Doing Silly Things With Rocks

Things to Buy: End-o-the-World Edition

2012-01-22T18:27:00.001-05:00

It may seem a little silly that I'm selling a bunch of stuff since the world is going to end in 11 short months, but there is a season of mountain bike racing between now and then, so I'm doing it anyway [/sarcasm]

There are some big ticket items:

Wheelset #1

Wheelset #2 (with tires)

Some medium ticket stuff:

Rear Hub SOLD!!!

Crankset <---- Re-listed, price dropped!

And a small thing:

Brake Rotor <---- Re-listed, price dropped!

*NEW* Things to make your bike go forward:

XT Front Derailleur

X7 Front Derailleur

(If these links are incorrect it's because I can't check them on my computer at work...)

There will be a few more small things added over the next few days, and I'll put them up on this post so you all can easily find them. Happy bidding!

In other news, I added this to my bike stable yesterday:

Thank you Bad Andy. I will treat it well.

So long!

EDIT: New Items added!

2012-01-18T06:50:00.002-05:00

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Wintery Time

2012-01-08T20:51:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to get my cycling feet back under me since oh, about November, and I think I've made some progress in the last two weeks. The week between Christmas and New Years, I actually clocked about seven hours of riding!!!! A whole seven hours! It was amazing. All on my singlespeed, which is nice, because I love that bike. It is my favorite out of all of them. It just feels right. It's even better after I got some new parts for it for Christmas. It's much easier to pedal with a bottom bracket that actually turns round.

Took one of my friends from college, a new cyclist, on a road ride yesterday. He brought the great weather up from Florida for our ride and we ended up putting in 31 mi at a chill chill chill pace in shorts and short sleeves. It was pretty cool to get out on the road again, as I haven't really done that in a few months.

Enjoying some fresh powder trails in upstate NY.

Pretty NY countryside.

Shiny bits for the SS... plus a bath which it hasn't had in a few years. Salsa Toothfairy is the best bashguard ever.

After watching the 'Cross nats coverage on Cyclingdirt today, I'm definitely excited to get riding again. It was pretty awe inspiring to watch those Delaware's best walk away with the women's race for the eighth time in a row, and to see her young protege pick up the silver. And watching JPow's perfectly timed attack left me with goosebumps. Now I am really ready to start 2012 with a bang. I'm continuously honored to be able to ride with the great group of guys and gals that is the C3-Athletes Serving Athletes team. All of you inspire me every time you turn your pedals over. I'm also proud to be an Ergon Factory Rider again for 2012. This year, not only will they be keeping my hands comfy, but my rear end as well, which is always a plus for 100 mile races. Sore butt = unhappy bike racer. I'd also like to tip my hat to ENVE Composites, who is coming on board with some support and some super sweet cockpit components. They'll cut a few grams of weight off the Epic and pile on a few kilograms of sexiness.

So now that 2011 is actually over (with cross nats being finished and all), congrats to all my friends who trekked out and raced, and I'll see you all when the mountain bike thing starts up again!

Cross Closure

2011-12-13T21:11:00.005-05:00

Last weekend ended one of my favorite cross seasons so far. I can't quite put my finger on why. I didn't have the greatest season on paper; my results were solidly in the lower 50%, and often in the bottom 25%. I didn't win, place, or show at any races. I didn't travel to exotic places, or participate in the biggest races. I didn't get faster, but I didn't get slower. I guess that's the key then. I didn't get slower. Stasis. Usually that's a bad thing. I'm pretty ok with it this year though. I've felt like I've gotten faster at the races simply by driving my bike better. I know I'm a pretty good bike handler on bikes with wide bars and flat tires, but in years past I've never felt comfortable on my cross bike. It never quite drove right. I think that this year I got it down. Since I supremely suck at running, I made a point to ride everything I could this year. Unfortunately the beginning of the season provided a lot of opportunities for running. The season got better, though, and being able to ride over stuff was just more... fun. And fun is what cyclocross is all about. I enjoy stuffing myself into a skinsuit, pinning a number on, and lining up in the back of a group of like minded guys every weekend. It's fun.

Great teammates definitely help though. Lauri, Auer, Diane, Ben, and Fatmarc put on a great race last weekend. As did Andy Taus and his crew. Those races were two of the best courses I've yet ridden. The perfect compromise between a boring grass crit and a mountain bike race tough enough to make all the roadies run home crying...

Pricey is trying to eat all the bugs.

I always gotta beat that guy.

The best part about this season has been, as I've said a few times already, the people. Ending the year on a high note certainly didn't hurt though.

Tried to stick the inside pass here...

Surfing the sand

Looking forward to what 2012 will bring. Even more than that, I'm looking forward to the week of vacation I'm taking between Christmas and New Years. A week of riding in upstate New York is just what I need right now.

Top two pics from the incomparable Dennis, bottom to pics from the incomparable Ms. Geology.

Subie: A Retrospective

2011-11-14T06:28:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago my good old Subie died.

Subie and I soon after I got her. Hibernia Short Track. 2007

She was a 1999. Blew a head gasket on I-581 in Harrisburg. Common problem with that year.

The accident. I-81 southwest of Harrisburg. Summer 2008.

It saddens me greatly to have to get rid of this car.

Leaving Damascus, VA with Ms. Geology, July 2011

It's like losing an old friend.

Camping with Subie at the Mohican 100, June 2011.

A friend that, oddly enough, will be missed.

Last known picture of Subie in her element. SVBC Mountain Bike Festival, October 2011.

The final resting place of Subie, November 2011.

Subie v2.0 has arrived, but still does not feel the same.

2004 Subie... semi-props if you know where this was taken. November 2011.

I've done a few MABRA cross races in the last few weeks, both in the Elite field. Hour long races suck muchly, but racing in a field of 25 and starting at the back is much better than racing in a field of 125 and starting at the back. Got lapped with one to go at Schooley Mill, and pulled myself before I got lapped at Rockburn. The Rockburn day was not a total loss as I enjoyed some pump track sessions and a good old XC ride (on a 26er HT with flat pedals) before the race...

... Hey that's probably why I was so slow...

With three races left, I'm staring at the end of 'cross season now. While I didn't do a ton of racing, and I didn't do a ton (read: any) training, I am happy with it nonetheless. I had fun, I worked hard when I could, and I enjoyed the company of friends. That's what cross season is really about.

Return to Sender

2011-11-11T14:38:00.001-05:00

Spent last weekend out in Carlisle. A friend of our was having her bridal shower, so while Ms. Geology went to that, I spent Saturday afternoon doing very adult things with the groom-to-be and his father. Adult things consisted of discussing/arguing about the difference between conservative and liberal politics, discussing negligence laws, talking about cookies, and watching Harry Potter 7 (part 1). All of those are clearly adult things. We spent that night getting reacquainted with the G-man, and I spent the night wondering why only one of the bartenders there can make a whiskey sour that is WHISKEY sour as opposed to whiskey SOUR. For the record, that bartender was not on that night. Much fun was had.

The next morning, I had sort of planned on hitting up the MBM ride out of big flat (after a bunch of other plans fell through). The 9 AM start to that deterred me, and I choose sleeping in and waffles at the hotel. I headed down to Michaux for a solo ride, and ended up riding for a little bit with some dudes. Don't remember who they were. I took us 1:10 to get from the Furnace Stacks to the top of Bunker Hill (at Michaux Road). Let me spell that out for you: one hour and ten minutes. After clearing a good bit of the deadfall off Creek Trail (whatever we could get by hand, for we had no tools), we hit Bunker Hill and began to do the same thing. After we crested that first little rise (having already cleared one section of deadfall) we were greeted by what more deadfall than I have ever seen on a trail. It looked like someone had run along side of the trail with a chainsaw and cut all the trees down. We walked from there until the gate and the hard road, which had been cleared by the power company or something. After the short ride to Michaux Road, I split off from the dudes, abandoning my plan to head out to Tumbling Run via Creek Trails both because I didn't have time for that loop and because I thought that the top of the ridge would be more clear of deadfall (stuff should fall away from the top right?). I headed straight uphill for the new ridge stuff.

Forgive the cell phone pictures.

Still can't get this one.

Classic PA chunkiness.

An autumnal moonscape.

Shortly after that, on the hard switchback on Traverse, I did something stupid and crashed. Not in the typical Zach crash spot (in the switchback, trying to take the not-over-the-rock line), but right before it. The leaves defeated me and I ended up on my back with legs up in the air, still attached to a bike that was standing on its front wheel with its back wheel up in the air against a tree. I must have wrenched my shoulder, because it hurt. I bailed down Cold Spring, rode back to the car and called it a semi-successful day. Riding like this needs to exist where I live...

Two days later, I was back in Carlisle for this:

I guess I'm legit now...

Apparently I gave a really good talk, and lead a really good discussing about what is being done to improve Bay health in general. Honestly, I was surprised, as I though my talk to be horribly dull. It felt good to be in the presence of academic minds again; a refreshing reminder that I do know what I'm doing, and I am mostly intelligent. Unfortunately, the professor I had most wanted to see is on sabbatical this year and did not feel the need to come. I don't blame him since he lives almost three hours away. Fortunately, an old professor of mine, someone who I admire and respect greatly happened to be visiting from the school she now teaches at. That was a great surprise. I hope she had some good discussions about diabase. I do love me some diabase.

Damn renovations happening after I graduated! Soooo much space now...

I wish I had this rock prep lab when I was in college.

Just remember, here at C3-Athletes Serving Athletes presented by Twenty20 Cycling, we care...

Love.

This Race Made Possible in Part by Tom Mackay

2011-10-31T11:44:00.001-04:00

HPCX. I almost wasn't going to race this weekend. Saturday night Ms. Geology helped throw an engagement party for a friend of ours that I had to attend, which meant no Beacon Cross for me. Unfortunate; it looks like I missed a true hard man's 'cross race.

HPCX was good though. I figured, I race at 3:45PM, why not go? I knew I was in for a muddy mess, which suits me fine. Tom Mackay, the gracious man that he is, offered to let me use the wheels off his pit bike for my race, after Fatmarc returned from his race and declared the Fangos a complete failure for the conditions out on the course. Quite frankly, that both saved and destroyed my race. In the time it took me to get his wheels on my bike, I managed to miss the start by about 15 seconds. But the tires gave me enough amazing grip to work up through the pack rather quickly. Except when running was involved, because I suck at running. Unfortunately, my late start meant that I got 80% rule'd and pulled even before the leader lapped me. Like well before. I stood around at the finish line for at least a minute before he finished. They've never done this before in a MAC B race that I have raced. People will start to get pissy if the officials start doing this for the B race because the only reason I can think that they are doing it is that they want to get home earlier. I find that unacceptable, but I'm just one of the fifty or so mid-pack B races so what do I matter? Anyway, end rant.

I had a great time, and I might even race a MABRA race in a few weekends.

Final thought... I wonder how many people are considering upgrading and racing the Elite race just so they don't have to wait until 3:45 to race? I know I am...

A Good Fall

2011-10-24T20:30:00.002-04:00

[Insert obligatory appology for not posting for over a month]

Charm City. Whirlybird. Granogue. All cross races near and dear to my heart.

C3CX Day 1- Enjoying me some Planter action before my bike fell apart.

C3CX Day 2- Bike was a bit long in the TT, but drove pretty well. Blue geometry > Van Dessel geometry?

Granogue Day 1- A little help from my friends.

Granogue CX Day 2- Those three behind me... that's the end of the race...

I need to become smarter at racing these courses. I tend to have too much fun on the first day, burning more matches than I hold trying to ride run-ups, and in general finish as high as I can. The thing is, I like having good rides on these courses. It's all too easy to destroy myself and still have a day of racing left. I managed to do ok with this at Charm City, but most of that probably had to do with the fact that I had a catastrophic crankset failure on lap three on Saturday. Sunday I raced a teammates bike, and had a pretty darn good day. It's great to be a part of that event.

Whirlybird was good too. And muddy.

Granogue was a lot of fun, as always. It's, again, great to be a part of this event, if only a small part. Everyone chips in to make it happen. Saturday's race was great. Started 108th, finished 58. One of these days I'd love a good start position. I would hope I could make it at least into the top 20 of a cross race like I did two years ago at HPCX. Enough complaining... raced hard enough on Saturday that I got lapped and pulled on Sunday. Only at Granogue...

In between some cross racing I got a few weekends off. I decided to head down to the Shenandoah Valley Mountain Bike Festival in Stokesville, VA for some singletrack riding. I definitely got my fill. Narrowback night ride on Friday night, 54 mile Fatty ride featuring the Dowell's Draft, Road Hollow, and Braley's Hollow descents, and the 1.5 hr Hankey Mountain climb, the Confederate Breastworks climb, and the Bridge Hollow climb. I hurted on that ride. But getting to rally down Dowell's, Road, and Braley's was fantastic. Road Hollow is the only one I hadn't ridden yet. It was frighteningly skinny, off camber, rocky, swoopy sidehill singletrack. Amazing. Sunday I participated in the JV Squad and Friends Lookout Mountain ride. Best singletrack I have ever ridden, hands down. Following Sue Haywood down from the top of Lookout didn't hurt either. The lower lookout also had the best view ever; a full display of fall in the Virginia Mountains. Now with pictures.

The reward for a 1.5 hr plus climb... This and the Dowell's Draft descent.

Rollin...

The group I pretty much spent the day with.

Overlook at the Confederate Breastworks.

Wonder what's to the right?

Tired and happy after rallying down Braley's. Only 14 or 15 miles to go! Plus the bottom half of Hankey!

Lookout Mountain singletrack... primo.

JV Squad and friends.

Lower Lookout Mountain overlook, after a killer descent. Words can't describe how amazing the VA backcountry is. Many more trips will be in order.

Hopefully I'll be back in the 'cross scene for HPCX next weekend, but only if I can carpool with someone...

There also may be a Michaux trip in my future...

And so it begins...

2011-09-13T20:53:00.001-04:00

I will admit straightaway: I had almost forgotten why I love cross. About a month ago, it was just seeming like another thing I was going to be spending money on in order to switch my Van Dessel from road to cross mode. Nittany reminded me why I love cross. It was muddy, something we haven't seen for a solid year.

It was good. Very good to be back in the cross ring. I definitely came into it without any practice since I hung up my skinsuit last year, so I think I was a little rusty on my "cross skills." The good old Holeshot was definitely up to the task, as I think I've finally found a build that is both low maintenance, and light weight enough. The only thing I could see changing are the wheels, but who has money for a fancy new pair of carbon hoops anymore right? Lord knows I don't...

I think I enjoyed Sunday's course more than Saturday's, even though I failed to successfully ride the run-up/log combo during the race (rode it twice during practice). I am happy with this, even though I was riding very slow. I definitely don't have the top end speed I had at the end of last cross season. Hopefully I'll be racing myself into that kind of fitness this year since I'm probably not going to be sticking to any kind of formal training program. Just cross practice once a week (work permitting) and whatever other rides I can fit in during the rest of the week. Work schedule is definitely picking up more as we are getting near to the end of the year as out timetable for submitting out yearly monitoring reports has been moved up to the end of October. All the sudden, the end of the year is in October now. Whouda thought that...

Fifty Seven Percent

2011-09-05T19:58:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I finished 57% of the Shenandoah 100. If you do your math, that's 57 miles, which put me right at Aid #4, conveniently staffed by my parents and Miss Geology. That's the second NUE race I've DNF'ed this year. The first one I was instantly ok with. Not much I can do to fix a broken freehub in the field. This one I was a little less ok with. I'm still mulling over my decision to pull out at Aid #4. I know it was the right choice, but it's still a tough decision to make. It's not like I was cramping, or bonking, or having bike issues. I was just moving really slowly. I rolled into Aid #4 (remember, that's mile 57) at around 2:00 PM, 7.5 hours after the start. I thought about it, and at the pace I was going (climbing specifically) it would have been another 5 hrs until I finished, if not more, due to late-race fatigue. I know it's kind of a lame excuse, but that finish would have put me two hours behind my PR, and an hour behind my finish time from the first time I did the race. I wasn't mentally ready for a 13 - 14 hour day, as I had been thinking I would be coming in under 10 hours. It just wasn't happening. I made it through the first climb of the day ok, spending a good bit of time climbing with Buck until he had to do his singlespeed thing on the steep parts and I elected to gear down. I made it a good bit of the way up the singletrack climb (Lynn Trail????), which was nice, but I may have burned one two many matches there, as a lot of people walk it since it's so steep and so early in the race. Coming down Wolf's Ridge, I crashed again. No tire issues, no injuries like last year, and only one bike part failure! I must have hit a soft, sandy patch because before I could actually do anything I went from railing a corner to rolling on the ground. I got up, with no injuries whatsoever, and jumped back on my bike, pedaled once and realized that something was wrong. My derailleur was no longer attached to my bike. Oops. I will give a +1 to the X12-style derailleur hangers, where the hanger itself is not meant to fail. Instead the bolt that attaches the hanger to the frame is supposed to fail, which it did, saving my derailleur and my frame from damage. I re-installed the derailleur with a new bolt and went on my way. Shifting was in no way effected, which is the way I like it.

Got to Aid #2, and made the decision to roll through without stopping. I still had food, and I still had drink. I ended up off the bike early going up Hankey Mountain, so I should have probably stopped and ate some free food. Anyway... Dowell's Draft was awesome, the folks at Aid #3 were mostly awesome. The next climb sucked balls, although I did run into a few of my fellow Darksiders as I was walking up the singletrack. They were walking down. Definitely the last people I expected to see in the GW all the way down in Virginny. Braley Pond kicked ass, and that was pretty much my race. I rode back to the campground with a group of people who had the same idea that I did.

Oh well...

In older news, I had my best race ever at the Wilderness 101 a month ago. Set a new PR of 9:10. Very happy, even though I didn't break nine hours as I had hoped.

Now is time to forget how to ride for a day on end, and remember how to ride so hard that I want to throw up after 45 minutes. This will be new, as I don't think I've done a race shorter than 4 hours since, oh, APRIL!!!

What's to say...

2011-08-08T23:38:00.003-04:00

Haven't been moved to write lately. Well, more accurately, I haven't had time to write lately. I've been bouncing back and forth between Mar-e-land and Bethlehem (I'll let you figure out which one) for work and that has pretty much taken up all my time, both for blogging and riding unfortunately. The rest of my time has been spent traveling. I took a trip with Ms. Geology down to Damascus, VA for the Iron Mountain 100k, a little bike race that is fulfilling my goal to pay Chris Scott's salary for the year. Lemme tell you how awesome that race was.

IT WAS AWESOME!!!

So good that I will definitely be back next year. It featured the most slightly rocky, very flowy, ridgetop singletrack that I have ever seen in a race. Given my love of ridgetop singletrack the course gets a 10.

Only at a bike race...

The race went pretty well from the start. We had a nice neutral roll out from town, then hit the Virginia Creeper Trail (a rail trail) for the start of the racing. Almost immediately a Trek 29er Crew rider slipped off the front. No one noticed. No one even picked up the pace. We rolled along for about 10 minutes just chattin' and having a grand old time until someone spoke up with "Hey, where'd Kyle go?" It was quickly followed by "Oh, I guess he's off the front." Conversation ensued basically like this:

Person #1: "Should we go get him"

Person #2 (last year's winner): "No hurry. We'll give it a few minutes."

Person #3: "He must be pretty far ahead, I can't even see him."

Person #2 (still last year's winner): "Whatever, let him do his roadie thing."

So we chilled and talked for another five minutes or so. Then Person #2 went to the front and pulled hard. I managed to stay on the train until the bottom of the first climb, at which point we had caught this "Kyle" who was off the front, and I could not hold the pace up the climb. I settled into the second group. It was good. I gained a few positions on the descents, and lost a few on the climbs. When we hit the longest climb of the day (9 miles maybe?) I found a rhythm for about the middle third of the climb, clawed back a few spots, then lost it when it kept going and going. There's nothing that consistently up hill near the Harbor of Grace, so my "training" was missing that element...

3 miles from the finish I got a flat. I was running a tube in my rear wheel (regular race wheel still awaiting new hub... see previous post) at 24 psi so it was bound to happen eventually. I was frankly surprised it lasted that long. A new tube went in, the CO2 came out, and the CO2 inflator didn't work. The little pin that punctures the cartridge was completely missing. I stood there staring at my wheel until some nice guy gave me a pump. Twenty minutes later I was back on my bike and riding on. Finished in 6:35. I probably could have snuck in under 6 hrs if I hadn't flatted and had let it all hang out on the descent. It was pretty much all downhill from where I flatted... still, that race made me happy.

I spent the next weekend kicking it around in Michaux getting my rock crawling on with Zach and Joe, then last weekend headed up to good ol' Coburn for the Wilderness 101. More on that later, because I am le tired.

Fiddy

2011-07-12T20:58:00.001-04:00

I suppose that in hindsight, the Fair Hill 50 went pretty well. My body behaved (a better test is coming this weekend though), but my bike did not. About 10 mi in, I noticed a wobbling in my right shoe area. Thinking it was my cleat because I had put new ones on a few weeks ago, I hopped off and tightened it. Still wobbling. I was immediately brought back to 2010 TransSylania Epic Stage 3 and my epic walk-a-thon after a bottom bracket implosion that started as the same feeling. And of course, the XX crankset on my bike needs a 10 mm allen wrench to tighten, so I had no way of easily fixing it. And neither did the three people who stopped and tried to help. Pedal on...

Wes

Marc

Mile 35. My freehub started to go again. Not only could I not shift into my big ring because the crankarm was not attached, the freehub was skipping a few pawls and the bearing were beginning to make an awful noise when I wasn't pedaling. Also when I was pedaling. Pretty much all the time actually. I made it to the finish though. 4hrs 52 min.

Ms. Geology-approved blurry effect.

Cheese???

Now I am nursing a swollen and/or knotted up right calf, most likely from pedaling with a wobbly crankarm for a whole day, and a pretty sore body in general. Also, I feel like I can't eat enough food. Ever. I think I've had three dinner's tonight and I am still hungry. Guess I need more food. And less limping. Hopefully there will be less limping my Sunday and the latest for the Iron Mountain 100k, which I am super looking forward too. It will be our third long trip of the year (Ms. Geology is coming because I doubt my ability to drive myself back in time for work on Monday), although this one is only taking us one (so close to two though) state away.

Hopefully I can find time to pick up my bike too, as it is currently at le Shop. I'm getting a shiny new hub for my race wheels as I am done dealing with light weight, low durability West Coast crap. Having a hub blow out less than a month after completely rebuilding it is unacceptable, especially because I only had like a half a dozen rides on it. It will be replaced by a Michaux-tested, Brett-approved hub, which will match the rest of the bike. Hooray for unintended repairs taking my bike fit money.

Part of the C3 army at the start. Photo by Dennis

Making the Best of Things

2011-06-23T11:04:00.000-04:00

Recently I have been working a lot. I have been riding as much as I can, and actually felt good coming into my first main event, the Mohican 100. I was ready, so Ms. Geology and I set out on a sunny Friday for Ohio. It was a fairly uneventful drive all things considered. Other than a bit of mid afternoon traffic through Pittsburgh, and the awful interchange where I-70 merges into I-76 (seriously, whose idea was that?) we made it in good time. The last part of the drive, through the Ohio countryside, was the best. We got to the venue, checked into out campsite, drove up the mountain almost to the top and set up our campsite. I went to ride, and was greeted to some pretty sweet singletrack.

Money...

It was this, plus some cool rocky sections, so I was stoked. I got my bike ready in the dark while Ms. Geology read by what little light was left from the sky.

Didn't feel like making a fire... we were just going to go to bed

Most legit number plates ever. 1/8" thick plastic with a timing chip on the back. Mid Atlantic Timing, take note.

We were camped right on the course.

The next morning, we were up early for my pre-race breakfast. I rolled out to the start (about 2 mi away in the center of town) about 45 min before the race just to be sure I wouldn't miss anything. I imagine that this is how many European races start. A few hits of the horn of an early 90s Chevy pickup and we were off and running. It felt like an XC start. Very much not like the 100 milers I was used to with their controlled neutral roll-outs and all. I did really enjoy starting in the center of town. A lot of townsfolk were out watching even through it was 7:00 on a Saturday morning.

Rassin...

Needless to say I didn't get very far. About 9.5 mi into the race I stood up to power up over a little rise in the singletrack. Two pedal strokes, a loud crack, and I was going nowhere. Confused, I looked at my chain. Not broken. I stood on the side of the trail for a bit wondering what happened, then I spun my crank. It spun forwards and backwards. My race was officially over. I debated my options. I could either walk backwards on the course to my campsite, then kill myself to make it to the first aid station by 11:00AM (the cut off). At this point, it was 9:00AM, which left two hours to walk back 4.5 miles on trail, through traffic. Not happenning, since it took me 15 min to get back to the last intersection, which was less than a quarter mile away. I decided to bag it, rolled down a trail, ended up on a road, and scootered myself a mile down the road until I came to a check-in building for the state park camp ground I had popped out in. Using their phone, I called Ms. Geology and she picked me up and brought me back to race HQ to officially DNF myself. I'm not bitter at all. I'm glad it happened in the first 10 mi, instead of at mile 60, or even worse 80 or 90. Hell, then I would have probably attempted to run the last 10 miles.

We made the best of it though...

Mini Golf across the street.

Hiking and spectating.

It seemed like he was moving a lot faster at the time... A LOT faster.

We pretty much had a good day hanging out at a bike race, watching the leaders, watching the awards and drinking a few free beers. Next day we packed up and left after a quick bike ride in the morning into town. Considering I didn't get to race, it was a pretty good weekend.

I spent the next week in the field for work, and came across this little gem on the Surly Bikes blog. Pretty funny...

Last week I hitched up my car and struck out on my own for the Lumberjack 100 in northern Michigan. It's the longest drive I've ever done on my own, and for my health, I decided to break it up into two days. Leaving after work, I drove until midnight on Thursday, woke up, and was on the road by 7:30 the next morning. It was a pretty much uneventful drive.

When I reached the race venue, I stepped out of my car and was greated by a swarm of medium sized mosquitos. Welcome to the North Woods (cue stories from my Grandfather and his brother). The course was wonderful. Just miles and miles of flowy, sandy singletrack.

Saturday's race went less well than expected. I was feeling great, and racing hard for the first 50 miles, then my stomach decided it was quitting time and sent me into a downward spiral of feeling like I was going to throw up and "find the brown speed" at the same time which eventually ended in dehydration and me finishing the race in 10:45 instead of the eight-something I was planning on.

No pictures because I didn't have any cameras and I was racing. And a special thanks goes out to the guys at Twenty20 Cycles who fixed my broken bike up from Mohican just in time for me to leave for Lumberjack. Also to Ergon for making everything but my hands hurt during races.

I'm gonna chill for a while now, then hit up the Fair Hill 50, Iron Mountain 100k, and the Wilderness 101. Since I can't really do anything towards an overall in the NUE series, I'm going to refocus on cross and just do a bunch of mountain bike races I enjoy for the rest of the year. Who knows, maybe I'll be more successful that way...

Late Night's, Long Days

2011-05-11T22:49:00.000-04:00

Lotsa long days at work in the past two weeks. Something like 4 new short-term projects opened up (one is a glorious 3 hr drive away) in the last two weeks, leading to a deluge of work. A mass of drilling last week, two days of it standing in a field of what I can only surmise was hay given my adverse reaction to it, plus one day in a sand and gravel quarry left my lungs pretty much swimming in crud for French Creek on Saturday. After a late return from work on Friday night (8:00 PM), I bailed on the Endurance Race, switched over to the "easier" Elite race, and ended up bailing on that too due to bike/lung issues.

Kyle has Gu-legs

Got about a quarter lap in at whatever race pace I could muster, which ended up just spinning up hills and crushing down hills as fast as I could go to close gaps. The moral of the story is that the Epic is the perfect bike for that course. Ms. Geology and I hung out to watch all our friends finish, then peaced to see some family before my grandfather's memorial service, which was Monday. Yes, at 100 years and 107 days (April 11 if you didn't count), my grandfather passed away, holding on until the family who had been with him all day left for dinner. He lived a great and full life, and while he will be missed by many, he would want us to remember his accomplishments rather than grieve. We did just that on Monday, with lots of music from almost all family members (and others), some jokes, the story of how he met my grandmother (ask me in person if you want to know), and a few good plugs for his favorite place, Dickinson College. The college President, former Vice President, a few Dean's, the now-retired Photographer (a close family friend), and a few others from the college attended, which was nice to see. It was a very good weekend of seeing family and relatives that I don't see all the time, and celebrating Old Granddad's life.

Here's to you OGD

Oh yeah, and there was Granogue last week. I had a great time hanging out with people. and almost exactly 1/2 of a good race. Whatevs... Thanks to Marc, Lauri, Tom, Buddy, and all involved for putting on such a quality event. I am honored to be able to help out.

Good Race

Bad Race... Photo by Dennis

Now I'll just try to fit in rides where I can so I can still have some form for June (see schedule to your right). Maybe I'll be in Carlisle next week for work so I can ride me some Michaux...

Glamor shot

Coal Country

2011-04-20T22:34:00.000-04:00

Trips to Coal Country are always a welcome thing in my life. Not that I support the use of coal as our primary energy source or anything like that. Far from it actually. It just makes for frikin awesome geology. Seriously. The majority of the tectonic history of the eastern United States was unraveled at a site not too far from Danville and the Tour de Tykes. If that's not cool, then I don't know what is...

Gunnar and I thought about it for a while, and it's been three years since either of us had been to the Tour de Tykes. Last time we were there there was camping in a field somewhere. There was a short track race, and a hill climb. There was swimming in a creek. There was dinner at some cool people's house. It was also about 110 degrees out with 90 percent humidity. This past weekend was [obviously] not that. No camping. It rained on the drive up there. Ms. Geology and I stayed in a hotel in Hazleton. Funny thing is that there were about 40 or 50 young college age looking people there (so basically they looked like us). We had no idea why they were there. We knew there was some kind of concert in the hotel so we figured maybe for that. Next morning at breakfast we find that they are from Bryn Mawr College. Ok. As we check out, I spy a familiar looking packet with the following writing on the front: "Geology 102 Spring Class Field Trip Guide." Classic.

Race went off pretty normally. Zach drove all the way up with his buddy Joe to take pictures with Kyle's camera (see the book of face). National Forrest and I damn near missed the start, rolling up with about 1.5 minutes to go. Pics now... bed time for me.

Brandon, destroyer of souls

Aaron, one who chases back from flats

Matt, added to the list of people I will perennially chase

Gunnar makes funny faces when he rides

Almost finished. 17th place. 0.5 hours behind Brandon.

Post-storm destruction.

We-viewz

2011-04-15T06:24:00.001-04:00

So now that I've spent a good bit of time on my new stuff, I figure I should write about it. Really, I'm just super bored at work and need a distraction during my lunch break.

The Bike: Specialized Epic Expert 29er

First of all, this bike is amazing. Huge thanks to Auer-Power at Twenty20 Cycling for hooking me up with this ride. I'm glad we were able to make it happen. Super-great bike shops are just that. If you're in the Baltimore area and need anything bike-related, they'll hook you up. The bike is Specialized's new carbon-framed full suspension 29er. This specific model actually has a carbon front triangle with an aluminium rear triangle. A good trade off to take a thousand dollars or so off the price. Specialized is pushing the technological limits by making the dropout spacing 142 mm (as opposed to the usual 135 mm) and including fitments for a 12 mm through axle (a.k.a. the Syntace X12 system). Their goal was to increase the "lateral stiffness" of the rear end of the bike, whatever that means. I was initially a little put off my the rear through-axle, thinking that it would be burdensom during races when trying to change a flat. It's definitely not. You unscrew it, and the wheel comes out like usual. Plus it includes alignment tabs so it is impossible to put your wheel in out of alignment. No more franticly fixing a flat, throwing your wheel back in only to find 10 feet down the trail that your wheel isn't in straight. Very good addition.

The rear suspension it dampened by the Specialized/Fox Brain shock. Active when you want it, locked out when you don't. I'm running mine at "fully firm" which means that the bike feels like a hardtail when your up on the pedals, but like a smooth full suspension rig when your in the rough stuff. The trade off is less response on smaller and slower-speed hits. I am fine with that, because I, you know, know how to ride my bike. Plus everytime I stand on the pedals the speed and acceleration I get washes away all my concerns about lack of plushness. Travel and dampening is matched on the front of the bike with the Specialized Reba Brain fork. It's a Reba with a Specialized tapered crown (mine is aluminium, the top end is carbon) and the Brain damper. I'm runing that at fully firm dampening as well, with equal air pressure in the positive and negative chamber. The result is a fork that is rigid fork-firm when you're on smooth terrain and wide open and smooth when things get hairy. The Brain in the fork is tuned slightly softer than on the rear end, meaning that it opens up for a smaller hit even when both are set to firm. It works very well; much better than I expected when I first got the bike. The only complaint I have about the bike is that I wish they had included a through-axle up front to match the stiffness and rigidity of the through-axle in the year. You can't have everything right? Maybe next year's model will include such a thing.

The rest of the bike is just parts. Durable, reliable, light (enough for now) parts. X0 rear derailleur, X7 front derailleur with X9 shifters. 2x10 drivetrain with a Specialized specific 24/38 chainrings, and a regular 11-36 cogset. Personally, I could care less for the 24/38 rings and would rather have the standard SRAM 2x10 26x39. Unfortunately the removable spider kit is not available aftermarket yet. C'est la vie. Maybe I'll pick one up once they exist. The other parts on the bike were stock Specialized stuff. I haven't changed much, just dropped a cut to 660 mm ENVE Composites Sweep Bar on the front end. It's super pimp. Subtle, strong, and light. Eventually I'll put a full set of ENVE cockipt stuff on there (stem and seatpost), which will drop some static weight off the bike., which weighed 26 lbs 2 oz when I picked it up. With the race wheels as pictured it's probably 1 - 2 lbs lighter, although I have not actually weighed it yet.

The bike rides very well. The first time I jumped on it (a singletrack ride on packed/unpacked snow) it felt like I had been riding it forever The geometry is very neutral feeling. Snappy when you need it to be, and super stable on long fast descents. Once the suspension opens up, the bike just floats over everything. I had a bit of a learning curve while I readjusted my riding style to doing certain technical moves such as logs and rock-overs on the full suspension (adding about 10 psi to the rear shock helped a lot). At speed the bike is a dream. It's like riding on a cloud. Going slower, the bike (probably because I have the Brains set on fully firm) actually feels awkward. You can actually feel the brains opening up and hear the definite "clunk" coming from the rear end. It's not a problem; it just means that I have to go faster, and since this is a race bike faster is better.

New Ergon Stuff: GS-2 grips and GX-2 backpack

New Ergon stuff is always appreciated. I grabbed myself a pair of the new GS-2 grips this year. They are a cross between the GX series, which fit my small girly-hands very well, and the GP series, which are a bit more comfortable. The result is a grip that is still small and light, but offers a bit more padding for the long haul. They also have the new GFK bar-ends, which are much more comfortable than the previous carbon ones that I had, although a little heavier. Meh. I'll take slightly heavier for more comfortable hands.

The BX-2 pack is Ergon's newest pack. They're other packs are very comfortable (I also have a BC-1), but because they have a plastic frame and are meant for carrying a day's worth of gear, are too big and too heavy for racing. The BX-2 fixes that issues. No frame. Light weight. 8 L capacity as opposed to 14 L on the BC-1. Now I can hear you now. 8 L is still pretty big for a pack I plan on racing with. Yup. But the pack is pretty light and from the one time I've ridden it, super comfortable and stable. Plus I can carry 1.5 L more water than my previous pack I wore for long races as well as all the tools and flat stuff I need. Hey if Brandon and Rob can rock packs this size for 100 milers, why can't I?

Heading to Danville this Saturday (not Friday, mind you) to race up some mountains. Should be fun.

Mid-Atlantic Monuments

2011-04-11T21:39:00.001-04:00

Fair Hill XC is a Monument. At least around here. Like the Marysville Relay, Greenbriar, and Granogue. Classic bike races that should be on everyone's calender every year. I didn't race last year (some college-related musical commitment I believe... psh) so this was my first time rolling with the Elite Field. It's been a while since I've experienced Spit-Out-The-Backitis (probably since the U23 Elite race at Kansas City CX Nats). I got a very good taste of it on Sunday. Second row start (same as CX Nats)

Where am I?

But got spit straight out the back at the start. I definitely don't have the snap I need to hang with guys like that at the start. Normally I would make the excuse that these guys train for short XC events, but 4 of the top 5 guys will be throwing down hard at NUE races this year. I think this start may have been faster than some 'cross starts I've been a part of.

Zero to what??? in 10 seconds

Rest of the race went pretty well. Entered the singletrack behind Madison, passed him, rode in no mans land on the climb. There was a huge group right in front of me, but I couldn't seem to grab hold of them. Got caught by the Madison group again. Destroyed some people on the gravel road starting lap two, Yada yada...

Bike Racing Ensued...

I felt super-human on anything uphill, but it took me a lap to get my flow on the downhills together. I guess I stiffened up with racing nerves or something, because I couldn't keep off my brakes and I had to think about leaning my bike over in the admittedly slick corners. That was the worst part of my race. My third lap was fun, pretty much alone the entire time because I managed to catch a guy who was cornering slower than I was in the slick tight Fair Hill-ness, so I could put enough gap into him on descents that I could extend it on the climbs. Rolled across the finish in 1:43:35 with 3 very consistent laps. Good enough for 24th place. I'm going to have to work hard if I want to see the top 15. Being able to make enough money to cover gas or maybe lunch would be cool.

The new bike performed fantastically in its first real racing test. Having my race wheels on there drops almost 2 lbs off the bike and made it really fast. The rear end is much stiffer than anything else I've ridden thanks to the 142x12mm through axle. Picked up some super-bling XX brake rotors to keep the weight down. New Ergon GS-2 grips are much better than the GX's that I was running last year. Thanks Ergon! I'm proud to say you'll be keeping my hands happy for another year. And thanks to all my C3 teammates that were out there cheering. Heading up to Danville, PA for some more XC racing next weekend and the first real test of my climbing legs. Mmmmmmm climbing...

Best Scotty face ever!

End

The ways of things...

2011-04-04T22:03:00.000-04:00

It's a wonder that anyone can get any bike racing done with all the work that has to get done. Work, work, work. It seems to be all that I've done for the past few weeks. Work seems to have surely picked up, and I have again started bouncing between COT and Environmental, which makes for a weird work schedule. Some days I'd work until 6 and other days I'd work until 7:45 (AM that is...). Messes up your sleep, messes up your riding (clearly messes up your blog output), and pretty much messes up your entire mojo. I tried to fix some of that mojo with a trip up to Michaux to visit the Weiser's, build some wheels and ride. Donna is training for TSE, so she's been putting in a bunch of hours on the bike. I'm really excited for her and will live my TSE-jones through her. It's an event that, while not on my calender (see right) this year due to monetary/work constraints, it will definitely be in the future.

Fortunately, my calender does include cool events like being a counselor/ride leader at the MACDC.

This kid is going to be a rock star very, very soon. He's like 8 and he rips already. Photo (c) A.E. Landes Photography

It's a lot of fun just to get to go to Michaux and lead rides and hang out with really cool people who are passionate about mountain biking. And also kids. The C3 Dark Side loves kids:

See??? C3 loves the children! Photo (c) A.E. Landes Photography.

Chilled around (a.k.a. worked) for a week or two, then, scratched together a team of my favorite people for the Marysville Open Relay, one of the best events of the year. Kyle, Jeff, Forrest and I teamed up and went out to have some fun for the day.

All loaded up and everywhere to go

I had asked Tom if he wanted to come race with us when Jeff, Kyle, and I were trying to find a fourth, but he abstained and decided that he could come with Der Crafter and provide some support for the weekend. He ended up not being able to come, but gave Jeffy the Crafter anyway, plus all the necessary stuff with it.

The big unpack

We had an awesome race. Ended up putting in 16 laps, good enough for 10th in lap time and 14th including the handicap points. The team really pulled it together to get Jeff out on his fourth lap. Kyle docked a few seconds off his time, I dropped about 15 seconds, and Forrest rolled a sub-15 minute lap (about 30 seconds faster than his other laps) to send Jeff of with 30 seconds left in the race. Jeff was pissed, but it all was better in the end. Coupled with a FatRide on Sunday, I definitely had a good weekend. Now that racing has started up I'm excited to keep at it. Next weekend is Fair Hill. Successful Elite Racing (a.k.a. finishing an Elite race) here I come!

Kyle is sad for running... and rocking a sweet new team kit

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Guns are the best way to start a bike race. Especially muzzle loaders...

Miniature Mode on our new camera is soo cool...

Off on my first lap

Going to start playing with Picasa now that we have a pretty nice camera. One my my first attempts.

Air... Space... Rattlesnake

2011-03-16T09:27:00.001-04:00

Sometimes one just needs a break from bike related stuff. Ms. Geology and I took that break in the District a few weekends ago. Used her teacher discount to get a night at 3-4 star (depending on who you ask) hotel, and a Living Social coupon to get an expensive dinner at a fantastic eastern Mediterranian restruant. Best hommos, lamb, bread, food, I have ever had. Got to try some pretty damn good Turkish red wine. It's totally different from anything coming out of western Europe (i.e. Italy, France, and Spain) and complemented the dinner perfectly. It seemed silly, actually, that the place had Italian and French wines on their menu at all actually, since their selection of Turkish, Lebanese, and Greek wines would have probably complelented the food better.

We were planning on spending the Saturday and Sunday down there, but I got pulled into work last minute on Saturday, so we went down for the night. Sunday we went to the Air and Space museum and ended up spending all day there instead of trying to go anywhere else.

Live feed of the NASA control center for STS 133

The moral of the story is I like airplanes. And spaceships. I hadn't been to DC (and the Air and Space Museum) since fifth grade, so there were a lot of changes. My favorite was the now completed UAV exhibit.

Darkstar... what would you do if that snuck up on you... This is one of the formerly top secret drones that was frequently mistaken for, and reported to authorities as, a UFO

The X-45 drone

And the now infamous Predator drone. This is what usually performs all those "drone strikes" you hear about on the news.

Pretty cool stuff if I do say so myself. It was good to get out of town with Ms. Geology for a while, and both of us had a really good time. Last weekend, I got to spend some time in Michaux building wheels and hauling firewood at the Weiser residence. Rode one of my favorite trails, Rattlesnake, twice! It was a true treat.

Looking back before the drop off into v.2

Rattlesnake is the perfect combination of big rocks to ride over and fantastic outcropping to oggle at. It appeals to all sides of my personality. The new bike is amazing. Having a rear hub with good engadgement has made it so much better. I think I figured out why the bike felt weird handling wise: I was riding too slow. The Epic is a bike that laughs at you and feels unstable when you're just toodling along. When you push it through corners it sighs with relief and gives you everything you'd ever want from a bike. I am amazed.

Not for toodling... Looking over the drop in to v.2

Heading back to Michaux for the MACDC this weekend. Weather looks good so it should be a blast!

On Facial Hair...

2011-03-01T12:24:00.000-05:00

I think Mark Weir summed it up best in this interview:

"What is it with your facial hair? You trying to make up for a lack of something somewhere else?

The beard is a powerful tool. Scary when you need to be and also easy to talk to when you want it to be. Maybe it’s the hair I lost at 18 or the overwhelming feeling to fill in my face like an etch a sketch. It also is the gift that keeps giving. I just had dinner twice. It’s a great place to store leftovers."

All in a Day's Work

2011-02-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

Had one of the best weekend of riding so far this year. Saturday, I packed the car early and headed up to Palmyra, PA to drop Ms. Geology's frame off at it's maker's shop to have a set of disc tabs installed. A much better investment than trying to find/build a rim break rear wheel. It would be a shame to break up the sweet wheelset that is going on the bike. Once it gets built, and I get a few more parts for my Epic, I'll have to put up a bunch of photos here. After dropping that off and getting throughly checked out by Ken's huge dogs, I headed to Shippensburg to join Zach and Joe on Zach's much talked about Coffee House Loop.

Food stop after we found the headwinds in Adam's County

The Coffee House Loop is a ~ 68 mile loop from Shippensburg, over Big Flat (the longest climb in the Valley), through the awesome Adam's County back roads (kinda like riding in Lancaster County... huge rolling hills), then up and over the short side of Whiskey Springs Gap, and into Boiling Springs for a coffee/pastry refuel.

Zach

Joe

If that's not a perfect road, I don't know what is.

Gaggle of bikes outside the coffee shop

Once we head out again, we fought a stiff headwind pretty much all the way back to Shippensgburg. That would explain why we felt like superstars on the way out. Winds turned what should have been a 4-5 hr ride at our conversational "no douche bag" pace into a 6 hr, rolling in just as the sun set adventure. A truely epic ride.

Sunday I headed again to Fatmarc's place for the seemingly annual Turkey Point Ride-a-thon. Turkey Point is pretty much an out-and-back to, you guessed it, Turkey Point in Elk Neck State Park. One of my favorite rides because it includes a lot of great climbing. It's a pretty easy pace with many regroups out to the amphitheater just before the point. From there it's all out if you want out to the point, enjoy the view, turn around and ride back to amphitheater, regroup and stay together as much as possible back to the base camp. Made it to the point just behind Kid Chris, who is less of a kid than I am technically...

View from the point... my appartment is over there somewhere

I'm gonna call this one "Peaches... Fat"

It's all Kurt's fault...

Travis contamplates the brakish water below

Travis says: That's a hiking trail? What?

The majority of the group made it to the point. The road is long and hard and always turns some back.

I'd say the nap I took yesterday plus the awesome pot roast dinner were well deserved after the weekends riding. Heading up to beautiful Waterfall, PA for another training camp this weekend. If there are trails we will ride them, but since there probably won't be, we'll just ride the road. Roads up there are pretty damn good so that's not too bad.

Still hoping to get some trails in MD soon.

Everyone should keep Marc and Diane in their thought as they mourn the loss of Riley, their lovely dog.

End of the Year, End of the Line PART II: 'Cross Edition

2011-02-07T21:01:00.000-05:00

New season, new team, same old bike. <--- This was written like 2 weeks ago. Shows my commitment to keeping up this blog over the winter when I really have nothing to write about. Whatever. I retroactively and proactively use my 45+ hour a week job, plus all the riding I have been doing as an excuse. So there blogosphere, take that.

So far, I'm enjoying riding this year. I got a new bike. I've ridden it a handful of times, although not on open (i.e. snow-free) trails yet. Therefore I have yet to completely dial in the suspension. I'll post pictures of it once I get some more parts swapped on (got some ENVE bars coming) and race wheels finished. Hopefully the weight will be between 24 and 25 pounds, which is pretty awesome for a FS 29er with second shelf parts. Top shelf parts are a project for next year, since I have officially spent all my extra funds for the year on this bike.

I've started my training a fair bit earlier than I usually do. I think that's a good thing overall, since I'm planning on doing a bunch of NUE races this year. I've already signed up for the Mohican 100 and the Lumberjack 100 (which sold out in 14 minutes... WTF...), and am planning on hitting the Wilderness 101 and Shenandoah Mountain 100 as well, once those reg pages open up (if they are not already). Not that I think they will sell out as fast as Lumberjack did... jeez. So those four races are going to be my focus for the year. I think that it should be good fun season. Already looking to stay with some good friends for the Lumberjack. Needless to say I'm really excited.

I need more of this in my life. (c) A.E. Landes Photography.

So anyway, I had a really good ride with Fatmarc. He tells all about it so I don't feel the need to. It was good to get out with some good friends on a nice mellow road ride. Perfect way to start the week in my opinion. Anyway, as promised, I'll leave you with some pics from 'cross season. Not as many as I originally planned to, but some...

First cross race always hurts... but hey, all cross races hurt right?

Whirlybird 'Cross was the muddiest race I did this year. So sad...

First, and last, time I cleaned my bike this season.

Me and my Crossresults.com Top Victim... MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA *cough cough cough*

Tom being creepy at Super Cross Cup... creepy, creepy...

End of the Year, End of the Line PART I: Mountain Bike Edition

2010-12-16T20:49:00.000-05:00

A year racing mountain bikes in review. In pictures mostly.

Brought my housemate to the Intergalactic Relay in Marysville. He brought a pot and banged it in my ear... Ah roommate love...

Crusin' singlespeed style at the Relay.

Charging up the Amphitheater Climb at Granogue. Lap something of the Endurance Race.

The only race to make you earn your SWAG

Rode well enough for fifth place. Someday I will collect all the plaques from Granogue, especially the big one.

Got to spend a few quality days at the beginning of the TransSylvania Epic with Ms. Geology.

Custom TSE number plate.

Almost ready to kick off my time trial at TSE

Finishing up the TT on Day 1 TSE

Start of TSE Day 2 © A.E.Landes Photography

Mike Yozel rails some singletrack like we all did... well probably better than most of us... at TSE Day 2. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Man. Rocks and bike racing. Does it get any better? I don't think so. Tunnel action, TSE Day 3. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

That way, says the almighty arrow. Some friends and I climb away from the tunnel, Day 3 TSE. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Tim Darwick's face pretty much sums up how most of us felt about TSE Day 3. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Mike Wissel's face pretty much sums up how we all felt about the morning of TSE Day 4. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Fortunately we were greeted with super-fantastic amazing wonderful singletrack goodness. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Even the kids got in on the action. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Peter's tights pretty much sum up the purpose of TSE Day 5. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Rocketing through a stream, TSE Day 5. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Had to fudge it a little. TSE Day 5. (c) Jen Bair Photography.

Do Epic Shit. Check. TSE Day 6. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

TSE Day 6 broke the epic-ness meter. (c) Jen Bair Photography.

Some were racing TSE Day 7, some weren't. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

I was, it sucked, and I had an awesome time. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Trying to keep up with downhillers is fun! (c) Jen Bair Photography.

Forrest wanted to buy a Scotty from the supermarket in Harrisonburg, VA, but Tom made him put it back.

I know I posted this before, but I can't get over it. It grosses me out. We did not buy it.

It was a good weekend with my favorite group of Juniors at the Massanutten Hoo-Ha.

Chasing myself at the Marysville Stage Race, Solo Class. Chased myself straight into seventh place

Chasing Vegan Rob in the Marysville Stage Race Short Track XC.

Wilderness 101. What more can I say. It's an epic race. (c) A.E. Landis Photography.

Shenandoah Mountain 100. Another Epic Race. (c) Bob Popavich

There's almost too much epic singletrack in the SM100. (c) Bob Popavich

That pretty much sums up my mountain bike season. Well, the highlights at least. Many good times were had, and many new friends were made. That's what this shit is all about afterall.

Look for the year in review, dirty, rotten addiction (a.k.a. 'cross) edition on a computer screen near you in the somewhat near future.

And Now For My Next Trick

2010-11-15T21:33:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to feel the end of 'cross season coming soon. I know I could extend it out until early December if I wanted to, but I think I'm going to hang up the tubie wheels after the Super Cross Cup this weekend. Yes, I'm skipping Maryland States, which I probably could do pretty well at. I will be in Binghamton for Thanksgiving, and I don't want to have to rush home. The more days of not waking up to an alarm I can get in a row, the better, so I'm going to sleep in on Sunday and be happy. Plus, I haven't seen Ms. Geology's family in while, so a good visit is due.

Yesterday I hopped on a mountain bike for the first time since September. Not really much to say, except that the Shed is AWESOME! Seriously, some of the best riding I have ever done. Rode a little over 20 miles total, spent about 6 hrs in the woods and about 3 actually (man all that stopping adds up fast). My hands and arms are pretty wrecked from riding rigid SS for the first time in a while, but I'll be recovered and snappy by this weekend so I can rip around Long Island for a few days. I'm excited for this race, especially since it's at a new venue. Don't get me wrong, I liked the old course, but the fact that it's an hour or more past everything, and was cold and windy as balls the last time I was there (still the only cross race that I haven't stayed to watch the Elite races without having a good reason to leave) dissuaded me from going back last year. So I'm back this year, driving an hour less, and crashing at my Aunt's house, which is all but 5 mi from the new venue. It works out kind of nicely.

So I'm excited for taking a few weeks off (two probably), then starting to put down some base miles for next mountain bike season. I have some new bike stuff in the works (hope to have that soon too), which is very exciting. I'll be representing the Dark Side next summer as well, which I think will be really good. Bed time now. Then back to work tomorrow.

Sometimes You're the Nail...

2010-11-10T20:24:00.000-05:00

At Beacon Cross a few weeks ago, I was the hammer. I was super-motivated to do well because I knew I was going to have a back row start. Day-of reg will do that to you (it will also make promoters everywhere hate you a little more, but hey, I haven't day-of reg'd for a race in years now...) I hammered from eight or ninety something place up to 30th and felt really good about my day. First 1.5 or 2 laps, I didn't really care, but then my mind clicked into gear, I started railing corners, floating down the descents and generally feeling good about my bike riding abilities. Fitness was good, and the cross skills were there so I had a good day.

Stormtrooper Invasion!!!!

Stop... colaborate and listen... It's hammer time!!!
Gotta ride the beach run to the corner, then dismount

Highland Park, the next day, was a whole different story. Maybe I gave a little too much at Beacon or maybe not; whatever the case was, I was definitely the nail at HPCX. The nail that gets driven so far into the board that you can't get it out. It's not that I went too hard and blew up, my legs just never gave me the opportunity to go harder than a soft pedal. I could feel it in my warm-up. There was nothing. But that course is pretty fun, so I had a good day anyway. Got to watch a pretty cool Elite Men's race, so I'm happy.

Tried to hammer...

...Got nailed

Didn't get a chance to race Fair Hill Xcross last weekend, but decided to drop by after work (since it's so close and all...). Got to watch that Bahnson kid win the Elite Men's race (maybe his first Elite win? At least his first Elite MAC win...). Watching him race is always awe inspiring. He is my 'cross idol.

Tacchino Cross was pretty cool too. Those MABRA races have a good vibe. I really dug the course at Tacchino, a lot of it suited me very well. The long-ish climbs, and singletrack, combined with flowy 180 turns and a sweet 2 log "run up." made for a pretty cool course. I gained ten to twelve bike lengths on everyone I was with every time we hit the log barrier; hooray for moutain bike skills. That helped in the last lap where I was being closely chased by some guy who looked very road sprintery.

I gots just two races left in this here 2010 racing season; the "Race Formerly Held in Southampton" Super Cross Cup, and the Turkey Chase a.k.a Maryland State/MABRA Champs and I'm going to try and make the most of it. Who knows, maybe we can have a C3 sweep of the podium for States in the 3/4 race. That would be pretty sweet. I'm looking forward to the Super Cross Cup, and I'm especially looking forward to not having to drive all the way out to Southampton to get to it. Plus the new venue is like 5 miles from my Aunt's house. Unfortunately she has moved to Shippensburg (just as I was leaving nonetheless) and the house is in the process of being sold. Ms. Geology and I are staying there anyway (yes we have permission) so it should be a fun weekend.

After that it's back home for a few days, then back up to New York (Binghamton this time) for Thanksgiving. Oy.

Fall Cleaning

2010-10-29T20:20:00.000-04:00

Hey, do you know what you want? You want a new bike! And you really want a super-pimp Cannondale Flash 29er! You should check out the one I'm selling

Here

In other news, I had a super slow week at work, and am really looking forward to getting my 'cross on in Dirty Jersey this weekend. See you all out there!

All Things Granogue

2010-10-25T22:18:00.000-04:00

Granogue is awesome. There's no two ways about it. And as usual, I have had a full week to reflect on its awesomeness before my blog entry. So after two days of cross practice on the course, and a 15hr work day on Friday, I made it to my parents house just in time to eat dinner and go to bed. The next morning I was up normal time and headed to Granogue with Ms. Geology. She was doing reg, or something, for the day. I wasn't technically doing anything until after racing was over, but I figured that showing up would be good. Team spirit and all. Plus I love Granogue. It is by far my favorite course out there. And my favorite race in general, I think, because of the whole atmosphere and all the great people who run it. I am very proud to say that I am one of those people. The proudest I have ever been. It means a lot to me to be part of a community like that. You all are awesome.

To top it off, I had a weekend of great racing. After a so-so start position on Saturday, I moved up into 28th place. I had ridden Saturday's course a bunch, so I knew its flow. That helped a lot, but having good legs didn't hurt. It was super convenient that Granogue happened to fall at the end of a training block. The whole course, in my opinion was super flowy and hard, with some interesting elements including a fun downhill section to the greenhouse, and the awesome tree-root corner where I passed tons of people (roadies). I can't say enough about how much fun I had, or how hard it was, so I'll just stop talking.

Leading a group up the road

Cross skillz???

This shot should be used for both C3 and Granogue publicity

Sunday was equally as awesome. Great course, No barriers, which was interesting. Shortened Tower run-up with an awesome downhill remount to a ripping fast off-camber corner. Then there was that back slalom section through the trees, which was fun to rip up and down. Had a much better start position this time, so I had to actually fight for my position all the time. It's a really nice feeling to actually have to race, something I hope to replicate in next year's mountain bike season. I did pull back a few spots (finished 24th), though I did not accomplish my goal of winning Granogue. Someday, maybe someday, I will win Granogue Cross. And Granogue Mountain Bike too. That would be nice.

Tower Run-up in traffic

Amphitheater run-up, last lap

Charging to the line

Yesterday I traveled with Jewelry Store Ben to DCCX, another iconic east coast cross race. It was fun. I was really excited when I saw my number was 414. That meant I would start on the second row! I'd have a chance at a result! When I got to the start line I was told to move back. Numbers started at 300. FML. Still pulled back 70 some places to finish 42nd. Not a great result, but an effort I am happy with. Next weekend I'm going to try and make it to Beacon Cross (assuming I can get off work), but I will definitely be at HPCX. See ya'll out there!

Apples

2010-10-04T13:48:00.000-04:00

Got some apples from the cross race this weekend. Don't really have much to say about it. The apples are tasty. Had a really good race, and I could have gotten a higher start if I had read my number correctly (that's another story all together. Finished 22nd in the 3/4 race. My legs are finally getting some pop back, out of corners and such, so kicking out of corners (which there were a lot of) wasn't as much of a problem.

C3 army present and accounted for for the 3/4 race

Movin' up...

Money shot from the road

As a sucky runner, I chose to ride the run-up, which was to my advantage except for this lap where the other guy in the picture caught me... I dropped him on the next climb though.

Might race next weekend, might not. It depends on plans of friends, how much work I do this week, and other things. This rain we've been having has been a blessing and a curse: on the one hand, I don't have to work so I have time to do other things, on the other hand, I don't have to work so I don't get paid. I got billz to pay yo!

Pictures from Ms. Geology again...

Whirlygig

2010-09-27T15:25:00.000-04:00

Been a few years since I hit Whirlygig (bird) Cross. Last time I raced there it poured all day, and ended up being a little less than fun. I had bike issues, which led to a crap race. Yesterday. I did not have bike issues. I did not have leg issues. I did not have cramping issues. In fact I had a pretty good race. It would have been nicer to have a higher placing at the finish (50th), but I started further back than that, so I guess that's good. I guess that since I missed the first two rounds of the MAC, so I have absolutely no points. I am relegated to the back of the pack, and unless I produce some super-human efforts (a la Cameron Dodge who won the B race starting from 1 row in front of me... good on him), or just get faster overall. I'm thinking that faster just might be in order. Faster over barriers, faster in the start, faster in the corners, faster on the flats. Faster means training, which means fun bike riding all the time. I suppose that's the best way to think of it. And fun bike riding means 'cross practice once a week, which makes me excited. So I had a good race this weekend. I really don't have much more to say about it. I'll leave you with a few pictures, courtesy of Ms. Geology.

High speed barriers are sketchy...

Ms. Geology thinks that this is a happy face... it is not a happy face

She also likes taking pictures of me immediately post race...

Going to hit up some MABRA races for the next two weeks, then the infamous and awesome Granogue Cross... I'm excited, are you excited, BECAUSE YOU SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's a cross practice at the end of the rainbow...

2010-09-23T21:16:00.000-04:00

Indeed there was last night. Attended my first official cross practice, which I had been planning on doing a month ago. Not having a bike built up kinda put a stop to that. Now that I have a bike, though, you will see me at practice every week from now until the end of the season. Now that I have my cross bike built up, I can race too, and I did that last weekend. Last Sunday (had to work Saturday) I pulled on the colors of the Dark Side and let my legs do the talking at Day 2 of Charm City Cross. I suppose that's my home course now. Well, since I didn't race the MAC opener at Puma Cross, or Day 1 of Charm City Cross, me legs managed to talk their way from a start in 105th to a finish in 78th. There's only so much you can do when you're starting two rows from the back. I would have almost rather started twenty or thirty feet off the back of the pack, but the officials were standing there and looked like they would have none of it. It was a fun race though. Had to wait a lap or two until the pack thinned out (and I remembered how to race cross) before I could start making moves. After a complete screw up over the barriers first lap (hope nobody saw), I remembered how to do it and felt pretty damn good doing cross-type things that I don't normally do during the year; like dismounts, remounts, and carrying my bike over stuff.

Dark Side!

A pink staircase run-up should be a must at every 'cross race

So I've started training again, because it's 'cross season, and I'm sick of sucking (results wise) at 'cross. It's time to pony up... Whirlybird is next weekend (held at my high school wrestling rival school... boo ANC), and it's off to the races from there, literally. I leave you with the money shot, courtesy of Ms. Geology (other photos courtesy of her too).

Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you, and hear your rolling river

2010-09-09T18:29:00.000-04:00

This year marks the first year that I have really begun to fully enjoy myself at 100 mile races. I had a blast at the Wilderness, and an even bigger blast at Shenandoah this past weekend. Shenandoah is a race that will definitely be on my calender next year. After that, who knows. The unfortunate thing is that it conflicts with 7 Springs, which is another race that I like. Maybe one of them will have the heart to change, although it's not like I would attempt to do them back-to-back.

Chris Scott tried a different type of start for this years Shenandoah 100, staging riders by expected finish times. I lined up with the 8hr group. Lets be clear here. I did not expect to finish in 8hrs. I just wanted to avoid the logjam in the singletrack that I was sure to get stuck in if I lined up in my actual group of 10hr. I lined up next to Madison and his dad, and followed Jim up most of the first climb before moving ahead of him. I hit the singletrack and got stuck in a little traffic but generally made it through pretty quickly. I got into a good group on the roads and we began really trucking towards the next section of trail. Instead of walking most of it like I did two years ago, I made it up all but the steepest parts of the first singletrack climb. I guess that was when I realized I was riding pretty well. On the next descent (Wolf's Ridge I think...) I made a rookie line choice and ended up on my face and having to eject my bike behind me. My bike was ok (had to re-adjust one of my Ergon's), but my knee was a little banged up. It felt fine, though, so I kept trucking on, eventually catching Jim and following him down the descent at a slower pace. Jim is a good wheel to have on the road, and probably kept me from blowing myself up too early by chasing too hard. Chasing what, I don't know, but chasing nonetheless. We eventually got into a bigger group that included local superstar Jon Williams, and rolled into Aid Station #2 together.

At Aid Station #2, everyone stopped, except me. My plan was to hold of on stopping until Aid Station #3. I had enough Hammer Perpetuum and Hammer Gel to last until then, so I was just going to go. As I was nearing the top of the short road climb after Aid Station #2, I made another rookie mistake by trying to double shift while pedaling under load (Andy Schleck style) and lodged my chain against my drive-side chainstay. Twenty minutes later I had taken the chain apart, untangled it, and put the chain back together (the latter took much longer than it should have), and my knee had swelled up quite nicely from the crash. After a minute of pedaling I knew it would be slow going. Any pressure I put through my left knee was met with a nice shooting pain. I hit the next climb (Hankey Mountain/Wild Oak Trail... the real shitty climb) and started to soft pedal. Some kind soul (bless you kind soul for I know not who you are other than that you had sweet mutton chops) gave me some Vitamin I about halfway up the maintained road part of the climb. Once that kicked in, my legs started spinning more freely and I started ratcheting up my pace. I knew that utter sweetness awaited me at the top. I ripped down Dowells Draft like a kid in a candy store. That trail is truly too much fun. It is also where the lessons of fast descending finally sunk in: keep a cool head, keep loose, flow like water, go fast. Fast made all the difference in clearing the first set of loose drop-offy switchbacks. Fast made the bottom part more fun. Fast is good. When I got to Aid Station #3, I did my thing and left, eager to hit the next bit of singletrack.

After the stupid crash I caused on the road (no one injured, sorry TransSylvania Pete), I started up Bridge Hollow which is a fun, technical singletrack climb. Then it was down Johnson Draft, which is another killer descent. I stopped for a bit at Aid Station #4, even though I really didn't need to. It was nice to see Ms. Geology and my parents helping out there, but I needed to move, so I did. I moved out onto the open road for the long climb. The infamous 20 mile long climb which, although not very steep, offers up a continuous false flat-to-easy climb for about 10 miles, then 4 or 5 miles of rolling, but still climbing overall, roads, then 5 or 6 miles of steady moderate-grade climbing. When most people look at it at first, it scares them. In truth it's the easiest part of the whole course. The only thing that really starts to hurt is your ass from sitting on it too long. Alternating between sitting and standing is the key to keeping sane riding the long road sections. I settled into a good pace, with a good group on the false flat section. Once the climbing got more intense, our pace quickened slightly, but not too much, and people started falling off our group. When we hit the really climby last leg, our group, formerly about a dozen people, was down to 2, me and a singlespeeder whom I had seen earlier and passed before my chain/knee incident. The first time I saw him I wanted to punch him because he looked like Evan Plews (the link explains itself... and if you were there you can definitely sympathize). He was not Evan Plews, just a pretty solid rider who was taking it easy after trying to chase back to hard from flatting. Very nice guy. I let him go up the steeper bits so I could maintain the same pace, and so my spinny geared ways didn't step on his singlespeed-ness. Near the top of the climb I upped my pace to make up some time and caught him before Aid Station #5.

After Aid Station #5 and another bottle change, I began hammering for home. A short descent and a medium length climb later I was headed down Wild Oak, the last long descent in the race. I definitely learned the lesson that faster is better when coming down the technical upper sections of this trail. There were two moments that I remember thinking to myself, after skipping over something hairy, that had I been going any slower I would be rolling down the mountain. Speed is good. Skipping over death rocks and death roots is good. Making it down the mountain in one piece, on my bike is good. Speed is good. Speed is fun. That feeling of cleaning something that you rightfully should have is an awesome feeling, as is ripping sweet singletrack.

I rolled through Aid Station #6. It was time to be done, and I wanted to beat the myth that your Shenandoah 100 time is your Wilderness 101 plus one hour. I hit it as hard as I could up the Hankey Mountain climb (version 2), ripped down the next descent, and hammered the slightly rolling roads just before the campground. I dropped down through the campground with some dude on my tail. He jumped out ahead of me onto the campground road, but missed the turn into the field. Sorry dude. I did my trademark manual over the jump in the field (a la the road in R.B. Winter at TransSylvania) and rolled into the finish with a time of 10:18:17, well under my goal time. I was happy. I am still happy. Cross is soon. It is fun. You should come. Some Shenandoah pictures are included below courtesy of Bob Popovich.

Coming off of Wolf's Pond

Ended

Peace...

Rattle and Hum

2010-08-28T05:50:00.001-04:00

I suppose it's good to make big changes in one's life every once and a while. I think I've made the biggest change yet in the last few weeks. No, I didn't get a sex change; I just got a job. A big one. Not big as in 75k per year salary big. Big as in it's currently Saturday 5:40AM and I am up to go to work. I have already worked at least 45 hrs this week. I don't know how long I'll be working today. I'm not riding as much anymore because I simply don't have the time. Most nights I'm not home until 6:00PM, and I really don't have the energy to go out and ride for 2 or 3 hrs. I may put an hour of hard effort in, but that's it really. So there goes the cross season, right? I'm hoping not to have to give up racing. My work will get lighter as the year progresses. In the winter I may not be working at all. I'll probably be adopting the Vegan Rob training plan. As for now, I'm riding when I can, and trying to get parts to build up my cross bike so I can hop in on some road rides.

I am still racing, though. Last weekend I hit up the Rattling Creek 50. It was fun. Those trails rock. It was nice to see people. I'm not super pleased with my time (5:33), but I had a good time ripping those trails. Next weekend I will not be working Saturday, but driving down to Stokesville, VA for the Shenandoah Mountain 100. That is the funness. Lets just hope my lack of riding recently hasn't put me in a huge hole; one that I can't crawl out of after 60 miles in the VA mountains.

Oh, and if you go to the Dickinson Website and refresh it a few times, you should come up with a picture of me and Zach. Interesting stuff.

Zzzzzzzzz...

2010-08-12T16:40:00.000-04:00

So ever since the 101, I've been super tired all the time. Today, I went in to the doctor, and she prescribed a large blood panel testing for the usual things that can make one tired: Mono, Lyme, Hemoglobin count, Vitamin-D, Vitamin-B12, etc. That's about 7 different sized vials of blood that came out of my arm. Yay. As a consequence of this tiredness, I haven't really ridden this week, and while I was hoping to get in a ride this afternoon, I'm beat. I probably should have a nap, but I have a job interview to prepare for. That's right! Tomorrow, 3:00 PM. Until then, I guess I'll just sit around and drink OJ to build up some blood. Maybe I'll go eat some meat...

School'd

2010-08-02T22:58:00.000-04:00

The Wilderness 101 is one of my favorite races out there. Something I always want to do well at. So after a one year hiatus, I set off to Coburn Friday afternoon with my parents, they to run Aid Station 3, and me to race. I was hoping to better my previous time of 9:59:22 by a lot, considering that in 2008 I cut more than an hour of my previous time of 11:04:58, and (if I may toot my own horn a bit) I am a lot faster now than I was two years ago. My though was that if I cut more than an hour off again, I would be in good shape. But, the Wilderness (and also the wilderness in general) always has something in store for you that you didn't know about. As Tomi says, there's always something to learn out there in the woods...

Race Day:
5:00 AM wake up, eat oatmeal. Realize how damn cold it is outside. Not really cold, just cold for the summer (like in the low 50s). Somehow, there was a nice pocket of wet, cold air hanging over Coburn Saturday morning. I warmed up in my TSE hoodie that I brought. Close to the designated 7:00 AM start, we all started massing on the road. I rolled up next to Vegan Rob, and he told me that he wanted me stuck to his wheel like poo. Good advice, should have taken it. The race starts with a 2 mi neutral roll-out, then a 5 mi climb to spread things out. At the top of the climb, I found myself riding with some old friends, including young local, and ridiculous technical rider Madison. This kid grew up (is growing up?) riding these trails, and it shows. After successfully navigating the corner of death, we formed a group of about eight or nine; four on geared bikes with big rings, and four or five on SS. For some reason all us gearies sat on the wheels of the SS guys. I think it was because we were more than happy to have them help us up little climbs as well as keep us from hammering our asses off on flats or descents and wasting all our energy so early. I ended up letting them go after Aid Station #1 due to a mandatory nature brake. I never really caught Madison again, although I tried to make up some time on Detweiller, he just gapped me again afterwards. Damn. I did catch one of my other paceline mates, Joel, after cleaning 3 Bridges trail in its entirety for the first time. I was happy about that because it's always good to impress the crowd that gathers there. I managed to make it through the rock garden with my minimal trials skills, hopping over the last big rock in my poorly chosen line. Joel dropped me up the next section of road, but I caught back up to him on Little Singletown, which I remember being one of the highlights of my first 101. I pulled him into Aid Station #2. After a bit of solid food, and some fresh bottles, we kept going, eager to hit the hard climbs ahead.

Then the danger began. Once we hit Greenlee (the longest climb?) I started to fade. I got passed by a lot of people. I caught a lot of them down Croyle. Then we hit Seeger (the hardest climb?). Seeger is steep and long. About 2/3 of the way up everything shut down. My head dropped, a bit of tunnel vision set in, and I had to stop. I ate about half a flask of Hammer Gel because I didn't have any real food with me (oops...). I knew I was in trouble when I was having trouble turning over my easiest gearing of 27x34 not because my legs were tired, but because I was having a hard time staying upright on my bike. I wish I could relate in words the soul-crushing bottom I hit, but I can't. Madison's dad caught me once I got going again, and we rallied down Telephone. I cannot express my undying love for Telephone. It is so much fun. I then struggled my way on to Aid Station #3, where my parents were. I ate a lot of food there, mostly Pringles. I knew the next part would be super fun, so I was excited to begin it. Once I hit Sassafrass, the fun began. Fun in the form of the hugely steep descent. I was hoping to overtake any folks on the upper parts of the trail so I could rip it at my own speed, but I ran into a dude just as it started dropping down. We locked bars a bit on the hairy corner and he ended up on top of me cursing. After apologizing profusely, I let him go. I totally took him out, and I feel bad about it. My concentration slipped and I started braking [harder] after he did and was going too fast to cut a tighter line when I realized it, and kind of plowed right into him. No one was injured in this stupidity. I didn't even have any cuts. I would like to say, that he was going down anyway, so I just cushioned his fall; his helmet did end up caught in my bar end. I caught up to him again on the Lewistown Contingent sweetness, but let him go, figuring I could get him again on Beautiful. Ah Beautiful. The perfect trail in any direction. Cleaned it this year. And No Name, what to say about you? You have no name, and you are loads of arm pumping, finger numbing fun.

The rest of the race passed without incident, I was determined to finish faster than before, but time kept ticking away. I knew I could make good time once I hit Little Poe Trail (the last trail before Aid Station #5). I got complimented on my line choice by the guy following me. I rolled right through Aid Station #5, and hit it hard down the rail trail, managed to catch one guy and rallied all the energy I could up Old Mingle, managing to drop the guy near the top. I, like many others before and after me, walked most of Fisherman's Path, and began to hammer the last bit of rail trail as hard as I thought I could. Not even a quarter mile from the final just-wider-than-my-bars bridge and the last tunnel, some guy blew by me like I was standing still. Now, I have one goal for these finishing bits, and it's pretty simple: no one passes me with out having to really work for it. I don't care if frikin Fabian Cancellara came by me, he's going to have to work for it (although probably not much). Anyway, no one passes me. So when this guy passed me, I attacked to jump on his wheel. He looked back, and jumped himself. I jumped again, and grabbed his wheel, surprising myself that I had the energy to attack that hard. I thought I was already going as hard as I could. When we came to the bridge, I backed off because he was going way too fast. It took us three or four minor crashes to get across. Once across, he mumbled something to me along the lines of "well that was stupid," so I let him lead into the short tunnel with the rocks. He got off the line, and drifted to the center and ran right into the big, square, mid-thigh height block about 6 m from the end of the tunnel. I took advantage of this and attacked out of the tunnel as hard as I could. I knew there was only 1 mi left until I was done, so I put it all out there. It was enough to put 40 sec on him, as I'm sure he was riding as hard as he could to catch me, but like I said, no one catches me.

So that ended my day. Vegan Rob gave me more good advice to prevent my fueling issues (note to self: listen to Vegan Rob's advice, he is good people), and I tried to put my life back together after completely shattering myself to finish in 9:36:50, a whopping 23 min faster than two years ago. Not really the result I wanted, but I am happy about it. I had fun, and after all, that's what it's all about. I also overcame my inability to ride technical singletrack smoothly after 60 miles of climby roads. In fact, I felt absolutely fantastic after the route turned skinny and rocky. That is the best part. The singletrack always killed me at the 101, but no longer! Now it is the fun it's supposed to be. So now I recover and look ahead...

Moving is next on my list, the the Rattling Creek Marathon, Shenandoah Mountain 100, and cyclocross! Life is full of surprises, and you should learn from all of them. I learned a lot at the 101 this year, and as a scientist, that is good enough for me. Happy Trails!

Like Raystown, but slower

2010-07-19T15:57:00.001-04:00

Headed down to Fair Hill yesterday for the Classic, or more accurately the Fair Hill 50. Riding 50 miles at Fair Hill should be a fairly easy thing, right? Not too much climbing, no ridiculously gnarly trails, no descents that make you scared for your life. Fair Hill, though, has a way of wearing on you. 50 miles there is hard. The first lap, I felt like I was dragging a 50 lb weigh behind me for a while. Second lap I started riding lighter, and was climbing very well. Looks like this week of interval work helped. I should be running in tip-top shape for the 101. Not much more to say, going to take it easy and taper for the next two weeks. Not much more mountain bike racing this year...

Updated with picture:

Photo by Tom Burrows

Cyclocross is a silly, expensive thing

2010-07-13T00:00:00.002-04:00

I finally took the time to survey the damage on my 'cross bike today. I say damage because it sat out in a bit of rain for a while during Transsylvania and didn't get any TLC until it was too late and un-ridable. I'm still trying to remove one of the brake arms from the brake boss on my fork; much WD-40 has been involved, but to no avail so far. I am now beset with a laundry list of parts I need to get her ready for 'cross season, so I may be resurrecting a few parts from last year to save a little money. We'll see how that goes. But in the meantime, my 'cross bike is nice and clean and shiny.

I secretly wish all my bikes were this color

For now I'll bide my time and see what my new team manager can hook me up with. Oh yeah, I don't think I mentioned it, but I'm joining the Dark Side for 'cross this year; I'm riding for C3. You've all seen them, and now I'll be sporting the sweet black kits. Look for me near the front of a MAC race near you!

In other news, I got my plaque from the Hoo-Ha finally. Looks like I finished 3rd after all. For a while I thought I was sitting pretty in the dick spot (4th place), but they must have fixed their results.

It's heavier than it looks...

A good solid block of metal for a good day on the bike

Gonna hit the sack now, I need to prepare for what looks to be a rainy training ride tomorrow in preparation for the Wilderness 101 at the end of the month. Maybe a rainy ride is what I need right now...

Good Day

2010-07-11T18:09:00.000-04:00

And a good week too. Ms. Geology and I spent the week looking at apartments in Maryland because of her new teaching job down in that area. We settled on this

View from the back of the complex

No, this isn't the view from our porch (we have one though), but if you walk out the front door turn left (east) and walk a mere 50 m or so, you'll see this. I'm pretty excited. We're pretty excited, and there will definitely be more on that in the future.

Today was a day filled with sports. This morning was the first mountain stage of Le Tour, then I went for a ride, and although I didn't put out as much energy as Andy Schleck on his perfectly timed attack for the win today, but I can take solace in the fact that I felt good during my sprint intervals. Small victories... small victories. After that was the final minutes (probably more like the final hour) of the World Cup. Good job Spain. Good job Netherlands. See ya'll at the Fair Hill Classic this weekend!

Bottom of the Barrel

2010-07-05T21:47:00.000-04:00

I hit the bottom of the barrel hard last weekend at the Long Pine Classic. Didn't even finish the race. I've been excited by this race for a year now; it's my "home" course, it has classic trails, it's raw, just like racing in Michaux should be. I really love this course, and Michaux in general, so needless to say I was a bit disappointed that I didn't finish the race.

How didn't I finish the race you ask? Well, coming down the descent after the last Beginner/Sport split (on Ridge Rd.) about half way through the steep, rocky ATV-width trail, I hit something (no I wasn't riding the front brake) and ended up catapulting off my bike. I landed perfectly with my head tucked, on my shoulder and right palm and rolled over my shoulder right to my feet. My bike was six or seven feet behind me. I think that's the furthest I've ever flown. So, time to assess the damage. Little cut on my knee, brush burns on my shoulder, right palm swollen a lot. Can I move my fingers without pain? Yes. Can I move my wrist without pain? Yes. Good. Not really any worse for the wear, I went to get back on my bike, which as usual had a bent dérailleur hanger. As soon as my right hand touched my bars I knew my race was over. There was no way I could put any pressure on my hand. Cringing, I made it down the rest of the descent and onto the long road climb to the last checkpoint. Pickle caught me on the climb after flatting before, and he rode with me until the checkpoint. When we got there, some adrenaline had kicked in and I could put a little weight on my hand, so I decided to continue for the last 2.5 miles of the race. As soon as I hit the singletrack after the power line, I knew I was not getting back in a reasonable amount of time, so I turned back to the checkpoint, hitched a ride back, and began icing my swollen hand.

Since I crashed pretty hard, I spent today pulling every single part off my bike to check for cracks.

Stripped Flash 29er frame... ~3 lbs of awesome (includes BB and headeset bearings, dérailleur hanger, front dérailleur and some stickers)

And to perform some Lefty maintenance. I think I was only running about 1.5" of my 3" of travel at the race (bearing reset time!)

A fully extended, reset Lefty. Exactly 140 mm of travel. Switch the damper out and you could put this on a RZ140 and I think that's pretty cool

So. My Lefty's back in tip top shape. I'm going to do some experimenting with the travel to see if I can squeeze another 10 mm out of it. 90 mm of cush up front instead of 80 mm could be cool. I also picked up some new wheels (No Tubes 355 29er's with American Classic hubs) from a very nice person in Boalsburg (thank you very nice person) so now I have a set of race-only wheels to make my bike the proper weight! I'll post more pictures of my bike once I have it built up again in a few days. It's going to be shiny as hell, just so I can get it dirty again!

What do you love about the Tour?

2010-07-01T14:24:00.000-04:00

Why do you love the Tour? A bunch of pros weigh in...

That Old Time Feeling

2010-06-28T20:24:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when you do a race you've done a bunch of times before, it gets boring. Well, no matter how many times I do it, I don't think the MASS Festival and Stage Race Weekend in Marysville, PA will ever get old. It is by far, one of my favorite races out there. The course is not rocky, does not include long climbs, or epic views of stunning landscapes. It's not blazingly smooth, fast singletrack with perfectly built corners. It is a wholly different thing. It is Marysville, and that's it. And I love it. I think this past weekend was the fifth or sixth time I've done the race, and it was definitely the best. The stage race format was back for the first time in a while. Friday night was the usual Night TimeTrial, Saturday was the main event, the 8 hour two or three person relay and solo race, Sunday was the solo short track and team off-road madison. It was a fairly amazing weekend. I of course raced solo; solo NTT, 8 hr solo, and solo STXC.

The NTT was, as always, fun. I don't think I've ridden at night since about March, so it took me probably 15 minutes to "remember" how to do it. But the race was over in 19:30, so that didn't amount to much. I finished in 10th, about 2 minutes behind the leaders time. I can live with that. It was, though, only a warm up for the next day's adventure.

The solo race went really well. I had a solid race for 8 hours; no cramping even though it was freaking hot out. Strangely, I kept getting tired. Not physically tired (well, that too), but sleepy tired, and I kept loosing concentration. I had to hit that lovely Espresso Hammer Gel (it's caffeinated) about once an hour, then had to bring out the Coke (the soda...) to keep me going for the last two laps. My last lap, I hit that point where I was having trouble riding clean, so I hit some more Espresso Hammer Gel, and made it home. I finished 9 laps in 8:35, an effort good enough for 5th place, and the bottom step on the podium! Pretty exciting. Definite props to Hammer Nutrition for making the caffeinated gel. It's a pretty good thing to have around.

Also powered by apple sauce

And cold water dumps

Rewarded by solid riding

Sunday was equally fun. A standard short track, started by a very big gun. Thirty minutes of pure pain, quite a nice change from the previous days fun. I had another good race, fortunately. On the second lap I got pooped out of the lead group, which included people lots of fast guys. I had them in sight until I tried to make an inside pass on a tight corner and took an one of the women out. It didn't affect anything, and she went on to finish 2nd in the women's race. I went on and finished 6th in the men's race, so I did pretty well. I'm really happy about my racing this weekend. It may be some of the best I've ever done.

Short Track start

Rob went off early and held on for the win

Racing fast is good

Anyway, next up is the Long Pine Classic. A race you should Register For!!! Seriously... It's a lot of fun. See you ALL there!

Hoo Hoo Hoo HAAAAAAAAAAAA!

2010-06-22T21:56:00.000-04:00

Virginia is always a great place to ride a bike. Their trails are world-class, and the people there are great. The Massanutten Hoo-Ha, near Harrisonburg is one of the best race courses in all of mountain bike racing. It is a true mountain bikers race course; long climbs, rocks, technical singletrack, and ripping fast descents. Even though I had such an aweful race last year (I definitely finished last... literally), I wanted to come back because the course as so great.

This year, the Hoo-Ha was part of the US Cup Triple Crown, a new thing that promised big money for the overall winners. But to get that money, you had to prove your metal at three different locations in three different disciplines, Super D, Short Track, and regular old XC. I didn't bother with the Super D or STXC (even though its my favorite) so I could concentrate on the XC. It was a good race. I started strong, rode a strong middle section, and finished strong and at my absolute limit. Finished 3rd in the Cat. 1 19-29. Unfortunately I did not stay for awards, because we had a long drive back and it was going to be an undetermined amount of time before the awards began due to some results issues caused by some idiots who don't know that you can't walk near a chip timing system wearing your chip once you have finished your race. I hate idiots. So now I have to negotiate for my medal and prize or whatever. Anyway... here's some pictures and video taken with my fancy new Droid Eris.

Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge in Charm City, not DC

Kids watching movies

Huge frikin spider/traveling companion in the back of the truck. At about 2.5 - 3 in across, making it probably the biggest spider I've ever seen outside of the zoo.

This should never, ever, ever, EVER exist... ever

Perfect trails

Perfect views

Next, I'm off to the all important Marysville Stage Race and Festival for some 8hr long solo silliness. You should come too. And speaking of coming...

It's the best of Michaux, squeezed into one great day of racing!

Killer

2010-06-07T18:57:00.002-04:00

Photos (c) A.E. Landes Photography

For TSE updates...

2010-06-01T17:30:00.002-04:00

See the Fast Forward Racing Blog cause I'm tired and don't feel like writing two posts. This place is great, though....

Danger! Adventure Ahead!

2010-05-27T21:59:00.001-04:00

So I graduated college...

Diploma

Success

And now I get to have a life for a year or so, then probably go back to school for a masters in rocks. It will be awesome. Now I have to do that lovely thing called find a job. Hopefully the lessons I learned in college can help me out. Lessons like:

1) How to not set a building on fire with lava

2) Before orogeny, comes subduction

3) Stress does not equal strain

4) Don't drink anything that was made in a tub

5) Riding your bike in Michaux makes you a real man (or woman)

Point number 5 is critical. The other points are important too, but in the next week, Michaux will prove its worth. As a nice break between college and "real life," I'm participating in the Trans-Sylvania Epic. Yup. Leaving tomorrow. Starting Sunday, and for 7 days after that, I will be racing my bike around Rothrock and Bald Eagle State Forests in Central PA. It is going to be the best of fun. I have some stiff competition (JB, Mark Weir, Vegan Rob, Mike Y, Brandon D, etc.) but I'm hoping to do as well as I can overall. Since there will be interweb access at the TSE base camp, so I may be updating you mid-week if I don't feel very hurty. And yes that is a word.

So that's the adventure. First TSE, then life, because folks, no matter how much life sucks, we have a good thing going. This shit is an adventure.

Races beginning with G

2010-05-11T16:49:00.000-04:00

Greenbrier and Granogue... Two classic mid-Atlantic races. Always on back-to-back weekends. A smart racer's only choice is to race them both. Anyway...

I had some fancy wordy thing I was going to write here, but that was a week ago, and now my brain is fried from my calculus II final. But it's done so that's good. That's right internet, I'm halfway through finals week in my last semester at Dickinson. It's kind of weird, but in a good way. Things are changing. I'm graduating college with a B.S. in Geology. I'm racing my bike a bit, and just hanging out. My birthday is tomorrow. Life's pretty good.

So about this bike racing thing. I had a pretty good race at Greenbrier raced singlespeed and ended up 11th. I don't why but I just can't race SS. It's a lame excuse for being slow. I had a better race at Granogue.

Photo by Dennis

I raced my first endurance race of the year. The start was fast. The first lap was fast. The whole race was fast. I ended up 5th after cramping up and falling apart during lap 4. I did feel pretty good about the day though. So as for now, I'm feeling like a bike racer and graduating college soon.

See ya'll at Cascade Classic this weekend! I'm looking forward to it. I've heard a lot about it and I think it should be fun. Plus I may be able to pick up some cash in the Elite field.

Boo...

2010-04-20T20:43:00.000-04:00

Did my first (well technically second) road race today. The weekly Shippensburg Tuesday night race. Only about a dozen people showed up. I was supposed to be doing some off-the-front-type intervals. I got popped off the group after my second go. Sucked. Hurt lots. It will be good later though...

Whirlwind

2010-04-12T21:19:00.000-04:00

The last month or so that I haven't posted anything has been a whirlwind. So many things have happened, I probably don't even remember them all. Snow happened, in mass quantities, and like most other places in the mid-Atlantic region, shut down all mountain biking. It shut down road riding for a spell too, so my training ended before it began. Then, all the sudden, it as March. I attended two major professional conferences to present my research. One in Baltimore (Hello C^3 folks!)

and one in Harrisburg (the capitol building is beautiful, you should go if your haven't).

The conference in Baltimore was a hardcore geology meeting, something I had never been to before. It was nice not having to filter my usually jargon-filled vocabulary for a change. I got to meet some of the people whose papers have influenced my geology career, as well as the man whose paper is guiding my research. It was an amazing experience. The Harrisburg conference was the biannual Undergraduate Research at the Capitol presentation. I was by far the only geologist there. It was nice to have to really filter my usually jargon-filled vocabulary as well as to have to explain my fairly complicated research to the masses. We got introduced, as a group (see above) in the House of Representatives; I now know why government takes so long to do anything. I also spent a week in Philly with Ms. Geology at a teacher conference of hers and visiting old friends. Basically conferences are fun.

Biking life began soon after that. With no trails, road riding became the daily norm. There were a few team training camps and things like that. All the sudden it was now, and the first race of the season was upon us. You were all there. You know it was fun. I was riding Juni (the orange SS thing). My gearing was too low for racing but with a lot of spinning I made it through with lap times a few seconds faster than last year. It would have been nice to have gears, but it was not to be. Last weekend was my last Dickinson College Jazz/Symphonic Band concert, a kind of bittersweet experience. We sure went out with a bang. It was the most fun show I have played (musically) and the audience (or at the very least my best friend, girlfriend, parents, professional-musician-uncle, and professional-musician-uncle's girlfriend) enjoyed it immensely. Now I look to important things in the future:

-Job Search (need a job to pay for this dirty bike racing addiction)
-Thesis Defense (want to graduate with honors)
-Graduation (yes)
-Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic (so excited)
-Moving out and up (I can't wait)

Until then, some other racing, a bike with gears (although not the one I wanted), and trying to pass Calculus II. I'm looking forward to it.

Let me explain

2010-03-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

Soon = geologically soon.

Thesis prevents life
Reap rewards once completed.
Always revising.

Kids with Lava

2010-02-15T20:08:00.000-05:00

More info soon...

Real Winter

2010-02-12T21:37:00.001-05:00

So this is real winter. This is the winter I remember from my (not so long ago) childhood. Snow. Enough to make you cry because its so damn cold and the solar reflection off the snow is so bright (increase your albedo much?) For me, I have enjoyed it very much. Last Saturday making fresh tracks in fresh powder with Ms. Geologist. Our "going out for a little walk in the snow" turned into "pushing through knee deep fluff until it feels like I've been riding my bike for 6 hours." It was super fun. I just wish I had a pair of snowshoes or XC skis to enjoy what is surely some amazing scenery in the Michaux. Man I wish I could get there now.

Letort Trail, Carlisle, PA

Letort Spring Run under snow

The unfortunate thing about all this amazing snow is that Michaux will be closed for mountain biking for another week or two and that's assuming we don't get any more snow. I half hope that we don't, but man do I love the white stuff. I really don't know why though. I don't really ski, and snow stops me from doing my favorite activity in the world. I guess its just the aspiration to go XC skiing or snowshoeing.

So with mountain biking out of the question for a while, the road bike came back out. Well actually my cross bike with road gearing and slick tires. Much more fun with my newly warrantied SRAM Rival right shifter, which is now a SRAM Red right shifter (super slick...). I need to get a match for next year's cross season. I've done a few rides on it so far, on Tuesday afternoon in the beginning of the second snowstorm. Then Thursday I went out with borrowed Power Tap and did a 20 min max power test, so I have power. Woot.

Now I just start riding more, and training too. And doing my school work... not much time for my research anymore. Just a few weeks until I present my poster at the NE/SE Joint Section Meeting of the Geological Society of America. Enjoy your snow while it's still here...

Deep Freeze Pleeze

2010-01-22T20:02:00.000-05:00

My last few rides have been muddy. Something close to Granogue muddy, but not as wet. It's not that I terribly mind, I was just hoping for some winter to drop by again. I had a brilliant half-week of riding last week in the frozen goodness around my house, then, just as I started driving further and riding with people again the temperature kicked up and things melted. Marsh Creek last friday with my new teammate Dan Stein was a slick mess. Slick but good. Marsh Creek today was just a mess. I was hoping for more frozen goodness last Saturday for the first annual (maybe) "Fast Forward Racing and Friends tackle French Creek while Dodging Trail Runners and Hunters" Ride. It was fun, but a bit wet and muddy (see Kmil and Z for vids). French Creek yesterday was mushy. I'm not unhappy, but I want that oh-so-good deep freeze that makes trails awesome again. Maybe Michaux will deliver it...

Back to School tomorrow for my last semester!

2010... The Year of the Tiger

2010-01-13T23:09:00.000-05:00

On December 25, 2010, my grandfather will have been officially alive for a century. That's a long time. I hope that I can live as long, and be as active and on-top-of-it as him.

2009 was a great year. We all know that. I think that 2009 was one of the best years so far for a lot of people. I know it was for me. Second in the MASS Endurance Series, Second at 7 Springs, a bunch of good 'cross races, racing and riding in Colorado, not sucking while racing and riding in Colorado, getting to ride and race with a great bunch of kids and adults. Thanks to all the people who I have bumped into, who have influenced me, who have shaped and molded my riding style and my life. All are you are amazing, and worthy of boat loads of praise. There's not much more I can say about it. And there's no pictures to show because I accidentally deleted all the pictures from my computer (n00b mistake).

So on to 2010...

My first big deal will be the Transylvania Mountain Bike Epic, if I can raise the funds to go. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I will be setting up some sort of official fund raising soon. Then, since I'm graduating college this spring and getting a job and moving somewhere near that job and probably won't have any vacation time to spend 3 weeks in Colorado, I'm going to be chillin around here and hitting up the MASS series. It should be a fun year, probably better than 2010.

So far this year, I've frozen my ears off in Vestal, NY riding through 15 deg temps with light snow, and enjoyed some amazing ride in the West Chester, PA area, most of which have ventured into darkness thanks to the Lupine Tesla 4 my parents got me for Christmas. Thank you parents. Did one amazing ride today. Saw an opossum frozen on a tree. The older dude standing there when I rolled up said that they pass out when they get nervous. Who knew. Saw a sunset over a river. That's all she wrote...

Anyone in the West Chester area may feel free to hit me up for rides in the next two weeks while I'm still here...

Living with rocks

2009-12-03T23:22:00.000-05:00

So I'm pretty much done racing now. I've got the Rockville Bridge Cross (pre-reg is over... just come and day of reg it), and then I'm done. Well, actually I'm pretty much done now. I've basically stopped riding for a while now. It's time for a break. It's been a long season. Right now I'm in the lab, and will be for a very long time.

Home

Samples here drying here...

Samples polishing here

You know. The normal stuff. I'm actually looking forward to the race this weekend. Zach puts on solid events, so everyone should come. A plethora of food will be provided by my parents, and funds from it will go towards kits for the Fast Forward Racing team for 2010. So if you've been on the fence about calling it a day on you 2009 racing season, just bite the bullet and come. The course looks sick and it's for a good cause in the end.

Oh, and also you should spread the word about the 2010 Mid Atlantic Cycling Development Camp. It's the best. Sign up. Throw down.

Driving Home Into the Sunset

2009-11-29T23:59:00.000-05:00

I think I had some profound wisdom to lay down regarding this picture, but I can't remember now. Something about how this picture is like my 2009 racing season; coming to an end. That was probably it. It just struck me that I'm always driving into the sunset when I come home from 'cross races.

Anyways... went home last Tuesday for Turkey Day break. I ate a bit of turkey and a lot of everything else. I indulged my irrational love of pie. Then I did some racing...

First up was the PA state cross champs. I was gunning for this race, and I didn't get quite the result I wanted, but I think it was a good race regardless. I got the holeshot. Then what felt like the entire field blew by me once we got onto the grass. Oops. Too much. Took me a lap to recover. I guess I picked off a few guys, but it was a pretty fast race. I never regained contact with the group of ten that was off the front (ten?) for the whole race, but I won a tight sprint for 12th. I pulled the guy around the course on the last lap, then won the spring by the the depth of his deep section carbon wheels. That makes two (or is it three?) sprints that I have won this year, but this one was by far the hardest. I almost threw up when I crossed the finish line. That makes me very happy (not the almost throwing up part, sort of). After my race, I chilled around and got to watch Bad Andy's commanding win of the elite race, for the fourth time in a row. Good on him, that was a pretty fast field. LVG's performance in the women's race was pretty spectacular as well, as was Erica's. LVG is becoming quite a crosser, and Erica shows skill only learned through years of practice. Very impressive. PA is such an awesome place for cycling...

Bang... but too hard

This is the race where I learned to remount my bike properly

Not the sprint, but close

Sunday kept me close to home. The race was Phelps School Cross. Total travel time to the race: 10 min, and I took the back way. Total travel time from the race: 30 min, I rode back home the longish way. This race looked, at first glance, to be a grassy time trial. Sucks for me. I am many things, but time trialist I am not. The start was a wide downhill straight dropping you into a sharp off camber left hander after about 500 m. No holeshot was planned for today. I tucked into the pack as quickly as I could. But, Gunnar decided it was a good idea to crash into, and subsequently break in half, the stake at the first corner, bringing me to a complete stop. Bah humbug. Gunnar went on to win the race. Go kid.

So I was still somewhat attached to the group. On one of the steep off camber uphill 180s, I think someone rubbed my rear tire. From then on it felt like it was about to roll off. I changed it the next time I saw the pit. Exited the pit in second to last place. Goody. Chase time. So I chased. Eventually, by the last lap I caught onto a groupetto which contained Kyle. I latched on. There were three. I overtook them at the barriers, shot right up the middle of the two of them. We caught one more. I led into the back straightaway and pushed the pace as hard as I could. I couldn't shake anybody. I decided to play it smart and I dropped back to second wheel in the corners after the flat section. The plan: suck wheel for the short road climb to recover, then drop the hammer hard on the steep dirt climb that brings you back up to the same elevation as the finish. The plan worked very well. I dropped the groupetto and made the run into the finish alone. The finish was the whole reason for my plan. I was sure of my ability to sprint on an uphill, but a long flat sprint on grass? Don't know about that. Especially with two roadie looking guys in the group. The plan worked well enough that I got to sit up before the finish. Finished in time to watch Kyle grab the second spot in the sprint. He looked solid, and was only about a bike length off of the guy who won the sprint. He is becoming quite the rider and it makes me happy. So 10th on the day. I suppose not that bad.

It's good to get friends into racing... in the green is the teacher from Westtown I worked bike camps with this past summer.

Sneaking up the middle

Groupetto, although not the traditional group of sprinters

This is one of my wrestling coaches from high school. He came to watch today since the race was so close. It was very nice to see him.

Old Place, New Trails

2009-11-25T20:44:00.000-05:00

Went and stopped by one of my old haunts this morning. Just a nice easy ride to start to wake the legs up for this weekend. About 1.5hrs at good old Marsh Creek. That place has always been interesting. It's kinda like the trail at the farm in Marysville. It used to be that Marsh Creek was off limits during wet/rainy times (like today). We used to have to deal with huge washouts creating deep gullies in the trail. Making them damn near unridable for long times after rains. This time was different. There were like 5 or 6 miles of new trails there! Complete with well-built log bridges, teeter totters, and skinny bridges. Pretty sweet stuff. The local crew is still doing a good job!

Still gunning for PA States this weekend...

Mercer Madness

2009-11-17T11:01:00.001-05:00

Mercer Cup has to be one of the most fun races of the year. Even though it included lots of running last year, I had a blast. The vibe is awesome and it's great to watch the pros rip it up. This year, though, they changed venues. I must say, though that Saturday's course at the new venue was much less fun. Part of that was the flatness and part of that was the fact that it was so muddy. The entire course was just mashing on the pedals, putting down all the power you can to get through the mud. It was just all out for 45 min. No good for me. It should have been good for me, but I was just not feeling it. Had a bad start position again. Gotta fix that. My bike got heavy and covered with sticky mud. Ended up like 37th coming up from the second to last row.

Barriers

Mud Surfin'

No pics from Sunday's racing though. I dropped the cash to rent a pit bike from Van Dessel (a G&T) which absolutely kicked ass. Having a clean bike every lap was great. Now I probably could have bitten the bullet and rode my Holeshot the whole race as it was near 70 degrees and the course was drying out, but I decided to try out a pit bike. It was for the better because I rolled my front tire on the second to last lap of the day. Got a better start, about 5 rows from the back, but on the long off camber chicane section had a little collision with someone which lodged a front brake arm against my tire. Had to take my brakes apart to fix it. I was in dead last, behind all the singlespeeders. Sucks. Worked my way up to 42nd. Legs felt pretty damn good. I was catching and dropping people like they were standing still. On the last lap I came onto the pavement about 10 seconds behind some guy, poured it on, caught and dropped him to pick up one more place. My one victory for the day. Pitted for Myerson again. Made another chunk of change. Saturday's pitting was hard work, with the line for the power washer being too long to turn out a bike every lap when he wanted it. Had to do it by hand and with brushes.

Next up is PA states, which I'm hoping to kill it at. Maybe I'll actually win a cross race... or podium in something that isn't Iron Cross...

Apparently I can race cross

2009-11-03T23:56:00.000-05:00

I suppose that last weekend proved I don't suck at cross. Beacon and the Cat & Kitten Cross (henceforth known as HPCX) were my first two Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference races of the season. Beacon was on Halloween. So I dressed up... like you do...

Borrowed from sister...

I registered late like always and started second to last row. Finished 41st overall (my favorite place apparently...

Flowing in the breeze

Gunnar... Word

Head and shoulders knees and toes knees and toes...

This is getting easier

But the big news was that I finished 4th in the Collegiate B men... not that it had a podium or anything. SOOOO... Sunday I decided to not put up with this mid-pack schist any more and see if I could actually race cross. I scrummed my way into a second row start...

This is the second row...

Chabanov can ride his bike some

HPCX: a good test for my new Fango's... results: Fango's win!

Money Grab... made a dollar

So I raced myself into 17th overall and 3rd in the Collegiate. In addition to the dollar I grabbed off the course I made $100 pitting for Myerson. Good deal. He's kinda fast so he like got a 4th and a 3rd on the weekend in the Elite Men's races. Good on him.

Bike Change... Gunnar watches in awe

So that's pretty much that. Pulled my crankset/bottom bracket apart Sunday night upon Coach's recommendation, only to find that Chris King bottom brackets are the schist. All the grease inside was clean and some light brown colored water came out. Yeah good products.

Next time you'll see me is at Mercer Cup... in the B race and in the pits for Jazzy in the Elite race. Peace

The Queen Weekend

2009-10-19T13:51:00.005-04:00

Those of you from the area know it well. Granogue and Wiss. Two of the most storied cross races on the Right Coast. Those that were there this year know how much of a suffer-fest they were.

Granogue:

Up at 5:00. Standing in the mud and rain parking cars from 6:30-9:00. Raced at noon. It was still raining and hovering around a balmy forty degrees. Hazy, hot, and humid as we westtown Wrestlers might say. Marc and Tom gave me a 3rd row call up because I stood in the rain all morning. Trashed another dérailleur. Let this be a lesson to all those wanting to race cross: buy two bikes. It will save you money in repairs.

The rain made the course a suffer-fest, much like Granogue MTB this past spring. The area is especially ripe for muddy races due to the thin layer of soil overlaying a bedrock with very low porosity and permeability. The mica schist which underlies the area (most likely of the Glenarm Wissahickon Formation) is a high grade metamorphic rock most likely from the Lower Paleozoic Era. It formed during the Acadian Orogen and underlies much of the lower part of the Delaware River Basin, including the type locality, the Wissahickon Creek area of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. The mica schist produces splendidly shiny specimens due to the high concentration of mica (a sheet silicate mineral with one plane of cleavage). The sheen you see in hand sample is due to light reflecting off the single cleavage plane of the micas. This mica schist is most easily visible at the base of the tower (see first picture). Good enough Tom?

Tom's off camber switchbacks of death

Suffer face... take notes Matt

Bike post race

What is missing from this dérailleur?

Wissahickon:

Got to sleep in. Showed up to watch one of my high school

teachers do his first cross race at 9:00AM. He had fun, but suffered much on his mountain bike. I raced at noon again. Got a bit caught up in the pile up at the start. Came out of it clean, but I never recovered and ended up finishing 65th or something. More accurately I won my first sprint ever... for 65th place. Only in 'cross is sprinting for 65th place so cool. I was able to race thanks to C3-Athletes Serving Athletes team director Chris Auer who lent me a dérailleur that I butchered a pulley off of. It worked fine in the stand, but once I got on the pedals, I found that the whole cage was bent. My shifting was crap the entire race, but I survived. I'm still excited that I won a sprint. I had tried to gap the guy in front of me when I jumped him in the off camber drop off right hander after the barriers, and when I hit the road I thought I had enough of a gap that I wouldn't have to sprint super hard. I had just shifted into my big ring when I saw a wheel inching up on my right side. I jumped as hard as I could and won 65th place. I assume the guy I beat was a roadie because he was quite unhappy looking at the finish.

Leading a pack early in the race

Run up action

This is what it looks like when I win a sprint

Wes had a great race today, finishing 8th

Congrats to Sam the Hammer, who killed it and won both Cat. 2/3/4 races this weekend

Picture by Dennis Smith.

Iron Cross in Pictures

2009-10-15T09:26:00.005-04:00

Mid IC Lite

Sand Pit

He^b fixing the sand pit for us

Getting good at heckling

Iron Cross VII start, as seen by Don and Donna from the plane

Happy to be done with my lesson in brute-force method navigation in Michaux

Yeah...

Jody gets his hops on at the end of the race

So... took the holeshot in the 3/4 race on saturday only to drop my chain in the first corner. Chased back for 5th. Rode all of Lippencote hitting rim on my front tire with no flats on Sunday and flatted coming down ridge just before Milesburn. Then my crank bolt came loose coming up Hogshead. Finished 77th overall (41st in the Men <40>

See ya'll at Granogue and Wiss!!!

Pics by Don

The Perfect Weekend

2009-10-09T00:02:00.004-04:00

This past weekend was just about as perfect as it gets. Nice and relaxing for all parties involved; a much needed break from the hectic lesson-plan writing and geology expeditions of the week. The desire for some relaxation coupled with the amazing weather seemed to just beg one to hit the trail. Since I decided to not to race any cross last weekend (much to Coaches dismay I think), Ms. Geology and I went for a short hike on some AT out to some rocks. Two hours in the woods was all it took.

"Look!" says I, "Rocks ahead!"

Mission #1: Find top of said rocks

Mission #2: Relax... ahhh

Sunday brought some biking-type adventures with the Weiser folk. Eastward was the chosen direction, and some tasty trail was in store for the day. Small crowd, just the three of us, but a rather heavy traffic day on the trails, saw two hikers (yes that's right 2) people on Hail Mary. That's practically a traffic jam in Michaux...

Today's ride brought to you by: 29-inch wheels! See Brett's bike says so!

El Bretto maximizes his rock time...

Favorites... the Vista

So this weekend (a.k.a. tomorrow cause I'm busy and it's already thursday night/friday morning) is going to bring some Meesnow biking action of a cyclocrossy variety with Iron Cross VII on Sunday and IC Lite on Saturday. Looks to be the funness...

New Things

2009-09-23T08:43:00.004-04:00

I had not thought about cyclocross season much before 7 Springs so last Friday found me frantically building up my bike for the weekends races. Last minute as usual. I don't really have much to say about the individual races. Found myself mid-pack again both days, 41st at Puma Cross on Saturday and 45th at Charm City Cross on Sunday. Charm City was by far my favorite. A great race run by great people. Congrats to Auer and all the C3 folks who made that possible. You guys rock.

Start Line

Pain face

Gunnar is freakin killing it so far

I love doing this

Last lap charge

Next thing on the menu is not bike related at all. Heading off to do some camping in NJ and CT with some geologically interesting stops on the way as part of the Geology Department Field Trip. Should be a most fun time. Oh and next time you see my CX bike it will be different, but how?

The Springs Seven... Part II

2009-09-20T22:46:00.005-04:00

The beginning of the thing... BA always beats me in runs

Ms. Geology does a bang up job of dealing with my sorry ass for 24 hrs

Singlespeed sees some face time :-(

I found this bike hanging from our EZup... thanks Don

And the Best Pit Crew award goes to...

The fatal beginning-of-the-lap corner, early in the race

My lights (Thank you Rob) made everything seem like day... or maybe it actually was day...

My name is Kit... if you get this joke I'm sorry

What is this?

The Springs Seven... Part I

2009-09-11T11:20:00.004-04:00

7 Springs is a race I have been thinking about all year. It has been lurking in the back of my mind whenever I felt my worst during a 4,6,9 hr or 50 mile race. I kept wondering, if I can't keep this up for this many hours, how can I keep it up for 24 hrs? Well I did, and I still have no idea how.

The run was the worst part. I hate running. A lot. The most running I like is whatever happens during a cross race. That is ok running. It has a purpose. The only purpose of the Le Mans start in a 24hr race is to jack your heart rate up and give a good show for the crowds. The only thing worse would be if we swam across the lake instead of running around it. I rode the first few laps and settled into a rhythm. It was slow. For some reason I couldn't motivate my self out of the middle of zone 2. I guess that was good in hind sight, because it kept me from loading my legs with crap.

So I rode on. The course, by the way, was awesome. It opened with a ripping singletrack descent, fast and flowy with rocks. It was basically perfect for me. So I continued ripped off the first lap in my fastest time, a 1:33. About 2/3 of the way through the lap guess what happenned? My fork had no travel any more. Yeah. I rode cautiously, and traded for my fully steel, fully rigid singlespeed in the pits. Mmmmmm funness. I had visions of riding the rest of the race out on my SS because my fork was a no go. I did get my main rig back the next time through transition, and I rode out the lap with decreasing amounts of fork. When I came through the pits the next time I was given Don's bike (thanks a lot Don). I did the next lap on that while my bike was being fixed. His not necessarily new bike was very nice.

A lap or so later I was given back my bike, but fixed. The mechanic from the Pro Bikes team across the way had diagnosed the problem, pulled the required part off a spare Lefty he had, and installed it on mine. Apparently there was no bottom seal on the air spring. Boo.

So on I rode. Nothing really happenned until about 3:00AM. I was starting to spiral downhill, but pressed on for another lap anyway. It was slow going, with lots of walking. Around 4:30 I completly lost it and decided that the only way I would make it back to the pit in one piece was to walk. So I walked for about an hour, got back to the pits and slept for an hour. After much pressuring from Ms. Geology I got back on my bike and continued on with Don trailing me. It was nice to have someone riding with me. It really kept me going. Thanks Don.

At the end of the lap I found out I was in 3rd place, and that 2nd wasn't too far ahead. More laps. Two laps later the guy I thought was ahead of me came walking up a short steep climb behind me. I took off hard, with Don following me. I came through the pit, picked up the National Forrest and went out on my last leg of my last lap. We ripped though the 3 miles like butter, arriving to the finish after 24 hrs 7 min to take 2nd place with 11 laps. Stoked.

I could barely walk, I could barely sit, but man was I happy. Big props go to my parents and Ms. Geology, who stayed up all night to keep me fed. Thanks to the Chas at Pro Bikes for the mechanical support, and Matt, Don, Zach, and Megan/Jen for the encouragement. Also thanks to everyone who gave me 24hr racing advice: Brandon and his parents, Vegan Rob, Chris Scott, and anyone else out there. Especially to Vegan Rob for lending me that Lupine Tesla that led me through the night. Also thanks to Ergon USA, Crank Brothers, and Cannondale for making great products. More pictures later.

Money

2009-09-07T11:06:00.001-04:00

Off

2009-09-04T10:19:00.002-04:00

I'm off to 7 Springs now. Hopefully I'll have good things to report when I get back... wish me luck. I'm super nervous for some reason.

Biding my time...

2009-09-01T11:13:00.001-04:00

Until 7 Springs...

Want

2009-08-28T13:39:00.002-04:00

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/10/cusa/model-0FS291S.html

This frame, full XX, plus these wheels in 29er to keep the bike on the ground a la Jeremiah Bishop's recomendation from STXC nats. He said the bike was so light that a heavier pair of wheels plus heavier tires would be great to help keep the bike on the ground. Mmmmmm yes... I can see it now

Should have brought singlespeed...

2009-08-24T10:20:00.002-04:00

The Rattling Creek 50, presented by VisitPA.com and the fine folks at Fast Forward Racing Productions (a.k.a. us...) I arrived two hours early at the scheduled time of 8:00AM. At 11:30 the rain started. At 12:30 I left my car to start marking course towards Zach's car at the other end. It poured and thundered until about 2:30. This gave me the opportunity to

A) Test the effectiveness of my rain gear (very effective)

B) Ride the course in the worst possible conditions (not very bad at all)

The rain eventually let up and I pulled into Zach's car at around 5:30ish. T'was a fun time...

The race started at 10 AM the next day. A nice break from 8AM races at US Cup stuff. About 60 of us rolled out and jetted up the first climb. I dropped back out of the top 10 on the climb and began to pace myself up the 25min climb. Then we ripped some singletrack with some rocks. Then more road. Then more singletrack. Then my leg of the race...

About two thirds of the way through the leg, my fork stuck all the way down. I had to ride Wolf's Pond, Rim trail, and the ensuing descent to CP#2 with no fork. It sucked. Nancy Adams saved the day with a shock pump, which brought my fork back to full travel. Then about 2/3 of the way through the next leg of the race, on my way down Rattling Creek Trail, it happenned again. I just love rocky descents with no fork. If I had wanted to ride a rigid bike I would have brought my freaking singlespeed with its plush steel tubes. I now see why I ride steel on my rigid bike. This gave me the opportunity to:

A) Test the durability of the Lefty fork to effectively direct impacts (very durable)

B) Decide if riding non-steel rigid bikes was good or not (not good at all)

At CP#3 Randy helped me fix my fork and we pumped it to about 250psi so it wouldn't compress and stick down too much, It stayed that way for the rest of the race, which sucked a lot. A lot. Finished 20th overall in 6:22. It hurt lots, but I felt basically good all day.

Now to get pumped for 7 Springs solo...

Mt. Snow dreamin'

2009-08-14T11:47:00.004-04:00

Ahh the simple pleasures of migrating north in the summer. Slightly cooler temperatures, lots of biting bugs, time alone in a tent, and some damn good bike racing. That's right folks, Last weekend after picking Ms. Geology up at her home in the wilds of New York, we headed north to the land of big time ski resorts and big time racing. Mt. Snow, that is.

This year, being a Kenda Cup East and Pro XCT race, the newly renamed Mt. Snow Shootout showcased the fastest racers North America has to offer. The pro fields were stocked with names like Canadian National Champs Kabush and Pendrel (both fresh of World Cup wins in Bromont), US National Champs JHK and Irmiger, and pretty much everyone else who's fast. So it made for an interesting weekend of spectating. Watching Kabush ride away to back-to-back XC and STXC wins was amazing. JHK's national championship kit and matching bikes were amazing. Probably the best national champ kit I've seen yet, excepting maybe Tim Johnson's CX kit from last year. In fact, even though I raced myself into the top 10 (well into 10th at least) in the Cat. 1 races, I had much more fun tromping around the woods and the short track course spectating with Ms. Geology. Oh, and Jeff Lenosky's trials show was pretty damn cool as well.

Waiting

Rolling through to start lap 2

JHK and his sick new kit and matching Superfly 100 (drool... want... want... drool...)

Press

2009-08-13T15:13:00.001-04:00

Some one had the good idea to put my picture on their website...

http://www.granbyranch.com/mtnbike.asp

101 from the other side

2009-08-03T17:36:00.002-04:00

Seeing things from the other side is always interesting. For interest, not racing the Wilderness 101 but instead heading up with my dad and working Aid #3. Spent all day pretty much lubing chains and making sure people where mechanically ready to continue to race. Pretty uneventful, but actually a lot of fun. Then I swept the leg from Aid 3 to Aid 4 with Tim and Raymond. It took us 3.5hrs with pulling arrows and riding slowly behind any stragglers. It was a lot of fun. That leg of the race contains all the best singletrack, so I was greeted with a chance to slowly ride some of the trails that I have only ridden in an oxygen deprived, mentally deficient racing state. Beautiful trail is exactly that. I am happy about this. But next year I want to race.

Off to Mt. Snow on thursday. Should be fun.

ER sampling

2009-07-27T14:41:00.002-04:00

Nationals in Colorado went fairly well. 13th in the XC and 11th in the STXC. Both courses were fun and stupid hard. The short track was basically a mini xc, just climb, descend, and repeat over and over. Attacking up that climb to grab one more place was just about the hardest thing I have done on a bike.

Watching the Pro Men's and Women's short track races was amazing. Georgia Gould just walked away with the win in the Women's race. The men's race, though was much more hotly contested. Wells and JHK put on a good show until Adam Craig took them to grade school and taught them how to ride their bikes. An attack from 5th or 6th position to win the race? Phenomenal. Good job to Adam.

The drive home was just about as interesting as well. Just before we were about to leave I started reacting to some peanut butter that contaminated the jelly that I put on my bagel for breakfast. Zach's GPS directed us to the ER in Granby, where they hooked me up to the usual IV and gave me some steroid that set me straight. Then off to driving. Time we planned on leaving: 8:00AM. Time we actually left the Fraser Valley: 12:30PM.

About half way through Kansas we hit the mother of all thunderstorms. We pulled off for gas and dinner and were greeted by tornado warnings from the National Weather Service over the radio at the Subway. We grabbed a hotel for the night. Next morning, up and driving home. Arrived back in Carlisle at about 2:00AM.

Next day we went down to Brett's for our first ride back in PA. It was raining. I messed myself up. Slid my rear wheel out on a log, planted my face firmly on a mossy rock, gouged my knee through a sharp pointy rock. So one visit to the Carlisle Regional Medical Center ER and 5 stitches later I'm sitting in West Chester teaching my own mountain biking camp. I can ride again. That's all I care about.

Rocky Mountain High

2009-07-14T11:32:00.015-04:00

I started to write something but it sounded like crap so here are things you really care about:

Some kids... what they're experiencing is one of a kind

From the top of Trail Ridge Rd. in Rocky Mountain N.P.

Tom likes alpine flowers

Mmmmm high strain rocks...

Bike likes Colorado

Team shot at the top of Heil Valley

Team recovery rdes

First above tree line excursion... snow in July

Mule Deer in a clearing

Bottle Peak View... I hiked this

Lots of things have happenned

2009-07-10T01:26:00.004-04:00

The first thing that happenned was the usual Marysville Stage Race. This year's format was different: Night Team Time Trial, 12 hr team or 9 hr solo, short track.

Rode the NTTT solo, finished something in the solo class. Don't exactly remember. Maybe 12th or 15th. Saturday I was the usual stupid solo. 9hrs, 9 laps, finished 7th in the Open's Men class. I'm pretty happy with that. It should put me in better position in the series. Which I am going in for the win this year. I don't want just to podium anymore. I want the win. Thanks for all your encouragement Rob.

Congrats go out to all the kids on their two teams, who did a fantastic job showing up a lot of older more experienced racers. Also to Bacon, Tofu, Jerk, and Monkey for being awesome and helpful for everyone, especially the kids.

Chillin' with good friends

Best way to start a race

Jake hates running

Jake loves riding

The next weekend was our race, the Long Pine Classic. Ms. Geology came out and did a bang-up job running registration. And my mom and sister held down a checkpoint, making sure all racers got around the course safely. Thanks for the help. I did some setup in the morning, then raced the Expert Race. Ended up in the dick spot, just off the podium in 4th. Everyone had a good day. Congrats to Forest who won his first MASS race, absolutely crushing the Sport junior field. No pictures from this yet, too busy.

The next morning we lodaed up and headed out west. 34 some hours later we arrived at our house in Tabernash, Colorado. I broke the dishwasher, Fernando fixed the hot water heater, the fridge got a short, but other than that everything is amazing. Colorado is awesome.

Reminders...

2009-06-24T21:45:00.001-04:00

Bike Reg page

That's all...

Crappy cancelled races ruining my day...

2009-06-19T09:49:00.007-04:00

Let me just first say that I am appalled at mother nature this year. Not only has she delivered some downright awful weather during the week when I want to be riding my bike, but she repeatedly causes shine-only races to be cancelled. Boo. Just Boo.

I can't remember how long it's been since I posted up in here so here's the rundown. Posting hasn't happenned because of lack of access to the webnet. What has happenned is this:

Ms. Geology and I had an awesome time at World's End

The rock we were sitting on moved when I sat down... don't judge

I moved into my new house that next week. It is pretty n

ice. Big kitchen, good for cooking lots of foods.

Hitched a ride with The Bergy Mobile down to Harrisonburg, VA for the Massanutten Hoo-ha. It was my first race in a while, so I was mentally ready, but physically not. I DFLed I think. I haven't seen any results yet. And that's another thing, what is it with promoters this year refusing to put any information on their websites? Massanutten's website had start times and rough directions, that's about it. Burn's website didn't even include a start time. WTF...

Did get some nice pictures though... which I will have to post later because they are apparently not on my computer

Then I headed out to State College for a real race... the Stoopid 50

MMMMMMMM Stoopid 50, how I love thee. This year's edition was held out of the parking lot at Tussey Mtn. Ski Resort and included a bit more gravel road than last year. It did not dissappoint in awesome singletrack though. The first trail, only about 1.5 mi into the race, served up primo PA ridgetop singletrack replete with rocks and logs covered in tall grass that all but tickled your legs as you whizzed by. There were some good climbs and some awesome descents, and no hike-a-bike! Moderatly exciting at the very least. I managed to ride most of the course and finished in my fastest 50 mi time ever, 5:12:21, putting me in 42 overall and 25 in the Men Open Category. Some MASS Endurance points were acrued. Now if only they would post up series standings. Schalk blitzed the course in an amazing 3:53 (which may be the fastest 50 time in all of PA), with Eatough a few minutes back then Harlanator and Chris Beck. The finish was rather unorthodox as it ended immediately at the bottom of a wicked singletrack downhill. I damn near ran into Chris Scott as he was taking numbers. For a longer report head to the Team Blog. Some visuals:

Start stuff

Rolling into Aid #2 to exchange bottles

Next year... I go under 5 hrs...

Reset

2009-05-27T22:27:00.004-04:00

Decided to go home for a quick mental reset today. Too sick of living out of my car and sleeping on a couch. I cleaned out my car today and found Jell-o stains on the front passanger seat. Not quite sure how those got there but tomorrow will be spent removing them. Probably from the jell-o that I left in a bag on the seat in the hot sun. This also gives me time to fix my drastically broken bike. You know, usual stuff, completly rebuilding my freehub (new parts are hopefully on the way from WTB). finding the attachment bolt for my brand new X.0 rear derailleur that a stick gleefully took out at Brett's Ride last week. But exciting things are on the horizon. Something I've been waiting for for a long time:

Image Courtesy of CyclingNews.com

Transition

2009-05-20T01:22:00.003-04:00

Given the cancellation of the Rocktober challenge and the fact that I had a campsite reserved for the weekend, I decided to go up anyway and get some riding in. I had heard that Kuhn would be there and that he wanted to ride the course on Saturday. Sounded like a good idea to me.

I rolled into RB Winter State Park around dusk on Friday, set up camp, made a fire, and ate dinner. Once I ran out of wood for my fire I packed it in, crawled into my tent and fell asleep to a book. Good times. There's something about camping alone, even if the fat guy in the camper across the way is snoring loud enough that you can hear it, that is quite relaxing. It might be the whole being on your own thing.

Next day woke up, found Mike, and set out on the first part of the loop with Mike and 6 others, mostly locals. It was a good ride. The new Ergon pack held up well, with a full days worth of food and crap in it. Barely felt like I was carying anything. Thanks Ergon. After 20 miles of riding, we dropped down Black Gap or Black Cat or something. Kuhn stopped to change a flat and noticed a snapped suspension bolt on his new Scalpel (ed: this may have been his punishment for our lamenting the lack of a 29er Scalpel... it would be prefect!). Ride over. Back to the parking lot. Luckily that was about the end of the loop.

After a quick lunch of half a pb&j, I rolled back out with the local guy leading to do some of the second loop. I got a little friendly with a tree on a super-steep descent, and came out with a few scratches. Then we got lost and ended up practially on I-80. Then we walked up a steep ridge. Then we headed back and ended our ride. Total time, about 5.5hrs of rocky goodness. Solid.

Of course as soon as I got back to my campsite it started raining. Sat in the tent for a while, then packed and left. Went to Dick's graduation the next day. Should be fun next year. That night I bid goodbye to Ms. Geology for a few weeks (sad panda), and I'm currently squatting in my friends appartment until I can move into mine on June 1.

Going down the North Carolina this weekend to provide pit support for Zach and the Cyclesports Kids for the Burn 24 hr race. Should be fun. I'm doing chill easy rides now to transition down from my peak that didn't actually exist. Oh well. Next year. Cross season... More racing to come in June.

FYI

2009-05-13T12:23:00.003-04:00

Jens Viogt has the best pain face ever... 09 Giro, stage 4:

Photo's courtsey of Cyclingnews

Sad Panda...

2009-05-13T11:24:00.000-04:00

I am a sad panda because Rocktober was canceled. It is one of my favorite races. Oh well... looks like no racing until June for me then... In other news I am now officially done with school, and lazing around until I start work. Which will be something I swear...

Slow weekend

2009-05-10T20:44:00.003-04:00

Given the cancelation of the French Creek MASS race this weekend, due to inclement weather (which didn't actually happen...) I decided to spend the weekend chilling. I did some cool rides on my SS (park up Cold Spring, Vista, mulit-use trail, Old Ship, Creek, Old Carlisle, Ridge, new trail to car... schwing!!!!) because the C-dale needs new brake pads from Granogue. All told the tally from Granogue: 1 new derailleur hanger, 1 new X.O derailleur, 2 new sets of brake pads, new cables. Could have been worse I guess.

I don't really have much else to say now. I've been working on this Mid-ocean ridge paper for a while now, trying to get this thing revised and done forever. I'll leave you with a podium shot...