Tag Archives | Mountain Bike Racing
A Little Bit of Jacquie
Because mountain biking is not a sausage party and Jacquie Phelan was and is a legend of the sport… and pretty badass.
Sponsorships & The Isolati
When I was racing around five or six years back, I found myself thinking a lot about sponsorships, teams and that sort of thing. Looking back on it, I am pretty embarrassed about all that. I mean on one hand I worked hard at being a bike racer back then: I watched what I ate (or didn’t eat), I drank less beer, trained harder and rode a ton more. Regardless of that, I was–and still am–very much an amateur bike racer. I did OK-ish in the then burgeoning endurance mountain bike race scene, not winning per se, but not embarrassing myself like I do now either. I guess I thought that having a team or sponsor throw me a discount justified all the work I was doing, or maybe it just made me feel like I was being accepted into some sort of bike racing fraternity. Still, looking back on it I wonder why the hell I cared. Did putting logos on my blog make me faster? No. Did getting tires at cost win me any races? No. Did it make me look like a douche bag for blathering on about products or blogging stupid things about what I got in the mail today from my sponsor rather the talking of the true spirit of riding and racing? Yep.
Being A Fat Virgin
In my old job at XXC Magazine I was a big supporter of fat bikes, it was hard not to be as they were often the chosen steeds for the races and adventures that many of my contributors wrote about in the articles I had the pleasure of working on. Having said that, for my riding I often shunned the idea of riding a fat bike, I never owned one, I still don’t own one, and earlier this year when I bought a new bike I opted for a 25 pound, full suspension 29er with little or no consideration given to purchasing a fat bike.
My entire fat bike history was one short spin on a two sizes too small Surly Pugsley in a driveway. I had never ridden–let alone raced–a fat bike until this past Saturday when I did both for the fist time on a borrowed bike, that while a capable enough machine, is not exactly considered top-of-the-line. That was OK with me since I am not really considered a top-of-the-line racer, rider, employee, husband, father, person, etc., etc., etc.,..
Fat & Borrowed
Today I went down to my LBS and picked up a demo fat bike to race with this weekend. It’s a cheap, very heavy (and very fat) Charge Cooker Maxi (Charge is under the Cannondale umbrella… sort of like Huffy or some such brand). While this bike would not be my first, second or third choice if I were to ever by a fat bike, it should do just fine for my little fat bike experiment here. Of course, I haven’t even sat on it yet, let alone taken a ride on it, so for all I know I might love it. What I do know, is that looking down at the ridiculously sized four-inch tires is freakish to say the least. I bet you the spin up real fast.
Making Plans
Here we are, January 1, 2014. I have spent my day watching three football matches on NBCSN, cleaning up a little after last night’s small New Year’s Eve get-together and dragging the hulking carcass of the long dead and cheerless Christmas tree to the curb. Now it’s time to put a big dent into the leftover beer and take a look at what’s coming up for me in the next couple weeks.
Time Trialing & Going Nowhere
I’m not a fan of the time trial (individual or team) unless it’s vintage pre-time trial bike, pre-aero helmet stuff (like the pic above featuring Jacques Anquetil circa 1953) or on dirt (like the Yankee Springs Time Trial here in Michigan each spring). While I have NO plans to ever do a road time trial, I do plan on returning to Yankee this spring. This winter I also plan on continuing my version of the time trial on the trainer; pedaling my ass off, going nowhere for 15 miles trying to best the time before. It’s basically doing lactate threshold training but that sounds all fancy and like I actually know what I’m doing. Since I don’t, and tend to wing things by the seat of my soiled chamois, I just call it doing a time trial.
You Probably Race
If you open up a drawer–any drawer–and find a gel flask, you’ve probably raced some mountain bikes*.
Or you are just an unorganized doofuss like me that throws your shit wherever and then spend hours looking for it in the time leading up to a long ride or a race. Note that there is no cap for the flask. I am pretty sure I saw it on top of the dryer in the basement.
*OK, you might not race mountain bikes but you do SOMETHING equally as cool yet unpopular and misunderstood by the general U.S. public: ultra runs, adventure racing, cross-country skiing, etc.,
How One Race Changed Everything
Yesterday, as I came home from my ride and sat my ancient, well stickered box full of gear on the kitchen table, I happened to glance down at the large 2002 24 Hours of Snowshoe bumper sticker that adorns one side (right between a bikeman.com and Merge Records sticker). I have obviously seen the sticker a million times in the past eleven years, but for some reason yesterday it hit home and reminded me of what all that ONE race spawned.
North Woods Love
This weekend I headed up to Michigan’s “north woods.” No I didn’t go tot he U.P., but went to the next best place– the rolling hills and dense, dark forests that surround Traverse City, Michigan. I could really get into being closer to that area. To me it’s a great blend of the mountain West, the PA Laurel Highlands and rural Michigan. Three of my favorite locals.
Racing for me these days is more just about riding and getting to hang out with friends and this was the perfect weekend and the perfect place for it. Not mention we were blessed with warm, sunny days and cool crisp nights.
You can see small random selection of photos I snapped with the iPhone this weekend by clicking the image above. I will have more on the X100 and the x50 in the coming day or so here and at xxcmag.com.