Wayne Ultra

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So the day after the Hill Billy was the Wayne Ultra in a way it sucks that two good races are on back to back days but it's also pretty fun racing on back to back days. When we were leaving the Hill Billy we found out about the BIG BALLZ award that Jason Mahokey from XXC Mag was putting out there. I wasn't even sure what the prize was but the rules were pretty simple finish the Hill Billy on Saturday and the Wayne Ultra on Sunday. If more than one person did both the winner would be the best overall time. It seemed pretty simple and there was only three people up for the challenge Gerry, Ruth and me.
We met up with some friends at the campground Saturday. We were all in for a night we'd all remember for a long time. Not sure what time it was but I'm pretty sure it was after midnight. We were all awaken from a domestic squabble it was annoying as hell but funny at the same time. Some highlights man says you don't put that two piece bikini on for me. But my friends come over and you jump into it. Woman I'm tried of your neck twisting around every time a girl walks by. This continued back a forth for a while then man says you know that's a what a whore does that makes you a whore and you better be careful when your pointing your finger at someone cause you got FOUR fingers pointing back at you. But final word from woman FUCKEVER. Then it went silent.
OK now on to some race stuff yesterday was hot as hell and took allot of me today was going to be even hotter. The race started with us heading out the highway behind a motto and TJ pulling into the parking lot nice timing jackass. We paced up the first climb pretty slow then the motto pulled off and it was on. I tried hard to on but fell off quickly and was just trying to keep the leaders in sight. I went into the woods like 7th but for some strange reason I was riding pretty well through the singletrack and started passing people. I felt surprising good and was struggling on the climbs a little but felt like I was riding pretty strong. I worked my way up to second place and that's when everything started falling apart fast. I heard the hissing from my rear tire and was hoping for the best that it would seal. I stopped put some air in and hoped for the best again but within about 1/4 mile it was flat again. This may sound lame but it's been a while since I've flatted in a race and didn't know where to get started. It seemed like it took forever and I got passed by allot of people. But finally I was up and going again and wasn't feeling as good as before the flat. But finally I passed a few people and started feeling a little better. I popped out on the road at a check point and went about a 1/4 mile and seen Gerry riding towards me and I was like WTF. He shortcut and was tapping out said he had enough. I was like cool and was thinking maybe I should have asked him for his tube and stuff cause I was all out. Then about one minute later I really was regretting not asking cause my tire got squishy quick and I had another flat. I walked up the road and made it to the aid station. They had 26" tubes but no 29" tubes but they had a patch kit and so I figured I'd give that a shot. So I got some water and was getting ready to head out but before I left it was already flat again. At this point I was thinking about calling it a day that's when Jeremy Palermo rolled in and offered up his tube. Good thing for him is that I found out it already had a hole in it. So at this point I was pretty much had decided to call it a day and that's when Big Cat came in a offered up his tube as long as I would ride with him. It took a little time and I said OK that's when I did a big favor for Big Cat and found out that he was carrying around a 26" tube not a 29" tube. That's when I made up my mind not to try and continue on. I grabbed Ian Palermo's tube out of his drop bag figured he already went through and couldn't get it anyhow. Then I did my ride of shame back to the car.
The 25 miles of the course I did was awesome wished I could've seen the rest. So the BIG BALLZ award got changed to the BIG NO BALLZ award and Ruth is now the owner of some sweet ass XXC Mag swag. But FUCKEVER

J

Hill Billy Roubaix

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(See attached file: HBR.jpg)
First thing first I'm getting the same question asked over and over again from lots of different people "How was the Hill Billy Roubaix?" My answer it was hard but fun worth the price of admission. So here's my best description it's a dirt and gravel road race. It's 70 miles long has about 30-40 miles of dirt and gravel roads about 5-6 miles of quad trails and the rest is pavement. The next question is what's the best bike setup? That's easy a CX bike with at least 30C tire. I took the hard route and used my road bike cause my CX bike is setup for commuting and was to lazy to make the necessary changes. I did get lucky and was able to squeeze a set of 28C on which are still on 4 weeks later. The fast started pretty fast and there seemed to be a pretty group of like 10 people that formed pretty early and got smaller quick do to flats. After we got through the first rocky downhill and some quad trails it was group of 4 Gunnar, Gerry, Andy and me. Then it went to 3 people and finally Andy and Gerry dropped on a descent. From that point on I past Andy and the only other people I seen was Ryan and Ben on the motto. I was feeling good and still trying to chase Gerry down but around hour 3 I started cramping. That's when I went from chasing to worrying about be getting caught. Somehow I finished and managed not to get caught and was second overall. So yes it was hard and fun all at the same time and worth checking out. Thanks to JR and his crew for the fun. I got some moonshine and I'm pretty that this time next year I'll still have some moonshine.

J

Lumberjack

So I went to the Lumberjack 100 the third stop in the NUE series. The trip was OK, driving in Michigan is awesome the roads are in great condition and not much traffic. But no matter how good the roads are 9 hours of driving is allot of driving. Ruth and me got to the course around 1:00 on Friday and did some pre ride. The course was and trails were pretty sweet no big long climbs but a few short kickers. It seemed like it was going to be a fast race on Saturday. We met up with some other Burgh people and had dinner and then off to bed.
We got to the start nice and early and started getting ready and got our transition pit setup. Everything was going great but I still had a strange feeling that something wasn't quite right. I got dressed and went to turn on my Garmin and nothing WTF. Now I'm pissed and just waiting for something else to fucking break just like everything I've bought this year. Seriously is there anything made anymore that doesn't fail to disappoint and break? After scrambling around for a watch or something to keep track of time with Ruth said I could borrow her Garmin cause she had a watch. So I headed over to the start still feeling like it was just a matter of time until something else would go wrong. The start went good and with in the first 20 minutes I worked my way though the field and got in a fast group of about 7 racers. It was nice at this point cause I was on a single speed and got pulled though one of the maintenance road sections. Then back into the singletrack I decided to push the pace and went out in front Gerry came with me. The two of us rode together for a while I just couldn't be how fast, fun, and easy the course seemed. It was all singletrack but not like the singletrack I'm used too. It was super smooth and no rocks or logs but super flowing and I was having a blast. I told Gerry it was like cheating cuase it was so much fun. Then we popped out onto another maintenance road some fast geared guy that had flatted earlier came flying by and we jumped on his wheel. I was the last one and was following them and somehow picked a crappy line though the sand and fell off. Later in the woods I tried to catch back on but wasn't able too. Everything was going great there was about 4 miles left in the first lap and I got to where I pre rode the day before. That's when it started my Alum Specialized single speed Stumpjumper rides and handles great but creaks, rattles and makes a new noise every time I ride it. But this noise sounded familiar it sounded just the noise when the brake caliper came loose at DSG. So I slowed down just a hair and tired not using the rear brake but the noise was still there. I figured it'd be faster just to ride it out until I got to the transition area and take a look at it there. I get there and grab a three-way and start checking both brakes are tight, the rotors feel tight, bottle cages are tight, stem, seatpost, bars everything's tight WTF? So I grab my food and bottles and head back out the for the second lap thinking this is why I like SS nice and quite less shit to break. Great news is about 3 miles into the lap I finally found the problem. Bad news what the problem was and how I found this out. My cranks just locked up WTF? I jump off and start looking to try and find the problem. The fucking lockring on my White Industries BB come loose and the BB bearing backed out and got wedged the lockring between the crankarm and BB bearing housing. You gotta be fucking kidding me so how does shit like this fucking happen? So after using some mad mechanic skills I got my cranks to turn. They wobbled a little but figured that it'd be OK. The next couple of miles seemed OK maybe it was the hate I was experiencing. But after that went away the creeking got worse, then the thought of the Seven I ordered that still isn't in was in the back of my head. I just kept thinking how nice it will be to ride a bike that's not a creeking piece of shit. Then shortly after that all the fun was gone and the reality set in that I have to ride this creeeking POS another 50 miles. That's when two things happened first I decided that I will never ever ride this bike again and second when I get to the start I'm not going back out.
So after I got back I waited about 30 minutes just to make sure that I really wanted to DNF and it sucks not finishing but mentally I was wrecked and couldn't take the mental abuse anymore. Ruth had a good race and finished 9th and in under 10 hours that was cool. I guess sometimes it's best live to fight another day.

J

Big Bear 2x12

(See attached file: Big Bear.jpg)

Late and behind again but whatever here it is. I'm really not into 24 hour racing anymore it's fun and I night riding is a blast. But there's not enough fun to make up for all the sleep I lose. But this year was different I was actually looking forward to the annual 24 Hours of Big Bear this year because it was going to be the 24 Hour Nationals. But thanks to Greedy Gear is was cancelled thanks Laird your the best. But something good came out of the 24 hour race getting cancelled. Mark Schooley the mountain biker that runs Big Bear Lake stepped up big time and decided to put on some type of endurance race that same weekend. It started out as the Big Bear 4x24 but in the end it was the Big Bear 2x12. Its a pretty simple format teams of two racers each must complete 2 or 3 laps depending on your class. The more I thought about it I liked this format plus the first place payout of a $1000 made in even more attractive to me. My hardest decision now was to decide which class and finding a partner. In the end I asked Suz Falvey to team up with me. Even with a stacked coed class I liked our chances. Just for the record Ruth doesn't like racing with me says she feels to much pressure.
Packing was super easy cause I knew exactly how much stuff to bring cause I knew how many laps I had to do. I met Todd and Suz early Saturday morning and headed down. The trip was pretty uneventful except for spotting a cool ass General Lee replica on 68. We decided that it would be best for me to go first. I was pretty happy when I found out that there wasn't going to be a Le Mans start. As usual I felt like I was rushing around trying to get ready and before I knew it was time to line up and go. One thing for sure is that if you never rode at Big Bear it's worth the trip just to check out the awesome trails there. Some people say how technical and rocky it is but I just think its fun that's the stuff I love riding. I had a good first lap and come in third and then the battling started. We went from first to third and back again. But in the end Shogrens and the Riddles were to much for us and we finished third. Which was OK but with the winner take all format third or last it still meant nothing. In the end I had a blast hope to make it back again next year the only downside was the Stoopid 50 was the next day and I decided not to make the drive. Thanks to Mark and all the awesome sponsors for the good times. Almost forgot to mention that it rained a little too thanks for the picture Ben.

J

To Dash for Cash or Not?

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Not much racing lately but had to make a tough decision between the Dash for Cash and the Mohican 100. The Dash won for several reasons not necessarily in this order cost $30 to $150, drive time 20 minutes to 3-1/2 hours, wake up at home or in a tent, rush to pack and leave Friday night or not packing and sleep in on Saturday, give my hard earned cash to someone I really don't like or give it to a local fire hall, show up at a local race in hopes they have more or go to an over hyped 100 miler, hangout with some cool people drink a few beers and eat some good grub (this would be the case at either race). If I would have only wrote this down the decision would've been some much quicker and painless.
Anyhow about the race I was stoked about the a new record turnout of a 126 racers. I thought with the crappy weather the days before and the crappy projected forecast not many people would come out. Image that I was wrong good think that never happened before. They use a TT format for the start 2 racers at time at 30 second intervals. The reason is to prevent bottle necks but I'm not so sure it really works to avoid that but the TT format is always cool. Do to my lack of paying attention and not realizing how many racers there were I got started in the near the back of the pack, It didn't take long to realize it was going to be muddy also I got caught up in the allot of bottle necking that the TT was supposed to prevent. It was all good everyone was pretty cool about passing and stuff. The mud wasn't to bad in years past the mud used to get to me but riding in the mud is all about attitude. You need to embrace it and think realize everyone else is out there in it to so how bad can it be? Then I got to the first deep creek crossing and it was so freaking awesome they put ropes across it to hold onto so no one got swept away. (The one in the picture is the small crossing sorry that's all I could find) Along with everyone else I had some bike issues and finished second. Anyhow some awesome trails and great food afterwards what more could you ask for. So if you ever get the chance be sure to give the Dash for Cash a chance you won't be disappointed. Thanks to Jarvis Lindsay and family, all the volunteers and sponsors plus the Buffalo Riders. Next time the my decision will be allot easier.

See you next year
J

Dirt Sweat and Gears

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I made the long trip to the Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour race in Fayetteville Tennessee. Even with all the rumors and stories about the mud from last years race when I first heard about it I gave it some consideration. I was thinking of racing solo or solo SS but couldn't find anyone to carpool with. Then about 2 weeks before the race I was looking at the calendar and there didn't seem like much else going on that weekend. So I mentioned to Nathan Annon and he said he'd do it as a duo and do the driving so I figured why not. Then the day after we got registered I heard about the Cranky Monkey 9 hour race that was only 3 hours away. But whatever at this point it was to late to turn back. I got to Nat's on Thursday evening and we did a short road ride though Grafton WV. Then it was time to unpack my car and load up his car. It seems no matter how light I try to pack I always end up bringing a bunch of useless crap and never have the one or two things I really want.
Our plan was to get there early enough to do a preride and setup camp and then chill out. We left at 3:00 and the trip done was pretty uneventful for such along trip. The only thing that seemed really strange about the drive was Nat's got a GTI and he's from WV so that's two licenses to fly and he's driving like 5 mph over the speed limit WTF? Whatever but we finally got there and setup camp and headed out to do a lap. One thing I noticed right away was that it was allot hotter down here than up in the burgh. The course was pretty fun about 10 miles long I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of rocks and rocks. It didn't have any long climbs but lots of short and steep climbs. I was running a 34x19 gear and it seemed about right Nat was running a 34x20 and thought it was a little heavy and switched out to a 34x21. We ran into Mike Schultz and he was nice enough to let us take a shower his motel thanks Mike.
I liked the fact that the race didn't start until 9:00 plus we gained an hour crossing the time zone so it was really like 10:00. I convinced Nat to do the start because I just didn't feel dealing with of the traffic on the first lap. He came in 9th on the first lap I picked a few people off pretty early on. Then about 5 miles in the rattling noise on my bike kept getting louder and more consistent. It sounded like a loose bottle cage I moved my bottle into the other cage and still luck. Then I heard a really loud noise and thought my wheel came out of the dropouts cause the rear brake stopped working. I stopped and looked only to see that one of the bolts that hold on the rear brake caliper was missing and the other was backed out halfway. So I figured it'd be fastest just to ride out the rest of this lap without the rear brake. It worked out OK cause no one caught or past me before the end of the lap. Now it was time to start hunting down a bolt I asked allot of people and no luck. Then finally I got lucky and the guy from the Moots demo truck took one off of a demo bike thanks. Then while I was waiting to head out for my second lap the rain started. It didn't seem like it rained to hard or for to long but the trails were pretty slimly. I past allot of people walking and pushing their bikes and seen people using sticks to clean out the mud. It was bad but I didn't think it was to bad my first lap was like a :54 and my mud lap was a 1:06. So after I finished and get my bike cleaned up I heard that they decided to shorten the course to remove some of the mud. I was like WTF and went and tried to convince the people in charge to leave it alone without any luck. My case was we were racing on SS and I figured that we'd fair better in the mud than our competition that had gears on. They said tons of people were whining about how bad it was and they didn't want anyone getting hurt and also didn't want to have a bad experience and not come back next year. I understood his points agreed but it's never fun not getting your way. They were really fair about how they put people onto the shortened course too. You had to be on the same lap as the leader of your class that way every team got a little taste of the mud. I guess I'm a little more used to the mud than some others. Because they basically removed the first 2-3 miles of the course. I past some of racers in that section and finished the lap washed my bike and was waiting to head back out and they were just coming back covered in mud and they even short cutted back didn't even finish the lap. We never really got close to the first place team and went back and forth with 2nd and 3rd. In the end we finished 2nd and I was OK with that.
After the race was cool lots of free swag some god food and some great local beers. Then the rain came and it rained all night long. We woke up early and packed up in the light rain which sucked but I'm glad we left when we did cause that's when it started to rain even harder. Two rules I found out when traveling with Nat first the passenger it's allowed to sleep and second what the gas gauge. Overall I think it was a pretty awesome race and venue the only drawback I see is the 20 plus hours of driving. So as of now I'm unsure about next year. But thanks to everyone for the fun check it out www.dirtsweatandgears.com

Plus one more shout out to Scotty Holmes for his roadside assistance along 79.

J

Tennessee

The past 3-4 to weeks have been pretty strange for me. Here's a quick run down of it I've never been in Tennessee then back in April I went there for the Cohutta and now about a month later I'm heading down there again for the Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hours race. It should be a good time as long as the weather holds up I've heard if it rains the mud is insane. So I find it pretty strange that I've never been there in 39 years and now I'll be there twice in less than 4 weeks apart. Some other strange happenings is that I've ridden 3 new bikes in the span of 4 days that's a record. Usually when I get a new frame I build it the same day that's what I did last Friday. Then on Saturday I finally built up a frame that I've had for over 5 weeks that's a record. Then on Tuesday I built up a frame that I picked up on Monday that I ordered about three months ago that also is a record. But enough about that Tennessee here I come again.

J

They call me Dustin

Out of the 4 races last weekend we decided to go to the second WVMBA at Mountwood. First choice was the Middle Mountain Momma followed by the Michaux race. I crossed both of these out because I didn't feel like having to leave on Saturday and pay for a motel. So that narrowed it down to the Grassman and Mountwood. I guess Mountwood won because I've been there before and it's always been a good time. It was raining on and off for the entire drive but finally we got there. I had decided to use my SS today because it's the only bike that was ready and I thought it might be better with all the rain and mud. At the start everything was going good until the hill at the start seemed longer this year than in year's past. Finally at the top and into the singletrack I was pretty far back at this point. Funny thing on the first lap the trails seemed to be in better shape than I had anticipated mostly running water, lots of turtles and but not much mud. Then on the second lap some sections seemed to be allot muddier but nothing to crazy. In the end I managed to finish 4th overall and was 3rd expert Montana had a great race and got the overall win on his SS. In the end I wished I would have sucked up the drive and cash for a motel and did Michaux or the Middle Mountain Momma. I had fun but it just seemed like such a waste of a day 6 plus hours of driving for only 2 hours of racing. But here's what someone else had to say about the race.

http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/529431.html

I guess in a way I deserve this? Because I always forget people's name and butcher their names as bad just as bad as they butcher mine. But whatever it's like I was never even there.

J

Cohutta 100

(See attached file: Cohutta.bmp)
I guess it's safe to say the 2010 race season has started. Mine began with the first race in the Appalachian Road Race Series the Morgantown Road Race. I just got one small little problem with this race why the hell is it called the Morgantown Road Race when the entire race in PA? Whatever the race didn't go to good for me I was at the back of the pack at the start of the first climb and got dropped. Then rode with a few different groups for the rest of the race. I did feel like a got a good workout in so I was happy about that. Then a few weeks later I headed out for the first OMBC at the Mohican Wilderness. As luck would have it it was the same day as the first WVMBA race at Big Bear. I love racing at Big Bear but choose the Mohican race over BB because the Mohican course seems to have allot more climbing and I was hoping it would help more in my preparation for the Cohutta. Last year at Mohican I raced my SS and did pretty well but last year the conditions were allot different from this year. This year the course was fast and dry I had a good start but got dropped out in the flats and never caught up. I got a good ass whooping and finished 7th. The only good I took out of this race was the fact that all my lap times were consistent.
Now it was time to get ready and head down to the Cohutta 100 the first race in the NUE series. I've never done this race before and the reason why is I figured the drive would suck. Now onto the race it starts on the highway with about a 2 mile climb then a short downhill then into some really fun singletrack. I had an OK start and was maybe in the top 40 or so headed into the singletrack. It was pretty tight and I passed a few people then I finally caught up to the big line of people. It seemed pretty chill like and not much going on and the pace seemed pretty easy to handle. Then we hit some downhills and it opened up and I was able to get around a few more people. Then back in the tight stuff I think the first 20 to 25 miles was pretty much all singletrack and a blast to ride. Then we hit the gravel and dirt roads and started climbing. I passed the first aid station and everything was going good. The climbs seemed to be pretty long but not to steep and it be allot of up and down. I got the second aid station and made my first big mistake of the day. Usually I don't put anything in the drop bags because I figure what's the chances of putting in the correct stuff. You could put 20 things in and forget the one thing you do need and so everything is else is useless. The only reason I used them this time was because I wasn't sure how stocked the aid stations would be so I just packed some food, coke and redbull. Now for the mistake it wasn't what I packed it was remembering which stop I put it in. After searching through the bags twice I left and figured that I must have put it in #3 not #2. Not sure how many miles in it was but at about 4 hours in the rain started. It was pretty steady and some thunder and lightening too. I got to #3 and found my bag and continued on. Then around mile 80 I was seeing allot more people I think this was around where the 100K racers rejoined 100 milers. I was feeling pretty strong still and every time I would get near someone I was looking to see if they were a SS or geared racer. Not sure but I think I passed like 5 or 6 other SS racers. Then I hit the final piece of singletrack and figured from what everyone had told me I had about 10 miles to go. It was pretty muddy and wet I felt like I was riding it pretty well. Then it happened my chain fell off I stopped and put it back on it happened early too but I decided not to fix it then. Then it happened again and again I think it happened like 5 or 6 more times. At this point I was debating about stopping and retensioning the chain but it was a tough call when I didn't know how much further I had to go or what the trail was like. I was watching my garmin like a hawk and knew I was getting close because I was at 94 miles. Then I passed a tent and they said 1-1/2 miles to go. I Finished without anyone catching me so I was pretty happy. My late surge put me in 4th in the SS class and around 20th overall. I was pretty happy about my placing but there was a big time gap between me and the SS in front of me. Two other note worthy details about the race for me first 100 miler in under 8 hours and first 100 miler that didn't have any hike a bikes.

Here's a few things I learned
#1 Remember what stations your drop bags are at
#2 Try to preride the beginning and end of the course
#3 The drive did suck
#4 Racing and riding in the rain is allot easier than the aftermath of changing, packing and waiting in the rain
#5 That there's an awful lot of Porn and fireworks for sale along 75 in Tennessee
The only one that was new was #5. But big thanks to everyone at Newleaf Adventure Center for all the good times and thanks to all my sponsors. Also Ruth made the trip and finished but lets just say she had a bad day and spent to much time in the cabin.

J

It's back

After 20 weeks of no racing it's back. I'm heading to Morgantown for the first race of the year. I'm really curious to see if all the training pays off. I feel like my endurance is good, my short efforts feel OK but not sure about the rest. But I still got nothing hope this ends soon.

J

Got nothing

Spring is here and I got nothing WTF! The nothing I'm talking about is blog material. So I'll do my best with a short little rant about the annual suck fest known as daylight savings. With a little bit of research it seems that's there's no clearcut reason behind this annual ritual of stupidly. But one reason seems to be that it saves electricity. I'm all for the saving of electricity it seems as a country we really waste allot of it. But the thing that really makes no sense to me is why not just do it all year long? If your saving electricity in the summer by doing this shouldn't work in the winter? I have no preference when I get my daylight. I really enjoyed riding to work with no light but I also like riding home without it. So whatever just pick one time and stick to it the changing back and forth is the problem. My body doesn't like the adjustment period.
I've been keeping busy riding and skiing but after almost two months of not riding in the trails it finally happened. The snow melted and the trails dried up. At first it felt weird but it didn't take long before for it felt normal. It was almost like when you go on vacation and on your first day back to work it hits you that feeling you get like you never left. It was allot like that but except for one huge difference this felt really really good and that never does. Sorry it's not much but that's all I got.

J

Torn

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After almost 2 weeks since I rode any bike I might give it a try this weekend. Strange thing is that I'm not experiencing withdraw symptoms like allot of people are crying about. The strangest thing about all is that I have very little patience especially when it comes to playing with new toys. My new Specialized Rockhopper SS has been built for about two weeks and has yet to be ridden WTF? Back at the start of winter I decided that I wasn't going to ride my trainer or rollers all winter. So I rode in the cold got some studded tires to ride in the snow and started climbing the stairs at the cathedral when I wasn't riding. Then it happened the snow came and the outdoor riding stopped. The stair climbing also stopped from fear of trying to find a parking spot. So I started doing some more cross country skiing. The thing about CX skiing is I have lots of fun sometimes and not so much fun other times. I think the problem is my skis weren't meant for the type of skiing I want to do. But last weekend I got to try something new. Gerry had an extra pair of snowshoes and if I wanted to go. I figured sure why not give it a try. We went up on the Laural Highlands Hiking Trail and it was awesome. The snow was like 4' to 5' deep and I think I got spoiled because this was my first time and conditions were prefect. We stayed out for only 6 hours and only went about 10 miles but it was a blast the entire time. I had such a good time that Gerry only has one pair of snowshoes because I bought his extra pair. So after snowshoeing everyday except one I'm torn literally. Yes I want the snow to be gone so I can ride my bike but I also want it to stay because it's been such a blast. Good thing it's only skin it'll grow back in no time.

(See attached file: torn.jpg)


J

Enough Already

I've had enough already and I'm not talking about the weather. But in a round about way I guess I am talking about the weather. It seems just about everywhere at work, on the radio everyone is crying about the weather. Is everyone a WUSS? It's just snow and I don't like to inconvenienced but that's all it really is. As far as I know no the snow hasn't killed anyone yet. Or did it and I missed something? I'm sure the it would suck not having power for several days. Most of the people crying about shoveling the snow could use the exercise. The people crying that their street hasn't been plowed try walking it will make you appreciate your car a little more. This is like a once every 20 year storm maybe you should try to embrace the snow? Try skiing, snowshoeing or go sled riding? Whatever funny thing is about it is the some people complaining about the snow now will be complaining about the weather when it's to hot and humid in the summer.

J

Can't always get what you want

(See attached file: Rockhopper SS.bmp)
When I first started riding a Single Speed the main reasons were because it was cheap and the lack of maintenance. It was cheap because I just used a bunch of old parts that I had lying around. The less maintenance is pretty self explanatory. It didn't take long before I started having allot of fun riding a SS. I'm not sure were I stand on about it being harder or that it's better training. To me it seems like you have allot of harder efforts but you also get more recovery so is it really harder or not? If I had allot of free time and extra cash I'd like to race a 100 miler on a SS with a powertap wheel then race the exact course with a powertap on a geared bike and look at the KJ output. I have a powertap wheel but it doesn't have disc mounts and none of my mountain bikes have rim brake mounts. So until I can do this or someone else does it I'm still up in the air about if it harder. But by riding one you learn how to keep your momentum up so you ride faster. On a side note you can also take crappier lines because you don't have the fear of ripping something off, and the smaller chaining up front clears allot more stuff so in a way you ride sloppier which means slower. So I'm pretty convinced that riding a SS for me a better training but not for the reasons you think. The lack of maintenance and the cost are the two biggest reason why. Less maintenance equal more time riding and low cost equal less time wasted working so just by being able to ride more it's better training. Maybe not the best but still more.
I'm slowly getting to the point of this post. I like to get new stuff and every year I try to get a few new bikes. I justify this by telling myself that I ride allot and deserve a new bikes every year. This year was no different than in the past. What I would like to have is a inexpensive lightweight frame that could be used as a SS or geared bike with little effort to change between the two. Funny thing is there's really not many of them out there and I don't know why. When you have a SS as everyone know you need some way of tensioning the chain. There's several ways to accomplish this feat here's a few with some advantages and disadvantages of each. EBB easy to manufacture, works good, easy to adjust but they add weight, some creak and change your saddle height. Horizontal dropouts easy to manufacture, cheap, but they're a pain in the ass with the brakes, slipping, and some use bolt on axles. Chain tensioners cheap, easy to use but take away that clean look and also chain slap. So out of all of these is any prefect? No but it's just like anything pick the one that best suits your needs and go with it. The one system I've seen and like is the slider dropout. Not many companies do this and I'm not sure why? I've heard from some that they slip, creak and just don't hold up. I've also heard from others that they work great with no problems. So why don't more bike companies use this system? Is it that it because it's not reliable, to heavy, costs to much to make or is it that they want to sell two bikes instead of one? I can't say for sure what the real reason and we may never know. But that's really what I wanted to get and didn't. So then I started looking at SS only frames and decided on the Specialized Stumpjumper SS frameset. That's when I hit my next snag I can't get one until like May and I hate waiting. Back to my point about liking a SS because it's cheap. WTF is the deal with companies making carbon framesets that cost outrageous amounts of money? I'm sure they're light, ride great, and are super nice but it seems crazy to me but whatever. Maybe some day I'll change how I think or maybe it won't seem that expensive to me. After talking to Todd at Pro Bikes he steered me in the direction I should have looked earlier. I've been looking allot of different bikes on the internet but never noticed this one.

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=45808&eid=4340&menuItemId=9253

   
It's not exactly what I wanted but it's allot of want I wanted. Cheap and seems like it will be pretty light after I swap out a few things and the EBB looks promising. So only time will tell if it's what I need.

J

Review

(See attached file: review.bmp)
It's that time of the year when there's not to much going on. So this is the perfect time for a review of 2009. My miles and hours were up from 2008 but the number of races were down. Reason for this was because of the broken arm early in the season. So thanks to my Garmin here's the totals, I included hours on the trainer and rollers but the miles don't count towards the total. It's not much but here it is

7027 Miles
670 hours on the bike
most hours in one week 29
least hours in one week 4
most miles in one week 306
least miles in one week 8
26 races
16 Centuries
4300 approximately the miles I spent in the car traveling to races
As of right now I don't really have any specific plans for 2010. A few general things I'd like to do in 2010 get more miles, hours and commute to work more often. Do more races not sure which ones right now. This maybe a huge contrast but my favorite types of racing now are 100 milers, ultras, multi day stage races and cyclo cross. So until I figure out which races I'm going to I guess it's best to ride lots.

Here's my after thoughts on the La Ruta de los Conquistadores. I think the three questions I'm asked the most about are how hard was it, was it fun and would you do it again? First I'll tackle how hard was it. Yes it was hard but it wasn't hard in ways I excepted it to be. The climbs were very long and very steep, but not technical. Allot of the climbing was on gravel and black topped roads so that made them allot easier. The mud that you see all the pictures of was only like 5 or 5 miles long and for the most part was completely unrideable. For me one of the hardest things was the schedule. Getting up and being ready to ride everyday by 4:00 AM, along with the fact of sleeping in a new bed every night became very taxing on me. But from the lack of technical trials it failed to give me the total all over beatdown that I crave. So the answer is yes it was hard but it's really more the miles and elevation gains than anything else.
Second was it fun? Yes it had it's moments but to me they seemed to few and far between. I was under the impression that the race would be in the remote areas of the rain forest. In a way it was but I was envisioning crossing suspension bridges made from ropes and vines and being chased by monkeys or some form of wild life. There was none of that but we were in remote areas that most tourist would never see. I was also a little disappointed that it was accessible by jeep or at least by quad. I had fun going through some of the small villages and getting a quick glimpse of how they lived. Some of the double track trails were fun and challenging but weren't enough to make up for the black topped sections. The other disappointment was because of the weather rain everyday I missed out on what would have been some incredible scenery.
Would I do it again? I'm still up in the air about this one. First I'll list the reasons not to go again so that way I can end on a positive note. It was a little expensive for me but I'm cheaper than most. The language barrier was a little to much for me. It seems like every conversation in Spanish is an argument. Not enough off road sections to me. It's a bad time of year for me it pretty much wiped out my entire cross season. I think there's some more but can't think of them right now. Now for the reasons to do it again and a few things that would have to happen. I know what to expect, stage racing is fun, the weather is awesome even when it's raining, and it was well organized considering the logistics involved. If I went back I'd like to go with a group I think this would make the traveling allot easier. A couple other things about going back to would be that I would have my bike setup better. Finally I would like to go back again to do better. I had a few bad mechanicals but still felt like I should have done allot better.

J