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

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...

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

Why am I writing about the weather..?

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....

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

Heavy rain.

More photos from Italy.

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.

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.