Lots of Good Things

The past two weeks has been nothing but good news and good things. Last weekend Brandon and myself made a second trip to North Carolina for the 12 Hours of Tsali. It was a really sweet trip. The trip started on Thursday morning at Cabela's where we packed my car to the roof with camping and racing stuff. We stopped the first night in Douthat State Park, VA where we rode for about 3 hours. There's a lot of nice trail packed into this little park. The next day we finished the trip to Tsali, tucked away in the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. We did a lap on the course and found that lap times would be fairly short and very very fast. Saturday morning: we wake up, set up our pit, make all our food for the race(we both debuted a secret little feeding trick we learned from none other than Mr. Eatough), and warmed up a little. The race started like every other endurance race, with a rediculous LeMans start. I hate LeMans starts, they are rediculous, ubsurd, and downright stupid. They should be done away with.

The race went smoothly indeed. I rode the first 7 hours in second place until Harvey Minton passed me somewhere in the pits starting lap 10. I caught him immedietly on the first fireroad climb and pulled even with him. Having not seen him pass me in the pits or anywhere on the course all day, and by judging how quickely I came up to him on the climb, I figured he was a lap rider. It turns out I had also mis-counted my laps, I thought I was starting lap 11. When the mysterious Indy-Fab rider told me he was starting lap 10 I figured I was still in 2nd with 3rd place still behind me. Harvey obviouslly knew who I was, and that I had been ahead of him all day, so he attacked at the bottom of the first big descent. Being fairly certain that he was a lap rider I watched him ride away from me and maintained my more than comfortable yet quick pace. At the end of the race I found out that Harvey was actually on the lead lap and that I had simply watched him attack me for 2nd place, while I sat and smiled. Oh well, I guess I should learn to count better. I still finished 3rd, made 100 bucks, and came home with some serious hardware(a 3 foot trophy, along with Brandon's 4-poster statue, that we had to smash somewhere among the other stuff that already filled our car).

After awards, around-about 1 am, we decided to pack everything up in hopes of getting a hotel where we could shower and sleep in real beds. We were lucky enough to be in bed by 5 am that morning.

In other news, my bike is expected to arrive on Wednesday. After riding my new Dragon Team hardtail frame for the past month of so, I've decided to go with the XTR version of the same frame. Taylor scored me the last 19" Jamis Dragon Team bike in the Jamis warehouse and it was shipped yesterday. I really pumped up for it. I think it'll be a better bike than the full suspension version. Its lighter (22 lbs), about 500 bills cheaper, and also features two state-of-the-art mechanisms called water bottle mounts, which the Dakar lacked completely.

I'm also readily awaiting the week of August 8-15. I recently discovered that it should be the best week of the year. Here's the timeline: Wednesday August 8, Dave Matthews Band concert, Tweeter Center, Row J ("J" happens to be the 10th letter in the alphabet, meaning 10th row). Thursday August 9, early flight out of Phila. Destination: SnowMass, Co for the NORBA National Finals. Fly back Monday or Tuesday, August 13 or 14. Wednesday August 15, Dave Matthews Band Concert #2, Virginia Beach, VA.

How awesome is that...

Pop-tarts or chips...?

It's official, the race season in finally in full swing. Two weeks ago was a sweet double header, Cat Classic on Saturday and Michaux 50 miler on Sunday. Both races happened to be the first of the year to happen in good old PA. The Cat Classic was awesome. I'd never raced this course before but it rocks, literally. Lots of grass climbing with super rocky descents, some of which put Michaux to shame. The competition also showed up in full force. Chris "Eat-off-a-Plate" showed up along with the entire VisitPA crew, the twins, and lots of other strong guys. The race was pretty uneventful for me other than feeling exceptionally good and being able to reel in several riders on the last lap. I ended up in 4th place taking home some desent loot.

In preparation for Sunday's race in Michaux I followed Brandon home for some dinner (massive steaks courtesy of Mrs. D), bike cleaning, and hopefully some sleep. We didn't get back to Shippensburg until almost 12 that night and had to be up by 6 in order to make the race. It was also the worst night of sleep I've ever had. Brandon's less than intelligent roomate came in, turned on the light, and promptly left again. Oh yeah, and my air mattress went flat during the night leaving me to lay on less than comfortable concrete.

The next morning we rose, got some food, and headed to the race. After a short delay due to downed powerlines we were on course. I was able to keep Chris and the rest of the lead group in sight for the first 7 miles before I fell back and settled into my pace for the day. I rode most the 50 miles with a fellow named Rueben a good friend of one, Harlan Price. We talked for a while, made some jokes, complained about the climbing, and ate Tastycakes together. When the day was over I rolled through the finish in 5th spot, again in the money.

This weekend was the debut of the newly revamped Mid Atlantic Super Series at French Creek. Knowing that the course was going to be completely different than last years I put quite a few pratice laps on the course and had determined that the paved climb would be a critical part in who would win the race. Off the line I had the holeshot until Jeff Shalk passed me just before the singletrack started. From then on it was a crap shoot for the top 6 riders. Back and forth action made for the most exciting race I've been a part of. On the final lap of the paved climb I found myself riding with Brandon, only about 20 seconds or so behind Harlan and Kyle. I lucked out quite a bit as this was the exact senario that I'd had imagined on my pre-rides. Towards the top of the road I attacked Brandon, who I thought had more in the tank than I did. When I turned around to see that he hadn't followed me I knew I was on my own to try and reel the two leaders in on the final descent. I caught Kyle about halfway down but wasn't even close to doing the same to Harlan. I crossed the line in second about 30 clicks behind Harlan with Brandon less than 10 seconds behind me. What a great race to kick off the season with.

Worked

Today was one of those days were everything seems ok. That its all going to work out. It started as any other day, waking at 11 am, eating breakfast, and heading off to work. I made some money, warranteed two old pairs of pedals (keep an eye out for them on eBay...), and downed some sweet Thai food for lunch. 3:30 pm, work lets out and its time to ride. Wednesday has become my high intensity day of the week, so I decided to do hill repeats in Valley Forge. 5 laps up and down Mount Misery seemed to fit the bill. Directly following that I made my way to Topher's place and met up with him, Keith and Matty B. for another 2.5 hours of fast riding. A quick stop at the Collegville diner for an omelette and homefries was ideal for refuealing before getting a shower, posting this blog and jumping into bed. Later.