Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Challenge

If you have the sack, break this record on Stava. Road bikes only.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Absolute Mayhem

The Mayhem race lived up to it's name. Not that it wasn't well organized, just the opposite in fact. The whole event was well run and probably one of the most relaxed and fun races I have ever done. Our team "Wang Chung Tonight" was comprised of me, Dirk, Zac, and the Brat. The format was this: A 13 mile loop with 5 timed sections. The fasted riders time on the team gets saved and calculated toward the overall team time. So if one guys bites it in a section then its no big deal 'cause the other dudes can still post a good time. This was the first time I rode with Dirk, he is a former motocross dude so his handling skills are pretty good. He raged down the first section and actually set the overall record for that section. Unfortunately he dropped his chain on the next two sections so we had to use my times on those. I was a bit off this weekend due to a recent virus that had me feverish and vomiting just the night before. Fortunately the sections were short so the efforts didn't last long. Sections 4 was pretty mild but the last section had some big jumps and lots of mud. Right after the race there was BBQ and Sierra Nevada to be had, too bad my stomach wasn't in the mood for beer. We ended up 5th place out of just shy of 50 teams. We felt pretty happy about this and they handed out VERY generous swag bags to the top ten teams, loaded with goodies like sets of Kenda tires and loads of other stuff. This race will absolutely be on the list next year, but I really wish I would have been able to pre-ride. There were plenty of 'Oh shit" moments out on the course. I must say that a 5 inch travel all mountain machine would probably be the perfect weapon. We all had hardtails and made our time on the climbs mostly.

Monday, May 14, 2012

It was a classic TOSRV this weekend with surprisingly nice weather on Saturday followed by complete rain on Sunday. So much rain that I actually poured water out of my frame and rims. I can't really say I enjoy long road rides on mostly flat roads but we had the triplet out with Zac as the second stoker, which added a bit of horsepower. Feeman did well drafting on the way down but on Sunday I think he was feeling the effects of too much Oatmeal Stout and smoked meat from the Scioto Ribber. (Maybe don't chug the pitcher next time eh?) The high point of the ride was Saturday in the hill section. We were cooking down a hill and started up the other side when a car had slowed for two other cyclists on the climb. We had a full head of steam and I pulled an extremely cheeky(and dangerous) move. I cut inside the car and then had to swerve the 'Mongo' of a bike we were on back to the left so as not to rear end the other cyclists. We crested the hill at about 25 all felt much lighter since we dropped intestinal weight from that incident.

Sunday, May 06, 2012

NEO #1, The Knob

Look how easy it was for Suppan to ride away from me.
It was a very nice weather day to start off the NOE Power Series this year. The course was really fast and as far as I know there were record fast times laid down this year. Some of the fastest guys were doing some 31's! Needless to say, the new course changes this year have greatly improved the overall speeds. I do miss the 50/50 curve, but all in all the changes are good. I will say for the first time I believe a 29r is the fastest bike to have at the Knob now. As you ride the trail you can see the natural trail evolutions that have occurred over the last few years as the big wheels carve out wider radius turns, and the trail has adapted to that in many areas. More speed should be more fun right? Well not necessarily, as speed is all relative to your surroundings. I don't think there is any way to stop this type of change, but I would sure hate to see all trails as open as Mohican for example. The world still needs tight singletrack to equalize the off road cycling scene. Enough of that and on to the race. I took off in a usual quick fashion and never get challenged for first spot into the woods, until this year. Soup fought hard and got in first, and I can't recall how many years its been since that has happened to me. I knew he was stronger but wanted to see what pace he would do so I stayed with him until just after the goldfish pond. He then just rode away and there was nothing I could do. Franek and Lorson caught up, and Franek rode on by as well. So John and I stayed together for pretty much the whole race until his chain dropped on lap three. With the new age classifications neither one of these guys is in my category anyways so I rolled in at 2nd. I'll say it now, this year is gonna suck since there are only a handful of guys in my class, and Suppan and Clark are among them, as well as Cochran. My only saving grace will be the time trials at Findlay and Reagan since they still favor a quick handler.

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