25th Annual Massanutten Hoo Ha

What a historic race celebrating its 25^th year of existence.  I have wanted to do this race for a couple years now and it just never worked out.  Finally, this season the XXC fit right into my training plan.  I have never ridden any of these trails so was curious about what was in store for me.

The morning started early with a 4:15am alarm.  Before long I was out of the house and on the road to meet Donna Miller to carpool from Richmond to Massanutten for the race start.  With the forecasted rain on Saturday night, I was glad we had opted not to camp the night before.  We arrived in plenty of time so everything worked out well.  We got registered and found a small group to warm up with and check out some of the trails and see what this week’s rains had done to the course.  They were damp, with some mud on the fire roads.  Unfortunately, I noticed some major tension in my headset, not a good sign of things to come!  I raced back to the car to try and alleviate the tension before the race start, but had no luck.

Before long we were all lined up and the race was off.  The lead group quickly settled and I found myself in the lead group of 10 or so.  I felt good through the opening fire road sections but realized my headset would be a big issue.  I was swerving from side to side as I fought to keep the bike straight.  Not good with all the rocky climbs and descents I knew laid ahead of me.  After the first 30 minutes or so, I think we really started to get into the meat of the course.  Stupid steep climbs would be the norm for the day.  I was disappointed to find so many hike a bike sections.  I know I’m not the strongest person out there and I’m sure others could climb some sections I was forced to walk, but having an XXC course where dismounting and walking is the norm just isn’t very fun for anybody. 

The rock gardens did not disappoint.  They were plentiful to say the least and the rain had left many of these rocks a bit slick.  It was extremely challenging for me when combined with the tension of my front end (which only got worse during the race).  I was really fighting my bike now and often found myself walking rock gardens which I would have normally blown through, very frustrating feeling to say the least.   I wrecked a few times and went over the bars on the ridge line, far from my normal riding style.  One bright point was the Schwalbe Racing Ralphs.  These tires rocked in the poor conditions we faced!  I’m glad I decided to switch to these tires this week.

After we finished the GW loop and returned to the park and at about three hours into the race for me, we joined back into the XC course.  The conditions were far tamer here, but I decided it just wasn’t safe for me to continue.  While reflecting a day later, I’m glad I made this decision.  Your bike really has to be working 100% correctly in order to complete one of these events, and I felt mine was dangerous with the lacking control in the front end.  So for me the race was really just a good workout with some nice climbs plus some good technical riding which are often times hard to find.  All in all, a decent training day out in the mountains but I can say I have no interest in returning to this race after the stupid long hike a bike sections.

Teamates Tom Haines and Todd Green both hung on to finish the course.  Congrats guys, you both rock!

Another Day at the Scout Camp

The Scout Camp venue is always one I have had a love/hate relationship with.  Much of the trail system is very fun, but then there are the slow, tight sections that have no flow and really wear on you after a few hours in the saddle.  The trail system was built primarily by Ed Jones mostly out of passion for mountain biking and the art of quality singletrack. You can see this throughout the camp in the the bench cutting required on some sections as well as the numerous bridges throughout. While RA More and several volunteers help Ed out from time to time, he is really the driving force behind this system of trails.

Of course, it was nice knowing this race at the Camp would not be nearly as long as 18 Hour race many of us are accustomed to. For me, I chose the "Enduro" 4 hour +1 lap format. I need the hours in the saddle and the weather was great.  With all the rain early in the week, Ed and I were a bit concerned there may be some sloppy sections.  Frank and I rode out there Friday to check the trail conditions, get a few miles in, and ensure trail markings were adequate.  All checked out and I felt good, even after spending a bit more time then my normal pre-race plan calls for on the trails (thanks EF).

As normal, the enduro race started out pretty quick.  I'm normally able to settle into my "endurance pace" pretty quickly, but not today.  Me and another rider managed to break free from the pack and we laid down a pretty quick first lap, quicker then I had wanted actually.  I continued to try and find my endurance pace through the second lap, but still felt my heart rate was a bit higher then I was comfortable with.  I caught a stick in my derailleur and the next thing I knew the rider I had been riding with was quickly out of sight.  I continued to push on trying to maintain my gap on the pack I thought for sure was just behind us.

As I exited the woods from lap 3, I saw the first place rider dip into the trail for his 4th lap.  Sweet, less then a minute seperated us at this point.  I pushed pretty hard in chase of the leader and finally caught him a few miles into lap #4.  I continued to push throughout the lap to ensure I would not be caught.  When I didn't see him on some of the longer switchbacks, I figured I was in the clear as long as I could maintain my pace.  I knew at this point we would only be completing 5 laps (I initially thought we would do 6).  My fifth lap was pretty relaxed.  I rolled with the Cat 1 leader, Keck Baker, for a mile or two after he caught me but didn't feel the need to follow him up the punchy climbs.  It was nice to just settle into a comfortable pace and enjoy the singletrack for the last lap.  I caught teamates Todd (who finished 5th) and Tom near the end of my last lap and chatted for a bit before slidding by.

What a great day to be out on the Stijl!  Perfect weather and trails!  Turned out the rain made the trails just a bit tacky on race day so you could really rail the swoopy turns that litter the course with the Racing Ralphs proving to be the perfect tire!  The cool new kits finally came in as well, with several of us sporting them at the event.

Lets do this again next week at Pocahantas!!

Team results:

Tom Richeson: 1st Masters
Sonya Richeson: 2nd Cat 2
David Reid: 1st Enduro
Frank Yeager: 3rd Enduro
Todd Green: 5th Enduro
Jim Fisher: 4th Cat 1 35+
Eric Bleecher: 4th Cat 2

Virginia Mountain Bike Super Series #3!!

I have little doubt that many of the participants didn’t realize they were participating in the new Virginia Mountain Bike Super Series, but alas you were.  No longer contained to just Hilbert, this series is bound to take off.  I for one am looking forward to it as Mark hosts a good grassroots type race that offers a lot of bang for the buck. I enjoy the laid back atmosphere of the Run Ride Race events.

The 3^rd race of the series was held at the ever familiar Camp Hilbert.  Rooty, tight singletrack with short steep climbs is what is always on tap at Hilbert.  I continue my love/hate relationship with these trails.  The direction was counter-clockwise which features a sweet, fast and swoopy downhill about halfway through the lap.  I must say that I looked forward to riding this section of trail on each lap.

I was a bit skeptical when heading out to the venue as I drove through a downpour which would not have been fun to race in.  Luckily we got lucky and this storm never made it to Hilbert and we were fortunate to have relatively moderate temperatures without the extreme humidity we have been experiencing.  I’m glad I didn’t turn around and head back home as was my initial thought; I managed to lay down some of my best laps ever recorded at Hilbert in a direction that is the more difficult.  It was nice to return to the top step of the podium and I give thanks to Michael Harlow at Endorphin Fitness for keeping my training on track this season.  It has really made a difference.  I also returned to the Stijl for this race after a quick tune up by Hinmaton last week, thanks for helping me out.  I was worried of some slick roots after the rain we had gotten Friday night so ran a Rocket Ron on front with my (now standard) Racing Ralph on the rear.  This turned out to be a great tire combination, man I like those Rocket Ron’s on the front.

We had a great team turnout with multiple podiums.  I will try to list them below and you can find the full results here:

Sport Women

Sonya Richeson 1^st

Expert Vet Men

Jeff Plassman 3^rd
Tom Richeson 5^th

Sport Men (Young)

Matt Juaneza 2^nd

Eric Bleecher 6^th

Sport Vet Men

Jim Fisher 1^st

Enduro Men

David Reid 1^st

Mike King 5^th

Congrats to all!!

Hilbert #1

Hilbert is always an interesting race, and this past weekends event was no exception.  One thing that is always nice is to see all the Design Physics jerseys.  Seemed like everywhere I turned I ran into them, both before and during the race.  I won't even try to list all the members of the team that attended as I'm sure I would miss many of you.  Several podium spots were filled by DP racers which is always a nice bonus.

My race was alright, finishing second on a tough race day.  My stomach started to turn sour after 3 hours and no doubt my lap times dropped drastically at that point.  I think I need to dial in my nutrition a bit more before Cohutta at the end of the month.  The heavy pollen left me coughing for much of the later laps as well, not sure my body is used to the heat this early in the season either.

My first lap was quite the adventure.  My seat moved quite a bit on my seatpost about half-way through the lap. I didn't want to stop to fix it mid lap hoping there would be a team mate close by in the pit area. Fortunately there was, and Jim quickly lended me the tool I needed to tighten my saddle.  Unfortunately, I also wrecked on some pine needles nearing the end of that lap resulting in a bent rear derailleur which I hadn't realized till after I fixed my saddle.  I could only get to half of the rear cassette, so I laid the Giant down for the race and picked up my back up bike.  Luckily I had taken Friday off from work and built up the old Stijl with my new Industry Nine wheels and Schwalbe Racing Ralphs.  Turns out the Racing Ralph were actually a better tire choice for the trail conditions and I managed to remain upright for the remainder of the day.  Huge thanks to Jason and Paul for giving me bottles through the pit area all day.  After my first lap, I only set my foot down once thanks to their help.

Also wanted to thank RunRideRace for putting on another great event.  Not sure who added all those extra roots at Hilbert over the winter.

Alright, enough of my ramblings how about some pictures from the event.  As you can see, DP was everywhere!!

Erik Bleecher, Jeff Farmer, Matt Juaneza, Jeff Plassman, Paul Leeger, Joe Fish

Kate Fisher

Shannon Bush

Erik Bleecher, Jason Broussard, Jeff Plassman, Jeff Farmer

Byron Gonzalez taking 3rd

Joe Fish taking 2nd

We all feel you Jeff

Tom Richeson

David Reid

BTS #17: Cold!!

Today's ride started out very cold! So cold in fact that I opted to drive over to Pocahantas rather then riding the bike like normal. With temps not expected to break 20* till after 10, I think it was a good choice.

Todd and I started rolling at around 9:30 around the Monster CX course as planned. We rolled a pretty nice pace in an effort to keep warm. Luckily, this plan worked and I felt comfortable after 30 minutes. Jason, Plassman, Mason and the Crofts joined us later in the morning to roll with us as we finished the ride. All in all, a good ride.

I tested out my new Schwalbe Racing Ralph CX tires today. Awesome tires that rolled really well on the gravel. I think these tires were faster and offered better grip then what I have been using.

Bundled up and heading out in the cold!