Pontiac Lake Time Trial - April 23, 2011

Tailwind Racing website:



Each Spring I go through the emotional torture most commonly referred to as "pre-registration". Like clockwork the Yankee Springs Time Trial usually goes off without a hitch unaffected by early season trail conditions. The sandy trail on the West side of the state is ideal for early spring and summer riding. The Pontiac Lake Time Trial is held the following weekend in SE Michigan on a trail with much different soil (mud) conditions. Early season conditions can be hard on the trail, drivetrain and overall mental state. After a week of snow, rain & cold temperatures the question remains. To race or not to race...?
More later.

UPDATE:
Like a sign from above the weather cleared for a stellar day of racing. I arrived in time to help set up the team compound and BS with old & new friends. Unfortunately, while this was going on I should have been standing in the registration line as the new operators were struggling to process the increasing throng of racers. The line continued to grow but after a long wait it was business as usual. At least the sun was shining! In a nutshell, I tend to suck at the short, intense effort known as a Time Trial.

I guess a better warm up may have helped but it's usually the same result for me. A fast start followed by a blow up a few miles in and I spend the rest of the race recovering. Pontiac Lake is a demanding trail with sharp climbs, rocks and plenty of roots. The trail was in great shape although I went down on the greasy climb after the switch-back section. My legs felt OK although my bike handling skills were kind of sketchy. I kept falling off my line and lost rhythm in the process. Anyways, I was passed by several guys in my age group on lap one and quietly rode a smoother second lap to finish out 5th in the 50+ Expert class.

The RACING GREYHOUNDS were well represented in many of the classes and a huge shout out for the awesome team support and relaxed vibe. FABOO!
Team compound (aka The Tootsie Roll)

Jeffro carefully tending to the ribs:

Cameron took third in the Elite class. I guess Christian (1st place) had other places to be:

Roper won his age group riding a singlespeed!

Pusher and Janice:


RESULTS:

What's going on?

It has been a while since the last update. The weather in Michigan has SLOWLY been more Spring-like and the rides have been getting better.

A week ago I took a digger. I wish I could say it occurred during some epic battle out on the trail or road. Nope, it happened while riding a flat, dirt road here in Washtenaw County. I was cruising at 20 + mph with a strong tailwind and I must have also been daydreaming because I never saw the pothole that waited for me. It went something like this: pothole, handlebar twist, right hand slipping off the hood, front wheel sideways, sliding on road along the left hip, thunking head/helmet on road hard. Denial. WTH!
Regardless, my bike and I survived. I did come across this product while tending to my wounds. Pro riders have been using these tube bandages for years years and I'm happy to find these now on the store shelves. I recall using mini-pads and nylons back in the day! The Telfa non-stick pads also work very well.
Curad Hold Tite:


Sadly, the Ragin' Raisin race that was schedule for April 16 was canceled. I hope to see it on the calendar next year.
Ragin' website:



The Michigan MTB season kicked off Sunday, April 17th with the Yankee Springs Time Trial. Hats off to the WMMBA chapter for pulling off another well organized event. This event always reminds me of how it felt at the first day of school. Everybody checking out everybody. Congratulations to my teammates who had a strong showing in several categories. Even the tandem class!
Yankee Springs TT website:
2011 RESULTS:

Michigan was also well represented at the 18th running of the Paris-Ancaster race in Ontario, Canada. Clint Verran (Paint Creek Bicycles)and Mike Simonson (RBS/TREK/NOTUBES)placed in the top 20. Rich Stark (Two Wheel Tango) won the Singlespeed class. Great work all!
Mike's race report:
RESULTS:



While all this heated action was taking place I had a date with my bride which included a trip down to Slows Bar-B-Q located in the heart of Detroit by the old Tiger stadium. Absolutely fantastic food and beer selection. It's all about choices...
SLOWS Bar-B-Q:


Today it is snowing. It was a good day to work on some things and I decided to mess around with the helmet cam on the singlespeed. Be advised, this video is 3+ minutes of boredom although it gave me a hub-high perspective that should be pretty cool on the singletrack. Hopefully the trails will dry out soon from this latest round of moisture. In the meantime the roads are in great shape for riding.
Fork cam video:

Gravel Grinder 100K Saturday, April 30, 2011

Mark your calendars. On Saturday, April 30th 2011, the North Oakland Single Speeders will be hosting the second annual “Gravel Grinder” in Oxford.

This is a group ride and you are invited to come and enjoy some of the best dirt roads in Northern Oakland County.

For 2011 we are going with a 100k (62 miles) route, plus an option to bail out early and finish with a respectable 35 miles.

FREE.

Pure crazanity!!

If I was any good at Photoshop I would have added a turd pile over that dude's shoulder on the State of Michigan. I'll just say it. The weather lately is making me crazanky. Seriously? I hate it when other people talk about the weather although I have come to discover it is constantly on my flipping mind. Precipitation, temperature, wind speed and direction, 7 day forecast, sunrise, sunset, etc., etc.....

Regardless, the paved roads are where it's at right now. Off road conditions are too soft to mess with. Here are a couple of items that have really shined for me on these gloomy days.
The first is Finish Line Wet Lube. For me, this product has performed well over the winter months as well as during the wet season commonly referred to as Spring. Give it a try.


The next useful item is a set of bombproof road tires to get those long training miles in. I would recommend the Continental GatorSkin tires. I ride in the morning before work and I cannot risk screwing around fixing flats far from home with the possibility of running late for work. These tires have been amazing. They are durable and hold up to wear very well. I went with the 25cm width for a bit more surface area and I ride gravel as well as the beat up roads around here. Try them, you will be glad you did.


Right on! Tomorrow's forecast calls for better weather and some base miles.

Thursday: Areas of fog before 8am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 52. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 8 mph.

Some assemby required...

The Spring weather lately has been marginal at best. What better way to spend a cold, rainy day then to build up a new bike. I've discovered that next to actually riding bicycles, building them is pretty damn satisfying. This is not one of those pimped out builds that ends up at the NAHBS or displayed on the roof rack of some rich dudes Lexus. I was looking to build up a race worthy rig at a modest price. Middle of the road, that's how I wagonwheel.

I enjoy the hell out of my 29'er rigid singlespeed and I was looking for a similar ride, except with gears. I opted for a 2x10 drivetrain and a White Brothers carbon fork which I felt was a good fit for the trails here in Michigan.

I started off with a sweet looking 7005 aluminum Niner EMD frame. No scandium or carbon fiber here.


Daniel built up some sweet wheels for me. The silver & black spoke combination with the red and black nipples looks great.


Here are the specs for the tech/weight weenies out there:
Sram x9 6 bolt 135mm QR disc hub rear hub, Sram x9 6 Bolt 9mm QR disc front hub-32h w/No Tubes ZTR Crest rims 29" w/ half black Wheelsmith DB14 spokes, half silver Wheelsmith DB14 spokes , and Wheelsmith black alloy nipples and red alloy nipples-Model Year-2011-Manufactures listed weight=N/A-Actual Weight=Front-767 grams, Rear-982 grams, total weight 1749 grams-Date weighed-04/04/11

*Weight does not include rim strips and valves

After about 5 hours of assembly I now have my dream bike. The drive train components are primarily SRAM X7 and the cockpit is Truvativ Stylo. This will be my first non-Shimano component bicycle of recent times. I have finally made the jump to tubeless tires and hydraulic brakes which will require some new maintenance skills for me. Fan-freaking-tastic!
Now the wait begins until the singletrack dries up.




NinerEMDolicious photos:

Barry-Roubaix, The Killer Gravel Road Race. March 26th, 2011

Barry-Roubaix website:


Here's a great clip on how the race played out at the head of the pack:

Watch more video of Barry-Roubaix: The Killer Gravel Road Race on cyclingdirt.org

Now from a mortal's perspective:

WOW, what a stellar kick off to the race season here in Michigan. Promoter Rick Plite and his crew executed another exceptional race with attendance hitting close to 1000 riders for this years gala event. The premise for the race is simple. There are three distances to choose from (23, 35, 65 mile) and any bike is welcome. It was obvious that the 18 degree conditions outside had little impact on people showing up and this was realized when I rounded the corner to enter the park and was caught up in the following mess:

By the time I got parked and picked up my number plate I was already 40 minutes behind schedule. This left me about 20 minutes to get ready. It dawned on me that cold weather riding usually requires an additional 30 minutes of prep time to get layered and warmed up properly. I spun on the trainer for a meager 10 minutes and headed over to the start line just as they said, GO! I settled in with the roll out and prepared myself for the Sager road section that sucked for me so badly last year. I was tickled to discover the benefit to riding the first wave was that the riders were able to clear the "technical" sections cleanly without the mayhem that surely happened behind our wave. The sandy roads of the course were frozen hard and smooth. Barry County has some truly amazing roads! In usual fashion I was promptly popped off the back within the first few miles and played leap frog with as many groups as I could.
At mile five I avoided disaster as I flatted the front tire on a fast sketchy downhill. I changed the flat as I watched what seemed like hundreds of riders fly past. Back on the road I soon realized I forgot to attach the front brake cable and had to stop to re-attach it. Doh! It was somewhere around mile 20 that I realized in my haste to get to the start line that I had failed to toss a few gels into my back pocket and had absolutely no nutrition for the 65 mile haul.
At the base of a lengthy climb some homeowners were blaring "The Eye of the Tiger" which seemed appropriate as I dragged my ass up the climb. The next 10 miles I rode with a good group of riders as we exchanged pulls and reeled in swarms of riders. As I approached a final climb towards the end of lap one I shifted down and dropped my chain off the inner chain ring. Another stop. Damn.
I eventually finished lap one feeling pretty good although my tank was running low. As I made the turn for the second lap I had a feeling in my gut that I was in for a struggle. I was desperate for energy food as I scoured the road for an unused gel packet or Clif bar. Due to the cold conditions, there was a great deal of gel packets and chemical hand warmers littering the road dropped from the back pockets of fumbling riders. I eventually found a unused GU packet and tore off the top and as I squeezed the heavenly goodness from within I realized it had been run over and the bottom corners had been blown out. My left hand was now covered with semi-frozen sticky goodness which bonded my fingers together like crazy glue. I then stopped at the aid station and gobbled down a frozen banana. Unfortunately, they were all pre-peeled, frozen and uber-slippery. I just couldn't bring myself to cram one in my back pocket for later.
The frozen roads were now thawed, soft and very slow. I was very slow and each hill was getting progressively harder to climb. I was cooked. I was thankful that I had a good supply of glycogen stored from a week of rest and that I was fully hydrated.
I finished at 4:20:xx and was 80 out of 145 in the 65 mile class. I'll take it. Some races are flawlessly executed and there is often very little to reflect on. This particular event made up for those flawlessly executed races and I think karma should be in balance now for me. My bike was set up perfectly for this course. I had no clothing malfunctions and my layering was spot on. The lessons learned I can only hope to remember prior to this race next year.

In a nutshell, this race is a true test of a riders early season fitness. What a blast!

RESULTS & PHOTOS

Warning: Objects in mirror are WIDER than they appear

After hauling my "Winter weight" around the block today I'm thinking a pilot car and WIDE LOAD sign might have been more appropriate. Gawd, I feel so slothesque.


The dirt roads are still drying out here in Michigan so I rode the pavement on one of my favorite loops. Sunny, 40 degrees and windy. With a lack of early season endurance the tank was empty towards the end.

Route:

6935.604173811243 calories later and the obligatory cyclometer shot.

Tour of Washtenaw - May 14, 2011

Coming soon to nearby Saline, Michigan. 65 & 100 mile options. Check it out.



Facebook page:

Article & info:

Registration link:

MBRA link:

Life is good...

Whew, I squeezed in a quick ride before work. Although I felt slow and sluggish, the effort was fine for a couple of hours while I struggled against a swirling 20 mph wind. Riding outdoors is the way to go and it sure makes the time spent indoors at work easier to handle.


A friend at work scored me this t-shirt with a message that says it all. Life is Good.
Thank you Lynn.

Random images...

I'm just not ready to start taking ride photos until there is something worthwhile to capture. In the interim I'll toss out a few random shots snagged from cyberspace.

Yes, my cyclometer say's it all. My power IS very average.

Sven Nys prayer candle

A divine upgrade.

Chris Akrigg - A Hill in Spain

Nice scenery and this rider makes it look so easy. Wish I were there...

Urban Downhill POV

Gawd, I wish I had the balls to descend like these dudes. I guess I need to MTFU.

VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.