Bolton Bill

Bill sent along some pictures of his weekend at Bolton Valley.
I liked this one the best, I call it Bolton Bus Bill meets Saturday Night Fever.
Stayin alive, staying alive...

Here is a short video clip

don't worry the second guy is OK

looks worse than it seems?? (says Bill)

Oh, now I remember why I got AWAY from freeriding

Thanks for passing along William.

---Point the arrow --->

The following post is directed to the many cycling junkies out there that suffer with stabbing lower back pain DURING long races and adhesions the size of concord grapes in the shoulder area RESULTING from hours in a crunched position on the saddle.
I was given some very effective advice from Betty. Now that the MTB season is almost over I'll share this info with my competition :) (I mean my friends) This advice is not so much about pain relief but pain avoidance. I call it "point the arrow".
The longer the race, the more time spent in the pain box. I have made the mistake in longer races by hurting myself with bad race posture. Crunched into a ball after hours of climbing, curving my spine, Abdomen & obliques tightened, clenching the bars with knuckles glowing white, gritting teeth, squeezing facial muscles, squinting eyes...(sounds like fun huh MOM?)
Point the arrow is simple but I didn't quite figure it out untill Betty explained it in a very simple way...so I'll share her advice and it might help you too.
When standing against a wall with eyes pointed straight in front of you, take your hand and touch the very top of your head. This is the point of your arrow.
Back to your bike...It's hour five of a 100 mile race, you are suffering half way up on a huge slope. Instead of crunching into a ball and tightening up --point the arrow-->...turn your pelvis, lengthen and straighten your back. Imagine that you must break into the earth's atmosphere with just one point of your body and this is the very top of your head. NOT down low but at a comfortable upright postion. crazy talk? Try it.
Pelvis--back--neck--head--> aligned. Now point the arrow. Don't bend your neck but look with your eyes. Head in line, stomach muscles now release because you are lengthening your spine and straightening not crouched over. Blood flow improves to your core, breathing greatly improves, overall stress level dramatically drops, release facial muscles, now the hands...bend the elbows and release pressure from the palms.
Fun level returns. Pain subsides. Drop the hammer.
VT50 report to come... yes I did allot of arrow pointing.

OK, enough about bike pain, how bout some bike hotties from interbike '07???

A favorite race this weekend

This weekend I'll be visiting an old friend that I haven't seen in four years. This is the friend that spawned my obsession with pain and discomfort many years ago. Forced me recognize the importance of nutrition and was the impetus to train in order to overcome leg cramps and endless climbs. This friend.. VT50. Looking forward to it, bittersweet because it's the final mountain bike race for me this year. I am a lucky guy indeed. It's going to be a memorable reunion I hope.
On the Igleheart news front: There's a great Boston Globe article about Christopher, his passion for providing two wheeled vehicles to the world, hand made, one at a time. Don't know why the scowl on my face...maybe cause I had a flat? Can't remember...And yes, we called each other before this ride to be sure we were color coordinated.

Per a phone conversation with curious George earlier today I was reminded that I've been neglecting my blog audience, sorry. As for the kitchen project.. almost wrapped up. Maybe by Thanksgiving we'll be truly done. The punch list is dwindling but lingering none the less. Here's a before and after of what Lesli and I have been doing at home.

Hard to believe that it's the same room, or that we didn't do it sooner.

Gus helped too, and boy he's tired.

And this was just dropped off by the mail man...
In our hasty departure from the Great Glen 24 hour race we didn't have the opportunity to stand on the podium next to our worthy opponents. Mary has sent on the medal and trophy. Thank you. Funny, this is the second reminder of that race this week. Wednesday I was teamed up with Jon Bernhard for "Madison" drills at ECV 'cross practice. Jon was a driving force on the MTB Mind team that we battled with for 24 hours. We both laughed, now on the same team for a short time Wednesday.

Double Hoo'na and 29'er Review

The air was crisp, clear and a bit chilly but I didn't go for the tights quite yet. I did opt for the long sleeves and glad to have them. Sunday's high temp for Boston was in the low sixties. The best of riding conditions in my opinion. Rain on Saturday flattened out the trails and dust was at a minimum. Glen Cook, Jon Stanwood and myself rode from the hood to Gordon and points north on a modified double K that would take us 6+ hours to complete. Two Planned Sags along our route where I stashed a gallon of water and fruit the previous night.

Whoops, next time I'll put the bananas in an animal-proof box and not just tie them to a tree in a plastic shopping bag!

Multiple choice; choose the best answer...
(a) Glen helping John place his bike on the other side of the guard rail
(b) two riders having a closer look at the rear wheel
or
(c) Glenn using the guard rail to bend back John's big ring!





The view from atop Red Rock, visibility was ~30 miles

Now for a quick review on my Igleheart 29'er Single Speed.

I can now write an informative review on my new ride now that I've had some longer rides on my new Favorite bike. I've started to sell off my 26 inch components and am hooked on the 29 inch wheels. This thing rocks on the rocks! The larger wheels fill in gaps that 26 inch wheels get stuck in...bottom line is that 29'ers run smoother over the rough and seem more stable.

A slightly longer wheelbase aids in out of the saddle climbing and high speed descents. My Igleheart 29'er likes to attack rocky climbs and loose conditions and really digs in. As a new comer to one gear riding I can tell you that attacking climbs is a big part of the ss riding style, especially where I live. Small technical ascents and rocky descents is what we've got here on the north shore of Boston...and glad to have 'em. I notice a huge improvement on traction in general while standing on climbs. The bigger wheel up front allows for better descending characteristics and although the Reba that I've chosen only provides 3 inches of travel up front this bike handles downhills with ease.

With a downside to everything, a 29 inch wheel is most likely weaker than a 26 inch wheel and more susceptible to warping. For this reason I don't think that many 29'er down hill bikes will be roaring down the face of whistler any time soon but you never know.

Another trait I've noticed is directly due to the lower top tube of the frame on this bike. Not only does it's position provide for better clearance but makes for a stiffer bike laterally. This is important because (from my own brief experience) SS riding involves more lateral torque on the frame as you twist, pull and stomp the pedals to the top of climbs.

I am having a absurdly large time with this new bike and can't wait for another ride. Thanks again to Christopher Igleheart. You done good!

I stashed sag #2 under a pile of rocks in B+T's...provided a safe haven for vital replenishment :)

Missouri was friendly to my neighbors

The tour of Missouri was kind to Jesse and Tim

but more like the tour of Misery for Huff

Brad Huffs bike (Slipstream-Chipotle) was determined to get to the finish line with or without him

Tim Johnson (Healthnet) comes to the front to help bring back the break

Jesse Anthony Kodak/Sierra Nevada comes to help teammate Dominic Rollin with the 3rd place

Fourth placed overall Dominque Rollin (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada) and third placed David Cañada (Saunier Duval-Prodir) only one second ahead. After Rollin won the first intermediate sprint just ahead of Cañada, it was down to the finish sprint. "With one kilometre to go I had two team-mates left with me and I jumped at a good moment," said Rollin. "They did an amazing job to keep me up there. Jesse [Anthony] dropped me off with 300 metres to go and it may have been a little too soon but it worked out perfect. I am happy with my accomplishment here."

Shenandoah Mountain 100

Get Pumped!

I was stoked to be on a single gear for this years Shenandoah 100. More out of curiosity and to try something new. The opportunity came last week when vicious cycles finished up the paint job on my Igleheart 29 Single Speed..."send it overnight!" Which they did and my frame arrived Wednesday morning and was built Wednesday evening at the Shop.

I woke early the following morning and threw my leg over the top tube for the first time and tore around my local trails for an hour. Instantly noticed the improved traction of the over sized 29x2.25 tires and the gear felt right at 32x18...but what the hell did I know about that.. having never been stuck in one gear. I looked forward to riding all day on this new ride with no ambition of a podium finish, it just kinda happened :)

Go Hard in the front yard Ramponi!

Jeff and I were camped with some fellow Bostonians, Karen Potter, Jeff Gilman, IF's Lloyd Graves, and Mike Ramponi. Here's Ramponi and his vintage 1988 "top banana" jersey. Quite a statement about cycling as the fountain of youth, the jersey still fits after all these years. This long time ss'er has been "hard in the front yard!" for the better part of 20 years and still rockin. Mike turned in a 6th place in SS this year at SM100. Floyd was a class act, hanging around for hours post race, enjoying conversation with fellow mtb'ers and drinking his share of old dominion Sunday night. Swamper and Buck tried to feed him some good'ol West Virginia whiskey after we kicked many kegs. Landis sipped from the shot glass but turned down his rock star opportunity.
There's a great story on Cycling news of how the race unfolded and how Harlan Price and Jeff Schalk took on Floyd Landis, and about Sue Haywood totally destroyed her course record.

This is a picture from last years Shenandoah Mountain 100 but the weather was identical this time around. Early morning start and the sun rose just in time to don my shades for an all day spin. I stood on the line with Jeff Whittingham but as soon as Chris Scott bid 475 riders farewell that was the last I saw of Jeff. The pack swallowed me like a whale shark swallows a million plankton. Perfectly ok tho. I was there to ride all day and forget about the race as I spun 180 rpm for the first five or six miles. Geared riders were off the front and I was now surrounded by some SS guys I'd yo-yo with for the next eight and a half hours. Topher Valenti, Rich Dillon, Tim Dougherty , Jason Morgan, and Benji Klimas.
I was constantly looking around for Ramponi and Buck Keich hoping to ride a portion of the race with those dudes. Buck later told me that he was slowed with a flat while negotiating a large puddle on the first fire road. As for Mike and I actually heard him from high above on the Lynn Trail switchback shouting "I get to ride my bike all day".
The climb to Brailey's I remembered all too well from last year. I was fairly comfortable on the ascent, and sat aboard eating oatmeal cookies that my wife Lesli had made. I stuffed my jersey pockets full of these tasty cookies, no wrappers to drop or fidget with and no chocolate in the cookies to melt. My fueling plan now in full effect and I was hoping it would last till aid 4 where I could refuel.

The single track descent off Braily's was my favorite part again this year. Fast was not a problem, let go of the brakes, pick a good line and don't take too many risks on the tight off-chamber single track. Throw down a turbo pedal blast every now and then. The fat tires and plush Reba fork were soaking it all in. I loved how silent the SS was. No chain slap or gears to crunch or mis-shift.(photo courtesy of Jonathan Bruck)

Aid 4 I asked the attending mechanic to tighten my pedals two clicks each as I rapidly ate 11 orange slices machine gun style. I changed up bottles and had a cpl Advil and was back aboard for the long road stretch which would have totally sucked without help.
The road stretch ends with a right turn, over the river and up to a mile & 1/2 hike-a-bike that I mostly walked. I heard someone riding behind and got out of the way...Topher laying down the power. Good ride man! as he passed. This was my low point last year but this year I seemed to be hanging tough...must be the oatmeal cookies.
About twenty minutes before hitting the climb to Shenandoah Mountain I was alone on a false flat gravel road spinning my brains out and looking up the road at a group of 5 or 6 riders. As I closed in I could identify the unmistakable turbo pedaling traits of four SS guys. At this point I still didn't realize that Tim Dougherty had mechanical trouble with his rig and was forced out of the race..but instead thought he was tearing up the race and had escaped all of us. I could see from my vantage Topher was being reeled in by Rich, Benji and Jason and I was closing in just as fast. We soon grouped along with two geared riders and rolled together in a pod three across on the gravel road that seemed to mostly dip down to Shenandoah.
This was the coolest part of the race. Everybody was resting, conserving for what was coming. Friendly conversation in the air. It was clearly the calm before the storm and we all knew it.

The right turn up Shen, Jason took off, me next. Not looking back till getting to aid 5 near the top. Dicky came by and matched Jason's level of intensity. I was still in conservation mode, pedaling while seated, laying down power but remembering the length of this cigar shaped mountain must be in the neighborhood of ten miles and figured I'd reel Rich in somewhere in between. Simply not the case. Those guys held in there for the next hour placing 1st and second. I was stoked to grab third in the single speed race. Maybe the most fun I've ever had in a race. Later I'd realize that I beat my last year's time by 21 minutes placing 27th over all. sweet. Now that 12 hour drive from New England was worth it.

craziest guy out there (on a fixed gear) Tomi McMillar
turned in a 9th in SS

Eatough and Price #1 and #2 respectively in the NUE Series

Fast women of Shenandoah

Fast men of Shenandoah

Shaping up to be a good weekend...

Got some laughs with Bill, Ant and Jarred while building up the new rig for the weekend's adventure down in Va. SM100 on a single gear is going to be a learning curve but I'll have 100 miles to figure it out.

Heading back to Stokesville Virginia for the SM100 today. Looks like the heavy hitters in the endurance series will have a guest celeb to battle with at the Shenandoah 100 this weekend. Go Harlan! A couple adjustments needed and my new bike will be ready to rip. The Stans wheels and bontrager 2.25 tires are going to be super comfy, just hope they hold air! Thanks to Christopher Igleheart for another race worthy ride. A full write up to follow on how the new 29'er single speed performs after we return.

Chased by dogs, bit by bees, and a seated flip.

The first running of the Hampshire 100k was Sunday. Theme for the race, don't underestimate this one or it'll bite - I got the teeth marks to prove it. First mistake was to run a rigid fork..I've wanted to go rigid for at least one race this year, fox blew a seal last weekend at GG24 I figured it was a no brainer. The jarring and dribble vision, not too bad, my biceps will eventually re-attach to the necessary ligaments, maybe.

My seated flip came early in the race while bombing down the right side of a railroad bed. Freakish that I was unscathed after my left pedal made solid contact to a high railroad tie and sent me soaring on a seated front flip. Happened in a flash. Duck and roll, fractured helmet and returned rubberside up...then the spill sent me careening off the ten foot embankment while my bike gathered kinetic energy with a single bounce off another railroad tie. Like a super ball it sprang up into the trees and then crashed down ten feet beside me. I jumped to my feet and looked for blood. One word. freakish. No blood. No broken bones, face intact. Helmet, well I can get another. Bike...not so lucky. Didn't notice the dent in the top tube till 5 hours later upon finishing the race.

About the landscape of southern NH, I had no idea that Greenfield NH was the sand capital of the world. I saw more sand in those 62.5 miles than any beach I've ever been to. Maybe next year they'll cut out the 30 minutes of perfectly straight sand road that was once a rail bed. Would have been more bearable if I'd had someone to work with during that time but found myself alone trying in vain to gap up to two guys 600 ft off my bow.

The second half of the race was nice. Degraded jeep roads and small rocky climbs with small road section in between. The final few miles were single track with views of southern NH. Very sweet. I was only lost once for 10 minutes near mile thirty and after surviving that seated roll I didn't really care what position I held in the race but somehow pulled of a second place in senior II expert behind my blog bud Rick.

Congrats to all that did this one. Some pictures captured from my spiffy low quality camera phone.

new meaning of "will work for beer"

La Ruta Reenie!

Pakistan Roz!

Good ride Glen

Lloyd!

Wake up Rick, time for the podium

Brad growing sleepy

More personality for big red

24 hours of Great Glen

A cannon blast echoed through the Mount Washington valley. It was noon on Sunday and I let out a giant yee haw. The blast was the sign we were waiting to hear, the race was officially over. All racers on course finish up a final lap and get off your bikes for a while. 24 hours on a four man team and I got the gravy lap, and savored every moment.

One last time through the tunnel. Up the grassy switchback climb and up again to the newer section of single track, to be rewarded with a technical squirly decent, and onward to many miles of fast carriage road and small sections of swoopy connector trails. By now I could ride that loop with my eyes closed, and so could any of the other 426 participants... especially the 53 soloists in this year's 24 hours of Great Glen...
Memories of the weekend will play in my mind providing visions that will make me smile and laugh out loud for years to come. To the guys on my team, thanks for the memories. Sorry we didn't bring home gold but we gave the other "elite" team a run for their money.
The weekend started ugly.. The battery died in Thom's Volvo en rout to the venue, with a car load of men and gear. We truly were living up to our team name, Go Ugly Early. We quickly overcame the dilemma by extracting the battery from my Subaru in a bus station parking lot and placing it in Thom's engine compartment. With the battery swap behind us we drove three hours into the White Mountains and arrived in time to setup camp and get organized.

My teammates, Thom Parsons, and Greg 'the leg' Montello and I spun a warm up lap while our fourth man, Jeff Whittingham was voted "fast guy"... Meaning he'd run around the pond to start the race. Once in a while it pays to be the slow guy ya know. Conditions on the course were superb, dry and fast. Jeff had a great first lap coming in 30 sec behind first. Montello went next and turned in his first of many blazingly fast runs on his prototype IF 26 Ti/lefty to move into the lead. Then my turn. It hurt but went fine, held my own. Thom on his SS up next...don't know how he pushes that 32x18 to the velocity he achieves. If there's anyone with movie clips of Thom P on course please share cause I'm baffled and think the world needs to witness the focus and brutality it takes to rip 40 minute laps at GG on a single gear bike.

Our team was fueled on humor, respect and experience. To say the least it was a good time with friends. Moving into the night laps Greg had a light malfunction and I recorded two slow laps (46's) to back us into second place pro men where we would battle unsuccessfully for the remainder of the race.

Harry Precourt won the mental game with the mountain bringing home gold in the solo men 19-39. The Wilderness 101 last weekend was just the warm-up you needed to pedal 195.5 miles to victory this weekend Harry, good stuff. Hope you recover well and listen to you father, stay out of that stone yard for a cpl days.. :)

Jason Achilich won the men's SS solo. Good for you man. I saw him out there rocking his way to victory on his last lap. Funny thing about this event, as Roz said it too... for such a small course (8.5 miles) I only saw a few of my friends but for a brief moment during the race. Jason once, Harry once and didn't get the chance to see Roz on course at all, Btw congrats to IBC and Roz for your win in the expert 4 person women's field. The only person I WAS aiming to buzz was Western cycle Bill but never saw him either ; )

To all that I did buzz, sorry. I tried to be respectful out there in the wee hours of the morning as the soloists were suffering silently in their self made cocoons of body fluid and chamois cream. Every one I passed I said a quick "howdy do" knowing the only real suffering I'd do would be waiting for my next lap back at camp, cold and wet and tring to decide weather or not to change from my clammy chamois or just slip my sleeping bag on and grab a quick nap.

Thanks to Christopher Igleheart and son Max for cookin up some tasty pasta at night and more importantly coffee on Sunday am. Good to have you both there for support.

Next up Hampshire 100K.

W101 report

This race recap brought to you by the letter P

Perpetually pedaling with pounding palpitations without pursuit preconceptions or the posterior pang resulting from propulsive power output, instead persisting with a plan and a pace to plug away on piles of precipice and patiently plummeting on prolonged Pennsylvania pitches.

Well, that quickly sums it up. For a more detailed account read on...

Friday morning nine of us met at Seven Cycles to caravan down to Pa in the spacious accommodations of two vans. Skip Brown, driver of Whiptastic Van #1 was accompanied by ever present W101 racers Kerry Combs, Lloyd Graves, Greg Montello and Mike Ramponi. Bunch of strong peeps, should be a good weekend... Van # 2 was provided to us and driven by Harry Precourt. Thanks HP. you da man. Rolling with Harry in the big diesel van #2 was myself, Thom Parsons and Jeff Whittingham and a large amount of camping and bike gear.

We only got lost once in rural Pa when our map failed us a little but we stopped for directions and quickly got back on course.

Camp set up was quick and comfortable and we got right down to business eating lots of pasta and going to bed super early, 9:30 pm. Jeff had loaned me his 27 year old boy scout tent to sleep in, thank you very much. Kept the dew away and was quite comfy. As I layed in the tent in the out skirts of the soft grassy field in Coburn Pa I was pretty psyched to be there, not nervous but anxious to get it on. I wasn't much of a student while in school, JUST getting by most of the time. Home work was always completed half ass directly before it was due with minimal effort applied. Laying in the tent I felt confident I had done my homework this time. An honest effort put in. But more importantly I felt thankful for being in this position, for being healthy and strong enough to take on such a task and pumped to be living this lifestyle. To do what we were about to do..something that might seem unimaginable to most people.

Rise and shine was early. Got a really good night of sleep thanks to ear plugs that softened the piercing chirp of a million chirping crickets. chirp chirp.

Oats with banana and a cpl swigs of coffee and I and over two hundred racers, geared up ready to ride all day. We stood on the start line listening to Chris Scott on the mic with race directions.

Endurance events typically have a nice rolling start and this was the most civilized rolling start that I've ever experienced. For more than twenty miles we rolled together as a peleton on hilly wilderness fire roads. Kicking up a huge dust cloud on the first long decent it paid to be way up on the field. Things quickly broke up after aid #1 and the pros put a gap on a few chase groups.

I was with Greg "the leg" and my boy JW trying not to burn early. Having never met Montello, or ridden with him, I was pretty impressed with his climbing strength as he gapped me on most ascents. I grabbed the lead on a grassy downhill and opened it up and thankfully kept the bicycle upright and puncture free.

Jeff was having an especially strong day in the saddle, making it look like child's play. Strong enough to sprint out of sight but experienced enough to know better. Pretty stoked that I was there with these dudes, and pretty sure they felt the same. A reoccurring thought was that Thom Parsons and Harvey Minton were going to come up and join us at any moment. I knew they were back there, wanting it, fighting like hell, only a minute or two behind. When would the cloak of invisibility be shed and one or both of them appear? Another day, another race. I am sure of that.

Some quick tech sections and mostly gravel roads for the first 60 miles. Greg and Jeff had gone ahead ten minutes leading up to the Sassafras climb, the first real climb of the day. Jeff had suffered a fall at a high rate of speed on the gravel but picked himself up to come back strong. It was an unfortunate mishap and bad timing on my part, for that I'm sorry bro. I was passing on the left to give my good friend a much deserved pull precisely as the road dove down and to the left subsequently leaving JW skating right on an unfavorable line strewn with ball bearing rocks atop a slippery off chamber line of death and dirty road rash. Later cold beer numbed his wounds as he told the tale of how his good friend buried his dick in the dirt to anyone who'd listen...that was pretty much every one. Sorry again.

This tale reminds me of a couple twenty year olds in rural Maine in '97 on an epic ride, one guy loses a crank bolt and can only crank with one leg...One guy (me) aids the disabled rider (Daren)to the top of the hill by pushing on the middle of his back. As we crest the apex and I deliver a final shove, my handle bar gets crossed up with his shorts and I instantly go down to eat pavement.

Oh well, back to the race... So I'm alone now chasing about 15 riders in front, including JW and Greg, but I don't look at it that way. I am simply eating huge amounts of food and drinking gallons of whatever liquid I have aboard. It's 90 degrees in the shade, and my only thought is to stave off Mr bonk for another 40 miles and get done.

Now on some fun trails, fast gnarly single track with twists and turns, small trees and slightly banked turns. I rip around another turn and to my astonishment there they both are. Greg had suffered a flat that slowed his progress and JW had snapped his seat post that had ended his incredible day of racing the 101. We spoke briefly.."anything I can do?" He had tried to fix the snapped aluminum post but the broken section was frozen in the steel frame. I felt for him, but nothing I could do. He had a shot at top ten, instead the sag wagon awaited him at aid 4.

Another aid station, more enduralight pills, some vitamin I and yet another cliff bar. Another climb and a few more fast descents and I gapped up to Benji and Les leach. Fortuitous timing as I showed up, we quickly had a trail side safety meeting where we shared a friendly moment. Five or six miles later I am again joined with Benji and Matt F as we start climbing the final 1000 ft hill. Legs feeling heavy, I am spinning without real power mostly just wanting it over. I had hoped that I'd be able to attack at this moment but could only going through the motions, spinning away up the climb as Benji attacks Matt and leaves us all in the dust. Pretty impressive show of fortitude and strength this late in the game. Wish I had kick left in the sticks, got passed one more time on the long descent off that nasty last hill..oh well. I limped on to finish in 19th.

No flats, no broken bike, no bonk. My idea of good time. :)

Rick came all the way from vacation land
I think they should call Maine Lobster land

top SS'er

Buck is a miracle worker

wet melba toast

Skip was fresh as daisies post race and decided to spin home to Massachusetts on his 36x17