Want

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/10/cusa/model-0FS291S.html

This frame, full XX, plus these wheels in 29er to keep the bike on the ground a la Jeremiah Bishop's recomendation from STXC nats. He said the bike was so light that a heavier pair of wheels plus heavier tires would be great to help keep the bike on the ground. Mmmmmm yes... I can see it now

Should have brought singlespeed...

The Rattling Creek 50, presented by VisitPA.com and the fine folks at Fast Forward Racing Productions (a.k.a. us...) I arrived two hours early at the scheduled time of 8:00AM. At 11:30 the rain started. At 12:30 I left my car to start marking course towards Zach's car at the other end. It poured and thundered until about 2:30. This gave me the opportunity to

A) Test the effectiveness of my rain gear (very effective)

B) Ride the course in the worst possible conditions (not very bad at all)

The rain eventually let up and I pulled into Zach's car at around 5:30ish. T'was a fun time...

The race started at 10 AM the next day. A nice break from 8AM races at US Cup stuff. About 60 of us rolled out and jetted up the first climb. I dropped back out of the top 10 on the climb and began to pace myself up the 25min climb. Then we ripped some singletrack with some rocks. Then more road. Then more singletrack. Then my leg of the race...

About two thirds of the way through the leg, my fork stuck all the way down. I had to ride Wolf's Pond, Rim trail, and the ensuing descent to CP#2 with no fork. It sucked. Nancy Adams saved the day with a shock pump, which brought my fork back to full travel. Then about 2/3 of the way through the next leg of the race, on my way down Rattling Creek Trail, it happenned again. I just love rocky descents with no fork. If I had wanted to ride a rigid bike I would have brought my freaking singlespeed with its plush steel tubes. I now see why I ride steel on my rigid bike. This gave me the opportunity to:

A) Test the durability of the Lefty fork to effectively direct impacts (very durable)

B) Decide if riding non-steel rigid bikes was good or not (not good at all)

At CP#3 Randy helped me fix my fork and we pumped it to about 250psi so it wouldn't compress and stick down too much, It stayed that way for the rest of the race, which sucked a lot. A lot. Finished 20th overall in 6:22. It hurt lots, but I felt basically good all day.

Now to get pumped for 7 Springs solo...

Mt. Snow dreamin'

Ahh the simple pleasures of migrating north in the summer. Slightly cooler temperatures, lots of biting bugs, time alone in a tent, and some damn good bike racing. That's right folks, Last weekend after picking Ms. Geology up at her home in the wilds of New York, we headed north to the land of big time ski resorts and big time racing. Mt. Snow, that is.

This year, being a Kenda Cup East and Pro XCT race, the newly renamed Mt. Snow Shootout showcased the fastest racers North America has to offer. The pro fields were stocked with names like Canadian National Champs Kabush and Pendrel (both fresh of World Cup wins in Bromont), US National Champs JHK and Irmiger, and pretty much everyone else who's fast. So it made for an interesting weekend of spectating. Watching Kabush ride away to back-to-back XC and STXC wins was amazing. JHK's national championship kit and matching bikes were amazing. Probably the best national champ kit I've seen yet, excepting maybe Tim Johnson's CX kit from last year. In fact, even though I raced myself into the top 10 (well into 10th at least) in the Cat. 1 races, I had much more fun tromping around the woods and the short track course spectating with Ms. Geology. Oh, and Jeff Lenosky's trials show was pretty damn cool as well.

Waiting


Rolling through to start lap 2


JHK and his sick new kit and matching Superfly 100 (drool... want... want... drool...)

Press

Some one had the good idea to put my picture on their website...

http://www.granbyranch.com/mtnbike.asp

101 from the other side

Seeing things from the other side is always interesting. For interest, not racing the Wilderness 101 but instead heading up with my dad and working Aid #3. Spent all day pretty much lubing chains and making sure people where mechanically ready to continue to race. Pretty uneventful, but actually a lot of fun. Then I swept the leg from Aid 3 to Aid 4 with Tim and Raymond. It took us 3.5hrs with pulling arrows and riding slowly behind any stragglers. It was a lot of fun. That leg of the race contains all the best singletrack, so I was greeted with a chance to slowly ride some of the trails that I have only ridden in an oxygen deprived, mentally deficient racing state. Beautiful trail is exactly that. I am happy about this. But next year I want to race.

Off to Mt. Snow on thursday. Should be fun.