UTAH WINS THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!

As hannibal liked to say...I like it when a plan comes together.  And truth be told, today was all a plan, put together many months ago....Every detail thought out at mental patient level.  From my diet, to training, to my new bike....the goal was to win this race.  Everything else was secondary.  So by the time today came I had run every turn on this course, every rock, every tree, 1000 times.  I certainly wasnt sure that I could win it, but I was sure that I had done every bit of homework possible. 

This past week or so with the company of my team I think I did around 8 or so pre ride laps and initially i was pretty bummed about the removal of goat and animal chute.  They are classic jungle death trails and once you master them, your ability to gap people in this race can be staggering.  I felt that the real hard stuff was missing today and the harder the course is, the better for me.  That said, it was still a great course and the road sections were pretty minimal and the majority of the course was my idea of a XC race. 

So as I have mentioned many times in the past, Norm has been my go to for training advice and this week I really followed everything to the letter.  Soon as I got on the bike this morning to start warming up, I felt as good as I ever have for a race.  Norm, Pearl and I rolled around for a full lap to warm up and all systems were go. 

Chat with the current king of my class Mike Merrit.  He murdered blue and waywayanda with little or no pre riding so I feel I still have a pretty big task ahead of me today. He told me how he had never ridden at jungle before, ever. This usually is not a good formula for JH. Its just not like any other h2h course.  Its brutal hell and there is a huge difference between doing everything on the course and doing everything at race pace. 

Headed over to the start and lined up.  This time we are lined up behind 40-49, 19-29, SS and Pro.  Not a huge fan of this.  Jungle is not the easiest place to pass at and with the tech section you tear though groups of people in minutes.   So anytime, prep time is over...KILL!!!!!

We rocket off, someone stands up and pulls off the front, mike drops in, then Steve, then me.  Pace is now death.  We hit the fire road leading to the parking lot and the leader pulls off leaving Mike, Steve and I.  No idea who is behind me and for the first time in a cat 1 race, I could give a shit...I see that mike is heading for the hard left into warthog at 110mph and since he hasnt ridden it before, this is going to get ugly.  He loses the front end into the turn, but recovers quickly.  We are now all wheel to wheel as we hit the ST. 

Instantly we hit traffic and this is about the worst place to pass.  Its monumentally important in the first 10min of a race to NOT let the leader gap you and fall off his wheel.  Mike gets a couple of breaks and steve and I are struggling a bit to make our way though.  Props to steve though, he was all over everyone and moving everyone out of the way in rapid form.  And really I dont like doing this, but nothing was going to stop me from letting go of mikes wheel....thus I did trade a bit more paint that usual today.

Steve lets me by after a few min and I make my way to mikes wheel.  The pace is super hard, but im feeling ok.  I made a stupid move and passed someone in the weeds that would not move over...this knocked me off my bike for a second and caused my chain to drop.  Really dumb and could have ended my day.  Steve repasses me and I know have to peg it to catch back up. 

Into the rocks we are now well into the 19-29 guys and im really struggling to make my way around and stay with mike.  Mike is also have no trouble clearing whatever is in front of him with zero mistakes.  Im thinking any tech advantage I might have could be moot....but otterslide is coming. 

We hit the base and im close behind, steve right behind me.  Mike has to run the start of the second switchback, but a gang of walkers keeps me from passing.  I stay close and get ready to attack. Next switch back, mike has to jump off and thats it, I dropped the hammer.  Put my head down and blew though the remaining part of the climb like I have done countless times.  I see Iggy and let him know that I just got the lead...He cheers me on then sends me by. By the time I hit the tanks, i have opened a gap. 

Rip the downhill hard!  Pass Kirt who also cheers me on, then soon see Norm up ahead.  about this time I look down and in 20min, my ave hr is now 170...this is nuts and will never hold.  Im glad I did run into norm when i did because I could really use his level head right now.  And Norm delivers as he usually does.  I need to switch from insano CX pace, back to xc pace and this is not easy when you are being chased.  I stay with him for a bit and try to ease up.  We stay together until near the end of lap one, then i pull away a bit. 

Hit the lap button
31:35....christ...nearly 5min faster than my fastest pre ride lap...Just goes to show you what race pace does. 
Ave HR 169.  Highest ever for a lap 1 for me.

I dont blow up like I used to anymore, but it was clear that I just drilled it at level stupid for 30min and now im going to have pay for that.  I look back and I cant see anyone that looks to be in my class....so I try to ease up and calm it down.  I pass Victor on the pavement and he latches onto my wheel though warthog.  Kept it very clean and smooth this time and vic is keeping me pushing.  Pass 26er and Eddie V who both give me props and send me on my way. 

Otterslide...ug...Like and asshole I catch my bar, then fork on a sapling on the side of the trail and literally have to get off my bike and yank it off of it.  Im fuming, angry utah pissed off now.  Hate this...stupid mistakes that i assume are costing me tons of time.  Anyway, I soon get my shit back together and hit the climb.  Im really feeling the pain now...I pass luke and im pretty certain that if there is anyone on my tail, im now powerless to respond.  Pace is still ok, but im well into the pain cave. 

The downhill and following flats help me out a bit and I try to take it nice and easy for the rest of the lap. 

Hit lap 3...lost a couple min, but still a solid 33:30 lap.  So back of my head now is 30 or so more min of pain and its over.  My legs have now gone from pain to numb and this helps.  I make it to warthog still in the clear.  Chris Ledonne lets me by at the start and I had a very clean, very smooth ride though this section. 

Last time up otterslide and im in massive amounts of pain, but I still keep it clean.  I look down at some point and see who I think is Mike Ahearn.  Hes a ways down the hill, but im doing the math and I think its maybe 30sec to a min?  No idea, but that was it for me.  Locked out the fork, stood up and drilled it.  I caught falcon on the top of the big drop and tried to stay right with him. 

I pass and tell him to stay with me.  He sticks right to my wheels and helps me greatly though the final 15min of the race.  Yelling at me to pedal whenever I let up a bit and keeping my head in the game.  By this time, im quite miserable and im thinking to myself that I never ever want to do another race again....usual stuff.  The pain cave is not a fun place.  But falcon is keeping my mind occupied.  Hit the river crossing and I feel like if i can clean this, its over, I got it!  Nailed it perfect!  Hit the hill after and im certain that its over. 

Roll the tunnel and finally....VICTORY!!!! (thanks for the pic robin!)




So my laps  were  31:35, 33:31, 33:35.  Not sure how I matched 2-3 together, but whatever.
Finally!  Its been since ringwood in 2009 since I got to stand on top of a podium.  Since then, 2 brutal years of getting cut to pieces in cat 1.  Not that I ever had any thought of giving up, but many times I have thought "these guys are just too fast and you will never get there"  So it was a great feeling of payoff today for alot of hardwork.

Cant say enough about my team and the part they played in my win today.  Norm helping with training and focusing on what my goal is.  Kirt, Bill, Iggy, Woody, Luke falcon, norm......the whole gang out there all winter putting group rides together.  The A rides, the short track series...all were key to today.  This team really is the best and made up of the best group of people I have ever been a part of. 

thanks for the pic iggy...cant wait to see how miserable I look in lukes pics

SSaP - The view from Utah

From the one and only Utah; Taken directly from his blog on MTBNJ:

I feel that this race is kinda the start to the mountain biking season for me anyway. Its like the opening memorial bbq that starts the summer off. Anyway, as the previous 3, the course was awesome and the vibe is usual dark horse "out of the park" fun

Something new and really nice was the early packet pickup. Last week Norm and I were able to get our numbers at the shop and not have to run around before the race. This was really nice. Got out of the car, got dressed, got on the bike. Its perfect for someone like me who has severe "cant STFU syndrome"

This will be the first real test for my new carbon MT-056-R2D2-C3P0-XR4TI frame. I have been riding it a bit, but in races, all bets are off. I was hoping it would survive the beating. Plus it would be rolling on my new carbon utah/oishi wheelset. I felt confident on all of this stuff, but until you give it a real bench test, you never know. All set, ready to go...5lbs lighter than my karate monkey I used last year...somehow the hills still hurt though, go figure.

This is a true frank-n-bike. Fork is from lous old cannondale, brakes from my scalpel, cranks from my 09 stumpjumper, among other things. The guesses people had on the frame yesterday were pretty funny. A few people believed me when I said Jay got me a prototype cannondale frame and they didnt have time to paint it  

So anyway, the race. Start warming up with norm...we did a couple laps though the first section of ST. Then we head and realize that they already called everyone up and we are in the wayway back. Thankfully the ladies were nice enough to let me get in line with Pearl and my friends....But at the start, we were still pretty far back. 

I think about 30 sec into the start I got pegged in the eye with a stone and I said "F this" im out of dust cloud. I started weaving my way though like an ambulance driver. Finally I pull up next to fred and ilya and we sit a few guys off the front. James Harmon was setting the pace. This section is almost comical....we are all at near max speed and pretty just hanging out. 

Get to the turn in, look down and we have averaged 19mph thus far...dam, didnt feel that fast. I settled in behind Fred, Ilya behind me. We were probably around 10th or so. My plan was to see if I could just stay with fred for a while at least, then not melt down when he pulls away and drops me. 

Fred pulls us though the prolog and then following ST section like a champ. Pace was just perfect. We break out onto the road with the leaders up maybe 50yrds, 3 behind them, then me and Ilya. This was just awesome, its one of those race scenarios you always hope for...In a good spot and with your teammates. 

We stayed right together with fred leading the way until the first walk up climb. The 3 guys in front of us all walk...I try to do this, but I cant...I make a light jog and go around these guys and get to the top first. We soon link up again, but now its just me fred and ilya. On the next run up, Sean Cavanaugh rides by me as i walk. Impressive for sure, but I know my back would have exploded if I tried this...not happening. Ilya and I soon track him down and its somewhere around I dont see fred anymore. Which was a bummer because we were having such a good together. But I figured he would be back. 

Me sean and Ilya then start working together and pushing each other. Its working so well. Im not feeling that lull that happens sometimes when you're alone and trying to find motivation to kill yourself. We were taking turns leading in different sections... then finally out on new road, Ilya took over and threw down an awesome battenkill like pull at the front. We can still see Roger up ahead and he is now alone, maybe 30sec up or so. This is good for us. We discuss amongst ourselves how absolutely awesome it would be if we could track him down and its really helping us working together to move faster. 

Got to the top of scofield on lap one, look down and see that we are ave. 13.9mph at this point...holy hell! On the downhill I lead and try to hold the pace at "tumbling boulder" 

Finish lap 1 and sean tells me "we lost your buddy"...I look back and Ilya is gone. Sean think he rolled his tire. This was a bummer, we were working really well together and this would now get much harder. I lead though the rocky ST and out onto the road, look back and Ilya has made it back to us. SWEET!!! 

We still see roger and every time we do, we just hit it harder and take turns pulling though sections. Sadly somewhere on the horse trail, sean flats and has to drop out of our group. Now its just Ilya and I. Were pretty sure were doing well...maybe like 7th 8th? No idea though...but top ten for sure. I knew there were guys in front of Roger, but i didnt know how many. 

Second time at the walk up...I step off the bike with Ilya and instantly my calfs start cramping as I walk....I had to jog a bit as the walking was not going to work. Ilya soon catches back up and we roll over to Luke. I asked him how we were doing and he comes back with "4th place, roger is 70sec ahead!" HOLY SHIT!!!! The two of us were now totally stoked. Top 5 with probably 30min to go. Probably not going to be able to track down roger, but I WANT that top 5 so there is no way im going to let anyone else catch us. Thus we keep on it. Hit the next walk up and I again have to jog to fight off the cramps. I put a little space on Ilya here, then again with the next short run up. 

The remaining ST I switch to my best TT mode, put my head down and grind. Back out to new road for the long stretch to scofield and I hit the climb as hard as I can hoping to maybe get lucky and see roger on the other side of the hill....Nope, he's gone. Hit scofield and just tried to hold the pace until the end....just cant wait to get to the finish line and confirm that I actually did pull off a top 5....because I still cant believe it! 

Roll in and Roger greets me with congrats, as do james and josh who finish 1/2. Maddawg looks as stunned as I do and is wondering how he missed the other 12 guys who finished before me lol. He asks for a piss test, but my lawyer tells me to decline. Soon Ilya comes in, followed by Fred....True team effort if there ever was one. Reminded me of the great time I had last year with Bill and Norm at the DH40 and how I wish every race could go like these did. 

Very big thanks to Fred, Ilya and Sean. Fred absolutely prevented me from doing anything stupid at the start and helped me settle into a solid pace. Then sean, Ilya and I just kept each other motivated trying to track down roger. It was about as fun as a race gets. 

I must also give a special thanks to my mr miyagi, Norm. The "paint the fence" and "sand the floor" stuff might sound silly and mundane sometimes....but do it and make a point to do it correctly, dont ask questions and you see the results. 

Im thinking this is probably my greatest bike racing effort to date.

Of course no DH race is complete without an after party and this one was better than ever. Cake for James Pearl, Norm plays Chris Berman and interviews me for sports center...great times!!! 

And the home brew bike and wheels....If ever I put a caining on a bike, yesterday was that day. I beat the holy hell out of that thing for 27miles and it got me home. Love this thing!!!

Singlespeed-A-Palooza - The Day After the Hangover

Now that all the beer cans are cleaned up, hot dog breath is brushed out, dust is our of our pores and blue tape is wrapped up in the garbage bin, we can discuss what an awesome weekend the boys at Dark Horse Cycles put on. If you are reading this you already know how big of an event this is. People travel from all over the east coast to throw down on some of the best singletrack NY has to offer. If you haven't ridden Stewart, you need to get out here. If you haven't raced a Dark Horse event, you really are missing out!

The last two years offered wet conditions and some sloppy riding. This year brought dust from the fire roads. The dry conditions brought smiles to faces and pain to legs. I personally have never gone this fast on my mountain bike before in a race.


The race is ultra competitive with such deep fields. Sure you remember the race and remember the super fast singletrack, but what is more memorable is crossing the finish line and hanging with 250+ like minded people you just shared 27 miles of racing with.

Robin had a mechanical and was the first one to the keg!

The Maddawg himself and Sport NJ Winner Mitch

The Scene

Jeremy, Jay and The Birthday boy

Open Menu Podium with Fred, Utah and Ilya 4th-6th

Bunch of MTBNJ regulars; Martin, Mitch, Dustin, Chris and Jay in Sport NJ

Look at that smile!

Fred and Jake really know how to enjoy each others company.

A Cake presented to Pearl for his birthday from George, Mayor of Dark Horse himself.

Ilya and the rest of the people who stayed around for the festivities got to enjoy some cake.

Team Results

Open Men
4th - Utah Joe
5th - Ilya
6th - Fred
14th - Norm
25th - Jeremy
27th - Iggy
38th - Chris26er
41st - ChrisG
43rd - RobG
44th - Woody
45th - Pearl

Sport South Men
10th - Capers
12th - Matty
14th - Jake
30th - Brad
Some reason Shaggz is not on this list. Will update.

Sport Women
5th - Dana
7th - Patty
DNF - Robin (Bending chainrings!)

Here are all the results, just incase. Throughout the week we will let you know how the races went, stay tuned.

Walter's Short Track Recap

Mooch ST Series

The Short Track series kicked off on March 3 with the 1^st Walter’s No Frills ST race.  The 1.5 mile course located on the Boy Scout property at Allamuchy was the same one used last fall for the premier of short track racing in NJ. After positive feed- back we decided to stay with the same course for the spring series for the 1^st 3 races then use a newly built track built over the winter for the 4^th race. We dropped the Bagels and Bacon title and went with Walters No Frills.  This title reflects our goal going into the spring ST; keep it simple while getting into race shape on the cheap.

(Norm: On that note, we're always looking for new & exciting names for our races. If we do a fall series there may be free pickle juice for all racers.)

The 4 Saturdays in March grew each week in racing intensity.  We saw some excitement over the weeks from the top 3 finishers in the crazy men class , Rob Lichtenwalner, Jesse Epstein and Jonathan Lombardo.  Strong finishes from Ed Ceccolini, Rich Wolter,  Matt Miller, Jonathnan Lombardo and Utah Joe kept the series battle raging up until the end. The last race in the series saw an appearance from Mike Montalbano lining up for the final showdown. Last weeks ST winner Ed Ceccolini (fast Eddy) gave Mike a fight to the finish but Mike was able to pull out a win getting to the line 8 seconds before fast Eddy.

As the crazy men class grew every week so did the women’s and men’s sport class. The MTBNJ ladies were consitant in there races and getting faster each week with Robin Everson, Patty Bender and Mandi Tabbit finishing 1-3^rd in the series. It was nice to see the field grow by the 4^th ST race, thanks for your support ladies!

The silly sport class grew as the weeks went on thanks to William Lorenzo for spreading the word. The first ST race saw 11 racers while the last one was at 60 (Norm: these numbers are not real, no clue where Iggy got them), thanks guys! Congrats to Doug Alpers, Willy and Greg Heller for placing top 3 in the Silly Sport Class.

While we don’t have an official slogan, motto or mission statement for team MTBNJ ,  if we did it would say something like who we are off the bike is what makes us winners (Norm: Actually, I prefer "Beer & ice cream for dinner, thanks!").  At the close of our ST race series I am happy to be a part of a team that made this series a success.  Norm and Matty Bender were instrumental in making this happen as was Chris Ruiz (Norm: Let's not forget his lovely sidekick, Kayla), who came through all aces in the scoring. Carson, Mandi and Robin, with Shaggz floating in between scoring and registration to keep things flowing, handled registration smoothly. Filling in the gaps to take care of all the other race prep was done by the team who came together to make this event as enjoyable to work as it was to race.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the MTBNJ Stewart 6-Pack on July 1!

https://www.bikereg.com/Net/15383

Sussex TOOOOO!

At the end of the long 4 day Thanksgiving day weekend, when everyone is feeling fat & lazy, the second Sussex race comes along to give you a little kick start to get ready for that post-turkey slumber week that nobody wants to face. In a way, it's makes life easier, because the pain of the 45 minute race makes going to work easy in comparison. At least for an hour or so. This weekend we had another good crew of blue & orange up at the Sussex Fairgrounds for installment #2 of the SCCX Double.

40+ Men

Foreshadowing:

First race was Norm & ChrisG (and some other guys) where we saw Lombardo check out as usual. There was a fight for 2-3 between Eric and some other non-regular, and then the 4-5-6 was a bit of a battle with Norm, Doug Spitz, and a 3rd guy who I'm not familiar with. In the end, I didn't have much in the tank as my season feels like it wants to drop kick me at this point. So I ended up 6th of the 3. As the bell rang on the last lap, nothing changed at all. That's a tough time to try to cover anything and as usual, the lap ended as it began.

I don't have the results so I'm not sure where ChrisG ended up. He was battling behind me and I saw the trailing blue and orange the whole race, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't too far back.

C Women

After the 50+ the ladies lined up to go, with Robin & Mandi representing yesterday. Robin is in mid-stride with her training and really did a great job trying to hang on to Gerilynn's wheel yesterday. I stuck around for the women's race and got to see a lot of familiar faces in blue & orange as well as assorted other colors. Here's Robin trying to track down that tricky podium:

Alas it was not to be, as the1-2 girls checked out and Gerilynn managed to hang on to the 3rd spot. Mandi rolled in with a 7th place finish, solid times all around. I have to say that for as little as she ends up on the cross bike, she's a near pro with the remount. Here she is on the tricky downhill section:

Meanwhile, Pearl watched it all unfold:

A Men

No blue & orange in the fast class, as Fred is mired in central Jersey with no coffee roaster so spends most of his time with a Big lighter and an old wok that he found in a Carribean island. But Maurice was out there, who does wear blue & orange for some of the races. He checked out yesterday and won the A race, hands down. Here he is on the triple barrier run-up:

B Men

Feeling the effects of coaching his kid's hockey team, Ilya was forced to skip SCCX #2 which left Utah as the only blue & orange rider in the B class. He managed a 12th place finish, which is the same as last week but better since the fields were deeper this time around without the Supercross race to compete with. Here Utah makes an aggressive pass as Chris Esnes watches on:

40+ C Men

Next up were the 40+ C men, where Sean Runnette has been ripping up the class this year. Lo and behold, Rob (old not young, but I guess that's implied by the class) did his best to rip it up and he did exactly that. While not walking away with a win he did manage to land us a 3rd place and help the team cause. Rob managed our best result of the day and along with Robin (4), myself (6), ChrisRU (6), and Mandi (7) led the charge in helping us retain our hold on 2nd place in the NJ CX Cup standings.

C Men

Finally the day wrapped up with the C race, where we have our strongest presence. Chris26er was rocking a potential podium until he flatted towards the end.

ChrisRU tried to hang on to 26er and he did for a while, but in the end he let that podium slip away a little bit and would up 6th on the day. Chris has really come a long way this year and it's great to see him reaping the rewards of all the hard work he's put in.

Like myself, Pearl has about had enough of the cross season and the big rides over the Turkey weekend added up to produce a somewhat lackluster result on the day. Slipping just inside the top 10 isn't a bad day for not feeling it though. Here he approaches the sketchy little downhill turn.

Rounding out the team day was Capers, who is off his great ride at Cathedral last weekend. The 6 hour training does not really translate to the shorter, high-end efforts of cross. By his own admission he was a bit of pack fodder on the day. To be expected given last weekend.

In all a great course again, and a great weekend for the team. No idea where we sit in the team standings but hopefully we managed to hold on to the 2nd place overall. Somerset is likely too far out to catch. But there are a slew of other teams breathing down our neck last I checked.

See you next week at the Scramble!

More pics here:
Norm's pics
Mandi's pics
Robin's pics

The Misfits at Allaire (by Utah)

So I have been hearing about the awful sand, flat and boring conditions at Allaire for 3 years now.  Frank has been trying to convince me to never ride there as it is indeed not worth the drive.  Well despite the negative reviews I figured I would hit up the Misfits ride and see for myself.  Misfits ride as in a ride for owners of misfit bikes.  Matty B originally organized this ride for all misfit owners as they are apparently some sort of hells angel gang of bikers who wear tights rather than leather.  However, the ride was in fact an all-inclusive and I was not harassed for riding my conformist cannondale.

After meeting up with Luke and Eileen, we made our way down.  Arriving in the parking lot, I was surprised to see it completely jam packed with riders.  I would name names, but there were far too many to list.  The misfit drivers soon came together for a picture

Soon followed by the rest of us….Mitch took the picture, but sadly could not join us on the ride.

So after some social this and that we finally hit the trails with Matty, Frank and Chris G leading the way.  Within a few minutes the train was moving at high speed and we were having an absolute blast.  Cant understand why Frank dislikes this place so much J.  It’s a really nice change of pace from the rocky and technical trails that surround my hood.  I can’t remember when I have been on a group ride this large and seen it move so quickly.  Got to do some quality chit chat with lance, walt, spence, lou and even some james pearl commentary!

Train was crazy long

Our locomotive

James Pearl must be in cross season

Eventually we made our way over to this thing…Luke kept us there for 10 minutes until he cleaned it

Nail it Wookie!

The pines

In total we racked up about 15miles in an hour and forty minutes of moving time which was dam good considering the size of the group.  Cant believe I waited this long to hit this place up, its an absolute blast.  I only wish it was closer to my house.  Great times and a great tour…Thanks to Matty and Frank for the guidance.

After the ride, about 15 went for some post ride refueling..good times!!!

A Time of Thanks (by Pooriggy)

I love this time of year, bike races are winding down, the weather is still good for getting out and it’s the kick off of the holiday season…which means less work and more time to bike and spend with family. Mountain biking is now more about going out on an adventure and less about training for the next race.

This was a different Thanksgiving for me this year. Instead of going to the in-laws for the usual turkey dinner I spent the day at the hospital. My dad had esophagus cancer 4 yrs ago and due to complications from the operation to remove the cancer his lungs are in poor condition. Thursday it got to a point that he had to go to the hospital so he could be put on a respirator. In the past 4yrs I have become somewhat numb to events like these, I mean I hope for the best but am ready for whatever comes at me. These days I try to focus on being there for my mom, she needs the support.

My support for dealing with things like this is getting out on my bike with friends. As we all know getting out on the bike can turn one’s mood around and help us to make the best out of any situation. The day after Thanksgiving I spent the morning mountain biking with Utah and Falco at Ringwood State Park. No matter what crap goes on in our life cycling seems to make everything feel better. I am grateful to have my health and buddies to share a ride at one of my favorite parks in NJ.

We met at Ryerson School and rolled out at 7:45 as other cars began to filter into the parking lot for post Thanksgiving rides. Despite the frosty grass and cool temp’s it didn’t take long for the climb up warm-puppy to warm us up. With Falco up front we got into a nice rhythm as we headed out toward Shepard’s lake on Skylands trail. Our 29” wheels flowed over rocks (with an occasional dab) that seemed to be created by the geological process. Its hard to believe these trails where built by Jorba, they feel so natural.

Bombing down a fire road Falco ripped his sidewall and got a hole in his back tire. Yes the boy works at a bike shop and was too lazy to set up his tire tubeless. No worries he uses a Gu pack as a boot on the sidewall and has a spare tube, oops wait he has a hole in his spare. Utah pulls out his spare tube from his bag of tricks and discovers that his has a hole as well. This reminds me of HS days of carrying condoms around in my wallet that break before they ever see any use. I pulled out my condom and gave it to Falco, no hole…good to go.

After the Shepard’s lake area I have no idea where I am, but I do know we are heading toward the old boy scout area on some of the most technical trails of Ringwood. By the amount of fresh leaves on the ground you can see that this is the path less traveled. The rocks are now more randomly placed and menacing. At one point my hand slips off my handlebars while going down a rock and I start heading over the bars only to be saved by my stomach hitting the bars. I think it may have been better if I went over, ouch!

The old BSA area brings back some fuzzy memories for me; I camped here in the late 70’s as a scout. It’s tough for me to recall this area on a bike; if I had more time I’d hike around here to jar my memory. I’ll settle for a picture instead.

The ride back to the school from this area is incredible. Some sections are crazy rocky, some are floweee rocky and some offer great views. This section beat me up some more and I started to get sloppy as my body began to get tired on the uphill technical stuff. After descending the downhill rocky switchbacks we came upon a stream crossing that Falco picked the perfect line across. Utah aimed for that line but slid off a rock and his front tire sank into 3 feet of water. This is never a good thing; he did his best to stay dry but ended up doing the backstroke in the current. Which I must say the stream crossings where certainly at high tide this time of year. Luckily we didn’t have far to peddle to make it back to the cars.

Rolling back to the school in less then 2.5hrs we managed to cover about 14 miles. My Garmin 500 is never 100% accurate in the woods. This ride was exactly what I needed to deal with stuff that life throws at you. From time to time everyone has unpleasant things to deal with but we can all be thankful for our family, friends and the opportunity to get out on a bike and enjoy ourselves. Keep on bikin!

Supercross & Sussex Weekend

That's right, 3 races, 2 states, 2 days, 10 MTBNJ racers, and 1 newly certified spin instructor. If you weren't out there racing this weekend you missed plenty of good times. If you were, then bonus! Surely you saw lots of blue & orange if you were.

Behind the ‘Stache : Super Cross Cup Edition (by Fred)


The Long Island race weekend historically for me has been the weekend that leaves me packing my car with haste and more than a few curse words about my weekends riding.  Fried burnt out, cracked.  Ya, any of those describe how I would be feeling on Sunday.  But this year I have focused on trying to keep things fresh and not race EVERY race that I could find.  This has become especially crucial with the addition of Nationals to the schedule.  Wisconsin in January?  Sure!  Sounds like a great idea!

The mid week rain had me curious to what the course conditions would be like come the weekend.  A Fast, Flowy (more so on the second day) and Fun race course are what we arrived to mid morning Saturday.  Good, hard, clean (like not muddy) bike racing was in store for us at Eisenhower Park.

Both days were just that.  Good and hard bike racing.  I hung onto the wheels of the boys at the front for as long as I could…the brutally hard accelerations corner after corner made things a bit tough to keep up with.  I’ll get there one day I hope.  The fields were not big but they sure were strong.  I was happy to finish inside the top 10 on both days.

 I am pretty happy with the weekend.  Two good rides and I am not ready to hang it up just yet.  Plus I was able to convince Linda to take the winnings on the weekend and apply them to something I have had my eye on for quite some time.

 Time for some rest, relaxation and over eating.  Madison or Bust!

Saturday:
Fred: 9 of 20 - Elite Men
Maurice: 3 of 30 - Masters 35+


Sunday:
Fred: 8 of 16 - Elite Men
Maurice: 2 of 25 - Masters 35+

SCCX#1 (by Norm & Pearl)


Meanwhile, in NJ I lined up with the old men at 9:00 and gave it all I could for a good 3-4 laps, where I was able to hang with those leaders until they pulled away from me on the run-up. For all my preaching not to bother running when you train, this thing really got me. By no means am I short, but I felt like I was 3 feet tall on this one. The last 2 laps was an effort in just riding it out, as 5th place was pretty far back. I ended up 1-2 minutes back of the leaders and comfortably in 4th place. My series is pretty much locked up in 3rd place at this point.

It was nice to have a dry course for a change. Here was the easy run-up, which was right after I slipped and almost fell.




After I cooled down and got dressed, I hung around for a bit and took some pics of the ladies. Here Robin rips on her way to 4th place, matching what I had done in the first race:



Then I had to go. Eventually some of the other guys showed up, including Pearl. In his words...

Front and center. The trumpet sounds and we are off. I find my pedal and I'm in front of everyone in sight... WTF? I easily had the best first 200m of my life. I'm 2nd into the first uphill climb behind the Knapps rider (guy who was pounding the beers at Westwood). Paul easily sneaks by me. I try to latch onto his wheel and he pulls away. Can't remember how the next 3-4 people get by, but they do. Mostly on the climbing sections of the course. I end up behind Dan Harpers wheel. Motivation kicks in. I want to give this guy a run for his money. Couple of times I try to sneak by, whether dismounting the tree turn or after he OTB's on the smaller barrier section. I have better cornering skills than Dan but he has the legs and lungs. Chris26er squeaks by and is now working on Dan. He eventually gets around him.

This happens for 4 laps, me chasing Dan around and trying to squeeze him out. The bell goes off and so does Dan. WOW. Dan and the rest of the field had another gear that I didn't that day. I lose contact with Dan and am in no mans land. I see RobG and another rider battling 2-3 turns back. I'm trying to save something as I know they will get me, but not let off the gas too much. I peak back and see RobG take a good, protecting line from me. Not sure if he knew this, but the inside line helped out with the other guy on his tail to keep his position. One last turn.

I feel as recovered as I could for the last 200 meters of a sprint. I peak under my left arm and see another rider, not RobG, out of the saddle and hammering it.



I give it all I can, for as long as I can... I had about 20 pedal strokes in my body and it shut down. I lose 8th spot and finish 9th.

What an awesome venue and course. 13.5MPH average? I was on the fence about racing next week at the same place, but holy crap this was fun.




Norm: 4 of 16 - 40+ Men
Robin: 4 of 9 - Cat 4 Women
Ilya: 9th of 24 - B Men
Utah: 12th of 24 - B Men
ChrisS: 6 of 31 - C Men
Pearl: 9 of 31 - C Men
RobG: 10 of 31 - C Men
ChrisRU: 11 of 31 - C Men