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

North American Handmade Bike Show 2013

Hey, that looks familiar

 The NAHBS is a really more of a trade show were the best handmade bicycle builders in the country meet annually to show off their latest and greatest creations.  Richmond hosted this show several years ago and I have been drooling over the pictures from each show since.  These craftsman really make amazing bicycles! 

One of our sponsors, Stijl Cycles, was on display at this years event.  Chances are good if you have seen a DP jersey on the trail you have seen a Stijl bike. Stijl had some amazing bikes on display, including my 2013 race bike!  BikeRumor did a nice write up on Stijl and the Ironman bike pictured below specifically.

Ironman

Thanks for supporting our team for one more year Stijl Cycles and Hinmaton!!

Pantani 2013

Pantani 2013 started out just like last year, everyone show up at the Tevendale farm and rolled out at a casual pace.  Unfortunately, Joe and I were the only team members that were able to make it this year, but Richmond was well represented nevertheless. The group at the start was in excess of 50, easily double last years turn out.
The climbs this ride is named for would certainly make Marco proud. There was an elevation profile floating around Facebook showing three cat 5 climbs followed by two cat 2 climbs.  This is about how I remember it. I planned on riding the Stijl like I did last year, but somehow Joe was able to convince me it would be a nice challenge to ride the CX bikes.  I'm certain this was not the best bike for the ride, but it was fun cruising the fast downhills on this bike anyway.

DR grinding up Brokeback

The first climb up Fox mountain saw a small group break away, maybe 10 of us.  This selection was further pared down to 5 by the time we had crested the remaining two cat 5 climbs.  Joe, Gregg and I had made this select few along with strongman Gordon and Frank Yeager.  It was a pretty tough pace for the rest of the day.  Yes, Brokeback Mtn was just as tough this year.  Hard to tell from the pics below that this climb is in excess of 22* for mile after unrelenting mile.  The gearing of the CX bike and both Joe and I walking some of the steepest sections.

When I arrived back at the Tevendale farm after several wrong turns along with several miles of not really thinking I was headed the correct direction but just to darn tired to care, I was glad to find that all the members of our little group were able to make it back.  Gordon was king of the day and held onto the prized Pantani jersey for one more year.  Maybe next year Quadsworth will be dethroned. Richmond riders made up 4 of the top 5 finishers, not bad for a group of flatlanders.

Joe in the distance with Gregg off the bike.  One of the tougher sections of Brokeback.

Check out the elevation profile!!

Plassmans Tour of Richmond



So the idea was thrown out there, and before long a group had decided that a 100k trip around the local Richmond trails would be a good idea.  Six members of the team joined at Forest Hill Park to start the day.  I guess none of us were thinking about the parks farmers market when we picked this destination, we had to fight for parking spots and weave between cars to gather in a spot.



The route was planned by Plassman and was sure to include the best of JRPS and surrounding trails with as much singletrack as possible. We started with a loop around JRPS in traditional style.

Is that a grimace from Bleecher already??

We picked up a few additional team members swelling to a group of nine at one point.


Yes, that is our fearless leader Jason.  No, he hasn't lost his bike this season.



We then ventured to Powhite where Plassman was able to show us the best line around the spaghetti of trails over there.  This trip seemed to bring some of the impetus out of the group.  We began dropping members as we headed to Powhite and then more once we left Powhite.



Stijls representing





The men behind the Stijls

Our group headed on a journey to the flats of Pony Pasture, Laurus Park and back to JRPS before finishing with another loop of Forest Hill.  To tired for photos by the end, there were four of us who completed the ride logging just under 60 miles.  Not quite the 100k we were hoping for, but a great team training ride.







 









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

Season Kickoff Party at Moshi Moshi

Awesome team party at Moshi Moshi. What great sponsors we have!! The prizes for the BTS series were handed out as were the kits. Man, the kits are rockin this year, huge thanks to Sattler Creative for coming up with the design. Also wanted to thank Mark from Run Ride Race, Fruit 66, Pasture, ByeKyle and Design Physics for supplying the cool BTS prizes. Also wanted to thank Giant Bicycles and Stijl Cycles for coming out to support our event. Now take a look at the pics of us having a great time, make sure you're there next time!!

Virginia Cup Off Road Duathlon Recap



Time for the start!!



When I packed up for this race I brought everything but the kitchen sink.  It has been pretty cool lately, so I figured today would be much of the same.  Boy was I wrong!!  The day turned out to be perfect for a duathlon.  The problem with this sort of event in November is that you will overheat quickly in the clothing required to race your bike for an hour.  Boy was I wrong on the weather; it turned out to be an awesome day!  Almost as soon as I showed up, I started taking layers off trying to find the perfect combination.



Joe and Jim transitioning onto their bikes.

  



Joe, killing it!



Matt and Jeff opted for the more sane duo



This was the first race ever on the mountain bike trails at Pocahontas State Park.  I’m fortunate enough to call these my home trails and usually ride my bike to the trailhead.  I contemplated doing this on race day, but quickly decided not to as I knew I needed to bring stuff for transition and the air was a bit brisk for the quick spin to the park.  Joe Fish is such a badass that he opted to ride his Giant the 8 or so miles from his house to the event.  As these are the home trails to Joe as well, I felt like we had a bit of an advantage over the rest of the field.

 

Finishing up



Once I arrived and started setting up my transition area, I started seeing other Design Physics racers.  It was awesome to have such a nice turnout at this final event of the Virginia Off Road Series.  In total, Design Physics had 9 racers and one spectator!!  It was a pretty awesome feeling to have this much support at an event, especially a duathlon.

In short, the race went down like this, Joe Fish killed everyone!!  I knew I would need to put some major time on Joe during the running sections as he would be faster then me on the bike.  When Joe hung with me on the first run, I knew it was his race to win.  The bike section was very fun with lots of leaves all over the trail.  I passed the few guys that had beaten me on the first run within the first mile or so and settled into a rhythm that I was able to maintain over the course.  I kept expecting my legs to recover from the run, but it never really happened so I couldn’t make up any time on Joe.  I felt terrible by the time the second run was over and I was just happy to be finished.  Not a great day for me, but a great day for Design Physics Racing.  What an awesome way to finish off the season.

All in all, we filled many of the podiums:

Joe Fish- 1^st solo men

David Reid- 2^nd solo men

Kate Fisher- 3^rd solo women

Team Juaneza and Plassman- 3^rd duo men

Paul Leeger- 3^rd 35-39 men

Jim Fisher- 1^st 40-44 men

Lisa Stover- 1^st 30-34 women

In addition John Leino competed on a team and Damon came out to show is support.  Thanks guys!

Got to RunRideRace for complete results.

FORD #2

FORD #2 was awesome this year.  The weather finally cooperated, and the trails were in great condition.  Seems like this is rare as it is the norm for the trails to be wet and/or muddy.

Two of the DP crew rolled into the Quarry trails with high hopes of bringing in some VORS points.  I was not aware that Matt Juaneza was going to make the event, but decided at the last minute to participate in the beginner field after missing the Stamped the day before.  We discussed before the event that neither of us had really done much running this season, but I assured Matt that this race is usually won on the mountain bike.  This proved to be a normal FORD with Konrad really mixing in some tough climbs with the mountain bike portion of the event.  Matt and I both felt pretty good as he was rocking the Giant Anthem and I on my Stijl.

Matt and I took full advantage of the mountain bike portion allowing us to win both of our races.  Matt won the beginner course and I took the advanced distance win.  I have been close to winning before, but this was the first time I was able to snatch victory!  It felt good.

SM100: Part 1

It all seems like such a blur looking back on the race, and most of the week leading up to the race.  The race was stressful for me since I really designed my entire season to peak at the SM100 and this was my first time attempting a 100 mile race.  Of course, all the stress drifted away as soon as I left the Stokesville Campground.  I found myself jockeying for position trying to keep the wheel of my team mates Plassman and Fish.

Seemed like as soon as we hit the first gravel climb things quickly started to change.  The peloton that was the asphalt and fire road dissipated quickly to a select few.  It was at this time that I said goodbye to Plassman and set my sights on getting up this climb quick enough to ride the entire cookie trail, and more importantly the Lynne trail.  Fortunately I had pre-ridden this section many times and knew exactly what was coming and how hard I could go.  I made it up the Lynne and down Wolf Ridge pretty quickly, just like the pre-rides, in fact I may have done it a bit to quickly.  When I finally reached Tillman fire road, one of the volunteers told me I was 16 minutes back from the leader, that was way faster then I planned on!  Unfortunately I had also lost my bottle of Infinit Nutrition that was to be the basis of my nutrition for the event.  Fish was kind enough to give me some of his water after our group caught him coming down Tillman.

Once into Aid 2, I quickly downed a bottle of Heed and took the next bottle of Infinit from my drop bag in hopes this would somewhat offset the bottle I had lost.  Next up was Hankey mountain and one of the sweetest downhills in the state, Dowels Draft.  Aid 3 came and went and I was able to find another awesome train of guys to get to Ramsey's Draft.  I downed half of my ProBar on this road section which really helped to make me feel better.  The climb up Bridge Hollow was very difficult for me this day.  I bobbled several sections I had never had issues with before and even fell down the hill after my rear tire slipped on some of the slick roots.  Aid 4 could not have come soon enough.  I was cramping after the climb so I found some endurolytes, downed another bottle of Heed, and headed down "shit road" to the base of the death climb.  Fish was talking about dropping, but I convinced him to carry on.  Fish and I road mainly by ourselves down shit road where I was able to take down the rest of my ProBar.  Favorite quote of the day came on this road when a guy we passed said "how much longer is the climb?"  Hahaha...the climb had not yet even started as he would quickly find out once we go to West Virginia.

Aid 5 was like a mirage.  It really is the best aid station.  I downed several brownies, grabbed a handful of M&M's, had my chain lubed by the awesome mechanics, then headed out to finish the climb.  This was by far my longest stop.  Chestnut was tough but I did manage to pass several people on the downhill.  This has always been the weakest part of my riding so it felt good to pass a few guys.  Again, the pre-rides really paid off here along with the guidance offered by Fish and Plassman of course.  Aid 6 was an even nicer site.  For some reason I thought I would have to climb the road a bit to get to it, but the new location of this aid is just as your coming out of the woods.  I snapped a spoke on the death climb, so I had it clipped off before hitting the road for the final 12 miles.  It was while I was waiting for the mechanic that I realized I had not had a bike issue all day.  I had been stressed all week about getting a flat (as I flatted during my last pre-ride) and the Stijl bike was awesome soaking up far more bumps then a hardtail should having spot on geometry leaving my back pain free.! 

The final climb up Hankey went well.  I managed to stay out of my granny gear and was really making some time.  The campground seemed so close that I could taste the beer by this point.  We pre-rode this section the day before to spin out the legs so I knew exactly what was coming.  It was an awesome feeling to drop into the camp ground, something you really have to experience to know.

At the beginning of the season my goal was a sub 11 hour.  After a few races, I set a new goal of sub 10 hours.  I don't carry a clock or any kind of electronics so I really had no idea what my time was, so I found it hard to believe when I turned the corner and saw the clock reading 8:59:33.  This totally blew away my expectations.  This time was good enough to finish 42nd, again blowing away my goal of top 100.

I can't thank my team mates enough.  I could not have performed this well without the training partners Fish and Plassman.  I also came to the realization during this race that I wasn't a terrible descender, it is just the Fish and Plassman have incredible skill heading down those super rocky technical descents that make up so much of this course.  What a great day on the trails!!  Everybody raves about how great the volunteers are at this event and they are not joking, these volunteers make the event!!

The team posted some strong results in this race on a day when many didn't finish due to the heat and humidity:

Joe Fish- 8:46
David Reid: 8:59
Jeff Plassman: 9:10
Paul Leeger: 12:15

Dirty Dawg...

Damon and I headed out for this race. I signed up last year, but wasn't able to go due to a sick child. I got my redemption this year and EastCoasters put on a great event. This race was highlighted by the awesome temperatures we experienced. When we finally arrived at the race start, the thermometer on the car read 74*, what a huge change from the 100*+ that has been Richmond weather over the past week or so.

Of course, the weather remained in our minds as we unloaded the car. Menacing clouds seemed to be moving over the course. Around lap 3 the rain set in. It would rain on and off for most of the remainder of the race making the course slick in spots with one climb becoming un-ridable for much of the race. My drivetrain and Stijl bike worked flawlessly all day long despite all the mud.

The course was pretty nicely laid out. After hearing some horror stories about the course from last year soon after we arrived, we were treated to a nice mixture of singletrack, doubletrack, and fire roads. In short, there were two screaming fast downhills split with 3 major climbs, with one climb being around 1 mile of the 5.7 miles course. The downhills were awesome and got much faster as the race went on and the lines were established.

Pic to the left is of Damon in the last 100 yards battling for position. Damon, licking his chops waiting for the opportunity to blow by, which he did just before the start/finish.

With all the rain, the course got very muddy with some sections almost swamp like. The bikes, as well as riders, were a mess!!










I finished in first for solo men, although second overall as one singlespeed racer was really flying all day long. I came within a few minutes of him, but just couldn't catch him. Damon had an admirable effort for his first enduro event. He kept spinning the cranks all day long, which is far more then I can say for most of the field.