Got back to my roots!

Don't get me wrong. I love Cross, its about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on... But, I LOVE singletrack and playin in the dirt! MTB will always be my frist love....
Took off and did a lap through Krug with the hippy, and man do I miss riding the fat tires on some singletrack...

I do race cross to stay fit in the off season, but more and more of my "colleges" are making cross their race season.. Not me, don't know if its because I have not been riding as long as they have, Im not burnt out on it.. Don't know if I ever will....

Which brings me to a question... I am going to try and keep up with these Cat 1 animals this coming up season... I am going to not run a singlespeed 100% of the time and run a 1x9 set up... The million dollar question is going to be shimano or sram????
Any suggestions from my 2 readers out there???

Manions II, CX ~ report/video

Wow, what a tough course.. I loved it!!! I love hard courses, the harder the better... Made me wish I made it to the first one...
I was not sure I was going to be able to make it until the night before.... But Hoppe and Randy made room for me to tag along with them down to the middle of Wyndotte. Kind of a strange venue, the entire course was made in this valley...

Between the long grass and being in a bowl it was some tough racing without a whole lot of recovery areas...
It was a lemans start, which does not bother me all that much... lined up for the singlespeed race in a barn and I notice that the usual heavy hitters were not around.. Thought this could get interesting....

Took off and got to my bike first and took off up a false flat if you will... Some will call it a hill but anyway.. About the top of it and three dudes pass me like this was a one lap race... I just tucked in behind them for the decent and waited to see what happens...
Once at the bottom there was this little ditch that the roadies were running over, I did not have any trouble with this section but some folks were for some reason. From there, you got onto some climbing... I noticed my group seemed to be struggling a little bit on the climbs. Not that I wasn't, but just not as bad... By lap 2 I decided I was going to attack up the main hill and see if I can create a gap... I passed another surly and took the lead after the first little climb on this lap and hit it hard on the last section of the climb. When I hit the top and looked over I saw him run into the tape and get off his bike... From this point I took advantage and never let up... Just went after it on all the climbs and recovered the best I could in between. By the last lap the only guy near me was a cat 4 dude... I went on to win the singlespeed race... First cross win ever for me...

Big thanks to all the guys for setting up the race... And a special thanks to all the heavy hitters like Dan O, that did not race.... I'll take it!!

RESULTS HERE

ROGERS PICTURES

JP BROCKETS PICTURES

Other notables;

• Hoppe Killed the Masters 40+ and took first...
• JP Brocket took the top spot in the Masters 30+
• His clan all won ther races!
• SteveO took 2nd in Masters 60+

HERE IS A VIDEO put together by JP Brocket... Its the 4's, singlspeed, and 3/4's.... I think....

Inspiration to say the least!

Stolen and Posted from Big Ring Riding (on blogroll), Had to share it!

KING OF HTFU, Makes me feel like a 6 year old girl!!

FIRENZO MAGNI: I CONSIDER MY GREATEST WIN MY SECOND PLACE IN GC AT THE GIRO OF 1956, MY LAST YEAR AS A PRO.

VALERIA PAOLETTI: You were a very brave second in that incredible Giro. Tell us what happened.

FM: DURING STAGE 12, FROM GROSSETO TO LIVORNO, I CRASHED ON THE DESCENT OUT OF VOLTERRA AND BROKE MY LEFT COLLARBONE. AT THE HOSPITAL THEY SAID I SHOULD PUT ON A PLASTER CAST AND QUIT. BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO. SINCE THE NEXT DAY WAS A REST DAY, I TOLD THE DOCTOR TO DO NOTHING AND THAT WE SHOULD WAIT AND SEE. THE DAY AFTER I ASKED THE DOCTOR TO PUT ON AN ELASTIC BANDAGE INSTEAD OF A CAST BECAUSE I WANTED TO TRY TO RIDE THE FOLLOWING STAGE, LIVORNO TO LUCCA. IT WORKED! I WASN’T AMONG THE FIRST RIDERS BUT I FINISHED.

VP: There is the famous picture of your riding holding a piece of inner tube in your mouth during the 13th stage, the individual time trail of San Luca. Can you explain?

FM: JUST BEFORE THE STAGE STARTED I TRIED TO RIDE MY BIKE ON A CLIMB AND I NOTICED I COULDN’T USE THE MUSCLES OF MY LEFT ARM TO PULL ON THE HANDLE BAR VERY HARD. SO MY MECHANIC, FALIERO MASI, THE BEST MECHANIC OF ALL TIME, CUT A PIECE OF INNER TUBE AND SUGGESTED I PULL IT WITH MY MOUTH. THAT WAS A GREAT IDEA!

VP: Then, during Stage 16, from Bologna to Rapallo, through the Apennines, you crashed again and broke your humerus.

FM: YES, I DIDNT HAVE ENOUGH STRENGTH IN MY LEFT ARM AND I CRASHED AFTER HITTING A DITCH BY THE ROAD. I FELL ON MY ALREADY BROKEN BONE AND FAINTED FROM THE PAIN. THE AMBULANCE CAME TO BRING ME TO THE HOSPITAL. IN THE AMBULANCE THEY GAVE ME WATER AND I GOT BACK ON MY FEET. WHEN I REALIZED THAT I WAS BEING TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL I SCREAMED AND TOLD THE DRIVER TO STOP. I DIDN’T WANT TO ABANDON THE GIRO!

I MOUNTED MY BIKE AGAIN AND RESTARTED PEDALING. THE PELOTON HAD WAITED FOR ME, SO I ARRIVED IN RAPALLO IN A RELATIVELY GOOD POSITION. I HAD NO IDEA OF HOW SERIOUS MY CONDITION WAS, I JUST KNEW THAT I WAS IN A LOT OF PAIN BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO HAVE X-RAYS THAT EVENING. DURING THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED I COULD HOLD MY OWN.

VP: You were even able to ride the Stelvio Pass (Stage 19)!

FM: YES, THERE I DIDN’T HAVE PROBLEMS ON THE CLIMB, BUT THE DESCENT WAS HARD. ON THE CLIMB I COULD GO UP AT MY OWN SPEED. AT THAT POINT MY AIM WAS JUST TO FINISH THE GIRO, NOT TO WIN IT OF COURSE. I DIDN’T WANT TO ABANDON THE GIRO IN THE YEAR OF MY RETIREMENT.

VP: Why did you have problems on the descent?

FM: BECAUSE I COULD NOT BRAKE WITH MY LEFT HAND AND I SKIDDED. THAT WAS TOUGH!

VP: Then there was Stage 20 from Merano to Trento, over the Costalunga, Rolle, Brocon and Bondone climbs. Pasquale Fornara was the pink jersey. That day 60 people abandoned! What happened?

FM: IT SNOWED THE WHOLE DAY AND IT WAS VERY COLD, I HAD NOT NOTICED HOW MUCH. ALONG THE WAY I SAW MANY BIKES PARKED NEXT TO BARS AND I ASKED WHAT WAS GOING ON. THEY TOLD ME THAT MOST OF THE PELOTON FROZE AND HAD TO QUIT. THEN, BEFORE REACHING TRENTO I SAW THE PINK JERSEY QUITTING TOO! ‘WHAT?? AM I SEEING THINGS?’ I WONDERED.

IF I WERE THE PINK JERSEY I WOULD HAVE CONTINUED, EVEN IF I HAD TO WALK, BUT I WOULD NEVER ABANDON!

VP: What happened next?

FM: WHEN WE WERE IN TRENTO MY TEAM CAR CAME UP TO ME AND SAID I WAS THIRD. “THIRD?!”, I WONDERED AGAIN. I WAS THIRD THAT DAY AND BECAME SECOND IN THE GC.

VP: Gaul won that stage and went from 16 minutes behind to winning the 1956 Giro.

FM: ACTUALLY, I THOUGHT ABOUT ATTACKING CHARLY GAUL IN THE FOLLOWING STAGES AND TRYING TO WIN MY FOURTH GIRO. I TRIED ATTACKING HIM A COUPLE OF TIMES DURING THE LAST TWO STAGES, BUT HE WAS TOO STRONG.

THE DAY AFTER THE END OF THE GIRO I WENT TO AN INSTITUTE THAT SPECIALIZED IN BONE INJURIES. AND THEY GAVE ME A DRESSING-DOWN! THEY SAID I HAD TWO FRACTURES - I THOUGHT I HAD ONLY ONE - AND FORCED ME TO PUT A PLASTER CAST ON.

THE NEXT DAY I WENT TO MY MACHINE SHOP AND ASKED MY MECHANIC TO CUT THE PLASTER CAST AWAY WITH THE SPECIAL SCISSORS HE USED FOR SHEET METAL. THIS WAY I COULD START TRAINING AGAIN.

New Colors for 2011!!

Don't know that its officially "official", but got some new peeps to play with next year in the dirt!!!
Going to be riding for Ethos, and going to be fun as Hell!! Suddenly find myself a smaller fish in a bigger pond......


Check um out... Ethos Racing....

Already know a bunch of um, cool dudes except for that hollywood Garet Steinmetz punk!! Ha!

DeStad #4, Levenworth

Could not wait to get out and race, I have not been in a couple of weeks and was going through major withdraws!

 Rode down with Hoppe who was going to race the 2/3’s on the day.. Myself, I doubled up and did the 3/ 4’s and  SingleSpeed…

The event was well attended and the course was sweeeeet! I love courses that actually have some run ups, technical sections.. Kind of levels the playing field for us MTB guys…

Toed up for the 3/ 4’s, quite a big field. I was 2 rows back which sucked, hit the hard left off of the cobbles about 8 back and within about 2 min later I screwed up a turn in traffic and approx 8 more passed me…

Got back clipped in and started doing the best I could to pick guys off. Some folks are very timid with the off camber and the 180’s… I accidently was rubbing a bunch of back tires…

There was a rather steep short climb that some people were running up and in traffic there was a bottle neck developing. I hammered it up and took the high side and passed 5-8 guys right there in a 30 foot space… Back on track!

The rest of the race was good, just got into a groove of pedaling your insides out, recover and repeat…

The long run up (well, run up for us mortals) was not that bad until the last lap where it was draining your legs pretty bad…

During the last lap I went with a 360 guy. My plan was to suck on his wheel a bit and then out sprint him at the finish. We could not even see the leaders at this point.

Well, we farted around a bit too much and a third guy joined our little group. The three of us were back to back on the final cobble section where I knew it was going to be an interesting finish. 100 feet from the finish the guy took off on the sprint past the 360 guy, I got on his wheel and just missed out sprinting him by inches…

Come to find out later that was for the podium! SOB!!! So I was 4^th by inches… If I had known that, perhaps I would have pushed it a bit more on that last lap... But who really knows...

Singlespeed race was pretty uneventful.. The soft course, run ups, sprint finish had really taken its toll on my legs and I was pretty much out of gas before the race even started…

I hit the hole shot 3 back and that was the best it was going to get… I immediately lost ground after that and never got it back… Finished a mediocre 7^th… Owe well…

All in all, it was a great day of racing on a great course and venue!!!

RESULTS

PICTURES

MORE PICTURES

Peace!

2011

Looking to be an Epic year! Going to try my arse off to get some Cat 1 props this year.... Hopefully do some more racin becides the UFD series also!
Share more info later!

So excited I could.......

BTW, I came across a very cool cycling site! I love it so far....

Big Ring Riding

ENJOY!

De Stad, Levenworth CX..

Can't wait for this race... Its a fun one! Been off a couple of weeks and I am having major withdraws...
Chris Locke posted the course map...

Pic of the day....

Suitable for a Friday.... Not sure yet if racing on sunday at the Vet Cross... I do know there will be a bunch of us hitting up the Cross race in Levenworth next Sunday... I like that place..

Feel bad for those who don't "get" it....

"To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport. Without pain, there's no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy. Might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks." ~Scott Martin

Jens V in the hurt locker

First Post

Its official... Created my very own blog. Don't know exactly what that makes me?

Just got the feeling that I am taking over the stjmtb blog when it should be a community site...
so here I am.... Be afraid, be very afraid!!

And it begins!!!!