Got 11 minutes for a Waltz and Bike Porn?

The remainder of the pictures that I took at Winding Trails. Thought I would put into a slide show format and let you listen to a little Strauss. Enjoy!

I am still not seeing the advantage in Stans

During the pro race at Winding Trails this Single Speeder rolled into the pits, hopped off the bike and started working on his front tire.

After quite some time he gave up and threw a tube into tire. You can tell he was using Stans No Tubes by all the white gunk oozing out of the bottom of the tire. What I don't see is that this guy is till carying two tubes for emergencies anyway, like this one.

Glad to see this guy got rolling again!

A couple of weeks ago I was on a Trail Ambassador Training Ride with CT NEMBA when one of the riders on a nice Voodoo Canzo FS 29er who was rolling with Stans lost his seal. I ended up giving him my spare tube so he could continue, otherwise it would have been the dreaded Walk of Shame back to the parking lot.

More Winding Trails Bike Porn: SS and 29ers

Spooky Metal Head

Niner Air9

Cannondale Caffine

Raleigh XXIX

Winding Trails Race Results: SS Open

Below are are the race results from the Winding Trails, Single Speed Open and pictures of those that came in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I scrolled through all 536 photos that were posted on CyclingDirt hoping for a good shot of myself but found nothing the one above of the Qball and some guy that looks like me.

This guy is local and rides for Bethel Cycle Fitness

Third place winner was riding a Surly Pugsley! Now that's balls!

Bike (Race) Porn: 29ers and 69ers

In front of the the green Surly 1x1 (rigid single speed 69er) is a Cannondale 29er. The Surly is what I want for my next 69er. I like the green but would really like one in Orange.

Winding Trails, Bib #350

While hanging out at the Feed Zone I tried to snap a few pictures of the Single Speeders and 29ers (Sorry, I am biased) that were coming through and I actually got a shot, unknowingly of course, of Charlie Beal, who blogs about his riding endeavors on CB2. He has a really great picture of himself that I suggest that you have a look. He took 6th place in the Mens CAT 1 40-49 bracket, riding a single speed 29er against a field of geared riders.

Outstanding job Charlie!

Winding Trails: 8th Place, CAT2 Single Speed Open

With temperatures reaching into the nineties today I wasn't sure how I would do but my goal for today's race was to finish. I was ready to race! I pre-hydrated, had plenty of carbs in me, and one of the guys I met on the Wilton Woods Ride a couple of weeks ago hooked me up with a nice trick: taping glu shots to the top tube so that all you had to do was pull them off and they were open. This time I warmed up by riding around the parking lot and out on the trail for a mile. Ran into quite a few people I knew, too, like Mark Leggit, Art Roti, Matty Meuller from CT NEMBA, Adam Roth and his GF Cheryl from Ridefetish.com, a few people from Crankfire.com, and my neighbor Frank.

The glimmer of hope that I would finish anything except last faded at the start when my heat started, Single Speed open. There were 10 of us and at the sound of the whistle we were off but the time I got to the top of the first climb I was all by myself. Even the video dude wrote me off in the clip below.

Cat 2 SS Start

(couldn't get the video to imbed in blogger)

Check out they guy on the bike with the really Fat Tires, he's racing a Surly Pugsley, single speed no less! Now that is cool! I think if I am going to continue riding riding this way, I need to get a lot stronger (and thinner). Still, with the heat, I didn't was to push it. Good thing I did a little pre-ride because there was one down hill section that turned into a drop to flat that I almost endo'd on. During the race, I hit the line each time and saled through it easily.

After the first lap, I was feeling great but decided to take it a little slower on account of the heat. The spokes on my front wheel were seriously creaking the whole time, and I just had the wheel trued on Saturday. On the first lap, I never got off the bike expect for one patch of single track where you decended into a curve that was all sand and it turned, and I came close to running off the trail. Otherwise, I cleaned every climb. I have to hand it to the gearing selection. 34:19 was a perfect combination.

On the second lap I walked a few hills and took it easier but on the last lap, I stayed steady and consistent. At one point I even passed a guy from the heat in front of me, some guy riding for the Vermont National Guard. I chided him as I got ahead of him, saying "you are going to let an old fart on a single speed beat you?" I also threw in, "A Quarter Master and a former Field Grade Officer?" I should have told him that unless he was puking, he wasn't trying - we used push one another that was during Physical Fitness Tests. Needless to say, he never caught up to me after I got a head of him.

My goal was just to finish and that I did but with the added bonus of an 8th place finish, within the top ten! Of course there were only 10 people riding in the Single Speed Open Class. From what I can tell, because I don't recall passing any single speeders was that two of them did not finish. Despite the heat, it was a fun race. The ice cold PBR was perfect after the race and when I got home, the real reward was the growler of Lost Salior IPA from BBC that I drank three quarters of the jug while relaxing in the shade of my front porch and then later grilling on the BBQ.

Picture is courtesy of Adam's GF

13 out of 15

I was up early on Saturday and couldn't bear the thought of having to hang out all morning before heading over to The Route 66 Bunny Hop Brook Mountain Bike Race. My knees were bothering me as well and I wasn't quite sure how I would hold up on a longer distance ride vs a shorter one. I am glad I did because by the time I was done with my race it started to pour and had I waited until 2PM, it would have been a real slop fest.

I decide to wear my bibs, cold weather shoes (because they have rubber soles rather than my cheaper pair with plastic), a long sleeve techwick, and my NEMBA jersey over that. Unfortunately, I don't have Cyclesnack.com jersey yet. When I got to the registration tent, the people handling the sign-ins were very helpful and got me switched over to the right event. One thing that I didn't have time for was warming up -- should have done that and will remember that for the next time because it would helped process all the banana, breakfast, gatorade and water that I ingested on the way to Hop Brook.

The course started out flat, on grass, and I found initially that I was really pushing hard, perhaps too hard because then the climbs started and I was already pretty winded. Again, I probably should have rode more during the week to prepare but my knees were hurting and I opted not to ride last week. That was probably a mistake. In the video below I am 33 seconds into that clip.



My goal for this race was to first see if I could do it and not only did I do it, but I bested a few geared riders, too. At the first stream crossing, I passed two guys from my group that got hung up. I also passed two more guys from a younger group, otherwise it was all the young kids that were passing me! A few guys from the next age group up passed me. During the second lap, another guy from the next age group passed me, then I passed him, he passed me, then I passed him and stayed ahead him till the end.

Since I was in the 40 - 49 age bracket, that explains the first number on my numbers, 4 is forty year olds, and 13 meant I was the 13th registrant. Ironically, I also came in 13th. I think the only reason I did that was for the mishap those two guys had at that stream crossing. Also, I think if I had pre-ridden the course I would have been able to strategize better and where I could rest while riding and pour it on for the climbs that were rideable. Still, it was fun and I hope to do it again.

The Edge was not tracking well. I wonder if it was the speeds or the overcast conditions but the map above is for the two laps. and as you can see it was all over the place. I cleaned up the tracks and turned them into a network using GPS visualizer to get a better idea of the race course. The first thing you might be saying to yourself is "how was water?" Hop Brook is some sort of Army Corps of Engineers project in which there was much larger lake in the 60s and 70s but now it's much more smaller.

I knew one other person racing CAT3 and that was Brendan from The Beat Bike Blog. He got third place in his age category. Outstanding!

I ran into the guy in the next age group that was dogging me during the final lap and I introduced myself and asked if he was member of NEMBA. He said he was in the past and was thinking of renewing. I hope he does. I didn't stick around much long after getting my camera and taking a few pictures. It started to pour and it was really cold. I did run into Charlie from the CB2 Blog. It was nice finally putting a name to a face.

Also racing was the CT NEMBA president, Art Roti. I met up with him before leaving.