Jay Winter Challenge - A Race Report

The Jay Winter Challenge was a kick in the pants, but a good one. Fitness levels were better than expected, felt fine all day. Perfect weather for the occasion, temps crawling into the low 20's, mix of sun and clouds, no wind.

Started the race as expected, Brook's ski replacing the front wheel, a 2.1 studded tire in rear (a 2.3 would be better). Got-out near the front, andy right there, our skis helping us fly across a mile of frozen lake, things were looking great! then out onto pavement. salted and sanded. that's where our racing ended and an epic ride been. Brook (using a ski) rallied, got rollers he fabricated to fit onto his ski and worked his way back into the field while Andy and I were forced to walk/jog/ride when we could, while rider after rider cruised past us and disappeared up the road until we were way behind dead last. our desire to race was minimal at best and it became an epic ride. Andy busted-out the camera and we took our time, pushing it on the snowmobile trails, catching some riders, then back to DFL on the next section of pavement. Riding in the snow was like... riding in the snow! not an easy task, but a great way to get 4-5 hrs of base this time to year... check-out andy's movie of our day at his blog.

Brook's ski was awesome - and a ton of fun when descending, you could really carve into the snow - and push the biggest gear, really let it rip - those downhill sections made-up for all of it.

Huge props to Dan DesRoisers for putting-on a race like this, getting us out there in the dead of winter. He pulled together some nice schwag for the racers, plenty of aid stations, well organized event.

Even more props to Brook for lending us the skis - and Brook's friend JT for lending Andy a bike to ride. If you want to bike all year long, take a look at brook's site, these skis are wild: http://www.bikesonsnow.com

And finally, much thanks to Andy for driving way up here to ride this race and use the ski i convinced him was perfect for the event (which it was minus the 5miles of pavement).

Got too much going-on to write much more about this fun day of suffering, except that with 18" of fresh powder on the Jay Peak, which loomed over us for much of the race, we wondered many times why we were riding our bikes!