The Dog Days.

So here we are in August. Chris is a cat. 2. I am stalled halfway to my 3. Shawn is moving to Boston by the end of the month if not sooner. The economy has some of us choosing work over riding (can you blame them?). The mountain team is doing well despite the total lack of flow to the series. Two race postponements really disrupts things. We press on.



Shawn raced the Tour of Lancaster and had some bad luck in the form of a broken fork. I've finally gotten back on the bike after about 3 weeks of intestinal infects and overtime. There are two possible races tomorrow but I'm still undecided if I am really ready for the intensity. I've had a solid week but before that I was hurting.



The Dream Weaver did a downhill race and here's his side of the story...

Link to website of Series;
http://www.verticalearthpa.com/blue_mountain_cup

I
drove up to Blue Mountain friday night. I met up Todd and some others
friday evening. They had practiced friday. I worked. Sat
morning at the breakfast table they were filling my in on the Saturdays Super-D
course; same as last time, and also the totally different DH course for
Sunday. The DH course sounded gnarly,lots of chutes spilling into
rockgardens which would become "yard-sales"(bike parts strewn about from bicycle
dismemberment), drops, jumps, step-downs, rocky-rooty-offcamber, typical east
coast terrain we have all grown fond of, or, at least accustom too. I did
two practice runs on the Super-D course, good enough for me. This time I
left my hardtail at home and brought the full-suspension for the Super-D
race. The previous Super-D race, May 30, I rode my On-One 456 hard
tail. It is a 1X9 with a 34tooth Chainring, and a 160mm fork up
front. The course was very difficult to get up to speed. All the
rocks were pointy, and are aimed at the riders with intentions of
inflicting cruel and unusual punishment. There are only one climb, and it
was a doozy of a steep, loose fire road, but other than, that one could use
a DH bike for the course if they were willing to run their bike to the top
of that hill. Many actually did just that. Like I
said earlier, I brought the dually, I took a minute fifteen off of my
May run. The rain came in hard and heavy early sunday morning. We
awoke to pouring rain. Packed our gear to leave the motel and set off to
the mountain to do what we seem to have been doing all season in DH this
year; ride in the rain and muck. Hey, whatever, beggars can't be choosers,
I ride in the rain all the time anyways, just that this time, there is a
stopwatch running. The ride up the chairlift was a wet one, I forgot
my rain jacket, and I don't wear goggles. About 300feet from the top of
the lift, lightning started. The lift sped up to warp factor 9 to get us
off the lift. We did a practice run, surprisingly awesome conditions,
better than the day before. At the bottom we took note that the lift
was shut down due to the lightning. We went back to our EZ-UP to
wait. An hour past and lift was running again. We were able to
squeeze in one more practice run, it was my best run of the weekend! I was
pinning every corner, skipping ever so lightly across the rocks, and roots,
floating the off-camber-ness(it's not a word, I know) and drifting
magnificently(in my minds eye) through the loamy corners. Too bad it
wasn't my race run. At the top we were informed the that there
were a lot of "DNS"'s(Did Not Show). Competition was going to be tight,
Everyone there, were the serious, of serious regional racers. The official
began my count down, I sprinted out of the gate into the darkness of the
course. For some reason I was making stupid mistakes with my lines.
That's DH racing though, you only have a few minutes to make your best run
count, and each "little" mistake adds up to be a lot of seconds. I made it
to the finish line, stayed upright the whole time, and had a blast!

Ben will be racing a 5k downhill at the end of August in Wilmington, NY.

Grandview/D&Q Summer Sizzler

The Milkmen will be stretched thin this weekend with two races on Saturday. One is a crit in Lancaster and the other is a super fast mountain race in Dirty Jersey set up by some good friends of ours, the D&Q team.

James and Tom will probably be our only riders at the Summer Sizzler since Joel will be working, Shawn is still undecided, and I took the easy way out and stayed close to home. The Sizzler is a great course. I can only describe it as very fast with very little climbing. A big ringer all the way. My kind of race too but I have a busy weekend and just couldn't commit the time.

The Grandview Crit is located in, you guessed it, Grandview. It a very hairy course. The start is straight and fast with turn one being a 120 degree lefthander. The backstretch is about a 2-3% "climb" that probably totals 1/2 mile of the one mile course. Throw in four 90 degree turns (left-right-right-left) for good measure. Then a tricky (only because of the way people take it) sweeping left to get you back on the front straight. Oh and watch out for the potholes.

The Batteries Were Dead

This was a busy weekend for a couple of us Milkmen. Saturday there were two road races, Mt. Nebo and Iron Hill Twilight Crit. Sunday was the Trailspinners Fair Hill race.

Shawn and I did Mt. Nebo. Chris did the Twilight. None of us did too well. Shawn took 23rd, me 29th on a course that had over 1000 ft of climbing per lap. Chris got bumped out of the peleton, lost the draft, and couldn't hang on to the blistering pace.

Fair Hill was a disaster for me. My legs felt ok but the engine just couldn't find the gear I guess. I DNF'd. Chris was in the Elite/Pro race. It was stacked with a lot of pros and I didn't see where he came in. The rider formally known as Fort James took 15th in his group.

There are no pictures because the batteries were dead upon arrival.

Millersville Recap

The Millersville road race course was awesome. It was full of twisty downhills, power climbs, longish climbs, and some really nice flats. I really did love the course. In time I think more people will race it. All those twists though lead to a lot of braking if you were stuck in the middle of the pack. It seemed that every time I started to make my way up, I would be squeezed out by someone cutting across the road to gain one or two spots. In the end I did make it to the front but by the time I did my legs felt like rubber so I put in a big pull for Joel and Shawn. Hoping they would be catapulted on the final climb. Turns out, they weren't feeling all that great either. Go figure. All the on and off tempo killed them as well. I don't think any of us even checked the results.


Maybe next weekend...

Cheyney, Camp, Phoenixville...etc.

So I finally managed to get some pictures (thank you Staci for the Skellington picture). Woohoo!

Let's start things off with a Cheyney Road Race wrap-up. The race itself was actually boring and frustrating. It had two fairly long climbs but they never seemed to split the pack due to a long recovery zone (and some super slow riding by those at the front of the peleton). Why didn't Shawn or I move up to the front you may ask? Well, all the roads were too narrow and no one was willing to give up even one inch. Can't say I blame them. I put this race in the "Probably never again" category not only for the reasons listed above but also because the final 400 meters were supposed to be closed on the last lap. Those sprinting found themselves dodging at least two cars at 35-40 mph. Fun.

Let's go to mountain bike camp. This is always fun. Even though we had a very wet week, the campers made the best of it. We watched videos on freeriding, downhilling, and trials. This week the weather has been better but most of the trails are still a mess. So far they don't seem to mind riding the same loops over and over (which is good since that is all we can ride). We are trying to teach them not only how to mountain bike but to be good trail stewards as well. Up top is a picture of Kate. She is great. Actually, she is one of the other instructors.

Last Saturday was the Phoenixville Crit. This race was almost identical to Race Ave. only the slopes were a little steeper. I did the 4 and Consorto did the 1/2/3. The 4's did 30 laps in the pouring rain. It was pretty uneventful until 13 to go when there was a crash in turn 3 right in front of me. I swerved left to miss it only to find the course marshal running to the crash. I swerved to miss him almost at a dead stop by this time. I looked up to see the peleton exiting turn 4 and I just knew that was my race. Now I'm not sure on the rule but I may have been able to take a free lap but since I wasn't technically in that crash I didn't take one. I still ended up 13th. Chris took 5th in the big boy race.

This Sunday is the Millersville Road Race. Drop me a line if you want directions and start times.

Race Ave Update. Next the Cheyney Road Race

Since I bailed on the Tour De Tykes I decided to double up the day before at the Race Ave. Crit. It's a simple 4 corner 1 km loop with a false flat for the final 250 meters (roughly).

The 4/5 race started with a bang and by that I mean a crash on the start line. This is why I try to stay away from 4/5 races. Two laps into the 20 lap race there were two more crashes. I decided to leave the "safety" of the peleton and go on my own. It was really a false attack. I just wanted to pick up the pace and drop the squirrels. It worked for the most part (only one more crash the rest of the race). With 12 to go I was back in the pack and another rider took off. We let him go. The next lap another rider shot out of the group. We let him go too figuring the group would catch them. When the bell lap came it was pretty obvious we were not going to catch the lead riders. On the back stretch of the final lap a Spinners rider took off. Being only 500-600 meters from the finish I hopped on his wheel. Around turn 3 he peeled off leaving me in front. Not a great place to be about 400 meters from the finish. I told myself that if I gained a gap going into turn 4, I was going for it on the previously mentioned false flat. I stayed seated and put a few good pedal strokes down. I was trying to hide my attack as best I could. I felt a gap open up behind me and I went for it. Out of turn 4 I stood up and got a 10 meter or so lead. About 20 meters from the finish my legs were burning but I was so close I pushed through it. I took 3rd! Beating the peleton to the line. Average speed was 25mph.

Chris, Shawn, and I then did the 30 lap 3/4 race. I knew I was going to be hurting but tried to help out Chris as much as I could. It wasn't much as I just barely held onto the peleton. I finished in 31st. Shawn 24th. Chris was just out of the points in 12th (his worst finish this year). Average speed for this one was about 27.5mph.

Sunday Shawn and I will be at the Cheyney road race. We are taking it a little easier this weekend and only doing the 4 instead of the 3/4. It's roughly 15 miles shorter.

Iron Hill Report/Race Ave Crit

Iron Hill was very polarized in how the Milkmen finished/DNF'd. Joel, Seth and Shawn both took DNFs due to feeling sick and throwing up. Yum. Now for the good news. James took 4th in the Sport Vet I field. Tom, me, and Steve took 11th, 5th, and 4th in the Expert Senior I field. This brings us to Chris. The day before he rode the Fulton Road race and won in a bunch sprint in the 3/4. The race was something like 60 miles so we didn't expect too much from him. From the gun he was on my wheel. I had a good start but I could feel my legs were not where I needed them to be to actually win this race with power alone. It always helps to have a bobble or two just to ensure that you are working harder than you need to as well. Anyway, my second bobble and Chris, Gunnar (Cyclesport), and Jamie (Cycle Works) were gone. Hal (D&Q) and another rider came up on me on the second lap and I had nothing to hold them off with. At some point I bent my big ring and was forced to run in my 34 for the rest of the race. This killed my closing speed but kept me fresher on the 4th lap. I picked off two riders as Steve went flying past me on his way to 4th.


All in all it was a great weekend for the Milkmen. Two podiums (thank you Chris) and our teams first road win ever (again thank you Chris).


Saturday is the Race Ave. Crit in Lancaster. I signed up for double duty in the 4/5 and the 3/4. Chris and Shawn should also be there. It's an awesome spectator course and I think it takes 2:30 to 3 minutes to go around. Lots of action.