Tandem X 3

Riding a tandem is like dancing with a partner. Put three tandems together and it is like a dance party on wheels. Yesterdays ride was one to remember. Moving together in a rhythm of tandem, Laura, Howie, Dar, Willy, Art and I rode 59 miles and 4700 vertical feet of climbing on some of the areas most scenic roads, and all paired on tandems together.

Our adventure started in Tuxedo NY, back dropped with a number ten type of day. We climbed up Rt 106 into Harriman State Park, and then headed north up Seven Lakes towards Bear Mountain. The lakes were sparkling in the sun and turtles were out sunning on the rocks. We decided to take an impromptu visit up Perkins Memorial Dr. to the look out. Here we encountered many cyclists challenging themselves on the ascent, only to be rewarded by the view and the gentle cool breezes at the top.





From there, we continued north and were able to bypass West Point traffic, by cutting through the military buffer on Mine Rd, another scenic quiet road that connects close to the incredible Rt 218 section that winds along the Hudson.









After our trip along the Hudson, we stopped in Cornwall to re-fuel and rode back south over some nice long climbs and descents on Angola/Mineral Springs Rd into Monroe and East Mombasha Rd. back to Tuxedo. It was a very enjoyable day, and great to see some new people get turned on to riding a tandem. The group dynamic was a perfect match.

Feathers and Butterflies

Todays finds ...

Ornate feather display at a passing trail head.


One of many butterflies sharing the nectar of a bush.

A beautiful sky ends the day.....

National Championships at Mt Snow

I am still trying to unwind, take a deep breath and realize all that happened in these last two weeks of racing. The first thought that comes to my mind is that I am part of an incredible team of generous and giving people that have been so instrumental in making this successful weekend happen for Team Campmor. Without them, and especially Art, I may not have even been at the race this past weekend.

We arrived on Wednesday, and found an unusually dry XC course with steeper climbs added, as well as single-track taken out and replaced with new single-track. The course was very rideable, but was strewn with roots and off-camber sections that would completely become a new creature if soaked in rain. Call me sick, but I half hoped for a little rain, to lube those roots up for a fun filled race. It wouldn’t be Mt Snow without the wet roots.

I also took a few runs on the Super-D course and determined that it was indeed too fun to miss, and talked my teammate Dar into doing it also. Marianne, Laura, Dar , Jess and I were stirring a lot of attention on the lift lines, as we always seemed to appear like a pack of giggling girls. Plus the lift attendant was quite a Titus fan, so we must have had some cool factor going on, and every time we were in the lift area, all we heard was “Campmor Girls!”.

Friday night before my race, my half hopes came true, when a severe thunderstorm passed over the mountain. It woke me from sleep, and I could see the curtains in the bedroom flying in the strobe light. Cool winds rushed in, with pounding rain and flashing light. All my life I have dreaded this situation the night before a race, and now I am excited by it. I am not sure how I was transformed, but I like it. I thought as long as it did not rain long enough to cause mud, I would be golden. .....The rain stopped in 30 minutes

Saturday I took the line, and when the gun went off, a woman I did not know, bolted. I chased down hard, but I could barely hold her wheel. As we reached the steep part of the climb, she spun out in the greasy mud. I moved to the side in hopes of passing her, and rode by her, pressing hard over the top, my heart-rate soaring. As I passed the infield, I heard people cheering and calling me by name, and then I heard cheering for the woman I had just passed. The next steep climb came way too fast, and I was nowhere near recovered, my stomach now starting to cramp. By the time I was turning into the single-track at the top, I could see the other woman was off and pushing her bike up what I had just ridden, which gave me a little comfort.

Plodding away up the many climbs, passing people in other classes, I finally reached the summit to start my descent. "Be like water" was my mantra. Oh boy, what fun it was. Slipping and sliding, staying loose, I got on a good wheel. She took great lines, and I found myself at the bottom way too fast. Recovered and back on the climb, I noticed that I did not seem to have my climbing legs. I proceeded to spin a bit more than usual and tried to find something that I could work with. I eventually got into a groove, and once again I found myself at the top ready for the romp down the mountain. This time, I was getting lapped by the lead single-speeders and experts. The traffic was a bit dicey as a few men crashed trying to pass me, but I kept it upright myself staying on the low side of the roots. At one point I got a little sideways with the rear end, causing a little “tighten my sphincter” panic, but I kept the front wheel pointing downhill, and momentum straightened me out eventually, causing me to let out a sigh of relief that morphed into a juvenile giggle.

As I neared the bottom, the cheering was incredible. If I didn’t hear my name, I heard things like “nice bike” and “nice wheels”. People were just cheering for everyone. As I turned down the last hill, I could taste the victory, and this is something I did not get five years ago ( when I did not know I had won until the results were posted, because they forgot to mark legs). Into the big ring I went, and coming into the finish line at Mt Snow with all the local friends cheering was exhilarating. I can’t tell you how much I have always wanted to win this race at Mt Snow, and to do it feeling like I had found peace with the roots felt even better. My fitness did not feel like it was my best, but I technically rode very well and my bike was just an extension of me, handling perfectly.

I was pretty pooped on Sunday for the Super-D, but it was a blast!! The Campmor girls rocked it in the Super-D. I am so thrilled to have Dar be our new Super-D National Champion, a very deserved win for her. I am lucky to ride with these incredible ladies, and it was awesome to stand next to them on the podium afterwards in our Campmor Podium sweep. Besides doing well myself, the team was fantastic as a whole, especially Marianne winning the sport red and stars jersey in her first year raceing. Truly a great weekend with friends to savor in my memories.

East Coast National at Windham

Finding some in between race, drug-free, psychedelic times in Tannersville, N.Y.






It was really cool to have a National Race venue so close to home. It certainly brought back memories of Hunter Mt. in ’93 with Tomac, Hans Rey and the infamous downpours. Now 15 years later, National racing has finally returned to the enchanting Catskill Mountains.

I arrived on Thursday afternoon with my teammates and was quite surprised to see such a buffed out XC course that was powder dry and scattered with nicely engineered bridges. All the sections and bridges had signs with cute names. The bridges were very friendly and had chicken wire on them as if they were expecting lots of rain … hmmm, remember Hunter Mt?

Come XC race day, it was up at the crack of dawn, to eat and get in a 1 hr warm up. I was expecting a very short race, and the shorter the race, the longer the warm up. It was a mass start for women and off the uphill start, I would guess that I was about 2/3 back, and ahead of my competition, going into the first single track. I did not feel that spunky, but I was able to stay in the lead of my age group, and get by all the miscue’s and grab a good wheel pulling me up to the base of the first of the longer climbs. I was able to find my legs and pass quite a few girls and bridge up to my teammate Laura. Just barely keeping her in sight in the single-track, I finally reached the last big climb where I passed about 3 more including Laura, but Laura hung on to my wheel.

Over the bridge, big ring and into the descent for a romp down the mountain, and through the mini wall section with ease, while Laura offering me some supportive words. Starting up the climb again, I heard crunching and felt my chain stop. I looked down and my chain was sucked into the spokes behind the cog set. It wouldn’t come out, so I flipped my bike over and un did the wheel and started to wiggle and yank on the chain. The first semi-pro came by and asked if I was ok, then Laura, asking too. All they got was a “yes fine”, but in my head I was frazzled, and trying to stay calm. Still wiggling, and now getting frustrated, another 2 women came by, and I gave it a hard yank, and it came out, thankfully still in one piece. Wheel back on, back on the bike and away to the top, catching back up to Laura again at the top climb.

The semi pros were in full lapping mode now, and I lost sight of Laura ahead of me. Sometimes getting lapped is like a race in itself. Being my second and final lap, I was flowing much faster in the single-track, and was able to allow passing for the semi’s out on the open slopes, which I actually felt pretty good about. My racer-x certainly suits me well, and helps give me much better handling ,control and confidence while descending. I was happy to finish my race ahead with a pretty good margin, and still be competitive with the whole expert class.

I had taken a few runs on the Super-D course, and once again, very nice trails. There were many pedaling, twisty sections in the woods. I almost felt like I was riding at home. And as a middle aged, female XC rider, I found them to be just challenging enough to try my first super-d race. Well that is what I thought until it started raining on Sunday and with heavy storms on the radar, it looked as if the super-d might be a no show for me. With some amazing luck, the rain gods spared us, and the sun started peeking out by race time, so I took my practice run and got to the top of the mountain.

It was pretty cool as there were 3 other women doing their first super-d also. It was a mass lemans start for women, and I can’t run for crap, so it was a given that I would be off the back. Jess’s bike tangled with the girl next to her, so she and I ended up in the back of the train pedaling like crazy down the meadow. I am usually pretty conservative, but I really enjoyed pushing my comfort zone a bit. I wore wide eyes and a big grin all the way down, passing friends cheering along the way. Much to my surprise, I reeled in some girls in the single-track, and made my final pass in an open field near the bottom, getting some un-expected air off a gravel pile, and sucked it up for a smooth landing. …all this initiating some uncontrolled giggling. At this point, I was beginning to go for the finish line and hung it out a bit more for competition sake. Awesome stuff! I crossed the finish line asking for another run.

Not always being competitive these days, this weekend helped to rejuvenate my sense of competition, and was a good reminder that there is lots of fun in some healthy competition. Looking forward to Mt Snow National Championships!

Look hard, or you'll miss the little stuff

Girls Play Hooky at Blue

Schools out, girls must play
Work is way over-rated
Woohoo ride at Blue!


Kathy on monster


Hot wheels doin what she always does


Laura takes the bait

New Bikes and Old Backs

Tuesday of last week, I woke up with some sort of pinched nerve in my upper back, that left me feeling incapacitated for a few days. I was really bummed to miss a few good rides, including Sean’s Alaska bound last ride in New Jersey (If you are reading Sean, I hope you are loving Alaska). By weekend, I was on the mend, and I can’t tell you how good it felt to be returning to normal life again. Even if it still hurt to breathe, I was happy to feel alive and know that this was just a temporary glitch in my life.

Sunday I was feeling well enough to race, but by the time I figured that out, I had come across injured sport racer, Christina on the course and helped to get her back to the EMT’s. By the time I got back, I missed registration and was pretty happy to just enjoy the race from a different point of view. I did tag along behind the expert women for the prolog, and then with the leaders for lap #2. Teammates Dar and Laura both won their age group and were 1 and 2 coming in. I ended up with a light day on the bike, and all this for a good reason, as I had a brand new moto-lite waiting at home for it’s virgin ride.

Yesterday, I put the moto-lite through the test and all I can say is … WOW! I rode one of the more technical trails in the area and that bike handled the trail perfectly, being nimble, plush and forgiving. The bike feels like it could climb up a wall if I had the gas. The ride feel instilled confidence in my descending and did not demand too much finesse, creating a relaxing ride. At one point I clipped a tree at speed, and very calmly rode out the deflection. I am looking forward to some more riding on this bike. I may even try the super-D at National Championships. The bike is certainly more worthy of super-D than I. I am pretty lucky to have Titus as my sponsor.



After taking a few days off the bike, it felt great to be out in the woods again, and to ride a super cool new bike was like icing on the cake. If that wasn’t enough already, it was a beautiful day. I came across two separate families of wild turkey with little fluffy babies scurrying off the trail. Laurel around the lake was in full bloom, and tiny green blueberries dotted the bushes up on the ridges, where gentle breezes made me forget how much I hurt last week. I am very thankful to have a healing activity like mountain biking in my life.

Rockin the SS at H2H Lewis Morris

The Lewis Morris race may not be the most technical race out there, but it certainly has its place in the H2H series. It has wide rooty trails and is quite fast and rolling in nature. Perfect for a single-speed in my opinion. I decided to try my hand at racing my single-speed in my usual expert class with four laps.

After a pre-ride on Wednesday, and having to fast 36 hours for a medical procedure that required anesthesia on Friday, I opted on the conservative side with a light 32x20 gearing. I ran a nevegal tire up front, a small block in back and a pink rubber-band on my tensioner.

Race day came, and as always it became very social from the get go. This race traditionally brings out a lot of first time racers because the course is not intimidating, and when I arrived I ran into three or four riders that I knew from the All Girl Rides and club outings that had just finished their first race. It was nice to take in all the new vibes, and excitement as I still remember my first race at this very same venue, 15 years ago.

When it came time to race, I lined up to the side of the front row as a courtesy. This would allow space for anyone to pass, as I would spin out with my single-speed gearing on the flat road start. Not sure what happened back there, but I found myself strangely in the lead. I actually slowed, waiting for riders to come by, but nothing happened, so I went with it, and pedaled away with everyone cheering. I sat in second place making the right turn to the climb and held strong, my heart pounding, but unable to judge my hear-rate, as I forgot to take my monitor off my other bike.

Being on a SS, I may have driven the pack pace up a notch with a climb close to the start, but I really had no choice to my speed with my one gear. It’s all or nothing. And when you descend, it is amazing how quick you learn to be efficient and use your momentum when it is you that will pay for every bit of energy wasted.

I finally settled into a pace behind Jess from Marty's and in front of my teammate Laura for lap 2. It was fun to ride together, but I may have started to get too comfortable, so when I noticed Jess slow down before the last climb, I decided to make a move and pass her, gaining some momentum, in hopes that I could stay on my bike up the hill. It worked out well in the long run, as I got back on the pace and rode ahead eventually reeling in my teammate, Dar on the last lap. Not having quite enough speed on the descents to pass Dar, I finished in 3rd place just 30 seconds behind her.

Besides a little lower back pain on the first lap, I felt great during the race. I am quite pleased with how well I rode and where I finished. Riding the single-speed can force me to work harder and can still be really fun. On top of being fun, there are many lessons to be learned on a single-speed. I found the whole day to be an exciting and refreshing change from the usual format. I am also impressed with Laura, who also rode a single-speed and finished only minutes behind.

Rainy Days

After what seemed like an eternity of rainy days, the sun has finally found my face. Rainy races come and go, and I no longer care to think too much about them. I suppose the first time you endure one and finish, it feels like a victory of perseverance, but after dozens, it has little merit any more. So the most significant thoughts of my last race were that of relief that all seven of my teammates piled back into the van uninjured with a finished race behind us, and tired smiles on our faces.

Now that I return to my woods to ride, dodging the showers all week long, I find a full canopy over head and ferns reaching up to my chin. The forest grows at an amazing rate, and I feel lucky to experience it each time I go out. The field, control burned each spring by the park, is now filled with green and the first signs of wild flowers. The wild turkey gather in the field in anticipation to raise their young. I can’t wait to see all the little “turklets” scurrying around in a few weeks. All this, because of the rain. ….this week has been perfect.


Laura and Kathy enjoying the late afternoon sun.

2008 Season Opener

Whether you are anxious to get back to racing or just looking forward to reunite yourself with the many racers that you do not see over the winter, the first race of the season is always a grand event. New bikes, new teams, racers moving up to the next category, a whole new crop of wide-eyed beginners diving into the sport. We’re all bursting out with expectations of the day. The first race of the Campmor H2H Race Series starts off the season for so many of us in New York/New Jersey area.

Campmor H2H Race #1 Wawayanda Spring Cleaning - May 4, 2008:

My last training day was the Cheese County Stage Race, one-month prior. Since then I had been doing about 10 hours a week of casual, happy faced, no pressure mountain biking. Enough to keep my distance endurance and handling skills sharp, but not necessarily enough to develop my cardio and intensity for racing, and now the race was here and I did not feel ready. However, I did make sure to prepare my bike a few days before, as I needed to get some things dialed in before the season started. The course was really rough and rocky, and my fork was not feeling plush enough on my pre-rides. Not sure if it got aired up a little more than I like after servicing in the winter, or if my new Industry Nine wheels were just that much stiffer, but I opted to increase the sag a touch for this race. I would later let a little air out of my front tire when I saw that the course was wet.

I packed the car the night before, and was up by 6:00 to have breakfast and arrive at the race in time to help Jess set up a paydirt information stand and be ready to cheer the start of the beginner race. I love to watch the beginner kids race. 11 year old Veronica, who had attended the All Girl Pre-Ride that my team had led, would be racing for her first time in the full cross country. It is pretty inspiring to see the determination of these little kids pedaling their bikes that sometimes weigh as much as they do. There would be many other familiar faces out there racing also, and many for their first time. The course was wet from rain and would be very challenging for the racers. I rode cheetah bike into the first trail with a cowbell to get them stoked off the start. Veronica came through looking very serious, but cracked a smile with the cheering and cowbell. She rode away into the daunting 6.5 mile course and would eventually finish first in her class.

By the time the sport racers were out on the course, the sun started to come out, and everyone was coming through the start finish filled with fire and smiles. My friend Marianne, who was racing for her first time, came flying through all stoked in the lead of her class. With all this excitement, I knew I needed to be out there racing, especially with Laura and Wendi racing expert for the first time. I decided to go register and get dressed to race.

I had just enough time to warm up and take the line. I had not eaten in six hours, but it was too close to the start to eat, so I omitted any eating, taking only a bottle of endurance drink and one gel along for lap two and three. It was a perfect type of start for me. Some fire-road leading into low angle climbing that gradually ramped up, giving me plenty of time to settle in. I found myself 6th off the start and by the top of the steep climb I was 4th with my teammate on my wheel. We went back and forth a few times with the slick conditions, working together to pass some of the men. Eventually she rode away.

I felt really strong, only tiring slightly on the last lap. I was able to keep my heart rate very close to where I wanted the whole race, and rode very cleanly, never falling. On top of that, my bike performed flawlessly. The handling on the Titus Racer-X is amazing, and the I9 hub/spoke combination worked great for me. There were a couple of sections that became bermed with pump bumps that I was able to fly through. A few spectators commented on my pink spokes. It’s always nice to score some style points along the way. I was very happy to finish 3rd in my class, and I would have finished third if I raced my age class in the men’s as well, so not too bad for the first race of the season.