Mountain Biking at Catamount

Williston, Vermont: home of the Catamount XC ski trail system and home of the best Wednesday night mountain bike group ride in New England. Also home of an amazing B&B where myself Proko, Ravster and Winston are staying. Winston keeps talking about how hungry he is and Proko continues to geek out on his computer. I think he is looking for an i-phone on Ebay but most of the phones are fake. Just like a good pair of jokeleys eye wear, there are a bunch of fake i-phones. At first glance they look great. A second glance reveals that they are pieces of crap.

On the race note: I raced in the Wednesday night Catamount worlds. It was a huge deal! Really. I was riding Adam Craig's old bike that now belongs to Jeff Davison, Lea Davison's dad. It had a broken front break lever but Jeff and I rigged it up with some zip ties and epoxy. I knew I would have to be delicate with it but that wouldn't matter, at the start it was drizzling and it made the mostly grass course very slick. Jeff's bike has good tires on it but not so good on wet grass. Keeping it upright would be my biggest worry.

At the start I saw a ton of people I knew. I underestimated the popularity of the Wednesday Worlds and knew that I would have my work cut out for me. Especially because some of the fast guys were on cyclocross bikes. There was nothing too technical about the course and was mostly on hard packed grass and dirt. These guys would be flying. Four laps of pain.

Lap one started apparently really hard. That's what everyone was saying after the race. I have nothing to judge it against because I have not started a mountain bike race since last fall. I was right with Josh Dillon and his teammate Jaime from the Fiordifrutta team. They were so smooth on the first lap while I was all over the trail. I was clearly rusty. Coming around for the second lap I slid out on an uphill corner and ended up in the tall grass. My cleat was full of grass, chain fell off, and it was just a small skid out. To make matters a little more difficult I was on road pedals that were full of grass and the cleat did not want to clip in.

I finally got up and going but they were gone. The rest of the race was chase chase chase. I never caught the two Fiordifrutta cyclo crossers again. Being able to race on fat tires again cleared my head from all of the hectic travel schedules that have been controlling my life the last two weeks.

This weekend: headed into New York City for a race in Central Park. Oh yea!

Police Buzz on 235 Pearl

Walking home from a pint with my roommate we encountered the police. I saw him from a distance with his lights flashing thinking that it was probably a routine DUI or speeding stop. We (Travis and I) kept walking and chattin like it was nothing and came upon this cop-he was sitting there alone. Okay I was thinking maybe the car drove off already and he had to do some paper work or something. No, the officer stepped out of his car and asked us to walk on the other side of the street. We said that we live at the top of that street there, whats going on? He said that there was a guy running around and they had the K9 force out looking for him. I definitely live in the ghetto. I never really thought I did until tonight. We sat around waiting for the fuzz to say it was okay and he eventually did. We began walking up our street only to notice the police were searching our back yard. Great! Just great. They had their flashlights out and dogs on leashes. We walked quietly and quickly to our front door went in, locked it and now I am hoping that they find the who ever they are looking for before they try to hide in my house. Crazy.

Roosting the Mtns

I think that riding from Helen, GA when doing a ride in the north GA mountains is the way to go. Many more combinations for rides are possible. One of which Travis Hagner, Ando and I went on. They took me on some dirt roads that were epic. These roads that sadly I cannot tell you how to get to-They blindfolded me on our way there-are the best riding I have done in, well probably since I was riding in Vermont. We rode for a solid hour straight uphill, going fast too. There was a ton more vertical than any of the paved roads in the area. We were practically mountain biking, I wish that we were, but it was fun in skinnies too. They pointed out a lot more riding that can be done too. Epics that are over tall gaps that are not paved. Can't wait to get up there again! Also this GA weather is hot as hell!

I wonder if its going to get over 100F today? Probably.

Its late but its here! Some pics from Altoona and a farm that I stayed at in PA.

Proko and I on a cruz through some beautiful PA roads.

The 200+ year old house that I stayed in.

yummm, fresh meat!

Several hours of entertainment with ZAZ playing fetch

Back in GA now and its like 100 degrees every day. ugghhh