able to squeak one in August but I'll probably be too tied up with my kitchen remodel to leave town.

Sunday is the Darkhorse 40. I'm hoping to stay ontop of food and water and ride consistent from lap one to lap two. Something I did at the Bearscat50 and also Singlespeed-a-palooza.

vermont in the summer

2011-07-25T08:03:00.000-04:00

Look at that. Its about time for my monthly blog post. haha

This past weekend I was up in Northern Vermont hanging out with George.The plan was to participate in a local 6hour race as a duo team. We each didn't want to crush ourselves for 6hours solo a week before the Darkhorse40 so we opted to team up. Team up and have fun riding bikes because thats what we do: ride bikes and have fun.

We had smiles on our faces for about 99% of the race and got to ride with some really cool people out on the trail. It was enough for us to take 2nd place in the duo category. I would have to say that it was a Victorious day.

We each both completed four laps for a total of eight laps around the Catamount Outdoor Family Center in Williston VT. Our lap times were fairly consistent between each other, 40-45minutes. The local CAT1 winners were ticking off laps a shade quicker (they only had to do 3 though). We are both stoked for riding well, riding quick and being relatively consistent from lap to lap.

I'll write some more later. Big Brother is watching.

stay tuned

2011-06-28T15:19:00.001-04:00

I am still alive, barely. June was going to be crazy and it has turned out to be even more insane and tiresome than I anticipated. Something about working 70+hrs a week plus weekends while also having hardwood floors refinished and packing up and moving Ginger across town to my house has consumed me.

Through all of this I have found my bicycle a handful of times. Merely to ride to work when I wasn't so drained.

Gotta get through today (another 15+hr day) and tomorrow and then I have a five day weekend to decompress and catch up around the house.

Boo, but sometimes 'life happens'

bearscat50

2011-06-06T18:03:00.001-04:00

I am now back home after eight straight days of racing my mountain bike. Yes, I am tired and am thankful I took today off from work to rest. I just woke up from a much needed 2 hour nap. I should be writing about the Trans-Sylvania Epic because that is where it all started but I am going to write about the last race in those eight days.

That is right, I left Pennslyvania Saturday evening once a winner was crowned for the 3 Beer Derby and headed to New Jersey. It was hard to leave but part of me really wanted to do this event. History has shown I get stronger as a stage race goes on (Last year's Brek Epic is an example). That is why I signed up for a 50 mile race the day after the Trans-Sylvania Epic. During TSE I thought this was foolish and was wondering where I'd find the energy to complete a 50 mile race. In the end it paid off.

I originally wanted to camp out at the start/finish of the Bearscat50 so I could get some sleep and not have to travel before the event but there was no available camping as the event was in a state park (Waywayanda) and all the campsites were full. Alas, I wound up staying at my parent's house that evening and had an hour or so drive in the morning. It allowed me to catch up on some laundry, pick up my dog and get a decent night's sleep (6hrs worth).

I have not ridden nor raced at Waywayanda since the Highlands to Hudson series race there back in 2006 (or was it 2005? I forget). I completely forgot how to get there as I didn't drive last time. The race information contained no address for me to use the GPS so I wound up going to the NJ state parks website and took a guess that the main entrance of the park was where we would be. My guess was correct upon arriving at the park around 7:30am.

Quickly took the dog for a walk and picked up my number. Said hello to Roger Foco and Monte. Also saw Sean, Frank and Johan from Bethel Cycle as I was walking back to my car. They all knew I just finished Trans-Sylvania and told me I should be home sleeping. Something I agreed with but said I already paid for this race so I might as well give it a whirl. My expectations were to, at a minimum, complete one lap (25miles). I also had no intentions on going hard at the start but rather just 'riding my bike in the woods' yesterday.

Hmm. two 25mile laps with a few aid stations. I was guessing 4-5hrs and Monte snapped me into reality by suggesting probably closer to 5hrs to complete all 50 miles. Building off of my water and food intake at Trans-Sylvania I opted not to use any drop bags as I could get through 25 miles with whatever I had on me. In a jamb, I could stop at the aid stations for more water. This allowed me to carry two bottles of electrolytes on my bike and a third that had two scoops of Perpetuem and some Hammer Gel in my jersey pocket. I also had a flask of Hammer Gel and some misc gel packets at back-up. My primary source of food would be the third bottle and my gel flask. I left three of the same bottles at the finish (also the start to the 2nd lap) along with a cooler that had some cold Coke in case I wanted something different. I also left Omega tied to a tree right near my stuff while I was racing. It was nice and shady so I figured he'd be okay.

There was no beer on course or at the start/finish. I forgot that you can not have alcohol in NJ State Parks. After drinking one or two beers after every stage last week this was kind of a let down. I didn't have any with me so I wasn't too bothered by this. Guess I'll be all 'pro and stuff' and not have any alcohol...

The Open Men and 45+ Men went out ahead of the singlespeeders. It turns out no one was listening at the racer's meeting for half the 45+ Men class left with the Open Men. The remainder of the 45+ Men left a minute back and us Singlespeeders left 5 minutes after the 45+ Men.

My plan was to start off easy and if I felt good I could pick up the pace otherwise I'd just ride at one pace the entire race. A nice and easy pace. Physically I felt tired at the start, which prompted an easy start on my behalf. Mentally I was ready for this no matter how much everyone said I was crazy and should be resting after TSE. In my head it was just another day on the bike like the previous seven. You get into a rhythm in stage racing (race, eat, rest, eat, sleep, do it again the next day). The only difference here was the travel the night prior and the morning of.

We started shortly after 9am and I found myself in 4th place following Dave Lyons who was on Cavanaugh's wheel who was on Foco's wheel. There was no sprint start but a casual pedaling across the field. I liked this and the pace was exactly what I needed. When we got out of the field and into the woods those three started pulling on me but I maintained my pace and let them go. After all, I just wanted to ride and not worry about who's winning. Even my pace was enough to pull away from the rest of the field, whom I never saw again until the finish.

Roger and Cavanaugh were pulling on Dave while I was sort of on Dave's wheel. We came to an offcamber right turn littered with rocks and Dave went down with a front flat tire (it looked harsh but Dave assured me he was okay). I kept going and caught up to Roger and Cavanaugh as they got caught in traffic. We had to dismount and run many times in the first 5 miles just to get around people. This was both annoying and a godsend. Annoying because we were riding at a much faster pace then the back of the 45+ group but a godsend because the lapped traffic let us get out ahead and everyone behind us had to deal with it as well.

Photos: GTLuke.com

I managed to get around people with some smart moves while Roger and Cav pulled away from me. Third place sounded pretty damn cool so I figured I'd just hang out here and maintain my pace to see if it will manifest a 3rd place finish. I'd spin my ass off on some of the short doubletrack and fire roads to pass a bunch of people on the first lap. It meant I'd go harder than I wanted to but my body felt okay to do it as long as it were a few short bursts and I could recover thereafter.

I settled into a nice pace with a gentleman named Will (I think that was his name). I liked his pace and it allowed both of us to chat with each other. Knowing I could carry out conversations on the first lap meant I was easing myself into this race which is what I wanted to do. I didn't want to yo-yo back and forth like I did all week at Trans-Sylvania (I'll explain that in later posts) but wanted to be consistent from one lap to another. In a 50 mile race of nothing but rocks, being consistent meant starting slower. Starting slower is always a difficult thing to do but thanks to Roger's starting pace and my ability to let he and Cav pull on me when they picked up the pace I felt comfortable with my riding.

Photo: GTLuke.com

Maybe around 20 miles in I came around a turn and saw Cavanaugh changing a front flat tire. I was not expecting to see him and kind of bummed he's messing with a flat. With as many rocks the course has I certainly didn't want to be messing with a flat tire. Sean said he had everything and was pounding some food to use the wrappers to cover up a giant hole in his sidewall. I mustered on realizing Roger was the only singlespeeder infront of me.

After 2 hours of riding I was beginning to wonder where the finish of the first lap was. It was starting to mess with my mind. We then turned onto a fire road and that fire road did not end. After ten minutes of riding the fire road I was wondering if I was still on course. I could barely make out any tire tracks and didn't see any trail markings. The good news is that all the side trails were marked with a big 'X' and had sticks laid across them to tell us we weren't riding them. This told me I needed to continue down the fire road. Guess my complaint is there could have been more arrows periodically on the fire road but I eventually figured out the fire road would take us back to where we started and also end the lap.

I was able to ride just about the entire lap with the exception of where I had to run around lapped traffic. There weren't really any long big climbs that would kill you. Some of the fire roads we rode on had some climbs but they weren't long. My definition of long could be jaded as I just spent a week in PA climbing fire roads that would last miles and miles and were so steep that my 34x20 required me to stand and turn a super low cadence. I didn't have to do that at Bearscat. The most I did was stand up but the cadence was still high. The climbs are where the races were won last week but the Bearscat race was won with fluid riding through the technical rock gardens. Something I really enjoy and tend to think I am pretty good at doing.

When I finished the first lap my legs felt pretty good. I went through all three bottles and some of the gel in my gel flask. I stopped and switched out my bottles and decided to keep on riding. Cavanaugh didn't catch up to me yet so technically I was still in 2nd. Might as well keep going.

As I left my empty bottles behind and started off on my second lap someone stopped me, pointed at my front wheel and told me to check my mileage. I had no idea what they were talking about and replied with something like this.

"What are you talking about? I don't have a computer. I'm just out riding my bike."

as I rolled off to start my second lap. I later found out after finishing the race that people were missing a turn which shortened the course by a few miles. I don't recall missing any turns and over 2hours to ride 25 miles sounded right according to my analog wristwatch (I only ride with a wristwatch and just keep track of time. This allows me to make sure I eat and drink every hour).

I rode most of the stuff on the second lap where I had to dismount and run around lapped traffic on the first lap. I also came around a corner and saw Roger and one other individual on the side of the trail doing something. I stopped and asked what was a-matter. Turns out Roger broke one of the bolts that holds his Superfly rear drop-outs in place. You can't ride the bike without all the bolts in tact as the drop-outs would move. I quickly did a mental scan of what I had in my Oakley parts bag in my pocket and recalled I don't carry an extra 5mm bolt. I also looked at my bike and realized I had no spares to give up. Not being able to help him I kept on riding.

Wow, this race was really destroying people's equipment. First Dave's front tire minutes into the race. Then Sean's front tire 20miles or so into the race and now a broken bolt on Roger's bike? It was a war of attrition.

After seeing so much carnage and also realizing that I was now in first place of the singlespeed field I pulled back the throttle in some of the very rocky sections. I needed to be smart for if I flatted or broke something I just cost myself the win. Throttling back would help me conserve energy and I also knew both Roger and Sean would not be throttling back as they were both on the chase once they got their bikes fixed. This would either force them into more tire/bike problems or they would fade after the 4hr mark The only thing I could do was make sure I motored up any of the climbs we had. If I didn't slow down on the climbs then I could make up extra time where I throttled back in the rocks. If I felt good I also picked up the cadence a lot on the fire roads to pick up more speed.

This seemed to work well for me on the second lap. I paid close attention to eating and drinking and didn't really come close to cramping at any point in the race. I tried to maintain pace with fellow riders I encountered but they would eventually fade and I wasn't so I'd then bridge up to another group of people and ride with them for about 10mins or so before they would fade. This, ultimately, left me out there by myself after the 3.5hr mark. I was able to remember the trail and pinpoint sections of trail with how long it took me to get there on the first lap. Doing the math in my head I was figuring I'd finish around 5hours. Backing out 5 hours told me also where to eat and drink to not fade.

At some point I did come across a female rider. I wasn't sure if she was riding or racing but she assured me there weren't too many people ahead of me. I didn't believe here as I figured there was at least 10 guys ahead of me but I thanked her for the information and kept on riding.

The 4 hour mark came and went. Things started getting hard. Hard from the standpoint of my shoulders were fatiguing. My lower back hurt (but I knew how to fix that and was doing a good job keeping that pain at bay). My feet were starting to really kill me. All that pounding from the rocks was taking its toll on my feet no matter how thick my wool socks were. My legs felt okay so I kept telling myself that its just another hour and I'd finish soon enough. I did slow down here and there and reassured myself it was okay to slow down or to walk a section rather than muscle through it. Everyone was probably getting tired and I could only guess I had a couple of a minute gap on whomever was behind me so I could give up a few seconds here and there for 'active rest' by slowing down or walking a section.

By now all I could think about was that damn fire road at the end. Not because it sucks to ride on a singlespeed but because I knew that was the end of the lap and the end of the race. The 5 hour mark was coming quickly too so I knew I was close. I drank the rest of my Perpetuem and finished my gel flask in anticipation for that fire road. By the time I got there the food would be somewhat digested and I'd have enough energy to pick up the pace to the finish.

Right turn onto the fire road and there I went. Long fire roads and no signs of anyone ahead of me or behind me. Feeling pretty good I now rode as hard as I could, the hardest I rode all race. Each rise on the fire road I'd wonder if I'd see the white ribbon telling me to make a right into the last straight-a-way to the finish. 15 minutes later those ribbons were in sight and I pinned it to take the singlespeed category win.

My wristwatch had me at around 5hrs. The results show me at 4hrs 54minutes. My second lap was about six and a half minutes slower than my first lap. Pretty consistent if you ask me. More consistent than the Open Men. Surprisingly, my time would have put me 4th in the Open Men class. I didn't realize I was that far up in the overall. Monte did tell me that there is little difference between a geared bike and a singlespeed bike on these trails. The geared guys certainly made up time on the fire roads.

Singlespeed Results

Open Men Results

Singlespeed Podium.

Myself in 1st, Roger in 2nd, Sean in 3rd.

If you ask me today how I pulled that off I still do not have an answer. I went out easy and felt good. Mentally I kept telling myself I was just riding my bike and not worrying about who's who in the race. Perhaps that helped? Perhaps a week on the bike in PA helped despite such a rollercoaster of a week (which I'll get into later this week)? In the end, I did what I was trying to do all week: ride consistently.

This was a lot of fun and I met some awesome people while out there on the trail. The trails and the course are something I fully enjoy: super rocky east coast technical trails. The small amount of doubletrack and fire roads was just enough to break up the course. Any longer and I wouldn't have been as fun in my eyes. I need to come out and do more NJ/NY races as everyone is so friendly and its good to see people I don't get to see too often.

If this race is back next year I highly recommend it. I do need to go back and ride Waywayanda and Ringwood more.

For those of you local to me this race can be likened to doing a 50 mile race at Case or Pennwood. For those of you at Trans-Sylvania last week, it can be likened to 50 miles of RB Winter's State Park (the mini-xc day, stage 5). I know Elk would like this race as he loves RB Winter.

trans-sylvan epic '11 stage1

2011-05-30T08:12:00.000-04:00

The 12mile prologue is in the books. It's hot & humid just like last year. The only difference from last year is that I had almost zero warm humid days of acclimation beforehand.

Saturday Dicky, Kelly and I rode the prologue loop. The heat and my 34-19 were getting to me. Especially on the long climb. My legs felt heavy from work stress and lack of riding. When we got back I decided to switch back to a 20t, which is what I ran last year.

Dicky is taking this event 'seriously'. So seriously that he accuses Greg and I for not drinking throughout last years yet he stopped drinking five weeks ago. My game is to make him crack. Elk, Greg and I keep getting him to drink but he's refused so far.

First singlespeeder to go off on the time trial prologue, I had no minute man ahead of me to pick off. The closest person was the back of the Men's open field at something like 5mins ahead.

Remembering there is a long atv-type trail climb just about halfway through the prologue, I tried to not kill myself to allow energy to climb back up onto Sand Mountain. It worked and once I got onto the singletrack on the campground side of Sand Mountain I found a rhythm and had a blast riding back to camp.

Staring at my watch as I was closing in on the finish I was nearing the 1hr mark. This sounded like a good time as before I left Alex Grant from Cannondale finished a minute or two over one hour.

Rolled across the finish about 1hr and 3minutes. Turns out my ride was good enough for 2nd place singlespeed. Local powerhouse Rich Straub took first at about a minute ahead of me. Somehow the little man (Dicky) climbed onto the podium in 3rd around 50sec give or take behind me. Greg wasn't feeling the heat & humidity and finished a minute and a half behind me.

Jeremiah set a blistering pace of around 46minutes! Mark Weir was around 56mins which made me pretty stoked to not be that far behind Wier.

Today is the first long stage at around 42-43miles. Looks like it's gonna be a hot one again. This stage last year I felt great and took the singlespeed win. We'll see how today goes.

typed via my phone. sorry for no links or photos.

an update.... and TSE

2011-05-23T21:11:00.003-04:00

Wow. Almost a month and no blog updates. What the hell have I been doing?

Well... My month started off well. Well in that I was getting a bit of rides in when it wasn't raining. Weekly wednesday rides were consistent and I was out on the weekends getting some long rides in (like my last post). Ginger had her knee surgery which will ultimately allow her to ride her bike more without any pain or discomfort.

Hmm. Let me think about this... Oh yeah, I did get a solid week of riding in with two days being 2.5-3hr mtb rides. Trails were super dry and I got to ride some new stuff.

Like this trail out somewhere east of the CT river.

That's Dave '4th Place' Cormier with Glenn directly infront of him and Andy off the front. Somehow I rode up that with one hand, seated, on my 34x19. It wasn't easy but this trail was a hoot to ride UP. I can't want to ride the other direction (downhill).

The rest of that week I was commuting to and from work on the fixie. Those were some fun, sunny days. The highlight of my morning commute is saying hello to the crossing guard at one of the intersections I ride through. No matter what the weather is, he's out there helping students and all pedestrians alike crossing the busy West Hartford thoroughfares.

Got a few other rides in here and there on the Superfly getting used to my squishy fjork and also riding the steel rigid Vicious singlespeed. Rode another set of new trails waaay east of the CT river. That place is pretty technical but solid handlebar width singletrack which is hard to find around here now-a-days (thanks to the dirtbikes and ATVs). Nothing quite up to 3-4hrs which is what I really wanted. My weeks have been blurring together as I can't seem to get out of the office at a reasonable hour. My new job seems to be taking a lot out of me.

Then the rain came and my drive to do stuff disappeared. I did run into one problem with my primary computer ('04 iBook G4)... Looks like the logic board is failing. It wouldn't boot up and the screen wouldn't light up.

I got it to work, on its side and in pieces. I also found one method to keep it going.. I have a bunch of cardboard wedged between the circuit boards and the bottom plastic cover. Before all that I was able to back it up in the event that is officially dies. This post is being typed on it and things seem to be marginal. Its the longest I've used the computer in one sitting and it is extremely slow. Something's wrong. Guess this is why I haven't been blogging or even using my computer much the past few weeks. Someday I'll decide to spend the money on a new computer.

Ginger has been recovering very well. We've done a few rides on rail trails and roads. Low impact for her (compared to off-road trails). Mainly to work range of motion. So far, no dislocated knee cap (what the Doc was fixing) which is a great thing. Next month we'll get on some trails (gotta show her that new trails I've ridden as well as Stewart NY and northern VT).

This past weekend the rain let up a little bit. I had a ton of stuff to do between procrastinating, repairing a friend's VW and Audi and taking photos of a friend's house that just sold (for future house project ideas). We had dinner out in Willimantic at a friend's house Saturday night so I snuck in a ride. Took the Cannondale for a ride down the rail trail from Manchester to Willimantic.

Armed with some Maxxis Crossmarks and a 36x17 I high tailed it across part of the state for an hour and forty five minutes and got out there just as the sun set. Drank one water bottle and a can of PBR. Munched on a Clif Bar for I haven't eaten anything since breakfast.

Shortly after this picture it was about that time of the day.. The time where all the bugs come out. Got some extra protein for the last 30minutes of the ride.

Just outside of Willimantic the rail trail officially ends. The remainder into town is present but has not been updated. Especially where the trail cris-crosses the Willimantic River. I opted to press on as far as I could before it got dark.

This bridge was pretty sketchy. Railroad ties all rotted out but the steel frame was in tact. I walked across it and once I got out there I realize how quick the river was flowing and how far above the water I was. Kind of reminded me of Costa Rica.

Got to our friend's house just as things got dark. Had a long, steep climb up the road two blocks from the house. A nice way to finish off the ride.

Saturday I'm leaving to head out to PA for the Trans-Sylvania Epic.... and the BearsCat 50. Eight consecutive days of racing. Right after the TSE awards I have to high tail it back to NJ for a 2-lap 50mile race in Waywayanda State Park the following morning. Basically, Stage 8 of the TSE as the terrain will be equally as rocky and difficult.

Got a lot to prepare for this week.

Tires to swap around between wheels. Gear to pack up. Also need to decide if both bikes are coming with me or just one. I'll figure something out.

(You can see the new main breaker panel I installed in the background. That was an Easter weekend project.)

needed a haircut

2011-05-01T22:28:00.000-04:00

It was time for my semi-annual haircut but I didn't feel like driving to New Haven. What's the next best thing? Ride my bike there and back.

I left my house just before 7am and took the fixed gear to New Haven by way of as much of the East Coast Greenway as I could. The last time I rode this route was over two years ago. I've been meaning to do it multiple times since then but it never manifested itself.

There still isn't much of the greenway between West Hartford / Farmington and Plainville / Southington. I was worried about not making it to New Haven in time so I took route 10 down into Southington as this is a more direct route. Traffic was almost non-existent as it was so early which made my ride easier.

There's a leg between Southington and Cheshire where you're back on roads. In Cheshire it is now a direct shot down into New Haven. Two years ago there was a section in North Haven that was not completed but it is completed today. That made the ride a lot more enjoyable.

I rode my fixed gear and strapped my bag of clothes and other odds & ends to the rear rack.

My best Grig Martin jersey did me well on this ride.

In North Haven I saw this apartment (or condo) building. Very modern yet very out of place with the neighborhoods.

Upon entering New Haven I was greated by these signs.

Made it with time to kill. Grabbed some coffee and read the paper.

After my haircut I meandered home. This one building in New Haven looked strange to me on the way into town and it was on my mind the entire time I was down there.

Its a relatively new building that was still under construction. It dawned on me while riding home what used to be there... An old factory or warehouse.. A building that had character.

(from my 2008 ride)

Such a shame to see it demolished.

In North Haven I saw these 'Ride Bikes' stencils on the way home. That's cool.

Instead of route 10 I opted to meander through New Britain and Newington to get back to West Hartford. I took a bunch of the roads we took when Tim Johnson came to town back in March.

Back in West Hartford I stopped at REI to pick up a spoke wrench to true Ginger's 29er wheels. I saw this outside the store.

Fifteen minutes later I came out of the store and saw this.

I guess the multiple signage was not enough and a giant sign was required.

A mile or so later I was home. Total ride was around 88 miles. I stopped in Southington on the way home for a roast beef sandwich and a Snapple to hold me over. Otherwise I had two Clif Bars and maybe two bottles of water. The ride down saw a nice tail wind which is why it only took me two hours. That tail wind was a gnarly headwind on the way home which slowed me down a bit.

Once I was home I realized I should clean the house's gutters and cut the lawn. Only problem was the lawnmower was out of gas and so was it's gas can (winterized). The gas station is less than a 1/4 mile from my house so I took my bike.

I didn't think anything of it until I was riding home. It then dawned on me that I am riding a bicycle carrying 1.5 gallons of fuel. Surprised no one complained.

MS Bike Ride - Martha's Vineyard

2011-04-20T19:33:00.000-04:00

Next weekend (Saturday April 30th) Ginger will be riding her new 29er mountain bike 30miles through Martha's Vineyard in support of Multiple Sclerosis. She is doing this with a team of friends in support of her mother, whom was diagnosed with MS about a year ago.

She's looking forward to riding her bike in someplace new and she's been preparing for this day (the Gravel Grinder a few weeks ago was one such preparation).

If you would like to support her please click on the image below.

Thanks!

SSAP '11

2011-04-19T23:15:00.004-04:00

The 3rd annual Singlespeed-A-Palooza is in the books.

Thank You Darkhorse George, Hawaiian Mike and everyone else involved. The Darkhorse Cycles events are always a super fun time and worth attending.

Thank You Ginger for your support as well as helping us (Bike29, Dejay, Cavanaugh) with our bottles.

Great to see everyone again. I look forward to the Darkhorse40.

The past few weeks have been extremely hectic at work and therefore, I have not had much time to ride my bike beyond the weekly Wed night group ride. My weekend started off on a bad note but that quickly changed when I hoped on my bike for a ride Friday evening with Charlie.

My bike was all set for dry Stewart Forest trails: Swalbe Racing Ralphs with a 34x17 and a brand new chain. Charlie was not racing SSAP on Sunday but duking it out at Winding Trails as he's gunning for CT SS Champion. So... We rode from our homes into the West Hartford Res and up and over Avon Mountain enroute to the Winding Trails course in Farmington.

I was a little apprehensive riding up Avon Mountain mostly on trail with such a big gear but figured I needed to see how it really felt. I made it up the crux section and out onto Old Mountain Road where we continued up and over the mountain.

"That didn't feel too bad."

I was beginning to think I can ride a gear like this. After all, Cavanaugh turns large gears and is faster than I so I should try pedaling bigger gears to go faster. It worked in last year's VT50 so why can't it work all the time? We took a few more roads and made it onto the rail trail bike path in Avon. From there it was a straight shot south to Winding Trails. Upon arriving at the back corner of the course we made a few phone calls to find Kerry.

It looked nice. Nice and Dry and Nice and Fast. We found Kerry and did a lap. The 17 felt good but due to the nature of the course being so twisty I consistently felt behind the gear. I did feel strong but the 30-40 min ride out there and a 25-30min lap with no water or food put me near my limit. Given that Stewart typically isn't so twisty, I wouldn't have done a ton of climbing (aka: Avon Mtn) and I'd be eating and drinking, I figured I was still okay for SSAP.

We then rode home but did a partial lap around the west hartford reservoir to get another 30mins in. It was now pushing 7:30pm and the sun was disappearing and the temperature was plummeting down into the lower 40s. So much for shorts and a short sleeve jersey...

Saturday I got my stuff together and Ginger, Omega and I hit the road for Montgomery County NY. The Bike29 crew from VT was expected to arrive late in the afternoon while Mike from Niner was already out there. The weather did not look good. Very cloudy skies with a high chance of rain. I was beginning to believe that this year's SSAP was going to be as wet and muddy as last year's.

We arrived around 2pm to say hello to Darkhorse George, Hawaiian Mike, Niner Mike and everyone else at Darkhorse Cycles. Rain was immanent so I got to work getting Ginger's bike and mine all set for a ride. We rode from the shop just as the rain started sprinkling and the wind started howling. It was frigid cold (again, somewhere in the 40s). Ginger's contacts were drying out due to the wind and the rain was pelting our faces but we persisted to get a ride in.

The Darkhorse Cycles crew set this year's race up starting and finishing on the north side of Stewart Forest like they did for last year's Darkhorse40. It worked out well for the 40 as its easy to get to, a paved road to park on and plenty of room for the post-race festivities. Oh, and its very close to their new storefront. I'd say a Victory on all accounts. I really like this new format, especially when its wet out.

Ginger and I rode the prologue loop and started in on the first 1/8 mile or so of the main loop. She had fun despite the harsh conditions we were riding in (kind of like last week's Grinder... I keep saying we'll ride in the sun, dry trails and warmer temps but that's not happening so far. I really hope this promise will not be broken..). With our feet getting cold (well, just mine) and contacts drying out we turned around and moseyed back to Darkhorse Cycles to warm back up.

Knowing how much it would rain I also decided to remove the 17t cog and throw on an 18 for the race. The 18, lately, has been my go-to cog for Stewart and I managed to get through the muck last year with it so I figured it should work fine.

After a few drinks, a few introductions and a few good laughs the Bike29 crew arrived. So did the steady rain. Mandy set out to ride the course while Jay-Pro and George engaged in the festivities at the shop. Ginger and I were getting hungry and couldn't wait until the 'official' dinner so we split off at some point to grab some food and check into our hotel and get cleaned up.

This is where I sank into another bad note. Somehow my cargo box decided it didn't want to be on-top of my car anymore. I found it hanging halfway off the Audi's roof when we pulled into the hotel parking lot.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

I got it back on the roof before either the box or the car got damaged. That was a relief. Turns out my Thule quick clamps do not want to hold tension anymore so the box can float around on the cross bars. I remedied this (for now) by putting the box back in the center of the car with our bikes on either side (bikes were on one side when we drove out there). This reminded me of when my quick release clamp decided to fail in Colorado last year. At that point in time I happened to look up through the sunroof and saw my Superfly swaying with the wind as I was heading up to Fort Collins from Denver. I almost lost my bike, two days before the Breck Epic.

Moral of this story? Periodically check everything. Things wear out after prolonged use. My bike trays are easily 10 years old and my cargo box is older.

So, yeah. I'm outside walking Omega in the rain and also fixing my car. Completely soaked and not a happy camper. The thermostat in our hotel room was also broken so I couldn't get the room warm. I ripped it off the wall (after realizing it was held on with tiny clips) and figured it probably needed new batteries or something. So, I carried it to the front desk and asked them to fix it. I was greeted with the strangest of looks but without questioning why I had the thermostat in my hand they replaced the batteries and it worked again. Victory!

After a hot shower Bike29 George told me they were all at the restaurant across the street from the bike shop so we headed over. The rain was getting worse and by now there were some giant standing puddles in the road and parking lots. We arrived and Bike29 George was no where to be found. Hawaiian Mike greeted us with drinks as we settled into some more fun times with great people.

Darkhorse George kept asking around who Bike29 George (following the lingo? its not that confusing) was picking up at the airport. Ginger, Mandy and I knew but we managed to keep our mouths shut. Rumors started circulating that it was Dicky (which was hilarious). Moments later Dejay Birtch (straight from Sea Otter in CA) walked through the door and the looks on everyone's faces was priceless (somehow I forgot to take a photo). The Darkhorse crew and Niner Mike were beyond themselves. What a great surprise. It was good to see Dejay again and glad to see him back on the East Coast.

We found our way back to the Comfort Inn for more drinks. Meanwhile, T-Hom was at some scary bar and hotel somewhere else in town and couldn't escape to meet up with us. At some point he and his Boston Buddies did arrive at the Comfort Inn.

(photo: Mandy)

We could hear the rain coming down on the windows. It was raining sideways and we all knew tomorrow would not be all smiles. To bed late. Up super early. Its race day. The rain passed and left behind water soaked roads and even more soaked off-road bike trails.

"Yup, just like 2010."

"Embrace it."

A Panera Breakfast and we were off to the races. People were showing up as early as 7. We would see upwards of 250 racers. This is probably one of the largest singlespeed only events in the country!

Ginger and I found a good location near the start/finish for her and Omega to hang out during the race. We tied Omega up to a tree and I started riding around before the race started.

A few minutes before 9 the expert and pros went off. I was up front with everyone as we barreled down the pavement and onto a dirt road through the prologue. Rob Stine came to the front and started pulling with Monte, Dejay, Cavanaugh, Roger Foco, Dave Lyons and others close behind. I was probably sitting around 8th-10th.

I felt good and didn't feel like I was overextending myself at the start like I historically have done. I kept telling myself to setting into a pace that I felt I could sustain for the entire duration and focus on being consistent. Consistency has not been my strong suit in Stewart so I wanted to really focus on that despite whomever was infront of or behind me.

As we turned the first corner from dirt road to doubletrack I could not believe how far ahead the leaders were already. That was pretty amazing to watch unfold right infront of my eyes.

And then there was the first puddle. Probably not even 1mile into the race. Guess it was better to get it over with up front. I went onto become thoroughly soaked for most of the duration of the race. It was insane how much larger the puddles in the prologue got overnight. Wheels were already getting swallowed.

(photo: GTLuke)

As I came out onto the pavement we then went opposite of our start and passed the start finish on a gradual paved climb. Somehow I managed to settle into a nice cadence which propelled me up that road at a decent clip while not killing my knees. It was strange to me for so early on I typically am breathing very heavy and my knees are on fire from the intensity. I felt that but to a significantly lesser degree. My breathing was controlled and my legs felt strong but not overworked.

"Good... Lets keep it this way and keep on trucking."

I stood up as much as I could to get that extra kick of the pedals. The trails in Stewart are fast and punchy so a bigger gear and standing up seems to help me a lot on the punchy stuff. As we crested the paved road climb we ducked back onto some singletrack which didn't seem too muddy. Tacky yes. I took it easy through the turns trying to figure out how fast I could push it before losing grip with the tires. The Racing Ralphs felt pretty good. My bike felt great too. This gear allowed me to have my rear wheel as far forward in the sliding drop-outs as possible which allowed a short wheelbase. Coupled with my crabon Niner fork (45mm offset -vs- G2 51mm) the bike felt fast (and handling was very responsive. just like I enjoy for east coast terrain).

The trail turned upward and also turned mucky. Mucky like peanut butter. It was tough to climb this hill up towards Scofield Ln with such sticky mud but I managed. I wound up standing up most of that climb and seemed to be pulling away from the people being me (but the people ahead of me were pulling on me). I was in what I call "no man's land" not even 20minutes into the race. Out on the gravel roads like Ridge Road I could see people far off ahead of me and a bit closer behind me. Ridge Road is where the first annual SSAP started. Monte has a nice photo on his blog (right side under 'Dirt Peleton') from that event's start.

Right onto Weed Road and we were now where the Darkhorse races historically used to start. Right at the top of that nasty climb up Weed Road. We ducked into the Orchard singletrack on the left right at the top of that climb. I had a good pace and was still feeling good. This was fun but I was worried I'd blow up at some point because I always seem to do. I'd try to coast and rest where I could but course out here lent itself to continuously pedaling so I'd keep going faster.

The roads are where I would always slow down and everyone else would speed up. Historically, I've felt this is where I lose a lot of time and fall back in the standings. This year I tried to keep pedaling as fast as I can on the roads with little periods of coasting. It was hard to accomplish as I climbed up Ridge Road but I knew I had to keep the pace even on the climbs if I wanted to hold my own. I did just that while hoping I wouldn't blow up later in the race.

(photo: Erika Johnson)

The rest of the course up through the old factory (where my blog's header picture came from) pretty much went this way. We didn't go through the factory again as we weren't allowed to this year. Down that road and a right turn onto a double track that climbed a tad through this field. At the base of this climb was a stream crossing with a wooden bridge on the left. I saw the guy pretty far infront of me take the bridge and it looked like it was a slower route so I opted to go right through the middle of the stream. After all, I am already soaked.

Ever see those images of surfers surfing the 'pipeline'? Well, I kind of felt like that. That stream was deep. Hub deep at a minimum. I carried so much forward momentum coming into it that my tires parted the water and it flew out and over my head. I felt like I was in my own little 'pipeline' or 'tunnel of water' as I went through the stream. The water came down as quickly as it went up and I now officially became drenched. My gloves were now soaked completely through and water was dripping down through my helmet and all over my face.

"That was fun!"

After the stream there were a series of little step climbs as we gained some vertical. At this point in the loop I typically lose strength to muscle up these climbs and am slowing down a lot. This year, I felt myself slow down some but still had the strength to muscle up the climbs.

"If I could stay on the bike it would make me faster than running or walking."

"Stay on the bike!"

We eventually crossed over the dirt road we rode down in the prologue and did a tiny loop within the prologue loop before coming back onto the paved road to the start/finish. GTLuke was hiding somewhere in here snapping photos of people riding down this rock face and into a giant puddle of water.

from this

to this

(photos: GTLuke)

I then came across the start/finish and realized I drank one and a half bottles so I only had Ginger give me one bottle for the 2nd lap. I also finished one flask of Hammer Gel and had another flask left. With a flask of gel and 1.5 bottles I tried to remember to drink and eat on the 2nd lap. I think this was one of the critical keys to my maintaining a consistent lap.

Now that I've been out for a shade over an hour I still had energy to motor up that road climb as I entered lap two. Ginger said I was around 11th. Wow. That's awesome. I finished 25th last year. I did my best to maintain my pace but the course was not the same as it was on the first lap. Rightfully so as upwards of 250 racers have now traveled on it.

That mucky climb on lap one? It was 10x worse now. I juggled back and forth between running and riding. I tried to ride most of it but felt myself slowing to almost a standstill. Two guys caught up to me and passed me. This was probably my lowest point of the race but I snapped myself out of it rather quickly.

Onto Ridge Road and I could see those two guys not that far ahead but could not catch back up. I focused on turning those pedals over as fast as I could while also drinking every chance I had. I could not afford to have any cramps start setting in as I still had a big chunk of the lap to finish.

Surprisingly, despite that mucky climb, I rode more of the course on lap two than I did on lap one. I can not figure that one out but was stoked to stay on the bike.

which lead to this

(photo sequence: Eric McPhee)

"Look Ma.... No brakes!"

Fingers are no where near my brake levers. In fact, I rarely used my brakes this entire race (including rolling over blind hills like above). I tried to roll through the turns as much as I could. I'd use the front brake sometimes but if I was using a brake it was the rear brake as I entered into the turn. As a result I only had one or two panic stops for coming into a turn too hot. Now, one could argue that this method slowed me down and one can argue that it made me faster. I don't know which is right. All I know is I was comfortable and happy with how I rode.

Lap two continued about the same as lap one. Same pace and consistent power in my legs. My arms were getting a little fatigued but nothing that didn't affect my handling of the bike. As I grew closer to the end of the second lap I grew more afraid of cramps on-setting out of now where. This prompted me to eat and drink even more. I did my best to also be consistent with eating and drinking for pockets of large doses of food and water don't help much.

At some point two more people passed me. There was nothing I could do even though I didn't want to slip further back. I had just enough in me to continue at my pace and if I upped my pace to match the guys that just past me I would have been at grave risk to blowing up before the finish.

Why am I so worried about blowing up? I did just that in last year's Darkhorse40. I went so hard the first lap that on lap two I cramped and went from a forward momentum pace to a backwards momentum pace. I fell from top 10 to 30ish. I did not want to do that here and felt I could let a few people go as long as I could continue riding as fast as I could. Again, trying to be consistent. Once I figure that out I can work on surges here and there (ha. yeah, right).

More photos from GTLuke as I rounded out the second and final lap.

Yes, my eyes are closed. I rode most of these deep puddles with my eyes closed. That's the only way I could keep them from getting blurry with mud. Mountain Biking with glasses never seemed to work for me on the east coast. I think its because of the humidity we see. In muddy conditions like this? They probably would have made it one lap and then would have been full of mud.

There were a few people closing in on me from behind but I desperately wanted to hold 15th place (where I currently was). Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bike29 jersey. I couldn't tell if it was Jay-Pro or T-Vo. Either way I wanted to say ahead of them to a) make my teammates work and b) give George something to laugh about.

Onto the pavement and it was flat for a while before it pitched up slightly. I would either die here or hold my own. Knowing the finish was right around the corner I put my head down and buried myself with ridiculously fast cadences of those pedals. I was able to maintain the flat without backing off but once I got to the slight incline I couldn't sustain this cadence 100% and would back off for brief seconds at a time. Continuously looking over my shoulder to see if the other guys were gaining on me. I seemed to have held the gap.

Head back down and I pedaled feverishly despite feeling the legs starting to cramp. I could see the finish and everyone could see me. I felt myself slowing down.

Would I get there or would I falter a mere few yards from the finish?

My legs were starting to cramp but I told them to continue pedaling. My pedal strokes were no longer round but seemed like mush. I tried standing up to kick a few pedal strokes but would collapse back down on the saddle as my legs couldn't support me.

Pedal Damn It!

Pedal Little Fucker!

Oh wait... that last one's for Dicky. Not me...

I made it! I finished and was able to hold off anyone behind me in that last stretch. Hold off as in 6 seconds!

I finished the race in 15th place. 10 places ahead of last year. 15 minutes behind the winner, Monte.

"Only 15minutes?"

Yup. 15mins and change. My time of 2hrs 12mins 42sec versus Monte's time of 1hr 57mins 21seconds (results are here). That right there is worth it! I am stoked. Cavanaugh came in 7th, 5 minutes ahead of me! That is how close we were.

I hung out a bit, chatted with Ginger, Dejay, Monte and Cavanaugh but started to shiver. After all, I was sop and wet and it was cloudy and windy out. I wanted to say and see the women finish and also see T-Hom and Bike29 George finish but I had to get back to my car to put on some warm dry clothes. My legs felt okay. No cramps but they did feel heavy.

"Did I leave anything in the tank?"

I don't know. I don't really care. I was please with being consistent (from at least what my analog watch told me) and pleased with how I felt the entire race. I have not ridden this well (from my perspective) in Stewart Forest.... Ever.

After I got cleaned up (as in: wiped down with a damp towel) I rode back to the finish to find Ginger and Omega and help her gather everything up. We then joined everyone in the after-race festivities (beer and hot dogs) and we all told our stories of how the day went. The sun also started peaking out through the clouds.

The pro/expert women's podium: Rebecca and Donna from Niner/Ergon taking 1st and 2nd.

The pro/expert men's podium: Monte taking the win and Dejay 2nd

After the festivities Ginger, Omega and I got in the car and headed over to her parent's house for the afternoon. On our way we stopped for some home-made ice cream.

A cup of Mint Chocolate Chip with crushed Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Yum!

As we were making the 5minute drive from the ice cream place to her parent's house I couldn't help but notice my Audi was sluggish. Why did I have to press the gas pedal so much? Turning the corner onto their road and opening the window I found out why. (Bad note #3 for the weekend) The passenger rear brake caliper was frozen against the rotor. When I stopped in their driveway smoke was billowing out of the wheel wheel and it stunk to high hell.

As Charlie Brown would say:

"Good Grief"

20,000 miles on these brakes and now something goes wrong. Needless to say I was frustrated as this car has been nothing but reliable since early last summer (after all, I drove it to CO and back without any problems).

While I waited for the car to cool Omega decided to cool off himself. He went for a swim in the pond behind their house.

We then went to see her brother and cousin as they were back in the 'pit' waay behind the house doing some stuff...

Her brother came up to me and said

"I've got something for you"

And just like that.... 30something rounds in both hands were gone lickity split.

Ala 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' style

Thanks Ben!

Once the car was cooled off I pulled the wheel off to find only one of the two bolts that hold the brake caliper on were present. When I applied the e-brake at the ice cream shoppe I somehow got the caliper and carrier lodged and it wouldn't come un-done. Hence the smoke. By now it was 5pm on a Sunday and I could not find a hardware store to buy an 8mm x 1.0 pitch bolt to replace the missing one. I decided to bolt it back together with the remaining bolt and take it very, very easy on the 45min drive home. Good thing for us there was hardly any traffic and we made it home safely.

What a whirl-wind of a weekend. Only to have Big Brother calling early Monday morning... Ugh, another 13hr day. Hence this very long story a day late but not a dollar short.

I often wonder what I could do if I focused more with my riding. Then again, I ride because it is fun to me. I don't want to be forced into having to ride because my 'training plan' says I do. Hence why we were up late on Saturday having a good time with friends telling stories and having a few drinks. I find ways here and there to be faster on the bike but that is a by-product of everything else. Yeah it may take longer to get to that level but I'm having fun doing it...

metal

2011-04-18T07:59:00.001-04:00

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Sorty of &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Sort of.

I meant this metal.

The Twin Six metal kit. It arrived shortly after I left Saturday morning for SingleSpeed-A-Polooza.

I have to hop on the road bike and ride to work. Big Brother is waiting. More on this and my weekend in NY with the Darkhorse Cycles crew, Bike29 crew and Niner crew later.

Don't forget:

Gravel Grinder Spring Classic - VT

2011-04-11T23:11:00.006-04:00

Our trails are fairly dry and I haven't seen snow beyond parking-lot piles in a few weeks. Where's a good place to go ride bikes then?

Head up north where there is snow. Duh!

After all, the Canadianicans came down from the snowy north to visit Dicky in North Carolina (Unlike Alaska, Peter was not allowed to come too). Us Connecticuticans drive north to visit the folks at Bike29.

Makes sense?

Confused?

Good.

Photo: Mandy

This past Sunday marked the 2011 edition of the Gravel Grinder Spring Classic Dirt Road Ride in the Waterbury Vermont area. Ginger and I drove up Saturday to see George, Mandy and the folks at Bike29. It was a reasonable sunny day with temperatures climbing into the upper 50s. What a perfect day!

We also were picking up Ginger's new 29er. A 2011 Trek/Gary Fisher X-Caliber.

George was pretty busy with logistics for the event and Mandy was running the registration table so Ginger and I focused on getting her bike set-up proper and teaching her how to use clip-less pedals (her first time and she picked it up better than I did when I learned). We then went for a ride around Waterbury to try out the new bike and practice with those pedals. In-between practicing with the new pedals and swapping Ergon GP1 Bio-Kork grips onto Ginger's new bike we also checked in at the Old Stagecoach Inn (our place of rest for the evening) pretty much right next door from 5hillsbikes/bike29.

Great Success!

George's friends from California arrived and in-between a few drinks we waited for T-Hom* to get his ass up to Vermont from Boston. T-Hom didn't arrive until very late and I was getting Le-Tired as 7hrs of sleep lately has not been enough for me (probably because I've been working 15hr days, on average).

Sunday morning Ginger and I woke up and I opted for my first shower in about half a week. My thighs almost cramped up as I had to squat to use the shower facet because the ceiling in that part of the bed-and-breakfast was low and the crow-foot bathtub was sitting quite high off the floor.

This is not a good sign.. cramping legs before even getting anywhere near a bicycle.

A good homemade breakfast was ruined as I saturated my belgian waffle with not a little but a whole container of VT maple syrup. We then found our bikes and got our gear together. It was quite warm out for 8am in the mountains. I was rather surprised but very pleased at the same time. This meant knee warmers and a good thermal under the jersey would be just enough for the day's efforts.

There were over 130 people participating in this bike ride. Yes, I said bike ride. It was not a race and as Dejay has been known to say "The people riding in the back of the group are probably having more fun". That was just it, we were riding our bikes and we stoked to ride our bikes.

the start

the ride out of town

cars and bicycles sharing the roads. YES!

Every year the route is slightly different. We left Waterbury Center and headed north sort of parallel ling Rt100. George then decided to kick us all in the gut not even 10minutes into the ride by making us ride up Perry Hill Road (the first of five major climbs). The same road George took T-Hom up last summer and the two were in some pain but neither of them wanted to be 'that guy' who stopped or slowed down (I would have found T-Hom's story but I think it was on the 29er crew page and is now deleted). Perry Hill did get steep but only for a short section. My 34x19 on the Superfly felt good but I was also turning it over at a near stand-still cadence as I opted to maintain pace with Ginger and not ride on ahead.

Climbing Perry Hill came with reward though. Reward of some soft dirt roads that robbed you of forward momentum and made you pedal harder. There where some cool views.

By now a lot of the riders are quite a ways ahead of us and there were quite a few riders behind us. We were somewhere in the bunch but pedaling at our pace and having a good time.

Around mile 7 was the first time we'd see the aid station. If you were looking for water you are in for a rude awakening. George and T-Hom where there making sure everyone was fueled with liquor and bananas and other good fixings (I spy gummy bears!).

After the aid station we crossed over Rt100 and rode some dirt roads on the west side of Rt100. This was the second major climb of the day (I think). It was all dirt road and the dirt was quite wet and soggy which made for a slow ride. We came back onto Rt100 and headed north towards Stowe.

That would be Mt Mansfield and Stowe Mountain Resort off in the distance.

Right turn onto Dewey Hill Road and we climbed up that hill (#3 for the day). At the top we stopped and took in the sights and ate some food before carrying onto climb #4 for the day (Stowe Hollow Road).

I remembered driving this when we were here back in late February. Only it was snow-covered at the time and not dirt/mud. Driving this road was a coincidence. We wanted to take a scenic ride from Stowe down to Waterbury and happened to drive down Stowe Hollow Road and Barnes Hill Road. There are some nice houses back there that I wouldn't mind living in.

Ginger's knee was acting up so the pace slowed down a bit but we did our best to keep moving forward while taking care of her knee and taking in the sights and sun. Once at hte top of Stowe Hill Road we knew climb #4 was over and it was all downhill back to the aid station (same aid station as before and now mile 20).

Mount Mansfield and Stowe in the background

I think the pavement came back when we changed towns and the road became Barnes Hill. Lots of gravel all over it which made it quite slippery. We rolled down this and over to the aid station.

From there we opted to skip the last climb (#5) because we didn't want Ginger's knee to become the size of a soft ball like George's did in AZ. We did make our way over to the community bike path and ride through the mud and snow and soggy grass on our way back into downtown Waterbury. The community bike path put us out right at the base of Perry Hill Road. From there we rode back into town as it was about noon and thoughts of finish-line tacos were making our stomachs hungry.

Mmmm. Tacos.

The Tacos from Fridas were very tasty. Best Tacos in Stowe.

We did it! We rode 20something miles of mostly soggy dirt roads with a whole ton of climbing. George says about 3,000 feet of climbing if you did the complete loop. Considering Ginger has A)never ridden this 29er before and B)not ridden a bike since October I am overly impressed that she completed it. This was a big Victory in her book! Congrats.

George, T-Hom, Myself and Ginger after the ride.

photo: Mandy

A big 'Thank You' to George, Mandy and everyone else involved with organizing and executing this event. It was a lot of fun and the people involved were super. Bike rides are supposed to be fun and while this was challenging at times it was still fun overall. That's success right there!

* Its T-Hom... pronounced 'T' [pause] 'Hom'

gary fisher likes ergon

2011-04-04T20:00:00.002-04:00

Gary Fisher flew out to Connecticut this past weekend to say hello*. You know, the guy that helped create what we now call mountain biking? Yeah, he felt he'd fly across the country for part of the weekend.

Word has it that he heard my Ergon grip shipment arrived and wanted to see first hand how the new white GS1s match with my Superfly singlespeed.

Pretty damn good if you ask me.

While he was here he signed the top tube of my bike for me.

We also got to chat about 29inch wheeled mountain bikes, riding bicycles all over the world, his wardrobe**, Niner crabon fjorks on Trek/Gary Fisher G2-offset frames and the love for riding bicycles.

At one point I did opt for a photo even though he told me he'd be back sometime soon to check up on how things are going.

"Bicycles are fun!"

He told us all kinds of stories from his racing days while we shared ours. It was quite fun to hear what everyone had to say as we all had similar experiences but on different levels. He was overly interested about my experiences riding and racing against some of the top mountain bikers from Nepal. Its quite amazing where our bicycle travels take us and the amazing people we meet along the way. It is conversations like that where I am reminded as to how thankful I truely am for the places my bicycle riding takes me and the people I meet.

** mine was better thanks to my t-shirt and new classic Vans Checkerboard slip-ons

* actually, he was out here on business and I caught wind of it and introduced myself and got to chat about bikes with him for a while

29er Crew

2011-03-18T06:14:00.003-04:00

The folks in Wisconsin seem to like what I do and have agreed to support my bicycling endeavors. To that I say 'Thank You'.

The primary bicycle I will be riding offroad with is my Superfly Singlespeed that I rode last season. Somedays I'll have my Fox squishy fjork on the front end and other days I will have my Niner crabon fjork.

gluttony and the salad

2011-03-14T22:00:00.039-04:00

I rode my bike to the grocery store the other day. Its only about 3 blocks away but the bike is quicker than walking and I could also carry more groceries on the bike. Besides, it was a windy (30mph) overcast Sunday. Why shouldn't one ride their bike?

Both panniers were full (one reusable bag each) and I opted to strap the bag with the eggs ontop of the rack. Three bags and $50 worth of food. That should last me 'till the end of next week.

Between yesterday and this morning I ran into a bit of a problem.

I ate too many donuts.

So, I opted to ride my bike to work today to get rid of 'em.

I couldn't seem to shake them from my tail no matter how many left turns I made. It was a nice ride nonetheless. Felt good once I got to work. Perhaps I did shake them?

After all, eating Donuts is very American.

Once I got home from work I was hungry.

Since there were no more donuts I opted for a salad with cranberry juice and all the fixins.

(Yes, there is lettuce in there)

But there is a specific method to eating such a meal.

photo credit: sith lord from waay up north... eh

No. Not that method.

One must wear their best Grig Martin shirt whilst eating their salad.

However, some of us were not impressed as this was a meal without sharing.

Ignoring all parties in the vicinity I continued eating until my plate was empty.

The moral of the story?

"Eat donuts"

Errr.. I mean...

"Fuck this shit. I'm getting some salad."

That's right.

Both Grig Martin and Rebecca Rusch will be heading back east later this spring to spend their memorial day and the week thereafter with us at the Trans-Sylvania Epic for the second year in a row.

Peter can come too.

Unfortunately the other sith lord from up north won't be joining us. How will Dicky and I stay ahead of Grig then? I think it begins with staying away from donuts and eating salads. Or maybe posting more 'moves'? Perhaps donuts are the key? I think we might just use the Force in the end.

"Good for you. Now its time to play with the dead rabbit."

barkhamsted road ride

2011-03-13T15:19:00.001-04:00

Charlie and I went out for a road ride yesterday. I wanted to ride this weekend and he was meeting up with some friends so I tagged along.

Some of his friends were rendezvousing in the town of Riverton for a ride around the reservoir. Both Charlie and I didn't feel like driving so we rode our bikes out to Riverton to meet up with his buddies and joined them in a ride around Barkhamsted Reservoir. Rough estimate was 2hrs out there and then a 2-3hr ride so I was thinking a total ride time of around 6-7hrs so I prepared for that (assuming a few stops for water and possibly food).

My big miscalculation for the day was temperature. The forecast was for 50F by mid-day (where we'd be doing most of our riding) and partly cloudy. I read that as 50F weather and since it was near 50 and sunny when we got into Newtown last weekend (and I was overheating) I figured this weekend I can dress lighter.

Dress lighter meant a thicker base layer with just a short sleeve jersey and my wind vest and no shoe covers. As soon as I turned the corner from my house enroute to Charlie's I immediately realized that it would be near 50 but super windy. I was cold and would continue to be cold through most of the ride because I was too stubborn to turn around and grab some warmer clothes from home. Stubborn probably because I felt I was late getting to Charlie's house.

Anywho.. We headed west on rt4 through Farmington into the wind. The wind was fierce and Charlie was setting what I thought was a fast pace. Out into Collinsville and we then took a chance and shot across the Nepaug Resevoir hoping the bike path would be clear of snow. It was.

Victory!

Around the edge of Nepaug State Forest and into the town of New Hartford. Then north up through Peoples State Forest which was a really nice ride. The snow was still present and it was quite cold as a result. That put us out into Riverton where we met Charlie's friends. I grabbed a coffee in hopes to warm up. Little did I know we were riding against the wind and uphill the whole way. No wonder I was quite tired.

Riverton was just before mile 30.

From here the climbing started as we rounded the northern most tip of the Barkhamsted Reservoir only a few short miles from Massachusetts. The views were beautiful and the road was quite smooth (rt20) and free of sand while the woods and edges of the roads were still full of snow. The wind also seemed to disappear which was a nice relief. I wanted to get some photos but my phone was buried deep in my jersey pocket beneath a ton of food and I didn't feel like stopping to dig it out.

On both climbs I fell off the back quite far. I am not entirely sure why but my thighs had no strength to pedal a 10-12mph pace up those climbs. This has been somewhat consistent for me the past few years on my road bike. I am beginning to wonder if my fit is off because I never really feel comfortable on the bike as I do with my mountain bikes. The stem is the same length as my track bike and the geometry is very similar. I wonder if its because my road bike's handlebars are narrower? Either way I was able to maintain a pace (around 8mph) and climb both of those climbs without having to stop anywhere along the way. I'd regroup at the top and we'd continue out from there. The good news is I was able to warm up with these climbs. No more cold feet.

At the top of the last big climb, in East Hartland, Charlie and I branched off from his friends and started making our way back towards West Hartford. We stopped in North Granby to refill our waterbottles at one of his friend's houses. We hung out there on his buddy's porch in the sun for a bit. I was offered a PBR and accepted.

Once we were nice and cold again from resting we got back on the bikes and started the slow descent back into West Hartford. South into Granby and further south into Tarrifville and Bloomfield and back home. That last leg we either had a strong cross-wind or we had another head wind. It was one of those rides where we never got that tail wind as a reward for all the work riding into the wind. Oh well..

Total ride time was around 5.5hrs with almost an hour of sitting around (guess that stop in North Granby was quite long). An hour or two short of what I estimated going into the ride.

Total distance around 70miles. Still quicker than last weekend's 70miles. About what I was expecting to ride.

Charlie's GPS data is here. (thanks Charlie)

Afterwards I cleaned up and had something to eat. Then took a 30-45min nap to rest.

It was a good day riding bikes.

Tim Johnson's Ride on Washington

2011-03-06T22:50:00.001-05:00

Full details are over here on the Gary Fisher 29er crew blog.

Highlights:

Cyclocross Superstar Tim Johnson and a crew of friends and fellow bicycle advocates are riding their bikes from Boston to Washington DC for the National Bike Summit.

I joined up with them on part of their leg from Hartford to Manhattan on Saturday. Hartford to Cannondale's headquarters in Bethel Connecticut was my route.

today's commute

2011-03-03T22:43:00.003-05:00

Since my days are still quite long in the office and I keep finding house projects to work on when I am home, I figured the only time I can ride is my commute to and from work. Therefore I am trying to make an effort to ride more and drive less.

Today's commute, as they say on Marketplace....

by the numbers:
~ 2 cars honking their horns at me
~ 2 other cars nearly running me off the road (both less than 1/4 mile from my house)
~ 5 co-workers commenting on how crazy I am to ride my bike on such a cold day
~ temps around 10-15F for my commutes
~ one 20lb box of audi brake parts hauled to USPS for shipping (paid for the bike rack and panniers)
~ one yoga mat and clothing for lunchtime yoga class
~ one bag of clothes for lunch
~ one bag of lunch
~ around 23miles ridden today
~ zero coasting
~ one dead headlight battery

I changed some things up on my fixed gear to better aid in commuting to and from work. Those changes being a rear rack and panniers to lug my gear around. It was kind of tricky to get everything to fit properly since the chainstays are quite short on my track bike. I found something that works and my feet do not interfere.

I went this route because I was getting tired of a sweaty back from riding with a fully loaded messenger bag on my back. I kind of like this option as it allows me to better regulate heat while riding which correlates to me not being as sweaty and smelly at work (no showers). It does make the bike a bit heavier and thus handling is compromised but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Especially with a 20lb box attached to it this morning. I rode into work so early this morning that the post office was not open yet.

Doh!

That meant I lugged those brakes all over Hartford as I couldn't get to a post office until I went to yoga class at lunch. Guess its added weight to help with 'training'? I think its more poor planning on my behalf.

Don't forget to:

Tomorrow the plan is to do it all over again (minus the USPS stop and yoga class). On the way home I plan on swinging by Kenny's Red Rock for some reception to see and hopefully say hello to cyclocross champion Tim Johnson as he rides through Hartford on his way to DC (for the National Bike Summit) as he promotes bicycle advocacy.

ssaz '11 - the finale'

2011-02-13T20:19:00.008-05:00

Sorry for the delay. Had some obligations that pulled me away from the computer.

like: Bringing Bobo's to New England. We made some bacon chocolate chip pancakes Friday night for dinner. Yummy.

Third time was a charm. I think we figured it out.

Then a day snowboarding at Sugarbush. The day started off with some high winds which did not make it enjoyable. However, the winds subsided and the snow started falling. Three inches worth of snow. Later on in the day the snow subsided and we had some sun before the lifts closed. Dinner at Positive Pie in Montpelier and then we managed to get back to Hartford but not without driving through a white-out on I89 as we left Montpelier. That lasted most of the stretch of I89 down towards I91. 3.5hr drive home was 4.5hrs and we were pretty beat.

Anyway.. Back to Arizona....
After Saturday's event, I had one more day in Arizona before my flight home. That day was spent doing what the previous few days involved: eating, riding bicycles and drinking (in no particular order).

Team Bike29 piled into the Executor with all our biking gear and made a stop in town for breakfast before meeting up with Darkhorse George, Niner Mike and Rudi. The plan laid out on the table was Bobo's but somehow the Executor arrived at the Hungry Fox. The team's mood was about 50/50 with this choice. I was optimistic and willing to try something new. Such optimism quickly disappeared when I took my first bite into my meal.

Blagh.

My chipped beef was heavy on the gravy and light on the chipped beef.

Fail

I was kicking myself for ordering a meal that is best ordered in the southeast US, not the southwest. Oh well, live and learn. Emily and Mandy ordered the Sonoran Skillet and the chorizo was tasty. Dicky took advantage of the Senior Citizen Special and had an omelet while George wasn't too happy with his biscuits and gravy but Keller was quite satisfied with his meal.

After breakfast we headed over to Rudi's house to gather up the remainder of the troops. Monte made an appearance and subsequently joined our bike ride. Rudi took us out on these trails in western Tuscon dubbed 'Sweetwater'. Sweet it was.

Smack in the middle of lots and lots of saguaro cacti. Such an amazing sight whilst riding.

Rudi having a blast.

Mandy, Keller and Darkhorse George

I was reading up on the saguaros while thinking about this post. I came across this image.

Look at the ages for the various stages of a saguaro cactus. Now look at the photos I took and realize how old these cacti really are. That is pretty amazing!

Keller and Emily

The trails were fast and you can really get a rhythm going. Lots of small rocks here and there to keep you on your toes. I have to say that the previous two days of riding were lots of fun but this afternoon took the cake. Such a great way to end the trip.

Part of the crew hanging out at one of our stops.

Mandy and Darkhorse George

Rudi knows the gentleman who conceptualized and worked to make these trails what they are today. Seeing everyone in our group riding with a giant smile on their face, including myself, I think Rudi's friend has done a great job. Thanks Rudi and tell your friend thank you as well!'

Monte, Darkhorse George and myself

As you can tell, we stopped a bunch. The pace was moderate with a few trails taken at a faster pace (thanks to Niner Mike and George since they were 'fresh' from not riding much on Saturday). The rest of us were dragging to a certain degree because of what we rode the day prior. Either way, we still enjoyed being out on our bikes riding again.

One of the later trails we rode a few of us stopped to snap photos as everyone rode bike. Here's one I took of George..

and one of Mandy

and a shot of Darkhorse George

Mandy snapped this shot of me coming around a bend

photo: Mandy

and got this one of Dicky coming around the same bend

photo: Mandy

I caught this photo when Mandy was down in a little valley quite a-ways down the trail. I tried to get both her and George in the photo but he was a little too far ahead.

After about a 2-2.5hr ride we were invited over to Rudi's for a bbq.

Dicky having some fun with Rudi's dog.

After the BBQ we ultimately headed over to a local micro-brew to meet up with Dejay and his posse to celebrate his birthday and some of us watched the superbowl.

Dejay.. The birthday boy.

They kicked us out around 9pm and we made our way to another watering hole. Sometime later in the evening we ultimately got back to the hotel. I then had to take my bike apart and get it back into its travel case and also pack my clothes before I fell asleep. George was nice enough to take Keller and I to the airport at 7:30am the next morning.

This trip was a whole lot of fun. I am glad I decided to partake. I have to say thank you to both George and Mandy for figuring out the logistics and driving Team Bike29 around all weekend. It made this trip exponentially more enjoyable. Thanks!

It was also great to see people I haven't seen in months as well as to meet some new people. That aspect of the traveling is always fun.

I anticipate going back next year. I like the idea of heading off into the desert to get away from the snow mid-winter here in the Northeast. When you have a good sized group like we did the fun factor is even higher. Can't wait for next year.

the Singlespeed Arizona

2011-02-10T19:10:00.005-05:00

Continuing from my previous post...

Saturday was THE event; commonly referred to as 'SingleSpeed Arizona'. This is an event that Dejay Birtch has been putting on for a few years now. Seeing as he travels the country throughout the year participating in other people's events, this is his way of giving back. Giving back while also challenging just about every one. The trails he took us on and the combination of how he linked it together makes for quite a difficult ride/race.

Pushing a total of 50 miles in duration and upwards of 6,000ft of climbing. Pretty sporty for an event in early February.

We got up at a reasonable hour, organized all the bikes and gear into the Executor and headed off for some breakfast on our way to the start/finish. In typical Bike29 fashion on this trip, we arrived quite early. Early enough that the campers were just starting to trickle out of their tents. It was quite cool early this morning so most of us opted to stay in the warm Executor and listen to Iron Maiden and kill some time.

In case you were hungry or needed a drink, Dejay had it taken care of:

The whole Bike29 contingent was participating with the exception of George. His knee was acting up again so he opted not to ride (a difficult choice) and helped Dejay with the logistics of the event. We gathered together around 9am to listen to a few words.

Once Dejay was done we all casually rode on a few roads to the base of the first climb and the official start of this year's Singlespeed Arizona.

(Mandy and Dicky are in the foreground)

I ran into Keith from PA who I used to race with a few years ago. He moved out to AZ not too long ago. It was great to both see and ride with him again. He snapped this photo of me.

After re-grouping and some of us shedding clothes (I lost my woolie and my knee warmers) we were requested to remove our front wheel and leave our bike up the road around the bend.

Photo: Devon Balet

And just like that... We were off up the road to find our bikes, put the wheels back on and start pedaling. I walked a brisk pace to my bike as I had no intentions on 'racing'. More like riding my bike but riding my bike at a not-so-leisurely pace.

First turn I saw George from Darkhorse Cycles (lower left).

And around the next bend I saw Mandy

and saw Dicky around the following bend (no picture). Dicky and I settled into a pace and stuck together for most of the climb. At one point he rode ahead of me as Dejay was chasing him with his dildo.

Up and up and up. This climb went on for quite a while. Word has it we were climbing for 8 miles but I couldn't really tell as I didn't note the mile marker we started at.

One of the things I noticed while out here in the desert is that there really aren't too many rules in regards to guns. On multiple occasions I saw people shooting guns on either side of the road into targets. Their locations were such that there was an earthen backdrop for them to shoot into. Some guns were quite large and the rounds were being shot very rapidly.

A few miles into the climb we crested the steepest part and the dirt road became undulating.

(Dicky)

Dejay said that if we made it to mile post 13 we went too far. This was my gauge as to how far we had to go. I think it was about halfway between mile post 12 and 13 we rolled up to the aid station where Dejay and his crew were hanging out. Didn't really stop long enough to see what was available. We filled our bottles back up with water and hit the trail.

Windy and technical singletrack that is. I was stoked. No more road climbing and some technical singletrack that my tires had some grip on. Dicky and I rallied through this section before it dumped us onto some flat sandy ATV trails. A few gated fences later we were in a dried up river bed.

There is a trail in there somewhere.

We rode a bit of the river bed but the later portion of it became too rocky and sandy to ride so we hoofed it.

Onto the side of the creek and eventually onto more ATV trails.

He's got a smile on his face..

We were now about 20miles in from where the neutral roll-out began. We're about an hour and a half since we started climbing... I think.

More ATV trails as we climb up to the top of High Chiva. Then a technical descent and undulating forest service roads back to the main road we climbed in on. Ran into George and Mike from Niner at the intersection with the main road we climbed in on. Stopped to catch our breathe and grab some more food from my bag inside the Executor. I think we were around 2hrs or a tad past 2hrs by this point.

Dicky and I then headed back onto the road and climbed a few miles of what we rode in the beginning of the event. This part sucked. You try to maintain a decent momentum on the road but fatigue is setting in and the road has a few steep sections that just punch you in the gut.

Back at the aid station and Dejay says we've got about 10 miles left. I didn't believe him and kept telling myself we have at least 15 miles or so. We refilled our bottles and snacked on some food. Dicky found a bag of peanut M&Ms at the aid station and went to town.

You could see for what seemed like forever. Dejay kept saying the best part is coming. We hopped across the road and onto some more singletrack, uphill. As if we needed to go up further.. I was starting to feel the effects of not riding much the past few months and therefore was slowing down. Dicky was speeding up. I think it was those damn M&Ms. Both them and mustard are his energy food. Not caring about the 'race' I let him go and decided to ride my bike at my pace.

The views were so amazing that I found myself constantly looking around and not looking at where I had to go on the trail. This resulted in many panic stops coming into turns and lots of speed scrubbed. Not the most efficient way to ride a bicycle offroad.

Killer views. They kept getting better as we kept on riding.

There is a trail in there somewhere.

By now I'm definitely past the 3hr mark of riding from the bottom of the first climb. I've also made it through most of this high tundra region. Over a few cattle guards and through a few gates within fences I was now entering Milagrosa Caynon region. The last section of the race/ride/whatever you call it.

Fatigue was setting in deeper in my body while the terrain was becoming more challenging and technical.

I found myself getting off the bike more to walk down some gnarly sections of the descents. When I did this I also snapped a bunch of photos. Part of me was fooling myself by thinking I had to walk just because I was quite fatigued. The other part of me was thinking I wouldn't ride that last section even if I was 100% fresh. Mind games here and there.

My mind was also stuck on a bunch of Iron Maiden songs and Star Wars themes. I was also out there by myself and could not see another sole anywhere. When I could, my thumb and index finger were making music with my bell on the handlebars. Something I've often done in 100milers when you are out there riding your bike in the woods for upwards of 7hrs and pretty much solo.

I just rode down that. I found myself po-going on the front wheel and my 'lefty' fork quite often.

Where I had to go next:

How awesome is this? Despite the high level of difficulty this trail brings, and the fatigue throughout my body I still found time to take a few seconds and take in what was around me. That brought a smile to my face and made me forget the negatives. This was some cool shit, and to be doing it in early February. Even better.

The trail we were on (Milagrosa trail?) within the Milagrosa Caynon region pretty much followed this ridgeline. It definitely played games with me. I'd think I'm climbing the last ridgeline and then I had a descent down into the valley and on towards the finish. I'd get to the top of that ridgeline and sure enough, another ridge to climb.

Finally getting in near that canyon:

I do remember passing the tequila tree and passing on some tequila. I'm not much of a fan of hard liquor and I wasn't quite sure how much energy I had left in the tank. Kind of a party foul in the grand scheme of the theme for this event but whatevers.

The last descent was brutal. It was a lot of rock and a lot of giant steps at a very steep pitch. I rode into it near the top and got partway down after saying such things as:

'Om Namha Shivaye, Om Namha Shivaye, Om Namha Shivaye...'

and

'I am going to die...'

I eventually got off the bike and did my best to walk down these rock faces. Then onto some ATV trails and the the road back to where we started (Dejay's friend's house).

Done!

Victory!

5hours from when we started at the base of the first climb. 15minutes behind Dicky to take 18th place overall. About an hour or so from the first guy. Not bad considering the last time I rode over 3hrs in length was quite a few months ago. Guess all the yoga I've been doing is helping me somewhat.

I managed to say out of the cacti but did scratch up both my legs and both my arms on all the shrubbery I rode past. I look like I got attacked by a dozen or so cats. I did step down funny on one dismount and somehow got a bunch of cactus needles in the side of my left foot. The needles hurt but I knew I was close to the finish so I didn't touch them and just dealt with the pain in my foot. Probably not the best of ideas but I managed nonetheless.

We hung out at the finish for a while drinking beer and eating pizza and watching everyone come home. It was a fun time and I was quite surprised with how I recovered. The food took about an hour before my body wanted some but the beer wasn't a problem from the minute I got off the bike.

When all of the Bike29 Contingent were done riding and had enough resting we piled into the Executor and high tailed it back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Saw an awesome sunset on the way. The sunsets out in the rockies and western US are awesome and worth living for.

On our way to the after-party we stopped at a Chipolte for some dinner (I think that's when we stopped for burritos).

The remainder of my photos are here.

The Bike29 Contingent:

George's write-up is here

Mandy's write-up is here

Emily's write-up is here

Dicky's write-up is here

Keller... he's busy doing cool stuff with snowboards.

Thank You Dejay for your hard work and a big thank you to all of your friends to helped make this happen. With all the snowfall we've had in New England this January alone (50+ inches), a trip to the southwest was necessary for me. Having a posse from Bike29 and knowing a lot of people from all over the country helped solidify the decision to make my first trip to Arizona. I look forward to the next one.

ssaz '11 - days zero & one

2011-02-08T20:17:00.008-05:00

Tuesday and Wednesday were met with snow. By Wednesday night I was pretty beat from shoveling and throwing snow 15-20ft from my driveway. Late Wednesday night I somehow managed to throw a bunch of clothing into one of my travel bags. The intent was to pack light while not really knowing what the weekend's plan was beyond riding bicycles. Normally I would not be comfortable with going on a trip not knowing any logistics but lately this has added to the adventure of my bicycling trips away from home.

Thursday was a loong day. Up at 5am to go to work. Work for half a day or a little more. Grab a ride to the airport. Cross my fingers my packing worked well and the airline would accept my bags. Get out of Hartford before another storm rolls in. Arrive in Tuscon with all my gear.

Victory!

A quick phone call to George and I had a ride from the Tuscon airport. At least I thought I did.. The catch was that the crew was on 'dejay time' and would show up when they showed up. After some amount of time passed, Dicky called me to say they were on their way and wanted to know where I was. A few minutes later I was walking out of the airport terminal and the Executor was rolling by with Dejay hanging out the window yelling. Moments later I was in a bear hug by Dejay whilst toppling over onto my bike box in the middle of the airport arrival lane. The rest I don't recall too correctly as Dejay was hanging onto my beard and it hurt really bad (guess that's better than someone kicking me in the nuts). Somehow all my stuff made it into the Executor as did I. Picture a Nascar pit stop. I think that's at least what happened (everyone spilling out and grabbing myself and my gear and piling back in). The rest of the night was a bit of a blur except I do recall Mandy arriving at some point and a southwest dinner making its way all over the outside of the Executor (it was not me).

I knew quite a few people coming out to Dejay's race on Saturday but I wound up staying with the Bike29 Contingent (George, Mandy, Emily, Dicky, Keller and myself) as George was graceful enough to square up enough space for our gear, sleeping arrangements and transportation for the weekend. This was one of the big highlights of the weekend. Call it a 'gang'. Call it a 'posse'. Call it the 'Unofficial Bike29 Winter Training Camp'. Whichever way you look at it I was, and continue to be, super stoked to be a part of. George has put together a great group of individuals that have a common love for bicycling. This year is going to be FUN.

Friday morning 'Team Bike29' piled into the Suburban and we made our way over to Bobo's for breakfast. I got word that they will do a bacon chocolate chip pancake and immediately had to have one. When I saw the prices I thought it would be prudent to get two of them but George warned me that one pancake was enough. He was right. It was also very tasty. Definitely have to make these at home one morning.

After breakfast we were looking for a carwash to clean the Executor but due to the sudden cold spell in Tuscon most of the car washes were closed due to frozen pipes (yeah, it got that cold on Thursday). We eventually found one and after multiple passes through the carwash the truck got clean.

With a hearty breakfast digesting we got our bikes together and headed out for my first bike ride in Arizona. Destination: Southeast Tuscon to ride the 'Fantasy Island' trails. Some fast and twisty trails on the outskirts of Davis-Monthan AFB. It was mid-day and the sun was out which helped bring the temps up slightly. I think they were in the 50s (kind of cool for this time in AZ).

The first thing I noticed is how loose the trails are. We're riding in a mixture of sand and stone so yeah... its loose. I traditionally let the tires (in this case WTB Wolverines) carry me through a turn and I lean heavily on the wheels. You can't really do that out in AZ. I found myself sliding out a lot. In a panic from potentially falling I wound up getting too heavy on the brakes and slowing down too much before coming into a turn. By the end of the day I was getting better and was gradually pushing the corners a little at a time. I still never did comfortable with carrying a decent amount of speed through the turns.

Without really knowing the location, you could assume this is the Mexico border.... but, alas, I believe it was the border with the Air Force Base as we were still quite away from Mexico.

Fast, Sweeping turns.

Check out the inside of that turn. Cactus. Yup. This place is riddled with them. Most of them were far enough from the trail where you don't get pricked. It was the shrubbery that would get you. While the shrubbery doesn't have needles it still is kind of rough. Since I have a tendency to lean into turns my arms and legs are now shredded from the shrubbery. More on that tomorrow.

I was playing around with the 8mm camera I have on my iPhone. Enjoy..

Check out that bad boy!

Photo: Emily

The trails are directional here. To maximize the 'fun' factor.

Relatively flat, with mountains in the background. We would see those mountains on Saturday when Dejay put us to his little test.

Photo: Mandy

Later on we grabbed some food for dinner (I forget where) and headed over to the Sky Bar to meet up with Dejay, Mike@Niner and a few other people. We should have recalled 'dejay time' but forgot and arrived almost an hour early. That hour was quite interesting as we saw a gathering of meteorite collectors having some gathering and internet (live) awards ceremony within the bar. Someone else in the bar was hanging out on the couch knitting hats. And a few other people gathered to see stars out on the patio. A very eclectic mix so to speak.

Tomorrow we'll get into the pinnacle of this trip: Singlespeed Arizona. Dejay's pet project through the winter months.

All photos taken by myself unless specified. My photo album from the trip is here.

singlespeed arizona / jay peak

2011-02-01T22:26:00.006-05:00

One and a half more days of work and then I am on a plane out of this snow-laden land we call Connecticut. Destination: Tuscon Arizona to meet up with a bunch of friends, ride bikes, drink beer and partake in an event called "Singlespeed Arizona" hosted by Dejay from Niner/Ergon.

Strangely enough I am leaving on the tail end of yet another giant winter storm. It has been the theme for January this year. We have received over 50inches of snow this month alone! Well above the average. I recall seeing the grass in my yard on January 3rd. I know have snow drifts on the side of my driveway over 7ft tall.

Today it snowed 3-4 inches. Tonight it is supposed to sleet and tomorrow we are expecting another 8-10inches of snow. Somewhere in there we'll get freezing rain and a layer of ice on the ground. I spent Sunday shoveling the snow off the roof of my garage and porch for good measure. Also tried to clear away the gutters on the main portion of the house.

That is a full sized garden rake on the roof of my house. I've never had to do this before.

Last Wednesday (or was it Tuesday?) I boxed up the Cannondale 1FG for Arizona.

I haven't been riding any bicycles for almost three weeks now. Arizona is going to be interesting.

This past weekend I was up at Jay Peak in northern Vermont snowboarding for two days. They have plenty of snow for good conditions but I think we have more here in Connecticut. Ginger and I packed the cargo box on the Audi with our various snowboards (wanted to ride my regular camber and reverse camber boards back-to-back) and made the 4hr trip up there Thursday afternoon.

We had some great conditions and it even snowed Saturday for us. Rode quite hard on Friday. To the point where we had trouble walking because our legs were so sore. After a good night's rest we were back at it again on Saturday. Mixed our days up with a bunch of trails and lots of gladed runs (trees).

(I managed to get the Tram in the background)

They are expanding the base area a lot. Something like 16+ million dollars invested between a year or two ago and 2016. One such building will house an indoor water park. Complete with a lazy river and a wave pool. Quite amazing when you think of where Jay Peak resides (middle of now-where northeast Vermont).

Some views of the base area from the tram.

(waterpark is in the steel frame of a building on the far right of this pic)

top of the mountain

My favorite part of snowboarding at Jay Peak or Stowe are the woods. I found a fallen tree to ride through on one of our trips into the woods.

Late afternoon on Saturday we decided we were okay with a walk/hike. This meant we were heading off the mountain faaar skier's right... out of bounds. This started with the in-bounds gladed run on that section of the mountain. Rather than following the ski boundary we crossed it and kept on going. From previous experiences (last year and the year before) I knew this would put us out on VT242 a few miles away from the mountain's base lodge area. Not a big deal. With the snowpack present, we can also ride the side of the road on the descents and hike the ascents. Should take about an hour or so to get back to the car (it was at the resort). I also knew the tree coverage opened up enough to maintain momentum and make quite a few turns before having to stop and think about the next couple turns.

This was something Ginger's never done so we had to work our way up to this adventure. That was accomplished by riding the in-bounds gladed runs and keeping a close eye on how we were feeling (fatigue) throughout the day. She was feeling good and was confident in her riding so we committed to the little backcountry adventure. We first took a rest and replenished some energy stores (a Clif Shot Gel and some Shot Bloks) and then slowly made our way into the woods. The top was difficult for there is only one way in and the snowpack was quite scarce from so many people going into the glades. Lots of exposed trees and rocks we had to negotiate around.

The tail end of the lead-in for the glades.

Eventually we got past the lead-in and the found the ski boundary. 50-100 feet beyond the ski boundary the tracks started getting fewer and fewer. This is exactly what I wanted: The ability to make fresh tracks. The terrain also got a bit steeper which is another positive for us.

She's planning her next set of turns..

VICTORY!

This is what we live for.

Upon reaching the road it was time to ride as much as we could back to the resort.

We came upon a few skiers as they did exactly what we just did but they went one step further.. They had a ride coming to pick them up. They offered us a lift back to my car and that is how we finished our mini snowboarding vacation.

2011-01-23T23:11:00.003-05:00

All the cool kids will be there. I've never been to Arizona before so I figured this would be a good idea.

February 5th is the event. I've ridden twice outside since January 3rd. I've ridden a few times inside and been to the gym a few times as well. Been going to yoga classes upwards of three times a week all month. Should put me in a good spot for racing/riding my bicycle in Arizona.

I just want to ride my bicycle outside on trails. Something I can not do here as my yard and the trails are under a minimum of two feet of snow.

The Superfly will stay home as I've opted to ride my Cannondale out west. I just finished taking all the gears off of it (was set up as a 1x9) and got it singlespeederific. Picked up a lefty front wheel with 355 rim to somewhat match my DT240/crest rear wheel. The bike weighs in at 21.5lbs with some WTB Wolverine tires. I think that's what my Superfly weighs with these tires. Crazy!

I started boxing up the bike as next weekend I'll be in northern Vermont snowboarding and the following weekend is Arizona. No time.

I also opted to stay with my SPDs for this trip as I have no time on a set of Crankbros Eggbeaters I picked up. I tried the Eggbeaters on my trainer but was having some difficulty and didn't want to fight it when in AZ. I guess thirteen years of riding SPDs has some muscle memory ingrained in me.

I didn't have any clear silicone so I opted for the bathroom white. I do this to keep the water out of my shoes and also make it easier to remove the cleats as they are full of silicone rather than dirt. Works like a charm.

Time for some sleep.

I fell down the stairs and my shoes fell off

2011-01-21T17:38:00.005-05:00

That's right. Somehow I tripped when getting up from the couch last week and immediately fell over into the ground. I found the ground after narrowly missing the wood and glass end table and the ottoman. When I hit the ground my shoes fell off. I was okay but caught off guard.

This prompted me to do something. What to do? How about shoveling some more snow? Yup, it seems like every other day I am shoveling the snow off my driveway and sidewalk. Today was the third or fourth time in a little over a week (okay, so I guess it isn't every other day).

It all started with this.

Wednesday January 12th.

Note how this small region of Massachusetts did not get any snow? Yeah, that region where the red pin is casting a shadow. Steve Jobs told me that whatever the iPhone shows on its screen is exactly what is happening in reality. For some reason I do not believe him.

I went to bed around 1am the night before and the snow was just starting. For some reason I was up just before 6am. That was driven by the dog getting me up so he can go play in the snow. Less than an hour later I was out shoveling. After shoveling a walkway from the backdoor around the house to the driveway I broke out the tape measure and recorded 16inches deep and the snow was still falling from the heavens. Damn!

The driveway wasn't terribly fun for I couldn't do what I normally do by just 'plowing' the snow to the sides and then lift the shovel and throw it off to the yard. The end of my driveway is my arch nemesis. Two lanes of road plowed into my driveway. Yes! Just what I want.

making some progress at the street.

Once that was done I still had to do the driveway.

A few hours later we were done and the snow stopped falling. I estimate another 5 to 6 inches fell from the time I started shoveling until the snow stopped. Crap, so much for riding mountain bikes on three week old ice crusted snow.

Well, I guess this is my 'training' since I seem to have failed quite quickly at my resolution as I haven't ridden in almost two weeks. Since that storm we've had a storm of 3-4inches of snow plus rain and ice and just last night we got another 3-6inches of snow.

I managed to keep my shoes on whilst shoveling and also managed to decide on which mountain bike shoes I want for this season. I was thinking about some Shimano M240s or Dicky Look-Alike Mavic Razors. I settled on the M240s.

Last night I had them custom fitted as these shoes can be heated up and molded to your feet (up to 3 times I believe). Matt from Pedal Power fired up their Shimano shoe oven and went to town.

I opted to stick with my Superfeet insoles but we molded the heat moldable shimano ones for good measure. The insoles go into the oven for a few minutes to cook. Then then come out and go into the shoes. The shoes are put on and cranked down tight. I then stood there for a few minutes as a bunch of magic happened (the soles conforming to my feet).

When that was done we threw one shoe at a time into the oven.

Time is kept as it is bad to overcook them. The oven also comes with these fancy stickers that you put on the side of the shoe (that thing in yellow). The sticker has two boxes; one for 'good' and one for 'overcooked'. When the 'good' highlights the shoe is ready.

Out comes the shoe from the oven and the insole is inserted into the shoe and the shoe onto my foot. A plastic toe cover is put over the shoe to ensure the toe-box stays and does not conform to my foot. A bag is then put over both the shoe and my foot/leg. A hose is inserted and a strap is tied around my ankle (A good use for an Awesome Strap but we wound up using the Shimano provided strap). Then the pump is turned on and all the air is sucked out of the bag. This is called Vacuum Forming.

Oh, the Shimano oven also comes with these nice Shimano branded Michael Jackson gloves so Matt's fingers wouldn't burn when he touches the metal buckles on the shoes. Nifty. Note how I also wore the socks I normally ride with. This is important for proper fit.

The whole 'custom molding' that Shimano advertises is basically a vacuum forming of the shoe around your feet. Pretty novel concept once the appropriate materials for the shoe are determined.

I then stood there with the vacuum bag on my foot for a few minutes (5 maybe?). What is being molded are the heelcup and a portion of the sides of the shoes. I am not sure how much of the upper (buckle region) is molding. Probably not much.

When that shoe was done it was time to do the other.

Now my shoes won't fall off.

Victory!

Its a new year

2011-01-03T21:04:00.007-05:00

The beginning of the new year typically equates to resolutions. And resolutions typically last a week or so and are then broken. I sure hope I do not follow that suit here. We will see where this goes..

One of my resolutions is to ride my bicycle to work as much as possible. My biggest issue with riding to work is motivation. It is a mental game for me. Obviously much easier to hop in a car and drive to work when its cold out. OR any day for that matter. Well, my first day of work in 2011 was today, and I rode my bicycle there and back home.

a small Victory

It was a comfortable 16mile (roundtrip) commute in temperatures around the upper 20s and lower 30s Fahrenheit. Most of last week's snow storm melted since we had temperatures in the 50s this past weekend. The roads were nice and dry today.

I wound up riding my new track bike. A 2010 Cannondale Capo 2. It is configured so I can head out on long rides and my fit is similar to the road bike. My old GT was decked out more as a 'hipster' fixie. Or perhaps my version of the Fastest Bike in the World. Either way it was uncomfortable and not safe for longer rides.

The Capo is currently configured with:
- stock wheelset with 16T cog
- SRAM 500 singlespeed brake levers
- Ultegra 170mm crankset with 42T chainring
- Flite saddle
- carbon Cannondale seatpost
- Thomson 100mm stem
- 3T 46cm drop bars
- FSA Gossamer brakes
- Cinelli cork tape
- Shimano PD959 pedals

I want to add fenders (if possible... tire clearance is tight) and a rear rack with a plastic crate so I do not have to carry my gear on my back anymore. That is in the works.

The clothes I chose to wear seemed to be a good fit for this weather. I was warm and comfortable and was not saturating my layers with perspiration.

- Swerve wool cycling knickers (so I can look somewhat 'cool')
- a polyester t-shirt
- a polyester boxers
- old Burton Snowboards thermal pants
- Mountain Hardware super thin wool long sleeve shirt
- old Burton Snowboards thick socks (with a hunting theme)
- old Burton Snowboards 'superpipe' gloves
- some Raceface jacket I got on clearance from QBP a few years ago (with a somewhat shreded back after sliding on the pave after that car hit me last March
- my BaileyWorks SuperPro to carry my lunch, work clothes, bike lock, etc..
- Niterider HID headlight
- two no-name brand tail lights
- old beat to hell Sidi Dragons
- wore my windproof Mountain Hardware beanie on the way to work but it was too warm for the commute home so I donned my Swobo cycling cap
- Uvex Supersonic helmet
- old pair of Rudy Project glasses with clear lenses (want to change them up for generic safety glasses)

If it gets colder than I can throw on a pair of winter cycling knickers under the wool Swerves and can also add various thicker shirts to keep the core warm. Seems to be a good combination for me this winter no matter what type of bicycling I am doing. It may look unprofessional but it works and I am comfortable.

Oh, that's right... I modified my Sidis. I am willing to bet if Dicky did this to his Sidis he would have fetched more money for them when he sold them.

I threw on black duct tape to cover up the vents and keep my toes warm. It seemed to work a bit tonight. Colder nights I can slip some hand warmer packets I bought from Home Depot for $0.99 to keep my feet warm. I actually have a brand new set of neoprene shoe covers for winter riding but they are a pain in the ass to put on so I just go without any covers. Kind of ass-backwards considering my feet are the first things to get cold when I'm out biking in weather like this.

I could have trimmed the thermals so I get more 'sock' exposed but didn't have time today. Perhaps in the next couple of days/weeks I'll find time to trim the thermals and sew a hem on them so they won't come apart. Yeah right..

No need for a face mask. The 3 month old beard is thick enough to house birds. George is growing his beard out to keep him warm this winter but seems to be having troubles.

No gluing any pubes on my face like Th'om. (I just spent the past twenty minutes re-reading all those posts and am still laughing today.)

Tomorrow I'll probably drive to work for I have to head further east after work to go roller skating for a few hours. Got my hour long yoga class at lunch tomorrow as well. That has been helping my back so much. Looks like we're riding offroad Wednesday night and then after the ride I'm taking a yoga class. Thursday I'll probably drive to work and ride my bike home. Yoga at lunch on Thursday. Friday I'll ride to work and drive home.. Or ride home and then ride to work Saturday morning to go pick up my Jeep. Haven't thought that through yet but looking back on what I just wrote it looks like I am over-thinking this.

I hope I didn't just kill this resolution right as it started. Only time will tell...

new mtb shoes

2010-11-30T21:06:00.002-05:00

Three seasons has taken its toll on my Sidi Dominator mtb shoes. It is time for a new pair of shoes.

What shall I get?

What will suite a large narrow foot for a singlespeeder?

I have heard good things about the heat moldable shimano shoes. The M240 shoes look nice.

Or perhaps the Mavic Razors?

they say things come in waves of three

2010-11-29T22:02:00.004-05:00

I just finished three loads of laundry that took me three days to complete.

I just read these three blogs.

I tried to sell three bikes but only wound up selling two for the time being.

On yesterday's ride we were chatting about the three races put on in Michaux State Forest every year. Thinking about getting back to Michaux next season.

There are three things left on my TO DO list from Saturday. Oh wait. I just crossed one item off. Nevermind..

The past three weeks have seen me pedal a bicycle three times. About typical for me this season. That's right, back in the summer I don't think I was riding more than twice a week for a total of 4-6hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November started with an experiment of sorts.. I threw my Tomi Cog onto my Vicious 29er and took it out for a two hour trail ride one Sunday afternoon. My first fixed gear mountain bike ride.

Holy shit. This is insane. I don't know how Tomi and Dicky compete at a level they compete at whilst riding a fixed gear mountain bike. As Peter said when we were out at Breck this past summer, "its all about timing". Strangely enough he was just talking about that today. Well, waht Peter was referring to with Tomi's Fixed Gear off-road riding was 'Pedal Timing' to be exact. He spent a lot of time watching Tomi ride the inaugural Breck Epic fixed and noticed how Tomi would time the pedals with turns and obstacles.

Yeah.... Pedal Timing was probably the hardest thing I could not figure out in my first two hour ride. It was clearly evident when I encountered fallen trees. I could not time things correctly to bunny hop or gracefully float over the trees without smacking my pedals into the tree and stopping dead in my tracks. This is something I need to work on. I did figure out timing for wheelie drops off rocks and such. I also kind of got the whole 'pedaling while hovering above the saddle' figured out too.

Oh yeah, those 29x2.2 Wolverines don't quite fit comfortably in the small Vicious Cycles chainstay and seatstay provisions. That was one thing I never liked about that frame... The lack of accommodation for larger tires. There is some room with the fork but not much. Anyway...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following week I sold my GT Track bike and bought a Cannondale Capo from Sean at Bethel Cycle. I wanted a track bike that fit me more like my Cannondale road bike and would handle similarly. This way I could go out on long fixed gear road rides should I want to do that instead of take the road bike out.

Its got the stock wheelset with Ultegra cranks and 170mm arms. Standard drop bars with SRAM 500 levers and FSA Gossamer brakes front and rear.

That Saturday was the Cheshire Cyclocross race which also happened to be the CT State Cyclocross championships. Last year I raced my Vicious there (Actually, it was 2008). This year I had no intentions of racing but did want to go out and support Matt from Ghostship Clothing while he raced in the CAT3/4 with his singlespeed 'cross bike.

I recruited Salem Mazzawy and we rode to the race and rode home. He left his house in Glastonbury and met me in the south end of West Hartford an hour later. We then rode into Newington and into New Britain. Took some other back roads and eventually came out onto rt10 in Plainville. Hopped on the East Coast Greenway and rode that through Southington and into Cheshire as far as we could. Took me about 2hours give or take to get down there.

paul bunyan says hello
(that's probably a 50+ft statue)

The Cheshire 'cross race includes a long run-up that, in previous years, not that many people have been able to ride it. Why? At the bottom there was a fallen tree that was about a foot or two off the ground with no adjacent logs. You basically had to bunny hop that tree and somehow maintain forward momentum to continue up the hill. The tree was a few feet into the ascend on the hill. Well... This year the tree was gone and I saw a lot more people riding the hill than in years past.

I was bothered. Why make the course easier? Why take away a staple that helps make the event what it is? This really upsets me when trail obstacles that some people can ride and others try are removed or even simplified. Some stuff in Penwood were recently 'modified' (I'll get to that in another post... as I've been saying for months.. right Charlie?) and the trails within West Hartford Reservoir have 'easy ways' around obstacles that continuously crop up. I continuously close them off only to find them re-opened less than a week later. arghhh!

So, yeah.. This sucked. Some of the people that were riding the hill should not have ridden it and the ability to ride it gave them a distinct advantage over others. F that. I saw this while watching Matt. He had a gear ratio optimum for 99% of the course on his singlespeed 'cross bike but it was too tall to allow him to ride up the hill. He therefore ran the hill but the guys riding the hill were riding faster than he was running. What is a 'cross race without being off the bike running?

Needless to say, Matt wound up finishing 4th place in the Cat 3/4 class and took 2nd in the State for his class. A most excellent finish given he was throwing up and coughing up shit the night before thanks to a newfound cold he acquired. I heard James Harmon did very well in the Pro 1/2 field and my doctor friend Becca took the women's win for the pro field.

I did not stay to watch all of James' race for I needed to get back on the bike so I would be home before dark. It does get dark early now-a-days (boo). A 2hr-ish ride home and I rolled up into my driveway right as it was becoming unsafe to ride with just blinkie lights. About 4hrs on the fixie that day. Coupled with working too much the ride home surely was taxing on my legs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This past weekend we did another great ride in the awesome trails of Amherst Mass. Sean from Bethel Cycle gave me adequate notice of the ride this time (the past few times its been an email at 6pm the night before the ride for a 7-8am start the next morning) and I was able to join him and his friends.

We bundled up and hit the road early yesterday morning. Temps in Hartford were in the mid 20s (F) and up in Amherst it was in the upper teens. Frigid compared to what we've had thus far. George was down in PA and said it was snowing here and there. Sean's friend came down from his Vermont house and immediately realized he forgot his front wheel as we were getting ready. Fortunately the group of individuals we meet up with out there are super friendly and super awesome. We found Greg a front wheel and were on our way pedaling down the trail sometime after 9am.

Boy was it cold. I thought I dressed appropriately but my fingers froze instantly. My toes followed shortly thereafter. A few hard efforts up these technical climbs later I was finally starting to warm up.

One half of these trails are very technical riding. The classic New England slow-speed rocky trails. This is where I broke my Vicious 29er last year. This stuff is both very difficult and also very fun to ride (if you like that difficult/slow speed rock garden stuff). The guys we met up with ride these trails twice a week at a minimum and not that often do it at a race pace. Crazy.

Later in the ride we rode another section which was less rocky but more 'flowy'. A local that typically joins us when we're riding up there built these trails. Long climbs and super fast descents. Yesterday those trails were covered with oak leaves since they aren't ridden that often. Sweeping turns, sharp turns and off-camber lines were quite difficult to manage at speed.

Here is one such example.

Following that trail off to the right and then it loops back around itself and onto the other side of the chute. That's where I snapped this photo of Frank-The-Tank.

All in all we had a great day. I had just enough energy to get through the 3.5ish hour ride. While I enjoyed the ride my lower back did not agree. My lower back was a bit messed up going into the ride and now it is worse. Same feelings as I had back in 2007. Its entirely my fault. I stopped going to my bi-weekly yoga class in early October because I couldn't get out of work for my lunch hour. I didn't continue any stretching and what-not outside of work and thus things have degraded. I need to get back on this asap so I'll feel better. Starting to work on it effective tomorrow.

Wool kept me warm yesterday. Complete with my Pippi Longstocking knee-high socks. I love wool. It is such an amazing natural fiber.

status on the status

2010-11-16T22:50:00.004-05:00

I got a great laugh out of this last week. It basically has been my life the past month and will most likely continue through the end of the year.

As a result, I do not get much done during the day and am forced to work evenings and nights to accomplish my tasks. I guess it is the price to pay for having a seemingly relaxing year at work thus far. Better now than a few months earlier when I had two stage races.

I did get a bike ride in this past weekend. A little challenge and/or experiment of my own; if you will. I'll try to find my camera and download the pictures and write something about it before this weekend's ride (going to do a fixed gear road ride for a few hours on my new fixed gear road bike).

Time for some rest. I need it... bad.

bikes for sale

2010-11-11T22:32:00.002-05:00

I am cleaning out my basement. Time to sell a few things. I think they are priced reasonable.

(click on the picture for the ebay ad)

1998 GT Pulse track bike

2006 Vicious Cycles 'Groover' 26" wheeled full suspension frame

2006 Vicious Cycles 'Monolith' 26" wheeled singlespeed frame

2010 WTB Laserdisc Trail 29" wheelset

or feel free to email me at douglasjenne at gmail dot com.

Thanks!
Doug

penwood state park

2010-11-08T11:18:00.004-05:00

I rode my bike this weekend.

'YES!'

'Finally!'

Plan was originally to ride both days but I could not get up early enough on Saturday to join Salem's ride (later heard it wound up being an 8+hr 80mile jaunt through central CT. Mostly dirt roads with one thigh-high water crossing.). Therefore I spent Saturday catching up on more chores around the house. Ginger and I then went to the Hartford Symphony that evening.

Time Change! We got an extra hour of sleep thanks to the time change.

Up early to get over to Penwood State Forest to meet Sean and his crew that came out from western CT to ride. It was a cold morning but I knew temps would rise so I dressed lightly but was quite cold at the beginning.

Emile arrived from northern NH and shortly thereafter Sean and his buddies (Scott, Frank-The-Tank, Mike and Jeremy from Cannondale and another gentleman whom I forgot his name) arrived. Dave '4th place' Cormier arrives shortly thereafter. Well, I think I got all the names correct. I am horrible with names. Regardless, we had a good group and had a lot of fun on our 3hr ride.

Have I told you that I love riding Penwood? I think I have but can't find the posts. Regardless, this was my first time out on the weekend in many weeks. It also wound up being the longest ride I've been on since the VT50. I needed this ride.

Unfortunately, 15minutes into the ride Emile found a way to fold his AC front wheel. 2-3hr drive to the trailhead. 15mins of riding. 2-3hr drive home with a broken bike. Fail!

A tree wouldn't help to straighten this wheel out.

We left Emile and kept on going. Goal was to get up to the 'chimney'.

With Jeremy coming right off a trip to Highland and Mike with his background in the DH arena, we had some fast descents. They were also testing some crabon Jekylls. That bike sure has come a long way.

Frank-The-Tank

all smiles

Dave '4th place' Cormier

Lots of stories from years past ('90s, early '00s) with people that are still around (Salem, ParSSons, you get the drift). New England is small. Well, New England Endurance bicycling is small. I'm fortunate enough to have met, ridden with and become good friends with some of these individuals that have been around for years. This is what its all about. Great rides with great people.

I love autumn/winter rides for this very reason. Its a chance to get in on group rides and enjoy what we do.

Cool mid-day sky.

steel is real

2010-11-03T00:20:00.003-04:00

The Vicious 29er is back. After hanging in my basement as a frameset all year I have reincarnated it.

I had almost enough parts to put this bike back together. Was missing a few key items but not for long..

I scored a dirt cheap Shimano 952 crankset off of ebay a few weeks ago. Found a bottom bracket in my box-o-parts. Ordered up a custom spiderless chainring from homebrewed components and, viola, we're back in action.

(don't mind the 1.8T cylinder head torque procedure)

The craftsmanship of the chainring is nice. Super thick to withstand all kinds of abuse. A great alternative [and cheap] to buying a Middleburn 104bcd spider and then a 104bcd chainring.

While the cranks are worn there are no scores from shoes. I would have wound up polishing that area down with my shoes anyway (my Sidis rub all my crankarms).

All I need is a new seatpost since my Moots ti post has finally died. The damn clamp won't stay tight no matter how many times I replace the aluminum inserts. 10+ years old. I guess it had a good run. My friend gave me his Thomson post as a replacement. I'm thankful for his generosity.

I also threw on my WTB Wolverines (29x2.3). They just barely fit in the tight Vicious chainstays and fork legs. It will be some nice cushion since this bike is set up a little different than I am used to.

Hoping to ride it this weekend. I'll write more after I get a ride on it.

happy halloween

2010-10-31T23:39:00.002-04:00

I lost some weight...

Omega says

"Happy Halloween everyone"

That is a 60lb Siberian Husky sitting next to our Great Pumpkin. Ginger almost had to break out the saw-zall to carve it but kitchen knives were sufficient.

Can't believe Halloween is here already. October disappeared before it even began. Work has gotten really busy lately which has left my weekends being spent catching up on chores around the house. I have found ways to keep my weekly Wednesday night mountain bike rides consistent though, which helps.

The other weekend we took my car for a drive in western CT. Stopped at Lime Rock and watched some Porsches and BMWs practicing on the track.

While on the way to Lime Rock, a professional photographer (Chaz Culver) snapped this shot of my car.

Photo: Chaz Culver

After another stressful week, I decided to sleep in today and missed all the group rides that went out this morning. We opted to take Omega for a hike and try out his new backpack we got him.

Almost ready to finish building my latest bike. The last piece of the puzzle is en-route to the house. Should be here this week and then I'll reveal a new way for me to ride around on the trails.

lights, camera

2010-10-12T21:41:00.005-04:00

revolution!

That was actually my first Suicidal Tendencies album I bought. Their discography goes back to 1983. A lot of the punk and hardcore bands I listen to still play today and have been playing together since around the time I was born. Take Bad Religion for example. I first got into them when they came out with 'Recipe for Hate' in 1993. They've been playing since, officially, 1979. Shortly after getting into Bad Religion my friend James got me into the Descendents.

The best part about it is that both Greg Graffin from Bad Religion and Milo Aukerman from Descendents are college professors with Milo being a biochemist. Being a college professor was always something I wanted to do. The problem with that is I will most likely never get there. Organized school and I do not get along well. Kind of strange given I design some fairly complex pieces of rotating machinery for a living, huh? Well, I am not good in academia. I am more suited in applications where there are more structured channels to produce an outcome. Give me a problem and I will find a practical solution. Some say academia and myself being a professor would get along but I do not see that happening anytime soon. Perhaps in the distant future, a future where I can not see where my next step a few inches ahead of me will be.

Perhaps I need some light?

Yes, It is that time of the year again. Time to break out the lights. Since I plan on getting a new helmet later this winter to replace the new one I bought in June which, ultimately, did its job a few short weeks after taking receipt of it, I moved my light mount over to my existing Uvex helmet. A helmet I've been riding with for, gasp, three seasons next month.

Behold.. my masterpiece.

Why is the mount so far back on the helmet?

That, my friends, is an ingenious method that the Dougherty brothers informed me about years ago. The light is positioned further back to help keep your head balanced.

Ergonomic!

See, these HID headlights (yes, still rockin' the HID from 2001) are quite heavy and when they are mounted up on front of your helmet (intended mounting position). One uses more of your neck muscles to keep your head upright with such a heavy object hanging off the front of the helmet. Placing the light in the center of the helmet places it directly above your spine while both allowing you to ride in a more relaxed position as well as make things much more balanced so you hardly notice the light is up on-top of your helmet.

In order to get the light in the proper direction the mount had to be modified. Enter two V-brake pads.

What are V-brake pads?

Really? Did you just ask that question?

I used to love my Shimano XTR V-brakes. Best thing going even when Hayes has their HFX disc brakes out. If you have a mountain bike with rim brakes then run the XTR V-brakes. I think they even still manufacture them.

The V-Brake pads are zip-tied to the mount. The mount's straps are looped through the helmet but due to the hole positioning I needed to prevent the light from sliding forward and backward. Enter two more zip ties that loop through the hole in the top of the helmet. Bingo. The light isn't going anywhere now.

With the upcoming cool weather coming its also time to break out the woolies.

Tomorrow night we're riding. The superfly is back together so we'll refrain from shifting tomorrow.

Enjoy!

autumn is upon us...

2010-10-11T19:47:00.006-04:00

and I am not riding my bike much.

"What?"

Yes, it is the best time to ride your bike and somehow I am not riding a lot. Boo.

When I have gone for a ride I have taken out my Cannondale 1x9 (only ridden three times since the VT50). Its nice and relaxing to ride multiple gears even though I only use one or two of them. I seem to be doing better than some people when I hop on a 29er mountain bike with multiple gears.

Sometime recently my Superfly developed a few cracks in the top tube / seat tube junction. Two cracks on the seat tube just under the top tube joint and one on the top tube just infront of the seattube joint. I am not sure if it happened while out in CO or what but Jim at High Gear called Trek and got a new one shipped out for me. Was I going to get a 2011 or a replacement 2010? The photos on Trek's website looks like they may have tweaked the non-driveside drop-out for 2011 by adding a tensioning screw on the outside. In an effort to prevent the non-driveside drop-out from sliding rearward when the wheel is under load (a common problem with the 2010 frame but I never had it happen on mine). It also looks like the driveside drop-out has an integrated washer that encompasses both bolts. Both drop-outs have new tensioning screws. Are they larger in diameter? I bent both of mine and I never put any torque on them.

2011 frameset

WHY do they still put an anti-chain suck guard on the downtube and chainstay? How are you going to 'suck' your chain when you only have one gear ratio?

Zoooomm In of the drop-outs. Check 'em.

At first I didn't like the 2011 graphics but they are starting to grow on me. Looks kind of evil in all black and dark gray however I really like what Jesse did on the 2010 graphics.

Alas, Trek happily sent me a 2010 frame. Meh. How long until I break this one in the same spot seeing as there are no design changes? Doesn't matter to me as long as it does not coincide with a race or interfere with any races next season. Trek will just get me another one if I break this one.

So, yeah. I haven't been riding much after the VT50. I am actually finally catching up on stuff around the house and getting ready for the winter. The fall chores so to speak.

I also have this parts car in my driveway that a friend gave me. The same exact year as my Audi but in a sedan (I own a wagon). I have sold quite a bit of parts off of it and have been removing all the electrical items to stock pile for the day that my car starts acting up. Those pieces are expensive and difficult to troubleshoot when they fail. I did just recently sell the all wheel drivetrain to a gentleman in Canada. No, not Peter, but another bicyclist I know. He is going to take the automatic transmission out of his car and put in the manual that I sold him. This will be the second auto to manual swap in a 2002-2004 Audi A4 I have consulted upon this year. I spent Saturday removing the drivetrain and a ton of other items from the car.

transmission, rear suspension and differential assembly anyone?

the whole she-bang (and more)

Today I had a furlough day from work. All the previous furlough days I had this year I went for a long bike ride. Today I went to get my new Superfly frame and to deliver the 1.8T engine out of my parts car I sold.

Fits nicely in the back of my car. Still don't know how I bear-hugged it and carried it across my driveway and into my car.

Got some more electrical stuff to get out of that car and then I can get the shell carted away and not think about it so I can concentrate on other, more important, stuff. Important stuff like my Vicious Cycles 29er re-incarnation....

Vermont 50 skinny

2010-09-27T21:26:00.015-04:00

I started writing some stuff about this year's Vermont 50 last night as fatigue was setting in big time and I was falling asleep. Lets continue now that I got some rest..

This is probably one of the longest point-to-point mountain bike races in New England. It has been on-going since the early 1990s. A few friends of mine that I ride with weekly have been participating since its inception. I have been participating since 2004 and took a hiatus in 2008 and 2009. In 2004 it was the longest bike race I ever did (took me 6hrs and change on a geared bike). 2004 was also the year Troy Michaud won the race on a singlespeed! A feat that has not been repeated since. 2005 I did it on a singlespeed and had chain issues (took me 6hrs and change). 2006 I did it on a singlespeed again but had back, muscle and saddle issues (finished just inside of 6hrs). 2007 I was back with my singlespeed and rode the best I ever have (5hrs 13mins with a pinched my sciatic nerve from the SM100 less than a month earlier when I took 2nd in the NUE 100miler series). I then grew tired of sitting infront of my computer at 7pm one evening around memorial day to fight my way into the race (it was selling out within an hour from registration opening) so I took two years off. This year I was near a computer when registration opened so I figured I'd give it a go again.

Fast forward to now.

now.

I just finished a few weeks and a stage race in Colorado, at altitude. Did quite well out there and felt great. Seeing as the Breck Epic was just shy of 50miles each day with an equivalent amount of climbing as the VT50 I figured I was conditioned quite well (and had fueling dialed in). Chatted with Thom about his experiences with the VT50 seeing as he's finished in the top 5 a few times (and that was my goal). He advised something like a 50inch gear (34x19, 32x18, etc..) so I put on my 34x19 and every ride since returning from CO was on this gear. It hurt like a bitch since I'm used to a 34x20 on my local trails but I got used to it (ie: stand up a lot more than I used to). With my new found gear, my plan was to ride as much as I could between Labor Day and now; now, focusing on 4-5-6hr rides. Charlie and I got a few fun group rides in and I did a few on my own.

My real goal was a singlespeed podium with a time in and around the 4hr 30min mark. Mentally, I am a mess with a goal of such proportions even though everyone has been telling me I am capable of that. In fact, most of my races (including this year's Translyvania Epic) I go into with the thoughts of just riding consistent and seeing how I do. Typically I am riding solo so I don't have to worry about people around me attacking or me having to attack someone to put time in so its not a big deal. I just ride my bike and see where it takes me. Years of riding with some specific 'training' here and there have gotten me to where I am today. Slowly but surely.

So, with this goal messing with my mind I started fooling myself with a new goal: ride consistent and beat your 5hr 13min time. I also found out the singlespeeders were starting this year's VT50 in the 2nd wave of people, five minutes behind the first wave. I wasn't quite happy about that for I didn't want to have to mess around with passing people in the dark on some atv and snowmobile trails.

Upon arriving at Ascutney mountain Saturday, Glenn and I set up camp (we were camping within a few hundred yards of the start line) and then picked up our number plates. I asked if I could switch into my age group (listed as Senior II) since they were going out in the first wave. The lady I spoke to was in a very irate mood and said I could not switch classes just 'because I wanted to go out in the first wave'. Given my frustrations with this race promoter (more on that tomorrow) my reaction was not the most pleasant. I quickly stopped myself and walked away to buy some time. When she wasn't so busy with other participants I came back with a polite manner. This time I told her I recently chose not to ride my singlespeed and wanted to be in my age group where I belong (but was still going to race my singlespeed). Permission was granted. Victory!

Glenn and I found Dave "fourth place" Cormier and he showed us where his condo he was staying in was (we'd later use the shower to clean up post race). Then back to camp for dinner (pre-cooked pasta with sausage, chicken and home-made marinara from Ginger's garden) and to get our stuff together before it got dark.

Early to bed, early to rise seeing as the race was starting at 6am.. I think I went to bed too early for I got up around 3am and didn't sleep well from 3 to 5am when I 'officially' got up. A bowl of oatmeal and Hammer Gel down and all dressed for success. Temps were supposed to get up into the 60s and where probably around 45-50 at the start.

I saw Greg 'the leg' Montello at the start with his bike chock full of gears (forgot he wasn't racing singlespeed) and met one of Thom's friends (Will) at the start. I also hear a familiar voice coming out of the darkness behind us.

"We're gonna be riding our bikes ALL.... DAY.... LONG!"

It was Ramponi! with his loud Boston accent. What is an endurance race in New England without him? Especially after his 2nd place singlespeed finish at the Shenandoah 100 a few weeks ago. He was in the second wave of riders.

At 6am we were off at a very rapid pace (upwards of 25-30mph) down a very dark paved road and onto an even darker dirt road chock full of pot-holes. My 51inch gear allowed me to stay in the lead group for quite a while on the flats. A few guys had lights ranging from simple camping miner's lights to full out HID. A few of us, including myself, tagged along the back of the group as it stretched out into a long train. I wanted to draft as much as possible and also stayed near someone with a light so I could see.

Sharp left onto another gravel road that climbed up and up. This was the first major climb and around 5miles in.

(2008 course but this year was somewhat similar)

I took the turn wide and wound up flying past everyone once we got onto the climb. I heard all the guys shifting to an easier gear and I just pedaled at a comfortable cadence. With my gearing it propelled me well beyond the lead group and now I was way off the front... in the dark.

"Wow, this is weird. I'm in 1st place!"

"Don't worry about everyone. They'll pass you eventually. Just ride your pace and be consistent. As Thom said, ride like you did in Breckenridge."

Sure enough.. 1/2 to 3/4 up the climb a bunch of guys caught me and passed me. I held on through the top of the climb and down the descent. At the bottom of the descent we made a quick left and then a quick right onto some doubletrack. Immediately into the doubletrack the trail pitched up very steeply. In years past this section was a huge bottleneck but this year we were pretty stretched out so it wasn't a big deal. I hopped off and ran up the hill. The leaders took off and left me and a few others in their dust. That was the end of my brief stint in both 1st and at the front of the group.

While I was able to ride every short punchy climb I was pulling on the handlebars a lot to get the strength to turn over such a large gear. As you can see from the profile above the climbs are somewhat short but steep and punchy. I was starting to feel the effects of such a large gear but didn't think it was a detriment. Especially as I now had a huge gap on Thom's friend Will who was in my class and also on a singlespeed.

The trails were were riding on (when we were on trails which was few and far between) were old atv and snowmobile trails so they weren't too smooth. They had a lot of holes and tire ruts on the sides. I came into a sweeping right turn through a grassy section of atv trail a bit too fast. Speed was about what I normally would take for a turn like this... on dirt. I slid towards the outside of the turn and next thing I knew my front tire dropped into a deep tire rut. I preceded to fly over the handlebars and into a thorn bush. In the process my front tire burped the bead but held pressure.

"Great. WTF am I doing. This is not a fast, consistent pace. This is a sporadic mess."

Back on the bike brushing it off like it wasn't a big deal. Front tire was now quite low on air.

"Do I stop and fill the tire or do I carry on to the next aid station?"

I opted to carry on since the promoter had aid stations what seemed like every eight miles. Luckily, right around the corner was an aid station that had neutral mechanic support. I asked if they could pump my tire up to 23psi while I took my arm warmers off. I also ditched my clear safety glasses and plastic grocery bag (used as a windbreaker under my jersey) with them and took off down the trail/road.

I forget how far into the race I was. My GPS was cutting in and out and would turn off on me so I couldn't rely on the odometer. It was either 15miles or 20miles. I know it was before a long dirt road climb. Lets say mile 15. I took off up this climb and settled into a nice pace. Had to stand up most of the climb thanks to my super big gear. Rode past a geared guy at the bottom and pulled away from him. I could hear people in the distance behind me but chose not to look over my shoulder and see who it was or how far they were. That was not my concern as my goal was to just ride my bike at a consistent pace. Shortly near the top a gentleman caught up to me and said I dropped my arm warmers about 50ft behind us. Quick check of my pockets revealed lack of arm warmers. Fuck. I turned around and went back to get them. At this point Will passed me.

Back climbing and I got to the crest and bombed the dirt road descent trying to make up some time. Next climb I caught back up to Will and we got to exchange a few sentences. You know, the "what gear you running?" exchange. I told myself I wouldn't go asking people about their gears because it sound so cliche. I think most singlespeeders (including myself sometimes) worry about their choice of gear ratio too much. No wonder Dejay started making stickers "32xFU Run What'cha Brung!"

Regardless, it turns out Will had one tooth larger of a gear out back than I did. My excuse was

"Thom told me to run this."

and his reply was

"Thom is a masochist!"

haha. We both laughed and kept on climbing. He ultimately pulled on me as I fell slightly behind my gear. I never saw him again unfortunately.

Next climb was up this giant grassy hill called "Gavin Hill" around mile 20. In years past I never was able to ride up this but this year I did. Victory!

My body was starting to fatigue. I couldn't tell if my thighs were on the verge of cramping because of the embrocation I put on before the race. I could definitely tell my biceps were on the verge of cramping. Mile 25-35 was not fun for me and my pace slowed down a bit as a result. I don't recall getting off and walking/running any of it so staying on the bike albeit a slightly slower pace was still a good thing.

The top two singlespeeders from the singlespeed field caught me and passed me like I was standing still. One of them had a Club Ride Apparel jersey on. Was Greg Martin here? I don't recall seeing his name on the list? (I later found out it was Sean McLaughlin, another individual from ID and probably one of Greg's teammates. The other guy was the mysterious Bryan Lyster who has won the singlespeed field since 2006 and I haven't met nor any of my friends. Sean went onto win the singlespeed field this year.) A few minutes later the 3rd place singlespeed guy passed me also like I was standing still. Boy did I feel slow.

My world started to turn in the mid 30mile range as we were in some singletrack. I was both excited to be off dirt roads and shitty atv/snowmobile trails but frustrated by how un-fun the singletrack was. Super tight turns through super tight trees and lots of rutted out roots and such. One could carry almost zero momentum through this stuff which made me have to put out even more effort to keep my bike rolling (51inch gear failing me now). That started killing my lower back as it became inflamed. My arms were also fatiguing faster too since I was standing up the whole time trying to get those pedals turned.

Around one switchback I heard a familiar voice behind me.... Ramponi. He bridged the 5min start gap I had and was closing in on me. Somehow I kept on going and got through the singletrack (or what they called 'singletrack') and through the next section. By now my watch was around the 3.5hr mark so I knew we must have been past the 40mile mark. I also didn't see Ramponi anymore.

"How did I pull away from him? He's super strong right now."

More singletrack and my back was getting worse. No where to recover. No where to grab a bottle or eat some food. This section was also new to me. I don't recall doing it in the previous attempts at this race. I wish I was a bit stronger through this but I wasn't. I held Ramponi off for a while but he eventually caught up to me and passed me. I did my best to keep him within sights and minimize any gap he would put on me but I was limited with what strength I had left.

Next thing I know I saw a sign that said "5 miles to go!"

"Really? 5miles? We haven't even gotten onto the Ascutney resort and climbed up the mountain yet? How can we be doing that with less than 5miles to go? Must not be in this year's race. Hmm.."

I finished my bottles and downed a package of Shot Blocks.

"Gotta eat now if I want energy near the finish. If I wait the food won't take effect."

"4 miles to go!"

and I did the past mile in about five minutes. Okay. 20minutes left. That puts me around 4hrs 40mins. WOW. I'm doing awesome despite how horrible I feel.

Those horrible feelings now disappeared as I had a good handle of how far we had to go. Out of the woods and onto a gravel road. Sharp right onto a paved road, past a field of spectators and a left onto a driveway that went up-hill.

"I remember this. This is that climb up Ascutney mountain. This is the last climb of the day."

Rode right past the aid station and took off up the climb. The lower half was in a field and the upper half was through trees and such. I could see Ramponi right up there. He's not that far away. Sweet!

Pace picked up as I pushed myself more. Found a good pace I could sustain up this climb. Picked off a few riders but couldn't catch Ramponi. Caught up to the 3rd place singlespeed racer as he was changing a flat. Hmm..

"Could I really have been in 3rd place within the singlespeed field if I stayed? No way."

"The Beer is on Tap" said another sign

Then "2 miles to go!"

Finally a "1 mile to go! Its all downhill from here." sign.

Feeling really strong I was out of the saddle accelerating every chance I had so I could pick my pace up. Traversed a few of the ski slopes and then down one slope to a sweeping right to a slight incline to a sweeping left. Accelerating out of each turn like a madman.

Over the tunnel and down the backside through a chicane and into the ribbon that guides you to the finish. Hauling ass down the mountain and I'm still out of the saddle accelerating.

Crossed the finish line in 4hrs 42mins 18sec according to the official results. Good enough for 7th place in my age group and 26th overall (out of 650 or so racers). WOW. I actually achieved my original goals.

Despite probably 10miles of slowing down in the middle of the race I was still 31minutes faster than my previous fastest time (2007). In years past (with similar conditions) my 4:42 would have put me in the top 10 overall. Seeing as I was in the upper 20s that is how many good, fast racers were in this year's event!

My time actually would have put me in 3rd place for the singlespeed field but silly me I opted for the more competitive age group (Expert 26-35 y/o).

Will finished about 8mins ahead of me. The 51inch gear definitely slowed me down in the 'singletrack'. I can only imagine how much quicker he was through that section with his easier gear despite how much I could make up on the flats and less steeper dirt road climbs.

Monte was about 19mins ahead of me. Not bad considering how quick and strong of a rider he is (even with him being on a geared bike and even small [26"] wheels at this event).

Ramponi was only six minutes ahead of me. I thought that was the best thing until he told me after the race that he stopped four times to take care of nature breaks. One of which required a lot more time and some leaves. Still, I'm happy I was able to hang near his time given how well he did at this year's Shenandoah Mountain 100.

Local doctor and gentleman I ride with, Andy Caputo, was 10mins behind me. Good enough for 4th place in the singlespeed field. An improvement over his previous years. Great job!

Glenn Giglio, the gentleman I carpooled with and ride with frequently, had a superb finish at 4hrs 56mins. Good enough for 7th singlespeed. Not bad considering this was his 3rd race this season!

Dave "4th place" Cormier was battling Niner Bio-Centric creaking issues and finished in 5hrs 26mins. Good enough for top 20 singlespeed.

Looks like we all had a great ride. Competition is getting faster. I don't know how I would top this finish. Probably won't partake again. We'll see what next year brings me...

2010 Vermont 50

2010-09-26T22:53:00.003-04:00

I took a few years off from participating in the Vermont 50. Last year was a great year to not partake since it was a total mudfest.

Seeing as I would be coming off a few weeks of riding at altitude in Colorado I decided to sign up for the Vermont 50 again this year. Figured I'd be in great shape for it. Turns out I was correct.

I will add a detailed recap tomorrow but here is the high level:

~super fast and dry trails (like CO but with the addition of fallen leaves)
~singlespeed was set up with a 51.9 inch gear (which was both awesome and extremely painful and slow at the same time)
~set a new personal record (shaved about 30mins off my previous best time)
~super stacked field
~shot myself in the foot for a podium by switching out of the singlespeed field and racing in my age group (but it didn't matter anyway for various reasons)

click on image for results

7th place in the Expert 27-34 year old class (they call it Senior II)
27th place overall (out of 600 something racers I think)
4hours 42mins (2007 was 5hrs 13mins)

My time would have put me in 3rd place within the Singlespeed field

Need some sleep and rest. I pushed myself super hard today and my body is all achy and beat down. Nothing some rest can't cure.

riding bikes

2010-09-13T22:53:00.006-04:00

Tonight is the first time I've been infront of a computer at home since last Thursday. For some reason I've just sort of strayed away from my home computer. My piece of shit iPhone 2G also doesn't seem to like AT&T's 2G data coverage now-a-days so I can't even do much with that hunk of junk. Been procrastinating on getting a new phone.

So, what does this mean? Nothing really... Just a long post catching up on my rides since returning from the Breck Epic.

I have been riding a lot. Back on the weekly Wednesday rides and have been trying to get some hard and long rides in on the weekends. All in preparation for the Vermont 50 in less than two weeks.

A road ride we did (first ride back after returning from the Breck Epic). Humidity was through the roof and temps were in the 90s. It was a tad difficult adjusting having just spent almost a month in Colorado where it was 70s and very low humidity in the mountains.

This was from my friend Andy's GPS so ignore the heart rate. I don't use one of those things. Andy is a local fast bike racer. He just won (again) the 50+ Cat 1 field in the local series. While I was out in Breck he did the Mount Washington Hill Climb as he always does. Set a new PR and got 14th overall. I did the 'practice ride' back in 2004. Its one of two days they open the auto road up to cyclists. The second day is the race. I timed myself and it took me about an hour and a half.

Last week Andy sent me this article about Travis Pastrana setting a new record racing his Subaru up the Mount Washington auto road. Impressive time.

crazy shit!

similar? I think not and don't plan on having this car on two wheels... ever.

Wish I had the ability to drive (or is it 'race'?) my Audi up Pike's Peak last month (that's where the last pic was taken..) but we settled on a 20mph scenic drive up that mountain. It is a shame to hear Pike's Peak auto road is becoming 100% paved due to lawsuits and stuff.

Agh... This is more like it. An Audi S2 Groupe B Quattro racing up the auto road.

Anyway. Back to riding bikes. Labor Day weekend I did two long rides. The first was on furlough Friday... My day to stay home and not get paid. I met Bruce, Glenn and Dave '4th Place' Cormier for a 3/3.5 hour ride on the Metacomet. We started just north of Tarifville and headed north up to Mass and then back. I wanted to ride this section of the trail again as I want to do an all-day ride from my house up to Mass and back on this trail later this fall.

Glenn snapped this picture of me doing what I do... eating bananas. We were at the Mass border contemplating whether or not to keep going and explore the Metacomet north into Mass (where I haven't ridden yet). The start was on private property and Bruce did not want to trespass so we had to turn around and head back.

Yeah, tan lines I got out in Colorado. Figured the sleeveless Dicky jersey would be appropriate given how hot and humid it was (temps finally dove and the humidity disappeared later that night). I think its a good look. right?

Once again I tried the Garmin 205 and it failed. Kept shutting off for some reason and somehow the data file got lumped with what I was recording on my next ride later that weekend. Technology fail. I am constantly developing new technology in the aerospace industry at work yet can't figure out a damn GPS on my bicycle? So much for trying to share data with you.

Sunday morning I met up with Charlie and James and a few of their friends for a nice 3-4hour [fast] ride through West Hartford Reservoir and into Penwood State Forest along the southern area of the Metacomet. These are trails within a few miles from my house. Charlie wrote a good story about it here. I just remember desperately trying to stay on their wheels through the first hour. Once my body got over the shock of riding quite fast quite early I settled into a good rhythm and felt great the remainder of the ride.

Upon returning from the Breck Epic I decided to ride a harder gear than I typically have. I typically ride a 34x20 around here but threw on the 19. That's 51.9 gear inches versus my traditional 49.3. I ran a 32x21 (44.2 gear inches) out in Colorado. Supposedly 52gear inches is what it takes to be up on top in Vermont so I'll see what I can do with it. So far it feels great and I'm liking it.

Somehow the GPS worked for me on last Wednesdays MTB ride. Go figure. It was a nice mellow ride through Meshomasic. I haven't ridden Mesh since I crashed there earlier this summer and sliced my face wide open. As a result I wanted to take it easy so no fast riding down the rocky trails and no fancy moves over giant boulders.

Yesterday I went out for a 2-2.5 hour mountain bike ride with Ginger at Case Mountain. After that I rushed home to switch bikes, eat a sandwich and then head down to Middletown to go for an intended 4hour road ride with Matt from Ghostship clothing.

We're all ready to go and he had to head over to Pedal Power, where he works, to get some food for the ride. All loaded up with food and we're off for the ride. A few miles down the road he snaps his Campy 10spd chain in half. Doh! Well, at least we're near the shop. I tow him back to the shop via pushing him up the hills and across Middletown so he can replace his chain. Almost an hour later (due to him f'ing with the chain) we're a go. Its dark and overcast so the ride was cut a bit shorter.

Basic route was down 17south into Durham and the 77south Great Hill Road to Long Hill Road to 80east to 79north to Cherry Hill road into some back roads through Middlefield and near the Wadsworth and back to his house. Caught rain in the last 30mins of the ride. I rode big gears and only dropped into the 39T chainring on the short climb up Great Hill Road. The lower cadences and high loads hurt but I needed the punishment.

Why? I don't know. Guess I think it'll keep me ready for the Vermont50. The downside was my legs felt really heavy and tired today. I actually want to podium and the best I've ever done is 10th place singlespeed (2007). Podium means I have to be around 30mins faster than my time in '07. I've never thought about a goal like that in a race before. I typically just show up and try to do well. I think its adding some unwanted stress but I keep forcing myself not to think about it. My fitness is really good from a few weeks at altitude. My nutrition on and off the bike seems to be working. So why worry? Exactly. Just ride your bike and we'll see what happens. That is the plan.

We'll do an easy MTB ride on Wednesday. Then hoping to meet back up with Charlie and do another 3-4hr ride in Penwood this weekend. Then an easy mtb next Wednesday and then the Vermont50.

ghostship clothing

2010-09-09T23:46:00.002-04:00

The Ghostship Clothing... Clothing finally arrived and looks awesome and fits me great. No lotion needed on the skin for this.

I was hoping to have this stuff for Breck but our friends overseas decided they would do things their way and, alas, it took a few extra weeks. Whatevers... Its here.

front

back

shoulder detail

I opted for the extra fancy, extra padded, chamois. Just didn't know it came all graphic'd up. I will be comfy on those very long days on the saddle.

While we are on clothing.... and back when I was in Colorado (more on that in a few days) Ginger surprised me by giving me the Twin Six' argyle kit. Such a nice gift. Thanks.

as seen in Thom's Mountain Bike blog entry about the Breck Epic

The two days I wore that kit I got a lot of compliments (but did wash it inbetween). Wonder if that is why Dicky is not amused and Thom is doing his best Ray Charles impersonation? (and you thought he was good with Christopher Walken?)

Breck Epic '10 - Listing of all Posts

2010-08-31T17:00:00.002-04:00

A comprehensive listing of all my posts pertaining to the 2010 Breck Epic 6 day mountain bike stage race.

Colorado Here We Come

Long Road to Colorado

Breck Epic - Stage 1

Breck Epic - Stage 2

Breck Epic - Stage 3

Breck Epic - Stage 4

Breck Epic - Stage 5

Breck Epic - Stage 6

Breck Epic '10 - Stage 6

2010-08-29T18:49:00.006-04:00

This past Friday was Stage 6, the last and final stage of this year's Breckenridge Epic mountain bike stage race. It was fast. I am not sure where I got the strength and speed from to finish the stage in well under 3hours but I did.

Dubbed: "Gold Dust Loop"

37miles and 6,000 feet of climbing. An out and back, if you will, with slightly different trails leaving the ice rink and returning to the ice rink.

The alarm clock went off at 6am and I did not want to wake up. It was my turn to sleep on the pull-out couch and I did not get much sleep. Knowing this would have been the last time we got up and got ready to race our bicycles in Breckenridge this summer also somehow got me into a procrastination mode of not wanting to get moving. Needless to say we (Peter, Thom, Dicky and I) found a way to get moving and started our day.

Race start and finish was back at the Ice Skating Rink where stage one took place. Every stage since then has started in downtown and finished just outside of downtown. Another classic CO neutral start up Boreas Pass Road and then a left onto some sweet singletrack as we climbed part-way up Bald Mountain. (Some of that singletrack we rode in the opposite direction in Stage 1.) Out of the singletrack and up the unpaved portion of Boreas Pass Road to crest at Boreas Pass (11,500ft). Right into some very technical singletrack descending down the south side of Boreas Mountain. This singletrack (Gold Dust Trail) was fast and sweeping that included banked turns and a whole slew of fast bits. Gold Dust Trail put us out down around 10,200ft and we had to then climb back up to Boreas Pass and then down Boreas Pass road towards Breckenridge. Just before coming near the paved section of Boreas Pass Road we turned onto some singletrack that we rode in Stage 1 (in the opposite direction). That, ultimately, put us out at the ice rink.

Mike McCormick kept stating how this was going to be a 'big ring' stage but I was initially skeptical based upon looking at the elevation profile. The elevation profile does not explain that the two big climbs are on a dirt road. No wonder this was going to be a 'big ring' stage.

I tried to start slightly better than I have been. In other words, I wanted to start hard but at a pace I felt I could ride consistent throughout the stage. I did not want to get to the 5-10mile mark and have to back off my pace because my body can't keep up (something that was reoccuring throughout the week).

Well, it kind of worked. I was middle towards the back of the neutral start and as in every stage up to this stage, I got dropped on the neutral start not that far up Boreas Pass road. To my surprise a lot of the other singlespeeders also got dropped so it was not at bad as I thought. The hard part occurred once we got into the singletrack.

The entrance to the singletrack contained a large bottleneck (typically can't be avoided). When I entered the bottleneck was not that large and a quick trackstand allowed me to hold my own while the two to three geared guys infront of me bobbled. From this point on we were fighting for position within the singletrack. Dan Durland was not that far ahead of me and I eventually got around the riders between Dan and I.

Now that I was on Dan's wheel my plan was to try and stay on his wheel. When he'd find a location to pass I'd try to match his surge and pass that individual immediately after he did. Onto the doubletrack I gave it a few quick high cadence bursts and rolled past Dan.

"Would it stick? Why am I burying myself this early in the stage? Dan is over an hour ahead of you in the GC."

Well, it did stick.. For a few hundred feet. I then found myself needing to slow my pace slightly when we turned onto the next grouping of singletrack. Dan also smacked himself back together and surged past me again.

"Doh!"

Trying to recover and still ride a relatively fast pace I pushed on. Then, whilst riding the Baker Tank Trail, Jeff and Sonya came flying past me like I was standing still. Granted the gentle downward slope of the trail prevented me from pedaling any faster than I already was but it still felt like I was not moving when they passed me. I increased my pace and tried to catch back up to Jeff and Sonya. This got me onto the dirt road portion of Boreas Pass Rd right behind them. Within sight, up the road, was Dan pedaling his 32x21 as best as he could.

There is Dan right up the road from me..

Looking out towards Red Peak from Boreas Pass road.

I rode with Jeff and Sonya for a little bit whilst pounding my bottle of Perpetuem and eating a package of shot bloks. The carrot of Dan hanging out infront of me was weighing.

"Should I bridge the gap or stay where I am?"

Feeling pretty good I opted to bridge the gap and ride with Dan. At the time I was not sure if I would attack him or ride with him but I had to get up to him first. Increase that cadence and bump the pace up to 14-15mph from the 12mph we were cruising with. That got me up to Dan and he chuckled when I announced my arrival. We rode up Boreas Pass road together and he gave me a quick synopsis of what was in store for us on the back-side.

I left Jeff and Sonya to fend for themselves. (Sorry guys, was feeling good and had to see what I could do with Dan just ahead of us)

By now my slight change in morning ritual was making things difficult for me. Earlier in the morning I actually checked my tire pressure and got worried when I read 15psi so I pumped them up to around 23psi. From the get-go I realized 23 was too much air as I was bouncing all over the singletrack and now the dirt road was really rough underneath me. I decided that I would stop at the aid station at the top of Boreas Pass and let some air out of my tires. By this time I also barely touched one of the two waterbottles on my bike.

Photo: Yuki Saito

As we rolled across Boreas Pass Dan kept going and I stopped to drop the air pressure in my tires. One of the volunteers also topped off my bottle for me and then I was off in pursuit of Dan again.

I was warned of how the top of the singletrack was quite technical but I dropped into it very aggressively anyway. Plowed my way through the upper section without any flat tires or mechanicals and rallied the remainder as best as I could. This was probably the fastest I've ridden singletrack all week and somehow I was able to keep the bike pointed in the right direction as my body was getting thrashed around by the unsuspended bike beneath me.

Came around one turn and saw Thom sitting trailside tending to a flat tire. We both laughed (a mechanical on Thom's behalf is the only way I'd see him this late in the weeklong race as he finally got his legs underneath him) and I kept going.

Enter the Gold Dust Trail.

This was the last trail we rode before the climb back up to Boreas Pass. It reminded me of that speeder bike sequence in Return of the Jedi. Banked turns to carry your speed. Smooth bottom. Dense trees lining the sides. 15mph pace. Yes, Speeder Bike!

Every now and then I'd see a cloud of dust but I didn't see any rider. By the time I finished the Gold Dust Trail and turned onto the Jeep trail climb I saw that rider creating the dust clouds... Dan Durland. Yup, caught back up to him and we also caught up to a few geared guys that were ahead of us.

Dan and I climbed back up to Boreas Pass together. I've been riding at 110% since the day started and it became difficult to maintain the pace Dan was setting (12mph I think). Once we got onto the dirt road we were also faced with a headwind which made it even more difficult for me to maintain pace. Dan let me draft him and I sat on his wheel as he mustered on. I did everything I could to stay on his wheel. It became very difficult and painful but I buried myself to stay with him. He kept shouting words of encouragement and letting me know we're almost there (he did this race last year and knew the day's course).

Within probably a mile of the summit I couldn't hold his wheel any longer and fell off the back. Dan hesitated but I told him to go and I'd recover and catch back up. He surged on and I drifted back as the space between us grew and grew with every foot I'd propel forward with. This was very frustrating for me but I fooled myself into thinking I'd catch him on the descent once we crested Boreas Pass.

Photo: Yuki Saito

I finally made it to Boreas Pass and kept on going without stopping. I had one water bottle full and figured this was enough since the remainder of the day was all downhill. Once I couldn't pedal any faster I got into a crazy tuck like I had on the bike path in stage 5.

Coasting, Coasting.... back down the mountain towards town. No one within sight ahead of me and no one within sight behind me.

"Hmmm. Where did Dan go?"

Next thing I know Peter Butt is in his big ring pedaling his ass off and he passed me like I was standing still. I could do nothing but sit there and coast. Peter disappeared off into the distance. All the way down the road and past where we got onto it for the climb out of town. Then a sharp left onto the singletrack.

"WEEEEE!"

Just bombing the techy trail with no care as to what happens yet somehow keeping that front tire where it needs to go. A few hundred feet into the trail we had to cross a very small creek.

Guess who is on the other side of the creek?

Yup, Dan Durland.

"Hiii Dan! I'm baaack! haha"

Dan got another chuckle and we were off bombing the descent together hooting and hollering. Knowing Dan was over an hour ahead of me in the GC I did not feel it was prudent to attack him and ride on ahead. Knowing Jake Kirkpatrick was behind the two of us meant that we were 5th and 6th place singlespeed right now.

"Hmm. better than my GC position of 7. Lets see if we can hold together and I can finish the stage higher than 7th."

Dan and I chatted and decided we'll stick together and keep trying to put more time between us and Jake. Dan wanted to finish ahead of Jake and so did I. We've already rode most of the day together so lets round this one, and this whole event, out with an awesome descent of some very fast and tight singletrack.

"We'll cross together and hold each others' hands" said Dan (with a laughter).

Not that far from the finish we had a short (50ft maybe) climb that Dan warned me about. It really wasn't much of a climb but more of a grunt up a few rocks. Dan was pretty tired but I kept yelling at him to get those pedals turned over and we'll be on our way. He did it and we were back descending and leaning those tires into the turns.

A few turns later we're crossing the creek outside the ice rink and crossing the finish line together.

2hours 41mins 51sec to cover 37miles and 6,000ft of climbing. WOW

I say we tied for 5th but the results have me in 6th for the stage.

I also took 7th singlespeed overall for the whole week. Not bad for a guy that lives at sea level and rides once or twice a week.

What an event! It was definitely a challenge but like any stage race I've done, it was such an experience where I learned a lot on many levels and met many new people. I'll write an overall recap soon.

Breck Epic '10 - Stage 5

2010-08-26T21:51:00.005-04:00

Today was the Wheeler trail stage. The stage this race is most known for.

40miles and 7,300ft of climbing

My GPS worked again! Victory!

I had a feeling I'd feel pretty good on this stage. My plan was to ride as much as I could up the first climb to the point where everyone was hiking up and over Wheeler Pass. Then try to hold my own on the descent and the relatively flat bike path. If my day was progressing as it has been lately I'd be strong for the end and can rally to the finish line.

Well, the short story is I did just that. I was able to ride the first 10 miles without having to get off the bike. Hoped off at the aid station around mile 10 to refill my bottle and then began the hike-a-bike to 12,500ft. The aid station was already at 11,000ft and change and we started the stage around 9,700ft.

Climbing up to 12,500ft.

looking back at what I just hiked.

I tried my best to keep my heart rate in check within the first hour and a half but knew that would be difficult as starts and the first hour to two hours have been a bit of a shock on my body. I knew things were going well when within the first mile I passed Dejay, Jake, Dan and Evan as they were walking up this steep incline and I was riding (I was on Mike's wheel). A mile or so later they all passed me but I had Dan and Jake in my sights for the entire climb up to 12,500ft.

So, the plan was working well but I couldn't hike as fast as Jake and Dan could so I was a bit slow as we crested up to 12,500ft. Once up there I just had to stop and take a few photos for the views were magnificent.

looking down from the summit.

We made it! 12,500ft! Now to traverse some high alpine singletrack and then a short climb back to 12,460ft before the long descent to 9,300ft.

the town of Breckenridge is down there in the distance

And the sweet high alpine 12,000ft plus singletrack begins!

Both Dan and Jake were gone by now but I didn't really care. If I finished the day near them then sweet. If not, no big deal. Wouldn't affect the overall results anyway since I'm over an hour down from the next guy.

The rest of the high alpine singletrack. We zig-zagged up that singletrack on the far mountain and then descended the other side. I think that is between Peak 8 and Peak 9 of the Breckenridge ski resort.

Surprisingly, I did not feel that bad riding up here. I was pretty coherent unlike when we crested French Gulch on stage 3. The nice weather today most likely contributed to my coherent behavior. The singletrack was sweet. Reminded me a lot of Trail 401 in Crested Butte but without the waist high wild flowers (this was also at a higher altitude).

second summit! 12,460ft. We then descended down the backside towards I70 and Frisco.

I70 westbound

The descent down to Frisco!

The descent was long (6 miles if I recall). I was a bit sketched out by the narrow and rocky singletrack so I rode down slowly (on the brakes) which cost me some time but it was the safe thing to do. The rigid fork also forced me to stop a few times to shake my wrists out. While doing that I got a few photos.

With laying heavy on the brakes I noticed the Niner carbon fork had a bit of chatter in it when I was rolling over rocky and rooty terrain while on the brakes (running a 7inch front rotor and 6inch rear and my braking is probably 70%F and 30%R on average). I thought my headset was getting loose but the chatter is non-existent when rolling over the same terrain and not on the brakes. Make sense since when I'm rolling on the road and lay on the front brake you can see the fork flex a bit. Not a big deal in my eyes.

Around mile 20 was the next aid station. I refilled a bottle and realized all I have done thus far was drink two bottles and eat one package of Clif shot bloks. I later found out that Dicky was 15sec behind me and could see me when I stopped at this aid station (I wasn't looking over my shoulder). A big surprise since he's never been anywhere near me this week.

I hit the bike path and drank almost another bottle of drink mix and also drank most of my bottle of Perpetuem which was in my jersey pocket. Figuring the Perpetuem will allow me to continue to the finish and provide me much needed strength in the last climb (which it did).

The bike path consisted of me spinning at ridiculously high cadences for 15-20sec and then coasting for a while. Trying to keep the speed up around 20mph. Guys on geared bikes were passing me like I was standing still. I tried to latch onto two groups of people on geared bikes so I can draft them but that did not last long. This is always the hardest thing for a singlespeeder. You want to maintain a fast pace but you can only pedal so fast. We resort to pedaling like mad and coasting. Pedaling like mad and coasting. Repeat..

A good portion of the bike path was downhill so I went back and forth between laying on my saddle with my upper body horizontal on the bike (allowed me to stretch my back and hamstrings) and also laying on the top tube tucked in the bike with my back against the seatpost and my face up on the stem (most aerodynamic). I got some pretty good speeds out of this (32mph top says my GPS).

Once in Frisco we rolled through the third and final aid station. Jeff and Sonya from Topeak/Ergon finally caught back up to me (I passed them in the early few miles of the race) and we rode out of the aid station together. I ditched my arm warmers (which I never wore) and my bottle of perpetuem at the aid station to lighten the load. Jeff was asking me if I ever rode the next section (which I have not). He said I'd enjoy it and I sure did. Upwards of 10miles of singletrack (now mostly doubletrack) that was very rocky and rooty (like New England and the East coast) that took us up to Breckenridge. There was a good grade for the climb. Perfect for my gear ratio I had. I felt great so I took off. Sonya later told me she tried to match my pace but she couldn't forcing her and Jeff to ride a bit slower than I. Opps. Sorry Sonya.

I felt strong and was having so much fun that I caught back up, and passed, quite a few of the geared riders that passed me on the bike path. One guy was able to kind of hang with me. I heard him behind me a ways. He would gain on me with the flats and slight downhills but I'd pull on him when we had a few short climbs. The last two to three miles were a bit on the access roads through the Breckenridge Ski Resort and then a few trails. Going into the last section of trail I was sure the geared guy would pass me since he could gain and pass me on the road (which he never really did) but he actually gave me a little nudge to get me onto the singletrack first and we rode to the finish together. I bombed the last couple hundred feet down to the finish line (fingers no where near the brakes). It was some rocky and somewhat smooth doubletrack. Felt awesome to be flying down the mountain at well over 25mph.

Finished just inside of 4hours! Fastest stage for me this week so far. Victory!

7the place singlespeed but only six minutes behind Dan (in 6th). Dan came up to me after I finished and commented on how he's glad we have one more stage because I'm getting stronger and faster as the days go on and have been creeping up on him. We both laughed and shared our enjoyment for the sportsmanship.

Stage 5 singlespeed results. I'm getting closer to the top guys but we're running out of time. One more stage to go.

Stage 5 singlespeed podium.

Both Montana and Mike made it back onto the podium! Congrats guys!

Overall singlespeed results after 5 stages.

Today actually felt like a recovery day for me. Sounds kind of funny for me to say that but I did not feel as beat down as I did yesterday both during today's stage or afterwards.

One more stage to go! Part of me is excited to finish and get the bad-ass belt buckle and part of me is sad for I'm getting stronger as the days go on.

My Photos

Peter's Blog and Photos

Dicky's Blog

Thom's Blog

Breck Epic '10 - Stage 4

2010-08-25T22:22:00.005-04:00

Today was the new Aqueduct stage that Mike just got forest service approval for the other week. Supposedly more difficult than yesterday. I like to think of today as a 'mixer' seeing as the first half was death for me and the second half was the best performance I've had all week.

42miles and 8,852 feet of climbing.

I didn't sleep that well last night and this morning was very difficult to get moving. It was also quite cold this morning, like day one. We were shivering at the start waiting for the sun to come up over the mountain pass.

The race started just like every day this week. Neutral start going out of town which promptly dropped me well before the turn off of French Gulch road to the first climb (a dirt road we did on stage 2). I did what I did yesterday and stuck with a pace that I could ride consistently.

I've also noticed that my starts and the first hour or two have been a struggle on my body. We're faced with climbing from the get-go and I have trouble getting my body under control. Needless to say I settled into a rhythm and did my best.

The first couple climbs in the first 20miles were tough. Just a tad too steep for me to ride so I wound up walking a bit of them. Did my best to ride what I could since it was awesome Colorado Trail singletrack. Jeff and Sonya from Topeak/Ergon were back and forth with I and ultimately pulled away from me on the climb at mile 13.

Down the descent around mile 15 to some fields and singletrack that took us out near Keystone. I rode this section last Thursday with Thom, Jeff Carter, Dejay, Mike Melley and Peter Butt so I knew what was in store. Relatively flat to the second aid station at 20miles in. Since I didn't eat and drink much up until this point I did my best to fill my stomach up despite not having a desire to eat. Drank just about all of my bottle of Perpetuem in anticipation for the long climb from mile 20 (aid station 2) to mile 28ish.

Leaving aid station 2 was rough. My legs were really tired but I knew every foot of this climb and knew if I kept on pedaling I'd be at the top and have an awesome descent down the Colorado Trail (the climb we did at mile 15 on day two). The grade was also perfect for my gear ratio.

The long climb today was broken into two parts. A dirt road that was at a shallower grade (well, it felt that way) and then an old Jeep trail that was at a steeper grade with many switch-backs. There was a right turn off the dirt road and onto the Jeep trail. This is where Thom was pounding a Coke on last Thursday's ride.

Once I turned onto the Jeep trail the Perpetuem finally kicked in and I felt great. The GPS on my bike (which for some reason refused to record today) said I was doing around 5-6mph up that climb. It was the perfect grade to stay seated and grind it out. Each switch-back I'd have to stand up to get that extra push over the rocks and such.

Upon the top of the climb and onto the Colorado Trail I was planning on stopping for a nature break but to my surprise, I saw Montana and knew I had to keep on going for now I have a chance to finish in 6th place as opposed to my solid 7th place finishing all week. This was the first time all week were I've been near another singlespeeder. Typically I've been out in my own little singlespeed world. Can't quite ride fast enough to catch up to 6th place and 8th place has occasionally been nipping on my heels.

Montana bombed the Colorado Trail descent and left me in his dust. I rode it quite aggressively and fast. Something I've finally gotten back this week as mentioned the other day. Two wheeled slides around turn in the loose dirt. No fingers on the brake levers through the straights. Not sure what the GPS said but I can only guess its upwards of 25-30mph since when I did have the ability to look away from the trail and onto the GPS I was doing 20mph. Still couldn't find Montana until after we hit the bottom and started climbing up the second portion of the Colorado Trail. Still feeling pretty strong I kept on the gas through these climbs and eventually was able to get on Montana's wheel.

By now we are around mile 34 and have also caught back up to Jeff and Sonya. They let Montana and I pass them. We also passed quite a few other geared riders. Right turn onto a very rutted out dirt road downhill to Tiger Rd. We did this yesterday and at the bottom, on Tiger Road, was the aid station yesterday (where I thought it was today). I forgot how rutted the road was and tried drinking. In mid-drink I also inhaled and rode into a giant pot-hole with one hand on the bar. Spit my water out and grabbed onto the bars with the other hand and the bottle in my hand. Held on for dear life for another couple hundred feet and then the road smoothed out enough for me to take a drink and put the bottle away. Montana was still infront of me. Just before opening up onto Tiger Rd. I coasted past Montana and lead whomever was with us (I thought it was upwards of six people including he and I) across a creek and through some trails to the aid station.

Got to the aid station with Jeff and Sonya seconds behind me. Filled my two bottles with Heed and opted not to get anything out of my drop bag knowing we had less than 10miles to the finish. As soon as I put my leg over my bike to get going Montana rolled in. I took off down the rolling doubletrack. Jeff and Sonya caught up to me and passed me as I couldn't pedal any faster. One more climb to go we cheered!

The doubletrack pitched up and I forced myself to stay on the bike no matter how much it hurt. Standing and pedaling at some insanely low cadence as Jeff and Sonya were in their 28/36 spinning away. I buried myself knowing if I could get up and over this mountain I could bomb the descent and hopefully stay ahead of Montana. Partway up the climb I resorted to what Peter refers to as the "Granny Walk". Ride for a minute or so and then walk [quickly] for a minute or so. This keeps you ahead of any geared rider spinning in their granny gear. Well, it works okay for me, sometimes. I worked today.

I caught up to another geared rider near the top of this last climb (with Jeff and Sonya not that far behind me) and we pushed ourselves to the finish. I'd give him encouragement on the short uphills (since he wanted to shift to an easier gear and slow down but I couldn't) and he'd let me tag along on his wheel on the descents.

Back down the flume trail we've ridden almost every stage thus far and across French Creek road. We did this yesterday but today we had a bunch of singletrack once we crossed French Creek road. I was so shelled from burring myself on the last climb that this singletrack was horrible. It was classic New England singletrack too; all chock full of roots, stumps and rocks. I scrubbed so much speed for I could barely hold onto the handlebars and could barely turn the pedals over. Basically, I couldn't control the bike anymore. My shoulders and other muscles I didn't know I had were so fatigued that I couldn't do anything.

Eventually got to the finish line with that geared rider seconds ahead of me. I heard Jeff and Sonya barreling down the singletrack into the last turn for the finish. They were right behind me. Montana finished a few minutes later. Wow. I can't believe I just did that. Started my day off horribly and ended on a high note.

Finished 6th place singlespeed for the day. Still in 7th place singlespeed overall.

4hours 35minutes

Looking at the results I was not that far behind all the other singlespeeders. Guess I did have an impressive ride today. Victory!

I was also 10minutes behind Thom. I thought I was much further than that. Seeing as Jeff and Sonya are a solid team and riding very consistent this week I was stoked to have caught back up with them later in the race. A fun day and it was exciting to ride with a bunch of fast people.

Afterwards, Thom, Mike Melley, Montana and I rode over to the Riverwalk and sat in the cold water for around 20minutes. It was good on the legs. Then a shower and an hour long nap before dinner.

During dinner I had my wheels trued since I knocked them out of true pretty good the past few days. Tomorrow is the Wheeler trail over on the Breckenridge ski resort mountain chain (west of town). We're going back over 12,000ft on a hike-a-bike. Tomi got a bunch of great photos here last year. I'll probably do the same.

Russ replacing Thom's chainring. Russ is co-owner of the Organic Mechanic based out of Golden, CO. I met him at the 'Eel' a few years ago where he, Salem and I raced together. Good guy and they are doing a great thing traveling to various races throughout the Colorado region.

Thom found a new friend

I miss my dog. He's in North Carolina on vacation with my parents right now as I'm on 'vacation' in Colorado.

My Photos

Peter's Blog and Photos

Dicky's Blog

Thom's Blog