W@W 2

I didn't know how this race was going to go, but I went out and raced it anyway. I did a good warm up going to Accotink and back. The weather was really really humid, so I was sweating really bad even before the race started. This week they called us up to the line based on last week's performance. Well I was in the second row,and we started off. I had a good starting position, really too good of a position. The first lap went ok I was behind Roger again, so I thought that boded well, I was wrong :-( At one point Roger was slowing down, and then he let me pass so he could help out a turtle on the trail. I guess he gets the good Samaritan award. After the first lap I was cooked! I guess the 12 hours of Cranky Monkey caught up to me. I should not have pushed so hard that first lap, cause my second lap was terrible. Everybody complains of having to pass people well I didn't pass one person in my class! I did two laps by myself, I mean no one passed me and I passed no one. That was nice, I felt good my last lap in riding the course but my lap time will show that I was going a lot slower. Bruce who watching the race even said I was visibly slower this week. The nice thing is I seem to know enough people now that I actually heard people cheering for me:-) The wakefield course is not for me I need some long sustained efforts not just carving through trails, I guess I will keep racing it for practice for the cross events in the fall.

12 Hours of Cranky Monkey

This race was an example of why people mountain bike race, and especially at the relay events. The team had good energy with people helping out one another, and making sure people were eating and drinking, when their stomachs did not want to. When you have a team atmosphere things like a broken chain, a flat don’t seem as bad when your teammates boost your spirits.
This race was like Lodi but during the day, with the vibe being great, all the local teams were out contesting the race. The course suited me in that it was a slow course. There were some fast sections, but most of it had really tight turns that you could not carve, you had to slow down. There was also a fair amount of climbing which usually helps me.
I did this race with Kent, and MattyD who are two really good mountain bikers, I was hoping to help the team and not hinder it. Their lap times at Big Bear were faster than mine, sometimes 5-10 minutes faster, so I wasn't sure if I would be helping my team in this race. It was decided that I would go last in our rotation, in the eventuality that I might not have to do an extra lap. MattyD started us off and he did a great job going through traffic, and then Kent went out and did a :47 lap time! This gave us the lead that we would never give up. I was able to do lap times that were the same avg. as my teammates with a 49:30 as my fastest. By the third lap, I started to feel the power in my legs going, so I was happy I only did 4 laps. My Achilles tendon was hurting me still from Big Bear, but after the first lap and some Ibuprofen It didn't really bother me again. The only other issue I had was that I fell the last lap. The fall was because I was tired and I washed out in a corner. The ground felt like asphalt and the resulting bruise on my hip shows that it was hard. That didn't really bother my during the race, but I wasn't been able to sleep on that side of my body for a week.
This was a great race, and I can't believe how well the DCMTB/City Bikes team did; we got 1st and 3rd expert, 1st vet and 3rd open Duo. I think this will be a mainstay in Mt. calendar like Lodi if they are allowed to have it again.

More Photos

Wednesdays at Wakefield #1

I had Bruce Buckley take pics with my new camera, since he was still getting over this virus he had. This was my first expert race, so I was going to test out the waters and race with the big boys! So I warmed up with Kent, I knew he was going to ride strong, but it was good to ride with him. There were a bunch of DCMTBer's out there tonight, I think like 11 with 7 in the expert class. I didn't kill myself for the start since I knew I wasn't going to win this race, I didn't get caught up with some of the early wrecking that

people had. I was riding behind Roger at one point, and I was like if I can stay here this will be a good race. Well that didn't happen. I started slowing down a little, and Bruce would joke as I passed him saying things like you're only 5 minutes down you are almost there! Hence the smiles in the photos. I actually caught two people, but that was washed away when I wrecked. I was then playing catch up again. The downer of the night was Marc Gawdz passing me. I thought he was behind me, and I was hoping to finish in front of him. The good thing that happened in the race was I gave myself a realistic goal of having a finishing time of 1:12 for 4 laps. I got the time on my bike computer, but the official time is 1:13 something(my wreck took some time out and stopped my bike computer since the wheels were not moving). Next time I will shoot for 1:11 and might be able to do it, cause my shifting was messed up. I think I need a new cassette, and chainrings. Not sure of my placing but I know I wasn't DFL! It was fun seeing everyone after the finish and talking to people. May be there next week, have to see.

RFK Crit.

DCMTB had a pretty good turnout at the RFK Crit on Sunday.

For the men's Cat 5 Race it was Mike S. Matt D. and Me Darren B. The race was really short, and we started at 8:45am but could already feel the heat. It was cool having the three of us there, and since the field was small we were able to stick together if we wanted. The race had like 8-10 Capital Hill bike guys and I thought they would have controlled the race more, but they were not organized. I ended in second place in the peleton at one point so I then decided to go out on a solo attempt. I did it cause I thought well at least the capital hill bike guys will have to chase me down. I did a lap and some in change in front of the field, partly because Matt, and Mike were in front after I left and slowed up, making others chase me down. I did get my name announced twice on the speaker system since I was in the lead twice around the start/finish line! After I got caught it was in the last lap , the official tried to encourage me to get back to the field , but I was cooked. I did get to see Matty D get third since I was so far off the back I sat up and watched the sprint. This Mt. biker might even do another Road race this summer if it fits in the schedule.

24 Hours of Big Bear

So this was the return of the Tecate Team I had last year at the 24 hours of Allamuchy.

Jay, Steve, Sid and Myself. We decided to do Sport and thought we could get a good placing in that group.

I got a ride up with Kent and we had some good talks, and stopped at this converted trailer that was a bakery. The food there was really good, it hit the spot. We were at the camp area on Friday and waited for everyone to get in. We had a good Camp set up with Jay's RV and we combined our area with my DCMTB/CityBikes team. It was fun to race and hangout with everyone.

The Race

OK so I Started our team out and had to run for the lemans start. Well I did OK running in my Carbon Cleats, and got on the trail pretty early. I went out fast, and around mile 3 Kent and Mike form my DCMTB came by me. I wanted to go into the finish with them, but they were just going too fast for me. I ended up with like a 1:17 lap and I was happy with that. For my second lap I really worked on trying to get a good lap time, and for me I did a 14:59 which I was really happy with. Now saying this our team was having troubles :-( Jay had his granny gear explode on his first or second lap. I have never seen that happen before. The First Lap Sid did he had a broken chain that he had to fix twice. For Sid's second lap he ran 4-miles to the finish. With all this bad luck, we were only 6 minutes out of 1st place! Steve also lost the baton as well which was a 5 minute penalty so we were 11 minutes out of first. I did my first night lap, and did an ok ride, I like riding at night, but not racing. I don't seem able to really push it at night. Steve put in a really good 1:25 night lap and that kept us in the game. Sid's bike blew up at night, so he was out of the rotation. Now it was just Jay, Steve and I to do an extra lap to make up for Sid. Going into the morning we were in 3rd getting close to second and I was up to do a turn. I was going really strong, and Mike K. was behind me and he can downhill really strong. I should have just raced my race, but I went down the hill like a maniac and at the bottom, I must have smacked my rear dérailleur and then my bike was gone!!!!! So I was at mile 6 and thinking what to do. I was going to DNF, but if I do that I will let my team down. Behind me a guy had broke his Kona HT in half! so he had it worse then me, he had to walk/run his way out. So I make my bike into a single speed. I had it in a easy gear, so I could do the climbs. Well when you make a geared bike into a single the chain will eventually go to the next bigger cog and eventually the chain will bind and break. My chain broke again, and then I put the chain on a smaller cog, I was able to get a couple of miles out of that. Eventually there was a ticking that was the signal of the end, finally my chain would not move. I ran the last 1.5 miles into the finish. I had told people to let my team know that I had broken down. Well that lap ended up being 2:10 or something, and we finished out the race, and were able to get 5th place! I was somewhat shocked about that, I think we would have won the sport class if we had not had any issues, but that is the beauty and pain of 24 racing.

This was a good time, I had my best time at any Big Bear/Snow Shoe race with the bigger base camp. Maybe next year Tecate will ride again and race expert?

Virginia Mt. Festival Memorial Day

The VA Mt. Bike Festival is always a good time. I went down this year around 12pm with Mark Wigfield, who I met last year and have become friends with. Traffic was already backed up to Gainesville off of Rt. 66. We got to Stokesville in a pretty good time. I had the ambitious plan of doing a Shuttle Run to Reddish Knob and then going down Wolf trail and take the dirt road back to the campsite. We were lucky that James gave us a ride to the top, which was way cool of him. James was leaving for Iraq on Monday of Memorial Day weekend, but wanted to Mt. bike before he left. I did the down hill run with Mark and Tim. Reddish Knob is always a blast to go down, but there was a lot of blown down trees across the trail. We did the trail and luckily the dirt road back to the campground was downhill, because we got back right at sundown. We then met up with Pat who was our third in our camping group. Mark, Pat, and I made steaks and some rice/pasta that night and it hit the spot.

For the huge ride on Sat. there was a group of 9 of us that were going to do the same ride we did last year, including the push a bike climb up White Oak to Hankey mt. I was worried about this ride cause last year I cramped up pretty bad. We did the ride in about 6 hours with 4:40 bike time. I was really happy with my performance. I was riding the hills strong, and able to somewhat hang on the downhills. Another cool thing was to bike with 2 of my City Bikes Teamates Mike, and Matt. On Sunday we did the Southern Traverse with 7 of us and that is such a cool ride. For the 3 mile dirt road climb I was riding really strong, but after the first half of the ridge I kinda cooled off and didn’t seem to have my MoJo. The ST is an IMBA epic ride and is really fun with it’s off camber trails that you can fly down if you want. I had wanted Pat to do this ride, and it worked out great, with Eric and Pat riding together, with me waiting for them at the end. I would like to do more of this route, but would need to figure out how to do that.

On Monday Mark and I decided to do a dirt road ride on cyclocross bikes , that became pretty epic to me. We plotted the ride and have called it the West Virginia Logger http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/va/stokesville/444907902

We got the cross bikes ready and rode our bikes out to Reddish Knob, I had 34 x 28 gearing and I was humbled going up Reddish Knob. I am usually a good climber for my size (185lbs) inseason. I am good at 3 mile and less climbs. I have done 5 mile climbs OK. Reddish Knob was 7 miles and after 5 miles I was just trying to get up the mountain. After going over the mountain, we went down this dirt road with switch backs which was fun. We then did this logging road that goes along the mountain and is very pretty. The first part is nicer, cause the logging trucks have not flattened the road out, so you are doing more of a Jeep road. Then after that we went up Shenandoah Mt. but it was not as long since we were a good way up the mountain already. After that was a 9 mile down hill to a Jeep road climb up Hankey Mt. The part of the ride that was pretty sweet was where we came down the single track we came up on Sat. The Fire Road back into camp was a blast to ride on with the cross bike. I think I was faster on the cross bike than the mt bike for that part, I was able to rail the corners better. We ended being the last people out of the campground, but good news was that there was not much traffic at 6 pm when we got back to the DC area. I always like riding in the GW, and I hope I do cause this year I am going to try and do the SM100 which is 100 miles offroad and I am hoping to finish under 11 hours!

The Epic Adventure not Epic Ride.

This ride was to be an Epic ride that we did not know if anyone had done, we were going to do · Liberty Furnace Loopfollowed by Big Schloss Loop. (http://www.more-mtb.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6675)

I did this ride with my Big Bear, 24 Hours of Allamuchy teammates. So we started up liberty furnace which has this killer climb in the beginning, I mean you have gone 1 mile and it feels like you have gone 10! That hill is steep took about 35minutes to get up it(2.5miles). I did better this time then last, I was able to do the ride with only two walking sections. The only issue I had with the bike after I had spent $190 to get it fixed A fork rebuild followed by a new damper in the fork, and had the brakes re-bleed. Greg at Conte’s knows his stuff, but it can be expensive! Scott the owner of Contes was like,”well it is cheaper then a crack habit” was my tube in my tire blew out of the tire which was strange. I put in a new tube and we were off. We got to the start of the Big Schloss Loop and the trail was sweet until we had to hike a bike for like a mile through some sketchy rocks. I was slipping on the rocks in my stiff carbon mt. bike shoes. There was one section where we actually handed down our bikes to one another cause it was too steep to hold your bike and walk. The view was really pretty and then the downhill was nice as well. We then got to Wolg Gap park, and went up that hill, and that one was a pretty good climb almost cleared it, and I think I could next time, cause the last steep part, I didn’t know was the last steep part so I got off to save some energy. We were riding the ridge up there, riding these crazy rocks, that made me thank the gods I ride a dual suspension 29er. Jay was ripping it through these guys and I was holding my own. My stomach was not L I think it was the water we got from the Wolf Gap picnic area, had too much minerals in it. So we stop for a sec and I tell Sid to go in front of me cause I felt like he was breathing down my neck when he was behind me. He is going through the rocks pissed off, and then I hear him fall, and he really hurt himself. The chain ring on his bike made a chainsaw cut. I could see fat inside his calf. We had to get Jay who was way down the trail, he had the first aid kit. So Jay with my help put his wound together and then ace bandaged it, and then duck taped it for good measure. We had to get Sid off the mountain, so Jay and I road ahead and Steve and Sid were behind us. The downhill we had just come up was a sweet one going down, the kind that is long enough that your calves hurt. We were really lucky that there was an older couple in the parking lot who helped us out by taking Jay to the car and Sid to the hospital. Well in the end Sid got fixed up in Reston since the Woodstock hospital had a 4 hour wait. The Reston emergency room gave him 16 staples inside and 8 outside as well as good drugs to deal with the pain. Hopefully he will be ready to ride at Big Bear. So we road a total of 12-14miles took us 2 hours, so no epic ride but a good story. I think we will try to tackle this again sometime, cause this was Jay’s second attempt, and something stopped him this time too. So maybe the third attempt will be the one that actually makes it through the whole thing. Next weekend is the Mt. Bike festival at Stokesville should be a good time!

Wild and Wonderfull

Did a great road ride today I had some rider mates, on the ride I wanted to do this ride, but I needed to get back for a BBQ at my house. The ride has some flatter bits, so I wanted some friends for pacing. The ride has 3/4 major climbs I have a 34 x 26 on my bike it was suppose to be a 36 x 26 but you can't put an aftermarket ring on a shimano compact crank. I already bought the cassette, but today I used it to much effect. I felt pretty good on the ride, I really cranked it up the climbs and I payed the toll for it. I wanted the ride to end when it did . The legs were dead at the end, not as bad as last year where I could barely finish. I had a 18 mph avg so I was happy with that, I felt good on certain parts of the ride so I think I am in a good place in my training/Riding.

Poolesville Road Race 4/5

Poolesville is one of the few local Road Races in the DC area, that
uses real roads, and has 1 mile of gravel per lap. I had been
wanting to do this race for awhile, and I signed up in the first 15
minutes for the Men's 4/5 field and I was able to get in. I pre-road
the course, and I was a little worried about the steep hill into the
right hander to the gravel. OK fast forward to Race-Day I get to the
ride start (will finish soon, comeback)
(OK I'm Back!)
I wasn't able to get too good of a warm up, but I thought I should be fine.
I got to the start and Eric was in the front, and I was kinda forced to the back of the group since I got there late. As we are waiting they were fixing our numbers(which I thought was nice) and I was looking for MattyD I didn't see him anywhere, He finally got there and lined up with me near the back. First thing, I was used to blasting out of the gate like you do in Mt. bike racing, but people just clipped in and started up. So we are going down the road, and I am thinking how am I going to get up to the front with all these people. The course is flat to downhill to the gravel, so everyone was bunched up and people got settled in. I found it funny that I didn't have a problem riding, I was expecting to barely keep up, but I was doing fine with the group. I finally catch up to Eric in front and then we get to the gravel and people slammed on their brakes, but took the gravel corner pretty easy. I got messed up because of someone else's line and did a snow plow move with my front tire to get back on the dirt out of the gravel(messing up Eric behind me.) After the gravel section I see Matt going up the road, and I was OK look at that. Matt got reeled in and then I just worked on staying in the top 15 positions for the rest of the race. I was surprised that no team really took control of the race, I saw the coppi's try something early on, but nothing after that. I think that there could have been some cards to play if a team was able to mobilize. I think the 2nd or 3rd lap the big crash of the day happened. I was like 4 or 5 bike widths away, and I went into some gravel at the side of the road no biggy. I found out later my teammate Eric, was behind the guy who wrecked so he did some concrete gymnastics, he ended up being ok, but was out of the race. Around lap3 Matt came up to me so that was cool having a teammate by me. We talked and I said I might as well do something the next lap even if it fails.
After the first lap people were riding the gravel section single file with a few on the opposite side. I knew I could get some distance on the right had side not many were going over there, with this 3-4 foot puddle. When I came to the gravel corner, I stayed to the inside and got some speed bunny hopped the puddle(go mt. bikes) and then was riding solo, about 15 places down, I knew there was a downhill in there, so I gunned it in on that to see if maybe some of the pure roadies could get shelled I road more then half the gravel section on my own. After the gravel section, I didn't get too much distance on the group so I shut it off and easy peddled waiting for the group. Towards the end I was asking Matt if he had any sprint in his legs he didn't sound too positive(we needed Eric he has some kick). At the end I knew they wouldn't take the turn at full speed. So I decided I was going to do the David Miller flier and see what happens. I got a good jump everyone was yelling, and through the turn I knew someone was on my tail well it was Matt:-) I pushed as hard as I could I would have won if the finish line was 500meters sooner , Matt took off and he would have had it I think if the race ended 200m sooner. If we had Eric we might have done it, but once people started coming by I let up and coasted in with a 28 place.

A good race, I like road racing, but you need the team to really race. I found the people to be cool and relaxed for the most part, I liked that people would say they were on you inside so you wouldn't get spoked. Will I do another road race this year? I Don't know I think I will.

O'Hill Melt Down

For the weekend of April 29th, most of the DCMTB\City Bikes team was racing the Greenbier UCI rated race, I was representing down in Charlottesville. I was doing a cabin weekend with some friends not far from there so I decided to leave there early on Sunday and do this race. I was not feeling my best, I had some stomach issues I figured I would be OK for the race length. So I get to the race, and the turnout wasn't as large as they usually get(oldest MTB race int he state 17 years) they said. I debated about signing up for expert, but decided to see how I did in this race to see what category I should ride so I signed up for sport. So the Experts went off a minute ahead of us and then we started the race at the bottom of a paved road climb that we would do to get to the trail. I usually can start fast and this kind of start was right up my boat a road hill climb. We start off(I think 20 in the class), and there is one guy in front of me, and I then pass him on the road climb a little bit before I get to the trail. I am off on the trail, I did not pre-ride the trail so I have no clue what the trail was going to bring. I knew from reading on line it was like Fountainhead, and Gambril together, with more steep hills was right on target. So I am doing the course and Passing the female experts, and one or two expert vets. After about 3miles of a 14mile race, I was so anaerobic, I had to let up a little. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this up for the full race. I had some people on my tail that I let pass, then I passed them later that same lap. I had a guy who was able to get up this steep section behind me, I gave him the trail since it looked like he was going to clear something I didn't. He was going good until he got right level with me, then I heard Hisssss. He flatted so I was still in the lead. I let a guy pass me who was a light guy like 145 he had me on some of the hill sections. There is a Powerline climb that is brutal, in the fact that you can do it, just not in a race. The first lap I made it halfway before dabbing and walking up it. The second lap, I made it 3/4 the way and that made me think that you could clear it if you didn't blow yourself out on the course. So I was thinking that I was in second place, and I saw some guy behind me so I was just thinking I got to keep this position. I passed an expert Vet guy Scott who I was trailing for allot of the race. The last half of the last lap I was trying to catch the 1st place single speed guy. I was pretty shocked at how well he could ride the course with one gear. In the end I kept my 2nd place and was a minute behind first. This was the hardest course I have ever raced on. I think my riding up at Liberty Furnace in the beginning of April helped, with the rocky downhill sections. I also have to be thankful I didn't flat, with all the rocks I was flying over. I would definitely do this race again, just not go out quite as hard in the beginning. The question is if I should race expert at Walnut creek on May 20th, I will look at the expert times and decide.