Updates from Jake Davidson

New Blog

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:55:08 GMT

So in my extreme laziness in updating my sponsorhouse blog thing. There is a reason... my computer died and was without one for a good long while. I got a new computer... and went to the dark side and started up a new blog which will from now on contain all the updates from my racing and my life. Here is the site:

chicksdiggeologyjake.blogspot.com

Please feel free to visit there any time and check out my life and stuf...

12 Hours of Mental Defeat... ugh

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:41:57 GMT

Last weekend brought the 10^th annual 12 Hours of Lodi Farm which was my first attempt at a 12hr format race. The race was extra special because it started at midnight , completely throwing off your natural circadian rhythm. I was set to drive down with Zach, Don, Brett, Donna, Rick, and Jill. We left PA around 8:30 Saturday morning and headed south, arriving at the race in Fredricksburg, VA around 1:00. Once our Ez-up and tent city was assembled we mounted our bikes for a lap of the course. I suppose that this course was your typical southern Virginia singletrack, tight and twisty with a lot of short steep root-littered climbs thrown in for good measure. There was nary a rock in sight which was an interesting departure from the Michaux riding I typically enjoy. I could tell from our preride that the course was going to be hard.

Preride Fun on the Lodi course

After the preride we ate some dinner, hung out and I started getting my food and drink ready for the long haul. The plan for the race was Brett, Don, and Zach were doing a 3-man team, Jill and Donna were doing 2-person, and I was solo. This would be the longest race, by 1 hour, that I had ever done. Around 8:30 I crawled into the tent to get some sleep and was rudly awakened about a half hour later by the band beginning to play. Fucking band ruining my sleep and all. Luckily they only played for an hour so I got an hour nap before the race. Zach came in and woke me up somewhere around 11, I got dress and rode a few laps around a short piece of singletrack that went right by Tent City. The 11:45 racers meeting rolled around and the promoter announced that we would not be doing the traditional LeMans start, but would instead be doing a parade-style start being led out by one of the local riders around that short singletrack. The gun went off and I moved myself towards the front of the group so I wouldn’t get caught in any pile-ups once the singletrack came around. We rolled back through the campsite and the real racing began, hurtling riders through a short field and into the singletrack. The race had begun.

I started enacting my plan of “ride conservatively through the night and pick it up in the morning” on the first steep climb. This consequently caused me to be passed by a lot of people, most of them team riders. I began sitting in and knocking out laps. Night laps were interesting, and I started to get tired quickly because of the damn band (side note: I blame this entire race on the band). The next interesting thing happenned around 3:30AM when I was rolling through one of the field sections on my 3^rd lap. I had just come off of a steep climb and was in my lowest gear, took two pedal strokes at the top and the crankarms stopped moving and my bike jerked to a hault. I stepped off to find my chain stuck behind my cassette. It was stuck pretty good and wouldn’t come out, so I flipped the bike upside-down and took the chain apart. That’s when I noticed that there was a spoke that was completely broken in half. Joy. Just what I needed. 3 hours into the race I would have to switch to my backup bike, aka my singlespeed. Joy. I was really looking forward to that. Brett caught up to me and stopped to see if I needed and assistance. I told him that I could make it to Tent City (about half way through the lap) and he rolled on, pedaling away from his chaser. I made it to Ten City just fine and decided not to switch to my SS. I rode the rest of the race with a broken wheel.

Unfortunately, by the time dawn came, I had completely lost the will to ride. Must have been something about riding alone in the dark for so long that messed up my mind. My lap times were getting progressivly slower because I was procrastinating and taking progressivly longer pits. The sun started rising and I immediately stripped the light off my helmet and went on with my lap, still not wanting to be on my bike. Consequently I did not turn it up as I had planned. I stopped eating on the bike and took food and drink breaks. I would get pissed when I saw someone pass me so I would hammer for the rest of the lap, only to fall off again at the beginning of the next lap. It was bad. I had to resist sitting down in Tent City every time I came through. I rode a fast half lap with Fernando, around 9 or something. We came in about 15min before his partner expected us. The moral of the story is that I still had legs, just not the will to use them. I left for my last lap at 11:30 after much debate on whether to pull myself early and be finished. My last lap was one of my favorite laps. I was so focused on getting this damn race behind me that I actually rode consistently attacking the climbs. After taking my usual long pit, I rolled away to finish my race. All the sudden I got really angry with myself for not riding a better race. I started looking to my anger for motivation. I remembered what I had told the kids and the MACDC camp last March, whenever you think you’re hurting, think of Craig Gordon. I started repeating Craig Gordon, Craig Gordon, CRAIG FUCKING GORDON!!! over and over again in my head. I finished my lap about 10 or 15 minutes faster than everyone expected me too. I was done and that was all that mattered. All told 9 laps, don’t know my final time or my final place, but I think I was around 7^th. I suppose that’s pretty good for my first 12hr race. I will say, though, that this was the mentally hardest race I have ever done. I look forward to doing it again to get some sweet revenge on this course. I’m putting you on notice:

12 HOURS OF LODI FARM: I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU!!!

Post race face...

Other notable mentions are Jill and Donna who rode a great race to win the womens duo class. Brett, Don, and Zach of Team Troegenators got 2^nd in the Expert 3-man after an extremely heated battle with the City Bikes Team. It came down to the very last lap and Zach absolutely turned himself inside out to catch the guy but ended up bonking hard about a half mile from the finish line. Oh well, they all rode a strong race. Also worth mentioning is Fernando and Rob of Team Bike Line that won the Men’s Duo by a fair margin. Everyone had a great race.

I’d like to thank all my sponsors for making stuff that doesn’t break and performs consistently for 12 hrs of hard racing. You guys rock. The next challenge is the 6hrs at French Creek this weekend (5/9) which is back in a new, improved, and much more difficult version then before. This race opens my podium campaign for the Mid Atlantic Super Series Endurance Series and I’m hungry…

Peace,

Jake

Tales From the Front of the Pack

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:40:38 GMT

So I don't know what happened with my last post but I can't see it... if you can please tell me so I don't repost it. Anymahoo... April 13^th marked the opening XC race for the Mid Atlantic Super Series, the premier mountain bike series in the Mid Atlantic Region. The race was organized by the local Bike Line team and held at the Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area in Elkton, Maryland. Fair Hill has an extensive network (50+ miles) of well-maintained, mountain bike friendly singletrack which makes the most of the rolling northern Maryland terrain. The course was 7.5 miles long and mostly singletrack. Judging from my previous riding at Fair Hill I knew it was going to be a fast race.

I lined up with the Sport Senior 1 (age 19-29) class for my first XC race of the season. The start took us up a short gravel road then down a fast fire road, across a stream, and into the singletrack. At the bell our group sped off up the course and I found myself in the lead group. At the top of the rode a rider from C3-Sollay broke off down the dirt road and never looked back. I hit the singletrack with a group of about six riders, with the leader about ten seconds ahead of me. Eventually I took charge of the pack and got a little gap, trying to minimize the damage done by the leader in hopes of a second lap attack. Halfway through the lap the rest of the group reeled me in. During the second lap a Shirks rider appeared out of no where and broke free from our group to try and catch the leader. The group of four I was riding with split up, and I drifted into 5^th place, spent from my hard effort the previous lap. I attacked when the guy following me bobbled the one technical section of course and held a small gap for the rest of the race to finish 5^th. I am happy with this effort as I am in the process of preparing for my larger goals this season: the MASS Endurance Series, the Wilderness 101, and the Shenandoah 100.

All in all, I had a good race. The course was fast as predicted; I finished the 15 mile race in 1:04:58. My bike worked great, which was a blessing. My next race will be the Greenbrier AMBC race and Nationals Qualifier on 4/27.

Pictures are up now... but I want to change my profile pic but forget how to. Anyone want to drop me a line here??????????

Relay results and general crazyness...

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:34:24 GMT

The official relay results are our from last weekend. Have a look at them yourselves here. Look for team 3 Beans and 1 Old Fart. Yeah. Fun.

So I think I'm going to actually include my daily training into my blog from now on... so I have an excuse to update more often...

I did a 65mi road ride on tuesday with lots of long hill repeats. Once up Waggoner Gap (2.2 mi average 8%) and thrice up King's Gap (4 mi average 4%). It was good and it hurt by the end. Then I rode MTB for 2 hrs on Wednesday. Today I trained by sitting in the lab cutting rocks... or a rock to be more specific. Even though it was warm (hot maybe?) and beautifully sunny and clear. That's all I have to say.

Updates from Jake "I don't update my blog nearly e...

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:50:34 GMT

So before talking about my first race, I'm going to try and recap, hopefully in some semblance of chronological order:

Super Week was super... but not as super as I thought it was going to be. I did take my Spider completely apart, and rode my roadie a lot, but not nearly as much as I said I was going to. I suppose laziness and poor weather got the best of me. I will say, though, that my Super Week was supplemented/enhanced by a Super Training Weekend with Zach. We did 4hrs on the road Sat 3/8, followed by a meal and an hour of Super Training X, then I rode for about an hour on a trainer instead of doing a mtb ride because it was really, really, really, REALLY windy out. The next day was a 5 hr mountain bike ride. It was good
Zach's camp was awesome, even though JB didn't show up. We had Rob Lichtenwalner instead, which was equally as cool. And we did a nice long mountain bike ride that rode most of the kids into the ground. The last day of the camp was a race in Michaux which Zach organized. We had a good turn out. After riding the 6 miles from the site of the camp to the site of the race (with the youngest among us pulling the line the entire time). I managed 7th in the race, which was the first spot behind the pro's/eilte's/expert racers... right where I should be. Then a few intrepid survivors joined me for a 10 mile mtb ride back to the camp.
This week of a lot of riding was followed by a week of not riding due to my school schedule... damn it all...
I have been riding 3-4 days a week since then... as much as school will allow unfortunately. That is about to increase very soon.
A few weekends ago my bike went from looking like this:

To looking like this (you may call it the new sexiness):

Note the new (super light) FSA K-Force Light 2x9 crankset!!!

I got sponsored by Crank Brothers last week!!!!!!!! This is super exciting as I have been eyeing a pair of those Ti Candy's for a while now... I just need the form. I would like to thank the fine people at Crank Brothers for sponsoring me this year.

And now on to the racing... The name of the event was the 2008 US Open Mountain Bike Relay. It serves as the opening of the Mid Atlantic Super Series, awards extra points in the XC category, but is basically a big party for the racers to get together, get reacquainted, and ride some laps of a fun course with their buds. Some even invented crazy costumes. I joined up with the Nudy's (a few Bean's Racers and their father) to form team 3 Fresh Beans and 1 Old Fart. The race starts Le Mans style, with a short run to your bikes. DJ took out the first lap for us. The second lap was handled by Mr. Nudy, and the third lap by myself. I felt good for my first lap and turned out a time of 17:29 and averaged somewhere just above 10mph. I handed it off to Matt for the 4th lap. The rest of the 4 hr race continued much like this. My second lap was 17:24 and my 3rd was 17:27. These were the fastest lap times for our team. DJ ended up barely getting in for a 4th lap and we finished somewhere in the 30-somethings (there is a handicap for this race based on your category... Elite racers get 0 points to start and Junior beginners get a lot). It doesn't really matter though, we had fun and that's what counts. I'll put up some pics from the weekend on the pics page after this. The bike worked great. The ergon's worked great, everything just worked great.

Anyways, next weekend is a more real start of the season with the Fair Hill XC race. I'm going to kill it. I am hungry. I want wins.

Peace until then,
Jake

Happennings and goings on...

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:52:02 GMT

Well... not much has happened in my life since I finalized my racing schedule... I've gone on with classes and fitting rides in when I can (I'm up to 3 days a week now with one road ride... woot). The biggest news that I have is that I went backpacking last weekend, forgoing one day of riding. My buddy Zach and I decided, friday night, to pack our bags, head down to Caledonia SP, pound out 10 miles of the AT. It was snowy, and out boots made that lovely crunch-crunch sound as we made our way through the wilderness of Caledonia, then Michaux SF. The scenery was beautiful and the trail was fantastic. The camping though (Birch Run Shelter) was less than fantastic though. First of all, it took us 3 tries to get our fire started with a camp stove because Zach's lighter ran out of fluid, and once the fire was going, we had to put wood on it every few minutes because we couldn't burn anything bigger than a medium sized stick because everything was wet and covered in ice. Second, it was cold. Really, really cold at night. my 20 degree bag was not the correct equipment for the occasion and I was huddled down in there, below the inner drawstring with long underwear and fleece pants and sweater on with my jacket, gloves, and water bottles at my feet. I woke up at 6:00 (we had a 1.5 mile hike to our car and a 9:00 ride to get to), 45 min earlier than expected, to frozen shoes and pants. I got a little tiny fire started from the few remaining coals from the night before to semi-defrost out shoes. When the fire ran out we looked at each other, collectively muttered a "screw breakfast lets get out of here," packed up and left.

In the end, though, it was worth it. The Sunday morning ride was good cause we did some cool trails (Shake 'n Bake) in the snow. Monday, I went back to class and did a spur of the moment road ride with one of my Geology major friends. I had a good climb of Waggoner's Gap and it looks like I'm going to be in good shape heading into the Marathon season. Especially after Super Week. Oh, I don't think I've told anyone about that. Over spring break (Mar 7-17) I will be going backpacking again on the 7-9th, then going home for a few days. Monday will be a 3hr recovery road ride to recover from a weekend of hiking. Tuesday will be a 6 hr road ride. Wednesday 4hr mountain bike adventure at French Creek, hopefully doing laps of the race course (pending the repair/upgrade condition of my Spider). Thursday will be a 5 hr road adventure. Then Thursday night I will head back to Carlisle to be a councilor at the aforementioned Zach's junior development camp. I'm really excited about that because I'll probably spend the weekend hanging out with Jeremiah Bishop. He is going to be the main instructor. I think... I don't know if Zach has finalized that yet. Whatever will be will be...

Peace for now... probably more to come during Super Week!

Jake

Race Schedule and Pretty Green Things

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:53:51 GMT

So I finally have a race schedule out! It's fixed! I've written it in pen on my calender! I will now share it with you!

Date	Name	Type	Location	Notes
4/6/2008	MASS Team Relay	Team Relay XC	Marysville, PA
4/13/2008	Bike Line Race @ Fair Hill	XC	Fair Hill, MD
4/27/2008	Greenbriar Challenge AMBC Race	XC	Frederick, MD	Nationals Qualifier
5/3/2008	Escape From Granogue	4hr Endurance	Granogue Estates, DE
5/10/2008	On The Rocks @ French Creek	4hr Endurance	French Creek State Park, PA
5/17/2008	Rocktober Challenge Marathon	50-mile Marathon	Mifflinburg, PA
5/31/2008	D&Q Summer Sizzler	XC	Glouchester Counth College, NJ
6/7/2008-6/8/2008	Tour De Tykes Weekend	STXC, XC	Danville, PA
6/22/2008	Stoopid 50 Marathon	50-mile Marathon	Rothrock Forest State Park, PA	Date tentetive
7/4/2008-7/6/2008	MASS Stage Race & Festival Weekend	Night ITT, 6hr Endurance, HC, STXC	Marysville, PA
7/12/2008	NMBS #5: Windham Mountain	XC	Windham, NY	National Series #5, Nationals Qualifier
7/17/2008-7/20-2008	US National MTB Championships	XC, STXC	Mt. Snow, VT	Nationals
7/26/2008	Wilderness 101	Ultra-marathon	Coburn, PA	PEAK #1
8/9/2008	God's Country Marathon	50-mile Marathon	Coudersport, PA
8/16/2008	Iron Hill Challenge	4hr Endurance	Iron Hill Park, DE
8/31/2008	Shenandoah Mountain 100	Ultra-marathon	Harrisonburg, VA	PEAK #2
9/14/2008	Terror of Teaberry	50-mile Marathon	Michaux State Forest, PA
8/20/2008-8/21/2008	Bear Creek Summer Showdown	STXC, XC	Bear Creek Mountain Resort, PA	MASS Finals and Awards

So that is my schedule as of now! Needless to say, I'm really excited about this season. I'll be on my trust Intense again, flying the Evomo flag pre and post race, diggin' the Ti bolts on my bike from TekBolt, and rejoicing in the comfort and support given unto my by my Ergon grips, which I have gotten and installed on my bike. Here is picture of bike as it stands now:

Now that I've got the grips adjusted properly, the are like couches for your hands. They make technical singletrack so much more comfortable. I look forward to riding them hard throughout the season. Anyway, I have to go do some homework now, so I'll write later once I have bought a few more of the things that will be going on my bike this year. Peace...

Forks and Schedule Notes

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:15:49 GMT

So I figured I should chime in and say that those new pics of my bike as it is now are not going so well due to some computer issues... I do however have some pics of the thing that went on my bike...

I think that's pretty cool, don't you?

In other news, I'm back in school (yeah?) and working like a fool (ish), so I'm having to physically write training rides into my schedule so that I do them. It's important that I get serious soon cause April 6th is fast approaching. That's the first race by the way. I'm not going to reveal anything else about my full schedule until the good folks at MASS put out a final version, but I've seen the preliminary and it's going to be a great summer. The final schedule should be out very soon though, so hold your breath...

Oh and I've been selling some old parts (frames, forks, etc) in hopes of buying this once it comes out:

That, along with some bright green cable housing from Jagwire, will make my bike awesome for this year. I can't wait!

Peace...

Procrastination

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:13:04 GMT

Procrastination is a bad thing. Procrastination is keeping me from cleaning up my road bike so I can ride it. I'm not procrastinating about the cleaning part, just about the part that I know that I will have to replace the usual parts (chain, brake pads, bar tape, cables, etc...). I forgot when I bought the bike in July that I would have to spend money on it as well... oops. I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and spend the money cause I need that bike to start my training, which I unofficially began last weekend with two mtb rides. The second one was a 3 hour slog through mud and muck that I should have taken my SS on... I spend like 2 hrs cleaning my bike the next day...but needless to say that weekend of hard riding killed me. I'm more out of shape that I thought. I need to get back on the roadie to build up that endurance I will need to cut down my time at the 101 and do well at Shenandoah.

Oh and my Ergon Grips will be here Tuesday... needless to say I'm really excited

Oh and I promise I will post up pictures of my bike once the new grips get put on... as well as some hopefully artistic pics of my bike absolutely covered in mud...

Races for 2008

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:07:13 GMT

Just found some dates of races that I will be attending this year (hey it's 08 now!) The races are from the Michaux Endurance Series and the National Ultra-endurance Series. Dates for the NUE are tentative, but I don't think they will change much. I will be racing the 50 mile Men <45 class for the MES and the <45 Men class in the NUE. So here ya go, you will find me at the following races (as well as those of the MASS, which haven't been posted yet) in 2008:

- Michaux Maximus (MES): 5/4/08
-Curse of the Dark Hollow (MES): 7/20/08
-Wilderness 101 (NUE): 7/26/08
-Shenandoah Mountain 100 (NUE): 8/31/08
-Terror of Teaberry (MES): 9/14/08

So there you have it, a few races that I will be at this year. The NUE races will hopefully be my big peaks for the season, and the MES races will be smaller peaks. The rest of my focus will go into breaking into the top 3 of the MASS Endurance Series.

Peace...

Another Year of Intense

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:35:28 GMT

I just resigned with Intense Cycles for the 2008 season. I am excited about continuing the relationship that I established last year. I'm still waiting for a response from Crank Bros. and Camelbak. Getting those two on board would be sick. Now all I need is for Fox Racing Shox to put up a listing...

Speaking of Fox, Santa brought me some new Fox goodies. I will post pictures as soon as I get my bike cleaned up enough to photograph....

'Tis the Time of the Season

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:38:20 GMT

Yes it is folks... it's December. When mountain bikers around the world wish for a merry surprise under their tree. Hopefully my merry surprise will be a Fox F100 RLC... put probably not. Whatever it is, I'd like to send seasons greetings to all my two wheeled friends out there. Have a happy holidays and ride on!

Something I found online a while ago:

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the Dale
Not a creature was stirring, not even a snail

Except for the Wheelers out cycling the tracks,
With halogen lights and battery packs

In spite of the cold, and the tracks slick and rooty,
The riding was bold, the men did their duty

When out of the North an icy wind puffed
And all of a sudden their lights were out! Snuffed!

They came to a halt all bump and a clatter
With nary a clue as t’what was th’matter

Surrounded by blackness, and no flaming lamp
A thick fog descended, a trick of the damp

An owl shrieked, a dog barked, and something said “pisss!”
They instinctively knew quite a lot was amiss

Ay up! Oh No! Cor blimey! Good Lord!
Wassup! Dunno! …kinnell! They all roared

“A puncture”, one cried, “Well that’s a relief,
We’ll soon have it fixed” his initial belief

But down in the dark, and murky wet mire
There was no way to see what caused the flat tyre

The woods were real scary, with bikes out of action,
They slipped and they stumbled and they couldn’t find traction

With panic now rising this was a to do
When out of the gloom they heard a “yoo hoo”

A fat bearded figure, in red and fur trimm’ed,
Came upon them, as the moon rose, and now brightly glimm’ed
“Ho Ho now my boys” his merry refrain
“What’s up? What’s broken? A spoke or a chain?"

“A bike has a puncture and our lights have a short, we’re really fed up” was the Wheelers retort.

Ho Ho now my lads no need to feel sick
I’ll soon have it sorted or I’m not St Nick!

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen

The Wheelers were puzzled for to be so directed
In a minute or two they clearly suspected

This bloke was a nutter, and not the real Santa
His robes seemed authentic but not his mad banter

They rallied and jeered! Then ran like the wind
Those Wheelers were spooked and weren’t listening

They galloped and jogged all night at high speed
Oblivious to darkness and absence of steed
Arriving “chez nous” they jumped into bed,
Just glad to be home and not to be dead

And there it should end this story of warning
Were it not Christmas Day, the very next morning

On rising to see what was under the tree
Each Wheeler did find a new MTB

A card was attached by Santa who wrote
Hope you like the present I’ve stuck to this note
Sorry to see you were so jittery
Next time in the woods take a spare battery!

And the not riding goes on and on...

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:11:29 GMT

Even though I recently got a light for night rides, I have not been on a ride in a while. First it was my final exams and projects that got in the way, then it was sheer laziness that stemmed from staying up all night working on said final projects. Hey, I guess it's better to get the lazy out now than in like two or three months when I will be training regularly. Speaking of training, I will hopefully be finializing a set-in-stone training schedule once the next semester starts up and I know how much time I will have to devote to my classes (school starts up January 22). I'll update everyone on this once I finish it.

Until then, I have a month off to work and ride. Once January comes, I'm going to get back into the gym regularly (something which I haven't done in a while). I will be continuing to work on my "cycling physique" (quoth Brandon Drugelis) with a strength and conditioning Phys Ed class between the start of classes and spring break in March. This should get me nice and buff again for doing more 100 milers and lots of other endurance races next season. I will enjoy every minute of it. Anyway... I'm going to go back to spending time with my family and some strange kids that are visiting my sister from Virginia... weird high schoolers...

New Non-Sponsorhouse Sponsor!!!!

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:52:06 GMT

I would like to announce the inclusion of Ergon Bike Ergonomics to my 2008 sponsorship team. They will be keeping my hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders super comfortable and in control throughout 2008. I am super excited to work represent them and ride their great product. Here is a link to the news story they published on their website about their 2008 sponsorship, and here is a link to the grips I will most likely be using. Again, I am really excited about this new sponsorship and I can't wait for the 08 season to start. 4 months can't go bu fast enough!

On a completely seperate note, I just finished up with my exams today so I am officially on break. I'm not heading back home until saturday through because I have some work to get done in the lab. And I'm sick so between that and all the work I have had to do before finals I have not ridden in a few weeks. Poo.....

Add another one...

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:26:02 GMT

I would officially like to welcome TekBolt, maker of fine titanium and steel fasteners (i.e. bolts, nuts, and washers) to my sponsorship team for 2008. I'm looking forward to using their product on all of my bikes for 2008 and beyond.

Second Update today... a new record

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:05:45 GMT

So for my second act today, I was browsing around the interwebs and found the schedule for the 2008 National Ultra Endurance (100 miler) series. So now I have definite dates where I will be racing next season. The schedule is posted on the NUE website. The races I will definitely be doing are the Wilderness 101 (July 26), and the Shenandoah Mountain 100 (August 31). I would like to maybe fit in the Mohican MTB 100 (June 7), but that may be to early in the season fitness wise. It will depend on a) what kind of shape I'm in, and b) what other races are around it. So yeah... there... hopefully I won't have to wait until February to get the MASS schedule for next year... although waiting until February does mean less anticipation of the season...

Sponsorships for '08

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:58:35 GMT

So I have started collecting sponsors for the 2008 season already. I have just resigned with Evomo, which I am super excited about. They are a good company and I look forward to supporting them for the next two years. More later...

-Jake

Crocodile Trophy

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:07:37 GMT

For those of you who have not been following the Crocodile Trophy race in Australia, shame on you. Go to Cycling News and check out the action so far, and find out who Marc Herremans is. He is my hero. He should be your hero too.

-Jake

From Y-Riders Youth Races to God's Country Maratho...

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:07:47 GMT

Wow. Wow. That’s all I can say about this season. It has been long, and I have worked harder than I ever have before. I have been to so many interesting places, ridden so many amazing trails, and gotten some perspective on some trails that I ride regularly when I’m at home. I won a race (Neshaminy), which hasn’t happened in three years or so, and got on the podium in one I never expected too(Marysville). I rode the 101. That alone is an accomplishment, which I plan on repeating next year. I have done so much, and come further that I ever thought I could in one season.

I’m sure though, that you are less interested in hearing about stuff that you have already heard about and more interested about the last few races of my season, since I haven’t posted an update for a month of two (mmmm… school work). I’ll start with the Terror of Teabeyry, or should I call it the Terror of Flat-berry. Yes there were two flats that derailed my efforts of reclaiming my Endurance Series podium spot. The first flat, I blew the bead off my Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires. They failed to re-seat with my CO2 inflator, meaning that I used my 1 CO2 cartridge without fixing my problem. So I started walking. I was only about 2 miles away from the first aid station too, and only 10 miles into the race. Eventually someone gave me a tube and a CO2 cartridge, and I got my tire fixed, but I had lost 45 min. I soldiered on, well off the back of the race. Sad. I got another flat after Aid #2. Luckily I had picked up a spare tube and CO2 at the aid station, so I changed the tube rather quickly, after patching the gash in my tire with a paper cup that I was carrying food in. This time though, I had trouble getting the tire on the rim and probably sat there for another 45 min. I was done racing by that time, so I set out for a 20 mile ride on my own. In hind sight it was really sad, because I was about 2 hrs behind, and there was no catching up to where I was before (top 20-ish). Sometime in the last 10 or 12 miles of the race I got caught by the sweepers on their dirt bikes. They stopped and let me keep riding, which was mighty nice of them since I heard they pulled the few people who were behind me. So anyway, I finished, dead last, in about 7:45, 2+ hrs slower than I expected to finish. Everyone was gone, and awards were already over. Oh well. You gotta have one mechanical-filled race per season right? Next year, Terror of Teaberry, I swear my revenge on thee!

Next was the short and relatively tame Bear Creek Summer Showdown, which served as the Finals for the MASS Cross Country, Short Track, and Team Cup Series’. This was an exciting event for me because I was sitting in 2^rd in the STXC series, and I needed to simply beat the guy ahead of me to take the win. The STXC course was different than any other STXC course I have ever seen. Normally the STXC courses are a relatively flat, smooth track with a lot of corners that takes a few minutes to navigate. The races are measured in time not in number of laps. The Bear Creek course was a mini-preview of the XC course. It was about a mile long, had a ¾ mile rock garden and a 0.5 mile of climbing. The course was so much fun; it was a real mountain biker’s course, you needed power and technical finesse to do well (in fact a few of the elite rider who do well at ‘cross in the winter complained that it was too technical). The Sport A group was doing 5 laps. Now if you have been following my race schedule for the later part of the season, I have not done a race shorter than 50 miles in two months, so I was used to a neutral roll-out to start a race. The holeshot and the STXC race put me back in second to last (6^th) place. Note to self: work on holeshot for next year. On the biggest rock in the rock garden, the guy in front of my dabbed and got off his bike, forcing me off my bike only to watch the guy behind me pass both of us (7^th). Boo. So I passed the guy in front of me on the road section and over the next three laps, worked my way up into 3^rd place. Then I saw him, the guy I needed to beat, in front of me. I pushed as hard as I could to catch him on the last lap, but no dice. He finished 2^nd, and I finished 3^rd. The race was short, but all in all it was a good day. The next day’s XC race didn’t really matter that much to me because I was not really in contention for anything. So I just raced my own race. We went off for our two laps about a half an hour after the Experts/Elites, so it would be a while before we saw them. The race was relatively uneventful as far as races go. I had pre-ridden the course the day before, so I knew all the lines, which is a huge advantage. I rode the entire race jockeying for 6^th place with a guy whose name escapes me. I ended up dropping him on the last lap on a technical climb and the ensuing technical descent, so I had a pretty good race. The Bear Creek course is an IMBA-approved mountain bike course that is basically 7 miles of really technical singletrack. While most people see IMBA-approved trails as sanitized, this one shows that IMBA can also build kick-ass technical trails. The final descent started with three super-tight, super-rocky switchbacks with a shear drop on the downhill side. There were rock gardens before and after. The main difference between this years course and last years course (which was also IMBA-approved) was that this one had a lot more flow. There were rock gardens everywhere, but each one had a definite line. This is not to say that the lines were easy, oh no. There was some really difficult stuff there, everything just flowed really nicely. The course is really a pleasure to ride, and brings a smile to everyone’s face that completes it. So in the end I ended up 7^th place in the XC series (much better than I expected), and 3^rd in the STXC. I forgot to calculate that only the top 3 races count towards the series final for the short track, and one guy had won two races so he won. Next year though. Also the shop that I ride for, Bean’s Bikes ended up 2^nd in the team cup. All in all a pretty successful weekend and a good end of the season for most.

I had one more race left though. Two weekends later, I was in my car on my way up to the middle of nowhere: Potter County PA, a.k.a. God’s Country. The race was the God’s Country Marathon, a endurance reincarnation of an XC race that ended in the late 90s. The course was a 15 mile loop, which we would do 3 times for a total of 45 miles. This was to be the race that really mattered for me, because I was in 4^th in the MASS Endurance Series. I wanted my podium spot back. I needed to place significantly better than the guy who sat in third. At the start lined we basically stared straight up the ski hill. I was focused and ready to throw down with the big boys. The group shot up the ski hill, and I was riding right along side our two local pros and a bunch of fast singlespeeders. Excatly. The ride up the ski hill was quick, and once we hit the main climb of the course, I settled into my own rhythm. I would have liked to be able to keep up with the Bear Naked/Cannondale guys, but there is no way. I rode my first two laps with my hammer down as far as it would go, but lost a lot of my power in the process. My third lap was agonizing and painful, but I kept pushing nonetheless. I only stopped twice, both on my last lap (a first for me, usually I stop after every lap on a lap course). I finished, and two places in front of the guy I needed to beat, so I thought that I might have gotten it. I was 8^th. In the end though I didn’t have the points to get the podium back, and ended up dropping to 5^th because my buddy Shawn (who finished 7^th) was only a few points behind me in the standings. Oh well. Still I’m really happy about that race.

So that was my season. In hindsight, my season was really just a parallel of life, from the Y-Riders Youth Series to The God’s Country Marathon. It seems fitting in a strange sense doesn’t it? So now I am done racing. I am looking forward to a few months of relaxation, riding with my friends, and winter hiking (one of my favorite activities). I’m going to chill and ride until an undecided time in December when I will hopefully begin slowly putting on base miles for next season. I want to build up a big base so I can keep my power and speed up over the entire 50 miles, 101 miles, or 6hrs of a race. I want to get on the podium for the Endurance Series next year, and greatly improve my 101 time. Next year I will try to actually stick to a definite training program for the entire season. I also want to do more 100 milers (Shenandoah, and maybe Cohutta). But that is next year…

As a final note, I would like to give a final thanks to my great sponsors. First of all, there is Intense Cycles. You guys have provided great tech support, and hooked me up with a fantastic product. I definitely would not have done as well as I have this year without my trusty Spider. I hope to continue representing you next year. Then there is Evomo. You guys make some kick-ass threads, and make me feel like less of a dork for wearing bike-related paraphernalia outside of the mountain biking world. Then there is ODI. You guys make great grips. Keep up the good work. Hayes Disc Brakes, you came into the game a bit late, but you stopped me through some of my more important races, so great job. I hope to continue riding for you next year.

So that’s all of my race updates for the year. I’ll continue to throw up some updates throughout the winter as I see fit. Until then, good luck to all with your off season pursuits and may your ‘cross season be muddy, fast, and cold, if that’s the way you like it.

Peace, and RIDE ON!

Jake

Lack of updates

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:24:34 GMT

Please excuse my lack of updates recently. There should be some kind of cute acronym for that. I have been swamped with school work and I'm having to reduce the amount of riding and bike related things that I am doing all the time. I'm down to riding once, maybe twice a week. I've taken of too much for the semester. Oh well. At least racing is almost done. I have one race left, and then I will do a huge, massive update on the last three races of my season. I guess I'll just say screw the work, I have my last, and most important, race this weekend, and I need to do well in it. After my disaster at the Terror of Teaberry, I need to move back up into the standings. It looks like I will finish just off the podium, in 4th place, for the MASS Endurance Series this year. That's pretty freaking good. I was something like 21st last year. And next year I'll be even better. I have a secret plan, which is secret now, but will be revealed soon (hopefully late November-ish). I want to build up a huge base and lots of speed for next season so I can be more successful in the 100 mile and 50 mile events that I have come to love.

    I have to pull out all the stops for this weekend though, I want this to be one of my best races of the season. The God's Country Marathon at Ski Denton in Coudersport, PA will be mine! I'll have time to throw up more the weekend after the race, when I have a long break from school.

                                                             Peace,
                                                                   Jake

Rocktober Challenge Marathon

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:05:20 GMT

Yeah, yeah I know it's in September, but the Rocktober Challenge Marathon was still a whole lot of fun. The even was held in scenic RB Winter State Park and the adjacent Bald Eagle State Forest up in Mifflinburg, PA. My parents came and picked me up at school on Saturday afternoon and we headed up to spend the night at one of the parks campsites. Camping at a long race like this is nice. Not only do you not have to get up as early, but you are right at the race when you wake up. No travel time, just throw your gear on and warm up while heading to the start. Saturday night I went for a 5 mile spin around a bit of the second half of the course. I went up the Boiling Spring Trail and down a bit of the Old Tram trail. Just from that short ride, I could tell that I had a difficult race ahead of me. Old Tram was all downhill, but had so many rocks that you were pedaling the entire time. And I had only ridden a mile of it.

The next morning, the race started at 9:00. There were about 51 people total at the race (Men <44, singlespeeders, women, and Men>45). We started out with a neutral roll out following a pace motorcycle, who didn't do much pacing and promptly sped up to a speed where we couldn't catch him. I started in the front and once the race officially began (when we hit Rt. 192) Cannondale endurance pro's Rob Lichtenwalner, Branden Drugalis, normal Bike Line rider Andy Miller, and I set the pace. We weren't going to fast, but by the time we hit the singletrack, the four of us and about 10 others had a bit of a gap on the rest of the field. We made the turn into the singletrack less than flawlessly. We had to turn off the road onto a dirt road, then make an immediate 180 degree turn onto a barely visible singeltrack that paralleled the main road. Andy and I lost about 13 spots because we didn't know this and Rob and Brandon just sailed on by chuckling. They would ride the rest of the race together without anyone in front of them.

The rest of the race continued pretty much as a race does. We rode some singletrack, then a bit of road, then more singletrack. Then some technical downhills, then technical singeltrack. The difference was that I was riding really well. I came into Aid 1 in 11th place, and only about 20 min off the Cannondale boy's pace (by the way, they had both race 24hr solo's the previous weekend, and Rob won his). I kept plugging along at a higher pace then I normally do, and rolled into Aid 2 in 10th. Then we began the really technical stuff. I hit Old Tram Trail with a group of about 6 other guys. The group promptly divided by technical skill. I was somewhere in the middle. Then we had to tackle the worst feature of the race: the 600yd long downhill pedaling rock garden. I don't think I cleaned it, but there is always next year. It was really really long though. There was some dirt road after that, then eventually onto one of the other defining features of the course: a 2 mile very veryy very (like butt-cheek burning) descent. I rode conservatively down it, trying not to crash. Then there was a long climb up to Aid 3, where I rolled in at 11th place. After that (mile 36 approx.) I started hammering to catch the guy in front of me. There was some climby singletrack, some fireroad, and some more singletrack. We got a big surprise when we turned into the end of the Old Tram Trail (remember the 600yd rock garden?) and were told 4.5 miles to go. Yes folks, we were climbing back up what we had to struggle down. On Old Tram I caught the guy that was in front of me, but didn't pass him. Unfortunately, I was caught by another Bean's rider who had ridden off course and hammered to get back into at least the top 10. He blew right by me like I was standing still. It was pretty cool. Fortunately, we did not do the entire Old Tram trail, and when we were dumped out onto a dirt road, I kicked it into high gear to try and catch the Bean's guy that had passed me. And by high gear, I mean my highest gear possible. I was time trialing along at around 20mph for most of the last 2.5 miles of the race. I put 45 sec on the guy who was in front of me, and I came 10 sec away from catching the Bean's rider who passed me on Old Tram. So I had to settle for top 11 overall. 10 sec out of the top 10, and with 45 sec on 12th place overall. When you take out the singlespeeders ahead of me I came up with 9th in the Mens <44 class. I'm pretty happy with that. I feel like it was the best I had ridden in a long time, since Marysville. I felt much more fresh after the race than I had after any other race; a credit to the 101 that I finished last month. Once you've ridden a 101, everything seems short (until I do a 24 solo). So that's that: 48 miles in 5:10 for 9th place.

Thanks go out to Intense Cycles for my still awesome bike, ODI for keeping my hands together, Hayes Disc Brakes for stopping me when I needed to, and Evomo for making me look cool pre and post race. I'll scrounge up some pics next chance I get.

Until next time (Terror of Teabury, 9/16)...

I'm placed in the NUE

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 19:39:15 GMT

So I was looking at the results from the Endurance 100 in Park City, Utah, and I stumbled upon the overall series standings for the National Ultra Endurance MTB100 so far. I kept scrolling down the list and eventually found myself... in 282 place. You see, the ranking is based first on the number of races you have done and second by the number of points you have (lower is better), so someone who has 300 points but has done 4 races beats someone who has 8 points and only 3 races. I have done 1 race in the NUE, and I have 82 points to my name, placing me firmly in 282nd/342. I think that's funny. I've never been ranked like that before. Maybe next year I'll do every race in the series just to win... hmmmmmm...

One more weekend...

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:02:10 GMT

without racing. I know, it's sad. I made a decision not to race this weekend because the logistics of me being at school just didn't work out. I will be racing next weekend though, 9/9. I'm really excited about that one. It should prove to be a really fun race, and my 3rd race in the State College area this summer. If this one is as good as the last two, I will enjoy it a lot. As for now, I'm getting in as much riding as I can with my busy homework schedule. I rode saturday and sunday, and yesterday. I will ride later this afternoon, but nothing real serious. Anyway, I'm going to clean my bike up now so I can go get new cables put on. Yay!!!

Back to the grind...

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:06:04 GMT

Well, now I'm back in school. I forsee my training schedule being thrown in the trash and me frantically trying to come up with a new one for the next four races. We'll see what comes out of this. I now have all the wonderful roads of Carlisle and all of Michaux SF to play in... :)

No racing this weekend...

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:39:30 GMT

I am sad to announce that I will not be racing the Iron Hill Endurance race this weekend. Unfortunately, I must move back into school and have required meetings for my dormitory that day. I wish I could skip, but I can't. I am also not racing the 7 Springs 24 hr, or the Shenandoah Mtn 100 as I had planned. I'm not ready for a 24 solo race, and getting to Virginia and back might not be feasible because my support crew (my parents) might not be available. In light of all that, my next race is the Rocktober marathon on 9/6. I'm really looking forward to it because I am currently 3rd in the Mid Atlantic Super Series Endurance Series, and I want to finish at least on the podium. I'd like to win. Catch ya later.