SM100 2012

I look at my phone, "yep it's 4:30  in the mourning and somebody is playing Crazy Train as loud as possible. Hell yeah! I'm ready to my bike a 100 miles." Some dude rolls by hitting a gong on a 4 wheeler and Chris gets on the loud speaker "C'mon get ya some breakfast, it's black coffee kinda mourning." I get some pants on get three or four bagels and huge cup of unfinished coffee. Joe Fish is there and I talk to him bit. Then I rollout and change into the race clothes and all the other pre racing boring stuff.

At the starting line I find my boy Allen Campbell from Blackwater Bikes, we get rowdy almost too rowdy for 6:30 in the mourning. Allen and I start way in the back and pass probably half the field on the climb up to the radio tower. Then on the cookie trail nobody is riding the rocks and everything gets bottlenecked. Bradley Schmalzer passes me after his flat at mile 2. I find a train on Tillman Rd and latch on. Then begin the hike a bike up Lynn Trail. Finally the top of Lynn comes and sweet descent down Wolf begins. I rip past a few sketchy characters and some guy screaming bloody murder. Guess all the riding with the Plastic Man has payed off! I reach the creek at the bottom of the flowy stuff and pass mickey mouse, a hooter girl, some guy who said "Rider 555 (my number) your table is ready" and D Reid who broke his degaylleuer. Then on the flat road section, between Wolf and Aid 2 all the geared riders I passed on the descent come by in their big ring. I promptly give them the finger and tell em see ya halfway up Hankey. Not really but damn was I thinking it!

The awesome volunteers get me in and out of Aid 2 quick and the assault on Hankey begins. My legs feel good and I catch Davy from Blackwater in the little meadow before Dowells. Davy and I roll down the sketchy top portion and pass some fellas walking their bike down the drops. Davy skids off a little bit and lets me around. Halfway down I feel my water bottle hitting my leg, I look down to see my cage is broken. So for the second half I come down looking like an idiot with my bottle in mouth until I can get a zip tie at Aid 3. I hop into a geared train down 250 while some dark clouds roll up. Half way up Bridge Hollow the skies open up and I'm talking biblical rains. The rocks are near impossible to ride and I watch some dude ride his bike of the mountain. Bald Ridge, the Braley  downhill, isn't much better. You have to squint like an old man reading the newspaper to keep the mud out of your eyes. At aid 4 I see a bunch of people quitting. 

"Sup Dicky"

"Quitting" 

"You to J-Pok" 

"Yeah there is no point"

Damn this rain! 

On the road to the death climb I start shivering and can't feel my toes.  At the base of Shit Road I see Joe "Pro I've got them flashy yellow shoes" Fish who has the worlds biggest sidewall tear. He encourages me to keep riding. Actually he gave more of that WTF are you doing, stop talking, go ride your bike, it's race kinda tone. So I press on. Shit Road is this stupid 2% grade gravel road that goes on and on for 7 miles. If I sit down I spinout and it's not steep enough to stand. Man I want this to end! Finally I hit the base of the real "Death Climb." A lot of the geared guys looked shelled, I grind pass Mark Junkerman from RunRideRace halfway to Aid 5. Finally the much needed relief of pizza and candy comes at Aid 5. Then things got heavy. The little road up the Little Bald knob and the Chestnut trail is destroyed. It's the nastiest mud I've ever seen. Slow going really doesn't describe it. I rode through a puddle that engulfed my water bottles. Then the top of Chestnut was super sketch, peanut buttery and slick rocks.  Finally towards to bottom things smooth out and I make some moves past some fellas. At the very bottom I past two dudes on full squishy bikes, who tell me at Aid 6 "Didn't know you could go that fast on a hardtail." I was going fast!? Plassman, David and Joe must be moving at the speed of light then. 

I roll up Hankey the second time, walkup the Plastic Man dubbed "bitch slap." Roll up under the finishing banner to see David telling me I just got under 10 hours. Right on! 

Immediately I fill up my finishers glass and start my post race festivities. After a couple hotdogs and a dip in the creek and I start talking to Dicky and Parsons. Bishop comes over and Dicky starts making fun his "aero pads." Then Bishop tells us there is women's underware and little turds in people's drop bag's. I say his full of it but Thom and me go investigate. Check out my interview from that at the bottom. After a few flambongos, I start hanging out with the cycling and living legend Tinker Juarez. Yeah it happened. Not really but Garth Prosser is one of the coolest freaking dudes I've ever met. Things were drinked, words were said, and friends were made. Late late into the evening an angry mob of Nate Sheerer, Thom, Sideshow Bob, that lady from the WV Night Club, and myself all went on the Dick hunt. After much searching we found the little man, who everyone thinks is me, asleep in his fortress. Threats of sharpies were made, finally I went to bed after the worst merry go round ride of my life.

I'll be back next year sure. I made so many friends and hung out so many old ones. In fact I've got 100 mile-itis. Next year I'm gonna step my game up. Get ready for me, Mohican, Cohutta, Wilderness, Fools Gold and Lumberjack. Everyone on this team and everyone who reads this must try this race, it's a blast and well worth the entry fee. Anyone can finish all you gotz to do is pedal.

Oh yeah I ran a 36x22.

Watch more video of 2012 Shenandoah Mountain 100 NUE on cyclingdirt.org

The Stampede

At home it had rained from when we woke up Saturday morning, and just finished sometime Sunday morning, so we knew it was going to be a wet race!  But the sun was starting to shine, so we thought we might luck out and the trails would dry up a bit.  On the drive up to Devil’s Backbone Brewery, the further we drove the more rainy it became, with ominous low dark clouds and fog.  But we wouldn’t be swayed, a race we had registered for and race we shall!

The race starts off with a 1.8ish mile climb to the top of Brent’s Gap.  That sure separates out the racers very quickly!  The climbing didn’t end there, with climbs up Horseshoe Mountain.

The trails were very muddy- I ate a lot of mud and was picking dirt out of my ears after the race.  The two very steep descents this course was known for I just slid down with my brakes lightly on, fishtailing and trying to stay upright.  I’m not sure what others did, but it was a rush!  Loved the course- you could tell in dry weather it would be very fast.  Very narrow single track, with some double track thrown in.  Lots of climbing and descents.

I knew that Tom Richeson, a climber, would do well in this race and so he did- he ended up getting 2^nd in Expert Vet Men (35+) and 3^rd overall!  Yay Tom!  Other standings and podiums from a die-hard group of Design Physics riders:  Jim Fisher 2^nd Sport Men 36+, Byron Gonzales 3^rd Beginner Men, Sonya Gagnon 3^rd Sport Women, and Matt Juaneza 7^th Sport Men.  Full results here:  http://www.cycleva.com/S12results.html.  Jim had brought his friend Tom Jeffrey, it was Tom’s first mountain bike race.  Tom ended up placing first over Jim, does Jim regret bringing him?  Hah hah.  I don’t think so.  Do I sense a potential new team member?

Thanks to the owners of Devil’s Backbone Brewery for hosting the event and for letting us use their private land for the race.  Thanks also to Woody for putting on a very well organized event- course was well marked, many course marshalls to keep everyone in line, great free lunch and beer after, and I must say a very nice payout indeed!  Also a shoutout to our teammate Thom Flynn, who had wanted to race but instead sacrificed and was a course marshall, stopping traffic so we could get back on the highway safely for each of our laps.  Thanks Thom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.







 









The Dirty Dawg 2012

Most of the DP stayed local and did Junkerman's race at Camp Hilbert on Saturday. With work on Saturday I opted to travel out to Blacksburg and race the Dirty Dawg. A few things had me worried about the race, one that I had to race expert men on my Singlespeed and two I had no idea what to expect about the course. The location for the course is at Mountain Lake (Yes, where the filmed Dirty Dancing!) high up on a mountain, right on the West Virginia border. The expert men field was pretty big with 35 riders. With such a big field I knew the start was going to critical. We started on a gravel road and sprinted through the field with the barn and timing table. I go outside on the first turn and lose about 12 positions and head into the singletrack about 30th. The first bit of singletrack is a ripping downhill but not to ripping when you're behind half the field. Half way down I pass Gordon Wadsworth who has already flatted a mile into the race. Finally we hit hill and all of the geared riders shift into granny gear, I just jump off and run by 5 or 6 riders, almost taking out Laura Hamm in the process. Sorry! After  traffic thinned out and I was able to catch others riders on the fireroad climbs. Also for a first time I was making up time on the downhills (Thanks for the schooling Plassman). Finally I reached the intersection of the extra expert loop and the regular course. Now this is where things get weird, expert riders have to do the loop once but can choose which lap they complete it on. I opted to get it out of the way on the first lap. It started with a fairly long steep gravel climb after this things got hairy. After turning off the gravel load there was fast descent with loose shale rock gardens. Then there was steep rocky doubletrack climb that I walked good share off. Finally we hit the last trail Moonstomper. The trail was rocky, really rocky. Some of the nastiest stuff I've ever ridden. The rocks were numerous, slick and jagged. Also it didn't help that somebody in front of me keep dabbing causing me to lose a bit of my flow every 200ft. Then the last bit of trail shot straight down and was rocky as hell. I just held on and tired not to die. I finally came to one section with a big drop with sketchy entrance, that I just said "Nope that's it, there is my limit." Still an awesome bit of trail. Finally I rejoined the list bit of the regular loop. For my next two laps I just stay on top of it and rode hard. I didn't see anymore expert riders for my last two laps. I came into the finish expecting about 20th or so. Then I looked over at the board and what.... I got 10th. Kirby the promoter came over said "good job dude 10th overall 3rd single". All I could think "are you serious man!?" My best result of the year, hopefully this will carry over to next weekend for the Chimney Chase at Walnut Creek. Everybody should check out the trails at Mountain Lake and Kirby's other race at Pandapas Pond in october, right up the road. Hope to see everyone next weekend!

Results

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!!

Tom and Sonya

I know this isn’t race related, but since we are teammates I thought it was team news worthy!  I eloped with my best friend and teammate Tom Richeson last Thursday night 7/12/12.  We got married on Wintergreen (Devil’s Knob) at an overlook. 

Iron Mountain 100k

56 miles of grinding gravel climbs and tooth-rattling rocky descents.

I'd never ridden down in the Damascus area, but I will definitely be making return trips.  The mountains are big and the trails are gnarly.

Joe Fish, Travis Williams (aka Metro), and myself made Paul Leeger drive us to Damascus on Saturday, where we stayed at the Hiker's Inn right in the middle of town just a few short blocks from the race start/finish.
We jumped on our bikes when we got there and headed up the Virginia Creeper Trail to spin out the legs.
The Creeper Trail is a rail-to-trail path that starts in Damascus and runs up into the mountains through rhododendrons and pine trees alongside a trout-filled, rushing stream.
It seems that all activity in Damascus centers around riding bicycles on the Creeper Trail and hiking on the Appalachian trail or on nearby Mt. Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia.

As we rolled back into town and off the Creeper Trail I realized my tire was rubbing the chainstay on every revolution of the wheel.  We pulled out the spoke wrench and twisted a few nipples before realizing i had a broken spoke.  No wonder the back end of the bike had been feeling so flexy the last few rides.  Fortunately Travis had a spare spoke that fit and the wheel was ready to roll for the morning.

After picking up our packets we met up with Francine Rapp and Jennie Whedbie and hit Quincy's, one of only two restaurants in Damascus, for some glycogen building.

Race morning rolled around and Travis took a 45 minute shower.  Then proceeded to explicitly describe exactly why it took him so long to get ready.  If you know what I mean.

The race started with a lead-out through town and onto the Creeper Trail.  Those with a chance of placing well took off and the Regular people bunched up, got in each others way and splashed mud and horseshit all over each other.  The shenanigans continued as the race turned onto singletrack and went straight up a wet and rocky chute.  The type of climb that takes some concentration to not pinball around and end up sideways.   A lot of pushing and walking happened as it just took too much energy to pick through the rocks and all the people.  My glasses fogged up and immediately and I couldn't see the trail anyways. I saw Paul stopping to put some air in his tires because bouncing around in the rocks had burped his rear tire nearly flat.

At the top of the first climb we turned onto some smoother, but still rough, ridgetop trail that was fast and fun.  Francine, Paul and I ended up riding together for most of the first section to aid station 1.
The descent into aid station 1 was screaming fast and dropped us out onto several miles of paved road.  At this point Francine took off and Paul dropped back.  We saw each other again at Aid Station 2, but not again after that.  The trails into aid station 2 were gnarly, rocky, slippery with leaves in spots, wet in spots, and of course real fun.

The aid stations were awesome.  Station 2 was manned by a bunch of 50ish burly biker dudes making peanut butter sandwiches and handing out "pink hippie powder."
I rode by myself for most of the rest of the race.  Up until the last 12 miles the ride consisted of long gravel climbs followed by fast technical singletrack descents, over and over.   On the longest of the climbs I ended up alongside a girl from Asheville who ended up in the top 5. Riding along someone else helped me keep up pace and moral.  This was one of the only parts of the race that was in the sun, adding to the beatdown.

I rolled up to the last aid station, downed some coke and pretzels and was told there only 12 miles to go.
That's only one lap around JRPS I thought, and headed out happy that I was going to finish this feeling good and without any major problems.
The last bit of trail was up and down on singletrack and some jeep trail, ending with a screaming fast, flowy, but loose and rocky descent with so many water crossings we might as well have been riding down the stream bed.
Right at the top of this last descent, I heard a rider come up fast behind me.  I indicated that they should come around me if they wanted since they seemed to be feeling antsy to get to the finish line.
About 300 yards down the trail, he finally passed me and it was a guy out on his own ride, not racing, on a long travel bike, with no helmet, and he was out of sight immediately.  I tried to keep up for about 3 seconds, but he knew the trail and was launching off things and plowing over rocks that the ol' Stijl doesn't have the suspension for.

I crossed the line and the lady at the table said "7:15."
Sweet, I was done. Longest race I'd ever completed.  And maybe the longest distance I've ridden on a mountain bike in one day.  The last day of the Colorado Trail tour was somewhere around 50 miles but took a lot longer than that, pushing 40 lbs of bike and gear over 12,000 ft peaks.

Joe and Francine were already chowing on cheeseburgers when I rolled into the park where the post-race festivities were held.  Joe was already showered and had gotten a haircut.  He had finished two hours earlier and came in 6th place overall.
Paul and Travis pulled up about 30 minutes later.  Travis had somehow ended up off course and spent an hour riding down a paved road away from the race.  His version of the detour involves 20 miles and 5,000 feet of extra climbing, and at least 3 beers drank before rejoining the race course.


Paul and Joe and I stayed at the Hiker's Inn a second night before heading to Blacksburg on Monday morning for a quick recovery ride and a massive breakfast at Gillies.  
We only rode for 45 minutes on the Pandapas pond trails outside the 'Burg, but it was the most fun 45 minutes of riding i've done in a while.  The descent down snakeroot trail is a buffed out, bermed roller coaster that flows so well you barely need brakes.


After another 3 hours in the car, we were back that the park and ride, and I got to go back to work, where I got berated by my boss wearing shorts and smelling bad.


Great trip, Great race.  Wish I had some pictures.


   

Fight For Freedom Race, Williamsburg, VA

HOT! That about sums up the day. When I got home from the race, the thermometer under our deck, in the shade, read that the maximum temperature for the day was 101. Who was foolhardy enough to race in that heat? Sonya Gagnon, Byron Gonzalez, Thomas Flynn, Mike King, and Matt Juaneza. Wahoo! I was glad though to be able to support Richmond Cycling Corps and their cause.

My race wasn’t until 11:30 but I got there early to pre-ride the course since I hadn’t been to Freedom Park before. I wasn’t sure if that was smart due to the amount of water I lost just from pre-riding, but I made sure to hydrate frequently. Because I was early I got to see Byron start his Beginner men’s race.

There were 4 of us in my Sport women’s race. There was a downhill start on a fireroad before a sharp right hole shot into the single track. I was able to get in the woods first, with my (friendly) nemesis of 2012 Emily Croft on my wheel. (Just turned 14 and she usually kicks my butt? What?) I could see/hear the other two women close behind. As we kept riding, soon it was just Emily left on my wheel. A couple miles into the race, Emily called out to me that she had dropped her water bottle. I was thinking oh no, in this heat, that’s not good at all. I yelled to her to let me know if she started feeling dizzy. The place where the water station was, was about 4 miles on. We kept riding, and I made sure I could always hear Emily behind me. The heat was oppressive, even the draft created from moving through the air was hot, it felt like riding in an oven. After a few miles Emily yelled out that her energy level was dropping fast, she was getting weak, so I stopped and had her drink from my camel back. We went on, and finally got to the water station. I yelled out to her Dad that she needed electrolytes then went on my way without worrying about her anymore. I honestly thought she’d hydrate and still be able to catch up with me because she’s so fast, but it turns out she decided to end her race because she was too far in the negative with dehydration. But of course I didn’t know that so for the whole race I pushed hard thinking she might catch me any second. Towards the end I could feel my body slowing down, but the other girls didn’t catch me.

I loved the trails! No obstacles just really tight singletrack. Very narrow (caught my bars on a tree once) and constantly either going up, going down, or turning. A very fun course.

After I got back to my car I felt worse than during the race, I could hardly stand up straight and was seeing small black stars in my vision. Got myself to the air conditioned visitor center and hung out there for about 45 minutes.

Final results showed myself as 1st in Sport Women, Byron 1st in Beginner Men, Mike 8th and Matt 9th in enduro (kudos to anyone who did enduro in that heat), and Tom 9th in Sport Men 35+.

2012 Mohican 100 - Jeff's Point of view

Last weekend, Joe, David, and myself all raced in the Mohican 100, located in central Ohio. This race is known for it's awsome 1st 20 miles of singletrack in the Mohican State Forest and is a classic NUE race course. The weather was a bit sketchy on Friday as drove to Loudonville Ohio, host of the Mohican 100.

The weather finally broke later that evenining and we awaoke to a wonderfull day of racing. In the morning, David got some interesting news on his batphone... there was a race store contest for the Cohutta 100 that I had entered and I got second place and won a cool hitch rack. The top 3 stories, incuding my "Cohutta Remixed"  are posted online. http://www.trailheadoutdoors.org/newsevents/

Soon, the race was on. I made this video from my GoPro footage, check it out!

Overall we had some great results. Joe and David absolutely killed it and I bettered my previous best Mohican 100 time by a whole bunch of time.

Joe Fish          19th  7:54
David Ried     25th  8:07
Plassman        46th  8:48

Cheers!

Don't mess with David when he is eating!

The Stagg Creek Shakedown

Ever since the lost the "flats" at Poor Farm, the trail conditions have been on the decline. The trails future looked bleak to say the least. But last Sunday the hope returned in the form of the Stagg Creek Shakedown presented by Richmond Velo Sport. The turnout was good with at least a hundred riders ready to suffer in hot hot heat. Ed Jones a.k.a Cycles Ed, a long time figure in the Ashland cycling scene, created one tough course. It was satanic to say the least, we went up all the wrong hills.  Easily the hardest cross country course in the central Virginia. This would be my first race of year that was shorter than 20 miles.  I had no clue if my ability to sustain high intensity power was there. What a better way to find out than on my home course. At the starting line I knew right away who the competition would be. Ethan Lindbloom, a guy who has been really good at this for a long time and Kevin Horvath,  who is always strong in the single speed class. Everyone else I didn't have a clue how strong they'd be. Right out of the gate Ethan took charge, leading into the singletrack, with Kevin, Sean Yeager and George Lowe with me right behind him. Before the first climb Ethan had already put 20 seconds into everyone. I got past George   on a climb he got off and walked while I rode it. Then I ran past Kevin on the climb right after the 180 degree turn on gravel and powered past Sean on the last little gravel pitch of that climb. After passing those guys I couldn't see Ethan and figured he was long gone. Then on a technical climb right after this sketchy descent, I saw Ethan grinding up the climb. We did some yo-yoing for a while, I attacked on this doubletrack climb and got a gap. It was coming apparent that I was climbing much stronger than Ethan and he knew it. So he made up the gaps on the descents. Dude was tearing up the downhills no doubt. My strong efforts were to no avail. Then on this sketchy long pile I endoed and got my brake cables all tangled up. Ethan went by me while I fixed that and I never came close again. I then rode pretty conservative to make sure to seal second place. On the second lap I could see Kevin coming on strong in the flats but once the trails kicked up again he was gone. I came in 2nd at 1:33 less than a minute behind Ethan.  Overall pretty happy with that result, finishing that close to a guy like Ethan gives me confidence  that I can hang with some of the best around. You can always ask the what if question but does it really matter? No doubt in mind I had enough gas in the tank for one more strong attack but it didn't happen. I crashed like always, so it is what it is. Although the DP squad didn't have a good showing, we still put forth strong results. Byron won Beginner men and Matt sorta of got third place in Sport Men under 35 but after going off course I guess he was DQ'ed? Also Mason got second in Beginner Juniors. Next year the DP squad needs to be out in full force for this one. Results

Oh for all you gear ratio nerds I ran a 36x20, felt perfect.

Check out this video made by Dan Gibson of DBGProductions