Endurance races, ski trips, musings, and adventures on the East Coast.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

POW!

Just incredible snow out there. Here's a shot from yesterday, BEFORE it stared snowing!

And out the back door today.


A parting shot. Definitely the time to get out and ski!



Monday, December 17, 2012

Morning Powder Turns

Awesome to get out and ski what was some pretty decent snow this morning. Hope the rain stays away from the upper elevations these next few days!


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

From fast grass, to snow, to stick season once again

We've had a little bit of everything in Vermont as of late. Winter was here in fits and starts for a few weeks there, and we were able to get some sweet turns on thin cover.


We even scored some sun here and there.


Last Thursday though, things began to look a bit different. Snow came down pretty heavily, and we were pleasantly surprised to find 3-8" of fresh snow as we hiked up under moonlight Friday morning.



By the time we got to the top the sun was out, and we were pretty sure it was going to be a pretty sweet descent.



Sure enough the powder brought big smiles to our faces. 


There's nothing like fresh tracks.


A big rainstorm Sunday into Monday has things looking more like this in the mountains again, but a storm rolling in later today might change that. Fingers crossed.





Saturday, November 24, 2012

Two-a-days once again

Fire's cranked and there's snow out the window right now. Still, the trails were riding quite well this morning before things started to stick. We snuck sweet 2.5 hour mtb ride, with central VT's best (2,000 vertical foot) descent mixed in for good measure, and followed it up with some biscuits and gravy at Positive Pie in Plainfield (seriously good weekend brunch).
Throw in a late afternoon mission to snag a few turns on the Marquette's, and you've got a pretty good Saturday. Sounds like tomorrow might feature some awfully nice turns up high. Certainly can't complain about lack of options.
See you out there!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Winter Begins in Earnest

Ski season kicked off in earnest with some sweet top to bottom runs this weekend. A quick scouting mission late in the day Saturday got me pretty psyched.


Sunday Nina and I headed out, getting some pretty sweet turns in up high.


Skiing Marquette Backcountry skis has really opened up terrain. A little snow and grass all of a sudden becomes really fun. Pretty stoked to be stepping things up with the Pro Leisure Team this winter.


More snow on the deck this morning. Must be winter.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Highland Overmountain Enduro Race Report 2012

I headed down to Highland Bike Park this weekend for the Overmountain Enduro, not really sure what to expect. I'd heard awesome things about Highland, and I'd also heard it was pretty knarly. So I was intrigued to say the least. 
I was also a bit nervous. I've done a Super D here and there, and I raced a few gravity events in college, but I've never done a proper enduro before. And even though I have a few tricks in my dh toolbox, racing fast downhill is a different ballgame all together.
Initially the plan was to head down Friday and preride the course. Then it poured all day and I had more work to do than I thought. So I stayed home. Which was great from a rest up and feel good standpoint, but apparently not so good from a race fast standpoint. There is a definite learning curve to these races, and not going down the day before was mistake number 1.
Before I get too far though, there is one thing I should say: this race was a blast. Do yourself a favor and put it on your race calendar for next year.


So, back to it. We got up early and headed down to Highland Saturday morning. Which gave me enough time to register and ride stage 1 a couple of times. Stage 3 was only open to foot inspection, so we checked that out too. Then it was chill out and wait for the start mode until the pros finally started at 3 pm. I have to say I got more nervous for this one than any other race all year. I think it has something to do with the fact that you know you're going to have to take some risks to do well.
Stage 1 was a good time. Super fast, with some wall rides, rock features, and a lot of berms. Preriding helped for sure, and I was riding pretty fast, though I need some berm riding practice for sure. The bottom half featured a hint of climbing and some old school NE singletrack. I figured that would be my strength and I punched it there.
Stage 2 was fast, flowy, tight singletrack. No preriding meant I threw in a few too many brake checks, but it was the shortest of the three stages, so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. That stage flowed right into the climber's prime. That was a tricky one, because when you're racing Adam Craig and there's no prize for second well......
So basically I rode a fun, fast tempo up the climb, and backed off when it got steep and hard in order to save energy for the last stage, which was the most technical by far. Guess that worked okay, I got second in the climber's prime, though again, that didn't really do me any good. Hmmmm, going to have to asses that one for next year.
That brought me to the top of stage 3, which, for some reason, I had a hard time keeping my head in the game for. I rode the top part okay, but not great, and then came into the steep, muddy chute mid course all wrong. Soon enough I was in the trees. And that was pretty much it. My head was out of the game and I'd lost a bunch of time. Too bad too. It turned out I was 9th on stage one, and a good, clean run on stage 3 would have put me in contention for the top 10.
Guess that reinforces how important pre-riding it for these things. You have to have your lines down for sure, and you need to know what they feel like at speed. I didn't do that for stage 3 and it cost me big time.
Oh well, I guess that's what next year's for. Live and learn.

Friday, October 19, 2012

River's Way Up

It's been raining all day in central VT, with the Mad now the highest it's been since Irene (I think) at our    house. We headed down tonight to check it out, and found the river well 6 feet above where it was this morning, and about the breach the plunge pool wall.


Our usual sun bathing spot (the rocks are usually 3-4 feet above the water) is now a huge rapid.


The fire pit about to be taken out. Irene created a beach here, looks like it might be gone by morning.


Off to Highland for the Enduro tomorrow. Hoping it stops raining.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Awesome Fall Riding

There's been a bit of snow up high on the summits of the Greens these past couple of weeks, which a year or two ago might have tempted me off the bike and onto my skis. But I'm trying to keep the riding motivation up this fall. With Nationals coming to the east coast (finally) next summer, a shorter off season is better than a long one.
So I'm trying to keep the legs spinning as late as I can into the fall, mid-November at least.
This weekend the 1st Annual Onion River Apple Grinder helped the cause for sure - always good to get a good group ride in on some awesome dirt roads. Today was back to riding in the cold rain - so it goes.
At least I had a sweet new bike to ride though. The dirt road riding around our house is seemingly endless, so I sold the road bike and built up a cross bike. I know, it's the trendy thing to do, but this thing is fun. Road cranks, mountain wheels, tubeless cross tires, 140mm disc rotors, and a Sram double tap all bolted to a Specialzed Crux frame. It's light, stiff, and handles well. Pretty stoked on it for sure. Gotta hit up some Class 4 roads soon. See you out there.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Vermont 50 Race Report 2012

It's been a long time since I've had a good ride at the Vermont 50. I think I'd have to go all the way back to racing it as a junior at age 16 actually. Since then, it's been a string of years with bad form, mechanicals, and asthma issues. Which is a shame, because the 50 really is the biggest endurance race in New England.
Not everyone does it every year, but it's the only race around that draws 800 people. That in and of itself would be enough. But it also draws a lot of fast folks too. Not the same ones every year mind you (but few races do). And the past winners include Jason Sager and Ted King - both of whom are pretty darn strong.
This year, like quite a few editions of the 50, was rainy. Which was fine with me. I figured my training had been a touch subpar, so anything that would make the race less of a pure wattage fueled slugfest would be to my advantage. Rain slows the racing down and favors sheer power, muscular endurance, and technical skill over top end speed. I was okay with that.
It almost didn't happen. Some last minute bike issues and general craziness meant that I almost didn't race. Thanks Aaron and Nina for making things happen for me. I didn't have everything squared away and dialed in until late afternoon on Saturday. Not ideal prep, but racing is waaay better than not racing. Every time.
Bike issues solved we headed down to our friends Ginger and Pete's house. They've made an annual tradition of graciously housing and feeding us the night before the 50. Plus they live about 10 minutes from the start, which is particularly handy when the riders meeting starts at 5:15 am. I couldn't ask for anything more.
So, after a lot of help from Friends, Family, and Sponsors, I lined up to start. At 6:00 am, in the dark. For whatever reason (mostly reducing the size of the starting packs in the dark I think), my wave started 5 minutes behind the first wave (which included eventual winner Ted King). I wasn't too worried about that at the start. I was way more focused on trying to have a good ride at a race where I've had quite a few bad ones.
Off we went, and it was, in a word, dark. Fortunately I was able to mooch a little bit off of other people's lights. In the end though, I think the dark worked a little bit to my advantage. There were a few dirt road descents early on, and no one else was stupid enough to bomb them full speed, so all of a sudden I had a gap.
On the first single track climb I still couldn't see a thing, but I rode by feel and worked my way through the slower Wave #1 starters, figuring the more people I could put between me and everyone else in my wave the better. The 50 doesn't have an open class, so you're really racing for age group wins. I started to think I could pull the old out of sight out of mind trick on the other guys, and sneak away.
It seemed to work. Or I was climbing well. Mostly the second part. When it comes right down to it, that's what it's about at big races. Descending on the duelie 29er was pretty rad too, it's just that most of the descents are so steep and fast that they're over to quickly to make much of an impact.
Sometime around Garvin Hill I started to think about the overall and working my way up through. That's when I caught up to my friend Phil, who'd just spent a week in Pisgah doing the stage race there. He's a fast guy, so I figured I must be on an okay day at that point. I climbed up through the mist, pulled back a few more guys, and headed back into the woods.
The rest of the days just seemed really solid. I rode all the climbs, even the ones that normally make me walk (yup, there are a couple of really steep ones at about mile 30 or so). Descending felt good, and the singletrack was super ridable and not too torn up yet. Having no idea where I was place wise, I just rode the best tempo I could and hoped for the best. At the very least I was creating a cushion for myself in case a broken chain or a flat.
I also lucked out and had someone from the first wave to ride with the last 10 miles, which is definitely a moral booster. We crossed more or less together (though I was 5 minutes up). Turns out it was a great day, 5th overall and the age group win. Pretty sweet to end the season on good form with a great race.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

It was another brilliant weekend in Vermont, sunshine, warm temperatures, and dry trails.

It's been a relatively quiet couple of weeks training wise for me. After what I felt was a good ride at the Hampshire 100k, it was time to take a break. I had a good shot at third in that race, I'd caught back up with a big group with about 5 miles to go, which included some 100 mile racers and the third place rider in the 100k. I'd just cleared the steep, loose, infamous climb and 58 miles and was feeling super strong. Then my chain broke. Oh well, I thought maybe, just maybe I could fix it and catch back up by the finish.


I fixed it fast-ish (hard to fix mechanicals super fast after 5 hours of racing), and hoped back on. Two pedal strokes in it snapped again. That was pretty much it. By the finish it was almost blown again, so I really had to baby the bike in. So I got 4th. But I felt really good the whole time. Not going to challenge for the win against some of these guys this year, but I felt pretty satisfied with my form.


It's always tempting in those situations to keep racing, and try to milk everything you can out of the form you have. I'm trying to learn to fight that instinct. The next big goal is the Vermont 50 at the end of September, which was too far away forme to keep training for, uninterrupted. So I made myself take a break, and the last couple of weeks has just been riding for fun with Nina, which is about as fun as it gets. Exploring new trails, riding our backyard loop, and enjoying the sunshine with someone you love, I really can't get enough.

    

It's definitely good for both the head and the body to take a break, relax, get some extra sleep, and ride sweet trails. Our backyard loop is getting pretty sweet, lots of jumps, rock spines, and berms. There's some logging being done near the entrance. We road up the other day to find some sweet new rock work framing the entrance to the climb. Thanks guys!


We've been trying to get as much river time in as we can. Starting and ending the day in the river makes for a pretty sweet rhythm to life. 


~




Thursday, August 30, 2012

What A Summer

What a stretch of summer it's been in Vermont. Reminds me why I don't live anywhere else. Day after day of sunny weather in the 70's and 80's, cool nights, and low humidity.

Well, that plus lot's of great riding, racing, sprinting to the line a few times for the podium, heading out on a long string of bike tours, hiking to waterfalls, swimming, watching Nina snag win after win, catching a few sunrises and watching the moon over Lake Champlain.

Pretty awesome stuff. Here are a few shots from the last few weeks of fun. Enjoy.


Moss Glen Falls, Stowe

Sprinting at the Wildcat Epic












Bikes in the Morning
                                       

Nina wins the Hampshire 100K!

Waking up Early-ish

Touring in Quebec




Tuesday, August 14, 2012

My Version of the Ultimate Trail Bike

Yeah, yeah, everyone thinks they have the ultimate trail bike. And, admittedly, mines a bit of an odd duck. It's shortish travel, but still has a slack head angle, dropper post, 120mm fork, and big disc rotors.  It's a bike I can race XC and Endurance races with, and still feel good on at an Enduro. Basically, it's the one bike I can race anything with Plus, it's super fun to ride - which, ultimately, is the most important part.

Things start off with the Zaboo frame. It's a 100mm travel bike with a tapered head tube and a press fit BB. All pretty good stuff. I'd say the linkage is on the stiffer side, tuned towards XC racing. It's one of those bikes that you never feel working, but when you look down at the little o-ring you can see that you've used all the travel. Super efficient climber, and when was the last time a 4 and 4 29er couldn't rally downhill?

Except it's not really a 4 and 4 29er. I've been spending a lot of time on big bikes, and that's influencing my style quite a bit. So, with a nod to that, ordered up a White Brothers Loop 120mm fork with a tapered steerer and 15mm thru axle. Pretty sweet stuff there. I thought I was taking a chance with it, but it's done pretty well so far. Then there's the dropper post. Dropper post on a race bike? Up, all the time. Why, because it's more fun, you can go fast downhill, and it gives you room for error after 50 miles on the bike. Maybe it's a bit overkill for some NE courses, but in NC or out west it's super clutch.
 It's also got some sweet other goodies like an ENVE flat bar (super, super stiff....this thing improves front end handling for sure), a thompson stem, XO brakes with 180 mm rotors (seriously, they're not much heavier), and a whole lot of XT stuff, which is awesome and super solid for a lot less money than XTR.

I did concede with the XTR plus rear deraileur though. Of course, now it's trickled down. But I had to have it. The clutch is awesome. You won't go back. Some other goodies include the ZTR Gold Wheels (I train on Crests with Conti X-Kings), Ergon Grips etc.All in all, it climbs well, rips on flat, fast stuff, and descends like a champ. Haven't weighed it yet, but I'd say it's around 26.5 give or take. Pretty crazy how far bike technology has come.


Thursday, August 2, 2012

Home Shop


Like most bike nerds out there, I've been dreaming about having a bike shop at my house for a long time. Really, to this point, the closest I've come is having both a bed and all of my bike tools in my car at the same time. In other words, not that close. But I'm digging into Vermont these days and so clearly that needed to change.

We have a shed at our house, which to this point had been serving as our shed. But it only had a partial floor, making the work space awkward. Plus we lost more than a few bolts and torque wrench bits down through the slats in the old floor, or in the dirt area near the wood.

Enter a rest week without a ton of riding planned and.....


 
.........it happened. Now we have a real wood floor (no more lost
bolts), pegboard, shelving, etc. So sweet to have all the tools organized, the truing stand out, and on and on. Basically to have a well lit, organized, functional space. 


It also means the tool box has lots of room and is therefor way more organized than it was before. Anything that doesn't fit well on a hook goes in in here. By the way, if you don't have a torque wrench, they're pretty awesome and well worth the investment. It should come in handy when I get around to installing those new ENVE bars soon.

All in all a pretty productive way to spend a week if you ask me.

The 12 Hours of Millstone Race Report

The 12 Hours of Millstone was a blast. Great course, well promoted, and a good crew of folks. Always nice to see when promoters do all they can to create a good vibe for an event, and when they're willing to shell out some cash for podium finishers, folks earn it, especially when you race solo for 12 hours.

Nina and I weren't so psyched on the solo thing, but we rocked the Coed Duo class, which was super fun. Riding a couple of laps at a time was perfect. Definitely feels good to notch a win, and we came away with a new light and a bike from Cannondale. For real? Yup. We felt a little bit guilty, but I guess we just lucked out. Here's a link to my MTBRacenews.com report where you can get all the race details: http://mtbracenews.com/news/12-hours-of-millstone-2012-race-report.

We'll be back next year.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Carrabassett Backcountry Challenge Report

Yup, that's Nina rocking the top step of the podium. She also took second overall and was mid-pack in the 50+ miler at Carrabassett this weekend, which was the first stop of the New England Endurance Series. She crushed it - pretty awesome.
I was a little more so so, though it wasn't too bad all things considered. I've been struggling a lot with asthma this season, not sure what's going on there despite lots of tests and even more meds. Pretty crazy stuff just to breath normally. Which I'm still not quite doing, but things have been working well enough to get me to the front end of our local training races the last couple of weeks, so I was hopeful going into the first big-ish race of the year.
The town of Carrabassett has been putting a lot of money into trails recently, and this race is designed to showcase that effort, and to support it by raising money. It's definitely cool to see more towns jump on the "big trail networks are good" train. Especially mountain towns that are seeing revenue from skiing go down in winters like this last one. Trails, mountain biking, and year round tourism are good things if you ask me.
As for the course, it was a total mix. Some super twisty, yet buffed out, new-school stuff, some straighter, rowdier old school trail which was awesome, lots of rough old logging roads and double-track, some hike-a-bike stream crossings, and great views. In general, the climbing really wasn't that bad. Almost all it was on roads or snowmobile trails or logging roads, and none of it was super steep. It was punchy, but not brutally so. The only misnomer is the claim that the course is 50% double track. Technically that's probably true. But it doesn't ride the way you would expect double track to ride. Really, it's bumpy singletrack that runs through a really wide corridor. In other words, there aren't two ridable lines, and it's slower than you'd think double track should be.
As for the race, I started too hard. Hmmmm, how many times do I have to learn that lesson. By the first big climb I'd recovered though and was riding my way into the race. Then came some sweet singletrack and high speed descents. I used my best trail ninja skills and rallied by Zaboo 29er dullie as best I could to catch 4 or 5 guys pretty quickly despite a couple of diggers (The first on a water bar in the middle of a super high speed descent that was not rollable at speed, the second on a unfortunately placed rock on the backside of a blind corner that send me flying mid pedal stroke). Sweet. Not so bad. By mile 20 or so I was in 7th and only about 7 or 8 minutes back from the top guys. For a minute there I though I might even make a go of it. Ha. Not so much.
We hit the days biggest climb, and I more or less went backwards. I didn't really feel bad; I just wasn't riding nearly as fast as the other guys. And that's pretty much how the rest of the day went. Not bad, just not as fast as everyone else. I just settled in, rode my own pace, and had fun. By mile 40 I was firmly established in 11th. Not much was going to change there. And, fortunately, the last 12 or so miles were pretty tame and fast, so I rolled through feeling pretty good in under 5 hours.
Overall, fun course. I it reminded me a lot of the riding I used to do with my Dad in central NH when I was in high school. Good stuff. Hopefully I'll make it back next year and be a little quicker.

Monday, July 16, 2012

The "Epic" Ride

Who says Vermont doesn't have epic rides? A lot of people actually. And while I'm not here to say they're completely wrong, they're not exactly right either.
Look, Vermont ain't Colorado, or Utah, or BC, or North Carolina. It's not the same scale and they're just aren't the remote areas that you can find in those other North American hotspots. Plus, the singletrack doesn't connect as well. It's getting better, but let's not kid ourselves here.
That being said, in many ways I think the epic rides in VT are just as fun as anywhere else, maybe more so, and the potential is HUGE.
As part of the Vermont Mountain Bike Festival Nina and I set out with some friends (and a few super strong folks from out of town) on a 70 mile ride that connected Waterbury and Stowe. It was a mix of singletrack (some of it old school and choppy, some if it newer and slightly more flowing) and old logging roads that are becoming singletrack-esque. Was it the best riding around? Not quite, but it was awesome to connect the two towns, and the ride included sections of the best trails around, so we got some of that too.
But here's the really cool part. Halfway (or so) through the ride Nina and I decided to bail to keep things on the fun and not super hard side. So, we rolled a couple of miles downhill from the singletrack to the Malt Shop in Stowe. Burgers, grilled cheese, and most importantly Milkshakes awaited. Sound like somewhere else, Europe maybe. Post-lunch we had a choice: direct route on the road, or trail most of the way home. We took the road option with the thought that we'd demo some bikes back at Perry Hill.
To me, that's the kind of thing that makes Vermont so cool. You can ride singletrack, drop into town for lunch, and then keep riding. You can't do that in the same way out west. And I also think that's where the potential is.
Imagine a well built, well signed singletrack network that connected Stowe, Morrisville, Waterbury, Moretown, Waitsfield, Montpelier, Middlesex etc. You could do huge rides, drop into any number of towns for lunch, do Inn to Inn tours, whatever. Seems like that's the direction people are working towards, but it's still a long way off. Seems like something that's worth working towards though.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Training Races

Well, here it is mid-July and I haven't raced all that much. I've been training hard, working a bunch, trying to figure out why my asthma is all wacky, but I haven't raced. Which is a problem. For one, I consider myself a bit of a bike racer, which is a hard idea to keep in ones head if you're not in fact racing. The other problem is that I can train as hard as I want, but there is something about racing that's a bit harder. No way to train for racing like racing.
Which brings me to training races. Bottom line: get out and do one. If you've never raced before and are thinking about it, there the place to start. They're fun, less intimidating than a big race, shorter distances, and cheaper. But it's still racing. What's not to like. For me, they're a perfect way to get used to the new bike, get some good hard race efforts in, and get ready for a big block of racing that is fast approaching.
Wednesday night was the weekly Catamount Training Race in Williston. Awesome time. Big fields, lots of good folks hanging out and going fast on bikes, and a good course that had some fun single track, a hard little climbs, and plenty of space to pass. It was a rude awakening on that first lap for sure. I got some some wheels, made the initial selection, and thought I'd have a go of it. Half way through the first lap I knew that wasn't happening. Oh well. Second lap HURT. But I didn't fade back too far, and by the third and forth laps I had the lines dialed in and actually had a good time. Mission accomplished.
Last night I did the smaller, but still super fun, Millstone Training Race but on by the awesome folks at Onion River Sports. Not a lot of climbing but lots and lots of fun, rooty, singletrack. My kind of stuff. Fun to be able to sneak in a win here and there too.
All in all, Catamount and Millstone made for a good little two day block of training. Nice rest day today, big ride Saturday, and the Super D Sunday. My legs might actually come around. Wouldn't that be cool.

Monday, July 2, 2012

First VT Six Pack Super D Report

     Well, the first Vermont Six Pack Super D ride is in the books - pretty fun I must say. Nina and I were a little less than organized, but in the end things went off without a hitch. Stopwatches were purchased last minute, and we managed to sneak in a lap on the "course" (and figure out the start/finish) just before folks showed up. Phew....good thing it wasn't really a race.
      We rolled out of the parking lot with a small crew - six to be exact. Oh well - we figured it would be fun anyway. By the top though we had 8, and word was that there were one or two people chasing to catch up. Then we recruited a few more folks at the top, and by the time we finished up we had 13. Awesome.       We timed the top section of Burning Spear all the way to the main intersections with Joe's. Waaaay more pedaly that we anticipated, but it still required some good tech skills to go fast - a good mix, though next week it'll be a bit more downhill for sure. Funny how when you try to really ride a trail fast it transforms. 
       All the lines change, your braking points are all mixed up, and you pedal so much more than you thought you would. It's a fun challenge and change of pace.
    Top time yesterday was 7:01 - quick for sure, and everybody made it down in less than 15 minutes I think.
     Post timed section we had a nice group ride up to the top of Joe's, and some fun, hollering inducing descending down Joe's Trail to the car, where six packs, the river, and some good hang out time awaited. Good stuff. Hope to see you next week in Waitsfield for ride #2.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Riding Motos

Nina and I took advantage of a chance to do some unorthodox (or maybe not, depending on who you talk to) training this past weekend - riding motocross. Neither of us had actually ridden dirt bikes before, and yup, they're pretty rad. Amazing to get to go that fast on dirt. Just had to remember that the right brake lever was actually the front brake. Fortunately there were no over-the-bar fiascos.


Gotta say, being able to just open up the throttle in the middle of a berm is so rad - not that cornering on a mountain bike is lame but.....


....dang. I can see how people get hooked on this stuff. Plus, I was tired at the end. Just having a motor doesn't make it a cake walk by any stretch of the imagination.