Putney / West Hill XC

woke-up to a near bluebird day, loaded-up the family and headed-down to putney vermont for the 7th race of the norba root66 xc series. mikey-j smoked a pork shoulder the night before that was stupid good, maybe the best ever bbq'd, hard to say, will have to keep taste testing, beers flowing, bonfire going, was hard to keep it in check. a clear head and bounce in the step sunday morning had me almost more nervous, no excuses today. was in a bit of a mood en route, nervous, hoped to have a good one. bumped into Mo at registration and she reminded me that we do this for fun. no doubt, need that advice sometimes.

staged in a small field under a row of varied colored leader's jerseys blowing in the breeze, prayer flags for dirt freaks. Five 4-5m laps for us, hit the woods mid-pack in a congo line. justin (finn) and john (foley) seemed to escape early. brett (racine) soon passed as i slipped around a cpl guys into 4th w/chris (hamlin) on the wheel up the first climb. brett was sidelined shortly after w/a broken chain, figured i'd see him again before the finish.

would catch glimpses of john early-on, after that thought he was way up, the short flowing switchbacks of the course making it hard to mark the competition. the trails were in perfect condition, fast smooth flowing singletrack w/a cpl technical sections thrown-in to keep ya' honest. a cpl of the descents had a few tricks and was having a lot of fun picking lines at high-speed, the hardtail bucking, a great roller on the 2nd to last descent had me skying-out the Steel Deluxe a bit, couldn't wait to get to that portion of the course each lap.

would occasionally try to shake chris, but he refused to let go, could open-up a small gap on a climb or go no-brakes on a descent, but he'd charge back within moments, especially in the singletrack. brett caught us at the end of the 3rd lap, a few minutes later i looked back to ask if he wanted to drive the bus and he was gone, chain snapped again.

raced against chris at Flower Power in late may and he was stronger in that 60min speed-fest. tried to ride smart on the 4th lap, save a little for the end. bumped into Mo on a technical climb, she was looking strong, going-on to win the women's open race!

picked-up the pace a tad on the 5th and final lap, felt a cramp coming-on in the hammie w/the effort, hadn't drank enough and was forced to settle-down and stretch it out on the descents, chris right there, breathing-down my back, unless i was hallucinating, i think he offered me some water, top-notch bloke there. by the final climb, the leg felt fine and was able to hold chris off for 3rd, first podium of the yr (and in the open class). wicked. john looked like he'd been there all day, turns-out he was 30sec up with justin winning by 3 1/2 minutes.

hoping to hit-up moody park xc next wknd, then nothing until Nationals on July 20th at Mt Snow, VT. Fired-up for 7 laps on that course!

beyond waitsfield...

i've heard a lot of folks around here say they leave the Valley only when they have to... but there is so much to see in the next valley and the next...

still in "town", from Bragg Hill

more from Bragg Hill

Yesterday, headed-up the App Gap on one of my favorite loops, Appalachian Gap to Lincoln Gap.

General Stark Mtn, home to Mad River Glen, pieces of the old singlechair scattered about...




top of Appalachian Gap

eventually around to Lincoln Gap

almost to the top of Lincoln Gap...

waitsfield

it's been an interesting past cpl wks, major changes are in the works, time hasn't been on my side, but taking some now, what do i want to be when i grow up? it's too easy to never stop, never re-address direction, when an opportunity to do so is dished-up you gotta grab it! and that's what i've been doing. and riding.

have been out on the knobbies, excitedly searching for big climbs, new-to-me pieces of trail, and good class 4 road routes. the class 4's are a new fav, perfect mix of dirt and rock, some surprises, but good spinning for long training days on the mtb. it's wild, you'll be on something totally untamed, dark forest, then so suddenly fed onto bright sunny farmlands and back and forth.


promised andy i'd shoot my first race bike full of holes when retired for a cpl damn good reasons i can't remember anymore. well, there she is, ready for the firing squad. step 1, drag old bike behind steel deluxe. step 2, drive subbie over old bike. step 3, shoot old bike.


always nice to see the town line after venturing far from home


the mad

thunder storms build on the east or west ridge almost everyday in the current weather cycle, nice bright mornings, perfect for our pre-breakfast walk on pastures overlooking the mtns. clouds extend into the valley during the day, then break again in the evening. high of 80, low of 55, now i know why folks kept telling us summer far out weighed winter in this ski town...

Mohican 100 - A Race Report, Kinda

another epic in the books, results are up on cyclingnews. biggest news of the day in IFab land was Harlan's race, taking 2nd to mr e by a mere 7mins! the fight for the series ain't over yet, we got 5 more to go! was more excited about that when i looked at the finisher's board than my own placement of 8th. andy crushed souls with a 14th, and harvey rode yet another strong, smart race to finish in 12th. patrick hung in there for 25th - crossing the line and going immediately into the fetal position.

the 2007 season (for me) is all about nothing. as in, no set training regimine, no bike computer, no heart rate monitor, just my watch letting me know when i need to be home. after complete self destruction at the cohutta 100, i did plan my fueling for the mohican, which worked wonders. it's called eating. imagine that, food = energy. no fancy race food, just regular food.

got suited-up bareback (no camelback) sat morn and milled about with all the other freaks, rolling-out all mellow in the "neutral" start which quickly became not so nuetral. guys were throwing elbows, jockying for position. wacked. i chilled and when we hit the road, put the hammer down to open some space between the chase group so i could ride the singletrack in peace and maybe catch the rear of the front group, whom i never saw.

the singletrack was great, the course well marked, the aid stations appearing just in time to fill empty btls. what else is there to say? i rode my bike. for a long time. and had good consistent power due to eating every hour, even when the stomach wasn't happy. worked with Mike Kuhn mid to late race, decimating the long flat miles of rail-trail together w/some help from Jason Lummis. mike and i were never more than a cpl mins apart the whole race, yet only rode together for 10miles. funny how that works - we probably could have been a cpl mins faster over the day if we'd teamed-up, but it just doesn't work like that.

on a good day, thoughts come and go, but mostly go, and when the tires cross the line it is with a wide and happy smile. i hope everyone at the Mohican crossed the line w/a wide smile - 'cause riding your bike all day may be about the best thing, besides hermit cookies, beer, and of course, family. thanks to Garth for scoring us 4 kegs, thanks to Andy for hanging all wknd and sharing the drive, and thanks to harvey for scoring the room. look fwd to seeing all you freaks again in two months at the 101. that one's gonna hurt.