Levi Trow Race and Crash

Levi Trow 100 started off as I had hoped, at the gun I ran like a sack of potatoes to my bike where I sat back about 5th or 6th. By the end of the lap I was first SS and 2nd overall with 3rd and 4th with me, I went through lap 2 with the same time as my first lap, but about 6 miles into the 12 mile 3rd lap I flipped my bike, hit the ground and my bar end came into the back of my right calf. It felt like someone stood behind me and kicked me as hard as they could in the back of the leg. I jumped on my bike and took off, then I felt it grow warm and tight and within 30 sec. I couldn't put any weight on it. I coasted along the trail peddling with my left leg until I couldn't go any further. At about this moment another rider came along and went ahead for help. About 15min later the race promoter, Jason, came along and gave me a ride to the EMTs that were looking for me. They got me bandaged and iced up, then carted me back to the start finish area where they took me for a parade lap in from of about 75 spectators, humiliating. I got back to my truck where I was met with a lot of support for loading and offers to drive me home, all of which I was extremely thank full for. A big thanks to Renee for driving me home, I thought I could do it, but her good sense and driving ability probably kept me from crashing into a ditch. I am having one of those years that occasionally plagues riders, you are in great shape, but things that have never happened before suddenly start popping up at every event. I hope that this is the end of it, but I still have a number of races left so I guess we will see if any new things happen. The one thing that has happened is I have become very angered at the bad luck I have been experiencing and for me nothing makes me go faster than being angered, so I plan on bottling it up and letting it go for the rest of the year. Don't worry I put it to the pedals and not to other riders, I mean this is mountain biking not road racing. I'm walking today, which is nice because its my birthday and I would like to be able to get around for at least a couple cocktails tonight. Thanks again to everyone, to many to mention, for helping me get home.

Levi Trow 100

Quick post before I head north for the Levi 100. With 12.5 miles of single track and 950 ft of climbing this course is a blast to ride. It looks like we will be doing 8 laps tomorrow so with any luck I will be drinking beer by 5. I know a lot of the 100 mile course have finishing times in the 7-8 hour range but this course will not be like those, roots, rocks, bridges and no roads will make for a lot slower going. Please say a little prayer to the rain gods, it looks like we might be in for more precip and why not I haven't seen a dry course all year. Talk to you on the other side.

Joe Dirt

I haven't had much time to blog let alone even think about blogging, I am heavily involved in a Norwegian workout plan that involves me moving 5 ton of dirt and rock around my yard in hopes of creating a synergistic landscape of both form and function. In between the earth moving I get on my bike and blast on the climbing routes for 3 hours. The Norwegian workout has made me tired, but strong like bull. My last ride was 3 hours with an average speed of 19 and 205 watts so all the punishment seems to be paying off. Unless my back breaks like a twig in the next couple days I am planning on racing at the Levi Trow 100. A great 13 mile loop with a little bit of everything. I won this race 2 years ago geared so this year I'm going single to see how I fair. I am hope full that I will get to race at least once without mud. Next post after.

Verona Tri

Spent Sunday with my cousin Jay and our good friend from Canada Ellen. They were tearing it up at the Verona Triterium. I like to swim, bike and run, but not in the same day and sure as hell not one right after another so I gotta give it to them and the other 700 that lined up. If you have never gone to a Tri, you MUST, because no matter how nice you think your bike is or how tricked out it is it's nothing compared to the qwan these guys spend on their rigs. 700 bikes in here and probably 70- 80% are carbon with full boat Dura Ace.
This is really early, I regret not getting a pic when the racks were all jammed up.
A couple of the waves waiting to storm the quarry, 500 meters meant 3 laps of the lake with a little run out and back in each time.
Look at all the bobers.
Ellen spending valuable energy smiling.
This is Jay, he found a 12" crescent wrench on the course that he decided he might need later for changing his rear cassette. I'm glad I was there when he picked it up or he would have run 2 miles with it. I used it later to motivate people who were slow.

Big smiles all the way to the end. This is on the down hill, the smiles were a little less going the other way.

Bike Parking or Lawn Art

The the first part of making the world a more commuter friendly is don't hide the bike rack in the bushes or make it part of the corporate landscaping. This picture was taken at a bank that shall remain nameless. I do intend to help them out by pulling it out of the ivy.

Peddle Boat

I have ridden on this road when the water is trickling across it, but today I honestly wasn't sure if the road was still under there so I turned around and found dryer ground.
The sun opened up the sky on my ride home and everything turned a hazy shade of Green

I don't know, but I think its a bad sign when the animals start lining up 2 by 2 and looking to the sky. Its been off and on rain here with my routes being changed at every turn. I even pulled a bull head, that's a fish, off the Bike Path Monday, that has never happened to me before. Anyway getting some good miles and intensity in between. Monday got out on the Single for 3 hours and Tuesday almost 4 hours of brain beating with Dave from Williamson Bikes and Robb at Saris. Sorry I don't have any pics of the guys, but probably better as we were all a little knackered after the day.

Rain Drops with no Rainbows

Hunkering down here in madtown for the last few days, we got 4.5 inches yesterday and more on the way.
My street running full rage, at this point it was a class 3,

We live on a corner and are lucky enough to have the 1 drain for the block, we don't get water but it does form a nice lake at the corner, my favorite pass time when it storms is watching cars hit it full steam and then blowing steam afterwards, it doesn't take a lot to entertain me. With all the rain I have been putting in some good mile on the running shoes, yes cyclist can run, although for me it might be faster to walk.

Last Mohican Post

Just the final installment of pictures from the Mohican. The main street start
Want to play where is lee, just look behind Floyd then behind the guy in neon green. I did manage to catch back on with the leaders which was great for avoiding the 300 riders headed into the single track.

I found a picture of the guy who save my arss, I left my chain tool in my Ergon pack. Not thinking when the brain is starved for O2, but this guy was nice enough to drop me a tool so I could avoid a 6 mile walk. That is 1 of the many things I like about this kind of racing, nobody leaves anyone to die, everyone helps if they can cause they know that one day they are going to need the help. I was afraid I might miss him, but I waited at the end to make sure he got his tool back. Thanks again Fat Tire guy.

Mohican Clean Up

Mud sucks and that's all I can say about that. The nice thing about running 1x9 is the clean up is just about as fast as my single, just replace housing and cable for 1 shifter and done. To be sure I made the right decision I grabbed my chain and broke it apart by hand, yup correct decision. To my friends over at SRAM the new chain is of course a SRAM chain so I don't expect any more bent links for another 15 years.
The Jersey Devil HT, couldn't have asked for a better set up, but I can't wait to race it in dry conditions.
Got travel, I toyed around with the foolish idea of running the JD HT with a Whit Bros carbon Rock Solid. I saw guys who did it, but I'm glad I didn't.

Carried 2 litters of H20 a spare tube and hand pump in the pack and never felt it. I am always amazed how the weight disappears in this thing. Love it. Running the Enduros on the Jersey Devil HT this year and the GP 1 with bar ends on the Single, I think I have finally found the right combo of grips to bikes.

Mohican 100

Race Report at the bottom of this one.

The ever funny me taking picture of you taking picture, Scott Cole, Team Specialized.
Ya see that little sign in the back ground, thats what folks tried and many times failed to use as the guide for a 100 miles. Great race but sketchy directions led a lot of people the wrong way. This is the big sign, most of the markings were 3x5 size.
Some of the most lush and beautiful sceneray I have ever seen. The course was top 3 for single track and beauty, be sure to put this race on your must do list.
Everything lush green, I felt like I was in BC again. Thats a boulder in there.
Scott and I making it out the day before for a little pre ride.
A nice little run up from the river, I think this one was only 15% and 200 meters. Every climb on this course measured in at an average of 15% with 7 going over 20%. 11,000 feet of climbing was dead on and it was straight up.
The night before the race we were treated to another pre race day thunderstorm that poured on the area most of the evening. Luckily Scott and I had decided to enjoy the comforts of the Mohican Lodge so we were spared the deluge that drove most of the racers from their tents and in to their cars in the middle of the night. Come sun rise the clouds parted the rain stopped and the temps jumped right into the 60's. We drove to the start of the race located about 15 min. away then made our way to main street for the 7am start. At the gun I pounded away with a small group of about 10-15, I felt great but didn't need to be a jukebox hero off the front. I decided better to be away from the group, but not blown when we hit the single track. As we got about 1/2 up the climb I looked back to see that we had put about a 50ft gap on the field, great I thought this will be a good cushion when we get going single file in a few minutes. I turned my attention back to see Landis pass me on the left, my only thought was, "I don't care how today goes I just need to beat him to the top of this GD hill." With gritted teeth and not O2 going to my head I did just that. As a side note, Floyd was staying just a few doors down from us so we had a chance to chat it up with him the night before, all the controversy aside I can say he was really down to earth and a very nice guy to shoot the bull with. Ok back to racing, the course handled the water really well, no packing mud just sloppy slinging mud that you could deal with. I hit the single track top 20 and feeling great. The single track was the one of the best I have ever seen, the climbing was tough but switched back so perfectly that you were able to get a great flow going the entire time, in fact flow riding is the best way to describe the course, no hard stop, starts, just flowing beautiful single track. This went on for a 25-30 miles and then we hit a section of open gravel and paved road, now you would think that would be a blessing, but you would be wrong. What the new section lacked in rock and roots it made up for in spades with climbing. I have ridden in the mountains and must say I think this was just as hard maybe harder, no long winding climbs, just 1-3 mile 15% climbs again and again and again. As I was cruising along on one of the few rolling sections I looked behind to see a small train of 4 people headed my way, I immediately stopped the hammering and pedaled easy until I got caught. I fell on the back of the train that was now tearing down the road at 22 mph, this is what I had been looking for. I sat in until I got my legs back then yelled to the others that we should be taking pulls, so I came up and tried to start the rotation. This fell upon deaf ears or maybe just strong mtbers with no road experience because it quickly disintegrated with 1 guy wanting to hammer the whole time. I didn't want to rob him of his fun so I just shut my mouth and sat at the back enjoying the ride. We are now cruising along when DISASTER STRIKES, my chain starts skipping and then throws. I get off watching my free ride disappear. I clean out the mud in the front ring get back on and more skipping and dropped chain. I get down again and discover that the chain link is bent out from the pin and I can't bend it back. I decide to try to limp it to Aid Station 3 which I know is 10 miles away. I don't have a chain tool because of course I left it in my Ergon pack which of course I ditched at the last aid station. I get 3 mile down the road onto a fire road climb when, pop! Chain snapped and I'm screwed. I got a chain tool from a guy who was cool enough to drop it to me and continue on. I spent the better part of 30 min getting it fixed then limping into aid 3. I felt really good and decided that it hadn't been making to much of a fuss so I decided to continue on, I got about 2 miles away when it started crunching again, I got off and it was again bending away from the pin. My day was over, I rode back to aid 3 and caught a ride back to lodge. Had the chain broke again and I'm most certain it would I would have been screwed, unlike a lap race you are out there and you better have what you need or a way to get back and I didn't. With 20 miles between checkpoints I had no desire to walk my bike out so I decided to call it a day. Oddly I didn't feel that bad, I was disappointed because I felt great and was doing well, but made a bad decision on equipment. This was the first time I had run a shimano chain in 5 years and it will be the last. I had never broken a chain, but now that I have it serves as a good reminder to make sure I have the tool with me at all times.


Scott had a good race finishing 27, he didn't feel very good for the first 1/2 and got stung by a bee on the second half which he is allergic to so he had to stop and take some anti swell up drugs, but for the 1st race of the year and the first 100 mile point to point race he did great. I know we both learned a lot from this type of race. He will get a chance to put his new found knowledge to use in a couple weeks at the lumberjack and me at Levi Trow.

We had a great time even though we hoped for better, a great course, great people, and free beer what more could you hope for on any weekend.

Thanks to Van Dessel, Ergon, and Planet bike for the best products out there. More on how well their products held up tomorrow.