Cohutta 100 Part 2: A bad day in the mountains of Tenn.

Well fan, The Smokey Mountain’s was one hell of a perfect place to spend Earth Day weekend. I had forgotten just how beautiful this region is. The New Leaf Adventure Company was the home of the 1996 Olympic white water competition and is smack dab in the middle of some of the country's most amazing scenery fo-sho.

 

Goose's Ghetto-Camp

Their course was extremely physically demanding with a whole lot of gravel road riding…climb for 30 minutes, descend for 5, turn left and repeat…for 6+ hours. I certainly would have preferred more trails but man oh man did we climb a lot and the views at the top of the ridges….sweet!!!

We Bi-atch’s did not have a stellar weekend but an “ok” one. The Oldman DS and Bunny probably should not have raced due to a lingering and developing illness. Bunny has reported that she has retired from racing and will be taking up knitting. She will be missed. I fell apart BAD in between aid station 2 and 3 which resulted in me falling from 3rd with 2nd in sight to 6th. After crying for my mommy for about an hour I ate a whole lot, got it together and rallied like a champ putting myself into the pain box on my terms. Sadly, I was unable to regroup with 3rd-5th but they were flying so who knows.

By day's end, two of us made it in the prizes and one us rode in with an old fan making for one very happy old school MTBer supporter. This was not how any of us hoped or planned for but that is racing…riding hard, having fun and making the most of the experience.

Nars-- too tired to fake a smile

Bunny--note the feverish glint in her eye

Goose--looks like he needs some good homecookin' from Mammy

That is it for now.
RESULTS

Miss Jackie is begging Nars for some AC in this vehicle!!!

PEACE
Chrissy

Cohutta 100 Part1

Chilln' in Blacksburg, Va in some sweet Econo Lodge.
I got interweb and HBO so no VT hippy gals for me.
Life is good.
Back on the road in the late morn.
Then reg, set up camp, ride and look for the Shogren's hopefully before midnight.
Bring beer Shogren's.
Saturday 7am start...yippee!!!

Some press too..

Cohutta 100 or bust!!!

Spandex, camping gear and bike are ready to go in the morn.
Wish us luck fan!!!

Long Live Team Bi-atch and the Backyard Bike club

And whatever flavour you're racing for this year.
We will remain here... forever.

WVMBA #1: Big Bear

This is where you’ll find the Chrissy race reports this season fan so here we go….

Welp fan, I had a pretty good weekend of racing. I stopped by a crit in Virginia Saturday on my way to the first WVMBA race on Sunday. I was in a nice break that did not stick and it ended in a sprint so I sat up as I do not need to mix it up in that stuff these days. It was fun though. Then off to Morgantown….

Sunday was the WVMBA season opener at Big Bear. I was a little concerned about my fitness but at the end of the day I was pleased with were I am at. They had us single speeders start after the Pro/ex’s which stunk but it turned out well. The fast SSer’s had a lot of guys to plow through. I duked it out with Benji who lives literally next to the event so he knows EVERY rock and line. We were weeding our way through the geared guys when suddenly some skinny kid came bouncing by us. At first I thought it was a geared guy regrouping but shit no derailleur. I holler at Benji, he shrugs his shoulders and we continue on. I kept Benji in sight for the first 45 minutes. He helped design the course so chasing him all day kept me busy and on task. I lost sight of Benji for a bit but stayed focused and in the pain box when suddenly I caught the skinny kid, sweet I am in 2nd. I dug deep to regroup with Benji but by the end he did get the best of me so I ended up 2nd SS and 9th overall (with our delayed start). I am very happy with my fitness and riding so that is very cool. It should be a fun season and if with the turn out of over 200 riders is any indication WVMBA should have a good season too. There were many smiling new faces that are enjoying the lyfe which is great to see.

Photo Credit

Bunny got 1st, the old man 4th (Pro/ex) and Not So Fat Anymore Boy JR sandbanged and won the big boy class. Good work ByBc/Team Bi-atch/Cannondale.

We are headed out for Tennessee Thursday for the Cohuta 100 Saturday. A 100 miler in April is a little scary I have to admit. I suppose all the north-east-coasters are feeling that way though. Should be interesting. The Smokey Mountains are amazing so if anything the views should be great. It should be a painful blast no matter what. But I really feel a top 3 in the SS and a top 20 overall is very doable. Lets just see how many tan west coasters show up.

Check the 08 archives at Team Bi-atch

Shout outs and such…
- JR’s lovely almost wife Gina for running WVMBA while her slacker almost hubby races
- All that came out to ride, suffer, smile and enjoy.
- Cannondale, Matt and Uncle Rob

- Mark S. and the Big Bear family for hosting so many cool events
- The purty ladies in the woods screaming for me…us


"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

Fan our 09 posts will...

... be at The Backyard BikeClub blog

Save it to your favs. Enjoy!

Forget what he just said Fan.
He was mistaken.
Stay here for this.

Early season skinny tyre action!!!

Well fan, I do not have any fat tire updates but I do have a little double header road racing action. Saturday I headed up to the Tour of Walkersville a 70ish mile road race near Frederick, MD. The Pro1/2 was stacked with 80+ of the Mid-Atlantics toughest roadies and me the lone MTBer. We were single file and in the gutter from minute one echeloning Belgium Euro style, man was it windy, ouch. Then bam a big ole crash only three miles in. I did not go down but I did have to pull some super macho MTBer moves that found me with my foot down facing the wrong way. Eeck, a group of 15ish got away and a group of 20ish were heading out to chase. I chased, chased and chased some more. I got with a group of about 8 guys and assumed the “main” group would catch us in a lap or two. They never did. It was a good hard training day but as for racing not really. It was an odd day because of that early wreck. Sadly, there were a few other bad wrecks with one fella getting a lift out in a helicopter. I can only hope he is ok and that was only a precaution. By days end I ended up 22nd out of the 25 that finished. An epic in the mean wind and I did the fat tire peeps proud!!! Oh, I was only one there so I did myself proud. Yay me!!

I then high tailed over to Gunnar and Betsy’s house for another road race outside of Pittsburgh, Pa on Sunday morning.

The Mingo Road is a super cool little circuit. The P1/2/3 had 40ish guys lining up pretty and early. I do believe I was the only one in this group that had raced the day before and man were my legs stiff. I was a bit afraid going up the climb on the first lap as my legs felt like 2 by 4’s. Gunnar was moving and shaking with the mover a shakers up front while I was a spectator from the pack on the first two laps. The old man flatted going into lap 3 I believe at the same time things got real macho and fast up the climb. Sweet, I found my legs and crested to climb 3rd wheel. I engaged in some minimal macho moves near the front for a few laps but we stayed as a group of about 25 for the rest of the day. Gunnar snuck back in and kept the tempo high at the front but he was a lap down so he was tying to get a way to “unlap” himself…he failed but tried real hard. It came down to a 5 abreast sprint something I had no interests in playing in. So another good workout in the books. I can not wait to hit the dirt!!!

Betsy hand her hands full with two fast lady teammates from OH. They played those crazy reindeer games with her all day. She did great getting 4th in one super fast amazing sprint.

Uncle RobV. lent me his sweet ass Super-Six road bike for a few weeks so that I could be on a Cannondale during these pre-season road race leg and lung tune up. That thing is sweet, I need to get me one of them.

So one more weekend of road racing and then the dirt with the WVMBA opener the following weekend. Ah, then down to the Cohutta 100 in Tn. for the first NUE race. I am hoping to better my 3rd place in the SS series this season.

Well that is that. Some sore legs but I am safe and smiling spreading the Cannondale love.

Time for some mall laps with grandma. Spring Break in snowy NY!!!!!

PHOTO CREDIT: stolen from fans on FB, thanks

"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

It has begun!!!

My gear bag is packed and at the door ready to go from now until December.
The lyfe has begun.
Such is the lyfe.
I heart the lyfe.

1 road race down
We are pre-reged for the 24hrs and Cohutta 100.
So it is on like Donkey Kong fan.
And we all look real sexy in our Italian made Cannondale kits too.
We all are too sexy.

"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

Big rides and Jedi mind tricks!!!

Well fan, we at Team Bi-atch had our first 09’ winter camp this past weekend. It was also combined with our team’s club, The Backyard Bike Club (BYBC), training camp too.

Little did we know we'd still be going 100 miles later. Dave Light's wheel blew up early.

Saturday was a super duper cool road ride mostly out in Greene County, Pa. Betsy, Gunnar and I rode out to meet up with some folks for a pre-ride on the Morgantown Road Race course (April 11).

 

We rolled out with about 20 gals and guys but quickly a few guys needed to get all macho and stupid hammering away.

Big happy group of cyclists attending the 1st BYBC ride.

 

We heard later that they “wanted to go hard” and that it “was too sketchy” riding in group…blah blah… poop on you and you all get the gas face. Yes, Betsy and the gals would have kicked your butts up the climbs and yes they will kick your butts on April 11...GAS FACE!! Anyway, it was road bikes and we all know what happens when boys and road bikes get together. Sometimes riding with others who share the passion and teaching them the ropes is better then getting the right amount of Jiggawatts out of your Fluxcapacitor. Either way, each group did its thing and we all had fun, we were all riding our bikes in the hills.

Some of the flora of WbgV.

So Betsy, Gunnar, JR, Laura, Keen, Matt Marcus, Auvid, Siera, Tricia and I rode hard, climbing a lot, chatted and had whole lot of wicked fun. The course is mean and will truly test your climbing form. Team Bi-atch left the Backyard Bike Club after 60 miles and went on down the road knocking out a century in mid-Febuary. 7 hours of saddle time and over 8 of chamois time, what what. Awesome day, with equally awesome peeps.

I got to play a little Jedi mind tricks on Yoda Gunnar too.
I flatted half way through the ride and the following occurred.

That bug rode on Goose's forehead for 100 miles.

Me: Shit, Fulcrum rims suck for getting tires off (they really do)and I only have one tire lever.
Gunnar, Matt and Kean: All chime in…you sissy, wimp….blah blah…do it with your hands.
Me: After getting 3 screws in my thumb last year I do not have that strength and again these Fulcrum rims suck.
Gunnar: You F-ing &^%$ give me that.
(He tries to remove the tire with out a lever and fails. He grabs the tire lever, swears at me and struggles but is successful.)

Me: They are just as hard to put back on. Sometimes you have to use a lever.
Gunnar, Matt and Kean: F-ing….blah, blah….you wimp…we can do it.
Me: ok
(Gunnar begins wrestling with it failing miserably. Matt helps and finally the TWO of them get the tire on the rim.)

My flat is fixed and I did nothing.
The force is strong in this one it is!!!..hehe

Goose and Bunny at the 100 mile mark.

"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

100 miles!

It pains me to say that gunnar and Jackie were the last two standing this weekend. 

Tour of California...wait for us

Crap, our ds DS Gunnar did it again. Just like last year he got the Tour of California dates wrong.
Do you see our names?
http://www.velonews.com/article/87172/tour-of-california-releases-final-rosters-for-the-race

Thats right, no!!
I guess we will have to stick to the dirt.

Ok, more coffee and a 4 hour fixie ride!!!

Maybe next year. Tear it up Floyd, do it for your dirt roots!!!

Winds are blowing indeed

And that means that it's time to start paying more attention to your-
Riding and Drinking.

Head on over to Cycle-Dumb to be refreshed, reconstituted, reconditioned, and regurgitate.

Yeah boy.

The Winds of Change

Sorry for the lack of updates fan. Things have been slow over here at the Road and Cross-headquarters in DC. And since I did not go CX natz SOMEONE else was in charge of giving an update…Ehm!

The 09 training has begun. The Director Sportiff and Bunny have been riding a bit and turning in the screws on Sundays at the Bakers ride in Morgantown. I have been running a lot, XC skied a bit while I was in NY for the holidays and began riding this past weekend (10+hours in 3 days aint bad especially on a fixie). MikeY, member at large, I am sure is taking care of him self in between diaper duty. Our newest member Pickleboy AKA Fatboy AKA JR who is still on probation ,well, has had an endless list of excuses as to why he has not been doing too much. But we forgive him. He is new to the Bi-atch Lyfe.

So today I headed out after watching all the Obama action on the tellie. I was hoping to ride for 2-2.5 hours and then head down to the National Mall by 3ish to see and be apart of some of the tail-end action. I headed out and did my “bike racer” ride and then hopped on the Capitol Crescent trail that connects Rockville, MD to Georgetown (Wash,DC). On a normal warm day this trail can be packed with all sorts of folks enjoying themselves. On this cold and nasty day it was pretty empty. Only the hardiest of soul would be out. You know us macho racer types (only saw one other), the most dedicated commuter, the messengers and those that see a bike purely as a utilitarian device because they have too. It was not a kind day to be riding.

As I was making my way down the path excited by the change in the frozen air I began passing swarms of cyclist not dressed in fancy lycra or super cool Pearl Izumi this and that. Many were dressed more for skiing then cycling but the majority were in “street” cloths, way under dressed for the ride home they had before them after a long day on the National Mall. They all looked cold but all had smiles as they like me felt the change in the air. I waved to all with a smiling howdy. Most returned the pleasantry, many seemed surprised by the lycra-clad cyclist being polite and happy, and all were huffing up what can be a bit of tough climb from Georgetown. We were all sharing in the same emotion. The change in the air and the freedom of being on two wheels. Now many of these bikes won’t see the light of day for another few years after today but I am certain many will be out again this spring because it will help people remember this day. A day that saw change on so many levels and people will want to relive that. Relive a time change and time of freedom that they experienced while riding on a cold winter day in January. Smiles a-plentiful!!!

Pretty darn cool indeed!!!

"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