The beat goes on...

The Allied Milk Cycling team has realized the dreams of yet another fine young rider. The rider formerly known as Fort James has inked a deal placing him in the center of the finest mountain bike team in the nation.

So apparently this is what sleep deprivation does to me.

Seriously though...James is a fine rider, person, and ambassador of the sport of cycling. He is heavily involved with the Delaware Special Olympics TT and is a regular volunteer at any MASS event. Dairy King James plans on competing for a podium in the MASS Sport Single Speed overall.

'Cross season is still going. Jake has a full schedule for the next 4-5 weeks and I will be finally getting out there at the Wonderland 'Cross in good old Lancaster on the 22nd. If you want to see me get my butt handed to me go here...


Directions: From Rte. 30 and Rte. 340 (Old Philadelphia Pike), proceed east on Route 340 for 0.5 miles to 2nd traffic light and turn right onto Oakview Road.Go 0.5 miles and turn left onto Hobson Road (before Rte. 30 intersection).Continue for 1.1 miles on Hobson Road (straight through stop sign at HarvestRoad) to East Lampeter Community Park entrance on right. If traveling from points east on Rte. 30, turn right at 2nd traffic after Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park onto Harvest Road, turn right at stop sign, and go 0.8 miles to Park entrance. Please park in designated parking spaces only.Google Maps or Mapquest: 2320 Hobson Road, Lancaster, PA 17602 .


I will be racing in the A group which is set to go off at 12:45. 60 minutes that will probably feel like 600 minutes.


Shawn had to have surgery on his thumb but is healing up nicely. He should be back to training at the end of December.

While I've been slacking...

Jake has been hitting his first 'cross season hard. He started in the C's but has already moved up to B's.

Check out his very own blog here: http://chicksdiggeologyjake.blogspot.com/

In other news...

It looks like Shawn will be working the pits for the rest of the season. At the very least he dislocated his thumb and has bone chips. Most likely he stretched or tore tendons though. Good thing that there is only about 3 weeks of racing left.

Also, I just got a call from Ronne saying that Jeremiah had to leave work in a hurry. His wife Kim, who is also a rider but had to sit out the season, is pregnant and was due 11-7. You figure it out. My guess is that he will be a daddy very soon. Jeremiah plans to start his little boy on a strict training regimen so he can race for the Allied Milk Cycling Team very soon.

A bicycle built for two...

I've taken the last few weeks off from racing and honestly, it's been nice. I've had weekends to actually do other stuff and/or relax. I've still been riding because there are a few races that I want to do yet but I think everyone on the team is about where I am right now...tired. If you think about the thousands of miles we ride all season while balancing our families and jobs it really is a large chunk of our time. I'm not complaining because if I didn't love it, I wouldn't do it.

As for the team...It looks like we will be changing some of our sponsors (we got some pretty good offers). As I mentioned before the money sponsors are all back which makes us super proud. For me it makes all the sweat, blood, and trashed parts worth it, knowing that we have their support for another season (especially with these crazy economic times).

We are still searching for new riders. If anyone wants to race for Allied Milk Cycling next season feel free to contact me by posting a message in the comments. I promise I will not post your e-mail address. Stupid spammers!

The picture is of Staci and I riding our tandem. It's a blast riding with her so I asked her to marry me. She said "I guess." Hey, I'll take it.

In the "Better Late than Never" Category...

Chad did some two wheel burnin'. It seems as though things turned out pretty well too...

Two weekends ago I had my last race of the season. It was in Clearfield PA, a 5 mile up hill TT that saw over 1000ft of elevation gain. This was was like any other TT, riders were sent off every 30 sec. There isn't any grand tactics in a race like this. You just get to your lactic threshold, stay there, and suffer for the 5 miles. That's what I did. One of our new team mates was there for encouragement, and rode beside me feeding me bottles (Thanks Mike!), I was able to keep my pace up. At the awards I found out that I came in 3rd place. Not to bad for a last race. I was 2 min. behind the defending champion Jeff Miller who has was this race 6 or 7 years in a row. Now it is down time for me, with some fun riding. I will start training come Jan. for my first race to be in March.

Chad

All I have to say is, next year you better win Mr. X(tra)S(mall).

Seriously though, it's been a pretty successful first season and Chad has been a big part of that. After a broken $900 wheel on the first race (5 miles in) to a string of podiums to finish the season. Great job Chad!

Click Here.

Ahhh. Dirt Rag. I was reading my e-newsletter when I spotted a picture of Shawn (right) and I think it's Joel (left) in the background. Way to go Shawn! You hold the record for Milkmen in the Dirt Rag archives, 2. Joel only wishes he had two! But that's just how you roll.

Shawn has also been racing 'cross (which I will probably start next weekend). I will pry some results from him next time I talk to him. He also has to help me get my screen door (Thank you Mr. Skellington) from Ace hardware. That probably doesn't mean much to you.

The Race

It turns out that the race at Blue Marsh was a USACycling race. That means you need a license to ride. Who knew it would be worth points?!?!? Had I known I may have left my gears on to race in my age group but being the end of the season it doesn't really matter anyway. Qualifiers are over. Nationals is over too so at this point, points don't really mean anything (unless you want to upgrade to Pro, me, not really).

It was a beautiful day just to be outside. Mid-70's, a slight breeze, and sunny. Wow! It was nice just being there, let alone doing what I love to do. I showed up early, about 9:45, for a 12:30 start. I wanted to see how they laid the course out and when I pre-rode the course I was a little shocked. They ran us backwards from the normal race loop. This actually makes the course easier in my humble opinion. When I got back I watched the Sport riders finishing up. They we truckin' pretty good. The winner came in at something like an hour 10 on the 14 mile course. Not bad. I looked around to see if any more Expert/Pro riders showed up. I noticed a few, my arch nemesis Erick Marklund of Bike Line, the Alieso twins, one Ryan Dewald, and the super fast Harlan Price. This guy won everything at Marysville back in July and he rides the 100 mile NUE races like they are walks in the park. Brother!

I started out ok. I'd say I was about mid-pack just trying to hold on as the start was a negative false flat of 1-2%. Not the greatest for a single speed. Harlan, Erick, Ryan, and the twins took off. I spun. Once we hit the singletrack I started reeling in a few riders here and there. The first climb was about 3 miles in. I was still behind some guys and I couldn't turn my cranks slow enough as they were spinning up the climb. I started walking. Another single speeder caught me and passed me as we walked together. I asked him what gear he was running. He said "a 32x15". On a 29'er! Holy Cow! That's 62 gear inches to my 55. I thought I was running a tall gear! I let him go since he was obviously moving faster. I spun just trying to keep him in sight which I did. About half way on the second lap we hit a climb. He got off and walked so I attacked him. I put a huge gap on him and just keep pushing until when I looked back he was out of sight. I know from personal experience that keeping the rabbit in front of you is huge psychologically. I was hoping he was human and I broke him. I never saw him again. On the third lap I caught up to Erick. We talked a little. He was hurting. I offered him some Honey Stinger and water (in the name of good sportsmanship). Then I rode away from him. I put a nice gap on him and held it to the finish. I ended up 6th or 7th overall (not bad seeing as there were at least 4 Pro's) and 1st in the single speed class. Finally.

Blue Marsh

One more last time for the mountain bike season. I decided to take the gears off and race at Blue Marsh Lake on Sunday. That's right, single speed baby! Back to my roots. Only this time instead of using my usual 34x17 gearing I'll be mashing a 42x20. There are two reasons for this. The first is the added speed (I will probably (definitely) have a hard time on the climbs). It's a taller gear so on the flats I should be able to motor about 1-2mph faster than someone with a more traditional 34x17, 32x16. I figure this more than makes up for the slow grind up hills I will have. The second reason is that it is a magical gear. No chain tensioner required. It just has a super clean look to it. Cross your fingers.

Now I've been testing this gear for oh, two days and so far so good. My overall times are close to riding with gears. That's a good thing.

10-12 Blue Marsh Lake 12:30 at the ski slope (eep, 42x20 up a ski slope am I crazy?)