Fiddy

I suppose that in hindsight, the Fair Hill 50 went pretty well.  My body behaved (a better test is coming this weekend though), but my bike did not.  About 10 mi in, I noticed a wobbling in my right shoe area.  Thinking it was my cleat because I had put new ones on a few weeks ago, I hopped off and tightened it.  Still wobbling.  I was immediately brought back to 2010 TransSylania Epic Stage 3 and my epic walk-a-thon after a bottom bracket implosion that started as the same feeling.  And of course, the XX crankset on my bike needs a 10 mm allen wrench to tighten, so I had no way of easily fixing it.  And neither did the three people who stopped and tried to help.  Pedal on...

Wes

Marc

Mile 35.  My freehub started to go again.  Not only could I not shift into my big ring because the crankarm was not attached, the freehub was skipping a few pawls and the bearing were beginning to make an awful noise when I wasn't pedaling.  Also when I was pedaling.  Pretty much all the time actually.  I made it to the finish though.  4hrs 52 min.

Ms. Geology-approved blurry effect.

Cheese???

Now I am nursing a swollen and/or knotted up right calf, most likely from pedaling with a wobbly crankarm for a whole day, and a pretty sore body in general.  Also, I feel like I can't eat enough food.  Ever.  I think I've had three dinner's tonight and I am still hungry.  Guess I need more food.  And less limping.  Hopefully there will be less limping my Sunday and the latest for the Iron Mountain 100k, which I am super looking forward too.  It will be our third long trip of the year (Ms. Geology is coming because I doubt my ability to drive myself back in time for work on Monday), although this one is only taking us one (so close to two though) state away.

Hopefully I can find time to pick up my bike too, as it is currently at le Shop.  I'm getting a shiny new hub for my race wheels as I am done dealing with light weight, low durability West Coast crap.  Having a hub blow out less than a month after completely rebuilding it is unacceptable, especially because I only had like a half a dozen rides on it.  It will be replaced by a Michaux-tested, Brett-approved hub, which will match the rest of the bike.  Hooray for unintended repairs taking my bike fit money.

Part of the C3 army at the start.  Photo by Dennis

Making the Best of Things

Recently I have been working a lot.  I have been riding as much as I can, and actually felt good coming into my first main event, the Mohican 100.  I was ready, so Ms. Geology and I set out on a sunny Friday for Ohio.  It was a fairly uneventful drive all things considered.  Other than a bit of mid afternoon traffic through Pittsburgh, and the awful interchange where I-70 merges into I-76 (seriously, whose idea was that?) we made it in good time.  The last part of the drive, through the Ohio countryside, was the best.  We got to the venue, checked into out campsite, drove up the mountain almost to the top and set up our campsite.  I went to ride, and was greeted to some pretty sweet singletrack.

Money...

It was this, plus some cool rocky sections, so I was stoked.  I got my bike ready in the dark while Ms. Geology read by what little light was left from the sky.

Didn't feel like making a fire... we were just going to go to bed

Most legit number plates ever. 1/8" thick plastic with a timing chip on the back.  Mid Atlantic Timing, take note.

We were camped right on the course.

The next morning, we were up early for my pre-race breakfast.  I rolled out to the start (about 2 mi away in the center of town) about 45 min before the race just to be sure I wouldn't miss anything.  I imagine that this is how many European races start.  A few hits of the horn of an early 90s Chevy pickup and we were off and running.  It felt like an XC start.  Very much not like the 100 milers I was used to with their controlled neutral roll-outs and all.  I did really enjoy starting in the center of town.  A lot of townsfolk were out watching even through it was 7:00 on a Saturday morning.

Rassin...

Needless to say I didn't get very far.  About 9.5 mi into the race I stood up to power up over a little rise in the singletrack.  Two pedal strokes, a loud crack, and I was going nowhere.  Confused, I looked at my chain.  Not broken.  I stood on the side of the trail for a bit wondering what happened, then I spun my crank.  It spun forwards and backwards.  My race was officially over.  I debated my options.  I could either walk backwards on the course to my campsite, then kill myself to make it to the first aid station by 11:00AM (the cut off).  At this point, it was 9:00AM, which left two hours to walk back 4.5 miles on trail, through traffic.  Not happenning, since it took me 15 min to get back to the last intersection, which was less than a quarter mile away.  I decided to bag it, rolled down a trail, ended up on a road, and scootered myself a mile down the road until I came to a check-in building for the state park camp ground I had popped out in.  Using their phone, I called Ms. Geology and she picked me up and brought me back to race HQ to officially DNF myself.  I'm not bitter at all.  I'm glad it happened in the first 10 mi, instead of at mile 60, or even worse 80 or 90.  Hell, then I would have probably attempted to run the last 10 miles.

We made the best of it though...

Mini Golf across the street.

Hiking and spectating.

It seemed like he was moving a lot faster at the time...  A LOT faster.

We pretty much had a good day hanging out at a bike race, watching the leaders, watching the awards and drinking a few free beers.  Next day we packed up and left after a quick bike ride in the morning into town.  Considering I didn't get to race, it was a pretty good weekend.

I spent the next week in the field for work, and came across this little gem on the Surly Bikes blog.  Pretty funny...

Last week I hitched up my car and struck out on my own for the Lumberjack 100 in northern Michigan.  It's the longest drive I've ever done on my own, and for my health, I decided to break it up into two days.  Leaving after work, I drove until midnight on Thursday, woke up, and was on the road by 7:30 the next morning.  It was a pretty much uneventful drive.

When I reached the race venue, I stepped out of my car and was greated by a swarm of medium sized mosquitos.  Welcome to the North Woods (cue stories from my Grandfather and his brother).  The course was wonderful.  Just miles and miles of flowy, sandy singletrack.

Saturday's race went less well than expected.  I was feeling great, and racing hard for the first 50 miles, then my stomach decided it was quitting time and sent me into a downward spiral of feeling like I was going to throw up and "find the brown speed" at the same time which eventually ended in dehydration and me finishing the race in 10:45 instead of the eight-something I was planning on.

No pictures because I didn't have any cameras and I was racing.  And a special thanks goes out to the guys at Twenty20 Cycles who fixed my broken bike up from Mohican just in time for me to leave for Lumberjack.  Also to Ergon for making everything but my hands hurt during races.

I'm gonna chill for a while now, then hit up the Fair Hill 50, Iron Mountain 100k, and the Wilderness 101.  Since I can't really do anything towards an overall in the NUE series, I'm going to refocus on cross and just do a bunch of mountain bike races I enjoy for the rest of the year.  Who knows, maybe I'll be more successful that way...

Late Night's, Long Days

Lotsa long days at work in the past two weeks.  Something like 4 new short-term projects opened up (one is a glorious 3 hr drive away) in the last two weeks, leading to a deluge of work.  A mass of drilling last week, two days of it standing in a field of what I can only surmise was hay given my adverse reaction to it, plus one day in a sand and gravel quarry left my lungs pretty much swimming in crud for French Creek on Saturday.  After a late return from work on Friday night (8:00 PM), I bailed on the Endurance Race, switched over to the "easier" Elite race, and ended up bailing on that too due to bike/lung issues.

Kyle has Gu-legs

Got about a quarter lap in at whatever race pace I could muster, which ended up just spinning up hills and crushing down hills as fast as I could go to close gaps.  The moral of the story is that the Epic is the perfect bike for that course.  Ms. Geology and I hung out to watch all our friends finish, then peaced to see some family before my grandfather's memorial service, which was Monday.  Yes, at 100 years and 107 days (April 11 if you didn't count), my grandfather passed away, holding on until the family who had been with him all day left for dinner.  He lived a great and full life, and while he will be missed by many, he would want us to remember his accomplishments rather than grieve.  We did just that on Monday, with lots of music from almost all family members (and others), some jokes, the story of how he met my grandmother (ask me in person if you want to know), and a few good plugs for his favorite place, Dickinson College.  The college President, former Vice President, a few Dean's, the now-retired Photographer (a close family friend), and a few others from the college attended, which was nice to see.  It was a very good weekend of seeing family and relatives that I don't see all the time, and celebrating Old Granddad's life.

Here's to you OGD

Oh yeah, and there was Granogue last week.  I had a great time hanging out with people. and almost exactly 1/2 of a good race.  Whatevs... Thanks to Marc, Lauri, Tom, Buddy, and all involved for putting on such a quality event.  I am honored to be able to help out.

Good Race

Bad Race... Photo by Dennis

Now I'll just try to fit in rides where I can so I can still have some form for June (see schedule to your right).  Maybe I'll be in Carlisle next week for work so I can ride me some Michaux...

Glamor shot

Coal Country

Trips to Coal Country are always a welcome thing in my life.  Not that I support the use of coal as our primary energy source or anything like that.  Far from it actually.  It just makes for frikin awesome geology.  Seriously.  The majority of the tectonic history of the eastern United States was unraveled at a site not too far from Danville and the Tour de Tykes.  If that's not cool, then I don't know what is...

Gunnar and I thought about it for a while, and it's been three years since either of us had been to the Tour de Tykes.  Last time we were there there was camping in a field somewhere.  There was a short track race, and a hill climb.  There was swimming in a creek.  There was dinner at some cool people's house.  It was also about 110 degrees out with 90 percent humidity.  This past weekend was [obviously] not that.  No camping.  It rained on the drive up there.  Ms. Geology and I stayed in a hotel in Hazleton.  Funny thing is that there were about 40 or 50 young college age looking people there (so basically they looked like us).  We had no idea why they were there.  We knew there was some kind of concert in the hotel so we figured maybe for that.  Next morning at breakfast we find that they are from Bryn Mawr College.  Ok.  As we check out, I spy a familiar looking packet with the following writing on the front: "Geology 102 Spring Class Field Trip Guide."  Classic.

Race went off pretty normally.  Zach drove all the way up with his buddy Joe to take pictures with Kyle's camera (see the book of face).  National Forrest and I damn near missed the start, rolling up with about 1.5 minutes to go.  Pics now... bed time for me.

Brandon, destroyer of souls

Aaron, one who chases back from flats

Matt, added to the list of people I will perennially chase

Gunnar makes funny faces when he rides

Almost finished.  17th place. 0.5 hours behind Brandon.

Post-storm destruction.

We-viewz

So now that I've spent a good bit of time on my new stuff, I figure I should write about it.  Really, I'm just super bored at work and need a distraction during my lunch break.

The Bike: Specialized Epic Expert 29er

First of all, this bike is amazing.  Huge thanks to Auer-Power at Twenty20 Cycling for hooking me up with this ride.  I'm glad we were able to make it happen.  Super-great bike shops are just that.  If you're in the Baltimore area and need anything bike-related, they'll hook you up.  The bike is Specialized's new carbon-framed full suspension 29er.  This specific model actually has a carbon front triangle with an aluminium rear triangle.  A good trade off to take a thousand dollars or so off the price.  Specialized is pushing the technological limits by making the dropout spacing 142 mm (as opposed to the usual 135 mm) and including fitments for a 12 mm through axle (a.k.a. the Syntace X12 system).  Their goal was to increase the "lateral stiffness" of the rear end of the bike, whatever that means.  I was initially a little put off my the rear through-axle, thinking that it would be burdensom during races when trying to change a flat.  It's definitely not.  You unscrew it, and the wheel comes out like usual.  Plus it includes alignment tabs so it is impossible to put your wheel in out of alignment.  No more franticly fixing a flat, throwing your wheel back in only to find 10 feet down the trail that your wheel isn't in straight.  Very good addition.

The rear suspension it dampened by the Specialized/Fox Brain shock.  Active when you want it, locked out when you don't.  I'm running mine at "fully firm" which means that the bike feels like a hardtail when your up on the pedals, but like a smooth full suspension rig when your in the rough stuff.  The trade off is less response on smaller and slower-speed hits.  I am fine with that, because I, you know, know how to ride my bike.  Plus everytime I stand on the pedals the speed and acceleration I get washes away all my concerns about lack of plushness.  Travel and dampening is matched on the front of the bike with the Specialized Reba Brain fork.  It's a Reba with a Specialized tapered crown (mine is aluminium, the top end is carbon) and the Brain damper.  I'm runing that at fully firm dampening as well, with equal air pressure in the positive and negative chamber.  The result is a fork that is rigid fork-firm when you're on smooth terrain and wide open and smooth when things get hairy.  The Brain in the fork is tuned slightly softer than on the rear end, meaning that it opens up for a smaller hit even when both are set to firm.  It works very well; much better than I expected when I first got the bike.  The only complaint I have about the bike is that I wish they had included a through-axle up front to match the stiffness and rigidity of the through-axle in the year.  You can't have everything right?  Maybe next year's model will include such a thing.

The rest of the bike is just parts.  Durable, reliable, light (enough for now) parts.  X0 rear derailleur, X7 front derailleur with X9 shifters.  2x10 drivetrain with a Specialized specific 24/38 chainrings, and a regular 11-36 cogset.  Personally, I could care less for the 24/38 rings and would rather have the standard SRAM 2x10 26x39.  Unfortunately the removable spider kit is not available aftermarket yet.  C'est la vie.  Maybe I'll pick one up once they exist.  The other parts on the bike were stock Specialized stuff.  I haven't changed much, just dropped a cut to 660 mm ENVE Composites Sweep Bar on the front end.  It's super pimp.  Subtle, strong, and light.  Eventually I'll put a full set of ENVE cockipt stuff on there (stem and seatpost), which will drop some static weight off the bike., which weighed 26 lbs 2 oz when I picked it up.  With the race wheels as pictured it's probably 1 - 2 lbs lighter, although I have not actually weighed it yet.

The bike rides very well.  The first time I jumped on it (a singletrack ride on packed/unpacked snow) it felt like I had been riding it forever  The geometry is very neutral feeling.  Snappy when you need it to be, and super stable on long fast descents.  Once the suspension opens up, the bike just floats over everything.  I had a bit of a learning curve while I readjusted my riding style to doing certain technical moves such as logs and rock-overs on the full suspension (adding about 10 psi to the rear shock helped a lot).  At speed the bike is a dream.  It's like riding on a cloud.  Going slower, the bike (probably because I have the Brains set on fully firm) actually feels awkward.  You can actually feel the brains opening up and hear the definite "clunk" coming from the rear end.  It's not a problem; it just means that I have to go faster, and since this is a race bike faster is better.

New Ergon Stuff: GS-2 grips and GX-2 backpack

New Ergon stuff is always appreciated.  I grabbed myself a pair of the new GS-2 grips this year.  They are a cross between the GX series, which fit my small girly-hands very well, and the GP series, which are a bit more comfortable.  The result is a grip that is still small and light, but offers a bit more padding for the long haul.  They also have the new GFK bar-ends, which are much more comfortable than the previous carbon ones that I had, although a little heavier.  Meh.  I'll take slightly heavier for more comfortable hands.

The BX-2 pack is Ergon's newest pack.  They're other packs are very comfortable (I also have a BC-1), but because they have a plastic frame and are meant for carrying a day's worth of gear, are too big and too heavy for racing.  The BX-2 fixes that issues.  No frame.  Light weight.  8 L capacity as opposed to 14 L on the BC-1.  Now I can hear you now.  8 L is still pretty big for a pack I plan on racing with.  Yup.  But the pack is pretty light and from the one time I've ridden it, super comfortable and stable.  Plus I can carry 1.5 L more water than my previous pack I wore for long races as well as all the tools and flat stuff I need.  Hey if Brandon and Rob can rock packs this size for 100 milers, why can't I? 

Heading to Danville this Saturday (not Friday, mind you) to race up some mountains.  Should be fun.

Mid-Atlantic Monuments

Fair Hill XC is a Monument.  At least around here.  Like the Marysville Relay, Greenbriar, and Granogue.  Classic bike races that should be on everyone's calender every year. I didn't race last year (some college-related musical commitment I believe... psh) so this was my first time rolling with the Elite Field.  It's been a while since I've experienced Spit-Out-The-Backitis (probably since the U23 Elite race at Kansas City CX Nats).  I got a very good taste of it on Sunday.  Second row start (same as CX Nats)

Where am I?

But got spit straight out the back at the start.  I definitely don't have the snap I need to hang with guys like that at the start.  Normally I would make the excuse that these guys train for short XC events, but 4 of the top 5 guys will be throwing down hard at NUE races this year.  I think this start may have been faster than some 'cross starts I've been a part of.

Zero to what??? in 10 seconds

Rest of the race went pretty well.  Entered the singletrack behind Madison, passed him, rode in no mans land on the climb.  There was a huge group right in front of me, but I couldn't seem to grab hold of them. Got caught by the Madison group again.  Destroyed some people on the gravel road starting lap two, Yada yada...

Bike Racing Ensued...

I felt super-human on anything uphill, but it took me a lap to get my flow on the downhills together.  I guess I stiffened up with racing nerves or something, because I couldn't keep off my brakes and I had to think about leaning my bike over in the admittedly slick corners.  That was the worst part of my race.  My third lap was fun, pretty much alone the entire time because I managed to catch a guy who was cornering slower than I was in the slick tight Fair Hill-ness, so I could put enough gap into him on descents that I could extend it on the climbs.  Rolled across the finish in 1:43:35 with 3 very consistent laps.  Good enough for 24th place.  I'm going to have to work hard if I want to see the top 15.  Being able to make enough money to cover gas or maybe lunch would be cool.

The new bike performed fantastically in its first real racing test.  Having my race wheels on there drops almost 2 lbs off the bike and made it really fast.  The rear end is much stiffer than anything else I've ridden thanks to the 142x12mm through axle.  Picked up some super-bling XX brake rotors to keep the weight down.  New Ergon GS-2 grips are much better than the GX's that I was running last year.  Thanks Ergon!  I'm proud to say you'll be keeping my hands happy for another year.  And thanks to all my  C3 teammates that were out there cheering.  Heading up to Danville, PA for some more XC racing next weekend and the first real test of my climbing legs. Mmmmmmm climbing...

Best Scotty face ever!

End

The ways of things...

It's a wonder that anyone can get any bike racing done with all the work that has to get done.  Work, work, work.  It seems to be all that I've done for the past few weeks.  Work seems to have surely picked up, and I have again started bouncing between COT and Environmental, which makes for a weird work schedule.  Some days I'd work until 6 and other days I'd work until 7:45 (AM that is...).  Messes up your sleep, messes up your riding (clearly messes up your blog output), and pretty much messes up your entire mojo.  I tried to fix some of that mojo with a trip up to Michaux to visit the Weiser's, build some wheels and ride.  Donna is training for TSE, so she's been putting in a bunch of hours on the bike.  I'm really excited for her and will live my TSE-jones through her.  It's an event that, while not on my calender (see right) this year due to monetary/work constraints, it will definitely be in the future.

Fortunately, my calender does include cool events like being a counselor/ride leader at the MACDC.

This kid is going to be a rock star very, very soon.  He's like 8 and he rips already.  Photo (c) A.E. Landes Photography

It's a lot of fun just to get to go to Michaux and lead rides and hang out with really cool people who are passionate about mountain biking.  And also kids.  The C3 Dark Side loves kids:

See??? C3 loves the children! Photo (c) A.E. Landes Photography.

Chilled around (a.k.a. worked) for a week or two, then, scratched together a team of my favorite people for the Marysville Open Relay, one of the best events of the year.  Kyle, Jeff, Forrest and I teamed up and went out to have some fun for the day.

All loaded up and everywhere to go

I had asked Tom if he wanted to come race with us when Jeff, Kyle, and I were trying to find a fourth, but he abstained and decided that he could come with Der Crafter and provide some support for the weekend.  He ended up not being able to come, but gave Jeffy the Crafter anyway, plus all the necessary stuff with it.

The big unpack

We had an awesome race.  Ended up putting in 16 laps, good enough for 10th in lap time and 14th including the handicap points.  The team really pulled it together to get Jeff out on his fourth lap.  Kyle docked a few seconds off his time, I dropped about 15 seconds, and Forrest rolled a sub-15 minute lap (about 30 seconds faster than his other laps) to send Jeff of with 30 seconds left in the race.  Jeff was pissed, but it all was better in the end.  Coupled with a FatRide on Sunday, I definitely had a good weekend.  Now that racing has started up I'm excited to keep at it.  Next weekend is Fair Hill.  Successful Elite Racing (a.k.a. finishing an Elite race) here I come!

Kyle is sad for running... and rocking a sweet new team kit

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Guns are the best way to start a bike race.  Especially muzzle loaders...

Miniature Mode on our new camera is soo cool...

Off on my first lap

Going to start playing with Picasa now that we have a pretty nice camera.  One my my first attempts.