A single speed MTBer in the pro RFK crit..

Chrissy #276

Narcissism Credit

Welp fan, Memorial Day weekend left us with out any off road racn'.
So I stayed in DC and doubled up down at the RFK crit, Masters and Pro1/2 stylie.
The Pro1/2 had a $10,000 purse so by-golly we had way too many non-day job pros there...ugh! That can only mean a whole lot butt kicking...done to me.
I stayed tough though.
I moved and shaked in the masters race but did not sprint.
Ahh come on, I race single speed mountain bikes 100 miles...I aint got no sprint!!!

Oh, I finally mtb rode on some DC area trails (it only took 4 years).
That handsome devil Roger M. and I headed out to Schaffers Farm in the Md. burbs.
Wicked fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gunnar did some crit in "Da Burg" and Bunny slept I think. And JR dug himself a big hole that he'll be climbing out of all season if he doesn't slow down.

I am headed to those country roads tomorrow to meet up with Bunny and the Director Sportiff.
Then off to the Mohican 100.
Wish us luck fan!!
Da lyfe begins.


May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face" and may your wheels always find it safely back to the ground.
PEACE Chris

WVMBA #3: Tour Dah Lake

Fan, this weekend we hit the dirt again for WVMBA #3 down at the Tour Dah Lake. We arrived on time and the race was delayed by 30 minutes so holy smokes we got to warm up. At 12:30 off we went and I hit the woods in 4th. SWEEET! I had one SS guy (Benji) in front of me, a few geared guys (which included Gunnar) got by, but I was feeling good so I kind of stayed with them, as they rode I ran up the muddy climb. About 3 miles in my rear tire "burped" but luckily the Stans seal worked, so with about 15 psi I kept motoring. I got around the 1st place SS (Benji) and found myself in 5th overall with only a few minute gap between me and the overall leaders. I had to stop 3 times to pump up my tire as it did continue to leak slowly, but I kept focused and continued the chase for the overall. The last ¾ of the race I spent alone hammering along. I rode hard and had a blast but never caught those silly geared boys. So, a 1st place SS and a 5th overall. Win number one for the season, yippy. Great times, a good pay out and some sweet trails pho-sho!!!

CHA-CHING!!!!!!

Gunnar battled in the front group of four and ended up 3rd, while Bunny got an early lead in front of some pretty fast ladies and walked away with the win, “girling” many boys in the process. We are all happy that she is out of retirement. And sickly JR beat up on the big boys. Good ride team!!!

It was a sweet weekend without spotting any turtles, but we did see a big ole Blackbear chilln' on RT79. Really, crazy I know.

In our future, a rest weekend with some road racing, the Mohican 100, Hoo-Ha Kenda Cup and the 24 Hours of Big Bear. Sweet!!!!

Some results

"May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face" and may your wheels always find it safely back to the ground.
PEACE Chris

A restful "off" weekend from racing, so why not do back to back crits!?!?

Well fan, it was a lovely “off” sort of past weekend. All the mountain bike race plans, three off them, were cancelled because of logistic issues or because of mother nature reaping complete hell on the trail conditions. One more weekend for this racing gypsy to sleep in his own bed was just dandy though.

But don’t fret fan, I scoured endlessly over the regional road racing calendars to find something to entertain ya and me. I headed up to the Fort Ritchie Crit in Somewhere, Maryland. Now I was expecting some ugly-suburb-monolithic-gross-industrial park setting but I was rather pleasantly surprised. After exiting the interstate I followed a rather picturesque babbling "crick" up to the gates of Fort Ritchie. The base it self aint so piteruresques but the mountains in the foreground….sweet!

The course was surprisingly pretty cool too. It was not some super macho down crit with crazy fast turns and swarming groupies but thank Buddha it was not some boring rectangle industrial park. It came complete with sixish turns, some S action, a fast hard back straight and Joe J. talking all sorts of mad smack on the P.A. My favorite, “ they are strung out like Lindsay Lohan on a Saturday night.”

In the attempt to always make myself suffer more then I need to, I decided to sign up for the Elite Masters and Elite race. Knowing that there is little chance for me to place in a crit, except in the off-chance I get in a break or the whole field crashes, I felt 2+ hours of a crit effort would replicate any effort I was missing by not racing the mountain bike this weekend. In fact, it would probably give me a better high end and speed work out. The Masters race went well I suppose. Some older pro-ish dudes from Harley got up the road, team time trialed, and lapped us. There was some grumbling in the pack as to why “proish” guys race in the Masters but hey whatever. If they are old enough so be it. Me pappy always says “you are only as fast as the company you keep” so getting your ass kicked will make you work harder next time. The masters races are always a mix bag of characters anyhow. From your pro’s or ex-pro’s to fit newbie cat 4’s that lack the pack skillz. The racing is always hard but always a little sketchy do to the mix of experience with an always endless number of gaps to fill and bridge. I did some moving and shacking but mostly was in it for the training. I sat up with a half a lap to go as a “single-speed ultra-endurance specialist” I ain't got no sprint nor do I want to mix it up for the 8th place glory. I have no wife or kids to impress.

I had an hour break before the Pro1/2 so I grabbed some food and drink and spun around for a bit. This race was full tilt from the gun, but in a way it was easier. We were constantly going harder; however, we never slowed in the turns making the accelerations out of turns a little easier. In the prior race, with the disparity in experience we’d fly into the corner brake hard and accerate equally as hard out. In this race I barely touched the brakes and only stood up coming out of the finish line turn. ..which brings me to the conclusion… With about 20 laps to go I started feel a cramping twitch forming in my right leg when standing while exiting said turn. Now in a MTB race or even a road race you can ease up shake it out…etc. But in a crit not so much. With 12 to go that baby was in full cramp mode. Now remember by this point I had been racing close to 2 hours too. I also started to get that funky pre-bonk fuzzy grey vision thing going on. And again no time to eat. So with 10 to go I felt it most prudent for the safety of myself and my fellow homies to pull out. And by that point over half the field was gone so that aint so bad. By days end I raced 63 miles in 2 hours. Yup, it hurt!! Not bad for some silly mountain biker…what what!!

Alas we hit the dirt this coming weekend. I was supposed to do a double header but sadly the 100k on Saturday has been cancelled due to lack of participants..come on guys/gals buck up-- a 100k won’t kill ya!!! We Bi-atchs will be hitting WVMBA #3, the Tour Dah Lake. Last year we showed up 45 minutes after the start because we were saving wayward graffiti turtles. Hopefully this year we will make the start. Lastly I hope I am riding well because I am way behind in points now after skipping round 2 and we will be skipping round 4 for the Mohican 100. So I need a good finish. See ya out there!!!!

Sorry still no photos.

"May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face" and may your wheels always find it safely back to the ground.
PEACE Chris

Plan D: Has to work

Plan A: 12 Hours of Creek to Peak: Betsy, Gunnar and I in a 3 person pro team. Bunny had a mad scientist obligation that made the logistics difficult. Gunnar is old, frail and has an AARP obligation. We dipped out.

Plan A.5: Me going at it solo. I felt my legs would be too cooked for the silliness I have planned for next weekend and we have a rough month ahead of us. I dipped out.

Plan B: A MASS race in Pa. Mother Nature worked over the trails…race cancelled.

Plan C. Some little XC race in Richmond Va. Mother Nature worked over the trails…race cancelled.

Plan D: Double day of crit racn’ up in Maryland….good training I suppose

See ya out there fan.

PEACE
Chrissy