The Old Country

I am so covered up with things that I think its easier to just let the pictures tell the stories

Gaspar got to visit the Brothers Scott. Jake struggles with the concept that one time, he too, was a small person


Brutus and Barley had a budding bromance


Butch would have approved

Huffing and puffing up the north Boundary Road

Recovering from all the riding

Slaving for the man.

The view from my parents farm. If it wasn't for the prospects of abject poverty I would go back.


Gaspar gets behind the wheel

Image jacked from E. Hoesly's Facebook Album
The mud and the Crud at Jingle Cross. Results were marginal at best, but the honkeys from Nebraska were positively dominating. Its pretty obvious that they are taking it to another level. Mod swept the Masters 35+ all three days, but Noah was just killing it. I can remember when we were pretty evenly matched, but He has really taken his game to a whole other level. Rafal was within striking distance of the SS podium all weekend, and finally took the spot that he wanted on Sunday. Great Job Nebraska! But Nebraskans ain't no one trick ponies. Enter the Super Fans.

Image jacked from E. Hoesly's Facebook album
Good times!
Last night I got my old Reba fork converted over to 100mm of travel. Ali wanted longer travel on her 29er after riding my bike this summer.

Traveling to AMBC Fall Festival

Brutus and I Jumped in the car early last friday and drove all the way to Kentucky. We couch surfed with a awesome family in Berea, and I went to a Homecoming function at Berea College (my alma mater). Its kind of amusing to see peoples reaction when they find out that I am a scientist. I was not the most dedicated student, and had little interest in STEM careers. All of my professors were really excited to see that I really loved working in science (as opposed to living under a bridge swilling Wild Irish Rose).
After the Homecoming Breakfast We jumped in the car and drove down to Knoxville for the AMBC Fall Festival at Knoxville's Dirty South Trails. It was hands down, one of the most enjoyable days on the bike I have had. I also ran into a fellow Kansan Abroad, Charles Coats, DVM. Its such a small world. There was a guided ~30 mile ride on tap in the afternoon, and we rolled out a little behind. But within 15 minutes I kept dropping my chain off the SS. I ended up having to break the chain and pull a link, then reset the EBB. I cant figure out how all of the sudden my chain could stretch so much that the EBB could not pull all the slack. ugh. I hate being that guy on a ride.
Our group was comprised of the Me, Brad, and several of the NTMBC. We rolled a few miles, just starting to get into the flow of the trails, when we ran into the rest of the motley crew from TVB changing a flat. Beverages got passed around, morale was high.
From here on out there was a mighty gnar shredding, that was led by TVB co-owner Scott Smith, who would absolutley rip rocky, tech singletrack on a CX bike with 35c tires.
The Work that has gone into creating the "dirty south" trails is simply mind blowing. There are sections of raised bridges that go one for hundreds of feet, flow that knows no end, and a judicious use of terrain that made my 34:18 gearing not unreasonable. The only qualm was that the trails cover a very large area, and could very easily be confusing. The trails are on private and public land. Getting LGU's onboard for trail development is often less rewarding than sticking your hand in a garbage disposal, but the AMBC guys have done a brilliant job of it.

We ended up getting about 25 miles in before heading back to the festival. I made it back with 15 minutes before they started the short track race. So I sat down, had a cherry Coke, and tried to collect myself for some wild-eyed short track fun (spoiler: This would hurt).
About 10 of us lined up for the Expert race, that was started with a real cannon (insert rebel yell). We started and quickly realized that there were only about 200 feet to pass, and it was right in the middle of the crowds so people were yelling, throwing beer, and encroaching on the course. It was awesome. Once the cannon roared we sprinted to make a 90 degree turn into the singletrack.
After having spent the last 3 months on rock hard dry dirt in MN, I let it all hang out and went wide into the 90 degree turn and hope for the best. To my surprise (and the 3 guys in front of me that I cut off) I did not wrap myself around a pine.
Enter the Hero Dirt.
You could go just about as fast as you wanted, and if you had enough room to get the bike leaned over you were going to maintain traction. The rest of the one mile course was tight, fast singletrack. It was sweet. I spent two laps catchin up to the guy in 4th, then we saw the 3rd place rider with a mechanical. There was already a pretty good gap between 2nd and 3rd, so on the last lap I used the ol' Josh Patterson Chop pass to slip into 3rd place right before we went back into the ST. Then I just tried to bury it. I knew I had a little gap, but the tight nature of the trails did not really give you a chance to look around. Then my concentration lapsed. I clipped a tree and went down. Boom.
When you are in the process of piling it up at high speed, it is pretty amazing how quickly you can react. I was convinced I broke my hand when I hit the ground, but that thought was secondary to the thought that I needed to get back on the bike and finish the race. I feel like I must have bounced up, and waggled my fingers as I was leaping onto the bike. It just happens so quickly.
Turns out I had a good ten seconds on Shaggy in 4th, so I was able to ride it in for 3rd place in the expert field. Scott from TVB took the W.
Some footage


Then I managed to indulge in a refreshing beverage and some spectacular gnosh. I ended up sitting next to an old couple to eat, and we struck up a conversation. Turns out he is one of the Knox County commissioners, and has worked very closely with the AMBC to further the trails in Knoxville.
The bottom line in all of this is that you should make the trip to the southeast for MTB fun. Checkout the AMBC Site for details and maps.
Checkout TVB to hang and ride with people that love bikes.

Levis Trow

First, it is pronounced Lev-iss, not like Levi's jeans. And apperently a Trow a mystical northern euro-centric midget. Hence this is why they host Gnome-fest here? (in best Mina Hosni voice, "creepy")
I racked up some flex time last week so I took Friday off and we went to central WI to check out the IMBA Epic route. I had heard stories about these trails and wanted to scope things out. The trails will close in a couple of weeks due to WI rifle season, and the woods were already thick with bow hunters.
Lots of terrain, roots, loose sand, and steep climbs abounded. I really felt that I spent all of the first day just trying to figure out what direction to ride and never got past the Levis mound. This morning I managed to find the trail of the IMBA Epic Route and proceeded to ride until I could not stand it any more.

The only one-way trail.


Billy Goat Gruff


Rolling Toad Road




I was getting pretty sick of all these vistas.


6 point.


Goat Dance.


Hams.

For the next trip bring:
Gears or nothing bigger than 32:20. I ran 34:18 (and walked nothing) and it hurt. alot. Its not that you cant do it with a big gear, but if you wanna ride all day, its not sustainable.

Tent: There is primitive camping at the TH with bathrooms and water. Since it was pretty chilly at night we stayed at a rustic country motel. It was really nice, but next time we will camp to make full use of the facilities.

Idle hands

John Waller did this. I find it vaguely disturbing.

Ugh

I love a good race, but that being said I hate a bad race. I have never done a road race (with the exception of a collegiate race on my SS CX bike), but saturday I went to the north side of the city for a crit that was masquerading as CX.
It was flat, hot and windy. I started in the very back row. The race started and every knuckle head in front of me decided to fall on each other. I just rode around them and was in the top 5 in about 8 seconds. The dude in front of me was muttering about cat 5s, and proceeded to lay it down about 15 seconds later. I am not Gods gift to bike handling, but these guys were making me look like a ROCK STAR! Dudes would just fall down.









This was the only exciting part of the course
Once we got past the technical section, it became apperent that wattage could overcome many shortcomings. I passed one dude like 3 times as he was picking himself up off the grass. However I was still losing a position per lap and finished like 12th out of 30?. With one lap to go one guy even offered to pull me. I could not stay on his wheel. It was pathetic. I had nothing.

In the 4 frames that preceded this I was actually holding my bike over my head. Its just how I run, Noah would not have approved.
There was such a huge gap in the skill level in that field. There were some dudes out there in the 3's that would have been in the top half of the 1/2 race. Even finishing as far back as I did I still managed to lap a handful of riders.
It was a good experience, but I will never go to that venue again. I am beginning to realize how spoiled I was in KS and NE, with such great CX promoters and really well attended races. I also have an appreciation for promoters that get a great venue before getting the event permitted. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken poop.

Then Sunday night we did a family ride. Its kind of nice when I pull the trailer, since it allows me to work as hard as I want, and it creates a huge draft for ali to sit if she wants to. She did get frisky and tried a break going up a climb, but I covered that move.

Buffalo

USGP CX at Sun Prairie, WI

So after watching on Saturday, I got to race the SS race on Sunday morning. IT was an absolute swamp. We got several showers that really got things good and swampy. I am not really sure what is wrong with me. I knew it was going to be crappy, and I still did not put mud tires on (Michelin Mud 2's).
For some reason I was also under this impression that you got a set of AVID Shorty Ultimate cantilever brakes for taking the holeshot. So when I got called up (how I cannot fathom) I quickly assessed the situation. The Craig Etheridge (who crushed everyone and rode through the entire masters field) was back again, so I knew that I was going to be relegated to scrapping for whatever was left. I got a front row position so when the gun went off a really stood on it and went right to the front (remember, I think that I am going to win a brakeset for getting the hole shot), and no one contested it. I lead for about a 1/4 lap and then a couple riders came around.

Racing in mud that soft is always draining, but the grass and mud was building up around my V-brakes creating extra drag.

I did my best to chase down the masters racers and remain upright, but it was slow and slimey.
If I was not so absolutely shelled I would have cared that I was covered with filth and mud that had so thoroughly penetrated my skinsuit, soaked my chamois, and created the sensation of having soiled ones diaper.

I then waddled over to the pressure wash station to try to clean up my bike, only to have some guy come over and turn off the pressure washers, saying that they had to save the water for the UCI Pro race.

I was tempted to unzip my skinsuit , scoop out some grundle mud, and artistically express my true feelings of inadequacy on this dudes forehead. I managed to contain my artistic proclivities, and went chase down my new brakes (for winning the holeshot). The officials that I talked to, looked at me like I was high when I asked about the brakeset. Apperently, I created a imaginary preme for winning the holeshot. There was a $250 prize for the pro's but nobody else got anything, other than the chance to lead 25 weird dudes for about 2 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I have never entered a race precisely because I was going to win something, but I was so bewildered that I had conjured this imaginary, non-existant prime. Maybe it was hearing Dave Towle repeat the phrase, "the AVID Shorty Ultimate Holeshot!" for 2 days. Never doubt the underhanded, brainwashing potential of SRAM's marketing ploys.
I have some more thoughts that I will try to get down later this week. My time is at a premium , so time devoted to bloggage is slim. Jasper managed to eat part of a manilla envelope while I was making dinner. About 2 minutes later it looked like a scene from the exorcist. He threw up so much! I almost got it cleaned up before Ali walked in....almost. We both were chastised. So no more multitasking while I have Jasper duty.