By Geoff | 9/30/08 | 8:22 PM
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I am finally back to racing in the dirt. My knee is all healed up and the SS doesn’t bug it on long or hard rides so I figured what better way to get back into the swing of things than throttle myself at Pando Ski Area. I like the course as it is has a fair amount of punchy little climbs in a 4+ mile loop. I cruised a few laps on Saturday and decided to race in the expert geared category to get in 2 extra laps, and if everything went well there was always the singlespeed class for a few extra miles. After taking the hole shot and leading a good deal of the first lap I realized that being slightly over geared wasn’t allowing for recovery so I sat up to let a few chasers latch on and traded pulls. During the 3rd lap we were riding hard and making our way through the back end of the elite pack. I was cutting it a little close on one of the rooted corners and managed a pretty sweet fall that quickly took me off the train and out of contention. After getting my wind back I chased hard for a lap but wasn’t able to close the gap down and just cruised it in for 4th, and a result I am happy with. My legs felt decent and few cross races and a couple big rides should be just what I need to get ready for the big one. It was good to hang out after the race and got to meet fellow 29er crew member Dan K. who should be providing a pic. or two, including one of the always entertaining Adam York. It’s good to be back at it!
GBK
By Erik | 9/30/08 | 9:15 AM
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A Turn in the Wrong Direction (The Black Bear Rampage)
The day began with a dreaded 3:30 AM wakeup call. (If you know me at all you will know I am not a morning person. In fact I am more likely to be going to sleep rather than waking up at this time.) It took a minute to drag my lazy butt out of bed, but it was worth it to find my girlfriend making me waffles. By 4:30 my friend Z and I were loaded and ready to start the 2 and a half hour journey.
We arrived, registered, changed, and began to warm-up. During the warm-up I noticed the man himself, Gary Fisher, getting ready as well. He was rocking the Hifi Pro 29er and appeared to have his game face on. Soon we all lined up for the start. More »
By Kyle | 9/25/08 | 8:53 AM
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Plenty of granite awaits this Sunday as I prepare to embark on the BIG NUT. MassaNUTten mountain that is. Harrisonburg Va to almost Front Royal Va. Its gonna be another amazing ALL DAY adventure on the bike. Only done this one once before and it took it OUT of me. But that was a few years ago when I wasn’t quite as proficent on the rocks. ONLY 65 miles and 9000 feet of climbing BUT SLOOOWW ridge riding boogey. With GNAR and ROCKS! Rock Crawlin’ goodness. Its gonna be a trip. Check out The Massanutten range from OUTER SPACE. and some of the Ridge ridin’ that awaits. It’s gonna be an amazin’ day in the mountains. Try not to be too jealous.
And how about this economic bailout? hey the free market is workin right? No corporate big wigs want government involvement until they F-up. otherwise it might impeed upon their quest for riches. So free market sorts everything out and those companies that make unsound decisions must pay the consequences. Think of it as Social Darwinism for Corporations, you mess up and you fail…Cynicism is the word of the week
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By James | 9/25/08 | 6:51 AM
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With the 2008 XC season winding down, me and (Trek/xcracer.com rider) Nadine have been busy plotting and planning for next years Midlands XC series. Our latest recon. mission took us out to Hopton Woods in the Shropshire Hills on the England / Wales border. Scene of national xc races in the past and popular with downhillers (at one time the downhill national points series was nicknamed the Shropshire Downhill series) we were keen to see what trails were hidden in the trees. More »
By Kyle | 9/24/08 | 8:37 AM
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The pilgrimage to West by God Virginy was made this past Sunday to ride one of the most spectacular ridge trails around. The North Fork over by Seneca Rocks WV. Amazing overlooks, ridge riding, rocks, flow, gnar, shale, gnar, speed, climbs and most of all SINGLETRACK…
Big Group ride tons of fun. tons o flats. What cycling is all about. Ride your bike ALL DAY LONG…
WEST BY GOD VIRGINIA
By Mark | 9/22/08 | 9:55 PM
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The MCC short bus loaded up Saturday afternoon and headed over to North Liberty (Iowa City) and the Sugarbottom Scramble, the Iowa state championship no less. We were running with a skeleton crew with Steve calling in sick and most others heading west for the NASCAR short track known as Branched Oak. We rolled in with enough time to recon a lap and reaquint ourselves with the flowy radiused curves of the sugarbottom trail system. Greg set a pace that quickly had Jay and I sitting back asking ourselves if our backs would survive the next days long 30 mile almost 3 hour grueler. My mind immediately went to gear selection and I made the descion to gear it down to 52.4 inches.
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By Tom | 9/22/08 | 9:10 PM
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Capitol City Classic
Lincoln, NE
Promoted by Lincoln Industries
Well……we pulled it off, or I should say Troy pulled it off. After taking over leadership of the team at short notice, Troy worked his butt of as a first time promoter to run a fine event. We didn’t have any problems and the event went off with out a hitch. Everybody in attendance was happy and had a great time! I also have to give a shout out to all of the guys on the team who pulled together and made it happen, couldn’t of done it without ya!
Now for the race…… since I was working/racing the event I was up bright and surly at 5:30am to get out to the venue and help set-up. Tents, tables, computers, ect……check, all up and running. The Beginners and Kids races go off and finish and then it’s time to put on the kit and get ready!
We have an awesome start set up for these races, 1 mile of gravel road before you drop into the single track. Before the start Coach KB told me to do two things in the race, 1. Be conservative, it’s hot out there, 2. Don’t Crash. OK, I can do that I thought as we rolled off to the start.
Off we go and I slot in to draft behind 4 or 5 fast guys before the 1st turn. Sweet…I’ve got a good spot on the train as we fly into the first turn. Then it happens…….well, I’m not too sure what happened but down I went. Sorry Coach, 1 down and now the conservative approach went out the window as now I’m chasing to try and get back on the train. For 6 of the 8 laps I was on and off the train. The reasons were many to get gapped off and every time I got back on I thought I was set, but it was not to be. The last time I got back on I saw Darrin jump hard off the front of the group and the wheels came off the train including my little caboose. All of that chasing had me sliding into damage control for the last two laps. I held on for 5th Expert overall and 2nd in the Expert 35+. Not too shabby!
By Jim | 9/22/08 | 10:08 AM
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Hot-doggin’ at the “Rumble in the Jungle”. (Photo by Nathan Crisman)
Back in the early 70’s, Jungle Habitat was a hopping Warner Bros owned safari theme park. It supposedly was abandoned shortly after, animals and all, and has been the subject of New Jersey folklore appearing in magazines like Weird NJ.
In more recent times, a new breed of animals have taken over the park. Wearing lycra and riding 2-wheeled machines with knobby tires, this special breed strapped on number plates and battled against each other and the technical rock-gardens to declare who will become the next king of this jungle.
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