Not much to say

I though I would have tomes to write about last weekends race at Greenbrier (not Greenbriar), but I really don't.  I had a good race.  There's not much to say other than that.  I hit the opening climb in 4th, with teammate Consorto and another guy in the lead, and a guy from Joe's Bike Shop (is it fair to call anyone from that team a nemesis?) a short distance up the trail.  Things started to split on the descent as I began to reel the Joe's guy in.  In the "hard" rocky switchbacks, "Joe" (we'll call him that) crashed and I blew by him.  The other guy had gapped Consorto, so I bridged up to him on the false flat gravel road.  We traded pulls up the next two climbs, but I had a small gap on him by the top of the main climb.  We finished out that lap with him pulling me through the transition area.  At the start of the next lap, he told me that he wasn't going to be able to hang on my wheel, so I pressed on alone.  I was alone for the next two laps, not know when, or even if, I would catch the guy ahead of me.  At the beginning of my 4th and final lap, Aaron Snyder passed me with a "Why if it isn't Mr. Davidson! How are you going today?" while standing and flying up the short climb.  Looks like moving to State College has paid off...

At the top of the short climb before the main one "Joe," who had crashed on lap one, surged by me.  I stuck on his wheel as quickly as I could and we hit the main climb.  After a short time, he just sat up, and I came around and attacked.  Not really attacked though; I more just upped my tempo and held a small gap.  That gap grew to the top of the climb.  When I hit the false flat ridge section, I kicked it into the big ring and dropped the biggest hammer I could find.  On the next descent, were it not for having to pass one of the Pro women, I don't think I even touched my brakes.  I rode as hard as I could for the rest of the lap and finished a number of minutes ahead of "Joe" to take my second second place ever at the Greenbrier Challenge.  The winner of my class finished a whopping 14 minutes ahead of me.

Mr. Landes, always a good source for fantastic pictures, was in attendance on Sunday and put some pics up here.  There are a few of me sprinkled in there...

Next weekend I'm heading to Race #2 of the MARC series/Race #1 of the MASS series, a.k.a. Iron Hill.  We'll see how that goes as I'll most likely be mixing it up with the Pro field...

Intergalactic

Every time I think about the Relay, this is playing in my head.  It should be playing in yours too:

Just like that song, the Relay is always fun.  This year I raced with a great group of guys:

Marc

Chris and Matt

As you can see Evil Carebear skinsuits were the order of the day, completely for their aerodynamic advantages, though, and not at all because they look wicked sweet.

We paced in 15 laps in a bit over 4 hrs, but it's more about hanging out with friends, and riding laps as fast as you can; kind of like a cross race.  I put in my fastest lap on my last one (a 15:32) as I was trying to bring Team Director/Darth Vader in.  I crossed the line a few seconds after he did.  Marc, though, was ripping some properly fast laps, which was sweet. Good on him.  Now for some more highlights from the day:

Aaron being fast.

Forrest guzzling the 29er Kool Aid.

Zach being a redneck/Amish/hippie thing.

Barry doing his first mountain bike race... I suspect we'll see him back...

Jacob Elingher, with some muscles on him.  Not a twig anymore!

Doing the body english.

Wes/Chris/Ed/Brett on his/their lap quest.

Diane going so fast she drifts the corner.

Now I have to let these stitches heal up, as spending 5 hrs in a chamois on Saturday did them negative good.  The doc that took them out said that the wound looked a bit infected, so I'm not on more antibiotics, and have to keep the thing dry until at least tomorrow.  Basically I haven't ridden my bike or showered since Sunday.  Ewwww...  Also my hands are super dry from doing dishes alright.  Yay for drugs that dry out your skin.  Now to heal up and hopefully get some meaningful rides in this weekend.

Finally Something to Write About

I guess, now that the racing season has started, that I have something to write about now.  It's been a bit of a bummer for the past month-ish since I last wrote something.  Just trying to squeeze as much riding as possible into my work schedule, and semi coming to the realization that it's not really enough.  I'm making progress, but in two weekends of racing I haven't been able to show it.  I own some Strava segments, which makes me feel good, but I still don't feel like I'm exactly in the place I want to be.  I know I'm doing better than I was a few months ago, so I'm trying to focus on that and press onward.  It's semi-working.

So three weekends ago, I traveled up to Michaux for the latest addition of the Mid Atlantic Cycling Development Camp.  It was a good camp, as it always is.  Due to the low attendance I didn't have to lead the kids ride, so I was able to grab onto the "fun" ride.  We packed in 30 miles of the best trails in Norchaux, and it was awesome.  Very awesome.  

Scottie trying to ride Joe's bike.  It was funny.

Most of the group, rolling up Bunker Hill.

Coming off 3 Mile.

The weekend after that, I was back in the area (-ish) for Zach's Tuscarora MTB Enduro.  This is the Michaux MASH reincarnated.  In the week between the MACDC and the Tuscarora race, I got sick.  Sick enough that I only made it through 3 laps (about 2.5 hrs) of the race.  I was sort of on the upswing, but since conditions were super wet and muddy, I didn't want to risk making myself worse.  Definitely not a good test of my form, as I couldn't really push hard up the climbs.  It was still worth the trip; hanging out around a campfire with friends is always worth the trip.

Last weekend, after picking Ms. Geology up at BWI from her week long trip to Indianapolis for a teacher conference (all expenses paid trip... flight, hotel, food, everything), we rallied down to New Castle, VA for Chris Scott's Dragon's Tale bike race thinger.  Everything was good.  The legs were good, the lungs were clear, and the course looked amazing.  My race started with a PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS as I flatted on one of the many river crossings on Broad Run Road; the flat, super fast run-in to the first climb.  By the time I got the tire to seal up again, I was a bunch of minutes off the back of the back group, so I chased as hard as I could to find some people going my speed.  I hit the big climb, Grouse Trail, and started up.  The switchbacks (most of them required walking) yielded amazing views of the little valleys below as we grabbed a few hundred feet more elevation in just a few miles.  Once I got to the ridgetop, I was rewarded with some of the finest singletrack in the history of ever.  Unfortunately, a short time down the first descent (Deer Trail), my day ended.  With this:

Ouchies.

The culprit?  A switchback.  Me sitting far behind my seat.  Not making it around the switchback.  And this:

This is the remains of my seatpost mounted water bottle.  My leg was conveniently wedged between the pointy bit and the bottom of the cage and the tire.  There was, strangely, no pain, so I probably exacerbated the problem by pulling on my bike a bit before calmly assessing the situation, and getting someone to take the tire out so I could get back on the bike.  The Doctor, whose hands are pictured above, did an awesome job of patching me up, completely negating the need for a hospital trip, since were were easily an hour from one.  He stitched me up right there in the woods, complete with lidocane injections (two full syringes full) so I really didn't feel anything.  It was everything they would have done at a hospital minus the paperwork and the waiting around.  I'm very happy he was there, whatever his name is, as the wound is healing very very nicely now.  And the excellent race promoter that he is, Chris stuck around the whole time and filmed most of the stitching with his phone.  I would love to see it, but I don't think he'll release that onto the intertubes.  

I'll probably be back on my bike tomorrow to see how it feels.  I don't want to stress it too much, since I really want to race the Marysville Relay with my super awesome team this weekend!  I'll leave everyone on a less messy note.  Keep the rubber side down, and don't attach a waterbottle to the seatpost of your MTB.  Definitely not worth this.  From now on I will be sucking it up and pocketing it for long races.

The creek behind the venue.  It was perfect.

Ready for fun.

Long neutral roll-out.

Ms. Geology got a ride in the Chris Scott-mobile.  Oh hey, I guess that's me there...

Things to Buy: End-o-the-World Edition

It may seem a little silly that I'm selling a bunch of stuff since the world is going to end in 11 short months, but there is a season of mountain bike racing between now and then, so I'm doing it anyway [/sarcasm]

There are some big ticket items:

Wheelset #1

Wheelset #2 (with tires)

Some medium ticket stuff:

Rear Hub SOLD!!!

Crankset <---- Re-listed, price dropped!

And a small thing:

Brake Rotor <---- Re-listed, price dropped!


*NEW* Things to make your bike go forward:

X7 Front Derailleur

XT Front Derailleur

(If these links are incorrect it's because I can't check them on my computer at work...)

There will be a few more small things added over the next few days, and I'll put them up on this post so you all can easily find them.  Happy bidding!

In other news, I added this to my bike stable yesterday:

Thank you Bad Andy.  I will treat it well.

So long!

EDIT: New Items added!

EDIT: Links fixed.

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Wintery Time

I've been trying to get my cycling feet back under me since oh, about November, and I think I've made some progress in the last two weeks.  The week between Christmas and New Years, I actually clocked about seven hours of riding!!!!  A whole seven hours!  It was amazing.  All on my singlespeed, which is nice, because I love that bike.  It is my favorite out of all of them.  It just feels right.  It's even better after I got some new parts for it for Christmas.  It's much easier to pedal with a bottom bracket that actually turns round.

Took one of my friends from college, a new cyclist, on a road ride yesterday.  He brought the great weather up from Florida for our ride and we ended up putting in 31 mi at a chill chill chill pace in shorts and short sleeves.  It was pretty cool to get out on the road again, as I haven't really done that in a few months.

Enjoying some fresh powder trails in upstate NY.

Pretty NY countryside.

Shiny bits for the SS... plus a bath which it hasn't had in a few years.  Salsa Toothfairy is the best bashguard ever.

 After watching the 'Cross nats coverage on Cyclingdirt today, I'm definitely excited to get riding again.  It was pretty awe inspiring to watch those Delaware's best walk away with the women's race for the eighth time in a row, and to see her young protege pick up the silver.  And watching JPow's perfectly timed attack left me with goosebumps.  Now I am really ready to start 2012 with a bang.  I'm continuously honored to be able to ride with the great group of guys and gals that is the C3-Athletes Serving Athletes team.  All of you inspire me every time you turn your pedals over.  I'm also proud to be an Ergon Factory Rider again for 2012.  This year, not only will they be keeping my hands comfy, but my rear end as well, which is always a plus for 100 mile races.  Sore butt = unhappy bike racer.  I'd also like to tip my hat to ENVE Composites, who is coming on board with some support and some super sweet cockpit components.  They'll cut a few grams of weight off the Epic and pile on a few kilograms of sexiness.

So now that 2011 is actually over (with cross nats being finished and all), congrats to all my friends who trekked out and raced, and I'll see you all when the mountain bike thing starts up again!