Fine Trails

Oh, what a nice weekend of trail riding. I had two fine days of riding some very nice trails and I didn’t even get all that muddy. In addition to the trails being in good shape, the weather seems like it is starting to come around now, too. Thank Goodness!

On Saturday, I did the inaugural Wisp XC Challenge put on by ABRA Racing at the Wisp Ski Resort in McHenry, MD. I haven’t race at Wisp since the mid-nineties, but I remembered the trails being pretty rocky and technical on the resort property. While there were a few sections of technical riding on the new 8 mile long Wisp Course, most of it was fairly smooth and fast. I love riding twisty, fast single track and there was definitely some good stuff at Wisp, along with a good mix of types of trails, too.

The race started fast. There was a short prologue loop which then led to the mostly downhill starting part of the course. It was hard to maintain position on my single speed on this fast section, but somehow I managed to stay in the top ten riders for the first few miles of the races. Once the climbing started, I worked my way up to fourth place overall and the second single speed spot behind Montana Miller.

Montana was pushing his big and ever constant 38x20 gear, which I figured would be a little too steep for this course. By mid part on the second of three laps, I caught Montana and was able to get a nice gap over him on the long climb to the start/finish line. I stayed smooth and fast on the third lap and ended-up taking the single speed win, in third place overall.

Before starting the race at Wisp, I did an entire lap of the course to check out the conditions and to get in some extra training miles. Knowing what to expect on a fast XC course is always helpful to me and it was definitely a big help at this race, too. I enjoyed the trails at Wisp so much that after the race I did another 8 mile loop to cool down and to enjoy the trails at a more comfortable pace. All in all, it was definitely a nice day of trail riding and racing at Wisp.

On Sunday, I went to North Park and did three hours of riding on the nicely flowing single track there. I think the North Park trails are some of the best around for training. There is just a nice variety of everything at the park and nothing too severe to break-up the body or the bike.

With all the rain in the Pittsburgh Area lately, it sure has been awhile since I had two nice days of trail riding near home. Hopefully, that is beginning to change and I can spend more time on dirt than on the road. Speaking of trail riding, I will be headed to Mountain View Arkansas this coming weekend to do NUE Series Race #2, the Syllamo 125. From what I understand, this race is almost entirely comprised of technical single track. Hopefully all the fine trail riding completed this weekend will help me ride the trails at Syllamo just a little bit smoother. Be sure to check back next week for my Syllamo 125 Race Report.

Happy Trails, Gerry

A NUE Start

The National Ultra Endurance (NUE) Series started this past weekend at the Cohutta 100 in Ducktown, TN. The weather was perfect for the race, especially when compared to the hard thunderstorms and rain encountered at the race last year. Everything was going as planned until around mile 30 or so, when my left pedal cleat somehow came loose. Luckily, I was able to repair my mechanical fairly quickly with my Topeak Pro 20 Mini Tool and catch back up to the two single speed riders in front of me. Matt Ferrari and I then had a good battle going between us for most of the race after I caught him, but I was able take the first NUE Series Race win at the end. My Stan’s NoTubes SS Wheels and my Salsa Ti Selma were an important part of my fast ride and eventual victory. I did a more detailed write up about my Cohutta 100 Race for the Salsa Blog, which will probably be posted sometime next week. Happy Trails, Gerry

The Road Bike

Out of all the bikes I own, I probably ride my road bike the least. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-road bike or roadie. I like road bikes, but I spend most of my saddle time on the my SS Selma 29er mtb because it is what I race the most. I also consider my SS 29er to be my all purpose, do anything bike. It seldom has any issues and is just one efficient pedaling machine.

Even though I spend most of my time doing long mtb races every year, I also like to do a handful of road races to keep my speed and fitness fresh. After the last road race of last summer, I put my road bike away until Thursday of this week. With no close mtb races around this weekend, I decided it would be a good idea to do a 35 mile local road race in Amity, PA. Since it had been awhile since I was on a road bike, I figured that I better ride it a couple of days before doing a race on it. I must admit that I forgot how fast a road bike is over riding a wide-tired mtb.

Since the Amity race was pretty much just a training race, I also figured that I might as well maximize my effort and ride to the race, which worked out well since the race started a little later in the day. I ended up riding 55 miles to the race and got there with about ten minutes to spare before the start. When I arrived, I registered, gobbled down some food and water real quick and then off we went.

The course was a 5 mile loop with about 2 miles going up and the other three miles going down. I like courses that go up. Climbing and I just seem to get along well. Since I am an old guy, I did the 40+ race. The 40 plus riders were mixed in with the category 1-3 group, since there was not a real big field of riders at the race. After a couple of laps up the climb on the course, things started to split up. I was right there in the move with the initial break, but decided to fall back because there were no other 40 plus riders in the group and I thought the move was just a bit too early. I definitely knew it was too early for me to work hard in a three man break after my ride to the race anyway. It was kind of discouraging to see that the break would probably stick a little later in the race, but I made the most of riding in the pack.

The pack seemed to quickly dwindle in size after each of the 7 laps up the climb and I knew this is where I would need to make a move if I wanted to finish well. I wondered if my legs would have enough snap in them to go clear from the remaining riders with 85+ miles in them, but I gave it a go the last time up the climb. Somehow I got a gap and was able to maintain and even grow my advantage by the top of the climb. I was hurting bad though and knew that the fast ride down to the finishing line was going to hurt me bad. By putting down every last drop of energy I had left in me, I did manage to make it to line first with a small advantage over the fast approaching field sprint. It always feels good to win even when it hurts bad to do it.

After the race, I did two more laps of the course to end my day of riding with 101 miles. It was certainly a good day to be on a bike and it was a lot of fun to race on the road again after my long hiatus off of my skinny tired Salsa Podio speedster.

Happy Trails, Gerry

Thanks to Fred Jordan for the photo.

The Shootout at Anglers Ridge

I took another trip down south this past weekend to Danville, VA to do the 6 Hours of Anglers Ridge. I didn’t know about this early season mtb endurance race until I received a call from my friend Sologoat on the Monday before the race. Ernesto called to find out some information about whether I was doing the Pierre’s Hole 100 NUE Race in August or not because registration was opening that night. I told him that I definitely was doing PH100 along with all the other NUE races in 2011 except for the Park City, UT race. After discussing the details about PH100, I inquired about what race was next on his schedule and I soon found out all the good details about this SVMBA promoted race.

I really wasn’t expecting my endurance mtb racing season to start so early this year. Heck, I just stopped skiing a few weeks before and basically just started doing some consistent riding, but the thought of riding some nice single track in warm weather was just too much for me to resist. Since I was considering this race more of a good training opportunity rather than a true shot at an overall win, I decided to ride my single speed Salsa Selma instead of my geared Mamasita 29er. To add a little more difficulty to the race, I also had to use a ridge fork on my ride because my suspension fork seals were leaking oil and I did not trust them to hold up during the 6 hour race. I must admit, though, that I was almost tempted to change this plan on Friday when Todd from Pro Bikes called to tell me that my Salsa Spearfish had arrived at the shop. I had Todd rush around to find a tapered suspension fork and headset that would work with the frame. I also figured that I could then strip the old parts off my Mamasita to build-up the Spearfish to give it a nice test ride at Anglers Ridge. Unfortunately, my plan was foiled when I arrived at the shop and found that the frame required a press-fit BB30 bottom bracket. I did not have one and the shop did not have one in stock either. I quickly gave up the idea of riding the smoothness of the Spearfish and went back to my original plan of using the Selma.

During my pre-ride of the 9 mile loop at Anglers Ridge on Saturday, the Selma rode very nice. Additionally, the tight, twisty single track with a bunch of short climbs and descents seemed to be a perfect course for a rigid single speed bike. For the most part, the course is not too technical as far as there being anything real tricky, but there are a lot of tree roots crossing all over the trails that did cause my bike to bounce around quite a bit. A rigid bike would be fine for a cross country length race on this course, but it definitely started to wear on me as the 6 hour race laps started adding up. I did the pre-ride and race with my Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Wheels with the tire pressure set at about 25. Without the use of the Stan’s Wheels, I am sure my body would not have been able to handle riding on this course for 6 hours with a rigid bike.

The race started on a fast straight away which then took a hard left up a wide, short climb before entering the single track. Once entering the single track, it was difficult to make passes, so I worked hard to get the hole shot and take the lead into the trail head. After taking the initial lead, I stayed at the front and set a high pace for the first two laps. This seemed to break apart the field pretty good, so I started riding at a more conservative pace during lap three and four. Towards the beginning of lap four, I saw that Sologoat was chasing me hard and was getting a little too close for comfort. After seeing my hard-charging friend coming up behind me, I knew that I had to start riding fast again if I wanted to stay at the front of the race. During this time, I also decided to skip my stop at the pit during my fifth lap, so that I could gain a little extra time. It was a bit of a gamble because my water supply was getting low and I could have also used some nutrients, but my gamble seemed to pay off.

After skipping a pit stop, I looked back once I was in the single track and saw that there was nobody near me again. I continued riding at a pretty good clip, however, because I knew that I would absolutely need to stop at the beginning of lap number 6 to fuel-up. I made it through that last stop quickly and without having any issues. The last couple of laps during the race were pretty lonely. Occasionally I would see a rider here and there, but I was basically all alone for the most part. It didn’t matter, though, because being alone gave me chance to just ride and enjoy the trails. With about half a lap to go, I took a look over my shoulder at the top of a climb and caught a glance of a rider coming up fast behind me. I immediately knew that this rider was a competitor in my race and also knew that I now needed to pick up the pace again so that I would not be caught before the finish.

I rode hard during this time, but at the same time, I also rode smart. The last thing I wanted to do was crash or cause another problem by being too aggressive on this twisty course. I was pretty fried at this point in the race, which made riding fast again even harder. My arms and hands were on fire from riding without a suspension fork and I started to wonder if I might get caught because of my choice to use a rigid single speed. I did my best during the last part of the race to ignore my pain and just focus on riding my bike. My concentration paid off by race end and I was able to take the win by a very narrow margin of about two minutes over second place.

It was certainly an awesome day of racing on sweet trails and in perfect weather. I am very happy that I made the decision to take another road trip south for some fine early season endurance racing on some great single track and also couldn't be happier with how my rigid Salsa single speed proved once again to be a flawless machine.

Happy Trails, Gerry

Southern Cross

I did a post about winter training and an endurance cyclocross race I did in Dahlonega, Georgia this past weekend known as Southern Cross. It is up at the Salsa Cycles Website. Click here to access Salsa Cycles and to read the my race report.

Now that racing is upon us, I will be doing regular blog posts again, so please check back often.

I hope everyone is as excited about the new racing season as I am. See you all at the races and on the trails.

Happy Trails, Gerry

Fresh Tracks

To say this season has had benign cross racing weather, might be an understatement. The western part of Pennsylvania had a beautiful fall. The temperatures were mild and for the most part it was very dry. Most falls are not like this in this area, which makes cross racing a lot more difficult.

This week the weather took a pretty drastic change, which included getting a lot of rain and falling temperatures. The colder weather eventually even brought some long awaited for snow to the region. As a matter of fact, my local ski resort, 7 Springs, was able to make enough snow this past week to open for skiing this Saturday.

Since I can never do enough skiing, I had to make the short trip up to the mountain and do some early season turns. There were only a few slopes open, but it felt good to do some linked “S” turns down the mountain again. And, for the majority of the snow being of the man-made variety, the snow conditions were actually pretty good. 7 Springs is going to close during the mid-week to make more snow and do some grooming of the slopes, but will open up again next weekend. In the meantime, I may need to go up there one day this week to do some renegade runs with my backcountry skis. For some reason, skiing down the mountain is a lot more fun after putting out the effort to ski up it.

So, I got my first skiing tracks made for the season this weekend and as an added bonus, I also got to race my cross bike in the snow for the first time this cross season as well at the Raccoon Township Firehall Race. I did okay at the race, but crashed way too many times to do really well. I also used my single speed cross bike during the race because I thought it would be the better choice considering the mud, snow and cold temperatures. While the single speed was definitely the sturdiest bike choice, it definitely is a slower bike than my geared cross bike. But, my bike finished the race in one piece and without any mechanical issues whatsoever, so I am happy about that. Plus, it is always much easier to clean up a single speed after a race with nasty conditions than it is to clean a geared bike, so this made my SS choice even better for me.

There is one last local cross race next Sunday, which is at Raccoon Twp. Park. Considering that the long range forecast is calling for more cold temps and snow, I am sure this race will be as tricky as the race was today. I will more than likely do this last cross race of the season, but I must admit it was awfully hard staying off of the mountain today. I guess that I just need to remember how much bike racing will be missed in a month or so when the preregistration deadline comes around for the race later this week. I am sure that I will have many opportunities to make first tracks with my skis this winter after racing is done.

Happy Trails, Gerry

Thanks again to Benjamin Stephens for another fine photo.

Staying Local

Yeah, I know it has been awhile since I last posted a blog entry. So, I figured I better post something now, or people may fear that I have been abducted by aliens or even something worse. Basically, I have been doing local cross races every weekend since my episode of bad luck at Iron Cross in October. Here is a brief report of what I have been doing since the middle of October.

But, before I begin my racing update, I need to tell the story of how my bad luck continued a couple of days after the Iron Cross Race. I was commuting from work to home by bike on a familiar trail on a beautiful Indian summer fall day. I was having a blast on the trail and rode into a rock garden I have ridden many times before with way too much speed. I then clipped my pedal on a protruding rock, which caused me to go over-the-bars and crash pretty hard. I landed hard on the surrounding rocks, mostly on my left side and back. It was one of those crashes where I knew I did a good amount of damage to my body, so I just laid there for a minute to recuperate and to inventory my body parts. When I was finally able to stand, I immediately felt pain in my left hip and upper ribs/back. To make matters worse, all my cuts and abrasions were filled with a black powdery coal dust from the trail, which I knew would have to be scrubbed out after finishing my ride home. The next 25 miles of riding were not much fun and pretty much every passing motorist gave me an awkward look when they noticed the blood on my face, arms and legs.

For the most part, my injuries healed up quite nicely. The injury to my upper left rib cage and back, however, caused pretty sever pain for a few weeks. I trained and raced through the pain during the past month and a half, but now with help from Delfine and Hiles Chiropractic, I am beginning to feel normal again. I know the injury to my back has effected my racing this fall. I had to stop the running I do during this time of year to train for cross because of pain. Additionally, every time I would pull on my handlebars or dismount during a cross race I would also experience pain. I am so happy to finally be feeling whole again.

Well, that is enough writing about my crash and injuries; time now to report about the local cross racing scene here in the Western Pennsylvania Area. Cyclocross is one of my favorite types of bike racing. It brings together my road and off road bicycle racing experience in to one short, hard package. For many years, I have had to travel either to the east coast region of the Mid-Atlantic, or to various parts of Ohio to do a good cross racing series. This year JR Petsko and ABRA put together an awesome 7 race local cross series. The ABRA Series coupled with the ever-lasting Month of Mud Series and Team Freddie Fu’s Murrysville Race, made for a complete season of local cross racing this fall. To make things even better, Gary Dugovich has add two more local cross races for the beginning of December. It is so very cool that racing cross has finally become easy to do on this side of the state without travelling for hours.

Most people know me as being an endurance racer. Racing cross has very little to do with endurance racing, so it is always a big change for me to go from racing in 100 mile races lasting about 8 hours to races lasting for only an hour or less. Because my main focus on racing is doing well at longer races, I decided to make cross racing more of an endurance sport this year by doing more than one category at many of the cross races I did this fall. Holding the high intensity necessary to do well in a cross race is pretty hard to do. I learned this year that doing it in two and even three races in a day makes it even harder. But, even though it is hard, I had a blast doing the extra race and think it has benefited my fitness, too.

Speaking of endurance events, going hard and staying local, I also need to mention the Dirty Dozen Race that I did this past weekend. The Dirty Dozen is a ride which climbs over the 13 steepest hills surrounding Pittsburgh, PA. The first DD Ride first occurred 27 years ago and was created by Danny Chew and his brother Tom. Since that first running of the DD, the event has become more popular each year and now attracts nearly 200 riders from around the region. The idea behind the ride/race is for riders to ride at a neutral pace until Danny Chew blows a whistle at the base of the climb. The riders then basically sprint up the climbs and points are awarded to the top five finishers. It takes awhile for all the riders to get up each climb, so there is a lot of dead time waiting around. As a matter of fact, the approximately 50 mile ride took over 6.5 hours this year. I have done the DD 3 times before, but my last attempt was 20 years ago, in 1990. It was cool doing the race again this year and I enjoyed riding with a bunch of friends up the super steep hills around Pittsburgh. By the end of the race, I had accumulated enough points to finish in second place overall, which was the same place I finished back in 1990. Isn’t strange how things change, but stay the same?
One of the 13 climbs from the Dirty Dozen.

So, in a nutshell, that is how my fall has been spent on the bike. I have really enjoyed staying local this year and look forward to doing the same next fall. I have finished off cross season the past five years by taking a road trip to the USAC Cyclocross National Championship Race. I have decided to skip nationals this year, since I have already travelled out to Bend, OR once this year. I am going to miss finishing off the season with a big bang, but at least I will still be able to do a local cross race that weekend.

Happy Trails, Gerry

Thanks to Benjamin Stephens for the photos.