Porky Gulch Classic Stage Race

Year three of the PGC just wrapped up. What a great weekend or racing and hanging out with a bunch of good people.

This race has a special spot in my season as it is the culmination of a few years of ideas and events that I've had a chance to be a part of. I remember about five years ago when we did the very first Story Land Crit, which was put on by Jeremiah Beach and myself (I did the hype, Miah did the timing- so I got to race). That was the same year I put on the very first Rockpile Rampage Cyclocross race up at Great Glen. The course was stupid long and we had six sets of barriers- but it was fun. I think we had 15 people show up. We did Rockpile Rampage V2.0 the next year and after we met with Howie up at GGTOC to discuss the idea of the race being a part of a bigger weekend- and building a stage race- Porky Gulch Classic Stage Race was born.

From there I stepped out of the race director role and now just play the role of an advisor and focus more on the racing side. This year we saw over 40 riders show up, so it's getting a bit more traction and every year we see people showing up saying it's the coolest race of the year- and I can't disagree.

For those who don't know what the format is let me give you a recap- on Saturday the day starts with a TT up the bottem two miles of the Mount Washington Auto Road- in strange twist of fate this was the only bike race on the Auto Road this year- as the four other race dates in the summer had all been cancelled due to crazy weather. After the TT (which also has the racers ride down the road after the climb) we head down to Story Land for a crit that has over 30 corners per lap- and these corners are sharp and some off camber and all have crash zones that leave you realizing that crashing isn't a good option (is it ever?)

Then on Sunday it's cross racing time- with the Rockpile Rampage up at Great Glen.

This year JJ was racing the event for the first time and A1 was making a return trip after a year off. It was good to have all three of us up there and it made for good trash talk and pre event excuse making.

The weather was raw on Saturday as Noel was moving up the Atlantic Coast- but at least it was dry. Warming up was interesting and despite bringing my trainer up I didn't take advantage of that and instead road around wearing a big down parka- I didn't really want to take it off when Eli told me I had 30 seconds till the start.

I went hard from the gun and despite being right of the edge of blowing up felt like I was flying for the first mile of the 1.8 mile course. But once I passed the 1 mile mark I started to really suffer.In pain on the climb
With about a 1/4 mile to go I got caught by another racer and jumped on his wheel to try and find new motivation.
Caught and now chasing
All I can say is that climb hurts- and I was real happy I didn't have to actually go to the top. I did manage to outsprint the guy I was racing- of course it was only a moral victory as he had started a couple minutes behind me so he crushed me in real time.A moral victory?

We then cruised down the road (which is actually kinda freaky) and headed to a small sandwich shop in Jackson to re-load for the afternoon crit. Soon it was time to suit up again and go try and get the mornings junk out of the legs. JJ and I road a bunch of laps to get a feel for the course- which is just crazy technical- over 30 turns per lap. We then jumped in the truck to watch the beginner race. Keep this name in the back of your head- Sean Doherty- and in 5-7 years of so don't be surprised if you hear him tearing up the US or International sceene. He's 13 and just killing it on a bike- here's a shot of him showing the older guys how to go uphill during the crit: Sean Doherty

Sean lead most of the race, but was in the wind the entire time and ended up third in the sprint for the line- against adults. He's fun to watch and a great kid as well.

JJ and I were both glad we didn't have to race Sean, so we suited up and hit the start line. The cannon went off and we were at race pace in no time. A group went off the front pretty fast and I wasn't in that group, and I ended up putting my nose into the wind for a couple laps before finally trying to force someone else to take a pull. In doing that someone attacked out of the group and just made for chaos. That seemed to be the way it was going to be for the day as each time someone would be willing to take a turn in the wind they would do so by first attacking the group.
Sitting in the train
It made for intersting racing, that and the fact I was skipping pedals off the pavement at least once a lap- but none that put me down in the pavement.

With about four laps to go I lost power and my back started to lock up a bit, I dropped off the group and worked with a guy I've known through 24 hour racing- we chased but to no avail, then we saw the leaders coming up from behind and I was looking for a place to safely get the heck out of their way so they could battle it out- what I didn't know was they were on their bell lap- so was putting myself a lap down. In hindsight I should have hammered when I saw them and gotten through the start finish so I could have finished on the lead lap- not that it mattered for places- more of a pride thing. The funny part was I went through start finish still racing and didn't realize that they had finished until I started riding through the leaders who were sitting up- so I still raced my last lap- but it didn't count- oh well.

Sunday turned out to be a great day weather wise. We had an even bigger field because there were people from the weekly series that were lined up as well.The start
It was a cool start and I managed to tag onto the lead group for a minute even with a good bit of rubbing with Dan Doherty (Sean's dad) as we almost went down at the top of the first short climb out of the start and we banged bars pretty hard- but then I bobbled the turn into the first set of barriers and a gap opened. Sean's dad and I about to bang bars
Where the gap opened

I felt good for the first few laps and felt AWESOME going into the fast barriers- flying through that section and making up about 20 yards on people in that section each time. I think the work I've been doing on my dismount and running the left brake as the rear brake makes a major difference- to bad I didn't have legs for the rest of the course!
Where I was fast
With about three to go my back gave out a bit and I had to sit up, I watched Dan roll away and then Marc D'Amour catch and then leave me. I was a bit bummed as I can usually ride away from them, but not this time. It was still fun but this was also the first time in the cross races I've gotten caught by the leaders and finished a lap down- although the way my back felt I wasn't too bummed about not getting the full lap count.

In all an awsome weekend of racing, I ended up 7th overall in the Intermediates and have good room to move up. Add to that the Pats winning last night and it was a damn fine weekend.

later,

DEA

October Epic

A few weeks ago we made our first pilgramage to Kingdom Trails, and we had hoped to get in another ride at Kingdon Trails before the season ended. Me, Sven, Abe and Chris decided to play hookey and head over on Tuesday, but due to the weekends rains they were closed. We had to come up with plan B. Plan B turned out to be in our backyard. There is this loop that we'd been talking about attempting the past couple of years but never really tried or ended up completing.


We started out from my house at 9AM and rode at the trail netowrk called Davis HIll before crossing over into Maine and back in to New Hampshire and onto the NH snowmobile trail network. The first third of ther ide was a t a pretty good pace and we were all feeling pretty good. As the snowmobile trail headed North the climbing started. After 6 miles of pretty contant climbing we made it to the top of the Red Tail Trail. This took an agonizing hour and 45 minutes to complete with the riding and a couple of breaks along the way. We were all pretty relieved to arrive at the Red Tail Trail and begin the descent, but considereing three of us were on fully rigid bikes it was going to be a rough ride down. Red Tail is a great trail to descend so we let the lone rider with suspension go first and Chris was soon out of sight. Abe and I were also quickly off the back trying to deal with numb arms and cramping hands. I have to say it was the slowest ride down this trail I have ever done. I certainly did miss my Yeti 575.

By the time we hit the bottom we rode past Cranmore Mountain Resort and onto the final third of the ride to complete the loop. We rode the power lines over to Sticks & Stones and then began to head for home. All in all it was a great ride. It was a bluebird day with temps in the mid 50's. Perfect Fall riding. 30 miles with about 3200 feet of climbing and some tough descending.



Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 4:52:15 9:43 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 3:42:19 7:24 pace
Distance (mi ) 30.03
Moving Speed (mph) 8.1 avg. 25.0 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +3,268 / -3,270

Avg. Heart Rate 146 bpm Zone 3.7

Temperature (°F) 53.6°F avg. 55.4°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) SE 4.9 avg. SE 8.1 max.

JJ

WTF

A1 left me a message about Lance and one of the Olsen twins- I thought no way- I was wrong.....


DEA

Hookie

JJ, Al, Chris and I took Tuesday off from work to go for a good ride. We had planned to go to Burke, VT but rumor had it that they had closed. We decsided that rolling the dice wasn't worth it so we did a long loop here in the VAlley. We started up at JJ's house, road the Davis trails, then road 302 into Fryeburg and then headed out towards Sherman Farm, took a right and road out to T&C then jumped on 19N snowmobile trail. That took us out to Hurricane Mountain road- which we climbed (ouch) then up the Black Cap connector, down Red Tail (ouch), Sticks and Stones, powerline to Sears and then pavement back to JJ's with Davis Hill finishing things off (ouch).

It was a great day out on the bike, JJ will post the real data soon I'm sure.

Looking forward to Porky Gulch this weekend- I hope I can find some good legs by then.

later,

DEA

Crazy race

Interesting race up at Great Glen Trails this weekend. It was week three of the Cross in the Glen series and it was again spitting a bit of snow and the air temp was a wee bit chilly. I had headed up thinking it was going to be in the upper 40's lower 50's, so that was what I had for clothing- but when I got up there I was a bit cooler. I was able to snag a skull cap from Ward as I had left mine on the floor at home (smooth)- so I traded him the use of the Surly Cross-Check set up as a SS with a 42x17 for the skull cap- seemed like a good trade.

We lined up for the start and this week I did a better job of making sure I knew who was in the Elite and who was in the Intermediate categories. I had a good start riding Fourth wheel for the first lap and then surrendering a couple spots for the rest of the race. I chased Valley newcomer John ?? for awhile but just didn't have the legs to bridge up so I eased up a bit to ride with Dan and Mark. Dan did take a half lap pull but it became clear that I was going to be taking the wind, so with three to go I put in an effort to drop my two riding buddies and low and behold almost ran into a car as I made the turn for the bridge.

Yup you read that right a car out on the course in the middle of a cross race at Great Glen. How did it get there? Hmmm because the driver is a jackass? I really don't know- other then I used a bunch of bad language and was screaming at the driver to turn around and get off the course. Now in retrospect I should have stopped my race and escorted the car off the course- but it was one of those things that happened so fast and my brain was in race mode that I thought screaming at him (he did hear me as his window was down and my face was only a couple of feet from him). I kept going but to be honest my racing mindset had been a bit messed up- I was more focused on getting to the start finish to let Eli know what was going on so he could deal with it.


Dan, Mark and I were discussing the insanity of it all and we looked down to the field and could see Ward chasing the car across the field- a pretty funny sight. Of course what we didn't see what the guy trying to run Ward over after the driver got "scared by this guy on a bike telling us what to do". Too bad Ward didn't have his BIG truck to run the MF'er down!


Anyway Mary ended up driving over and bringing the guy back, not sure the details of how that all went down, but he was sitting there in his Nissan Altima with his wife (I assume) and their lap dog. He was smoking a butt and having to deal with the comments all the racers were making as they cooled down in the parking lot- many not aware that the car and driver everyone was talking about was sitting right there. A short bit later the State Police showed up and as I was loading my bikes I see the driver start to get mouthy with the trooper, and next thing you know he's wearing those fancy bracelets that all the cool kids are wearing, you know the ones with both hands behind the back- then he got to sit in the "timeout" seat in the back of the cruiser. We all cheered and called it a day.

So not much of a race report- in fact I'm not even sure what the final outcome was- I do know that Ward was about to lap the field on a tank of a SS before he went out and tried to play Robo-cop. But he pulled himself out of the race, then jumped back in for a lap to try and knock me off my bike just for fun.

Either way an intersting day out on the bike.

Next weekend is Porky Gulch it should be a good one!

later,

DEA

Good ride in- unreal sunrise

I wish I had snapped a pic of the sunrise as it was unreal this morning. Rode into work and it was a great ride, but I hate to say this- I was thinking wayyyyyy to much about all the really heavy chuncks of metal whizzing by me at speed. I think maybe I've been reading to many Drunk Cyclist posts. Big Johnny has become the official keeper of cycling fatalities- I guess that happens when you get run over (fortunately he survived!)

Anyway it's looking like a good day.

Ride safe out there everyone!



later,

DEA

Why I missed 2nd week of cross.

Saturday we went to a 70's end of summer party (last year it was an 80's party). So Sunday morning I really wasn't up to racing so I ended up taking some tents down instead. Here are a few shots from the party.



Here's some of the fine folk all dolled up. I'm on far right with Nikki beside me. I tried to convince her she needs to dress like that more often, she says not so much though.



I grew out my chops special for the party. Shaved them this morning though.


Yesterday afternoon I went out and rode the rec. trail over to the new school and then rode the course the mtn. bike team just cut. The course is 2.3 miles and climbs a fair amount. Lots of descending and some steep technical climbs. Rode a few laps and then rode it backwards which climbed much more with some really steep sections. Good course, I watched the race there Wednesday and can see why all 72 racers were beat after four laps. Definately need to ride it again. Was out for just over two hours in the 70+ temps. Then the Sox beat JJ's Indians to advance. All in all good weekend.


A1

Cross in the Glen- week 2

Well week one for me, but it was week 2 for the series. Great weather, hot almost, and a good field- 17 lined up for the elite/intermediate.
Beautiful weather, great foliage, and big mountains- oh and a slow guy on a bike

JJ and I were there in our Team Bikeman.com kits- looking to cool for school. I need to talk to Big Al (the team manager) about making some sort of girdle to wear under my jersey as I'm getting fat! Or maybe I should just stop eating so much- either way...
JJ enjoying his fans


The course was the same as last year, but for me the big difference was running gears vs the SS. I love SS riding but cross racing is hard enough for me at this point that I don't need to handicap myself!

I had a pretty good start- but I bobbled hard going into the first barrier (sorry to anyone I cut off!) I worked hard to stay with the lead group but eventually there was bit of a gap opening up- which I didn't think was a big deal as I thought I was first in the intermediates at that point, but I wasn't as I would learn later (gotta pay more attention to peoples numbers at the start next time!) I settled into a good pace and worked with other rider for a bit- but then he surged a bit- either that or I just went backwards- either way the result was I was no longer enjoying his draft. Oh well. I tried a couple times to bridge, but I just didn't have it. I'm hoping some of that can be attributed to being sick- but I'm gonna guess that even at 100% the same result would have been had.
Trying to close the gap- sooo close but sooo far

From that point on I was riding pretty much solo- keeping tabs on the guys behind and trying to make sure the elites didn't lap me. In then end I finished third in the intermediates- so I can be happy with that. The best part- I didn't fall and I felt good on my dismounts and remounts. I had been working on those pretty hard this week- and still have a long way to go- but I'm getting there! Next up- learning to corner.

later,

DEA

A great time waster

this is some funny stuff- gotta make this a part of me daily routine!

DEA

Good night ride

Got out with Michelin Mike last night for a night ride up in Davis Hill. It was a bit nippy but once I got rolling I felt pretty comfy. We had planned to have everyone meet at JJ's house at 8:30, but quickly the group started to fall appart, first A1 then JJ both weren't able to make it- but MM did and he parked in JJ's driveway anyway. JJ did come out to wish us well- but his double cheeseburger with bacon didn't sound like it wanted to come out and play.

We rode to the top of Davis to drop in and for whatever reason my legs just felt really good. We didn't go hard- but we were moving along and it seemed to be doable with little effort. The bike really seemed to be a part of me and I was flowing pretty well- which was good as the trails had a ton of leaves and there were times I was feeling like I had lost the trail.

It was MM's first ride out there and I think he had fun. We didn't see any critters during the ride (which is both good and bad) and we both managed to stay upright the entire time.

I'm hoping my legs feel that good on Sunday!

Next time we'll get JJ and A1 out as well.

later,

DEA

I need to ride my bike more

I'm not sure why I don't, well I'm lazy that may be the reason. I got out this afternoon for about 1:45 and did the Mill St. to Hampshire Road to 153 to Stark and around. Absolutely beautiful out although I wished I wore gloves on a few of the shaded descents on Mill Street. I felt pretty good although something is up with my bike and I was limited to about three gears. I need to buy a SS road bike and call it a day.

Hopefully the turnout at the GGTOC Cross races stays strong, I'm planning on racing this weekend, although we're going to a '70's party Saturday night so not sure how strong I'll be feeling. The Prophet is looking pretty good with the 1.6's on it and the white butterfly seat, might as well look good if you're slow. Tomorrow the high school has a race and I'm planning on heading over to cheer on Sam, I think he's won every race this year so far. Then it sounds like a night ride forming, nothing like getting lost in the woods at night.

A1

Cross in the Glen, Week #1

Sunday morning I got my first taste of cyclocross racing atCross in the Glen Cyclocross Series . I got there plenty early to check out the course so I walked it and saw what I was in for. Since DEA was in Mass. racing with the big boys I was not sure what to expect.

It was chilly, in the mid-high 30's with a flake or two of snow in the air. Looking across the glen you could see the snow coming down on the upper parts of Mt. Washington.



I was torn as to what division to race in. I knew I was definitely not an Elite racer. The real question was whether I was a Novice or Intermediate. Since I had never done a cyclocross race before I thought I was pretty novice but I wanted to race for longer than 30 minutes so I opted for the Intermediate class. The Novice class went off at 10 and was a pretty good group of racers of all sorts. Even Michelin Mike was racing in his first cyclocross race.



Mike was the winner of the Novice class. I think he may have been better suited to ride in the Intermediate class.



The Intermediates and Elite racers lined up at 11 and we were soon off. There were 6 Elite racers and 8 Intermediate racers all going at it. All but 3 of us were on cyclocross bikes. I rode my Salsa El Mariachi as a fully rigid 1X9 and some 700X40 tires. It seems pretty light compared to the normal setup, but compared to the guys with the zooted out setups, its a tank.

I ended up placing 5th in my class and was pretty happy to beat a guy in his Team Giant Cyclocross get-up and team bike with Zipp wheels. It was close but I did have an advantage in the grass with my set up it seemed.

Well it was tough, I felt like I had OK legs from riding the SS this season, but I had no lungs. Probably a product of my trips to the hospital and then the couch. Looking forward to the next race.

JJ

Gloucester Weekend

Wow, what a venue for a bike race! The Gloucester GP will be on my "to do" list going forward- great course, great venue, good racing- and I can only get faster!

I raced in the 4's and placed 62nd both days- at least I'm consistent!

Day one- just a blur of speed
The race went well, I was very nervous in a field that big going that "fast". There were a few good wrecks but I managed to stay upright. My goal was to not be in the back group and to try and pick a few folks off on each lap- which seemed to be working. All my remounts were pathetic (looks like I've got some work to do!) and my fast on grass cornering was a bit dicey as well- but I did feel fast on the paved climb and won my finish group sprint from the back (yes I sprinted for 62nd place!)

I had the whole family with me on Saturday and they did great cheering me on, and after the race we explored Stage Fort Park- which was very cool. We hung out and watched all the races, including the Elite Women, which Rebecca Wellons (Ward's girlfriend) got second in- a thrilling race. We then watched the Elite men, damn they are fast. Tim Johnson rolled a tire on the first lap so had a heck of a chase ahead of him- but he moved back up to a top ten slot- amazing. Ward rode well- had a great start and finished in the top 30.

Day two I went down solo and left the girls sleeping at K's sisters place and hit the road by 6:30am. I was surprised by Ward who drove down to watch my race (the slow fat guys race real early and the fit fast guys race at the end of the day- so they normally don't see each other in the morning. He was giving me racing advice and told me to unleash a wicked sprit at the start and just see how long I could hold on. I was pleasantly surprised when after the first lap I was in the top 30 of the field.
The run up before the "empty" light came on

It still blows me away how hard you go in a cross race- it is perhaps the hardest racing that I do, yet the race only lasts for 40 minutes. I tried to keep the gas on but I was hurting pretty quick and despite the cheering from Colin Reuter and his girlfriend and of course Ward (who seemed to be at every key part of the course on every lap (wasn't he supposed to be resting his legs for his race?) I found myself going backwards through the field. Oh well.

My attempt to look like a crosser- don't let Adam Myerson see this form!

The final stretch of grass before a 120 degree turn on the paved finishing climb

A great weekend, a good bunch of racing and a good chance to meet a number of Team Bikeman.com riders (including Big Al)

Up next, catching up with JJ and A1 up at GGTOC for the cross series- can't wait!

ride on.

DEA

New Race in the Valley

From the freak who brought us the Jay Challenge:







America's SS championship
North Conway / Bartlett NH, USA

September 12, 13 and 14th 2008

Better know for Mount Washington, NH and the world's best factory outlet, North Conway is also the home of one of the best Single Track trails called the Red Tail Trail.

The America's SS championship already has the confirmation of the presence of racers coming from the following countries: USA, Canada, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Costa Rica,Brazil and Mexico.

It will be part of the Red Jersey Fat tire Festival. http://www.redjersey.com/. The festival will start on Friday night with the grand finale of their race series and will continue all weekend long with live music and party. On Sunday; group ride will be organised ranging from a casual 20 miler to a 60 miler for the hardcore.See the schedule of event for the weekend on the Festival's web site. It will be a big party with activities and live music all weekend long. You will also be able to find the schedule on our FORUM under the newsletter section for the SS Championship

The fat tire festival will start Friday night.If you are interested to race in the local XC championship series, make sure to be in town to cheer or participate in the Red Jersey final race on Friday night. They need the cheers, some volunteers and would love to see more racers.

This will be an opportunity for Single Speeder to see and talk to some of the best suppliers in the industry. You will be able to try the Misfitpsycle 29er and much more. Conversion kit will be available to convert temporarily your geared bike into a SS just for the event.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The championship will consist of 2 stage

THE FIRST STAGE( Saturday morning the 13th at 8.00 am)

Consist of Climbing from the Red Jersey Bike shop in North Conway NH to the top of the red tail trail. A 5 miles climb with 1500 feet of elevation gain from the bike shop. The red tail trail is a long,arduous climb. Those who can ride uphill the entire way are not mortal, but supreme humain being.Thre are hairpin curve,s turn,rocks, roots Expected winning time 1.00 hour with an average of 1.30

The Female winner and Male winner will wear the Climbing Red Jersey for the second stage

THE SECOND STAGE( Saturday afternoon the 13th 2.00 pm)

Will consist of completing 4 loop of a 6 mile course in Bear Notch Cabin in the town of Bartlett NH. The course will alternate between double track and single track with some nice technical rock garden. Expected winning time 1.30 minutes average time 2.00 hours.

The cumulative winning time should be at around 3.30 minutes spread between both stages.

STARTS : 8.00 am on Saturday the 13th morning for the first stage at the bike shop

2.00 pm on Saturday the 13th for the second stage at the race head quarter at the bear notch Cabin on route 302

WHERE: The America's SS champ will be located in the Town of North Conway and Bartlett NH

RACE HEADQUARTER: Bear Notch Cabin on Route 302

REGISTRATION: Will open on Janaury 1st 2008

GEAR: It will be advisable to have 2 different set of Cog since each stage are very different.

For instance if you are riding a 34/18 you will want to ride a 34/22 for the first climb unless you are confident that you can ride all the way up with your existing Cog... Good luck

CAMPING: Camping spot will be available right across the headquater on route 302 for 5.00 dollars a night. Please call the bike shop to reserve your spot at 603 356 7520

LODGING: See the icon "where to stay"on this web site

RACE PACKET PICK UP: Bear Notch Cabin on route 302 on Friday night between 7.00 and 9.00 pm

WHEN: September 13 th 2008

COST: 75.00 dollars

PRIZES: Complete SS 29er value of $ 1,600 http://www.misfitpsycles.com/

Top 3 position in each category. Free entry for 2009 value of $940.00

We will keep updating this sections as pizes are coming in from our different sponsors

CATEGORY: 26, 29er, and fixies

AWARDS: Medal for top 3 positions male and female in each category



JJ

Racing season is here.... again

Cross season kicks off for me this weekend, heading down to the Gloucester GP I'm racing both days in the 4's so it'll be fun. Both days the field is full- 125 of us that don't know what the hell we are doing- good thing the 4's are all fat like me and have plenty of padding in case we fall! It will be good to meet up with a lot of other Team Bikeman.com riders this weekend, the registration sheets look stacked. I'll finally get to meet Big Al- the guy who puts the team together- I'm pretty stoked on that.

The GGTOC cross series also kicks off this weekend- I think both JJ and A1 will be up there, I'll jump in next week. Then in about a month my second favorite race of the year (right behing 24HOGG) Porky Gulch Classic if you can make it it's worth the trip!

That's about it. Borrowed 24solo from A1 last night- oh me oh my- super cool and motivating. Time to start training. Oh speaking of that did you see this article on velonews yesterday? This guy is living the dream!

ride on,

DEA

cool video

later,

DEA

Nice weekend

DEA and I got out for a ride with our kids Saturday morning. It was a very nice day for a ride and we were out a bit over an hour. Its nice to try to get the kids out to enjoy the woods and is pretty entertaining listening to them in the woods. No way were we going to see any wildlife with the noise coming from them. THe fall colors are coming in nicely up here in New England.
D3
Elizabeth
DEA

JJ

More Landis Stuff

This sort of goes hand in hand with my rant of last week but fills in even more gaps on the scientific side of things.

JJ


The CyclingNews Friday Mailbag is still buzzing with letters about the Landis decision. Some people agree with it, some don't, but one stands out:



As a professional scientist who has been working in a strict Quality Assurance (QA) environment for the past 27 years, I am continually discouraged by the general public's overall lack of understanding of science and the scientific process. Lest anyone be confused, the Landis decision was not about proving that Floyd had taken exogenous testosterone. What the majority of the panel was concerned with was whether or not the lab had followed the procedures they had established to detect exogenous testosterone. They apparently considered the scientific validity of those procedures to be outside the scope of their investigation, and it was certainly outside their area of expertise.


The unrefuted testimony of Dr. Amory, the only real scientific expert on testosterone to testify, was that those procedures were not adequate to establish the presence of exogenous testosterone. You will note that the majority opinion does not refer to Dr. Amory's testimony - there is no way to reconcile it with the verdict they wanted to reach. So Floyd was found guilty on the basis of one WADA-accredited lab's flawed procedures, procedures that wouldn't even be accepted by other WADA-accredited labs. (For those who have been asleep through this farce, the French lab accepts the presence of elevated levels of a single exogenous testosterone metabolite as evidence of doping, while the US lab at UCLA requires the presence of three.) As Dr. Amory pointed out, exogenous testosterone metabolizes in a defined way, with the levels of metabolites rising and falling through time in a certain pattern. The analyses performed by the French lab of the entire set of Floyd's samples did not show the pattern that would be present if Floyd had, in fact, doped. Dr. Amory's opinion was that they made no sense at all.


Floyd was found guilty through a political process with no basis in science. WADA and the UCI are on a witch hunt, and Floyd was unfortunate enough to fall into their cross-hairs. I'm all for catching dopers and throwing them out of the peloton, but the tests must be scientifically valid and be performed by neutral, qualified analysts, not by a lab eager to break (or is that "make"?) the news for l'Equipe. Some form of equal protection under the law would be nice too, such as all WADA-accredited labs having the same criteria for what constitutes an adverse analytical finding. And since Floyd apparently passed all the same tests Oscar Pereiro and Andreas Klöden were subjected to, how about subjecting them to the same test Floyd supposedly failed before moving them up on the podium? Or doesn't fairness go that far?


All cyclists being coerced into signing that document promising to give up a year's salary if found guilty of doping should be afraid--the deck is stacked completely against them. Bravo to Bettini for refusing to sign.


Rick Beauheim
Carlsbad, NM, USA
Saturday, September 29, 2007

Riding a bike....

...is so much better then running. I just wanted to point that out. I took the girls up to Great Glen last night so that Elizabeth could finish up the trail running series up and bask in the glory that is the podium. And while it was good to get out in the fresh air with the girls it was done without the aid of bicycles- and hence took soom of the fun away.

I'm amazed at how I can ride my bike for hours on end or nordic ski for the same amount of time, but if I run for 100 yards I feel like I'm gonna die.

Oh well, have to get out on the bike this weekend- anyone up for a ride?

later,

DEA

Kingdom Trails Weekend

Kingdom Trails

DEA and I headed up to East Burke, VT for a weekend of riding at the world renowned Kingdom Trails in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. I had a work event Friday night and then had to coach a football game afterwards so we did not hit the road til Saturday morning at 6 AM. After a brief roll through the drive-thru at the golden arches for some java and grease we were on our way.

We were meeting a crew of guys that live near us and go to KT every year for a guys only getaway weekend of beer, bikes & bullshit. They were stating at the Burke Mountain Campground and Had 2 sites reserved. We got to camp at about 7:30 AM as they were just getting up and cooking some breakfast. We unloaded the van and ate a bit of their pancakes and sausage as we all got geared up for a day of riding.

Since DEA and I had never ridden at KT before we did not really know the layout or what was cant-miss stuff. We elected to ride from the campground and meet the rest of the crew at the parking area as we needed to go buy trail passes.
Kingdom Trails Ticket Office

DEA ready to roll

For a mere $10 a day we were set up with 2 days of passes. We then did the climb up to the parking area and waited for the rest of the group. After a small loop to keep warm they arrived and we headed out. Initially we were in a large pack of close to 25 riders. This was a bit odd as I have never ridden in such a large group and not been racing. There was a weird but cool feel to riding with so many folks and not trying to get around them all.

Our Crew

After about 30 minutes the groups stared to head their separate ways on toe 100+ miles of singletrack. Our group of 8 stayed together and worked our way towards one of the high points of the weekend, "Sidewinder."
Sidewinder Sign

This was a great trail and nothing like I had ever ridden. As DEA put it, the trail had a pretty good "pucker factor" to it. I have to agree. It also had a pretty good smile factor as well. Basically it is a ravine that is set up like a halfpipe and you just keep riding from edge to edge and rip across the bottom and arc back up and around each side as you drop back in and across. It is hard to fight not hitting the breaks but it was a great rush. After a long switchback ride back up we continued on our tour of KT.

We ended up with a great first day and got in 21.33 miles of singletrack. The only thing that remained was the ride back to camp. We split from the main group that drove over and started the long climb back. It's basically 800" straight up with a major ramp at the end. At the beginning of the day it didn't seem like such a bad idea. It was a bad idea, but we made it and even beat the guys who drove back to the camp.

We got the first beers of the day and the fire was soon rolling. We threw some burgers on the fire and they were very tasty. By the end of the evening, which wasn't that late, we'd each had a 12-pack of beer and too much food so we crashed for the night. The temps got into the 30's overnight and it was chilly when we got up. After breakfast and breaking camp we drove to town and parked at the KT office. We rode the first hill to the trails and started our days ride. The rest of our group planned to meet up with us out on the trails.

We basically made a bee-line for Sidewinder and did two laps on it. It got much easier to ride each time down, but no less fun. After that we decided to ride some stuff we had not seen the day before.

Where to now???


DEA

Upon the recommendation of a guy we chatted with we rode up to a trail called "Heaven's Bench." It was on top of a hill with an actual bench with amazing views. It was spectacular fall day with great color. Well worth the climb. The descent made it that much more worth it.

View from Heaven's Bench

JJ atop Heaven's Bench

After about 3 hours of riding our legs were pretty cooked as we were the only fools riding singlespeeds. We never did hook back up with the other part of our group. On Sunday we ended up riding another 13.69 miles. Damn it was nice.

Here's the numbers from the weekend:

Garmin Edge Summary Data

Moving Time (h:m:s) 4:48:15 7:39 pace
Distance (mi ) 37.63
Moving Speed (mph) 7.8 avg. 31.8 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +6,692 / -7,471

Temperature (°F) 51°F avg. 62.6°F high

Elevation


Got in 6,692 feet of climbing. Pretty solid and my legs can definitely feel it.

Google Ride Map

Only disappointments were having waited so long to ride here and having to go home. Stopped for some pizza and beer on the way home to cap it off. Only question now is when do we go back.

JJ

Fall Riding

Fall is here and in my mind the best riding is before us. The tough thing is we now have to share the woods with hunters, but I can't complain as we get the bulk of the season free of flying arrows and chunks of lead, time to start pulling out the bright colors.

JJ and I (maybe A1???) are heading up to the Kingdom Trails for a weekend of riding with a good crew from the area. I'm pretty excited as I've never been there before and have always heard great things. So look for pics, maps, and write up from JJ and I next week.

Cross season is coming and I've been working on my dismount and remount, I'm getting there, but still have a lot of work to do. I'm pretty stoked to run geared this year and I think I've got the bike pretty comfy, although I think I'm going to ditch the front gearing and run 1x- but before I do that I need to order a new cassette. I'm thinking a 42x 11-28 would be prime- we'll see!

Going down to the Gloucseter Cross weekend in October- anyone else going? Should be fun!

That's it for now.

later,

DEA

Great Weekend

This weekend had some great weather, mid 70's and lots of sun. I have had a good string of day riding going back to riding Sticks & Stones at lunch on Friday. Saturday morning I got out with DEA and a few other guys for a ride on Davis Hill. It was a good hour plus but I had to bolt early as I had to get home so the family could head up to Cranmore Mountain for a cancer benefit called Jens Friends Climb Against Cancer. They added a new MTB class to the event this year so I headed out for that with my oldest son D3 for a good ride though some fun terrain.

D3 on Sticks & Stones

Sunday we were planning on riding over in Cedar Creek, but thos plans got shelved and DEA, A1 and I hit the trail at 7AM for some more riding on Davis Hill. We ended up riding for close to 2 hours which was nice. Trails were in nice shape and the air was cool.



Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:51:18 9:29 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:37:05 8:17 pace
Distance (mi ) 11.72
Moving Speed (mph) 7.2 avg. 15.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +765 / -762

Avg. Heart Rate 138 bpm Zone 3.3

Temperature (°F) 55.4°F avg. 60.8°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) SE 1.7 avg. SE 3.5 max.





Got a ride in to work this morning and the legs were definately letting me know they are not used to this abuse. This weekend is a trip up to Kingdom Trails for a little camping, beer drinking and a whole lot of riding. Can't wait. KT is supposed to be one of the best places to ride anywhere. We shall see.

JJ

Floyd is a loser, as are all athletes

So the decision came down from the arbitration panel hearing the Landis doping case. 2-1 against Landis finding him a doper and imposing a 2 year ban. I must say I am not surprised at the decision. Not because I think Floyd doped but because I think the arbitration process is fatally flawed, at least from an American legal point of view. USADA is now 35-0 in these cases. What bothers me is the process more than the result. The WADA system basically says that once an allegation of doping has been made against any athlete, they are presumed guilty of doping. It is the burden of the athlete to now prove not simply that the allegation lacks merit but hat they are innocent of the charge. This is completely opposite from what one would expect in an American Court, even in a civil suit, let alone a criminal charge. To place the burden on the accused is unfair to begin with, then to make them prove their innocence at their own expense is unjust. There are times when I think the Euro way of doing some things may be better or make more sense but this is plain backwards.

I do not want to sound like I have been drinking the Landis Koolaid but these charges would never have stood the test in an American Court of law. The Government did not appear to be able to show scientific reliability of the test, that the testing lab followed generally accepted laboratory practices or that the results that were obtained were in fact reliable.

It just seems to me that if we are going to impose a ban on an athlete that can effectively end a career that they deserve more than a kangaroo court and a process that is set up in favor of the Government from the get go.

I suppose the reason that it is this way is because the whole anti-doping agenda has developed in response to a perceived epidemic in sports. While I in no way condone doping or believe that that it is good for sports, I never like making policy decisions in times of crisis. It seems to me that we have a very poor track record of making good decisions in times of crisis and generally overreact or over legislate a perceived crisis and not the reality that exists.

Regardless of this rant, Landis is done for 2 years at a minimum, 4 years is the actual reality. He'll be 35 at that point and with a fake hip, he'll be done riding competitively most likely. If this is a fair result for Landis, I just think he should have gotten a fair trial to impose such a sentence.

JJ, Esq.

Safety First!

I know someone who has these on their bike for winter/dark riding- pretty sweet- gotta get me some! Rock the Bike


Gotta go do a running race- well gotta go to a running race and push the jogger with little E while big E runs. Should see JJ up there.

Tomorrow will be a bike day- TGIF


later,


DEA

Cross Season

It's that time. Now before I start talking about cross racing it's important to note that I really suck at cross racing- I love it but I've got a lot to learn. I've been giving it a go for three seasons, so this will be the fourth- and I'm hoping to have at least one clean race this year where I don't find myself looking up at the sky wondering how I got onto the ground, or totally blowing a remount and singing a few octives to high.

But I really do love cross racing and the reason is it's so much damn fun that the amazing amount of pain that you feel while you are racing doesn't seem so bad. It's anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour of all out pedalling and seat of your pant bike handling, with a bit of jumping on and off your bike at speed thrown in for good measure. You get to race the course a number of times so despite the fact you get tired you actually get better/faster as the race goes on as you find the sweet lines.

Plus you get to go and race and then after you get cleaned up and grab a coffee or beer you get to watch the best in the country do their thing- and try to figure out how the heck they don't fall on their face when they get off their bike when they are going that fast.

This year I'm running gears again for cross season, which I'm pretty psyched about. SS is great for mountain biking or crazy strong cross racers- but not for me. I'm hoping to be able to hang a bit more this year.

I've rebuilt my Jake the Snake and am trying to make it fit a bit better. I had planned to work with JJ to have it become part of his quiver but I got cold feet- I think the idea of four bikes leaving me at once was to much for me to handle so I spent a pile of money to try and make it fit better- so far so good (sorry JJ!) In hindsight (if this works) it'll be worth while as it weighs a GREAT DEAL less then the Surly Cross Check. I set it up with bar end shifters and while it's taken awhile to get used to them I kinda dig them! A wider bar and a layback seatpost and it's feeling pretty good. I think I do still need to go to my long 120mm stem, I'm running a 100mm right now but once I do that I think I'm golden. Now I just need to learn how to ride the damn thing!

On another note I saw a cool article by Lenord Zinn about getting kids into cycling and they had this picture:

Makes me realize that when I use Mountain Meisters (our weekly downhill ski race) as an excuses to not ride into work on a nice day that I'm just being soft!

That's the story at the moment.

Get out and ride.


DEA

Its about the benjamins

In reading DEA's rant, there are a couple big differences I see in comparing American Pro sports to those in Europe. The first is labor unions. The sports in this country have well organized labor unions which collectively bargain with owners for specific contract rights that cover everything from product licensing to health insurance. As far as I know the pro cyclist has only his agent to work on his behalf. The unions in some US sports have become so powerful they bassically run the league, take the NBA for example. Secondly, pro sports here have for the most part ownership that is into making serious money and understands that in order to put buts in the seats or sell TV ads they need a product that people want to watch. The prime example is the NFL. Another even better example is Major League baseball. If you look a baseball in the 80's & 90's they had significant problems with labor relations and as a result there were strikes and lockouts. This hurt the marketability of the sport. At about the same time, steroids and other performance enhancing drugs were becoming more available and more widely used in baseball. Baseball at that time had no testing policy or were most of these substances even banned. What happened was home run rcord began to fall and the fans came back. Who doesn't want to see a monster home run when the go to a game. Well baseball ownership profitted and began to market the home run and bsaeball returned from the grave, many think largely due to the benefit of steroids and the like. Now that the steroid issue has become politicized baseball and other professional sports leagues have had to deal with it because of the bad pr it has brought with it. They have, with the aquiescence of the labor unions instituted drug testing and suspensions for violations, but they pale in comparisson to the number of banned substances or suspensions handed down for violations when you view them against their international counterparts. Why? Because the US sports owners know that if they ban the product that the people want to see, they won't watch. DEA will still watch the Patriots even without Rodney Harrison for 4 games, but if they started banning big name players for years or careers it would potentially become a serious problem. Many folks consider steroids as cheating, I would submit that the sports leagues here do not. At least not is the same vein as point shaving or fixing a game or gambling on your team as a player or coach. If there was a concern that performance enhancing drugs were affecting the outomes of games here, there would be much more of an outcry as Vegas would not be able to make the $$ they do. The validity of an outcome of a game would be compromised and that would or could mean the death of a sport. Until the cyclists organize or there is strong ownership in the sport I do not see there being any real progress on this issue. What the progress would be I don't know. Maybe more reasonable suspension and more relaible testing at a minimum. Guess the bottom line is as long as there is money in the sport there will be people looking for whatever edge they can get to win, even if it may cost them their career.

JJ

a new site is born

A good friend of mine recently launched a new business, so for those industry types looking for someone to work with them on sponorships you should check her out: Align Partnerships

Her husband is also a great action photographer and he covers a lot of ski and cycling events in the area, his site: Keeler Photo

Beautiful day out there- can't wait for the ride home!

later,


DEA

Frustrating

I'm a fan of the New England Patriots and have long enjoyed watching the Pats defense put up impressive showings year after year. One of my favorite defensive players has been Rodney Harrison, I just love the way he plays 100% all the time. In a twisted way I've found that his recent admission to using HGH as almost enlightening in the wake of the way cyclists deny, deny, deny. But then I started thinking about it and there is a reason that the cyclists deny, deny, deny- the penalty in the NFL is laughable in comparison to what happens in cycling. Harrison used HGH, got a four game suspension. Bernucci from T-Mobile used a baned appetite supressant and has been fired, and will now face a FOUR year ban from a Pro Tour team (granted he can come back after two years to a Continental Team).

I guess what burns me most about this is you read the mainstream sports reporters and if a cyclist tests positive it is the lead of the story about cycling, in the NFL you almost had to search out the Harrison story- it's as Coach Belichick said "an unfortuante incedent". You want an unfortunate incedent- Tom Danielson's season.

Do I have a point- no (there's a surprise) it's just something that ticks me off about how cycling is percieved. Oh well time to get over it!

Onto other thoughts- I was glad to see Tyler Hamilton's name in the results of both the TT and Road Race at Nationals. I'd like to see him back in the pro ranks. It bums me out to not know what the story is with him and his on going struggle. If he did dope I wish he would just come out and say- yup I did it- I did my time- I'm sorry, I was stupid- now I'm going to go back to racing and putting on a show. It's good to wish.

Well that's it from here.

ride on,

DEA

Labor Day laboring

DEA and I got our for a nice ride in Cedar Creek and neighboring areas Monday morning thanks to the holiday. It was a nice dry, sunny, but chilly one.

Google Earth Map

A good chunk of the ride is twisty singletrack with very little elevation cahnge through paine barrons and nicely wooded areas. After a bit we decided to head up to the Mineral Site trail and then takes you ona fun descent through Sherwood Forest. As you can see ofrm the elevation below, the climb is basically up and up and up some more. We were both running our SS's and I was wishing I had gears. A few months agoe we did this climb and I was the first to the top, not this day, DEA cleaned my clock as I was suffering or should I say laboring.

Elevations

Once at the top we stripped off the vests as we were plenty warm at that point so we snapped a couple pics.

DEA


JJ

Overall it was a great cap to the long weekend and we topped it off with a stop for coffee and donuts whcih were well earned, not that we needed them.


Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:37:28 8:48 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:19:11 7:09 pace
Distance (mi ) 11.07
Moving Speed (mph) 8.4 avg. 24.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +834 / -831

Avg. Heart Rate 145 bpm Zone 3.7

Temperature (°F) 62.6°F avg. 68°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) N 2.3 avg. N 4.6 max

If anyone is interested in a 2005 Yeti 575, medium in Team Yeti Tirquoise, let me know. I have one for sale.





JJ

A good three days- now back to work

My vacation is about to come to a close, but I've got to say the last few days have been pretty good. On Saturday I got out for an hour spin on the fixie- road a loop that I do somewhat regularly and just about tore my legs off- it a good way! Then I took the girls over to Ham arena for some time on the ice- which was a lot of fun. We need to take advantage of that more often! Then yesterday A1 and I went out for our gravel grinder which ended up only taking us 2.5 hours, which was a lot less then it did last time! I managed to clean Moonie hill- admittedly in ugly fashion and A1 spent a good few minutes waiting for me at the top- but at least I cleaned it- now the next goal can be doing it with a bit more style.

Then this morning JJ and I got out to Cedar Creek for a bit over an hour, hopefully he'll post his data on the ride. It was good to get out and ride some singletrack that I don't know that well. We'll have to try and get JJ and A1 over there all at the same time after work one day this week.

Time to go mow the lawn and listen to Coach!

later,

DEA

Bugging Out

Wednesday I got out for a road ride with Nikki. We did the East COnway loop, 15 or so miles. Riding East Conway Road is quite rough and I forgot how bad it is down past JJ and my old neighborhood. What was worse was the bugs about a 1/2 mile before Shermans Farm. At first it started with a few hitting me, then more and by the time we turned and headed towards the Maine line it was a black cloud of little bugs. So thick I had my head down and couldn't stand it. Nikki stayed right on my wheel to keep from being pelted. At Weston's bridge we stopped and had to clean my eyes out. Nasty. Knee felt better, although the stitches were pulling a little. Took them out last night so hopefully it feels better for tomorrow's gravel grind.

Next year? Not sure, I'd like to do a 100 mile ride like Cohutta 100. Maybe go to Michigan and do the Ice Man Cometh. We'll see, Porky Gulch is in a few months so maybe I'll ride my bike a few times before that and get in some some sort of shape for that. Cross season starts soon, and the Great Glen series. Nikki's excited to do that so maybe I'll give it a go on the SS. We'll see, time for another Coffee, maybe I'll make it in my magic bullet.

A1

Ride Report for Wed.

I snuck out of work a little early with the hope of getting out a nice long ride. I didn't get started as soon as I hoped but DEA and I did get out for over an hour and a half of riding. We rode some new stuff, not really a trail though, rode some old stuff and had a good ride. One thing I am certain of is that I have lost any real fitness I thought I might have had 2 months ago. I just have no reserves, nothing in the gas tank. I sorta laughed reading DEA's post prior to this one as he is dealing with being 35. Guess that explains why I am such a mess, 35 was years ago for me, so far I cant see it in the rear view mirror, even with my reading glasses or bi-focals.



Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:30:59 8:53 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:18:14 7:38 pace
Distance (mi ) 10.23
Moving Speed (mph) 7.8 avg. 17.8 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +747 / -757

Avg. Heart Rate 152 bpm Zone 4.1

Temperature (°F) 83.3°F avg. 87.8°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) S 5.2 avg. S 9.2 max.


DEA does pose some interesting questions about next year. I entered this season with some goals, but really only met one, to race on a fully ridged SS and be competetive with geared racers. Other than that ther rest is history due to my inability to stay upright and not damage myself. As a result my main goal for 2008 will be to stay healthy and see where that takes me. Probaly not too far considering I'll be 40 next year and at my advanced age unable to be competative with the kids out racing, not that I ever was. Oh well, its all good.

Sold a couple of bikes for DEA and now I have a new to me road frame that I need to build up and maybe even a cros bike for the fall. Anyone want to buy a Yeti 575? I need some room in the garage.

JJ