VA IMBA Mountain Bike Festival

This is my 3rd year of doing the IMBA VA mountain bike festival. I have always liked riding these epic rides in the GW forest. When I came three years ago, it was the first time I did downhills long enough for my legs to hurt. This year a lot of the usual folks I ride with did not come, so I went down not knowing who I was going to ride with. I also took down Sara with me—she had not gone camping in a long time, and the weather looked good for the weekend. We got there in the dark on Friday night, set up our tent and then talked with folks and I saw Evan who used to ride with DCMTB there, and talked about riding with him. I know Evan is fast, but he said that he was not going to be going all out on Sat.
-Sat.
We get up Sat, and Sara knew I would be gone for a bit, but she had decided to do a long run to train for her half marathon the following weekend. So Evan and I start out and were trying to meet Joe and JJ at Brailey's pond. Well Hankey is longer than I thought. Evan was going at a real good clip, but I went my own pace and finally caught up to him when he stopped. Towards the top of the climb we were with the group ride that went out that day. On the descent at Dowell's I was not able to let it hang out and had three guys pass me, who I then passed on the uphill. I am still have issues with off-camber stuff. I was kinda annoyed at myself, but tried to ride better. Got down to the bottom and Evan and I turned to Brailey's to meet Joe and JJ. Well we were way late, and Evan's bike was kinda messed up, so we worked on that for like a half hour, and then did Brailey's pond backwards. The group we passed was now coming down the trail, but it was interesting going up the trail instead of down it. It is a totally doable climb, whereas coming from the other way you usually dab somewhere. We get to the top and then go down the stuff you usually come up. I was leading on the climb riding a pretty hard tempo for me, and I told Evan to come around and he was like,"no the pace is good." Going up the climb that way took some fire out of me. Going down the other side is shorter, but more rocky, so more technical in nature. We then pacelined on the road to the store to refill before going up Dowell's draft. The store was closed, so that was almost a ride killer. Luckily for us the weather was so nice in the 70's that I wasn't sweating as much as years gone by and riding with just Evan we were really cruisin'. I saw that I had enough to get back to the campsite, but just enough. On Dowell's we had a hard time finding the trail back up, but we backtracked and found it. Once on the climb I told Evan to go ahead, and I was then able to ride my own tempo, which was pretty good, but then towards the top started failing me. Once we got to the top at one of the summits we met up with Joe and JJ, and then kept on to the campsite. We hooked up with this fast younger guy from Haymarket Cycles and he and Evan rode together. I would catch up to them from time to time, when they stopped, then I would pass them cause I was cooked and needed to keep moving. I did end up wrecking going down Hankey. I don't think it was because I was tired, but I hit some mud that sent me into two trees and I scraped my face on one of them. I got back completely spent. I cleaned up in the stream, and ended up getting a huge calf cramp that didn't go away until I moved my foot with my hand (my foot wouldn't move when my brain told it to). That night was the Potluck and Sara and I made some steaks I brought. The meat turned out pretty good, and I went around and served it to people like a hot dog vender, and the people who were able to get it really liked it.
40 Miles
4:30 ride time
9 mph avg
Elevation? not sure but 3 climbs that took 45 minutes or so each.

Sun.
Since I had done a big ride the day before, I was going to do a shorter ride and hang out with Sara. Well I went out with the Foley brothers to do the first 25-30 miles of the SM100 course. One thing that was interesting was how much longer Narrowback seems doing it on a normal ride. For me in the SM100 race, Narrowback was the only part I was really racing. It was fun to ride the Cookie trail, without people being in your way so you could ride it all which I think I would have if I wasn't in the wrong gear! Well things were going well, but then at the bottom of the downhill my pedal seized up. So it was ride over for me. I then rode back to the campsite one legged (luckily the way back on Tillman is mostly downhill). I saw Sara on the road running so asked if she would like to do a short tandem ride. She thought that would be fun, so she ran back with me pedaling one-legged. We get the tandem set up, and were going to do like a 15-20 mile ride, since we were to ride the next day anyway. We start going down this road, and we get to an intersection that has rt. 731 going 3 different ways. Well we got back on track, and then the road turns to gravel, the tandem had 28mm tires, which are small for gravel, but I have done it before without problems. So we go down a hill and then blowout! It is always scary when a front tire especially blows out on a tandem, but I was able to keep it under control and then started to change the tube. Well I look at the tire and it is a side wall cut, and a big one.... So I used a sticker from the bike rim to boot it, but it was still slightly bulging. So Sara suggested we walk the bike out of the gravel road (good idea) and then we gingerly rode back to the campsite, which ended up being closer then we thought. We rode the climb into the park pretty good, so we should be prepared for tomorrow's Tandem ride. People were drinking it up that night Sara and I served burritos which was good way to help out. Also we played Bocce ball with Mike, Tris, Jessica, and gang. Jessica, who I think is joining our team, seemed to have a good time riding some epic singletrak.

Tandem out of Stokesville

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Mon.

Sara and I had gotten most of our stuff together the night before, and then in the morning packed the car, which Sara mostly did (great job) while I was putting on bigger semi-slicks on the tandem which I should have had on there all along. I had gotten some maps and had figured a route for us to do and figured it was around 35-40 miles, but we could shortcut it a bunch of places if we were tired. The bike now had 40mm tires and the bike had a lot softer ride to it. We got out and rode what we did the other day passing where we got a flat. The tires were perfect because with the route we took we would do paved road, then hit dirt, then paved again. The route I picked riding along the stream was a good road. Once we got on the way back that is when things got screwy. The map we had was wrong after looking at Google Maps when we got back. We ran into some women cyclists who knew the area but not the roads per se. We went back the way we came and then took what I thought to be the route we wanted to be on, and then we saw the 2 miles to the Stokesville Observatory, so we knew we were close, and somehow we were on 731—the road that seems to teleport you to places out there. We got back and really pushed it up the climb into the park, and ended up with a 2.5 hour ride time, and Sara really enjoyed her first real tandem ride. We packed up and left, and then saw the women cyclists on the road, on our way to Bridgewater. So another great weekend, hopefully that 40 mile ride will help out the training for Big Bear.

Another one bites the dust

Sat. May 17th

The Good the BAd and the Hilly

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I had wanted to do a mountain bike ride, but ended doing a road ride because of the rain that week. I did the The Good, The Bad, and the Hilly. A good route that does alot of smaller climbs with the Sugarloaf mountain climb in there to get a sustained effort. Bruce, and Ryan had gotten back after a week of doing mountain biking in Colorado, so they were riding strong in the second half of the ride. It was cool to do ride at the beginning of the day, of Ryan's bachelor party day. The first part of the ride I was riding well, my back has been off since the Greenbrier race, and I have not been putting the miles in needed to ride well. So by the time we get to Sugarloaf I had decided to ride my own pace and not to fight it out with Ryan and Bruce. The second half of the ride, I wasn't feeling it, so I had Ryan and Bruce go ahead on one climb and then on the second to last climb I was able to ride past Bruce, but I am convinced it was because I was running a compact and he had a regular crankset. On the last climb, the boys went up the road, and I just kept my own rythum. The ride was nice with the weather and good company, but I wish I could have been more in the game as it were. The night time action was fun, liked doing the Go-Carts out in Dullas, playing pool was fun as well mostly because of the people I was with. I will say I was sucking at pool, but had one shinning moment when I jumped the cue ball over the other's teams ball and hit my ball in the pocket. I hope to some more rides with the Bike Lane boys, it will have to be later in the season since they are not doing the IMBA VA Festival, or Big Bear this year. Hopefully my back issues will get worked out before Big Bear.

Bike to Work Day 08'

Well another bike to workday with Jon. This was not an easy ride, first my chainring came off my fixie, and then when I jump on the number #2 commuter bike my cross bike it had a flat. After I go the flat fixed off we went. We were running late so we made it to the Roslynn stop, but never go to the fredom plaza stop. Jon has gotten faster these last 2 years riding. The weather was somewhat dreary to start with but then turned nice after the pit stop. On the way home we stopped at Whole Foods for Jon to get one of the reusable bags, and at the same time got some free chocolate for riding our bikes to the store. So was another good Bike to work day.

Greenbrier Challenge

I have finally gotten all the Mud out of my eyes and the greenbrier challenge is over. I was not thrilled about doing this race, as I was still feeling bakers dozen a little bit. My only consolation was that I would be suffering with MattyD in the expert 30-39 age class. So Sara came with me again to a race, and I really appreciated the support. I get to the race start and luckily got a good parking spot because the early people had already left. Matt was right behind me, and he parked right next to me. I try to warm-up which I am never really good at. I feel that I am little under dressed with the weather being low 60’s and overcast. I decided to use a camel back and carry GU’s with me. I think it was the right choice too for me. The camel back is allot easier to deal with on the trail then trying to get to my bottle, and then have it fall out.
I had planned to not go crazy at the start and try and just follow Matt’s wheel. Well the start goes off, and I am sticking to my plan and the first climb was going up, and this climb was a good one for me, I was able to ride it at a steady tempo. I got stuck behind some people that I should have been in front of, but I was trying to play it cool and if I had something in me I would pass them later on. I had a slight bobble on the backside rocky section and lost a place there. I was riding with Jonathan. I had battled with him last year at the 12 hours of cranky monkey. Well I feel I was riding ok, but thinking this course is crazy technical, I knew once Matt went out of view I would not see him again. The course had too many fast down hills(which Matt can rock) and some hard tech stuff. I have improved greatly in my ability to ride hard terrain, but to race in it is quite a different story. The second climb on the first lap I did my biggest mistake; I didn’t get in my low gear before the hard climb. I then pushed the gear that I was in and that is where I tweaked my back. My back will sometimes hurt in the early season if I push too hard, so this is why I ride a compact on the road bike, and ride my granny allot on mountain bikes. I find spinning, doesn’t hurt my back as much and I usually don’t go that much slower. So after the first lap I settled down, maybe too much but I realized I had 3 more laps to do. I was in a very strong field and got see the 40-49 big guns pass me. Gunner, Roger Massi said hi as he passed. I was still picking off people here and there mostly from other groups. This course had some silly ass mud, I mean I have never raced where I was going through 12 inches of water. There was one drop-off that was like a foot then into a creak. I made sure to get my front up and just launch into the creek every lap. At one point I was following I think a pro woman on the downhill, and I thought I would catch her because of how much bigger I am, but she was rocking it, and I finally got her on the gravel road. The last lap came and I was still maintaining my position, and I kind of caught up to two riders in my class after the start/finish line. We were going up the climb and I can’t remember if I got in front or they did. But I was doing the rocky stuff, and I wasn’t riding it as smooth, since I wasn’t putting in the power. I was then behind the two guys for the second climb. I saw that I could catch them on that slow climb. So I down shift and spin into the tight left hand corner to the steep stuff. I was gaining on them, and I believe I passed both of them with Tom Fenush of Allied Milk behind me. I got some distance from him, but the mud on the trail was acting like glue to my tires, so I could never really gas it. Tom passed me somewhere there, we then had the slightly up hill rock garden, where I was spinning away, and starting to make up ground and I thought I might be able to get him before the downhill. We get to a flatter part and then another rider from the 40-49 group passed me and was in between us. I was now losing hope of getting in front of Tom. Before the sloppy downhill the other racer got in front of Tom, and I was riding somewhat near him on the down hill. We got to the gravel path by the lake, and I locked out my fork, just incase I got into a sprint situation. I was getting close to him now, and I thought maybe at the rise on the gravel road. Well he must have read my mind cause he stood up and jammed it up the rise, but not enough that I wasn’t right on his tail. So I was running out of trail, and I had one shot left, there is a left hand turn into this muddy grass slop then basically grass to the finish. I know I have power so I thought I could maybe beat him through the mud. I took the inside line in the Mud/grass and I put my hands on the bar ends and just gunned it. Tom saw the attack tired to stand and fight it, gave out a yowl and I think he didn’t have it. So I rode a little farther saw I had a gap and kept that to the finish. I ended up in 7th place which was better then I thought I would do.

Observations of the race:
I thought I would do worse since Matty said we would get our asses handed to us, and I knew it would be hard to beat him.

The bike was rocking it, I felt my bike was perfect for the course with dual suspension and 29er wheels. There was maybe one or two corners I had to navigate better, but the wheel size was helping big time with the rocks. Also I no flat tires, or any other mechanicals, my brakes were getting squishy at points later in the race.

The course had allot of standing water, but if it didn’t have that water my tires would have clogged up. The Maxxis Ignightor, Crossmark combo is a good one. Haven’t gone tubeless still deciding.

Need to dress warmer, I might have gotten sick from the cold water and having to clean myself in cold water, I was shivering at the wash area.

Good after ride meal with Sara, Mike, Tris, and Jonathan at HardTimes.

A shout out to the DCMTB team who had allot of riders out there today, and everyone putting in a good effort and some good results too.

The Mid-Atlantic Endurance Cup is off and running! As of now there are 4 teams/clubs in the running, but there is still time to sign up and be part of the action. The first race of the Cup was the 13 Hour of Bakers Dozen that had record turnout in it's second year and had to cap entries. The clubs in play at the race were DCMTB\CityBikes, Gripped Films\ Kenda, The Bike Lane, and Pedal Shop. After the dust had settled DCMTB/CityBikes was able to pull into the lead, with Bike Lane trailing behind. In the final totals the Bike Lane was able to hold off the Gripped Films/ Kenda gang. The next stop is the 12 hours of Lodi May 3. To any other clubs out there that wants in on the action you need to sign up before the 3rd race in the series Big Bear. Your previous results will count towards the cup. For more info go to http://midatlanticendurancecup.googlepages.com/index.htm





Top Placing Team

LAPS TIME RACE PTS.

.327 DCMTB\CITY BIKES-SOLAR RING BLINGERS 24 12:57:47 500

331 THE BIKE LANE 24 13:11:22 400



333 GRIPPED FILMS/KENDA 24 13:29:30 320



324 PEDALSHOP 21 13:22:47 260





Second Placing Team



332 DCMTB/CITY BIKES 24 13:03:17 250



334 GRIPPED FILMS/KENDA 23 13:33:54 200



329 THE BIKE LANE 21 13:08:12 160



279 PEDAL SHOP DO-GOODERS 20 12:30:13 130

.RACE POINT TOTAL

.DCMTB/CITYBIKES 750

THE BIKE LANE 560

.GRIPPED FILMS/KENDA 520

PEDAL SHOP 390



Series Total:

DCMTB/CITYBIKES 250.

THE BIKE LANE 225.

GRIPPED FILMS/KENDA 205.

PEDAL SHOP 190

Bakers Dozen 2008

The 2008 Bakers Dozen is over and the dust has settled. I did this race last year, and Kent from my team did it as well. After last year I talked it up a bit, and this year we were able to pull 21 DCMTB\CityBikes racers down there! We represented with one of our new recruits Jennifer getting first in the Solo Women's division, Our men getting 2nd, 3^rd in the three-man division, and we were able to snag 3^rd in the 3person-open division.

I decided to start my mountain racing season in style by sporting the stache and the stripped socks. This was a big hit with people, I had Bike Lane and the Route Velo Capital Hill Bike guys yelling out Freddie, as in Freddy mercury.

The Start

We went around in circles to figure out who would do the start. I had ridden with Kent earlier in the week, and was riding a tad faster (which will change as the season goes on he is naturally faster then me) so Kent said I should go first. I didn't know how Mike was riding, but he has the best handling skills on the DCMTB\CityBikes team, so I thought he would be the best person to get through the field. I usually have a pretty good start, and this race was about right. I had Ryan from Bike Lane as a person to gauge myself by since I know how he rides. I do the start and I didn't quite sprint fast enough in the beginning, so I was riding in I think like 10-14^th position going into the singletrak.

Well I knew I was too far back because I was wanting to pass the guy in front of me, but it's really hard in the beginning of a race to do that. Well bad luck was good luck for me. I got to a bottleneck where Ryan and some other were off their bikes tangled up. This let me pass like 5-7 people. After that I only passed one other guy and one guy passed me. When you get out in the front that is usually how it works just like the other expert races I have done, after the first 2 miles I usually stay in about the same position the whole race. At one point I saw Ryan behind me, and that really spurred me on cause I didn't want no stinkin' Bike Lane rider in front of meJ so then at the big rock which I launched off since I knew it naturally does that if your weight's back on the bike. I am pretty stoked about the picture someone took, makes me look like a high flyer. In looking at those pics it looks like I was in 7^th place. Well, I get back to the campsite, and exchange our ankle transmitter to Kent who goes flying out.

Rest of the Race

We were in first place early in the race, but the boys at Bike Line kept up a better average lap time then us, so we went into 2^nd somewhere near the halfway point of the race. At one point our other DCMTB/CityBikes team was only 5 minutes behind us. What really worked well with our team was that we had no mechanicals, or crashes. The laps were so short that you really couldn’t make up time anywhere. We did single laps the whole day, and I think I would have totally cracked if we did two more hours. The single laps didn’t give you too much time to rest. I had a knot in my stomach the whole race it seemed, I needed some real food, so I need to work on my nutrition a little better. I got some severe cramps at one point when I was sitting but my legs seemed ok on the course. Through it all we had the DCMTB/CityBikes camp with laughs and cheering section, it was great to have that many riders at the race. I like to give a big nod to my teammates Kent and Mike, for putting up some good lap times, I think we were a good team we all have a good happy go lucky vibe. The other big thing that helped was having Sara at the race, to try help me as my brain went from a working organism to a mashed potato. Sara kept track of all 5 DCMTB/CityBikes teams so that people could easily ask when the last rider went out and when they should be back in. I was happy she got to see how cool the festival atmosphere is at these relay races.

Random thoughts

· The Race course was better this year I really liked the flow, for a flat course it definitely didn’t feel dull. Ideally I would like the course to be maybe 2 more miles to have lap times in the 45 minute range, but that would put the people doing 45 minute laps this year in the hour range. So it is a give and take.

· Best visual was Marc chasing Bruce from Bike Lane like 2 tire widths from his back wheel wish I had a picture of that.

· Great organization and I really like changing the timing chip at your tent and having the course go through the campsite. One of the things I wish people did more of at the other races. You get an automatic cheering section.

· The duo teams of Henry Bikes and the Sollay boys are the real deal. I mean they were just rocking it.

· Mike S. from the team did one or two laps after he wrecked and we found out after the race that he broke his collarbone that is one hard dude!

· Wish the race started earlier so it ended at 11:30pm so like 10:30 to 11:30 so the awards would be at 12:30 not 1:30 in the morning. But hey what can you do?

· Would be fun to have a cross race at this Venue and include the pine Forest section as part of the course!

· Great beginning to the Mid-Atlantic Cup

3 Sports Duathalon

I had done this Duathalon 3 years ago, where I was with a runner, and I biked. I am friends with Kev who is a good runner, and thought it would be interesting to go down to Richmond to try and get a result. This duathalon is pretty competitive, but not very big for relay teams. I didn't even know if there would have some competition when we got down there. We got to the race start with plenty of time to spare. I was able to go out and did a 4 mile warm-up. When I got back people were lining up to start. Kev, forgot that this was a road running race, so had his trail shoes which are heavier. Was funny seeing Kev, running with these other people who were all in Skin tight bike stuff. Kev goes out on the run, and I then head to the bathroom, which is empty since everyone else is racing! As I am stretching, and talking to Sara I see another Relay team guy who has the full aero helmet and sock covers. I am a little worried, but I am hoping that Kev, will come in before them and I will need to hold this guy off. Well Kev did a pretty good run, and then I was off on the bike. The Bike was 18miles and my goal was 45 minuts. I went out hard, and after the first lap I was avg. like 24 mph. I then just tried to keep it going. The course was smooth pavement, with some rollers in it. The hardest part was that the over pass had a really bad head wind. That head wind turned into a tailwind and helped me ride at 32 and 35mph at some points. During the last lap someone caught up to me, and I then kinda freaked and started crushing it to the line. I did the bike in 45:58 so I just made it in the 45 minute range. The one big issue I had was that I hurt my butt muscle, I think it was from not riding much in an aero tuck position. Kev went on and did a solid second loop, and we won the Relay group! Had a good time, and I hope to do another relay with Kev in June at the FORD #2.

DownTown BreakAway Ride-Cherry Blossoms

I don't usually write about a mid-week ride, but I felt this one deserved it. I have been doing the Tues Downtown Breakaway ride since I think 2001 or so. Back then Nick ran it, I met Steve Schwartz, Wolfgang and others on those rides. Well I showed up on Tuesday, to do a ride instead of hill repeats that my team was doing. I was glad I picked the ride option:-) All the usual suspects were there, Rudi, Jonathan, Wolfgang, Jason, etc... The ride had some heavy hitters, I did something stupid and punched it up Chainbridge rd. well, I did it too early and saw that I need to work on my conditioning. After that I was like, I am not going to try to show-boat again, and just rode a steady pace. We took a detour to Kenwood, and that was the highlight, the streets were lined with cherry blossoms. I took some impromptu picks with the cell phone camera(It actually does a good job). I will be hitting these rides through the season, especially if the group continues like it was yesterday. Enjoy.

Liberty Furnace Round #2

Sunday March 30th

This was the second Liberty Furnace ride of the year. This was my first time riding the trail with some fast guns. The crew for the day was Ryan, Matt, MattyD, Joe, Erik, and myself (Jay, Spence, and Sid were there earlier and Sid broke another bike here is my last adventure with Sid in this area.) I have done this route several times, but I wanted some new people to experience it. Ryan and I carpooled(thx for the gas money!) We got there earlier, I guess there was some confusion cause the MORE site has you start at the T intersection, but I had us start at the gate so there would be less gravel road. For a good outline of the route check out Joes Blog he writes better then I. Up the Laurel Run trail, I was doing fairly well, but Ryan was showing some skills, and MattyD and Matt where going strong. Joe was riding better then I ever could on a road cassette in back so when the rest of us we in our 22-32 or 34 Joe was pushing 22-25! I actually got in front of the crew for the last part of the climb, I felt I needed to show people I could climb a little. Onto the next part, Ryan got a flat, and found out his hub was trashed, and locking up. So on the next down hill, MattyD, and Matt were kicking it, and I was riding behind Ryan where he was going a little slower. We decided not to add the part I was thinking about adding to the general store, so we stayed on the original route. Next on the Trout Pond Trail climb I lead up it and almost made it without dabbing! I was like 10 feet away on a part of the climb to a place where it would level out again, and I could have made it. So next time I am really going to try and see if I can do it. I was sooo close! We got a good group shot up there, thanks Erik. We ate a little then did the fireroad to the falls ridgeline trail. I wanted MattyD and Ryan to ride this since we did Elizabeth Furnace last year and I didn't really like that as much as this trail. Everyone was digging the East Coastness of the ridgeline. Then I told them the downhill was a hoot, and everyone agreed. I was doing the downhill behind Joe, and I was going a little too close at some points cause I was hitting rocks as they were still flying up. I got around Joe and Erik for the off camber straight down stuff. Sounded like Ryan cranked it and MattyD was going fast too down the mountain. We then took the fire road back to the car. I cranked it on the way back while others were chillin' I still had some stuff in my legs and I wanted to blow them out. I think I rode well but people seemed to be riding well, and Erik seems faster then he was last year in May so he looks ahead of schedule. Another funny thing is that all of us on the ride are racing at the Bakers Dozen, but all 6 of us are on different teams for the race. We did like 15 miles but with allot of elevation gain. I hope to have the GPX off Erik's GPS if he can give it to me. We will be out there again soon, and will try a different route.

Fountain Head with a Young Gun

I did Fountain Head on Saturday with one of my teammates Jake, who is 17. I usually like to do my ride early in the morning, but Jake was busy being a teenager so we didn't get started until 1pm or so. We did two solid laps out there, and Jake did well on the SS, and got up both times the one hard climb of the trail. I was liking the Hi-Fi Pro with the new CrossMaxx 29er wheels. I didn't want to go too hard because of Sunday's Liberty Furnace ride, and this one fit the bill. Check out the Helmet head!