I have been taking the last couple of days off to let things recover a bit. Sure, I should be doing a recovery ride and such, but I didn’t…cause bikes are broken.  For being as good of a mechanic as I am, I am WAY too lazy to keep all the bikes in working order.  Because of that, I took the Pugsley out to commute this morning to work.  Felt fine on the ride to and from work twice, I come home for lunch.  So when I got home, I decided, “what the hell, I guess I will take the dog out for a run”.  Bad move.  Things were ok, for the most part, but the legs definitely were still a bit tired.  I think tomorrow I might dig out the road bike and see about a nice easy spin.

Other than that, Kelly has her eye on a race this weekend in Maine and she is interested in giving it a go.  Her race is 1 lap, 5 miles and mine would be another 15 on the single speed.  Guess I need to get the legs in good shape by then..

So I did it.  I got my sorry ass up at 5am and drove for 2 to ride my bike around in a circle for 4 hours.  And even though I was tired as hell for the entire time, it was a good time with some great racing…

Saturday night, I packed up all of my stuff and set it next to the door.  That way, when I was late for leaving, I would just grab everything, throw it in the car and head out.  I was up before the alarm clock went off and got ready.  Kelly decided 10 minutes before I wanted to leave that she was going.  So I loaded up the car with clothing, tools, bike, Kelly and Campy and off we went.  I have to say even though the weather was supposed to be nice, it was raining pretty hard when we left and got worse as we got into the notches.  Luckily it was nice and dry when we got there.

2.5 hour later, we showed up at the site, registered and begun a little pre-race nonsense, which meant getting dressed and warming up a little.  At 10 am, the single speeders were set to go and off the 9 or so of us went.  Lap 1 was pretty insignificant.  I rode with the top 3 of the SS’ers and all was well, kinda.  I stopped at the feed zone and said to Kelly “look at that seat post, its bent isn’t it?” and sure enough, it was.  So I had to baby it a little, not letting my fat ass flop down on it too much.

On lap 2, the other SS’ers put some time on me, but I was ok with that.  After all, this was my first solo race and I was doing it on an SS with no idea of what the course was like.  I was fine with my positioning.

Lap 3, more of the same.  Just pedaling the bike around in a big circle.  I took a nice little digger on a bridge that ripped my leg open a little.  Nothing serious, but blood ALWAYS needs to be involved for it to be a good ride.  I also started noticing the seatpost was REALLY started to be bent, pretty badly.  I contemplated pulling out because of “equipment failure” but I was almost done.  No way I was getting a DNF unless that sucker broke and stabbed me in the thigh.

Lap 4 certainly was the most difficult, mostly because I stood 99% of the time because I wanted to complete the race.  Sure, I was on a single speed and we stand most of the times anyway, but there were those little fire roads that sitting down would have been most enjoyable.  But crappy seat posts wouldn’t let me.  Finally, I came to the last section of the fire road, right before the finish and was able to sit down.  Thank goodness the post didn’t break on me.

Overall, pretty sweet race, and it was only the first time they raced there.  Good venue, good organization, and some sweet trails.  I ended up 5th out of 9ish (maybe more, maybe less, I really don’t remember) with a time of roughly 4 hours 35 minutes.  Did I want to win, yes.  Did I want a spot on the podium?  Yes.  Could I have done anything differently during the race to do that?  No.  I did everything in my power to race as hard as I could.  I definitely left it all on the course.  The other riders were simply stronger.  I feel that it was a solid effort and great finish for my first single speed race, especially for it being a 35 miler.  If nothing else, it was a great learning experience, and that really, was one of the main goals of being there.

Hopefully some pictures will follow tomorrow after I get them downloaded off the camera.   Now it is time for a little recovery, calling Easton to get a warranty the seat post and taking it easy for a day or so.

Tomorrow there is a race in Barre, VT.  I would like to do said race.  However, the race starts at 10 (not to bad) but registration is at 8am.  That means I have to be up my 5 and our the door by 6 at the very latest.  So the question of the night is will I go or not?   Right now, it is absolutely pouring outside, but I got all of my gear ready to go and sitting by the door.  The plan is to get up at 5, brush my teeth, grab some food and head right out the door, that is if I actually wake up at 5 when the alarm goes off and I don’t hit the snooze button 50 times.

Why would I drive 2 hours in pouring rain to race my single speed, in the pouring rain, for 35 miles??  Going to be honest, not really sure.  I think a lot of it has to do with my desire to get a sponsor.  My goal in the next few years is to become a sponsored rider.  Sure, I know I won’t be having a team built around me, or have a “team truck” or my own special mechanic, I’m not stupid.  What I do want is to wear the jersey of a company knowing that I earned it, whether it is a bike shop or bike company.  Either way, I need to build up my resume, and this race seems like the killer opportunity.  That and there is only 1 other single speeder registered right now, which means I gots me a spot on the podium and I might come home with some cash.  Sweet….

Wish me luck, not only in the race, but actually getting up in time to make it to the race….

Got my new 29er single speed all built up and ready to go.  More on that one later once I get some pictures.  Anyway, I got everything built up on Sunday night so Monday was the day.  I had planned out about 2 hours of pedaling and all was going according to plan up to about an hour in the ride.  The legs felt great, but my arse was a little tender, but everything was going well.  That is until my new rigid fork (yes, first time I have ridden a rigid fork in quite some time) dug into a big mud puddle and sent me flying over the bars.  So there I was supermanning over the bars and hit the mud face first, sliding in it.  Not only did I land face first, I also got both hands stuck in the mud up to my elbows.  Great, just what I needed, more mud.   I got up and the first thought that went through my head was “Shit, I think I broke my collarbone.”  As I stood there trying to get my cell phone out of my pocket to call kelly to come get me, I just sat down and took a little break.  After a few minutes, I realized things weren’t broken and the initial shock was wearing off..  I got up, grabbed the bike and took the shortest path home.

Today I am taking a day off.  The legs don’t need it, but the mind and arm does.  I am not “afraid” to ride the bike, but I decided that it was best to clear my mind before I head out again.  Plus, now I get to sit at home, on the deck, drinking beer all night.  I think I made the right call on what to do.

I have made some decisions about my stellar racing career.  I am going to try and race the MillStone Grind race on Sept 7th, mostly because it is dirt cheap and I convinced the organizer to allow the single speeds to run the 35 miles instead of 17.  This will get me some good prep and put me in a good spot to race the Bradbury 12 race coming up Sept 20, 2 days before I head to Interbike.  I figure there is nothing better for standing around on concrete for 9 hours a day, 4 days straight than racing a 12 hour race right before you leave.  Why not??  I might be able to pull the “Michelin Card” and allow me to cut down on the already super low entry fees…

The 14th annual 24 hours of Great Glen, all I can really say is, WOW…WOW. What an event. For those of you who aren’t from the northeast, it has been raining here, a lot, and that is an understatement.

I went up to the course on Friday to do a little scouting of the expo area, camping area and to preride the course. It was pretty much the same as last year so I was pretty familiar with the tricky sections. However, with all the rain, those tricky sections got just that bit trickier. I was quoted a couple times after the preride saying “someone is being taken off that course on a stretcher.” Yeah, it was that bad.

Saturday morning got here and everything went the way I planned. Up at six, everything loaded in the cars, belly full of food by 8:30 and at the venue by 9. We did the camp set up, pre race meeting and all of that good stuff all with enough time to spare to check the bikes over once more and prop the feet up for the last bit of quiet time I would have for the next 24 hours.

12 noon and BAM the cannon goes off.  I sat the first lap off so an extra hour of sitting around waiting to unleash that pent up excitement.  When it was my turn, I flew out of the gates.  With about 3/4 of the lap done and a ton of mud on the bike, I hear some clicking from the rear wheel.  Look down and shifting a bit helps but I just decided to back off the gas a bit.  After about 2 minutes of the easy pedaling, I heard a loud crunch and the rear wheel locked up.  A look down confirms it, the rear dérailleur is in the wheel.  How wonderful.  Time to pick up the bike, put it on the shoulder and time to start running.  15 minutes later I dropped the bike in the timing tent and walked disgusted back to the camp site.  After some looking and working on the bike, it was decided that the dérailleur boss rivet broke and it was time to to switch over to the back up bike.

Let’s fast forward to about 4am.  Why?  Simple, nothing too exciting to talk about besides me riding around in a circle every other hour.  We just kept switching laps, each of about 55-60 minutes long, all with no major problems or interesting stories.  Then around 4am when working my way up to “the shoot” I caught up to the rider ahead of me.  I began to yell ahead to warn him I was riding down it, as it was clear he was walking, I thought he would just step out of the way to let me through, the proper thing to do.  But instead, no, he started to walk down this muddy path and began to slide down it on his ass while holding his bike.  I turned the corner and there was nothing I could have done but just “let the good times roll” and fly down that sucker.  Of course the moron was still laying there, and gave a horrible effort to get out of the way.  Fine, I am the better rider, so I work my way around him a tad and BAM!!!!  It sounded like a cannon going off.  I picked myself out of the mud while the moron sat there staring at me.  I shook my head and ran back up the hill to grab my bike thinking “crap, I need to change a tire”.  No big deal.  I work in the tire industry so no worries.  I grab the thing and notice the wheel has exploded, hence the noise, and completely folded in half.  WHAT!?!?!?  A tacoed wheel??  What the hell??  Fug….Time to grab the bike, throw it on the shoulder, again, and run it another 20 minutes.  I got it into the pits again and time to work some magic.  We grabbed the wheel off of Kelly’s bike, switched up the rotors, and was back in business.

The rest of the laps up until the finish were all status quo.  We finished the day with 24 laps (12 each) in 24 hours 27 minutes.  Good enough for 2nd place.  Nothing wrong with that.

Let’s fast forward to today.  Legs are a little sore, but nothing major.  I feel like I was just on a hard “weekend warrior” ride.  Nothing major.  I think I could go for a ride in the next day or so if I had a working bike.  Maybe I need to get that Pugsley back up and running while the other 2 bikes are getting fixed.

What is next on the horizon??  No idea.  Tons of riding that is for sure.  It would be a shame to lose some of this good fitness I have going for me.  I will scout around the area and see if anything is coming up, but I haven’t given it much thought.  There has been a few races that are coming up that I would like to do, but I will be traveling for work.  Damn you Interbike.  I have wanted to attend you for so long and now that I have to attend, I don’t want to go.  Funny how things work like that.

I can say a new bike is on the way to replace the broken hunk of junk Vassago.  Should be a good time.  The bike should be here sometime before the weekend.  I can’t wait.

A full write up on the bike, when I get it, and hopefully a bunch of pictures from the 24 hour race will be coming in the next day or so…

2 days left until the 24 hour race.  It is supposed to be pouring rain the entire time.  Should be an epic day of riding.

Am I ready for it?? To be honest, I am not sure, but I will soon find out.  Even if I am not, nothing I can do about it now….

Back home from the trip up north to Quebec and Mount Saint Anne for North America World Cup round #1.  A great weekend for Michelin and some American athletes with Adam Craig getting one of his best world cup finishes in 4th place.  Way to go Adam!!!

No matter how many races I see, it is always mind boggling just how fast they go.  I go watch a local race and thing, I might be able to hang with these fast guys.  Then I head to a national level event, norba or the Us champsionship, and think, man, these guys rip.  No way I can keep up with them.  I think there is no way people can go faster.  Then I go to a world cup and see the absolute best in the business and they completely blow my mind at how fast they can go through some of the most technical terrain I have ever ridden.  It is just unreal.

With that in mind, I really don’t want to travel again to Canada for another world cup, however, I do want to see these “machines” just pedal their bikes as fast as they can.  I can’t wait……

All I can say is that I have been busy. With many trips all over the east coast from Tennessee to Mt. Snow now to Mount Saint Anne, Quebec followed by a week in Bromont Canada all while trying to get my 24 hour race training in.  Yeah, I’ve been busy.

I haven’t been posting, a lot due to lack of internet connection and I am not sure how my internet will be for the next 2 weeks as I am still traveling.  I have decided to take my helmet cam with me to Canada so hopefully I will have some sweet video of the trails up there as there certainly is some quality riding.

On another note, I had a great time at the US Mountain Bike Nationals this past weekend.  There is nothing like some good riding, quality racing and hanging out afterwards with some friends.  I have been thinking about some races I want to do next year and after attending the nationals, I have decided that I want to take a crack at the beginner national championship next year.  Even though I have been riding for years and have a few races under my belt, I have raced in races that do not require a license, I have never gotten one, making me one.  The great thing about this is that I can qualify for the race on the east coast, keeping my traveling to a minimum, then head out to Sol Vista Colorado and take my stab at the stars and bars jersey.  For now, that is my thought, but then again, that might change in a week or so…

Off to the Sea Otter Classic for the next few days, so unfortunately, no road riding for the next couple of days.  Hopefully, if weather cooperates, I will be able to get a few mountain bike rides in.  That, and I will get to enjoy some warm weather for a change.  That is the most exciting part of all.

While doing some of my daily reads on the internet, I stumbled across an interesting video that is about Pro-mountain biker Tara Llanes.  For those of you who don’t know who she is, she is a pro biker for the Giant Mountain bike team that recently broke her back and became paralyzed from the waist down.  This video is a news story from a local channel in Denver where she is being rehabilitated.  For those that are squeamish, don’t worry, you don’t see the crash in the video.