As seen on: www.mtbracenews.com

As I alluded to in yesterdays post, often the most challenging part of being a “pro” mountain bike racer is getting to the event ready to compete. Today was no exception with a slow Sunday drive and several lengthy detours. We managed to make it to the venue with less than two hours to spare before my start which was only enough time to register, download the equipment and throw the bike together.

With no time to pre-ride, I could only hope not to lose serious time today, but that was too much to dream about. Instead my bike had developed some mysterious drive train gremlins that left me skipping gears profusely on every uphill. The jury is still a little unsure about a single root cause, but the end result was several minutes time lost. I suppose the only silver lining in this Oregon rain cloud, is that things can only get better… and by not riding too hard I may be better than others later in the week.

The course was a great mix of single, double and gravel roads around the camp. There were a couple tighter sections that rewarded those that had time or commitment to preride but overall the times were close enough that the race will definitely not be decided today.

Seven Mountains Scout Camp is a beautiful setting for a race. It has all the accoutrements of the typical summer camp with a pool, pond, mess hall and a variety of sleeping accommodations. Rustic enough to keep us all on the edge of comfort but civilized enough that I expect everyone will come away with a great adventure experience!

More time and more to tell tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

I managed to complete the pre-race shuffle this morning a little after midnight. A marathon trip to town and Walmart with multiple u-turns and an unsuccessful tour of the local gas stations looking for diesel fuel was to blame. With a lttle shut-eye and my pre-race morning ritual, I was feeling a little more comfortable by the time we reached the remote start.

The drive was beautiful through some Mennonite communities with the gals out in their gardens and clothes on the line under a sunny cloudless sky. The TSE crew had everything dialed with an tasty breakfast and punctual start. It seemed like the logistics of bike and rider transport were flawless until the bus forgot to stop and the course was marked superbly!

The race got off to a relatively mellow pace as we climbed some road and double/single track. Things sorted out and I was rolling in fourth place after taking it real easy on the first rocky downhill. The trails were already making us love Pennsylvania, so I figured it was time to flip the pedals. First I overhauled Alex Grant then Jeremiah Bishop and Drew Edsall. The climb and time was mine.

Drew bridged up on the next downhill since I had no intentions of wrecking or breaking my bike today. Apparently JB was having some sort of mechanical problem, so we figured we would ride together. Unfortunately a little later I looked back and no Drew, so I just kept rolling. Easy on the trails tempo on the climbs and the gap was opening nicely!

About the time I was smelling a stage win, I flatted going uphill at about 5mph. Just as I slapped in a tube and about the time I as ready to put the wheel on, JB and Christian Tanguy cruised by. I got back on the trail and quickly closed it down. Chris let me by and JB showed me how endo in a rock garden so I passed him, too. Evidently Jeremiah had switched bikes at the first checkpoint and he forgot how to ride the hardtail so he took another bike at the second checkpoint. Must be nice…

I was all about making time and hoped he would work with me to that end, but instead JB sat on for nine miles and sprinted ahead for the stage win on the last climb before we returned to the Scout Camp. In the end I managed to move into second overall by coming home well ahead of Christian. Rock on!

The womens field was also sorted out well with Karen Potter taking a sizeable victory over Selene Yaeger. Rebecca Rusch battled some asthma problems and came through a fair bit back in third.

Tomorrow’s stage promises a little less knarl and more road work which should be right in my wheelhouse. However the forecast is for a little shower activity so that may add another dimension since I HATE rain…

Over and out!

Day three on the Transylvania “Epic” was moreso than yesterday. Last night around dinner time e rain started and pretty much showered all night. While the temperatures were moderate, it was too warm and humid to sleep comfortably and the dry and tacky trail conditions became sloppy and slick. Fortunately the course was mainly a tour of the local countryside with considerable double track, gravel and even paved road sections.

The race mainly stayed together until we rode a single track trail that strung things out about halfway through. The front group was smaller and stayed together until the last longer climb following a harrowing trip through an old railroad tunnel. Going from daylight to near total darkness seemed to completely foul my equilibrium and I almost felt a little sickened from it.

Shortly there after, Brandon Draugelis pushed the pace on the ensuing climb, and I decided to allow a gap to open as I was under the impression that we only had a few more miles to go. Evidently the mileage profile I was looking at wasn’t accurate and we actually had seven miles to go and instead of a quick descent back to camp there were several more climbs, headwind, etc. By the time I got the memo that we were no where near the finish it was too late and I was conceding big time. Oops.

To add a little insult Christian Tanguy who was in the break ahead, grabbed my bottle at the last checkpoint leaving me with flavored water when I really needed some fuel to chase on. Oh, well at least I held onto second overall by a couple minutes so without any more mechanicals or mental mistakes the race should sort out well. At the end, Jeremiah Bishop took the win from his teammate Alex Grant with Draugelis and Tanguy close behind.

On the women’s side, Selene Yeager had a great race and moved into a considerable lead overall. Rebecca Rusch was buoyed by a better ride and some recovery from the day before while Karen Potter was bummed about losing not only the overall lead but also more time than she expected.

The biggest loss today was instead of enjoying the sights, we rode slow, sucked wheel and ate mud all day only to sprint back to camp for a mostly sunny afternoon. Tomorrow we travel to Raystown Lake for a remote stage that promises to be ridiculously awesome. The weather is supposed to improve as well so that will please this fair-weather-flyer for sure!

Good night and good day tomorrow!

Raystown Lake… sunny skies… oh YEAH! This was the bomber of the week—at least so far. Totally rad trails that swooped and whooped like a butterfly! Race started a little late since someone forgot their shoes… ha-ha-ha, silly boy–bet you felt important now didn’t you…

Anyway we finally started by racing to the first trail that basically lasted about 15 miles. It was ridiculous awesomeness with smooth packed surface endless boost-able bumps and curves to die for—but not easily die doing! I was a little off the front group on the steppy climbs but managed to keep chasing on until the checkpoint when Christian Tanguy turned the screw and Alex Grant followed suit.

In the end Chris, Alex, JB and Drew all finished close together with my losing more time as first big loser. Oh, well, it was short and hard and that just isn’t what I am cut out for so I didn’t let it waste the smile on my mug! Without a doubt those were some of the most killer trails I have ridden in 15 years and the duration was totally unmatched. Whoever is responsible for this sick place should be enshrined in the MTB hall o fame!
Thanks for the nearly endless grin TSE…

Not sure how to report on todays stage at Transylvania Epic… It was EPIC—maybe a little different than what some of us were expecting. Ever since signing up for this event I didn’t know what to expect of today and frankly, if I really knew what we were in for I may have lost sleep over it..

First, I must report that the rain stayed away and the weather was beautiful. The remote venue at RB Winter State Park was top notch but the hours of driving were not. The roads were traffic free and the trails were rocky deliciousness. Now for the not-so-beauty part…

Basically the race began with a neutral ride to the first “special test” section–of which there were four. Instead of racing in time trial format against the clock as special tests are normally done in enduro motorcycle racing, these sections were mass start to single track! Ok, imagine all categories racing as hard as they could into super rough rocky rooty single track for 10-15 minutes.

Not to be too negatron, but in 20 years of racing mountain bikes, I have never done anything like this and will AVOID it at all costs in the future. It was brutally hard physiologically to stand around and then sprint as hard as possible, it was stupid dangerous to ride blind into technical knarl cross-eyed from the effort, and it was insane to allow riders from different categories to intermix and determine relatively large GC changes. I can’t even imagine the carnage if the weather had been poor!

In the end, I will be first to admit this was not my cup of tea and I lost big time again–nearly a minute and a half on GC. I had avoided major time loss and mishap on the first three sections, but two riders from back in the field made it to the singletrack ahead of me on the last section and then were unable to ride their bicycles forcing everyone behind them to dismount. Nice move guys! Adding insult to injury, my off-trail jaunt to get around them resulted in a stick jamming up my rear mech and another untimely stop.

The riders who stuck it and may be the next “mass start mini-xc world champs” were Blake Harlan and women’s stage winner Selene Yeager! While finished a measly second behind Jeremiah Bishop and Alex Grant today, Blake is younger, cooler, doesn’t ride multiple bikes or Cannon-whales and hasn’t been at the front most of the week, so he gets my vote!

Tomorrow stage has been shortened to 25 miles or less–or so they say. Maybe two and a half hours. I am bumming because it was supposed to be the “queen” stage but like and an early Oregon firework… it may turn out to be a smoke bomb! Hopefully the weather holds and the rain stays away for us to play!

Until then, good night from PA…

Another beautiful day on the Transylvania Epic—beautiful weather, kickin’ trails, great friends… and with a day to go I feel like a kid at the end of summer break—I want more! Today’s stage was another demonstration of my cardiac system fatigue, but it sure didn’t diminish the fun factor as we cruised through some of the notable trails of the State College area.

The stage started with an 8 mile “climb” of which most was comfortably ridden in the big chainring. This was followed by a fall-line descent through some rocky knar-knar which quickly flattened out into gently swooping singletrack liberally sprinkled rock gardens big enough to swallow 26ers two at a time! These speed traps were generally ridden, but the occasional tombstone could definitely slow things down in a hurry!

A checkpoint followed by a rolling to climbing section trail called Tussey Mountain was the icing on the cake. This trail climbed to an open ridgeline burned off by fire some years ago. Not only were the views serene, but the trail was a mine field of boulders logs and roots. Never really climbing or descending but a maximal full-body workout none the less. Some smoother downhill single track trail interrupted by the occasional rock fall was followed by some up/down road and gravel and a short road less traveled climb to the finish.

When it was all said and done, some of the fast guys finished in less than two hours with the rest not to far behind. The last few days have been a little short for a busy-bee captive audience like me but if you want a relatively tame on fitness demand–super well run event with a generous helping of killer single trail… TSE might be just up your alley!

The GC race tightened considerably for the Open Men with Alex Grant winning the stage and moving up to a virtual tie with another late week mover, Brandon Draugelis. Christian Tanguy slipped to fourth place and I continued my short-course induced freefall to fifth overall with Drew Edsall nipping at my heels.

The womens race is already mostly decided with Selene Yeager, Karen Potter, and Rebecca Rusch finishing in that order on the stage and in has GC.

The Masters Men has also tightened with Alec Petro winning the stage ahead of Alex Hawkins and Garth Prosser. Prosser still leads on GC but his margin has been trimmed to less than a minute and a half.

With one day to go, I finally feel like I am acclimating to eastern time so good night, have a great weekend, and thanks again for reading!

Transylvania concluded today under mostly cloudy skies and damp conditions brought on by more overnight thunderstorms. While the course had very little climbing and was generally mellow, it wasn’t without drama as partway through the race it became apparent that some folks had missed a turn. I was in the second group and we had followed signs the whole way so I was figured that the lead group had missed it.

It turned out that we had missed the turn and gotten back on the course without even knowing it, so while I worked hard to finish in a “podium” position, it turned out to be another setback as our group was penalized nine and a half minutes for the shortcutting escapade. This seemed like a reasonable solution and with the payout only going three deep there wasn’t much to race for today anyway. I also felt somewhat vindicated with my performance on the run into the finish by covering numerous silly attacks from Team Bishop, Grant and Edsall. In the end, Jeremiah Bishop won the stage and the open men’s race by a sizeable margin followed by Alex Grant and Brandon Draugelis.

Selene Yeager held off Rebecca Rusch and Karen Potter in the open women’s race. Alec Petro seemed to be the big winner on the day since he moved ahead Garth Prosser to win the master’s overall ahead of Alex Hawkins despite also getting the penalty for missing the turn. Evidently Garth had also missed the turn but had back track and wasn’t aware that Alec was racing near the front. Uh, oh…

We had another great meal tonight served by the staff here at Seven Mountains Scout Camp. The finisher awards were tasteful medals and everyone seemed to have a great time. It seems like yesterday I was flying into Pittsburg to meet Murray and Joy from pHitpills.com for the drive over and now we are faced with an early morning drive back and the long day of travel home.

If you ever have a hankering to do some serious single track in Pennsylvania look no further than TSE. These folks put on a great show and I expect you won’t be disappointed. Until we meet again, so long and feel free to stop by and visit me…

Cheers!

Epilogue
This story would be over without a brief synopsis of the journey home…

-Wakeup at 7:30 am Eastern time to eat and load the car.
-Leave Scout Camp at 8:30am.
-Get flat tire on trailer halfway to State College.
-1 hour to go Walmart and back for new wheel.
-Once on the road, nearly run out of diesel looking for a station in two different towns, four stops…
-Discover car will not do more than 35-45mph uphill.
-Pass through the worst rainstorm ever.
-Finally roll into Pittsburgh only to stop for a half hour because drivers want to see a tunnel in slow motion.
-Make it to the airport 30 minutes after my 1:35pm flight has left.
-Seats still available at 4pm–yay!
-Discover that this flight will circumnavigate the USA several times before landing in Portland.
-Arrive home and get into bed at 1am Monday Pacific time.

Microcosm of the lovely life of a “pro” mountain bike racer indeed!!!