Flashback: July 14th 2007 Orlando's First Alleycat Race.

One day while browsing the web I came across an event posting on the Retro city cycles web site for an Alleycat race in Orlando, properly entitled the Rat Race. A month or weeks before I had heard of one going down in Tampa and I was going to prep my Monocog and go, but frankly the thought of riding a 26inch wheeled bike again didn't have much appeal to me. So when push came to shove, I never showed up, nor made the effort to attend.

The Orlando one was different. It clearly said, All Bikes Welcome. Now that appealed to me. In my mind, I pictured a big festival type atmosphere close to the start location in downtown Orlando with bands, beer and Vegan BarbQ. Well it turned out to be a Lil different in the end, but I didn't know that at the time.

Underground was a label that I thought only existed for certain Genre's of music or Skateboarding and BMX. What I didn't know about was the existence of a deep rooted fixed gear Underground cycling scene. The Vibe: Punk Rock, with an appreciation of the origins of cycling and the future of cycling. In fact, I would almost call some of what I witnessed performance art.

Regardless, the morning was stormy. The afternoon even stormier. DanO owner of Retro City Cycles said to be there early to make sure to get a spot in the race. Well, I got there at three, had to trudge thru rain with my lovely wife to get there, and made it into the race. My number was 51. The guy handed me a map, the same map everyone else got, to meet at the Cemetery I believe, by 4pm.

Well I run and get my car, and pull it closer to where we were waiting and start getting ready. I saw a couple of people I knew. Dan O of course and his wife. His Friends. John Moorehouse. And my old team mate from Bikeworks Ben Foreshee. Yea, you know, I heard mumblings about what the race was like and I was busy formulating my strategy cause, I'm a racer at heart, Doesn't matter if its a footrace, bike race, canoe race or car race. My strategy was simple, follow. Pick someone and follow cause I don't know downtown and I didn't know if I would be able to read my map in a pinch.

Well, I read the map and rode to the start and got lost. Very lost. Asked at a convenience store for directions and rode some more. Finally got a mail man who pointed me in the right direction and I hammered at 20 plus mph to the location and I made it, just in time. About ten minutes after I got there, the race promoter showed up. Same guy that took our money asked if anybody didn't want their spoke card. Apparently, we were now exceeding the 100 rider mark. OK, no biggie.

He asked us to place our bikes in the grass and walk about 100 yards away from them. We did and where explained the rules. Maps would be given. The same maps for everyone. Make it to that spot, anyway you can, by any route you choose, and then get the next map. Follow the rules of the road, not important. If you get pulled over by the cops, O freaking well. If you see a man down, help your fellow rider. On his mark Run to your bikes and go to the first location. Frankly, I didn't even look at the map. I folded it and put it under my left hand glove and got ready for the run.

He gave us a Go Mutha Fu**as and off we went. I had only done one Le man's style start and it was at the 12 hours of Razorback and I ran slow, like paced myself, and I screwed myself for it. Well, I decided to haul ass and run like I had stolen something. And it worked. In typical Le Man's style fashion I watched as several people tumbled and fell. I grabbed my bike and watched many people just hauling ass, but one person caught my eye. John Moorehouse, with some fixie guy in tow, and me following taking the off road route. I was on my bike of choice for any scenario, my Salsa Mamasita, aka the bitch, aka the beauty. So, part of my strategy was to jump the curbs, take the stairs, cut through lots, use my off road skills.

John cuts through the park, the fixie dude hangs a left at the apartment complex and I follow John to the back where I see him straight send a 3 foot grass drop to a small decline. Well before I could ponder if I wanted to do it or not, off I went letting my 29 inch wheels guide me safely down the drop and the decline.

Shortly thereafter, we approach an underpass, where there are people riding down the road, on all sides and we join the pack. As quick as I join, I notice the check point is right there and the maps where being handed out. I grab a map and keep it moving to the next stop. The pack seemed to be heading straight down magnolia and I followed and chose to take a cut across a lot, down a small grassy downhill into state road 50 down a road, I hung a right and saw the pack on Magnolia, but to my left I notice I had somehow, by luck, stumbled on checkpoint 2.

Checkpoint 2 was tricky. You had to either shot gun a beer, take a shot of whiskey or wine, or if your straight edge, a shot of maple syrup. Being a true to the bone MTB'r I chose the beer, turned to leave, witnessed a fixed gear tangle crash and started to follow another group down a road and around the Bend.

The road was wide open and I was in full attack mode trying to chase down a group of riders in front of me. I eventually merged onto a road, where I almost crashed into the back of a car, did a sweet little slide and went right into checkpoint three. Now the distance between this checkpoint and the next was a Lil longer then the first three. But when I got to this one I got hit with baby powder.

No problem, the next checkpoints where all a blur. Somewhere between checkpoint 8 and 9 I was following a fixed gear rider thru a Lil park across a pond over a board walk. Now major props to fixie dude, cause he picked his way over the wet wood clean. As for me, I hit the wood and slid out. It all happened real fast, but my reflexes have the incredible skill of breaking down a crash into slow motion, and I quickly noticed that my head was heading towards the guard rail. Now I'm thinking, if I hit my head just right, I could potentially break my neck. So I ducked my head and let go of the bars and wrapped my arms around my head, Ala Tornado under the desk style. My forearm and knee took most of the impact. But I came away OK. Got up, walked off the board walk to the road, looked left and saw the next checkpoint.

I grabbed my map and kept rolling. The distances between the last couple of checkpoints where the farthest of them all, but I always had the good fortune of following the right person. Even though I would see groups head off in completely different directions I somehow always made the right pick.

Before I even knew It, I was at the end. The chaos was done. It had been a full out sprint for the duration. I had seen people crash and people get ticketed by the police, but I finished with a handful of people, my guess is somewhere between 10Th and 13Th. That's about how many people were there before me.

Turns out the location I was at was where the after party was to be held. In retrospect I wish I would of asked cause then my poor wife could of waited for me there. It took forever for her and I to meet up and by the time we did meet up, I was tired of waiting and so was she so we rolled out.

The race was a blast and I'm looking forward to the next one. My Garmin Forerunner's off/on button broke in the crash and in the end, was a total lost. A little bruised but none the worst I did great in my first alleycat.

There is another alleycat scheduled for in December. If your in the area, and you dare, I strictly recommend it. I was going to make my Raleigh 29 into an alleycat machine, but since all bikes are welcome, I choose to ride my Mamasita. Why not, its the Swiss army knives of bikes.

Till next time....
Laters...

Holloween 2007!

I raced home after finishing my work related duties scooped up my eldest son Kain from school and headed straight to Wal Mart to pick up some last minute Halloween supplies.

The list was simple, Glow sticks and hopefully some ugly mask. Well I scored the glow sticks, but no ugly mask to wear for me.

Got home and prepared the fleet for the evening rounds of trick or treating. Costumes and glow stick laced wheels, plus free candy is an unbeatable combination. Paloma, my wife, was riding the Fetish, Kain the Monocog, Gabriel his 16inch Giant, Kailan his BMX Diamond Back and daddy on the Mamasita.

Kailan was dressed as a vampire.
Gabriel was Optimus Prime.
Paloma, a commuting cyclist.
Me, Modern day Geronimo.
Kain, a punky teenager.

Two glow sticks on each wheel and glow string necklaces for the boys for added visibility. The plan was to park the bikes at a central location where they could hit two or three houses for trick or treating. Well, the plan worked great and we were the talk of the neighborhood as our glow stick laden wheels lit up the night.

We hit as many houses as we could until the boys were complaining that their pumpkin tricking and treating baskets were too heavy.

Paloma had suggested we pedal 1 mile up to the pizza shop and enjoy some fine Italian Dining. The food was great and the laughs were a plenty. We mounted up to ride home and were greeted by a nice late Halloween rain shower.

It was fun and exciting to ride as a family thru the rain. It was an excellent evening and a great experience. I spent the entire time just appreciating the wonderful blessings I have in being able to enjoy such wonderful experiences with my family together on bicycles.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as much as I did.

till next time,

Laters....

Flashback: October 19th 2007, Friday at the Dew Tour

I'm starting a new series of post that I will do momentarily called Flashbacks. What they are for all purposes are post that I wanted to do and didn't get around to doing that happened a long time ago or awhile ago.

The first is about my 2007 dew tour experience. The day before, my friend Aaron had called me and asked me if I would be interested in attending the Dew tour. He had apparently scored some VIP all access pass tickets from his place of employment. Of course I couldn't turn the offer down and he gave me confirmation later that evening that we were all set to go the next morning. I am lucky in that my job allows me a certain amount of freedom with my schedule and it was a piece of cake to get the following day off.

I picked him up at his house, we met up with another of my friends Jake, and we took off towards the TD waterhouse in downtown Orlando.

It was tough to find parking since Jake's modified super tall truck doesn't fit in any parking garages. Eventually we found a spot close to the entrance and we made our way inside pass the line right thru the VIP entrance. Immediately we hit the drink stand and quickly made our way to the street park course. Turns out the prelims had been rained out the day before and we got to watch the event from the perfect viewing area.

A serious street session went down, and the skating was top notch. I was really impressed with the Florida Locals that showed up to compete against the Pro's.

Shortly thereafter we made our way up stairs to the penthouse to get some of the free food and drinks that were available for the VIP's. After we had our fill we made our way all the way down stairs to where the tunnels for the athletes are located. We walked around and made our way to the very top of the Vert Ramp. I was amazed at our good fortune and spent the rest of the times watching the pro's practice and hang out. It was truly an honor to be up there hanging out with skateboarding legends and seeing and meeting some of the pro's I admired growing up. The list included, Chris Miller, Andy Macdonald, Bob Burnquist, Sandro Diaz, PLG, and Neal Hendrix. There were some other guys there as well as some younger kids that I didn't know but were all straight killing it. The spot we were standing on led to the Huge roll in that was ten feet taller then the 30 foot deck of the ramp. That deck we were on was 3 feet taller then the top of the ramp and these guys were flying over our heads. It made me wonder what it must feel like to be that high in the air and to have time to plan your next move cause the hang time is so long.

I didn't have a camera with me but I did manage to snag some pix with my camera phone and I put up the best three on here.

I got one of Bob Burnquist on the opposite side of the ramp.












One of some young kid that was ripping it up.






And one of Andy Macdonald.

Enjoy, I did.

laters....

Check this out!!

Already got some cool GPS Edge 205 data to share.

The Discovery ride.

And

The Kids Loop.


When you open the links click on the different views offered by the dashboard on the left and your able to see everything from total distance ascent and descent stats, to speeds, distance and elevation profile, pretty sweet!!!

Lucky me, got two new toys!!!

My Birthday is October 24Th. Its true I'm getting old. But the good news is, I got myself some presents!!! Yay! I Rock!

Edge 205 O yea, all kinds of cool stuff I can do with the motion based.com site is superfly!
And I have been officially Wobble Naughted. So far So Good I totally dig it!

Stay tuned for the new things my new toys will allow me to share!

It's Official!

I broke my middle finger!


I have only broken three bones in my life and they all have been on my same right hand. Late in the 80's I got in a fight with a kid on the school bus and I punched him in the head and broke my knuckle bone that sits in front of my middle finger.

Early in the 2K, I was road riding down the cady way trail in Orlando. I was riding with my friend Alex. Well I knew the end of the trail was near and I decided to launch an attack to beat him to the finish line. So I start mashing and I got my head down doing a cool 26mph in the start of my attack, when I look up and smash right into a fence. I managed to turn at the last minute and deflect the impact into my handlebars and shoulders, but it eventually rebounded me off in a launched twisting motion towards the ground at a very high speed, landing on my wrist and upper back. Three month's later when the pain still had not gone away I went to the doctor and he told me that I broke a tiny little bone in my wrist and they would need to do surgery and install a titanium screw to repair it. Well six months later, I was healed but I lost some range of motion in the process.

Last Saturday. Saturday the 13Th of October 2007. I met up with my friend Magii and his friends and family and we went Canoeing down the Wekiva river. I was all about it and ready to have a good time. He told me that there was a rope swing and after ten minutes of paddling we were there. He promptly ascends the tree and swings away successfully. Looked fun. Looked dangerous. Both things I like. At first I was not interested but then my warrior spirit got the best of me and I was compelled to ascend the tree and prepare for the jump. Well, the view from the top, was scary as balls. But Magii coached me, told me what to do, and forgot to tell me or remind me to pull my feet up in the middle of the swing. Once I was up there it was too late to back down, so I went for it. My feet hit the water, forced me into a river related face plant, creating an Apex with my middle finger as the fulcrum, cleanly snapping my finger.

Well, after swimming to shore I knew right away it was broke. I pulled it straight, got in the boat and calmly paddled 4 miles to our lunch picnic stop. One of the people we were with had a first aid kit so I was able to splint the finger. On the following Monday, they took the X rays and confirmed my diagnosis. O well, what can you do!


Well this a random pic off the net, but you get the Idea!

Third Stop From the Florida State Championship series: Jaksonville Hanna Park.

This was Kain's first race in years. We have joked it would be cool for him to race in skate shoes and a bmx helmet shirtless and see how many xc hardcore guys he could beat. Well they didn't allow the shirtless thing, but he did real well finishing 8th beating half the field.
This was Kailan's first race ever on a 26in wheeled MTB. He has a sweet ride handed down from his brother. Specialized s works with all the best stuff I could afford to put on it. He finished 7th and rode with a strong spirit the entire race.
I honestly believed Gabriel would win his race since he is such a powerhouse on all the rides we go on. This is after all a four year old that has done 12 mile road rides under his own power at 8mph avg speed. I don't even think he understood it was a race and still managed 6th place.
I just love how fast he looks here on his single speed!
Kai looks so focused he passed the girl you barely see on the screen left.
Gabriel enjoying the sites cause, he wasn't really racing I don't think
I included video clips of all their starts, they all started great, that's for darn sure!



Me I'm happy I didn't race. Truth be told, I'm not in the points race, my focus is the 12 hour race I have coming up on the 27th and then its back to base miles with my eyes on the 6 hours of carter or the 12 hours of razorback next, whichever comes first. I admire everyone who went out there and did battle especially Kain. He did the best he has ever done in a race and I think its cause he has improved his skateboarding, which has in turn made him a better technical rider.

The rest of team bike works cleaned house:

Brian Hastings: xc3 40-49 2nd place
Sean Wallace: xc2 19-29 2nd place
Tony Deal: xc3 30-39 6th place
Osias Lozano: xc1 19-29/pro 10th place
Chad Bobbitt Jr: 9 to 11 kids 8th place
Alexis Bobbitt: 6 t0 11 kids 10th place
Kailan Tai Rodriguez: 6 to 8 kids 7th place
Kain Rodriguez: xc-J 11 to 14 8th place
Gabriel Cruz: 3 to 5 kids 6th place

And that's it for the finishers. See ya guys at Gainesville maybe, if not I will keep you posted on my latest misadventures.

till next time, stay smooth and stay fast!

Dear Sir,

The guy that came up and gave me the huge compliment on my blog. Thanks, I appreciate hearing that kind of feedback. I was caught by surprise, I guess, although I type things on the web, I sometimes fail to realize that people actually read the blog. So my apologies for not introducing myself or getting your name, but again, thanks, that was an awesome moment for me.

The Grim Reaper of RAZORBACK: My first yellow wave experience.

This weekend I made my Yellow Wave debut at stop number two of the Florida State Championship series. I arrived around 4pm on Saturday, the whole ride up there it was raining, but when I got to Reddick, it was bone dry. Hey, I'm not complaining, I love Reddick, but its better with traction.

I brought the Beast, which is my Raleigh Single speed, and decided I would give the single speed class a go. Now I honestly think I'm a fast single speeder, but I was really given proof of the super human single speed level that can be obtained.

I camped out Saturday, brought all I needed and decided after much reflection to just blow up my air mattress and lay it on the floor and enjoy the open air sleeping experience. My pre ride was spectacular. I felt strong and fast and snappy and just plain dangerous on the bike. Got back to camp, watched the end of the Team Time Trial which proved to be a bit of a disaster to my team, but looked fun nonetheless, to see the other teams riding together and motivating each other. Eventually, after hearing about Osias Crash, and Chad's Crash, and Tony's ultimate show of sportsmanship, giving his front wheel away so that "O" could finish the lap, I showered up, cooked dinner and sat in my chair listening to some good ole Howard stern on the radio. After a couple of beers and preparing myself for the possibility of rain, I decided it was time for rest. I had the citronella candle right next to me and the bug spray on my left. During the night, anytime a bug bothered me I sprayed the area they were trying to get at. My rest was Ok, but I never really slept as good as I would have at home. I'm so used to sleeping on my tempurpedic mattress, that the air mattress was a little uncomfortable. In retrospect, I should have deflated it a little, maybe that would have prevented the lower back pain I experienced throughout the night.

I felt good in the morning. Got on the line and started noticing that the competitors I was racing against were a little more serious then I was. The one dude I lined up next too had a single speed full on carbon fiber hardtail, by default the thing must have weighed 18lbs. The whistle went off and I hung in there for a minute, then on the first climb watched the entire group just ride away from me. Admittedly, I was out classed by the competition.

I was OK with it. My legs had no juice for speed, but they had plenty of juice for a steady ride. So steady ride is what I did. I was passed many times and made sure, to get clear as soon as I heard someone coming. Just cause I was out for a leisurely Sunday ride, didn't mean anyone else was. At some point, I figure I must have been the DFL(dead F-word last) person of the yellow wave. Then something interesting started happening. I started passing people. Riders who were broke down with twisted wheels or flats. One guy that was walking around in small circles looking completely lost. Ryan Woodall, aka the Ryno, who apparently had the mystical magical two tire flat combo. One guy who I actually stopped and asked several times if he was OK, cause he was laying there bloody arm, surrounded by a dust cloud.

While I rode, I gave myself the nick name the "Grim Reaper". Truth be told, if you saw me during the yellow wave and I was passing you, chances are your race was done. And even funnier was, that none of the people I saw, did ever catch me again to cheat death so to speak. It was pretty amusing.

My team mate, Brian Hastings, got third place. Way to kick butt. Turns out, of all the racers from my team in the yellow wave, by just finishing, I managed the second best finish of the wave for my team. Heck, I guess my long haul enduro skills payed off in the end.

After, my team mates and I met at chili's where we enjoyed some good food and good conversation, it was a blast and I was glad I went.

My next race is Gainesville, which I love, where I will ride the Beauty aka the bitch, aka the mamasita.

Till next time, stay smooth, and stay fast, and wash that ass Sucka!

Catch 22

" Your kidding right? Run around the house, then shot gun a Milwaukee's best? OK, I'm in!"







The more and more I do longer races, the better and better I feel and the more I am able to control myself and focus on actually attacking and counter attacking. Lord knows it took me years to figure out how to race a short race and thankfully it seems like I'm picking up the skills for a longer race a lot quicker. I didn't win, but I did go fast and I finished the race with no pain in my ass (or anywhere else for that matter).

It was a crazy day before and a crazy morning off. Big Papa posted a course map that gave details on how the course was going to be. And it proved to be pretty accurate but after visually scouring the map it looked like there was going to be a fair amount of road, sidewalk, bike path and double track. Which is fine by me, but if I'm running a single geared bike, the choice was going to be important. So I made the choice to change my rear cog to an 18tooth which was 2 to 1 ratio on a 29er and should prove to be adequate for the varying terrain.

Well I made the mechanical adjustment, went to my secret trail to test it and noticed the rear cog was skipping. Somewhere between the cog and the singulator there was either a chain line problem or the cog was worn but it was driving me crazy. I jumped in the car raced back home making several calls to Broadus (Bikeworks single speed expert) and Ted (aka the general from the MTB forum), asking for any and all advice. After working furiously for an hour, I decided to give up on the singulator. I took it off. Measured the chain from chain ring to rear cog, removed a link and cranked it on. It worked. It felt strange to back pedal. But I decided with two power links and some extra chain links in my pocket, I should be alright. I managed to overcome my potential disaster and went to bed, much later then I expected, ruining my plans of rising early and getting a good breakfast.

Instead, I rose late, and spent my morning trying to wedge myself in the middle of the aggressive drivers that where on the road with the hopes of shadowing my excessive speed by having one speeder in front and one speeder in back. It all worked and we made it to Big Poppa's house at 8:45am.

I prepped, got ready and hit the line. I looked around and notice that Ryan Woodall was there as well as Mr.Martin Cox, which happen to be some of the fastest guys I know. Also a hosts of other riders that I don't know but sure did look like they would prove to be fast guys. I was speaking to Luis, and he was informing me of the high probability of getting lost. Which I kind of shrugged off at the time, but he would prove to be more then correct before the days end.

On the line I decided to joke with Ryan telling him I was going to put him into the wall, humorously referring to the Mike Wallace Geico commercials. He got a laugh as did I and I was really digging the overall feel of the morning, very relaxed, as we lined up for our Le man's style start. I was thinking as I rode that day, who the hell was Le man and why did he like to run so much. Any how, ever since the alley cat race,I had re thunk my running strategy, and decided, from my first experience at the razorback 12 hour, that running fast was the way to do it, slow is not the move. And that was what I did, I ran my butt off and was in the lead bunch at the beer chug and with the lead bunch on the bikes.

Like always, the start was chaotic and the woods was proving to be interesting, I could see the front group as I made my way thru the tight twisty single track. I got passed by a handful of riders in the woods but quickly started pulling some back in. Especially when the trail got technical. As I hit the long stretch of dirt road, I could clearly see the lead bunch of ten riders and the couple that I was with. We worked hard to try and close the gap but it seemed like everyone was pretty much moving at the same speed. We ended up on the road where I was eventually by myself and caught a group of 8 chasing riders at the light. We started riding and working together and quickly noticed after momentarily shaking the riders that navigation was going to be a critical element in the race.

Eventually we were all again together hitting the power line trail that led to a monstrous climb. Now I saw several riders chugging up the climb, literally taking off to attack it, but right before it began there was a hard right into single track and it seemed that several riders, had unintentionally cut course. And unfortunately I believe this happened more then once. Mountain Bikers, are an honest bunch, and I don't think anyone did it with the intention of gaining an unfair advantage. I did notice some of them come back, especially all the ones I was riding with, but the ones that I saw close to the top, I don't think ever knew the differance.

I got into race mode and attacked the bunch I was with, leaving them behind in the tight and I mean tight single track. I came out to another big climb and I was churning to the top wishing I had one or two less teeth in my cog. Got off to push the crest of the climb and got passed my three of the riders I was in the bunch with. We went over the hill and right before the bottom there was another tight turn. Now those guys either got super fast or they missed the turn and went straight cause I never saw them again.

Regardless I rode hard, till I got really lost. Like lost for 30 minutes. At that point I realized that trying to race might be pointless and I needed to keep my focus on the cues on the road and in the sand. I probably rode an extra hour and and extra seven miles in miscalculations and missed turns. One guy from the original bunch caught up to me and we yo yo ed the last 12 miles. I was with him at one point, right behind him and figured I could easily keep his pace, but I dropped my water bottle and I needed it as I was getting close to the end and low on water.
I did eventually see him and another guy in the end both from the crazy eight that had met up at that light earlier in the day, but they were several turns in front of me and I didn't see them again till the end.

I had a fantastic ride and the terrain and conditions were spectacular. I kept a fast and strong speed the entire ride and I must say I was more then satisfied with my performance. I felt great too at the end, I could not even tell I had ridden close to fifty miles that day. The riding I did was similar to what most of my training rides are like, bike paths, sidewalks, dirt roads, road and single track. I almost felt like I had inadvertently trained perfectly for this event. I wish I knew the course by heart cause I honestly believed I could of taken up to an hour off my time and maybe closed the gap to the lead bunch.

In the end, I got free beer, food and excellent company. What more can I say an excellent event put on by even better people. And I got this T shirt! Cant wait till next time!

Ride Report

Well, I completed the Unification ride today. It took me 5.5 hours and covered 60 plus miles. I did it all on my SS 29 and it was a pretty mellow affair. The bike has a 32 X 20 gear set up which was fine in the single track but nothing on the road even on the climbs. I felt like I was teaching a spin class after a couple of hours.
The bike feels real good as well. Just needs a longer seat posts and I believe I have one in the garage. Because I rode with a seat post that was an inch or two too short, my ass is a Lil chapped at the moment. O well, what can you do. I also noticed my front wheel is seriously out of true so I will get that fixed tomorrow.
Other then that sweet ride, just not going to ride it on the road ever again. I kept wishing I was on the bitch and hoping I could mash some gears to pick up the speed, off road the new set up should be perfect. Plan on testing it thoroughly at the secret trail on Wednesday.

Laters....

The New Weapon in my arsenal

Well, it took a full 6 hours or so to put together. Total cost about 190 dollars if you figure in all the parts my buddy Jeff sold me and the singulator I had to purchase to make the XXIX + G into an XXIX. She is a glossy beauty and superfly. At 25 lbs she is just one pound lighter then my fully geared salsa, aka the bitch.

Big Thanks to Brian E. From the Orlando Bikeworks West Store, the number one choice for my bicycle needs for me and the entire Clan. I plan to take it on the Unification ride today and plan on doing several more rides on it during the week in preparation for the Catch 22 single speed race next weekend. Then after that race is done it will probably sit on the rack for a month while I continue my preparation for my first 12 hour race up in bay county Florida. Enjoy the pics, they were taken with my camera phone, I will give a full write up on the ride performance either later today or tomorrow.

O My, how they've Grown, Congrats Daddy, Time for an Upgrade.

This picture is all the way back from 2005. Kain on the right was state champion for Florida in the 6 to 8 division. Won a couple of races with a broken arm.

Well my prayers run deep that the legacy will continue and it seems it will. My Son Kain is dedicated to his skateboarding as was I in my youth. My Son Kailan as of last week updated to Kain's Old race bike which is a bad ass little S works with all the trimmings. I am taking it up to the shop to add some dual control shifters hoping it will make it easier for his delicate fingers to trigger the shifting mechanisms on his bike. Plus I can take the carbon fiber brake levers and throw them on my single speed build. Gabriel, who knocked out 4 miles at Reddick over the last weekend, is now upgrading to a full 20 inch BMX with a 32 tooth ring so he can do the long rides. In fact just today we did a tough little 8.5 mile route and Gabriel hung in there the whole way at a 8 mph pace with climbs; not too shabby for a four year old. He had two spooky wrecks cause he has not mastered brake levers as of yet. But, he is most promising and I'm looking forward to taking them out for more and more rides. Great timing considering how many miles I have to ramp up for in the next month.


Stay tuned for the new build pics coming very, very, soon...

My Road Bike is my Mountain Bike, My Mountain Bike is my Road Bike.

I have a new position at my job. Its kind of awesome because it allows me to make some modest cash without having to work to much which I think is every ones goal in life. Even better is the opportunity it has afforded me for more ride time. Sad part is that I have yet to take full advantage off all the spare chances I have had to ride.

Its been a real crazy couple of weeks since I last posted. August and December are the toughest months of the year and the most financially taxing. The boys get off to school and it can turn into a VERY expensive endeavour preparing three children for their educational journeys.
Despite of all, I have had more chances to go out and skateboard and have even began working on a father and son skate video of which I will gladly share some clips. I figure I better get some footage while I'm still able to throw down on the board before the day comes that I cant or I don't want to. Not too long ago we made it out to this skate park in Longwood called MESH. It was a top notch facility, a Lil expensive for my taste, but great riding nonetheless. I played the equivalent of a soccer daddy and gave my son and two of his friends a ride up there for a 6 hour session. Unbeknowst to myself a pro skateboarder showed up named Roberto Lopez Mont. If you watch fuel TV and watch a show called skate maps he made several appearances on it. The guy was an animal. He jumped a 12 foot gap to a flat top to a 15 foot suicide drop on the other side and stuck it after just a handful of tries.

I have acquired a new hobby as well. I'm becoming the quintessential urban mountain biker. Utilizing the Internet prowess of the satellite pictures on Google Maps, I have been searching for single track in my local woods. It has been extremely successful as well. I have now located, dirt roads, paths, old rail beds and single track in the Four town area. Which has now afforded me the ability to one day soon put together what I call the Unification ride. I figure it will be slightly over fifty miles with 18 of it being some type of off road riding thru four cities that surround Deltona. For Florida, it does host a good amount of climbing and it has a fair amount of road riding and some of my favorite urban single track sidewalk surfing. After I do it several times, I plan on maybe inviting someone, anyone to come on down and join me on the tour.
There is a single speed race coming up on September 22nd that has become my recent focus. I missed the trail to trail and the 13 hours of Santos due to various reasons and decided since I had made a commitment to this single speed race I would focus my time, effort and resources to make an appearance and hopefully do well. I have a single speed bike, a mono cog, that is a classic beauty. But it is a 26 inch bike and frankly, all I have been riding for over a year are big wheeled bikes. I thought better of returning to the 26 and decided to put together the Raleigh XXIX + G frame into a single speed.

The budget is extremely tight, but I managed with the help of my friends Jeff, Aka the post man, And Brian from Bikeworks, to gather enough parts to make a pretty interesting build. I plan on building it tomorrow and hopefully take it for some test rides several days this week. I have intentions next week of beating one person at that race and one person only. He does not know that I have the desire, but I think my intentions will be clear enough the morning off when I pop up next to him on the start line and follow his wheel, patiently waiting that he makes a mistake vs. dropping me.

I do consider myself to be a capable single speeder. As a matter of fact the first podium I ever got was on a single speed. I was racing against geared folks and managed to snatch fifth place, was closing in on fourth and even beat my team mate who was decidedly faster then me, with the exception of that day. The first time I rode my mono cog at Reddick was at one of the 12 hour races where I completed the 11 mile lap in 56 minutes. So I have been known to throw down some serious speed, lets see what happens.

The other day I was on a ride, cruising on this sidewalk at a good pace when I see a Honda Element on the shoulder and a lady and a child standing outside of the car. I don't think much of it at the time and as I pass I notice that she is snapping a towel at something in her car. I briefly make eye contact with her and recognize the look of distress. I grab some brake and make a U turn to discover that she has stopped driving because a dragonfly was in the car. Apparently she is scared of the bug, to which after gaining her permission I grab the bug, and gently release it into the wild.

This past Sunday I made my way to Reddick with the wife and my youngest son. I had some friends that came up from Miami and PostMan invited me to come up and hang out as well. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Got a late start, ate late, got there late, started the ride late, everything was late. But, I met up with my friends from Miami and we started one of the expert loops. Three miles in, I was amazed at my riding, I was climbing up hill at close to 11mph, effortlessly to say the least. I was cruising the flats well, but after grannies revenge, the heat started getting to me. And the three miles that followed, were a little bit rough, with constant over the head water showers and some slow riding. Eventually, I told the guys to roll on, cause my lunch was in my throat, and rode out the last four miles and a good pace and feeling OK. Got to the parking lot and never made it out again. Seems in all my late afternoon evening riding, I had forgotten how important it was to eat Long before you ride, when you ride in the heat. I will remember that next weekend on the 22nd.

I think that about catches me up with whats been going on. I will post pics of the single speed when its done I'm hoping it comes out looking very nice and riding even nicer. The Florida State championship series is kicking off. Of which I plan to make a couple of races for the fun of it and the training. October should be a big month for me as well as I plan on attempting my first 12 hour race. We will see how it goes, I have about a month to fine tune my preparation which basically means, get out and do lots of ridiculous long rides. Indeed, I do have my work cut out.

Till then, stay smooth and stay fast....

HoTtEsTsUmMeReVer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if its global warming.
I don't know if its the spin of this rocket ship we call earth in conjunction to the universe.
But this....This has been the Hottest summer ever.
Day in and out I work in the Sun.
In the sun, for a living, Is where I work.
Not even fun work, Like pedaling for miles,
But Work Work, which you really have to be an existentialist and a reality transgressor to find the fun.
You know your acclimating when you find the shade as cool. When a cloud covering the sun gives you a chill.
When the cold breeze that signals the impending pleasure of a wet thunderous storm paints a grin on your face.
a camouflage Boonie hat, filled with water placed on head, is how I manage to stay ahead on the hottest of day.
SPF 1000 if and plenty of bug repellent is how I stay safe from the cancerous damage that the sun is sponsoring on a daily basis.
Emancipation comes in the early mornings and the late nights.
Cant wait till October.

ORAMM 2007 The Official Blow by Blow version!

We had spent the past two evenings in the mountains. Everything so far had been fantastic and real good times. It’s such a nice place to go too and the riding and the vistas are so epic that it is truly worth the time and effort you spend making the event. The morning was cool and the day was clear. The race conditions could not have been better and they just announced that the race would start at 830am thirty minutes later then expected. Well, I still got to the line around eight and thank god I did, cause as soon as I got there at 810am, they decide its time to roll a full 20 minutes earlier then the previous announced time.

Well here we are an enormous Peloton of mountain bikers rolling along at a pretty good clip. The first couple of miles, and I was counting them down all day, were on a road with a slight uphill. The group is moving at a good speed, not too fast, not too slow and I managed to get myself somewhere in the middle to the front of the pack with the intention of starting off as fast as I could.

A caravan of spectators and support vehicles is coming by the group which in its current size inhabits the entire lane of traffic and reaches up as far as my eye can see. As they complete their pass I start experiencing problems with my brakes, which I had switched pads the day before and thought I had done a great job of adjusting them. Things quickly proved otherwise as the brakes start squawking and squealing like wounded ducks and I Immediately pull over to try and analyze the problem. It is at that very moment that I realize I had left my saddle pack with my tool and my tube in my truck with my wife. Well fantastic, I dial the red pads all the way out cause I figure its going to be uphill for a minute and I won’t need brakes anyway. Just as I start to remount my bike, a car pulls over and a nice lady with a bike jersey and a cowboy hat ask me if I need help. I say I sure do, and she hands me a tool and I do my best to adjust the brakes once again. I thought I did an OK job of it, the best I could, and got back on the bike. Well with one problem remedied as much as it could be and another on my mind, I pull out my cell phone and call Paloma to tell her about my issue with the tube. Well, with all the noise and the commotion of the race beginning, she couldn't hear the phone, especially as she drove by and the cowbell was really in effect. I texted her a message and resolved to ride all the way to rest stop 2 if I had too without tools and a tube, knowing full well that If I flatted I may have to resort to walking.

I Started making my way up the first climb and after climbing up the road making time on riders I see a man pointing away from the road up another much steeper road. Well this steep detour only got steeper as we rounded the final double track portion that shot you into marvelous hike a bike that seemed to go on forever. The brief mountain climbing stint did lead to an awesome downhill trail that shot me past even more riders. It dumped us thru a wooden scrap heap right back onto mill creek rd where the climb had started earlier. I pushed my self hard when I hit the road and kept my speed up in the 18 to 23mph range taking full advantage of the road and the rolling terrain. I catch up at the bottom of Kitsuma to another group of riders and we start trudging to the top of the mountain. Kitsuma is hard to climb. So walking is sometimes a reality. I managed to climb a good portion of it because it was faster then walking, but it was tough and it seemed to last forever and I still had to get off and push my way thru some of the switchbacks.

I crested Kitsuma and made my way down, passing everyone I had started the mountain with and even more people who were up the trail. I took advantage of every downhill regardless of my brake problem. White knuckles and forearm fires was the meal for the moment, since I had no choice but to keep moving forward as fast as I could.

Paloma showed up at rest stop 1, I got my kit and kept rolling. Not long after that stop I made it to the starting double track road that goes over the rail road tracks and leads to star gap. I have no Idea how many switchbacks or how long the ascent is once you get to the single-track. But I can tell you this; I walked almost all of it to the top. At that point I really did n’t see the benefit of granny grannying it all the way to the top. I figured I would save my energy and enjoy the walk. So did about 20 other people. But, while I made my way up, riders did come thru. And again once I crested it, I bombed it, caught up to most of the other riders before I got to the bottom. The descent on the other side is spectacular and has many hairpin switchbacks that have you using all your skills to navigate them. You immediately get dumped into this grassy double track that masquerades as single track. And it rolls at some points, and then climbs for a long time, rolls again, climbs again, and then finally dumps out for like the last half mile all downhill. It actually proved to be a section for me where I could make a lot of time. I was able to reel in the rest of the people I had seen going up star gap and bridge my way to new people that I simply flew by while I was descending at nearly 30 plus miles an hour.

When I got to rest stop two I took about a eight to ten minute break knowing full well that the 9 mile climb was up ahead and I would need to be in my completely prepared for what layed ahead.

I started the climb strong; I even did the first mile or two in the Big Big combo. I was really in a good rhythm, the trail got steeper and I dropped to the middle and again spun the biggest, strongest gear I could till I had to eventually drop down to the smallest of gear combinations that I could muster. Spun it for 3 miles when I just got tired of the effort and resorted to walking. I must have walked for about 2 miles or so when I thought I had saved up enough energy to get back on the bike. I rode the rest of it and when I got to the top I was elated. I had finally conquered the monster and I still felt good. I was having a strange issue with the very top and back of my thigh muscle that was alleviated by a shorts change.

Now I started the undiscovered portion of the ride for me. The previous year I had surrendered at stop 3. I started making my way up the Blue Ridge parkway. And this thing just went up and up. The reward was the mountain tunnel I got to ride thru and the spectacular vistas to your left off the mountain. I had the fastest speed that day on the part of the road that went downhill. I must have hit close to 43 MPH and I never touched the brakes. I needed every single bit of complimentary forward movement and I was not about to compromise it by using brakes on a roadie style downhill.

Eventually there was the welcoming sign of orange tape leading you into an even steeper hike a bike climb then the one from the start of the race. I haul myself to the top and start ascending the ridge. It got pretty wild, but there were some spots you could do with no brakes and not be concerned about losing your life. And I did my best to stay as fast as I could and get down as quickly as possible. Eventually, after descending for several miles I started catching people again and recognizing that I was now descending the part of star gap I had walked earlier. Because of my brake problems I had a couple of scary moments on the switchbacks and ended up having to climb up to the side of the trail from the mountain. I had two crashes that were like that and was not hurt in either one. I made it to five and had the mechanic from liberty bikes adjust my rear brake and I took off again as fast as I could towards the mill creek road climb which sucked again, and then down the mountain towards Kitsuma. I rode by myself pretty much till the Kitsuma descent when I passed about four or five riders.

On the road heading towards the finish, three riders had got organized and passed me and left me behind. Shortly thereafter we were greeted by a downhill which allowed me to reel them back in, pass them and launch a counter attack in the high 20mph range that gave them no opportunity to respond. Crossed the line, hungry, but cramp free, in good spirits and ready to party.

As I sit here now a couple of days later, I’m sore. It’s officially the longest I have ridden my bike ten plus hours. The longest off road ride I have ever done and the most climbing I have ever done in succession. A lot of personal records were shattered for me on Sunday and I could not be happier. I’m looking now to the next race. Just don't know if which one will it be. The Trail to Trail or Fools Gold?

ORAMM 2007

Quick summary for those who don’t want to read the whole thing:

I finished it and had tons of fun.

Credits:

First and Foremost I have to thank Paloma for taking such good care of me during the race.

Next is my sponsor Bikeworks Orlando, especially Brian for all the countless hours of technical support he provided to me.

Next are all the people from the Forum (Luis, Lima, Ron, Jamie, Greg, Ted, Nuccio, Harvey, and the Texas crew, JJ, Brad, Ben, Brad and Steve) for just being so super cool, nice and genuine over the weekend. It’s good to know people that are so sincere.

Enormous thanks to Bob and Sarah from the Friendship Lodge. They do a spectacular job and making you feel at home and welcome.

Honorable Mentions:

That 29er I.F. Dude Harlan crushes the record and doesn’t get the extra payout? Ridiculous…4:50 something minutes.

Harvey, smokes his entire class, knew he would, less than six hours I believe.

Osias (fellow Bikeworks trail tech) smoked it his first time under 6 hours.

Chad (fellow Bikeworks trail tech) smoked it under 7. Quite an achievement considering last year he did in 10 plus hours.

Luis beats Ron by twenty minutes, both under 8 hours.

Everyone else finished as well. Don’t remember there exact times but they all finished faster then I did.

Overall: It’s an easy ride; I thought it was a piece of cake. And if last year I would have know what I had left, I would have finished it single speed. However, this course will definitely teach you a lesson in hardcore skills if you step up with the intent of riding it as fast as you can. The climbs and course are all doable, obviously, but doing it at race effort or attempted race effort is what elevates the difficulty to the epic proportions it possesses.

Well folks that’s it, that’s the short version. The blow by blow will be up tomorrow.

Daddy Day weekend 2007

Daddy day 2007 was the best I have had in years. I decided in this post to give a lil introduction to the rest of my clan as well as tell the tale of my Daddy day weekend.
First is a pic of the love of my life. Paloma, which translates into dove in english, is a beautiful soul that I had the chance to meet in 05. As quick as we met we fell for one another and have literally been together ever since.
Were part Brady bunch but the my three sons version. I have my two boys Kain and Kailan which are pictured above with my arms around and then my beautiful bronze baby that she brought to our family named Gabriel.
It goes without saying that we have a lot of fun around the house. As well, we have our fair share of headaches, anyone who has brothers can immediately understand.
Paloma is the Hub of the family that keeps the wheel turning. For five years I was a single dad. Try training, working full time and running a house and you quickly discover somethings got to give. And often the bike time was the time I had to sacrifice as well as it should have been. But, with my girls assistance I am able to finally breathe, among other things.
Kain, my oldest son is 13 and a real firecracker. As a youngin he used to race the Goneriding circuit and was even the state champion in his division. A genius in school that was spared the benefit of having common sense, my only hope is that he turns out to be the best he can be. He doesn't ride his bike anymore which is a tiny Lil heart break, but he rides his skateboard an awful lot, which I don't mind, considering I didn't touch a bicycle till I was 27.
Kailan, is seven years old, and truly an old soul. The only kid I know that will ask for hot sauce with his eggs, wants to drink my coffee and if I turn my head will steal my beer. As I kid, I never had a taste for any of those things. When I see him, I am reminded about the beauty of humanity and the blessing we have in our individuality. Truly a fun loving guy, out of all my kids he is voted most likely to be a hardcore roadie. He has been known to knock out 30 plus miles on his modified single speed bmx, the kid is no joke when it comes to the long haul. I have a route in Deltona that we ride with seven big climbs and he sticks every one, dancing on the pedals like Lance Armstrong.
Gabriel, is my Lil powerhouse. Smart, tough, reliant and very independent, he is going to be a forced to be reckoned with once I get him in the trails. The kid is almost as big as my seven year old and is half his age. I cant wait to see him grow up and blossom cause he is truly a talent in more ways then one.
Daddy day, was typical, with dinner and a viewing of fantastic four, which I liked. The day before my wife and I went for a ride thru some back country dirt roads and we had a total blast. I am finally able to share the first official pic of the "bitch" which already, at the current set up, weighs less then my 05 season MTB fetish bike. Its riding like a dream and I cant wait to crush the ORAAM in July.
Well, I hope all the daddies out there enjoyed their days as much as I did. What can I say, I'm a lucky and blessed man in more ways then one.
Enjoy!

The Lower 48

2007 at the Croom 50 Osias and I are slicing through some choice Central Florida single track. Most of the team had made the event. HtH, Shaun and "The Chad" had taken off a considerable amount of time ahead of us. That early morning was proving to be interesting. A Lil delay, a Lil rain, a Lil unpredictable mishap. I had forgotten either the bladder for my camel back or I had the bladder and not the pack, but one or the other was going on. And I had to prepare to do something that I had not ever considered doing. I have done numerous long rides, but never an off road ride with just a bottle.
Well as luck would have it I came across a guy I know from around the way and he had a bottle he could spare so I was able to ride with two at least.
In spite of it all, I didn't let it bother me. I just, you know, dealt with it like a pro would. I made a nutrition plan and Hydration plan and figured I would just have to stop to re water at every stop instead of just once. And it worked, but not with out mechanical problems slowing first Osias, then Me, when my wheel went out of true instantaneously after floating a berm a little too fast and a Lil too high.
Back then, I was still riding my cross bike, I hadn't upgraded to the "bitch" as of yet. And you can jump a cross bike, heck you can do anything on a cross bike, you just got to know what your doing. Its no secret that it was a cheap ass wheel set I was Rollin, OEM with the O.G. purchase of the bike. And I had already had it for three years, raced it hard several times, rode it thousands of road miles and done already 100 plus off road miles on the set in the past month, I was pretty sure I could of used a new one.
But Osias is the Man in more ways then one. I am starting to wonder if he is Human. Regardless, He took the wheel, with Trevor Buzz assisting he was able to man handle it back into ride able form. He did the physical work and Trevor twisted the spoke wrench and presto jumbo I was back on the bike.
So...
I'm in front, and Osias is behind on his single speed. His busted ass single speed that every time we do a ride on spend just as much time fixing it as we do riding it.
And I figure, this cross bike, has a 48 big ring, I'm going to slam it in that lower four eight and stand up and hammer and see if super human O can hang.
You can ask O yourself if he was able to hang or not for the length of my ten second effort.
But I was reminded by one important thing and it all came back to me this year at Tsali.
When O told me he had just done the entire course in the big ring; it sparked a rebirth of information I had let become dormant. That is what MTB racing is all about. Its about the BIG RING. Heck that is what bike racing is about, period. Check them time trial bikes, ain't no granny gear. Before I found out he was a doper, I have an image engraved in my mind of Jan Ullrich, doing that time trial at Alpe d' Huez in the big ring up hill.
Every time I'm scoping a race course I'm thinking, "OK, this section or this downhill, I could totally mash the big ring." But my boy O brought it into 2007 and kept it simple. Big Ring the whole course!
Amen brotha!
AMen.
So to my fellow country men and women, team mates, single track warriors and samurai. If you ain't big ringing it, then what are you waiting for?

Sunday Secret trail ride

Yesterday, Sunday, June 10th I decided to go for a solo ride. Circumstance and thunderstorms led me to riding by myself ignoring my training schedule which clearly said off road or on road group ride. Regardless, I decided to go to the secret trail since almost half of the 6 mile trail is technically uphill and I had to test the newest set up that I had put together and I need to climb as much as possible before July 22nd.
Well, I had originally purchased a complete raleigh XXI + G a bad ass black and red machine made of steel and hardcore raw unadultarated energy. And in Tsali and my other previous rides, I did enjoy its descending ability. However, the bike left something to be desired in the uphill department. Mainly, cause, although it is bulletproof, this feature does not come without some weight penalties.
Eventually, after some long internal discussions with the self, I searched and found a 29er frame that boasted a 3 lb weight, for my size 16in, with carbon fiber seat stays and scandium. Long story short, I purchased the Salsa Mamasita and it now sits firmly planted under my backside. From now on and for the purpose of future referance it will be called Da Bitch.
So just as recent as yesterday I swapped the tires from the 2.3 exiwolfs it came with to my old Panaracer 45c cyclocross tire. It made the bike considerablly lighter, and I was eager to test it.
Well I went to the secret trail and the first three miles were pretty nauseating. I think Ramen noodles is not a good pre ride food. The last 9 miles were great and I really started banking the turns and cutting up the single track. The second lap, I decided to do some strength training and ride the entire loop in one gear. But it was not all work on this sunday, I did decide to take a lil pic of one of the vistas from the trail.
Overall, I think the tires will work till I buy something a lil bigger before the ORAAM in July. It held good in the corners, hard to pedal in the soft dirt, but held up while climbing in the standing position.
Ok, stay posted.

laters,
LOS

Dangerous words and the Tsali 12 hour recap

Just recently the team took a trip up to North Carolina to participate for the third year in a row in the Tsali 12 hour Mountain bike race.
The warriors of Bikeworks lined up and fought a hard 12 hour battle. As one of the reporters of the team, I can tell you first hand that each team member and participating rider put their heart and soul into the race. Unfortunately, this year did not bring us a three peat with a victory. However, it should be noted, that there were successes.
The Sport team turned out some of the fastest laps that any of those riders have ever done at that race. Tony turned out more miles off road that day then he probably ever has in his life. He completed 4 laps in the 12 hour period for his team. Personally I turned out the fastest laps I have ever had in comparison to the previous year’s times.
Our sport team turned out 14 laps, that is a little over 140 miles in the 12 hour time period good enough for 5th place. Bikeworks Orlando one completed 12 laps in the allotted time scoring a 6th place finish, successfully defeating 19 other teams that showed up to do battle. Our only 3 man beginner team did eleven laps and finished 12th beating out 13 other teams that day.
I guess the gauntlet has been thrown and the challenge is for next year for team Bikeworks to regain a Tsali 12 hour title. My confidence is high that the team will deliver a win in 2008. The team is stronger then ever, faster then ever and smarter then ever, the Florida state championship series should really shape up to be a dramatic one.
Big thanks to our sponsors and supporters for all the spiritual, physical and financial support and encouragement. The fun and the opportunities our team has are surely appreciated.

On another note, the Sunday after the race, as I watched the team leave camp, I stayed an extra day to enjoy the area. I uncovered a 5 mile downhill run that is right next to the parking lot that I had to poach and conquer. My top speed was 33 mph. The scary part is that’s only 3 mph faster than my single-track max downhill speed from the race the previous day!! We were also invited to a hike that started from the camp to the Appalachian Trail (aka the A.T.). Well, of course I went with the intention of going there taking a picture and hiking back to camp. Well, after several creek crossing and some light mountain climbing we reached the A.T. 6 miles later. That’s when I was informed that it was only one more mile to the Natahala Outdoor center, were we could have lunch and plenty of drinks. Needless to say, feeling a little deceived, I completed the 7 mile hike with much pride and accomplishment. The entire time, all I could think about was how challenging it would be to do the entire A.T. by mountain bike. I brought it up at lunch, and I was quickly explained, that not only would it be difficult, it’s illegal. Wow, The ultimate trail poaching of the century, the A.T. by Mountain bike. Dangerous words indeed considering that it’s a federal crime.

O well, till next time, stay smooth, stay fast and wash…

single track samurai

Lately my inkling has been leaning towards a feeling that’s hard to put into words. I have gone rogue. I have gone Samurai. I have gone Cimarron. I have gone Lone wolf. I have gone solo.
When it comes to cycling there is nothing truly new under the sun. Sure new technology and fabrication methods are introduced, but long story short, no matter what; it’s still a person on a bike. All the first riders of the tour de France where the original off road century single speed riders. Because back in those days, there were no gears and some of the mountains they ascended and descended were yet to be paved.
And like the tires that we cyclist ride upon, the challenges that we seek seem to come in cycles. Off road Endurance cycling has grown beyond any ones imaginations. 24 hour mountain bike races are more popular now then ever and with the addition of 12 and 6 hour formats, even novices are braving the temptations of the long haul.
That’s where my focus and shift has been averted. I desire the punishment, suffering and rewards that are obtained from the long ride. Ultimately I desire to participate and qualify for overall awards in the NUE, the National ultra endurance mountain bike series. 100 mile, mostly off road races, that draws my attention and desire to compete.
These types of events are going to require a different level of preparation then I have done in the past. Currently I’m in my “Base Miles” phase of my training. And I think the most effective thing I could do to prepare is off road base miles. Sure its easy to take off on the road and ride a long distance, but its entirely different and a lot tougher to put together long off road rides.
January of this year presented and excellent opportunity to do several long off road distance events in succession. It started the 13th with the Tour de san Felasco, followed by the Ididaride on the 20th, then the six hours of carter road on the 28th, preceded by the croom 50 February 3rd, finishing with the 12 hours of razorback on the 17th.
Now I have done the “Tree Fiddy” before; which is the 3 off road challenges that mostly always equal out to more then fifty miles and offer a level of suffering for the unprepared. In the past I have taken frequent breaks during the ride, and ridden hard and suffered cramps. This year, I wanted it to be different so I took a different approach. In order to be able to ride a bike off road for a very long time, you have to find a pace that is easy and sustainable. Instead of riding at 90 percent, I chose to ride at 70 to 80 percent. And what I discovered was the ability to stop only once during the entire ride duration and not suffer any cramps, a complete, total and amazing break through.
This all led to my first 6 hour solo racing event at Carter Road park in Lakeland Florida. The goal was to do as many laps as possible in 6 hours. The person who did the most laps wins. Pretty straight forward, but still something I had never done before. The start was interesting enough with a potato sack 50 yard dash to the bikes. The day was chilly and wet. The first mile was on a dirt road, that had become a mud road, due to the resistance of the mud, it gave the feeling of pedaling up hill even though it was completely flat.
The loop was six miles long, and after three laps, I must admit that I was tired. I felt beat up, riding a cylcocross bike through rooty trails, tends to be a bit punishing, especially after several laps. Right around the three hour mark, I had totally lost count of the laps I had done and I had totally grown tired of the event. And that is when I discovered something amazing. Endurance racing, is about Enduring. As silly as it may sound. The key to being successful is to ride, until the pain stops and the body becomes numb and the effort seems effortless. I discovered that the longer I rode, the faster I went. There were a couple of laps in the middle that I was going slow, but moving nonetheless. While my competitors rested, I rode, pedaled and rode some more. In the end I turned out 10 laps on a six mile course, which was good for 12th place.
A couple of weeks later Trevor and I, headed up to Razorback to practice the 12 hour course. After one lap on my cross bike, I was beat up and tired and dreading the prospect of racing a week later. But come race day, I swallowed my fears and lined up to battle. The course was tough and had lots of climbing. After two laps, I was smoked, but I kept going. After lap three, I started number four and had the chance, if I made the cutoff to do lap 5. Early in lap one; I had problems with wheel rub on my frame since I was running the fattest tires I could to help absorb some of the trail impact. On lap three my headset came loose and I tightened it. Towards the end of lap 4 I had to do the same. Racing to make the cut off was a hard but fun effort, but I made the cut off and sat in the transition area for a good ten minutes tinkering with my bike. I had the headset as tight as I could and it was still a little loose, and it was making a very scary popping sound when I turned it left to right. I guess a fully rigid cyclocross bike was not the best choice for the course that razorback offered that day. I walked off the course at that point, abandoning the fifth lap for safety reasons. The last thing I wanted was to be going downhill and have my top tube separate from my frame. 52nd place out of 75 people and one more lap would have only netted me a 6 spot improvement.
My journey is not done, the battles have just begun. As I continue to prepare, I have had my cross bike repaired and purchased a new bike to help in my samurai warrior battle against the single tracks of this planet. Keep your eyes open for more stories as I keep striving toward my goal. Till then, stay smooth, stay fast and wash that ass!