Life Behind the Bars with Fuzzy John

Out with the old and in with the new.

2010-01-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

2009 the year in pictures

2010-01-01T09:50:00.000-08:00

Getting ready... for chafing.

The bike of choice for the year(most years)

The boys before the Whiskey 50

Mud from one lap at Dirt Sweat and Gears!

Rob... the man at SSUSA.

This man needs no introduction.

Will we ever grow up.

Are we getting bigger or are the bikes getting smaller(I thought they were 26ers)

Having fun at the 24 hours of Finale, Italy.

On a little walk from the gelatto shop to the espresso shop.

Team Niner with some random dude in Italy.

So glad to be done with those 100 miles.

Trails in Italy.

Camp out side of Breckenridge, CO.

Winning the short track race at the national championships.

Hiking in Rocky Mountain national park.

Hanging with friends in Bend.

Exploring the redwoods in NorCal.

The Mullet.

Jake on the 36er

Basketball was fun, and I got a trip to NZ out of it. but I'm sticking with bike racing.

The last stretch of road coming home, lots of road work.

2009-12-28T10:11:00.001-08:00

Race write up from the High Cascades 100 @ Singletrack.com

2009-08-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

Click on the image to view the full story.

Wise decisions...

2009-08-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer I decided to skip the rest of the NUE races because I was getting a little burnt out on the format. As you might have seen from previous posts I decided to do the Intermontane Challenge stage race, but really wasn't sure what to do in August as the races planned were the NUE races. I thought about doing the Leadville 100 for a while but never got around to working my way into the event as it had been sold out for a long time. While I was in BC doing the stage race Chris told me about the High Cascades 100. I had to make a decision as I don't like doing 100 mile races on back to back weekends. I weighed the pros and cons of each race... here they are the Pros: High Cascades 100 - 75 miles of single track with a high point of 6700' The Cons: Leadville 100 - 100 miles of pavement or dirt road with an average elevation near 10,500'. The way I saw it, all the pros pointed toward Oregon and the High Cascades 100 and all the cons, well toward Leadville. Oregon here we come, with a few stops on the way to visit friends and family.

We arrived in Bend a few days before the race to do a little riding on the trails and float down the river(three days in a row). We also caught up with a bunch of old friends, went to an air show and watched a roller derby(go Lava City Smokin' Ashes !!!).

I signed up for the race the night before the went to the pre race meeting to get the scoop on the race. once I arrived I noticed a bit of the competition that I would be racing with... Sloane Anderson and Evan Plews who finished one spot ahead of me at the Intermontane Challenge. But I really had no idea what the SS competition would be like. I missed most of the meeting due to Ian being busy as usual. when it was done I asked a couple questions and took off to get a couple hours of sleep before the 3:00 a.m. wake up.

I arrived at the venue around 4:30 with an outside temperature around 32 degrees and dropping. By the time the race started the temp dropped to 30 and I found a little more competition, Chris Shepard the winner of the Intermontane Challenge.

I was on the starting line about 5 minutes early mostly because it was to cold to warm up. I was wearing arm warmers and a base layer!!! What's going on? I really wasn't complaining though, the cold was a nice change. 2 + hours into the race I was in 2nd overall behind Chris riding past this lake and my fingers were still cold.

While getting to the lake was a blast, what was to come in the next 10-15 miles did me in(for a while). There was a ton of little steep and loose climbs that I had to walk then a long and pretty steep climb where we topped out at about 6700'(frost all over the ground). After that was the lava rock descent that I had been hearing about. It wasn't any where near as rocky as I thought it was going to be, and I was able to go pretty fast! this is what did me in. while slipping between the cantaloupe sized rocks I managed to cut a side wall. I tried to put in a little air but it was bad enough to need to put in a tube as the Stan's couldn't plug a hole that big(the gash was about an inch long). I moved out of the trail, ate some Shot Bloks so I would have something to boot the tire, changed my tube, and got ready to air it up. Just then Evan comes by with someone else on his wheel, Great 2nd place to 4th in less than two minutes.

Get the air in and go!!! What? "Something is not right", the valve on my tube was bad and my tire was flat within 2 seconds of me taking my CO2 inflator off. What to do next, wait or walk? I chose to walk even though it was more than 10 miles to the aid station. I walked about 10 minutes before the next person caught up to me. It was about 20 minutes before I found a new tube(26"), a pump and got my bike working again. Thanks, Geoff Hubert of team Lost Coast for the CO2(more on that later). by that time I was in 12 place or so, not where I like to be so I went back out hard and caught 5 of them in the next 8 miles and was up to 7 place. On the descent after aid two I caught one guy who I had been following for about 20 minutes when he got a huge branch stuck between the crown of his fork and his tire and I caught Geoff a few minutes later who flatted and had the same problem as I, a bad tube and not enough CO2 I passed him a CO2 Niner (the only way to go for big wheels!) and I was off to catch the 5 people that were still in front of me.

Happy because there is nobody in front of me making dust!

The rest of the day was pretty lonely, 50+ miles by my self again. I never say another soul, except a few people that I was lapping. I kept hearing that someone was right in front of me but I never caught him. Unfortunately a couple became victim to course markings getting removed and were lost for a while, moving me to 3rd place overall when the day was done.

Single speed Podium.

Intermontane Challenge stage race

2009-08-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

It's taken me 10 days to get the energy to write this report. Not because the race was that tough, but because I didn't know where to start. There were so many thing that were great about this race and so many more that were nowhere near great. there are two things I really want to talk about, The race itself and the organization of the race.

I really had a hard time deciding on weather to race the geared bike or the singlespeed. on one hand there was a lot of cash up for grabs but I really needed some "fun" tome on the SS. After we arrived in Kamloops, BC we looked at the race website and saw that the prize money was only for the overall win. So with Tinker, Jeremiah Bishop, Ben Sonntag, Chris Sheppard, Evan Plews and a few others on the starting list I was convinced to ride the SS.

The weather forecast for the week was HOT! and it was, Record heat for the whole week. I was dreading the heat but somehow after racing the Cowbell challenge earlier this year, even the 105 degree heat didn't seem so bad. Even with a 10:00 start and very little shade for the first couple days I never felt like I was baking in the sun except for a couple descents to the finish of the first couple days.

The first day started of with a 30 minute roll out through town before hitting the dirt and the start of the race. It was a great start for me and my Niner One9, a long steady climb with a few breaks that I could sit in a draft of the lead group. I made it to the first aid station just a few seconds behind the lead group, as I decided to do some huge wall rides descending into the aid station. After stopping to resupply I was back on it and caught the back end of the lead group on a couple of steep climbs. Unfortunately not to long after that we came to a long steep climb where I had to walk and I lost some serious time to the lead group and was caught by a few others. I rode by myself for most of that day through sage brush covered hills on some pretty steep single track and a bit too much fire road. I roll into the finish in 8th place to find something more races need to have. It was great they had a huge tub of cold water to dip yourself in, It got pretty muddy later in the day even with a hose running constantly. I guess that was a little extra motivation to finish fast. Being a first year event, there were a lot of thing that went wrong this day, poor course markings not enough water stations for the heat and not enough single track. In fact I think most people out of the top 15 got lost the first day.

Day two was very similar to day one except the steep hill that tore me apart for the front group was about a mile from the start. I chased all day trying to catch them with no good luck and a little bad luck. Even with a much better marked course I missed a turn and lost about 5 minutes. I finished the day 7th and moved up one place in the overall.

Day three was where this race was bitter sweet for me. It was probably the best day of racing I have ever had! Unfortunately the promoter lead part of the main group off course as the "lead moto", and felt bad so he neutralized the day. No time gains or losses for anybody, except Jeremiah Bishop who crashed and was knocked out of the race. I had never raced like that before, so aggressively. I was riding with the guy that was one place in the overall behind me, he was attacking on the flats and I was attacking on the hills. This went on for about 45 kilometers, I was and still am amazed at the power and endurance I had after two long days in the heat. We were together all the way to the finish, where he out sprinted my 33x20 gearing. this day changed the way I race! Everyone moved up one place in the overall, and I was in 6th.

Day four was the Longest day and for most of the lead men it was very hard to motivate and nobody wanted to push the pace or even ride hard. the lead group of 5 were talking and just cruising along, we even waited for Evan to tighten a loose water bottle cage. while soft pedaling the leaders in the pro women's class caught us and beat us to the first aid station.

After the first aid station where I stopped and nobody else did, I chased and made it back to the lead group which was starting to distance themselves from the rest of the followers. After that I rode by myself for about 50K to the finish except the last bit with Peter who ended up 5th overall, riding a Niner Jet9. Peter thanks for the pulls on the last flat sections!!! This day took it's toll on a couple riders in the running for the overall win. Ben Sonntag crashed out and is still suffering from a severe concussion, and Tinker missed a turn and ended up way out of the way and hitched a ride back. I moved up 2 more spots to 4th place overall.

Another thing that happened on day 4 I have to mention. A racer Chris Shepard, who was in the overall lead came upon Ben who was unconcius, and stopped to check in on him. he ended up waiting for over a half an hour with until help got there. Even with $10,000 on the line he waited, telling all others, even Ben's teammates to keep going. That is why I love this sport! there are some great people in this world, most of them are mountain bikers.

Day five brought the best trails of the week during a 30K time trial. I was just out for fun, trying to enjoy some fun descents and finish the race. It was almost impossible for my overall position to change,I had over an hour cushion to 5th and would have to make up more than 15 minutes on 3rd. I ended up riding with Peter again, we had a blast and had someone to listen to our bitching. a Win, Win situation.

So a quick summary, I like stage racing, I will do more! Mountain bikers are great people! if you want to run a big event, get some experience first and know who you are serving. I would really like to thank Thule Racks for their support getting to and racing this event.

I've had enough typing, I'll come back to this subject later.

A weekend of of surprises!

2009-07-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Going into the XC nationals I thought I had a pretty good chance of winning. Only to find out on my way to the race there were some ringers showing up so I decides to just go for a top 10 finish. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t going to give up on winning I was just trying to be a little more realistic. The course was pretty fun with some good technical sections and good climbs. There were a couple parts of the course that could have been better, the first was the start, about an 18% grade with no time to get momentum (this is also where the feed zone was). Second was the final descent, at least 2 miles of trail that was “built” in the week(s) leading up to the race by riders following flags through the woods. Needless to say every time you rode the “trail” it was different, and the holes and moon dust were deeper.

The race started off slower than I had expected, except for Jake and Dejay going off the front. I was able to get in the lead group and cruse with the four others all the way to the top of the first lap. From there things got spread out and I stayed in fourth or fifth place the rest of the day, finishing in 5^th. I missed out on the win by about 5 minutes but at least 3 of the 4 in front of me were Pros. So I feel pretty good with A 5^TH place finish.

After the race I turn my lack of focus to the short track race that will happen on Sunday(if they have a course ready). Nobody knew what the course would be when I asked around on Saturday. It turns out they had a 200 yard trail they were using then they taped off the rest of the course through the sage brush and a grassy ski slope.

I showed up at the start line 10 minutes before the 10:45 start time only to find out that my age group had been pushed back to 11:30. SO MUCH FOR WARMING UP… thanks USA Cycling. I sat around for a while and talked to some folks and watched a couple other races, then decided to head over to the course to try and do another lap before the race started only to hear over the loud speaker: “the course is closed until we say it is open!”. So I waited, watching the starting line. Then all of the sudden with no announcement that the “course was open” the start line was three deep and I was the only one not there. Well the plan for the day was to get a great fast workout, and I had my work cut out for me. Instead of trying to work my way into the group I decided to line up 15 feet behind the group and wait for a hole to open up.

The gun went off and I was already rolling, it took less than 50 meters for the hole to open. I had a clear shot up the grass next to the single track as all the people on 26” wheels were scared move off the groomed path. At the top of the climb I had moved from off the back to about 8^th position, and was feeling good. Each of the next three laps I picked off a couple people on the climb then recovered on the descent. Once I caught the leader I sat on his wheel for about a lap then made my move with two laps togo. He couldn’t respond to my pace up the hill and I never saw him again rolling across the finish line for and easy win and my third national title. So I have now won the 100 national series, the marathon and Short track. Kind of a weird combo, I always though it would be tough to win a XC championship. I never even thought I would be anywhere near the front of a short track race.

Where in the World

2009-07-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Brief run down of what has been going on and what is coming up.

The firecracker 50, Marathon Nationals, were a week and a half ago. it was an OK race but the altitude got the best of me. I didn't expect to win the Pro race as I am only an armature according to USA cycling, But I gave it my best shot. I ended up 17Th, which I guess is pretty good for the national championships. I can't wait until they move the Marathon Nationals to a manageable elevation(XC nationals too).

We took a week down in Fort Collins and Boulder to ride and check out the area as we think we are going to settle in CO sometime this winter. There is a ton of great riding in Fort Collins and housing costs are fairly reasonable right now. I hear there is good Sushi there too, I have to check that out next week.

Right now I am up in Granby, CO for the XC nationals. it should be an interesting race... It could go so many ways. the trails are pretty fun, at least the ones that are more than a couple weeks old! the "NEW!" descent at the end of the lap changes every few riders, we'll just say there will be a lot of moon dust and breaking holes on that "trail", on the bright side it almost has a flow... but not really. USA Cycling if you read this: Why in the world are the national championships being held on a trail that was built by people pre-riding(pre-building) the course in the weeks leading up to the event. Why not hold it on an established trail system, or build it far in advance. I really think it's unfair that we have to pay good money to race a trail we have to build...

So, there is my soap box, if you can't tell I'm a little burnt on the races I've done lately. At least let us make some money if we are riding "spectator friendly race courses" or why don't we make racer and spectator friendly courses...

I've decided not to do the rest of the NUE, to much driving for too little payback on OK race courses. Hopefully after racing in Canada for 5 days of sweet singletrack I will be re energized.

Picture of the sunsets we were treated to in Breckenridge.

Fire now ice

2009-06-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

The Cowbell is over and the fire is out. I got off the bus in Breckenridge a few days ago, and with in an hour of riding I found myself in the snow. I almost went into shock, late June and I was cold going up a climb. It was nice.

I met up with Josh Tostado a couple days ago and he showed me around a little bit. He led me down some one of the best descents of my life! it seemed like it went on all day long ant it had everything from rocky rough terrain to as fast as you want to go flowing singletrack. It was so good I had to go back the next day and do it again.

Rebecca TomaWiki and I headed out first thing in the morning @ 12:45, for this second run. I wanted to skip the big climb that Josh and I did and just do the fast section. Unable to find the trail we climbed an extra 1000+ feet of fire road before we turned around and found the trail.

after some fun trail and another 20+ minute climb I crested the top and began to roll the descent. the first time I touched my brakes there was a terrible noise coming from my rear brake. Instantly I had a feeling what is was, and I was right. I folded the return spring on my rear brake pads and it was rubbing on the rotor.

With only a mini tool, I was worried that I would not be able to get the brake to work correctly and have to run the descent with only one brake. totally possible to do, but nowhere near as fun. I was once again blessed with good karma(thanks Eddie) and with in two minutes, the only mountain bikers we saw on the ride passed by and one of them had a Leatherman with pliers. I was able to bend it back into place. I was back and rolling in less than 6 minutes!!!

Some of the views and wiki wiki.

Race report for the Cowbell Challenge marathon.

2009-06-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

Race # 5 of the USA Cycling ultra endurance series stayed true to form with it's more than uncomfortable weather. Though very different from the peanut butter mud and hiking of DSG we found the other extreme, HOT, HOT, HOT! I was woken up before 7:00 with sweat dripping down my face. know there were more than 3 hours before the race I knew it was going to be a tough day. You can see it in my eyes in the picture below...

The town of Davidson, NC was the host city providing the starting line for the days event. When the horn sounded the start was not much different than any other endurance race fairly mellow pace and one guy taking a flyer who stayed away for about 7 miles. By the time the chase group caught the leader it was a group of 4 going into the single track to race 5 eight mile laps of fun tight twisty root filled trail. Shortly after the single track started I began to get a pretty bad headache the roots of the trail jarred my brain and I was unable to keep my focus and dropped of the group. later in the lap the trail smoothed out and the headache subsided and I was able to push the pace a little more. Starting the second lap about an hour into the race it was close to 97 degrees with humidity nearing 90%. I felt like I would be able to work my way back to the group and still have a chance at the win. But before to long I was stricken with stomach issues and really had to back of my pace.

I settled into my pace and kept going the full time. Dumping ice water on my head through the lap only for the water dripping down my face to feel hot in a matter of seconds. the last three laps were all about survival. I was able to stay in fourth position and only loose about 14 minutes to Harlan Price who too the win.

Over all it was a great event, Tyler the promoter was awesome. He took great care of everyone and ran a fun event. All my equipment was great, especially my new wheels, the combo of DT Swiss 190 hubs and Stan's 29" race rims were super fast and light(1300 grams even!!!). the course was fun, and it had more technical features than most 100 mile courses.

Will I do it again? Yes, assuming the heat index is not 115 degrees.

Everyone should see this movie.

2009-06-26T14:47:00.001-07:00

Another post coming later today.

Some reason it is cutting the side off... to see it all go here:

http://www.foodincmovie.com/index.php

Mohican 100

2009-06-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

Back in the groove(or is that a rut), We made it back from Italy without all the terrible thing that happened on the way there but it was not uneventful. While boarding the plane Kristina found that Ian had a temperature and felt very hot. not to long after take off I borrowed some Tylenol from another family as ours was checked, that kept his fever down but it kept coming back up when the medicine would wear off. When we landed in Atlanta and got to out thermometer he had a temperature of 104, we were in the emergency room in less than 20 minutes. Need less to say the doctor said to keep doing what we had been doing but to come back in 2 days if he isn't better. He was fine the next day.

I can't say that I was a little scared on the starting line, this field was stacked. If you are a fast ultra endurance singlespeeder from the east you were at this race, I couldn't think of anyone besides (Ohio)Rob that wasn't there. Going through what I had in the last week, it was hard to be confident. Since DSG I haven't really ridden my bike other than racing, the blisters on my heels were so bad that I couldn't wear shoes. I had no idea what my legs were capable of, I hadn't ridden 100 miles in any 2 week period since April.

I stayed with my usual tactic of starting fast, and was the lead singlespeeder going into the first singletrack. Shortly there after I knew I didn't have the legs for racing the top geared riders like I end up doing. I backed off and decided to let the next singlespeeder catch me then I would just match him and hope that he would POP before I did. He was strong, attacking every steep hill, but he was never far in front at the top. and I was able to catch him on the descents. We exchanged the lead a few times on the singletrack, he would attack the climbs and I would pass him as he made wrong turns.

After aid 2 we were caught be the first Pro men's chase group(they made a wrong turn) that had 6 riders. and this really put the hurt on me. it was a battle of wills to see which one could hold on the longest. Even with the geared riders he attacked the climbs trying to drop me, I managed to be in 3rd wheel going into the single track before aid three. after a few minutes I looked back and couldn't see him behind me, I figured he flatted or something. I knew he was strong, he couldn't have dropped off that far. by the time I got to aid 3 I knew I had at least 1/4 mile on him.

The super high cadence needed to stay with the geared guys brought the cramps. there was a few time that I had to stop and stretch, or really slow down. I had about 40 miles to go after I got passed by josh Tostado(he got lost too), and from that point it was pretty lonely. long, Straight, boring, strait, flat roads then a couple big climbs to the finish.

Walking across the finish line in first place. So glad to be done!

I finished in 7:39:@# about 20 minutes faster than second place Dejay Birtch(Niner/Ergon teammate). the guy I had been racing the first half of the race had broken his frame. In endurance racing it's not always the rider that makes the difference. Niner thanks for making such great bikes!

Off to Italy.... Coming home tomorrow.

2009-05-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's our last day in Italy and I wanted to give you all a quick update of the last week...

Tuesday: Missed check in for our flight by 2 minutes... had to buy new tickets and leave Wednesday. I recommend not flying Air france!

Wednesday: Departed, had to pay $300 for each bike to fly internationally! I recommend not flying Delta!

Thursday: Arrived in Milan, luggage didn't though. Missing bike, and clothes for Kristina and Ian and the car seat. Waited in the airport for 6 hours for a ride to Finale.

Friday: slept through breakfast. Found out our luggage showed up to the airport, but they wouldn't deliver it until Saturday. Spirits not doing so good ; ( Gave up and went to the beach and ate gelato. Spirits getting better ; )

Saturday: Race day, Got my bike at about 10:00, built it, and did a lap on the course before the start.

The race: 24 hour format, we had a 6 man Singlespeed team. of the 24 hours we lead all but about 20 seconds. Team NASA/Niner won the overall with the largest margin of victory in the 11 year history of the race(so I was told) with more that a two lap lead.

Sunday: Won the race, enjoyed the party and waited for a ride to town(I thought Humboldt time was slow). Pizza, Pizza, Gelato, sleep.

Finishing the lap down in the new Niner Kits.

The team on the stage, Winners overall, and Solo Female!

Mud, Sweat and a mountain bike marathon.

2009-05-16T07:46:00.001-07:00

I'm a little slow on getting to this, but like any traumatic experience it's good to talk about it.

Last weekend was Dirt, Sweat and Gears 12 hour. after last year I was hoping for poor conditions so I could win the overall on a singlespeed. little did I know the conditions from last year were great compared to this year. Leading up to race day the course was wet from 8+ inches of rain in the week but had promise of drying out the last three days without any rain. Any one that could access the inter web, and it's series of tubes, was checking the weather. things were looking great, everything was just missing us to the north.

Then about 3 hours before the start someone showed me the radar image and the whole western third of Tennessee was covered in red. We figured that it would hit just exactly at 9:00 when the race started. Unfortunately we were wrong, It hit about 2 minutes before the start. Last year a rain like this created a horrible second lap but everything else was fine(the other 8 laps). This year was so bad that I was lapping people less than 3 miles into my second lap and that has nothing to do with how fast I was. the course had the worst anyone had ever seen/hiked in.

My lap times were something like this:
Lap1: 1:15
lap 2: 2:00
lap 3: 4:00
lap 4: 3:00 (I used cross tires for this lap)

Out of the 42 miles I "raced" I think I was only on the bike for about 14-16. the rest I was carrying my bike on my shoulder.

This post is a work in progress.... check back later for more.

Did that really happen to me?

2009-05-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Things are a little different than last year, especially the weather. the story last year was heavy rain the night before the race, but pretty good the rest of the time. This year has been dry for the races but wet most of the rest of the time... I think it has been raining since Thursday maybe Friday and we are surrounded by water. We decided to check out a place called Land between the lakes. only to find out the "land" part between the lakes is getting smaller because the "lakes are getting bigger....

So for the "did that really happen to me"...

It was time to get out and find some of the singletrack we came here to ride. I was looking for the Piney trail, I saw a sign pointing down a paved "Trail" I thought I would follow it to see if it turned to a good trail. About a half mile later I realized that this was just a little loop that was taking me back to the campground. And very close to the lake. Well actually the lake was covering up the "trail" in a few places. After riding through a couple pieces of the lake that conveniently cleaned off my tires of the mud they had collected in the last couple rides in Little Rock I saw up ahead the there was railing/bridge ahead. But the Hand rail was only about 2.5 feet above water. I started to to ride through the water and it was much deeper than the last couple, almost up to the BB but not quite. I was slowly riding through the lake when all the sudden. SPLASH!!! No I didn't fall in, but rather a fish about 2 feet long went crazy right in front of me and hit my tire.

I never thought I would hit a fish with my bike. I could see Dejay throwing one at me while riding but never this.

Here are a couple photos from the last couple weeks of traveling:

This one was in Oklahoma, I'm not sure if they meant to do this or not...
Here is a picture of the new SS:

On the road and ready to write(a little)

2009-05-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well the family and I are on the road again we decided to take it a little slower and skip the first race of the NUE and race in Prescott AZ at the Whiskey Off Road then take out time to get to Dirt Sweat and Gears for the third installment of greatness.

After the Spa City Extreme it was back to training and time to do a few XC races to work on some speed. most of the XC races were disappointing after riding the great trails of the Mas O Menos and Spa City courses. The Kenda cup races were the least either mostly dirt/pavement road courses or they were so rutted out or full of braking bumps that though I was on the bike I really didn't want to be there.

I had ridden in Prescott years ago, long before I was racing mountain bikes and really didn't do much of anything that I can remember, just some muddy single track. I was very excited to go back and explore more of the area and enjoy the trails. Including participating in an Epic Rides event, Thanks Todd!!!!

Race day was cool in the morning and colder after the race was over. the whole time in between was super fun. It was a great course for me, long climbs, flowing singletrack, some technical descending and more than 3 and a half hours(barely).

I sat back until the end of the first big climb to make a move for the lead in the SS field, and only had to fight with one other to get to the single track first with Dejay in third place a few seconds back. I knew I had the endurance and that a 12 mile long climb to come so I really pushed the pace through the single track, By the first long descent I had a gap and quickly caught a group of four geared guys that were somewhere around 4-8 place overall. once we hit the bottom, they were going slower than I wanted so I pulled them up the next 30 minute climb, and where they thanked me by dropping me on the next long fire road descent.

The bottom could either really motivate you or truly wreck you. you hit the bottom of this 9 mile descent then had to turn around and go right back up and do three more miles past where you started coming down. On my way back up, Still in the SS lead, I figured out that I had about a 2.5 minute lead over second(Mike H - SS winner the last 3 years) three minutes wasn't much so I really went hard on the climb only slowing down for a minute when I could feel some cramps, but then it was back to racing. I also had some good motivation that after the top of the climb it was mostly downhill(with a tail wind) to the finish. The last three miles was littered with riders from the 25 mile race as well, so I had some carrots to motivate me as well.

Here is a great little video from one of the 25 mile SS guys, I passed him right after the two courses came back together.

Whiskey Offroad: Hurt from Mark Challoner on Vimeo.

Marks comments on his video: "This is just a small sample of the suffering that occurs on the big climb at the Whiskey Offroad mountain bike race put on by my boy Todd Sadow at epicrides.com. I was battling for third place in the 25 Proof, when my friend John "Fuzzy" Mylne came stomping by us! Fuzzy had started an hour earlier than us for the 50 Proof, and had already been climbing for 12 steep miles!"

Hopefully I will be saying this a lot this year... after the climb was over it was a sweet trail(s) back to town where I captured another SS win and another top 10 overall finish.

Update: We are on the road in Little Rock, AR and almost to the Cotton Mill in TN. I'll post some pictures that I have from the travels across the road soon.

Spa City Extreme

2009-03-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

After spending a long weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas you would think I would be rested and refreshed. I can’t say that I am worse than before, but I am coming home with a lot of sore muscles and other parts. I have also come to realize that no matter how hard I try there will always be a glitch in the plans.

I arrived in Little Rock Wednesday night late and went straight to be so I could start Thursday early. Picked up the rental car a drove to Hot Springs to build the bike and a check out the course. The first glitch happened while building my bike. While pulling my bike out of my Thule hard case I realized I forgot my front wheel. No, not really.

The bike went together pretty smooth, front wheel included. What I did forget was a pump, I had given my Genuine Innovations CO2 to Danielle in TX so I didn’t have to fly with it. So I used the shops compressor to fill my rear tire BOOM! ! ! I blew the tire of the rim, I think their gauge was a little off. I have learned that you shouldn't try to put a tire back on after it’s been blown off the rim so I used my spare. BOOM!!!! Again, this time even bigger, I set the shops fire alarm off, my free hub body got blown off the hub and almost a finger or two. So much for riding Niner’s new rigid fork. I’m glad I have the DT Swiss squishy fork too. Next stop, find some water the hit the course.

While driving around Hot Springs looking for water there seemed to be something strange about town(I could never figure out what it was) but I did find a strip karaoke club…
Once at the course things were smooth, the bike was working great and my legs were feeling good. It was about a 10 mile lap and I made it around in about a half an hour...unfortunately I missed half the lap(it wasn’t completely marked yet). So I went back out and found the loop I missed. WOW what a fun course. At least 95% single track, it was tight, flowing, it had switchbacks, jumps, rocks and drops. I have to say I was excited after racing the lame course at Bonelli Park last weekend.

Everyone rolled in by Friday morning and we all went for a lap. Rebecca, Danielle, Ted(Mr. Super Pit Crew) Ernesto, Chris, Lee and the locals. After the lap it was time to relax and put the feet up, but not before we found some “better beer”(more on that later).

I woke up too early Saturday, Around 4:00 and the race started at 10:00. So it seemed to take all day for the start to come. I did the usual prep, and went pee a lot.
So when the race started with a lemans start around the BMX track I was ready. I was the first one on the bike and took the early lead, not what I wanted to do but it kept me out of trouble. Before I knew it there was a group of about 5 or 6 of us that was gapping the everyone else. Still getting used to riding trails again I washed out my front wheel on a switchback and had to put a foot down. It worked well to get me off the front but some how I caught my shoe in my rear derailleur cable and messed up my shifting, luckily it worked itself back into working order in the next few laps.

Ernesto set a great pace on the front of that first lap, letting a the frisky ride off the front and before we would shoot them out the back. Coming to the feed zone I new my pit was past the others in the group so I went around them so we wouldn’t get tangled. I rolled through the start/finish line in the lead and the others were tight on my wheel. Half way through the lap I pushed the pace a little to see what would happen, the only person that stayed with me was Chris(also riding a Niner). I couldn’t feel it but I think he was holding onto my pocket or something because he was tight on my wheel through to almost the end of the 5th lap when he flatted for the first time.

I knew we would get 7 or 8 laps total, so I had to keep him away for 2 to 3. Time to put it in overdrive. I finished the lap and Ted told me I had to do 3 more. 30 miles and the cleat on my right shoe had come loose. After lap 6 I wasn’t sure if I need to do 8 so I went out like it was my last with out fixing my cleat. It got really bad and my foot was killing me. The only way I could pedal with out it hurting was to point my foot straight down while standing, not very efficient. I finished #7 strong and there was still an hour to go, I had to do another. I had Ted tighten my cleat but he could only tighten one as the other was stripped.

On this course even with all the tight corners 10 miles went very fast. I knew the trail so well by this point I was on auto pilot just flying. When I crossed the finish line 6:20:20 after the gun, I lapped the fastest team, and set a new course record with 8 laps and won my first race of the year!

Here is a link to the results.

Thanks to all the folks that helped put on this race. It was a blast, I hope I can make it out next year!

Bike Rumor

2009-01-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

Click here to see the latest interview with Dejay and I.

Planning for the 2009 season

2009-01-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

I think the hardest part about getting for the 2009 race season is choosing the right hair style. here are a few Ideas that I have found. What do you think?

I like the freedom of this style.

A more classic look....

Maybe try and be a little more like Dejay.

I'm so confused, So many choices.

I don't know which way to look.

So you thought you were flying...

2009-01-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

Not like these guys.

Bike swap Fuzzy begins...

2008-12-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

When I bought this bike it was my life time bike! I never thought I would get rid of it. Maybe replace some parts here and there, but never get rid of the frame.

Well, old faithful has become neglected...I don't think I have ridden this bike for 2 or 3 years...I can't remember. The wheels have fewer than 15 rides on them. the brakes are some what new also. One of the gems of this bike is the NEW Boone Tech 33t spiderless Chainring.

I'm not sure how much to sell it for, I know Ti is expensive but the economy sucks, so if your interested let me know and we can try and strike a deal.

What is on this bike:

Dean Colonel single speed

Fox F80X fork

Avid Juice Carbon Disc Brakes

DT Swiss 240 Hubs Center lock SS

Stan's No Tubes 355 rims

WTB tires

Thompson seatpost

Easton EA70 Stem

Easton Monkeylite Low rise bars

Salsa QRs

Truvativ Stylo SS cranks

Boone Tech Ti Chainring

Specialized alias seat

The bike is in great shape, there is some wear on the crank arms from my shoes, the tires are almost new. I will include some extras, a custom made tool for adjusting the Eccentric BB, a 26" tube, the spider for the cranks with a 34t chainring and 2 Elite Ciussi Water bottle cages.

A cool week!

2008-11-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

>
I just got back to Riverside after spending a long weekend in Arcata. I am so glad to be back in the sun, today the wind is blowing hard but when you go outside it's hot, a little strange but I like it.

I got a little press coverage(and a boost to my ego) from the last race(training race), check it out here.

Here are some pictures from the race as well.

Looking relaxed on the start line.

Moving fast into the switchbacks, a few seconds back from Brad.

I also was interviewed for a pretty big magazine, I let you know if it comes out in print!

Is it next year already?

2008-11-03T22:26:00.000-08:00

I know it's not, but I am getting ready for it already. Training has begun, the miles are adding up and I am feeling good. Last weekend I did my 92 mile road ride on Saturday, in about 4 hours and 15 minutes. then on Sunday I went out and did a XC race. The field was maybe 100 strong in the Pro/Semi/Expert race. Some how I pulled out 2nd overall on my singlespeed, only about 10 seconds of the win. I think I might do more XC next year.... ; )

So back to getting ready for next year, I need to plan my race schedule. does anyone out there have great races to recommend? if so please let me know. I like big climbs, lots of single track and long walks on the beach(I mean up hike-a-bikes).

I got a new camera! I have been taking so many of pictures of Ian, bear with me...

A quick update and a good email.

2008-10-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been busy to say the least. Taking care of Ian, starting my training for next year, sponsorship proposals, date night, taking care of broken bones, sleep...

The new work out schedule is not too tough but more hours that I have been doing for a while, I'm tired. lots of 80-100 mile days.

if you remember I broke my collar bone in the middle of last season, and it pretty much ruined my season. This year I waited until the season to break a bone, a much better move. It's only a toe, or a bone right before the toe. It only hurts when I kick something or put too much weight on it. in the long run not too bad.

Here is a picture of Ian, he loves playing in the orange groves.

With all the election talk going on I have to put in my endorsement... or really just pose a question. What would happen if not a single person voted? Besides Florida electing "W.",Would we go four years with out a president?

I just got this email, I though it was pretty funny:

Dear Red States:

If you manage to steal this election too we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.

We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico

Peace out,

--Blue States

Cross Vegas Picture...

2008-10-15T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a great picture that my friend Al took at Cross Vegas of Lance...

I wonder if he likes beer? I'm sure he does ; )

It has to end some time.

2008-10-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the season, and have almost completed my one week vacation. How it all ended up was pretty amazing. After the Tahoe Sierra 100 I raced the Cactus Cup omnium, and finished this last weekend with the Tour of the White Mountains.

The Cactus Cup was my first time trial and first super D, which I got 1st and 2nd respectively. It wasn’t a huge field buy Yuri and Dejay were in the mix. Ok so I was the only other besides them for the omnium, there were others for the Super D and the XC which I placed 1st.

Time trial: I think my time was about 2 minutes and 40 seconds, unfortunately I had to run over half the course due to my chain falling off. But it was probably faster anyways, it was super steep, and windy, Dejay actually got blown off his bike.

The Super D: A little climbing and a bunch of kinda down hill stuff. It was a fun course but a little flat for a singlespeed(we were pretty spun out). Dejay and I were on the front most of the time, I had a little spill about 2 km from the finish where Dejay got away from me. I almost caught him on the last little climb but there wasn’t enough time.

XC: it was a Great course! A bunch of single track with great flow, a few long climbs and some technical sandy rocky areas(made easy by my Niner singlespeed). I was able to pull away from Dejay on the long climb to finish the first of two laps and stay away the rest of the race. My only other objective was to catch as many of the semi pro men that I could, their heat started 2 minutes ahead of the singlespeeders. The last lap I caught three or four people on the last climb and I ended up making up the gap on all of the semi pro men!

The Tour of the White Mountains:
67 miles and about 70 more that I was ready for, still recovering from Interbike and a sleepless few days with Ian. It was the last one for the year, and I had to show everyone the power of Ergon grips. Before the race I did a little warm up and felt like I did before my worst race of the year, not a good sign. I had no power and no pop. Luckily it started out pretty slow and I was able to get second wheel going into the first single track section. Again, my pet peeve… about 7 miles into the race we came to a down tree with a good sized ramp up one side and down the other(we were told it was easily ridable at the start line), the guy in the lead gets off his bike and jumps over the log! When did mountain bikers forget what mountain biking was. Ride over the dam log, your leading the race!

Back to the riding part of the race. Three of us were together for a while, one guy flatted and then there were two. I got dropped on the flats. Got a flat(slow leak), that I stopped to fill a couple times. I had some fun towards the end with a great technical rocky section. And ended up 4th overall and the fastest singlespeed.

Now it's time to regroup, find some new sponsors, race a little cross and get ready to kick some butt next year.

So for the Tahoe Sierra report.

2008-09-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

Dejay and I made our way to the Sierras to learn the course and rest up a full week early. Which was good because it took forever to get there, with pulling the trailer on the super curvy and steep roads that were littered with cows that were trying to block the road(so we wouldn't find bigfoot).
Eventually we made it and we able to ride about 85 miles of the course, and get a good idea of what was to come. The area was beautiful, great views, big mountains and deep canyons(we stopped on the way out for 20 minutes because the van brakes were smoking). Unfortunately for the 270 riders that registered for the event the promoter had to change course and it ended up being 100 miles of fire road(a few feet were kinda narrow), it was a little boring but it was over quicker even with about 14,000' of climbing, most of it rideable. Along with being amazingly beautiful the area was so isolated I really had time to focus and get ready for the race.

We went back into town on Tuesday to get the supplies we needed to make it through the weekend(we thought). lots of food, propane movies and did our last bit of internet/email action before we went back to the woods. We didn’t realize we were out of shot bloks and only had two tubes.

All the usual suspects showed up for the start plus a few others, Harlan Price, the trek crew(Chris Eatough, Jeff Schalk, and Jeremiah Bishiop), Evan plews, Tinker, Josh Tostado, Mark Santubane, and single speeders Dez, Conrad, Tom, Rich, Dejay of course, Yuri and a few other fast ones that I didn't get to meet. For some reason this was the slowest start of any race in the series(that I have done), even those with a controlled start! it was super mellow for a little more than a mile, then the pace started to increase to where I'm sure some people were dropped but not many. At one point while after the pace picked up someone said something to the effect of what is that singlespeeder doing up here in the front, I usually ignore things like that and let my riding show them. But Jeremiah bishop chimed in and said something like “that's Fuzzy he's got the super cadence”. The short track and marathon national champion saying something like that about will always give you a little boost. Maybe that’s why when we hit the bottom of the first climb the whole field went back to taking it easy, and before I knew it I was a few hundred yards or more in front of everyone else. After I realized that I had a gap I did my best to settle into a groove and ride my race, but it was kind of exciting being off the front of that group.

Two miles into the climb the big eight bridged the gap and we(Harlan, Chris, Jeff, Jeremiah, Tinker, Mark, Josh, Evan and I)rode together for another two miles. A mile or so before the top Harlan threw in a little surge and I decided I didn’t want to go any harder and kept my pace going, and would settle for 9th place overall again(the third time in a row…). I thought I could never catch these guys. But I kept my pace high to make sure no others would catch me. I had Jim Hewitt not to far back on the first climb and a few others were close I’m sure.

In the long run, it was probably best that I let them go, at least my lungs thought so. It was so dusty, being a minute behind the lead group on the first descent it was even thick in a few corners. Then for about 5 miles the dust was gone and I could breath again, I was now at about mile 18 and been on my own for 11 miles when the dust began to get thick again, I thought to myself, am I catching the leaders? But it was just Jeff, who had suffered a bad crash and was limping his way back to the start/finish.
this is how bad the dust was...
I’ll take it, I’m going for eighth now just a bit more motivation to keep the pace high. I was up and over the next climb and on my way down to the bottom of the second long climb when I passed Tinker on the side with a flat or something, I was now up to seventh place. Go, Go, Go!!! This could be my best finish ever with this deep of a field.
23 miles down, and sitting in 7th place, there was a long way to go, and a lot of false flat fire roads with some big climbs toward the end. I kept repeating my mantra, ate my Cytomax gels(vanilla) kept hydrated and talked to myself a bunch for the next 5+ hours as I never saw another racer. I crossed the finish line in 7h 45m 54s about 44 minutes behind Jeremiah and Chris who tied. Some how Josh T. missed a turn and I slipped up to 6th overall, but only five minutes ahead of Dez the second place singlespeeder.

This was my second win of the series and with my two second place finishes I won the NUE singlespeed Category and am the 2008 national SS champion.

Just a quick thanks to Cytomax for getting me gels and drink so fast and making sure I was prepared for the race. To Niner, Dt Swiss, Stan’s no tubes, Ergon, Kenda, Chris King, Shoair and all my other sponsors that keep me and my bikes rolling so fast!
This one was for you all.

Tahoe Sierra 100 race report!

2008-09-08T22:14:00.001-07:00

Coming soon. To tired of driving, and played with Ian all day today. I will get the story out tomorrow(Tuesday). For a quick update check out Harlan's recap at this place.

Don't go to Rich "the weenie" Dillen's site, he has no real report yet either. nor is he good at telling the past(that kid is an Eagle scout, and he is at least 12).

Tahoe Sierra 100

2008-09-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

The last race in the NUE series is this Saturday. It seems like it is mostly or all fire road so it might be a little boring but the views from the parts of the course are great!!! The best of the year. There is also a ton of climbing, I like that! the venue is hours from anywhere, it takes about an hour and a half to get anywhere with cell phone reception, so this will be my last post before the race. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm going in tied with Chris M. and one to 4 points ahead of Dejay. In order to win the series I need to finish better than 7th and with in one place of Dejay...

Singlespeed worlds 2008

2008-09-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

Just a quick report(a bit late)...

The weekend started a little slow, but once it got going it went way too fast!!!

Saturday about 5:30 Curtis announced that the contest to decide where SSWC09 will be, will start a 6:30 at the bowling alley. If you wanted to be involved needed to get up on stage and introduce themselves. What the hell, I try and win one for New Zealand, I'd like to go there!!! As I know the folks from NZ(not the Australians) would like to host it. The first round was Bowling, the top two move on... Getting the win would have been tough but beating third and fourth was pretty easy!!!
Next was head to head at Ms. Pacman, unfortunately Durango was too good, even withFlash photography in the face he still beat me. I may have not won the right to host next year, but the NZers gave me a cool jersey, thanks guys....

The race was tough three laps each with about 1600 feet of climbing. I did well in the la mans start, Good enough to get a picture in the NY times... I think I was in third starting the bike, until all the guys in Borat bathing suits passed me. Almost at the end of the first lap I was sitting in 7th place when I flatted and had to put in air a couple times. realizing it wouldn't last I had to stop and put in a tube. I must have dropped back to 40th place or so before I got it fixed. the next two lap was time to move, and after it was all said and done I made it back to 20th overall out of 425+. I'll take it with a flat. Here are some cool pictures....More pictures from Carson Blume (there is one of me middle row on the far right...)

Where did that month go? And where have I been?

2008-09-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

Since my last post we (Kristina, Ian, Dejay and I) spent a few nice relaxing days in northern Michigan on a lake doing some sailing and some serious fudge eating before heading to Wisconsin for the 24 hour nationals where we added Rebbecca to the caravan. This was my first race this year that I have just watched(and supported), it was a great change. No mad craziness before the race, no watching what I eat or any of my other pre race quirks. Just a few beers and hanging out with Kristina and Ian.

After 24 nationals we (Kristina, Ian, Dejay, Rebbecca and I) took off to ride part of the Maah Daah Hey trail in North Dakota. We spent three days there riding different sections of the trail. The parts of the trail I rode were OK, but I found the spur trails were much more fun! Some day I will go back and ride the whole 96 mile trail over a few days and do all the spur trails. I guess this is one to put on the list of trails to do...just avoid the wet days!!! It’s about the worst mud I have ridden in.

Next stop Missoula, Pick up Andrew, do a quick spin with the whole family the hit the road again.

Now we (Kristina, Ian, Dejay, Rebbecca, Andrew and I) are on the way to Bend, Oregon. I love this place in the three days we had so much fun! Three days of riding(from town), 4+ hours per day and a ton of single track, then finish it off with one of the breweries and a float down the river. I going back soon! After Bend we made a quick stop to ride the Mackenzie river trail on our way back to my (old)home town Arcata, CA.

Same old Arcata, clod and foggy with a couple of whacked out people welcoming us to town. The short story...Some old dude in his tighty whiteys with a big flash light yelling at us for parking in the closest spot to my house as I could get. Up early for my favorite home town ride Tish Tang, got some poison oak but with a little help from friends it got better pretty quick(Thanks Geoff!) It was great to see everyone while we were there. I hope to see you all soon(except the underwear guy). I think I will be back in October for La Grange.

Last stop for the big crew Single Speed Worlds in Napa!

Call it a come back.

2008-07-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was the Wilderness 101, the 5th race in the NUE series. Dejay was leading the overall with a total of 6 points and I was in second with 11 points. I had some serious ground to make up! But it wasn’t quite as bad ad it seems as they only count your best four races, my worst score was a 7th, all possibilities point in the direction that I will be throwing out that one and end up with less the 11 for a total.

Other than Dejay there are always a bunch of other fast single speeders that could be in the running. Like Matt Fararri, Topher, Gunnar, Tim, Slohio Rob(now AshvilleRob) and the big name for this weekend was Wes Schempf. Wes won the USA Cycling national championship XC and short track in the semi pro category the previous weekend, he is from PA , and was the fastest single speeder last year in the 101.

The race actually started with a neutral roll out that was truly neutral, there were even a few single speeders on the front for a while. But that never lasts long enough and the first hill ripped the group to shreds. For a mile or so I was the leading singlespeeders and shortly after I let the lead group go Wes came around me and went with them. My plan before the race was to let him go early expecting that he would fade. The front group was out of sight before the descent and was pulling farther away. I settled into my pace for the long flat sections and was joined by Tim, Gunnar and Matt. Tim didn’t last long before his faceplate broke, but Matt and Gunner stayed close. Even though they were locals they let me on the single track first and instantly I had a gap so I figured it was time to go. I build a minute or so before I was brought to a stop by a pit bull that thought he deserved the trail more than me. I didn’t argue but I cussed a bunch after I made my way around him. Matt and Gunnar had me in their sights when we hit the next climb but I hit it hard again and I don’t think they saw me again after the first switch back.

Now all I needed to catch the semipro national champion and maybe a few geared guys as well. Luckily I had a few friendly geared guys that helped me out and pulled me though the next flat section to aid two. A quick exchange of bottles and I was off. The longest climb of the day was coming and I was feeling great, time to make a move. I found myself a the back of a pace line, I spent my time in line then did my pull. Unfortunately after I was dome there was only one guy left and he was only good for a second pull. I found another piece of motivation not to far up the road, Wes. I gradually pulled him in through the rest of the climb and had him within 40 seconds and caught him on the descent when he was having problems with his bike. No attack was needed, as soon as I passed him he stopped to work on his bike.

I was now in the SS lead a feeling as good as I did on the starting line, now it was time to get those geared guys! I passed a hand full more on the hills before aid three. But then the rough course started taking it’s toll on the bike. Around mile 45 my chain started to come off, and it continued to do so for the rest of the day, it came off 20- 25 times. And I flatted on one if the steep rocky descents, that wasn’t too bad it just needed a quick blast of Co2 to keep the Stan’s no tubes rolling. Then after mile 60 I only passed on other and chased one to the finish.

In the end, I was the fastest singlespeeder and 9th place overall. I set the Single speed course record and I beat Wes who finished 2nd by 21 Minutes and Dejay came in 10th.

So the series… I have 12 points and Dejay has 16 and if you remove our bad races I have 5 and Dejay has 6. Thats a pretty close series.

Check out the Cycling news report,

It's mostly accurate. Harlan, My name is spelled Mylne and I that was my first NUE win this year, I have two second place finishes though.

Stay tuned for a write up about the bike/components I ride. Niner, Stan’s, DT Swiss, Ergon…

The week in pictures. (last week)

2008-07-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Some strange coincidences, something a little scary, and some things that make me ask, “Are we really that stupid?”

The first two pictures are of Dejay and Merl the mule, who’s coral was very close to where we had parked the trailer for about three weeks. Shortly after we departed Tennessee Merl’s winter coat started falling out, which in itself is not strange. However the pattern in which it did is a little strange, I guess everyone wants to be a little bit like Dejay.

(Notice the sideburns)

The next two are looking out of a very large tent at the USA Cycling National Championships. This tent is about 80’ by 160’, with both ends open and all but a total of about 20’ along the sides. So pretty much any direction you walk, if you walk far enough, you can make your way out. And if for some reason you run into part of the tent all you have to do is take one step to either side and there will be an opening.

Here is the picture of one of the ends…

Here is a small section of the first picture(it’s a little hard to make this show up and get the whole end of the tent in the picture)…

Story time with Dejay:

All I can say about this picture is, “Parents be worried ”.

Mt Snow National championships

2008-07-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have a bunch to put up but have not had a Internet connection for the last week(thanks At&t, More bars in more places, yeah right!).
So here is the quick scoop of my weekend at the XC nationals.
Saturday was the Open Singlespeed XC race. I had been feeling good all week and was looking forward to the super short race. the lap was fun with some tough climbs and technical descents(for a normal XC race...) that were super fast in preriding the course. As usual for us The rain came in Friday night about midnight, and made the course super slippery and the descents much slower. with that the laps were still only 32 minutes each.
At the start my teammate Josh Kelly went out fast and I found myself not to far of his wheel in second place. a mile or so into the race I had a little difficulty climbing a section with a lot of roots and a couple guys caught me and made it around me, back to fourth place. I made it to the top of the course with out loosing another spot but the descent was so different being wet I again had some trouble keeping the speed up and was passed again.
Unfortunately josh had a mechanical failure and had to drop out. so I made it back to fourth pace on the first lap and stayed there the rest of the race.
My time was 1:35:48(give or take a few seconds). I was faster than all but one expert geared rider and I would have won my age group by about 2 minutes. Pretty cool.

As soon as I get my computer working I have a bunch of pictures to put up...

Muffin top...

2008-07-14T20:45:00.001-07:00

I got this one before Dejay....

Beaver Fever(maybe) and the Firecracker

2008-07-11T07:15:00.001-07:00

While I have been having a great time riding and exploring Colorado, I haven’t been writing about it. So here is a little report of the Firecracker 50, but first I need to tell you a little about the preride. Sunday, A little bit of a late start but we got going about the same time the race starts. Steve, Jake and I rolled up the first climb at a pretty mellow pace, I did a few surges to see how the altitude felt and it wasn’t too bad. There were a ton of people out riding the course and we took our time and chatted with a few of them. The course was a lot of fire road climbing the steep loose rocky fall line descents. Not the best designed course but what do expect for a USA cycling National Championship event. At the bottom of the first descent I realized I had a slow leak in my rear tire so we stopped again to fix it. More climbing and fire roads and decided I should adjust the angle of my stem so we took a few minutes to do that while we caught our breath at the top of the course. After that we managed to stop only 3 or 4 more times to talk, wait or tighten the centerloc adapter on Jakes rear rotor which came completely off. So with all those stops it took us a total of 2 hours and 53 minutes. Considering the pace we took I though I would be able to pull off a first lap of about 2:00 to 2:05.
The week before the race I did all my priming the legs rides and I had the bike dialed. Unfortunately there were a few things I couldn’t control, I had horrible allergies which was interfering with the little sleep that I was getting and got some kind of intestinal tract issue which to put it politely, left me dehydrated. Nun the less I was still motivated.

Race day came and the Firecracker went off with a neutral start following a guy on a bike caring a flag or something similar… after a couple hundred yards the dude went down hard and took out a few riders behind him. He ended up being a pretty strong rider and came sprinting past us to get to the point where the neutral start ended and it was on. The pace was high from the start and I soon realized that it wasn’t my day, and soon after that a bunch of people I have beaten very easily this year were passing me after making up the gap from the different categories. Some made up the 7-8 minute head-start I had with in the first half hour. I wanted to have some fun so I made it through the first lap and called it a day.

So I guess my Firecracker 50 was a dud.

At least USA cycling is fair to all it’s members and I won’t have to worry about the unfair advantage of the altitude for a third year in a row at the Marathon National Championships, as I’m sure they will move the venue some where else ; )

Eating right on the road.

2008-07-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Dejay, Juda(the dog) and I are on the road by ourselves, just the boys as Kristina and Ian have flown the coop ahead of us. They left yesterday for some RnR in NYC with my Sister family and my parents. I know what your thinking, but your wrong!!!

Now that it is just the boys we are eating crap and staying up half the night. Well, that’s part true. We are driving halfway through the night but we are eating great!!! While we are a little shy on the green vegetables we are loading up on the meat and potatoes, and feeling great.

An update from the road....

2008-07-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

Truly from the road. My first time using the computer while moving in the car.

A quick conversation between Dejay and Fuzzy:

Dejay: "I think my shoulder hair is getting crazy, I need to pluck it out"

Fuzzy: " Your really worried about the hair on you shoulders?"

Can't go a week without a little Flight of the Conchords

2008-07-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

Incase you haven't seen the TV show Flight of the Conchords, you really need to check it out...

Here is a clip from one of their live performances, the TV show is even better.

Loving the riding!

2008-07-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Still in Colorado and doing some great rides, both trails and road. I could definitely find myself living here in the future. Day before yesterday Jake, Steve and I prerode the course for the Firecracker 50, the Marathon National Championships, it is a pretty good one lots of climbing and some fast, loose and rocky descents. Overall I think it is a great course for me, however the elevation will be a little bit of an issue, as most of the course is over 10,000'.

No pictures from the ride but it is a beautiful area, there is still snow along the course, they actually plowed part of the course 4 days ago, and across the valley.

Free Ergon Grips...

2008-06-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone Dejay and I are helping to give away free Ergon grips. All you have to do is check in with the Ergon website, look at a picture and figure out what trail Dejay and I are Riding... and be the first one to do it. The plan is to post a new picture every month, so follow our blogs and watch where we have been and send in your entries...

Here is the link to the first round.

Good luck to you all.

If your looking for a hint I am accepting bribes ; )

Rolling in the front range.

2008-06-28T12:01:00.001-07:00

Fort Collins and Boulder, CO have been our playground for the last week while preparing for the Firecracker 50. I have been very impressed with the trails and the number of people using them.

I have to admit after riding in Michigan I was timid riding anything remotely technical. It is such a different world here, I think I encountered more rocks in the first mile of riding in Colorado than in all 250ish miles I rode in Michigan. but I think my skills are coming back to me...

I think in our quest to find a new place to live Colorado has moved toward the top of the list.

This is my buddy Steve, on the walker ranch loop out side of Boulder.

Here is Jake on some trail I don't remember the name of, But you might be able to figure it out.

So I am fighting a little cold right now, hopefully I will be well for the race on Friday.

Pictures from the lumberjack 100

2008-06-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here is another good picture of Dejay walking...

The mud pit.

Another long car ride...

2008-06-20T20:34:00.001-07:00

The secret of my success!!!

2008-06-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well I'm sure some of you would, or have, stumbled upon this yourself soon enough; so I going to go ahead and tell you.

This has to be one of the best investments to go faster after carbon water bottle cages. Amazingly enough it only cost me $39.99, so here it is, the big secret....

The Man Groomer.

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Romance –

Start up that spark in your relationship or marriage by surprising your partner with a smooth sexy back – not the ape look…

Summer Essentials –

When your shirt is off this summer – a must is NO back hair at anytime……

Beach –

It can be embarrassing to be in public space with strangers and have a hairy back. Hairy backs are not attractive - nor generally appealing to anyone.

Pool parties –

Don’t be the joke /‘hairy guy’ of the party – not a good image to portray.

Muscle Definition –

Shaving the hair off your back shows your muscle definition in much greater detail. You’ll look in better shape just by using MANGROOMER.

The list goes on... for more info check out ManGroomer

Lumberjack 100

2008-06-15T10:28:00.002-07:00

This race was day and night from the Mohican of two weeks ago. Being mostly single track, about 98%, there was really no time you could go on auto pilot. Also doing 4 laps of the same thing you could really learn the course and ride more aggressively as the day went on. Another huge difference was this course got better in the rain, except for a section about a quarter mile long that turned into a two foot deep bog.

Another 7:00 a.m. road sprint start, I heard some one saying that we were going 37 miles an hour. Somehow after a mile and a half Dejay and I were in the top 15 turning onto the trail. I’m not sure why but Dejay wanted to sprint to the corner turning into the trail head parking lot. This left him a little winded for the firs “big” climb of the race. As I caught Dejay I could tell he was already at his limit so I did a little push and got in to the the lead group of eight. Harlan Price, Jeff Schock, Chris Eat of a plate, a few others and I did the first 20 miles together before I was removed from the back of the group to settle into my pace.

The course was not suited to my riding style, as I perform better when there are long extended climbs. It was flat with a few short punchy climbs, none longer that maybe two minutes. I picked a pretty good gear that kept me moving at a good clip on the flats but I bogged down on the hills, I guess I need a little more power in my legs if I want to run a big gear like that again.

A few miles into the second lap I caught one of the top 7 who had stopped to get some relief. We worked together for most of that lap(well I drafted him most of the time). Then he got away and I was alone again. Around the same place that I caught the speedgoat rider I had to pee too, I stopped and then I was caught by the second place singlespeed rider. He followed me for most of the lap and dropped me at about the same spot that everyone else had on the previous laps. I took a short section to refuel to make it sure I made it through the last lap.

The last lap was pretty crowded, most of the people were great about getting out of the way but a few slowed me down for longer than I would have liked. All said and done… I finished in 9th place(I thought I was in 8th) 7 hours, 58 minutes and a few seconds. Less that a minute back from the first place single speeder. Only about 50 minutes back from the overall winner.

The weather man....

2008-06-15T10:28:00.001-07:00

If you remember from a couple weeks ago I predicted heavy rain for last Friday, well it came a day early.

We were watching the TV show Weeds, when the rain started coming down so hard we could hardly hear the sound the show much less each other talking. Then at about 10:00 there came pounding on the door, amazingly enough they weren't trying to kick us out of our camping spot. As soon as we open the door the guy says, “There is a tornado warning(our second in 2 weeks) and the storm shelter is open”. So we debate on what to do, stay in the trailer and ride out a tornado or go to the storm shelter. I wasn’t convinced either way so I walked(more like waded to the shelter. The first route I stopped and came back after reaching water deeper than my Knees. When I made it up to the shelter, the first person I saw said they say saw a water spout. So I decided to go back and get the family.
We stayed in the shelter for about 20 minutes eating twizlers and watching the lighting show.

It continued to rain all night and this is the lake the campground turned into… the first site we thought about staying is right in the middle of this lake….

The storm ended up being the largest amount of rain that this town has seen in a 24 hour period in the last 60 years. When we made it back to town the power was out(which meant no Cappuccino) and there were boats sinking in the harbor.

Here is an offer….
If your town is in need of rain, put on a race and invite Dejay and I to show up!

What to do now???

2008-06-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

The lumberjack 100 is on Saturday, it should be a very good day on the bike. the course is about 98% single track, 4 laps mostly flat with really good flow. I hear the hardest part is passing you car about 8 times during the race, I can see if your having a bad day it could be easy to finish early.

After the lumberjack we planned on going to the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo in Iowa. Unfortunately Iowa in under water and we cant figure out what to do next weekend... We need to be in Denver on the 25th so Dejay can catch a flight to Canada. Does any one know of any good happenings on the way from Michigan to Colorado for next weekend?

Here are a couple pictures of Southern Michigan.
Dejay on the bridge.

A bird that Juda was driving crazy....

Hotter than a hot tub!!! wetter too...

2008-06-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Were finished with Ohio and are in Michigan now. But before we left we had too big days of weather. the First, 4-5 inches of rain, the next 95+ degree heat, a wonderful combo for some good humidity. I think were passed that now but we have found the mosquitos...

LumberJack here we come...

A great day of pedaling and a bunch of bad luck.

2008-06-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Mohican 100, NUE series race # 2

Muddy, of course we wouldn't have it any other way.

the 7:00 am start lead us through downtown Loundonville. luckily for us singlespeeders it was a controlled start, the speed was limited by how fast the geared guys wanted to go. As soon as we hit the singletrack Dejay and I began to pass when ever we got the chance, "on your right"," On your left", sometimes I went on the right as Dejay went on the left. about a mile into the singletrack the bad luck began; as I was passing on the left I was pushed toward the bank and did a super slow motion over the bars endo. That started the theme for the day, Catch up to dejay. by the time I got back on my bike and on the trail 7 or 8 people had passed me. We did a small hike a bike and came ripping down a fire road, When I got in to a campground there were about twenty riders riding toward me, and looking confused. We did the whole ride in a circle wagon train thing the group split into two. Dejay went one way I went the other. A minute later we were on the singletrack with 20+ riders between the two of us and Dejay in the lead.

Time to catch Dejay again...

It was 5-7 miles before I could do some real passing and got close to the front of the group which consisted of Floyd Landis(DNF), Christopher Beck, and a few others. Rolling through aid two the singletrack opened up and so did the pace, another hike and I saw Dejay again.

BANG! Flat tire.

Time to catch Dejay again

Three minutes to change a flat and three hours of pedaling I almost caught Dejay again. he goes over a rise then makes a right, I went straight for 3-4 minutes.

Time to catch Dejay again.

I think I saw him one more time but I couldn't be sure. a bunch more gravel and paved roads and one last wrong turn that took me to the finish line the wrong way, a ride back in a truck to make the right turn and a cruised back into the finish. I still finished second in the SS category and 16th overall.

Cycling news coverage

You know it...

2008-06-04T09:23:00.000-07:00

Now the rest of the country is starting to think like a singlespeeder...

Why am I writing about the weather..?

2008-06-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well, every race Dejay and I have done in the USA together this year we have had a massive downpour the morning before the race. so I just thought I would go out on a limb and make a weather prediction two weeks before the next race... The Lumberjack 100.

Weather forcast....

2008-06-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

My weather forecast for the morning before the Lumberjack 100 in Michigan:

Heavy rain.

More photos from Italy.

2008-06-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

The day after the race..

Dejay going the wrong way...

Ian playing in a tunnel...
The podium
Me going the wrong way...

Riding through town after riding the trails at the race course

A little intergalactic fun....
...
A photo of our photo shoot the day after the race...
A view from the race course, I got both the sunset and sunrise laps. the view from here was amazing!

Flash back to the past.

2008-05-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

So, this flash back only goes back about a month to SSUSA and Dirt, Sweat and Gears. If you remember from last year I said if you only do one race make it DSG, Well I make the same recommendation for next year. Except there were two races there this year.
Friday was the first installment of SSUSA and it was great fun. Full of all the components needed to make a great Singlespeed event. A bunch odd characters, more beers than gears(by far), grown men in costume (I was part of that), a fun race course and random games that decide the championship.

Top honors for the SSUSA went to Slohio Rob and Rebecca T(Wikki).

Saturday brought the event that I was looking forward to; Dirt, Sweat and Gears. The luck that Dejay and I are having this year is that 4 of 5 races have given us a large rain storm the morning of the event, DSG was one of those. The first couple laps would have been better called Mud, Sweat and Broken Derailleurs. The first lap made for a long day for many of the top pros, Nat Ross broke his chain, Yuri Haswald ripped of his derailleur and had to run 7 miles to finish the lap to get back to his pit, and some didn’t make it across the start line before they got flats to name a few. The singlespeeders had it a little easier but we were fighting the mud. Pushing the bikes up the hills after they collected 20+ pounds of mud, then truing to control them in the slipping sliding mess. I even had problems with my drive train, the mud was so thick I had rocks stuck inside my chain.
Luckily Friday afternoon the last the parts needed to build my backup bike arrived from my sponsors. This proved to be pivotal as I needed to change bikes every lap for the first five times around for our pit crew, Mike, to wash and lube them up. Thanks to Stan’s notubes, Dt Swiss, Easton, Chris King, and Revolution Bicycle and repair.

After the third or fourth lap the course was in super condition, fast and mostly dry. I was feeling ok but still felt a little off, not my usual self. I was in second place and did not want to finish any worse than that so I kept trucking. After the sixth lap I really gave up on trying to catch Dejay he had been putting 3-8 minutes on me for the last few laps and was 15 minutes ahead and I couldn’t seem to go any faster. But somehow I think I got faster after that. And with in two laps I passed him like he was going backwards.

He told me after the race that he didn’t believe it was me, he thought he imagined it and he had to ask the next person he passed if I passed him… unfortunately I couldn’t keep it going, I cramped really bad about a mile after I passed him and he caught me a little later. We rode together for about a half a lap then he made his move and I let him go for it.

I new I was done after that lap and let Dejay go for an extra like he made me do last year. Being in the pit for only a couple minutes I realized Dejay didn’t take lights and it would be dark before he could make it back. Being the nice guy I headed to the top of the course with a light and tried to give it to Dejay. I yelled at him but he didn’t stop, he didn’t realize it was me and he thought I was I was still chasing him. Having to borrow light from others around him he made it back and took the crown.

The SS podium has been the same three riders both years, the only change was I was on top last year and Dejay was second, and this I took second this year and Dejay took the top.

I really was to say thanks to Clay, his family and his crew for creating such a fun and challenging event that I will do every year as long as I still ride a bike. Without their energy, creativity, and passion for cycling and for others it would just be another mountain bike race. Thanks for even more great memories and stories. See you next year.

Where did my baby go???

2008-05-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

While in Italy we happened across something very cool. It all started out the first morning. We sat down for breakfast and ordered our cappuccinos, when they arrived the woman running the restaurant asked if she could hold Ian. We thought, sure, she would hold him for a minute then give him back. But no, she took him for about twenty minutes.

This was not an isolated occasion, this happened at least 6 times at different restaurants.
It was so refreshing being around people that weren't worried getting sued or whatever.

Another plus for Italy!!!

I can't wait to go back.

More about the race (part 2.1)

2008-05-15T00:16:00.000-07:00

So I told you about the race, now a little about the event...

The 24 hours of Finale is the Intergalactic championship. This is where the team NASA came from. last year there was an unofficial team(team NASA) that was out in for for 5-6 laps before the were abducted and disappeared. They returned as four singlespeeders from the USA.
It is the largest Mountain bike event in Italy, so I hear. The venue sits atop a hill 450 meters above the sea, it is so steep it feels as if you could throw a rock in to the water. The first thing you notice when you enter the venue is the huge transition tent, then the large stage for entertainment, and the ramp up to the stage and the tunnel out the back of the stage. The ramp and tunnel are part of the course. During the night you come raging out of the transition in front of the crowd and ride through the band, it's a pretty cool feeling.

Like all the other great endurance events (Dirt, Sweat and Gears) I have been to, there was the trials show and a great expo area and a (metric) ton of great people.

Expect to see some great photos from this event, the organizers said the photographers took over 20,000 images. plus all the magazines and website that were there... I will post a bunch when we get back to the states.

The race I'll never forget (part 2)

2008-05-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

The 24 hours of Finale

Friday, the day before the race, 24 hour town exploded to a tent village for about 2000 people. All of our bikes we assembled and a little preriding of the course was necessary.
The Course: Approximately 4 miles with 700' -800' of climbing. Out moderate pace for the preride we rounded the course in about 24 minutes. This was a little slower than our average time for the 24 hours. So the bikes (all Niner One 9, Tang) were great! Super smooth on this Rocky and 6" deep braking bump covered trail.

So after the preride, the crowd of athletes and photographers was unrelenting. Whatever we were doing there was someone talking to us or taking our picture. We felt like celebrities, in a way I guess we were.

So for the race, most of the time we did two laps at a time until the morning when we did one at a time. I was elected to do the run and the first lap. The run was crazy, I almost thought we were in Spain and there were a bunch of bulls chasing us. The area the run went through was only about 2 meters wide or on narrow single track, people were throwing elbows and pushing, if not the running of the bulls it was football (American) training camp.

When I got to the bike I was in about 30th place but by the end of the first lap I was up to about 5th. After a couple laps we were up to third and never looked back. A couple times we thought were in second but the standings were a little hard to decipher, so who knows.

The more laps we did the more people were coming to our camp and asking us questions, looking at our bikes. The language barrier was a little tough sometime but I could tell they were impressed and amazed at what we were doing on singlespeeds.

At the end of the race awards came quickly!!! The there was a huge crowd at least 1000 people.
The first thing they did was the General classification (the overall). After calling up the Italian national development team (1st, 8 people), then the second place team (also 8 person), the called team Nasal (that's us, more on that later), the crowd went crazy! Everyone’s eyes and cameras were on us, almost completely ignoring the two other teams.

Over all a great race and awesome people all around wonderful event! Thanks Mauro, Silvio, Lorenzo, Enrico and everyone else involved with race and getting our intergalactic team to Italy.

Pictures to come soon.

More posts to come...
Who took my baby?
Are we really in Italy doing a mountain bike photo/video shoot?
I haven't forgotten about Dirt (mud), Sweat and Gears.

One I'll never forget. (part 1)

2008-05-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

Ariving in Italy, last Wednesday, we had no idea what to expect, and I don't think we could have ever imagined the experience we have had.

Da one picked up from the airport, with wine and fresh bread waiting in the car. and stopping(at a gas station) for some of the best cappuccino I have ever had. The drive from Nice, France was along the coast passing through tunnels,on cliffs highabove the Meditarian Sea and weaving through the deep canyons that drop to the sea. Then to the Italian bike hotel(hotel Florenz) to get some rest.

The next couple days we spent relaxing and exploring the town of Finale and the race venue/course. we walked the beach ate Gilatto, built our matching Tang Niner One 9's and did a lap or two of the course. the whole time there was someone waiting on us bringing us water, cheese, holding Ian for a half hour while Kristina and I ate, and the list goes on and on...

most of the gang on part of the race course.

The race was Saturday and Sunday 2:00p.m. to 2:00p.m.
24 hours
4 guys
4 bikes(singlespeeds)
60 laps (we got a little dizzy)

Come back later for more on the race, It's time I go get another cappuccino.

Fuzzy

24 hours of Finale

2008-05-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

The race starts today....
Things are crazy..

20 minutes lap times in warm up and a real fun course.

they are writing about us on the race website. look for team NASA in the News section.

http://24h.next.sm/eng/index.php (can not make it a link sorry)

More tomorrow....

2008-05-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Well I hope to do a lot of posts in the next few days....

So here is the quick story.....

SSUSA (singlespeed USA) I wore a skirt and had fun...

Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour, No skirt, lots of mud had fun and made some money....

took a quick flight to Italy... rode some sweet singletrack...

Getting ready for the 24 hours of Finale.

www.24hfinale.com

Everyone has a bad day sometimes....

2008-04-28T06:32:00.001-07:00

The NUE series started with a bang, for me it actually sounded more like a POP! I had nothing in my legs. I felt better after the Vision Quest than I did at mile 10 of this 100 mile race, which made for a long day. I was dropped from the front group with in the first mile or two and I thought I had no chance of catching them. I tried to find a rhythm and I ended up catching up the the four Singlespeeders in front of me on the first flat road section. I recovered for a little while and tried to pick up the pace to see if my legs had arrived yet. They hadn't, they must have still been in Texas. Hopefully they will show up before Dirt, Sweat and Gears.
Back to the race... Shortly after the second aid station the five of us were on our own(that's a whole other story). I started cramping, Tim took a little longer that the rest of us, some had better legs. From here on out I was in survival mode... Just trying to finish.

I can't remember when it happened but the five of us passed Floyd Landis(you might remember him from the Tour de France, he did pretty well a couple years ago) . After a while on my own Floyd was riding with me(on my bad day???), we rode together for almost two hours. He's a pretty funny guy... here is a little of my interview with Floyd:

FuzzyJohn: What have you been doing lately?

Floyd Landis: hanging out with Lawyer's.

FJ: Training through races really doesn't work for me...

FL: Try not training and partying, it doesn't work either.

FJ: What's you favorite part about Mountain bike races.

FL: you can stop at aid stations every 15 miles.

After a while Floyd pulled away from me and I was by myself on the slow road home. a few other singlespeeders passed me before the end. I ended up 7th place out of 41 singlespeed finishers in the race, not too bad for such a horrible race. I just hope I don't have anymore bad days...

Final Results

On the road again!

2008-04-22T12:57:00.001-07:00

Well time for another update.

Kristina, Ian, Dejay, Juda(Dejay's dog) and I are officially on the road now! Well, we have been for a week.

We are rolling big! but some what green... We filled up the van with bio diesel today and are running the travel trailer off solar electricity. We have made it to Ashville, North Carolina with a stop in Copperhill, TN to do the Choutta 100. It was a bad day for me but Dejay finished second in the pretty stacked Singlespeed division.

So True...

2008-03-20T12:22:00.001-07:00

Pass this on to everyone...

Good news, bad news and great news!

2008-03-02T21:56:00.002-08:00

Good news: I set my alarm for 3:30 a.m. To make it to the start on time.
Bad news: I was awake at 2:00 and couldn’t get back to sleep.

The great news!:
Saturday was the first race of the year, it should have been the third but I wanted to focus on my training a little longer. The news is still coming...

So for a little play by play of my Vision Quest:

The race: 56.6 miles 11,000 feet of climbing, 5:30 start(the most painful part).

The gun(it could have been an alarm clock for all I know) went off at 5:30 and people were ready to race!!! People were so aggressive they were almost going down hard in the first 50 yards. I hung back a bit, I knew I had some time to catch them. There were two miles where the geared guys(and Pua) were blowing past me before the first climb started. Shortly after starting the ascent the people in front of me started getting closer to me really fast, I was climbing well. There were a few people that finished close to me last year that tried to keep up for a bit but then dropped back. I would say I passed about 20 people climbing Black Star. When I hit the main divide I was in a group of about 8 and were together all the way to Silverado Motor-way. I thought I could descend faster than most of them so I made a push over the last rise and dropped all of them. One of them caught me half way down, I was still trying to remember how to ride a mountain bike(I have only ridden one for about 5 hours total since Thanksgiving). He motivated me to ride a little faster and I was getting pretty fast then PING! I got deflected off a rock, caught my arm on a tree that sent me flying(almost off a cliff). I hit the ground clawing at the dirt and rocks with my hands so I wouldn’t slide off the edge. I stopped with most of my legs hanging off the edge. Back on the bike and down the last 200 yard to aid station one.

A quick refill of Cytomax and Cytomax Gel and I was off.

I was on the second climb for 6 or 7 miles and had not seen another rider or even any tire tracks(more on this later) I knew I was climbing better than the 8 that were behind me and I knew that Manny was still in front of me, it was time to go for the guys in front of me. After a little while longer I had not sean anyone and I had a theory that Manny is so light that he was not leaving any tire tracks, and there were no others marks. I was in second place overall!!! I knew I was feeling good, so realizing I was in second was even more motivation to keep the pace high.

From aid 1 to aid station 2 I never saw another rider. I pulled into aid two and they said Manny was only 15 minutes ahead “Go catch him” they yelled. I knew I couldn’t catch him but I still wanted a good time so I kept pushing on. Ten minutes after I left aid 2 I looked at my clock and realized I was in good shape to beat my time from last year. A few minutes later I realized I was going fast enough to get close to the Singlespeed course record, time to work harder. After finishing the hike I had about 40 minutes to ride across the main divide to the descent, down the descent and out the 5 mile road to the finish line. Things were great until the the last 5 miles of road, 200 yards before aid 2, I started getting a flat. For some reason it wouldn’t hold air, and I had a choice to make.
Stop and change the tire or ride a flat for 5 miles on a bumpy off camber road. I wanted that course record and I knew I couldn’t make it if I fixed the flat. So after 5 miles of riding a flat I crossed the finishline. No one passed me, I finished in 2nd place over all in a time of 5 hours and 37 minutes. 19 minutes faster than my time last year and one minute faster than the old course record!!!

Congrats to Manny for breaking the overall course record.

That was the great news.

Thank you to Scott T. from SHO-AIR for all the support, Niner Bikes for making a kick butt singlespeed, Ergon, Dt Swiss, Cytomax, and the guys at Revolution Bicycle repair (Arcata, CA) and Rock n’ Road Cyclery.

2008-03-02T21:56:00.001-08:00

Time to register for some races!!

2008-01-31T09:38:00.000-08:00

Other than the Vision Quest, which sold out in October I have not registered for a single race for the 08 season. Well, I will start today! Last year I told you if you only do one race, do the Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour, well I'm getting signed up today. It is by far the best event I have ever done, you should register for the party before it's too late.

Here is a little video from last year, if you look closely I'm in there a couple times.

In addition to the 12 hour they are also putting on Singlespeed U.S.A. the same weekend.

So I guess I am signing up for 2 races today.

I'll let you know what else I'm doing once I figure it out.

How many times have I said this...

2008-01-23T20:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post.

this years training started good but then I keep getting sick and super busy! So now I have finally had a few good weeks of training and am slowly coming back to form. I just wish I could have been strong enough to ride in SSAZ this year, sorry Dejay. I'll be back next year.

My last post I was training in the heavy rain of Humboldt county and loving it, now I have been in Southern California for a month and am loving it even more! The rain might make you tough, but so does riding a lot more and with some really fast people. These guys and girl are making me work.

Here is a video of my last big ride in Humboldt.

The boxes are starting to show up... it's like Christmas all over again.

Is it winter where you live...?

2007-11-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

Winter is here in Arcata, and the training has begun. The miles are starting to add up and and so are the layers of clothing. The first few rides this week weren't too bad, actually really nice for Arcata. Today was the first test!
The morning was fairly calm, a few sprinkles and a breeze. But we all know I’m not a morning person anymore, or was I ever for that matter. So right after the noon siren sounded in downtown Arcata the rain started to fall, and I was on my bike within ten minutes soaked through before I hit the end of my street.

The stats for the day:
3.5 hours
5500’ of climbing
1.5” to 2” of rain
30 - 50mph winds
a warm 55 degrees
And a big ass puddles of water on the floor where I left my bike, changed my clothes and left my shoes.

Not a good day for pictures, but I’ll get some soon. The winter is great around here!!!

The 2007 season is over.

2007-11-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

The end of the season has finally come, now I have time to do some big rides again!!! I am really looking forward to the winter epic rides in Humboldt county.

2007 had it highs and lows for sure, everything from winning some big races to the crash that left me with a broken collar bone. The start of the year was amazing with one fairly easy win at SSAZ, this was one of the best mountain bike courses that I have ever ridden. Everything from long hard climbs to the steepest and most technical riding I have ever done. After SSAZ was the 24 in the Old Pueblo, doing some hot laps with a few friends. And then there was the Vision Quest for win # 2, If you haven’t done this one yet be ready to sign up for 2009 as 2008 is already full!

Then the problems started some lower back pain, and a few weeks off before Sea Otter. I had an OK Sea Otter race in the fact that I could hardly walk the day before.

After the Otter is when the real adventure began, Mr singlespeed(he just hasn’t figured out how to shift yet), Dejay Birtch and I headed to TN do couple races that were more my style….LONG. Cohutta 100 and the Dirt, Sweat and Gears 12 hour. Before we left I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to ride with my back, and I ended up winning both races. Go figure.

Now to make a long story a little shorter, Broken collar bone….2 months off the bike...Had a baby(Kristina actually)...one more month off...12 hours of Humboldt and bigfoot classic XC both 1st place singlespeed…one month of burned out riding…. CA state finals 2nd place Pro Singlespeed… now Trail Work…. Riding starts Tomorrow!!!

So thanks to all that helped me out this year, I couldn’t have done it with out you! Team ShoAir (Scott Tedro), Revolution Bicycle and Repair (Justin Brown and the gang), DT Swiss (Paul), Ergon, Cytomax, Oakley. You all Rock!!!

!#$%^^%$#%^&^ Official Release %&^%$#$%^&^%$#@

There will be two races that I will be putting on next year, Both semi pirate, I may ask for a small donation and will provide beer.

The first one will be toward the end of March, the second will be September or October.

I have the course designed but it will be a secret for a while!!! Stay tuned for more info.

Back on the saddle sore again.

2007-08-29T10:46:00.001-07:00

It’s hard to believe that it’s been three months since I have ridden on the dirt or for that matter the singlespeed. Normally I am one to ease into things, but not this time. I had been riding not too regularly since the crash, letting all parts of my body heal and spending time with Kristina, Ian and all the family that has been visiting. I had five days of “slowing” with no family and friends; and a chance to get a couple of 3.5 hour rides. So I think my biggest week has been about 8-10 hours. So to completely shock my legs I thought I would do the 12 hours of Humboldt, 8 miles per lap with about 1400’ of climbing…on the singlespeed.

As it turned out my legs felt pretty good they had the strength to climb the steep hills with a 32x22 gear ratio, which was about perfect, I was only spun out on about 400 yards of the whole course. I knew I had an advantage over some the other singlespeeders on the first climb when I heard what gear they were riding, so I changed my plan and backed off and rode at a comfortable pace for a few laps. I knew their legs would be under a lot of stress and they would most likely “pop” or be walking a lot. However my upper body was not feeling as good as my legs and started cramping on lap four. The plan worked though, after lap six I was increasing my lead by about 8 minutes a lap and by the time I finished lap 10 I had lapped second place. After it was all said and done I completed 11 laps in less than 10 hours, and put almost 2 laps on second place. I have to say I was pretty shocked how well my legs felt.

I can’t wait to get back in shape!!! And get rid of these saddle sores…

Ok, Ok here are a few more pictures!

2007-08-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

More pictures

2007-07-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

More pictures to come....

My newest 29er

2007-07-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the little guy born on the 29th of July, 2007. No name yet but soon...

Doping sucks, or is it a good thing…

2007-07-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

Vino, Rasmussen, Floyd and who else? What a disgrace to road cycling… Why does it happen there and not in Mountain biking? will it change the sport? I think so. I finally think the money will start to disappear from the road racing. Less prize money, less sponsorship money and all around less attention. So, less pressure to perform for the money. Less doping.

Bad for road racing, good for mountain biking? Will the pendulum swing to the other side and give mountain biking the spotlight? I think it will but hopefully not to fast. The reason I enjoy mountain bike racing so much is the simple fact that is about riding and having fun. Most professional mountain bikers spend more on racing than they get back from it. We do it because we love it! Not for the money or the attention.

As much I as I would love to make the salary of a major league baseball player, I wouldn’t want what came with it. But I don’t think salary’s like baseball will ever happen in mountain biking, mostly because baseball is so much more fun to watch ; )
Lets keep mountain biking fun, but lets make it worth it so those who devote their life to it.

So, here are my 2 cents: Let them dope or suspend them for taking an aspirin, I don't really care…I’m going for a ride!!! See you on the trail (with my dignity).

Time for an update.

2007-07-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hey y’all

The riding has begun again and I am starting to add on the miles.

But bigger than that (if you haven’t heard), Kristina and I are having a baby this week. Things are going great; Kristina is starting to get tired pretty easily but still won’t slow down. The family is starting to fill the house, my mom and Kristina mom and step dad are all here and the rest are waiting until the little poop machine shows up.

I never knew how much stuff it takes to have a baby. I think a bigger van might be in order ; ) But we are ready I already got “it” it’s first single speed. Pictures to come as soon as it can hold it’s head up (maybe sooner).
I thought a 29er would be too big, but it’s red like my Niner.

More updates to come…

Time for a break…

2007-06-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well I have missed a couple race reports in the last month, mostly because I have been dealing with a sore hip that I haven’t given the chance to heal. Well, I did a road criterium this last weekend and my hip felt pretty good. The first good glimpse I have had in a while, I was making the turn back into good form.

So my first criterium, I have stayed away from these as I thought they were dangerous. I started out well; I knew everyone in the field and had ridden with them on many occasions. It was a very tight turning course but the field was only about 17 people. The pace was good and pretty fast, but not too fast, I felt like I had a good chance to win. The sprint was really for the last corner as the last stretch was very short. I made my move out of the second to last corner I pulled to the front and began to set my line for the last turn when someone came up on my outside and hit my left side and sent me flying.

Before I knew it I was sliding upside down on my helmet watching Mike Simpson slide down the road on top of my bike (this was good for Mike, bad for my bike), I’m glad Mike was OK! Before that I had hit the ground going about 32 mph landing on my left shoulder blade. Then from the head to my hands, hip and feet. After I stopped there was a crowd, lots of good friends and d a few people that just don’t get it… I got to ride in an ambulance for the first time, backboard and all, with my forehead taped down. So all in all it went from a $20 race with the possibility to win $250 to this laundry list….

Body damage:
Broken collarbone
Road rash on my shoulder, elbow, and from my hip to my knee.
Bike damage:
Broke Sram force crank in half, bent BB shell (only had 5 rides on them).
Cracked my frame.
Badly bent Mavic ES front wheel.
Destroyed front tire.
Bent front brake caliper.
Broke both shift levers.
Ground away both quick releases, seat, handlebar, bar tape and left pedal.
Destroyed my helmet and shoes.
I guess I was right, crits are dangerous…
So from now on NO more racing on the road!!! But I’ll still train there.

Thanks to: Justin of Revolution bicycle, Tom and Anthony for coming to the hospital with me. All of you that have called to share a kind word. All the support has been wonderful.

Pictures are comming soon...

2007-05-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

Dirt Sweat and Gears
If you only do one race, do this one next year.

I have to say this was the best race I have ever attended. The only bad thing I can say about it…I have to wait 354 more days to do it again. My hat is off to Clay Higgins and all his wonderful crew, friends and family, you are amazing.

Not only was this event great or the participants with all the great swag, perfect timing, as many top endurance racers as you will see at any race, a great award ceremony and party after the race. It was also a great event for the spectators; it was very to see the racers at many points on each lap with little effort. There were also Trials stunt shows, live music, kids races, great food and the party after the race ; )

A huge complaint most racers have these days, or at least the ones I talk to, is courses are becoming way to easy. Courses are created in places that are spectator (and roadie) friendly. Little or no single track and nothing technical, courses that you can run slicks. This was a true mountain bike course, tough climbs (911 hill… to name one) lots of single track and cool features like some small “North Shore” style bridges. What makes this race absolutely perfect, is the combination of an incredibly fun and challenging course, and as I mentioned a great race for spectators/media to watch. This was a true national/world quality event!

See you all there next year!!!

2007-05-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

If you have been looking for me I’m back….
It’s been almost two months since my last post; boy did it go by quickly. Here is a quick update on what has happened.

Injuries: Three weeks off the bike due to Siatic nerve issues. I wish doctors were as god like as they thought they were! “ Take these Vicodin and rest, if you’re not better in 4-6 weeks we will try something else” that’s what the doc said. No luck it just got worse. After doing a little research I found that exercise helps. (See Sea Otter Classic below) Oh yeah, a little help for the rest of you…If you ever take as much viacidin as I did, take a laxative as well ; )

New toys: For those of you that know me I have been traveling around in a VW Golf (powered by Biodiesel) for that last many years. Unloading it is like the cargo van the clowns use when they are traveling 20 to a car. So, I finally decided to get something a little bigger, A Sprinter, it needs some customization but it is a great rig, so roomy and great biodiesel mileage (about 25mpg doing 80) as well.

Racing: Wow!!! I have shocked myself and a few others…
Sea Otter Classic, As I mentioned before I was off the bike so long that I wasn’t sure if I could even finish one lap at Sea Otter. I planned to get there early to preride to see how my back would do…. I picked Dejay up in San Jose on Thursday, and planned to pre ride on Friday. If you know Dejay (and I’m sure you do…) he know everyone, before our preride we took a quick lap through the expo, 6 hours later it was dark and we had not seen the dirt. Plan # 2 early Saturday morning, get up ride then relax. Is 10:30 early, it is for us… We got up, got ready got on our bikes and made it about a mile before the clouds opened up and let loose an inch or two of rain in about 2 hours. I guess I’ll see what my back can do during the race…Plan # 3, 7:32 a.m. Sunday morning, start the race, and try to finish. I took the first lap easy, my back was pretty stiff, but by the time I got to the track my body was ready, I decided to go for it on the second lap. I passed about 7 singles and about 200 others, ending with a faster second lap and a time of about 3:02, about 10 min behind Travis Brown. My confidence was back, and I was ready to go to Tennessee for the Cohutta 100 and the Dirt sweat and Gears 12 hour.

Cohutta 100, this was a cool race…on the starting line with the big boys. Chris Eatough, Tinker Juarez, Mark Hendershot, Harlan Price, Ernesto Marenchin and many more top riders. It was a long race and Sea Otter was the longest ride I had done in a month. Plan # 247, Start easy and finish…strong. It started with some fun single track that made it hard to pass for the first hour, but it was perfect, I got a great warm up. I hit the first double track and started to move… Not knowing it, but I had passed the singlespeeder in the lead. I keep a strong pace and rode like I was in second place until the last aid station and they informed me I was in the lead, I had to finish hard. No problem, I finished first in the single speed category 18 min ahead of second place. And 23 overall with a time of 7:47.24.

Cohutta 100

Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour, what a great event (more to come on the event itself).

8:00a.m. To 8:00 p.m. Plan # 1, Let everyone go out too hard and POP!!! I had three Singles in front of me for the first three laps, Jake Kirkpatrick, Dejay Birtch and Lee Unwin. I don’t think they ever got more than 5 minutes ahead of me but when I passed them they seemed to be going backwards. Five laps into the race I hadn’t eaten enough and was starting to slow, and Dejay had a very good lap, my lead went from 15 min to about 5, I got a little scared. Not far into the 6th lap Pua caught me and I decided to try and stay with here for a while. After a lap I had my legs back and was on the move again. 11:47.03 later I was finished with 11 laps, 1 more than Dejay Birtch (2nd place Pro single speed), and 7th place solo overall.

Coming soon…
New sponsors
Up coming races
What I liked a bout the Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour race!!!

2007-03-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

The Warriors Society’s Vision Quest
56.5 miles and 11,000’ of climbing, why is it that I keep coming back to this event every year? It’s a simple answer…I’m crazy!!! At least I used a suspension fork this year.

5:30 a.m. darkness still flooding Black star Canyon, some had lights some rode by brail. Cameron (the overall winner) had a light and used it to establish an early lead and spread the group of 300 or so out like a line of ants. I was dreading the early start, mostly because I don’t like to get out of bead before 8:00, but it ended up being pretty awesome sight. After fifteen minutes you could look down the switchbacks and watch the line of lights snaking up the canyon. It’s not too often to see a group that big on a night ride.
So, this is what the race works out to be…
An hour and a half of climbing, a ten-minute technical descent.
An hour and forty min climb, a 30-minute descent.
An hour and a half climb (including a 30minute hike), a 30-minute descent to the finish.

This was my first big test of the year and it went pretty well. I lead the single speed category for almost the whole race. Mike Kent (this guy can go fast!!!) passed me on the Holy Jim trail and had the lead for about 15 minutes. This is when I was truly tested; I had started cramping about five minutes earlier and didn’t have the agility to flow smoothly and almost gave up and let him go. I wanted the win and couldn’t give up; there was a long way to go. I found a groove and made it to the bottom where I found Mike fixing a flat tire. Just the break I needed!!! I went as hard as I could without cramping, only for Mike to catch me at the base of the hike-a-bike section. I knew if I beat him to the top of the last descent I could beat him to the finish. Everything I had went into that hike.

No sign of him at the top of the hike. I had a margarita (Clif shotbloks) and made my way across the Main Divide to the top of the Trabuco trail. 11,000 feet of climbing done, it was all down hill to the finish. And I was in the lead. Within a couple minutes Mike was on my wheel, but this time he as going to have to work if he wanted to pass me. He was on my wheel for a couple minutes, the he was gone another flat. I caught Brad and Todd (both race for Team Shoair as well) and they let me draft for a couple minutes, but I couldn’t keep the pace on a singlespeed.
I crossed the finish line in 5:56:35 more than 21 minutes faster than last year. First place single speed and sixth place overall.

The BIG wheel single speeds take first and second, it must be the hair!!!

Great job to everyone that competed this year!!!
As someone famous said:
”It hurts the same for everyone, some people just go faster”

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

2007-03-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

Finally a good time at the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo.
The two previous years for me were rough. Both solo attempts, neither lasting more than 11 hours. There was mud, crashes, broken bikes, rain, getting lost, and freezing temperatures…it was no fun.
This year was nothing like that; Dejay Birtch, Jake Kirkpatrick, Chris Latham and I decided not to solo, and to try a 4-man singlespeed team instead. It was the perfect year, good weather, a little windy but I like the wind (while I am racing). We had a goal to set a new course record, unfortunately, half way through the night we knew that wasn’t going to happen. We were having too many mechanical problems; flats, broken chains and a couple crashes. Also, the “Jack Mormon Militia” was there with the same goal and they weren’t having the problems that we were.
The mechanical problems were over by the middle of the night, and we had some catch up to do. We had found ourselves in 4th place about 35 minutes behind 1st. By 3:00a.m. We were back in second place getting closer to the “Militia” but they kept a gap of about 25 minutes all the way to the end.

In the end we finished pretty well, Dejay had the fasted night lap of all the singlespeeders, I was the third fastest person on the first lap (with a flat tire) and we were the third fastest team overall!
Four guys, four bikes, one gear, 25 hours, 345 miles! Priceless

For all you thinking about doing a 24-hour race, think about the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo!!! It is a fun course and is the best-run race that I have ever competed in. Thanks Todd and the Epic rides staff and volunteers.

I would love to write more but there is a new update on Fox news about Brittany leaving rehab… talk to ya later.

Fuzzy

2007-02-13T17:00:00.001-08:00

Race report: Single Speed Arizona 2007

The first race of the year… Is it a sign of what’s to come?
The first race of the season was this weekend in Tucson Arizona. It proved to be the most technically challenging trail that I have ever ridden. It started out with a nine mile fire road climb then on to a loop section about the same distance that included some of the hardest conditions that I have ridden in, rolling over large rocks into sand and back again. After finishing the loop you arrived back at the top of the long climb and the rest of the course included some fast flowing single track rolling through the hills and along the ridges and ended descending down the steepest rockiest trail that I have ever ridden/walked. I have never thrown myself off so many 2 foot drops in my life.

I was able to pre ride the first loop of the course on Thursday, and I new that the second half of the course would be extremely challenging and it would be where I would loose the most time. My plan was to hit the climb hard right of the line and create a gap big enough that I could keep the lead through the difficult section at the end of the course. In the first 200 yards I was in the lead and started to pull away from the group, then all the sudden a guy with tree trunks for leg blows past me. I was almost red lined so I let him go, but I knew I had to keep him close. Luckily for me, he popped and in just a couple minutes and I was back in the lead. The first twenty minute of climbing I had only established a 30 second lead, fortunately for me the climb leveled out to about 5% and I put the hammer down and put two more minutes on them by the top of the climb!

When I hit the top the promoter wanted me to stop so he could give me the KOM (King Of the Mountain) prize, he didn’t have it ready and I didn’t wait. I hit the first single track and really got in a fast groove and tried to keep my lead. I thought I would have an easier time with this section after pre riding, no such luck, I was pretty tired and had rough start when on the technical sections it seemed like every time I dropped of a rock into the sand I fell of the bike. I must have hit the ground a dozen times in a couple miles. I returned back to the trail after loosing taking the wrong line through a wash. I lost a few seconds and I new I could not afford to do that again, I needed to be on the ball and ride smooth and pick the good lines. With the rocks and sand behind me, I had a couple short tough climbs and I would be back at the top of the first climb. As I crested the “grinder” I had a good view behind me and there was nobody in sight. My plan was working!!!

I came around the last corner to the top of the climb and saw Dejay, the promoter, standing in the middle of the road pointing me in the right direction. When I got closer I realized he had something for me. The KOM prize, with a disclaimer… I must carry it all the way to the finish or I would be disqualified. “Sweet 50 bucks. Is it all quarters?” I said. Nope, it’s all nickels and dimes” Dejay says with a laugh as he stuffs the five and a half pound of change into my jersey pocket. I’m glad I didn’t wait for it the first time around.
On to new territory, the Arizona trail, brought some challenging single track climbs with stair steps and loose rock. I was feeling great I powered through everything and kept a good rhythm and I was starting to get confidant. What a false sense of security I had, after three or four miles I started to doubt whether I was going the right direction. I started riding slower, so if I were going the wrong direction I wouldn’t be too far off track. A few more miles and I had found a familiar spot that I had driven to before the race and I was reenergized, it was time to pick up the pace. Again feeling good I got in a grove and kept the pace fast, I new the turn to the last descent was in about four miles.

This part of the course had only been marked with cairns and at times was a little confusing; I got to a split in the road and had no idea where I needed to go. Thankfully there were two hikers approaching, I asked them if they knew the Milagrosa trail. “ Oh sure, it’s about 6 miles back the way you came from…” Oh crap I thought to myself, I am lost. I talked with them for a couple minutes and decided to turn back to see if I missed a turn, I got a few hundred yards and decided that I had been going the correct direction and turned around again. A few minutes later another hiker informed me that I was in fact going the correct way and I only had one kilometer to the next trial split.

Yes, the last trail junction and it was marked! I turned right and made it 100 yards and had to turn around, I was told to keep left. I went the other direction and made it 50 yards, "this doesn’t look right either". Back the other way again, this time I climbed about a mile, and I knew I was in the wrong place. I turned around one last time, retracing my tracks and took the trail to the left. A couple hundred yards later I crossed a creek and saw a fresh wet tire track coming out of the creek. Someone had passed me on the last descent.

I rode as fast as possible, the trail started getting difficult and I started going over the bars again. I regained my composure and found a groove after a couple minutes I saw the rider a half mile ahead of me. “I can catch him, no problem,” I thought to myself and it happened fast. With in a couple minutes I came around another corner and he was 50 yards away. And I instantly noticed he had gears. Sweet! He’s not even in the race. I passed him and he said that I was in the lead.

All I had to do now was survive the descent, which was no easy task! Drop after drop after drop it never ended, I have walked down stairs that weren’t so steep. I rode some, I walked some. 2000 feet in two miles, that’s a steep trail. I made it to the bottom with no problems and just 2 miles of pavement to the finish, with not a sole in sight except my geared friend, I set a good pace and cruised in for the win!!

Here is a closer look at the winners award and the KOM prize.

It was a fast race, The promoter expected the winners to finish in about four hours; With getting lost my finish time was 3 hours and 27 minutes. 12 minutes ahead of 2nd place, Jake Kirkpatrick. One race one win.
2007 starts off in good fashion!