A Summers Worth of Trail Building

As I type this, I am already 65 hours into this year’s trail project and I have had a plethora of experiences on this special mountain. I have worked in extreme heat, in clouds of mosquitoes and in thunderstorms. I have witnessed beautiful water falls that I did not even know existed. I have been blessed with beautiful sunsets and gentle breezes. Every Thursday has been spent with hands in the dirt and moving rocks to create a pleasing path for others to take. I hope you will take it.











Ringwood-Ramapo Trail Project: For those following this project, we (Jorba) have been making improvements to the Ringwood-Ramapo (red) trail from the intersection of the (blue) bridge all the way up to The Old Guard Trail (green/white) intersection. The project started with two years of planning and approvals, and then three years of actual trail building to date. This trail traverses and climbs through some very extreme grades and numerous rocky areas. When Art and I first took on this project, we knew it was ambitious. Trying to keep volunteers motivated to work on something that they may not be able to ride for years was tough, but I think we have finally crested over the top of that hill.



After getting Lyme disease and tearing my rotator cuff while out on the planning stages of this project, I am finally reaping some positive vibes as people start riding this trail. Of course this is not because of me, but because of all the volunteers that spent their days working on the trail.

Thank you workers ….
Joe
Ty
Adrienne
James
Steve
Zsuzanna
Allen
Jessica
Jeff
Joaquin
Elizabeth
Leigh
JD
Joey
Bill
Patti
Tim
Henry
Tom
Dar
Dan
Kathy
Chris
Phil
Randy
Michael
Marianne
Willy
Tahir
Jennel
Tara
Manny
and Art. This trail will have your signature on it.

Please go out and ride here:

Sun Valley National Championships

Les awaiting the first Idaho ride.





Some may wonder why I would book a trip to National Championships on a year that I have not been training or racing too much. I wonder myself, but it was just a set of circumstances that started rolling, and I went with it and never looked back. I had never been to Sun Valley and heard it was very beautiful and worth the trip. The rumor was spot on, beautiful indeed, and very bike friendly. I would go back to ride again for sure. My only regret was that I spent too many days pre-riding and racing on a limited race course and would have preferred to be riding the great vast trail systems in the area everyday.




Reading maps at 50 ....


... go ahead and laugh, you will be here one day too.




How many water bottles do four people need?




Very much a bike friendly town.


Bike paths running all over town.


A bike shop / bike fit / bar ....


that welcomes these folks.




Flags on street corners without traffic lights.....


to aid in crossing the street by foot.





My race: Not being in top form this year I was unusually nervous the few days prior to my race. Once I admitted to myself that it did not matter where I placed in the race but mattered more that I had fun, I was instantly freed of my nervousness. Obviously I would make an effort to stay ahead of the riff-raff off the start, but for the most part, my goal was just to ride and ride hard.

On the opening climb, I found the wheel of a rider from Roaring Mouse that seemed about my climbing pace. My heart rate was maxed out with the steep hill and being higher altitude than I am accustomed to at home. The course, which had some flaws, forced riders off to push up a super steep short ramp to get onto the singletrack. This put me over the edge a tad and my mount was a tad slower than roaring mouse. I quickly coasted my way back onto her wheel in several hundred feet. First switch back came and it was jammed up with women walking. Already I was in traffic. Two turns later and the same thing, this time roaring mouse fell walking and made it very difficult to get past as she jumped back up and mounted again, but she never really got going. I saw a narrow opportunity to pass on the high side and took it, I may have startled her, but she was trying hard not to let all of us by, and she seemed to be struggling with her bike handling.

I’m glad I made that move because the next turn had been added in the day before and none of us had pre-ridden it. I came in a tad hot and my front wheel drifted out side the berm, and I was hanging on stretching the tape. Those big wheels held on perfectly and I brought myself back on track without even a foot down. I heard a bunch of noise behind me, and I was glad to be in front of it. Flew over the flyover and headed toward the imported rock garden. Yes, they imported rock and made a rock garden. Imagine that? We just call it riding in New Jersey.

World champion, Ellen Gutherie called herself coming around before the rock garden. She got about twenty feet in and tangled up. I managed to find a line and ride past her to the end. All was going well up to the big climb, and then I hit traffic. I was now penetrating the back end of the younger classes, and this trail was less than 24 inches wide and very side hill exposed leaving no room to pass. If it were just a short single climb, it would not be so bad, but it was like this for almost a mile. I spent way too much mental and physical energy trying to pass and being forced off my bike to push up climbs so steep that it nearly cramped my legs. I will not dwell on the negative thoughts of this course too much more, as up is only half. Too bad the promoter did not have two good trails, one to go up and one to go down. It was a disappointing climb that left me wishing I was riding my bike elsewhere. Thankfully the way down was a blast.

I was lacking my spark on race day, and finished 6th in an unusually large group of strong 50 year olds. Not too bad for what I have put in this year, but by no means a great race for me. I came to this race with an open mind, and to support my team mates. My teammates did not let me down, but the course was a bit of a disappointment. As much as I love racing, after seventeen years, I may be feeling a bit more selective of which race courses to race in the future.


Imported rocks to add interest to a buffed out XC course.




Campmor skirts getting us a photo op with the Mayor of Sun Valley.


Tara, National Champion in Super-D.


.....Four Friends.

What made this trip worthwhile was to see Tara ride so well. After she spent 4 years out of racing, struggling with her health and thinking she would never race again, it was awesome to see her in a National Champion Jersey on top of the podium. It was a good day and a good trip for sure.

Les is More

Well, the growing trend to ride big wheeled mountain bikes, has finally found it’s way to pixy. Let me introduce “Les”, my new 29er. Some may say, it’s about time and others may ask why, but here is my story of how Les can be more.



Over the past few years, 29ers have become very popular, particularly for racing, and it makes good sense. The bigger wheel rolls over stuff better than the little wheel eliminating some of the desire for full suspension, while keeping the platform quite efficient. During the early days of 29ers, little sizing was limited, but now many companies offer small sizes, and everyone was telling me to check them out.

What I found out is that most 29ers fit everyone else and not so much me, and then one day I saw that Lynskey was making one very close to my size, and I began to ponder about a possible big wheeled bike for myself, perhaps from Titus, since their bikes fit me well. Last November Titus went bankrupt, which blew the wind out my 29er imagination sails, and I quickly accepted the fact that this was not to happen for a good reason.

Then in January Industry Nine offered me sponsorship, and I knew it was time to re-open the big can of worms and find another custom frame builder to build a frame to accompany the new 29er wheelset. I was not sure if I should go steel or ti. Because the tubes would be small, I thought that ride quality per dollar would be better for steel. Plus I had never had steel and wanted to give it a try. I looked at a bunch of frame builders, but kept going back to Siren. The Siren had an intriguing bent top tube and beautiful curves. It just looked like it was meant for me.

I contacted Brendan, the builder to ask questions because I thought I could get by with a standard small frame. After some discussion, he assured me that I could get all that I was looking for in a custom frame. We came up with an in between medium and small geometry with more stand over height. For those interested, the materials used were as follows:

- Down tube 35mm 858 butted
- Seat tube 28.6mm externally butted
- Top tube single bend, True Temper OX Platinum
- Chainstays S-bend
- Seatstays S-bend
- Dropouts - Paragon windowed sliders w/ titanium hardware

The frame was built very quickly, but the paint process took several months because I had it powder coated at Spectrum Powederworks. The powdercoat job was outstanding, but I had to wait my turn to get that done.




The Ride: After a few weeks of riding all sorts of terrain, one race, and two festivals, where the bike acted like a guy magnet, I am giving this bike a BIG thumbs up. The overall ride is really nice, smooth and very solid with the big wheels. This is my first steel bike and I like the buttery ride. The big wheels DO really roll over stuff with ease, and the rear tire hooks up when climbing, like a goat. I have heard people talk about sluggish handling, but I do not get that impression at all. Last Sunday at Lewis Morris Race I was really appreciative to have a hard tail and the big surprise was that my back did not hurt afterwards from all those roots, like it usually does. I did not have a great day for my legs, but still finished 6th in the pro/open, which is a good.

I would like to send a big thanks to Industry Nine for making an outstanding wheel set that performs as well as it looks, and also for investing in me as a sponsored racer. Without this, I may not have ended up with this type of first 29er experience. I look forward to many more big wheeled rides down the trail.

Next stop ... National Championships in Sun Valley, ID. So now you have it, Les can be more.

BIG Celebration Weekend!

Jorbafest



Summer is here, and what better way to celebrate summer than to share your summertime passion to ride a bike with others. This past weekend was jam packed with sharing at the 2011 Jorbafest. Hundreds of volunteers came out to help pull off this wonderful day at Allamuchy. The weather was perfect and mountain bikers of all ages came out to do their thing with others.



6/16/11 : My weekend started early with a Thursday morning ride with my friend Patty at Stephens State Park . This was not just “a ride” but a premier tour of this park I rarely get to ride, and my first major ride on a 29er. Yes, pixy has BIG wheels in a BIG way. What a great ride we had, as I instantly fell in love with the ride of the big wheels and steel frame on the flowing single-track. Stoked from my ride, I jumped right out into the woods again later that afternoon and worked four hours up at Ringwood during Jorba’s Dirty Thursday work session. We worked on the Ringwood/Ramapo re-route. That trail is coming along nicely, and may be open in a few more Thursdays.





6/18/11 : Alarm at the White house had us up at 5:00 and on the road before 6:30. First on the agenda was to build “Pump the magic dragon”, the portable pump track that Art had built that week. The pieces were nested together nicely in the truck with a few bikes and cooler, but would need to be unloaded and put together. All that went well and by 9:00 both Art and I were gathering to lead or sweep a ride.



I was on schedule to lead an advanced women’s ride, and this in itself is amazing that there are enough qualified women to even have this ride. We actually gave the guys a head start, so that we would have the first trail more to ourselves, but we caught up to the guys anyway. My group had a few DH chicks that expressed interest in more technical, and here I was on this strange BIG wheeled hardtail. I was feeling a bit unsure of myself on a new bike, but the BIG wheels kept rolling like a charm. We had an awesome 17 mile ride of about 3 hours, including Lumpy Bumpy and a section of the Highlands Trail. I am proud to say that New Jersey terrain has created some very skilled female riders.



an afternoon of fun....



...for the whole family.


And if Jorbafest was not enough fun, Dar, Tara, Art and I were off to NEMBA festival at Huntington State Park in Ct where Team Campmor was teaching a women's clinic on Sunday. This was Dar's home turf and she has been a BIG supporter of Jorba and we all wanted to help her give back to her home state parks.

Wherever your home trails may be, invest BIG in them and reap BIG smiles of riding down the trail.

Summer Arrives in the Jungle

After dozens of rainy days that have dominated our spring in New Jersey, the sun has finally come back to us and started to heat things up in the Jungle.... Jungle Habitat, that is. A quick little pre loop down lower shute, and I quickly see that the "I dig Tuesday" elves have been very busy. Thanks to Jorba and Team Town Cycle for trail repairs. Torrential rains had washed out many trails this past winter and spring, and it is good to see some love going back into the trails. I noticed that the "umbilical cord" is now a feature, as you must slither and duck to get around it.



The rain has also brought a bumper crop of extremely healthy looking poison ivy. Riders beware! I rode Rhino clockwise and found it to be very enjoyable in that direction. The laurel starting to bloom on that trail are spectacular right now, and giant mushrooms are already starting to form. So, not all the results of heavy rain are seemingly bad.

Gifts of Spring Showers

Campmor H2H Series #1 - Wawayanda

So here I am again, just one year later at my racing season opener. Once again, it is good to get out to the races and see all the familiar faces. I got there early to set up the Jorba/Paydirt tent next to the Campmor Neutral Support area, and to see Adrienne off for her Cat 3 start. It was a beautiful day, and it felt great to be at a race again. I had a chance to mingle with some of the first time racers and absorb all their excitement. During a time when many people are without jobs and complaining for what they think are very good reasons, it is really nice to be somewhere filled with happy people who feel they have a purpose that day. Mountain biking is awesome! Even after a week of emotional nonsense, I am 100% glad to be racing and part of all that I have pledged myself to in this sport.

My race: I lined by chance behind my class winner, which got me off to a great start. I had a lull of a few seconds when I hit the hill to the feed zone, and a few women passed me. During those few seconds I was wishing for a hard tail, but in a minute I will be very glad to have my FS. I hung in mentally and kept pushing over the hill. Things came together, and Ellen and I passed those few back up the next grade. I hung tight to Ellen into the single track in 4th place. I rode smooth, but when it started to push up hill, Ellen stood and rode away.

By the time I hit "the bowl" (rock garden by the cut in the log), I had caught up to the first man who was off walking. I rode right through the rocks perfectly and encouraged him as he got on his bike in front of me. He bobbled the top in the preferred line and I tried to ride around but got hung up on a rock. I did a quick run around and noticed Marianne coming up the hill behind me. My heart rate had been in the upper 170’s since the start, and I was feeling stomach cramps coming on. I knew I needed to back off a tad to hold them back, so I called Marianne by to pass. By the time I reached the end of the trail, I could see Dar was only a few hundred feet back.

I kept it rolling, but planned to keep my pace down until my stomach felt settled. Dar passed me by the end of the white dot trail and I was pretty sure that by the end of Mojo, I would be good to go again. I was hoping I could hold off any more women. I could see women behind me in the twisty sections of early Mojo, and my concentration was off a bit as I bobbled some really simple stuff in the beginning of the trail. Amazingly, all the hard stuff later down the trail I nailed. Just as predicted, I was good to boogie by the armored water crossing near the end of the trail. Big ring, and off I went. No more stomach issues.

I never saw another woman during the race, but passed a bunch of men, one man even twice. I ended up starting to get leg cramps on lap three, but rode steady for the last half and held them off to finish 6th in the elite pro/open of 13 women. It was a great first race of the season. I really love a bike handlers course, and this race was one for sure. As much as things were hurting at the end of my race, the course kept me engaged and racing until the end.


I kicked back on Saturday and made some Campmor skirts and took part in my pre-race ritual, painting toenails.

So Really, How Much is Enough?

If the title of this blog post sounds familiar, your “blink” impression has served you correctly. All you have to do is look to this time last year, and you will find my blog post titled “How Much is Enough”. You may wonder, why do I dwell on this? So, I looked back over my training log, and although I thought I had adjusted my overreaching and resting ratio this year to avoid any un timely needed rest, and I still seemed to be in the same place just days before the first race saying "Why am I sick with a cold and feeling like I am done racing altogether?"

As always, the biggest question is determining whether this feeling is physiological or psychological. This year with the help of Ken, my coach to guide me in the physiological department, I am looking much harder at the psychological part, and with me it almost always seems to be psychological. So I have decided that I might benefit more to take a good look at what I HAVE accomplished, and not what I think I may NOT be able to accomplish.



If I take a brief look back to seventeen years ago when I first swung my leg over a mountain bike, I was hardly a racer type. I got onto a bike only in hopes to get back in shape after having back surgery. I entered my first race merely to be with my friends. Competition was not a priority to me I thought, but quickly I found that it could serve as motivation for personal goals. Seventeen consecutive years of racing and 250 races later, I have gone from Cat 3 to Cat 1 and claimed 2 National Champion Titles and 2 World podium spots. I have only DNF’d one race in all that time, and managed to get out and race every year, even with injuries and having Lyme Disease. Consistency, keeping it fun and giving back have been the threads that have held me in this sport this long.

Racing can be very intense, and to be a pro, no doubt you need to make your training a top priority. But for the rest of us average middle age folks, we more often than not need to keep things real and keep balance in our lives. Making priorities, and then readjusting them periodically helps, but sometimes you just need to walk away from something with your mind if only for a bit. This is where I feel lucky. Any time I feel down on myself in my daily training, I can just walk away with my mind and go build a trail, or teach a woman to ride a rock garden, and I am instantly reminded why I love this sport, and I feel fulfilled in knowing that in some way I have passed that on to another person. This works both ways as well. If I put all my efforts into trying to open a new awesome trail, and then the proposal does not get approved by the park, I can put it away and go race hard on Sunday. Keeping a broad base in the sport and finding balance has been key.

The intertwining of my involvement in this sport has greatly been influenced by Paydirt founder, Sarah Frost. Although she was not much of a racer, she was onto something when she 1. held her first "All Girl Day". 2. Brainstormed the "Paydirt" concept with Wally Tunison. and 3. Held her first "Jorba" meeting. She always got involved where she could. These efforts played a huge role in the sustainability of mountain biking in the Garden State in the years to follow and still do today. Little did I know that I would be involved in carrying on some of these in my own small way. I can only hope that others will find value in these things and carry them on when my role is over.

So to get back to the question: “How much is enough?”, the answer could actually be: "All of It!"

My message to all: .... Get out and ride your bike. Ride for fun or ride hard. Look around and love what you see in that special place in the woods. Make an effort to get involved in protecting that special place, and try to share all of this with someone else.

Peace