Sep 28, 2006

Busted


I cracked my helmet in two places at cross practice. Got a bruise on the side of my head, shoulder and hip. Busted up proper. Went to go visit a new friend who invited me to a latin party. Got to the club door and realized I was way underdressed and funded. Rode home in the rain, got a flat a mile from my door. Walked to the steady beat of my rolling flat.

Sep 25, 2006

Sweet Revenge, Terror of Teaberry






You want the hardest race around? Try the Terror. I convinced my friend Eric to go and do the monster loop at party pace, and spent the rest of the day worried he was was going to kill me if he made it back alive. Tents were coming down, caterer was loaded up, and we were almost alone in the parking lot. Eric rolls in after a 6hr45min day with a smile. Now I'm still watching my back in case he is toying with me, waiting to hit me like pigeon poop in a Dairy Queen Blizzard. (really happened once).
THe hardest but most rewarding race around if you approach it right. I tried to warn him, but you can never really do the experience justice with words.
Jamie came out of the woods a few minutes after Eric, missing the pedal body to his candy. Apparently it fell off in the first ten miles, but at each aid station he decided to keep going. So in the end he rode 30 miles on a bare spindle. I guess thats what peace Corps in Africa will do to you.

Sep 15, 2006

DUMB white boy!


I've gone and done it. First I was thinking...24hr Worlds. But waking nightmares haunted me, so a very generous person stepped up to the plate and donated entry to Costa Rica's answer to what body-blows from Rocky must feel like. La Ruta De Los Conquistadors.
Now I'm gonna have a party.To raise some other funds. It' will be an auction of sorts, and my tenative hope is that it will be at a local skating rink!
Dust off your hot pants, and gold lame` hats. Were gonna get down for the sake of going down, South.
Stay tuned for further news!!

Sep 5, 2006

Dropping logs.


My boss just sent me this photo of meself, from the single speed rally last weekend. I borrowed my friends bike to see how it rode. Jack-rabbit style! I have dteremined.

Uncertainty reigns. SM100 Rules






Notes on what not to do before the "BIG RACE".

1. Not have a game plan. I orginally said i might ride a fixie or a single-speed. Instead I hemed and hawed, and decided at the last minute to race the big boys. I should have choosen one or the other. Instead I was stuck in between.
2. Invite your college friends into town to visit for the week leading up to the race. My Friend Gabe came in Monday and Drew Wendsday. It was lots of fun but not conditions for racing big. Mentally this screwed with me..as well as physically. You know we ran around wondering about the last 8 years but not the next 20, and relationship talk filled most of our time. Enough drinking, dancing and bickering carried on into the night hours to satisfy even the most insatiable Hal Hartley fan.

If I had decided before this past week how to proceed, things would have been a lot more fun. I could have relaxed more with my friends. Gone to the race and ridden at pleasure pace, with people I normally don't get to ride with. Racing is fun, doing well is nice but riding with friends is better. I missed a big opportunity to cruise a 100mile race with random people, talk more to aid station volunteers and possibly join a train to blast down Dowles Draft or Braley's. THose things are important. Instead I rode alone most of the time. If I seemed dissapointed after the race that is why, not because I got 7th.
Instead I was stuck somewhere in-betweeen. Trail Purgatory.
If I could do it again here is how it would go.
I start out in the back and don't even see who goes off the front. Instead I saddle up to Kerry Combs and we chat a little about the day and the year, and her enthusiasm. About the time we make the second left and start on the dualtrack I mosey up to Indy Fab guru Lloyd Graves. We climb together to the radio tower and the first piece of single-track on Narrow back. 400 riders are trying to squeeze into the woods is similar to someone trying to put toothpaste back into the tube. Lloyd goes in first and we let a gap form in front to minimize the amount of carnage we have to ride over.
Coming out onto the gravel Lloyd and I have seperated and I ride with a few random packs of people. We chat, and I make jokes when they ask me why I'm not up in the front. Somebody farts and we all laugh. Eventually I catch up to Chris Nystrom. He helped me with my trip to Breckenridge. I had met his wife at the 101 and was looking forward to seeing him here. A good rider, we cruise up Lynn Trail and try to keep our rear wheels stuck to the earth on the climb. At the top I lead into the decent down Wolf Ridge trail. Shenandoah Bike club has done a lot of work to this trail. When I used to live in Harrisonburg I would do night rides from town to ride Lynn and Wolf. Lots of rock gardens to gap and some very fast and sketchy sections. At the bottom I've lost Chris but gained another group of strangers. They decided to act like roadies and we do some mindblowing TTT. Our group is solid with 30sec pulls and very few are able to catch on as we fly by like a flock of seagulls.
At Hanky Mountain I find myself next to John Posner. Trek Factory team manager. "Captain BassMaster". He is in charge of all the Trek Boys and girls this weekend, but doesn't seem to be too worried about what they are doing up the road. I saw in my future a back seat to the Poz train going down Dowles. He was rocking it on that fancy Trek he likes to ride, but I eventually had to ask for a line around and showed him what off-camber speed looked like.
We rocked to the bottom and Aid Station 3 where I hung out for a while and talked and ate too many sweedish fish. As I eyed up another handfull, Cheryl Sorenson (my previous Gettysburg teammate) came in acting like she owned the forest. We took off together after she rehydrated and we made our way to Mountain House and the next piece of single-track. I seperated from her when Tommi Millar and Buck came rolling up on the Fixies and we had a good time while I pushed them on the pavement sections, with their feet on the top tubes. The climb up to Braleys is a perfect single speed section so I let them go first and watched their steady cadence and silliness. Pat Miller and Thomas Jenkins rolled up from behind and we all eventually set a pace that caught my friend and travel mate for the weekend Topher.
At the top I couldn't imagine a much better group to be blazing Braleys trail with. But I had to drop those dudes, except for Topher and we rolled on to catch Thom Parsons, Indy Fab Web master, who was having a good time riding with Les Leech, the "One-Gear Better-Beer Rally" ringmaster. Two web designers in one spot made for some not so interesting conversation about color theory and cultural identity shifts based on web structure. I cared but decided to ride on and try to catch another group. At station 5 I see Mike Carpenter lying in the grass. He rode there but in a round about way due to a blown chain in the first 30 sec of the race. He was forced to abandon and truly pleasure ride the rest of the day. We took off together to finish the climb to Chestnut ridge, where it was all down hill for a while and I was ready to follow the local knobbies of Carp. All legs arms and torso, it was like watching a preying mantis ride a deer down the mountain. Beautiful.
With only about 10 miles to go I decided to sprint the rest of the way to see what that felt like. Catching people and riding with them some completed my day.
That is what my day should have been like. In the end I still had a good time because the event is great, the people are random and interesting, and the riding is Tops!
Hats off to everyone who did it. See you next year.
Rock Star award goes to Rich Dillon for eating one of the rankest snacks in existance.

Sep 1, 2006

SadoMasochism100



Last weekend Philly had its little 'One Gear and Good Beer' rally. Have you ever thrown your six-pack under a trolls bridge and explored fairyland? Try it next year. The act of drinking and riding around in imperfect circles with friends and strangers hits me in the gut. I took a couple of photos at the start then decided to stop watching and start going mad!
This weekend, after an extended visit from two of my oldest friends, Gabe and Drew, I'm going to Virginia for the SM100. I'm bringing a big bag of pain to pass out. Or I might just keep it for myself.
Another race rival and friend Jeremiah Bishop will be there after just getting back from an eighth place finish at the World Championship in New Zealand. THat means for at least a day he was #8 in the world. That is incredible and I feel lucky to have the chance to race him over the years. THe English Muffin will be back to hand me my lunch. By far this is looking to be the deepest competition at one of these 100milers to date. So it was a great week to have my partying friends in town to help me get ready.