went for a ride with John Burns. We went to kingdom trails in VT. Riding was great and the scenery was out of this world, the prettiest ride I’ve been on. Wildflowers, open meadows, especially gorgeous was this trail that followed along the side of a winding river. Called west bank trail, I think.
This is a flat course, with some supper fun fast banked turns, some super rooky sections that i am pretty sure messed up just about everyone’s back. It was a fun day the weather was good and i had no mechanicals.
I went down with John Burns, we were the bikeman representation for the pro/ semi pro category. The race started off well for me , I was even leading for a bit, about 2 seconds till we hit the fist corner and I was pushed back to 5th and pushed back even a little further @ the fist climb. I slowly lost the lead group by the end of the first lap and found myself alone but I was happy to see that my team mate John made the move in the lead group. Not an easy, seeing as Mark McCormack (x national road bike champion) was pushing the pase on the fire roads.
I slowly picked off some riders and came in 4th (I think 13 started)
Mount snow nationals West dover VT July 19th 2008 Pro xc and st
For this race I was staying with fellow Bikeman riders john burns, Sean Daley and Andrew Freye. The accommodations were very nice (thank you Andrew for setting it up). killed time with movies , chess, trivia pursuit, working on bikes, making and eating food
the awesome place
I was shocked to see the course had been changed this year. It has been a while since they changed it. It was less technical and there was a lot of newly cut sections with fresh roots .Still a lot of steep climbing and descending.
The roots weren’t a problem as long as it stayed dry. it did rain the night before so there were a few hairy root sections that were not nearly as difficult during my pre ride when everything was bone dry.
Despite my complaining about slippery roots it was still all and all easier than last year as far as the course goes. The pace of the race was just as unforgiving as it always is in these national races. My tactic during these races is to ride at my own pace and picking off riders that started too strong and exploded or those unfortunate souls that have mechanicals.
I think there were about 60 starters of that about 50 finished. I came in 42nd. Not very good but I honestly I don’t think I could do much better, so I was happy. It was nice to fished the race after last weekends double flat and dnf.
I found out I was sighed up for short track too. I didn’t try to sign up for it but I must have sighed up for a package deal or something by accident. I am not sure if I was charged or not (probably was) so I felt obligated to race. I did pretty crappy. 2nd to last.
Mike Joos Nora national series Windham NY July 12th 2008 Pro xc
The course @ windham mountain was a lot better than the course it replaced in the norba national series (sugar mountain). It is a ski mountain so I assumed that it would be a lot of seeps ups and downs. There were some steep down hill parts but the climbs were not as steep as I anticipated.
I appreciated the more gradual climbs (compared to mount snow) it was easier to pace my self and keep a fluent rhythm.
It was nice to see some of the riders I had been racing against in the regional Root 66 races. made me feel a bit more comfortable.
I felt good during the race. I was near last from the start but I was still in the mix. I was slowly catching riders. In the 2nd lap I climbed my way up to Greg Carpender (root 66 rider). While following him down the decant I got a flat tire. I fixed it and continued. By the time I fixed the flat i was in second to last and was more concerned about finishing the race with out getting lapped than getting a good result. As long as I didn’t have any more problems I was pretty much home free but I did have a problem, another flat on the third lap decent.
Walking my way down the mountain I was able to see the race unfold. Tulouse (spelling?) and Craig were battling it out for the win.
Tulouse won
I hung out with fellow bikeman riders John burns and Sean Daley and got some photos from their races.
John Sean Anna was there, ripping it me rac'nwent to a very nice art gallery and snagged a free dinner and some champaign got caught in a rain storm while riding with Anna, we built this shelter.
bent over like a person in a wheel chair watching the tour. playing mini-golf (came in 2nd) place we stayed, stayed with Anna & John. Shepard w/ beer bottles, lush.
Sunday, June 29, 2008: Kenda Klassic @ Mt Snow mtn bike race pro/ semi pro steep stair stepping climbs on a ski mountain course with a technical decent
This one was tough for me . it is the kind of race that makes me wish I had trained more. I believe my worst result to date in this series( root 66) and I don’t have much for excuses. I’ve got a few but not enough to account for how poorly I did.
There were about 23 starters in my category, that I counted. . I was back and forth with John Rowe for most of the race. He was better than me @ climbing and I was better @ descending so we were bouncing back and forth through out the race. it was nice so have a buddy to keep the motivation up.
Michael Mooradian (not racing because of a road bike accident) was there offering encouragement and so were others, and it was all appreciated. Going into the last lap, i hit a drainage ditch going mach 12 and flatted my rear wheel. It took less than 5 min to fix but it killed my motivation. Plus my riding buddy John Rowe left me in the dust. I finished up the race, mind wondering about what possible excuse I could give in my blog for my piss poor performance. But nothing came to mind.
I think my strength to weigh ratio isn’t very good, because I always seem to do bad on climbing courses (ski mountains).
ive got a coupe of national races on the up coming scheduled. Windham NY and Mount Snow, again. both ski mtn races. based on my performance today I will be lucky if I don’t get lapped.
On a brighter side Andrew Freye (team mate). Dominated, winning the race by a lot!!!. Beat me by over 45 min, that’s the same time gap Adaim Craig had on me @ nationals last year. He is going to be turning heads @ nationals this year.
Putney West Hill MTB race Pro/ semi Pro Sunday, June 22, 2008:
This race is like a rollercoaster ride. A lot of fast descents with dips and berms,
There are two good sized climbs that weren’t ski mountain big but big enough that you needed to sit down and find a good steady pace.
I started in near the rear. I was back and forth with several riders though out the race Greg Carpenter, Harry Precourt and Jeffrey Whittingham.
The race was cut short due to lighting and thunder, an official was @ the last climb to telling riders they were finishing a lap early before they finished. Greg was pretty close behind me and though he wasn’t able to catch me he was defiantly closing the gap despite my best efforts. So maybe it was beneficial for me to have the last lap cut off.
Here is how it fished
1st John Foley 2ndEthan Gilmour 3rd Nathan Ringquist 4th Bradford Perley 5th Michael Mooradian 6th Kevin Hines 7th ME all the results
There are a lot of really fast 19 year olds in this race that have recently moved up from juniors.
Ethan won the national championships last year as a junior, Greg came in second @ the national championships, and the 4th finisher place in this race Bradford Perley is also is super fast. I saw Brad just ahead on the 3rd lap, he couldn’t have been more that 10 seconds in front of me and he fished 2.5 minutes ahead of me. he put in a retarded fast last lap, I was really impressed.
I should go around collecting autographs before these guys get too good to talk to me.
Next race is mount snow (not the national race the regional one). i wonder if there will be any big name pros @ this one getting ready for the national race?
John and river
