Brandon Draugelis

Team CF Cycle for Life

2011-09-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

It's happened again, I've been slacking on this blog and haven't had the time to post any race reports in quite some time. That will come soon with a recap on the last few races of the year, but more importantly I'm going to be participating in the Cycle for Life charity ride on October 8th for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. If you do not yet have plans for that weekend I would encourage anyone to participate. There is also a ride on October 9th in the Philly area if that might be closer to a lot of you reading this. You can find more details about these great events at www.cff.org. If you cannot make it to either of these events and would like to help out with a great cause you can make a donation at http://www.cff.org/LWC/dsp_DonationPage.cfm?idEvent=16038&idUser=515887 . Thanks!

Subaru Cup Pro XCT

2011-06-29T06:05:00.001-07:00

This year’s Subaru Cup Pro XCT race was extremely challenging and fast. Taking place in Wisconsin you would never think it to be hilly, but all of the short punchy climbs on the 4 mile lap would total 500’ of elevation gain. Multiply that by 6 laps and add in 67 of the fastest Pro XCT regulars and you have yourself a race. Besides all of the short climbing it seemed as if most of the course was fairly technical singletrack loaded with plenty of twists, turns, rocks, drops, roots, and a few tight squeezes. It really reminded me of Bear Creek or French creek, but without the extended climbs which is a good thing for me. The day before the race I made the trip from PA with Travis Saeler which made the 16 hour drive seem more like 8. Our lack of rest stops had us at the venue with plenty of time to get in a few laps before going back to the hotel and hitting up the Piggly Wiggly for some food. It was a long day but there was plenty of time to rest up for the following day’s race. I was up early enough with more than adequate time to pack my race bag, check my bike over, and get nervous for a few hours so we went over to the venue early to check and see how Carolyn and Sarah were doing in the women’s race. In their race Carolyn came in 18^th and Sarah in 14^thout of one of the larger women’s fields so far this year. At the start of our race I had a mid-pack call up in 47^th, which was much better than my starting position in TX. However that did not avoid getting stuck in the traffic jam where the double track narrowed down and entered the woods 200 yards after the start. So immediately I was off of my bike and running through the weeds trying to squeeze past a few racers stuck in the slow moving gridlock. After things got moving again it was back on the bike and single file until the next wide section would open up the course for passing. From that point on it was smooth sailing and time to have fun and start making up ground. I was steadily passing other racers each lap and it felt like I could always shift into a larger gear. The laps seemed to blur together as the race went on and before I knew it I was on the final lap and pushing hard to the finish. In the end I came in 37^th and was spent after crossing the finish line. It was a great race and hopefully this event will make another appearance on the Pro XCT calendar next year.

3rd's Come In 3's

2011-06-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

Since my last post on the MASS race at French Creek I finally got to do some endurance racing and begin my campaign in the NUE series. A few weeks ago I started off my NUE season with the all new Syllamo 125k, which now happens to be one of my favorite “100 mile” races. This one comes up a little shorter than usual with mileage, but makes up for itself with some great singletrack! From the start I found myself up front with teammate, Christian Tanguy, and former NUE series winner, Jeff Schalk. The pace didn’t seem terribly fast at first as we cruised through the first half of the race together. I had been riding conservatively due to a shoulder injury that was still bothering me from crashing the previous weekend and was not planning on making any moves on my own at this point in the game. As I followed Jeff through a rocky section of trail I punctured my rear tire and was forced to stop and put a tube in the tire to get back up and running again. This unfortunate situation had me riding the rest of the race alone trying to catch back up to the leaders. In the end my place had not changed as I came in 3rd with Christian taking his second NUE series win and strengthening his lead.
Following Syllamo’s I went back to racing XC at Greenbrier State Park in MD. This race always has a stacked Pro field and this year was no exception with 20 of the area’s top pro racers on the line. The starting pace seemed just as fast as any of the Pro XCT races that I have been doing. Going into the singletrack I found myself somewhere in the top 5 and I tried to pace myself early on so that I could make up time in the later laps. As the race progressed my lap times remained steady and even got faster towards the end. However this was not enough to catch up to race winner, Nick Waite who was only a minute up, or second place finisher, Matt Bailey who had only been 20 seconds ahead. For the second race in a row I took another podium spot finishing up 3rd.
This past weekend held another stop in the NUE series with the Mohican 100. After having a breakthrough race here two years ago, finishing 5th in a super competitive field I was ready to top my previous performance. From the start this race had more of an XC feel than an endurance event with Josh Tostado taking the early lead in the singletrack. I followed Josh’s pace and we quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. After the first 15 miles we were alone, but I would soon find out that there was a chase group not too far behind containing Christian, Jeff, and Michael Simonson. By mile 30 where we exited the Mohican Wilderness we were all together for the next long stretch of fireroad and pavement. We rode at a high pace without any more attacks until around mile 50 where Michael laid down a hard effort shattering our group. Josh was the first to drop back followed by me, then Christian, while Jeff hung on and rode away from the rest of us with Michael. From here it would be a long solo stretch until I caught back up to Christian around mile 75. Once bridging back up to my teammate the two of us rode the rest of the race together hoping that the leaders would not be too far ahead. In the end we rolled through the finish together with myself in 3rd and Christian in 4th. In the meantime, teammate Cheryl Sorenson dominated the women’s race taking the win with more than 13 minutes on 2nd place!

More Traveling, More Racing, and a New Ride!

2011-05-08T18:03:00.001-07:00

I’ve been slacking a bit on the blogging, but I have been on a busy schedule since the Mellow Johnny’s Classic Pro XCT race last two weekends ago. The course, race, and the atmosphere at this race cannot even be compared to any of the other Pro XCT races so far this year. It was noticeable that the race promoters were out to please the racers at this venue with a course that was almost entirely singletrack, and great singletrack on that. This was no course where a beefed up cross bike would be envied. The trails demanded a bit of technical skill with rock gardens, loose corners, a couple of drops, and some tricky short steep power climbs. Since this was a UCI race, the laps were only 4 miles long and only 20 miles for the entire race. Even though the laps were short I would not have minded doing 10 or more laps. The day of the race was going to be busy, waking up early and handing off bottles during the Pro women’s race before going out and burning in a lap on the course before my race had started. Luckily it was overcast and cool for the women’s race which made it fun to watch, especially since everyone who I had been handing bottle to were killing it. Carolyn had a great race, cracking the top ten and finishing in 7^th which was inspiring for me to go out and try to chase down a top twenty result. By the time I got to warming up the sun had poked out and the Texas heat had greeted me reaching the 90’s in no time at all. The random call up had me in a rough starting position one row from the back, but I wasn’t going to let that bother me. Once the race started I struggled to find my way through the dust cloud for the first five minutes of the race, but then was able to get into a groove and start passing. After a fun first two laps where I passed around 20 or so racers the heat began to feel a bit taxing. I forced myself to drink and take advantage of the neutral feed zone and douse myself with a bottle of water each lap to keep my temperature down, which worked amazingly well. This allowed me to keep my pace high and by the end I finished up 26th, which wasn’t quite top 20 but it was my best Pro XCT race so far this year!

Once I got back from Texas I picked up my new S-Works Epic! After building this bike up I could not wait to get some miles on it. After a couple of days of packing, cleaning, and getting ready to move out of my old apartment I finally found the time to get out and ride this bike at Blue Knob State Park with my training partner, Travis. With a 1500’ vertical mountain to play on I quickly found out how well this bike climbed! It was just as efficient as any hardtail going up and the downhills were absolutely a blast. I have never felt another 100mm full suspension bike that ate up the bumps like this rig. When the going got rough it felt as though the bike had much more travel and I felt absolutely zero flex pushing my personal limits in the corners. By the end of the ride I was licking my chops thinking about how fun this bike was going to be to race at the MASS race at French Creek this weekend, which is one of the notoriously rocky courses on the MASS circuit.

After weeks of rain I was expecting French Creek to be a mud bath, but to my surprise the trails were bone dry with the exceptions of two slick spots that barely had enough mud to splash up onto the bike. It was great to see that the course had been lengthened from 1.5 laps or 20 miles to 2, 15 mile laps! From the start I layed it down hard in an attempt to get the hole shot entering the singletrack, but was passed close to the top of the first climb by Jeff Schalk who had the honors of leading the rest of us down the first rocky downhill. I took advantage of not leading and recovered as much as I could and let my Epic eat up all of the rocks. On the following climb I stayed glued to Jeff’s wheel as the rest of the pack began quickly dropping back. Towards the top I made a pass when Jeff bobbled, but soon after he took control of the lead and I was back to sitting in. He relentlessly hammered up all of the climbs so I began to back off a little and use my skills to catch back up on the descents. This was working beautifully for the two following descents, but I got a little carried away with myself on the next descent losing my line and catapulting myself through a rock garden at a pretty high speed. I hit the ground hard with an aching left shoulder and an instant loss of breath. I sat down for about 30 seconds to shake the cobwebs out and make sure all was good before I got back on the bike. Once back on the bike I felt slow at first and a bit uncoordinated and was soon passed by Ryan Fawley and another rider. After being passed I regained my composure and my 2^nd place position then went on to chase after Jeff. Even after crashing, my new bike left me with the same confidence as prior to my meeting with the ground. I hit the downhill’s just as hard on lap two and chased on not knowing how far ahead Jeff would be. This effort turned into a lonely one as I did not see another soul out on the course until the finish. In the end I came in about 5 minutes back from Jeff and about 6 minutes ahead of Ryan. Now it’s time to rest and heal up for Syllamo’s Revenge this coming weekend which is stop #2 in the NUE series. I can’t wait.

Tour de Tykes

2011-04-18T19:36:00.001-07:00

The Tour de Tykes XC race is one of my favorite stops in the MASS. The course is steep from start to finish, has tons of climbing (over 4,000' in 18 miles), and the downhills are a blast. Plus this race is close to my hometown of Locust Gap which is only 15 miles from where I grew up. Despite its proximity the only time I get to ride these trails is the day of the race. This year's race brought a stacked field with most of the Mid-Atlantic's fastest bunch so I knew I would have my work cut out for me. I am usually not much of a fast starter, but for some reason this race is always different. I always start it with one hard effort up the first climb into the singletrack in an attempt to start off with an early lead. As the race began I found myself pushing hard sitting on Jeff Schalk's wheel for the first half of the starting climb before making my own attack at the front. My first move was short lived as Jeff made a quick pass to regain the lead until we reached the first section of trail. Before the trail would narrow down to true singletrack I made one more attempt to get ahead of Jeff which gave me the lead and a quick 10 to 15 second gap. The first downhill went by pretty quick as I kept on the gas hoping to break up the rest of the chasers. As I started the second climb of the day I noticed that my lead had grown by another 5 to 10 seconds. I was feeling great so I continued to push harder, making it difficult for anyone to try to catch back on. After making it back into the singletrack again I was all on my own with nobody else in site. After a few minutes the course began to wrap around the mountain and double back giving a good view of the course behind me. I had noticed Jeff, Aaron, and Dylan were now about a minute back and I began to feel comfortable with my strategy. I took advantage of being by myself to properly refuel and simply have fun on the downhills rather than worrying about holding a wheel or looking for a place to pass. After a few more climbs I would descend back to the fireroad that we started on, grab a fresh bottle and take on the second half of the course. The second half has about the same amount of climbing though it never feels like it. I continued on by myself with an increasing paranoia of being caught. Every time the wind would kick up and rustle the leaves I would get gun shy. My heart rate would spike, and I would jump out of the saddle for a few seconds before I would realize that I was still alone. Towards the end of the race anyone who has ever done this event dreads the final "Moondance" climb which is a steep powerline climb with close to a 30 % grade, the steepest on the course. For me, this time reaching this climb gave me a sign of relief. With nobody in sight it was almost impossible to get caught as it is almost as fast to walk this climb as it is to ride and the following downhill is smooth enough to ride a flat to the finish if the unthinkable were to happen. Fortunately for me my race was trouble free and I was able to cruise to the finish with my first win in the MASS for the season.

Dragon's Tale

2011-04-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

I’m always excited about doing races that I have never done before. There are a lot of unknowns. The competition, course route, and trail features keep your mind going as you take in the new experience. This weekend’s race was the Dragon’s Tale, a 40 miler in the mountains around New Castle, VA. I’ve been wanting to do this race over the past couple of years, but there had always been conflicting races preventing me from going. Being run by Chris Scott, I knew this would be a quality, well organized, and fun event to start my season on the East Coast. Looking at the course profile I knew there would be a lot of climbing with two trips up a 1500’ singletrack climb followed by a long ridge ride and ending with two shorter climbs and descents after coming down from the ridge. The rolling start brought us a few miles outside of town where we turned off onto a fireroad where the race officially began. I stayed near the front and could not wait to get through the notorious stream crossing that I had been hearing about during my warmup. After 4 or 5 COLD stream crossings we came to the final crossing which was too deep to ride across with the water being knee high. I was glad to be on the other side where the fireroad began to pitch upward and as the climb continued I slowly began to warm up. As we climbed I almost forgot I was at Dragon’s Tale and not the Shenandoah 100 since the dirt road climb seemed identical. Climbing higher up I began to push the pace sensing that the singletrack was coming soon. Finally I reached aid station 1 where I grabbed a quick bottle and was the first one to start the big climb with Ian Spivack of DCMTB close behind. Early on in the climb I upped my pace and slowly pulled away reaching the top alone. Once on top of the mountain I had wished that I had some time to stop, relax and take in the view. Looking out from the top of the ridge was a beautiful site of the Southern Virginia mountains, but with no time for site-seeing I continued across the ridge a short distance before descending back to the fireroad. The trip back down was a blast ripping through switchbacks, hopping over rocks and letting myself flow over the trail. By the time I reached the bottom I was refreshed and ready to climb again. I grabbed two more bottles at the aid station and hammered up the climb with the same effort as I had the first time, but towards the top I started to notice some fatigue as I was forced to walk a couple of the steep switchbacks that I had ridden the first time up. Once back up on top the course followed the ridge out in the opposite direction for 12 miles before descending to the next aid station. I had really underestimated this section of trail. Being on top of the mountain I expected to encounter more gently rolling terrain, but most of the time it was either steep, rocky, or a combination of the two. After laboring twice up the big climb this part of the race was the most challenging, but the amazing views made it worthwhile. Towards the end I was hoping that each downhill would be the one that would take me back to the bottom of the mountain and once I made it there I was treated to one really great descent. Once at the bottom I filled up my bottle before leaving the last aid station and pushed on for the last six miles. Right out of the aid station it was back to climbing again. Although it wasn’t as long as the first climb it was much steeper and more difficult due to fatigue. Towards the top it got steep and rocky, so I decided to play the “no dab” game and try not to put a foot down. After a hard effort I successfully made it to the top without walking and hit the next downhill with a smile on my face. I pushed on for one more short and steep climb and then finally hit the last downhill which led to a dirt road which would soon turn to pavement leading to the finish. I rolled into the finish alone in 3:45:00 and took my first win of the season. I was completely satisfied with my new race experience and plan on making it a regular visit on my early season schedule.

California Dreaming

2011-03-27T10:58:00.001-07:00

It’s been a busy couple of weeks as the race season has finally gotten underway, first with the opening Pro XCT race in Bonelli Park, CA followed by another Pro XCT race two weeks later in Fontana, CA. Going into Bonelli I was totally unsure of what to expect. That first race of the season always has my nerves on end and my caffeine addiction does not help in the efforts of keeping me calm. The morning of the race I may have appeared to be relaxed, but my mind was constantly racing thinking about all of the different possible outcomes to the start of the season, but once the gun went off it was go time. Starting in the middle of close to 90 other racers I left my initial pacing up to the sea of riders jockeying for position. Once the initial starting frenzy settled I began picking my way through the field and kept the highest pace I knew I coul

d maintain for the duration of the event. The first of seven, three mile laps went extremely fast and the course left no time for resting. Its short steep climbs, fast rocky descents, steep chutes, and berms kept me on edge and focused the entire time. The second through fifth laps followed a similar pattern and I continued to pick off other racers one by one. By the beginning of the sixth lap the pain started to come on hard, but the brief three mile l

aps made it easy to press on without backing off too much, and after that it was one lap to go! With such short laps I was surprised to not have gotten pulled as I did during my last Pro XCT event two years ago in Windham, NY. This gave me some good motivation along with the km markers that lined the course. Seeing 6 k to go at the beginning of a lap is a good thing when you just want to be finished, considering that pro road racers begin positioning for a field sprint around this mark. So I dug in deep and sucked it up to the finish line only getting passed by one or two others along the way. At the end of the day I finished 33^rd and was already thinking about Fontana in the coming weeks.

The Fontana course was quite a bit different than Bonelli with much more climbing, a little more mileage (five, five mile laps), and lots of high speed technical goodness. The main feature on the course is THE climb which rises 400 feet in a little over a half mile. This section is intense while just riding let alone while redlined in a race. After doing a couple of pre-ride laps on Thursday and Friday I could not wait to let loose on Saturday’s race. My call up for this week had me starting around the same halfway point and with the first race out of the way I was much less nervous, though the feeling never goes away whether it is a big UCI event like this or a local MASS race. The start was pretty much the same as Bonelli for the first 100 yards until we hit the first little rise with a sharp turn at the top. This rise was small enough to spit to the top of, but with racers trying to fit 15 wide and make the turn it left most of us walking and I could not help but to laugh at the situation. The same thing happened on the first small climb before it all calmed down and the field began to slowly string out. I got lucky being in the right place at the right time in a few sections and was able to make up some solid ground riding past racers who were getting caught up in slower traffic and being forced off of their bikes. By the time we made it to the big climb for the first time I was scoping out my line which ran up a large rock slab right next to the beat in line that everyone else was taking. It was open so I took it without hesitation passing at least ten others before jumping back in line. After that it was a slow crawl to the top before descending the mountain. I was riding hard and felt good both on the ups and downs of the first lap so I followed the strategy of riding hard, conserving a bit before the big climb, hammering to the top, and “recovering” on the way to the bottom with some good efforts on the rolling climbs. I was able to make some passes on the second and third laps while climbing and continued to feel strong. By lap four I was starting to crawl into the pain cave, and made a couple of more passes but those would soon be lost on the final lap. With one to go I still felt strong coming into the feed zone and up the first short climb, but that all ended when I hit the wall of a climb which also meant hitting the wall as in bonking for myself. I had definitely been drinking enough out on the course, but I guess I had not realized how hard I had been pushing it until I started seeing stars every time I blinked. Time to take it slow! Trying to preserve as much energy as I could I made the slow crawl to the top and surprisingly was not passed until close to the summit where a train of less depleted riders hopped in front of me. I forced myself not to follow my instincts on chasing and to try to recover which kept matters from getting worse. I did manage to recover a bit and caught a breath of a second wind and was able to move at a not so slow speed up the rolling climbs that interrupted the long descent to the finish. At the end of the 25 mile death march I ended up in 52^nd and finished my second ProXCT event of the year on the leaders lap. Putting things into perspective I am definitely happy with my performance since it is early March and old man winter has not yet left PA. With some good race miles in my legs I’m ready to go home and do some local racing starting with the Dragon’s Tale 50 mile race next weekend in Southern VA. It’s going to be a great year for sure and there are a few more Pro XCT’s and a pile of NUE races to gear up for.

Bringing this thing back again...

2011-03-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

After paying very little attention to this blog last year due to posting on the PAValleys.com blog I am finally going to be posting on here again. I can assure you there will be many exciting things to talk about. Since last season I've found a great new team and have already begun my racing season at the first ProXCT in Bonelli two weekends ago. There will be more on that and a post in the near future on Fontana. So far the forecast is looking good out in Cali... rain showers almost every day! Maybe I'll get lucky enough for some mud, but if the sun is shining I guess I can't complain either!

Finally got a podium finish

2010-06-01T15:10:00.001-07:00

Finally got a podium finish in todays stage coming in 3rd place behind Bishop and Grant.

Two good days at Trans

2010-05-31T15:24:00.001-07:00

Two good days at Trans Sylvania. 6th in the prologue and 4th in todays 40 mile stage. Sitting in 4th overall!

Finally won at this year's

2010-05-16T17:18:00.001-07:00

Finally won at this year's Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour race! Race report and pictures up soon at blog.pavalleys.com

A slap in the face followed by a kick to the teeth

2010-02-10T06:38:00.000-08:00

That's what it feels like to be living in PA right now. Just as I was getting into a good training routine the weather has been rather uncooperative. Over 2 feet of snow was dumped on Bedford over the weekend and another 5 or 6 inches since last night. With only a month and a half to go until I begin racing every weekend I will not let the weather get the best of me. The race season will start whether I get the base miles in or not. So last night I set a personal best of 2.5 hours on the trainer and surprisingly I wasn't completely bored out of my mind. Mixing up rides like this with a bit of snowshoeing should hopefully have me ready to go.... lets just wait and see.

Pig Monsters

2010-02-08T06:56:00.001-08:00

I got a parking ticket on Saturday. I was supposedly on a snow route which still remains unmarked as one and I was one of five cars on the block. To show my appreciation for the local authorities I included this letter with my payment. Also, the street is still covered in snow and looks like shit after two days.

New year, new team, more to come...

2010-01-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

For 2010, the domestic Cannondale Factory Racing team is no more and I will now be joining forces with the PAValleys.com team (formerly VisitPA.com). It has been a great run over the past 5 years racing for the Cannondale Factory Racing team and all of it's alias' as we continuously switched title sponsors. Some great memories have been made over the years and I cannot be thankful enough for the support that I've gotten. Even though we are in the middle of winter I cannot wait to start racing again with my new team. 2010 will be the best season yet as we are going to have a major focus on the MASS, River Towns Race Series, the Transylvania Epic , and I will personally be out to land a win at the 24 Hour Solo National Championships and land a few podium spots at some of the NUE 100 mile races. I'll also try to update this blog a little more and you will be able to check out team news at blog.pavalleys.com.

2 Down 2 to Go

2009-09-15T08:09:00.001-07:00

The Shenandoah 100 was a good test of fitness for this time of year. A flat and a couple of small mistakes had me finishing in 6th, a few spots back behind where I wanted to be in the results, but overall the race went great. The legs felt fresh on every climb, even the 17 miler that roundhouse kicked me in the face a few years back. I also cut my finishing time to under 7 and a half hours, which was over a half an hour faster than the last time I did the event and most of the race was all by myself! Finishing ahead of me were Jeremiah Bishop, Christian Tanguy, Jeff Schalk, Jesse Jakomait, and Sam Korber.

Moving on to Bear Creek..... My legs still felt fresh and I was killing it on the climbs, but for some reason I could not ride smoothly through a rock garden to save myself. Maybe a little too much caffeine for the day had me trying to push too hard through sections that I should have been more relaxed on? Oh well, I still placed 3rd for the day behind Aaron and Harlan and wrapped up the overall win for the Mid Atlantic Super Series. Hopefully I get my skills back for this weekend's Terror of Teaberry 40 mile race at Michaux. I'm always looking forward to riding and racing at Michaux... as long as I can just relax and rip up some singletrack. The Teaberry race will be my final race before 24 Hours of Moab next month. Until then I will be putting in some long hours in the saddle, especially the final two Saturday's before Moab, so if anyone wants join me in riding till I bonk let me know. These rides will be either at Michaux or on the road near Shippensburg.

Picture Update

2009-08-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit lazy on the blogging, but I have to at least put in a picture update to show off the old man's photo skills. The racing had been good, and I can't wait for the Shenandoah 100. Let's just hope I don't bonk and have to drink from a creek like the last time I did this race.

24-9

2009-07-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

Stop #2 on the Granny Gear National Points Series brought me back to 9 Mile State Forest in Wausau, WI. Looking back at what had happened last year, I wasn't looking forward to this one. It was bound to be a long day in the hurt locker. The course is tons of fun, but mostly flat which means that there are no breaks at all. To move forward you must pedal, and coasting is limited. After winning the first race at Big Bear I was motivated enough to go out and give it my all. On Thursday I packed everything up and spent 16 hours in the car driving to WI with Jocelyn and my parents. We rolled into the hotel late that night and immediately went to bed. Friday called for an easy pre-ride of the course which was done on a 2010 Scalpel (lighter, faster, better) which I would also pilot for a few laps during the race. After the pre-ride I went out with Jocelyn and showed her around on some singletrack for the first time and then finished the ride on some access roads as we looked for good photo ops with my Dad. After that was dinner time and bed for a good nights rest.

The morning of the race, I was nervous as usual and couldn't wait to get this whole thing started. I repeated my start from Big Bear with a good run and was the first solo on the bike. Hitting the first couple of laps pretty hard, I found myself at the front, but with local Ben Koenig right behind. Not knowing much about Ben beforehand left me with some uncertainties. Throughout the day laps I kept my pace steady and brisk, but could not put more than a minute on Ben during any given lap and he was always in sight. I began to prepare myself for a hard fought race to the end. Once the sun set and the night set in I picked up my efforts slightly and began to gain some time on Ben and the rest of the solo field. The night went by quick as I switched from my Scalpel to my 29'er and let my Lupine Betty lead the way. Each lap I would gain a few minutes which added up to a half hour advantage by sunrise. As the sun came up I returned back to my Scalpel and picked up the pace once again in a final effort to seal in the win. By 10:30 a.m. I gained another 20 minutes on Ben and reassured myself the top spot on the podium and a comfortable lead in the Granny Gear Series over Bob Anderson, who placed 3rd for the day. This win did not come easy at all as the pressure was on the entire race. One bad lap and the race could have been lost. Congrats to all who suffered this one out for the full 24 hours. This course is not an easy one to push through. And as always thanks to Jocelyn and my parents for their support. These races couldn't be done without you! Only one more 24 this year and I already cannot wait.

Fair Hill Classic

2009-07-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I had to get up at 4 a.m. for a bike race... I don't really like getting up at 4 a.m. , but after a mug of coffee and some chocolate covered espresso beans (Thanks Jocelyn) I was fully awake and we were about halfway to Elkton, MD. I haven't done this race for a few years, but this is always a good one to go to. The trails are fun and twisty, the turnout is usually pretty high which draws some good competition, and it is usually hot and humid which would be the case for the day's race. After the 2.5 hour drive listening to a combination of Otep and Stretch Arm Strong Jocelyn and I got to the race with about 2 hours to spare to the start. I went over the map I printed out for her and my parents to locate me throughout the race and was relieved that it seemed fairly simple for once (little did I know most of the roads were unaccessible that appeared on the map). After an easy warm up I rolled up to the starting line and grabbed a spot up front and waited anxiously for go time. The start was fast. Instead of leading this one out, I sat in around 5th place for the first couple of miles before sprinting to the front in order to get into the singletrack first. I was feeling great pushing the big ring, railing turns, and feeling comfortable, but was unable to gain any time on the other racers on this mostly rolling and smooth course. I soon zoned out and blew a turn losing about 5 positions which I would eventually gain back as I made my way into 2nd place behind one of the twins. From this point on I would remain in a twin and Chris Beck sandwhich for the next 10 miles or so until Chris laid down an attack and I followed dropping both twins. I took over the lead in the singletrack and Chris followed close behind. We kept the pace high and made every effort to keep on gaining time on the rest of the pack. The second half of the course went by in a flash and the only thing I remember was how much it hurt. By the end Chris was still with me as we came out onto the final stretch of the course which was a wide open section of dirt road, pavement, and grass. We both prepared for a sprint finish and left every ounce of energy behind as we battled for the top spot. In the end I finished 2nd just a few seconds behind and about 3 minutes up on the twins. It was a great race, but I really can't wait for this upcoming weekend at Michaux. Their summer race has been my favorite since I've started racing.

Some pics from the Long Pine Classic..... singlespeeder.smugmug.com

Long Pine Classic

2009-07-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

This was my first race back into action since Big Bear a few weeks ago. I was feeling well rested, but was unsure of how fast I might be in a cross country style event. Regardless, I'd be racing at Michaux, the best place in the country to ride a bike if you drool over rock gardens, long climbs, and bone jarring descents like I do. The start of the race was about as relaxed as any other Michaux race despite being a part of the MASS series. We had a group rollout with a moto leading the way and chatter filled the air among the peleton. We continued at a casual pace for about a half of a mile until I got bored and picked up the pace and decidedly started the race for the day. The course turned left up a steep fireroad climb and I was passed by Ray, Martin, and another racer but kept on their wheels as we continued to climb. It hurt, but I felt like I could have gone a bit harder if needed. About halfway up the climb, the course entered the first section of singletrack. Just before going into the singletrack I snuck into 2nd place behind Martin. It wouldn't be much longer until we would put a gap on those behind us as we shredded the sweet singletrack that Michaux has to offer. I continued to ride with Martin throughout the first half of the course, then decided to make my move on an extended climb up Canada Hollow where I gained a 30 second lead. After descending some fireroads and wide trail I saw Jocelyn and my parents waiting for me. I accidentally threw a fresh bottle to the ground as Jocelyn handed me a fresh bottle which was meant to replace the empty in my back jersey pocket. Not realizing this right away, I continued on and felt like a dumbass moments later after noticing what I had done. Just seconds after entering the next climb I became aware of a slowly leaking rear tire and stopped to air it up. As I did Martin appeared out of nowhere. This led me to think that this would be a race to the finish. I hopped back on my Scalpel and continued with the steep climb, passing Martin on the way up. We were about 2/3 of the way through the race and I felt fine, so I decided to dig deep and leave everything I had out on the course. There was still a considerable amount of climbing left, which allowed for me to gain about a 2 minute lead. Getting closer to the finish, I knew it would be almost all downhill back to the venue, which gave me some comfort knowing that I had the race won short of a crash or a mechanical. Making my way onto the last section of trail, I climbed up a powerline and prepared for the final short decent to the finish when I was stopped by the timing crew who appeared to be spectators until I was right next to them. Looks like I'm back up to speed from Big Bear and on a winning streak. This makes 3 in a row since Tour de Tykes. Props to Zack and the Fast Forward Development Team for hosting their first MASS race. The course was amazing and well organized... and what other MASS race do you get to spray champagne on the podium?

24 Hours of Big Bear

2009-06-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

With this year's racing season being focused around the Granny Gear 24 Hour National Point Series, I was extremely nervous all week about racing at Big Bear. If you have never been around one of these races there is a lot that you might be unaware of as far as preparation goes. Besides physically being able to race for this long EVERYTHING needs to be PERFECT or at least near perfect for the race to be a success. That goes for having the proper nutrition during the race, having a backup bike in perfect condition at all times, and having a pit crew to take care of all of this plus provide split times, encouragement, a little bit of love, and sometimes a cruel sense of humor to keep you going if things get bad.

Saturday morning, race day, I woke up with a sore throat and a little bit of sinus congestion... just what I wanted to start off with for a 24 hour race. Instead of thinking about it too much I ignored it as best as possible and kept the not so good feelings to myself. This was not going to affect my race. We rolled into our pit area after breakfast and my parents began to set up as I lounged around and hung out with Rob, who saved us a kick ass spot to pit in on the first section of singletrack. The morning seemed like it was dragging on forever waiting for the race to start, but soon enough it would be time for the LeMans (running) start, which I would rather take a time penalty than participate in, but unfortunately that is not an option. Altough I despise this kind of start, I was the 3rd person to my bike after the run. No too bad for a short legged boy. Only two others were ahead, Josh Tostado and somebody riding for a duo team. After the first few miles of trail, I settled into the pace I would attempt to hold for the remaining 23 hours and however many minutes remained. Everything was going smoothly as planned and the course was a blast to ride. It was almost all singletrack with a few rocky sections, 4 or 5 steep short climbs, one breath taking downhill, and a little bit of West Virginia mud. My Cannondale 29'er handled the course flawlessly and would eventually be backed up by my Scalpel for whenever I needed that little bit of rear suspension to take the edge off. After finishing my third lap I pulled into my pit to see that Jocelyn had made it to the race and was already helping my parents help me. I grabbed a quick bite to eat, collected my bottles, gave her a big muddy kiss, and went back to business. After a few more laps it would be time to mount Betty on my helmet and ride off into the night. This is the part I always dread during a 24 hour race. The night will either make you or break you. Since I tried to conserve as much as I could during the day, I planned to keep the pace steady at night and try to make some time on Josh who now had about a 20 minute gap on me. Pushing on through the night I felt better every lap and for the most part was able to keep an awareness of everything that was going on around me. After midnight I made an extended stop to sing Happy Birthday to my Mom! Gotta love her for putting up with this kind of nonsense, especially on her birthday. After that it was time for another lap and some more suffering. Everything was hurting as usual, but my attitude remained positive the entire time. Towards the end of the night I was beginning to gain back some time on Josh and I was prepared for this to be a race to the end between us. However this was not the case as Josh had cramped up badly just before sunrise and was forced to stop, leaving me with the lead, 2 laps up on 2nd place. As much as I would have liked to take this race to the very end, I felt a sign of relief and was able to back off of the gas a little and try to enjoy my final few laps on the course. I finished my final lap at 9:30a.m. after my dad had figured out that it would be impossible to be caught after this time. This concluded my first big win of the season and gave me a huge confidence boost for the next stop in the Granny Gear series at 24 Hours of 9 Mile next month. I am already looking forward to doing this again! And big thanks to my parents and Jocelyn for the support this weekend, you're the best. I could not do these races without you.

Tour de Tykes XC

2009-06-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

This race is always one of my favorites. It has tons of long steep climbs, steep fast descents, and a few rocky sections. Plus it’s really close to where I grew up, even though I have never ridden there other than racing and pre-riding over the past several years. This year I was even more excited to do this race, since this was the first race that my girlfriend, Jocelyn would be attending and I would get to go home for the day to see my family.

The turnout wasn’t as high as it had been the past few years in part to race conflicts (the Massenutten Hoo-Ha and the Philly road race were the same day), but that would not make the race any easier. Racer’s to watch out for on Sunday were Kyle, Ray, the twins, my teammate TJ, and Chris Beck, who usually gets the upper hand on me when there’s a lot of climbing. From the start I set a pretty high tempo halfway up the first climb then kicked it up a notch to make sure that I entered the singletrack first. On this first climb I felt great and knew that I would be able to ride at or near the front the entire race. The only one keeping pace with me up the first climb was Chris. We rode down the first descent together and bolted up the second climb at a similar pace. Nobody else was within close distance and I wanted to keep it that way. As the course continued its climb descend pattern, I hammered up each climb and took some chances on the downhills to try to lose Chris as I did not want him to be within sight on the more technical second half of the course. My strategy worked, but not without a price to pay. My aggressive riding style made my legs want to cramp in the worst way, but by properly refueling and slowing down the pace for a little while I was able to shake it off and continue my suffering on the second half of the course. Although I did not see anybody, I continuously heard other riders since the course doubled back on itself in more than one place. This made me extremely nervous since it would be hard to kick up the pace if someone would catch back up to me, but fortunately I was able to roll solo through the second half of the course taking the win and setting a course record! Well that’s two weeks of good racing in a row. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this trend going for 24 hours of Big Bear this coming weekend.

Raising the Bar

2009-05-31T06:32:00.000-07:00

Other accounts of how it went down:
http://cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2009/may09/mohican100_09
http://velonews.com/article/92650/bishop-outfoxes-a-small-group-in-the-final-miles-of-the
http://www.mtbracenews.com/ - Sat, May 30

This year for the Mohican 100 mile race I set an ambitious goal to cut a half an hour off of my 8 hour time from last year, but it turned out that I was able to accomplish much more during my visit to the pain cave yesterday. Taking a look around at the starting line I had no doubts that I could accomplish the goal that I had set for myself, but it seemed that if I were to get a top 10 result I would have to push myself even harder. Some of those present included last year's series winner, Jeff Schalk, national champion, Jeremiah Bishop, Tinker, who has won just about every title thinkable, 6-time 24 hour solo world champion, Chris Eatough, and some other endurance maniacs such as Michael Simonson, Christian Tanguy, Josh Tostado, Harlan Price, Chris Beck, and my winter training partner and 2-time Granny Gear 24 hour series winner, Rob, who I drove down to the race with on Friday night. I am usually pretty calm and collective at the start of a race but all it took was one glance at this crowd and the nerves began to fire. At the start I took advantage of the draft and sat in until we reached the trail where I began to move towards the front of the race. My plan was to get with the leaders, hold on as long as I could, and finish strong and steady. Before we filed into the singletrack, I moved up into 3rd place behind Bishop and Simonson with Tinker, Schalk, and Tanguy in tow. We ripped up the first 25 miles of singletrack and put a large gap on the rest of the field, which left me with a nervous feeling for the rest of the day. I was constantly looking back waiting to get freight trained by a hungry pack of chasers. In our group of six, we kept a steady pace up to the second aid station, where Bishop stopped to grab some bottles, and I stopped to grab a bottle and my Hydrapak. I had to stay a bit longer so that I could fill up a bottle before continuing on. Once I got back on my bike, nobody else was in sight.... Shit!, time to chase. For the next 8 miles, I went into time trial mode to catch back on. After joining back up with the rest of the group, I ate and drank as much as possible to try to recover and did as little work as I could. Once I recovered, it was game on. The course flattened out for 10 miles on a railroad bed before the climbing would resume, so I took my pulls and recovered the rest of the time. As soon as the climbing began I launched some small attacks up each and every one riding side by side or slightly behind Schalk. Though I was hurting, I felt like I could keep up with this for the rest of the race, which I did, but was unable to wear down any of the other racers in my group enough to have them drop back. We continued to ride together until the final 5 miles of singletrack where the finale of the race turned into an all out sprint. Going into the singletrack ahead of me was Bishop, Schalk, Simonson, and Tanguy, while Tinker was behind me. The four ahead took off and out of sight. I made every effort I could to not let them get away, but that had turned into a lost cause. Tinker was right on my wheel the entire time, and I knew it would be a battle between the two of us until the finish. Almost at the end of the race, I saw the campground where the finish was so I let out what I thought would be one final finishing sprint, but theen the course took a turn and went up one last leg burning climb where I struggled to stay ahead of Tinker. Once at the top of the climb I knew the finish was even closer and I pegged it until the end finishing a second up on Tinker, which has been a goal of mine for the past few years as he has been someone that I had looked up to since I began racing. It was a truly incredible experience which I immediately celebrated post race by having a beer and relaxing in the shade with the man in dread locks. And the finishing time for the race..... 6:53: and a couple of seconds! What made the trip to Ohio even better was seeing Rob come in 3 places later killing it in under 7:15:00. I don't care how far away the two of us are living now. Having Rob as my winter training partner will always be worth the drive. I also want to give a mention to Travis, my new local training partner who kicked some ass in the 100k race, placing in the top 3.

Cascade Classic, Granogue, and DSG

2009-05-17T06:31:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update on these and maybe I'll get my act together with some up to date posts.

Cascade Classic

Also known as the CAT Classic, this race has been known for its abusive trails and high payout. The rock gardens, steep climbs and descents, and overall raw feeling of this course has made this race one of my local favorites over the past couple of years. I did not get to make it to the race last year, because of conflict with the Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour race, so I was really looking forward to doing it again. I rode up to the race with Ray and Nancy, stopping at the Selinsgrove Brewery for dinner the night before. The day of the race, I felt pretty good, but was disappointed to see a low turnout for the event. I guess with this being 1 of 3 races going on in PA and being located the farthest away for most people was a deterrent. Even with the low turnout it was still going to be a good race. I had figured that it would be a close race between myself, Ray, Martin, and TJ. Ray was a just a little to close for comfort the week before at Greenbrier, so a win for him would not have been out of the question. Martin finally got his new Scalpel and CFR kit, so this was going to be his first race on a geared bike for the season. TJ was lucky enough to have this course close to home. From the start, I sat in behind Ray, letting him set the tone through the first couple of rock gardens and down the decent to the bottom of the 8 mile course. I was feeling very relaxed and at some point or another on the climb back up, I decided to up the pace just a little bit, which allowed me to put a significant gap on everyone else. From that point on I continued to hold a high tempo on the climbs and kept smooth on the decents. I tried to remain as steady as possible, being careful not to go into overdrive so that I would still have some gas in the tank for Granogue on Sunday. This strategy worked out well and I was able to take the win with a couple minutes to spare. Ray was 2nd, Martin 3rd, and TJ 4th.

Granogue Mudfest
After the Cascade Classic, I drove back to H'burg with Ray and Nancy, then went to spend the night at Kyle's and drive to Delaware the next morning. The forecast was calling for heavy rain on Sunday and I couldn't wait. I didn't get to race in the mud for a long time. It rained just about the whole drive down, and stayed steady through the start of the race. Early on in the race I found it hard to keep towards the front, but as I calmed myself down I began to get back into my groove just in time to make another mistake in the mud. Even though I was moving back up to the front of the race, it felt like I was putting in much more effort than I should have had to. I bridged up to Rob and kid Jeff and rode with them for lap 2 as we chased after Wes off of the front. The rain had slowed and the mud had thickened. This in combination with a couple hundred racers navigating the course had made about half of the course unridable. It was half running and half riding, and in my case the riding was in the big ring as chain suck made the smaller ring on my 2X9 setup worthless. Rob and Jeff got away on lap three and were completely out of sight. I didn't see anyone behind me and being by myself started to forget that I was racing. Without being as frantic I finally was able to cut through the mud with ease. Halfway through the last lap I caught and passed Jeff, then began to hunt down Rob. Soon enough I caught back up to Rob through a running section before I made my last attempt at catching Wes. With less than a half a lap to go I made up 1.5 minutes on Wes, but never caught sight of him. By the end I was glad to be out of the mud, and 2nd place wasn't to bad in day 2 of racing for the weekend. Plus it gave me a little bit of practice for DSG which was the following weekend in Fayetteville, TN.

DSG
7 days of consecutive rain + 1 in. of rain each day + clay (not dirt or the promoter) = shitfest, not to be confused with the mudfest mentioned above. I went into this race with a great deal of optimism. It was my first big endurance event of the year, my legs have been feeling great, and I got to do this race last year in some pretty bad conditions where I placed 2nd to Tinker and took home a fat $1000 check. So yeah, I wasn't only optimistic, but I have been looking forward to doing this race again for a long time. With all of the rain that had come the week leading up to the race, I figured it would be just like last year (walk the bike on the climbs, clean it at the top, and ride the decents and the flats like a mad man). The morning of the race I felt great despite the 12 hour drive 2 nights before and was ready to take care of business. A lot of big names had shown up once again including Josh Tostado, Ernesto Marenchin, Evan Plews, Harlan, and Jeremiah Bishop who was competing in his first 12 hour race. Besides the competition, I had a bit of extra motivation to do well. Though it was nothing personal against me, after hearing and witnessing a bit of arrogance displayed by another racer I was even more ready to go out there and win it. The start of the race greeted us with a heavy thunderstorm which thinned out the mud and made almost everything ridable for the first lap. At the end of that lap things were looking good. I was in 3rd place behind Josh and Jeremiah, and felt like I was riding effortlessly. It was going to be a great day. On lap 2 I caught and passed Josh with ease, but knew it would be some time before I would catch up to Jeremiah who was pinning it early on as if the race was going to be over within just a few hours. The rain had stopped on this lap and the mud quickly began to thicken up making a significant part of the course unridable. With lap 2 being 30 minutes slower than lap 1, I began to realize that the fun was about to end unless we got another storm to thin out the mud. Lap 3 started off ok. I traded in my muddy 29er for a clean Scalpel, strapped on a fresh Hydrapak, and put a clean bottle with a GU attached in my cage. After disappearing from the pit area into the singletrack the mud began to pile up as I waked the first climb. At the top I quickly cleaned it off and rode down the following decent to only stop at the bottom and clean the bike once again as the wheels would completely lock up from mud build up. Soon enough pushing became the only option left as climbs, decents, and flats were all unridable, and pushing even became difficult as the mud piled up on my bike, adding an additional 25 or so lbs to its weight. As I was pushing I ran into Colt from cyclingdirt.com and was interviewed mid race about how shitty the conditions were. Keeping a positive demeanor during the interview was easy, but as soon as I was out of sight it was back to grumbling and hating my walk. I was about 3/4 of the way through the lap and 2 hours in (lap 1 took only an hour) when I found a short cut back to the pits. I felt like a quitter making my retreat, but this was no longer a bike race. It was a foot race through the most disgusting mud I have ever come across. My attitude changed when I made it back to the pits and saw Ernesto laughing while I was walking back. He had quit after lap 2 as he had already trashed 3 bikes! We joked about the whole situation and he told me that just about everyone else had counted their losses and dropped out. Only 3 guys were left in the solo pro category; Jeremiah, Harlan, and Andy. They each completed 4 laps and fought heavily for the title of "I can walk faster than you". I was happy that I did not enter that contest. I had a lot more fun in the pit area with my parents and the other racers who had dropped out. It was a shame that the conditions were as bad as they were. Hopefully this doesn't keep people from coming back next year, because Grant and Clay know how to put on an awesome race. I have been told that they will even have a 3 mile backup course in the surrounding fields if the singletrack becomes a disaster again in the future, so at least everyone will be able to ride their bikes. ....Or maybe they could go out and drain the puddles, or pave the singletrack, or maybe even go as far as laying out a red carpet so that the leaders dont get all muddy. Regardless, I'll be back again next year. Grant and Clay, thanks again for putting on a great race even though the conditions were probably the worst ever.

Greenbrier XC

2009-04-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

Its still spring, but the 90 some degree temps with a touch of humidity had me fooled into thinking it was mid August. With the heat beating down, it was going to be a miserable day, but at least it would be miserable for everybody since I don't believe anyone in the Mid-Atlantic spent their winter training in the tropics. It would only take an easy spin to get warmed up before the start and pre-race preparations would emphasize on staying hydrated rather than the usual hour long warm up. On the starting line I was a bit uncertain of the competition. There were some of the usuals; Aaron, Ray, Harlan, Kyle, the twins, and quite a few unknowns, which always makes things a bit interesting. From the gun I missed a pedal as I am still getting used to my stylish road shoes, but as soon as I secured myself to the bike, I darted off to be first into the woods before settling into what would be a pace to be kept for the remainder of the race. On the first lap there were quite a few of us riding together, but as we rolled into the start/finish I was only able to account for myself, Aaron, Harlan, Ray, and one of the twins. Getting away early in the race makes everything else go so much smoother as I am able to concentrate more on riding than chasing down the leaders. The pace remained steady and the lead would change off between myself, Harlan, and Aaron, with none of us really attacking. The three of us continued to pull away from the rest of the field, and Ray was always lingering close behind, almost popping out of nowhere towards the end of each lap. The heat wasn't as unbearable while racing as it was prior to the start, but dropping a bottle on the 3rd lap due to a broken bottle cage wasn't a huge help. So instead of panicking, I pretended as if it didn't happen. I laid off the gas and conserved as much as possible without falling off of Harlan and Aaron's pace. I was so happy to start the fourth lap as we rolled through, and I was presented with a fresh bottle which I would down before the lap was over. Feeling better with some hydration I was ready for the race to begin on the final lap. My legs were burning from the first four, but I felt like I could keep the pace steady for one more round. On the first climb Harlan took off, not taking a feed and Aaron was right behind with me in tow. With the heat, I decided to play it safe and ride steadily through the last lap and attack at the top of the last climb to prevent blowing up midway through the final lap. As Aaron and Harlan disappeared off the front I found myself alone wondering how much energy Ray had left in the tank. I pressed on, constantly looking over my shoulder, only to see noone. Near the top of the last climb I made my attack just as planned but by myself. I was hoping that I would catch Harlan, Aaron, or both of them by the finish, but they had already gained too much ground as I didn't even catch a glimpse of either one as I time trialed to the finish in 3rd. Aaron took the win about 2 minutes up with Harlan in 2nd only 45 seconds up, and Ray was still behind in 4th, about a minute back.

Next weekend, Cat Classic followed by either Michaux or Granogue.... I'll make up my mind soon enough.

New Gear and Racing Dirt

2009-04-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

First off I just wanted to send out a big thanks to my boys over at Lupine for supplying me with a new Betty head lamp and a cute little back up battery small enough to tape to my helmet. Aside from needing lights for endurance racing, my work schedule isn’t very friendly for daytime riding, so I’m pressed to do almost all of my training in the dark. So I really can’t thank these guys enough. Thursday was my first night out with Betty tearing up the trails at Blue Knob. As soon as it was dark enough, I reached up, turned her on, and low and behold the sun began to rise in the distance…. Not really, but just imagine how bright an LED head lamp with 1500 lumens is when most HID systems are around 900 lumens. It was an incredible experience as enough of my surroundings were lit up that the ride became no different than a ride in the day time. Ripping down singletrack at over 20 mph felt comfortable and I felt that the dark of the night had never held me back. I can’t wait to actually race with her… only a few more weeks until Dirt, Sweat, and Gears.

Fair Hill Race Report

Thinking back from last year, I was looking forward to this race being another suffer fest, a day in the pain cave, the hurt locker, or whatever else you want to call it. All the usual suspects were there, Jeff, both Chris’ (Eatough and Beck), Harlan, Aaron, Kyle, and just about every other fast dude in the Mid-Atlantic. I chilled at Kyle’s place the night before and caught a ride to the race with Kyle and his Uncle Harry. Arriving 3.5 hours before go time was a little early, but the boredom was short lived after everyone else began to show up. I went out and did a lap on the course with Martin and was digging the big wheels on my new 29er. After a good warm up I cruised around and just kept the legs moving until it was time for staging. I got in line right behind Eatough as I had no intentions of going for the hole shot. It would be a good mile or so before the course funnels into the first singletrack. Shortly after the gun went off, I began to ponder whether my winter/spring training would pay off. Everyone was so damn fast, and I had to fight hard just to stay within the top ten. I got into the first section of trail in 7^th or 8^th and moved into 4^th as soon as the opportunities were given for me to make my passes. Jeff was leading followed by Harlan, Eatough, myself, and Beck. We drilled it at a steady tempo and broke away from the rest of the field halfway through the first lap and kept the pace steady through the second lap. Up until the third lap, I felt unusually comfortable, found it easy to stay hydrated, and raced smarter rather than harder. I planned to make my move right before the first singletrack on the last lap as I felt I had the legs to take the win. Instead Jeff attacked as soon as the last lap began, so it was race on. I grabbed my last lap coke and pinned it to try and catch on, but Jeff only pulled farther and farther away, so I returned back to a more steady pace and left Harlan and Chris to attack as I sat on. Soon after Harlan would trail off and Eatough slowly began to pull away, so I upped my pace again to keep Eatough in sight and keep Harlan at bay. Beck was still on my wheel and I knew it would be a hell of a battle between the two of us on the final lap. Throughout the rest of the lap I would keep my pace steady for the most part and launch small attacks whenever I heard Beck make a small mistake from behind, but I could never get rid of him. We came up on the last short steep hill on the course and I punched it, knowing that this was where Beck would attack. Barely making the pass he snuck ahead of me and it was time to ride his wheel until the final opening before the finish. Trailing him by about 5 yards it was a sprint to the finish, but our positions remained the same, Jeff took the win with Eatough in 2^nd and Harlan behind in 5^th. It looks like ’09 is going to be a great year, I can’t wait to see what it holds.

Marysville Relay Race ….. It has some long ass name that I am going to refrain from using because it will hog up all of the space on my blog in this h

2009-04-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

I'll make this one nice and simple for the season's first racing update.

The Good

The fun factor is always high.... along with my eyeballs in this picture as they're trying to shed mud

It’s a great workout without a lot of pressure

Burning legs and lungs

The rest of the racing season is right around the corner

The Bad

Burning legs and lungs – lets me know I’m still out of shape no matter how stupid my winter training regime has been.

Poison Ivy

Sitting in a dirty chamois until the whole shebang is over

The Ugly

…… let’s pretend this didn’t happen.

Fawn Grove Roubaix

The first race of the MTB season wore me out pretty good, but my Bike Reg receipt said I had to go to Fawn Grove for a sweet road race the next day complete with dirt roads and lots of climbing. So instead of staying out at the bar all night with Kyle, we made an early return so I could get my beauty sleep. The next morning my legs felt fine, but the lungs still felt like they were reamed out and doused with gasoline…. Damn that first hard effort of the year. After breakfast I drove down to the race with Zack, Jake, and Gunnar who were also going to pull off back to back races. Warming up I rode to the first dirt road section which began with a 90 degree right hand turn on a steep D scent. I saw this and smiled, knowing that a significant portion of the peloton would flat out within the first 2 miles. When it came time to race, this section of dirt road made the start more like a mtb race as the peloton rushed to the dirt road like it was the first and only section of singletrack. I refrained from this first effort and relied on my handling skills to weave in and out of the roadies who were having trouble with this portion. Moving back up to the front of the peloton, I found a spot close to the front where I would stay for the rest of the race. For once, I didn’t waste a whole lot of energy early on and only responded to attacks that made sense to respond to. This lead me to be a participant instead of a chaser in a 5 man breakaway on lap 3 of 4 laps. We got a fairly decent gap on everyone else, which made me to believe it would be smooth sailing from there on out. However there was another attack on a steep dirt road climb that split our group of five into 3 and 2. I, unfortunately was a part of the two that trailed the rest. At the top of the climb I regained my composure and along with the other racer, we time trialed for the next 15 minutes to catch back on. My legs were really starting to burn and I was hoping that the attacks would die down until the end of the last lap. Unfortunately nobody else was thinking that way as another attack was thrown down on the first climb of the last lap. I went to respond, but my legs were numb. They simply told me no and I knew I would be riding it in solo for my last lap. Note to self: bring GU even if its just a road race. Your body will thank you. This was one of the worst bonks I’ve ever had as I literally spun the small ring the entire lap just to keep moving forward. About ¾ of the way through this last lap I began to get passed by other racers most came by solo or with one or two others. I felt like I deserved a DFL finish, but instead managed a 12 spot and at least got my entry fee and gas money back for the event. A lesson lived is a lesson learned. One more road race this weekend and its mountain biking from there on out with Fair Hill coming up the following weekend. I can’t wait.

You Can Say I'm NOT a Huge Fan of the Trainer

2009-01-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 Powerbar, and 1 GU flask

2009-01-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

It has been quite some time since I've posted anything here and some of you might be wondering why. Well the simple fact is that the life of a working man is pretty damn boring... its wake up, go to work, come home, ride, eat, go to bed and do it all over the next day. So instead of boring you all to death, my posts will be sporadic until the racing season starts back up again. Then I will assure you at least one weekly post.
But to catch back up to speed I've been doing a ride every Wednesday night ride with Rob which I look forward to every week. It's usually at least 4 hours at night at Jim Thorpe. We've been doing these rides for the past 4 or 5 months and have been partaking in what most would call the most retarded rides they have ever heard of every week. So far nothing has been able to put a stop to these rides, and I mean nothing... not weather, injuries, or debilitating illnesses. I would say two of the most notable rides have had to be #1 the one and only 8+hour five peak night ride and #2, 3+ hours of half of the American Standard in 4 to 5 inches of snow. Lately the insanity has been spreading to the weekends as well. Last weekend it was a Philly/White Clay double header, and this weekend I started things off solo with a 3.5 hour ice ride on my home turf with some homemade snow chains (will post a picture of these babies in the future). Ending the weekend today was a 7.5 hour tour of Michaux, which began as a small group ride with myself, Rob, Matt, and Ray, but ended with just myself and Rob digging in deep for the last 4.5 hours.... And to fuel a ride like this, all you need is 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 Powerbar, and 1 GU flask.

Life of a working man...

2008-10-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

With my first week of work in the books and the second week in progress I can finally consider myself to be a part of the "real world". I've heard a lot of talk about this unfamiliar territory and how it will bring my riding abilities closer to other working individuals. But there is one little problem that I have with this common theory. My enthusiasm for riding is so much higher than it had been when I had all day to play on my bike. I know I'm still new to this whole working thing, but I cannot see this attitude changing. I mean, I'm obligated to doing something I wouldn't otherwise do for a third of my day, another third is spent sleeping, 3 hours for eating, and then theres only 5 more hours to spare. So as I'm at work I can't help but to think about riding. It's what I'd be doing if I weren't working. This is what makes the post work ride so rewarding. It gives me a whole new appreciation for the ride as my time becomes restricted.

Brandon's got a job...

2008-10-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

http://thetravisty.com/Chappelles_Show/wmv/WacArnolds.htm

I will be starting my first real career next Monday, but instead of being mugged on payday I will be handing my checks over to Sallie Mae for my student loans.

Mountain Bikers Represent

2008-09-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

That's All She Wrote

2008-09-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

This was the first season in a long time where I still felt motivated for the final races of the year. In fact, I wish that it could continue on for at least another month. But I guess that means I will be a little more excited to do some epic riding throughout the Pennsyltucky landscape.
Oh yeah, about that race... The fun began on Saturday with the Super D race taking off around 4:00 pm. After my first practice run with Rob and Aaron, I was convinced that Rob was going to dominate this event as he launched off of every lip on the course and railed the turns on instinct. Of course that meant that I got to take a look at his sweet lines, which made this first run equal the experience that I would have gotten after about three runs on my own. With plenty of time to spare I rode back up to the top with Aaron for one more practice run, which was just as smooth. Soon after it would be time to race. I was somewhere around 8th in line to take to the course which was set up to be raced in time trial fashion with 1 minute intervals separating each rider. I could honestly say I was lucky to get an early starting position as it would be less likely that I would catch up to my minute man. With ten seconds till take off I'm in the zone, and my concentration is broken as Rob or someone else lets out a motorcycle noise, so as its time to take off I jokingly return by vocalizing my own throttle through the first sharp right hand turn on the course. Next I find myself blasting through the first rock garden and hammering down the first fire road section. Another section of singletrack followed by a steep drop in and I'm about halfway down the course. A few switchbacks on a rail trail start to burn my lungs and the finish is near. Just one more twisty, rocky piece of singletrack and it's all over. As I hammer on I search for a bigger gear coming up empty handed and press on through the finish. At the bottom I waited around for Rob to go do a bit of a cool down and find that I am currently leading the race... But with most of the racers yet to go, I didn't count on winning being a sure thing. And by the time it was all said and done I was awarded with the 3 spot as Harlan took the win and Aaron in 2nd only a half a second ahead of me. But that half a second wasn't even close compared to the 0.11 sec that separated myself from Rob.
The XC on Sunday was just as fun as the Super D. Matt and I got to the race early to meet up with Bryon, who had a sweet setup displaying a fleet of Cannondale bicycles, which included a couple Rizes, Scalpels, and a Super Six. It really drew in lots of attention from all of the other racers... I can't wait until next season when we will have this sort of set up going at almost all of the regional events. It's gonna be sweet. After a pre-ride of the course with Bryon, Aaron, and Hebe we almost missed the start. Getting to the line just in time made the warm up perfect, but I would not attempt to cut it that close again. Right away I found myself mid pack in a hungry field of elite racers. But soon I would find the course pointing up in my favor, which allowed me to work my way through the pack and towards the front. By the time I came out on the final portion of the climb I was in 4th place and slammed my Rush into the big ring, charging to the top. I was behind only Harlan for the decent, which was crucial as this is where we put a large gap on the chasers. Unfortunately Harlan was also able to put a little time on me by the time we rolled around to the start lap 2. This lap went much the same as lap one as I rode tempo to the top and then killed it on the downhill. By the end of this lap I found myself further back from Harlan and further ahead of everyone else, and figured that short of a mechanical that this is how the race would end. An uneventful third and final lap would prove this as I finished 2nd about 3 minutes back. Next across the line would be Bryon followed by Rob. It was pretty sweet to see 4 bikes with Lefty's taking the top four spots. IF only Harlan were on a C'dale frame it would have been so much sweeter. So that's it for the year, done, finished. Now hopefully I will be able to start working soon so that I can continue racing next season. I've got a strong feeling that I've got a position all lined up and secured, but I won't count on it until it's all said and done. I've heard that song and dance of "I want to hire you" before.
So far the off-season's been great. I went to Michaux to ride with Aaron on Monday and now I gotta get ready to go hit up a ride at Thorpe with Rob and the Skinny Chicken.

Teabagged

2008-09-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

The plan: Nice and simple. Go to Michaux and celebrate my birthday with a 50 mile race (ride) in the appropriately named Terror of Teabag race... or is that Teaberry? Well anyway this is what happened.

The Ride: I drove down to Ship on Friday night and crashed at my old pad in Matt and Aaron's apartment. I hung out with Matt for the night, drank a beer and watched some Entourage. 6:00 a.m. my alarm clock goes off disrupting a solid night's sleep and I'm ready to roll. After eating some breakfast I drove the rest of the way to the southern end of Michaux. Upon my arrival I was greeted with a parking lot almost entirely filled with rain water (on top of a ridge none the less). I began to dread the race from the beginning. When it comes to racing I am a mudder, but when the plan is just to ride and the length of the course is 50 miles, the efforts would be comparable to 100 miles. So I get ready and try not to think about what a mess everything is going to be. The start was casual. Harlan led it out and I sat right behind him, but let him go when he picked up the pace. Soon Chris Beck would also pass me on an early climb. Again I did not respond, but just held a nice tempo and planned to do so for the remainder of the race. As we rode through the first couple of trails I became relieved as the trails were merely dampened by the weeks rain and the mud I had anticipated was not a factor. During the first 12 miles I would catch up to Chris on numerous occasions through the rough stuff only to be dropped on each climb. This began to eat at my racing instincts and I would find myself pushing a little harder in the singletrack to catch back up. At the first aid station I passed Chris as he stopped to fill up his bottles early on due to the 1,000% humidity. Yes it was that humid. My skin had already felt drier in the shower than during this race. So as I passed Chris, I was careful to stay in front of him for the technical descent that was to come. This left a gap large enough that Chris was no longer in sight and Harlan was still about 1.5 minutes ahead. From here, the next 20 some miles would be almost exclusively singletrack. I settled back into a steady tempo (this time backing off of my pace was a race strategy to avoid dehydrating)and continued on. By the time I approached mile 20 I had lost another 2.5 minutes to the leader. Without concern, I maintained focus and steadily rode to the top of the next climb which would in turn reward me with some more sweet trails. Everything was going really well, and I even heard that Harlan was only a minute ahead of me. I knew if I could keep this up another win might be in the books. Then it happened. I hear my rear tire rubbing against the chainstay on my Scalpel. I think to myself, That's odd, this tire I just put on had plenty of clearance. Maybe my skewer loosened on the rear wheel. Stopping to inspect the situation I concluded that a little bit of mud had built up causing the tire to rub. I hop back on the bike and go about 100 yards and the rubbing gets worse. Now I know something is not right. Off the bike again. I carefully inspected all of the surrounding areas until I see it... You've got to be effin kidding me! I notice that the left chainstay had decided to migrate away from the front triangle. I smash it back in and realize where I am at on the course. I specifically remembered this section of trail as this is where Jeff Schalk had been forced to walk along the course last year after the race. I also remembered he had not returned to the start/finish after hours of walking as this was the farthest spot away from anything that you can possibly be. So I took all precautions and proceeded to carefully ride my bike as slowly as possible until..... clunk! Now I'm off the bike again and for good as both chainstays had completely separated from the rest of the bike. Oh well, shit happens and I'm not hurt. Only 6 more miles of walking through Michaux and I will be able to get a ride back to the parking lot from my parents who are probably expecting to cheer me on and hand me a bottle within the next 20 minutes. That 20 minutes would take over 2 hours. There were no signs of life for nearly my first 15 minutes of walking. First up was TJ, who would ride to 2nd place for the day and capture the Michaux Endurance Series win. Congrats. When he caught up, he stopped for a pee break and we chatted a little before he took off. I was expecting to see a slew of racers come by within the next 5 minutes or so, but that did not happen either. Racers passed me as I walked riding alone or with only one other person in 15 - 20 minute intervals. This is the first time that I realized just how great of a place Michaux really is. Its technical terrain weeds out riders by ability like no other place on earth. So I hiked on and after about an hour I began to wonder if Chris had dropped out, but shortly found out that he was having trouble too as he came up from behind me. Once he reached me he got off and walked, explained, some bike trouble and how deep he was in the pain cave. This was clearly visible from the expression on his face. I told him that my parents were at the bottom and would be able to give him a ride out as soon as I made it back. Soon he got back on and rode the rest of the way to the road with some nausea to accompany him on his travels. Another chunk of time went by and I was on the last downhill where I was greeted by my dad. He came with some water and offered to push my bike the rest of the way. Thanks! After another 20 minutes or so we made it back to the road. I immediately downed my recover drink so that I could have a couple of Troegs Hopback Ales to quench my thirst.

The outcome: Some of you might say, "Wow! What a shitty day." , but I try not to think of it that way, instead I see it as a pretty darn good birthday present as I will be getting a Carbon Rush frame this weekend to replace my broken Scalpel. But for the record, I have nothing against the Scalpel even though I broke it. This was my first season on this bike and a great one at that. I just feel more comfortable with the extra squish that the Rush provides for my style of riding which does not entail choosing the smoothest line, but the straightest, fastest, and sometimes gnarliest.

Mind Games

2008-09-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Since 2005, I’ve competed in five, 24 hour solo races. The first two were filled with so much excitement that there was hardly anytime at all for pessimistic ideas to float around in my weary mind even in the darkest hours. This had led to some pretty good results, a win in my first 24 solo and a 3rd place finish at the “World Solo Championships” (quotations are meant to be facetious as there is no international committee to sanction the event, however the competition was truly top notch). My next two attempts at 24 hour solo racing were not as successful as I bore the shame of not finishing with some rather valid reasoning. With a 50% finishing rate, I decided to go back to 7 Springs, the place where I won my first event of this kind in 2005. The game plan was to ride with A-ron until a time where we would agree to get our race on close to the finish. At the beginning all was going well. We rode at a casual pace, made quick pits, and had an early lead. For the next eight hours or so we continued to ride together, holding conversation, and keeping each other’s spirits up. Then all of a sudden, sometime in the night, things had gotten quiet and it was known instantly that we were both starting to fatigue. Aaron was the first to be struck by the inevitable bonk somewhere around 2 or 3 a.m. Not wanting to stop, I continued on and rode up to where our pit was located. I quickly changed into a new, dry, and warm kit, changed light batteries, and ate some grub waiting to see if Aaron recovered. By the time I had taken care of all of my needs we had joined back up to ride the last few miles of the lap. A few minutes later Aaron was still riding at a slower pace and my right knee would experience sharp pains if my cadence would fall below an unspecified mark. This gave me no choice but to leave my friend in pursuit of a happy knee through soft pedaling at a higher cadence. However, the soft pedaling approach left me suffering in other ways. My degenerated rear end did not like this technique at all, so I would have to intermittently shift the pain from my butt to my knee by standing up and mashing on the pedals with somewhat of a limp. For the rest of the night I pretty much suffered alone, except for my encounter with a bat. Anyone who goes night riding is familiar with the ability that these creatures have of violently swooping right in front of your face to grab an insect. Witnessing this feat brings on admiration for the speed and accuracy that these winged rats have. However, the bat which I ran into did not have this accuracy… either that or he/she was sucking down a little moonshine before going out on the hunt. As I’m bombing down one of the many downhills, I see a bat dive in for a kill and then bounce off of me in a rather disgraceful manner. For a moment I got the chills as bats are rather disgusting then continued to ride along in my own hell. It was sometime after the bat encounter that I suddenly found myself on the last night lap. As I watched the sun rise, I couldn’t stop smiling inside. I knew I was going to finish this one. Before going on for my first full morning lap I relaxed a little and sipped some coffee. Only 5 hours or less to go. Back on the bike I tried to ignore all of my aches and pains as I continued the death march. After about two more laps I pulled off of the course and went to the pit area to check on Aaron, who looked to be having as much fun as I was at this moment, so I made a proposition. At the time I was ½ hour or so ahead, so the deal went down like this… Me: “My butt hurts really bad. I think we’re ahead by enough to quit now. Will you stop if I stop?” Aaron: “Yeah. This sucks.” < The quoted text is about as accurate as a town drunk’s ramblings, but tells the story in a sufficient manner.> So half an hour later, I would meet up with A-ron again at the finishing tent, but with bad news. 3rd place was only a lap behind us, so we would both have to do another lap. The agreement was still mutual about how we would finish, but the anger I experienced about having to go out again after I thought I was done had me hammering the first 8 miles time trial style. I rolled into the pits and waited for Aaron before we would ride the remainder of the lap together. As we were just about near the finish we decided to stop in and visitRob, who was about to go out for his final lap for the visitPA team. We sat around BS’ing for the next hour or so talking with Rob, Zach, and Nancy until noon, the earliest time which a rider can finish. As agreed we slowly strolled into the finish tent and I took the W with A-ron in 2nd. I couldn’t have been happier as we took the top two spots in the solo class after both suffering defeat at 9 mile. After finishing this race I gained a whole new outlook on 24 hour solos. I’m throwing out all of my old theories on why I may have dropped out at 9 mile and Laguna Seca. My new theory is this. In a 24 hour solo, you WILL be presented with many VALID reasons to drop out, and the test of finishing one of these events is just manning up and pushing through it, no matter how bad it hurts, no matter how sick you feel, or how many things you might have broken (spirits included).

A BIG THANKS goes out to my Mom, Wendy, Jen, and Zach for helping out in the pits, and to Nancy for bringing Aaron and I pizza before the finish when our pit crew was exhausted! These races don’t happen without a great pit crew. I would also like to thank Lupine for all of the support everyone has given me. These races are won and lost in the night, and I couldn’t ask for a better lighting system. Also thanks to everyone with SoBe/Cannondale. Your support makes all the difference.

Well one more month of racing to go. Next up is the Terror of Teaberry in Michaux which also happens to fall on my 23rd birthday… I can’t wait!

Iron Hill XC

2008-08-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been just about two months since I've competed in a MASS event. Between preparing for 24 hour nationals, competing in XC nationals and other endurance events I've been away from the local racing scene for quite some time. Since Iron Hill was only two weeks after my painful struggle at 9 mile, I was a bit unsure of how things would pan out. The legs felt great on the warm up, but I would not be able to tell how well I recovered until the end of the race. As time got closer to the start I strolled on over to staging with A-ron and Kyle. On the way was a big rock with the perfect angle from which to launch off of. As a huge fan of shenanigans I followed A-ron off of this obstacle. On the landing I was struck with panic as it sounded like my rim had blown apart. I look down at it and see everything is still in tact and the wheel is still spinning true. I just burped a little air out, but was still paranoid about the soft feel of the tire. With only 1 CO2 reserved for an emergency flat during the race, I opted to just run the race as is and only use the precious flat fixer upper if I found myself riding on nothing but rim. We all line up, exchange glances and good lucks, and prepare for take off. From the gun, I surprisingly found myself off the front after Kyle went off course before entering the singletrack. I just settled in and rode tempo through the first section before being passed by Ray of VisitPA.com. I sat on Ray's wheel for a few moments before overtaking him on the inside corner of a climb that was too irresistible not to utilize. I settled back into my tempo, and a few minutes later Martin passed me for the lead position. Again I followed the leader and began to watch as the rest of the field began dropping off the pace. Soon enough I would make another irresistible pass on the tight and twisty singletrack when Martin found himself struggling to turn over a huge gear. As the field was still strung out, I found this as the perfect opportunity to attack. I pushed hard through the rest of the first lap taking the $30 prime and then went back to tempo, focusing on the overall win. Pushing the limits through each and every corner, I felt the gap grow between myself and the rest of the field. Laps 2 and 3 went by very quickly without sight of the nearest competitor. One more lap to go and I'm still feeling great, anticipating a win. Everything in front of me is presented with the well known tunnel vision one gets with the adrenaline induced rush from racing. Towards the end I sit behind some of the endurance racers and start some conversation with Jake. In this moment Jake informed me that I went off the XC course and on the the enduro course. Oh shit! I get angry at myself for not paying attention as I turn around and go backwards about 20 yards against traffic through the singletrack as I move aside for those who are racing in the correct direction. I start to wonder, "Did I just blow the race being an idiot?" As I am thinking this over I roll through the Mega Dip and through the final portion of the course and through the finish line. Looking around I see nobody around. With great relief I relax and wait around to see who comes in next. In less than a minute Chris Beck came through for 2nd followed by A-ron in 3rd. It felt great to be racing locally again with such tight competition and a great atmosphere. And it was even better knowing that I didn't blow the race in the final stretch.

Do you know the rules of 24 hour racing?

2008-08-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

The rules of this ruthless bike game can be found here, but along with the rules which are stated are some implied rules. For one, food and water are good. When consumed they give your body the energy it needs to continually move forward. Two, the mind can easily be tricked when sleep deprived, so refrain from actions that will turn your smile upside down. Three, no matter how tough your skin is you can still rub it off. And the final rule that I will mention (it is final because I don't feel like writing an encyclopedia right now) is that shit happens. There's 24 hours and the smallest of problems can add up and break you.

I'm still new to endurance racing with only 4, 24 hour races under my belt so my latest race at 24 hour nationals raises no concern about my future as a freak. It just makes me ponder what had happened. But first I must go back to when things worked at my first 24 hour race. In the summer of '05 I decided to try my first 24 hour solo race. My interest was peaked concerning the idea of riding a bike for 24 hours thanks to my then teammate, Rob. So I planned accordingly, but I had no idea of the pain that would come. I brought the essentials; food, water, and a spare bike. The plan was simple. Just relax and ride a moderate, but steady tempo. The simplicity of this plan brought on a lot of pain and emotional baggage that would last for weeks. Along with this came a win in my first event of this kind. It also qualified me for the 24 hours of Adrenalin World Solo Championships in 2006. So at worlds in '06 I followed the same plan, not expecting any kind of fantastic result as I had no idea what the competition would be like. In this race, after 15 hours of just riding along I found myself laying down an attack on Mark Hendershot in a battle for 3rd place. This was a complete surprise for both of us as I was a complete unknown and I never thought I would be close to Mark. From that point through the end of the race I held my 3rd place position to finish behind former world champ, Chris Eatough. So for '07 my plans were huge. I wanted nothing other than to win at the world championships, and it didn't occur to me until now, the reasons why I DNF'd there and in my most recent bout at this years 24 hour national championships. Last year I got sick and this year I just felt like shit and had some blurry vision which added up to my not finishing. However, these reasons are just symptoms to a greater problem. What makes my most recent two races different from my first two is my strategy. At first I just wanted to ride for 24 hours and whatever happened, happened. But over the past two years, my goals and ambitions took over my fool proof strategy. I didn't want to just ride for 24 hours, but race the whole time. When constantly worrying about my position and doing anything I can to improve it my body learned to say no. Last year this strategy had broken me down in about 12 hours. This year I lasted 17 hours and afterwards wanted to quit doing 24's. But there is one final rule that if followed can help a person to come back even stronger, and that is to never give up. Thanks to a little inspiration from Mark and Roberta Hendershot after the race, I realized that nobody is successful all of the time at 24 hour racing. As consistent as Mark is at these races, he has already had a season of 6 or 7 races where he only finished once. So what's next for me? I'm going to go back to the basics and start tweaking my strategy in smaller increments until I find the perfect balance. 24 hours of 7 Springs is already less than a month a way. Could there be a better place to go back and figure it all out again?

Thanks mom and dad for continuing to support me at these races. Thanks Matt for coming to do some wrenching, and thanks to Wendy and Jen for helping out when they weren't busy taking care of Aaron.

Don't be Fooled by the Title

2008-07-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

The Wilderness 101 is far more challenging as a 101 mile back country mountain bike race than it would be if you came across it as a gen ed in your school's course listing. I've been doing this race for the past three years as a part of my annual visit to Coburn, PA which has been going on since birth. Before bike racing the reason for going to Coburn lies in the nearby waters of Penn's Creek. It had been a part of family tradition to go here every year, fish, and make lasting memories with family and friends. While the focus has changed from fishing to racing this area of central PA continues to create unforgettable experiences.

After a good nights rest (for camping) I crawled out of the truck at 4 a.m. and stumbled over to the cabin for some breakfast. Don't be confused, I just prefer to sleep outside while staying here. The cabin tends to get a little stuffy for sleeping. A big meal of ham, eggs, toast, and coffee fill up the tank which gets topped off an hour later with a banana and peanut butter. While this may make most people feel quite bloated, my tape worm takes care of the bulk. I get all my gear together and catch a ride from my mom to the start (about a mile down the road). After a short warm up and some conversation I feel awake enough to race.

Starting off I sit in on the pavement being careful to conserve every bit of energy I could for the efforts that will be needed later on. The first climb was considerably faster than usual, but not overwhelming. This pace left the majority of the hundreds of racers off the back and by the end of the second climb there were only eight of us compared to the usual 30 - 40 some. This group consisted of myself, Jeff Schalk (current NUE series undisputed ass kicking machine), Chris Eatough, Harlan Price, Chris Beck, Michael Simonson, Christian Tanguy, and Wes Schempf. After a few more fast paced fireroad climbs and descents, Wes dropped off the back and the pace slowed slightly... at least enough to spark some conversation which at least in my case gave a friendly reminder that my competition is not just a bunch of pain loving, pedal stomping fiends, but a great group of people with separate lives outside of racing. After this moment of realization Harlan requested a pee break, which I was very grateful for at the moment, but as the rest of the group slowed, Christian apparantly didn't have to pee and held onto the pace. Damn. No stopping now. I believe this is the second year in a row that the traditional pee break was thwarted for Harlan (last year I was that guy who picked up the pace instead of slowing). Serves me right though. Now I know what its like to have to hold my bladder for the next couple of hours, because I am horrible at pissing myself. I've tried several times during races, but there is something in my brain that prohibits this from happening. So the race continued through the central PA wilderness. Soon a super fast, grassy descent would cause Christian to engage in a disappearing act due to a flat. Now there were six of us off the front and riding hard. Approaching aid station #2, the group broke up with Jeff and Michael making the fastest stops, while I continued to ride with Harlan, Chris E., and Chris B. With a cream pie jammed in my cheeks either Harlan or Eatough made a not so nice move by making a charge to bridge the gap between us and the two up front. I painfully hung on and tried not to choke on my lunch until the surge settled back down to a steady, but still fast pace. The two leaders kept a constant gap for the next several minutes on one of the longest climbs on the course. Next it was Chris Beck who would make an attempt at closing the gap. His solo charge to the front was successful and was immediately followed by Michael dropping off of the leaders pace and settling in with the rest of us chasers. Soon Michael fell off of our pace and I led the chase group to the top of the climb turning over each pedal stroke in the big ring. Following was a sweet, technical, brake smoking descent and another climb at the bottom. This was the las time I would have constant human encounters through the end of the race. Harlan and Chris threw it down on the next climb leaving me in the dust. I settled into a pace which I planned on holding for the rest of the day and just kept chugging along. Shortly a blur of yellow would scorch past me like a cheetah on crack. Christian was back in the race and was wasting no time at all. I had no desire to respond to his passing and just watched as he teleported up to Harlan and Eatough who at the time had nearly joined back up with Beck. Then in a flash they were all gone. I continued to follow the ways of the W101, climb, cramp, climb, take in the scenery, descend, grin, descend some more, grin some more, repeat. After what seemed like a long time, I passed Christian again who suffered yet another mechanical. So I picked up the pace hoping to stay ahead of him for the remainder of the race. However he soon caught back up, but just in time for a bit of a technical descent. Taking advantage of this precious moment I picked up my game and lost him into the rocks before rolling into the final aid station. Just as I got done with my pit stop, Christian rolled in proving that he is not so easy to shake. Within 10 minutes he would catch and pass me. I returned to my 6th place position, but was determined to catch back up to Chris Beck who was only 30 seconds up at the last aid station. The last 10 miles would consist of flat rail trails, 1 climb, more rail trails, and 1 section of technical singletrack. Running on empty, I dug deep through the first section of rail trail and the first half of the climb before I was struck with some pretty wicked cramps, stinging my left leg from the inside of my knee all the way up to the groin. Determined , I didn't let the cramps slow me down as I kept it in the big ring for the remainder of the climb as I changed position and stood on the pedals to the top. Still no sign of Beck. Maybe I could get him on the infamous fisherman's trail if I keep my pace high on the remainder of the rail trail. I got to the fisherman's trail and there was still no sign of life, ahead of me or behind. Instead of thrashing the singletrack, the singletrack thrashed me as I was now running on fumes. What would usually be a challenging, yet fun trail, became impossible to ride. Soon I would ride through a dark tunnel, a trademark of the W101, which signifies the end of the race. Without a soul in sight, I would finish 6th for the day with a time of 7 hours and 4 minues, approximately 20 minutes ahead of my time last year which scored me a 4th place finish. This race just keeps on getting harder and harder every year, but the finish also becomes more and more rewarding as my times continue to decrease by large numbers. Ahead of me was Jeff Schalk, who secured the win for the day along with a NUE Series Championship. Congrats. Chris Eatough was 2nd followed by Harlan, Christian, and Chris Beck respectively.

24 Hours of 9 mile is already less than a week away. The wait is killing me.

Rest Pays Off

2008-07-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

My three week hiatus from racing has also left an unecessary void in my blog posting. Over the past few weeks I got to do some long ass kicking rides, averaging about 5 to 6 hours every other day at a rather high tempo. Some were on the good ol mountain bike and the others on the road, but all were equally fun. It was a bit of a relief to not have to plan my week around the usual weekend race, but the actual racing was missed along with my friends who I usually go to play with on the weekend. So besides the riding, I've just been taking it easy and harvested two gallons of huckleberries which will soon become the juice from which I will create 4 gallons of wine. In 6 to 10 months it should be drinkable and hopefully tasty.

On to Mt. Snow...
On Wednesday I packed my car for the weekend and got my Rush and Scalpel ready to go. The Rush was packed to be ridden with Rob at Jim Thorpe (because I know I will break something riding there) and the Scalpel for the sufferfest at Mt. Snow. After the 3.5 hour ride though boulder fields and breaking pedals (told you) I followed Rob back to Nazareth to meet up with Matt around 10:30 ish pm. After a little nap we would pack up Matt's gear into my car and go northbound. The drive went rather smoothly until we were just about there when my auto declared it was having some engine trouble via the annoying little light beneath the speedometer. Other than that there were no noticeable problems and I became paranoid until finally returning home days later.
We got to Mt. Snow just in time to watch A-ron and Karl go at it in the U23 race. During the race we chilled with Martin in the feed zone and took on the role of superfans whilst screaming for our friends to pedal harder even though they were already going as hard as humanly possible. Matt and Martin were both scheduled to race on Friday (another fun day filled with screaming) in the Semi-Pro class and I would hit up the Pro race the following day.
The night before my race I went with my Uncle Dave and cousin, Dave to go visit our friend Trey further up North. Upon waking up the morning of the race I had already gotten the nervous jitters. I couldn't wait to go out there and tear things apart. I sat during breakfast just running the race through my head over and over until I could almost feel the pain from the climbs and the thrills from descending. Shortly we would head back to the venue so I could prepare my bottles, get kitted up, and go for a long slow warm up. With the heat boing in the high 80's I resisted engaging in any kind of hard efforts before the start. I wanted to start with a full tank and leave everything out there on the course. Its almost time to race. My call up provides some sweet positioning at the back of the pack, but I don't really care because I plan on riding steady. No super hard starting for me. Instead I'll watch as everyone tries to kill each other in the first 6 minutes as they fight for the best position. At the top of the first climb I begin to question this strategy but hold true to it as I find myself 3rd from last. I descend, then already start to make effortless passes on the gradual climb which leads to a steep ski slope climb. On the steep climb there are too many people to find a good line, so its back off the bike and running. I hop back on and throw down the loudest motorcycle noise I can as I pass out 5 or 6 racers (there's no other place more suitable for antics than the National Championships). I continued to make advances all the way to the top of the course then held my own on the downhill. The next few laps were similar, but with bigger and bigger rushes of adrenaline. When I found out that I was in the top 20 the pain just went away. I didn't know I was doing so well and suddenly became determined to chase down anyone who was up ahead. After gaining places every lap I was finally brought to a hault finishing 15th for the day! My best XC performance prior to this was last year in AZ where I finished in the 30's. I'm still having a hard time believing that this result actually happened as it opens up even more opportunities. I no longer see myself as a middle of the pack racer in Pro XC events, but as someone who has the potential to continually improve. I hope this builds some momentum for the following weeks racing at the Wilderness 101 and 24 hour Nationals. Thanks to everyone for cheering. That really kicked ass!

Never Again Will I Turn Down an Oatmeal Creme Pie

2008-06-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

First off, I would like to thank Taylor, Connie, and everyone else for hosting the Cowbell Challenge. This was again an outstanding race, which has grown from last year and will continue to become one of the top 12 hour races in the country.

How to win an endurance race:

1. Ride Hard

2. Eat

3. Drink

4. Recover

How to not win an endurance race:

Ride Hard

Settle Into a Steady Rhythm

Wreck Your Body (don't eat much)

Force Yourself to Take a Break to Avoid Vomitting

At the Cowbell Challenge I took the latter approach with the intentions of winning. It was working out well at first. I was up front for the majority of the first two laps and took the King of the Mountain (KOM) by outsprinting Nat at the last 3 of 5 checkpoints. On the third lap, I settled into my own pace due to the heat. I thought that this strategy would have me riding strong and steady start to finish, but there were some intermediate steps which I forgot about... eating. The heat had me thirsting for just plain water and electrolytes between the 4th and 7th hours of the race, and the notion of ingesting food wasn't high priority. The bulk of my calorie intake had been coming from a GU every half hour or so (recommended nutrition for XC races), and the 100 calories I got from each one was just a tease to my degenerating body. By 5 o'clock (the race started at 10:00) my body was sick of eating itself and I had to take a 10 minute breather to avoid throwing up. I munched on some papaya enzymes (works like magic) to soothe my tummy before hopping back on my Carbon Scalpel for more punishment. I felt great for another hour and a half, but continued to ignore the demands of my starving muslces. I rolled into the pits for the final time around 7:30, just in time to mount my lights. Instead of doing some night laps, I rode the camping chair for the remainder of the race as I painfully watched as my finishing spot moved from 4th to 7th. More stomach issues. At the time, I hadn't realized how little I was eating, but it became apparant when I noticed how loose the sleeves on my jersey were. On a normal day the sleeves conform to the shape of my arms, but after the race I could easily slide in two fingers to fill the space void of myself. Lesson lived, lesson learned. From now on I will always eat a creme pie or pb&j even when I am not hungry. The podium rolled out as follows: Josh Tostado - 1st, Nat Ross - 2nd, and Chris J rode an outstanding race to beat out Ernesto for 3rd. As I intended to use this race to guage my fitness for 24 hour nationals, I need to do the following to prepare myself: Ride more, race less. I've said it, and now it's time that I follow through. After taking a rest week, it will be time to endure some long days in the saddle. The next race I plan on attending will be the XC nationals at Mt. Snow, followed by the Wilderness 101. This might be the longest break I've taken from racing in 3 years, but it will pay off in the end. I have some unfinished business to take care of after DNF'ing at 24 hour Worlds last year, so being in top shape and racing smart at 24 hour nationals will be key.

Stoopid 50

2008-06-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Picture Courtesy^

A shorter, more intense version of the Wilderness 101 would be the best way I could describe this race. Both races are located in Rothrock State Forest and share many of the same trails. The obvious difference between the two is the distance. Appropriately named, the Stoopid 50 is 50 miles long and the Wilderness 101 is 101 miles. While the Stoopid lacks in distance (compared to the 101) it makes up with singletrack lined with rock gardens, which is a real treat. Last year I won this event and planned on defending my title. This would not be an easy task as there were plenty of racers there capable of taking the win. The initial strategy was to take off the front with former teammate Rob Lichtenwalner and enjoy a fast paced ride while pushing each others skills in the rocks. This strategy would have went as planned like it had earlier this year at the Rocktober Marathon, but Chris Beck launched an attack up the first fire road climb forcing everyone chasing to redline it. At the top of the climb I was side by side with Flyin Ryan and gave a little extra to gain the second spot into the singletrack. Shortly, I caught back up to Chris and made a pass after he made a bobble in the rocks. Thinking that this would be the last time I would see him, I pressed hard on the pedals and danced through the rocks and over the logs before popping out onto another service road before aid station #1, 10 miles into the race. Looking back, Chris was still in sight and I knew there would be a battle which would last all day. Coming up quick was the notorious hike a bike up Sassafras trail. Attempting to ride up this was extremely taxing, but pushing the bike is much less fun, so I gave it a go. After riding a decent portion of the trail I was forced to walk the last 5 minutes of the climb (much better than hiking for 15-20 minutes). At the top Chris was still right behind so I gave it another go to lose him on the downhill. Hoping that there were no trees down from last year I poured the gas on for the brake smoking descent, ripping through every blind corner that twisted through the mountain laurels as if I could see for miles. At the bottom would be another service road and some more climbing. Seeing that I only put a few seconds on Chris I let up on the pace knowing his climbing abilities. We rode together to the next section of trail and I made another attempt at making some space between us, but by the bottom, only a small gap was made. Another fire road took us back to Sassafras as we would ride up the other side of the trail (I think climbing both sides of this trail is one of the reasons for naming the Stoopid 50). This is where Chris made his second attack of the day. I desperately tried to hold on, but slowly lost sight of him. Instead of panicking, redlining it, and blowing up I just kept the pace high and would try to close the gap in some of the following technical sections. By the time I made it to aid station 2, 30 miles in, Chris was 2 minutes up. With about an hour and a half to go, I got my caffeine fix and picked it up a notch in the twisty stuff, taking more risks than I had earlier trying to break away. Getting splits from volunteers on course, I was slowly gaining time back. Pushing relentlessly, I popped out onto the final service road, which meant there were only a few miles left until the finish. Race promoter, Chris Scott welcomed me on this final road, giving me some words of encouragement as I dug myself deeper and deeper into the pain cave. Soon Chris Beck would be in sight again and I jumped out of the saddle and shifted as close to the 44X11 as was possible. After 40 some miles of racing, doing this towards the end absolutely sucks, but is a necessary evil that is often rewarding and never regretted. Riding through the finish, I ended up 2^nd to Chris, a minute and a half behind. Even though I hadn’t won, I was satisfied with how things turned out. My finishing time was a couple minutes faster than last year, and the start of this year’s race had a bit more climbing and milage. Given nearly identical conditions (dry trails, heat, and humidity) both years I can definitely see the improvement, which is a good thing to see with the Cowbell Challenge approaching this coming weekend. I can’t wait to see how things turn out there as the Cowbell will be a reliable gauge for my endurance before 24 Hour Nationals, which takes place Aug 2-3.

Hot Enough to Suck the Life out of You

2008-06-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

^ Chasing up the first climb

Local, yet foreign. The Tour de Tykes race in Danville, PA is only a 20 min drive out of the Gap. Just hop on Rt. 54 West, twist through some Pennsyltucky mountains and farms and then I’m there. It’s funny that this place is so close and I only ride there once a year as I am fortunate enough to have an abundance of state forest just a 5 – 10 minute ride from the homestead. Anyway the Tour de Tykes still feels like my home turf and is one of my favorite XC races. Must have something to do with the steep ups and downs mixed in with some well groomed simgletrack which also includes a rock or two.

Before the start I could already feel the heat baking me like a potato, so I decided to start hydrating a little bit. After a warmup and 80 fl/oz. later I was ready to go back home and lay in the air conditioning, but there was a race to be had first. The usual suspects were there minus Aaron, Matt, Rob, Harlan and maybe one or two others. From the gun I was ready to go. In the past this has been one of few races where I am able to get the holeshot, because of the steep fireroad climb which begins the hammerfest. Unlike other years, I had to settle for 3^rd going into the singletrack. Jeff Schalk blasted up the climb first, followed by Kyle who also failed to capture his patented Hammaker Holeshot. I still had a decent gap on the rest of the field, so I just sat back and watched Kyle and Jeff duke it out up the second long climb of the day just before the course becomes mostly singletrack. Jeff kept his lead and I caught up to Kyle as he recovered from his efforts. I made the pass on Kyle and settled into my own groove being careful not to go too hard in the 90 some degree temperatures accompanied by what was probably 60% – 70% humidity. Glancing back approaching the midpoint of the race, I was able to see either Wes or Ryan in the distance. Pushing a little bit harder I was able to increase the gap and disappear. The midpoint of the race was reached around 50 minutes in, which was much longer than I expected. I had thought that the race would take somewhere around an hour and a half…. I guess I have to pay better attention to previous years’ times. However, this was also a bit of good news as this gave me a little bit more time to continue to chase down Jeff. The second half of the course is slightly more technical. The steeps are a bit steeper and the rocks are more persistent. Having a few years of racing on this course is a definite help for the sections where sudden and drastic downshifts are needed to grind up the trail. Throughout this section, I kept as smooth as possible dancing around the jagged rocks to avoid the infamous flat tire. After another 40 minutes of playing the bike game I approached the final, notorious, “Moondance Climb”, a steep powerline that is littered with loose rocks…. Its exposure also makes this climb hot enough to boil your skin if you spend too much time there. At the bottom I was unable to see Jeff, so I knew my place would be 2^nd for the day as long as nobody was behind me. A quick glance over my shoulder gave me some reassurance before I took on the final climb. After one final section of downhill singletrack I clocked in around 1:52:ish, about 2 min behind Jeff.

Today was another hotter than hell day in Locust Gap. With the Cowbell Challenge 12 Hour race only two weeks away, I decided to put in a 4 hour road ride so I could get used to hating the heat, which will probably be inevitable in Charlotte, NC. The road was reluctantly chosen solely because riding in singletrack when the temps are in the 90’s just isn’t hot enough for my liking. Around 1:00 (an hour into the ride), I saw my first roadside thermometer which read 96. Not too shabby. As the ride continued, I was feeling the effects from racing yesterday, but it was too late to turn around. From my location any direction that I would choose to go home would suck. If I turned straight back, I would have 3, 1,000 ft. climbs to tackle with some rollers in between and if I continued on route, which I did, I would be back home 3 hours later with little climbing as I would wind through the valley and the surrounding farmlands. Another hour into the ride and I had to stop and get some more fluids to fill my bottles. When I went into the general store at Pillow, I couldn’t believe that they did NOT have just plain water. There was a little bit of flavored crap, Gatorade, and iced tea. The tea was packed with sugar, so I nabbed it (bad choice). I filled my bottles up and an hour later they were gone and I could feel the mixture of bad tea and sugar swirling around in my belly. Soon I approached a gas station and stopped to get some water to dilute my stomachs contents. Half an hour later and my poor little belly was feeling much better, but my legs had had it. Only 20 minutes more and I would be home. Immediately upon arrival, I mixed up a giant recovery milkshake to cool down, rehydrate, and refuel. The salt stains on my kit indicated that something else would have to follow for proper recovery as soon as the heat/sugar induced nausea would go away. That little something ended my short lived days as a straight edge kid. When your riding in 100+ degrees, there’s no better way to recover than with beer and pretzels! It was damn good and there are absolutely no regrets after pounding down a cold one. Tomorrows the last day of this heat wave, and I’m taking off of riding till it cools down to the 80’s. Maybe I’ll check and see if any huckleberries are ready for pickin.

Lost and Found

2008-06-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

As I'm still on the job search, I'm really trying to keep my expenses at a minimum until something comes along. On Monday this plan was almost thwarted when I went to an interview in Allentown. After all the business stuff was taken care of I met up with A-ron at Bear Creek for a little fun on the mountain bike. The rocks at BC were more fun to ride than usual as I followed A-ron down a sketchy rock garden that is blocked off for the race. After the ride, we ate and loitered at a restaurant till mid afternoon. 4:00 was the time I decided to get out of there before being attacked by a food coma. So everything was going fin until I stopped in Pottsville to get some gas. I stopped at the pump and reached for my wallet in the passenger seat.... in the back seat.... center console... glove compartment... under my seat... SHIT! First I called A-ron to obtain a number from the restaurant. I wanted to let them know what an idiot I felt like for leaving my wallet on the roof of my car while I unlocked my bike from the rack. Nothing was found in or around the restaurant, so I called A-ron again and he volunteered to check out the surrounding intersections and the on-ramp to Rt. 22. Nothing again. With no hope left in finding my wallet, which was probably dropped 50 miles back, I called up my parents and we started to work on getting survival cards canceled and reordered just in case some faulty Brandon Draugelis found my wallet and went on a shopping spree. Along with the wallet, about $180 went missing, which was the real kick in the teeth for someone tight on cash. So I got home, ate dinner #2 to drown my sorrows, then went down to my grandparents house to visit my cousin Dave from across the country. We watched the Penguins stumble into overtime against the more dominant Red Wings and I retreated back home around midnight to finish watching (sleeping) the game on the recliner. Finally I go to bed and wake up to the best phone call I've had all year. The secretary at Hi Point Auto near Cressona had my wallet! I couldn't believe it. That sucker took a 60 mile ride on the roof of my car before flying off onto the highway. All of the survival cards and my license got crushed up, but $170 was recovered. So I stopped by Hi Point, picked up my wallet and left a small reward. So the worst day of the year was followed by one of the best. So if anyone is rewarded with a valuable ground score, please make an effort to get the item back to the original owner. It will be greatly appreciated.

Mohican 100

2008-06-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

I heard that the 100’s have started to resemble XC races in intensity, but I figured that just meant there would be tougher competition. But the mile long sprint into the first section of trail proved that in order to remain competitive the same lung burning effort given in a XC race would need to be given throughout all 100 miles. Confusion struck about 15 minutes into the race as about 30 of the top riders (excluding Jeff Schalk, Chris Eatough, and Sam Koerber) came to a stand still wondering which direction the course followed. After a brief moment we were back on track and sprinting towards the next bit of singletrack which was a sweet 25 mile section of trail that wound through the Mohican Wilderness. Finding myself somewhere around 20^th at this point, I figured that I could make up some ground in the twisty stuff, but only managed to escape one or two riders. The heat and humidity began to sink in just in time for some steep fire road climbs and mind numbing flat, open sections. The only things you can do on these sections are pedal and suffer. Luckily I wasn’t alone and spent some of this time riding with Dejay Birtch (winner of the singlespeed race), Gerry Pflug, Andy Gorski, Peter Joski, and Michael Simonson. Throughout the middle part of the race I would sometimes find myself riding alone or with some of those just mentioned. I also had a second detour of the day, which set me back around 5 minutes. Somehow I rode into in a development without an exit, so I turned around and got right back on course no problem. Later I found out that others had made the same error as well. By the 6 hour mark the pain was really setting in and I couldn’t wait to finish. Some more mindless pealing brought me through to aid station 4. It was around here that the race began between myself and Gerry. Gerry laid down some hard attacks on the climbs and I did the best I could to keep him in sight, which would allow me to reel him back in once we got back into the singletrack. Then another hard effort would leave me chasing once again. This would repeat a few times throughout the end of the race, but left me finishing behind Gerry for 10^th place. Even though there were no slackers out there today, the ten spot wasn’t exactly what I had expected. Looks like I’ll be pounding the pedals a bit harder for the next couple of weeks.

Escaped...

2008-05-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

...from a week of shitty weather
...from Pennsyltucky for the day
...from a lack of high end intensity
...from Granogue

These are just a few of the things which were escaped from the race, Escape from Granogue, earlier today in Montchanin, DE. Sunny skies greeted racers from all over the Mid-Atlantic after a week long period of rain. Some things I did not manage to escape include: "the pain cave", steep climbs, a little mud, a heart rate below 170 (yeah thats pretty high for me), cramps, Wes, and Chris. Finishing 3rd today felt pretty outstanding as it was the first time that I came ahead of A-ron and Harlan this year (two of the culprits who have been blaming each other for the ferociously fast starts that resemble a short track race rather than XC).

How it unfolded.
Started off with another fast as hell start. This time I believe it was Wes who was responsible. I found myself top 10ish on the first climb, picking off riders one by one. By the first section of singletrack I was right on either A-ron's or Harlan's wheel. Not sure which. I was pedaling myself cross eyed at the moment. I remained in that spot for a few minutes, then jumped into 3rd on a steep grass climb right before a section of rocky singletrack. Seeing Chris about 30 seconds up, I chased like mad but made no ground. Harlan was close behind and it remained that way for lap 1 with everyone still in close quarters. Lap 2 started off the same, but the lead exchanged as Wes had a slight mechanical and dropped back to 2nd. I found myself exchanging 2nd place with Wes throughout that lap and the first part of the 3rd and final lap. A bit of a gap had grown between us after I had to stop and pull a stick out of my rear derailleur. I felt great on the climbs today and with an uphill finish I just needed to get close to Wes again and just ride along with him until the end. Wishful thinking. It took the entire lap to close the gap as I reeled him in on the last climb, but had to settle for 3rd, 7 seconds back as I was all out of juice. Chris had finished about 2 min earlier. A-ron about 30 sec back from me. Well there's another exciting MASS race in the books for '08.

Can't wait to race again next weekend at the Mohican 100 in OH. Should be a good 7 or so hours in the hurt locker.

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.

2008-05-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

The Rocktober Marathon presented such excess. The blank stares and smiles of each finishing racer would tell you this. Punishing, yet rewarding, the 110ish+ k course was tougher than most 100 milers. Hand numbing rock gardens and mind numbing climbs posed a challenge to all racers. The previous night’s rain added to the experience as some descents contained the additional feature of class 3 rapids.

With a tough crowd lined up at the start (Rob, Ernesto, Shawn, and the VisitPA squad just to name a few) the pace would have to be set high immediately after the neutral paved start. I mashed the big ring up the first 15 minute climb side by side with Wes and was first into the singletrack, which would begin with a downhill of which the bottom section was unridable. Yes, unridable. I’m no chump when it comes to techy downhills (especially when I’m on board the Carbon Rush), but this one would bring immediate death or injury to anyone willing to attempt the stunt. At the bottom was Mike Kuhn, who promoted the race, with an evil grin (I'm sure he was there to make sure riders made it through safely even though he gave fair warning prior to the race). As this was the start of such a brutally long and rocky race, I was sure that Mike’s grin was not exclusively meant for the first hike a bike section as it concealed what each of the racers was about to endure. Exiting the singletrack I had a gap on Wes and Rob of about 40 seconds. Being way too early to ride alone, and being uncapable of doing so while the two teammates chased on the long fireroad section, I eased my tempo and waited to join the paceline. Talking a little and pushing hard, the three of us put quite a gap on the rest of the field during the first loop on the 3 leaf clover shaped course. Even though our pace was held high it seemed to be an unwritten rule that no attacks were to be considered. If one of us had junk stuck in our bike, the rest would slow up until we could continue to ride together. It felt good to ride in a group like this, but it is slightly intimidating knowing that the other two riders are just as capable of winning as I am. So as we rolled through aid station 1, I figured that both Rob and I would have short stops in the pits compared to Wes as we are both seasoned endurance specialists. This brought on the instinct to lay the first attack of the day leaving Wes behind. Rob and I continued to control the pace for the next few hours. This second loop was much longer than the first, which took a toll on both of our water supplies. With about 6 miles until the second checkpoint, Rob was stuck sucking on the teat of an empty water bottle which lead to a bonk. Good thing I brought my Hydrapak as I had just enough water to hold me over. I kept the pace steady and pulled away from Rob. Coming in to aid station #2, I took on some binge eating, demolishing a pb&j, many twizzlers, oatmeal crème pies, and anything else that looked like food. After getting my fill, I took an additional handful of twizzlers and followed the lead moto out for the third and final loop. This final loop was the first loop of the course from 2007. It starts off with some rocky, rolling, double track then climbs up an unnecessarily steep uphill section for about a mile or two (feels like 5 miles). It was on this climb which I could see Mike grinning in my mind. I was hating it like nothing else. At this time I was ready for bed and didn’t need to deal with that kind of shit. Who needs a 90% grade at mile 50 something in a 70 some mile race?!?!? As Ry posted in his race report from Michaux, I began to hate the most innocent things in life as I was grinding up this sucker. But at the top, I was rewarded with the 100^th sweet downhill of the day, Mike was forgiven, and all things cute and cuddly brought back positive thoughts. I also thought this was the end of the race. Not so. My delusional downhill finish was interrupted with another slap in the face, steep, powerline climb, which was once again followed up with a most enjoyable singletrack downhill. Memories from 2007 were coming back to me and I knew I still had a little ways to go before I could stop for good and devour some more food. I kept the attitude positive and entertained the lead moto riders by attempting to appear as if my riding was effortless. Coming in the home stretch I threw it down a little extra in an attempt to race the lead motos to the finish. The race itself was rewarding enough to finish, let alone race. Upon finishing, I indulged in dinners 1, 2, and 3 courtesy of Kuhn Katering. Thanks Mike for putting on such a great event and being such a sadist. I’ll be back again next year.

Just a Walk in the Park, Literally

2008-05-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

After a week of binge eating to recover from Dirt Sweat and Gears, I felt like I was ready to race. The legs were back, the lungs were good, and French Creek itself is a kick ass place, especially when its slick (and it was). Combine this with an uphill start and this might be a recipe for me to win an XC event even with the cut throat competition. The start of the race was confirming this notion as I followed Kyle into the singletrack with A-ron in tow. We finish the first few miles together and popped out onto a paved climb where we rubbed tires and spoke to each other in falsettos (an official trademark of the playground posse). With only one other racer in sight it felt like the three of us would ride off the front all day. But its days like these, when the 44 x 11 feels like too small of a gear that things turn sour. On the following high speed D-scent I noticed a loss of air from the rear tire, so I stopped and hit it with some CO2. Sealed up nicely. Right before I was about to hop back on the bike Wes and Jeff went screaming by, about 40 sec behind A-ron and Kyle. I jumped back in the saddle and went into time trial mode to bridge back to the front. I eventually passed Jeff again. Wes would be appearing shortly. Then it happened again. Rear tire gone flat. I got off and put a tube in the rear tire. I was being passed by a few more elite riders then Rob, being the sweetie pie he is, dropped off his man purse so that I could borrow a CO2 as I was all out. Thanks Rob. Filled up the tire, remounted the wheel, and was off again chasing like a mad dog. Reeling in riders one by one, I was sure I could make it back into the top 4. Then soon enough, I hit another rock garden pretty hard, and the rear tire returned to its previous position flat against the rim. Not my day. At this point I was riding for 40 minutes and figured I couldn't be far from the start/finish area. So I preceded to walk it out and denied help from the rest of those who offered as I would be sure to flatten tube after tube. After about an hour or so of walking I made it back to the start/finish just in time to grab a drink and watch the finish of this two lap race. On arrival I found out that Kyle had flatted, leaving him several minutes behind a respectable finishing time. A-ron had also flatted, but his sealant kicked in allowing a quick hit of the air gun to get him rolling again. This put him in 2nd place behind Wes (who generously provided A-ron with the air). These two positions would hold true to the end as Wes took the W. A-ron held 2nd, while Jeff was 3rd, Chris Beck - 4th, and Roberto 5th. Congrats to all.

This weekend just wasn't a good one for the playground posse. 3 of us were plagued with flats, and Matt was forced to race on skinny tires with his road team.

I can't wait till this Saturday as I will be racing in the Rocktober Marathon 100k near Mifflinburg at R.B. Winter State Park. Come check out the action and bring some friends. This is a great event at an awesome venue. Check out www.highspeedcycling.com for details or register at www.bikereg.com

Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 Hour

2008-05-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

wheel stopping mud
Photo Credit ^ Jeff Kerkove

Friday morning, 4 am: 1 BFC (big effen can) of a highly caffeinated beverage was all I needed to start my trip to Tennessee as I drove with my parents to Fayetteville for the first big endurance race on the calendar. However after a solid 4 hours of driving the caffeine buzz wore off and left me to rest and sleep in the back seat until about 5 hours later when I took my second and final driving shift of the day. All in all the travel consisted of somewhere between 13 and 14 hours of driving. Not bad for a day trip. Even though our arrival had left me time to pre-ride the course, I was slightly reluctant due to the thunderstorms that were in the surrounding area. But with a little bit of convincing from dad, I figured it would be best to go churn out a quick lap and check things out. This little suggestion was the first of things which had saved the race from being a complete disaster, because after completing the majority of the lap catastrophe struck as my Lefty suffered some internal damage and deemed itself useless for the weekend. Luckily my dad brought his Rush along, so the problem was able to be fixed as a working Lefty was swapped out for a broken one thanks to the help from the guys at Cahaba Cycles.

Hodge cleaning some slop of the wheels^

Race day brought a course filled with thick and schloppy clay. For those who are unfamiliar, this stuff sticks to anything and will bring you to a halt as it packs up on your wheels. Besides the mud, I would be faced with some of the best and most respected endurance racers in the country including Tinker, Mark Hendershot, Nat Ross, Ernesto Marenchin, Josh Tostado, and Yuri Hauswald just to name a few. Luckily I had some great support during the race with my dad and Hodge taking care of the bikes and mom taking care of the nutrition (cinnamon rolls, oatmeal cream pies, pb&j, pancakes, and other delightful snacks). So all I had to do was focus on pedaling into delirium.

rollin through the pits^

From the gun, I was in good position somewhere in the top 5 as all of the racers funneled into the singletrack. Things were going smooth until the first big climb when the clay started to pack up really good. So the process would begin: Ride. Stop. Remove mud. Ride. Stop. Remove mud…. This went on for the entire first lap and even with all of the stopping, I was still in 2^nd place behind Tinker and the chase began. By lap 2 I smartened up a bit and found that I would have to stop less frequently if I were to hike up most of the climbs with the bike on my back (even pushing the bike through the mud would leave massive clay deposits on the wheels). This strategy allowed me to keep Tinkers gap from increasing and throughout much of the day I would slowly real him in. By lap 4 most of the course had dried out and the trails were becoming fun to ride and even fast in some sections. The irony in this was that the first 3 laps sucked that much energy out of me that the middle ring was still the gear of choice. Had there been no mud to begin with, the big ring would be the only ring for this course. The afternoon was hot and humid. Kind of like Iron Hill was last year if you had the chance to race there. With the heat came multiple cramps and salt stains that left me looking like a giant powdered donut. Still pushing on, I had to stay focused on the chase. Towards the end of the race only 9 minutes had separated me from Tinker and about 12 minutes separated me from Josh, who was in 3^rd at the time. Pushing through to the end, I was unable to close the gap but finished only 6 minutes back. Though I didn’t take the win, this 2^nd place finish was definitely one of my best to date.

Being led by my night time mistress, the Lupine Wilma 6.^

I would like to thank everyone that helped out all weekend; my parents for their continued support, extra thanks to Hodge for wrenching all day (he was also pitting for Tinker and Mark), Cahaba Cycles for helping out the night before the race, and to everyone else who helped to make Dirt Sweat and Gears such an awesome event. They really know what mountain biking is all about and didn’t disappoint in the least bit. I can’t wait to come back again next year, and I would recommend this event to anyone who reads this.

Mud Slingin

2008-04-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

So I’ve been praying for rain all week prior to Greenbrier, and I got it. The course was inundated with water and mud throughout. The mudfest was stacked with some of the best racers on the East Coast with Chris Eatough, Harlan Price, Aaron Snyder, Kyle Hammaker, Jeff Schalk, and many others who are ready to throw down at will. Starting off, I felt great and was trailing the lead group of Aaron, Jeff, Kyle, and Harlan by just a few seconds, but as the high pace kept up on lap two I started to fall back until those ahead were just out of sight. Plugging along in my own little pain cave I churned out the same lung tearing effort that was produced at Fair Hill only to be caught and passed late in the race by Chris, who had flatted on lap one. In the end I finished up 6^th and celebrated with a bath in the muddy lake to get cleaned up a bit. Now it’s time to concentrate on the Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 Hour race being held this Saturday near Fayetteville, TN. There should be some tough competition, but I’m ready to turn myself inside out on this occasion.

where credit is due: http://www.jdgalleries.com/Cycling/506246

Lungs a Burnin'

2008-04-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

After racing the first XC of the year at Fair Hill, some internal damage has been done. The matter which I have coughed up for two days following the race can be resembled in the upper portion of this diagram.

The torn lung pictured above came as a result of some rather violent breathing during the race which covered nearly 22.5 miles but lasted less than an hour and a half. This permanently damaging effort also brought on a great deal of satisfaction from my 4th place result as I trailed Jeff, Harlan, and Kyle by less than a minute. If races continue to be as competitive as this one, it is going to be a hell of a season racing XC and 100 mile events.

On Monday after the race I received some final parts which I have been anxiously awaiting so that I could finish building up my new Team Scalpel, which I got to thrash around all day on Tuesday. This is one fast machine. I would estimate the weight of this beauty to be around 22 or 23 lbs, which explains why it takes no effort to throw the bike over large boulders and whip around hairpin corners just as precise as your favorite theme park ride. Although this bike is not as stable as the Rush, because of its steepish head tube angle, it is the most worthy XC race bike I've ever come across. Besides XC's, the Scalpel will be a perfect companion to the Rush in 12 and 24 hour events.

Speaking of 12 and 24 hour races, the Dirt, Sweat, and Gears 12 Hour Race is coming up in a couple of weeks (May 3), and my schedule has been altered to accommodate the 24 Hour Champion Challenge at 7 Springs (this was where I discovered my lack of sanity as I won this event in 2005).

And finally, I'm still on the job search and decided to try a new approach applying for some government jobs, so I'll need to go take a civil service test next Monday. Hopefully this works out. I'm starting to get a little worried with graduation approaching soon.

Sense of Humor.... Who has it??? Who doesn't have it???

2008-04-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

It seems these days that 3 interviews with a company are necessary before it is determined that you do not get a job. This was how my first experience went when I interviewed with a certain employer, which was no big deal as there are plenty of jobs out there to continue my search. What gets to me is that their choice not to hire me may have come from a visit to my blog during the final day of interviewing. At this time, my last post was up top in which I jokingly assumed no responsibility for a recent speeding ticket. Could it have been a lack of humor that one of the interviewees had? Perhaps, and if it were the not hiring was definitely for the better. So the job search continues....

Now here are some people who do have a sense of humor.

Sunday was the opening race of the Mid-Atlantic Super Series, the premier cross country series in the Mid-Atlantic. The style of the race was a 4 hour relay on a 3 mile course. Each lap would be completed in about 15 minutes in an all out fashion. Last year was the debut for this event and we (Aaron, Matt, Rob, and myself) went in costume and registered under a questionable and nonetheless humorous team name. This year we (Aaron, Matt, and myself) kept up with last years antics and took on the theme of CounterfeitPA.com to imitate our competitors (above) of VisitPa.com. We were joined in racing effort by Kyle, who decided to not take part in the shenanigans. The goal was to have as much fun as possible with the race and hopefully kick some ass. Although the latter was not accomplished good times were had.

Can you match up the VisitPA.com riders with their CounterfeitPA.com counterparts?

Run-ins with the fuzz, collecting salt stains, and endurance racing

2008-03-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

(Heritage Park Trails)

My encounter with the law was on the first day of spring break, which usually alleviates stress, but as I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items for my upcoming trip down south the mood was turned upside down when I saw the flashing lights in my rear view mirror. Of course I am not going to blame myself even though I was speeding, but instead I will point my anger to the man in blue who thought it would be a great idea to set up a speed trap at the bottom of a fairly steep hill at the exact point where the speed limit changes from 45 to 35. While coasting and even hitting the brakes at the 35mph sign, my speedometer read 50. I’m sure the man who pulled me over saw things differently as he saved the world from the likes of one dangerously fast Subaru station wagon.

On to the good stuff. The weather is sloppy, cold, and wet at home and going somewhere warm for a week couldn’t have been a better idea. First stop on the list: Douthat State Park, located off of Rt. 64 in Central, VA. I’ve ridden here before with Aaron on the way to a 12 hour race last year and absolutely loved the place. It’s slightly technical, and has an immense amount of climbing and descending with some very scenic views. The pics below sum the views and trail conditions. After a 4 hour ride here, it doesn’t seem like the week could get much better.

After the ride, I took a straight shot down to stop number 2, Uwharrie National Forest, located East of Charlotte, NC. As soon as I got up in the morning I was greeted by another police officer. My mind was starting to run through some scenarios as I thought, “what could I have possibly done now… speeding again; no, murder; not that I remember, sleeping in the back of my car; I don’t think that’s a crime…” So I calmly went over to see what he had wanted, and it turned out he just wanted to shoot the shit about bikes. I don’t think police officer #2 could have been any more different than police officer #1. That goes to show that stereotyping policemen is not even accurate these days. Anyway, Uwharrie is where I began my XC racing season last year, so I decided to return to try and dig up some fond memories and put in a hard race pace ride and find my competitive edge which has been buried since October. The fast and flowy singletrack that wisked its way through the pine forest of southern NC was just as thrilling as it was last March. After putting in a 2.5 hour effort, I was pretty worked and took the rest of the sunny afternoon to soak up some sun and sear in some tan lines before packing up and heading further south.

(The label on the camp fuel changes color when the can is too hot to handle.... or simply self-ignites.)

My next destination was Croft Natural Area near Spartanburg, SC. This was a completely random choice as I picked up a map and saw that it was a state park and it was on the way to Georgia. I had my uncertainties and my doubts about the place, but figured if worst came to worst, it would be a day of road riding. I strolled into the park after dark and pulled in a couple camping spots away from another car with bikes on it. Being tired, from riding and driving, I set up the air mattress in the back of the truck and started sawing logs at 9:00. After waking up and warming up to some coffee, I went over to converse with my camping neighbors, who were only my second human encounter so far for the week, and find out about the trails. This was a rather lustful experience as my neighbors were two cute girls from Florida who were on spring break doing the same thing that I’ve been doing, but without a 6 hour race as the grand finale. Too bad they were not from PA. Buy anyway, they pointed me to the trailhead and after breakfast, I was off. The park offered 10 miles of singletrack, which had similar flow to Uwharrie, but offered some steep technical chutes that would cause my bike’s suspension to bottom out at the end of each drop. This place, again was a blast to ride at, and after 4 hours, I called it quits, packed up and repeated the process of moving on to another location.

The plan was to next spend a day in Anderson, SC, where I will be going for my final job interview with TTi in two weeks. I wanted to scope out the town and ride around there for a bit and just take it easy. So when I arrived the night before, there was no forest to camp in, so I had to settle for a Wal-Mart parking lot, which was a bit noisier, but served its purpose. After waking up I decided to take a lazier approach and just drive around Anderson. It’s not a very large town, but it’s got everything you need and has a nice appearance to it. I still had the urge to tear into some more dirt, so before lunchtime I finished up the drive to my final destination in GA.

(This is how the temporarily homeless spend their free time alone in a park)

The trails at Heritage Park were outstanding. They consisted of twisty and fast singletrack with some spine jarring root sections, some small drops, and banked turns. The flow of the trails was that smooth it almost felt like riding with a motor. Luckily, I had the time to dial in almost every corner of the park from Wednesday through Friday before the race. So when race day came, the only thing that would change were the conditions as some severe T-storms made their way in Friday night into Saturday.

(The calm before the storm)

The race itself was difficult to plan for due to the severe storms and tornadoes that had taken over the area. However the start gave way to blue skies, but because of the instability in the weather I took off like it was an XC rather than an endurance race. I had the lead from the moment we funneled into the singletrack, and for the first few laps I had to keep the abusive pace as I could see 2nd place, Dan Corum off in the distance. Eventually I lengthened my lead to nearly 20 minutes which opened up enough of a gap in the end to complete an extra lap over the field. Somehow the storms waited until after the race to roll in, never posing a threat to any of the racers. Hopefully this race will be a good indicator for how the rest of the season is going to play out.

Its official and almost over...

2008-03-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Graduation Application Approval

Pending successful completion of your current semester, as well as satisfaction of any other outstanding requirements for your program of study, you are tentatively approved for graduation in Spring 2008

2008-02-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

This about sums up the mood right now.... Can't wait for spring break next week. There will be multiple days spent down south, including the first race of the season in Georgia. I'll wait until after then to post again, so there will be something positive to talk about.

This is Just What I was Looking For

2008-02-17T07:18:00.000-08:00

On the drive down to Virginia Friday night, I had some notions that the trip was going to turn sour. About an hour into the drive, I started to think about some essentials I forgot, tp, paper towels, heart rate monitor strap... Luckily these are all sorts of luxury items when your living out of your car anyway. Another hour down the road and I see a flaming rectangular outline in the median. Hmmm that looks a little odd. Driving on about a mile down 81 and traffic comes to a halt. As ambulances, fire trucks, and policemen squeeze their way through the maze of cars I catch a glimpse of the action. What I see looks like a bonfire, but I soon recognize that it's just another burning 18-wheeler in the right lane. What!?!? From a distance this looked pretty scary, and after a half hour of wondering about whether everyone was alright, I began to think a little more selfishly. When the hell are we going to get moving again? I turned off my car and made a few phone calls to ease my boredom. It wasn't too much longer that I saw the flames put out and the truck still pouring smoke. More waiting, more boredom.... I couldn't wait to actually see the extent of what had happened, but in my intense focus to get moving again I forgot to take a closer gander as I passed. Oh well, I finally reached the park by about 10 p.m. By 10:30 I was curled up on my air mattress in my cozy sleeping back in the back of my car sawing logs.

Wake up time was at 7, and when I got out of the sleeping bag, damn was it cold. I ate some cereal and made some coffee, then started to get ready for the ride. All bundled up, I headed out for my first of several laps. After the first lap, I had to peel off my windstopper base layer, after lap 2, I shed the booties, leg warmers and skull cap. Another short lap went by and the arm warmers disappeared. Alright, what’s going on here? It's February and I'm in shorts, a jersey, and a tall pair of Smart Wool socks. Oh yeah.... I'm not in PA anymore, more commonly known as Antarctica according to Matteo.

So the trails at this park were sweet and as I was riding I realized my self-proclaimed profession: Freelance Nomadic Trail Connoisseur. I've been working at this job for the last nine years doing side projects for personal records. My proven experience and track record has caused me to offer my services to the public. An example of my work can be seen below.

Location: Walnut Creek - Near Charlottesville, VA
Trails: All of em
Conditions: Dry but not dusty
Description: These trails are fast, twisty, and slightly technical. One side of the park offers steep ups and downs that take no longer than a minute or two to climb. This is the more technical side and can be identified by red, green, yellow, purple, white and orange markings. The other side of the park is faster and can be distinguished by orange, yellow, and blue markings.
Distance: The total distance is 15 miles. The more technical loop, which I started out on is shorter, and about 5 miles.
Trail Type: 99% singletrack, 100% fun
Similar Trails: Tsali, NC; Cowbell Challenge Trails - Charlotte, NC; Danville, PA
Notes: Go there when it snows in PA

How Long Till Spring?

2008-02-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

I can't really complain about this winter too much. I've been able to ride my mountain bike almost every day I chose to up until this week when the weather turned from good to shitty. The coming of the shitty weather has resulted in a week on trainer and I'm mentally exhausted. I'm also in a little regret that I hadn't gone to Florida for 12 Hours of Santos with Jed and Aaron. My busy schedule this semester would have made the trip a huge hassle, but last minute changes by my professors would have permitted me to go if their notices were given a week in advance. But anyway, it is not really the racing that I truly wanted to go for, but to ride in a bit warmer weather for a change. Even with a good winter, PA doesn't quite have a tropical climate. So to attempt to ride some trails this weekend in moderate weather, I'll be heading to Walnut Creek, near Charlottesville, VA..... Hopefully they've got some good dirt to ride on, cause right now I need it.