It's all Lepo

Long pine classic 2010

2010-07-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

1 2781 2:06:35 2781 SNYDER AARON ELITE OPEN
2 445 2:06:36 445 KAHLENBERG JORDAN ELITE OPEN
3 93 2:10:56 93 adams ray ELITE OPEN
4 101 2:13:13 101 hoover andy ELITE OPEN
5 2896 2:14:15 2896 Miller Matt ELITE OPEN
6 1 2:14:19 1 DRAUGELIS BRANDON ELITE OPEN
7 2784 2:18:34 2784 BECK CHRISTOPHER ELITE OPEN
8 2782 2:22:31 2782 HARMON JAMES ELITE OPEN
9 538 2:23:42 topher Valenti ELITE OPEN
10 585 2:25:25 585 DECARLO CHRIS ELITE OPEN
11 106 2:25:47 106 laub mike ELITE OPEN
12 2785 2:25:59 2785 ATKINS DANIEL ELITE OPEN
13 103 2:29:49 103 KEMBLE ANDREW ELITE OPEN
14 439 2:31:40 439 alesio andrew ELITE OPEN
15 446 2:33:00 446 macinni john ELITE OPEN
16 2929 2:33:08 2929 Groves Leonard ELITE OPEN
17 1855 2:34:21 1855 Viglaski Rickeg ELITE OPEN
18 94 2:47:35 94 ALVERIO WILLIAM ELITE OPEN
19 97 2:47:53 97 bonora dan ELITE OPEN

Last year the LPC was much cooler. This year it was 95 degrees out.
I was having massive anxiety attacks thinking about how much the start of this race sucked last year. With my super spinney gear 34x21 I was passed by everyone before we even got to the single track. So this year I was prepared. The 33x20 I ran was much better and so I was able to get into the single track with the top 10 guys.

After a few bobbles from up ahead involving one of the Alesio twins I found myself in 3rd or 4th. I was so happy that I wasn't stuck behind so many riders like last year. This was going to be a good race I thought.

Then I flatted. SOB! WTF! I flip the bike over and pull the rear wheel off and see that it's leaking from the bead. So I used my co2 and blasted it with air. It sealed up and I listened for air as 10,15, or 20 riders go by. Nuts! So much for my strategy.

I got back on and the rear tire feels soft and I know that I'm on the Virge of pinch flatting. I was cursing myself for not bringing a third co2 for this situation. Now I have to decide weather or not I should put a tube in and use my last co2 or just use my remaining co2 and hope I don't flat the rest of the race.

I decide to stop again and I can't find my last co2. WTF! I must have dropped it when I was messing with my tire the first time. So now I have to ask someone for air. How is this going to work out. Riding much slower now I keep on going. I asked one guy for air and he had none. Then down one of the first big down hills I find a guy with a flat. He has just enough air left in his co2 to harden up my rear tire for the rest of the race.

Suddenly I was flying. Wow I didn't know how much that rear tire was dragging. Now I'm having a hard time slowing down. Maybe I will be able to get back into this race after all.

But then I ran out of water. I don't know how I could have downed 2 liters in less then 30 minutes but I did. Or maybe when I was fixing my flat the water drained out of my pack?

Luckily there was a water station before the first major climb and I filled up my water pack, but it costs me time to fill up. Also at this point of the race the sport riders merge with the expert/elite field and I'm behind more riders and can't get buy. I was able to pass on the climb but it really took some extra energy to pass on the softer loose stuff. I cleaned the first climb with some encouragement from a fellow single speeder. Thanks!

When I got to the second and most heinous climb all I could see was guys and girls walking there bikes up the steep hill. Imagine everyone pushing their bike up this monster climb and no one is happy and everyone is cursing the guy who made this part of the race. Then imagine some fucker running up this bitch of a climb and passing them like they were standing still. Well that fucker was me and It really sucked when you didn't get out of my way!

Sorry for that unfortunate outburst. But I know that climb sucked and I followed my plan to get up it. If your only plan was to bitch and not get out of the way then you failed. Wow I better get off of this subject before someone thinks I'm really an ass hole.

I literally had to push my way through riders pushing their bikes up this hill!

After this climb I knew the worst was over. My thinking was that I was out of the race and I just was out there doing my best. Then I catch one of the twins and a Scott rider on the last climb. Alesio was dying of thirst and asked me for some water. I reluctantly gave him some and hoped that I had enough to finish. There was a water station at the end of the final climb so he would be ok. But it gave me new hope that guys were dropping out with cramps and dehydration.(nice, what a dick!) So I booked it up the final climb and saw the other twin at the water stop. Wow maybe I'm in better shape then I thought.

I rolled in for 8th place, but only found out that I got 8th today. Results were messed up and it was hot. I took off without my $80. Oh well.

Will I be back next year? I don't know. But I'm leaning towards no.

Have a great day!

Putney West Hill Race 2010

2010-06-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

2nd place and afraid to even touch "the one" Michael Broderick!

33x20 has been my workhorse gear for climbing races. And when I say climbing I mean normal climbing. Not Mount Snow climbing. I think I will be putting on my 22 tooth cog that I got for being in Single Speed USA in Tucson last February for Mount Snow.

Putney has some good climbs in it though and I suffered through them with my one gear. I think if I had gears I would have cranked them all the way down until I was spinning like the road runner and not really go anywhere. The climbs reminded me of riding my fixie over the winter and pushing a 42x17 up these big hills in the north west corner of CT.

Before the race Josh mentioned that Justin Lindine would be at the race. So I thought for sure he would win. But instead of Lindine, Michael Broderick shows up straight off the world cup tour in Europe. Super nice guy. I imagine he was yawning out on the course when no one could stay on his wheel.

On the starting line I was looking around for some other top guys. Powell, Snyder, Mooradian,? Nope. So who do I have to look out for to get some points. Foley was the only one that I would have to worry about. Unfortunately for him he was having a bad day and finished 7th. And Josh was also not feeling good for 8th place.

30 seconds to go! I hope this works.

Coyote Hill 2010

2010-06-12T07:12:00.001-07:00

33x20

John Foley and I duked it out but Foley took 3rd place and me 4th.

I think the most I think the most interesting thing about the race was our bikes. John has a full suspension 29'er with gears and I'm on a fully rigid ss 29'er. Except for both being 29'ers they were essentially at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

The terrain was brutal with roots and rocks and fast down hills. At one point I had to launch over a mud puddle at the bottom of one of the fast descents hoping that It wouldn't end my season early.

I dropped Foley on the initial long fire road climb and gain about 45 seconds then he would catch me on the back half of the course. My guess is that he used all of his suspension to compensate for the loss of time. Then we would finish the lap together.

The last lap I knew my only chance was to hit it hard on the climb no matter what happened. Sure enough he caught me towards the end of the lap and I held his wheel. He was in front of me as we passed Sweeney walking his bike from a double flat. I was on his wheel and needed to pass him but couldn't find the strength or line.

Foley's HRM was going off like he was a ticking time bomb. My own alarms were going off in my head.

I couldn't get around him and that was it.

So is it the bike or the rider? You decide.

I also thought that my Stan's crow tire worked really well on the wet roots.

The Monte was there too. Unfortunately he was running on empty and all of the training for his big event left him without a leg to stand on so he dropped out after the first lap.

All of his training payed off in Ohio at the Mohecain 100. Harlen Price and Gerry Pflug didn't know what they were up against. Way to go Monte!

Winsted Woods 2010

2010-05-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

33x20 was a good gear for the climbs but super spinny once we got out on top.

I went out way too hard on the first 1/4 of the first lap and had to suffer for the next lap. Just keep climbing as hard as you can and pedal through the rough stuff.

Mooradian kept out of sight ahead of me and I would see Powell already descending when I was going up the second climb. I was really lucky to not flat on the rocky decent. Too bad for Foley who flatted. Foley moto'ed past me on the rocky decent like he was on a freakin' dirt bike. He would have placed better than me for sure. Lot's of flats that day.

Josh had a mechanical after a crash which cost him some time and frustration.

Congrats to Charlie Beal for wining the single speed class. And Brian Cantele who won the 40+ class wearing a 503 cycleworx's jersey.

See you at Coyote Hill.

Orchard Assault Umass 2010

2010-05-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

I won.

Thanks to Thom Parson for bloging about this race last year. It helped me to chose the right gear. 33x19.

Thanks to Mike Mooradian for telling the time keeper that I won.

Josh got 3rd!

Perfect course for a rigid single speed.

That was a lot of fun!

Amen.

Idyllwild Spring Challenge Race Report

2010-05-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

Just to warn you this post is super long so get some coffee and a snack your going to be here a while.
The terrain-
The 30-mile XC course near Idyllwild is like riding through a dessert with vegetation on top of a mountain. Mostly sagebrush and manzanita and pine trees, but no cacti. The mountain is a giant rock of granite so the trails are sandy and dry with decomposed granite type of dirt. If you have ever been to Fantasy Island in Tucson they you know exactly what the trails are like in Idyllwild. Except put Fantasy on the side of a mountain. Banked corners galore. The trail went from 4500ft to 6500ft in elevation.

Kurt Gensheimer is a super cool dude that is from San Diego but originally from Boston. He was the only other Pro SS so he and I were 1st and 2nd both days. He ran a 34x20 on a carbon 26’er with a Fox fork. I ran a 33x20 on my 29’er. (44.2 vs. 47.9)

At the start of the race we were both wondering where all of the other “Pro” SS’ers were. Where’s the Niner Dudes? This is a National race, right? So why was it just the 2 of us? If I had known that there were only going to be 2 guys I would have signed up for the Men’s Pro race. I guess you can’t count on there being enough SS to show up.

The course is a 30-mile loop. No laps. It was kinda like the SSUSA course in Tucson. Lots of climbing too. Most of the climbing I knew was in the first 17 miles so my strategy was to leave it all on the big climbs and hobble the rest of the way home. Running the 33x20 was a sure bet that I could climb just about everything so I felt confident with each pedal stroke that I could keep up the tempo without having to worry about going too hard.

The Start-
Kurt and I started behind the pro class and after a quick section of single track (ST) and down a hill section called “The Demoralizer” it was flat city for about a mile. No way I could match the Big Ring pace and I could see up ahead Kurt spinning in quick spurts. Not knowing what kind of rider Kurt was I wanted to see how he handled the first climb/hike section. The “Tunnel of Love” was a washed out steep section that had some of the pro guys walking with their geared bikes. I’ve been practicing running up climbs so I buried myself and got a huge gap on Kurt and some of the pro riders.

One pro caught me with his FS bike on a downhill section but I soon passed him back on the next climb. (The first of three climbs with a prime at the top for the KOM/QOM.) The “Keen Summit” climb had a prime of $25. Manny claimed this one and the other 2 climbs.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Manuel Prado he is a big time rider for Sho-Air and won La Ruta. He is also a sick climber and won this race for the last few years. I bet he only weights 125 lbs. and I overheard him talking to a guy saying that back home he once climbed 60,000 feet in one week of riding. The guy is no joke. The other Pros would gather around him hoping that some of his skill and power will rub off onto them. I think he walked away with over $500 in prize money.

After quick decent on swoopy ST we made a right into a beautiful grass meadow that was a slight incline. Man I was needing a bigger gear right now to go faster. Doh! Stupid Speeder!
Then I climbed a fire road and dropped into some swoopier ST. The second big climb started. They actually had a sign that said, “start of climb #2”. I climbed most of it and ran some short sections. Each climb they let you know when you were 100 yards from the top so you could sprint to the top for the $50 prime.

Another down hill before the start of the 3rd and final climb. Pine rd is paved and steep. Jesse was there to give me a fresh bottle and half an orange. Thank you Jesse for being there. Jesse was so supportive to me the whole weekend. She took pictures and encouraged me a lot, and didn’t complain (more than me) when the awards took forever. She wants to go back for 2 weeks next year so we can do some hiking and see more stuff. Can you say training camp? At elevation! With some of the best trails in the country!

So, we climbed and climbed and climbed. And it got steeper and steeper. It was paved near the top and I had to get off to walk. One pro guy I caught in his granny and another one was walking. Finally I got to the top and asked the people at the trailhead how many riders passed. “Maybe 7” was the reply.

Now came some gnarly down hill ST. I wish I could have pre rode this section because I think I could have gone a little faster. They had signs saying “Danger Slow.” I would get freaked out and slow down too much and then afterwards think that wasn’t bad. We went down part of the Super D course and it was fast like a water park slide. So much fun.

One final short climb to the end and down the Tunnel of love. Back on the pavement, and up the “Demoralizer”, Down a few whoops and I was done. 2:44:02. Kurt came in at 2:51:43. I would have been 6th if I was in the Pro men’s class. Which is about right for the guys I ride with here on the East Coast.

A Cat 1 Sho-Air guy in the 30-34 class would have podiumed for 5th with a 2:38.

Some thoughts I have are what could I do differently to make it with the top Pros that day. Should I get a super light geared bike with suspension? Would that make me faster? Or would I just blow up trying to push too big of a gear and not push myself hard enough on the climbs. I think a solution would be to get a 3-speed hub. I would still have the benefits of a straight chain line. Then I could have one harder gear for the flat paved sections and one easier gear for the climbs. Question is do they make a high performance 3 speed yet?

3.5 mile Time Trial-
After the XC awards on Saturday I headed out to the TT course. It was well-marked and super fun. Jesse hiked while I rode it. I sessioned a few tricky sections and did 2 laps. So I rode a lot that day. Romolo was out there too and told me we would have to do 3 laps. During practice it took 22 minutes so it would be about an hour and 6 minutes. I was happy to learn when I lined up that we only had to do 1 lap.

Using my cross style starts I just annihilated myself. I went out maybe too hard and felt the ride form the day before. I stuck with the 33x20 because it was a down and back up race. My goal was to catch the guy that started one minute ahead of me. I recovered some and hit it hard again. Near the end I spot my victim. I’m on the hunt now and I can sense his fear. Every short climb I buried myself and sprinted. Closer and closer I got until the final stretch. An uphill sprint to the line and I got him! Some guy was yelling, “your sprinting like a cat two rookie” to the guy next to me! I did get a “Nice single” from the guy I sprinted against.

Again I wish I were in the pro class because I had the 3rd fastest time for the TT at 17:53. Manny had 17:26 and Dana was 17:44. I would have loved to be up on the podium with those guys. 1st place for me again. Kurt came in at 19:10.

Super-D
I’m definitely going to have to do more Super-D’s in the future. So much fun! At least twice I had a “Oh Shit!” moment. But I managed to pull it off. On the second OS I didn’t slow down enough for a right turn so I was sliding sideways for a while and had to go for a real crappy line. Going so fast makes it possible to jump further over stuff to clear obstacles. The 29’er wheels gave me lots of confidence. There were single track and fire roads. A little bit of up hill and lots of slight down hill.
Kurt had been to Downiville 3 times and is used to these high-speed endeavors. Plus a front fork gave him a slight edge over my 29’er wheels. Although I think 29’er on a rigid bike makes it feel like a 26’er with a shock.
He started one minute behind me so I thought this would be his chance to catch me. During practice I took 22 minutes to get down. I didn’t shine like the real pros but I still edged my way past Kurt for the final win. 16:26 was my time and 16:40 was Kurts. Not bad for my first Super-D. The fastest time went to Dana Weber with a 14:58. Sick!

It wasn’t all down hill. There were some climbing and some tricky spots and some flats. U was spun out with my 33x17. I could have used a 13 or 15, but whatever. 1st place again. Lot’s of cat 1’s had a better time than me. I’ll have to look and see all of the results to see where I placed overall.

Stage race results
Since I won all 3 events as a pro single speeder I won the stage race. Unfortunately I don’t think these results will count towards my overall ranking as a pro since there was only one other guy. If I signed up for the pro men’s I would have taken 5th for the stage race. On a rigid single speed to boot.
Thanks for reading.

Idyllwild Time Trial

2010-05-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

I caught the dude that started 1 minute ahead of me. We up hill sprinted for the line and some guy shouts out to the other guy, "Your climbing like a cat 2 rookie." I thought it was funny. I got him at the line.

Here are the results.

Idyllwild

2010-05-08T08:27:00.001-07:00

Tahquitz rock overlooking Idyllwild.

the mountain

the other side of the mountain from the valley.

Bud is the owner of the Bike Route. He was here when I was a kid.
High dessert terrain. Swoopy and dry. Perfect.
1st place out of 2! I won the XC, TT, and Super D for pro ss.
My award.
Don't worry if you cant read the numbers. I cant either. But if you compare my times I would have been 5th for Pro. I'll take 1st for ss instead. Manny Prado takes the win.

I have a huge race report that someday I will post. It took me like 4 hours to write it and my computer wont give it back. I hate computers! Have a nice day.

Singlespeed-a-palooza 2010, and my game.

2010-04-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

33x17
Dear reader, It’s All Lepo has been on the back burner lately and I’m sorry for that. It’s important to me that we all connect on this level for some reason. I know the behind the scenes of what goes on in my life is important to you. And vice versa. I will try to do better.

The reason for the lack of posts is that I got rid of the internet at home. I stopped using the internet mid March and I’ve only been on it one or two times since. I can check my email and blogs from the library computer, but I have only gone twice.

Singlespeed-a-paloosa has been on my mind for a long time. I was really focused on seeing if I could beat the “Monte”. For some reason this year I have jumped up my game a lot (I’ll talk about that later) and I’m able to hang with some of the best single speeders in the country. So thinking that I might have a chance gave me some hope.

The start of the race was interesting rubbing elbows with Dejay Birtch. Who came all the way out from CO to play in the mud and lose his brakes. Dejay is sponsored by Niner, and also hosted SSUSA in Tucson last February. Super cool guy with a super cool bike. Not so cool brakes.

Dejay and Foco were hitting it hard up the Major Mike climb with The Monte just ahead. Getting around Foco on the climb was a good move because The Monte and I took off together and got a good size gap off the front and didn’t look back. I ran a 33x17 and didn’t have any trouble keeping up with The Monte’s 34x16. I was feeling good despite the wheezing and grunting, as someone pointed out on Big Bikes comments. I wonder if they noticed me drooling all over myself, or saw me dry heaving. This time of year with my allergies I get a little congested. Once the pollen goes away I sound much better. We rode together for the first lap and up Major Mike again and that’s when the shit hit the fan. The first lap was great without most of the mud, but once 250 riders came through it was a different story. My brakes started failing during the first lap and once I started descending down Major for the second time I knew I was in trouble.

My brakes were bottoming out as I watched The Monte float away. Things started to get hairy and I resorted to going “Old School” and put my foot on the rear tire to slow me down. This only partly worked and I didn’t have much control. I eventually went off the trail and decided that a stone wall would make for a softer landing than a tree. I don’t have luck with trees. After crashing and not getting hurt too bad I continued on trying to see if I could catch The Monte. I never gave up, but It would escape me and I would come in happy for 2nd place. Way to go Monte! You truly are the fastest single speeder in the land.

Amazingly Josh Wilcox came in 3rd! 2 spots on the podium for 503 cycleworx! And Stine came in just after him. Way to go man! Sean Cavanaugh did very well after a season off of racing. And CB2 without a front brake from the start came in 12th.

Thanks Darkhorse cycles! The new course was awesome! I really liked going through the building and the stairs were a lot of fun. Not so much the second lap when my bike weighed 15 lbs more but still fun. And thanks for the huge payout! Thanks for giving us single speeders a chance to shine. Looking forward to the DH 40!

So you want to know how my game has improved? It didn’t happen overnight as some people might think. It’s not like I did one thing differently and all of a sudden I’m faster than last year. There are a few things that stick out in my mind that I can say has made me faster and one of those things is Josh Wilcox. Josh and his bike shop 503 Cycleworx has helped me to get to where I am today. He provides me with the tools and information that I need to get faster and he pushes me to do better and is super encouraging all of the time. Plus he is really hard to keep up with and pushes me past my limits constantly. Bottom line is without Josh I wouldn’t be doing as well. Also guys like CB2 (Charles Beal). He schools me over the technical stuff in the West Hartford Res and is also really encouraging and positive to ride with. You all have made me a little bit faster by giving me the incentive to try and reach your level of riding. Inspiring riders like Sean Cavanaugh, Thom Parsons and Rob Stine, not to mention The Monte. You all have given me tons of encouragement, advice, and positive vibes that only fellow single speeders can give. So I would like to thank you all and everyone else I might have not mentioned for your help.
I also think that my wife Jesse has been a huge part to help me do better. She keeps me fueled with Gluten free bread and helps me to make the right choices for food. She is my biggest fan, and she is also understanding of how much time this hobby consumes.

I’m going to CA this weekend for the Idyllwild spring challenge. I’m going with the same gear as single speed USA. 33x20. Saturday is the 30 mile XC event and Sunday is the Super D and Time Trial. It should be a lot of fun. I’ll try to write about it when I get back.

Going back to Caly... to Caly... to Caly

2010-03-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't get enough of California I guess. So I signed up for the Idyllwild Spring Challenge stage race. It's a 2 day event. 30 mile cross country race on Saturday, Super D and TT on Sunday.

I know what you are thinking. Why go all the way out there and spend tons of money to do that race when you could have gone to Trans-Sylvania Epic which is closer and more "Epic."

My answer to you is that it's complicated. I don't have $900 to spend on strictly bike stuff. I do however have some money to spend on "Vacation." Going out to CA is a vacation. Going out to CA to do a stage race is awesome. Get over it!

Furthermore, not to make you jealous or anything but I used to live in Idyllwild. Yep, in the 7th grade. But that is were I first got into mountain biking and wanted to get into racing. So this is my Mecca.

I have this memory of riding there, back in 1989. We met some old timers who had only one chainring up front. They said "it's all you need." I thought they were being macho or something. But now I'm coming back with only one gear. Does that make me macho?

Mt. Tam

2010-03-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

California was a lot of fun. I was able to get out for a ride the day after we arrived in SF. Thanks to Thom Parsons who hooked me up with Pete Verdone.

Pete brought me one of his creations. This is a SS Trail bike. The fit was perfect for my taste. And it rode nice. The slack HT was ideal for descending. I just wish I knew how. Some of the stuff Pete was sending me down was insane. I just walked. He rode it of course.

The climb we took to get near the top of Tam were all fire roads. Some beautiful stuff.

I love this shot because it seems so surreal to me. That's how it felt. Like a dream. I couldn't believe I was out here on the West side riding bikes in the warm weather. And the way it all came together was perfect.

Pete took me down some sweet trails that were all off limits to bikes. He called it "Poaching." We ran into some surly hikers with their dogs off the leash. They were pissed but Pete was able to sweet talk them and remind them that they too were braking the law by not having their dog on a leash. We went on a busy Sunday afternoon so no wonder there was so much traffic. The trails were sick. Sometimes the single track was only 15" wide one a steep side hill. I wanted to look around more but I didn't dare. I had a few close calls that kept me focused and heart pounding.

Pete had a lot to say about 29'ers. He doesn't like them. I don't know if it is because of the type of riding he does or just is a die-hard 26'er. He was telling me of a 28'er that he made. He thinks the 29" wheels are too big. He might be right. The 26'er he had me on was easy to pedal over. Kinda made me miss the 1x1. But I won't go back.

Pete thinks outside of the box and makes changes to his bikes that make sense. Like putting a 7" roter on the front. He said it evens out the braking. This caught me off guard a few times and I locked them up like nothing. He builds fast motorcycles for a living so he knows what he's talking about.

Unfortunately this was the only day that week that I rode a bike. I did however get some trail running in. I ran the shore side of Mt Tam through Muir Woods. Running through the redwoods was another dream come true experience. The trails were steep and had stairs. It was fun to be running along the trails that were unrideable. I ran for about an hour and a half and only got about 5 miles. Trail running is my new favorite thing to do. I know you guys are cringing. I'm not going to give up riding bikes anytime soon (ever). But when you want to get out on some trails and don't have a bike you have to improvise. And if I only have an hour to do some kind of "training" then I'm going to run because I feel like it's a more intense work out.

Flip flopper

2010-02-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

If you are at all familiar with who I am and how I go about doing things you will know that I usually jump right into things without too much hesitation. The classic "think before you act" usually doesn't apply to me. I just head in some direction hoping to get there somehow. And I tend to tell people one thing and the next day say just the opposite. I try to do things on the cheap and usually pay for it in the end. Life can be cruel in that way. Sometimes.

Well, can you tell what this is leading up to?

I would like to detract what I said in my blog about racing this year in the 30-39 cat 1 class for 2010. I will not be racing in that class anymore.

I did some soul searching and looked at my goals for 2010. I want to be racing longer events like the Darkhorse 40 and VT50. And I'm already signed up for D2R2. So racing for an hour and a half just doesn't seem to cut it for me any more. Plus it's not about winning for me anymore. At least that's what I keep telling myself. However, I want to race like I want to win and then when I get 10th place I won't complain about it or give a list of shitty excuses why I didn't do better. I promise.

So just for fun I thought I might see if I could be upgraded to "Pro." I really didn't think that they would do it but they did. Yep, the guy who will finish 15-30 minutes behind first place is now pro. Thanks guys for your encouragement. Too many to write down here and I don't want to leave anyone out. You know who you are.

On top of that I get to pay $150 for my International house of pancakes license. Sweet, now I can compete in Canada.

And I got the upgrade to cat 2 for cyclocross. So watch out Reuter, Sweeney, and Wilcox, and Green. My main goal is to be the most videoed by the seat cam.

My winter training is not going too well. The weather is really getting to me. I was able to get out today with Josh for a 3 hour ride but that is all the riding I did all week. I'm hoping that everything will be all right. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way.

Sebastian is quite funny. Check it out.

SSUSA 2010, a desert odyssey

2010-02-09T03:45:00.000-08:00

Single speed USA 2010 was a single speed mountain bike gathering in the Tucson dessert. Dejay Birtch (Niner bikes) ran the show.

Me posing with the porta potties hoping to get a sponsorship from United toilets. Photo by Thom's helmet.

The week before the "race" I flew out to AZ to stay with my sister and visited some old friends.
Living in Tucson for most of my childhood I was brought back to the sites and smells of the dessert in winter.

Monte introduced me to Fantasy Island which was super fast single track through cacti. Monte had this one jump out at him.

Then it got stuck in his hand! Ouch!

Fast and flowy. FI was super fun! Banked corners and super fast chutes with little jumps at the top. With the F-16's flying overhead I felt like I was the pilot flying through the turns and pushing the edge of traction to go faster and faster. The first 10 minutes Monte was hammering through all of these twists and turns and ups and downs I felt like I was going to be sick trying to keep up. It was easy to loose track of time there. You just want to keep going because it's so much fun. When I look outside now I get kinda depressed thinking about how nice it would be to go riding there just one more time.

Wednesday before the race I scoped out part of the course I started this climb that lasted forever. I climbed for 50 minutes. I got lost 100 times and wound up being out there for 5 hours. I also wound up at the same quicksand monte went into. And yes I had to walk all the way back up the hill. Took forever. A dumb and dumber moment.

Looking out to Chiva falls.

Water crossing below Chiva.

After the race

Belt. There were like 6 of these there.

This guy is so cool.

Thom and Monte "stoned"

carnage

It's hard to put it into writing what happened out there. But I will try. We all rolled out on the pavement. Our humming tires and passing of beer in the cool dessert air was quite an experience. The kind of thing you (we) live for. We got to the base of the climb and Dejay had us take our front wheels of and walk down the hill. We sang happy birthday to him and he thanked us and said "have fun." That was the start. I walked fast to my bike while others ran and people were saying "why are they running?" The first 6 miles was all hill. I knew I had to pace myself or I would be cooked the rest of the race. As some of you know I tend to blow it all on the holeshot, but not this time. I had to keep telling myself to hold back. It was a long ride to the finish and I had no idea what the last half was all about.

Everything was working perfectly. All of the climbs I thought were huge on Wednesday were not really that huge anymore. Having a 33x20 helped also. The course was either up or down. Not much flat.

The experience of riding with other singlespeeders from all over the country was really cool. Everyone was proud to say where they came from and asked me where I'm from too. Being able to talk was a good meter to judge if you were going too hard.

We made a right turn at the top of Redington rd onto some sick single track. Sharp rocks and sharper cactus all over. I kept praying that I didn't bite my sidewall on my new karma. Went by the first of many tire failures. "Sorry dude!" was the only thing I could say.

Then the single track ended at a fence. Uh? the yellow tape is on the other side of the fence. Sweet! Throw the bike over and hop the fence. Nice! Super fun!

Enter the rock garden. I've never ridden anything like this before. Thank god for 29" wheels was all I could think. There was water too. This was too much fun!

Got lost for a second and had to back track. Someone followed me too and was kinda pissed. But thankfully we were not too far from the trail.

Once I got to the top of High Chiva I knew I could start pushing the pace a little bit more. We climbed back up to Redington Rd and I saw a Niner jersey. It was Fuzzy! He finished 1st last year here so I thought I must be doing really well. I passed him on the road and was pushing kinda hard now. I knew that most of the climbing would end at the top of Redington. I was taking full advantage of the road by cutting all of the corners and tucking on all of the slight down hills to make up time.

Left onto the AZ trail. Some more climbing and beautiful views of the high desert. All single track now. Totally kicking it now and caught up to some guys. One guy was taking a leak and was just finishing up when I passed him. Nick and I would finish together and since he was taking a leak when I caught him I gave him 4th place so I wouldn't have to sprint for it. It wasn't a race after all.

La Milagrosa was the final push home. Miles of super techy down hill sketch town stuff. If you click on the link you will see what I mean. Just multiply the speed by 2, lock out the suspension, and change the music to Master of Puppets and you might get the feel for it. I walked some sections it was so steep. But again thank god for 29" wheels!

And thank God for Dejay Birtch and all the other people to make SSUSA happen. Boulder CO next year.

It was really good to see Thom and Mike out there. I'm hopeing next year we will see guys like Stine, Cavenaugh, Dougyfresh, and CB2 out there. We could all rent a cabin and ride all week long!

In the mean time we can look forward to Single Speed a Palooza! So sign up bitches!

It's only January

2010-01-23T07:06:00.000-08:00

I keep having to remind myself that it's only January. I've been too busy for Blogging. Facebook has filled the gap of my need to connect with people through short comments and witty replies.

I took the whole month of December off from cycling and did a whole bunch of running. I ran a few races including a half marathon that ended my running for the year. I got a wicked shin splint.

January came around and with the cold temps Logging commenced at work. The last 3 weeks I have been running early in the morning on Tuesday-Friday then carrying a 20lb chainsaw around for 6 hours and then after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays go for a 2 hour chilly ride on my beloved "Ranger." So you could say that I have been hitting hard. For MLK day I went out with Mookie and Josh for almost 3 hours of riding with 4000 feet of climbing. Kinda early for that but went with it. Rule of thumb: Avoid hitting any road that has "hill" or "mountain" on the sign for the month of January. Especially with a 42x15 (I mean 17) gear. It was cool to break 200 rpm on "do not coast" hill.

Well all that hard hitting paid off. Now I have Bursitis in my right knee. Thanks body. I really don't know how some people can just keep riding and running without problems. If I was riding my bike for work I would be unemployed.

Tucson is right around the corner. Fantasy Island is 2 miles from my sisters house. Looking forward to riding with Monte during the week and racing with Thom. It's going to be so much fun. It will be strange going back to where I spent 10 years of my life. Tucson is where I learned how to ride through sand. Getting a tan is high up on the list of things to do.

And thanks to CB2 I will be flying with my bike fully protected.

The plan is to rest up my knee and ride all week in Tucson with Single Speed USA as the finally.

New parts for Selma are on the way including this.

Calling all Root 66, 30-39 year old Cat 1 mountain bikers

2009-12-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

This past season I raced in the Pro/Cat 1 category to see how I could compete with the best riders in New England. I finished somewhere in the middle every race. Which is good. I never came in dead last. But after each race I would complain about how I couldn't keep up with those top guys.

USA Cycling made some changes last year to get rid of the Semi-pro category and created the Cat 1 (used to be "Expert") class. Cat 1 was considered on the fence so you could race with the pro's or experts. Those that chose to upgrade from Semi-pro to Pro figured out that they really belonged in the pro field. USAC thought that this change in Category would fill out the pro field and thus give more "competition."

From my point of view after racing a full season in the Pro class I noticed that the same top 5 guys would break away after the first 5 minutes of the race. Leaving me in "No man's land" or hoping that one of the pro guys would crack and I would pass him limping along feeling good about myself for beating a pro. Or they have a mechanical and so it looks good on the results. So even though I finished most races somewhere in the middle I don't think I gave much competition to the pro field. Leaving me with a lackluster feeling of satisfaction. "If only" was the theme all the way home from the race.

Sandbagging- I looked at my results last year in the single speed class and found that if you compared my time to the other cat 1's it was usually top 5. So naturally I thought that I should upgrade to the next level unless I wanted to be labeled a sandbagger. But I think I skipped a step in between. Since I was racing the single speed class I should have upgraded to the geared Cat 1 age group. That would have been the small step that I needed to still be competitive. Geared riders hate being beat by a single speeder and thus it would up the competition. I find that racing for top 5 is much better than for top 15. And the 30-39 group is no joke. They typically are the fastest group and could potentially become the largest too. Plus, Kevin Hines raced his age group one week and then the next week won the pro race at Putney. If I came close to second or third place I might consider myself in contention to actually win a pro race. But the amount of training I do just doesn't get the job done.

Laps-I know that extra laps can make or brake a rider. I found that on some of the steeper courses I would catch some riders on the extra lap. I would get a sense of accomplishment with the extra lap, but I would have to curtail my riding to some degree to make sure I had something left for the final lap. On the other hand I found myself feeling like I needed more time to recover between races and I would feel run down during the week. So maybe racing one lap less per week will help with recovery.

So hear me out fellow Cat 1's on the fence (I know who you are) about whether or not you should stay in the pro class or race your age group. Race with me in the 30-39 age group and not the pro race so that we can have some fun. And let the best Cat 1 win!

Easthampton #4 Accelerated cure project

2009-11-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

Josh Wilcox took some mad footage.

The Spooky Bikes Cyclocross Race, race #4 of the 2009 Accelerated Cure Project Cyclocross Series was put on by the Cyclonauts Racers.

Fantastic race! One of the best courses out there. Lot's of turns, decent runup, mud pit, and sand pit all make it fun and best suited for my strengths.

At the line we were told that the first one across the start/finish on the first lap would get a set of tires. So being that I like free stuff I went out to get those tires. I was a little bummed when they didn't have tires but instead I got $20. Lesson learned, never listen to what the race official has to offer. It may be too good to be true. But whatever, I'm stoked to get anything.

After burning up 1/2 a book of matches to get those mythical tires I had to recover some. Graham when by and I couldn't hold his wheel. The last video of the Run up shows the order we were in for the first few laps. Graham Garber, Jeremy Durrin, Anthony Clark, and me. At the top of the run up Jeremy dropped his chain. Something that plagued me last year at the same course. And what's weird is that he had the same set up with the dog tooth thing. I'm glad I got rid of mine and stuck to the front derailleur and I didn't shorten my chain either. My chain came off only once this season at Mansfield. Jeremy was on course to win this race but luck or fate was on my side this time. Mckittrick was also gunning for podium but I'm sure he was just having one of those days.

I started to close in on Anthony and once I caught him I knew I had to shake him or he might think he could hang with me for the rest of the race. (By the way Anthony was killing it. I talked to him after the race and he told me he rides a trainer 9 hours a week while he babysits.) Josh was encouraging me by yelling out "there's the point difference!" (Meaning if I don't beat this guy I'm going to lose the series). I had 2 points on Graham but if we tied in points he would win the series. So all I was thinking about was beating Anthony. Once I caught him I hung onto his wheel on one of the paved sections rested in his draft while he put out effort and then like sprinting for a town line I clicked down a gear and punched it.

I punched it hard all the way up the run up and then needed to relax and breathe because I was really suffering. I recovered for a minute and then I thought "wow I'm in second place". I could see Graham on different parts of the course and I thought maybe I could catch this guy. The only way I could catch him is if he had a mechanical or crashed hard. So I started chanting "crash, crash, crash." Then I stopped because I thought it might make me crash. After the race I found out that he did crash. But it wasn't enough to make up enough time for me. I'll have to work on my voodoo magic during the off season.

So in the end I got "Garbered" for the second day in a row. My hat is off to you sir. Well done. I talked to Graham after the race for a bit and found out that he might not be doing cross next year. He will however be racing on the road. Anthony came in third and Jeremy 4th followed by Mckittrick. Nice job guys it was fun racing with you.

Cheshire Cross, CT state championship

2009-11-24T14:10:00.001-08:00

Cheshire cross race this year was my payback from a crappy race last year. Last year I raced at Cheshire about 2 months after I broke my collarbone and separated my shoulder. It was 20 degrees out and since I had not been racing for a while my lungs were not used to the stress and I started coughing up phlem. So much phlem that I choked and threw up after the 3rd lap and quit the race. So ya, I was really stoked to come back this year and kill it. Above is me posing with my prime for getting the hole shot.

I almost slid out on this turn. Photos are by Jen Audia.

Santa was back and more obnoxious then last year by blowing smoke in my face.

The crowd was quite until I was halfway up the climb then they erupted with cheers. It was awesome and I gave them the thumbs up.

Finish line

Lots of friends and family came out to watch. Super cool. It seemed like every corner there was someone yelling my name. They made it so special for me.

Race report:

Let me take you back to a couple of weeks ago: didilloo... didiloo... didiloo... (time machine noise)

After Northampton I was thoroughly shot. The double weekend thing really took it's toll on me and I didn't even want to look at my bike for that whole week. Instead I decided to take a brake and shift my focus to running. Since it has been getting dark at 5pm with the new time change and getting cooler at night I really was having a tough time getting motivated to ride. So running was an alternative because I could stay warmer. During that week I ran early in the mornings and I did 9 miles on Thursday night. I was trying to figure out the Turkey trot course but got lost. Then Sunday I figured out the course and ran the 10k in 47 minutes.

Monday and Thursday I rode about an hour and ran a little in the morning. I confessed to Josh that I hadn't been riding and wasn't sure what to do. I was worried that I was going to suck for the Cheshire and the Easthampton race. But it turned out to be a good thing. A long time ago CB2 told me that your body will tell you if you need a rest and he was right.

Now fast forward to the race in Cheshire. spirrrruuuuut. Ding.

I lined up early to get the front row. Then Hunter (the judge) came over and announced that since there was only a few people signed up for the pro 123 race that they were going to cancel that race and only have the 3/4 race. Then he asked if any one has seen Graham Garber and to let him know that if he is going to race then he has to race in the 3/4 because the 123 race was canceled. (Later I would find out that he was in line to go to the bathroom when someone told him that he needed to line up now! But he was like, " I have to pee!") So we waited for Graham to get to the line and everyone was kinda bummed, including myself, that he was racing with us. "There goes my state championship" I thought.

In case you don't know Graham he's a pro in sheep's clothing. He won the cat 3 race in Northampton with only a 6th row call up. He used to be a cat 1 on the road and used to train 25 hours a week. This guy is the real deal.

Anyway, Graham gets to the line and the lady who told us all that we needed to know about the race before we started casually says "go." And were off. Lot's of guys were caught off guard but not me. I tore up the grass and headed directly for the inside corner. We pop a 180 and as I'm turning I see to my left that Graham was already there but his wheels slid out from under him and he almost crashed into me but I punched it as hard as I could and clicked through a few gears. Hole shot baby!

I lead out for a while until I was caught by Bill Kenny then I passed him back before the swoopy downhill section and tried to open a gap. Then the massive run up that only Josh Wilcox could ride. This hill is really steep and rooty and has 2 logs that are at least 18" tall. Really hard to pull off. In this video it's hard to see what's going on until the end but the sound of the crowd is all that matters. I really love this race mainly for the "Hill people." Cheshire is the best race of the season because people come out and go crazy on this hill. I wish I could have been in the crowd cheering myself on.

So once again Bill passes me on the run up but at the top of the hill drops his chain so around him I went. Later I was thinking how nice of a guy he was for letting me by. He could have blocked the trail or something so I would lose some time. What a nice guy. He is such a nice guy that later I found out that he was doing some kind of charity work instead of going to Easthampton the next day. What a good guy.

As you can see in the video Graham has caught me now and is working the lead. This guy knows how to put that hammer down! The strange thing is that once he opened that gap of about 27 seconds he stayed there. I couldn't gain anything. I did however gain a little bit on the last lap when Alex told me to "dump the tank!" With my response being "It's dumped!"

So even with out a warm up, a full bladder and sliding out on at the start and ending up last Graham Garber wins Cheshire 3/4 and is the State Champion! I got second place and Silver State Champion. Way to to Graham you deserve it!

Another cool thing about this race was to have an announcer as we went by the start finish line. During the race he told me to remember to pick up my beer after the race for winning the hole shot. Pretty cool!

I think the best thing about the race was all of my friends and family coming out to watch and cheer me on. I can't tell you how much that means to me. There were at least 20 people yelling my name around the course. Not to mention Alex and Paul rode their bikes from Winsted to watch and Emily came to watch and pick them up. And Josh and Alex running from spot to spot on the course to keep track of how many seconds I was back from Graham. Josh said later that he might overdid it a little going back and forth from the hill. I'm sure that affected his race the next day in Easthampton. Even Charlie came down with his son to cheer me on! Jen and Nay took some awesome photos that I put up here and my Facebook page. They raced earlier that day and stuck around. Their passion for cyclocross is amazing.

I would like to especially thank my wife Jesse for cheering me on and being so supportive and understanding with all of my racing and riding. You are the best!

Northampton Verge cyclesmart race day 1 and 2, Chi running and SSUSA

2009-11-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the season I thought that it would be impossible to get points if you signed up late for a Verge race. Then I got some points on Saturday and got a call up on Sunday. Sweet! So it is possible. I'll have to remember that for next year.

Saturday went well and Sunday went even better. Adam Myerson did a great job setting up this course. I loved every inch of it. After the race on Sunday I did a few more laps because I couldn't get enough of the course. Thanks Adam!

I moved up a lot on Saturday but at the end I lost some spots because I didn't sprint for the finish. I could have possibly gotten 14th but I had this weird feeling that I was going to crash so I didn't go for it. Man did I regret that. All night I stewed over that decision and vowed to never do that again. 18th for Saturday. Not bad for starting in 70th.

On Saturday some guy tried to get in front of me in the woods so I gunned for the corner to get there before him. Well he wasn't budging and I wasn't budging so I sent him into the tape by accident. Somehow he still got in front of me and was really threatening me verbally. Like "don't you f-ing touch me again!" I was like "relax man." I wound up passing him down the course hoping he wouldn't recognize my jersey and throw a fist out or something weird.

Thanks to my fans Alex, Em, and Josh and others who yelled out my name for cheering me on and encouraging me. You are the best and I appreciate it.

Sunday I was on a mission. Destroy every rider in sight until the end. No more hanging onto wheels to recover. I'll recover some in the upper wooded section. I loved passing guys on the open pavement section. I'm sure they were thinking "no, that's not how you do it." And it wouldn't be smart to do it that way if I was in the pro race. But then again look at the pro leaders. They are out there all by themselves with no one to recover with. At Providence Katrina Nash slayed her race even though she was way out front she kept the pedal to the floor.

On the last turn there was no one with me but I sprinted for the finish anyway. I saw one dude close to the line and thought I might make it but didn't. 13th for Sunday.

13th is a victory in my book at a Verge race. If only I could get the front row or 2nd row. I might have a chance at podium.

That double weekend really took it out of me. It's Saturday the next week and I haven't touched my bike. I'm feeling like my body needs some recovery time. It may sound weird but I did a lot of running this past week instead. I think mentally I might be burn out on bikes this week. I guess it's good timing then that I have this weekend off.

I've been "training" to do this run in CT called the Goshen Turkey Trot 10K. It's on Thanksgiving morning. So far I'm pretty slow. I can do about a 9:30 mile over 7 miles. I'm sure during the race it will be different. The top results for the last 3 years have been 5:33 miles average. I've got a long ways to go.

I've been learning a new technique called "Chi Running." It's all about running using the mechanics of your body and gravity to pull you along. It's really hard to master but the more I practice it the more fun I have running. And it promises injury free running. If I do it right.

I also got into the SSUSA race in Tucson AZ in February. I hope I am more motivated to get on a mountain bike soon. I havn't ridden Selma since Ringwood. I still have a broken spoke to fix. I might take all of December off anyway. We'll see.

Next Week, Cheshire on Saturday and Easthampton on Sunday.

Thanks for reading. Peace.

Tymore Park

2009-11-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

Tim Schopen and team from Eastern Sports Promotions did a great job setting up a course over an Equestrian park. Tim said they used Google Earth to map it out. We could see the course from the road and saw that it was all in this one field and was a little disappointed but once I was on the course I was stoked!

Lot's of twists and turns and out of the saddle efforts played in my favor.

Place Time Laps First Last Team
1 57:47 12 Johannes Huseby FiordiFrutta Elite Cycling Team
2 57:48 12 James Harmon 503 Cycleworx/LHCC
3 58:51 12 David Freifelder Westwood Velo
4 59:02 12 Joshua Wilcox 503 Cycleworks
5 59:57 12 Todd Cassan Westwood Velo
6 60:26 12 Brian Lariviere Team Bulldog/Cycle Craft

An article was published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Nancy Haggerty.

"The six-rider Men’s Pro race was a two-man contest almost from the start.

Johannes Huseby of Danbury, Conn., who works for Cannondale and started riding cyclocross professionally 12 years ago, traded the lead with James Harmon of Litchfield, Conn., in the early going before settling in right behind Harmon’s rear wheel for the rest of the race.
Well, almost the rest.

On a short, steep hill with about 150 yards left, Huseby, who rides for FiordiFrutta Elite Cycling, passed Harmon.

He’d plotted the move long before, determining where Harmon was slowest on the course and where, with little more than tight turns and one obstacle left, Harmon would have a hard time recapturing the lead.

"He was strong and riding really well. (But) I knew I could hang (on) from that point on," said Huseby, who crossed a second before Harmon in 57:47.

Despite creating an energy-saving draft for Huseby, Harmon said he wanted to stay in front, fearing that Huseby, who was strong on the flats, might otherwise "power away."
"I figured if I kept him behind, I could manage," said Harmon, who normally rides down in Category 3/4 for 503 Cycleworx. "Towards the end, I tried to give it all I have and he was right there. ... He was smart. ... When he did make his move, I wasn’t ready."

I wish I could find some pictures to put in here. It was a really good race for me especially being my 1st pro race I felt pretty good about my placing.

Nancy writes other articles in the NY area that are cycling related. It's really cool to get some coverage like this for small events. Great job Nancy! And thanks.

Hartford Cross, Victory is mine!

2009-10-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

Some sick dudes at the line up. I had to not look at them so I wouldn't get intimidated by there carbon wheels and onesies uni suits or what ever you call them.

Lot's of rain the day before left the course muddy. A pit bike would have been nice.

Jesse, Naomi, and Will cheered me on to victory. Thanks' guys for being there!

This was the run up. Check out the guy with the single speed mountain bike. He was killing it!
It turns out that he was Salem Mazzaway. Apparently a legend mountain biker. I kept yelling at Josh Wilcox to "get that single speeder!" I guess everyone was doing the same and it got to be annoying after a while. Josh did beat him and came in third! Podium weekend for 503 Cycleworx!

Woke up this morning at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep so I figured I would upload some pictures on Facebook and do my blog. Now it's 5:13am and I'm debating on weather or not I should go for a run or keep writing.

I'll keep writing for now. So yes the Hartford Cross race went better then expected for me. My Mother-in-Laws Fiance Steve asked me (through Facebook) how I did it? And I would like to share what I told him.

James Harmon October 26 at 4:04am
Thanks Steve! How did I do it? I think there was a lot of factors that helped me to win.

#1 was all the training that I did during the past week. I've picked up running early in the morning for at least a half an hour and then I had 2 good days of riding over 2 hours.

#2 was that I rested well on Friday and Saturday so when I got on my bike Sunday morning I really felt like my legs were in good shape.

#3 was the course had a huge run up and since I had been running and doing practice run ups it really helped me to not "red line." I just ran up it at a comfortable pace while others around me were really huffing and puffing.

#4 was that there were some tricky sections that only mtbing can give you the skills to make it through. When I talked to the guy that got second place after the race he told me that every time I hopped over this log he had to dismount and run over it causing him to loose time and then he would have to push really hard to catch up.

Not that I'm pro or anything. Or that you could benefit from me telling you what I did the past week to help me win, but I think I did do some things right. I've been doing run ups in my training. Lot's of run ups. And I was hoping for all of the cross races to have a mighty run up. Hartford was the first real run up this season. And I was happy that all of my work had paid off.

The race started off in this wide parking area and narrowed to double lane pavement with a right 45 degree turn and onto the grass. I knew that I needed to get the whore shot so I wouldn't get tangled with anyone crashing on this corner. I was second onto the grass and passed him 5 seconds later. I was happy to be safe.

The first lap I was battling it out for position and was in 3rd. I was comfortably riding behind the leaders and then the leader went down on a pavement turn I assumed the lead and held that position for a while. Then I traded pulls with a few guys up to the run up and then back to the lead.

Ryan O'hara stepped it up and pulled in front of me for a bit. I barely beat him last weekend at Mansfield Hollow so I knew I couldn't drop a beat. He followed me the rest of the race. I would get a gap and then he would close it on the flat sections. Every lap was the same. I would look over my shoulder and see him turning the corner that I just went through.

The final lap rang out and I knew I had to stay on top and ware him down as much as I could before the slick steep slope of a run up. This was the final run up so I pushed it really hard. If I nailed the off camber grassy/muddy down hill I was home free. But as I was descending I ran into traffic from lapped riders. The ruttyness of the hill made it impossible to pass. You just had to pick a rut and stay in it. Isn't that ironic? I made it down without crashing and put the hammer down. Hopped the log and kept my speed up. A few more turns and I'm home free. Out onto the grass I was out of the saddle and trying to not give it all just in case Ryan had enough in him to catch me. On the last turn I clicked down a gear got out of the saddle and hammered home. I didn't see how far back Ryan was but I knew that I pulled it off. Sweet!

This weekend I'm planning to go over to NY to race at Tymor Park in NY. Cash prizes and close to home! That's what I'm talking about.

Crossresults.com I now have a few victims. Mckittrick is my nemesis. He's killing it in the Verge series. No way I could beat him at Northampton. He will be in the front row and I'll be starting in 60th place. I guess I'll have 2 days to try.

Cyclocross is really hard, but fun

2009-10-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

John Foley crushed the 2/3/4 class at Mansfield Hollow. You really can not see how ripped Foley is in this picture but if you check out the site I stole it from you will see how impressive John really is.

Hey Mom! That's me with the blue helmet.

Michel Mckittrick eats pieces of sod like me for breakfast and poops me out the back. I grabbed these photos off of this site.

Thanks Steve Yau for taking them. They look much more impressive over there.

I haven't updated my blog in quite a while. Mainly because I haven't had the time or energy to do so. Since I was sick I felt like I had been sucking and therefore wasn't very excited to tell every one how much I suck. I also have been enjoying reading every one else's blogs that that consumes my time.

Anyway, Providence was fun but hard to move up from starting all the way in the back row. I went from 90th to 28th with 100 guys in my field. I was really happy that my grandparents from CA came out to see me race. I haven't seen them for 18 years. It was good to catch up on things.

I raced at Mansfield Hollow and placed 5th in the Cat 2/3/4. My goal was to beat McKittrick , but I think he wanted to beat me and showed that he could on the first lap. After we went through the sand I dropped my chain and there he went. Cross is so unforgiving. I'm not giving an excuse, I'm sure he would have beaten me anyway. Great job Mike! I battled it out for 5th place with Ryan O'hara, one of Mike's team mates, and I was able to get him at the line. It was tough to keep up with him but by the final lap I was on his wheel and I thought we could get up to 4th if we tried harder. I was trying to encourage him by telling him we can catch 4th, but I guess I wound up using him to get me to the finish line. That's cross. It's all about the mind games.

John Foley got the win. I won some winter riding gloves and some cash. Great course. I really appreciate the people who put this race on. Mckittrick wrote a great report on the course and race. Check it out.

I loved the course so much that for $10 more I entered the pro race an hour later. I was feeling good and confident. Then I told Colin I was going to be racing with him and he was like, "you're going to regret it after you start." I was thinking man he might be right but I'm feeling good so maybe he's wrong. He was right!

He was so right that he would have lapped me if I didn't drop out at the bell lap. That was really hard to suffer for that long. But I kept telling myself to stick it out. I still had fun. Maybe I would do better if I didn't blow myself out and then race the fastest guys around. What I discovered though was that I haven't been pushing myself enough for my own race. I haven't felt so much pain and suffering during the pro race and it took every bit of strength to finish the race. I got lapped so I didn't finish but I was done. My track coach in 8th grade told me that when I'm heading for the finish line if I wasn't fully out of gas I didn't push myself enough. I'll try that next time and let you know if it worked.

It was good to see Rob Stine racing with gears like me. The course didn't suit mountain bikers too much like I had hoped but then again Foley won my race so there you go.

Next race Hartford Cross! I see that Ryan O'hara is signed up. I'm sure he wants a rematch.

By the way Cyclocrossresults.com is really cool. Thanks Colin for making that site.

Blunt Park round 2

2009-09-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

Once again Blunt park was a pleasure to race at. A small field of guys came out to brave the elements and mud. Much more slippery than when we raced here in August. So slippery that when I was warming up on the pavement I went down trying to turn around. I immediately went back to the car and lowered my air pressure from 45psi to 42. It made all the difference in the world. I had high hopes to ride everything but once I saw how slippery the conditions were I changed my mind and ran. In fact I ran quite well. I ran so well that I decided to keep running. Not the whole course but some of the tricky parts that were slimy.

After Landmine I got sick. I was out a full week of work with some kind of stomach thing. It gave me a chance to rest my heart, lungs, and legs though. So back on the bike at the beginning of this week was interesting. I felt really strong but I didn't want to overdo it so I took it easy. I rode Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday for around an hour on the cross bike in my back yard. Then I decided to see how running would go. Friday morning I got my ass out the door and ran. Man I was sore the next day, but I think it paid off. I felt good running during the race. I think I will try to get out more.

I didn't get lost getting to the race like last time so I arrived in plenty of time to go the bathroom. Whew. I got to warm up much better than last time and I got to take a lap right before the start. I knew it was going to be rough going with every section of the course being goo (except for the pavement). I got to the start line and the front line was full so I took the next row. There were about 30 guys, so roughly 4 rows. My last start here wasn't too pretty and I was stuck way in the back for the first half of the race. This start went much better. I knew that my best chance was to get the inside of the first corner and come out on top. We took off and when we hit the first corner I was right where I was supposed to be. Everything was perfect until some guy went down right in front of us. Crap! By the time the guy in front of me (who would later get 2nd) untangled his pedal from the crashed guy's spokes we were passed by at least 15 guys. Half the field. So that sucked.

But I kept cool and tried to keep my wheels on the ground. Every corner a controlled slide with extra slide just for fun. Guys were dropping like flies all around me. I got to see some really crazy crashes and was able to thread through the carnage. Luck was on my side today. The ruts were throwing everyone from side to side and some of them went right into trees or off course. I just kept plowing ahead and smashing it on the open sections so that I could take more time in the corners. Some corners I just ran because it was too slippery for me.

Somewhere around the middle of the race I passed some guys. One of them was Eric Carlson representing CT from Bikers edge. I kept thinking that there were other guys up ahead that were so far ahead that I couldn't see them. I hammered hoping to see someone. Another dude, Jeremy from Spooky bikes, was on my tail and I couldn't shake him. Later I found out that he was a cat 2 roadie and this was his 1st day of cyclocross racing (this was his 2nd race that day) and he was on a borrowed bike. He also won the 4 race that morning. I think if the course was drier and he didn't race that morning he would have won. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had just taken the lead.

So me and Jeremy were duking it out in the lead. I would try to hammer the open sections but he would stick to me. I didn't know how to drop him and I didn't want him to get ahead so he would think he could take me. Which he probably could have. 2 laps to go and he was keeping close. Luck was on my side. Again I hammered the open section and gave it all I had. Then I heard a crash and looked over my shoulder to see that he slid off course and hit a tree. Man was I bummed for him. I slowed down a little thinking that I was in the clear. Then I thought what if he recovers? I really want this win. So I hammered some more. Some how he recovered and was closing down on me again. Like I said he would have won if I wasn't so lucky today.

1 lap to go and I have got to make this stick. I just kept saying to myself to not crash and everything will be fine. So then I crashed. I was trying to unclip to run over one of the first logs and my foot got stuck in the pedal. I went face first into the brush. Crap Crap Crap! back up and running like a mad man. I just had one more log to go. Every lap I bunny hopped this log with some trouble because the take off was soft. I nailed it and was half way home. I got to the next twisty section and he was getting close. I gave it all I had and pushed it through the next sections. Running up and down the slippery hill and over the muddy barriers. Then I knew I had him for sure and just concentrated on keeping my bike upright. Sweet I made it! My first win of the year. And now I think I'm in the lead for points for the series!

I won $60 and I had some extra cash with me so on the way home I stopped at Benidorm bikes in Canton and picked up some new shorts. My last short from Mavic fell apart.
Congrats to Josh Wilcox from 503 Cycleworx for getting 2nd in the pro race at the Rumble in the Jungle. He also got 2nd the week before at another mtb race in NY. Man he's on fire now! This weekend we will be heading down to NJ to race at Ringwood Park. Since I've been sick this week again and have been in cross mode I will be racing the cat 1 age group. 1 less lap. The pros will have to do 32 miles and from the youtube video it looks like there is a lot of climbing.
I figured out all of the cross races I want to do this season.
Mansfield Hollow, CT 10/17
Hartford Cross, CT10/25
Wicked Creepy, VT 10/31
Tymor Park, NY11/1
Cheshire Cross, CT 11/21
Spooky Bikes #4 Acc for the cure 11/22
I don't know if there are any races between the 1st and 21 of November that are close. So we shall see.

I'm going to be in Falmouth MA visiting with my grandparents from CA who I haven't seen in 18 years. So I might try to do the Providence Verge race on the 11th. But if we come back early I might do a NY cross race on that day.

Root 66 Landmine Race

2009-09-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

Landmine is a 3 hour drive for me and from last year's experiences driving so far before and after a race doesn't make me happy. So on Saturday we went up to Hartford for a couples massage at Prossage Muscle Therapy and had brunch at Agave restaurant.

I was feeling very relaxed happy and the food was really good. It was a Mexican breakfast with shredded beef and eggs with hot green peppers and rice and beans.

Part of the plan to go up the day before is having to deal with Boston traffic and directions. Last year coming home from the race I took a wrong turn and wound up in downtown Boston. So this year I wrote down tons of directions and did pretty well. Maybe someday I will have a gps to get me to where I'm going.

The rain was getting me worried about the course but I figured there was nothing I could do about it. The course was going to be wet and the bridges were going to be slick. During the race there was lots of water sections. Water up to the hubs!

Since it was so wet out I pulled Selma in for the night and wiped her down.

All of this traveling, getting a massage, going out to eat, and staying at a hotel was quite a lot of stuff for one race. I'm glad it's not like that for all the races. It makes me really thankful to be in the heart of bike racing where the races are mostly close by. Don't get me wrong. I still had a good time. Sometimes it was more stress than relaxing and it cost a lot of money. And I'm not sure if it helped me perform better as I will tell you next.

The race was interesting. I think I will stop calling it a race now and just call it a ride. So the ride was interesting. I got to start next to the Golden Bike guy and from what I hear he finished strong. Looking at the results you wouldn't have guessed that I was having a bad day. I would have won the ss class. But I digress. Would've but didn't.

At the starting line it was very weird with the golden cheerleaders dissing me with their protruding belly buttons, doing negative cheers like "you're too slow, he's gonna leave you in the dust". I just felt embarrassed and awkward --it's nothing against them-- but it just seemed weird to have these cheerleaders telling us we're not going to be as good as the golden bike guy. I guess that's supposed to help the golden bike kid win. I just felt bad for the cheerleaders because they were stuck in front of all these guys who were just wondering what the hell they were doing there and maybe they felt really awkward and wondering why the hell they were there too. I suppose it's just for fun.

What would be REALLY COOL would be to have some like guy on a dirt bike getting us all suped up or something, revving his engine and doing wheelies and stuff. I was on the drumline in high school and we used to supe up the football players before the game by going into their locker room before the game and just pounding the shit out of the drums to get them all amped! Or... shirtless drunk guys with golden painted faces screaming at us like some kind of pre-battle viking war chant. At least it wouldn't be such a downer. Maybe the negative cheers worked and that's why I had a bad race!!

So off we go and I'm feeling special that my heavy gear could keep up on the super flat double track section. I stuck to the core group as we headed into the first single track and right behind Randall Jacobs. I figured this was good. I could see the group ahead slowly creeping away from us but I was comfortable and all. Greg "the leg" Montello was right with us and the first tricky climb section I was off the bike and running up the climb. That put the hurt on me for sure and needed to recover. But recovery was not going to happen. I failed once again to pick the "right"gear and was stuck with the wrong gear. If you don't know the feeling it's when you get on your bike and start to pedal but are stuck in too hard of a gear and you want to down shift but can't. Mentally it drove me nuts. I knew that the 34x18 would be hard but not as hard as it was. So I lost all of my "spunk" and slowly digressed into self pity and loss of feelings in my gut to race anymore.

But it wasn't until I hit a rock while pedaling and smashed my cheap ass crank brother pedal that I really lost the edge to keep pushing. I couldn't clip in very well and it was hit or miss. Once I was able to clip in it was hard to keep focused on the terrain and I felt that it was unsafe for me to keep riding at "race" pace. It really was a big fat excuse for me to just sit up and chalk it up to experience and knowing that everyone has a bad race sometimes.

But before all of that happened I was really going good with Colin. (One of the fastest cat 1's and super cross man around) It was really fun to ride with him. Very positive guy that didn't seem to be racing as much as riding really fast and having a lot of fun. I'm sure having a full suspension bike had nothing to do with it. He was kind enough to drag me around on the flat open paved sections with his gears. At one point I was totally spinning like a blender just to hold his wheel. Yes Colin gears would have been nice. Again I had a lot of fun riding with him and racing was not really happening for me. So eventually he left me behind and that was that. Great job Colin you are really killing it out there. I can't imagine what your cross season is going to be like.

So after the pedal strike I pulled off to check out the carnage and saw that the one of the bars was bent and the pedal had a lot of resistance. That's when Mike Rowell passed me and Greg passed me too. I was out. I picked up a rock and started to bang my pedal to see if it would get back into shape enough to feel confidently clipped in. Didn't budge.

Back on the bike again and a single speeder from Independent fab passed me and wanted me to follow him because he knew the course. Ya, that would have been great if I could. The guy was killing it. I could hear some other guys behind me and so I pulled off to let them pass. It was good old Rob Stine. I didn't even try to stick with him because this was his bread and butter. Rough is his middle name. Especially on a rigid 26" single speed. He breaks all of his bikes every other week so he's down to his last frame.

Then the 19-29 guys passed me and the 30-39 guys passed and somewhere the 40+ dudes with Jonny Bold in the lead passed as well.

Then I saw Kevin Sweeny. The look on his face I could tell he was not too happy. So I thought that I would ride with him and try to cheer him up. We rode a steady pace and I was able to stick with him for the last 10 miles. I was having a lot of fun just riding with someone. He was cleaning sections that were kinda hard to clean. And I was so impressed that I couldn't help but yell some encouragement. I hoped it helped. Thanks Kevin for letting me tag along. You helped me to stick it out whether you knew it or not.

Kevin and I caught up to Greg Montello and he was in the same boat as us. Like we all stepped on a Landmine. His back wheel was all wobbly from a broken spoke. I also had a broken spoke. Did I mention this course was rough? So Me, Kevin and Greg pushed it through to the end. I was second to last with a time of 2:19 min. Which was 10 mins faster then last year. But I did get a flat last year too.

How Kevin Hines won the pro class and the golden bike I will never know. He's going to be racing in the 50+ category next year. It makes me damn depressed thinking about how good he is but it also makes me think that maybe when I'm 48 years old I can whoop up on the 30-year-olds.

I kinda got choked up a bit because it was fun just to be able to ride with these guys and this was the last race of the year for the root 66 series. And if you thought I was going to drag myself to Mt Snow for the finals you're smoking crack.

I'll finish racing mountain bikes this year for the New York series. Then it's local cross races for me. I'm boycotting Verge series because I'm a big cry baby that doesn't have $500 to sign up for all of the races 2 months ahead of time at lunch time to get a good spot up front for a chance at placing. What's the deal?

The Golden Bike

2009-09-08T03:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend at Landmine who ever is the fastest cat 1 racer wins this bike or the marathon full suspension bike. There was several races that this bike has been through and a few different winners. So this guy is supposed to be better then the rest and now he's is flying in from Wisconsin to defend his title/bike. Looking at his results from past races would not seem too impressive. I'm not saying I could beat him. He's got a coach and all that jazz. The big question is who will beat him at Landmine?

Well I think Kevin can. His last race at Norcross didn't go so well so that means he's going to totally redeem himself at Landmine. His results at Hodges Dam in the pro open class reveled what he can do.

Remember too that Jonny Bold and Kevin Hines are also cat 1's! Landmine is in there back yard. If they show up.

There are others who I shall not mention here just so that I don't jinx them. They did very well last year at Landmine. My time last year was 2:38 with a flat. Rob Stine came in first with an excellent time of 2:21. This course is well suited for his talents.

Colin will be back from his Kiwi vacation ready to kill it on his full suspension bike. Timothy Daigneault also had a mean time last year.

Who knows? All I know is that I just jinxed every one I mentioned on this page. Ha Ha!
See you Sunday and may the best cat 1 win the Golden Bike!

909 New York Series, Gears for the future?

2009-09-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry no pictures because I forgot to charge the batteries.
Awesome job to they guys that put on this race. The course was beautiful and well marked. Tim and Jim from Eastern promotions are great guys and do a fabulous job. Bike Way also was there to make the race awesome.

This was the same course as the 12 hour race that I did a few months ago. I used a 34x20 for gearing. At the 12 hour race I had a 21 on. So I thought that it would go 1 tooth better. I should have put a 19 on for this race. There are some hills but they are short. Brian Kelly won the single speed class with a 32x20. So I don't know what would be better. No matter how you slice it riding against guys with gears is hard to deal with when they blow past you on the down hills.

Before I get any further I got 5th place! Josh Wilcox came in 4 minutes ahead of me! Then Seamus Powell for 3rd and the Alesio twins from the fuji team came in 1 and 2. I was glad we stuck around for the awards because they went 5 deep and I won $60. We were comparing the times of the cat 1's and if we raced the 30-39 Josh would have won and I would have come in second. Greg Wagner crashed in front of me and flatted and another guy that was up ahead of me flatted so that could have cost us something.

Seamus was having some technical difficulties with his saddle and had to stop a number of times. He was there at the end with the brothers but just "spent too many matches" for the win. He was on a superfly 29'er. The Mancuso bros were also on 29'ers.

I was trying my best to keep up with Josh. On the first lap I caught him on the first climb but when we started to descend he blew past me with his gears with Seamus right behind him. I could only hope that I would continue to climb strong to make up time. Every climb I was turning myself inside out to close the gap. I could see Josh on the course and would count the seconds to were I saw him last. 25 seconds. Then 30 seconds. Then I lost track of my counting and knew he was over a minute ahead. Crap.

Then it was no mans land the rest of the race and it was getting really hard to keep the high tempo up. But I kept hoping that I would catch someone. Finally someone came up from behind me and was railing the downhill on a full suspension bike. He blew by me like I was standing still. It really wasn't that I was sketched out it was that I was under geared. But nailed the gearing for the climbs. Well I did catch this guy towards the end and not knowing he wasn't in my class I pulled up behind him and sucked off his wheel. then when the finish was in sight I blew past him to the finish. Turns out he was in the 40+ group. So he beat my time by 3 minutes any way.

This race course was really fun. Super fast and dry with some roots and rocks to make it interesting. Lot's of twisty turnies and some super drops that made me pucker up. The climbing wasn't too bad. There was only 3 climbs and they were spread out. In between the climbs was the super fast single and double track that if I had some gears I would have flown down. But I was stuck with my 20 tooth.

This lead to a conversation on the way home with Josh. I could turn my single speed Selma into a geared bike if I want to. If I'm going to race with the pros from now on I might consider it. I know it's a "Monte" moment for me. He tried it but it didn't seem to work for him. But he also can hang and beat those guys that won today with only one gear. So is it me or is it the bike? I ride with gears on the road and for cyclocross because I can't keep the speed up with out gears. Is it true with mountain biking? I don't know. On this course I was having a lot of fun just getting out of the saddle and not caring what gear I was in because it didn't matter, until I was spun out and felt super slow motion.

We also talked about suspension. My hands really were hurting (more then usual) during this race. I think it was the speed of the race due to the dry conditions. Everything was more of an impact on my body from going faster. I just wonder what would happen if I level the playing field again. Upgrading to the 29'er was the best thing I've done. Every body is going that route. Are gears in the future? I don't know.

This leads to another point. Is it all about winning? I don't know. Is it? Winning is great. The first race I won was at Channel 3 for the sport single speed class 3 years ago. I was so happy that it made me cry. I won, I won, I won!

I think it's more of the feeling of it being unfair if I lose because I only have one gear and no suspension. But on the other hand I "win" against guys with gears and full suspension. And with that I get a feeling of accomplishment.

But, riding with a single speed can be more efficient because I sometimes spin at a higher cadence and that helps me to last longer by pacing my self. I think for the longer distance races ss is ideal because you can pace yourself over the whole race. If I have gears I might try to power the big gears on the flats and down hills but granny the climbs witch is essentually the opposite of single speeding.

Then there is the whole individuality thing. If I race with gears and suspension then I blend in. No one seems impressed any more. No one says "Check out the dude with the gears!" But impressing by standards doesn't really help me win races. Or does it? You tell me.

Blunt park 3/4 race and a clean slate

2009-08-27T03:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday I raced cyclocross for the first time this season at Blunt park in Mass. Sunday morning I was frantically trying to get my Internet to work so I could get to the race. I left my house without directions and dropped Jesse off at her sisters house to babysit. I decided to run up stairs to use her computer but she went out for a minute but left the door ajar. So naturally we went in and opened her laptop but was blocked by her security password. Darn! Now I'm really late and so I decided to have Jesse give me directions over the phone when I got close. So I'm driving around totally lost with Jesse giving me directions. Finally she points me in the right direction and I find the rear entrance to the park.

I run over to get my number strip my jersey off in front of every one and try to pin my number to my jersey . (I just thought of a good idea. How about a plastic sleeve that you can just shove the number in) Anyway, so I start to warm up and get about 5 minutes in and see that everyone is lined up and the judge is giving everyone the rules etc. So I line up in the last row. There were 62 guys lined up and I'm in the last row. Not good. Alot of this course is single track. I knew my only chance was to get the hole shot. Ya right. Well at least to get the inside of the track just before the 180 degree turn.

I was racing against some really good riders but I felt like I was just a hair faster so I would get around them on the open sections. I think what happened was that I was holding back for the last 2 laps and then I was able to go all out while the other riders were fading. I was feeling good and Nay and Jen were cheering me on on the final stretch. Afterwards I went to my car and was thinking about leaving but I wanted to stay for Jen's race. So just for kicks I thought I would check out the results. I figured I was in the top 15. Somehow I pulled off 3rd and won some cash!

Since my Internet decided to stop working things got progressively worse. I tried to fix it but got no where and so Jesse took over. LSS Jesse "formatted" the hard drive. Which means every program, every document, every picture, everything was gone. Just like that.

At the beginning of the year I started a spread sheet to document my rides and races. I had the date the miles and the time spent riding my bike. I figured someday writing all of this information down would make me faster, right? Probably not. So I wasn't too bummed when it was gone. It feels like I have a clean slate now. Which coincides with my week off this week. Luckily, I wrote down my hours per week a few days before this happened. Don't laugh at the amount please. I try to get out as much as I can.

Since January I've done 227 hours and 40 minutes of riding. That's it? Yep. I averaged almost 7 hours per week of riding.

I do feel a little jaded towards my computer now. Why should I waste my time uploading, typing, fixing mistakes, or trying to make things work. It's such a waste of time. At least I have my blog and face book. They never let me down or waste my time. Right?

It got me thinking about why I blog about stuff. I get excited to tell someone what just happened to me. I can't help it. I'm always telling someone what happened to me and when they tell me what happened to them I look into the distance and remember what just happened to me. Just kidding. I love seeing what happens to other people too. I have a list of blogs that I read just for fun. I like the non-fiction type of stuff.

I had to skip Palmer and Norcross to go to a wedding. I'll be at Winding Trails today at a Family reunion laying it down on the cross bike.

Darkhorse 40 race report

2009-08-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

Crossing the finish line in 4th place never felt so good.When Scott took this picture he was like "this didn't turn out too good" I was like "ya, probably because I just raced 40 miles in 90 degree heat."
Right to left #1 Sean Smith, #2 Thom Parsons #3 Nathan Kraxberger#4 me#5 Brian Kelly

As you can see I didn't win. But I sure had fun trying. When I got a flat at mile 4 I wasn't really that pissed. I tried to seal up the puncture with the amazing Stan's sealant and it didn't work. Then I shot 1 of 2 co2's into the tire and it just blew the sealant out the hole. I guess the stuff was old and I don't know how long it had been sitting around before I bought it from the "let's make a deal" bin. So learn from me. Always put fresh Stan's sealant in your tires every month or 6 weeks which ever comes first. ha ha Finally, I put my spare tube in and used my last co2.

I figured out a trick while I was out there. As soon as I realized that I was going to have to tube it I flipped Selma on her back and unseated one side of the tire from the bead. Luckily I had one of those valve stems that have a rubber grommet that screws on instead of having to take the whole tire and rim strip off. The valve stem was easy to remove and store in the jersey. I pulled the wheel off for a second to put the tube on the inside of the fork then I cinched the quick release back on. This way made a good stationary working position. Popped the tube in and pinched the Ignitor tire around the rim, and filled it with the co2, and I was done.

When I was fixing the flat it was really nice for everyone that knew me to check on me and encouraged me to keep going. Thanks guys that really meant a lot to me. Wouldn't it have been nice to just get handed a wheel with your size tire and air pressure?

I wasn't the only one with a flat. Josh Wilcox flatted, Colin flatted, Single speed Gerry flatted. Tons of people flatted. Thom P lost some air but it sealed. Oh ya, and my rear tire burped twice and I was left with about 10 psi for the last lap. I was praying for sure that it would hold because I didn't want to get almost to the end and have to run to the finish like I did at channel 3 last year.

I figured about 5 mins for trying to seal the tire and changing the flat. So if you knock off 5 minutes of my time I would have gotten 2nd. Except T-Pain would have schooled me at the finish and I would roll in 3rd.

However, flatting might have saved me from blowing up entirely. What I mean is that with the heat and humidity being over 90 degrees it was easy to go too hard before you had to recover. By the time I fixed the flat I was stuck all the way back to the 50+ crowd. So I would catch guys and have to slow down to pass because of the single track. Everyone was good about me passing but sometimes there wasn't an option to pass. Like on a rideable climb with no where to pass going insanely slow I just kept reminding myself that I was conserving energy for the last lap. Once I was into lapped traffic it got worse. At one point I remember seeing a cluster of riders walking up all of the lines of a short punchy climb. I got so frustrated that I cut into the woods and made my own line past everyone. I'm sure I wasn't the only one that had to deal with lapped traffic.

The real winner of the day was Scott Feltmate from Bethel Cycles. He was handing water bottles to 10 riders including me. Every lap he was totally pro and handed me 2 bottles and a word of encouragement. Great job Scott! I owe you one! Without him I might have not have placed 4th.

He also took the shots above.
The new bike rack works really nice.

Successfull trip to NY in the Focus.

Darkhorse 40

2009-08-07T03:52:00.000-07:00

Nathan Kraxberger is signed up for the 40. Who is Nathan Kraxberger, besides his last name making me hungry? Well he's an ultra endurance single speed racer. He's my Gerry Pflug to Rich Dillen. (Gerry Pflug has won just about every 100 mile mountain bike race this year.) Nathan placed 5th for single speed and 26th overall for the Wilderness 101. Just 20 minutes behind Gerry. Yep. Nathan Kraxberger. Hey, I thought taking the single speed class would be easy. Nope. Especially if Parsons decides to join our class. And he should. The clash of the titans.
Then there is Adam Szxzepanski. As far as I can tell he is a master at cross. Racing in the pro cat 1 and did well.

Sean Smith who also did the Wilderness 101 came in 24th in single speed and 86th overall. And Finally Roger Foco who took 3rd at single speed a palozza this year. Oh, ya and he won the single speed class last year for the 40. Here are the results from last year.

I wonder if Monte will be on his single speed in the pro class? And where in the world is Sean Cavanaugh? I know he's got twins now, but should be ruling by now with some rest under his belt.

Well it's going to be tough. Really tough. I didn't do the wilderness 101 or any other endurance even that would put me in a better position. Oh wait. I did do the 12 hours at 909. But that took me 11hours and 30 mins to do 95 miles or so. Kraxberger did the 101 in 8 hours and 29 min!

The only thing I can hope for is that Kraxberger and Smith will not be fully recovered from the 101 and I will be recovered from the 909 race. It will be 3 weeks since the 909 race for me and I'm just now coming around. So I will have been recovered 4 weeks before the 40 and they will be only on their 2nd week. (Que the evil laughter) Ha Ha Ha.

New Car and the 40

2009-08-06T03:09:00.000-07:00

We checked out this Ford Focus on Tuesday and liked it. So next week sometime we will be sporting around Ford style. I never thought I would own a Ford. You know because of the whole "Found On Road Dead" thing. What was the other one? Fix... something something Daily? Well that's got me knocking on wood. I hope it will be a trouble free car.

I also think I will be getting this snazzy bike rack. Hopefully my bike won't be haunted by the ghost freeride bikes. Or that my little car won't feel like it should be more like a Jeep Cherokee. No more fighting to get the bike in the back or the stinky mess. Plus it will be more aero for gas mileage and it folds down. But the new car has 4 doors so I don't think I will have to access the trunk too much with the bikes on.

I thought I would be doing the Hampshire 100 on the 16th but because of the entry fee ($115) and the drive (3+ hours) I decided that the Dark Horse 40 will be my race. The guys down there know how to put on a race and personally invited me to race. Plus if I win the single speed class I would get $200! This is exactly what I've been talking about. The big pay off. If only all races could be done like the guys from Dark Horse Cycles.

Oh ya and if I am the fastest single speeder out there they will give me a new Niner fork of my color choice.

Hodges Dam and FTS!

2009-08-03T03:25:00.000-07:00

I think I left my legs at the 12 hours of 909. I haven't been the same. The last 2 weeks has been a struggle to recover and I'm still wondering when I'm going to feel the benifit of killing myself for 11 hours of mtbing. Hodges Dam race was an experiment race since I had nothing to lose. I chose to get all "Monte/Parsons" and put a stupid gear on. Rob Stine had the same gear inch as me. I ran a 34x17 and he ran a 36x16! The difference is in the wheels. 29 vs. 26. I feel bad for Stine because he had a flat tire. He's been having a rough season with mechanicals. Sounds like last year for me. I came in 11th out of 20.

I was 1 tooth overgeared I think. I could still climb a lot of the course but I just couldn't get it going. I got to ride with the superb Todd Wheelden for a couple of laps and then he saw my weakness and hammered on the flat fireroads. I saw him click through the gears and pedal slower and pull away. I thought I had a monster gear but I guess I could have used something more for the flats, which this course had lots of. The truth is I suck on the flats even on the road bike. I think I do much better on the hills. I don't know why. Todd and I when back and forth and we were hammering it for the 2nd and 3rd laps. I thought for sure we would catch someone. But it wasn't enough. I don't know how to ride any faster.

Congrats to Kevin Sweeney. If you read his blog you will see how wet the course was. I didn't mind the course but I was swearing a bit on the first lap. But after that I didn't really care anymore. June and July we have had the most rain ever recorded for the last 200 years! I've learned how to ride in the slop much better this year.

And now FTS!

During the race I was having some doubts. "I have doubts!" (From the movie Doubt) Great scene! So I was having some doubts that I would become even grass root sponsored by some big company. I was planning on trying to upgrade to "Pro" for next year because 2 seasons ago I was in sport then last year I upgraded to Expert and currently Cat 1. So it just makes sense that I would upgrade to "Pro" for next year.

I've been racing the Pro/Cat 1 open class all season. I did win $100 down in PA for 6th place but that was my best performance of the year. You don't get nothin' for 6th place in the pro class for RT66. This has left a bad taste in my mouth. What the F am I doing in the Pro/Cat 1 open class? If I raced the Cat 1 30-39 age group I would be on the podium every time and taking home some swag or green.

I thought my new bike would make me faster, and it is, I think, but it hasn't really propelled me to the top. I'm still placing somewhere in the middle of the pack. It seems like the top few guys that go to all of the races are really the only ones racing each other in the pro class. All that the cat 1s do is fill up the starting line and maybe get a hole shot, but that's about it. Bye bye birdy.

So would I be sandbagging if I returned to the cat 1 30-39? I don't think so. Hodges dam was a good example that there are still some fast Cat 1 racers out there. Kevin Sweeney would have crushed the 30-39 field. Instead he got 6th place at a pro open. My question would be this, Where are you going? Do you want to get a coach and "Train?" Do you want to ride 15 hours a week? I can barely recover from the racing to get any time in on the bike. Right now I don't even want to ride.

I finally ordered some shoes. These look good and they're full carbon. My last shoes just had velcro straps and they worked great. I think they will be nice and light.

I'm going to look at this Ford today to replace the Subaru. Its a Ford Focus ZX5 with 75,000 miles. It sounds like it will be a great little car that gets good gas mileage.

Up next I think I might try to do the Hampshire 100 on the 16th. It's a steep entrance fee of $115, but it sounds like a good time. I think I might enter the single speed catagory because of all the flat sections.

12 hours of 909

2009-07-20T03:47:00.000-07:00

Laps/Time/Mins per lap
1/7:10am-7:55am/45min

2/8:50am/55min

3/9:47am/57min

4/10:45am/58min

5/11:40am/55min
6/12:44pm/59min

7/1:50pm/1:06min

8/3:02pm/1:12min

9/4:15pm/1:13min

10/5:31pm/1:16min

11/6:42pm/1:11min

The times shown are with breaks. The first 5 laps I didn't rest much but after that I was stopping after every lap to eat something. I was searching for the results and found that Heather Rizzi from Team GT blogged about the race and said that the laps were almost 9 miles long and 900 ft of climbing per lap. So if I went 11 laps then I did almost 99 miles and 9,900ft of climbing. That's a lot of 9's. Can I just call it 100 miles and 10,000ft of climbing? Thank you that's much better. I can't find the results yet but I think I did the most laps for solo and matched laps with some teams.

The top men soloists were on single speeds! I think single speed is the way to go for long events like this because as long as you don't pick a monster gear you save yourself throughout the race. Monte did a great job trying to reel in his team with killer lap times, but unfortunately his new found gears might have got the better of him and cut his race short. I'm sure racing every weekend since February and not resting much has a lot to do with it too. Get some rest Monte and you'll be killing it again soon. I think my 34x21 was just right for this longer race. If I come back for a short race I would use a 19 or 20.

The course was really amazing! There was only a few sections that were muddy despite the 2 inches of rain the night before. The worst of it came as a freshly bulldozed logging road that had most of the climbing for the race. The tires just got stuck and slopped mud over the brakes and gear(s). But once that was over you got to go through 40 feet of standing water that washed the mud from the tires and then my bike would feel lighter again. Then it was down hill swoopy awesomeness that was wicked fun! The rest of the lap was all like that with a few short climbs that were not too hard but towards the end of the race I was walking up.

I thought my back would kill me or my butt, but they didn't. My hands started to hurt a lot and get those blisters under the callus but then I switched to my old fox gloves that had some padding in them and they worked perfect. I wish they still made those. That WTB rocket v saddle worked really well. I kept the tire pressure around 23 and that helped too. I'm still not too happy with the lack of clearance the rear tire gets. Rocks were getting lodged between the tire and frame and grinding. Not cool. I also found out the next day that I broke a spoke on the rear wheel.

11 and a half hours of riding with mud

Thank you all for cheering for me and wishing me good luck. I had a lot of motivation thinking about you during the race.

Peace

Pat's Peak

2009-07-16T02:47:00.000-07:00

The race was good and I surprised myself with getting 8th overall in the Pro/Cat 1. As I was warming up for the race I felt like I just couldn't get it in gear. Funny because I only have one gear. Not funny because the start was watching everyone pass me up hill clicking through their gears. Then we get to the flat section by the pond and there is like 20 guys ahead of me just floating away from me while I make a half assed attempt at spinning very fast. Then the first tricky section (with the pallets) hit and I took the wrong line while my team mate Josh was telling me which line to take. I wasn't paying much attention and later as he was telling me the story about how I took some funked up line that took me off the bike I would respond with "I don't remember." Well the next 4 laps I would take the right line (actually it would be the left line) and everything was fine.

Everything was fine. We all got to the bottom of the first climb and I could see everyone. Cool, I wasn't out of the race yet. Colin and I dueled a little bit on the first or second lap. We would hit a hill and I was ahead and then he would pass me with his mad skills on the down hill. It was fun to watch him go so fast down some rough terrain and right then I was wishing for a full suspension bike. My 34x23 was not helping me on the flats or down hills but it sure saved me to go 5 laps up a ski slope. I think I could have gotten away with a 22 but I didn't have one at home. I've got to remember to order one.

It was fun riding with Colin and Kevin. Even thought they might not sound like they had any fun in there blogs they really were having fun. I think. Well it seemed like they were having fun. I'm sure it wasn't fun going over the handlebars but hey no one got hurt. Too bad.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. Here is my view about the conditions of the course and all that jazz.

I'm not just saying this to be the devil's advocate but I liked the course. Maybe it's because I raced it last year when the conditions were much better and that's when I fell in love with the course. This year with the radar full of red and green the night before the race and with all the 24 hour riders (God bless them) out on the course turned some sections into a muddy yucky mess. But it's not like we haven't ridden through mud before. This whole year has been shit for weather and mud is the name of the game. Yes I will admit that my heart sunk when I came across the palleted section and saw 4 inches of slop. But actually the conditions got better as the race went on. Things dried out a bit on some sections and overall it wasn't too bad.

To me the open ski slope sections were nice because you could see who was ahead of you and it gave me hope that I could catch a few guys before it was over. Maybe it was the gear that I had that kept me from red lining the climbs and I didn't overheat too much.

As far as going off course I remembered all of the turns from last year and didn't have a problem. I loved the guy at the top of the course with the ramp. Every time I went off that thing I laughed and it was fun. It kept me in a good mood though the race.

At the start of the race when we were asked if we wanted to do 4 or 5 laps I really wanted to do 4. I'm sure Andrew Freye wanted to do 4 also. It's amazing that he won the 6 hour race with 11 laps and then race the pro race the next day and get 2nd! That dude is Amazing! 5 was the number and I'm happy it was because I was able to wait it out and pass some guys on the last lap. Sorry Josh.

So overall I enjoyed the course very much. I can tell you which course I won't be enjoying if I even go. Mt. Snow. I have a feeling I will go, but I'm threatening to not go if there is any rain a week ahead of the race. So I'm pretty much not going. We'll see. I raced that course 3 or 4 times over the last 2 seasons and the only time I had fun on that course was the day before Nationals last year. I liked the changes they did because of all the bitching on the Root 66 bitch board. (I miss the old rt 66 message board, don't you?) So the course was somewhat rideable. And I didn't scream like a girl when the down hill rooty craziness was dry. Then it had to dump rain overnight and messed things up. Let's just all pray to the Cycling god that there will be no rain this year. Please!

My new bike, the Salsa Selma single speed, is doing very well. I'm loving the traction and handling of the small frame and big wheels. I like my new tire, the Hutchinson Python, on the rear. I've discovered that if you lower the tire pressure to 23 it grips anything. Even though I'm fully rigid I think I can still go faster with the bigger wheels. However, I don't like when the mud sticks to the tires and my bike instantly becomes a tank. Dry conditions are a plus for this bike.
Thanks for reading.

PA trip, The Long Pine Classic

2009-07-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

I had a really nice time going to PA to visit our friends Julie and Tim with their 5 kids. It turned out to be an all bike weekend! As soon as we got there Friday night they wanted to ride bikes and on Saturday Luke and Bethany took me on an epic ride up Kings Gap. Luke is now hooked on bikes and wants to ride for a living. They all came to watch me race on Sunday and on the way home Luke said," everywhere I go I see bikes now." That's when you know your hooked. It was all he could talk about.

Friday night I pumped up tires and straighten wheels. I tried to fix little Joel's tricycle but it was missing a pedal.
That didn't slow him down he just pushed his bike up the hill. Total single speeder in the making.Luke with the full moon behind him. Bethany looks really cool in this shot. That was a magical night. There were firefly's out in full force and a really sweet sunset. It seemed like a dream.Bethany and Luke at the top of Kings Gap.

It was Bethany's idea to ride from their house to Kings Gap on Saturday after breakfast. It turned out to be an epic 2 hour ride. These kids are only 8 and 10 and they were on bmx bikes. I had no idea what Kings Gap was but it sounded cool. 4 miles of climbing later and we were at the top. We had to stop a few times and at one point Luke said he felt like turning around but then said "I'm not a quitter!" They did awesome! 12 miles all together. It was the longest they had ever ridden and they were really proud of themselves. I was really proud of them too.

Here's a little video of them going down from King's

On the Fourth we headed over to Julies Aunts house near Lancaster and had a picnic, played Frisbee, and the kids played with sparklers. Afterward we watched some serious fireworks.On Sunday I drove down 233 for 45 minutes through Michaux State Forest and arrived at the Chambersburg Reservoir. Julie and Tim live on a farm surrounded by corn and soybean fields with only a few trees along the roads and houses. But if you drive just a little bit south your in the mountains of pine trees. Michaux is a really beautiful area and I hope to get back there to explore some more trails.

The start of the race was weird. They did a "neutral" start by having a dirt bike pace us down the dirt road for a mile and then turn off before the single track. I don't know if this was good or bad, but I was getting passed by every geared rider in my class and the expert class. So basically it was a plan to screw all of the single speeders. We finally got to a hill and I could pass a few people before the single track but I was DFL!

One thing that was good was that the conditions were dry and fast. I was really happy I put my new 2.1 Hutchinson Python on the rear. I could really feel the difference in less rolling resistance. I ran 25lbs of air in the back and I think it was perfect for the dry conditions. I was slipping on some wet rocks for one little short wet section but I think if I lowered the pressure it would be fine.

So into the single track and I'm behind guys that were crashing left and right so I start to make moves and work my way up. I would get behind someone and ride their wheel for a while and then an amazing thing happened. I decided to just ask the guys if I could pass them. And they pulled over for me. How nice was that. I must have asked 3 or 4 guys if I could pass and they were like "Okay" and pulled off. Weird. Not what I'm used to.

The single track was amazing stuff. Not too twisty but plenty of curves and rocky sections. Really fun and fast stuff. I don't think some of these guys were used to going over logs too much and were getting off their bikes or crashing right in front of me. I wound up falling off my bike over a rocky section and scratched the Selma up a little and gave myself a nice bruise under my left calf muscle.

So finally we get dumped onto a fire road and I see the lead group. ( I think) I smashed like hell to catch up to them and managed to hang onto the Bike Doctor Jed Prentice's wheel. At this point we get onto a flat fire road and I draft off of him spinning like mad. I think he might have been a little annoyed and pulled over. So I pushed really hard to get to the next single track section. Jed got in front of me just before the single track and for the next few miles he would take me on a really fast ride. He's on a full suspension bike and I just stuck to his tire through every curve and drop. I was having some real fun now and encouraged him to go faster. We were rippin' it. We both made up a lot of time thanks to him. Thanks Jed if you are reading this.

We were still together all the way to the bottom of the course. Then all of a sudden he was clicking through the gears in panic mode. Down shifting. My self only having one gear I was able to pass on the right up the first short climb. And then I saw it.

Click here to get a better view of the miles and elevation gained.

Looking back I think Jed must have ridden this course before and maybe he was sketched out knowing what kind of pain must lie ahead. I just was out of the saddle trying to gain some ground between us. I don't think I have ever climbed anything like this. IT just kept going up and up and up. We would turn a little and more up. This was like going straight up the mountain. I don't remember for sure but I think I climbed all of the first climb. I knew that I had 2 more giants to go. The down hill after the first climb was super sick. Lots of turns and fast. Then it felt like you hit the bottom of a well and up you go.

At this point I wasn't even trying to climb. This was steep! So off the bike and I'm walking as fast as I could go. Up ahead I see some guys carrying their bikes. With or without gears (even granny) you were off the bike. Then I would hop on the bike to ride a short section and then hop off again. Once I was on top I got screwed again. (see chart, after second climb) A single speeds nightmare. Flat or slightly down hill perfectly smooth dirt road for what seemed like a mile. I think I was willing to sell my soul for gears at this point. All that hard work on the climbs just to be caught on the easy dirt section. But Cycling God must have heard my prayers and I made it to the top of the down hill without anyone catching up.

The third and final major climb was not so bad. At some point it dumped us out onto a dirt road climb and then I just annihilated myself! Out of the saddle and smashing it! I had the Bike Doctor again to thank because it gave me a vision to defeat the Doctor. I must beat the Dr. The stinking rich Dr. Up and more up. I thought it would never end. But it did. Right onto more flat or down hill dirt road that would make you cry to see how slow I was going. I'm tucked right up with my hands together at the stem and pedaling like I'm mashing potatoes. Slight down hill and it was pedal, pedal, pedal, tuck, pedal, pedal, pedal, tuck. How many minutes wasted?

Finally I turn off and I know the end is near. My camel back is out and my bottle in the cage is dry. One big loop and no feed zones. I think I like that. ? I don't know. Anyway, I'm trying to bomb this down hill and it's all loose rock and logs going across the trail. Full suspension would really have been nice. Down onto some single track and I'm giving it all I've got. Pounding my way through the twists and turns and thanking my bike for being so awesome! Out onto another dirt road and I'm tucking and spinning. I get to see Jesse and Julies kids cheer me on as I turn onto the final single track. I smash it up a short hill forcing myself to push with all I had left and I crest the hill to see a rider. Hey! I can catch that guy! So off I'm flying and up the next short climb and I've almost got him.

What are those people standing there for? Why is he stopping and why is the guy taking off his tag. Is this the end? Yep. The end. Weird. No finish line just the end. So I came in 6th place in the Elite group and was the fastest single speeder of the day! I won $105 too. I can't find the results yet but I will post them as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Putney

2009-06-29T03:42:00.000-07:00

Putney was a wet and wild time. Last year it was dry and fast and loads of traction. I could ride everything and I did very well. This year it was wet and muddy so the major climb on the back section and a few other climbs were too muddy to power up. The geared riders could sit and spin to keep the rear weighted. Walking was slower but I had no choice. The next few paragraphs are all about single speeding. I got side tracked so scroll down to check out the race report.

After the race I happened to overhear some one complaining about single speeders being in the Pro class. Saying that they shouldn't be in the pro class because they ride at different speeds then geared bikers. This was very strange to hear because it's usually the geared biker holding up the single speeder who is trying to power up a steep climb and needs a good head of steam to make it. It was like I was being singled out just because I ride with one gear. Ironic isn't it.

Well maybe they should have a pro single speed class. I don't know. The vibe I get is that the guys with the gears think that they suck if they are getting beat by someone with only one gear. I don't see the logic in this. The truth is that if I had gears I might be slower. Having those extra gears I would be in my granny gear wishing I had a smaller gear. I'm not trying to prove that I'm so much cooler with one gear and sneer at those with gears. For me it's just fun to have one gear. I don't have to worry about what gear I'm in during the race and I love to spin and feel the power of a straight chain line without being wound around other cogs. I don't even like the Singlulator. Also It's cheaper to maintain and not have to worry about busting off a derailleur.

I don't feel like it slows me down to have one gear. I ride with gears on the cross bike for road rides and use the gears because I need them to keep up with the other guys with gears. Riding in the woods is slower, obviously. I couldn't keep up on the road if I was spinning a 34x19. I would have to run a 42x17, and that would be killer on some of the long steep climbs we have out here. And too spinny for going down hill.

The other day I decided to "big ring" it up a climb that the day before I was in my 39x27. 53x24 was the gear that I used and I got up it. It reminded me of riding my fixie over the winter and powering up huge climbs just for the fun of it. I think I went the same speed. I think no matter what gear you are in it's the motor that determines how fast you go.

Now that I am way off course with that topic I will tell you about the race.

Going up against 34 Pro/cat 1 riders was super cool. I now know that getting up in the front row is what I must do for every race. I'm a fast starter (I guess) and It feels like I get a head start.
I did well at the start and was happy to not be waiting in line to get into the single track. It was cool to keep up with Foley and Carpenter and O'Keefe. It didn't last long and I was being cough by other guys like Hines and Powell. It was cool to see Powell with a Giant Kit and bike. Powell might be the next Adam Craig. He is really serious about riding. Way more serious then Adam Craig.
So I was actually able to stay with Powell on the Big climb and pass him on some single track. How I passed him was not very cool. It was quite dangerous. Remember the log you can jump over or go to the right around the stump? Well, he when around and I went over the log. He thought it was cool and yelled out "Nice" but thinking back I shouldn't have done it. I could have crashed into him and been on his shit list. I was thinking that I must have been doing well or he must not be doing so well. But since he got 3rd place he must have been doing well.
So now I'm kind of in no mans land and Mike Joos and Brent Mellen pass me up the big climb on the 4th lap. I don't know how Mike can come from all the way DFL at the start to passing me. That boy has some skills. And then Michel Bartlett caught up to me and is climbing everything. He had the right idea and was able to make some time on me because I was fumbling around trying to get back on my bike. This was my first real head to head racing I've done in the pro class. I knew I could get him at the last climb so I waited patiently trying to keep him in sight. Every down hill I was trying to get some rest knowing that the last climb would be it. This is where having a single speed can make the difference. I was already standing and powering up the climb and Michel was spinning in a small gear. I've been there before on the road bike where after spinning up a climb seated up a climb you don't want to stand up and push a bigger gear. So half way up the hill I opened it up and smashed. I didn't look back until I was on the flat section of grass thinking I would have to sprint for the finish but he wasn't there. In fact it seemed like a long time before he crossed the line. But he did really good.
If Greg Carpenter and Randall Jacobs didn't DNF then I wouldn't have been top 10. The bike worked. I was a little frustrated with the tire clearance in the back. The tires would cake up with mud and I would have to clear the seat stay. I just ordered a Hutchinson Python 2.1 for the rear in hopes for better clearance. I might have to put a Kenda Karma 1.9 on.

Charles Beal was happy to get 3rd. My fellow single speeder on the podium. Great job! Especially when Jonny Bold is in your class.

Rob (another single speeder in the pro class) had an unfortunate crash down some sick down hill. One tough mother. Unscathed and out of position, and I'm sure some of the race got knocked out of him. Just kickin' with a brew at the results.

Great Job Colin for your debut pro open. Too bad you got that flat.

I got points for 9th place! Usually I finish 10 to 15 min back. Now it's only 5min! I'm now 14th overall for the series. That's a really cool feeling for me.

The winners. Oh ya, What's up with 3 deep for prizes with 35 riders in the class. Bunk!

Selma Debut

2009-06-22T03:32:00.000-07:00

CB2 and I headed out from West Hartford Reservoir up to Pennwood on Sunday. What better way to break in a new bike then to pull out all the stops and ride The Res. Wet slimy rocks and roots. Mud pits, water crossings, streams of water going down the trails we were riding up. Climbing was better and getting over logs was easier. Instantly I knew that 29'ers are King! The hype is true. Rolling over stuff and traction is the main reason to get a 29'er and you need that to ride in the Res and Pennwood. But there's more. I could throw it down on the descents, and pedal seated over some rough stuff. I would contribute that to Selmas carbon stays and fork. The new saddle I got is Awesome! It's light and comfortable. Thanks Harlan. That's what he rides and if it's good enough for him is good enough for me.

Mud. In case you couldn't tell.

CB2 Getting in on the action.

CB2 and I rode up to Pennwood for the 2nd year in a row on Fathers day. It's a tradition now.

What a great bike. Thank you Josh for helping me to get this bike and all the crap you had to deal with to get it. I'm very happy with the Selma. And the Size (small) is dead on. The bike weighs about 23 lbs but feels lighter. I'm hopeing to drop 3 lbs down the road.

It is finished

2009-06-21T03:46:00.000-07:00

Stans yellow rim tape. I cleaned the bed of the rim with some brake cleaner and used some steal wool to make sure there was a good clean surface for the tape to stick. I'm going to use tubes just to seat the tape and then stans them for Sunday.

I had this riser bar since last year. It feels comfortable with the stem flipped up side down, but after being called "dorky" I'm going to try to flip the stem and use a flat bar.

Josh did an amazing job with the wheels.

Eccentric bottom bracket is really nice. I needed to change my tires up to go ride at the Res with CB2 and I was running low on time. No problemo! No adjustments are needed to change a tire for the rear wheel. Definitely a plus for racing.

Clearance might be an issue. This is a 2.1 tire. Anything bigger then that will rub!

The carbon chain stays are amazing!

Long pine classic

2009-06-18T03:06:00.000-07:00

Click here for bigger map

The Long Pine Classic is part of the Mid Atlantic Super Series down in PA coming up on July 5th. Yes that's the same day of the Domnarski Farm race. We have some friends down in PA and they live about an hour away from the race. From what I can gather so far it's a hilly course. It looks like there are 3 significant climbs that are sustained for almost a mile. If I'm reading the map right. Let me know if I'm not.

I'm going to sign up for the Elite open. What's really cool about this race is if I can do well in it the money is significant. If I got 20th that would pay for my race fee.

Hanna "Hannibal" Witter

Now you may be wondering who these "friends" are that would get me to drive 6 hours. Our friend Julie lives with her husband Tim on a working dairy farm and has many kids. Kids that like to play alot. Alot. My job is to entertain them for hours by holding them up by the feet and spinning them around like I'm a carnival ride. I do that until I can't see and then they yell "again!" All of the Cycling "training" that I've done doesn't even compair to the workout I get by visiting these guys. I'll be there for a day and a half. Last time we visited we played a game called "Dead James." That's when Hannibal and Luke would yell in my ear telling me to wake up while I "Played Opossum." The game ended right before Hannibal put gravel in my mouth. She did smear my shoe on my face. Remember we are at a farm. Cow poop. They are good kids though and lots of fun.

Bethany, Hanna, and Luke

Hanna and Luke at the farm

Baby Joel with Baby

If you still don't believe me how crazy these kids are watch the video. I love them a lot.

Selma is here!

2009-06-15T17:03:00.001-07:00

It's here!

Check out the carbon seat stays!

The geometry looks like it will work compared to the surly

And light! I know it's not 3.5 lbs like the Niner would have been but it's close. That's with the eccentric and seat clamp.

I had to take out some pictures so I will post some more soon.

Finally after such a long time of waiting the Selma is in my grubby hands. I stripping down the 1x1 of it's brakes and wheels I cruised down in the company truck to 503 cycleworx where Josh was awaiting my arrival. He knew I would be down. I thought he was going to call me as soon as it came in the door. He let me open the box!

I've looked at this bike on line for a long time. Over 7 months! The picture they have on Salsa's website really doesn't do it Justice. The one selling point for me was the carbon seat stays. They are really beautiful. I wish they had some close up shots of those seat stays. I'm amazed at the seamless joint and how it goes from gray to clear coat. I don't know how they did that. Frame technology has really come a long way.

The Surly will now become my winter bike. I'll throw my XTR v-brakes on and find a crank. Or soon put a better crank on the Selma and use the old XTR crank on the 1x1. I was thinking that Jesse could ride this too. I'd love to throw some really huge tires on this bad boy and put my fixed gear wheel on with some flat pedals.

Selma project

2009-06-12T03:33:00.000-07:00

Box-O-Stuff.

Team shirt and bar tape

I met Charlie out at Nassahegan State forest last night and had a sweet ride in the misty rain. Charlie was riding awesome! The slick conditions made it really fun. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun in the wet slippery stuff. I skipped a skinny bridge section that he rolled down. I just couldn't trust the slime coated wood. He's the man! All 137 pounds! He also hooked me up with a bunch of tires, Handlebar, stem, Salsa T-shirt, and seat post for my new ride. Charlie said,"the t-shirt is for the podium." I don't know about that, but you never know.

" Broken"-in saddle from my MTB will now grace my Cross Bike

This Saddle is really hard on the old butt. Specialized makes 2 different size seats of this kind and I was given this larger saddle. The "cut-out" is brutal. It's like sitting on 2 skinny rails. I've tried moving it to all different positions and my hands still go numb on long rides. When it dawned on me that I could use my mtb saddle I was stoked. I'm looking forward to this weekends century ride now. At the beginning of the week I saw the weather forecast and thought that I wouldn't get any ride time in. But the rain held off for Wednesday and I was able to get out with Josh for and incredible road ride down to the Housatonic Race and back. 70+ miles and held a 19.5 average.

Ask and ye shall receive

2009-06-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

This mornings post left me to wonder what the day will bring. At my wits end I called Josh and he began to tell me that there was yet another problem. But he was just busting me and told me that he ordered the Selma! It should be here on Monday! And the other good news is that I don't have to get another bottom bracket because the one I have will fit the new ride.

Riding this week looks a bit dull with all of the rain. After last Sundays 5 and a half hours of road riding it might be a good idea to rest a few more days. We were going for a century but bailed at 97 miles because we were dang tired and dehydrated. I paced myself to endure the climbs and watched Josh pull away on every climb. I thought "that's okay" and just let him do his thing. I was happy to have something left at the end. Unlike some other rides I've done that left me with foggy vision. Just had fun. We both saw 2 coyotes, a bobcat, a partridge, and two dead porcupines.

06/07/2009 Route century with Josh
Find more Bike Rides in Litchfield, Connecticut

The Gods Must Be Crazy

2009-06-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

I don't know what you believe but I'm starting to believe that there is a God. A cycling God. Or CG. This God has been with me my whole life and has metamorphosed into the current Cycling God. He's (make things simple and genderize him) the One that spiritually nudges me towards perfecting my game in the cycling department. CG has been teaching me some valuable lessons recently. Patience for one.
6 months ago I really wanted to get a new bike. I waited patiently for this Frame (above) to be available to order. Promises were made and broken. Salsa said that the production date would be in February. Then it was March, then April 1'st. Yes it was a joke. Then they said May and I started to get my hopes up. And once that didn't happen I had enough. I decided that I would find a frame on-line and be done with it. Sorry Salsa you failed. So I started looking at Niners. Really nice bikes that were built for speed. Josh wanted to help me out and applied to get some Niner frames. Turns out that Niner is dragging their feet and won't have a frame for me until late July! How long do I have to wait CG!

Now I'm back looking at the Selma frame. Salsa lists them as available and Josh tries to order it. Oh, well don't you know they can't let him order it because he's not an official Salsa dealer. I guess the "official" dealers get the first crack at sales and so it will be a few more weeks. I need a bike and I need it now!

So that brings us up to date. No frame. WTF!

So what have I learned from CG's teachings?

A. It must be my fault because I'm a sinner and only good little boys get what they want.

B. I should just learn to live with the bike I have. It's building strength and character.

C. I'm too picky with bikes. No bike is going to be good enough for me.

I hate waiting and I think I've waited long enough. But all of this bitching is not going to get me a frame.
Through all of this Josh has been working really hard to get me a frame. He's been on the phone and emailing, having to deal with a lot of BS from some of these company's to get me a frame. Thanks again Josh. It's just my luck.

To be continued...

Single-speed-a-palooza!

2009-06-01T03:37:00.000-07:00

Kombucha tea, homemade brew

This was a fantastic race put on by the darkhorse cycles guys in Stewart State Forest, NY. I was super impressed with the promoters as they invited all of us ding-dongs to get together for one huge single speed race. Sooner or later someone would "Git 'Er Done" and I'm happy that they did-r. The course was marked perfect including laminated signs of encouragement along the trail saying things like "Got Toast"? Or "who needs gears?"

The results are up. I got 5th and Josh crushed it for 4th. 503 Cycleworx represented!

Back up a few days to Friday and I was on the couch with some kind of stomach bug. Didn't eat dinner and just slept. I tossed and turned all night and then ate a little bit for breakfast and went right back to bed. Woke up on Saturday at 2pm. Still felt like crap and was really getting bummed that I was going to miss the one race I was really looking forward to. I rode for 1/2 an hour with my 2:1 gear on the surly and felt really crappy. I could barely push the pedals over. My replacement rear wheel was feeling sluggish and I don't know if it was the frame or the wheel flexing but I couldn't get the rotor from brushing against the brake pads. On top of that my bottom bracket was chirping pretty good. So my bike was not really encouraging me to do well. Telling me things like "you suck.. you suck..you suck." I'm really looking forward to getting my new bike soon.

Sunday morning came around and it was now or never. Feeling okay I got ready to go and met Josh at the bike shop. Thankfully he brought the directions and knew all the back roads to get there. I wonder if he got the directions because we got lost coming back from Landmine last year and wound up going through Boston, costing us an hour of travel time? The trip out there was uneventful. Josh only got 3 hours of sleep the night before and was yawning the whole way.

Thankfully when I got on my bike to ride a little my legs felt good. Pre-rode the first climb section called "Major Mike" with Charlie Beal and Josh and was happy with my gear choice of 2 to 1. Charlie was pushing it hard up the climb (Josh noticed too) and I needed to rest. He ran the same gear inch as me (52). He told me he based that on my results at Farmington, and if it didn't work it would be my fault. Just kidding. I wasn't sure but I don't think it worked for him since he said that he would go one tooth harder next year. Whoops. I guess I like to spin 200 rpms. It seemed like 2:1 was the gear of choice for 29'ers except for Monte who ran a "little better than 2:1" Acording to my calculations he was running a 61.6 gear inch! I was running a 52. So for every pedal stroke he was going almost 10 inches further then me! No wonder he beat me by 10 mins!

This was just before the single track section. I was trying to wave Jesse past me because I didn't mean to cut him off and I knew he would not be happy behind me. He did get around before the single track.

The start was a way down from the actual course so that riders could get sorted out before the single track. Knowing we had almost 50 fast dudes in our class I got down to the start early and pegged my self at the starting line with Sean C , Monte, Roger Foco, and Rob Stine. We got off to a fast uphill start and once we crested the hill Monte looks back and sprints chirping his tires as he punches it into "4th gear." Thankfully I was able to draft off of Sean and stay with the top guys. After the initial climb Monte, Roger, and Jesse are drifting away up ahead down the hill. I almost lose it into a tree and regain my head for a second. Damn these guys are fast! When things flatten out a bit Josh pulls ahead and sets his sights on Foco. I try to keep up and then a short down hill section gives them the gap and that was the last time I saw them. Now Sean and another Cannondale guy are right with me then passing me. I follow and then they pull away. I start to wonder if I will ever catch them again and then I would rally on the flat sections and catch them by the second lap (which is weird because they were running a bigger gear so you would think that I wouldn't be able to catch them on the flats). Once we got to Major Mike again I made my move that would seal my 5th place finish. I had a second blast of energy and pegged it down the hill and made my second lap faster than the first.

I came up on Thom Parsons ,who was having some tire trouble, passed him and then he caught back up. I tried to keep on his wheel and he just floated away. Then I caught him again hanging his bike up in a tree to work on it. Some how knowing that Thom could come up behind me again gave me some extra motivation to keep punching it as hard as I could. Too bad Thom had to change his tire. I know he would have been top 3 for sure. I knew Sean was behind me now too and this was his turf. He knew every corner and burm. Sean was really tough to beat and he was still feeling the effects of being sick last week. He'll get me next time for sure.

Mile 17 and I was out of water. I only had 1 and 1/2 bottles of water at this point and really could have used another 1/2 at least. The feed zone was a little bit confusing and I didn't know where to put my bottles. So after the 5th mile I picked up a full bottle and used that for the rest of the race. Like a jerk I forgot Rob Stine's water bottles that I collected for him at Coyote Hill. He was able to get some water bottles to use. Sorry again Rob. I've got the whole bag of them for next time I see you.

Josh placed 4th for his single speed debut race! I knew he would do awesome! He can suffer a lot so single speeding is perfect for him. I'm crossing my fingers that he will be racing more with his single speed. Maybe even a new bike might be in the works for him? He rocked out his Specialized with a chain tensioner and V-brakes. After the race he told me that that was the most fun he has had on a bike in a long time! He loved the course because it reminded him of racing motocross. Ya, he's a sick motocrosser. I've learned so much from riding with him and love to follow him on the single track and watch him catch huge air off of stuff. I wish I had some video to show everyone how sick he really is. Of course he won't do any of that stuff during a race. I'm really lucky to be able to ride all the time with him, and he's the best mechanic I've ever known. He knows every trick in the book. If you need your bike fixed or need to build up a new bike I would take it to him. He's the best! He's saved my ass so many times with bike issues and is super generous with taking the time to figure out what's wrong with your bike, but will get your bike to you fast. He's an Indi Fab dealer and gets new builds all the time.

This was a really important race for me. I was handed $100 for placing 5th! The guys at Darkhorse are really generous and I hope that other promoters can afford to do the same. It really makes you feel good and want to do more racing. A lot of guys could have won 5th. The time difference wasn't ridiculous. A bobble or a crash or flat and that would have it. I'm overwhelmed with the caliber of people who are racing single speed bikes and I get to ride with the top guys. I'm so lucky!

Shout out to Charlie Beal, Emile Smith, Sean Cavenaugh, Rob Stine, John (who beat me at Farmington in 2006)

Coyote Hill Race Report

2009-05-26T04:46:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I went up to Fairlee Vermont for the weekend so I could race at Coyote Hill on Sunday. We left on Saturday afternoon and made some stops along the way but with some planning I had Jesse drop me off at Coyote Hill so she could run to the store to get our food supplies for the weekend. It was getting dark and I was on the bike at 7:23pm to pre ride the course.

With the dry weather the past week the conditions were next to perfect. Super fast packed trails and dry roots. After being in the car for half a day and then suddenly drop in on some downhill single track action just made me smile the whole time. I was really having a blast rolling over the roots and rocks without any trouble at all. I was really looking forward to the race being in the same condition.

Rob Stine, single speed extraordinaire, was hanging out at the campfire with Matt Green and some other top notch racers. He told me to check out the hill climb course that they raced in earlier that day. I had never done a hill climb mountain bike course before and I imagined a single track going straight up a hill to the top of the climb. It was a cool single track trail that would go up but also have some switchbacks and flat sections. It didn't take long to climb but I'm sure if you were to race up the hill you would want it to be over very fast.

The Coyote Hills course is a real mountain bike course. It will beat you senseless if you let it, or just ride it ridged and all your body parts will writhe with pain. I would describe the course as lots of roots going every direction and short steeps that only with the small gear of 34x19 you will be able to climb. Slow uphill switchback grinds and fast descents that if you are geared and have full suspension you can really fly on. And mud. Lots of slippery roots and rocks. Holes of mud, and a long section of swamp with logs laying perpendicular. Going ridged on this course is like riding a fixed gear bike on a charity ride. You feel like you are doing the right thing but wonder if there is a better way. Except I didn't raise $17,000 for kids with cancer or get a massage after the race. And the yo-yo effect of being fast on the up hill but couldn't descend worth a darn.

The start of the race is what might have costed me some time. Last week at Winsted Woods I went out hard and the course beat me up bad and I was blown out by the 5 lap. So my approach this time was to hang back on the first lap and maintain a good pace for all 4 laps. It worked but my start sucked. Usually I try to get the hole shot but I was really intimidated by the 40 pro riders all around me. When we started we wound around a grassy field and straight into a single track bottle neck. It seemed like an eternity waiting for the guys to get going. Rob was behind me and said "Just another Sunday ride!" That's how I wanted the race to go. Just another Sunday ride that goes smooth and simple. So then we started up the grassy climb and onto the dirt road where I passed some guys but up ahead the pack was way ahead.

The dirt road climb was long and it finally popped out into a down hill single track. Followed some guys and realized that passing was going to be limited. Out of all the races this was the one to be out front. Like a cross race you don't want to be in the back of the pack. Like I said before the trail was brutally rough and with a ridged bike it made it tough to get any speed on the down hills. By the last lap my hands were blistered and sore. I really could not push it too much because then I would get sloppy and go off trail. I just had to keep it smooth and keep my bike upright. Big ups to all the single speeders that were ridged. Paul Simoes and Rob Stine. Especially Rob who still finished the race with only one cleat. Nice one Rob! Thom Parsons while being a single speed demon was not ridged. Maybe that's why he's so fast. Or is it he rides 50 times more then me and has years of experience. I think that's it.

The second lap I was going up against Mike Rowell. I remembered from last year that he would catch up to me and pass me all the way back from the 40 + group. With his full suspension bike he would dominate the down hills and hammer through the rooty sections. Keeping up with him was a battle. I was able to pass him on lap 2 and 3 on the long dirt road uphill but he would catch me and I would let him go. I did pass some really good riders. A couple of IF riders and some guy with a Kona kit on. Really strong riders, but I think because I was keeping a good pace for myself I was able to out last them somehow.

I felt strong all the way to the end of the race where I would pass Matt O'keefe who was blown out and didn't even try to catch me to the line. Alot of really good riders dropped out because of the course, even with full suspension.

Overall I was happy with my race and felt like I couldn't have done any better. I got 16th out of at least 40 guys. So again somewhere in the middle.

I went to meet up with Josh for a Mt bike ride last night and saw that my chain had blown 5 or 6 roundy things in the links. During the race I kept hearing a ping and thinking it was my cog out of alignment. But halfway though our ride last night the pings kept coming until I was free wheeling both ways. I guess my freewheel was on it's last legs, our pawls. So I'm happy that it lasted me the whole race. I was able to make it back home because the last pawls would hold until I freewheeled. Then it would be spin and bounce my back wheel until it cought again.

Winsted Woods Race Report

2009-05-18T03:33:00.000-07:00

I have no excuses this time for you all. That was a tough course but I loved every moment of it. I couldn't have done any better. Monte won on a ridged single speed with the same gearing as me. So sick. He flew up the climbs! I could have gone with a lighter gear but as soon as the flatter single track hit I would be slower then molasses.

The start was insane as usual. Last year I would watch the Pros go off and Greg Carpenter would zoom off the front every time. This was no different. He's a great starter. Seamus Powell was awesome too. Up through the field and into the single track Tim Johnson was right in front of me up the first climb. I just wanted to hang with the big boys as long as I could. The first single track I was behind a guy from Bikers Edge right on his wheel while the leaders were gaping us. Down through the muddy switch back and onto the gravel road I made my move and spun like mad to pass on the down hill and power slid into the single track again. Bikers edge would pass my bonked ass later in the race.

I was feeling pretty good and tried to real in TJ and the rest but couldn't even see them. Randall Jacobs from wheel works was ahead of me now and was gaining distance. John Foley and Monte passed me before the really steep climbs. Monte wanted to pass me on the insane no brakes rocky decent but I yelled to him to hold on to prevent us from crashing into each other. That would have been bad. I was really proud of myself for descending that whole section every lap without touching my brakes once. Then we zoomed up the climb were Monte just sprinted up. Amazing! I cant wait to see him at Singlespeed-a-polooza! Him and Parsons are going to duke it out!

So now I'm just trying to pace myself and I was feeling good. On top of the course it was all roots and rocks and twists and turns. I was happy with my gear choice and was able to stand over all the rough stuff. A full sus bike would be the ideal bike for this course. Even a suspension fork would do wonders.

I got up to the field at the top of the hill just before the sick down hill section and I look back to see my team mate Josh Wilcox just coming into the field. I knew he would catch me but I was surprised that it didn't take him very long to do it. Less then half way down the mountain he was on me. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was bombing down that thing. He is so sick! So we rode together for a couple of laps and by the third one he was gone. My gear had beat me silly and my back was hurting really bad. I have yet to do a course where I stood the practically the whole time. This was it.

My 4th lap was terrible. I started to push my bike up the steep hills and felt like crap. By the end of the down hill section I was ready to quit. It was the closest to quiting that I had ever been. I just kept going. I figured as long as I was moving forward that was good. Surprisingly I was still having fun and enjoying the ride.

Winsted had beaten me. But it was a good beating!
I got 11th place out of 14 riders. How I didn't come in dead last I don't know.

I passed Tim Johnson while he was fixing his bike. I thought I would be able to beat him but he came back and passed me on my final lap as I was so damn tired. He did talk to me and said that he wants to get a rigid bike! I told him he doesn't want one. He said he would keep the gears though. Another guy in my class came spinning by me in the granny gear as I pushed my bike up the hill. He thought it was funny too (that I was pushing my bike as he spun 90 rpms up the climb). I think he said "that's what gears are for."

I was really happy to get cheered on by everyone. I guess riding a single speed automatically gives you some respect. I passed Chris Logan on his last lap and he yells to me "Single speeds rule!" Such a cool guy! I really needed that last bit of encouragement to grind it out into the wind on the field section. Other people would say "go single" as I passed them. Or "go ridged"

Respect! And Monte taking the cake on a ridged single speed for the win! So sick!

Bonesaw is my nickname! One day after seeing Spider Man I kept saying "Bonesaw!" like how Randy Macho-Man Savage says it during the Cage fight. I love that seen.
Nephew Leif Johnson (future pro mountain biker) and Bro-in-law Roger watched me go by on my bike. Thanks for coming!
Special thanks to my wife Jesse for being there to support me and filming. You are the best!

Fat tire race results

2009-04-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

Josh asked Jesse "What do you feed that guy?" or something like that

So I'm just getting around to writing this race report on Tuesday morning at 5:30am. I don't have a whole lot of time to write these and I squandered my time watching video's of the race on Cycleing dirt and comparing my results with other riders. So I'm sorry.

The week after Battenkill was a slow week of riding. I only got in 2 good rides and they were both on the MTB. Pushing that 2:1 gear around really made my legs react weird and Saturday before the race I spun around for an hour on the Cross bike. My legs felt really crappy. I worked in the Garden alot on Saturday too and planted some strawberries and raspberries with Jesse and her sister Miriam.

Yes that is a tractor. No I don't own it. I'm lucky that I live where I work and can use any of the equipment I want. Work smarter not harder. I'm also really lucky to be married to a gardner. By the way we just celebrated our 11th year of marriage!
So all day on Saturday I drank lots of water with lemon in it to keep me hydrated for the race the next day. I think it helped but it sure didn't seem like I was very hydrated the way I was sucking down the water during the race. The night of I went out to Senior Poncho's with Jesse's sisters Miriam and Rachel and Rachel's boyfriend Chris and had a steak enchilada with beans and rice. I love Mexican food. I didn't want to bonk out again and made sure that I ate plenty the day before. Afterwards we when back to our house and ate frozen strawberries. We were bored so we played a game called the Dictionary game. It's like a fortune telling game. So of course I wanted to know what my strategy should be for the race. So I asked the dictionary and Rachel opened it and Chris pointed blindly to a definition. It said "tea poy"- a type of stand for a tea service. So I thought how could this help me and realized that I needed a new water stand.
So the day of I built this stand and it worked awesome! At hopbrook I lucked out and it was cold and rainy and didn't need that much water. Farmington was just the opposite. Every lap I downed a bottle and it felt like I needed more. My bottle would be gone by the downhill sand/mud/dumb section. So I chucked the bottle way before I got to my stand and slowed a little for the grab. Bam! perfect height and everything and It didn't slow me down much. If you still don't believe in the Dictionary game I asked another question about the race and it said "point." I got 36 points for 9th place to put towards the root 66 series in the pro class! The trick with the game is that you have to all concentrate and believe.

So I got there a little later then I wanted to be and rushed around to get my number plate and set up my tea poy. I got to the car and saw Seamus Powell warming up on the trainer like a real pro. At hopbrook I beat him but this time he would destroy my time. I got on the bike and didn't know what to expect. I pre rode the course last Thursday so I knew it well so I didn't need to do a whole lap. I was amazed at how strong my legs felt. I thought it was a mistake. I kept trying to make them feel week by sprinting up the starting hill but they were rock steady and my breathing was normal. Sweet!

I wasn't feeling very warmed up but because of the heat I don't think I needed to be any warmer. I saw the official walking over to the start line and I when right over. Got in the front row. I really felt out of place. I looked around and all these really good riders were behind me and I looked forward at the sand and thought that I must have made a mistake lining up first. I should just go to the back right now because that's were I'm going to end up. Then I looked over and saw my wife lookin' good in her bikini top and relaxed a little. My goal was to get the hole shot. I got the hole shot! And super happy that I was right in front. I know that in a cross race the start is everything and this felt no different. They guys behind me had to fight for the single track and I was able to relax and not over stress myself. After a hard start I tried to settle into a groove that would keep me below redline. Because it was so hot and this course can really blow you up I had to hold back on the climbs and not kill it.

After the second lap I was praying for a flat! I wanted to quit so bad. But fear of regret and having Jesse's family there cheering me on changed my mind. I caught on to Scott Feltmate and rode behind him for a while. I guess he had some surgery done a few days before the race so I don't blame him for dropping out. I'm sure he will be back killing it soon. Sean from Bethel was there also on a single speed. He caught up to me and he didn't sound too good. I did get a boost of energy knowing that I was able to keep him at bay. But he's had it rough with 2 new babies. God bless him! So then my team mate and mechanic Josh Wilcox was with me for most of the race. We went back and forth. On the climbs I would do well and get a lead on him and then get caught on the flats. He was riding his Ti IF with gears. Josh can really rock it out on the Single speed too. I just kept drinking and maintaining a good pace and trying to keep it smooth. Any wasted energy that day was going to cost me so I just waited until the last lap to give it all. I'm really not that good a sprinting for finishes so I wanted to make sure I was well ahead of anybody. I was very happy with my 9th place finish. I think there were 24 guys to start and 16 finished.

Thom parsons killed it on a 34x15! He's Amazing! I know his bike is part of the reason he is so awesome. If you compared our bikes you would think it was impossible that I can even be in the pro class. My bike is steel and weights 23 lbs and is ridged. His bike is full carbon, and 20lbs with 29" wheels and a front shock!
I don't know how long I'm going to wait for Salsa to make the Selma. I really like it though. Sean from Bethel dropped off my new Arches and spokes at the race on Sunday! I just need that frame!Thanks to all my family that showed up to cheer me on. It gave me the extra boost that I needed. I love you all!

Tour of Battenkill race report

2009-04-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Battenkill was really great! I had a really good time and will remember that race for a long time. The scenery was fantastic and the riders were super cool and fast. The 30+ 1234 was stacked with pro team tactics and attacks that were the real deal. Attack, attack, attack, was the race. Sometimes it would be Attack, then slow way down then someone would come up from behind and attack. Every hill and riser was Attack!

Alex drove me and Josh up the 2 1/2 hours to Cambridge NY. The weather was perfect and the roads were dry. The night before the race I was drinking lots of water to try to hydrate my body knowing that I would only have the 2 water bottles during the race and in the morning I was drinking lots of water so it was a relief that Alex stopped 2 or 3 times along the way.

Battenkill has been the focal point of my riding since February, I'm sure it was Josh's and Alex's as well. We would talk alot about it and focus our "training" towards it. Josh and I would ride alot together and hurt alot in the process. I don't think I would have been as prepared without all of those punishing rides with Josh and Alex.

The start of the race was intense. The group was pushing 28 mph and I was in the middle of the chaos. Trying to stick behind Josh was a challenge. Everybody trying to get towards the front if you didn't concentrate for a second someone would move in front of you and eventually you would find yourself at the back of the pack. Josh was amazing at sticking with the front of the pack and I wanted to be in the action. On the first dirt section we came up to a corner and were slowing when someone hit a dead stick about 1" in diameter and it got airborne and flew right into my front wheel and instantly shattered when it hit the forks. If that was a green stick I would have crashed head first. For some reason it got me really stoked! I guess it reminded me of mountain biking and I was wishing there was more excitement like that.

I was slightly disappointed with the dirt sections because they were relatively smooth. Guys were flatting left and right from potholes but I kinda expected more. I think 23's would have done the job. My 25's were really slowing me down and the only time I felt like they came in handy was on some of the loose climbs and loose descents which there were only one of each that I remember. I think me and Alex were the only ones on cross bikes. I was the only one with Mountain bike shoes. I guess I made an impression on some of the riders because I heard one guy talking to another about me. All I heard was "have you seen the guy with the mountain bike shoes. " I have to admit that I wish I had some road shoes, and a road bike with all the right gear but I'm really not a roadie and I don't have a lot of money and I don't believe in spending money I don't have. My shoes are Specialized "Sport" that I got over 3 years ago from Specialized for $50. They have held up for all these years of constant abuse. When I ride my cleats click and clack in the pedal because they are so warn. I almost got a pair of Mavic pro shoes that were the bomb but they didn't fit. So I'm still hoping to get some shoes soon. At one point I was ahead of the pelaton with one other guy and that was a lot of fun. It was the most beautiful part of the course with old farms and rolling hills. There were a lot of people with pro cameras and I'm hoping that they got me in some of the shots.

Back to the Race. Every hill I was with the group and was doing really well until about mile 45 My vision started to cloud up and so did the sky. I thought it was just my glasses or the clouds but then I started to get into trouble. I ran out of fuel in my body. I bonked. I kept trying to stick with the group ahead but couldn't hang on. Then Alex tried to rescue me and offered me to draft. But it was too late. I couldn't hang on to his 28 mph pace. I dropped off and started to suffer. I looked at how many miles I had left and my computer said 47 miles, 15 miles to go. My vision was really suffering and it started to rain a little so I couldn't really see that well. I still had some dirt road climbing to do and I pushed through with all I had and just spun in my easiest gear until the next hill. I was passing other riders that were completely blown so I didn't feel too bad about my performance. A couple of guys in my group caught up to me and I tried to hang on to there wheels but it didn't work. 4 miles to go and it was all down hill from here. I crossed the line in under 3 hours. My computer said 2:57 it might have been a minute less or so. Josh and Alex made it 32 and 33 respectively. They averaged over 22mph and I averaged 20.7. So not too bad for bonking out. My eyes clouded over to the point that I couldn't see peoples faces. I got back to the car and ate all of the sweetest things I could find. An orange some dates some chips for salt. We went back to the finishing line area to wait for the results. I still don't know what I placed. My eyes didn't clear up until halfway home.

So how did this happen? The day before the race I was on Martha's Vineyard. I was there the whole week on vacation. I think it was that on the way home from there I didn't eat as much as I should have. For breakfast I had some turkey sausage and some potatoes and then had some almonds and prunes waiting for the fairy. We tried to find a Mexican food place on the way home and did find one just not until 3pm. We didn't have any food at home so I had to stop along the way. We didn't get home until 8pm. I still had to replace the chain on my bike and clean it up and go for a spin out session. 8:30 I was on the bike with my lights on and it was a nice warm night and beautiful. I got back and made dinner. Some chicken and rice but I didn't feel like gorging my self before bed. I ate at 10 and went downstairs to work on my bike. It was 12:30 when I went to bed.

After we got back from the race Jesse wanted me to hang out with them at the Red Door in Watertown. I wanted some food. So instead we went to a nice restaurant and I got a NY steak to treat my self.

Hopbrook Dam Race

2009-04-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

It was really nice to see Rachel and Tim my Sister and Brother in law come down to watch me race. Jesse took the picture and stood in the poring rain for 2 hours on our Anniversary. Thank you for being there you are the best.

Coal miner look

Messy

I didn't even know I had 503 for a number until the first lap was over and the official called out my number. 503! you know 503 cycleworks. So I thought that was pretty cool.

Here is a little clip showing off my smoothness and that I was in front of Thom Parsons for a little bit. I can't believe he road such a huge gear. Afterwards he said that it was faster to run up the hills. Then he easily pulled away on the flat section drafting a geared rider. I guess that's the thing to do when you ride with gearies.

So the start of the race I felt really calm and comfortable chatting with Monte and hanging out at the front of the line. I had no idea that Tim Johnson was there. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. I'm way out of league with these guys so I'm really just racing with the pros as a cat 1. If I don't come in last that's fine with me.

So the start was going good but I wasn't used to such aggressiveness as people were passing me on the left and right. I was right behind someone but I guess I should have been passing too. My small gear wouldn't let me go too fast on the flats so I kinda expected that. So right off the pavement some dude cant make it up this small hill and forces me off the bike. No big deal. Now I'm around 18th place out of 24. I know this because cyclingdirt has a video that shows me in 18th. I'm not sure but I think Thom and I are the only single speeders. I thought Monte would be single and where was Rob Stine? Well if you look at the video from cycling dirt you will see that me and Thom are the only ones standing. Which would not help because the trail was really slick so trying to control the rear from spinning out every pedal stroke was very hard. Plus it would slow me way down. I was at one point behind John Foley on a huge climb but that didn't last long.

On the second lap I lost about %90 of my rear brake. 2 days before I was at 503 Cycleworks talking with Josh about my brakes. He looked at the rear brakes and said I needed to replace them but I was not going to. Trying to save every penny to buy a new bike is really hard. I should have listened. Josh is a top notch mechanic and I should listen to him. I'm still waiting for my Selma to arrive from Taiwan or China. It won't be here until mid May. I really could have used some 29" tires to grip on the mud. Andrew Freye won Hopbrook on a 29er. I love it when he says that in Maine he puts on a full face helmet and ski goggles to go riding in the harsh winters of Maine. He's the man! He beat Tim Johnson too!

Back to having no rear brake I was starting to think that it was over. I would have to quit. I slowed down and was getting really bumed out. Then I decided to keep going and just modify my riding a bit. What was happening was I would pull the rear brake and then when that bottomed out and I still wasn't slowing I would jam on the front brake by reflex causing the front wheel to lock up. Not good on a muddy course. So every down hill I would keep my speed down so that I could control my front wheel from locking up. Rear brake fully engaged to the handlebar. I even unscrewed the adjustment to the max. So I think that costed me the most time.

I was trying to keep up with other riders in my class like Parsons but found that when I lost him I still had Seamus Powell (pronounced Shamus) in my sights. The third lap I was on to him and passed him going up hill just for him to pass me on the flats with his gears. But I could tell he was not having the best day and as soon as we hit the last hill before the finish I decided to crush him and launched an attack (cat 1 style) and left him on the hill. I needed to gain some ground so that I could creep down the next muddy section with rear brake fully engaged. After that I didn't see him for the rest of the race and I felt really good and happy. My legs started to cramp a bit on the last lap but I pushed that aside and had the best race. If I raced the ss class I would have won. But now I'm really excited to lose. Not lose but just to race with these guys and not come in last is a really good feeling.

So I still have no idea how I placed. I think somewhere in the middle which would be fine by me. I learned a lot.

#1 listen to your bike mechanic. Especially if his name is Josh Wilcox

#2 Don't let a little thing like not having any rear brake make you quit or slow you down. Who needs brakes anyway?

#3 have fun

I'm off to Marthas Vineyard this week and will be racing Battenkill on Saturday. I'm hoping to get some good rest and a little bit of riding in to do well.

Cat 4 upgrade! yes!

2009-04-01T03:16:00.000-07:00

Well I'm now officially a cat 4 Roadie! How did I do it you ask? Simple. All you have to do is enter 2 criteriums and lose real bad. Then convince the Official (Diane Fortini) with some clever words and maybe a Pajama gram. Saying something like "These guy's in cat 5 suck, I eat pieces of shit like them for breakfast," (You eat pieces of Shit?) This, on the other hand, would not have helped my chances of sweet talking her to victory. Why did she upgrade me?

Here is the email I sent and her reply:
Diane,
I raced 2 races at Bethel and felt really comfortable riding with
the groups. Criteriums are very interesting to race in. It's almost
like playing chess. It seams like the ones who win the races "hang out"
until the end and then punch it for the finish. I felt like the group
was going slow and I wanted to up the pace and so I spent most of the
time pulling and attacking on the hill. On the last lap of the
Criterium de Bethel I had a decent gap at the top of the hill and it was
only at the bottom of the hill that I was unfortunately caught. I feel
like if I was in a higher level I would be more evenly matched for the
overall race, not just the sprint at the end.
I have had lots of riding on the road experience with group rides over
the last 3 years. Most of my riding is on the road.
I would really appreciate it if you could upgrade me to a cat 4 road.
Thank you for all you do,
James Harmon

Hi James,
Believe it or not you were next on my list to e-mail. I had been away on
vacation all last week and I have been catching up on upgrades so I wanted
to follow-up with you on how the racing has been going. What good timing you
have! I am going to go ahead and approve your upgrade to cat 4. You will be
able to print your account page and/or approval notice to use at
registration until you receive a cat 4 sticker for your license. I will send
you the sticker tomorrow. I will use the address on your USAC account page
unless you prefer it go to a different address.
See you at the races,
Diane

So it was some kind of supernatural force playing us like puppets for some bigger cause to save the planet or keep people out of jail. I was next on her people to email! I was next! When she said "I'm going to go ahead and approve your upgrade to cat 4" I was flooded with emotion and relived that I can proudly walk up to the registration desk at Battenkill and hand them my licence with a sticker that says I'm a cat 4!

Thinking more about Battenkill. I've discovered that Battenkill is a really good thing. It has nothing to do with winning. The 30+ 1234 group is going to kick my little ass. It's all about preparing for the entire season. What better way to get in shape then to ride around with 25's on. If I go up there and get dropped on the first hill then fine. If I flat out then fine. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that I am in better shape this year then last year at this time thanks to BK. Burger King... No that would not work. I've gotten sick more times at Burger King then any other fast food chain. Thank God that I don't eat like that any more.

Last night Josh and I went on a ride. Josh took out the big gun and I had just put on my 25's. What a difference the extra weight and rolling resistance can make. We started out with the old man group and then he just punched it up some hill and I knew it was time to go. I'm glad we didn't stick around with the slower group for long. I like the guys I just get board very easily. From there on out it was a race. Worse then the criterium I did on Sunday. I was beginning to wonder if I should have stayed in the OMG. Josh was killing it and I was hurtin'. Now I know all this time how he's been feeling with those 25's. After we hammered around Lake Waramaug we took the dirt section up to West Morris Rd and flew down some sick dirt. Josh was ahead of me when he caught some air off the top of a hill and kicked his back wheel out. It looked so sick on his road bike. He is so Rad! Then right at the end of the dirt I got a flat with my new "puncture resistant" tires Michelin Litheons. I picked up a nail that went right through the top. I guess that would puncture anything. So it was a goood ride. 2 hours of battling with one of the best riders around was awesome!

Criterium de Bethel race report

2009-03-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while...I've been really busy with life and riding. So that means less time Blogging unfortunately. Big thumbs up to guys that write 5 or more days a week!

So long story short. 2 weeks ago I thought I would go down and try out a crit to see what it was all about. The result was week. Well I have an excuse list a Jethro tule long but I will skip all of that and get to the good stuff.

On my hour trip down to Bethel it was only sprinkling so I was happy about that, but then right before I got out of the car to warm up it started to rain steady. A couple laps around and it was time to line up. I was really nervous because of my results last time but I kept it real.

The whistle blew and we were off. I was out in front where I would spend most of the race. Scott Feltmate was there and a fellow Bethel dude was working together so I thought I would see how this would work out. I know how strong Scott is so it gave me a good sense of how hard I should be pushing. The three or four of us kept switching it up for pulls. It's funny what you see and think when you are behind other guys. This one guy had a super skinny waist with super huge legs. At one point me and Legs got the jump on the others and another guy thought we could make an attack. But it didn't last long and the rest of the pack came up to us. I think I launched 5 or 6 attacks throughout the race. Half way and Scott and teammate dropped back. I didn't see him for the rest of the race. I felt like it was just me or one other guy at the front. I would pull way out and everyone would just keep riding me. As soon as I would get behind someone to rest a bit it was hard not to get a mouthful of spray so I was glad to be out of that most of the race.

So here comes the last lap and I'm way out front up the hill and step on it. Basically trying the same move that the guy used to win my first crit. I look back and I have a decent gap. I step on it and I'm in the drops going about 80% because it's a long way to the end. Towards the last corner I look back. Not a good move. As soon as I saw that the pack was catching up to me I shut down to 60 or 70% thinking I could catch a wheel. It was too late. 6 guys that didn't pull once came charging past and I punched it to catch the last wheel. Up the hill I was giving it my all and the legs were strong but pushing past my limits they felt like wood. Almost to the top I'm going for the inside corner for the straightest line and there's a guy that almost crashed into me. So that sent me back a second or two. Pushing and yelling at my legs to move I crossed the line in 8th.

Well today's results didn't win me gold or bronze. What do people who get 8th place get for a prize. Or I should ask what do people get for pulling forever and then leading the last lap? But then get smoked at the end by some guys that I never saw the entire race. I think if you are going to win you might as well have some dignity. Scott came in second to last exactly like my first race. I know he will be stomping everyone next time.

Trying to qualify to upgrade to cat 4 is a lot harder then I thought. Should I also stoop to their level and "hide" in the pack? I just couldn't do it. I hope I can get my upgrade despite my results so I can race in the 30+ 1234 at Battenkill. I might need to get everyone to write a little note telling Diane Fortini that I can be a cat 4.

Everything is coming together for the new ride. Sean from Bethel is working out the spoke length for the Arches and I'm pulling out all but $7 from my bike fund today! Thank you Josh, Charlie, and Sean for making this all come together. I don't know what I would do with out your help.

My new trainer. Finally. And Puke stories.

2009-03-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

Here it is the answer to my prayers for training in New England.

Actually I'm going to use this to grind rice into flour. I'm not kidding. We have a hand mill and grind brown rice into flour for bread. It's just a pain to grind enough flour for one loaf. (Another pain in the ass for being Gluten free.) It should cut the time in half. I just have to figure out how to rig it up to make it work.

I got sick last Friday night. After tacos for dinner Jesse and I caught a movie in Torrington. "He's just not that into you" I liked it. Half way through I was getting some stomach cramps and just thought I would tough it out until the movie was over. Of course the movie dragged on and I was getting worried that I was going to blow chunks all over the nice middle aged couple in front of us.
Within the last two years I have witnessed 3 pukings at the movies. The first time I was at the urinal when this kid didn't make it to the toilet and chicken and rice was what he had for dinner. I had no were to run. I wasn't even finished. I just had to deal with the noise and the smell. The second time I was in the bathroom again and another young kid opened the door and let it all come out. I just washed my hands and though "Why Me?" I had to look down at it so I could gauge my jump over the thresh hold. And the last time someone was coming out of the movie "Cloverfield" It must have been all of the jumpy camera shit. This time I was in the clear. I was way down the hall.
So back to my story. I had Jesse drive home. It wasn't long after I got home that it happened. I was so sick. I thought I died next to the toilet. Every heave felt like I was turning my insides out. I heard ringing in my ears and I almost passed out. That sucked. I couldn't keep anything down. The next day I had a fever and chills. At one point Jesse brought me some rice water to eat (that's all I could handle) and she had to spoon it into my mouth. She was really good to me and I really owe her one. She nursed me back to health. I'm so thankful for her. What a way to spend your weekend. I took Monday off and Jesse stayed home because of the snow. Three days in a row I was on my back. That might have helped my legs to recover from all the abuse I've been handing them.

I went skiing tonight after work. This was tricky to get through.

I saw a beaver
I was trying to get a good picture of this beaver but the sun was in my eyes and it was hard to get a clear shot. This was the best I could do. I can tell that I'm becoming more of a New Englander- I had the camera ready to take a nice silhouette shot but I only had it's back so I stomped my ski and yelled "Hey Beaver!" It didn't budge. So I waited patiently until I could take it no more. I moved backwards and then it dove into the water. Then I said "asshole!"
What is wrong with me? Here I am enjoying nature la de da and then I have to swear at a beaver. It must be this long winter getting to me.

Catlin woods was really nice.
I saw three Owls fly over.

Back to life

2009-02-23T03:24:00.000-08:00

The first piece of the pie.
When I showed this to Jesse she was like "you payed how much for this? It looks like something you could make in the wood shop." I always thought wood would be a good thing to use for forks. If you got the right kind like hickory or oak, and had the grain just right I think it would work.

Man those look skinny. Returning to a geared road bike will be different. Those pauls are like something you would find on a chariot from Ben Hur.
For the conversion back to road I swapped out the bash ring and 42T ring for a 53/38. I also had to lengthen the chain and put my front D on.

Slapped some Bottle cages on and I'm set for a 100miler.

This is getting "Re-god-dam-diculous"

2009-02-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

So once again riding in New England can be a bitch. Yes, I saw the radar. No, I did not put two and two together. The green blobs is precipitation. Rain+32degrees=snow. Oh. Thus 10 min into my ride I couldn't see due to the blinding snow. I was having one of those moments were I though this could be it. I didn't dress very warm and if I stopped I might freeze to death. So I kept plugging away. (Drama) I also thought it would be a good idea to go do double hill. That hurt pretty good. After my shoe uncliped at the crux of the climb I thought I was going to have to walk. Somehow I managed. Going up hill was good because I didn't have to worry about going too fast. I literally could not see 10 feet in front of me.

I was thinking about how I should get a trainer to avoid these situations. I've heard so many bad things about trainers from people like "I would rather stick my face in a cactus then ride a trainer." Well, after what felt like sticking my face in a prickly pear cactus for 1 hour that trainer is looking pretty good.

A combo of snow pelting my eyes and falling in front of my light was surreal. At one point I thought about closing my eyes for a nap, and a couple of times I couldn't see at all in front of me and it felt like I was having an out of body experience.
I was thinking about Thom Parsons and his sunburn he got two days ago in St. Maarten. You rucky rucky bastard. I'm sure he's been in my exact situation or worse.
Saturday we were planning to Pre-ride Battenkill. I'm not too sure it's going to work out. Alex thinks the dirt sections are going to be too muddy. I'm sure he's right but I don't know what to expect in April either. This race is so overwhelming to me. After I clicked the button to sign up I was like what the hell did I just do. Masters 30+. Yes I'm 30+ but hardly a master. Then all of this talk about me riding in the Pro class for rt 66. What am I thinking. I'm hoping I can hang on to someone during the races. At least I will know some of the guys I'll be racing against. Not that I will be riding with them. If I get dropped bad I'll just stick with the cat 1 30-40 class. At least I will be running against some sick dudes with gears. But there's going to be like 5 ss'ers in the pro class. So really I can think of it as a Pro ss class. To me that sounds like fun.

Bunker Hill decent

2009-02-19T03:55:00.000-08:00

I'm sure not too many people will be impressed with this feat, but at least the camera man was. He wrote more about it so I don't think I have to say much.

We climbed the back side of that hill. Rt45 to Warren. 12mins mostly out of the saddle.
We are so lucky to live and ride in such a beautiful part of the state.

Hills and junk

2009-02-11T03:18:00.000-08:00

Last night Josh thought it would be good idea to go down Bunker hill and up Great hill on our Fixed gear bikes. One gear. 42x17. 71.6 gear inch. Hey it was his idea. I thought at first he was joking but the look he gave me told me otherwise. The thoughts going through my brain went something like this. "Are you out of your f-ing mind!" or "I guess I can walk if it came to it." "How much money will you give me to go on this ride with you?" Staring at him blankly with these thoughts going through my mind must have meant that yes we were going weather I like it or not. I know I told him a few days ago that I wanted to do those specific hills but I was thinking I would do them alone or on a weekend. Not after I Logged all day. Not after I Logged all day and it happened to be the most I ever worked in my life that day. We normally average 6 hitches a day. We did a record 10 hitches yesterday! I couldn't believe it ether. Anyway, so I wasn't too sure about this ride. We started out and I was feeling fine. I was feeling great actually. The whole ride out to bunker hill was great. We were averaging 18+ and my legs felt great. Any minute now I was expecting to completely falter and have to call my wife to come and get me. But it never happened. We crested the top of Bunker hill and I yell "Pucker up!" then it flattened out again. Then the real hill. Now remember it's dark out, the roads are sandy and ice has frozen into blobs of brown stuff. Spinning like a mad man touching the brakes to maintain 170 rpms until I can get closer to the bottom. I had in mind to break my own record of 200 and hope for 210. My bike started to wobble from the rough road and sand. No worries mate I've been here before. While trying to stay in control I see the bottom and let my legs go. I actually have to push my legs to go that fast. As fast as I can go. All while looking down at my cadence meter. The best I could do was 199 (38.4mph) I was really trying too. We made a left at the bottom of the hill and passed Mohawk ski area. Ya the hill we just came down was made into a ski area. All the lights were on and there were a couple of skiers. I turn to Josh and say "not to be cheese or anything but going down hills like that makes me feel alive." So cliche but true.

Now we knew what was coming. What goes down must come up. Er... whatever. Great hill isn't called that for nothing. I know this isn't Colorado or the back side of Mt Lemmon in Tucson or the front side for that matter, or anything, but around here this hill is dreaded with gears. Doing it fixed was unheard of. We might be the first. Yay! We'll technically I was first. Boo. Josh opted to start a few minutes later so we wouldn't be tempted to race each other up the hill and have to call the ambulance because our hearts simultaneously exploded. I guess we would need a Hurst at that point. And I don't think I would be making the call. Minor details.

I've discovered a trick that I would like to unveil to the world. My 4 friends who I call "the world." Ever since I have been doing Tai Chi I've learned that there is energy centered in your core area. If you focus on that energy and feel like you are holding a big yoga ball in your arms while doing a serious climb helps. It helps me anyway. That way I don't red line. It's more pink.

The climb wasn't so bad as Tanner hill so it wasn't so bad. The first part is the steepest. Sung like that song "The first cut is the deepest." I don't know if that is the title. Keeping my cool and pretending like I'm holding a ball between my arms and handlebars and not looking up helped a lot. When I finally came to the top I checked how long I was out of the saddle. 8 minutes. To me that's a long time. So that's it. We got home safe and wound up averaging 17.5 over 28 miles in 1:30.

I knew that I would suffer the consequences after that hard day at work and bike. I slept like crap and stayed awake from 3am on felling uncomfortable and sore. My legs are shot today and I feel "hung over" (Brian Fantana hung over). I'm hoping it will add something for my riding.

Epic solo weekend

2009-02-02T03:15:00.000-08:00

Saturday:22 degrees wind 22mphNo coast zone

Both Saturday and Sunday I was solo riding on the fixie. Saturday I rode up 63 all the way to Rt 7 just south of Cannan. I had in my mind to go down Roberts hill. I didn't know what a huge hill would be like on a fixie. Over the summer we would bomb down at 50mph so how fast would I go on a fixie?
Beautiful hills
The wind was so strong that day that I didn't really go that fast down this hill. I was glad too because there wasn't much of a shoulder and the road was really rough so I was out in the lane looking out for ice and potholes. Not Ideal to go for some kinda spin record. At the hour and a half mark I decided I should turn around. At the gas station I got some water and ate my gluten free biscuit with almond butter and honey. The attendant seemed to give me the strangest look but didn't bother to ask why the hell I would be riding in the cold. She made me feel so uncomfortable with her stare that I decided to hang out side and eat my biscuit. My gloves were off and I tried to keep warm thoughts in my head. By the time I was finished my hands were really cold. Then I put my sweaty gloves on and it was over. My hands froze and felt like they were wooden. Lucky for me I had some serious hills to climb so that keep my mind thinking about how I couldn't feel my hands helped me to not think about other things hurting. (Don't worry I can't even understand what I'm trying to say.)
36.8 mph=190rpm 42x17x23c
On the way home I had the wind to my back and my hands did warm back up after climbing Roberts hill. Out of the saddle for 10 mins can warm anyone up. I was thinking I should see how fast I could spin at one point when the conditions were perfect. Wind to my back, smooth road and no Ice. So I spun up to 190. Going down hill of course.

Sunday: 29degrees no wind
The next day I thought it would be a good idea to climb some more hills. I think something happens to my brain in the cold that makes me think to do this. I took a route that Alex told me him and Brian did on Saturday. Lots of hills.

This was fun?
I told Alex that I hit 190 and his response was "can you hit 200?" "No way!" I said.
38.5mph=200rpm 42x17x23c

What would a ride without Tanner hill be like? Heaven.

I figured I should document my climb just to prove to myself that I did do this, when I was a youngin'

Top of Tanner.

Snow blast

2009-01-28T03:32:00.000-08:00

Mega light battery fits nice on the stem.
Tuesday night ride was one fun ride. Finally after weeks of being on the road we were able to get out on some packed snow thanks to a warm couple of days last week. We did have some trouble going up hills and I'm paying for it now. But having so much fun really makes a difference.

Mutano 2.4 is the right choice for staying on top.
CB2 gave me this tire a couple of years ago to use as a front tire. I'm glad I didn't throw this thing away! It really helped to stay afloat.
Check out my green water bottle that was given to me by surprise for Christmas.

Boardwalks are fun. Icy at times.
At one point we were side by side following a double xc ski track. It was like we were slot car racing. Any waver from the lines would slow you down and you knew every pedel counted. Technicaly we wern't suposted to be on the single track threw White Memorial. But I figured the trails would be covered in snow the next day so it didn't matter. Shh. Don't tell any one.

packed trails mostly.

I'm totally posing here. I could only get to the tree before loosing all momentum.

Josh, however, did not have that problem, and this is real.

Like Josh

2009-01-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

"Now that's just lazy"

We had to stop and take a picture and video of this house who still had their Christmas stuff up. I think it's time to take it down. I thought I was bad not taking my Christmas tree down until the 10th of Jan but this is ridiculous.Who's taking these pictures anyway?

Alex with the action of action shot. Lake Waramaug in background.

Following the yellow jersey. The Kim-me-down

The reverse loop of Lake Waramaug took us on a very hilly ride. 2 hours in 20 degrees on the road is very cold. Sometimes it would feel like an ice cream head ache. It seems strange that a 33 mile ride would take so long this time of the year. Is it because we are on fixies or because we don't push ourselves hard? It really seems like we push hard at times. Riding with Josh really pushes me past what I think I can do. Hoping for some kind of edge I decided to cut my hair and style it like Josh. We'll see if it helps.

What is Punk?

2009-01-25T06:22:00.000-08:00

I used to aspire to be "hardcore" or "Punk Rock" in some way. But the more I tried or not tried the less Punk I became. I think it must be a personality trait that draws people to become punk. It's kinda trashy, stinky and crass (hey that's a punk band) Who would want to be like that?
Growing up in Tucson I would go to shows at the Downtown Performance Center (DPC). Mostly to see Ska Punk shows. This predates "Hardcore". Somehow I missed all of the really "good" shows like the Offspring. I tried to go and see DRI but my Step Mom wouldn't let me go see the "Decent Righteous Individuals." She was like, "I'm sure that's what they're really called." She didn't buy it so I couldn't watch guys do front flips off the stage into a black swirling cauldron of leather and chains. I remember thinking how cool I was in my store bought "Helmet" t-shirt. Judging all of the other kids for following trends. Judging might be the nucleus of Punk. Everyone judges until everyone around them looks exactly the same. But still, I can't help to feel like I want to belong to the Neo Punk crowd with there patchwork jackets and sewn black jeans. I just want to stare at all of their tattoos and perfectly messed up hair. Now they've taken up fixed gear bikes with no brakes. But I don't belong and I never will. I don't even listen to "Grindcore" or "D-beat" music. Mostly I listen to crappy 104.1 and like it when Nirvana comes on. I never even got the secret handshake down. I will always be a "Traditional" hand shaker. I guess it's kinda the "Missionary position" of handshakes. I think I found my niche. Judging the physique of the other guys I ride with I fit in like a dirty shirt. We're all "Hammerheads", and talking about gear inches is music to my ears. I guess if a crusty punk showed up to race the single speed class at rt 66 he would be a little out of place too. We all tweak our gearing or handlebars or psi the same way punks sew there jeans or ink there arms up. So really we are all punk in some way. And that can be bad too. Getting caught up in what gear to bling out our rides with instead of just riding. Eventually losing all perspective. Like in the Minor Threat song "I can't keep up, I can't keep up, out of step with the world."

CB2 and friends

2009-01-22T16:20:00.001-08:00

Charles Beal

or CB2. Forgot his light on the charger at work. Borrows James's light. Lasts until we start going down hill really fast. Fortunately for him a guardian angel graces him with light and he catches up. Charles has connections.

The "Ranger" performed very well tonight. All of the unseen potholes get absorbed by the 4"'s of rake.

Night riders

2009-01-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

Last night Josh, Alex and I when out for a ride. Very cold (12 degrees.) Very hard (that's what she said). 16.5% grade with a fixed gear is not the best situation. I had to keep reminding myself that I was running a smaller gear and so it shouldn't hurt so much. I think that was one reason why I was sucking. Also that I skied for 2 hours the day before and Logged all day. So my legs were feeling "not so happy" with me. But that's good right? Alex "geared" up
Josh was hitting the hills pretty hard. I was just trying to pace myself feeling like I could crack at any moment. Alex was not really sure what to do. At one point he realized that I wasn't going to respond to one of the "Rockets" attacking moves and passed me. Smart. Once I realized that going at my own pace actually makes me have to work harder to catch up. (Oh ya this is road riding.) I guess I'll have to hang on next time and not worry about throwing up.

The "Rocket" planning his strategy to put me in the red.

Cygolite that I won for Sport ss champion 07

In other news... The last Stihl chainsaw "shit the bed." I'm glad it did. It was our spare saw so no big deal. The good news is we got another Jonsered.

So scenic. Timberjack in its element.

This was a double tree oak. Big trees. They were connected so I had to saw them apart to get the first one down.

X training

2009-01-19T12:42:00.000-08:00

Today I went cross skiing. cross... skicross...skicrossing? I've gone a few times but this time I really wanted to go man go! So I went as fast as possible for miles. I don't get how to go down hill until about an hour in. Once I got it it was awesome! I'm no pro but I was able to turn down a windy singletrack section. Stoked! My ski boots started to hurt the ends of my toes.

Sometimes retro is not the way to go. Good thing I didn't buy these. Maybe next year if I don't have a bike to save up for I'll get a new set up with boots. It's really not that expensive but I still don't want to spend any more dough on things that are not bike related.

I need some wax to wax my waxless skis

Living at White Memorial has it's advantages. Like skiing from my front door. I don't want to be a snob about skiing already but I have to complain about snow shoers. What is the point in walking in big huge snow shoes to go across 3 inches of snow? I just don't see the appeal. I can understand if you were sinking up to your knees. Here comes the annoying whining. Then they have to walk all over the xcs tracks. Come on dude! Not only that but I saw this girl fall flat on her face with those things. You can't even slide down the hills and have some fun. Man I was on a rampage.(Witness the Whiteness) Overall I had a good 2 hour workout. My hams are singing.

So jealous about ssaz09. I used to live a block away from the Bay Horse Tavern were their after party is going to be. I miss Tucson sometimes. I wonder if Mike Montalbano is going to be there.

fixi-dent and forget it.

2009-01-17T17:57:00.000-08:00

My Surly 17 tooth cog came in today! I also scored a 42 tooth ring from the bargain box! After all the hassling I gave Josh about running a smaller gearing then me he finally upgraded to a 42x17. I didn't realize that I was running 42x16! That's 5 more inches difference gi wise. So I figured I better do something to get us to run the same. Just so we know that we are both suffering the same.After I soaked the lock ring and 16 t cog in PB Blaster it came off. Good thing I greased it. Josh once again hooked me up with some extra grease. Did you know I was riding around with a froze up bearing? New bearings on the way. So cool you can just pop them in and out like skateboard wheel bearings.

Now I can speed up hills faster and spin like a one legged jockey down them. Look at that grease!

I love how the Surly cogs have those holes in them. So cool....

before

after

Garbage trike. That hill was a bitch because of the ice under the snow. So glad I had three wheels. So sweet. Every time I ride this thing it makes me think that I'm cruising some boardwalk in Cali along the beach.

Log this!

2009-01-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

This past week I logged every day. The log truck came and took a load out and there must be 2 more loads left. That means we must have cut over 10,ooo board feet of logs this week. Not to mention all of the firewood. I think we must have cut 15 cords easy. Working hard all week and then after work riding or skiing really kept me in shape. I'm hoping it pays off for cycling.

I've been thinking more about the Selma. Should I get a ridged fork or suspension? I think I'm up for the chalenge to race in the pro/cat 1 class. Rob Stine is going to race in it and so is Sean from Bethel. It will be a really great year of racing so many single speeders that I know. Not that I will have a chance to win but I'm hoping to not come in last. But even if I come in last that will be ok with me. Thom Parsons will be rockin' the Gary Fisher logo on a super sick ss. Hopefully Josh will be there and we can really help each other to win. If I don't do the pro class this year I will wish I did. I'll feel left out if all of the sickest ss'er in New England are racing ahead of me in the super cool elite crowd.

A time to blog

2009-01-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

Today I have about 15 min to write or post something. I think I will put up some more bad pics of myself and friends.

Here's a good shot of me looking like I'm not haveing any fun and "The Rocket" having all the fun. Josh, Brian, Alex, and Charlie all had a good time freezeing our toes off.

Charlie aka CB2 was delighted to go riding with me riding an overgeared dumpster fixieruper. this bike weighed at least 45 lbs. Now it only weighs 35lbs! Not really. I'm sure without all those gears it weighs less then that.

So here we are freezen our asses off. So much fun! 2 gearies and 3 fixies sometimes doesn't mix.
Brian was way behind. I don't think he likes riding with guys that only have one gear. He's going to totally kick my ass this year at Rt 66 when I'll be racing in his class.

I think pictures should load faster. I'm running out of time!

Posting for Pirates

2009-01-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

Check out this bike! I found the frame and fork in the dumpster. This was my 2nd single speed build. Looks like a big cog in the back. Check out that seat post. I did like how it handled though. After a while I converted a Univega ridged. Then the Surly came along.

Test, test, test...I was talking to Roger about our first races. I raced Hopbrook Dam as part of the Root 66 series and came next too last. So did Roger at Farmington.