WVU Cycling

Collegiate Season Recap and Nationals lowdown

2011-11-23T14:37:00.002-05:00

So, since its been a while since my last update, I’ll give the condensed version of what has been going on up until Collegiate Nationals this past weekend.

After pretty much following in step with the ABRA and WVMBA calendars for the entire season, I took a turn and, rather than racing some super fun cross races within an hour of home, decided to spend my weekends high on coffee and nutella driving up and down the east coast to participate in the collegiate racing series. As a student at WVU, I have the awesome opportunity to continue to race mountain bikes until the end of October therefore extending my already long mountain season by about a month.

I posted some serious results during the collegiate season taking multiple wins and never anything less than a 3rd place finish. The season rounded out with the WVU home race at Wisp Resort on October 15-16 serving as the conference championship. Taking an early lead on lap one of the three lap 26 mile XC race, I took the win by around 10 minutes. The course was great and suited me well being fairly climbing with a 2.5 mile long climb leading to the finish. Later that afternoon, I also competed in the short track race on top of the mountain where I tore apart the race by lapping the entire field. The course was, again, great. It was definitely a power course providing huge opportunities to lay down some serious wattage and make some big moves. It also had a nice big rock garden tossed in to keep thing interesting for both racers and spectators alike.

So, after all of the conundrums that come with traveling 4-6 hours every weekend and hosting a race it was time to get focused for the National Championship. Seeing as we would be heading to nearly 9000 feet at Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico, I knew I was going to need to take some serious fitness with me in order to try and negate the effects of the altitude as much as possible. Competing against guys from Colorado means that, all else constant, they have a 10% advantage on me just from living and training at elevation consistently. However, Coach Rob knew this all too well and set me up with a serious workout plan for the two weeks to get me in shape for a National level race. With a painful bliss, I hammered out interval after interval until it was time to hop on the plane to Albuquerque.
After too many hours of plane, airport, and car we arrived at the resort. Upon arrival I received a visual reminder of the elevation. Snow not only dusted but coated the top of the mountain about 1500 vertical feet above the base of the resort. I saw this as no big deal until I came to realize that the XC race snaked its way up through the woods all the way to the peak. That left some decisions to be made on clothing. Too little and I would be a popsicle at the top but too much and I may end up a cold, sweaty gym sock.

I headed out for my initial preride of the course on Wednesday afternoon which my youtube video does a good job of describing and showing. At that point, the course was awesome. Not too muddy and pretty tacky. However, when we woke up Thursday morning it was a different a story. Old man winter paid Angel Fire an early visit and left the town covered in 6ish inches of snow. I headed down to the bike shop to see what was going on in terms of course conditions and was told that they were cleaning the course with shovels and snow blowers. So after waiting a few hours for things to get cleaned up and taking time to throw on a tackier rear tire I headed out for preride number two. This time things proved entirely different. The course was not only covered in snow but also beginning to turn into a quagmire. The climb up wasn’t too bad but the descent was absolutely terrible and left me covered in a sticky, constantly hardening clay. At that point I realized that not only would the race be a physical test of ability but also a mental test of sheer desire.

Our condo was nicely placed two hops and a jump away from the start so there was no rush in the morning to get ready for the race. After getting up around 7 AM to eat, I milled around the place, watched some TV, and slowly got my cloths ready. Around 10:45 I headed down to get warmed up and check out the course and it’s a good thing too! On the ride over I noticed some shifting problems, which ended up being caused by a tweaked hanger. Thanks to the handy guys from Shimano though I had a new hanger slapped on and was warming up by 11:15.

The start went off with a bang at 12:05 and it wasn’t even 30 seconds before I was off the bike. Starting 3 rows deep and in the middle of the pack, I couldn’t get a line to the outside around the madness of lost traction and was forced to dismount with many others on the first climb. I hustled up, went cross eyed, and ran my butt off to get around and in front of most of the madness. Maybe 3 minutes later I was off the bike again, running with everyone else through ankle deep muck. The course had already had 2 races and nearly 100 riders over it 5 times before we hit it so things were just an absolute crap shoot. I ran hard, rode harder, and crashed even harder until I found myself finishing the first lap of three in 12th place. Riding solid behind two University of Colorado guys for most of lap two, I was able to keep a good pace with them and pass one at the top of the climb. I chased the other one, going back and forth with him, for the last lap until he got a lead on me in the final descent and then sealed the deal when I overshot the last muddy turn and hit the deck. Being my first National level event and first event at altitude, I can’t complain about my 11th place finish although I do wish I could have reeled in that UC rider.

Saturday brought the short track and another chance for me to try myself in a huge field. With 71 starters on the line I was more than nervous given the speed of a short track. When the gun went off I punched the gas and immediately began elbowing my way to the outside. We started into a climb again and there was no way I was getting stuck behind a bunch of guys slower than me again! I found a Fort Lewis wheel and let me lead me towards the front. Whoever the kid was, he was riding super well and I was hoping to hold his wheel for most of the race however he gave it a little more gas than I had at one point and I lost him. Midrace or so I made a move for the top five. I was feeling good so I launched an attack, which was unfortunately thwarted by fatigue and the altitude. I ended up dropping back to 12th where I remained for the rest of the race. Again, I am super happy with this result given the many firsts but was a little disappointed that my A game didn’t show up for the short track.

Overall, the mountain bike season was pretty good to me. Being my first “serious” year on the bike and training I have to say I am stoked to look back and see what I accomplished. I don’t think it is quite time to hang up the race shoes for the year yet though…..I mean, there is still cross! Well, back to the airport and homework!

(Todd Latocha)

Thanks to ASCI and WISP!

2011-10-05T09:14:00.001-04:00

A big thanks to the Adventure Sports Center International and Wisp Resort in McHenry Maryland for making a huge effort to host the ACCC Championships on September 15th and 16th. This is a huge deal for WISP and ASCI as it is the same weekend as Autumn Fest, their busiest weekend of the year.

Saturday will kick off with a Cross Country race out in ACSI territory on the backside of the mountain. After XC concludes Short Track and Super D will take place on the front side of the mountain utilizing 1/3 of the downhill trails on the mountain. Sunday morning will start off with Dual Slalom and end with a gnarly DH race down High Roller and Resurrection.

Campbell Recap

2011-09-06T18:55:00.003-04:00

We managed to pull out of Morgantown 45 minutes later than expected with a trailer-full of bicycles and three passenger cars, but spirits were still high as we rolled out. Then came the “slam on your breaks in the middle of the interstate” traffic on Interstate 79 due to a little Mazda truck sitting on the roof of its cab in the slow lane. After clearing that traffic, we made it onto 19 smoothly and everything was going well. Interstate 77 was also going smoothly; we stopped at Subway in Bland, VA (very fitting name for the place) and discussed how we all believed that “Speed enforced by aircraft” meant that an Apache helicopter would descend from the sky and blow your car up with a grenade launcher if you drove over the speed limit. Somehow, all three passenger cars came to this conclusion. After passing the Jeep and trailer on 79, we never saw them on the drive again so I’m not sure if they had the same ideas on this.

After satisfactorily filling our bellies, we continued our journey on 77 until we hit the exit where 77 splits from 81 and we came to another abrupt halt. Unlike the traffic on 79, however, this time it continued for about 10 miles. Daniele told me that it was only a few miles of traffic until we reached a bridge where whatever was holding us up occurred. Daniele was wrong. We sat in bumper to bumper traffic, slowly lurching along, cresting one hill just to see the red tail-lights slowly climbing the next hill. This happened for about 3 hills or ~10 miles when we finally hit the bridge where traffic had been diverted to the 12-foot-wide shoulder around the area of sanded liquid. We later found out that a FedEx truck had jackknifed and its fuel tank had spilled all over the bridge (I feel sorry for whoever is waiting for those packages).

Finally, we make it onto 421 and find the exit for the park we are staying in. We drive through the sketchy little town that is apparently part and/or all of North Wilksboro and turn onto Reservoir Road. Drive to the end of that and find a gate and no sign of any teams set up for camping. Great… now what do we do? Thanks to the power of 3G, I have access to the race flier that gives perfect directions to the camp location. We crest the hill that leads to the dam we are supposed to drive across and what do you know, another gate! Ok, really? Now what? That’s when we notice the 2 VT guys crawling out of the back of their van in the little parking area by the gate. They inform us that half their team hiked across the dam and are sleeping over there, but they are just staying in the van. The park rangers and the sheriff have been called but there is pretty much nothing to be done. Well, we can adapt, we’ll just throw our tents up on this mostly flat grassy knoll beside the gate. No big deal. Well, apparently it is a big deal. The park rangers drive up and tell us we aren’t allowed to camp there and we’ll just need to sleep in our cars for the night. Yes, all 14 of us will sleep well crammed in our 3 sedans and a Jeep! The sheriff also decides to come back after the park rangers leave and informs the VT guys that he “will not deal with this all night.” Sorry sir, it is our goal to stay awake because we have no place to sleep and wreak havoc on your park. We finally get to the parking lot, waking up the vicious dogs in the Xterra parked there already and the GW guy sleeping in it, set up camp, and finally get to sleep. At some point the Jeep furiously rolls in, unhitches the trailer, and pulls back out to sleep in a hotel because they got lost and couldn’t find the park. Sorry guys, you had the flier too.

The next day begins at 7am for me and apparently 6:30am for others. We’re all looking a little tired, but our spirits are still pretty high considering. We tear down our hard-won camping area, the jeep shows back up to pull the trailer across the dam, and we head over to registration. It’s at this point that we realize that we had been surrounded on three sides by water that night and the hill we had tried to set up camp on was directly adjacent to a cemetery. Everyone does there pre-race thing. Several of us head out to pre-ride the short track course which features a couple of not fun, steep little climbs at the beginning before looping back around to a flowy smooth downhill section and back to the hills. They sent the Men’s C category off a few minutes late and they do their 20 minutes of short track. The rest of us stood around and cheered on our fellows, especially the 2 freshman who were putting out an astounding effort (big kudos to you guys!) and watching the VT guy who was leading get legitimately clotheslined by a vine. Next came the Men’s B race which went smoothly and without an exciting wreck to report. Mikaela and I then had our chance to pedal for 20 minutes against each other in the Women’s A/B race of which we were the only two Bs. Obviously, we exhausted ourselves in a heroic effort to be the dominant team (sarcasm). After that, our entire team walked our bikes up the hill to the start of the downhill to get in a couple of practice runs before the race. We practiced a couple of times, trying to find the best line through the gnarly rock garden, then had a nice sit-and-wait at the top of the hill for the start of the event. Everyone else eventually showed up and we all sat for a while longer until the event started; then we rode our bikes down the mountain.

After we were all done, we made our way back to the cars to get some foodstuffs in our bellies before the Super D. We ate and some decided to practice the Super D course which really wasn’t too much different from the downhill with the exception of a few extra twists and turns. We all took our time getting back up to the top but we still happened to be the first team there. We found what we assumed was the start area and people practiced running to their bikes for the Le Mans start. We concluded that Jake needed a new pair of shoes after doing a burn out and falling down while taking off, at which we laughed hysterically. Others had some amusing practice running-starts as well. Everyone eventually showed up again and we all hung out for a while, still hoping we were in the right spot for the start. We were. Then after some Le Mans starts and splits between categories, we all eventually pedaled down the hill in the Super D. Sadly, DeCann took a spill on his way down which messed up his shoulder and caused him to have to sit out the cross-country the next day. We have since banned him from participating in any more gravity events.

After many hours in the heat, dust, sweat, and chamois, we were finally done with racing. Though it wasn’t the toughest day, I am confident in saying that we were all done. However, the best part of the day was still to come. We had witnessed some of the VT riders coming back from a dip in the reservoir between the downhill and Super D and so decided that we should have a bathe in said reservoir. That was the most amazing feeling ever and possibly one of the best experiences of my cycling career. The cooling effects of the water must have released a huge amount of endorphins in all of us because we were simply giddy. Laughing, frolicking, and having an all-around joyous time. Judging by the amount of dirt I scrubbed off of myself Sunday night in the shower, I don’t think it really did anything for getting us clean, but it sure lifted the spirits.

After drying off and putting on some dry, non-lycra clothes, we headed out to find some grub. We had been arguing about where to go for at least 3 hours and finally decided we would deal with the gastro-intestinal effects and partake of the Mexican restaurant where the road team always eats. After getting lost once again, we finally find the place and sit down to a yummy meal. We laughed, discussed the races, ate about 12 baskets of tortilla chips, and had enough plates to feed most of an army. Afterwards, Mikaela and I sat complaining about our food-babies, Oprah and Shania respectively and our food induced comas. We were tired. We then made a quick Wal-Mart stop for DeCann to get a heating pad and for some team road sodas.

We quickly made our way back to the camp, which we had luckily set up earlier in the day so we could just enjoy the evening. The sodas were broken into and the stand was set up to work on bikes. I noticed the fire VT had going so I decided to join them for some mountain biking spirit. If the laughter was any indication, the sodas had their intended effect on the team and the WVUers were having a good time as well. Eventually a park ranger pulled in and told us to put the fire out and I suppose turn the music off considering it ended at the same time. The two teams socialized for a while until the clock struck at 11 and everyone quickly disappeared into tents. With some rustling and snoring, we all fell into exhausted sleep.

The next day dawned much the same as the one before. Everyone rolled out of sleeping bags looking a little more tired and I think just ready to get the day over with. We ate, did a bit of last minute bike maintenance, changed, and mentally prepared ourselves for the last race of the weekend. The Men’s C/ Women’s B categories started somewhere close to 9am and did a 6.4 mile lap which included more climbing than I had mentally prepared for but was easily ride-able. I sat behind Marco for a good part of the ride and every now and then heard Mikaela’s breaks speaking behind me (she wasn’t feeling great that morning). I warned her about the switch backs that were coming up and hoped I hadn’t distracted her into wrecking. I had warning to slow down after the first sharp turn and hearing brakes squealing and tires skidding on rocks. That turned out to be Cameron having a minor crash that skinned up his palm. Marco and I caught up to Cameron and Daniele, at which point Marco found a place to pass and disappeared into the twists and turns. I decided the guys were setting a good enough pace for me and just sat in behind them, enjoying the fact that I wasn’t alone for the first time in a race. When the XC trail met up with the Super D course they dropped me and I finished the last little bit alone.

They started the Men’s A race, which we didn’t have anybody racing in, then the Men’s B/ Women’s A. Kyle was our only B rider for that race so while he did his 2 laps, the rest of us packed up the tents and started loading the trailer. After playing an hour long game of bike Tetris, we fit all but 2 of the bikes in the trailer without their wheels and found space for all the wheels as well. It was a tight fit, but we finally managed. After Kyle came in from his laps looking hot and tired, we let him cool down for a bit before throwing his bike on a rack, loading up and heading out. We left the parking lot by 1 which I am pretty sure is some kind of WVU Cycling record.

The drive back was uneventful and we never hit any accidents. Around Summersville or so we started hitting rain and as we got off the interstate at Star City, we heard the obnoxious blasts of the Weather Center issuing a severe thunderstorm warning. Daniele and I pulled into the Bike House a bit before the rest and began to dread having to unpack in the delude issuing from the sky. Little did we know, that was going to be the Morgantown weather for the entire week. Everyone else came in a little behind us and after waiting for the trailer, which did not stop for a game of mini golf, we got the trailer unloaded and everyone headed to their houses to shower and recoup. It was a great weekend of riding and I can’t wait for this weekend.

---Post by Sequoya

Spring Spectacular Pt. 2

2011-05-01T19:25:00.004-04:00

This morning was the "actual" ride for the Spring Spectacular, which is an annual fun ride sponsored by country road cyclists. I met up with Darren around 8:30am and we headed to the Wharf for some pre-ride go fast doughnuts. About ten minutes before the ride was to start Marco shows up, showing no sign of pain from the previous days ride. My plan was to do the full 60 mile ride, while Darren and Marco planned to go for the 25 mile option.

In total, about 30-40 or so cyclists started the trek over the Westover bridge and towards 100. The initial route followed the Hammer route up big shannon, and it felt quite odd not riding at hammer pace. At the intersection, we turned right onto Schriver Hill road. Following a break to fix a flat, I was rejoined by both Darren and Marco, both of whom missed the turn-round back in Mt. Morris. Shortly after turning onto Kirby road, we neared the 45 mile / 60 mile route turns, where I took the 60 and waved Darren off as he took the 45. To quote the previous post, I had thought Marco also turned off for 45 miles.

The 60 mile group then picked up the pace a little bit, but was forced to stop for a flat after about another 5 miles. As the group was getting ready to go again, to my surprise Marco pulls up next to me claiming Rule #5 and going for the full 60 miles. Impressed with his willingness to go for it, I wished him luck, while not guaranteeing he would get the same support received the day before should he crack.

Once we started going again a good paceline formed for most of the trek up 19 to Waynesburg. It was about here that the rain really started coming down, making the next set of miles miserably wet. At about the 40th mile, we stopped at a food point for some much needed nourishment, which consisted mostly of cookies and cream pies. However, during this whole period - Marco was nowhere to be found. With nobody knowing where he was, and knowing that some people were picked up by the sag wagon, we continued onward. Eager to get out of the rain, the group worked at a good tempo pace, with JR occasionally throwing down some attacks, none of which my legs wanted to cover but occasionally responded to.

Pulled back into Morgantown just over three and a half hours, finishing with 65 miles on the day. Good long ride with a good group.

Extra Big A.S.S. Ride

2011-05-01T00:02:00.000-04:00

Today Kyle, Marco, Dave and I joined in on the bonus Annual Spring Spectacular Ride. The day started out cold with Gunnar complaining about waking up early and having to wear earmuffs. He decided to take it out on the world by going hard for the first 15 miles, despite having not been “emotionally prepared to crush it” that early Kyle, Dave and I held his wheel and turned in some great pulls. The ride then paused for ~20 minutes for warm clothing removal and tan line perfection while we waited on the rest of the group. After everyone got back together we rode at a much more reasonable pace for through several roads I have never ridden before. We took two stops so people doing the shorter rides could split off to take a shorter route home…we thought Marco turned with the first of these groups.
The ride proceeded to a 7-eleven for water and food. We were about to start riding again when Marco rolled by, apparently he had missed the turn off. Marco was in it for the long haul and did well until we approached the 45 mile mark when he got dropped. The next 15 miles consisted of Gunnar, Kyle, Dave and myself taking turns pushing Marco up hills and back into the peloton until we could get to a spot with cell service so we could call for a pick up…Marco wasn’t the last to need a pick up.
The rest of the ride consisted of steady climbing and hard intervals on the flat. Most notably was the section from Big Shannon to Masontown where for some reason several of us decided to line up and crush it. The effort ended with Gunnar, Kyle and myself rolling into town alone. All in all, it was a great 103 mile ride on a great day. Good job to everyone, especially that 16 year old kid known as “the kid” (I know, we’re soooo creative.) The best part is, tomorrow’s A.S.S. ride should ‘be even more better’ with doughnuts and a pizza buffet afterwards.

Teamwork Pays Off

2011-04-24T18:02:00.004-04:00

Saturday morning at first looked to be similar to many of our previous race days, as the rain started coming down just as I started loading up the SuperSix for the Greene County Road Race. For the WVU Cycling team, rainy race days have become the rule, not the exception, as many of our previous race weekends have had miserable weather at best. However, after crossing the state line into Pennsylvania, rainy skies turned into clouds, which turned into sun. It might be a good day after all.

While the stormy forecast might have scared off a few people, over 40 starters were present for the combined mens 4/5, 5 field. Racing for WVU was Kyle Kukieza and myself. Other familiar faces included the Dynamic guys, including president Todd Latocha. Once the race started, I found myself getting pushed to the back of the field from some eager Cat 5's. Although at this point all I wanted to do was sit in, I did not want to have to navigate through a field once the climb came up. With Kyle behind my wheel, I made a move to move back up to the top third or so and jumped back inside and stayed put until the climb. Once we started going up, I shortly found myself up at front with Todd by my side. Although him and I are relatively strong climbers, we didn't really push the tempo up enough to truly break away.

Cresting the peak, our tempo pace had split the leaders to about a group of eight, with one a bit off the front. Not being too overly concerned, our group worked well to slowly bring back the leader. The middle section of the course was mostly flat and rolling, and the group maintained a strong paceline throughout. Soon after passing the 27th mile, I took a GU to prepare for the hill climb carnage that would soon be upon us. The "tentative" plan of attack for the hill was to ramp up the tempo hard with Todd and try and stay away. In addition, Kyle would be blocking any attempt at a chase to bring us back in the end. Kyle graciously accepted the sacrificial role in exchange for a lead-out if the either the break didn't stick or happen.

As we hit the hit the noticeable part of the climb, it suddenly got real hot. Not knowing the climb length, I let Todd get a couple bike lengths on me in fear of blowing up. Unfortunately, the climb was much shorter than I anticipated and I hit the crest with a match or two that could have been used. Despite that, I was sitting 4th and riding solo and I knew I was likely the last person who got away. If I wanted to keep my place, I had to give it everything and hope Kyle was doing his job behind me. When I saw the 1 mile to go sign I found some extra energy and cruised to the finish.

As it turns out, Kyle was in a group of three behind me, doing his best to slow down the chasing pace. Once he knew I was clear, he was free to move and prepare for his sprint. Despite a mechanical not allowing him to sprint out of the saddle, he still won out and claimed 5th. In summary, it turned out to be a great day for racing and a perfect execution of team tactics (contrast to my last post!) allowed both of us to finish top 5.

Agony of the Teammate-less Racer

2011-04-13T22:42:00.012-04:00

Let me preface this post by saying this is only my second season of racing, and the first season being fast-ish enough to really contend for a podium spot. Although that might just be the SuperSix.

This past Sunday was the road race leg of our home race weekend, following an awesome downtown crit in Clarksburg, WV. The road race course was about a 12.2 mile loop with some rollers and 2 climbs. The climbs themselves were respectable in terms of grade and length, certainly enough to break a C field. The morning of the race was certainly an adventure, as driving from Morgantown to Lost Creek in a thick fog got my attention up a lot faster than my coffee did. Fortunately, the race got delayed half an hour, which gave me some more time to digest my epic Black Bear dinner from the previous night. Very clutch. However unfortunately, our police lead cars did not show up in time and Todd had to drop out of the race to fill in.

Once the race started, Kyle and the NC State freshman set the pace up front at about 18 miles an hour for about the first 7 miles. Somehow they also managed to effectively block anyone else from attacking during this time. Once we got to the gravel hill I finally said enough is enough and launched an attack and drove up the pace. After hitting the descent, there was about 8-10 riders who could sustain my pace and I thought this would mean a break group would form.

Nope, huge wrong on that one.

I can't begin to explain how many people would not take a pull and just slowed the pace down. Not only did this let dropped racers back in, but relegated me to the back after a hard pull. Not much else happened the rest of the second lap, although the pace was at least above 22mph. Had a short conversation with Kyle just before the climbs, saying if we were going to make a gap, we had to do it this time. As we were getting ready to hit the gravel climb the second time I heard a scream from behind me. I didn't know what happened or how, but Kyle was down and out. Still, I attacked again on the climb trying to shed as much of the group as possible. Crested the peak with VT and App riders close by and this time I surely thought a gap could form.

Wrong again.

Once again, following the descent people would not pull. After some serious yelling and unkind words, people started doing work and an apparent break of 6-7 riders formed. This carried about until the first set of rollers came again and I found myself off the front after nobody followed my pull. I was not about to slow the pace down so I continued to attack. After maybe a minute a Navy rider pulls along side me and says "WVU, its just you and me." I was definitely ok with this and we started doing some serious work. This must have lit a spark up the chasing field as they caught back on after a couple miles and instantly shut the pace back down. Once again, the group increased to about 14 or so and I was getting pretty unhappy. I knew if I didn't get away for good on the climb this final time it would be a lot harder to post a podium finish. As with the previous laps, I put myself up front going into the gravel climb and gave it my all to get away. When cresting the top of the hill, I had maybe 10 seconds on 2nd, who undoubtedly had time on others behind him. Taking any and all chances to stay away, I hit the descent hard and fast giving my all to stay away.

Then it happens, caught by VT. But its the final stretch into the finish - He'll push on with me to the end right?

Again. No.

He sits up. App catches on. App sits up. Now the sprinters are all back in it. At this point I'm frustrated. The final mile is a mess of attacks and responses, and despite my efforts, the end of the race turns into a field sprint and I finish 8th.

In road racing, getting help from teammates is essential. Whither blocking, helping to launch an attack, or leading out, having help in the field is undoubtedly a difference maker. I learned this the hard way, watching other teams work together to take away my efforts. Some help blocking, and or sustaining and the race outcome is probably a different story. Hopefully next weekend with the C squad back in action, we can turn the tides and launch an attack that sticks.

A Big Thank You!

2011-03-25T23:20:00.002-04:00

I would like to a big Thank You to the following businesses for donating gift cards to our on-site

fundraiser for Relay for Life.

Pathfinder

Tailpipes

Buffalo Wild Wings

D.P. Dough

I expect that I will be hearing back from all the other restaurants soon as well.

If you would be interested in donating to our Relay for Life team, click on the link below and

search for Morgantown Bike Club. The team is also open to anyone who would like to join so

feel free to do so. The more the merrier!

Donate here!

Midseason Road Summary

2011-03-07T20:21:00.007-05:00

The 2011 race season for WVU Cycling is now fully underway with a mix of new and fresh faces and old veterans. Currently the team is 4 weeks into the road season and has seen performances from 11 racers. New racers to the team this spring include Jeff Beyer, Kyle Kukieza, Chad Jones, Dave Schnell and our Italian ringer, Marco Piccirilli. Also returning from Mountain season are first year members Mikaela Jaros and Steve (Sunshine) Kasberger. Returning for more are second year members Duncan Oliver, Jon Zerbe and myself. Longtime veteran Janel Nye has also made an appearance. Someday we may be joined by newly elected president Todd Latocha, but that remains to be seen.

Our first year guys have been a presence in the Mens D field, with Kyle and Dave consistently posting top ten finishes and Jeff not too far behind. Kyle also scored a big win this past weekend at the Duke Criterium, breaking away from the field on the second lap and staying away throughout.

In the Womens C field, Mikaela has been holding strong, gaining valuable race experience. Thus far, she has posted a huge win during the William and Mary Individual Time Trial, as well as 2nd place finishes for the William and Mary Road Race and Duke Criterium, and 3rd place finishes for the NC State Road Race and Criterium.

Representing the team in Mens C has been Chad and myself. Unfortunately Chad was caught up in a crash during the field sprint of the William and Mary Road Race and has been out of action since with a cracked rib. Hopefully he will be able to rejoin the team at some point before the end of the season. Meanwhile, I've been holding my own and finishing with respectable results. The highlight of which being a 5th place finish in the Navy Individual Time Trial.

Our lone mens A rider, Duncan has demonstrated that one doesn't need to follow a rigorous training plan to be fast. Driven by a goal of participation in Nationals in what will be his final race season, Duncan has performed admirably; posting consecutive 4th place finishes during the Duke Road Race and Criterium, a 6th place finish at the William and Mary Individual Time Trial, and a pair of 7th place finishes at the Navy Criterium and Individual Time Trial.

At the midpoint of the race season, Kyle, Mikaela, and Duncan will be looking to help solidify their position in the individual omnium standings, while everyone else will be aiming to get into the mix and make things interesting. The second half of the season will feature road courses with more climbs, which certainly plays to many of our racers strong points. Hopefully we will also see an increase in racers as the weather gets warmer and drives get shorter.

Ray's Indoor Awesome Park

2011-01-20T16:59:00.004-05:00

The typecasted “DH guys” (Jared, Tyler, and Sean), me (Zerbe), and Sequoya took a trip up the Cleveland, OH to go to Ray's Indoor MTB Park this past weekend. It also turned into the Tour De Sheetz as we continued to visit at least 3 different Sheetzes (is that how you pluralize it?) on our journey up to the great brown north and back to Mo-town.

Well thanks to a few navigational errors and emergency bathroom breaks we got up there shortly after high noon to a packed, snow covered, and unorganized parking lot to heaven within a slightly run down industrial park. As I walked in I could hear angels sing as soon as I opened the doors. It eventually was drowned out by my verbal frustration at the line to the cash register, and my computer waiver form not getting accepted. Eventually we passed the guards, got a wrist band, and started shredding. Trying not to go too big too soon, we stuck to the beginners/warmup room and the xc loop at first. Then it was like being in the movie labyrinth - except no David Bowie and the creatures were replaced by little kids wrecking in front of you everywhere - because everywhere around every obscure corner was a new exciting area. They used every single square foot of that place! I felt like a kid trying to describe it to people – “They had jumps and berms and logs and an elevator and teeter-totters and a pump track and a foam pit….” In all seriousness, if you are a mountain biker of any skill level, you need to see this place with your own eyes. You also have to try and not be intimidated. There’s so many good riders there, most humiliating of all is the little kid on a bmx bike, hitting every jump so much smoother than me, or a crazy pool–like park area where everyone is watching as I attempt three failed wall rides. Probably the best part is the foam pit. I’m not much for tricks, but here’s a chance to try stuff you wouldn’t normally – especially since the consequences are minimal (like me landing crotch first onto my top tube). The best part is there’s a tv with a 30 second delay so you can watch yourself superman off the bike during a failed no-hander (Tyler), do a squirmish whip (Zerbe), or nosing it over the ramp (Hilty) – as you climb out of the foam blocks. Speaking of, thanks to my slight weight problem and my bike’s slight weight problem, I would bury myself everytime upon landing. Sequoya commented “Zerbe, you go deeper than anyone else.” Worst part of the foam pit is the kids, either the ones who think this is a wooden themed chucky cheese, or the ones who ride right up, cut you off in line, and flop in taking twice as long to get out or the way. Everyone laughed as I lifted the one kid in the air solely by his one arm, then he refused to take Hilty’s hand next time he was stuck. We did not take a camera, but I paid someone a hefty reward for catching a rare glimpse of Hilty mid-flight.

Next time we go this season (and there will definitely be a next time) we’ll have some crazy sick pictures….

Twitter

2010-09-29T23:07:00.003-04:00

You can now follow us on Twitter @WVUCyclingTeam

We've been terrible about staying updated with the blog and telling stories about our race weekends, but we are busy students and the season just goes by so fast!

What jerseys can do for you (No, not New Jerseys)

2010-09-15T10:59:00.003-04:00

Last night 3 experienced riders, and 3 new guys went on a WVU Cycling group ride to Sperm Loop, down 50mph, and back on Fort Martin. On Ft Martin road, we decided to teach pace lining, at a nice easy pace. All went well until the State Line, which is a decent little decline, with 2 perfectly placed potholes, which the lead riders did not point out. In any case, 4^th in line hit the holes, and went down at 25MPH (that’s what my GPS says I was doing at the time).

In any case, 2 teachable moments here.

1. Moving out the way of a hole is not enough notice to the people behind you. Point, or at least yell it out.

2. Sleeved jerseys will save your skin. No seriously. Jerseys are designed to withstand abrasion, as well as all those performance perks, pockets and style factor. Here are pics to prove it.


The shoulder of the jersey.	The rider's shoulder.

This was a 25MPH crash with a 50’ skid on pavement.

Waiting on an Update

2010-09-14T09:19:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, sorry we've been sucking so badly at getting some blog posts up.

In the mean time, here is a picture and I'll try to get somebody to write something up.

First Meeting of the Semester reminder.

2010-08-25T00:06:00.002-04:00

Hello from James Braswell, the West Virginia University Cycling Club Media and Cyclocross Season Coordinator. I just wanted to give the blog a fresh update and remind everyone of the first meeting of the year. The first meeting will be held today, Wednesday the 25th of August in the Laurel Room of the Mountainlair Student Union at 8:00pm. Please see the information desk if you need directions to the the room. The meeting will cover information about the club and race team as well as the upcoming mountain bike racing season. We look forward to seeing plenty of fresh faces as well as returning members of the team. Club team officers will be available after the meeting to answer any questions you may have. So, lets have a great first meeting and a great mountain bike season.

James

Ending a season, Closing a chapter

2010-04-19T12:14:00.002-04:00

The 2010 conference championship weekend hosted by the Virgina Tech Hookies marked the end of the ACCC season, but it also marked the end of my 4 years as collegiate cyclist. This weekend definitely marks as a highlight for my career not only for outcomes but for a great time.

Leaving around 5pm on Fri, the wind was tremendous for the entire drive there. With a motorcycle, 3 bikes and also some vitamin water, it was struggle but we arrived at our destination, staying with a graduate hookie, my spot on the couch was rather comfortable.

Waking early on saturday we headed to the race, bundled up and hoping to not blow away (this was probally the earliest we have ever made it to a race). Everyone got ready, and mingled with the other riders. Some of our riders also rode around the little girls bike that was brought around.

Soon the men's A and Men's B races were off. The men's B rolled out smoothly but unfortunately there was an early crash about 5 miles sending an UMD rider to the hospital. The men's B went over the first climb as a group only dropping a select few. Over the long shallow climbs to follow the pace dropped, and I saw an opportunity to attack and jumped. After getting away from the group I hit a huge head wind and was very happy to see a Duke ride bridge to me, know I head two of my teamates and now his teammates helping to block. We were out of sight of the peleton quickly and never looked back. We negotiate the intermediates giving him the sprint and me and the KOM. On the final lap, unfortunately he rode off from me on the hill, and we both soloed into the finish. After waiting for awhile at the finish line, I was very excited to see teammate Brad taking the 3rd place finish with a small group right behind him.

Next, the second wave of races went off, and our Boys in D came around looking strong going to the finish line.

The past part of the day involved the Team Time Trial. James B, Duncan O, Brad D., and myself lined up for the men's B send off. James got us out on a great start making sure to keep all of us intact. After James got us started he pulled off and left it up to the other 3 of us. With little talking but plenty of grunts, moans, yelps, and in duncan's case whimpering/crying we sat at and above our thresholds for the next 16.5 miles of rollers, hills, and high wind, clocking a time in the 40 minute mark. Brad was the strong hold, leading us over the hills, and making sure to give us the strength the push forward, I was to give duncan a helping hand over the climbs, and set the pace on the rollers, and duncan gave us the tempo and lead the descents. Duncan, has spent over the long shallow climbs as Brad escorted and I made sure to lend a hand to carry, after my long solo ride earlier in the day, I felt the pain in the last mile and turned myself inside out to not let my team down, and the result was well worth the pain, as we won by a mere 5 seconds.

A great dinner and some celebration was at hand after the day followed by another night of sleep on the couch. My sleep was interrupted by James sleep walking in the middle of the night. We got to sleep in a bit and then headed to the crit.

Our riders in the morning looked good. And enjoyed the course. Our next riders where in the Men's B, where Brad covered all the attacks and duncan held in the front nicely. I tried a flyer which failed. The final lap was intense as the start finish was on a brutal climb each lap. Duncan and brad sprinted for 5 and 6 respectively and I took 11th. Brad was able to pick up two primes, I took 1 and Duncan took a 4th place prime also.

This was a great weekend, and I couldn't have asked for a better closer to my collegiate racing career.

James M. Schulte

Reflections on Putting on a Collegiate Race Weekend

2010-04-15T16:09:00.004-04:00

Government officials say they’re “here to serve the people”, but most are in it for the money. Celebrities say they’re “here for our entertainment”, but they too, are mostly in it for the money. You see, I believe that in the modern era, there are very few of us who do things for the simple reason of giving back, for the sake of even calling philanthropy an art. As a first time Road Race coordinator, I approached my job with the aforementioned idea. I had a blank canvas, with the problem being no paint to fill it with.

Thankfully though, I had been assigned help – or perhaps I had been assigned as her help, since Janel Bedard was the brute force behind all of the race preparations. My experience was partly vicarious because of Janel’s determination for putting on a successful event. That’s not to say I wasn’t resolute in my pursuit of achievement; just that my inexperience left me slightly too bewildered to care as much.

Determination is a remedy for obstacles, but it doesn’t prevent them from occurring. Janel and I had our fair share. From conflicting ideologies with superiors, to funding, to road conditions, we faced our ration. There is a lot more that goes into a race than one might think. You have to deal with a bureaucracy, and their seemingly endless amounts of paperwork and red tape. You have to be considerate of rider safety, and still have a fun and challenging race. And finally you have to ensure that the local residences are informed and respected.

All of these hurdles were effortlessly jumped, thanks to the City of Clarksburg. From my perspective, they came out of left field and gave a homeless team a place to stay. What I mean by this is that in years prior our Road Races were in different locales, and they moved like vagabonds from one place to the next. Clarksburg not only gave us a place to come back to, but they were a tremendous help and were eager to support Cycling as a part of their community.

It goes without saying that any early skepticism I had was cured once I witnessed how tenacious a force Janel and Clarksburg were – and they were supplemented by the rest of our team, all of whom wanted to see just as awesome an event. It may have taken a few months, but the colors on the canvas I mentioned began to appear in all their vibrancy; stemming from a common source: the desire to make sure everyone had a fun weekend of racing.

There is a unique sense of satisfaction in receiving praise for effort; a sensation I experienced after seeing the last Men’s A rider cross the finish line, and Pfeiffer’s Coach congratulating me on a successful race. I knew in that moment that his pat on the back was felt by more than just me – I was just one of many in a supporting cast of individuals with a similar love: Cycling. And if anything, our labors proved what an accomplishment a Home Race weekend is. Maybe people should take note, and realize that good service comes from common a passion to better your life as well as the lives of those around you. In my eyes, philanthropy is a dying art of kindness, but it is alive and well within our club.

-Elliott Iannello

Great Results @ VCU

2010-03-24T08:54:00.002-04:00

Sunshine in Doswell, VA. helped to further an excellent weekend of bike racing. While riders had some hesitation about the weekend of racing after seeing a flyer for two parking lot crits 7 individuals; Brock Denis, Brad Dodson, Duncan Oliver, Ryan McGovern, Todd Latocha, James Braswell, and (Jimmy) James Schulte let Friday evening around 5pm.

The first stop on the trip aside from a quick pitstop off the side of the road, was at The Dodson Family Residence for an AMAZING MEAL. A salad, what seemed like a bottomless bowl of pasta, and of course to finish it off chocolate cake. With our stomachs full we headed to Richmond to find our hotel.

While standing outside waiting to get our rooms the team felt a little out-of-place and uneasy, but once securely locked into our rooms everyone settled down for some sleep.

Saturday arrived and we headed out early towards Kings Dominion, and after going past it arrived at the oparking lot crit location. While it was cold enough for us to put on hoodies and arm and leg warmers in the morning, the later events required only the minimum. The course was nice and wide, with three turns on a side road and then the parking lot section was greatly lined with cones and caution tape, that no one had issues with over the weekend. Saturday we rode the course clockwise. Our D riders did way too much work in the front of the peleton and heard the more expeirenced riders screaming at them each lap to sit up and do less work. The later races, Jimmy and Duncan hoped to help Brad in the B field but with a bad hub and a flat tire, neither proved to be of much use.

The real excitement of Saturday was the Men's A race. Walker Owen of NC State ended up in a solo breakaway in the first few laps of the race. With less than 10 laps to go, Greg Leach from American Univeristy and Brock Denis from WVU attempted to close the gap. With under 5 to go and the gap almost closed Brock yelled to Greg, G-Star I don't have anything left. The two continued to work and caught the solo break. The 3 of them brought it down to the wire just escaping the main field. Brock took the sprint and the Win, with Owen and Greg just behind.

Day two (sunday) we rode counter-clockwise and a new configuration was created with the cones. Our D riders learned their lessons from our constant heckling and responded great in the peleton. Todd worked to block as Ryan got into a break, but neither were too tired to sprint at the end as they both rode a smart race. Duncan, Brad, and Jimmy all took some form of PRIME points in the Men's B race, and with 5 to go Duncan put Brad on his rear wheel and Jimmy lined up to help protect to set up the initial lead out. Brad with some inpatients and inexperience, jumped very early and left the other two riders rather confused. Duncan took 9th and Brad 11th, Jimmy was just a few wheels back in the rest of the sprint. For the Men's A's Brock had exhausted himself on the prior day and was very please to take a top 15th and survive the day.

We all enjoyed showing off our earned tanlines on the way home and were also pleased to make in at a decent hour of about 10pm. A GREAT WEEKEND!!

W&M Race Weekend: Part 1

2010-03-13T13:51:00.008-05:00

William & Mary Race Weekend

The Commute

After discussion at the meeting on Wednesday, the team planned to meet at the Coliseum at 4:00pm on Friday to load up and get underway. 4:30 sharp was to be the departure time. As usual, the team was running a few minutes behind. Blame the traffic--which is terrible on Friday in Morgantown anyway--or the plethora of other excuses presented (mostly from myself and Jimmy for arriving 15 minutes late), none of it made a difference. Past a few jokes, no one complained. Everyone was excited about the prospect of a warm weekend of racing on clean country roads

6 hours. That is roughly the amount of time it takes to travel from Morgantown, WV to Williamsburg, VA. (+ or - 30 minutes, depending on the driver) 6 hours is a lot of time. Almost agonizingly so. In Ryan’s truck, Broski and Ryan McGovern reportedly killed time by delving into discussions on all things manly, which undoubtedly prompted some interesting input from Brad Dodson and Brian DeCann. Elliott Ianello and myself were strategically placed together in my SUV so we could talk incessantly without bothering anyone. Sequoya, who was along for the ride this weekend to learn about bicycle racing, played impartial referee and mediated our bickering. That left Ryan and Jimmy together in Jimmy’s truck.

Around 7:30 pm, some wise soul made the decision to stop our group so we could all eat dinner at Boston Market in Frederick, Maryland. The food was amazing. So much so that the rest of the trip to Williamsburg was a forgettable blur. Broski showed off his unique ability to simultaneously contort his fingers and face/mouth into entertaining gestures. Other than that, intercar shenanigans were surprisingly kept to minimum.

Accommodations

The hotel was a place to sleep. Lets leave it at that. Truth be told, American University and a few of the other teams were jealous at how much money we saved.

Racing

The WVU student newspaper, the Daily Anthenaeum, published an article about our weekend:

Cycling races at William & Mary, heads to NYC Friday

Additional Details

While the DA pointed out the high points of the weekend, there were several other interesting occurrences.

Accident-prone Elliott somehow managed to rip his rear derailleur off his bike mid race. This gives him the unique honor of being the only person on our team to have three non-destroyed road bike frames in currently un-raceable condition.

Brian Decann was robbed of a top 10 finish in men’s D because of an accident at the 1000m mark before the end of the race. He raced really well and just hit a stroke of bad luck. He’s got the battle scars to prove he fought to the finish though.

Ryan Post, who helped officiate the races, brought his road bike with him for the weekend to ride around with us after our races were over. While loading his bike into the truck in Morgantown, Dr. Brock Von D , our resident bike surgeon, noticed Ryan had a greater than positive 10% rise in his stem, his handlebars dropped low enough to make a track racer giddy, brake cables tight enough to strum, and two shifter hoods at distinctively different heights (by a good 2 inches at least). Yes, a retro Euro cyclist silently died somewhere. Even by relatively relaxed WV standards, his bike looked like the velo-equivalent of a Saturday morning hangover. By the end of the weekend, however, his bike was back to acceptable condition.

More details to come . .. .

Wake Forest race weekend

2010-02-27T13:51:00.002-05:00

Quick summary by Brandon Crawford:

Everyone did well this weekend. Everyone finished their races. No one
got pulled. Many racers DNFed in each race, but WVU did not have a
single one. None of our guys/gal were harmed irreparably. Lessons in
humility were learned by everyone. It is going to be one fast, fun
year of racing.

The 3.75km ITT was brutal. Much gasping for air occurred. Many muscles
were made sore. It started with a decent hill climb, which at speed
felt like having your legs ripped apart. False flats and a slightly
downhill finish followed. Temperature outside: really COLD.

The road race was a bit warmer, with a 10 mile loop course that seemed
innocent enough during warmup laps but proved to be a substantial
challenge at race/near race pace. Broski brought it home during a
dramatic, reportedly highly frustrating Men's A race with a solid pack
finish. For more details on the frustration of the race, ask broski.The mens C race had the largest field I have ever seen.
Easily 60 riders. Brad Dodson proved that he has major rookie of the
year potential, pulling a solid top group finish in the mens C race.
Emily showed that squats and only squats are an effective way to train
for road racing, as she held solid in the Womens A and brought home a
4th place finish. Everyone else performed their best and finished
strong, while learning a lot.

On sunday, the Crit was a fast loop around a WFU parking lot. The
front side was slightly (1-2%) up hill, while the backside was
slightly (1-2%) downhill. This combination of up and down led to most
of the interesting action being on the uphill, more challenging side
near the spectators, making the races fun to watch. Mens A's were
going so fast it was almost unbelievable. B's and C's were cooking it
between 20-25 mph average. Men's D's reportedly held a few mph below
20 for most of the race. Exact placings are TBD. The course was dirty,
cold in the morning, warm in the afternoon, and great for racing.

Heading to NCSU

2010-02-15T19:11:00.002-05:00

Three of us left Motown at 3:30 Friday for the opening race weekend at NCSU, 2 were racing, I was officiating. I was a little apprehensive because my weather info was telling me Saturday AM snow in Raleigh, either way I was committed. Brock forced me to believe that his Weather Underground forecast of 48degrees was correct and we'd be racing. I can't see how anyone can tell the weather from underground.

Once we got out of Morgantown, the roads were all plowed, but quite a bit of snow along the roads. This was the case through Virginia as well, but almost as soon as we got into North Carolina the snow disappeared-great omen! Then about 20min later, the bicycle race haters from above began raining on our parade in a solid form. Within 30min there was an inch accumulating on the grass, and starting to stick to the roads.

About 30min from our destination, calls started ringing in with talk about delaying the Saturday start to 10AM. We started seeing evidence of how bad the NC driver's ed program is, with quite a few cars with brand new body work. When we got into Raleigh there was over an inch of snow on the road and 3" everywhere else. No way we're racing tomorrow...

While waiting at a light 2miles from where we were staying, 2 girls in an SUV pulled alongside, gave us a look and rolled down the window. I rolled ours down and the ladies told us to follow them. Brock went nuts, and demanded I follow. We followed them into the parking lot of Fosters, past a Jeep Wrangler that was sliding off the road onto the sidewalk. They asked where we were from, which we replied WV, and they replied "Oh, so you don't know what you're getting into". I don't know if the referred to partying, or driving in the snow...it came from a blonde, so I doubt it was very deep either way. We told them we'd be back after we dropped off our gear. The night had begun!

We got to Dylan and Whit's place, some NCSU guys who were putting us up. They were amazed at our game, before we'd even stopped driving. I assured them it was either my face or my moto that got their attention.

After unpacking, Whit suggested some Bowling at an old skool alley a block away, then maybe hitting up the club. It was already midnight, but we headed to the alley for a round of "throwing rocks" as Whit called it. $6 for game and shoe rental, not bad, though we had to score it ourselves.

Brock and Whit put down 2 buckets of beer at the club, and were getting quite antsy to get to the bar, so around 1:30 we headed out. Brock was immediately verbally assaulted outside the bar by some hideous fat chick who was smoking. She may not have been that ugly, but with the cancer stick in hand, we had no interest. Brock ignored her, as she was merely an obstacle between him and his goal, deeper drunkenness.

The bar closed about 30min later; a Yeager bomb, pitcher of Pabst, and can of some beer consumed.

We left the bar with 3 girls, and Dylan attempted to do doughnuts in his rental truck, but only managed to toss everyone in the backseat like a salad. Brian tried to sneak a kiss on one of the girls while flying around, but instead just headbutted her. Got back, one of girl left to walk home, and the other two stayed.

We were all feeling hungry so headed to Jimmy Johns around 2:30. Brock ordered a "Manguantuion" combo, totaled $13. Rest of us were more reasonable, and headed back.

Brock downed the meal, while we were all amazed at how it could be so expensive, while the rest of us chatted about random things. The conversation evolved to the "meaning of life" as Whit had a 5min documentary project and that was his topic. 2 hours later, Whit got tired of being insulted by the girls, Brock was asleep, and the girls left.

While getting ready to tuck the tattoo in, Whit noticed that Brock was still wearing his shoes. We thought for a minute, and then the electric trimmers came out to help tame his 'stache. Mission accomplished.

Finally in bed around 4:30AM. Got a call that the Saturday race was canceled around 6AM.

Sunday at NCSU

2010-02-15T19:06:00.003-05:00

Writeup by Brock Denis

Pre-race

Sunday was an interesting day for many reasons. It started by me getting up at 515am and Dylan coming in from partying and making moves all night. I absolutely love this dude. In all his drunkness, he makes myself, Ryan, Brian, and himself carrot/orange juice from the juiceman juicer thingy. It was amazing fresh juice, and to have a drunk person make it was even better. While eating breakfast, we all debated on whether or not to come back to Raleigh and shower after the race, and packed up anyway just incase.

We start driving and it was getting colder as we got closer to the race course. I knew something was up with me because I wasnt getting good zibes from my body. I wasnt disgesting my food, and the water/coffee from breakfast was sitting in my stomach for way longer then usual. So my pre-race routine went out the window, I didnt end up eating after breakfast to give my system time to digest all the food in time before the race. Go with what is given to you I guess you could say.

As we docked in at the parking lot it was an amazingly cold 21 degrees. How the hell do u dress for that??? Seriously couldnt beleive it. Im all bundled up getting out of the truck and there were people walking around in baseball caps with no gloves on. I go register which went really smoothly and started to dress inside the vehicle after which took forever as you could suspect. Fully dressed I get on the bike and headed out for a free lap of the course. It was soo cold out that my brakes took a second to connect with the rims at first!!! I knew the course was sketchy the day before and the cold over night didnt help any. There was still snow and ice on the course during recon. NC State decided to sweep 20 minutes before the start at 8am, better late then never. I got back to the truck and found out they delayed the start by 30 minutes because of the conditions. Im glad they decided to that.

The Race

It was warming up a little bit before the start, and I decided last minute to change my attire. I was pushing out BIG WATTS changing out numbers to my jersey from my wind jacket and putting on another base layer, while changing out my shoe covers. It got a little intense there for a minute and Im glad Brian was there to help. I got everything changed out in time and to the start line when I realized I forgot my sleeveless wind breaker...damnit bub so I went back to get it and made it back to the same start spot I had before with 30 seconds to spare...phew. The organizers combined the Men A and P1/2/3 races because of the delay and shortened it by a lap. The first 3 laps were the regular kind of P1/2/3 road race that Im accustomed to, speed up slow down and so on, nothing special. I guess 5 guys got away early and stayed away to the finish. I had no idea because I was chillin mid to back of the pack for the first few laps. Brian was a champ and was standing out in the cold to feed me at the feed zone. I missed the first two feeds because we were ripping thru the feed zone and couldnt connect with the bottle with my lobster gloves on. So on the 5th lap I made it a point to connect with both hands and slow down a bit. I got the bottle perfectly, in time before I ran out of water. Eating was an issue because of my gloves but there really wasnt another choice due to weather conditions.

Starting the 5th lap the legs were failing me, I know the feeling when things arent going right and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it. This was most likely due to the fact of me not eating after breakfast and lacking calories during the race itself. I held on as long as I could thinking of everyone that was cheering for me back home and at school and how I thought it would be disappointing to them by me not keeping pace. I dug deep and lasted a little bit longer with this thought in my head before I got shot out the back. I ended up coming into the finish with Ryan Bodge. We talked for a few and this was the first ride he had outside in a month. I didnt feel so bad after hearing that.

Post-Race

I got back to the truck and cleaned up El Tarmac for a few not knowing I was bleeding all over myself because I had cut my finger on my chain rings and didnt know because my hands were frozen. After cleaning up the blood on my bike, truck, and cloths I fueled up for another ride. I met up and shot the shit with Dan Swartz for a few minutes, then cowboy'd up and got back on the bike. I headed out and the legs were of stone. I almost turned around, but didnt. I got out to the end of the local road the course was on and turned right on US 501/15 S. It was rather windy and cold out there, but I was still very overdressed. I had to stop and strip down ALOT. I had to stuff cloths inside my pockets and inside my jersey, it looked like I had body armor on I was soo wide, and the fact I wasnt far from Ft. Bragg didnt suit my tastes any. I rode into Sanford from Chapel Hill which was around 25 miles. I stopped at a row of businesses and ate a Clif Shot and drank some water and turned around for the trip back. I thought there would be a tail wind on my return, but of course there wasnt. The winds turned and were at my disadvantage once again. This really wasnt an issue because I was actually riding OUTSIDE and not doing 3 hr roller sessions inside so it really didnt matter to me. The ride had long streches of straight sections with rolling terrain. Good training tho, I had no complaints with anything out there.

I got back to the truck after an additional 52 miles, but I wasnt satisfied and was feeling good since I had been doing hours of tempo base. I met up with Brian who survived his first collegiate D race!!! Congrats to him, hes a trooper. He has got alot to learn, but who doesnt? The learning curve for this sport is never ending. We fueled up and headed out on the course for a few more laps. We talked about nutrition and bike tactics for awhile. Women never came up in conversation once during our ride, which is not normal for me by any means, wtf??? By the middle of the second lap, he was hurting and I was chaffing extremely bad at this point, so we went back to the truck after doing two laps. I ended up with 7 hours of saddle time on the day and Brian ended up with 4 hrs. I clocked almost 7000 ft of climbing in the 121.5 miles I rode. NC has hills people!!! Ryan was a stud and officiated the WHOLE DAY, 9 hours of telling people to speed up or stay on the right side of the yellow line. Time is money people as he was getting paid for his services. After I got into my pj's which was the greatest idea I've ever had, I checked results and ended up 15th out of 30ish. I wasnt happy nor upset, just pleased with my efforts. This winter has been horrible for almost everyone and my goals for the early season arent until April so I' ll take whatever I can get at this point.

Heading Home

Anyway it was a tough day for all of us, but it wasnt over yet. We packed up the bikes and equipment, and started to head home at 6pm, deciding not to head back to Raleigh to shower. We ended up at the Flying Burrito in Chapel Hill where we ate during MTB season for the NC State wkend back in Sept '09. We ordered chips and spicy salsa and for once in my life we were graced with a HAWWWWTTTTT waitress. Oh dayam people she was packin alll A and no T, and I was allllll about it. She had two lip piercings and a face to die for. Her name was Juliana and I fell in love with her at first site, but I was positive the feeling wasnt mutual for many reasons. For one Ryans big mouth and two I looked like a train wreck. Im sure it wouldve been different if I didnt look like death...well I hope it would.

While waiting for the food we all were crushing our Cokes and we all started to feel like death because of the marathon day we all had. I ended up ordering the scallop burrito and started to grub up when I got it when all of a sudden....BAM!!! The spicy factor was through the roof. I was in total physical distress at this moment and didnt want to finish my plate but I knew I had to replenish the calories I had burned and get some protein to start the healing process. I soldiered on and cashed in all of it. At this very moment I had run out of soda and Juliana wasnt around, so I rushed up to the bar and could barely get out the word "soda". The bartender found this amusing for some reason. I drank the glass of soda but it didnt help. I had to get a glass of whole milk which Brian and myself had to partake in. Ryan couldnt stop laughing and taking pics of me, what a prick. An older couple came in before we left and I told them not to order anything off the right side of the menu...they took my advice by my demeanor and beat red face of pain. We paid and left after somewhat recovering from this ordeal.

Brian started driving, or I guess you could say that. He drove like a Formula 1 racer at a blistering speed of nearly 55 mph in a 65 mph zone. Ryan switched out after two hours and we all had a pee break in the middle of east bum cheese NC. The drive was horrible. I couldnt get comfortable the entire 8 hrs in the truck which was extremely frustrating to say the least. I didnt end up driving because I was a zombie the entire time. Ryan and I chatted about our wkend here and there, very randomly. He would say something and I wouldnt respond because I didnt feel like it...interesting convo to say the least.

We got in at 230am this morning. My back entrance was covered in 3 inches of ice and no salt or sand for traction, good job landlords. I almost took a few diggers but kept it together thank goodness. What a wkend we had! THANKS A MILLION TO MATT WHITT AND DYLAN SELINGER FOR PUTTING US UP FOR THE WKEND. THESE GUYS ARE AWESOME PEOPLES AND I CONSIDER THEM MY BROSKIS FOR LIFE, AND CAN THEY PARTY...WOW.

I didnt end up going to bed until 4am after showering, checking my mail I had neglected the entire wkend, and finding some warm pj's because my apt was a freezer. My bed felt oh so comfy after all that. I was out in a matter of 2.2 seconds.

Hopefully all who took the time to read this enjoyed it. I think I'll do a recap after each wkend of racing this year to keep everyone up-to-date on my quest to become a pro cyclist. CHEERS!!!

Spin Class & the time constrained cyclist

2010-01-21T21:35:00.002-05:00

It's no secret that you have to ride your bicycle a lot, no matter what your discipline, to be good. In the world of athletics, training can't be cheated (legally) and Hail Mary's/other acts of desperation only work in Football. Time is the number one constraint on collegiate cyclists from achieving glory. Quite a few of us regularly attend spin classes at the Student Rec. Center for this reason.

Spin Class Analyzed.

Pros:

Time flexible, as several classes are offered each day at varying times.

On campus.

Shower/changing facilities available on site.

More motivational than sitting on a trainer alone.

The view. (Lets face it, the girls who regular spin aren't bad to look at)

Cons:

It's only a 50 minute workout.

It has the potential to teach bad habits in form.

For guys, It seems very female oriented.

No subtle bike movements. Hell, no movement at all. You're vertically and horizontally stationary.

No wind in your face.

No escape.

Compared to riding outdoors, spin class sucks. A mongoloid could figure that out. No one disputes it. For the time constrained, however, Spin helps make competition possible by supplementing the gaps class and homework place in our training.

So as much as I have to, I'll swallow my pride and spin w/ the ladies. Come race day, it's much better to be in the peloton--or chasing after it at a reasonable distance--than sitting on the couch.

Some won't agree with my strategy. That's fine. For better or worse, let the racing be the judge.

Commuting Downtown to Evansdale

2009-12-23T14:50:00.003-05:00

Recently, I got involved with the Campus Connector project which is a bike/walk path from Grant Ave and 8th up to the Green House/Watertown near Ag Sciences. It's a great idea, and seems to be moving forward, after nearly 10 years of planning. There were a lot of great reasons why, primary because there is no route that is both safe AND legal way to get from downtown to on top of the hill that is all the rest of WVU.
The primary routes one would take are Beechurst, University, Jones, 8th, 6th, Rail-trail/Arboretum, Stewart St.

Beechurst-is the only one of these roads that I am aware of WVU Cyclists being hit by a car. Makes no sense as it has a wide shoulder (with a bit of debris), but traffic speeds are around 50mph

Universtiy-This is most of the team's method, except we take the sidewalk. Yea sure it's illegal, but I'd rather be in jail than underground. Road is narrow, with a blind turn, bikes would go 8-10mph, while cars go 35.

Jones-very low traffic, pretty steep hill. Usually glass everywhere. Bottom 1/3 is 1way, the wrong way.

8th- Probably the safest, legal way to get there. Long steep hill, minor traffic, very wide, very visible. It's not a direct route though, so takes much longer.

6th - Less traffic than 8th, but has a killer short kicker just before getting to Grand Central (Positive Spin). Then you go through a parking lot with another hill.

RT/Arboretum-no car traffic until you cross US19. Much longer way around. Safe, and legal.

Stewart St-A lot of traffic, but slightly wider roads and more visibility. Could ride the sidewalk. there are options to go through some side streets and come out at top of Jones.

So this new path would be great, you go down Grant, and up this path which won't exceed 8.3% grade, comparable to University Ave.

I post this because today, the University sidewalk was covered in ice and so I tried to take the lane on University coming up. And I just took the Traffic Skills 101 course. Even with low traffic today, I feared for my life and turned into Grand Central. If I could redo, I'd have gone up 8th street today.

Cross Training Shenanigans

2009-12-01T00:14:00.004-05:00

A few weeks back, Zerbe had a brilliant idea and went into managerial mode. He recruited a group, primarily made up of WVU cyclists, to play in the Pro Performance coed soccer league. (That's association football for our European readers.) Unfortunately, Zerbe has spent more time in the hospital lately than on his bike, making him unable to participate. (get well soon, broski!) The soccer team, however, lives on in his honor.

Game 3 was tonight. With record low teammate turnout, we blew away the competition and secured our first win. In fact, our intimidating roster so thoroughly frightened the opposing team that the referee was forced to pull us aside before the match for a quick chat. With a weak wave toward the opposite, empty end of the pitch, the referee informed us the other team was not coming. Amid sighs of disappointment, Adam Schwarzweller made a few masculine grunts of victory, lightening the mood.

Through quick wits and fast talking, our group was able to recruit a few bystanders from a previous game to join us for a short 25 min scrimmage. It was great, informal fun, with rule changes made on the fly to accommodate everyones desires. 25 minutes later, we were all exhausted and happy some of the pre-paid facility time had not gone to waste.

2 games left. 2 victories on the horizon. Finals, then Christmas. Great way to end 2009.

More Shenanigans:

Dirty Dozen-WVU represented on the Podium

2009-11-28T22:04:00.006-05:00

What started out as a whimsical idea by Bob Carey to go to Pittsburgh and do the Dirty Dozen led to a very painfully pleasing day for me. A bunch of the team members were excited about the idea of climbing hills like this

But when push came to shove, everyone had excuses and this cheese went alone.

I left early, knowing that I always get lost in Pittsburgh, but I did have my semi-trusty GPS. It got me into Pittsburgh just dandy, but then a parade blocked every route that poor little TomTom could imagine. After 20minutes of trying to figure out how to get around the rather large parade, or foot race or whatever it was, I finally got back on course and arrived 20minutes before the start. Luckily my previous WVU training kicked in and I was able to be ready in under 10minutes, and got registered. Although they had run out of t-shirts, but cut the cost from $15 to $5...shucks...

It was chilly, but I had my Cannondale super warm, and comfy bibs. I didn't want to wear half a kit, so I put my team shorts over top. That may have been a mistake, as the first hill 1)killed my lungs because it was cold 2)killed my legs because of too much compression (or not being warmed up) 3)sucked more because I couldn't stand because I had knocked my dearillure out of adjustment while hauling my bike. Got to the top of the hill, and chatted with Betsy (last name not needed) and nearly considered quitting, due to feeling so bad. Luckily I didn't because I warmed up and the air did too, and the rest of the ride was perfect for painful pleasures.

The hills were everything people exclaimed them to be. Some really steep, others really really steep. Some had cobbles, some light gravel, some with holes, some very smooth. People found any reason to fall over, boosting my ego and aiding me through the pain.

2009 Dirty Dozen on EveryTrail

At the top of all the hills we waited until everyone had summited and regained thier wind before lazily rolling on to the next hill. It was usually a 10min wait, but was fine once I knew what to expect.

Gunnar decided to race me, and told me before the 4th climb that was 3 to 1, his favor. Shortly it was 4 to 4, but then my legs ran out of steam and he took it 5 to 7.

Highlights

Betsy won the womens class, taking first on every hill except 1. And I beat Betsy on 4 hills, so thats makes me pretty good right?

JR Petsko broke the fattest to ever complete the ride, he did every hill.

Montana Miller is a badass (first Fixie to do the ride). I've never seen a 160cadence on a bike before...

A 13year old did the ride. Apparently had a badass sprint on one of the early hills.

Gunnar is old, and I beat him on 5 of the 12 hills. Forget the part about him having broken ribs..I smoked him royally on 2 of them.

If you take out the last few miles riding home after the last climb, it was 6100' in 42.1miles. Thats 2.6% average grade!. Total distance was right at 50miles, with 15 climbs.

Top (left to right) 3 women and Top 4 men with Danny Chew, the promoter in background.

Phat Weekend!

2009-11-17T01:22:00.010-05:00

Click Here for Additional Post

Phat Weekend: (Ph-At We-ek-end): [Fat Wee-kin-d] - noun : An event which occurs in the Valley of the great land of Cannan traditionally in the fall season. It is a WVU cycling tradition. The event entails days filled with the riding and enjoyment of bicycluar machinery (most prominently of the fat tire variety) and evenings laced in debaucherous activity of questionable legality.

Phat weekend began for most on Friday night with a trip down to Canaan to stay with Ian and his friends. They can fill the details in on that. I was under a car.

Saturday brought beautiful skies and great racing for the first annual running of the Davis Cyclocross race. WVU had a solid presence at the race. Duncan Oliver brought home the Men's B race, with Ryan post chasing close behind. Emily Moy put up a solid performance in the womens race, and I decided to hop on and chase the Men's B race and A race just for fun. James Braswell and Robby Loehr rode strong in the singlespeed race with Robby bringing home the victory and then they both toughed it out to each do another race, with James in the Men's B and Roberto in the Men's A. The Men's A race turned into a drinking, chatting, and bike stealing party for most of the race, save 3 or 4 serious racers. Jake, Liew, Bala, Amber, and Ian brought home solid victories in the days bench race too! Way to go TEAM!

Once the race had concluded and some Hellbender's Burritos had been consumed we headed to Mountain State Brewing to fill the growlers and begin the evenings festivities. After being greeted by L.B. and Chris from the WV Nightclub in the form of fireworks being shot at our vehicles, we knew the evening could only head in the direction of awesome from there on out. Everyone Re-assembled at Sirianni's in Davis for some delicious dinner and then headed back to the Nightclub cabin for more festivities.

From this point on details of the weekend (specifically the hours of 7PM, Saturday, November 15th, the year of our lord, 2009, and 10AM Sunday, November 17th, still the year of our lord, 2009) cannot be discussed due to legalities and perhaps extreme intoxication with. I think there may have been some fire, explosions, and 80's ski jackets involved though. Them Nightclub boys aint' right.

Sunday greeted us with Mike Miller and LB cooking up a delicious morning feast to fuel us up for the days long ride we had planned. Mike and the Nightclubbers were awesome for letting us crash at their place and we owe them a huge thanks! So.. THANKS!!! You guys were awesome hosts!

We rolled out to Davis where our ride would start on Davis Trail to Canaan Loop Rd, Then to Pointy Knob trail, back to Canaan Loop, then Plantation Rd. back to Davis.

During a fast dirt road section we were using to connect between trails Liew found himself coming up on a large mudhole the width of the entire road with nowhere to go but straight through it. Unfortunately that didn't work out well for our good friend Liew and he ended up head on into a rock on the other side of the mudhole. After some recovery time on the ground and a fix of his glasses, Liew was just fine and back on the bike. He then proceeded to ride like a champ the rest of the day. Way to go Larry!!

Point Knob trail was unlike anything I had ever ridden. Non stop technical for about 6 miles or so. Everyone really showed their skills and ability working their way through the tough terrain. Super props to James for being on a singlespeed rigid for the whole ride. You wanted you recognition for being a badass, well here it is! On the way down from the 4200ft peak of the Pointy Knob trail, I found a muddy crossing that looked like it was so much fun that I wanted to play in it... face first. So I did. My form and grace used to go over the handlebars was of Olypmic proportions, and I'm quite sad nobody witnessed it first hand.

A few creek crossings and we were back on Canaan Loop. I headed back to the cabin to clean up and warm back up with Ian's buddy Peter while the others trucked on through Plantation and back to Davis. About 25 miles or so total... perhaps the slowest and toughest continuous miles I'd ever done.

Phat Weekend: Complete Success.

Morgantown Cyclo-cross

2009-10-31T22:44:00.004-04:00

This morning dawned at something like 75degrees as I awoke earlier than I ever do for class to get ready for some CX action. I was burning up in my t-shirt at 8am on the rail-trail ride to Marilla Park, no need for hoodies or rain jackets.

The first race was Womens,Masters and Single speeds and had the biggest variety of skill levels I've ever seen on the same course. Steve Rowand took the lead early, and just kept enlarging the gap on his SS, lapping some of the "never raced before gals"-which was awesome that they were there...smiling like all women do when they race. Then right at the end of the race, came the rain and with it, a 15degree temperature drop.

I left my post at the scoring line to race in the Mens B, on the nicely watered course...and got beat by Gunnar and Betsy, but thats OK, because it was 2v1 and I stayed with 'em for the first 3 laps before my asthma...ya asthma, sure. Really, I don't think the grass needed watered, it was wet enough already...but someone insisted. We prepped the course as best we could in our 45min of racing for the Mens A...

I think you need only see some photos of that race to know what happened there.

JR Petsko, Natures Essence Photography

Mr. President rollin' fast!

More fall riding awesomeness!

2009-10-21T16:39:00.010-04:00

Today Jimmy and I set out to explore some roads we had both never been on and do some nicely paced long distance. The weather was absolutely perfect in every way and the fall colors were as striking as ever.

My original plan was to go over Cooper's on Quarry Run the take a left in Bruceton and another left onto Wharton Furnace/Clifton Mills Rd. to Rt. 40, then take a left and another left onto Skyline drive, down Mud Pike, and back into town some way. I had never done any of the stated roads past Bruceton, so it was going to surely be an adventure.

Wharton Furnace road turned out to be a real treat. Amazing new pavement that rolled through farmland and open valleys. Perfect scenery and perfect pavement abounded. We ended up taking a left much before Rt. 40 onto Wirsing Rd. After about a mile or two the road turned into gravel, cut through a corn field, descended into a very narrow valley. The road turned into dirt/gravel/some mud/then back to gravel but was all still ridable (by WVU cycling standards at least). I did flat on a large rock though. Bummer.

Kept on cranking on the dirt road for about 4/5 miles until we hit a large climb upto Skyline Dr. We then headed left to descend Mud Pike, peaking out at 2,700ft max elevation. The views were amazing as was the road.

We cautiously descended Mud Pike and stopped at the bottom for a sandwich at some gas station. Mmmmm. We were about 50 miles or so into the ride at this point and at about 5,500ft of elevation gain, so we were both getting quite parched.

We went South on 857 and then across Rt 43 (the abandoned, but not so abandoned at that end, highway). Then to 119 and Pt Marion where we bailed back on the rail trail. The rail trail bailing was at my request. I recently dropped my stem way down and I'm still getting used to it. I carried too much weight on my shoulders today (literally) and was feeling the other 70 miler I had done on Sunday. No Bakers Ridge climb for us!

Hopefully everyone's enjoying the nice weathers' last big push for awhile. Go ride and explore. Go some place you haven't been before and take roads you haven't heard of. It pays off.

Ride GPS

Fall Post Season Riding

2009-10-18T20:10:00.005-04:00

I think everyone on the team is certainly enjoying some downtime after a long and hard fought race season. Rest, rest, and more rest has been the theme of the past two weeks (and catching up with all the school stuff we've pushed aside in order to be kick ass mountain bikers).

Today I finally decided to head out and get some chamois time in. 6 hours of it, actually. The fall colors are truly spectacular in and around town, with most saying that the leaves will be peaking throughout the week. My time left in the mountains in short, and I want to take advantage of it the best that I can.

I opted to go for a ride I had never done before. Morgantown->Bruceton->Albright->Kingwood->Reevsville-> back into town. Jimmy lead a ride on this route in reverse last year but I bailed along with Liew on the climb up Summers School, citing various reasons and excuses. Ride distance was about 70 miles total, and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, Quarry Run Road especially.

Also on the way into town the cloud cover that plagued the day broke just slightly on the horizon, giving way to the best sunset I've ever seen in this town. Cars were pulling off on the sides of Summers School Rd. to take photos of the colorful sunset as I descended. The bright orange/red glow lit up the colorful trees and washed the mountains in color as if they were on fire. It was truly amazing.

Hope everyone is enjoying their rest time and getting ready for some cyclocross, which is already in full swing. I plan on racing the Morgantown race and helping out, so I'll see everyone there! Also, don't forget about the Motown Throwdown that evening sponsored by Pathfinder... should be quite the show!

Ride GPS

10 times ACCC D1 Conference Champs!!!

2009-10-04T18:48:00.003-04:00

Great job this weekend everyone! The competition was stiff, and everyone came out and put in a great effort to achieve this win.

Tuesday MTB at White Park

2009-09-29T23:38:00.000-04:00

Ian, Bala, Liew, Emily, Shawn, Zerbe, and myself had a rad time cruising around through White Park.

I broke another pedal....gah!

NCSU

2009-09-27T22:49:00.002-04:00

Just back in from the NC State weekend, I'm tired, hungry, and still pretty wired from the car ride back...

I'm pretty sure Bala is in the other room taking pictures of his wounds from the weekend...maybe they will be up here later.

Amber, Bala, Liew, and I headed on down Thursday night to Lemma's house because we had some extra time, and Amber wanted to be there for Friday evening with some of her family in town. This allowed up some extra time Friday for some fun-ride time! Lemma took us out to Crabtree park near her house for a couple hours of riding around. Much to our dismay upon our arrival, the trails were closed! No! But, we decided to just walk around for a while and check out the lake. After about 20 minutes a park official rode by and we flagged him down to ask about riding since trails seemed in pretty good condition...and to our luck he was pleased to tell us they were about to open them! Needless to say we were stoked...

We even made a friend...

Liew showing off in the skills area...

This was my first weekend of racing since getting back on my bike from my broken hand hiatus. It was quite eerie to be riding along during the XC race and pass a VT rider who, during the race, had an accident ending in the exact same break that I had.

I had a rough spell during the XC as I was dropping my chain every couple of minutes, irritating, but nothing major, just a malfunctioning singulator. I made it to the finish...Chad had some bad luck ending in some injuries keeping him form any further racing on the day, so I borrowed his ride for the ST. Thanks for the bike Chad, glad you are OK!

The ST went much better for me, as I managed one of the better starts of my career, and was able to hold a good pace, and work my way past a few guys to finish 3rd in the B field. The rain, mud, slick roots, and cheering team mates made it a really fun race for me. Short track is fun because you end up having friends all along the course to cheer you on.

Brock and Liew were a blur....

Congrats to all of my team mates on their great finishes. Before I left, I set my facebook status to "Dominate" - and that is what we did...We had a great showing, and now we look forward to a solid finish as we host Conference Champs next weekend. The run for 10 is on!

- Hopefully tomorrow, some others chime in and add to this post!

WVU team at WVMBA Champs

2009-09-21T14:58:00.000-04:00

The WVMBA series championship race was this past Sunday at Coop's and look who ended up on the podium!

Good riding guys!

While not racing, Liew and I, and recent WVU cycling alum Lemma were on hands to help out with the race, pointing the racers where to go.

The WVMBA series is over, and it is cross season locally now. We've got two more collegiate weekends comin, NCSU, and our weekend. I think I should be in good shape to enter our home race weekend!

Black Cat

2009-09-21T00:18:00.001-04:00

On the way home, the decision was made to stop and eat at a place called “Black Cat”. They served burritos and beer. You walked up and ordered, then sat wherever and they also used toys to denote who ordered what. They had free oval shaped stickers with their name on it. There was local art on the walls, and had local bands come in.
However, they apparently cook their vegetarian food on the same grill as the meat. Appalling!
So I just wonder…how many other Black [Animal] restaurants there are?

Dual Conference Domination

2009-09-21T00:16:00.001-04:00

XC

This weekend was hosted by Appalachian State University, who partnered with their neighboring school, Lees McRae to put on a dual conference with ACCC and SECCC.
The weekend started out with the cross country. They ran a shortened version of the Collegiate Nationals course from the previous 2 years, and just like then, recent rain had the course muddy. Mens C and Womens B started first, and we noticed that while there was a large MC squad, it was mostly racers from VT, and not many from the SECCC. They did 2 laps.
While they were racing, a few of us went to the dual slalom course with Zerbe to try and get some tips to knock off some time. The course was muddy and very slick. On Chad’s second run, he wiped out re-taco’ing his front wheel. Back at the cars Ian had a spare for him. I decided to steal Chad’s Maxxis Ignitor tire and swap out my CrossMark front, and added more Stan’s. Thanks Ian!
The 2nd session of racing started with a huge field of Mens A numbering close to 50, more than half were from SECCC. The womens A field had about 20, dominated by SECCC. And starting 3rd was Mens B pretty evenly mixed.
The fields started 2minutes apart. Within 10minutes of starting half of the WA field was caught by the lead MB riders lead by a very fast ASU rider with Ryan Post sitting in 2nd. The course was extremely muddy and favored WVU riders immensely. Having that Ignitor tire was crucial as I was able to control my steering, while the CrossMark rear was able to slide very well around turns, but still provided plenty of climbing traction while I sat and spun up hills that most of the SECCC riders were pushing.
The course was never flat, constantly climbing or descending with many turns and dips. Roots abound, with 2 narrow wooden bridges. The cherry on top was a long rocky descent through a creek with spectators cheering you on from high on a bank every lap.
I was fighting an unmarked jersey and Martin from ASU for the first 2 laps, but Martin picked up a large nail in his tire, and the unmarked jersey tired near the end of the 3rd lap. After the descent on the 3rd lap, I attemped to hop a hole, but while my head said jump, my legs said “what?”. I noticed my tire was flat as I made my turn at the bottom of the hill. A quick CO2 pop, while Ian passed me, and I saw the unmarked jersey (3rd place). I quickly passed him again and continued the last lap, passing many MA riders (especially Univ of Florida) who were walking up hills. I was also being passed by some seriously fast MA riders from the SECCC, Lees McRae and Warren Wilson most notably.
Lots of riders DNF’d. I’d guess probably 1/3 of them.
On the last run of the descent, I again blasted the big hole, and again flatted. Although I had another CO2, I opted to ride out the 1/2mi of gravel road to finish on a flat. I wasn’t passed but David Henry of VT came in about a minute behind me carrying his bike with his chain magically wrapped around his wheel in such a way it was pinned between spokes and was lacerating his tire.
Results aren’t yet posted, but Ian was likely around 7th/50, Ryan 2nd/38, Chad top 15/38. Emily thought she resprained her ankle, but still finished.

DS

The next event was Dual Slalom, and the course had dried up from the morning slip and slide. Riders were now able to launch 10’ into the air, but WVU opted to keep their wheels firmly on the ground. There isn’t much to say about DS, except that it started at 2:30, and wasn’t over before darkness fell.
There were 56 A riders who did a qualifying run. None of our As qualified in the top 32. Zerbe was seriously bummed. The highlight on our team was a new C rider, Mike, who won his first bracket and took 5th, we think. David Henry, the Legend, out done only by Chuck Norris himself, qualified 4th in MB, wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots. He did roll up his right pant leg at the suggestion from a WVU rider. For sure, the highlight of the ACCC, as we all got smoked by those SECCC acrobatisists.

That Night

I can’t say, Emily and I fell asleep on the couch at like 9:30, despite Beer Pong, Football, random people (including girls), and a drum set.

Next Morning

I woke up, and decided to try to get some homework done while everyone else slept. Zerbe got up, asked when things started, to which I informed him , “30min ago”. He got up, grabbed Tyler, and they headed to the DH. The rest of us had pretty much given up after the slaughter on the DS course by the SECCC. After a slow packup, we headed out, only to have Zerbe call us and tell us the DH was canceled. (We were pretty happy). Headed to a café to kill 4hours before the Short Track. We got to the course and hung out under VT’s tent, chatted and talked trash on each other. (They had far more riders to back their ‘trash’ up.)

Short Track

The short track was a variation of the Nationals ST course, and we hoped the mud would fare well for us again like it did on the XC. We had hoped that schools would tuck tail and head home after the DH was canceled, but sadly…there were like 40 on the Mens A starting line. The start was ridiculously fast, lead by a bunch of SECCC. Ian was mid pack, and the fastest VT rider, who may be the fastest in the conference, near the very end as the course narrowed. Ian managed to move up into the top 10.
The Woman’s A field had about 20 racers, and was actually kind of exciting for the first lap before I had to get ready for my race.
The Mens B field was about 25 strong with 20 or so from the ACCC. We considered running the “Fun train” but after yesterday, all bets were off. I managed to quickly take the lead, taking advantage of my lockout, but forgetting about it as I tried to jump across the road at nearly 25mph, put me nose diving into the other back with 1 foot unclipped. The crowd cheered as I barely kept the bike up, but I lost momentum and dropped back to around 6th. While I was able to make up some ground on people who couldn’t ride mud, Chuck Norris’s illegitimate son, David Henry, lit a fire in the mud and burned us all. I got 4th.
Mike pulled a 2nd in the MC field.

Notes

It was so nice that LMC had hoses and showers for us to use. Even though there were girls in the guys locker room.
And remember kids, reset those Lefty needle bearings. And grease them too!

On your left! CRASH

2009-09-20T12:17:00.006-04:00

Justin, Elliott, and I headed out Saturday to do something EPIC. After doing Break Iron, Justin split to go be a good Med school student...while Elliott and I headed towards Aaron's Creek. At this point, with only 25 miles or so clocked, we were not nearly satisfied...so we decided to head to the PA state line and do a little exploring. It's at times like this you realize WV is a beautiful state. You just have to take the time to enjoy it.

At about mile 30, it happened. Elliott and I were cruising on the rail trail...having a good ol' time. Then, almost in sync with Elliott yelling, "On your left", a runner, who was using an ipod, cut in front of the both of us. CRASH. Actually, it was the wimpiest crash I've ever experienced. Elliott bounced off the runner and landed in a tree/some bushes. I bounced off Elliott and fell over. Everyone was ok. No scratches or scrapes, except maybe a few slight ones to our pride and bicycles. Oh, and both Elliott and I had our front wheels knocked out of true. Daaanngit. Thankfully we were only about a mile from pathfinder, where Andy and his crew saved the day.

After getting everything fixed at P, Elliott and I went home. Mostly we went home to eat because we were starving, but also to cuddle up close with our bicycles and ask for forgiveness for crashing them. Unfortunately, the epic ride turned out to be not so epic. Fun though, nonetheless.

Break Iron + Aaron's Creek GPS

William and Mary

2009-09-14T00:19:00.000-04:00

We headed to W&M, 14 strong. VT had about 20, with VT upgrading a bunch of riders to A, ouch. W&M had some confusion with USAC about officials, but we were able to work it out for the weekend. The courses were VERY twisty, with lots of roots and tight gaps between trees.
We took 1st through 4th and 6th in the TT in Mens A. Sunday’s XC was won by a VT rider who had been sandbagging in B all season. 2nd through 5th of the MA places were taken by WVU riders. In typical fashion, I exploded off the start taking the lead into the single track, with a WM rider right on my wheel, and a few VT riders in tow. I suck at twisty trail, but no one challenged me, thus began a 1.5lap “fun train” while I lead around 5 guys until I let David Henry pass me when he was able to ride a 2’ log. The fun train apparently derailed after that, but I wasn’t fast enough to see it. Liew ended up 4th and I got 5th in Mens B.

The harvest is in!

2009-09-10T22:31:00.006-04:00

Winter is coming, (eventually) - better start collecting those nuts all you squirrels out there...

Liew, Bala, and I here are way ahead of all of you...

........well, we were until we ate them all.

Near the president's house there are three chestnut trees and one has begun to drop its bounty!

Get em fast! - actually don't they belong to us!!!

Good luck on another weekend of racing in my home state of VA!

The crew before a parade over the summer

Bike Van Maintenance

2009-09-07T00:19:00.003-04:00

For the trip to VT, since Robbie was going, we were able to use the van from the awesomest bike shop in town, Pathfinder. We noticed some vibration on the way down, figuring it was a low pressure tire. After putting air in it in Flatwoods, that didn’t solve the issue. We then thought it might be an unbalanced tire. Not much we could do there.
On the way back, after stopping at a mexican buffet, Robbie noted the vibration was very cyclical, and decided to drive around the parking lot while people looked for a cause. Chad at first thought it was a loose tie rod, but that didn’t make sense. A little further he noticed the front left tire was buldging. The tread had separated. We decided it would be better if we changed the tire in the safety of a parking lot than possibly on the side of the interstate.
Robbie located the tools, and someone manned the jack while the lugs were loosened. We had some trouble figuring out how to get to the spare tire, but with a quick look into the owners manual we found out we needed a torx driver to get a safty plate out. Lucky for us, the Cannondale headtool has one, normally used for brake rotor bolts that fit perfectly!
Within 15min, we had the tire changed and were loaded up and looking around for air. Ever try and pump a large tire to 70psi with a floor pump? Ask Bala what might happen.

Pylometric?Pyrometric?Ploughmetric?Pulametric?

2009-09-02T00:29:00.002-04:00

Holaa.....
School session rolled into week number 2. On Monday and for the next following Mondayssss, our club organized a group exercise called pylometric?pyrometric?or ploughmetric....Anyway, this pylo activity drew some attention to some club members including Bala, Jake, Duncan, Zerbe, Adam, Emily, Larry, and last but not least COACH AMBER. Coach Amber found a sweet spot for us behind Rec center near the pond but kinda in the "woods". We performed some warm up and then real pylo kicked in after that. Meanwhile, our potential women A rider, Emily, was too "into" this activity and had herself out of control and sprained her ankle pretty bad. One down, but pylo continue....
As you can see pictures below, it describes:
Our rookie, Duncan is doing hardwork.

Broken hand Jake: one handed to show off his awesomeness.

Coach Amber the sexy "taken" lady.

See that orange shirt guy on the backside of the grass? That's Balaji, cheating among groups

Working Hard....Where is Larry Chet-Mun Elvis Liew??

.

Reminder,
Party at bikeplex(2867-3 University ave), 9pm, 9/3, woot woot...

New Rider today

2009-08-20T21:07:00.002-04:00

Today was a small break in ride to Welcome Duncan to Mo-town, and also to introduce Cat to the scene here at WVU. Emily, Chad, Duncan, Cat, and myself headed out, we went past the lair onto the trail and headed towards Snake Hill via Doug Hill. Chad was suffering and Cat was looking stronger then some of the newbies I have riden with.

The ride was ended short when I kept dropping my chain on snake hill. After a quick inspection I found my little chain ring had bent, and I had way too much climbing left to complete the ride with only a big ring. So I bailed, with Duncan returning with me to help me up the hills, and Cat returned also, saying she just wasnt ready for all of these hills yet...

After returning I didn't feel too bad as Emily informed me her and chad turned around 5 minutes later...

Good Ol' days

2009-08-13T11:29:00.004-04:00

Found some antique from my hard drive

You're hitting your face with your window

2009-08-12T22:33:00.002-04:00

Chad and I were pedaling up University just past the law school on our way down to the Hammer Ride, about to crest the hill to begin our fast descent, when this crazy lady in a Toyota Camry zoomed by me over the yellow line. She also zoomed passed Chad, shoving the oncoming traffic over to the right.

Then as we headed down the hill, preparing for our 35 mph descent, the lady suddenly brake checks. Chad shouted, "Whoa!" as she waved her hand and flicked us off.

At the stop light, Chad pulled up next to her, "Hey, what you were doing back there was unsafe."
The lady rolled down her window just a crack, leaned her face out, and said, "I'm calling the cops on you!" Then promptly rolled the window back up.
Chad shouts back, "Call the cops on yourself! I'm not doing anything illegal, I have a right to the lane."
The crazy lady rolled her window back down, "I'm a lawyer! I know the laws, and you need to stop breaking them." She rolled the window back up.
Chad scoffed, and said, "No, I know the laws, and I'm not doing anything illegal."
The lady rolled her window down, "You just need to get out of my way!" She rolled her window back up.
Chad told her, "You're hitting your face with your window."
She rolled the window back down. I saw her roll her eyes in her sideview mirror, "You're an idiot! Get out of my way."
Then the light turned green and the lady was saved from any more confrontation with that crazy hooligan in the tight shorts. Waaaaaaaah

Ryan, incidentally, just three minutes behind Chad and me because he forgot to inflate his tire, also encountered some fat ladies harassing him on the way down University. He'll tell his story soon enough, if he remembers.

Share the road!

Big Bear Ultra

2009-08-10T12:35:00.003-04:00

Big Bear Ultra was sweeet. Rode 80% cruisin with Liew and Bala, and then the last bit cranking it out to the sounds from my ipod. Lots of sick new trails, tight and gnarly...fast and flowy...fast and rocky, brims, pines, mud, roots, rocks.

Felt good, felt bad, good again, tunes, funny stuff, Bala wrecking, Liew wrecking, me wrecking...

Left the last aid station with Bala...flew down to the lower expert loop at Mach 2, Bala dropped me climbing outta that hole, and I was so stoked about the last section, the stupid fast flowy trail before the mega downhill...I dont think I've ever taken that as fast as I did. I suppose it was equal parts, having a blast, being comfortable on the bike after having been on it for so long, and wanting to get to the beer at the finish...but man was it sick. Climbed outta the creek bed, hit the last lil pull hard...and was headed out!

Coming to the finished I was so stoked to be done, feeling like I rode hard and coming in under 6 hours, that I got a little overboard on the last section, and totally wrapped myself around a tree, and then planted myself firmly in the ground. I had not had such a high speed wreck in a while...whew! My hand, and shoulder took most of the hit, and my hand is swollen like crazy...which is why this post is shorter than it should be...note in the picture my twisted bars and not-so-in-place helmet when i finished. I wrecked so close to the finish that i just rode in the way i got up off the ground...luckily it happened just up in the woods so no one saw me....Laura saw me just after tho as i was shakily getting off the ground...laughing and somewhat delerious...

That was tough...50 miles is one thing, 50 miles of single track only, at Big Bear...that is full on...

Race was sick, thanks to Mark for putting it on, all those who worked on the trails, and of course to all the sponsors...the food and refreshments after were just outstanding.

Hopefully we hear from my Ultra riding partners soon...

The Road Ride

2009-08-08T18:24:00.004-04:00

Brautigam posted easier this week about some great 85mile course. 08/06/2009 Route
Find more Bike Rides in Morgantown, West Virginia

So we met him at Bakers Ridge and Stewartstown at 7:30 to begin our journey in hopes of extending his ride to make a century. Of course, google maps has failed again listing roads that don't exist somewhere around mile 36, if you recalled the earlier post we shouldn't repeat the same mistakes.

So we ended up on Friendsville Rd, then got directions to head towards Wisp looking for Sand Springs Rd. In typical Andrew fashion, he had a timeline and had to call for a ride once he realized he wouldn't make his 2PM deadline. So Emily and I carried on with meager directions. When I saw Bishoff Rd, I knew it was hopeless and began to try to remember our old WVU RR course on Sang Run. We ran into a guy picking up trash who gave great directions to get to Big Bear, which we figured at that point we could either continue home, or get a ride from one of the Ultra racers. We chose the latter.

70miles/8k' climbing.

Trail Werk

2009-08-04T13:44:00.005-04:00

4 of us went out to Wisp for the day to get some trail maintence in. We kind of expected to do some boring leaf raking and rock kicking, but nope, today would be trail building! But not some boring trail, no no, Northshore stuff.

So we started with this.

Almost 5 hours later...

That stuff takes a lot of work to make it solid, but maybe we'll include it in our DH race. We also built a 15' berm just after this.

Push!

2009-07-29T17:13:00.004-04:00

So...Zerbe broke his RD like woah on our mountain ride last night...and since he didnt want to break a brand new chain to make it ss..Liew, Bala, and I pushed him all the way back to our house from Bakers...ok, well he walked up Riddle, and coasted down the hills, but on everything else...we pushed.

It is raining today...lame.

This is what happens when you ride!

2009-07-24T18:49:00.000-04:00

Yeah, we clean up trash...

2009-07-20T23:18:00.003-04:00

If you litter...I hate you.

Some team members went out to clean up our Adopt-a-highway section. Took longer than we thought, and we ran out of trash bags. I repeat...if you litter, you suck.

What do Liew and Bala think?

Tuesday Night 'Easy' Ride

2009-07-07T21:05:00.003-04:00

The past few Tuesdays have had quite a bit of riding and excuses not to ride. Chad wanted to bring back the ride that was so popular last year, and early on was somewhat successful. There has been struggles between faster riders and slower riders trying to ride together, but we've been averaging about 5 riders each week.
The past 2 weeks, Phil has joined us from MBC, and today in particular Phil lead much of the ride. Halfway through the ride, Zerbe commented that Phil should be named Dr Dolittle as he nearly hit a cat,2 deer, a rabbit and a ground hog by the time we made it to Pt Marion. Then another close call with a deer on Ft Martin hill. Oh, and the gaggle of Canadian geese in Granville.
Always excitement from somewhere. 42mi, 2:45

Bakersfield Road Ride

2009-06-20T17:43:00.002-04:00

After stripping/cleaning/rebuilding my bike two weeks ago, I had been so swamped with work I had not taken it out for a spin. Today that changed. I rode out of the city to the field office I work at to put in a little extra work. Riding was glorious.

With a clear sky, bright sun, 90 degree air temp, and 20% humidity, I had hit the pavement. After 5 miles I had realized two things:
1) I miss WV. California drivers ARE terrible.
2) Bakersfield is flat. Flatter than motown rail trail flat. The only real hills within 20 miles of the city are the river levees and the interstate ramps. =(

California drivers respect cyclists less than back country WV folk. (who at least treat us w/ good-natured, mild curiosity as they pass within inches) The CA DOT has made a point of installing bike lanes on most major roads through Bakersfield. Unfortunately, most local drivers use this as a convenient extension of their lane while passing and cutting corners. I'd play chicken with a coal truck on 119 anyday compared to a CA soccer mom in an SUV.

So while I try to find interesting routes to ride, I am anticipating my return to WV, hills, roads w/o bike lanes, and backroads I can't get lost for hours on.

Visiting and Racing

2009-05-22T23:44:00.006-04:00

Earlier this week, Emily and I headed West near Dayton, OH to visit former WVU Cycling President, Gef Moy. While there, Gef insisted we do a Wednesday night MTB TT called Fast Laps at John Bryan State Park. It was about 8miles of single track in Bryan Park. The course was amazingly well maintained. Very twisty, narrow, smooth, hardpack single track that reminded us all of NCSU racing.
The 3 of us being were rather agast at the assertion by the promoters that the thing couldn't be scored/timed without the timing crew which were using RFID chips in the number plates, but I had never seen the system, so I was curious. It seemed to work fine, except that they had to corral the finish line down to about 5', which isn't a big deal for a TT, and possibly even a MTB mass start finish.
I was very impressed with how the event turned out, with more than 50 people showing up. Registration was simple and quick: register, get a number and you start in that order of your number-no 'start list' needed. Entry fee was $5 for members and $7 for non. There were no prizes except for the kids, but there were some snacks, drinks and free magazines. Gef was disappointed with his results, and Gunnar had to rub it in later on Facebook, pointing out that he lost to Betsy's crippled brother.
Excellent event, and I'm actually considering trying it out, maybe at White Park.

Awesome weather and awesome riding

2009-05-21T21:29:00.005-04:00

The weather has been gorgeous the past two days, how could you not want to be on a bike!

I got annihilated in the hammer ride yesterday and blew up w/ a hr of 203. Held with the pack till Taylortown Rd or thereabouts. Legs seriously felt like they locked up and I was in the most pain I've been in for as long as I could recall... I called it quits and bailed back. Spun on the rail trail and Aaron's creek to try to get my legs to stop hurting... they didn't.

Today I was supposed to do the Wamsley fast ride/slow ride with Emily but after working all day I passed out for a nap and overslept the meet time. Whoops. Sorry Emily!! I decided to head out on the roadie and explore Kingwood Pike, I always looked at it on maps and such and wanted to try it out, but no rides ever ended up heading that way. I thought some long sustained climbing would be nice to loosen up the big guys and warm up the diesel fuel. Safe to say that this is my new favorite ride in town. It's like Snake hill, but much more constant. Hardly any traffic and amazing views. Lots of green open fields and great condition pavement. Rode out to where I could see Masontown and Reedsville then headed back for an amazing 10 mile long descent and a race against daylight all the way home. Wouldn't mind hitting it up on the Tuesday nigher if the group that shows is interested. We could also come back on Summer School instead. 26.7 miles and 2,800ft of climb for the entire ride.

Kingwood Pike GPS

Enjoy the weather!!!

Thursday's Adventures

2009-05-21T19:21:00.002-04:00

Today, Lemma and I set out at our slow pace to do what is now officially her longest road ride ever --the unopened interstate loop. We didn't want to go all the way out to the new exit past Point Marion and have to ride 119 back, so I figured we could go underneath the recently built bridge down onto Morgan's Run Road like we used to before the built the bridge. Apparently you can't (well, they don't want you to) do that anymore. The once gravel/dirt road is now filled with grass/plants/large drainage rocks, complete with a barbed wire fence at the bottom. So Lem and I did a hike-a-bike and threw our bikes over the barbed wire, and then crawled under the fence where the big rocks were placed since they left a fairly large gap for us to fit through. During this adventure I lost my bike computer (we found it though!) andddd got a flat (but my tires loosened up enough that I can FINALLY fix flats without any help, so that problem was solved pretty quickly), and other than that--there is good news. There was a freshly paved road on the other side of the fence that goes right down to Morgan's Run Road! I'm assuming that to get to it we just need to go slightly farther on the road that has the short, steep hill (great description, I know) and it will put us on that new road. That means that even once the interstate opens/they actually start doing work on it, that ride can live on! yayyyy! And plus, now we can just do that if we'd rather not add on the extra miles,hills, and traffic in PA. The rest of the ride (along with the hike a bike) went smoothly, except for the fact that right before the new University High, they have the road completely torn up/graveled, so that added another adventurous part to our 35+ mile journey. After the school busses and Fed Ex trucks kicked up endless amounts of dust into our faces, we made it past the "rough road" thanks to our mtb skills, if you could call them that( haha). And returned home in one piece. All in all, good ride--sweet tanlines.

Tour de Lake "Sandbaggery"

2009-05-17T23:25:00.003-04:00

While hanging out with Bala because I have no internet, he talked me into racing WVMBA this weekend. So Bala, James, and I mooched a ride from Shawn on the crazy long twisty 2.5hr ride to Spencer to hit up this course that I don't think any of us had ever done.
On Saturday night, Bala and I cut my brake lines to shorten them, and after 3hours I still couldn't get them bled well, but they were...lets say OK. The WVU crew all signed up for Sport class, and Bala told me to block for him, so thats just what I did, being the first into the woods, then falling over the mud. Bala took a HUGE lead, something like 5-7min, while everyone bitched that he should move up. I slide around on my CrossMark tires wishing I had more knobs.
Around 3/4ths way through the race, I was sitting in about 3rd, and caught Bala pushing his bike uphill. Ready to hand him tools/tubes, I was agast to see he was just tired, hungry and dehydrated. Apparently he didn't know he was in for 18miles of pure muddy, narrow, twisty, single track. I wasn't much either, but since I was "sandbagging" I my tank was full enough to finish in 3rd, with some very tired triceps.
Overall, the course was great, race was great, we all had a fun time and left with some bloody spots on arms and legs-just like a MTB race should do to a body.

Wednesday Fastness

2009-05-14T08:12:00.002-04:00

Man, I am still reeling from the weekend, and yesterday put a hurting on me. Talbot had more than me, but the rocks and mud of Canaan had taken their toll on us both.

Sponge and Emily both rocked out, and as usual its tough to catch Jimmy, and Andrew was in full force.

I've gotta recapture my group riding skillz for the summer, hope to see some more WVU squad members out there next Wednesday too.

Don't forget about the Wamsley's MTB ride tonight. If its raining they will head to White Park. Call Wamsley's for the scoop around 5 pm.

Get up. You ain't hurt.

2009-05-05T17:14:00.002-04:00

Jimmy posted a ride today at 2pm. Elliott and I came along. We decided to do Cheat Lake to Pt Marion, apparently Elliott had never been to the unopened interstate. Jimmy was telling me all about this new construction over there. When we got there, they were working and had turned what used to be mushy gravel into hardpacked clay. Jimmy and I chatted while riding along, watching the workers watching us. Then one of the workers said to us, "You buddy back there fell down". We turned around laughing as we Elliott was stuck on his side, having falling in the wet clay and was unable to unclip. After 20 seconds or so, I yelled back to hurry up, and the worker then yelled "Get up buddy, you ain't hurt". But Elliott was hurt, his pride was damaged as he had gotten dirt on his team kit and his team bike. But we rode on.
Near the end of the ride, as we were nearing the hospital, Jimmy and I said we were going to get on the sidewalk instead of riding on 705, but the cucumber didn't hear. He ride along the side of the walk for a bit, until he decided to try his luck with a nice 4" deep groove, plenty wide to consume a wheel. Jimmy and I both got to see him drop in with some speed, ride a bit then flip over onto the sidewalk. Pride badly damaged, front wheel took some damage, but he did scrape his shin up pretty good, so he'll get some pity points from the girls.

WVMBA #1 Big Bear Lake Classic

2009-04-21T10:16:00.005-04:00

While the rest of the team was road racing down at Conference Champs, a solid group of WVU cycling members made the short jump up the road to Big Bear Lake for the first of the 2009 WVMBA series races.

A total of 209 racers were in attendance, and the WVU squad consisted of Steve, Robbie, Laura, Team Talbot, Larry, Bala, Chad, James, Andrew, Lemma, and myself! Of course there were tons of other well known locals there to dominate.

Liew, Andrew, and I made the jump to expert with Bala sandbagging for the day in Sport class. I guess he didn't really sand bag since he finished third, of course this was after having the change a flat tire.

A lot of podium finishes for the ladies, Laura, Seira, and Lemma, as well as from Bala.

Everyone had great rides, no series mechanicals, Bala and Robbie both suffered from flats, but both were able to recover quickly and have fine finishes.

Liew did his usual super fast hole-shot crazy start which offered up a lot of excitement.

The weather was really nice for the day, with some light misting raing coming towards the end of the race to offer a cool reprieve just before the finish.

Results

Good job to all who raced! Anyone else interested, check out www.wvmba.com for more series races!

Here is some picture from Liew,

Ramp festival at Mt. Morris after skipping prize award at Big bear

Met alpacasss...

-Liew

- Jake

Road Conference Championships

2009-04-20T09:53:00.003-04:00

What a weekend!!! I was afraid when the trip began that we might have the same bad luck as last year but it turned out to be a great weekend for everyone.
Saturday was a sunny and warm day, Brock had Elliott and myself up at 5:30 in the morning, and we hit were ready to race. The road race was an extremely flat course with less then 500 feet vertical over 65 miles of racing. With a flat and narrow course this course definately favored the sprinters and put me at a disadvantage and gave Brock a great chance. The Men's A and Men's B fields finished as a group sprint, with both having 1-2 people off the front. Brock positioned himself well and took 3rd overall and won the field sprint for the Men's B. I was getting set-up but was uhnlucky and got boxed in, and finished 23rd in the field sprint. The Men's D field shattered and Elliott has his best ever finished and placed 7th, after getting pimped shortly before the sprint.

Since we did not have a TTT team, we headed back to the hotel for a shower and a great nap. We woke and then attended the conference Banquet, we ate a ton of food!! Then Ryan and I stayed for the conference meeting. We won the bid for the Conference Mountain Bike Race for Fall 2009, and our Race weekend for road 2010 is April 10-11, the weekend before Champs at Virginia Tech.

Sunday, elliott woke up early, walked out the hotel door and hoped on his bike for the crit. With me sitting on the course and Brock watching from the hotel room, Elliot started the Downtown crit, he complains of a car on course but was able to finish in 13th place.
Hours later Brock jumped on his bike and was ready to terrorize the Men's B field. He went early and attemped a break in lap one, after a few laps of all out effort he was a caught by a small group and sat in for the rest of the race. He made a great move for the "W" at the finish and took about half a bike length in the sprint. Giving Brock a great Championship weekend. Then it was Emily's turn with the Women's A. She's not a WVU member currently but she'll be here next year, in a stiff compitition for 1st place in D2, Emily was able to pull it off, and even though she did not win, she was able to take the overall conference point and earn herself a pretty pink jersey. Finally, it was my turn to push the pedals. After a rough day on Saturday and still being sore from the dog incident, my game plan was to sit in, and just enjoy the ride. Brock was very nervous watching me sit in the back of the peleton for the first 15-20 minutes of the race. I saw a small break start to happen on the backside of the course and I knew it would be able to stick, and my adrenaline picked up and I wanted in that group, the pelton came around corner 6 and no one was responding to the break, so in one move I jump from the back and came around the peleton, and was chasing solo to the break, I caught in b3 turn 3, and started in rotations, Wake Forest was trying to block to break and bring it back, but after a few others joined the break, it was home free. I was able to take a 4th and a 1st in primes (my first ever 1st place prime) and then with 4 laps to go, the break could see the peleton just ahead. About half of us wanted to stay out of the peleton and our pace slowed, until a WF rider jumped and forced all of us to chase, mixed into the group, it was an intense final lap, I missed the jump through the pack, and sprinted in the group, grabbing a 7th place finish overall.

While cooling down, about 90 seconds into it actually, I noticed my rear wheel felt weird and found a large splinter through my tire, luckily I was able to finish the race before the flat occured.

It was a great Weekend for all of us, and I am ready for a great summer season now.

Dogs are dangerous

2009-04-14T21:10:00.002-04:00

After becoming a cyclist I gained a person issue with dogs. Not all dogs and hopefully not your dog.
LEASHES, CHAINS, INVISIBLE FENCES, properly taking care of dogs all good things, but the dog that runs into the road VERY BAD.
This is my second crash in 6 months on the road bike, and this is the second time in 6 months a dog has been the reason for the crash. The first time was in the fall, I was riding with Mon Bike club, a few dogs came into the road and one ran into my front wheel, knocking me down and causing me to break my saddle.
Today, While I was riding alone in Preston County, I took my usual ride out McKinney Cave Rd. This road in my eyes is known for it's dogs. When making the turn onto the road a dog came into the road and barked at me, I yelled "NO, STOP" and the pup went back into it's grass. I came across a few other dogs who have an invisible fence, who barked but had nothing on me. I was about 3/4 of the way complete with the road and out came a German Sheperd, I yelled "NO, STOP, NO," this did not phase the dog. I was trying to go fast to get away, but I grabbed my water bottle, and sqirted the dog in the face, he paused for a moment and came again, this time moving to the opposite side of the road, so I squirted again, did nothing to the dog, I was out of water, and hoped fetch might work, I throw my water bottle, dog still kept comming.
The dog caught my foot, I started to look back, and nnext thing I know I am going over my bars. My face hit the asphalt/rocks first, and my hand shoulder and hip all on the right side also too impact with the road. I found my bottle cage broken and the dog had ran off. I slowly got onto
my bike, and pedaled away. At the end of the road, I checked my equipement and everything was ok.

I made it home, went to Med-Express, had my wounds cleaned, and had X-Rays of shoulder and face. No Stitches needed and no broken bones. I am thankful for this, and plan to be back in the saddle soon.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-12T12:14:00.005-04:00

Hope everyone that raced the Morgantown RR did well and had fun!

I took the weekend to come home to Charleston and spend time with family and old friends. Of course I brought a bike home too! I wanted to just get out on the roadie for awhile and have some fun. No chasing, no attacks, no pulls, no intervals, no sprints... just some fun, fast solo riding.

Roads were fairly empty Saturday, so I set out for about 50miles, riding from my house, through the mountains of the South Hills area and back. I got lots of thumbs up waves from cars, pedestrians, and other cyclists. The team bike is a huge hit and people as lots of questions. The roads in South Hills are amazing for cycling. Beautiful views, low traffic, perfectly maintained two lane roads. There's also an awesome carriage path to ride on cyclocross style. I snapped some pics of the team hotness to share.

47 Miles. 3,328ft of climbing. Total time: 2hr 52min. Avg. Speed: 16.5

GPS LINK

Happy Easter everyone, go ride!

-Chad

WV RR 1

2009-04-12T09:40:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the first race of the WV Road Race Series.
It was a cold and wet morning when I woke up. I put the final touches on the bike and headed out to Core, WV going to Historical Mason-Dixon Park. The race was a big one, with over 60 riders pre-registered I knew it was going to be hectic (as we usually only have 60 total riders). Approximately 200 riders across all categories registered and the racing got under way. Luckily the temp. raised and the sun was attempting to come out.
The race started by going out route 7, and was relatively flat for the first 12 or so miles. In the mens 1/2/3 field the pace started slow as no one was ready to chase down the break in the heavy wind. Then the climbing started, I do not know the numbers but the first climb hurt and the field was shattered. A group of just over 10 riders crested and started the descent fully comming together at the bottom. It was not long and the second climb began. This time shattering the group even more. I made it over with two other riders, and having 3 riders ahead in sight. The three of us were chasing the three in front and were unsuccessful, and caught be 6 other riders. This group of 9 stayed together over the next two climbs and at the final K or so two riders (GUnnar and Adam A.) got away. I took 2nd in the sprint (I'll holdmy peace about the winner) ad 9th overall.

I do not know how the Team riders official placings at this point in time, but it seemed that everyone had a good time racing and did well.

SRAM

2009-04-11T08:25:00.003-04:00

After months of anticipation the SRAM order finally arrive.
At 1:30 pm on Good Friday the Ryan Post alerted everyone to the excitement, after he finished with lab, he and I ventured to Pathfinder to collect the 9 boxes of goodies.
With Thousands of Dollars of Shiny new Parts, Bala, Ryan, and myself unpacked and organized everything.
After completion I promptly went home and put my SRAM RED Shifters and Derailleurs onto my bike. (Details on the debut ride to come.)

Snake Hill doesn't bite

2009-04-09T20:17:00.003-04:00

For some reason Chad decided he wanted to over train again and do Snake Hill after get nailed on yesterday's hammer ride. When Elliott said he'd go, I figured it couldn't be so bad from all the smack talk everyone says about the poor cucumber.
So Chad, Bob, Elliott and Ryan headed out. Chad got dropped like he had a parachute on the first climb of Dug Hill. We waited up around the turn until we decided he Brock'd out and went home. Then we get to the 4way of Dug and there's Chad.
Forgetting how much of a cat 6 Bob was, he swings left to turn onto snake, sketched out Elliott, flipped me out, and we drilled it onto whatever that road is to Snake Hill. Not far in, Chad chose the absolute worst line, apparently trying to test his bike's worth and his MTB skills. He survived, nearly killing me with a flying bottle. Ironic that the bottle was flying, since it has some queer bird pic on it anyway. I practiced my skills and kicked it clean of the road.
Up the hill, Elliott and Bob put some pressure on, as Chad tried his best imitation of Martino. I definitely felt the day before while riding tempo feeling generally good, except the legs were lacking a bit.
Heading out the top, Elliot begins his begging of not riding the "dirt road". Then pulls this crap about our coach saying to only work on 1 thing at a time, and he's working on climbing, not technical. When we get to the end, he's out voted, and we do the normal road to the top of Summer School Rd, while Bob and Elliott exclaim that we're going the wrong way. I still have no idea what the heck Steve was doing taking them on a real dirt road...stupid, but what we ended up on, the whole group thought was fine.
Nothing too eventful after that, the cucumber descended pretty fast, and really likes to take the turns from the middle of the road. I think he's trying to sweep the gravel out with his tires.

WVU Rocks out the MBC Fast ride

2009-04-08T19:49:00.006-04:00

Attack, Attack, Attack!!

That was the theme of tonight's hammer ride.

Apparently there was an incident with a cyclist and a car. Nate Annon dropped out of the pack to take a tinkle and was apparently assulted by a car. After passing closely, the car break checked causing Nate to rear end him. The Brasmanian devil, having lost a waterbottle came up later and helped out. Although the guy had been drinking, he wasn't legally drunk, according to the cops who showed up.

Headed out 100 with the usual friendly pace. I had a nice view behind Janel... looking at the river. Headed under the railroad trussel and the carnage began. Steve pulled an attack from the left and I don't even know what happened from there. I held on for as long as I could, seeing up to 32mph and a 200bpm heart rate heading up 100. Brock was showing some strong legs, as were Talbott, Jimmy, and Papa Dave. Janel stayed with it too. Never saw Bala, I guess he passed me too quick as I fell out. I will happily report that this week I dropped out of the pack before Ryan did, but none the less we kept on going to the Rt. 19 regroup like little slowboys would.

After the regroup it came time for the state line sprint, which Ryan apparently ruined by having a huge leadout and making two cars sit in the gap between the pack and him. Way to go, chief.

Pedals were spinning quick on Big Shannon. 25mph or so heading out. I stayed in the pack and even pulled at one point, which was a fun change. I hung in as long as I could but blew up and dropped out of the pack somewhere in the rollers near Kiger hill. I stopped for awhile and soft pedaled a bit waiting for the pack to come back and catch me, which Ryan came in the distance. He fell out of the pack early but was still chasing.

I pulled an Andy Weidrich and jumped into the race pack as they passed me going back down Big Shannon to Mt. Morris, picking up Gunnar and Betsy who were late having spent some time with Nate and the Policy men. The front 8 or so of us formed a paceline and pushed back into town. It was uber fast and I fell back with Steve, Ryan, and another rider and we rejoined the group at the turn back on Rt 19. The group made our way back, passing 100, and over the hill on 19. On the descent we got an awesome paceline going, holding 40mph for a nice period of time. I took two pulls at the front, one at about a 32mph pace and the other around 28mph. The paceline was working awesome, definitely the best one I've ever been in. Took some confidence building at first to trust those wHeels I was chasing on some bumpy roads, but all was well.

Through Osage and back into town was uneventful. The pace slowed coming into Westover and I rode back following Jimmy and Steve. Then we lost Steve? Weird. Must have hit a deer.

Slowboy GPS Link

-Chad, not Ryan.

WVU Crew: Jimmy, Janel, Brock, James, Ryan, Bala, Chad, Steve, Talbot, Papa Dave

WVU Strikes Again @ VT

2009-04-05T22:06:00.007-04:00

Another exciting weekend of RACING...
6 riders and an official traveled to VT for a fun filled weekend of racing.
We attempted to depart Morgantown at 4:30 on Friday but that failed and we finally got on the road shortly before 6. Along the drive the Cucumber (not pickled yet), AKA Elliott, claimed to have witnessed 3 moons (2 which came out at the same time). We stopped in Fayetteville, WV for some Mexican at Diogi's, and made it to "Big Watts" Hanson's House around 11pm.
We all took the chance to claim our sleeping space and after some school girl giggling and Chad partying with the neighbors (AKA asking them to turn their thumping bass down), we all fell asleep.
Morning came a few hours later at 7am, and the coffee was brewing and the bike packing went into action.
We loaded the vehicles and headed for the road race. Steve decided to take the lead without directions and got lost, and after getting on the correct road, the horribly unfortunate occurred. A deer found the headlight/hood of Steve's car. After some blood was shed, and fur relocated into the bumper, the entire team arrived safety and prepped for the race.

The racing was intense. Men's A went off first, followed by Men's B and Women's A.
James M. Schulte 3rd (men's A)
Janel C. Bedard 2nd (Women's A)
Steve Nutt 9th (men's B)
Brian Talbott 21st (men's B)

I don't know about the other races, but I broke away at mile 10 (solo'ing for about 20 miles and held upfront for close to 55 miles) and even though I did look back, I kept charging forward and it payed off for me in the end. This was my best ever ACCC road finish.

After a brief intermission and a slight course change the Men's C and D races took off. (these races had a different, much easier finish)
James Braswell 19 (men's C) having dropped his chain very early on and had to chase the whole race.
Chad Lowers 21 (men's C)
Elliot "Cucumber" Iannello 24 (men's D)

All of them looked fast as they went through the race.

After the race, we left Ryan to officiate the TTT and we went to took some showers and ate some food at the Cellar. YUMMY food!!!

After, an anti-climatic evening (minus Ryan's free drink from taco bell, and frosties) we hit the hay.

Waking up at 7am for round two. CRIT action.
The crit racing was intense, with Talbott asking for a pity win on the start line... After 7 years of racing for WVU this was his last ACCC start. The field laughed offered a prime (silly man denied a free prime, and said all or nothing). (prime- pronounce preem).
Elliott took 9th in Men's D
James and Chad took 20th and 22nd respectively
Talbott took 16th and Steve (after a flat and several attempts to solo) took 6th and a 4th place prime.
Janel took 1st place with the big W, shaking off "Big Watts" for the sprint.(with 1-3rd, 3-2nd's, and 2-1st's primes)
and I was unable to repeat and finished 22nd.

We'll miss ya Dr T, even though you never did win

Overall, an AMAZING WEEKEND.

Wednesday Night SufferFest begins

2009-04-01T22:19:00.002-04:00

The weekly Wednesday night'er has started for the MonBike Club. Tonight's ride had an outstanding showing, and was brutal as soon as the neutral ended.

As the group was riding and everyone was cheery, we rolled under the train bridge and some Malaysian kid and some pale pasty white kid in a spongebob jersey had to ruin the fun and attack. I proceeded to grab onto the Visitor Ryan Nye (Team Preferred Care (Janel's Friend)) and grab onto the leaders. It was a decent size group and everyone was doing their part nicely. The first bump occured in the road and Adam A. Attacked, with Ryan and myself able to follow, we left the work up to Adam (as my heart rate was through the roof at this point). Threats were made going into the climb and about half way up Ryan flatted. The re-groupping occured at the connection of 19/100. Once everyone was in the group proceeded towards the stateline sprint.
Adam went to the front to ramp up the pace and I made sure to follow his wheel, Jason started the sprint and it was a tough call of who actually took the sprint (I'll yield and give props to Jason).
The pace stayed high until the turn around point, and even then it was still hard. We lost some people on the return, and waited for a bit, but the bike meeting was starting and I needed to get back. A small group returned back into town.

here is the ride if your interested in joining sometime, or curious what you did:
http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripId=374329

Jeff cup (ouch)

2009-03-30T09:29:00.004-04:00

The 19th Annual Jefferson Cup was supposed to have two representatives from WVU racing in the men's 1/2/3 race, but at the last minute it came down to only myself racing. Ryan was there to be a moto official and keep me company on the long drive.

After loading Ryan's Motorcycle into my small pick-up and me cringing the entire drive from not only the dense fog but in fear of the moto failing onto my bike. We made it to the hotel with extremely horrible time taking almost 6 hours to arrive. The highlight of the drive was after passing senecea rocks we encountered Layman pedaling his mountain bike down the road. (he didn't recognize the vehicle or sponges moto, but inside saw my handlebars and recognized my bike)

The race day was very long, as I woke up early to go with Emily and cheer her on during the women's 1/2/3 race/ She did very well winning the field sprint from the chase group. The women's race split almost in half with about a 5 minute gap between groups.

Finally, at 2:30 the men's 1/2/3 lined up and then after a period of time we played in the parking lot and re-lined up. The delay was caused by a crash in the mens 4 field at the finish line.

The men's 1/2/3 showed up with some serious competition (125 riders), with Harley davison and PA elite racing for 1-2 at the finish line. Other noteable teams included Kelly Benefits, Kazane racing, and several others. The neutral roll out was very agrressive going about 23-24 mph, and I went from the 4th row to the back after being battled around almost like a pinball. This field was brutal and very fluid with riders constantly changing lines and battling for position. I was doing well following Tim from VT and trying to just survive with the intense changings in tempo. The line when strecthed out was HUGE. With many riders falling of the back of the group, I eventually was unable to respond and also fell into no man's land. After a few miles of intense chasing the follow cars came around me, but i refused to give in that easily. I kept my head down and charged ahead. Finally, I jumped into a small chase group of about 6 riders and we worked together for about 10 miles or so, 4 of the riders dropped out and 2 us continued forward. After mile 60 and being overtaken by the men's 35+ field, I was pulled from the race and was able to watch the finish. It was very exciting as a small break survived and sprinted to the line. 70 riders were able to finish the race. It was an intense day and I hope I was able to take away some valuable feedback and next time, be ready for this big of a race.

Sunday at Coops

2009-03-29T23:01:00.004-04:00

Proposed for trail work today at Big Bear but Mark said it is too wet and rainy to work on it. Therefore, have an early team meeting at bike house with myself,Steve, Jake and Balaji.To not disappoint Balaji for waking up early on Sunday, we(except steve) decided to ride bikes out and back from Liew's apartment to Coopers Rock on MTB. We rode from mileground-cheat lake-quarry run(brutal climb)-coops. Out and back cranked us a total distance of 40miles. Weather was ok, off road condition was muddy, scenic condition was excellent:Get a chance to spectate 6.2K running race, met a couple old time wvu cycling alumni;
Hero of the day, Balaji rode Jake's single speed out and back and he kept up pretty good(Beast.....). Jake had a crazy tire explosion up at the top of Coops.
Best moment of the day: Chocolate cake after ride...deliciousssnessss....

Dug Hill repeats aren't THAT bad...

2009-03-17T18:34:00.002-04:00

After the girls ride got cancelled and upon showing up at the group ride and seeing several of the team's finest riders, I quickly decided that I would bail on the Cheat Lake loop at the top of Dug Hill. We picked up Shawn W. on his track bike on the rail trail along the way, so he decided to bail with me. The two of us made it up Dug Hill and came back down as everyone else continued along on their journey. Shawn and I headed back to Ruby McQuain park (after seeing several friendly faces along the way) where I saw some Multisporters and decided to stop and chat. I was about to head out to do the Mountaineer course with 3 of the MMS guys, but then Auvid came along. We headed back out to Dug Hill, and I climbed it again with no complaints (if you can believe that one!) :) We even passed an older man along the way, who proceeded to throw up the middle finger to a car who passed Auvid who was on the right side of the road while he was coming down on the left. haha. All in all, it was a good ride & the weather was beautiful. My trip up Falling Run Road was also a lot less stressful with practically no one in town. Usually people are flying at 40mph up the hill while I'm struggling to make it to the top without getting hit from behind. I think that climb is starting to become a little less greuling also. But you how what they say.. "it never gets easier, you just get faster."

-Amber

Adventure in the SECCC

2009-03-17T16:06:00.003-04:00

Sorry the post is a little late.

Erik and I made the 10.5 hour drive to Newnan, Georgia to start out our spring break. Weheaded south because the ACCC did not have a race and both of us were heading that way for our own spring break adventures and because we figured the South had better weather. Could not have been more incorrect about the weather.

We drove all day on Friday, leaving Morgantown around 8 in the morning, and after stocking up with coffee from sheetz the drive began. The weather was overcast the entire trip, we made stops to stretch our legs and ate at a Wendy's around 1pm. We hit Atlanta right around 5pm, surprising the 8 lanes of traffic were moving well and dd not slow us up that much.

We found our hotel after abit of a struggle as the GPS got us to the correct road but about 10 miles from the actually destination. We traveled around the small town of Newnan and ate some anazing pasta from a local resturaunt. We also ventured to a Publix andWalgreens to find Erik from pedia-light and myself some beer (can't get the good stuff in WV).

We went to bed and Erik being the triathlete, instisted we go to the 7.7mile Time Trial, after extreme disorganization the first rider went off about 45 minutes late, and the amazing order of taking off by first name made perfect sense.

We grabbed some quick lunch and then prepared in the cold rain for the road race. After, Erik had magnet problems with his computer and my computer was dead, we both made sure our ZIPP's looked good, put on warm dry cloths, and in my case lathered up with vaseline to prepare for misery.

My 64 mile adventure started out as a very exciting and nerve racking race. Within the first 500 meters, a rider changed lines and came very close to knocking myself and a few other riders over. Then the race took off!! These guys are fast and many of them raced very aggressively, with bikes being leaned over with every powerful pedal stroke, and plenty of bumps and nudges throughout. I saw a great break away which looked promising and decided I needed in it. I bridge the 10-15 second gap and started in, unfortunately about 7 miles up the road the break was caught, the group stayed together until the last 2 miles of the race in which a 4 man break survived to the finish line. I faired well and finshed 8-9 in the sprint.

Erik survuved his day of racing and we hit the hay early at around 10 pm. We woke early and Erik decided to get on the road and head further south. I went to the race and prepared for even more misery. The temp was about the same and the rain was even harder. I wore a base, two jersey's and a vest in attempts to stay warm, it failed. Gloves had to drained from water ever few miles and botht he inside and outside of my glasses needed attention as both were wet. I made an early attempt to cause some trouble and held a 5-6 mile two man break-away. We had fun and knew when to give up. The peleton seemed to be much less motivated then the previous day and on lap 2 let a 3 man break go up the road. Lap 4 a two man break also went up the road. The peleton made a few organized efforts and with about 15 riders remaining, decided to finish as a group, this was the most quiet and defeated group I have ever riden with as all of us just wanted to get off our bikes and call it a day. The race was scheduled for 64 miles though the finish came around mile 70. The surge came about 100 meters before the final turn and the 200 meters to the finish then. I went and fair at about 7 in the sprint. Taking 11 or 12 for the race.

Overall it was a great weekend and I learned alot. What doesn't kill one makes him stronger and that was most definately the story for the weekend, as I post making it to the finish line as a vistory in itself. The South does not always have better weather.

The Whittle Hills Course

2009-03-13T19:40:00.006-04:00

We always get tired of the same old course. So I thought I'd figure out a new one using my new favorite road, 73. Whipped out google maps, noticed Halleck Rd. Ya, I've seen that road mentioned on MBC So I kept going, and saw 4H Camp Rd intersects it. Perfect, take that all the way back to 119 and then bomb down the 50MPH hill. 30Miles...just right for a late after ride.
We started out and Chad had the case of the Martinos and was barely going faster than reverse up the hills. When we got to Goshen he took the normal shorter route back to 4H and let us begin the sweet sweet suffering. The whole ride is...well...never flat. Very low traffic, very scenic. We were having a dandy old time riding out Halleck looking for the left onto 4H. Then we get to US119. Hmmm...Do you know what today is? Today is Friday before spring break. 119 was bustling at 55mph. Luckily mostly heading out of town, so we lined up and headed up 119 a ways to Goshen and took that to 4H. No one died, and the school off Goshen let us in so we can get water and informed us that 4H doesn't intersect Halleck. We told them they were right, we had just checked.
So, the morale is. Don't do what Gef tried to do when he made the Wisp Slaughter Fest Conference Champs course a few years back and plan race courses based on google maps. If you're lucky, you'll end up on jeep trails.

See Look, 4H Camp intersects Halleck

Oh and why did I name it Whittle Hills? Because after about 35 of this little hills, your legs have been chipped away to nothing. Certainly not enough to put up a fast paceline up 119.

Trail work at Big Bear!

2009-03-08T17:00:00.007-04:00

During the weekend WVU cycling team members put in about 28 man hours of trail work up at Big Bear! Liew, Zerbe, Dave Light, and I did some trail walking and debris cleaning on Saturday for about 2 and a half hours. Liew and I walked the "Canaan" loop and cleared the winter debris, and Zerbe and DL worked trails up by the airport. We then rocked out a 3 hour ride with Mark Schooley and some other Morgantown Locals who were out working as well. The ride was great and the weather was just ridiculous. We even ran into some of the WVU ladies out there riding as well. By the end of the ride, we were hungry, spent, and my knee was pretty well worked after a nice endo.

Today we had six guys go out, Nutt, Zerbe, DL, Robbie, T-bot, and myself. After stuffing our faces at lil Sandies in Bruceton Mills, we met up with Dave and Rob Vorhees out there by the dam and started the day with a nice two hour ride. Zerbe was still pretty toasted from riding Friday at Canada, and yesterday as well, but he still dominated. I was nursing my knee, which I was surprised to find worked quite well, and tired myself. The weather was warm again, and the ride today was pretty quick, it was nice to fly through the trails with a sick group.

After the ride we quickly changed and got to work on a new trail that Benji has been cutting in. Mark had marked off the main idea while we were riding and we were now there to cut her in. I'd say we did a rather fine job with our section, making it both excellent to ride quickly in both directions. Morgan Miller and Chris Phillips were also out working, so with that many people out, everyone was able to get a lot done! Apparently Mark saw a bear down near the new trail; I was of course mad, because I have still never seen one...

It was a sick weekend, and we got quite a lot of hours in. The trails up there are nice a dry, and most of them are now quite clean, and the new one is going to be sick-tacular. I love the jump trail...too bad I forgot my camera today...bummer.

Hope the rest of the team faired well with the road racing!

Solo is so Peaceful

2009-03-05T19:55:00.002-05:00

I had to go to the bank and Pathfinder today, so I thought I would avoid traffic and take the bike. When I got outside, I realized how awesome it was out, so decided to go for a ride. So I checked the team calendar, and figured I'd go on Janel's 3:30 ride.
So I did my errands and went to meet at the Lair. She didn't show, so I thought well maybe she was meeting at the rail trail - nope.
So I had to ride solo. I haven't ridden solo since middle of last semester. I decided to try out a new road that I'd seen a long time ago, it was incredible. I started out riding feeling rather agitated about a failed group ride and all the spam that was in the forum, but after 30min of free thinking and riding I calmed down, took in the sights and rode whatever pace I felt like. It was awesome.
So about this awesome new route. Basically it removes the gravel rail-trail from the 4H Camp loop. Take RT towards Fairmont, turn onto 119 when the pavement ends and ride up the hill a ways to Rt 73. Follow 73 to Goshen/I79 and then finish the 4H camp road. 73 is a very rolling road, no shoulder but very straight (NOT FLAT), and relatively low traffic. The hills aren't killer, but sustained.
Bike riding, ahhh so much fun.

Navy Crit Recap

2009-03-01T20:45:00.004-05:00

So with the largest road team showing of the season our four car caravan departed the bike house a little before 6pm on friday. Luckily, our drive was relatively short and we arrived at the Welty household around 10pm. For those who don't know the Welty's are perhaps the most gracious and hospitable family in the Severna Park area and housed, fed, and put up with us for a whole weekend, THANK YOU WELTY FAMILY! We settled in to our wonderful accommodations and got a for real 7 hours of sleep.

The next morning we woke up and our Men's D and C racers dressed up for the cold race that awaited them. We were surprised with a huge breakfast spread that fueled us for our upcoming race day. We arrived a little behind schedule, as usual, and registered and warmed up for the race. The Men's D went off for their twenty minutes with a well represented WVU squad. Ryan, Dave, Chad, and Brandon raced what I am sure seemed like a hundred laps around the technical Navy crit course riding strongly with the only casualty being Chad's tire bead in the last corner of the last lap. He went on to finish the race despite his minor crash. Next up Erik, Evan, and I did some hot laps around the course getting ready for the Men's C field crit. We lined up and the race started with a totally unreasonable amount of speed. Evan held a position at the front of the pack for a couple laps before being swallowed like the rest of us by a violent pace. I found myself quickly off the back, but thanks to our no DNF rule I fought back the urge to puke and reeled a few riders in before a small victory sprint that felled the ego of a GW rider. Amber found herself in a combined Women's B/C field and put out the watts against some very tough competition. She did a great job against some early season racing. Brock was once again the "Lone Wolf" in the Men's B crit and worked hard to bridge gaps and pull the chase group. He came home with another strong top 5 finish, way to go-ski bro-ski! Janel took the line in the small Women's A race and put up a great fight against the Navy squad. She hung on to contest many primes from the chase group after a Navy rider got away from the group never to be seen again. After being hung off the front by the two remaining Navy girls she still finished strong in third. Jimmy once again donned his lucky pink kit as he pulled up to the line for the A field race. Brock also decided to race the A's for experience after having already done 45 minutes of racing. He managed to race the full hour and placed ahead of many of the A riders, what a beast! With what seemed to be some difficulty getting clipped in, Jimmy found himself towards the back of the race early. However, lap after lap he reeled more riders in, closed more gaps, and yelled the most at lazy riders until he found himself back in the chase group. He held on for a 12th place finish, yay Jimmy!

We packed up our gear and headed back to the Welty household only to be further surprised by post ride snacks followed by a huge spaghetti dinner. We seriously can't thank this family enough for their amazing hospitality. After a bunch of noodles and a round of well needed showers the team settled in for TV watching, beer drinking, and pool shooting. We went to bed with thoughts of ITT's dancing in our heads only to find the next morning that an inch of snow had cancelled the race. Boo! and also Yay! two more hours of sleep. We assembled for another fantastic breakfast and I even managed to get a small group ride into Annapolis together. Dave, Brandon, Chad, Jimmy and myself headed out on the rail trail for a cold hour of hot bike lane action. We fooled around with mile sign sprints and raced across the Bay Bridge past the Naval Academy. I then got dropped at the longest stoplight in Maryland while the rest of the crew stopped a short distance up the road to fixed Chad's flat after a piece of glass ribboned his tire. After we fixed and barely inflated his tire we headed back to the house to pack up and leave. With another big thank you to the Welty Family we got on the road to Morgantown and after several terrible drive-by "goatings" found ourselves back in sweet WV.

Unfortunately, this story has a sad ending. Amber's car got rear-ended near the Mile Ground. The driver of the other car stopped and the police were alerted. Brock, Ryan, and Amber's bikes were on the back of the car and are going to be assessed for damages at Pathfinder so the at fault pick-up truck driver can be billed. I don't know if he has any idea the kind of cost he might be looking at but hopefully the situation will be quickly and fairly resolved. So, despite a rough end to our travels we had a great weekend. Now lets get ready for Williamsburg!

NCSU (RR)/ WF (Crit)

2009-02-23T09:18:00.002-05:00

Another 1,000 miles of driving over the weekend.
This was an intense weekend, Sean C. and myself departed Morgantown around 5pm on Friday. After close to 7 hours of driving we arrived at Hannah's house, and were greeted by her roommates. Equipment was unpacked and sleep was acquired.
The first race of the day sturday was the Men's A, Sean and I both were ready to roll, and after our coffee, we were ready to go. We found our staging at the Lee County Air Port. It was a cool day and a light base layer was all that was required. In the first mile of the race a 9 man break away went up the road. 3 PF riders, NCSU, and NAvy were in the break, VT was left out. After 3 laps (30 miles) the break had almost a 5 minutes on the field. I had attempted several attacks and wanted to create a second break away, unfortunately PF, VT, and Navy did allow me to go up the road.
Sean dropped out after approx. 50 miles. I hang on in the race and placed 8th in the field sprint. 2 riders dropped out of the break away and I placed 15th overall.

The Sunday Crit, was miserable for all riders.
It felt like playing Mario-Kart but on bike, as random obstacles appeared on the course from grates to cones, water bottles and carnage from a wreck. Every field was shattered due to the hard gusts of wind. A wreck occured in Men's C with a few riders going down, and a major wreck in Men's A with about 10 riders hitting the asphalt and two riders one PF and one VT breaking their forks. Only about 15 riders finished the Men's A race, and only the first 3 actually knwo how they finished, as everyone finished the race on a different lap. Sean dropped out, and I finish someplace.

It was a long weekend, and Sean and I both learned alot in the A fields.

Saturday Training Ride

2009-02-21T16:36:00.003-05:00

Zerbe was nice enough to loan Elliott his whip for the weekend, so leaving at noon, Liew, Elliott, and I headed out 100 to Ft. Martin for some base training. From Ft. Martin we pounded out Taylortown road. Around 20 miles out, a mutt frothing at the mouth sprinted off a nearby embankment to eat us alive. I was nearest, and it wanted blood. With the fear of god to drive me, I sped up to 25 mph in about .2 seconds. When the dog decided its snack of choice was too quick...it eyed Elliott. Elliott had the exact same reaction...whether by fear of the dog, god, or of not returning Zerbe's bike in one piece. When it decided Elliott was too quick, it took one look at Liew and just stopped. Liew didn't even break cadence. Guess it didn't like chinese food.

With adrenaline now pumping, we pounded out about another 10 miles. Near Mt. Morris, our second dog attack occurred. Running head-long into the road, a border collie intercepted our group. It missed taking out my back wheel and Liews front by a few inches. Elliott gave it a battle cry to scare it off.

To cap the ride off Liew showed us the T.T. course WVU will be using later this season. It starts at Mt. Morris Gospel Tabernacle and makes a pretty quick loop. Then we pounded out 19 back to Star City and Morgantown.

3 hours 17 minutes. 46.5 miles. Good times.

Race update, Day 1

2009-02-14T21:40:00.002-05:00

Good day overall today for the team, or at least Brock

-Brock won the mens B race with a nice move at the end to pull past 10
riders and sprint for a 3 bike length finish

-I placed mid pack in the D field, Brandon flatted at mile 6 of 18 and
got a Zipp from someone, he passed 7 people from that point.

-Ryan manned up and raced C. He finished near the back of the pack
after a hard attack from the main group. James did some awesome
acrobatics around mile 6 in the C race when someone tangled bars with
him. He managed to get his rear tire higher than everyone head that
was around him, a rather impressive feat. His face missed the pavement
and his hands and leg took most of the impact. His bike also took a
lot of the impact, but it did not crack OR fail.

-Jimmy pushed around 30mph and was still getting shelled off the A
field. He held strong till around mile 50, then had a lovely group
ride with himself until the end. It's okay though, I later appeased
him by saving him from a speeding ticket by getting it for myself.

GPS from D race: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7621124

Good times.

-Chad

Cooper's

2009-02-14T14:56:00.003-05:00

Lemma and I went hiking out at Cooper's today, and the trails seem to be in pretty good shape, though there is some debris from the recent wind, fallen trees, branches, etc.

The logging that has been going on there doesn't seem to be too terrible, however, this "modified" sign was humorous to me:

Last Weekend's Girls Ride!

2009-02-14T09:58:00.006-05:00

Soooo I'm a little late with this, but it's better late than never. Last Saturday in the sunshine(!) seven of Morgantown's finest female cyclists headed out on what ended up a 32 mile ride. Lemma, Siera, Laura, Janna and I, along with Sarah Souther, Tricia Lewis, Auvid Momen (you guys may or may not know them) headed out on the "Longhorn Cow" loop-- out 100 to Taylortown Rd., down the super-nice Bigfoot Rd., past the cows and the "biggest flag ever," into downtown Taylortown, and back home via Taylortown/100. Janna and I split off and headed home through Star City, and the rest of the girls went to Blackbear for some good food. I skipped the food and took the liberty of using the hose at the bikehouse to clean my bike (none of the residents knew that until now). It was a great ride--it's always fun when you don't have to try to "hang with the guys" and hear them complain about how slow you are! haha.

here's the map if anyone's interested.

I'll add more pictures later....right now, it's time to ride!

-Amber

Racing!

2009-02-13T11:20:00.001-05:00

Good luck to those going down to NC State this weekend! Represent!

"Recovery Ride"

2009-02-11T18:41:00.003-05:00

Liew and I were still feeling sick-and Steve claimed to be sick aswell-liar, but it was far too nice to not ride. I ended up getting to the ride 15min early just because it only took me 2 minutes to get dressed instead of the 20 I've gotten used to. I enjoyed the views in front of the 'Lair, but was greatly distracted by the frat boys selling roses. I'm pretty sure the whole frat got a bulk deal on hair cuts.
We opted to climb Snake Hill, hoping to avoid traffic, but I think all the cars had the same idea. We held a pretty good pace, much faster than I thought my phlegm filled lungs would support.
Not much more to report other than Jimmy isn't really that fast, it's just his Zipps, and the road from Masontown to Summer School Rd is quite muddy and deteriorated, however the large potholes towards the end give the opportunity to thoroughly wash your bike. Total distance:35miles, and total time:2hrs30min

Fast ride

2009-02-11T14:41:00.006-05:00

4 peeps set out for this mornings 9:30 fast ride, Me (Chad), Erik, Janel, and James. The plan was for 30 miles or so. Temps were around 50 when we set off and peaked around 65, great weather! Looked a little rough this morning, but it really did turn out great. Up 100 to mile climb and back, hammering all the way. 100 was good, we pulled 17-20 mph for the entire thing until we hit the climb at the peak. Pushed pretty good to mile climb, but my muscles started burning so I slacked off a bit on Big Shannon. We hit mile climb and Janel and James took off up that, while Erik and I climbed a bit more conservative. After topping mile climb we hooked right (whoops) and headed down what we thought was Little Shannon. So after a 10 mile detour and a moment of thinking I looked at the GPS and realized we were going north, just a bit west of Kirby. We then threw away our man cards (the 3 of us that posses them, though I do temporarily loan mine to Janel on climbs) and asked for directions from various locals. After backtracking and finding Little Shannon we started making our way back. Erik had a class to attend, so he pushed really hard all the way back. James had work to attend, so he rode pretty slow. We pushed nice down Big Shannon and hit a recovery pace down 100. I was out of food and on the verge of a big bonk, but James came through with an extra power bar.

A good fast ride overall. We were averaging 17MPH until we made our screw up and took a right at the top of Kiger Hill. The roads were pretty gross too until the sun really came out, so riding a wheel wasn't an option. When we got home we all looked like we just finished mountain biking. 30 miles turned into about 55, and it was great.

GPS LINK

Breaking the virginity

2009-02-11T01:38:00.002-05:00

Before

After

Turns out, it wasn't a short cut

2009-02-07T16:45:00.012-05:00

A few of us decided to go to Blackbear today. We heard it was better if we took this other route, as University and High Street might have traffic.
So 8 of us left the bike house headed 119 to Cheat Lake. Shawn Waters wanted to show off how bad ass he was so he brought his single speed. A few hills crushed his hopes.
We opted to separate so people could get better training, and our group went to 6. Bala was all stoked about riding on a highway, so we 1 upped that and rode on the wrong side of the road.
Liew and Shawn took the rail trail back from Pt Marion while 4 remaing headed towards Mt Morris with hopes of riding part of the RR course. A few hills later we gave up that endeavor and took 100 home.
If anyone is looking to paint a 2" black line up thier butt and jersey, I'd highly recommend hitting up 100. You can even speckle the front if you draft someone.
Nearly 50miles later we go to Blackbear, only to find out the girl's had beaten us there! Then they all bragged about how there were 9 of them and only 8 of us and all this crap about how they're going to race and look pretty while doing it.
I'll believe that when I see it. I think they just took University to High Street to get to Blackbear.
Oh ya, the food was good.

Ryan

View Larger Map

Continue from Liew and Shawn.W side of story, after the split at Pt.Marion, 2 of us headed out to rail trail instead of going up Stewardstown rd, we thought its gonna be an easy and fast escape road. It's turn out not! Have you ever ride a whole 7 miles stretch of icy rail trail? I think we does. When I got home, I also realized that we took 4 hours to do the whole 30 miles loop! 30 miles! Good ride Shawn.

Liew

Not everyone is a jerk

2009-01-28T13:41:00.002-05:00

I was talking to someone today, and they commented on getting a flat and not having levers, but luckily someone stopped and gave them a ride back to town.

Then I thought myself, of all the times I've ever been on the side of the road working on my bike and cars passed, I don't think I've ever not had someone ask if I needed assistance. Even the other day when my chain broke on the group ride, someone offered help.

Cyclists bitch all the time about cars, as if they themselves don't drive, but I seldom see them comment about motorists offering a hand or even a ride.

Snow Biking at Night

2009-01-27T23:18:00.004-05:00

Papa Dave keeps ramblin' on about how cool it is to ride in the snow, and how cool it is to MTB in at night. Well, put those 2 together, and you get one sweet resistance training and handling training, plus if you're lucky the snow will clean the dirt off your bike from last race season.

We hit up White Park for about an hour last week after the meeting, and again tonight for around 2.5 hours. Including my commute, which sucked it was over 3 hours. I got enough salt in my mouth on the way to and fro; my muscles should have plenty of electrolytes.

Conditions were awesome for almost 2hours, then the snow turned to rain/sleet. We stayed warm, plowing through the snow as the layer of ice formed on top of the snow and crunched beneath us. The snow reflected enough of the surrounding street lights that head lamps weren't even necessary.

Yeah...It's REALLY not cold out.

2009-01-23T16:27:00.005-05:00

Today was... in one word... perfect. Temp stayed around 55 degrees with slight cloud cover but sunny most of the time. Brock and I set out from the 'lair to put in about two hours of good riding. The plan was Railtrail to Dug Hill to Cheat Lake to Pt Marion to Bakers, with playtime on the unfinished highway.

Well, rail trail didn't work out since it's still a slush covered mess, so we sat off through South Park and descended the backside of Marilla park to Dug Hill. Everything was uneventful until we got to the abandoned interstate. Once we headed up the path to the unfinished interstate from Fairchance Rd I think Brock was convinced I was crazy, but once we got onto it all was well. It's REALLY slushy right now, but still such an awesome road to ride. I think everyone should try to ride it before they open it, because you'll never be able to ride something like that again.

Soo we headed straight on that for about 5 miles until we got to the Pt. Marion exit and crossed the median onto the oncoming exit ramp. The plan was originally to drop down to the dam but the road leading down had...no exaggeration... an inch of salt and cinders covering it, so scratch that. We headed on 43 to 119 to Pt. Marion which was an awesome ride, and 119 wasn't nearly as heavily trafficked as I thought it would be. We took a breif break at the Pt. Marion Subway to fill bottles and eat a Cliff bar then headed up to Stewardstown (sp?). From there it was the usual Stewardstown to Bakers and back past the hospital.

Awesome ride, almost 40 miles and 4,500ft of climbing. We railed pretty hard for most of it, especially on 43 and 119. Hope everyone enjoyed the awesome weather today and I wish we could have ridden at a better time for those who had class. Once the days get longer things will definitely be easier.

GPS: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=7501029

-Chad

It snot cold out

2009-01-22T19:00:00.002-05:00

Last night we had a post meeting MTB ride at Bakers. That was a lot of fun, sliding all around on the very cold snow. It was 18 degrees, but I was far warmer last night on the MTB than I was last week when it was in 20s on the road bike. Riding in snow definitely tests your handling skills.
I told Liew I was retiring the road bike while it was cold out, and he said today it wouldn't be cold. A balmy 39 degrees. Maybe it was at noon, but didn't seem it at 4:30 when we started our adventure. Rail-trails with half melted snow and ice on road bikes is a bad idea.
I noticed my chain was making noise each rotation while climbing Dug Hill, so we stopped and checked, and sure enough, I had broken another chain, this time a Wipperman. I'm getting a SRAM and never going back. I had my trusty multi-tool with me and fixed that chain nearly like new and we ventured on. Jake decided kayak rolling in the pool would be more fun, and turned around.
Liew and I decided to go up to the new UHS and check out the course. We did a few laps in the dark, and found that its pretty well lit except for the back stretch. It was also very well paved, and almost totally dry. The stadium course was in just about as good of shape. I feel really confident in these courses, unless it snows the day before the race.

Clean bikes are happy bikes!

2009-01-19T20:07:00.005-05:00

Well, after yesterdays ride I think it's pretty safe to say that everyone who went on the ride had a filthy bike to show for it. I didn't realize how bad mine was until I got home and really started looking at things closer. My rear derailleur pulleys and cage was so full of coal cinders/sand/salt from the roads that the pulleys would barely turn.

I spent about an hour cleaning my bike, and I'm happy with the results. Someone had mentioned to me earlier in the year about using cooking spray or rain-x on your frame in the winter so road crap doesn't stick as bad... and that is definitely true. It took almost no effort to get all the stuff off the frame that used to take a lot of work and some scrubbing/wiping. After 1 go over with my awesome park tool cleaning brushes the frame was good to go. Threw on another layer of cooking spray and that's taken care of.

The drivetrain took a lot more work since surface rust had already started forming on the chain. The park tool chain scrubber made things a lot easier and cleaned up the chain and cassette very well. Got everything nice and lubed up and that task was done too. Definitely an hour or so well spent to keep things in shape and working properly.

I'll definitely be doing a complete tear down and clean at the end of winter when it looks like the road salting is done for the year. Everyone knows chicks dig super clean bikes.

-Chad

Back to School Wisp Trip!

2009-01-19T12:29:00.002-05:00

I noticed that no one commented about the last trip we took to Wisp. We must have been too excited about the snow, because no one took pictures. The only image we have from that night is Balaji's "super sweet jump" on Main Street, but I don't have that because someone "borrowed" my memory card and never gave it back.

Anyways.... Jake, Lemma, Ryan, Zerbe, Steve, Jimmy, Bala, Liew, Liew's friend Izzat? and myself hit the slopes last Tuesday night with the student discount. It was quite snowy on the ride there....and a lot more snowy on the way back. Bala's car got stuck in Wisp's parking lot, & I think top speed on 68 on the way home was around 30mph in near white-out conditions. Liew rode the rumble strips the whole way back to Morgantown---and Steve just put his hazzards on and went like hell...

With all that snow and no crowd, conditions at Wisp were suprisingly good. After a few warmup runs, I think most of us did Main Street about 7 or 8 times--while the boys all played around on the variety of jumps, and Lemma and I "went fast." The group reunited when we finally caught up with Liew and Sponge on a blue diamond later in the night (and Liew says he can't ski!).

All in all, I think everyone had a good time. We have to do it again soon--perhaps with a larger group and some pictures!?!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday...continued.

2009-01-19T12:01:00.007-05:00

Sooooo, unlike the tough guys who wanted to put a few more miles in, the miserable crowd (Me, Jimmy, Janel, Chad, Brandon, James, and Evan) finished out the short loop and headed home via 100. Despite our frozen toes, we stopped to take some pictures on the way back. The group got split up piece by piece on the way back. Apparently I'd been riding with a slow leak in my front tire the entire day...and it waited til I was like 3 miles from home to give up on me. Not wanting to change my tube in the cold and wet nasty-ness. I stopped 3 times to pump it up, but each time it got worse. Since I'm a wimp, Bala came to the rescue (since he's a wimp and didn't ride). ;)

-Amber

Sunday sunday sunday.......

2009-01-18T17:28:00.012-05:00

Hello readers,
The team have an awesome Sunday road ride today. It was the first group ride of the year and it's also the biggest turn out of the year (so far). We thought it's gonna be a bailfest 2009 because it's so shitty outdside, but we are wrong. We have a total of 10 cyclists showed up, Liew, Steve, Jimmy, Jake, Chad, James, Evans, Brandon, Amber.s, and Janel. We started out with a nice pancake breakfast, prepared and served by Steve Nutt. Thank you Steve.

Around noon, everybody get ready to bundle up for the first winter ride of the year, we rolled out with a nice day of 33F with light snow. The caravan are plan to head out towards star city bridge, RT100, Ft.Martin, and Home/Alps de Huez. After we hit first climb at Ft Martin not long, James the Bianchi guy has a front wheel flat, Steve stopped and help him. Thanks again Steve, you such a nice guy. Then, business resume as usual. After we hit Taylortown, there is a split between home and Alps de Huez, some of our teammates are getting cold after an hour in, they decided to take the majority vote of going home. So, they gone home, not sure what's their situation after the split. However, some of us still feel like want to put some mileage in, therefore Liew, Steve, and Jake took the right turn towards Alps de Huez. The road along Alps de Huez was nice, but wet. Along the road, we chat and deciding where to go after Alps de Huez, we made a decision to mile climb then home. Sounds like a great idea for a Sunday ride. So, we hit Mt. Morris then to Big Shanon rd, the road is still clear but wet again. Not far after few miles in on Big Shanon. A big snow storm were hitting on the road and it was crazy(a video was taken during the scene). We decided to turn around, on the way out, the road are totally white out which it's not like that when we are on the way in. It just ridiculous, insane, and crazy. But anyway, we rolled out slowly towards Morgantown. Everybody got cold, hungry and exhausted. But we still pedal! Finally, it was a 3 hrs ride with 40 miles in and averaging 13mph. It was an awesome ride, looks like a "Gef's ride". And here is the spilted team's ride info: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=7474863

FYI: Video is uploaded on Liew's facebook account or YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZhF0m5jNC4

Sneak Preview

2009-01-15T15:25:00.009-05:00

Here is the sneak preview of what the team has been investing recently.

Happy New Year from WVU Cycling!

2009-01-01T14:43:00.014-05:00

Happy 2009 to all! A new year- a stronger legs.
Although holiday break is in progress but some of our cycling folks were still in Morgantown to celebrate new year! The initial plan was actually hosting a party at Steve's house but unfortunately Steve bailed on us without telling us. Therefore, we pull up our backup plan to get things going. The party was hosted at Liew's apartment, it was an awesome party, Liew, Juliana, Balaji, Jake, Lemma, Ryan, and Zerbe were there. We had some good beers as starter, some alcohol shots as warm up and champagne toast as new year celebration! Alcohol shots were pretty sick, we have no shot glass in house, as an alternative, we used measurement cup as replacement. Also everybody had at least one shot except Ryan Post, he avoided drinking due to his current intensive work. Liew was excited too for his very first shot of his life, Zerbe did some crazy stuff like hoola hoop with a tube, Balaji happy that Amber.S called him after missing 4 missed call, Lemma were excited on her sexy road wheels, Jake is happy that he is a driver of the night and took 2 shots, couple beers and some champagne, Ryan were happy of just drinking non-caffeine 2 liters 7UP with pomegranate flavor for the whole night.Happy new year to all again, don't forget team gears are in town, will be on sale on first meeting, all team orders are processing now. See you guys at first meeting!




New Year champagne toast	Shots-Must Watch!

Zerbe on Hoola Hoop

Too Much to do!

2008-12-17T17:31:00.003-05:00

It seems odd to me, that I've complained about not having enough time to do things for the past 4 weeks now. Thanksgiving break, I had 5 large projects to work on. The following week, dead week, those 5 projects were due as well as a couple presentations. Then finals week...which I was happy to be done with on Thursday capped off with the team meeting/party. Then got busy on my job, expecting to work 70hrs this week.
The whole time we had all these team orders to compile and send in, with all kinds of questions about colors, options, sizes, prices...between the 7 odd orders, the total was more than $50,000-fun checks to write.
I didn't have time to join in on all the team skiing this past week. :(
I feel kinda bad, not having time for the girlfriend, but having to make time for the bikes, since they have deadlines. Sure am glad she doesn't.

Cannondale Factory Tour

2008-12-15T17:48:00.004-05:00

Hey Guys, everyone post some pics from the tour, and your thoughts.

I had an great time, and I want to sincerely thank Zerbe for taking the time out of his day to show us kids around the factory. It was educational, fun, and super duper awesome.

Afterwards, we all shared lunch at the Jean Bonnet Tavern, and said goodbye to Zerbe and hit the road. I gotta say, I was stoked for the new frame, and now I simply can't contain myself.

I stole some pics from Liew but I won't steal his opportunity to post them!

PS check out the link to my blog to see how my KM looks with a suspension fork on it...no more rigid....for now at least.

Roost the Narr!

2008-12-15T17:16:00.004-05:00

Sorry I couldn't post last night, but my interweb was non-functional.

The club ski trip was a super hot success! Liew, Bala, Amber, Jimmy, Lemma, and myself all hit the slopes early yesterday morning for Wisp's $7 birthday spectacular!

The crowd was actually pretty moderate considering the price, and the snow was very nice. Mostly packed powder everywhere, with the exception of one icey patch on squirrel cage. We spent the first part of the day on some greens and shaking some of the rust off, and then went and stretched our legs on the blues and blacks. The weather could not have been more perfect as it was sunny and in the upper 40's. Jimmy wasn't even wearing gloves by the end of the day.

Lemma even had a near cell phone/lift chair disaster as she went to answer her phone we all were able to witness it floating at almost slow motion speed towards the ground and we continued onward. Luckily she and Jimmy were able to ski down fast enough to save the day, and the phone!

The most improved skiier award goes to Mr. Chetmun Liew, for claiming to "suck" but going out and dominating the slopes with his killer carving capabilities....and yes I did just use some alliteration.

Hopefully we can all go again as a group. Sorry for those who couldn't come. We will catch you next time!

... pt.2

2008-12-14T16:29:00.002-05:00

Somedays the air feels perfect, the wind seems to always be at your back, the hills pass with ease, the bike feels just right, and you feel faster than ever.

...today was one of those days.

It's amazing what a day of nice weather and empty roads can do for your body, mind, and motivation level. I wish these upper 60's days would stick around more in December, so I better start upping my carbon footprint.

-Chad

...

2008-12-13T16:47:00.003-05:00

Some day's the air feels too cold, the wind feels too hard, the hill feels too steep, the bike feels to heavy, and you just feel too slow.

...today was one of those days.

Training motivation level = -2

Supposed to get warmer in the next two days, lets hope that brings motivation.

-Chad