Spring Edit

Just a little video that I threw together of some rides on some fun downhills earlier this year. The first is Lingle Valley trail. It is fast, flowing, and has been on the Stoopid 50 course all 3 years. 2nd is Bald Knob. It got its name from the top of the mountain, where there is a big boulder field without any trees. The trail follows the ridge, then descends down into the hollow on the far side of the mountain. The 3rd is Croyle. A steep, rocky, twisty trail that is on the W101 after the Greenlee climb.

Stoopid 50

This weekend was really good. On Saturday, Rob from Bikeline came to our house to stay before the Stoopid. We were able to ride from the house and show him some of the course, which was the last technical downhill to the finish. Got the bikes ready, ate dinner, and we all felt pretty good about tomorrow's race. Later that night, Jay and Cameron Dodge and some friends from Guy's arrived. Everyone was really excited for the race. We were able to tell them all the details about the course, and eventually got to sleep. It was really weird waking up so late, because our house is a 5 minute drive from the start. I was actually considering riding my bike to the start as part of a warmup. I didn't because I knew I wouldn't like the two hills on the way back. We got to the start and got feed bags set up and everything. It's a nice change seeing all the people that I know out there supporting the race and helping with the course.

The race started good. I knew that I needed to get out in front early to avoid a big pile-up on the rock gardens in the beginning of the race. So I started at just under XC race pace, and gradually settled into a rhythem from there. Across a rocky ridge and down a really fun downhill to the first major climb of the day - Thickhead Mountain. This is one of the toughest climbs in the forest, and for people who don't know the road, it always looks like your at the top. But it just keeps getting steeper and steeper. Down the backside to the first aid station, then on some familiar rocky trails from last year's Stoopid. The technical Brush Ridge trail will take a lot of energy out of you if you don't know the lines, because it is always slick and the rocks seem to never end. Up a really steep wall, and then another fun downhill through Lingle Valley. Then up the Bear Gap climb -- a short, but very steep and rocky climb that is covered with moss and leaves. After that, there are even more rocks as you cross the ridge on Beautiful and Chicken Peter trails. Retrace your tracks back down the steep wall out of Brush Ridge, then a technical trail out to the paved road, where there is about 2.5 miles of gradual uphill to the next aid station. I stopped and got some food from my feed bag, and then I was on my way back up the other side of Thickhead. Jake caught me, and we rode together for a while until he gradually got out of my sight. I wasn't going to chase him because I knew that the final 15 miles were very steep, jeep road climbs. I made it through the climbs and got a bit of a second wind. Coming into the last 5 miles, I knew exactly where I needed to pick up my pace. Because the last 2 miles is a downhill too steep and rocky to pass on, I needed to pass as many people as possible on the climb up. My finish sprint started on one of the switchbacks with 2 miles until that downhill. People were looking at me like I was crazy, but I knew that once I got to the top, there wouldn't be any more pedalling the whole race. I got past a lot of people that I wouldn't want to follow down that trail, and passed 3 more on the last downhill. This was because 2 were walking. The one rider that I had to pass was really hard. I finished strong and less than a minute behind Jake, although I thought he would have killed my time. I kept thinking that Cameron was ahead of me the whole race, but it turns out that he wasn't. He had a good time for his first 50 miler. I ended up with 43rd overall, and with a time of 5:13. The course is faster than last year, but it was also much harder because the trails were rockier and there was much more climbing.

Tour de Tykes

I'm happy. Not only did I have a good race both physically and luck, but it's been the first time that I've stood on top of the podium since what seems like forever. I knew I was gonna have a good race after Iron Hill, but I didn't expect to do nearly as well as I did. The race started off with a mass start, and I settled in behind the wheel of a senior 2. I followed him most of the way up the first long climb, where he gradually pulled away from me. But we went back and forth like that -- I'd catch up to him after the downhills and he'd drop me on the climbs. I eventually passed him, dropped him on a downhill, and then he was right back on my wheel at the top of the next climb. By this point I knew that if I rode steady and didn't have any mechanicals, I'd probably win senior 1. So that was kinda relaxing...until my wheel fell out of the dropouts. Go figure it was on a narrow bench cut where I couldn't get off the trail. So I had to move over a lot for some of the experts to pass me, but I got it back fairly fast, after 5 or 6 interuptions. Caught up to the people that passed and although I never saw the 1st place sport rider again, I was back to my position. Kept that steady to the finish. I think that if I had thought about falling on the downhills, I wouldn't have done nearly as well as I did, because that is where I thought I was able to stay away from everyone. I sprinted out the final paved road back to the finish and was really happy with 1st place senior 1, and only 19 seconds from being 1st overall. It was really nice to win this race, since I flatted here last year and I was born in Geisinger. I think the race will be good points for the overall. It always seems like no matter how well I do, there's always something I could have done to get back those extra seconds. I remember feeling really happy after some of my best preformances, but then kinda regretting some things and realizing that I could have rode a lot of sections faster. But then I forget about that and go on having a great day. Overall, everyone had a good day. My dad and I got firsts, and Bill Gardner ended up getting 2nd, so the MBR team had two spots on the master 2 podium.

Iron Hill

There isn't much I can say in this post, since I didn't really have much of a race. Last Monday, I noticed that the fork on my Rush was broken, so we drove down the mountain and met my dad. He switched me bikes and I was able to get a ride in on the 29er. This ride felt so good that I scrapped the idea of racing my Scalpel that weekend and really wanted to give the 29er a try. Warmed up and felt good...got to the start with a few minutes to spare and felt great. Once I got the bike up to speed, I easily passed everyone in the short field and was first into the singletrack. Sam was behind me, and I think we had a little gap over the rest of the class. That helped because there were a few sections that could have easily gotten backed up if it was crowded. I was able to keep good speed through all of the course, and there was only really one time when I worried about being passed. Coming into one of the downhills, I knew that I needed to ride it as fast as I could if I still wanted to be in the lead. So I did that, and really accelerated out of the corner at the bottom to try to get a bigger lead. As I shifted down to the middle chainring, I just thought I overshifted and the chain went off the rings. When Sam passed he let me know that I didn't have a chain. So I ran until I could fix it. Tried to get it fixed for a long time. I actually got lapped by Sam while I was trying to get the pin out. So I ran the rest of the way out. The 15 minutes that I actually rode, I felt amazing. The beginning of the year wasn't too good with training (I got sick a few times and started training really late), but I feel a lot faster than even in Granogue a few weeks ago. Sam might have dropped me at the end, but I know that I definitely would have gotten 2nd. That made me happy, because I realized that it is a lot easier to fix a bike before another race than it is to fix your preformance. I'm looking forward to Tour de Tykes. My dad took the bike into the shop yesterday, and it turns out that my crank was loose, which is probably what caused the chain to snap. So I'll be at Tour de Tykes next week, and I'm excited that it's only supposed to be like 60degrees. Much better than last year.