Lil Moe's and Valley Falls ('10)

It's been a while since I updated this propaganda machine. Whoops.

Two weekends ago, I did the WVMBA race at Lil Moes place. I had a good start, but it was painful to ride fast. My cross country speed felt toasted by all the endurance racing in June. I started to lose it as soon as we hit the first hill.

On the middle of the course I was following Joey Riddle up a steep rock pile. Without warning, he put a foot down. In an effort to swerve around him, I rammed my bar end into his ass. Impacting his posterior sapped all my momentum and made me dismount as well. Morgan Miller and Nate Annon got around both of us, and I didn't have the energy to go with them.

I rode the rest of the twisty lap and kept falling back until Rob Loher caught me. He gave me a little encouragement, and I reeled Nate back in on a flat section down by the river. I closed the gap on Morgan, 

but I was never able to catch him. He was killing it on all the rocky downhills.

Finishing 2^nd in SS that race lit a fire under my ass. I was still in a funk from 100 miles pulverized cow shit at Mohican and my crash at Stoopid 50. I hadn’t been riding hard enough to be competitive in an XC race. For the rest of the week, I rode Laurel Mountain and Ohiopyle as fast as I could, trying to get some speed back.

I also installed a new drive train:

hooray for ano

I felt great going into the race at Valley Falls last Sunday. The race started up a huge fire road climb. I led most of the way up the hill, but near the end the trail pitched way up. My legs felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets, so I decided to get off and hike. Nate passed me, and in 75 feet he was awarded $50. I missed the pre-race meeting, so I didn’t know about the money. Not saying I would have been able to get up the hill any faster had I known, but I might have knocked Nate off his bike.  

The rest of the course was steeper than the first part. I had to give up on riding most of the hills and hike. The descents were just as crazy, with steep and loose dirt leading into off-camber rooted switch backs. I was almost riding a nose wheelie to get around them. A few geared guys passed me in the remaining two laps, but I didn’t see any other single speeds. I finished out the race and won the category. It was by far the steepest race I’ve ever ridden. Being the steepest course in West Virginia is no small feat. 

This coming weekend is the WV State Championships and Davis. After that, the Wilderness 101 is only two weeks away. If I get lost in this 100 miler again, I will kill the first thing I see when I re-locate the course.

Following the 101, I only have a few days before I head out to Colorady land. I’m planning on hitting a Mountain States Cup race in Keystone, rolling over to Moab, and then heading east to Boulder to hang out with Samwise Morrison for a few days. Hopefully by the 22^nd I’ll be comfortable enough with the altitude to not die in Breck.

Plans are starting to come together for the big trip, but I’m still in the market for a co-driver. An Official Knobby Meats Racing Conglomerate Co- Pilot and Foot Washer application will be forthcoming.