DFL at the Knob!

I've been doing pretty well in sport this year, so I figured I'd give an expert race a shot just to see what that was all about. Fuck!


(thanks to Robert for the photo)

Things you shouldn't do in an expert race (for those considering it):

1) Fall 50 seconds into the race. My front wheel went into a bit of a rut and my nerves got the best of me and I went down. Sorry to all the soupcan guys who probably were scared shitless of my sketchy ass. I got up and back rolling on my bike, and everyone was gone.

2) Get clotheslined by a tree. I cut a line a little too tight on a switchback up by the pine trees, ducked under a tree... it picked me off my bike by my camelback and left me in a heap on the ground. What are the odds of that?

This race really gave me even more respect for how fast the experts are, those dudes are on some next level shit. I've got a lot of work to do before I can get out of the DFL position.

On the bright side: it was awesome catching up with Brett, seeing how well the Northeast Ohio contingent (Robert, Julie, Solon guys, and Darren) did, and getting my ass in gear for Mohican this weekend.

Run to the Hills

The Mohican 100k is in a week, and I've been so damn busy with work and moving that I haven't been working on climbing enough. I'm screwed. Here's to hoping for a sub-seven hour time.

What do you know; I'm still busy. As a last ditch effort I tried to sneak in a quick hour of hills today around the house on my fixed gear. 850ish feet in 15 miles = shittiest hour of my life due to the vegan tacos still fresh in my stomach. Ew.

First on bat was the marvelous Cady Rd. which I hit twice.

First half:

Still going:


Less steep and bumpy Edgerton:


Here's a map if anyone's got an hour of their life they never want back.


Off to Camba group ride at Regan park with my two favorite bloggers, Robert and Andrew.

Wilds

Raced at the Wilds on Sunday, and about mid-race, I had an epiphany. I wasn't having too much fun. Not to say that it wasn't great seeing my friends, or that the race wasn't organized extremely well. It was just one of those rides where you aren't feeling it.

The course was extremely fast and rooty, this combined with a good deal of mud, led to a not very singlespeed or rigid friendly course. I would have enjoyed it if I was taking my time and picking through the roots, but blasting through them at race pace led to my body being beat to hell.

That being said, the legs felt good, despite the rest of my body taking a beating. The sport race was fast. I got the holeshot and was out in front for maybe 3 miles then another singlespeed rider from Pittsburgh shoots past me on a climb. Woah!

It was pretty sweet to see another dude on a singlespeed getting wild in my class. So the chase was on. We rode together for it a bit and shot the shit. I attacked on an uphill and held on for the rest of the race. Good riding though, kept me on my toes the whole time.

I ended up with a time of 1:21 and first in Sport Senior. Woop. I think I'm sort of sandbagging hard, so I've got to figure out if I'm going to finish my season out in sport, or give up all my points and go up to the Singlespeed class or Expert. Soon to come post discussing my options and encouraging anonymous shit talk.

Once again, Northeast Ohio was representing in full force. Dynamic duo of Robert and Julie both scored wins in their respective classes, and my main dude Mike Fletcher continued doing pretty damn good, winning Sport Masters again. Andrew was not so fortunate, as his legs turned to goo mid-race and then a mechanical on top of that had him carrying his bike across the finish line. Can't win 'em all, I suppose.

Regan or Westbranch on Wednesday... who's interested?

Stylin' At OECR

With the Mohican 100k less than three weeks away. I realized it was time to get my ass in gear. Andrew and I planned to go to Mohican State Park today. Everything was going according to plan until...

I finish loading my stuff into Andrew's car. What am I forgetting; oh great, my shoes. They're in North Royalton at my parents' house, a mere 45 minutes away from us in Kent, and completely the wrong way from Mohican.

So, after a quick change in plans, Andrew and I were off to my parents' house and then the OECR trail in Cuyahoga Heights.

The trail was fun. Reminded me of Quail Hollow with a slightly higher chance of death. Because of the non-technical nature of the trail, what better opportunity to dick around. And dick around I did.

Check out this radditute in full-size by clicking on it:


Pretty sick eh?!

But as far as riding, the conditions led to some pretty fast laps of the 2.5 or so mile course. Andrew and I took some warm ups and decided that hitting some laps at a slightly elevated pace would be the ticket. We were off, and as our luck had it, this didn't last too long as he had a mechanical and an unfortunate run in with a tree.

I too had a bit of a losing run in with a tree. A bit less knuckle skin, a scraped shoulder, and a bruised ego later, we were back at the car.

18 miles on the day, not too bad for my day off. Click the photo to be taken to my flickr stream of the rest of the days pictures.

Phew

Finished the 12 hill thing.

Rode it with my Camba nice-guys Mike and Rusty. Ride was pretty straight forward, aside from getting lost about a billion times and a bit of a chilly start.

What was supposed to be about 85 miles turned out to be a cool 100, that's how lost we're talking. I've got a hunch we did more than the 6100 feet of climbing too. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger I do suppose.

I think I want to do it at least one more time before Mohican, both because it was fun, and man I need some work in the hills.

Sunday 12 Hill Challenge

We're meeting at 9am sharp at the Lock 29 trailhead (behind Century Cycles and The Winking Lizard)

80 miles with 6100 feet of climbing. Who's in?

CVNP Death Ride

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Mount Wood Mud Extravaganza

On the agenda for the weekend was OMBC race three, at Mount Wood, right on the West Virginia / Ohio border.

Andrew and I take off bright and early, and when we get down there, it's cold and rainy. Sweet. Luckily I brought some mud tires that were a bit more aggressive than the Small Block 8's I normally run. I rushed to throw them on and get dressed. By the time all that is taken care of, oh shit it's time to race.

Let me just say that starting a race with no warm up at all is rough on the legs. With that out of the way, we were off. I absolutely loved the beginning of the course, some gravel double track that was pretty dang hilly. I ended up getting the holeshot and lo and behold, Darren and Mike from CAMBA were up there with me. After some hill action, we were all looking pretty good in the front.

I had no legs the whole race, and had to push myself to keep the tempo up, no fun. I think it was the lack of breakfast, warm up, and sleep. Let it be known, if you want to feel good in a race, do the exact opposite that I do.

The trail was awesome. Some good technical descents, really good flow at times, and more hills than this Ohio boy is used to. All was going well, until Darren trashed his rear derailleur. Bummer.

So after that, it was Mike, myself, and one other guy off the front. Maybe about half way through the race, we came up to some more double track, and a hefty climb at that. If there's any time for me to make a move, this was it. I asked Mike if he wanted to come with, and he was happy to oblige.

After killing myself up the climb with Mike, we were all by our lonesome. Then things started to get interesting.

No clue why, but my pads on my front BB7 went kaput. They were hitting the rotor, but just weren't grabbing. And after that hill came some pretty wild technical descents.

Technical descents on a full rigid with only a back brake. No bueno.

Luckily I was able to not kill myself, although I was mighty close at times. For the rest of the race Mike and I were putting ourselves through some mutual suffering. When all was said and done, I ended up first in Sport Senior, with a total time of 1:52:38, and a 3:17 gap over second place. Mike won Sport Vet, Andrew won Novice.

Northeast Ohio was looking strong. I'm looking forward to the Wilds in two weeks and then the Knob to avenge my flat tire.

There were about a zillion people with cameras and stuff, so I'm sure the pictures will show up soon and I'll toss 'em up here.