The Beast!

I did a local endurance MTB race this weekend in Beaver Falls, PA, which was named The Beast Six Hours of Brady's. And, just like when I did this race last year, it was without a doubt a true beast to conquer.  I kind of think it's funny how I travel all over the nation to race, but find some of the toughest courses in my back yard.  I'm sure this is why there are so many fast racers coming out of the Pittsburgh, PA area.

So, anyway, the Beast was a timed raced based on the total number of laps completed in six hours of racing on a mostly single track course.  The lap distance was approximately 7 miles long and had around 1000 feet of climbing per lap.  After suffering pretty badly on the course last year, I decided to use my Specialized Epic for the race this year and was so happy with my decision.  Using a full suspension bike with gears is not my typical choice, but I must say that having the ability to shift and having a bike with suspension to absorb all the bumps is something I'm beginning to like more and more.  Maybe my age is finally beginning to catch up with me?  It did seem weird for me to not be on a singlespeed bike at the beginning of a race. Others must think it is strange too because I definitely heard more than a few people say, "You're using gears, Gerry?"  

The Beast starts and travels on a rough gravel road before entering the singletrack.  It was so nice to be able to power along this stretch by shifting to a harder gear.  The use of these gears allowed me to get the hole shot leading into the trail and made the first long climb almost a breeze to ride.  My teammate Rob Spreng and I got a nice gap on this first climb, before I let Rob by so he could do his thing on the trail.  Rob rips the singletrack as good as anyone I know and following his lead for the first three laps was a blast.  But, eventually, the fast trail riding pace being set by Rob was a little more than I felt comfortable with doing in a six hour race, so I backed off the speed a bit.  

The cool thing about racing on the Brady's course is that it never gets boring even though it is a multiple lap race.  There are enough technical features on the course to keep it interesting and fun, even during a six hour race.  To make things even more interesting this year, Mother Nature decided to change the course from fast single track conditions to very slick and muddy conditions about halfway through the race.  Once the conditions got bad, I backed my speed down a bit more because I didn't want to make a stupid mistake and lose the lead I had.  I was still the second solo rider on the course at this time and was first in my age class.

With two laps to go, the singlespeed race leader, Joe Malone, caught up to me and we got to ride together for a while.  It was interesting for me to compare what I was able to do on a bike with gears to what Joe could not do on his singlespeed.  It made me wonder about how much time I could gain if I used a geared bike at an NUE Series Race and how my overall finish at these races would be affected. I will admit that this curiosity has entered my mind many times before, but recently has been at the forefront of it.  I'm thinking now might be the time for me to put my singlespeed racing on a temporary hold.  Change is good and after winning the NUE Series Singlespeed Championship the past five years, doing 100 milers with a geared full-suspension bike sounds very inviting to me.  I'll definitely be giving this idea some more thought.

But, my mind will think of things like this during a race lasting for six hours or more to help me pass the time. Having Joe along for the last part of the race was a big help too, especially with the conditions seeming to deteriorate more and more with each passing lap.  By the end of the race, my bike and body was completely covered in mud and I was absolutely ready for the finish.  I took the masters win by over a lap and finished as the second placed solo rider behind Rob, but most surprisingly, beat all the duo teams except for one: the Mihalik/Gorski Team.  It must have been the bike I was riding....

Thanks to Chris Miceli and his volunteers for putting together a great race.  It's always great to have a quality local event to attend and this race was certainly top quality in all ways!  Also thanks to Mike Briggs for his camera work and for taking the photos used in this blog post.

Happy Trails...

The Cohutta 100 - 2014

As I laid awake in bed trying to forget about the itching caused by the poison ivy rash spreading about my body and watched the hours counting down on the clock, I knew the second stop of the National Ultra Endurance Series at the Cohutta 100 in Ducktown, TN was going to be a tough challenge.  You'd think after 35 years of racing one type of bicycle or another the nervousness I feel before doing a big race would be almost nonexistent by now, but my mind never seems to rest before these events and my constant desire to itch wasn't helping matters.  My sleepless night ended at 4 AM when my alarm went off and the reality of doing another 100 mile off-road race, without any meaningful amount of sleep, stared directly into my eyes.  I've conquered these sleepless night demons before, however, so I put on my game face and lined-up with 250 other riders at 7 AM to do my best at winning a 5th Cohutta 100 singlespeed event.

Surprisingly, even with little to no sleep, my legs felt pretty good on the paved road climb leading to the first section of single track.  My travel companion to the race and teammate, Rob Spreng, set a fast tempo on the climb, which allowed me to get into the trails about 20 riders back from the lead.  I was able to keep my pace fast enough to eventually catch back up to the front of the race to join Rob and Jeremiah Bishop.  During this time, only one other singlespeed racer, Gordon Wadsworth, was able to ride with me, which is exactly what I expected from my SS friend.

By the time the single track ended and the long section of rough gravel roads began, the lead group was whittled down to five riders, including Gordon and I.  Strangely enough, the pace being set at the front was not super fast like it was in previous years when I've done this race, probably because Gordon and I were watching each other and the geared guys were watching Jeremiah.  But, eventually, two other geared riders joined our group and that was enough to make the pace speed-up on the endless climb leading to checkpoint #3.  This increase in speed dropped two riders from the pace and again left Gordon and I with three geared riders in the lead group and no chasers within view.

Our group was riding well together and we all basically cooperated at efficiently keeping up the speed. The group was riding so well together that we even all agreed to stop at the same time for a pee break.  But, I knew in the back of my mind that this cohesiveness to work as one unit would not last much longer.  It was just a matter of time before the attacks began.  Our last section of group fun was in the single track between miles 50-60.  Jeremiah led our group through this section of trail and it was an absolute blast to ride it faster than I had ever done before this attempt.

I was pretty certain the long climb out of checkpoint #5 would be the game changer of the day.  Sure enough, Jeremiah increased the pace and our group began to splinter.  I had no intentions of trying to match the pace being set.  The past experiences of riding this climb stored in my mind told me to be conservative and save my energy for later in the race.  Additionally, I felt the fatigue of not getting a proper nights rest starting to creep into my body.  It was hard watching the four other riders pedal off into the distance, but I knew going my own pace was my only chance at staying near the front of the race.

By the top of this brutal climb, I saw no riders in view behind me or in front of me.  I was all alone and riding
my own race, which was fine by me.  I felt like my pace was consistent and I did my best to keep moving along at a descent clip.  But, by the time I got to checkpoint #6, I learned that the rider directly in front of me was five minutes up the road.  I later learned that this rider ahead of me was a geared rider and not my SS competitor, Gordon.  I didn't give up hope of catching Gordon at this point, but I knew a gap of over five minutes would be tough to make up in less than 25 miles.

Before the last section of single track comes at the finish of the race, there are some pretty long climbs that switchback on their way going up the hills.  I would look up and down the road at these times in hope of seeing another rider, but saw nothing.  By the entrance of the last section of trail, there was a tent set up and staffed with race volunteers.  They informed me that 7 miles remained in the race and that I was in fifth place overall, still about five minutes behind the rider directly in front of me.  I was happy to hear this news and was going to give me best at bombing the remaining miles of single track to the finish.

Not very far from the this tent at the 93 mile marker there was a "T" intersection in the trail with no arrows, only a piece of course marking tape laying on the ground across the trail on my left side.  I hesitated for a minute at this intersection, but decided to go right because the tape seemed to be blocking the trail to the left.  My decision also seemed to be right because the course had earlier come from that direction at the beginning of the race.  I descended for a while and then climbed even further before coming to a gate blocking a gravel road with no course markings in sight.  I realized then a turn must have been missed and I figured it was a single track trail I had passed that was used at the beginning of the race, so I rode back to it and started riding this single track trail backwards.  When I saw mile 100 appear on my Garmin, I knew this choice was also incorrect and I began to feel overwhelmed with frustration.  A short while later, I eventually came across a group of riders standing in front of course marking tape.  They gave me directions of how to get back on course and to the finish.

I caught a bunch of riders in the last few miles of single track and hoped that I might still be the second SS racer across the finishing line, but the thirty minutes of time I lost while doing my bonus miles of racing was apparently enough to allow two other SS riders to get in front of me.  I would have been completely content with a second place SS finish at Cohutta because Gordon was absolutely the stronger rider of the day, but I must admit that dropping those finally spots at the end of the race definitely felt like a big slap in the face.  After having a day to think about things now, I guess finishing fourth in my class is not too bad considering the circumstances; it's just a bit disappointing and hard to swallow after riding so well for the first 93 miles of the race.

But, there will be good days and bad days.  And, overall, I've had a pretty good and long lasting string of luck to help me win many races over my many years of racing.  With the right preparation and little more luck, I'm sure my winning ways will return.  Until then, I'll continue applying Calamine lotion, hope for a few good nights of sleep and keep riding my bike.

Congratulations to Gordon for taking the SS win, to Jeremiah for taking the overall win, to my teammates Rob Spreng and Andrew Dunlap for their fine finishes in the open race, and to my teammate Roger Masse for taking second in the 50+ race.

Happy Trails...  Gerry
 

Leesburg Baker's Dozen 2014

I did the Leesburg Bakers Dozen 13 hour mountain bike race in Virginia this past weekend.  This was my third trip to the race and my second attempt at doing it solo.  Deciding to do the race was a last minute decision for me this year because I have a hard time committing to an event months before the race date anymore.  And, with Bakers usually selling out wicked fast, I didn't even consider putting it on my race calendar until the Wednesday afternoon before the race when a friend, Mark Liti, mentioned on Facebook that he was selling his entry.  Why not, I thought...  After confirming my entry into the race, I quickly made plans and arrangements to drive down to Leesburg, VA to do this mostly single track race that started at 9AM Saturday morning and finished 13 hours later at 10PM.

The last time I raced here solo was in 2011.  I actually preregistered for that event and it turned out to be a wet and dreary race day, which is probably why I haven't registered for it again since then .  I used a geared bike for that race and battled with Rob Spreng for much of the day, before he got the best of me and took the solo win.  This year I changed things up by using my singlespeed Specialized Epic xx1X1 to race the solo SS class because I almost never ride geared bikes anymore and I wanted something comfortable for this race.  I've got to say the Epic xx1X1 was spot on and absolutely the perfect tool for the job.  The weather for the race was also much more pleasant than it was in 2011.  In fact, the weather this year was just about perfect as could be on race day.

This is Louis. He's usually a great little dog.

My wife joined me on my trip down to Leesburg and we brought our dog, Louis, along with us.  Louis has been to a few local races, but has never traveled to an out-of-town race during the 9 years he's lived with us.  He is a friendly, smart and overall pretty mellow dog and I didn't think having him along would be an issue.  As it turned out, he was pretty freaked out about being in a hotel for the first time.  Of course, having the ice machine and one of the main hotel entrances just outside our room door did not help matters much.  Every time Louis heard ice falling into the machine or heard people entering the hotel, he'd give a little bark.  It was just enough to keep me up all night.  But, I've raced many of the NUE 100 milers on little to no sleep in the past, so I didn't let my lack of sleep mess with my mind too much.  I was too stoked to be riding on some sweet single track trails to dwell on being tired anyway.

Doing Bakers is like going to a large mountain bike community meeting.  It was cool seeing a bunch of friends I don't get to see often and also having so many racers hanging out together all day.  While standing at the starting line, for instance, I was able to catch up quickly with some friends I don't get to see often enough.  It was also cool to ride and chat with different racers on the course and share how our individual races were going.  I know time passes much more quickly when there's good conversation happening.  Of course, it always great to hear words of encouragement being passed by other racers and those helping in the pits. Adding to this experience was the large contingency of riders from the Pittsburgh, PA area making their way to Baker's.  All the PGH folks kind of grouped together in a little tent city and helped each other out.  This is where my wife and Louis helped me get through my miles also.  Thanks to you guys (especially Chris Miceli and Dan Depenhart) for letting her hang with you there.

I didn't really have a game plan set in stone for my race, but I did want to start somewhat fast to avoid the early trail bottleneck and to keep my eye on the front of the race.  After doing a few semi fast laps, my goal was to remain consistent as possible with my speed without wasting too much energy and doing my best to keep my bike and body safe.  Overall, I've got to say that I felt pretty good overall, especially considering I was basically doing the race on no sleep.  But, around mile 100, I started to feel my fatigue coming and I found myself wishing this was only a 100 mile race instead of race based off of time and distance.

Since I'm pretty accustomed to endurance racing and riding through pain, I just kept my thoughts positive and tried to enjoy the trail that I seemed to have ridden over a million times already that day.  I started doing lap count downs and did my best to continue eating, even though my stomach really did not feel like consuming much. At the end of lap 15, I took a little longer break and ate some rotisserie chicken my wife had bought from an onsite vendor.  It seemed to settle my stomach a bit and definitely gave me some more energy to jump back on my bike for the next three laps.

My last two laps were in the dark and I used a small bicycle commuter light for my racing light.  It wasn't the brightest on the trail, but I'm used to using it from when I commute to work in the dark on summer mornings and I've never had any issues with it. It only has about a 2 hour burn time at the brightest level, so my only goal for the last two laps was to finish them before my battery died. My light and body held-out for the final two laps and I finished 18 laps and 147 miles of riding about 15 minutes before the 10PM last lap cutoff.  My wife was there waiting and told me that the second place rider, Paul Tarter, was more than a lap behind and that I did not need to do a 19th lap, thank God.  But, I found out later from my buddy and the solo winner of the open class, Jake Wade, that I might have been the overall solo winner if I would have gone back out.  Oh well, I am happy with my result and was even happier that I was not required to do a 19th lap.  It felt much better for me to head back to the hotel and take a "quick" (20 minute) shower to come back to life somewhat before the bonfire lit award ceremony started than it would have doing another lap.

I've got to say that I was definitely pretty spent after finishing Bakers.  It made me remember why I haven't done one of these type of races since 2011.  It was fun experience and all, but the 100 mile endurance race is more my thing. And, after this experience, I'm not sure how the 24 hour solo guys do what they do.  I'd much rather do one big loop or a couple of big loops and see different sights rather than going around and around in circles over and over again.  I was definitely going a bit stir-crazy out there.  But, I will admit that my mind and body already seem stronger from riding all those miles and I'm feeling ready for my next race, the Cohutta 100.

On a final note, I must say congratulations to all my Pittsburgh friends who also did well at the LBD including: Lauren & Tim Mould - 1st Mixed Duo, Rob Spreng & Jim Mayoric - 1st Duo Men, and Don Powers & Joe Malone - 2nd Duo Men.  I also need to thank my wife for helping me suffer through all those miles a lot less.

Happy Trails...

Also, thanks to Gary Ryan for the racing photos!

Salsa Vaya Ti - Up for Sale!

- SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD -

Sorry, this bike is no longer available for sale.

Okay, first off, please excuse my spammy use of this blog to promote the sale of my Salsa Vaya Ti.  Using this medium just seemed like the easiest way to write and show everything about the bike.  Let me also say that this is one awesome bike and it's hard for me to let it go.  But, it needs to find a new home where it will receive adequate use and attention.  I almost always ride my SS mountain bike and, for this reason, my geared bikes are not used often.  In total, this frame may about two months of riding on it.  Some of the parts were also used on other bikes at one time or another and other parts are nearly near.  Overall, the bike is in race ready condition and is ready for your next gravel adventure.  Please email me directly at only1gear@yahoo.com for any questions or comments about this bike.  Thanks for looking!

SPECIFICATIONS:

FRAME - Salsa Vaya Titanium 56cm

(Click here for more information about the frame & the geometry) 

FORK - Trigon Full Carbon - (OR...the original Salsa Vaya steel fork, which was never used, or mounted )

HANDLEBARS - Salsa Cowbell 3 - 46 width

STEM - Thomson X2, 31.8, 100mm length

CRANKSET - Control Tech Shield Carbon 175 length

BB - FSA MegaExo

WHEELSET - Stan's NoTubes Alpha 340 rims laced with DT Swiss Spokes 28 Hole 3x

HUBS - XTR with upgrade ceramic bearings

TIRES - Clement X'plor MSO 700x40, which are currently mounted to the rims with presta tubes.

BRAKES / LEVERS - TRP Hylex - Hydraulic road brakes - ( Only 3-4 rides on them and are like new)

ROTORS -  XTR Centerlock

SHIFTERS - SRAM S500 Bar con style - (like new, added at the same time as the TRP's) 

CASSETTE - Shimano Ultegra 10 Speed 11x28 (last longer and shifts better than SRAM, IMO)

CHAIN - SRAM PC1031

FRONT DERAILLEUR - SRAM Force

REAR DERAILLEUR - SRAM Rival

SADDLE - WTB Laser V Titanium Rails

POST - Salsa Alloy

SEAT POST CLAMP - Salsa

PRICE - New retail pricing on this bike would be around $4000.  I am planning to list it on Ebay on Monday 04/07/2014 at around noon with a starting bid of $1900 and a buy it now price of $2500.  But, my special friends and family pricing, if purchased before it is listed, is $1800 + the actual shipping price if the buyer is not close enough to meet in person.  You will not be disappointed in this machine!

Barry-Roubaix Awesomeness

This past weekend I traveled to Hastings, Michigan to do the Barry Roubaix.  This race was the second stop for the American Ultra Cross Series and it was a good one.  The Barry Roubaix was first held in 2009 and had around 300 competitors that year.  The race has now grown to a size of nearly 4000 participants from all over the United States.  An event this big can be hard to manage for a race promoter, but Rick Plite and all his helpers put together a great race and everything seemed to go very smoothly from start to finish.  

The course used for the 62 mile length of the Barry Roubaix does not have the climbing and rough surfaces like most of the American Ultra Cross Series Races do, but that doesn't make it an easy race. Basically, it is one big loop on mostly hard packed dirt roads, with about 2700 feet of climbing. This year the course conditions were a bit soft from the snow melt and recent rain, but overall it was still pretty fast with my average speed being 19 mph on a singlespeed.  

I worried before the race that there would not be enough challenge to the course to cause any separation in the large field. I found out soon after the start that my early thoughts about this race were wrong.  What the course lacks in big climbs or technical features is replaced with its requirement for pure speed and a constant power output to maintain forward momentum. Additionally, I found out it was important to stay at the front of the race because of catching groups of slower riders and other road hazards causing splits to occur in the pack.

During one such circumstance, in the first couple miles of dirt road, one rider crashed directly in front of me while negotiating a large mud bog spreading across the road.  I did not hit him, but had to completely stop to avoid impact and was then immediately surrounded by a large group of other racers from behind me.  I managed to work my way out of the chaos, but a meaningful separation had occurred in my race group and I knew it was imperative to regain contact with the lead group if I wanted to place well.  I first bridged up to my ultra cross 40+ geared class race buddy, Ron Glowczynski, and then managed to close the remainder of the gap to the lead group, which had three other SS racers in it at the time.  Soon after rejoining this group the pace picked-up again and when I looked over my shoulder, our group had no immediate chasers in view.

I noticed that one SS rider in the lead pack with me was hammering at the front on a cross bike.  I rode behind him for a bit and noticed his gear was a bit stepper than mine and I wondered how he was going to push it for the entire race.  I've always raced with the "spin to win" philosophy in regards to my gear selection for my SS and it has seemed to work for me so far.  Eventually, I noticed this strong SS rider, Lucas Seibel, was beginning to fade from pushing his huge 44x16 gearing and I also noticed that no other SS riders were in the dwindling lead group.

Meanwhile, I was feeling surprisingly fresh with my 40x18 gear choice and was just waiting for the pace to increase leading into the final miles of the race.  Of course, my speed on such a fast course was somewhat limited by having only one gear and I was completely at the mercy of the pace being set by the lead pack.  I did try making a few moves alone, but couldn't keep my pace high enough on the flats to stay away permanently.  Luckily, I had the help of a few friends in the front pack to keep the pace fast including: Ron G, Jake Wade and Garth Prosser. Without the help of these guys, my race would certainly not have been as easy as it was.

I noticed a few miles before getting to the paved road section leading back into town that Lucas had fallen out of the lead group, along with many other riders.  From that point, I was able to ride comfortably into the finish and enjoy my victory without the fear of being caught.  It felt good to get my second American Ultra Cross Series win of the year this past weekend, but I'm not ready for a rest yet and will be looking forward to doing another long, hard and hopefully well organized event like the Barry Roubaix soon.  Also, I cannot end this post without saying congratulations to my Team Rare Disease Teammate, Stephanie Swan, for her big win at Barry Roubaix!

Happy Trails... Gerry

Thanks to Snowy Mountain Photography for the photos!

Squish, Wind, and Buffets

My National Ultra Endurance Series racing season started this weekend at the very windy True Grit 100 race in Saint George, Utah. I traveled out to Saint George with my friend and fellow singlespeed competitor Ernesto Marenchin.  We flew into Vegas, rented a car and drove to our hotel in the middle of the Arizona dessert, just below Utah, on Wednesday Night. This hotel location was chosen because many of the hotels in Saint George were either completely booked, or cost a bit more than I wanted to spend.  This choice turned out to be a good one because it also gave me quick access to the bordering Nevada Town of Mesquite and the grand breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets located within the town's three casinos there.

Even though this race is a bit shorter than the typical 100 mile length of a NUE Series race, at a distance of 84 miles, the finishing times are not very fast because of the technical terrain this course covers. Last year I arrived at True Grit prepared to do the race with a full-rigid singlespeed bike.  Luckily, my friend and former teammate, Cary Smith, loaned me a suspension fork for race day, after I learned how technical the trails actually were during my pre-ride of the course.  With my course knowledge from last year, I decided to make my ride even more comfortable this year by trying to make my geared Specialized Epic into a singlespeed bike. 

The True Grit 100 race course is comprised mostly of single track trails and some rough jeep roads.  In my opinion, it has the most technical course in the NUE Series, which is the main reason why I decided to make my Specialized Epic xx1 geared full-suspension bike into a squishy single speed bike for this race.  After completing two days of riding on the course, I was very happy with the creation of the soft and forgiving ride of the bike I have sinced named the xx1X1 Epic.  I must admit that I was a little concerned about climbing over 10,000 feet of elevation gain over the 84 miles distance of the race with a squishy bike, but the Epic didn’t feel any slower on the climbs and it was absolutely faster on the fast, rough descents.  Overall, I think it was the perfect bike choice for this race.

The most technical sections of this course are two separate trail loops called Zen and Barrel Roll.  Last year riders were required to do four loops of Barrel Roll, but we only did two loops of this difficult section on the course this year.  I think this change made the course flow better and a lot more fun to ride.  In addition, the new section of trail added to the course this year called the Lower Bear Claw - Poppy Trail was about four miles of super fast and pump track like single track that was an absolute blast to ride.  These course changes along with better course markings and race volunteer assistance at the checkpoints made the True Grit 100 a much better race this year.


Watching this video from the 2013 race will give you a good view of the technical True Grit 100 riding.

But, even though the course was made a bit easier with two laps of Barrel Roll being deleted, Mother Nature decided to add her own element of difficulty to the course by making the wind super strong on race day.  It was reported that wind gusts blew at 50+ MPH on race day and the National Weather Service even issued a wind warning to the area.  I've got to say that riding into that head wind was brutal! It was even bad when trying to navigate my way through technical rocky trails at a slower pace because the wind would actually push me off my chosen line through the rocks.  On the other hand, when I was able to ride with the wind it was hard to ride any slower than 20 MPH because the blowing wind was like having a turbo booster on the back of my bike.

Another change that happened this year was the starting time for the race.  It was pushed back to 8AM instead of 7AM, which allowed for more light and also for the temperature to warm up a bit.  But, one change I didn’t like with the starting time of the race was that open men were separated from masters, women and singlespeed racers by 7 minutes.  This meant singlespeed racers, and the other classes, could not use the fast draft of the open men at the beginning of the race and also had to deal with catching slower riders pretty early in the race.  As it turned out, though, this was much less of an issue than I expected it to be and probably did make the start of the race much safer.

With nobody to use for a draft at the start, I decided to set a fast tempo right from the gun to see who wanted to come with me.  This fast start gave me a gap over the other riders pretty quickly, so I kept pushing myself to see if I could stay away.  Well, I stayed away alone for about four miles or so until the single track climbing started.  I was then caught by the racer I knew who would be my biggest challenge of the day, AJ Linnell.  Once AJ caught me, we ended-up riding together for the majority of the Zen Loop.  By the end of Zen, I had a small gap over him and decided to push my pace back up again on the climb out of the checkpoint to create as much distance as I could between us.

 

It was a good thing I created this time gap because before entering the Barrel Roll Trail I felt the need to stop for a quick “nature break” and also started having issues with my gut feeling bloated and tight.  To alleviate this feeling, I grabbed a bottle of plain water at the Barrel Roll checkpoint and decided to ride a conservative pace over the rough Barrel Roll Trails.  Of course, the thought of tearing the sidewall of my tire, like I did last year on this trail, made my decision to ride more conservatively during this time an easy one.  No reason to blow my race by getting a stupid mechanical, I thought to myself.

With my pace slowing a bit, I started to catch glimpses of AJ during the last part of the Barrel Roll loop.  Luckily, my slower pace and water drinking over this time span made me feel well enough to start riding fast again, so I put my pace into hyper speed (helped by the crazy wind) on the fast trails leading back to the Zen checkpoint.  Before actually arriving at the checkpoint, there are a two longer climbs on the course and I thought for certain that I’d see AJ coming up from the rear.  When I never saw him chasing, I began to wonder if he had flatted or perhaps taken a wrong turn.  I wasn't sure what had happened, but I knew my pace could now be taken down to a more conservative effort, especially over the most technical sections of trail where a little bad luck could erase my lead.  I did learn at the end of the race that AJ went off course for a couple of minutes, which is why I he disappeared from my view so quickly before my second passage through the Zen checkpoint

The remainder of the race went as planned and I never did see another SS competitor.  I did, however, catch a ton of geared riders and moved myself pretty far up in the overall results, even with the seven minute starting deficit.  Racing without a competitor in view on a course like this is a lot more "relaxing".  I can ride fast where I want and ride smarter when I think it would be wise.  I followed this plan to the finish and was very happy to take my first NUE Series Race win for the year.  And, I’m quite certain every win is going to be an important one with all the fast riders competing in the singlespeed class for the overall series win this year.

Happy Trails...  Gerry

Testing 1, 2, 3...

I decided to start off my 2014 racing season in pretty much the same way I ended the 2013 season by doing an American Ultracross Series Race.  There used to be a time when my racing season started more gradually by doing some local road racing before any meaningful races were attempted. But, over the past few years, the Southern Cross Ultracross Race has been my first race of the season. Starting the season off with an important race is certainly a good way for me to test my legs, bike, and other new Team Rare Disease equipment, but I never feel quite prepared for this early start of the racing season.  

The Southern Cross Race is roughly a 50 mile race loop with about 6700 feet of elevation gain, on a mix of mostly dirt roads, some standard grass cyclocross course stuff, and some pavement.  Overall, it's a nice mix on a variety of surfaces to make this race interesting, challenging and fun.  This was my fourth attempt at doing this race, so I was pretty certain of what to expect.  But, the crazy weather of this winter had me guessing a bit about what the course conditions would be like this year, especially with the Dahlonega, GA area receiving a good amount of snow about a week before the race date.

All racers are somewhat concerned about course conditions, but singlespeed racers have to consider the conditions a little more closely to make sure the right gear ratio is used. I assumed the recent snow fall, the melt of it from warm temperatures arriving the week leading up to the race, and a couple days of rain were going to make the course soft and slow.  However, when I did my pre-ride of the first part of the course on Friday, I discovered it was a lot faster than I expected.  As a matter of fact, the course was so much faster I decided to use a bigger gear ratio than I used the year before, even though I was using a MTB this year instead of a CX bike.

I've pretty much determined that cross bikes are more exciting to use at ultracross races, but mountain bikes are safer and probably faster over.  And, after the limits of my cross bike were tested and beat in the final mile of the race last year, I was certainly not going to make the same mistake of using a CX bike this year.  I went from using 700x35 tires on my SSCX bike last year to using 29x2.2 tires on a SS MTB this year.  I was happy with the change and my finishing race time was over 4 minutes faster than last year because of it, in my opinion.  The biggest difference I noticed was being able to relax more on the fast gravel road descents, not only in riding position, but also mentally because I wasn't as stressed about getting a flat tire.  Interestingly enough, it is a good thing I didn't have to worry much about getting a flat tire because about 7 miles into the race I realized that my CO2 cartridges were not in my jersey pocket, but were left back at the car. If I would have flatted, my means of inflation would have been to beg for a pump or CO2's from passing riders.  I'll chalk that mistake up as not being completely prepared for the first race of the year... man, that was stupid of me!

With this race starting on a pretty tight and technical cyclocross type of course, I decided to get out in front early to avoid being stuck behind any crashes or other mayhem.  Surprisingly, this plan went so well that I was actually the first rider to the top of the first run-up and then also the first to exit the cross course riding onto the roadway in front of Monteluce Winery.  I sat up a bit after making it to the road and waited for some geared riders to help pull me along this super fast section of the course.  I was joined by a small group of about ten riders, which included only one other SS rider, Dan Rapp.  The paced picked-up a bit on the road, which caused Dan and I to spin like crazy to stay attached to this group.  Dan sat up and said to me, "Man that was hard." I nodded, but didn't feel the same way.  So, I decided to go a little faster and attempt to close a small gap forming quickly between us and the top geared riders.  I was able to close the gap, but Dan fell behind.

I was liking my bigger gear ratio choice and it definitely helped me stick with the lead group longer than I was able to do last year.  But, eventually, I made a decision to let this fast geared group ride away from me about 9 miles into the race.  It was at this point that the serious climbing started and I thought it would be wiser to ride the climb at my own pace rather than push myself a little harder than I wanted at such an early point in the race.  In previous years, I've ended up catching other riders that have fallen-out of the lead group on this big climb and this year was no different.  But, what was different this year, was that I caught the overall winner of the race last year, Brian Toone.

An awesome video of the 2014 Southern Cross Race from Jayson O'Mahoney.

Brian is a fast guy and I knew riding with him for rest of the race would be a big factor in helping me win the SS class if I could hang with him.  Interestingly enough, Brian was not climbing as fast as usual, so I did my best to give him some assistance on the climbs.  I knew the favor would be returned on the faster sections of the course and it was without a doubt.  Thank you Brian!  Not only did Brian give me a ton of help, but it's also better to have a friend along to make the time pass a little faster during the race.

Brian and I ended-up riding the rest of the race together.  We saw a couple other geared riders out there, but I never saw another SS rider after Dan fell off the early fast pace.  Feeling like my time gap over my SS competition was pretty good, I was able to ride the long, fast descents a lot more cautiously and this gave me some piece of mind about not having any method of tire inflation stored away.  But, I did have some stress when I heard a loud cracking noise come from my rear wheel about 25 miles into the race, which was immediately followed by a clanging noise.  I immediately knew the noises heard were caused by a spoke breaking on my rear wheel.  The broken spoke continued to make noise off and on throughout the race, but my wheel never went abruptly out of true, or gave me any other trouble, so I didn't stop to make an attempt at fixing things.  The last thing I wanted to do was lose Toone's wheel and waste time trying to fix a non-issue mechanical.

The 2014 Singlespeed Podium

By the end of the race, I ended up finishing the race in 3 hours and 11 minutes and as the first place SS rider, about 13 minutes faster than second place.  My result, the performance of my carbon Specialized Stumpjumper SS bike, and my overall race preparation made me feel like I had passed my first test of the season.  Doing this race also put my mind back into race mode and got me thinking more about the season a head.  Before doing Southern Cross, I was less concerned about riding and more concerned about getting new snow for skiing and fatbike riding.  Now, I'm ready to ride and race!  My next test, and it's going to be a much tougher one, is the first NUE Series Race of 2014, the True Grit 100, in St. George, UT.

Happy Trails....  Gerry