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

Do Short Track!

Just incase you missed the first race; You may miss out on the second if you are reading this. At the time of this posting, the Open class has 4 remaining and the Sport class has 7 remaining! Ladies have plenty of spots to shred.

Walter's No-Frills Spring Short Track Series #2

Mooch Midweek with Iggy

The best way to stick it to the man is to take a day off during the week and go mountain biking.  While everyone else is commuting into work, driving to the trail with your bike on the car feels so uplifting.  Getting up early to ride is so much easier then getting up early for work.   Work would be better if it lasted 2-3 hrs like a bike ride. You could work for an hour eat some gu, drink some water then work for another hour and repeat. When you’re out of gu and water that’s when you go home…simple.

A drizzly damp day on the trails beats a dry day at the office any day. That’s the kind of day it was at Allamuchy when I got together with John Kuhn, Dave Clapp, Ben Tufford and Kirt Mills.  Despite the temps in the upper 30’s and a damp mist from an over night shower we warmed up quickly climbing the hills of mooch north. Unlike the climbs of Round Valley these ascents are rewarding as you pick your line up through technical features. Lots of up and down but the rocks keep it interesting.

Kirt is always our Sherpa on these rides up north. He knows the trails and the lines well, which keeps the pace steady. With the elevation at mooch, 2 hrs. of riding can feel like a 4hr road ride.  The climbs supply a steady amount of interval pace intensity, which can wear you out. It’s the off season so we kept the ride under 2 ½  hrs. We had our fill of sticking it to the man and headed back to the cars…screw the man.

Old Guys Rule

January in Short Sleeves

By Robin:

My skis and snowboard are collecting dust.  But I’m not complaining...the weather has been unbelievable for riding.  You can’t deny that - and this weekend was incredible.  Who would have thought we would be riding like this in January?!

Lots of riding to report for MTBNJ this past weekend...

Saturday
Patty and I talked about a ride and decided to post it for Stephens.  MattyB offered to take the group on a stellar loop.  We had an awesome turn-out, with a strong group of riders.

The loop encompassed some of the best parts of Stephens, covering all areas of the park.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/139681257

Conditions were stellar for the most of the ride...we were lucky to get out and finish before things got too messy.  It was great to get out with other teammies Alex, Mike, and Woody.

Pearl and Mandi hit up Nockamixion with some friends...from Pearl “we rolled around in what felt like peanut butter for way too long”.  And to top it off..”This happens when you've been riding some really fun single track that was finally dry. You are having a blast of a time and really moving. You then come into a slight uphill turn to the right... that is wet. Woops. I slid pretty good and this was the result. Obviously the adrenaline and good times made this not hurt”.

Dana added another beauty to her collection of bikes - and had a stellar time at White Clay on Saturday.  Shorts and jersey weather? Who doesn’t love that?

Eric was in MA exploring some “wicked” roads...

Brad, Steve, and Tim all hit up Mahlon for a loop...apparently Utah was there too - but they didn’t run into him.  His new bike was too fast for the trio to catch him.  

Meanwhile, Ben was leading a ladies clinic on the road....Norm, ChrisRU, ChrisG, Jeremy, and Iggy aslo ventured out on the roads...

Sunday
I’ve been wanting to get down to White Clay for some time now...and this weekend seemed like an opportunity to get down there.  Managed to find some fun stuff before running into Iggy, Kirt, and their friend J. Kuhn.  Managed to ride with the guys for a bit...

Back in NJ...

Mandi and Pearl got out for a road ride near Round Valley...

Norm, Utah, ChrisRU, bushwacked on a death march adventure...details unknown but I hear it was a good time.  I’m sure Norm will blog about this...

Alex and Patty battled the rocks in Waywayanda - smiles for both ladies...here they are with Jeff Mergs...

Jeremy enjoyed the Stephens loop from Saturday’s ride...while Brad, Tim, Steve all ventured out on the road...Dave was out on the Columbia Trail, dodging soccer moms...Fred was off in the land-of-cheese representing MTBNJ at Nationals...

Wissahickon

Believe it or not, Central NJ has an option to travel an hour south and find some pretty gnarly terrain. Saturday a couple of MTBNJers and regular NJers headed south to meet up with 1speed for his version of Wissahickon. This place has just about everything you could want from a trail system; from techy climbs to nice fast flowy downhills, all within the Philadelphia city limits. Couple of different ways to loop this together to always keep it fresh. No more words, watch the video!

Mooch; The Good Stuff

As written by: Poor Iggy

Its winter so let it be cold. That doesn’t mean we have to put our bikes away until warmer weather comes back in the spring. There is a sense of accomplishment and triumph involved in winter cycling. Overcoming frigid temps to do what we enjoy can be very satisfying. Sometimes a group ride is needed as incentive to wake up early on a weekend to leave a warm bed. The idea of meeting some friends for a mountain bike ride is all the motivation I need in cold weather.


The cast of characters from left to right; Brett, Utah, Falco, 26er, Woody, Pearl, & a missing Chris RU

Last Sunday a gang of us met at Allamuchy, not quite the ass crack of dawn but to some 8:00am is early for a Sunday. Getting up early is not foreign to me; my work- day usually begins at o dark 30. For group rides I prefer early starts; with 9 of us riding the miles will take awhile. Besides we never start rides on time anyway.


Mooch Mocha

We parked in the tranquility lot and climbed our way up the white trail. The start of the ride was 20 degrees but the ascent up white made it feel like 90 degrees. Our bodies stayed warm but Camelbaks, water bottles and derailleurs began to freeze up. At this point we were all riding 1x9’s, except for Woody on his SS rigid Indy Fab. He is a farm boy type; strong, resourceful and unassuming. He can do anything on his bike and fix anything with what he has in his back pocket…farm boy.



Here is Woody helping 26er fix his flat tire but 26er screwed It up by putting too much torque on valve stem while re-inflatting, which resulted in a sheared stem. Luckily Pearl had a back up 26” tube even though he was on a 29er. Pearl also has the largest collection of betamax movies on the east coast.




Utah and Chris Ru at Lumpy Bumpy


The first showcase on the 26er tour was lumpy bumpy. Compared to rolly polly and candy ass I find this to be the easier tech stuff. Not that I didn’t take a dab or two, it’s the large boulders that drop you straight down that scares the jeebies out of me. I’m proud to say I walked some of those big-ums that rolly and candy ass are known for. I watched some of the other guys roll it but not me, something in my brains says don’t do it. I’d rather ride out a candy ass then end up with a busted ass.


Local Mountain Man Brett and his flat pedals

Next up on the ride was to make our way over to rolly polly. The only people out of 9 of us that knows how to get there from here are Brett and 26er. But they have to collaborate with their information; it took the two of them much discussion at the back of the train to figure out the proper route. We made it even harder for them by taking the occasional wrong turn. Along the way we found Marty’s riders Paul and Vick. They hopped on bringing our train up to 11.


Paul after climbing up ice cream


At about the 2-hour mark Brett, Falco, Ru and Pearl had to split and followed the trailhead back to the cars. The 7 of us continued toward rolly polly by climbing up ice cream. The climb was not the steepest but it seemed to be never ending. Paul was leading the way in what seemed like a 15-minute interval up ice cream. Once at the top we played on the boulders that are rolly polly. The climb up nearly killed 26er but the rollers on rp brought him back to life, he ain’t no candy ass when it comes to the big-ums.

To make the 26er good stuff tour complete we had to hit candy ass. At this point we had over 2.5hrs of saddle time in but there was no way we were going to turn back. Paul and Vick parked on the other side of the park so they opted to head towards their cars as we made our way toward CA.

By the amount of leaves on the trail one could see that CA is clearly the road less traveled. At some points we lost the trail briefly due to leaves but it was easy to pick up by following the rocks. This section of mooch offered great flow with some tough technical rock sections thrown in. Of course I was a ca on the parts that had you descending straight down a boulder but other then that I kept it respectable.


26er was happy to share his dream Mooch-loop with us

The good thing about parking in tranquility is the bombing downhill you get as you head back to the cars. After 3+hrs, not having to pedal uphill is a good thing. After 20 hard earned miles 26er took us on the best stuff that Mooch north has to offer. That’s what I call the good stuff.

Horseshoe Weekend

We jumped into the end of race season too early and forgot to update this. You can forgive us, right? The memories haven't faded; but here are the photos we thought captured the Horseshoe weekend.


Rob is #1! If you want a full size poster of this, just reply on this post and we can make it happen.


Ilya in one of the best battles of this years CX. This was great to watch all season.


Capers and his trained Gorilla.


Fred cruising to first place.


Robin NOT smiling!


ChrisRU with the shared secret of the "tree swing". The fastest way through this muddy section.


Kirt rubbing elbows


RobG mid-flight.


Utah showing Eric his limp hand pre-race.


Ilya, Cornering.

Saturday

Men C
ChrisRU - 4 of 29
Chris26er - 8 of 29
Capers - 15 of 29

Men C 40+
RobG - 1 of 24

Men B
Ilya - 5 of 23

Men A
Fred - 1 of 14

Men Masters
Norm - 5 of 14
ChrisG - 11 of 14

Women C
Robin - 4 of 7

Sunday

Men C
ChrisRU - 6 of 38

Men C 40+
RobG - 2 of 23
Kirt - 4 of 23

Men B
Utah - 9 of 28
Ilya - 13 of 28

Men A
Fred - 2 of 13

Men Masters
Norm - 3 of 17
ChrisG - 12 of 17

Women C
Robin - 4 of 7

Just because we aren't racing doesn't mean this won't be active. Tons of shenanigans will be happening this winter; Just you wait.