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.

Chasing A Passion

I can’t tell how excited I was when Art came home from his friend’s house with an old bike frame in hand. Apparently, his friend was relocating and had a recycled old frame, that would not be able to make the move, and the old frame was once again doomed for the dumpster. Art being the thrifty person he is took it. It was a yellow aluminum Gary Fisher Kaitai … my size.

Finally I had an old frame that I could build up to pull the bob trailer to trail maintenance. Immediately, we started to check the recycled parts drawer, and found 90% of what would be needed. I always feel good about putting my old bike parts back into action. Seeing the parts I raced on years ago brought back many fond memories including racing at 1998 Worlds at Mt. St. Anne.

I've always had the passion to paint a bike and fork, and things were looking like this would be an ideal learning experience for my first bike-painting project. Most bike companies will void any warranty if paint is applied, so doing this on a new bike is not recommended. Multiple visions of colors started spinning in my head. I love light blue, but pink camo sounded like an ideal trail maintenance color scheme. I posted a poll on the local forum, mtbnj, and was overwhelmed with the amount of pink camo enthusiasts there were. I decided to go with a natural occurring camouflage as found in an animal, the cheetah. I had a real cool umbrella that had a cheetah type print on it, and that would be my pattern. The colors would be of the magnolia tree blooming now.

First step was to sand the frame’s topcoat with 120 sand paper to smooth out most the scrapes and dings. Then I sanded the texture out with 220, and a good wipe down with thinner to remove grease and fingerprints. All paints were purchased at an automotive store as per their advice. Art being a woodworker had a spray booth, spray gun and some experience that would make this project a lot easier for me to tackle.

Second step was to spray a primer coat on from a spray can. Then a base color sprayed on with Art’s spray gun. Art applied the dark pink fade, as I did not have the feel of the throw of the gun lever. From there, I hand painted the dots, a job that took more than four hours. Finally I sprayed two coats of automotive clear-coat on top. The head badge was a hammered down earring.







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So far this project has been one the most rewarding projects I have tackled in quite some time. I truly love to ride my bike, and everything I do with my bikes, is so rewarding. Ride on in peace Cheetah!

CCWC

I am excited to bring you an un-official race report from the first unofficial “Cheese County World Championships” (CCWC). This weekend was so low profile that alias names were used to unofficially register. This unofficial report from Tire Whorerat …..

Somewhere in a far away county, 28 mountain bikers unofficially gathered, filled with cheesy cheer, ready to ride hard and suffer together. Things were looking dismal on Friday morning. Rain showers scattered cheese county and weather predictions were for rain all weekend. By afternoon the rain had stopped and a few patches of blue sky were a welcome site to the cheese county enthusiasts.

Although the short mountain bike Time Trial course would be a little slippery, things were looking better than expected. I lucked out with getting the last spot in the starting order. I am not very good at TT, so having the whole class in front of me like a carrot on a stick was a huge help. By the top of the first steep up, I spotted L Boog ahead, and by the time I reached the gravel climb, I had the entire class right in front of me. By the top Colonel Corn, L Boog and I were 1,2,3. Boog and I stopped once when we lost the trail, only lost a few seconds, but lost sight of Corn. Then Boog slipped on a root and threw her chain. I almost missed the last turn and skid to make it. L Boog must have had her head down and missed the turn completely. What a site to be flying into the finish line and see L Boog coming the other way. Luckily the un-officials were ok with the mishap and scored us both. Colonel Corn and Goat took the stages for the day. Got home late, started laundry, washed bikes, showered, changed laundry, and went to bed.

Saturday we all switched to skinny tires and rode on some of the most beautiful roads in cheese county. There were a few cheesy sprint points along the way, but I was spit off the back so fast, I had no idea what went on up there for those. There were also two timed hill sections, "Cheese Mountain" and "Cheesepack Inn to the top of Old Cheese Rd". Old Cheese Rd was a killer. I knew the climb so I had an advantage over the few that did not, but that did not make it hurt any less. A big thumbs up to Beer Boobs and Freaky D for toughing it out. Some believe that this was the climb that made Bluex Wrathgore crumble. A big thanks to Mayor Mac Cheese for those long pulls. In the GC after Saturday: Colonel Corn and Goat only by a margin over out of towner Aronasausus Rex from Massocheesitz. Got home late, started laundry, showered, changed laundry, and went to bed. zzzzzzzz

Now that our legs felt like cheese, Sunday we got back on our mountain bikes, and rode more hills and some rail beds to get to the trails. Although it got a bit tedious, it worked out well to loosen the legs up. We had two timed sections mostly uphill. Riding in the woods at Allacheesy was cheese heaven. I wish we spent the whole day there to ride. I’ll cast my cheesy vote for that next year. L Boog climbed her heart out and won the stage for the women. L Boog was my angel all weekend, pulling me out of laziness.

After 3 days, 122 miles, 12,000 ft of vertical, long rides, steeper than 13% climbs, suffering, the feeling of accomplishment, great camaraderie and a lot of laundry, Colonel Corn and Aronasurus Rex were the GC winners of the 1st annual CCWC. Professor Provolone and Briana LaFevre tied for the sprinters jersey, and Blockhead Squarewheels took the best young rider.

Special Note: After results were posted, the UCI (Union Cheese-makers International) leaked incriminating information to the Cheese County Press about Professor Provolone cheating. After a thorough investigation, it was found that the UCI accused Professor Provolone of using the provolone name without proper aging of his cheese. After going to arbitration, the UCI eventually dropped charges, after taking one whiff of his sweaty sprinters jersey.

Easter Road Ride Report

Art, Willy and I did a road ride on Easter Sunday. The plan was to head west, right over Skyline Dr, around behind Ringwood and up 106 into Harriman, straight across and back down to Bergen County, an estimated moderate 55 miles.

I really can’t complain about the warm weather we’ve had this winter, but being that it was technically now spring, it felt like a disappointingly total winter ride out there once again. I must be getting weak minded, not to mention that I felt like crap right from the start. This was the third day in a row of my legs being flat. I tried to suck it up and not ruin the ride for the boys, but it became a suffer-fest.

This was my first time climbing Skyline in 08, and it felt ok in a painful way. I tried to take it slow so that I would not get too sweaty, but it was long enough to soak me through. It was also a bit windy coming down the other side and I had to tell myself to relax to keep the bike stable. I don’t know if any other small riders get tossed around in the wind, but I find it feels worse if I tense up.

On Long Meadow road I spotted a red fox along the road. I stopped maybe twenty feet from him, and he just stared at me. We actually made eye contact and that seemed ok with him. It was really cool, and I’m glad I got myself out riding and saw him. Oddly, I have seen more wildlife on this road than when mountain biking in the woods.

From there we headed up 106 into the park, and I was reacquainted with an old friend of a climb. That long, twisty, low-grade climb is one of my favorites. This may have just been a perception, but I thought I started to feel stronger, or maybe Art and Willy were starting to get tired. At one point I thought I had completely shed my funk, then it was obvious that all 3 of us were bonking bad and not thinking straight. We were out of food, and split the last of the water three ways and stuck together until the next open store where we bought some food. It was only 8 miles short of home, but we needed food and water badly.

I never knew the 7/11 in Monsey was such a hopping spot on Easter. Cars were lined up to get parking spots. I was so spent, that I wanted lay down on the sidewalk, but Art thought I would get run over by the uppity drivers. There were all these kids in yamacas staring at us and saying “Look, bikers!” It was cute, but made me wonder if they were ever allowed to ride bikes, if seeing us was so special. It reminded me of the story of the city kid being amazed with the farm animals and the farm boy being amazed with seeing a taxicab.

We ate up quickly and got home with 55 miles that felt like 80. Only a tad over 4000' vertical gain and yet exhausting, and just another day on the bike. I was happy to see a fox and put a sparkle in a kids eye .

Titus Factory Tour

Wednesday, we drove up to Tempe to visit the Titus factory and ride South Mountain. Some cool trails there for sure. We may have ridden them in the wrong direction, as they were pretty tough going up hill. Very challenging and less cactus but a lot more people on the trails. It is a pretty amazing and busy park with rocky technical trails right in the congested city of Phoenix. Besides the technical trails, the flowers were in full bloom, as seen in the photo above.

I was pleasantly impressed with the visit to the Titus factory. My impressions were that it was a small company made up of regular people with a passion for bikes, just like myself. They seemed to operate in a very custom manner,working in a high end exotic material, with a fleet of custom jigs, and a row of buckets of tubes waiting to be welded into the next bike. I think there was some exogrid lust going on that day. I didn't have to go to the Titus factory to love the ride of my bike, but it certainly confirmed my positive impressions of Titus.

Arizona 2008

Art, Mike, Marianne and pixy

Each March, as soon as the snow melts, the days get longer, and temperatures begin to rise, I become excited with the thoughts of riding my bike in spring, yet spring’s actual arrival seems to take much longer than expected. After 14 years of riding mountain bikes, and going through this scenario, I have pretty much resigned to the fact that March is the time to get out of New Jersey and find some much needed sunshine and warmth to rejuvenate my soul.

Destination: Way Out West, Tucson Az. – A small B&B style retreat, just north of town, with trails right out the back yard. http://www.wowtnt.com

Each morning Art and I were served an unbelievable breakfast including fresh squeezed orange juice, fresh blueberries, blackberries, mangos, kiwis, melon and fresh baked muffins. We built our bikes in the shop on arrival and went out to ride, along with Mike from NJ who was visiting his Mom, and Marianne who joined us on day two. It was quite a treat to ride in shorts and short sleeves and feel the wind and sun on my skin.

Some of the trails were fast and bermed, some technical, some tight and twisty and some lined with nasty cactus. The dessert flora and fauna have a pretty bad attitude to be able to survive the extreme conditions, and although the thorns can be intimidating, I find this whole experience to be both exciting and refreshing. Each tiny little scratch was just another reminder of how lucky I feel to be alive. Riding new trails in a new environment brings discovery on every ride, and on and off the bike I enjoyed clean air, mountain views, the sounds of nature, beautiful sunsets, and good times with friends.

Thanks to our WOW hosts CJ and Mary Ellen, we rode great trails, explored a cave, spotted a gila monster, visited an ancient metate and a rare crested saguaro. A whole week of good times had!


pixy on the upper 50


leftover's from someone's dinner?


careful


ouch!


resident road runner


CJ and an ancient metate used for making cornmeal




photo by Marianne




photo by Marianne

Big Weekend

Wow, what a weekend! With the weather forecast for snow Friday night, I was sure for a XC ski on Saturday. What a disappointment to wake up to the sound of rain. I went back to bed, and was awakened by the phone. Apparently, Minnewaska was in good shape, and the gang was chomping to go. Minnewaska Preserve is a real special place, filled with beautiful views, cliffs and crystal clear lakes. They also groom a XC track in winter. The conditions were primo. At one point Henry was down to a short sleeve t-shirt. We went for some extra skiing and broke track around Lake Awosting. Then this squall blew through. We could barely see, and keep warm. One hour later, the sun was out again. Great ski, and I wasn’t quite as sore as last week.



Nate talked us into a road ride from Morristown for Sunday. It was brutally cold at the start, and Art and I rode fat tire tandem. The first few times my heart rate went up, my fingers shut down completely. Luckily, there were a few stops to re-group, where I could get them back. I only warmed up climbing up the Black River Wildlife Walls, and then got cold again. Thankfully, we stopped for snacks indoors in Oldwick, and afterwards I was much better. It was my longest ride this year, and with legs hurting from the ski, I struggled to get back. Turned out to be 73 miles with 6,330-elevation gain, which is more than I thought it would be. I'm ready for bed now, but it was an awesome weekend full of adventure and challenge.

Harriman XC Ski

With six inches of fresh snow on the ground, Nate, Henry, Tom, Art and I went up to Harriamn for a XC ski. Conditions were not ideal, as there was a thin breakable crust with no broken track. We tracked out a 9 mile loop from Sebago lot. Good times and very sore legs for me by evening.







Tom negotiating the singletrack.



Art crossing the stream.



The boys at snack time.



Oh, yeah, don't follow Henry's line.

pixy

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I hope to post some new journeys in life. In the mean time, I have archived some memorable old race reports and journals from the past five years. Thanks for reading. Now let's get outside and ride!