Love2Ride

Ipswitch Cleanup

2010-01-11T13:31:00.003-05:00

Us Southside Islanders have one little patch of woods that we can MTB on. This past weekend it got a nice cleanup. Creeks were unclogged, re-routes were done, the city even donated some gravel.

Probably 40+ people made it out there throughout the day on Saturday. MTBers, DJers, local nieghbors, even a reporter and a photo journalist. Very nice.

RideOn to Ipswitch....

Happy Holidays

2009-12-29T11:42:00.003-05:00

to all ........

For D-Bo :

Here gator,gator..........here gator,gator...........

RideOn,
JB

Cross Nats

2009-12-13T12:25:00.005-05:00

Colt and the Cyclingdirt team will be broadcasting LIVE coverage of Men and Women Elite today from Ore-E-Gone today :

12:35 AM: Pre Race Show
12:45 AM: Collegiate Men's D1 Race
1:30 AM: Live Post Race Interviews from Collegiate Men's Race
1:45 AM: Pre Race Show
2:15 AM: Elite Women/ U23 Women's Race
2:55 AM: Live Post Race Interviews from Elite/ U23 Women's Race
5:00 PM: Pre Race Show
5:30 PM: Elite Men's Race
5:30 PM: Live Post Race Interviews from Elite Men's Race

Times are EST Enjoy

JB

Trouble in Williamsburg?

2009-12-09T10:06:00.010-05:00

That's Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York - Not Williamsburg Virginia.

Seems there's been a conflict over bike lanes between the local community and the cyclists.

Some bike lanes were removed.

From the NewYorkPost :

A source close to Mayor Bloomberg said removing the lanes was an effort to appease the Hasidic community just before last month's election.

Some adventerous cyclists took it upon themselves to repaint the lanes -

You can read a bit more on it here.

Wish we could all just get along........

RideOn

JB

Santos Epic

2009-11-30T11:54:00.010-05:00

Got a chance to ride around the Santos Trail System. It's been over 3 years since I've been there and the folks and the OMBA have been pretty busy.

Since I was there last they got some stuff done :

Completed MANY miles of trails

Totally reworked the Vortex section with the cooperation of IMBA

Recived the Epic designation by IMBA - The first time IMBA gave that designation to an ENTIRE trail system.

Started the day by riding the 42 mile Epic trail route. Sweet fast big ring single track. From flowing high speed slalom to tight blind turns. Mostly easy, non tech stuff but great to get fast off-road miles in.

The last section "Shangri-la" with the Nayls trails is about 11 miles long, much more interesting and gives you a reason to get off of the big ring.

It's nice to be able to ride 42 miles ALL on single track! Woot! Well - there's actually about 3 miles of multi-use trail on an old forest road through the Christmas section on the way back in.

Along the way I took a few excursions to do the the Twister and Canal Digging trails. All in all the day netted 55+ single track miles and an ear-to-ear perma-grin.

No trip to Santos is complete without going to "the Other Side" aka the Vortex. I love that sign. More Free-Ride, DJ and big drop stuff than you can possibly describe. Pump tracks galore. Progressive drops and lines to build skills. Pretty cool that this stuff could be built and maintained on state owned property.

The Vortex also has some really nice techy trails all around and through it. Much of it is used for the 12 hrs of Santos in February.

My pocket camera was out of service so all the photos are with the trusty iPhone, so sry for the quality.

RideOn

Post Day of Thanks

2009-11-27T19:27:00.012-05:00

Cleaned 2-3 years of dust off an old steed and took it for an early morning TurkeyDay ride.

Looked for some Thanksgiving dinner on the way and came up with a few prospects :

But I didn't have the heart to put 'em on the table, so they got the presidential pardon.

Went to check out some Florida single track at the BigLittle Econ State Park. 8-9 miles on the road to get to the trails. Wasn't too bad especially since you got to pass through the Ville of the Taint.

Seems like they should be soliciting DZ to have his product made and shipped from here. It would be a match made in heaven if ya ask me.

Sampled some nice flowy single track

on this fine old steed

Can't decide what makes this bike so sexy and fast. Gotta be either the "Pro" decal or the sweet sexy seat bag.

Hope everyone had a great TurkeyDay and got a chance to get your

RideOn

Is Cyclocross Hip?

2009-11-23T15:47:00.001-05:00

RideOn

JB

Man of Many Talents

2009-11-15T20:12:00.006-05:00

La Ruta de los Conquistadores wrapped up yesterday. Many, many stories and much drama from this self described "World's Toughest Mountain Bike Race".

The FAST JB exercised his body and exorcised some demons down there. He successfully finished the stage that almost killed him a few years back, and kissed the ground when he was done. If it wasn't for a few mechanicals and some wrong turns, he might of been the 1st American to ever win it.

Forever young Tinker had similar navigational problems that led to a DQ for not following the course. He got back on his magic carpet and finished the last 2 stages "off the record". He was first over the top on the toughest climb on day three.

Manny Prado, a Costa Rico native won the race, fulfilling a dream he had 6 years ago when he first entered.

The second stage featured a new climb that was an hour long at a pitch of %30. When Jeremiah says its "The toughest, steepest thing I've ever ridden", you know it's for real.

Check CyclingDirt for some awesome coverage and many, many, great interviews.

Perhaps the most compelling story was of Ben Bostrom. "BBoz" is no stranger to going fast on 2 wheels.

His motorcycle palmares include multiple AMA Championships, Superbike and Sportbike wins around the world, and even an X-Game gold medal! photo credit AlpineStars.com

This was his FIRST mountain bike race. WHAT! That's right his first mountain bike race - and he's out there mixin' it up with the best in the world. He only rides 4 months a year - when he's not racing his moto.

He won the Masters A 30-39 division with a total time that would've been good enough for a 5th in the Open division. Next year he's actually going to train for the event - WATCHOUT!.
Check this video of some BBoz craziness at LagunaSeca.

The post race interview is great. On the final pavement section of the last stage he gets his first real experience in a "pro" paceline, and learns all about the chicken wing.

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt
Pretty amazing.

Speaking of men of many talents - Metro's post that had Christopher Walken performing Lady Gaga's Pokerface reminded me of this old Fatboy Slim video :

via videosift.com
RideOn
JB

This Is a Test

2009-11-13T23:07:00.002-05:00

and should probably be administered to everyone before they get a driver's license.

RideOn

JB

"Atlantic ASSualt"?

2009-11-13T09:49:00.009-05:00

Went for a ride yesterday anyway. Steady 50 mph winds, gusts over 70. Learned a few things :

- It is possible (though not advisable) to ride through water that is up to your top tube.

- You can't hop logs when they are floating on top of the water.

The bridge itself is "only" covered by 18"of water. This was at LOW tide.

The"experts" from the Weather Channel have been down at the ocean front talking about beach erosion for the last 2 days. They've really missed the story.

Entire nieghborhoods are under water.

The Lesner bridge over Lynnhaven inlet has been closed for over 12 hours. There's 4+ feet of water in the road on the west side.

RideOn

"Prolonged Event"

2009-11-12T09:06:00.007-05:00

Prolonged Event seems to be the buzzword today.

Nope, not a 12 or 24 hour bike race.

It's just mother nature.

When the Weather Channel crew shows up in town you gotta figure it might be serious. Seems like all the focus is on the Ocean front. The inland waterways are what REALLY get the max effect of these nor'easters.

Guess no ride today ........

Hmmmm, may rethink that.

RideOn

Name "The Peak"

2009-11-08T19:56:00.011-05:00

Somewhere around 3674 ft.

A hint

A little better hint

A giveaway

RideOn

JB

Road Rage Justice

2009-11-03T09:54:00.002-05:00

It seems you can't go riding on the road more than a week or so without encountering one or more automobile drivers that are venting their rage against cyclists. It seems this rage goes through levels.

Rage level 1 - An uncalled for string of beeps on the horn. More than is neccessary to just let us know they're there.

Rage level 2 - Window is rolled down - Obnoxious expletive laden yells - telling us to get off the road, or we don't belong there , or whatever.

Rage lvl 3 - Threats of physical harm - "I oughta run you off the road"

Rage lvl 4 - Attempts at physical harm - by swerving the car, or throwing things out the window. (Warning to anyone who might try this - Don't throw things at cyclists on a large group ride when on a road with traffic lights, especially within sprinting range of KJ - You will pay the price)
Rage lvl 5 - This is serious, and justice was served this week in a case in California :

A brief synopsis :

Driver frequents a hilly road that is also enjoyed by cyclists.
Through the years he grows tired of seeing them and his rage eventually builds to lvl 5
He attempts to teach 2 cyclists a lesson (not the first time he's tried this) by passing them, swerving in front of them and slamming on his brakes.
One cyclist goes smashes into the car and the rear window, looses some teeth and almost looses his nose in the process.
The enraged motorists first words to the arriving police officer "I wanted to teach them a lesson".
The motorist is - (soon to be was) an emergency room physician.

Velonews has nice coverage of the court case.

He was found guilty of six felony counts. After the verdict he was DENIED bail.

No one is the winner here. But lets hope this sends a message to everyone.

RideOn

It's That Time of Year.....

2009-11-02T17:09:00.012-05:00

Go ahead and hit play before reading

Friday at the shiny coin :

Leaves are fallin all around....

There was a trail here somewhere
Which way did it go?

Found a shoulderless friend guarding the way

I've watched enough AnimalChannel to know this isn't a welcoming pose

So I helped him off the trail with a handy snake stick.

Before I could remount and clip in I saw he'd repositioned for a better view

or maybe a drop in?

Saturday's group ride might of been the worst I've felt on the bike in a while. Got up on time, fell back asleep (sometimes I grow so tired). Time trialed down to the start, was late. Tried to chase down VBBlvd. Found Young Bill, Smoothie Chuck, et al, behind Pembroke.

Chuck dropped me ...... while on the small ring!!! Aquiring a real taste for humble pie.

Felt better for loop 2, the day was beautiful.

Sunday the weather changed ...... I smelled the rain, and with it pain, and it was headed my way ....in the form of a ride through the park .....

RideOn ramblers

"Pro" Rastlin' meets MTBin'

2009-10-29T11:50:00.006-05:00

Mystery men....?

They sure flew high and rode fast .......
..

So did Crazy and the Dog.........

But no one rode as fast as the FAST JB .......

'cause that's just what he does.....

RideOn

JB (older and not quite slower than ever)

Recovery Ride in the Stars

2009-10-21T13:47:00.013-05:00

These pre-dawn rides are a bit habit forming. The chance of catching a view of the meteor shower added even more motivation.

Figured I'd see what kind of pixels I could capture with the old trusty pocket cam.

Good thing I had an extremely hi-tech lightweight mount for my Nite-Rider battery.

Made it to the ocean front by 5:30 or so. Cloudless night sky. The meteors were easy to find and see but hard to capture. Got a decent pic of Orion - Betelgeuse is the red star in the upper left.

That'd be Venus the morning "star" just over the horizon.

Too early to use the main entrance on the way back.

It was a good morning to get a

RideOn
JB

BrrRRRR

2009-10-20T14:13:00.008-05:00

Up at 5:45AM for the Tuesday 7:15er. Was shocked to see the Weather channel say 38degrees, WHAT!!!! O.O

Wasn't long ago I drew the cold temperature road riding line at 55, then it went to 45, now I guess there isn't one. As long as you can find the right stuff to wear the temperature is relatively meaningless.

It seems the yin and yang of getting up and out for a cold ride are tilted when you are headed to a group ride.

After fumbling around I found the right stuff .

Seems as though one of my gloves had an attitude about riding early. Oh well.

Pitch black, crisp chill, but no clouds or wind. That's a welcome change. Fresh smells of burning fireplaces and cloths driers in the air.

Tried to chase down Young Bill's blinkies on the way there. Fruitless. You can see blinkies for a LONG way when its dark out.

Was startled and confused to see an empty parking lot at the NewMoon when I got there. WHAT?

That restaurant is a meeting place for more than just cycling these days.

Didn't think I was late. Didn't think I was early either. Started rolling down the road and saw some compadres.

All was well.

We tried to let Rick and the fast crew get away, but a red light pulled em back in.

It was a nice morning to get your

RideOn
JB

MEDIA

2009-10-15T08:51:00.005-05:00

Be sure to check out the new issue of XXCMag .......

Download and read it ....it's gooooooooood!!!!

Get your tickets for Race Across the Sky. Its' a one night only showing next week.

The movie will be opened with a discussion by Lance, Dave Wiens, and I believe Travis Brown.

Gotta luv the peeps that made this sign

RideOn
JB

If You Build IT

2009-10-13T12:35:00.013-05:00

They Will Come........

About seven years ago 4 guys ventured from the flatlands of Tidewater to the mountains for a weekend of riding. It became an annual trip. Word of a good thing tends to spread .......

This year the group had close to fifty.

3 days of riding - Friday through Sunday.

No registation fee, no race numbers, no stopwatch, just a bunch of people that love2ride. Rodney even sent word around to the local "mountain folk" and got some of the VaTech team to show up.

The big day was on Saturday - The Luray Classic :

It's a 100 mile jaunt through the Blueridge that entails close to 10,000 feet of climbing. Into Skyline Drive at Front Royal, drop out at Thornton Gap and down to Luray for lunch. Then a short, but brutal climb up Massanutten mountain and 25 miles back to Strasburg through the Shenandoah Valley.

We stayed and started in Strasburg. That adds about 20 miles and at least a few more feet of climbing to the classic "classic". A quick 15-20 mile warmup and we're into Front Royal for some last photo-ops.

The early part of the day was cool, misty/drizzly, and overcast. Really great riding conditions as long as you had the right layers to adjust for the downhills.

Then the climbin' started. 1500 feet in the first 4 miles up Dickey Ridge. That'll get your blood flowin'.

And the road kept goin up and up ......

Until we peaked at Hogback mountain......

Which offered some incredible views to those that choose to look back at from whence they came ........

15 miles of rollers led to a SW-E-E-E-E-T 4 mile decent into Lu-ray (that rhymes with Blu-Ray). It made me quickly forget about grinding all those miles uphill.

A quick lunch stop where local custom dictates you must eat your soup with a straw....

Then a few miles to get the blood back in your legs to tackle the climb up Massa-Nutten (from now on known as Massa-Sumthin).

That climp (up Fort Valley Road) was short but BRUTAL. The last 1.25 miles has a pitch that steadily increases ... and doesn't let up until you get to the very top. It sure helps to have a great group of people cheering you on at the top.

Big thanks to Rodney and Rose (and everyone else that ran the SAGs) for puttin this thing together.

All in all it's a classic way to get your

RideOn

YOU

2009-10-07T08:54:00.012-05:00

Be The Judge

TJ won day 2 of Gloucester, here's a video of the "winning" move :

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Was it just racing?

His post race thoughts :

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Page fought back to take second.

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

He wasn't TOO worked up about it, but it would of been nice nice to see what mighta happened if Page caught Johnson on the course.

Gotta love cross

RideOn
JB

Like Bringin' a......

2009-10-06T14:49:00.010-05:00

Knife to a Gun Fight

That's how I feel even with skinny tires on our group rides.

So I guess bringin' the cross bike w/fat tires was more akin to bringin' a dull knife, no wait, a dull spoon, ya that's it...... a dull spoon.

The plan was to try and spin some soreness out of the legs today. Through the park in the dark to the 7:15er...... Meet up w/the crew, ride 20 blocks or so at warp speed. Then head back into the park to cruise around and enjoy the morning.

JDiesel dropped the hammer from the green light so I was spinnin like crazy in my hardest gear in no time. I was focused so much on just hangin' on I didn't realize we passed the park entrance 10 blocks ago, d'Oh!!

A nice recovery ride through the park followed .....

RideOn

JB

Rubber

2009-10-03T15:03:00.008-05:00

Is necessary to the practice of safe cycling.

...

Got It?

Be sure to check yours before you get your

RideOn
JB

I Feel a Little Numb

2009-10-01T15:24:00.011-05:00

So I'm still all geeked about riding my "new" (actually 16 month old ) FS 29er. That is until I started looking at this years interbike reports, and even worse - I checked out the Specialized website.

It seems that while I've been recovering and my sweet "new" bike has been collecting dust, the Stumperjumper 29 design has also become obsolete! Hah.

Specialized has seen fit to replace it with a new (?) FS29er design :

....

Granted there are slight differences in the tubing, but basically the designs are the same. These are now marketed under the Stumpjumper FSR Expert 29 (left) and the EPIC Marathon 29 (right).

The "old" Stumpjumper design - with the vertical rear shock mounted near the BB - stays in place but is only available in the 26 inch version and is called FSRxc Pro

It seems Specialized has seen fit NOT to market 29ers as a separate line, but by integrating them into currently branded models. Just go to the Specialized website and try to find a 29er - it's a multiclick easter egg hunt.

Compare that to the slick marketing done by GaryF for his new (and hella sexy) FS29er :

Hmmm, the whole design looks familiar, ay?

Wonder who came up with it first ...

I'd say GaryFs approach to the whole 29er thing may be a bit more ... umm ...."specialized"... But I dunno, I'm just a consumer.

Irregardless, based on the 5-6 hours it's been ridden, I really love the bike I have. At around 28 lbs it's not gonna win any XC races (nor would any bike in my hands). But it IS an extremely comfortable and well behaved ride. Exactly what I was expecting.

A few years back I read an Interbike review of one of the first FS 29ers. I can't remember the make/model. The reviewer was commenting about the "trail feedback" (or lack thereof) that the FS29 platform offered, and he likened it to :

"Having sex with 2 condoms on."

Well I haven't tried the 2 condom thing - But I'd imagine it would make it a whole lot easier to keep going all night.

Here's to gettin' a nice, long, smooth ............

RideOn

Kids These Days....

2009-09-29T14:02:00.007-05:00

Like fallin in love all over again:

Read this race recap :

"There were about 70 or so riders in the road race. I liked the course, very
punchy steep climbs, banked turns, flat/downhill finish. I really put a lot of
focus into this race. Unfortunately, out of the 3 Americans I was the only person who made the front group. While everyone else in the front group had a teammate. But either way I was grateful to even be in the front group. When the attacks started to come I was able to respond, but the 1 that I really needed to follow I missed. It is difficult to cover all the moves on my own, but I had to do what I had to do.
When the break of 2 Italians, 1 French, and 1 Russian gained 1minute on the last
lap I had to try to make one last move to bridge to the group. I attacked hard
and got somewhat of a gap, but the Italians would not let me go. I looked back
and they were chasing hard, but I kept driving. "

Now try to imagine who wrote it. Fairly obvious it was at an international competition (It was at the Worlds). Sure sounds like like it could be from an experienced pro.
The writer/racer actually has 24 national championships!!!
AND .............. SHE is only 16 years old. Holy crap!!!
Props to Coryn Rivera.
oh yeah - - she races pro women crits and has already beat Tina Pic in a sprint. Unbelievable.
RideOn
JB

Forcast is For ....

2009-09-26T08:13:00.005-05:00

FUN!

Steady to intermittant drizzly spitting rain all day. Road riding would be foolish and/or just plain nasty.

So it was MTB Friday.

Of all the EVMA trails Redoubt at New Quarter park is the one I'm least familiar with. But that's gonna change. Fun flowy singletrack, some short punchy climbs, and enough TTF's to keep anyone happy.

What is it about MTBing that makes Mexican food taste so good?

About 18 months ago we finished the build on a plush new FS 29er. Unfortunately I had some surgury done shortly there after so the bike has had to sit patiently while I struggled through a longer than expected recovery. Some pics up in a gallery here.

Initial impression was 3 thumbs up. OK make that 2 thumbs and a big toe. The bike is everything I expected and then some.

A more complete review will follow.

RideOn
JB