Mount Snow Recap

Mount Snow - Mike
Mt. Snow, the standard in which all other MTB courses are compared in New England, and for good reason.  There are really two parts to Mt. Snow, up and down.  The up is brutal, lots of climbing, and in the past lots of technical sections.  After killing yourself going up, you are hoping for a break coming down, but not a chance here.  The downhill could be more taxing than climbing, lots of rocks, roots, and it is always muddy coming down hill.  So like a good racer, I was looking forward to racing here.

This was to be my first race in over three weeks after my 10 day mid season break.  I was able to get one for one good ride after this break, and my upperbody was suffering, and with this race coming up I knew that I was in for a challenge going downhill, and I was hoping that I would find my legs when climbing.

As the Pro class lined up, looking around it was easy to see that this was arguably the strongest field assembled in Root 66 this season, so it was going to be sweet.  The whistle blows and its time to go!  We hit the first climb and its time to climb, however I quickly discovered that my legs lacked any snap, and felt a bit heavy.  However I was hoping that I just needed some warming up, and they would come around.  Well after climbing for about 20 minutes I felt about the same, and I had slipped back to about 12th place.  This is not where I had hoped to be, but I felt steady and sustainable, so now time to go down.  Well, I was right, my upper body was suffering, I was bombing down the rocks, but my triceps were burning and I was starting to wish for the climb again.

So now for lab 2 of 4, and when I started to climb I still lacked snap, however I was able to still manage the same speed as the first lap, and I started making my through the field, and when I came around the second lap I think I was in something like 8th.  So the race went this way for the remaining two laps, with my having heavy legs, but legs that kept going at a pretty hard pace for the whole 2.5 hour race.  I finished in 5th place, and it appears that the slow and steady turtle route payed off reasonable well.  

It seems that every year I am unable to feel great at Mt. Snow, even though I have a great desire to do well, and perhaps this added pressure tricks my legs into thinking that I should be sitting on a couch throwing back some nachos.  Well either way, 5th place for not feeling terribly good is all right with me, and riding up Mt. Snow 4 times is always an accomplishment.

On another note I got bitted by three different things while I was racing.

Non are as serious as a Bear Bite, but the tree bite has left a good mark and bruise on my hip.


Mount Snow - Nate

I look forward to Mount Snow every year since I feel more confident in my abilities on long steep climbs, and super technical downhills. The course this year was full of both. I was able to preride the day before and overall, I was not impressed with the majority of the course. Later during the race though my thoughts changed since the trails became re-worn in and flow once again took hold of the trail. The course has gone through a large face lift since last year. The first climb and descent had been bulldozed into double track, which took away some nice fun singletrack. Overall I think it allowed the race to develop a little better since no one was fighting to get to the singletrack first, followed by a pile up of over eager cyclists.

It looks like the bad luck has found me again this year, or I haven't shaken it off yet. I fought my way to the front on the first climb, and decided I would sit in about third position to mark a couple of other riders who I know would be very strong. We climbed up a massive climb that lead us by the DH course and up another fire road. Up this climb, a tuft of grass decided to jam in my rear derailleur and caused my chain to jump into my spokes. I had to get off and put my chain back on, while watching the rest of the group pass me. I tried catching back up to the marks that I set, and going across a ski slope I started to hear a hissing. I wanted to tell myself it was a blade of grass rubbing my tire or something to that effect. Then everything became very squishy up the next short and steep climb. It was a rear flat... and only ten minutes into the first lap, and none the less on a grassy ski slope with no rocks or any real obstacles.

So I decided to flip my bike over, take a seat and change my tube. I got everything out and it must have looked like I was picnicking on the side of the trail, sitting there in the grass with all my tools surrounding me. I always get nervous doing tire changed in the field like that. I just kept reminding myself, slow and steady is fast. If I try to hurry I will fumble around and waste time, so take it easy, a couple deep breathes and try to enjoy the unexpected break. One mistake could leave me with no tubes and a long walk back to the starting line.

After that ordeal I continued on my way and found another rider from my class on the side of the trail with a flat that he was repairing. He was well on his way into the fix as I rode by. So my one thought was, YES not last place! I made my way up through the men and women who passed me, and tried to keep a level head. Since I was there I might as well enjoy the trail. A good position is nice but not required to have fun. So I continued along and found two people from my class part way into the second lap. I was very surprised! I started thinking, well maybe they had problems too, I am all set here, but lets see what will happen. On the downhill I caught some more people, and really started to think I had a good shot a placing fairly high. So I started pushing it.

The last technical corner of the downhill I decided to take a new line that had not been worn in yet. I missed all the loose rocks and had the edge of the trail to act like a berm. I didn't realize that the road I was turning onto had no berms or ruts to dig into and my bike decided that I should get a closer look at the corner, face first. I got up and looked at my handle bars and found that they were about 45 degrees off. While fixing them I found out that there were a bunch of people in the outside of the corner who got a fairly good show. I yelled to them "If any of you got pictures or video of that I would like to have a copy!".

In the end I climbed up to fourth place for a respectable finish minus all of the mishaps. I look forward to the race next year minus the bad luck.

Pats Peak and 66 Recap - Nate

Pat's Peak is a race that I always look forward to because of the climbing and the fun and twisty descents. With the showers that passed through earlier in the week I thought the race would be a mud fest, but it was very dusty. I thought these dusty conditions would be great since some of the climbs can be a bit tricky in oxygen deprivation, and would become hike a bikes in the mud.

The first lap was absolutely horrible, but much better than last year. Last year I flipped over the bars on the first lap about five minutes in and also managed to destroy my front wheel, which ended my race with a nice big DNF. This year I took it easy through that particular corner and held my third place position that I fought for off the line. I figured I would sit here until the climbs really picked up then try to put some pressure on. The four of us in the front of the pack missed a turn and started to descend back to the starting line, when we were supposed to climb up some singletrack. It just happened that the first place guy was feeling pressured and was watching the trail, and everyone behind him was watching the wheel of the person in front. The rest of the pack went up the singletrack as we turned around and climbed back up the fire road to the part of the trail that we exited. The first four of us flipped positions, and were now at the tail end of the pack...All that work for nothing.

I had to bury myself to catch back up and I really suffered on that lap. I had no idea where I was, but decided to keep a good tempo and see what would happen. If people pass me, I would have to deal with it, or if I caught someone, hopefully the heat of the day drained them too and they do not have too much of a fight left in them. By the end of the third lap I was toast. It was a scorching hot day, and staying hydrated was a task in itself. I was going through a water bottle every half a lap, meaning that the second half the lap I could hope and wish, but my water bottle would not magically fill with ice cold water. On the third lap I managed to catch some one and passed them. I tried to pull away and fast, since I did not want to battle for position on a day that hot. I saw this rider catch up a little on the fourth and final lap but I put the hammer down early so I would not have to endure a last second sprint for the line.

I heard from my girlfriend that I was in third, and was really excited about that considering the events on the first lap. I fought off some cramps and a huge back spasm to get ready for the podium. The third place finisher was called to the podium, and it was not me. My heart went in my throat, and my only thought was that I finished fourth...Which was better than last year, but still a little bit of a disappointment. My name was then called for second place and I could not believe it. After a hard day and a huge mess on the first lap I was able to keep a cool head and climb up to second. Overall it was a great day with a great surprise at the end!

How Sweet It Is!

Alright, here's my first blog post. Ever. So here goes. After the majority of my past two seasons on the mountain and cyclocross bike, i thought I'd take a shot at road racing again. The last time I raced road, i raced as a junior, so i wasn't quite sure what to expect. After a 35 hr training week in California and a mellow rest week, I thought I'd hit the roads in a circuit race on Saturday, the Amgraph Three village tour, and the Keith Berger Memorial crit on Sunday. Saturday rolled around and I made the early morning trek to Baltic, CT. to race fairly early morning, something I'm not used to as a cat. 1 mtb racer! Even though it was early, it was HOT. Our cat. 4 field was racing four laps, a total of forty miles. We had the biggest field of the day, starting with something like 75 riders, with some familiar faces from my junior years racing the road, as well as some hot tubes development racers, which i had learned to fear if they were racing in my junior field. They're some strong juniors! Sparing you all the exciting details of getting ready and warming up, our race went off. First lap, right from the gun, a rapha rider went off the front, sending the field into chase mode for a while. The legs didn't feel so hot, so i tucked myself into the front of the field, but not too far back into the field, where skin is lost and bikes are broken. The second lap rolled around and my legs began to roll around as well, feeling a little bit better. At this point the field was back together and the pace was dropping a little bit, so i thought I'd see how the rest of the field felt and sat on the front for a while. Now this is the part where i usually get myself into trouble during road races. After racing mountain bikes, when something is constantly happening, whether its the terrain or chasing down someone or trying to put time into the guys behind you, i get bored road racing.



The majority of the second lap i spent on the front, as seen above. I figured at the worst I would get a good workout in on the day. The third lap rolled around, and there was definetly some guys trying to make some moves and jump out front, which was difficult on a courselike this, where the only time you could get away was on a steeper climb about halfway through the lap that was about a half mile long, or near the finish, where there was a small climb that flattened out a little bit right at the finish line. I wasnt really looking to make any attacks, because at this point i wanted to keep myself out of trouble and see what i could do at the finish. The third lap went something like the third lap as well, a couple of moves that never really stuck and a pretty nasty crash at the back of the field that I didn't see, but heard. With about half of the last lap complete, you could tell that the field was getting pretty antsy, figuring that i was going to be a big bunch kick to the finish. With about 1.5 km to go, the same rapha rider that went off at the beginning went for the winning move, and with no reaction from the field, that was what it was beginning to look like. Sitting on third or fourth wheel, we took a 90 degree right hander right before the finishing climb started. I jumped off to the right and hugger the side of the road, hoping to catch the rapha rider and see how much i had left for the final 500 meters. Just before i caught him, i looked back, and to my suprise there was no one on my wheel. At that point i made the pass, and figured that it was now or never.

I got into as big a gear as my legs wanted to push, and went for it! At 200 meters, I looked back, and tried to survive to the finish. I succeed, sat up, gave a little celebration fist pump, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. needless to say, I was pretty psyched! My first road race where I've finished it alone, and not behind the field! Although it was fun, it is now that time to upgrade. Having had enough points to upgrade as a junior to 3's and having them expire the following year, its time to upgrade.


Well, now it's back onto the singletrack for me for now, with a 12 -hour solo race at Pats Peak this weekend. Check back for the full race report. All in all, a great weekend of racing for the comp edge boys, well done! Also a big thanks to D. Cole photography for the awesome pics and our trusty team mechanic!

Holiday Farm Fun

Nate- Holiday Farm Recap

The nice people at Holiday Farm put on a Wednesday night race series that is very relaxed and fun. The loop was about three miles of fields, single track with plenty of climbing. The entry is also very cheap, at six dollars for about an hours worth of fun. I have raced there multiple times before including the Root 66 Series, and a six hour race. I was excited to see if we would be racing over some of my favorite trails on the farm.

The first lap was very fast as Mike, two others, and I flew off the front of the group. I had to say goodbye to Mike since he was holding too fast of a pace for me. So our group split into two groups of two, but we then united near the end of the lap. He set down a massive acceleration going into the second lap, but all four of us up front got confused since a course marker had not been moved from the kids race, so we took off down the driveway in the wrong direction. We slowed down and regrouped out of fairness because no one in our group of four knew which way to go. By the second lap everything was taken care of, and there were no more problems. I had to settle into a nice pace on the uphills and do some damage control for the rest of the race. The downhills on the other hand were wide open and full of fun. There were plenty of rocks to hop over and small drops to launch off of. In the end I held a pace that was set for a respectable 4th. I am looking forward to competing up there again in the future.

Mike- Holiday Farm Race

Nate, Robyn (Nate's very helpful girl friend), and my self made the 1.5 hour journey today, it was was the nicest weather we have had in a while. It was about 75 degrees with some slight cloud cover, which was a great relief from the 90 degrees and humidity we have been fighting recently. As we suited up the atmosphere was great, pretty casual and to my surprise the kids race had what looked like 10 or so kids. As we lined up there looked to be about 40-50 people there, with about 15-20 in the "3 lap" field (which was the longest). As the gun went off one guy really went for it, so for the first 5 minutes the pace was pretty high, so I was trying to be as smooth as possible. The pace slowed a bit at the top of the hill, so I jumped in front to keep things in check. At the end of the first lap there was about 4 of us together, including Nate. At this point I had recovered nicely from a downhill and went for a sprint to mix it up, however as soon as I did this the course marking got a bit confusing and I had to slam on my brakes! After the four of us determined where to go, it was back to racing. As we went through the second lap I stayed up front, and had a small gap on the others. But as we came around for the third lap I put a little more pressure on these guys and was able to put more time in. I crossed the line first, and Nate battled it up for a nice 4th place finish.

Overall it was a great time, with awesome weather, a really fun course, and to my surprise I had pretty good legs and thus was able to keep myself from going too hard. Another awesome Wednesday race series, I suggest you check it out!

Race Weekend - June 25/26 Putney XC

Nate- Putney West Hill - ReCap

The race was fast and dry which was a great change from the past. The first lap was dusty until a little bit of rain hit the area, or at least I experienced a little bit of it. I guess at some points it was a downpour. It was just enough to have some fun to drift and slide through the corners. I had a three way battle the first two and a half laps, where I was in the lead for the whole lap except the last climb up cemetery hill. We kept attacking each other trying to find the others' weaknesses. I then settled into second place and was able to hold on for the rest of the race. I was very happy with my overall result as I was much faster than last year and also was able to step up on the podium. It was a good change of pace from the last two races, where I destroyed my whole drive train on the last lap of the Winsted Woods race and ran the second half of the lap. The Coyote Hill race was not great either since I could not find my legs. I am very excited for the rest of the season and hope that I have gotten rid of my bad luck for the year and can keep this momentum going.

Mike- Putney West Hill XC
Putney is one of the classic New England races, or at least so I am told.  In the four summers that I have been out here in New England, Putney is the only race I have been to all four years.  It is an awesomely brutal trail, with tons of climbing, and short steep descents, so you feel like you are climbing almost indefinitely.

I had not raced an XC event in 5 weeks, with my last race being the 24 hours of Boyne 4 weeks ago, so I was excited to get back to racing at Putney.  As we lined up the field was really strong, and we were joined by the World Cup Vet. Mike Broderick, so the stakes were high.  As the whistle went off Broderick took off, and us other mortals tried to keep up, so the pace was really high.  As we came around the first lap I knew I had gone a little too hard, and while Broderick was long gone, the rest of the top 5 was still more or less together.  As I intentional slowed down so I could last all 5 laps, I dropped back to 7th or 8th place.  After climbing and climbing I turned the gas back on and started moving up, and finally caught up to John Foley and made a point of closing the gap.  I caught him on a steep climb, and climbed hard and put a gap on him.  I finished the race strong, with hopes of catching my buddy Chris Hamlin, but as I caught a glimpse of him up ahead and started the charge with only a few minutes to go, my chain dropped to the outside and I had to dismount to get it back on.  I came across the line in 4th place, a great result for me, as I had hoped to place in the top 5.

Well another year, and another Putney race, I will certainly be back next year, with hopes of cracking into the top three.