SLC Pic Dump

Read 'em and weep...

Ah, like butter...

What is that white stuff?!?

More of the white stuff and the wet stuff.

Views like this *everywhere*...

The Quiring looking like a million bucks.

Your humble blogger; just to prove I didn't lift the pics from Dirt Rag.

Quick update from the road

Greetings from Salt Lake City!

I was in Lincoln, NE on Wednesday. Hooked up with the Snob for a nice spin and some great pizza and beer at Yaya's. We ran into a whole herd of endurance singlespeeders on the ride; a handful of DK and TI vets, as well as some 'regular' ss-24 racers. A few, including cornbread joined us for dinner. I crashed at the casa de snob. Good times!

Yesterday it was back on the road for 12 hours to get me to SLC. Took today off from driving to do some riding. The trails around SLC are insane! I dropped the Quiring down to 2x1 and still spend quite a bit of time walking. But when I could ride the trials were some of the best I have seen to date. They are very diverse; like rolling the NTC from Michigan in with some of the climbs and descents from Sylamore in Arkansas. And the views; well, they were just crazy. I took a bunch of pictures, and will post them as soon as I reach my final destination and get my computer up and running.

Back on the road tomorrow for another 12 hours. The weather is supposed to turn sour, so that should make the mountains interesting...

End of an Era

I did the team ride last night. It was a special cyclocross training ride; we went through just about every orchard, two-track, golf cart path, and goat path in Kent County. Aside from a few crashes, a good time was had by all. I was on the Quiring with cross tires. Two other single speeds were on the ride, as well as a handful of 1x9's.

Good times.

We then adjourned to the Farmstead, where tasty beverages were consumed.

As good as the night was, it was also somewhat bittersweet as it was my last Founder's team ride. I have accepted a job in Portland, OR. I start on October 1. I'll ride with the Founder's folks whenever I get the chance, but my days of the regular Tuesday rides are over.

Not much will change on the blog, except hopefully the pictures will display more interesting terrain. Blog updates might be a bit slow as I will be driving out to Portland. I do hope to get a few rides in along the way, and I'll update as time and connectivity permit.

You never know what the future might hold...

Cyclocross Season

Must be Cross season!

Shawn

Scott

Joe #3

JoeFro

Joe #1

Smaller group for the first Cross Team Ride of the season. The weather was very fall-like, with cool temps, dark clouds and lots of wind. A mix of dirt roads and pavement was on tap. It was a nice introduction to cross season, or as I like to call it "Did Nate just lap me AGAIN!?!" season.

Post ride refreshments:

Our Team Motto

Shelf of Fame

Spandex Steve and The Farmer joined us post-ride

Good Times! More cross training is on tap. Next week the farmer has some kind of special treat in store for us. I assume I will be hurting...

Fancy Frame SOLD!

It goes to a new home on Monday.

Fancy Frame for Sale

For Sale:

One brand new, never built-up* custom steel 29" frame from Badger Cycles. $700 + Shipping.

This was supposed to be my team bike for the 2007 season. For a variety of reasons, it got to me too late in the season to do me any good. Also, it does not fit me properly. Long story short, this was not the frame I ordered.

My loss is your gain! This frame retails for $1650. I paid $650 for it on a 'pro-deal' and am throwing in the matching team jersey. The frame did not ship with the slider hardware, so I will have to order that separately and it is included in the price. So, for all my stress and aggravation I added an extra $50 to my cost. This is still the lowest price you will ever see for a brand new, never built-up* Badger Custom frame.

Specifics:

Seat Tube: 18" center to center, 20" center to top

Top Tube: 23" center to center

Weight: a hair under 4.5 lbs

Hydraulic hose guides, NO cable guides. This frame is singlespeed only.

Paragon Sliding Dropouts

The frame is in as-new condition. It will be packed in the box in which it arrived on my doorstep.

*Ok, so I sprayed some T-9 in the seat tube and installed a seat post collar and a brand-new Thompson post so I could clamp it in the bike stand. Both were removed without incident.

Feel free to post any comments or questions you might have. I can take pictures of any part of this bike that might interest you.

Cash only for local pick-up or Paypal.

Slow couple of weeks

Not much on the bike stuff to report. I caught Becky's cold, so I have been off the bike for a bit. Final team road ride this Tuesday, then we switch to cross bikes.

I'm looking into some White Industries ENO Eccentric hubs to build a set of 700c wheels; ss cross, anyone? And maybe some fixed-gear commuting next year.

Oh, as you can see I skipped Shenandoah. I really wanted to go, but it would have been my 3 weekend in a row on the road and with this cold I knew I would get killed out there. So I bagged it and am working on a quick recovery. Or trying anyway. Lots of end-of-summer stuff to do around the house.

Wonder-Becky

Even though she was hit by a car six weeks ago,
Even though she has some kind of nasty upper respiratory infection,
Even though she only got three hours of sleep the night before,
Becky was able to crush the Chicago triathlon yesterday!

34th out of 256 in her age group in 2:46. This was her first International Distance triathlon.

She managed over 20 MPH for the 40k bike leg! This on her nice but heavy and non-aero road bike.

Anyway, she did awesome!

Sad Question

Those of you who read this log regularly know that I was waiting all season for a custom frame. The frame finally arrived just before 9 Mile. Unfortunately, it was the *wrong* frame. The seat tube is two inches too long and the top tube is too short. This after waiting all season for the frame; it was ordered in February and delivered July.

I called the builder. He wanted to build another frame for me. I decided that I would rather have my money back and move on to another project. The builder agreed, and said they would send me a check by the end of the week. That was three weeks ago, and now he is not returning my e-mail.

My question is this: What should I do? I can't use the frame, and I'd hate to embarrass the builder by putting his $1500 frame on ebay for $650, which is what I paid. Would someone even buy a 'custom' frame built for someone else?

Oh, and should I be 'outing' this builder by describing my experience here and on the boards?

Thoughts and advice appreciated.

Could there be some beef in your future?

Yes, there could be.

Round and Round

Did the team ride on Tuesday. The speeds were high; sometimes they were crazy-high. I held on for all I was worth.

I took it easy for the rest of the week.

Friday I drove to the UP for a very nice invitation-only century ride. Lots of great folks and good food to be had. This was my fourth time at this particular ride, and I had a great time!

Should be a pretty mellow week on the bike again this week. Rain in the forecast means adjustments to the ride schedule. Next week is taper for Shenandoah, where it looks like I will be camping at the race site. That should be...interesting.

Love will find a way; just give it time.

Ohhh that smell...

Nate, Dan and I did 5 hours on the singlespeeds yesterday. I'm not talking about a nice trek through the woods, looking at daisies and butterflies; this was a mini-epic. It was hot and humid; maybe in the high 80's or 90's. We each went through a couple gallons of water. We did trails that were more like deer tracks than singletrack. Just like last week, I spent too much time on my back. Just like last week, I feel like I've been flushed down the toilette.

So Dan and I were packing the car. I couldn't help but notice that something smelled...well...like old roadkill. So I sniffed the usual suspects; jersey, gloves, helmet, shoes. All smelled like flowers. Then it hit me...my hat. That thing was like the south facing end of a north-bound goat. And the goat was on an all soy and bean diet. I mean to say that the hat was rank. For the rest of the ride, I smelled the hat. So did Nate and Dan.

On the plus side, the Quiring was full-on awesome! That bike is like rock and roll with 29" tires.

Anyway, I'm off to the U.P. this weekend for a cool invitation-only century ride. Lots of interesting folks, plenty of good food and I get to ride 100 miles. Good stuff.

Hi! I'm Joe. I like to ride bikes...

Not much saddle time this week. The weather was hot, my foot hurt, and I felt run down. Even today I wasn't feeling great. I should have went for a long slow ride. Instead I did bike maintenance and went to the farmer's market.

The Quiring is in great shape! I changed the chainring, cog and chain. I almost put the rigid fork on there, but decided to hold off until after Shenandoah. Slapped on a new front tire. The bike performed very well during the shakedown ride. My foot/toe held up as well.

I'll be out on the singlespeed tomorrow for about 5 hours. Sounds like Dan and Nate will be there; maybe a few others as well.

Broken Toe

The title about sums it up.

I Slammed the pinkie toe of my left foot into the wall this AM. There was a nice 'POP!' noise, and it hurt like hell all day. Tonight it is all black and blue and quite sore. I 'buddy tapped' it to the toe next door and went for a spin on the road bike. It hurt, but wasn't terrible.

I'll try the team ride tomorrow, but if it hurts too much I might take the rest of the week off the bike.

Something old, something new...

I did my first fixie ride this week. On Friday I borrowed a fixed Surly Steamroller. As someone who had been riding singlespeeds for a long time, I thought it would be a pretty easy transition. Not so much. I'm not saying I didn't like it or that I won't try it again, but it definitely felt a little sketchy at times. Downhill was...interesting.

Today saw Dan Jansen and I out on SS MTB's for about four hours. Lots of hills, lots of finding hidden trails tucked away and forgot by nearly everyone. I crashed more today than in my last 10 MTB rides combined, including one impressive flip-over-and-lay-on-my-back crash and a total "Hey, where did that tree come from?" crash. Also, I got stung by a bee.

I feel like I am nearly recovered from 9 Mile. Two toes are still a little numb and my lower neck/shoulder area is still not right. The legs are flat, but starting to respond when called upon. Also, I'm dealing with a bit of lingering knee soreness from a midnight rock garden get-off.

On tap this week: Tuesday Team Road Smackdown, some recovery, Thursday MTB SS early pre-Iceman training, some recovery and some SS endurance training on Sunday. 'Bout what you'd expect for August.

24-9 Pic Dump

24-9 Report

What does finishing a 24 solo singlespeed feel like? About like this:

No, not the woman to the right; she looks great. (It's Namrita btw, from whose blog I swiped the pic.) I mean that nasty looking gent to the left. I look exactly how I felt; like a warmed-over piece of a$$-meat.

I was going to do one of those lap-by-lap reports, but lots of folks beat me to it. I'll just focus on the things that were maybe a little different for me.

First, I started the race without my usual compliment of ointments for 'down under', if you catch my drift. I left all my personal lubes and whatnot at the hotel. My support person went back to get them, but for reasons beyond his control (more on this later) he didn't get back in time. I was able to get some chamois cream from Eddie but I didn't have my lidocane jelly or my Body Glide. Not a great way to start. I have to say that this lack had less effect on my race than I would have expected. However, I am paying for it now. Let's just say that things down there are a little sore and, well...scabby. Not great.

The race went very well for me. Sure, it hurt. My feet hurt, but not as bad as in some other races. I never had to switch shoes or pedals. My neck hurt, but not as much as at other times. I never got nauseous, probably because I was only eating about 175-200 calories per hour. Yet I never really bonked, although I came very close.

I had a couple of slow laps that were due more to mental than physical weakness. I stopped at the IMBA tent to eat chips, because chips were the only thing that really sounded good. I also spent a bit more time in the pits than was necessary during those laps. And lets face it; I was walking a bunch of the course at that point. I felt like hell and just wanted the race to be over; like I always do.

Funny story; I stopped at the big bonfire at the road crossing located about 2/3 of the way around the course. I was cold, tired, and needed to stop and drink from my bottle. One of the guys there recognized me from earlier in the race. He had invited me to stop by and have a cocktail, and he reiterated his offer. I declined and sipped my Hammer cocktail instead. Then, from out of the shadows steps a tall man, his face concealed by a mosquito net. He says, "Man, you can't say here; you can't quite now. Everybody wants to quite now, this is the worse time of the night. You are doing great, you have to get moving!" You know what? He was right, and I'm glad he reminded me of what I needed to do.

During the night I went from 5th to 2nd to 1st (I guess for a while) to 4th. The last night lap I was trying to figure out if the podium was for 1st through 3rd or 1st though 5th. I was ready to settle for 4th in the latter case and just finish the race already. But then dawn broke, and *as always happens*, I suddenly became a ball of fire. I ripped off two strong(ish) laps, and my pit crew told me Dallas Sigurdur, a cool guy and TI veteran, was sitting right in from of me and in 3rd position. This was bad for me, since on the last lap *when I was feeling strong* he had blown past me like I was standing still. I had tried to get on his wheel without success.

I figured there was no point in chasing. But I chased anyway. I had no energy, but I found some energy. I didn't care anymore, but damned if I didn't care just enough. I threw everything I had into catching Dallas, and did so pretty quickly. I blew right by him and just kept my head down and pedals turning. I assumed he was right on my wheel and I never looked back. I caught Nat Ross (!) and told him I was trying to hold on to 3rd place in solo singlespeed. Would he mind if I sat on his wheel? Not a problem says Nat. Awesome.

I crank out the last two laps on adrenalin and I don't know what else. My knees are on fire; my feet are really starting to hurt, my neck and shoulders are just burning. I was ready to be done.

Then, like these things always do, it ends. Sure enough, I held off Dallas. Sure enough, I got 3rd Place. Sure enough, the podium was 5 deep--good thing I didn't know that!

As I was just starting to enjoy the afterglow, my support guy Dan says "I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you why I was late getting back with you lube products. There is a problem with your car..." Hmmm, not what you want to hear when you are supposed to be on the road in about four hours. We decided to skip the awards (Sorry race promoters!) to try and find someone to fix the trusty VW. Well, believe it or not, two guys that have been up for about 30 hours might have a hard time finding someone to fix a VW in small town in Wisconsin on a Sunday afternoon. After much head scratching and calling around, we figured out that we just weren't going to get it fixed that day. So we did what any red-blooded American men would do: Took a nap, then went out for steak and beer!

In some ways, it was good that we didn't have to leave right away. We got to have dinner with Eddie and Namrita, Scott and Danielle, Aaron, Jason and the rest of the Slingshot crew, and maybe a few more people that I forget. It was great to chat about races past and future; the good and bad seeds in the sport; and, well, the state of our nether regions. Good times.

The car was fixed the next day without further event. Strangely, I started to feel very good. I mean, *very good* considering I just did a 24-hour race. My drive home was fine; I had achieved the sort of rare calm state that I sometimes get after these races. I had done all I had set out to do; now I got to enjoy it for a bit.

Work up today feeling almost...normal. Not quite; my legs are sluggish and my neck and shoulder are quite sore. But I was able to do the team ride tonight, and I could hang with the pack for the most part. That is just incredible--usually after a 24 I don't ride my bike at all for most of a week and don't do any hard efforts for two weeks. I wasn't on top of my game tonight, but I did far better than I ever would have thought possible. I'll have to think about what this means...

Anyway, special thanks to Dan for pulling his first (only?) stint as a support guy. Thanks to Jason for all the help with bottles and, well, that was an awesome sponge bath.

It was great to meet and spend time with Namrita and Eddie. I knew of them before the race; now I feel like I *know* them, at least to some extent. I look forward to racing near them again. It was great to see Paddy, Dallas, and Skip. You guys rule; you almost make me want to camp next time so we could hang out more. Or, on the other had, you could all join me at the Hotel. You know, where there are no bugs but there is ample air conditioning and a very nice pool/hot tub. I'm just saying...

Picture to follow. Dan took a bunch, now if he would just send them to me. (Hint hint)

24-9 Quickie

3th Place.

Had a couple rough laps, but overall a good race. Feel pretty good today. Had car trouble, had to spend an extra day in Wisconsin. All is well now.

Report and pictures to follow shortly.

Special thanks to Dan, Jason, Scott, Eddie and Namrita. More on all this later.

Countdown

Car? Packed.
Chains? Lubed.
Carbs? Loaded.
Chamois? Buttered.

Time to rock and roll...

Quick Random Update

Scrambled to find a back-up bike for this weekend when my long-awaited bike arrived and turned out to the be the wrong bike. Sigh. Bike found, parts being transferred. Future bike #2 plans still up in the air.

Traveled to Toronto to see The Police reunion tour. Awesome. Spent part of the day in Toronto today; lots of fixie hipsters. Saw some cool bike shops and a neat bicycle co-op.

Becky is doing very well. Her training for the Chicago Triathlon is back on track. Thanks to everybody for asking about her and wishing her well.

Resting up for this weekend. Feeling good, but more importantly, looking good.

Cross Bike? Road Bike?

You decide:

How to Finish Trans-Iowa

Ride 50 miles looking at this:

Turn around, and ride back 50 miles looking at this:

Best done while riding this:

Smile for the camera!

So, so you think my allergies were acting up that day? Endurance riding is a dirty sport!

More Updates

Becky is doing better. She got the last of the stitches out today, and her face is looking much better. She is starting to get up and around more, and I suspect she will be ready to get back to work on Monday. Got the report on her bike; $640 to get it back to pre-crash condition. Now the wrestling with the drivers' insurance company can begin...

Did the team ride yesterday. It was a good one; fast, hot weather and lots of attacking! There was a fairly large group, and everyone got a workout. The crazy weather prevented the GPS from acquiring any satellites, so I don't have details. All I know is it was crazy fast.

MTB tomorrow and I need to figure out what to do for the weekend. Next weekend I'll be out of town and the following weekend is 9 Mile--time to get busy planning!

Rider update and Ride update

Becky is doing better today. She got two of the four stitches removed from her chin, and her skin is healing up nicely. The concussion has some lingering effects, but I predict a full recovery.

Even with all the drama, I was able to get two long rides in this weekend. I did 100 miles the hard way on Saturday; solo, single-speed, and self-supported. In the heat as a bonus. Becky's mom was in town, so I rode for all I was worth. Pretty much confirmed my setup for 9 Mile.

Sunday I did the Taco Ride 2.0 with Jason, Ralph, Shawn, and Chip. It was 80 miles on the road bike at a fairly slow pace. The heat was hot, and the humidity was nasty. I flatted, but Ralph came through with the old-skool frame pump. Lots of miles, but the legs still feel pretty good today.

The rest of the week is pretty much old news; good rides on Tuesday and Thursday with active recovery in between. Should get the damage estimate on Becky's bike tomorrow, and maybe a plastic surgery consult near the end of the week.

Good times? Could be worse.

Rider Down Update

Becky is doing somewhat better today. She is sore and having road rash on your face is not fun, but we both know it could have been much worse.

I took her bike to the shop today. They said the front wheel is shot, and they are looking over the rest of the bike; frame alignment, fork/steerer tube/dropouts, shifters, handlebar, etc.

I've started dealing with the insurance companies. Strange at it sounds, I have to make a claim against *my* auto insurance for medical coverage because Michigan is a no-fault state. Somehow I have to make a claim against the at-fault driver to get the bike (and pain-and-suffering, lost wages, gear, etc?) covered. I'm sure this will be a joy. But at least we have someone to go after; it could have been a hit and run.

Do me a favor, wear your helmet...

Rider Down

At 7:45 PM on Thursday, my wife Becky was hit by a car while riding her bike. A car parked on the side of a fairly busy street pulled directly into her path. She was traveling at about 18 MPH. She hit the left front quarter panel, flew over the hood of the car and impacted the road.

She is fine, for the most part. She has significant abrasions to her face and shoulder, and four stitches on her chin. We just got back from the ER. (It's 1:15 AM...)

As for the bike, the front wheel might be salvageable. I haven't checked the fork, steering tube or headset yet. Every else seems ok.

Her helmet is pretty scuffed up, and the Oakley half-jackets are trashed.

So, no triathlon for her this weekend. I'll skip Boyne to make sure she has what she needs.

Be safe out there.

Team Ride

A huge group turned out for the team ride yesterday. We enjoyed a shortish ride. The pace overall was moderate, but there were a few times when the hammer did drop. Super-famous roadie Mark Hekman made an appearance. After the ride we hit Little Mexico and then back to Nate's place for a few beers. Since almost everyone had the day off, we stayed out a bit later than usual. Good times.

No riding today in honor of out forefathers and the birth of out great nation. Back on the mtb tomorrow to test some position changes and think about the Marathon race this weekend.

100 Miles of Fun and Tacos

Well, ok, more like 80 miles. There were seven of us on the ride. It was a good group, although some of the participants were more MTB-oriented. One of the guys was some kind of super-fasty roadie, and he put the hurt on us! I had a couple of decent pulls, but I am dealing with a saddle sore the size of Nebraska so I had some trouble with the seated climbing. All in all, it was a good time. The weather was picture-purfect and we ended the day at Founder's. What more could you ask for?

It should be a good ride this Tuesday. Many of us have the next day off, so we can push harder than usual. And I guess we will end up an Founder's once again. Good times.

I'm hoping to make it to the Boyne marathon race on Saturday. I'm still not 100%: not sure what gear I'd run, and not sure what class (expert or ss) I'd run in. Time will tell.

Easy Week

Did the team ride on Tuesday. There was some pain, mostly due to the heat. A few mechanicals caused us to run a bit late, so no pizza after. I made two small changes to the road bike; I raised the seat about 5 mm and lowered the bars about 10 mm. It was a good change. I think I'll tweak the MTB this weekend along the same lines.

Should be a good weekend for riding. I'm looking at a few hours tomorrow and 100 miles or so on Sunday. My fitness is coming around after the long layoff in Europe. Which is good, since there is a little 24 hour race right around the corner.

Next week should be another good week for riding, at least as long as the weather holds. I have a 40-mile marathon race on the schedule for next Saturday; we'll see how I feel and make a last-minute call on that one. Otherwise all the normal rides will be in full effect. Sometimes dull can be exciting.

Say "Yes!" to 9 Mile

The decision is in: I will be doing 24 Hours of 9 Mile. I have a support person lined up, and I have located a back-up bike. Now I have to handle the logistics: I'm registered, but that's it. I need to figure out where to stay, how to get there, what to bring, etc. It's been a while since I did a 24-hour lap race.

This means Wilderness is out. My performance at back-to-back weekends of racing means the E100 is out. That in turn means I won't qualify for the overall in the National Endurance Series. (By the way, it looks like their site has been hacked...)

With that set of decisions out of the way, I can focus on training for the rest of this seasons' events. I'll still be at Shenandoah; I have at least one marathon race on the calendar, and a series of XC races leading up to Iceman. The 200-miler in Minnesota looks interesting. On second thought, it looks like there are still a few more decisions to be made.

Cannonsburg Pics

Pictures stolen from www.mtb-life.com website...

Ouch

Did Cannonsburg 8 hour. It was like the mirror image of Lumberjack: Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Bad prep the week before the race, bad nutrition and bad bike set-up.

In the end, it was more like the 4 hours of Cannonsburg. Other people had good rides: Dan was on fire and beat all the solo riders and teams; Shawn put the hut on folks and pulled off 9 laps; Nate and Sheri pulled out a 2nd Place in the 2 Person category. Good times.

With no back-up bike in sight, I am having second thoughts about 9 mile. If I skip it, I can do Wilderness and not mess around with the E100.

Decisions, Decisions...

Team Ride

Did the team ride on Tuesday. There was a large group, but folks held together pretty well. I was a bit tired from the Lumberjack. In the end I hung in pretty well, although JoeFro put in some efforts that I thought were going to rupture my spleen. That boy can put the hammer down.

I'm in Cincinnati today and tomorrow. I'll get home just in time to swap gears on the bike and head over to Cannonsburg Saturday morning for the 8 Hour race. Should be fun, as lots of teammates and friends will be there as well. This is part of the E100/Shenandoah 100 testing process. It I can do well at Cannonsburg, I will give serious consideration to doing two hundies on back-to-back weekends. If I feel like crap at Cannonsburg, then two undies on consecutive weekends might be a bad idea.

Props to Rick for puting on a good race at Lumberjack.

Lumberjack 100 Report

Lumberjack 100 2007

Bike Setup

Quiring 29er Steel Singlespeed, 36x19
Reba Fork
Industry Nine wheels
Kenda Small Block front tire
Kenda Karma rear tire

The word that best describes my experience at this race is “smooth”. This is the first race in a long time where I felt mostly comfortable leading up to the event. My bike was in good shape, I slept and ate well leading up to the event, and I knew the course. I had the normal pre-race jitters, but they were minor compared to Ouachita or Cohutta.

The first lap was pretty easy. I had to deal with traffic, including making some passes that were less than ideal. There were a couple of instances where I had to pass four riders at once, for example. Next year I think I will try to start closer to the front of the pack.

The only rough spot was my eating/hydration plan. Because the weather was cool and I started the race well-hydrated, I decided to use one 1.5 liter bladder for the first two laps. I thought I could get away with this because I have done several rides over four hours with that size bladder and I was drinking 24 ounces of perpetum/sustained energy every lap. This turned out to be a mistake; by the end of lap 2 I was feeling pretty dehydrated. I also need to re-check my calculations on the food bottle. After drinking one bottle during each of the first two laps, I felt bloated and gassy. During lap three I drank an entire 1.5 liters of Gu2O and only half a food bottle. During lap four I drank another 1.5 liter bladder and only ¼ of a food bottle. I never felt hungry during the ride.

Lap 2 and 3 were slower than I would have liked. I could tell by the middle of lap 2 that I wasn’t drinking enough. The good thing is that I never panicked. I knew I had enough food and fluid in the pits to get me through the race, so I suffered out the rest of that lap and drank as much as I could on lap 3. By the end of lap 3 I was really starting to feel good. I felt great on lap 4; I was hammering the hills and railing the descents. I could have done another lap.

The bike was fabulous! It was a pleasure to ride the entire race without worrying about losing the chain. The Reba suspension fork was great; I had almost no arm/neck soreness after the race or the next morning. The new Industry Nine wheels lived up to the hype-they were stiff, had lightning-fast engagement and were noticeably lighter than my other wheels. Even the Garmin Edge GPS unit came through for me; it lasted the entire 9 hours on one charge! I couldn’t ask for anything more from the bike.

I knew that I would not have a great result; suffering for one and a half laps means no podium in a race like this. I was pleasantly surprised to finish in the top 10. Because I took so much time off the bike before this race, I didn’t put too much pressure on myself.

The after-party was a hoot! Snob, Cory, Brett, Paula, Anne, Danielle, the Doctor…the whole crew was there. Lots of tired faces, but lots of smiles as well. Not like last year…

It was nice to get in a long ride, and to feel calm even though the food/fluid situation was sub-optimal. It was also good to complete this race with minimal outside assistance—staying focused and motivated has been a problem in the past when Becky couldn’t do support for me.

Now I have a decision to make. With a 5th place and an 8th place finish to my credit, do I want to add the E100 to my schedule and try to place in the top 5 for the series? I plan to do the Shenandoah 100 either way, so if I want to qualify I need to add the 4th race. The E100 is the only one that fits. Decisions, decisions…

This looks interesting...

http://www.forthandback200.blogspot.com/

Anyone in? Thinking about it?

Speak up.

Quick Lumberjack Update

Not a bad race for me. 8th Place in a little over 9 hours. Lap 1 had traffic, Lap 2 I didn't drink enough, Lap 3 I suffered, and Lap 4 was good.

Teammates and friends did well; Paula won the women's ss, Danielle won the women's open, Dejay won the mens open; our table at the afterparty had a whole mess of axes!

A better post to follow later.

Lumberjack

Bike? Check.
Gear? Check.
Bad Attitude? Check.
Street Llama? Check.

Oh, it's on now.

Euro Photo

Becky took this action shot. Gotta love that horizon in the background. This was taken in a small village outside of Dubrovnik, Croatia.

This is me freezing my a$$ off 20 km outside of Florence, Italy. Why am I so cold?

I don't know; maybe it's because I am being pelted with giant (1") hail stones from a freak hail storm. The temps dropped about 20F degrees in 5 minutes. We waited out the storm in a little cafe watching the Giro on the TV.

And the money shot:

This was the view from the balcony of our hotel room in Dubrovnik. Visit if you get the chance.

Team ride tonight, then easy rides to break in the new set of Industry 9 wheels that showed up today. Then Lumberjack...

Lumberjack Pre-ride

Wow.

It's easy to forget how hard that course can be. Dan, Nate, Barry and I drove up to Big M yesterday. A storm last week left several trees down and much debris on the trail. The promoter asked us (and a bunch of other folks) if we could lend a hand by raking the trail. We were happy to pitch in, and decided to ride a lap when the raking was finished.

The trail is in good condition, by the way.

Anyway, Barry has an injury, so it was just Dan, Nate and I doing the lap. The weather was warm, but not as warm as last years race. The course is being run backwards this year, so that is the direction we followed.

I'm not gonna lie to you; that trail can kick your butt. The race hits a long climb right out of the box. SS'ers will be walking. The rest of the inner loop will be fine. The outer loop has some tricky stuff as well; sandy climbs and Road Monkey will lots of false flats and more speed-sucking sand.

My advice: start hydrating now; put an easier gear on your SS; pack a love of suffering.

Despite TSA's Best Efforts...

... I made it back into the country. Italy and Croatia were great, but I am glad to be back and ready to get on the bike. I rode bikes twice on the trip, and will post pictures soon.

I did the team ride last night. There was a huge group, which kept the pace low. I contested a few sprints, but it was cleat that the legs were not fully functional. I started cramping up almost right from the get-go. I didn't feel terrible, I just didn't feel great. Hopefully, it's nothing that a few hundred miles won't cure.

After the ride, food was grilled and beer was poured. After three weeks of Italian beer, the Founder's really hit the spot.

More riding in store for the rest of the week, with some singlespeed action Thursday and a rode hundie on Saturday. Next race: Lumberjack. I owe that race, and I plan to pay in full.

Team Ride and Blog Sabbatical

The Team ride last night was...interesting. At the start, rain was pouring down. At least one rider called it quits within five minutes of the start. I was part of the "30 Minutes Out, 30 Minutes Back" faction. In the end, we stayed out for a full two hours. The rain eventually abated a bit, so the last hour wasn't too bad.

The 'pace line' was a bit tighter this week. The slower pace and smaller crowd helped, I think.

After the ride, we celebrated Nate's birthday with pizza, beer and ice cream. Is this the best team ever, or what?!?

This will be my last post for a few weeks. I will be on a non-cycling vacation with my wife, and I don't expect to have Internet access for most of the trip. Look for the next post around June 5 or June 6.

Team Ride

Did the team ride on Tuesday. Another large group that included Nate, Dan, Scott, Shawn, JoeFro, Jason, Ralph, Dan J. and myself. The pace was quick, but not yet blistering. We rode a bit over 50 miles, with some good climbs. People are still getting used to riding in a paceline, and this ride is not the easiest place to learn that skill.

I expect the speeds will increase in the coming weeks.

No race this weekend; I just want to ride some miles.

A couple racing pictures...

No, I am not sleeping in the first picture. Pictures were lifted from here.

How about that XC racing?

Yeah, not all that much fun. It turns out that the first lap is pretty darn hard. The other two laps were hard, but not as bad.

I ended up 12th out of 26 in the Expert (geared) class in my age group. Not quite what I hoped for, but not as bad as it could have been. I either need to get stronger and push a taller gear or consign myself to a smaller gear and learn how to spiiiiinnnn like a madman. Or I guess I could race the singlespeed class.

Nah. :)

Tastes Like Chicken

Did the ski hill yesterday. I had a bit too much gear, but I was still able to get a few laps in and climb the main hill. Went over to the game area tonight and busted out a few fast laps. I think the gear I have on there will get the job done down at Custer on Sunday.

I will be down to the fort tomorrow for a pre-ride. Sunday will be head down, legs pumping in the expert class. I guess there will be some beer afterward? That is the rumor...

Skinny Tires and Expert Races

The team did its first road bike ride yesterday. A large crowd showed up; someone was heard to remark that it was like "an all-Founder's Critical Mass". I think we had 10 or 11 people. The pace was not as ugly as it can be; Dan, Nate and Scott were all holding back for one reason or another. I think it will only get faster from here on out. Still, it was 50 miles and good time in Nate's garage when it was over.

I spun easy on the ss today. I plan to drop a couple teeth in the back and ride the ski hill tomorrow. Paid my money to race the expert class this weekend at Custer on the ss, so I need to get a few hard efforts in my legs with the bigger gear. I don't know; will 36x16 be enough to hang with the experts at the fort?

Somebody better post some TI ride reports...

I got the skinny tire bike out for the first time this weekend. Two hours on Saturday and five hours today. Solo yesterday and with Nate and Dan today. Good Times.

Spend Friday in Ann Arbor. My wife graduated from U of M with a MBA. More good times.

Turns out there is an XC race not far from here this weekend. I might swing down there and give it a go. Will be doing the team ride on Tuesday (and skinny tires) and on the ss mtb on Thursday.

Now, somebody please write a report on TI. Please.

Back in the Saddle

Did the team ride on Tuesday. It was out last ride on cyclocross bikes and dirt roads. A large group turned out, including Scott, Nate, Dan, Shawn, Jason, Barry, Rick and me. We did the same route as last week, which includes some decent climbing and rough dirt roads. We also completed a lap at Bass River.

I felt pretty crappy. I didn't spin my legs out after Cohutta, and I have a bit of sore throat/funky mucous in my nose and throat. I think it is more Cohutta dust/allergies than sick/cold. Not that it maters; the effect is about the same: Sub-par performance. I was able to hang in for a few of the breaks, but had to play catch-up for a few as well. And let me tell you, if Nate, Dan and Scott get into a break, Shawn, Barry and I are not gonna catch 'em!

Trans-Iowa is this weekend. I'm sad that I won't be at the start line; I love that race. It looks like the roads will be wet at the start, but maybe they will have some sun during the race. I wish all of the racers the best of luck! I will be following the race on the net all weekend. I'd be there myself except that my wife is graduating from her MBA program this weekend. Family trumps bike, even for me!

I'll ride tonight, maybe on the trainer with the rain that is forecast. I'd like to get some road miles in this weekend as well.

More than you ever wanted to know about the Cohutta 100...

2007 Cohutta 100 Race Report

I arrived at the Ducktown Copper Inn around 2pm on Friday. Dan Jansen, Mark Hendershot and I discussed strategy, and then Dan and I did a 1.5 hour pre-ride of the first part of the course. This consisted of riding the first single-track loop backwards. Why backwards? Why not? Anyway, it went fine for me, but Dan crashed pretty hard on a downhill. We chalked it up to experience. A couple of plates of pasta and we were ready to call it a night.

Saturday morning dawned bright and chilly. The temps at the start line were downright cold, maybe in the low 40’s. Although there was much heated discussion about arm warmers and such, in the end I chose to start with naked legs and arms.

Lesson #1: GPS might not work in the Mountains. My GPS had no signal for the first hour or so of the ride. That threw off my mileage for the race, which was aggravating but not catastrophic.

The race starts with a fairly long pavement climb. I was able to stay within 100 yards of the leaders as they made the turn into the single track. The traffic jam at the start of the trail allowed me to close that gap.

The first section of trail is very fast and smooth. I got stuck behind a group of three riders; one single speeder and two geared riders. The ss guy was leading. He was smooth, but I could have gone faster. I wasn’t too worried, since I know you don’t win a 100-mile race in the first 20 minutes. But still, I knew there were people ahead of me that were getting away.

I passed the ss rider on a short paved decent that led down to a flat section along the river. This was bumpy but rideable. I noticed that my perpetum/sustained energy mixture was not flowing out of my bottle as freely as I would like. This forced me to squeeze the bottle quite hard to get any fluid. It was also about this time that Danielle Musto passed me. That was the last time I’d see her before the finish.

Lesson #2: Perpetum should not be used as a face and/or body wash…

After the bumpy section, we turned left to cross a suspension bridge. On the bridge, I decided to remove the blockage from my food bottle by squeezing it as hard as I could. Instead of forcing out the clot, this caused the top of the bottle to fly free and the contents of the bottle to splash on my face, eyes, hair, ears, computer, handlebar and gloves! Crap! The thick goo in my eyes caused me to loose control and crash on the bridge. I was shocked and pissed off, but I picked myself up and moved out of the way of traffic.

I though I was about to have some serious difficulty, but the day was saved by Shari Scurr. Shari is a Michigan racer/MMBA supporter who happened to be at this race supporting other riders. She saw my crash and grabbed my now-empty bottle, which she filled up with water. She also promised to have some perpetum for me later in the race if I needed it. With her help and a quick inventory of my bike (mostly fine) and body (sticky but functional) I decided to press on.

Well, during all this excitement several people passed me, including the single speed guy from the first part of the race! Oh, well. I got back on the bike and started riding. My plan was to use my ‘emergency’ gel packets to get to Aid Station #2, where I had a well-supplied drop bag. I would be a bit short of food, but what can you do? So on I rode.

After maybe another 10 miles of mostly fun singletrack, we got into the gravel road riding. This course has one major and three minor climbs. At the base of the first climb is Aid Station #1. I hoped they would have Hammer Gel packets, and they did! I grabbed a handful and the volunteer at the station tore the top off one for me as well. I clipped back in and turned the corner with all this gel in my hand, only to be faced with one of the first high-speed downhills of the day! I ended up dropping or squeezing several of the gel packets, getting thick goo all over my glove and handlebar. Awesome, more sticky shit. Just what I need. At least I got one or two gel packets out of the deal.

Now starts the climbing. Mile 25 to Mile 35 is pretty much all climbing, some of it quite steep. On paper, Mile 35 to Mile 55 look less challenging and I had heard the terrain described as “rolling”. After a long, fast decent from Mile 55 to Mile 75, there are three smaller climbs each about 3 miles long or so.

My plan was to hammer the first climb, since it was the longest and the earliest so I might still have fresh legs. Then I planned to coast through the “rollers” and survive the three smaller climbs.

As it turned out, the “rollers” were anything but! They were steep ups and downs with no place to recover. I was pissed because I had put some serious energy into the first climb and really needed a rest. I went back and forth with a group of three other riders. I would catch them as they spun up the climbs in an easy gear, and they would catch me on the downhills as they hammered the 44x12. There wasn’t much talking; I was suffering too much on the climbs and they were moving too fast on the descents.

Anyway, I made it to the top of the first climb and got my drop bag. It had some more hammer gel, and overall my energy level was about right. I put some Heed in the empty bottle I brought along for ‘emergencies’ and hoped it would be enough to get me to Aid Station #3 where I had another bottle of Perpetum.

The climbs on this course were brutal for a Michigan boy. I’m not much of a climber to begin with, and we don’t have anything like these hills where I train. The hills would just keep getting steeper and longer around each corner. Over the years, I have ridden outside of Michigan and have learned to look for the warning signs that the hill might be longer than it looks. For example, if it looks like the hill will be cresting “just around the corner” but you are still kind of down in a valley, then most likely you still have some climbing to do that is hiding around that corner. For some reason, I never got demoralized by the climbing in this race. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard. But I went in to the race knowing that I would spend a lot of time suffering so I just put my head down and kept pushing along.

The downhills were tricky as well. I put a nice, light carbon fork on the bike for this race. It was welcome on the climbs, but it made the 35+ MPH downhill sections a handful. The roads had loose gravel and stutter bumps, so my hands were often numb by the time I got to the bottom. Traction was an issue as well. In the end, I kept the rubber side down.

Lesson #3: Girrrrrrl Power!

The rest of the race was fairly anti-climactic. One final story: I have a problem staying in ‘race mode’ during these long point-to-point events. People get pretty strung out, and it is possible to go hours without seeing another rider. Around Mile 55 or so, I started to slip into ‘ride mode’: not pushing hard and starting to look around and enjoy the scenery. I pulled off to the side of the course to take a ‘nature break’. As I was finishing up, a rider on a bright orange Niner ss with full Niner team kit flew buy me. I’m thinking “What in the heck is Dejay Birtch doing behind me?!?” I figured he must have had a crash or some health problems or somesuch. Anyway, I hopped back on the bike and hammered to catch him. Well, I was able to catch up pretty quickly but it wasn’t Dejay. It was his teammate Leslie Williams! Yes, a female ss rider caught and passed me. Well, I am pretty used to getting beat by women in these races since I ride with Danielle Musto quite a bit, but not buy a woman on a singlespeed. That got me back to race mode pretty quick. We rode near each other for a bit. She had an easier gear which helped her on the hills. I had a harder gear so I worked hard on the flats and less-steep climbing pitches and was able to get away and stay away. I still only beat her by about 5 minutes.

Other Michigan riders did well: Mark was 7th (!), Dan Jansen got 13th on a 1x9, Teammate Paula rode her singlespeed to a sub-11 hour finish, Super Bon Bon was Top-5 in the 35 miler.

At the finish, I assumed that I was pretty far off the pace. I was very surprised when I found out I was in 5th Place for Singlespeed. I’m pleased with the result, and I learned some things that will help me in future 100 mile races. The course was good, the race was well-managed. I will plan to do this race in the future.

Quick Cohutta Report

The important stuff:

Finished. 5th Place SS (not 4th as reported elsewhere!) with a time of 8:47.

The whole trip went very well. The race was challenging and fun. I feel like I gave it my best effort.

Other Michigan folks had outstanding rides as well: Mark Hendershot, Danielle Musto, Super Bon-Bon, and Dan Jansen all had outstanding rides.

More tomorrow, must sleep now.

Cohutta Madness

The bike is ready. A carbon fork from White Brothers. A different crank. Some new tires. Oh, yeah.

We'll be on the road tomorrow. Report to follow.

Team Ride

Details: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2497704

Me, Nate, Dan, Shawn, JoeFro and Jason put the cyclocross bikes to work yesterday. The computer showed 41+ miles. It was arm and knee warmer weather, but just barely. We even caught a bit of sun.

In the middle of the ride we did a lap at Bass River. Shawn and JoeFro had to pick a bit of bark out of their skin after getting up close and personal with trees, but all wheels made it out of the loop mostly true and ridable.

Nice and easy for the rest of the week, right up until Saturday.

1st Centrury of the Year

It's hard to believe, but today was my first century of the year. I did so many long rides over the winter getting ready for TI the last two years that I had a half-dozen 100-milers under my belt by this time. By no TI and no DK for me this year, so I had more time to ramp up.

And you know what? I've never been stronger. Go figure.

I rode the DD-X with fancy new Small Block 8 tires, like so:

So, you've heard the rumors; those tires are fast! And I have to say, I have not spent enough time talking about my DDX. That bike is awesome! It is super-light, has a very plush ride and just plain makes me feel fast. I'm gonna go ahead and add them to the "Stuff I'd buy again" link. I think I'd talk more about it if I didn't suck so bad at cross racing.

So the weirdest thing happened on my ride today. Just before the 50-mile mark, I rode past a field that had a bunch of cows in it. One cow in particular was right up next to the fence. I saw that cow and though "Man, that is one *fat* cow..." and kept riding. After I hit 50 and turned around, I came upon that same cow, only now she wasn't quite as fat and she had a little baby cow underneath her! That cow dropped a calf in the 20 minutes I had been gone. And I mean just dropped; there was still all kind of the stuff that comes along when a baby cow is born hanging out the momma cow. Yeah, circle of life and all that, but it was nasty! Anyway, you see some crazy stuff out on a bike.

Here is the route, for those of you playing along at home: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2471819

All Smallblock 8, All the Time

I mounted Kenda Small Block 8 tires on my cross bike yesterday. I plan to ride them Saturday and Tuesday. I also put the larger Small Block 8 on the rear of the Quiring. I'll get some miles on that on Sunday.

Ride Report to follow.

Big box o' tires!

Ah, the Kenda tire order came in today. Small Block 8, Karma, Nevegal, etc. Pictures to follow. I got a box of tire that is so large I had trouble getting it in the car.

Team ride tonight; kind of a big crowd. Dan, Nate, Scott, Shawn, Jason, Barry, and me. I took off my super-fast Michellin tires and put on some tires I won at a race. Big mistake. I suffered for the first part of the ride as I got used to the new rubber. I was fine by the end; I think we got in about 2:15 with some hard efforts. Then it was time for an IPA taste-test at Nate's. A report will follow.

Riding hard all week. Trainer tomorrow, MTB on Thursday. Some day it will be warm again. Cohutta on the horizon. Good times...

April + Trainer = :(

Three hours on the trainer today. I was thinking about a long ride, but I just couldn't get into it. I should have followed Danny J. down to Yankee; he left around noon and I think he is still riding seven hours later.

So, what else is up? The poison ivy just keeps getting worse. Here's a couple pics:

Nice and crusty! Also, check out the awesome arm hair...

And the wrist:

Looking at more time on the trainer tomorrow. Cross bikes for the team ride on Tuesday, and maybe some full-on road or trail riding on Thursday. Ten it's the weekend, with a few hard rides and then rest up for Cohutta and race redemption.

What is love?

Rode cross bikes on Tuesday. Three of us; Nate, Shawn (or is it Shaun? or Sean?) and I did around two hours. The weather had been bad all day, but it stayed warm and dry for the ride. Drove home in the rain, but didn't ride in it. Good times.

Rode on the trainer tonight, since we have February weather here right now. I've got sunburn from Arkansas, so you know I'm not going back out in the cold.

I picked up some fairly nasty poison ivy in Arkansas. It's on my right wrist and forearm, right where my hand would like to rest while typing. Sucks.

Swapped out Arkansas tires for Tennessee tires. Looking forward to the next race, and no mental mistakes. It would be nice if the new frame, fork and wheels were here for Cohutta. But the bike I have got the job done in Arkansas so I can't really complain.

Speaking of Arkansas, calculations from the GPS indicate that I would have done just fine without the "long cut". Did I mention no more mental mistakes?

Ouachita Race Report

Ouachita Challenge 2007 Race Report

Day One: The Drive

Dan Jansen and I left Michigan early Friday morning for the 900ish mile drive to Arkansas. Most of the drive went well; no bad weather and no car issues. We made it to Little Rock in time for dinner with the rest of the crew who were traveling in another vehicle: Danielle, Scott, Bonnie and Barry. The food was good, and we were back on the road at a reasonable hour.

The last stretch of this trip was a bit more interesting. To get to the cabin where we would spend the weekend, we had to traverse several tiny, twisting dirt roads. Not fun at midnight. We eventually found the main cabin for the campground where we were staying, but the Deliverance rejects that were running the place sent us driving all over the backwoods of Arkansas looking for our cabin. Also, we were concerned because the rest of our group who were right behind us as we left the restaurant were no where to be found. Just when things looked like they might get ugly, the rest of the crew showed up and we found our actual cabin. Of course, but this point it was about 1 AM but at least we had a place to crash.

Day Two: Foreshadowing

The Plan was to get up a bit early, have breakfast, and get in a massive preride of four to six hours. Most of us had decided that pushing for a good result in this race was not a good idea, since we had all been [sick/up too late/stick up butt/skirt too tight/not enough beer] too really make our best effort. Therefore, why not enjoy the trails by doing a huge pre-ride on Saturday and riding for fun on Sunday?

What actually happened is that we slept in till about noon on Saturday, messed around getting breakfast and packing and didn’t get to Oden to start out preride until around 2 PM. Everybody but Barry and I started to pre-ride, while he and I drove back to the cabin to get a. my bike shoes and b. his front wheel. Hey, what the heck. Just gotta role with it. In the end, I got in about two hours and 30 miles of riding.

Day Three: Endurance can mean so many things…

Everybody was up at 5AM to pack and eat. We got to the start without any drama.

I was feeling pretty good on the first climb. I didn’t start too hard, so I was able to pick people off on the way up. I got to look at some nice bikes and say hello to some cool industry folks. I got to the top and got into the singletrack.

The Ouchita Trail singletrack was mostly fun to ride. At least, where it was possible to ride I enjoyed it! I was very glad that I ran 29” wheels and a suspension fork. The Reba worked very well; I didn’t notice the weight on the climbs (!) and I know it let me make mistakes that would have resulted in a crash with a rigid fork. Parts of the course were still not worth the risk to ride, mostly steepish uphill sections with lots of rock piles. Overall, I was still fresh in this section and in good spirits.

Next up was a long dirt and paved road section. This was not great for me, as I had a pretty easy gear and was forced to spin like a crazed hamster. Several geared bikes passed me, and one singlespeeder got by me here as well. Overall, I was still feeling pretty good. It was getting warm, and I was stopping to take some electrolyte pills about every hour or so. My back was a bit sore, so I took some advil as well. But in general, I was feeling pretty good.

As I got within sight of the Womble Trail, I saw Danielle pulling out of the aid station. Here is where I made my first mistake: I skipped the aid station to try and catch her. It felt like I had enough Gu2O in my pack to make it to the next aid station. As soon as I got on the Womble Trail I knew I should have stopped. It was very hot and stuffy back there. My Gu2O was very warm and no longer refreshing. I started to think that I wouldn’t have enough fluid to make it to the checkpoint. Although I tried to tell myself to keep pushing and drink as much as I wanted, I know I slowed down and tried to conserve fluid. I ended up crawling through this section.

At last I made it to the last water stop. I drank several glasses of water and filled my half-filled my camelback. I was pretty messed up at that point. I noticed that riders seemed to be coming from two directions; from the trail that I had just completed and from the dirt road. I asked the volunteer what was going on, and he told me that the course looped back around to this spot on the way to the finish. They also told me that I had about 15 miles to go.

Here is where I made my second and most critical mistake: After getting my water, I took off down the road instead of following the rest of the Womble Trail. I was busy drinking water and enjoying the breeze. I was passed by a few geared riders on the road, so I knew I was on course. I was wondering when the course would loop back to the checkpoint when I saw a sign that said “Finish” and a volunteer told me that I was almost done! I was pissed, because I only had 50 miles on my computer. I talked to the volunteer for a few minutes, and it dawned on me that I should have crossed the road back at the last water stop. I was pissed because I knew that my chance for a respectable result was gone, but I knew I didn’t want to DNF. So I turned around and rode back to the checkpoint and got back on course.

The rest of the race was anticlimactic. I did the last little section of the Womble and the dirt road. I felt pretty good, but I didn’t push it because I knew there was no point. I finished in just over 7 hours. My goal was 6 hours, and I was on track for about 6:20 or so before my error.

Even though I didn’t have a great result, the race was still a success. I finished under adverse conditions. The bike worked extremely well. My fitness was pretty good, considering that I had been sick for a week. I got in a great day of riding on some very challenging trail.

Epilogue
So, with the race over I was free to enjoy a beer and kick back. Oh, wait a minute; I still have to drive 900 miles back to Michigan today! I shower and Dan and I load up the car and get on the road at about 6PM. We drive straight through the night, arriving in GR at 7:45 AM on Monday. I shower, change my clothes and head to work. I eventually get to bed at 10PM Monday evening. That means I was up for most of 40 hours, 7 of which were hammering on a bike! Ah, the things we do to race our bikes...

Bike: Ready Rider: Eh...

I finished putting my bike together for Ouachita. They say never to make changes to your bike before a race. I broke that rule eight ways from Sunday: New tires, new (suspension!) fork, and a new gear. The bike in this configuration has about 5 minutes of riding on it; I've been too sick to give it a good test run. Hey, what ya gonna do?

The biggest concern for me is the fork. My last suspension fork was a 2001 Marzocchi Z-2 BAM. It weighed a ton, and since I bought it used and failed to maintain it, never really work well. I tended to avoid it even on courses where it would have been useful. The new fork is a 2007 Reba SL. I guess the entire Ouachita course is just littered with VW-sized rocks and the downhills put as much hurt on riders as the uphills. Oh, and there are hungry wolves and, um, pumas on the course. You have to bunny-hop them. So a suspension fork is required. I just hope my rigid riding style can adapt.

Lowering Expectations

Stayed home from work today. The cough is just about gone and the body aches are history. However, the 30 minute easy trainer ride just about tapped the power reserves. I missed two great training/equipment shake-down rides with the great weather we had this weekend.

Long story short, I don't have great expectations for Ouachita. Don't get me wrong; I'll still toe the start line. I just don't have confidence that the engine will be up to a top-10 performance.

The weather is supposed to turn to crap, so I don't know if I'll be able to give the new fork a workout before the pre-ride Saturday. The rest of the bike is good to go, so we'll just have to wing it...

Video

Video from Thursday:

Joe

Dan

I tried to get the videos to post here, but no luck. The quality of the video is not high, but ya gets what ya paid for...

Anger

I get sick every spring like clockwork. That's normal. I don't get sick twice in a row, at least not normally. Well, I'm sick again and that causes anger. It started Thursday on the first mtb ride of the year. I commented that the air was cold and it irritated my throat. The other people on the ride told me I was crazy. On Friday, I developed a hacking cough which led to a sore throat. I spent all day Saturday on the couch, coughing my lungs out and dealing with a stuffy head, fever, chills and body aches. About 10pm, my fever broke and I went from freezing to sweating. I drank tons of fluid, mostly tea and Gu2O. I ate zinc tablets and chicken soup.

Today, I feel somewhat better. Not well enough to ride today, but I think I will be fine for Ouachita this weekend.

SingleTrack

It is time to get it on! Got out for the first singletrack ride of the year last night. The ski hill is ready to ride, if you can get through the slush swamp at the bottom of the main hill. The rest of the trail is in excellent shape. But a little snow isn't gonna slow me down:

This shot was taken shortly after I did a wicked endo in the same spot. I'm not sayin' Jansen was *trying* to get a shot of me crashing...ok, yes I am.

The only downside to the ride last night is that I have developed a bit of a sore throat. I had planned to get in a big dirt ride tomorrow, but with Ouachita only a week away I may end of taking it easy.

Gravel

Although I will be missing out on my favorite gravel road races this year, I got a taste of that type of riding last night. A group of six of us set out for a two hour ride from Nate's house. One cross bike, one 69er, on 26er, and three singlespeeds were represented. Let's just say that the cross bike was able to put the hammer down on the dirt roads, with the rest of us just gritting our teeth and hanging on. All in all, it was a pretty good two-hour ride.

After the ride, we met at Nate's for training food, er, pizza and beer. Mark Hendershot of Santa Cruz fame joined us. Not sure where he was while we were riding, but at least he shared a cold one with us.

Trail riding on tap for this weekend. Yankee is looking like a go, and maybe some time at Cannonsburg ski area as well. Pictures? We'll see...

Face the Pain

While many people were doing the KissKross Alleycat and drinking tasty Founder's beer on Saturday, I was in Muskegon sitting on my trainer. Specifically, I was sitting on my trainer doing a 25-minute time trial. My heartrate was between 183 and 190 for the entire 25 minutes.

Ouch.

Anyway, it was for a good cause. The guy who promotes the Milkjug race series asked my to pitch in and help his team and I was happy to do so. I guess we took 2nd in our division. I think I was in the top 20 individual riders as well, but I didn't stick around to see the results.

Went out for a nice four-hour spin with Dan Jansen and Scott Chambers today. MTB's on the road. I switched out the 34x15 Eno setup for the 38x15 Shimano XT. White Industries makes a 38t ring, I just don't happen to have on in my collection. Anyway, 38x15 is no joke. I had to clock in to make some of the hills. It was a good ride, all things considered.

With any luck, I'll be getting 5-6 hours on the dirt next weekend. I've put in a decent amount of time on the road with the 29er, but my dirt time is still limited. I've got to get that sucker dirty! Let's hope the weather cooperates.

Truths

1. It doesn't take much warm weather to make the cold feel COLD.
2. Riding alone is not as much fun as riding together.
3. Singlespeed is the only way to fly.
4. Steel, baby!

Took the day off yesterday and put in an hour and a half today. Four butt-kicking hill intervals put just the right amount of hurt on. The new team kit worked well. I didn't think I'd get to use the super-thermal jacket, but I sure-enough did. I'm betting it will see some use this weekend as well.

I think the cold is 100% gone. I sucked in a ton of cold air tonight, with no wheezing or shortness of breath. What ever that was, it sure held on for dear life.

The new frame is built, now it just needs to get through paint. Working on the last of the parts orders as we speak. This will be one sweet ride; by far the nicest combination of craftsmanship and top-notch parts of any bike I have ever owned. I don't think there will be anything on the bike that I would want to be better/nicer/lighter, and that will be a first. Photo's as soon as the box hits the doorstep.

Something old, something new

Scott is sporting the new Founder's Ales team kit on out ride tonight. I am on the right, with last year's kit. Notice that I am wearing shorts--it was like 70 degrees when we started the ride at 5:30PM.

We rode for two hours. Dan Jansen of Niner Bikes fame was on the camera. I was on the singlespeed, Dan was on the 1x9 and Scott was on the full-geared 26er. It was a nice ride; I had to spin like a gerbil on crack to keep up with these guys, but everything worked our for the best.

The weather is going to turn to crap tomorrow, so it's back on the trainer for a while. Looks like some decent riding this weekend, and I'll be sporting the new kit by then as well.

A few more pics from the ride:

One of Dan's fancy bikes:


A whole pile of bikes:

Legs of steel:

"I don't know; I woke up and I had these huge eyes, kind of like a bug. Just call me Mr. Bug Eyes..."

Two days, two rides

Went for a nice long ride yesterday with Danielle and Dan. Dan and I were on singlespeeds and Danielle was on her geared MTB. It was a good ride-for the first 3 hours. After that I was about thigh-deep in the hurt locker. Not waist deep, but greater than knee deep for sure. I just plain ran out of gas. I ate enough food and drank enough fluids; I'm blaming my poor performance on being sick and not riding enough in the last few weeks, but who knows for sure. Danielle has a few pictures up on her blog, and Dan took a few that are posted below. Not a bad ride, 75 miles and almost 5000 feet of climbing on a singlespeed mountain bike. Details can be seen here: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2210898

Went out for an easy ride today. Ran into Nate, who was riding a singlespeed cross bike...pulling a Burely filled with about 80 pounds of his daughter Kate. We rode for a while, just catching up. I rode Nate's bike up on of the larger hills on the course we took; man, it is no wonder that guy is a killer on the bike. Pulling that burley will make a man out of you for sure.

Bits and pieces are selling on MMBA and MTBR. Act fast if you want a piece of Partridge Cycling History (TM)!

Pics from Yesterday: Ride Start

Dan fixing his seat:

Me, looking like a bucket of crud:

26" Stuff for Sale

I have a few items on sale on the MMBA board:
King wheels, White Industries ENO Eccentric wheel, old Skool Airborne ti frame, and a Spicer ti fork. If you read this site, you know that these parts have some miles on them! But if I wasn't switching to the 29er format, I'd keep useing these parts.

Whatever doesn't sell in a week or so goes on e-bay. I also have a nearly-new King 'patriot' headset that will be going on e-bay. $65 takes it locally.

Niel has dibs on the King wheels; others should feel free to let me know if that want any of this stuff. I also have a ton of new and nearly new 26" tires; if you need something along those lines let me know.

90-95%

It seems like it takes forever to get ride of that last little bit of sickness. I feel better every day, so I'll just wait it out.

I had a good news/bad news event yesterday. No Dirty Kanza for me this year. I'll be leaving for two weeks in Italy the Thursday before that race. So, Italy good; missing Kanza bad.

The weather seems to be warming up a bit. Hoping for 5-6 hours outside on Saturday, with maybe another 4 on Sunday. I'll believe it when I see it; my long rides have not panned out well so far this year.

80%

Maybe 85%. Still a little tired and congested, but much better than last week.

The final team parts orders will be in next week. Tires and brakes, and I'll be getting some of each. Ah, the sweet sweet smell of small block 8 and marta sl... Timing on the frame and parts will be tight for Ouchita, but no problem for Cohutta and beyond.

Rebounding

I'm feeling better. Not great, but on the way back. The twelve inches of snow I had to shovel over the last two days isn't helping. The bummer thing is I can't even get out and ski...

I did set the cross bike up on the trainer. I was able to spin easy for an hour. I'm thinking another hour tomorrow as well. My spin on the cross bike reveals that it might be time for a new bottom bracket; lots of crunchy-grindy going on down there.

Dan Jansen just got back from a top-secret recon mission of the Ouchita course. He brought back important info regarding gearing for that race. Much thought is going into tire selection as well. After last years disappointing season, I'm looking forward to racing again, even if Ouchita is only 60 miles... :)

Yeah, sick... :(

Stuffy head, fever, chills, the whole encilada.

This sucks.

No riding tonight, and I suspect no long ride this weekend; just me sitting here, drowning in my own phlegm.

Crap.