If I can ski, then I can ride!

Went skiing for the first time yesterday and had absolutely no problems, not that I was expecting any but it was a good milestone to hit because I am thinking if I can ski, I can ride!  I skied with my too sons, my father, and my 5 year old niece.  Brought the helmet cam and took a bunch of videos that I will be compiling later when I get some time.

While watching the Super Bowl yesterday I noticed a post on Facebook from Fabian, a former racing team member, about Singlespeed-apalooza just opened for registration.  Last year I missed this because I was more focused on racing on Team NEMBA and the Root66 races conflicted but now that I am unaffiliated with any group of team I am free to pick and choose what to race.  Checking with the wife to make sure the schedule is open, she gave me the green light, so I registered!  Good thing that I did so quickly because it closed out really quickly, like an hour or two!

I am registered in the NY Sport division which has a total of 94 racers and unless someone wants me to wear their kit I will be wearing my NEMBA kit.  It's time to start training and riding the single speed!  I am going to start out light by riding dirt roads and then work my way up to trails.

2012 Race/Event Schedule

This schedule assumes that I will be racing next year and right now I am still planning on it, but there are some issues that I have to take care of, namely my right knee.  With arthroscopic knee surgery planned for later this month it's looking like no more riding for the rest of the year, which is only 2 weeks so in my spare time I will concentrate of more improvements to the Gussy Trail and perhaps start on my new trail at Huntington State Park.  This winter is predicted to be milder than last, at least that is what I am hearing but who knows, so I am hoping for better training conditions as opposed to last winter.

4/7 Hop Brook MTB Race - Middlebury, CT

4/22 Winding Trails MTB Race - Framington, CT

4/29 Single Speed Palooza MTB Race - Newburg, NY

5/?? Winsted Woods MTB Race - Winsted, CT

5/?? Norcross Scurry MTB Race - Ashford, CT

5/20 Bloomin Metric - Norwalk, CT (with Katie)

6/3 Domnarski Farm - Ware, MA

6/22 thru 6/24 NEMBA Fest - TBD

7/22 Wrath of Boneyard MTB Race - Meriden, CT

9/30 or 10/7 Fall Fiesta - TBD

The first thing you might notice is that there are a lot of MTB races in CT this year so I won't have to travel out of the state to get my race fix in.  I really want to try the Ashford Race because I hear it's a good Singlespeed course and of course the Wrath of the Boneyard sounds fun, too.  For some reason I really like the Domnarski Farm course because it's one lap of 10 miles, the climbs are really challenging and there is some great terrain changes that make this course one of my favorites, overall.  I have to do Single Speed Palooza and it fits nicely between the Root 66 races, but is the same weekend as Massasoit.  That's a no brainer, 3 hour drive to Taunton, MA or <1 hour drive to Newburg, NY.

7 out of 7 at Winsted Woods

The Massasoit Lung Opener was a cake walk compared to Winsted Woods, this was a death march.  It started raining Saturday night and around 9 AM a thunder storm rolled in and dumped a few inches on the area.  That same storm tracked right up to Winsted.  The longer course at Massasoit was easier to ride but it was a lot colder however at Winsted, the combination of the rain and the course made it a real blood bath, for me at least.  At the start of my pre-lap, the trails were already pretty greasy and you knew it was only going to get worse.

After the pre-lap I switched out my rear tire for the Serfas Krest 9r, while heavier, because its a 2 ply puncture resistant tire, the tread pattern is ultra grippy in slippery conditions and I can run it at 25 to 30 psi and not worry about flats.  The tire change was helpful but the trails for the CAT2 race were a lot worse after the CAT1s tore up the course.  Again I hit that wall and couldn't push myself any faster, granted it was pretty hard to go faster on account of the terrain.  I think it's the way I am training.  I am riding so much during the week, and Saturday, I am not giving myself enough time to recover.  Going to have switch tactics.

What's this?  Hecklers?  Did we just get teleported to Europe or something?  These guys were inspirational to say the least.  

After this guy got heckled, it was my turn!

That was a greasy course and I did a lot of walking, in fact I was last person to finish  My time sucked but I finished and that is all that matters to me.

Another muddy race.  Probably going to have to replace my brake pads but I don't think I had much stopping power on the last descent.

Root 66 @ Hodges Village Dam: Bikes

Root 66 @ Hodges Village Dam: Blinged out old skool rig

Root 66 @ Hodges Village Dam: CAT1 Geared

Root 66 @ Hodges Village Dam: Feed Zone