Thursday, December 31, 2009

Looking Back/Looking Ahead - 2009 Retrospective The Year of Rain

Once again it is that time of the year where I reflect on the year past, all that was accomplish (or not accomplished) and wonder what lay in store for the coming year.
As always this year kicked off with the traditional New Year’s Day ride and we were blessed with temps in the single digits and wind chill that sent the mercury into negative territory. Despite the conditions there was a respectable turn out and also the start of a tradition of bashing Hawaiian Mike for failing to make the Sunday ride.
The winter proved to be a metamorphosis of sorts where I came to the realization that 26” wheels were now of a bygone era and it was time to step up the singlespeed to a 29er. It was hard to part with my old steed, after all this bike was my first Indy Fab, had carried me to the finish in La Ruta and powered me across the plains of the Klien Karoo to become the first singlespeed to complete the Cape Epic. Despite all of the nostalgia it was time for a new girl and the irony of it all was I sold the bike to the teammate that bailed on me for the 2009 Cape Epic and he was going to take it back to South Africa for a go at the race with gears.

This year all it ever seemed to do was rain and rain and then rain even more. It proved to be a pivotal year that tested the mental toughness as the troops were forced to repeatedly hit the trails of Stewart in downpours and face countless miles of mud before settling into traditional post ride growler debriefs. It was on one particularly bad day that Friar Rossi and C-Dubs were the only ones to show and rather then go at it with each other on the trail (the norm) a true bonding occurred and born out of the loins of bad weather was the newest rediscovered trail aptly named R-Dubs with the featured “Cliff of Death”, a nice 20 foot drop if you missed the line.

In terms racing it was very much an up and down year with the initial disappointment of missing the Cape Epic taking more out of me then I realized. Some of the spark came back with Singlespeed-a-Palooza, a race that is destined to be one of the East Coast classics. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t catch that can of PBR hanging off the front of the bike

The Stoopid 50 was just that – Stoopid – lots of rocks, lots of trees, lots of climbing....everything that is going to hurt and it sure did but it was a great help in building up the technical skills (which is a distinct weakness). Onto the Dark Horse Gallup, personally I hate XC racing but with all of the rain the course offered up the best mud fest around and the opportunity to ambush Friar Rossi at the mud holes was too good to pass up so I rode, got real muddy and had a great time – to me this is what mountain biking is all about – mud, moar mud and then beer with you muddy mates during and after the ride.

Cool wet conditions continued for most of the summer with the heat and humidity making its appearances for the week that covered the Wilderness 101 and Dark Horse 40. Humidity and I have a mutual hatred and on and both races provided a lot of it and my results reflected such with my W101 time 35 minutes more on the course then last year and off the podium. The Dark Horse 40 was the mountain bike equivalent of the Bataan Death March with a heat/humidity index well over 100 and shattered riders all over the course. The saving grace was the Sirens of Stewart handing out ice cold PBRs at the 7 mile mark of each lap. The saving grace for the year was the Shenandoah 100 with its 14000’ of climbing where a good chunk of the Dark Horse team made the journey south to lose their dirty century virginity. It was a massive success with fantastic conditions, a new personal best (sub 10 hrs) and everyone on the team making the finish. The 24 hrs of Moab ended up as expected, all fun and a real beating on the singlespeeds but everyone that made it was in agreement – it was the best mtb trip any of us had ever done. And the grand finale of the year was Beer Cross, destined to be an annual NECS classic.

Now to looking ahead, since I am still sorting out issues with a lame hip a lot of the coming season is up in the air. Of course there will be Singlespeed-a-Palooza where I will be making an appearance as Thor God of Thunder, but new on the horizon is the 6 Hours of Stewart (at long last a nice endurance race early in the year and right in my backyard) and of course there is the Wilderness 101 where I will be going for an 8th straight finish. Still to be sorted is one final shot at a new multi day stage race (think BC) and if all goes well Burnin’ at the Bluff with the rest of Team Seagal. One thing I do know is another year of having fun and riding bikes is in the cards.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

And The Winner Is -

Well dear friends, after a long and arduous search, the New East Coast Syndicate has stumbled upon the beer of choice - BrewDog Tactical Nuclear Penguin. Just the name alone makes this a winner and of course the 32% alcohol by volume makes this the best bang for the buck in the buzz department.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Happy Holidays

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Beer Cross Non Participants (aka Hawaiian Mike Davidson)

Seems this is becoming all to common but here we go again. The day before Beer Cross we were hanging out at the shop and decided it was time for the usual Dark Horse Cycles Saturday drunken phone call and the winner was Hawaiian Mike Davidson.
After the usual banter everyone at the shop was pumped up to hear Hawaiian Mike confirm that he was "absolutely in" and "wouldn't miss it for the world". There was more enthusiasim in his voice then a 14 year old about to lose his virginity. Well we guess there was a case of premature - well you know what - and come race day guess who didn't show up. Here is what our (my) twisted minds came up with for plausible excuses -

Cheerleading At The NAMBLA RallyGiving The Weekly PedicureCleaing Up His Man CavePost Dump DetoxHoney Do'sMore Honey Do'sAnd Even More Honey Do'sPaying The Price For Not Folding The Laundry Correctly

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Non Race Day - Beer Cross 2009

Okay loyal fans of the New East Coast Syndicate, after a week of waiting with baited breath here is the down and dirty on what will go down as the Non Race of the year and is sure to be future classic along the lines of Paris-Roubaix.
I awoke from a night of sleep with all of the anxiety and excitement of a 6 year old on Christmas Day, at long last it was time for Beer Cross '09 and we had been blessed by the Cyclocross gods.....there was 4 inches of fresh snow on the course and 5 - 30 packs of PBR in the back of the pickup chilled to perfection from a night out in the snow. All we needed now was some cowbells and Belgian waffles and UCI certification would be all but guaranteed.
Sometime during the night Shop Sidekick rambled out onto the course and added a bit of excitement with the Snowman Chicane. Knock one done and it's beer drinking time!With so much at stake everyone was out early pre riding the courseto get a better feel of the traction and to try and best memorize the layout. The big dogs (Montelbano & Shop Sidekick) had the race faces going and mumbling about how they were going to rock the course and for good reason. At stake was this fine display of hardware that included limited edition Gogi berry influenced number plates, pint glasses and awesome yeastly malted beverages.What they had failed to realize was this was a New East Coast Syndicate production and the non rules had stacked the deck heavily in favor of the drinkers. There was only one dizzy bat and it had to be shared by 6 riders so the start was going to be critical.

Pit Stop Beverage Of ChoiceBraveheart - Fully Authentic ScotsmanThe Mayor, Still Suffering The Effects Of Shenandoah Syndrome, Adjusts His Panty HoseThe overnight snows had resulted in the morning ride be cancelled so most everyone was at the course early putting in the laps and sizing up the competition while we waited for the arrival of Sal with the race swag - beer coolers.
Sergant Sal With The OrdnanceThe Coveted DHBX CoozyThe Mayor Showing Us Who Is In Charge (Think Max from the Grinch That Stole Christmas)
At the non race meeting everyone listened with interest to the non rules which were fairly simple. Le Mans start with a 100' run to the bikes where you either chugged an icy cold Dale's Pale Ale or 10 times around the bat before mounting up and heading onto the race course. With the command of racers ready coming from the day's MC, Top Chef, Jocelyn immediately straight armed Monte to win the sprint to the bat.Meanwhile the intelligent racers grabbed their beers

Transition Chugwith C-Dubs finishing his Dale's first and heading out onto the course.

Landshark Off In The LeadMeanwhile back at the bat Monte finished up and after coming off the bat veered sharply off to the right before a crash and burn in the snow. This was followed by a bit of stumbling around in confusion before finally locating his bike and heading out almost a lap down to the drinkers. The rest of the non drinkers did not fair all that much better.
Shop Sidekick Comes Off The Bat And Right Onto The GroundOut on the race course it was Senor Agua taking the lead from the Landshark and showing skills that only a free range totally organic chicken could possess - opening each lap's beer with a beek.
Beer StopMonte Showing His Form On The Bat

The Landshark "Fins" His Bike For The Barrier SectionAs the alcohol flowed and the snow balls flew everyone lost count of the laps and the race disintegrated into a free for all with Friar Rossi (aka 3 beer) well over the limit and tackling riders all over the course.
By the time the last snow ball had been thrown and race beer chugged it was too close to call. If there was a reward for suffering the most it would have gone to Montelbano for the post race hangover from going around the bat some many times (that will teach you to come prepared to drink next year). Mike was heard mumbling something about the SM100 being less painful.
Monte Sporting The Post Non Race Hangover2009 Beer Cross Group ShotFinally the judges came from their chambers with results in hand. 1st Senor Agua, 2nd Braveheart, 3rd The Mayor, 4th Friar Rossi. And here is the post non race podium interview.

Beer Cross Course Preview

Here are some of the featured sections for Sunday's Beer Cross. Classic cyclosscross course with lots of yellow tape, twisty sections and barriers.
Tree SlalomGrowler Barriers
S-Turns