Archive for the ‘Observations’ Category

Yankee Springs TT

By gkuyper | 26/04/10 | 10:11 PM

This year’s Yankee Springs TT was very different from past years and not at all what I expected.  Normally I would tell you my favorite part of any race is gritting my teeth digging in and venturing as deep as I can into the pain cave in hopes of eeking out a little extra speed.  In the case of Yankee I found that sometimes doing the opposite can be just as much fun.  I am sure it would be normal for me to write my race report on this blog but instead will share a race that was a lot more fun for me and far more promising for our sport.

keeganMy day started with far to many nerves and not enough go.  I was fortunate though as Dan K. from Leadout Racing had asked me to coach/chase his 11 year old son Keegan through the woods during his beginner race.  Keegan occasionally rides with us on and off road and has been making serious progress this year so it sounded like it would be a good way to get some miles in and have fun.  At the start he made sure to point out Billy, another young kid that he races with a lot, and as we lined up we realized we would be starting the TT together and Keegan got pretty serious.  From the gun he rode a steady and kept things smooth and consistent.  Up until the first hill Keegan and Billy reeled in several riders that had started ahead of them and kept the pace very comfortable.  As we started the a nice little grinder of a hill Billy dropped his chain and Keegan powered around him and up the hill and kept his intensity up for several minutes so as not to play rabbit for Billy.  We had soon passed a good chunk of the 11-14 year old field and started catching adults in the beginner class.  We treated each rider as a rabbit riding hard to catch them and then Keegan would recover just long enough to politely ask for a pass before starting to hunt his next target.  It was a blast to see the lines and finesse a rider that young and light could take up the hills and through some of the tighter sections of the course.  At one point I hip checked a tree trying to poach his line not realizing it wasn’t wide enough for me.  As we got closer to the finish I new he was well ahead of his time goal of an hour and 30 minutes, but continued to encourage him to ride harder.   At the same time I couldn’t help but be impressed by his consistent pace.  He even cyclocross dismounted and ran the heavily rooted uphill to save time.  With about 2 miles to go we started talking about the finish and how he had to go as hard as he could in the last mile as there would be “fans” everywhere.  I was hoping he would be motivated and push harder with all the cheering. Coming into the last K I ducked the tape and hit the paved road through the camp ground to not interfere with his finish.  As Keegan wound it up in the grass next to the road, I spun like crazy to make up for having to get outside of the tape.  I am pretty sure if it wasn’t for the little section of singletrack right before the finish I would have never caught him as he crossed the line in 32X11 and was turning the gear over and himself inside out.  He ended up beating his goal by over 10 minutes and finishing 4th in the 11-14 field.  He also took over 25 minutes off his previous best time.  I truthfully had a blast doing it and will almost certainly be chasing him around the Fort Custer course this coming weekend.  I love racing and competition, even if it isn’t me competing.  It is also great just to see someone else accomplish their goal and share in a small part of their experience especially someone so young and motivated about the sport we love.  All in all it was impressive to see so many young kids in general that have discovered mountain biking.  I am also a big enough man to admit I bet him an ice cold coke that he couldn’t beat his time goal and happily paid up so he could sit and recover with it while he waited for his sister to finish her race.

tired

All photos courtesy of Dan Socie

A New Season

By gkuyper | 17/04/10 | 8:10 PM

This year I made the promise to myself that racing was going to be fun and pressure free.  For the past 3 years the Yankee Springs Time Trial has kicked off my mountain bike season and it seems like every year I go into it looking to kick off my year with a great result and a magical ride, and every year I find something to nit pick about.  Last year my race and mindset seemed to  melt down and  everything involving dirt followed for the next 8 months.  While I had a blast every race I did on my “other 29er“.   This year will be different.  I have only been in the dirt a handful of times and am going into the year only looking to have fun.  This might mean I race a little less, but hopefully I can leave the road bike at home a little more and sneak out for some singletrack therapy a bit more.  The trails are in great shape and this weeks rides with friends have been a blast.   I love the feeling of riding on rails when you have the perfect line in every corner and even the loose rooted hills seem to flatten out and become smooth when the big wheels come in contact with them.  Hopefully tomorrow I can find the right lines and my lungs and legs hold up for a few laps at Yankee.  Hopefully I never lose sight of the fact that I ride my bike 6 days a week because I enjoy it, and even my insanely competitive side has to remember it is all fun when I pin on a number and line up next to like minded individuals.

Back to My (Wet) Roots

By Thom | 09/04/10 | 12:36 PM

standing_water

I moved to Somerville, MA back in the mid-nineties and started working at a shop. I had just gotten serious about mountain biking and I thought I was hot sh—tuff…hot stuff. Some of the guys at the shop took me out and taught me, by example, that I was not. We would go on these long, fast, “hammer rides,” that transitioned from dirt to pavement and back again for hours, maybe even an entire day (and sometimes, unintentionally, into the night). I never knew where I was half the time, I just stared at the wheel in front of me while I drooled on my bars and watched the rocks disappear beneath my front wheel. One of these “epics” was not complete until:

  1. We got lost
  2. Someone got hurt
  3. A bike broke in some way
  4. We all ran out of water
  5. At least one person fell in a body of water
  6. Someone got stung by bees
  7. Everyone was bonked out, struggling to turn his granny gear over on flat ground

The ride I did with my buddy JP last Thursday met most of those requirements. (more…)

Everyone love the Superfly

By stork | 08/04/10 | 7:06 PM

Stopped by my local REI and the bike shop manager was caught working on his very own Superfly. He knows a good bike.
Stork

ICUP #2 Cholla Challenge

By kholley | 05/04/10 | 7:56 PM

We spent last weekend in Moab doing one of our favorite rides. It is essentially what we would consider all the fun portions of the Moab Rim Ride-keep in mind though we have never done the full ride. Anyways, at the end of Sovereign, we turn around and head back and cross the road at the Gemini Bridges Trailhead. We go up and down the road and turn off on Gold Bar, Golden Spike, and Poison Spider. We then take the road back in from Potash. It ends up being around 70 miles or so. It was great.

Resting out by 7 mile canyon

Resting out by 7 mile canyon

We returned home to weather that turned from Spring back to winter. This allowed for some good recovery before the second ICUP race in Hurricane.
The race started later so we had time to get to the event site and get settled. We rode through the course at a nice even pace with a small group. Even though it had been dry, it still seemed to be in good condition. There were a couple of soft, sandy spots but nothing to bad.
I had a good warm-up–better than normal. I got to the start line right as the first group was about to go. That gave me just a couple of minutes before our start. I lined up on the far left side. This was a mistake as this pushed me into a bad bit of trail off the start. I slowed up just a bit to ensure I got a good line. This put me at the back of the group again. I did let this bother me though as there was plenty of race.

Finding my position

Finding my position

I settled into fourth position. This was a fair spot. Second and third, Kathy and Sarah, had a pretty good gap. I thought I might be able to close it but they continued to pull away.
Jen was close I kept trying to lose her. But she kept coming back; she was riding strong. About half way through the second lap I decided to let her get in front for a bit and let her pace me and maybe catch a bit of a draft. She was going at comfortably quick pace. As a couple of guys came by, I jumped on with them. Jen didn’t make it and I was able to get some decent time on her going into our last lap.

Trying to hold off Jen Hanks

Trying to hold off Jen Hanks

I was able to hold her off to the finish. I felt like I had race smart and finished fairly well, even if it was mid-pack.

The Impossibly Cool Nature of Mountain Bikers

By jgammell | 30/03/10 | 4:08 PM

I just returned from my first trip to the desert - Scottsdale & Sedona, AZ, to be precise.

Riding in the desert just outside the city is cooler than I imagined it would be, with its diverse terra firma & vegetation, unobstructed views of the city, and snakes.  Oh yes, the rattlesnakes.  Riding along, hearing the hissing that I first mistake for a tear in the sidewall of my tire, only to discover the plump diamondback that I’d just passed, no more than two feet from my tire.

After a jolt of epinephrine and jumping three feet into the air, I collect myself.  I remain cool.

arizona-044

Riding in Sedona, surrounded by the Red Rocks, the famous natural beauty, and some pretty sweet trails, I come to a section of trail that goes down quickly, awkwardly & with sharp, rocky penalties for not maintaining control below.  (more…)

We will miss you.

By Marcelle | 19/03/10 | 5:56 AM

I walked into The Right Gear  in 2005 to have a flat tire changed on my brand new bike only to bump into an old high school aquaintance, Adam Little. I was taken back by his sincerity when he invited me to come join him and his friends for a ‘group ride’ out in a little town called Mt Pleasant at a guys house he refered to as Harkey. Regardless of the high intimidation factor, I went to ride. Years later, I still show up at Harkeys to ride my bike, and Adam became my friend.  This past Wednesday we met to ride, but we rode without Adam.

Adam Little was killed by a car on Wednesday morning.

Adam before a Wednesday night ride.

Adam before a Wednesday night ride.

Instead of being angry at how unfair I find his death,  I am trying to laugh, smile and promote cycling.   Adam did not have to have pavement.  He did not mind if you were slower.  He was always off the back encouraging someone to keep going.  I remember the first hill he ever pushed me up.  No words, just a gentle hand and a pat on my back.  That was Adam.

This past year he and did ORAMM with me and the rest of the Fisher road team.  He didn’t care if it was dirt or pavement, he just wanted to ride his bike.

TWO BOTTLES - that is all Adam needed for ORAMM

TWO BOTTLES - that is all Adam needed for ORAMM

Adam howing off his brand new shoes he got for ORAMM

Adam howing off his brand new shoes he got for ORAMM

dsc02949

The camera loves me.

By ctri | 03/03/10 | 11:33 AM

Alright, so I rudely forgot to post the link of when I was in the paper training for the upcoming Arrowhead race (In which I suffered an asthma attack).  Here is the follow up article. Some corrections, I have 1 kid, I am 32, and I dropped at 50 miles, not 5.  The paparazzi can never get it right can they?  Then the picture they put in makes me look like a chubby kid posing for senior pictures.  Nice.

It should be noted that the first article was on the front page of the paper (with a sponsorship credit), this last article was on the front of the sports section.  Tomorrow I’ll post my other front page article from last week.  It’s like I am running for office or something.

All this publicity, you can just hear Fishers leaving the sales floors.

Love Removal Machine

By Thom | 02/03/10 | 7:46 PM

gary_fisher_superfly

A few years back, I got in the habit of naming my bikes. I don’t have kids or pets and I don’t  discover new planets or insect species on a regular basis so I have to name something. People look at you like you’re slightly less of a freak when you tell them the name of your bike, as opposed to the name of your toaster or a plant (I long ago gave up on naming my sandwiches…they’re just going to get eaten). For example, I named my Fisher Ferrous “The Dunderchee.” When I was a kid of about 8-years-old I heard a song on the radio, I thought it was wicked awesome. So when it ended and the D.J. came on and gave out the phone number for requests, I called in and requested…the same exact song, “Um, hi…I wanna hear the song about the Dunderchee.” “What’s that kid?” “I want to hear that song about the Dunderchee…the one you just played.” Uh, kid, I can’t play a song I just played again…and do you mean ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ by AC/DC?’ Cuz that’s what I just played.” I was completely embarrassed, but that what I heard was: “Dirty deeds and the Dunderchee, dirty deeds and the… (more…)

Rebooting my Life

By Weaver | 24/02/10 | 8:21 PM

mailgooglecom1

It’s been almost three months since Cyclocross Nationals, and I think I am ready to climb back up on that horse. The leg hair has grown long and thick. The shaver beckons me in the shower.

This is my first foray in writing on the internet. Be kind, and don’t let people from my High School find me on the Internet. I don’t want to talk to them, unless they’re hot and want to talk about their massive crush they had on me.

(more…)