photos from sea otter! ! ! !

pictures from sea otter trip certacy of Josh kissinger
deciding weather or not to wear arm warmers. i did

with anna
stunt course

demoing spot's belt drive 29er
Josh and excellent view showing off scab, turcouse water
squirrels love apricot cliff bars
4 squirrels on one lap, I think that is a record
riding in ventura


sweet monster truck near the venue

Brialee Ramblin Rumble 2008

Sunday, May 11, 2008: Brialee Ramblin Rumble

a swampy bike destroying course. lots of souppy sections where pedaling trough sounded like my bike was being tortured. A beautiful day and a decent turn out for my category (pro semi pro) I didn’t count but it looked like about 15 or so.

the race didn’t go very well for me. bad start, followed by a flat tire in the first 5 minutes of the race. I had just put on some new bontrager dry tubeless tires (I guess they are pretty weak). I only had one co2 and that wasn’t enough to fill the 29er. The tire was rolling off to the side when I would go hot into corners. In the 3rd lap a branch wedged into my rear derailleur tearing it off my bike. that was the end of the race for me. I wasn’t alone other riders in my category had problems. Here are the ones I heard about. (excuse me if I get the facts wrong)

Thom Peterson john Foley and Andrew Freye all had bad falls

Andrew also had a flat tire

Aaron Oakes missed a sign and went way off course

I am sure the majority of riders who raced had at least a minor problem. it is just that kind of course, easy to get flat tires, easy to miss a turn, easy to fall, and easy to break something.

the top two riders were on single speeds. Sean Cavanaugh won and Thom parsons came in second. Andrew Freye came in third.

Next race in the series is coyote hill. This one is a lot of fun. One of the best in the series

bike tread conversation

if you race mountain bikes you've probably had the bike tread conversation. seem like every racer has there ideal tread pattern for every trail condition. conversations can go on for hours about what tire to use for a preticular race. the more competitive and serious the rider the longer and more heated theses conversations can get. i feel theses conversations are a bit unhealthy. they cause paranoia.

just wanted to let readers know i am aware of my unhealthy habits

Bontrager dry ust: very light compared to my maxis ignitor and rolls noticeably faster too. doesn’t handle corners as well.(still better than most 26” xc tires). The tire tends to fold over easier . I had to put a little extra pressure in to stop that from happening. first time i used this tire i got a flat ( mabey bad luck)

Panracer rampage ust: similar tread pattern to the Michelin at but knobs are closer together and not as high. Oh and the knobs have ramps on the back sides of them that help the rampage roll smother than the Michelin AT.

Maxis ignitor 29er: excellent handling tire, felt a bit wide for a 2.1 tire. good sized side knobs that grip very well in corners, tread fills with mud pretty easy, a good aggressive xc tire. A bit heavy but worth it if there is a lot of loose slippery stuff.



Michelin tubeless AT 26er: pretty high spread apart knobs. Don’t fill with mud very easy. Tended to get punctures along the rim if tire pressure was low. Pretty fast rolling considering the size of the knobs but not the best tire on dry days.

bike crash

this video reminded me of the ride i did with josh in ventura. except neither of us fell.



gives me the chills

Fat tire classic 2008

This is a fast flat race, ideal for those who maintained some fitness over the winter. The turn out was ok, about 15 riders in the semi-pro/ pro class. I had a cold this week left over from sea otter last weekend. my throat was still a little raw. Breathing cold air irritates it so I avoided riding this week.

I knew I would not be on top of my game this race but I felt better than expected. I started off slow, tord the rear and found my A game @ about 2 laps in to the 5 lap race. Just a little too late I finished less than a minute behind 3 riders. I was gaining; another lap would have been nice. I finished 6th.

I car pooled down to this race with friend/ team mate Andrew Freye. He had a great day, winning the race. he had a pretty dominate performance. Congratulations!!

I ran back my car to get a picture of him on the podium (something he could put on his frig). But I got back the podium seconds too late. Here is a nice photo of Andrew walking away from the podium.



The Next root 66 race is the Brialee Ramblin Rumble in Ashford, CT. by far my least favorite race the series. I never do well there.

sea otter classic, bike festival

Sea otter is a huge bike festival/ races that I have wanted to go to for a long time. My good friend josh recently moved to CA and proposed the idea of going. I immediately jumped on board and also managed to convince another good friend of mine Anna kelso to join the party.

The trip out was long but josh and his roommates warmly welcomed me. It was still another 3 hours from his place to the race so we saw a lot of cool scenery along the way to Monterey CA (city where sea otter happens). The first day there josh and I got registered for are races and checked out all the company tents and some of the trick shows. Ryan Leach was there doing his trails along with some bmx riders. Between stunt shows, watching bike racing and demoing bikes there was no shortage of things to do. It took over 2 hours just to walk though and look @ all the company tents collecting free junk and stickers. We finished the day off with a trying out a lap of the xc course. I didn’t realize that a one lap was 19 miles!! It took a lot out of us, we didn’t bring enough food or pace are selves very well. However, I thought the course was pretty good for the most part it had some fast and twisty sections, sandy loose descents, fire roads with stong headwinds and quite a bit of ups and downs (not many flats). We met up with Anna and had dinner together that night.

Somewhere along the line both josh and I managed to get colds (probably during the preride maybe before). Even though we felt crappy that didn’t stop us. The Second day Josh raced in the early morning. It was supper windy all day and cold but josh battled through it. Josh managed to puke his brains out get a flat tire and fished last. It didn’t sound like it was a very fun race from his description. After joshes race we watched a dual stunt bike race ( like and obstacle course head to head race.) Then we tried out a new belt drive system that worked rely well and demoed a few 08 mnt bikes. We went back to the hotel and played some tennis on the mini tennis/ basketball/ volleyball court in the hotels court yard watched a little TV then went to bed

Day 3 was the day Anna and I raced. She raced early in the morning I guess she was having a hard time staying motivated because she felt she could have done better and was disappointed with her performance. My race was later in the afternoon. A lot of big names showed up. I had some small problems. I Fell off my bike, had to stop to tighten my handle bar, and I went off course for a short bit before getting redirected by spectators. All together couldn’t have accounted for much more than 2 minutes. Instead of finishing 6th from last I would have been 7th from last. My cold wasn’t bothering me as bad as I thought it might be. And for the most part I felt pretty good I was just out classed this week end, but I enjoyed my race. that’s why I think mountain bike racing is so much more fun than road you can get your ass handed to you and still have a good time in mountain biking I don’t thin the same is possible in road racing.(not in my experience anyway).

Anna left before the race was over to visit her cousin. Josh and I had a night on the town to forget about are horrible performances during the races. we managed to find the sketchiest neighborhood in town. We played pool @ a pool hall on a street where all I could see were shut down buildings , strip clubs, liquor stores. No one we met in this area spoke English. We played pool for an hour or so before getting a little too uncomfortable. I felt like others in the pool hall were taking about us, Mexican maranga music was blasting and I heard a scream from the back room. We decide to call it an early night.

The next day On the way back to josh’s place in Ventura we took a longer more scenic route along the coast. Some of the coolest scenery I have ever seen. The road winded along steep cliffs with turquoise water @ the bottom. It was beautiful, didn’t get any pictures though. My camera ran out of battery on the first day.

Back in Ventura josh toot me on one of his favorite rides in town. We basically climbed up fast rolling semi-gradual incline for an hour and a half then bombed back down another trail in about 20 min. we got going supper fast and there was a death drop on one side of the trail in many parts. One corner was very close, I thought I was going to die for sure.
We made it down alive and are ears were all messes up from the fast change in altitude. The fact are sinuses were clogged ed made the pressure in are heads build up freely as we declined. We were both half def. we had to speak loudly to understand eachother. My ears didn’t pop back till later in the afternoon the next day.

All and all a good vacation, very memorable.

Special thanks to josh who was kind enough to give me feeds during my 39 mile race and snagging me a recovery drink after the race, driving me around, and letting me stay @ his place. Another special thanks to Anna for cheering me on and providing excellent company.

Josh's house

Josh packingMe with Sea Otter

Ryan LeechJosh taking pics of Ryan Leech





Cool Belt -Drive

Hopbrook dam

Hopbrook dam
Root 66 series
Midddlebury CT
April 12th

1st race of the season and first warm day of the year. High 70’s w/ shorts it felt great. hop brook dam seems to always be the first race in the root 66 series and it always seems to be muddy and this year was no exception.. I suppose that should be expected this early in the season.

12 riders showed up to race in the semi- pro/ pro category. Andrew frye and I represented bikeman for this category. We both had lousy starts and were almost last heading into the single track. Andrew and I had the bikeman train going for the fist lap passing several riders. I gradually kept moving up though out the race. it was hard to distinguish between lapped riders and others in my category. I thought I finished 5th but latter found out I came in 3rd. It was a nice surprise and a confidence builder. I could use the confidence because next weekend I’m going to sea otter and I am sure to be schooled.