Ok, so maybe road racing doesn’t really count as cross training, but it is very revealing - although it was shown recently (at least one study reported in VeloNews) that the bone density loss seen in road racers does not show up in mountain bike racers.  So maybe road racers should cross train on the mountain to keep their bones healthy.

Anyway, when you spend all your time racing on the mountain bike, sometimes you forget certain aspects of your training.  This past weekend I learned a great deal from racing in the Exhale criteriums in Wilkesboro,NC  just down the street from the trails at Dark Mountain.  The races were on the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway, one of the original NASCAR tracks - really more of a circuit race, but still fun.  I have pictures, but the uploader is complaining this morning. Read More »

With school from 7:00 to 3:10, and then HS football from 4-7, it doesn’t leave much time for riding.  So I am going to do Alterra this weekend and hope for the best, because the only training I have had for a long time is football.  Which is alright as far as general fitness goes, but not the best for cycling.  Looking forward to the suffering to come.

I’m out at the Breck Epic six day mountain bike stage race this week. I’m here because I won the Blogger Grant, which means I’ll be posting over on Mountain Bike every day until the race is over or I succumb to hypoxia and wander in front of a bus. My first post is up over HERE.

Lots of things have been going on. My shop has been swamped which hasn’t allowed to much training time. So I have been riding when I can. My new 29″ Hifi Deluxe came in last week and I was able to put in over 4 hours on it last Thursday.

I spent most of the season on my Superfly SS and I loved every minute of it. I finished up the Georgia XC series last week and finished 5th overall in the state. I was able to podium just 3 times this year but I am hoping to represent even more next season.

Georgia Cyclo-Cross is starting up at the start of October and my bike build starts this week. I placed top 3 overall the last two seasons and in the Cat 3/B category. This year I will be racing the Cat 1/A category so I expect some butt kicking going on.

After a very disappointing National champs, followed by a big off at 24/12. I decided to have a break from racing for a  few weeks, and instead of  doing the 3rd round of the midlands, headed up to Selkirk to do the Chain reaction enduro.Which was really enjoyable and I was pleased to feel pretty good all the way around.

Weeks before (weather permitting) I had planned on doing this round, to support Maddie and Jay. So having not done a race for a few weeks I wasnt sure of how I would get on or feel for that matter!

Having arrived in plenty of time, after signing on and having a brief chat with a few friends I set off on a practice lap. The course was fantastic with a great mix of singletrack and climbing to sort the boys from the men!! On my practice lap I going pretty steady and the next thing I knew I was pulling myself out of a bush. Conditions were very greasy underfoot and I had been caught out big time!

On the start I lined up next to Chris Rathbourne, who I knew was my main competition. On the whistle I had an appaling start, and hit the first bit of singletrack in about 8/9th place. Once we hit the fire road section, I went really hard to move up the field and I managed to catch the 2 leaders. We soon got caught up with the sport riders, which we rode behind until we could get past.

At about the half way mark, I decided to go for it. Which definetly paid off, because I got a gap. From there I pushed on hard and managed to catch all the elite/expert riders which was nice! I finally finnished nearly 3 minutes up, which I was over the moon with and even more pleased to feel good, with plenty left in the tank!

In summary, a cracking course and was one of the best courses I have ridden for a long time! And that’s saying something beacuse I have raced quite a few events over the past 2 years! Also it was nice to have an event with different cateres aswell!! (roast beef rolls and slabs of homemade sponge…. yum..yum)

Thanks again to my little tribe for all there cheering in the woods

Also to my sponsors

XCracer.com, Accellerade, Exposure lights, Gary Fisher.

Phil Morris riding for XCracer.com

Wilderness 101 was as awesome as always. What a great a vibe you get just pulling into the campground/start finish/party headquarters.  My goal was similar, try and sneak onto the podium with the endurance giants of the sport….in the past it’s been Eatough, Sam Koerber, Jeff Shalk, Harlan Price, Jeremiah Bishop, Michael Simonson, Christian Tanguay, etc. I was feeling confident in my form and my Superfly was dialed…. then I see Jeremiah Bishop and Nick Waite barrel into the campground and bum-rush the registration area looking to get in last minute. Ouch, that is gonna be a crowded podium with 10 guys fighting for 5 spots. As great as it is to see Jeremiah and Nick (an old team-mate), I never get used to dealing with Jeremiah’s suprise attacks before the race even starts. I mean, c’mon, a guy has to mentally prepare for racing against Jeremiah Bishop in an epic 100 mile MTB race !!!! Read More »

My last planned race of the summer for mountain bike racing was also the last race in the Southern Classic Series.  The series was a best of 8 races out of 12, plus extra points for working on trails (paydirt). The series winner also brings home the NC state championship medal.

The last race was at Dark Mountain in Wilkesboro.  I went into the race in first in the series due to some paydirt points that put me just above the 2nd place (go work on your local trails!).  Although Wilkesboro claims to be the “gateway to the mountains”, it can get really, really hot.  It was 90 degrees and so humid that it might as well have been raining.  It didn’t, but it had rained so hard the day before that everything was soaking wet.  Nice trails that they are, Dark Mountain sheds water REALLY well, but it was still very slippery.   Read More »

After all the road racing Ive been doing in the past couple of weeks I was really excited about toeing the line on my Superfly again. Ive made a habit over the past couple of years of going down to Greensboro NC for Greensboro Velo Club and Fat Tire Society’s “Sizzler.” The race features some really exceptional singletrack running between Bur-Mil and Owls Roost parks. As the name would indicate the race also more often than not features some scorching heat. This year was no exception as temperatures during the race soared. The night before however brought a little rain which made the course perfectly sticky, slick on roots and bridges (which were aplenty) but the hardpack became just soft enough to really rail. Lap times slowed a little from last year because of the tacky earth but all the same the technical stuff became much easier to tackle. Read More »