Single Speed World Championships of the World!

Waaay back in August, when the temperature was still above 70 degrees at all times, I went over to Ireland to race SSWC 2011.  Joining me for the race was Thom Parsons, Gerry Finnegan, and Rob Ide.  Of course my bike didn't make the connecting flight so I spent the first 30 hours trying to get updates of its whereabouts and having to stay close to the house. 

When it did arrive, the frame was sticking out of the cardboard box though nothing was missing or damaged

(note to self, look for packing material more than 6 hours before your flight).

I reassembled the bike on Friday night (yes, awesome way to spend my night in Dublin) so we'd be ready to go on Saturday morning.  Although I had free lodging with Gerry's family in Dublin, it was at least 2.5 hours away from the race sight.  We set out in two cars with bikes in the trunks and made it to the registration table about 10 minutes after they had closed.  Luckily this is SSWC, not a Verge race, so they were more than happy to re-open and get us squared away.  It also only took about 30 seconds per person because they don't have lengthy waivers and licenses.

Since it was SSWC, 90% of participants had a costume or bizarre attire of some sort and probably 50% were already drinking. 

We scrambled to change into cycling attire (we were all lame and without costumes) and get our race gear together in the 15 minutes before the procession out of town to the trail head.

Everyone left town together and we were escorted by local police some 6 or 7 miles to the trails.  It's comical enough to ride an mtb on the road, but to see a group of 500+ on single speeds with trail gearing was even better.  Beers were passed around, costumes got stuck in the spokes, and janky single speed conversions were failing left and right...and we hadn't even made it to staging yet!

Once at staging, we were told to leave our bikes and go over to the music/food/beer tents that they'd set up.  This gave people more time to drink beer and dance it up while the organizers disorganized all of our bikes.  An eternity later, we lined up under one of those inflatable arch things and were sent running up the hill to where our bikes had been left.  Slightly anaerobic from running, we all scrambled to find where they'd hid our bikes.  White bikes were all piled on top of each other (there were A LOT of white bikes).  Some were hung from trees, some were moved all the way from the front to the back, and some, like mine, were barely moved at all.  Despite my bike barely being moved, I still spent a ton of time looking for it because I expected it to have been moved.  Finally found it and set out on the two lap, roughly 20 mile course, behind at least half of the field.

We started with a long-ish fire road climb where those with janky single speeds that made it through the road ride began shooting parts into the air as their riders tried to grind the 34x15 up the hill.  Seriously, so many broken chains in the first .5 miles.  When I finally came to the single track, I had to dismount and wait as we funneled into the trail.  Not fun!  The single track though, was fun, and whenever possible I'd pass a rider or two and then try to pass a dozen on the next double track.  It went like that for the whole first lap until early into the second lap when I was finally clear of traffic for a bit.  Not much they could have done, but it did make for a less than stellar first half and reminded me how important it is to start well (and find your bike) if you want to take an event seriously.  Also, next year my bike will be neon pink so I can't miss it!

Anyway, the course was pretty fun, and it was impressively dry given that it's in Ireland where it is rainy and crappy 364 days of the year.  The winner was a local who apparently is in charge of mountain biking in Ireland and may well have built the trails.  Hey, I didn't want the tattoo anyway.  I did get a heinous neon orange shirt and stupid looking mismatched socks with leprechauns (seriously guys, save your money and give me a free beer or two instead) which were both used to clean my muddy bike before packing for the return.

Overall, I had fun.  We didn't get to immerse ourselves in the usual silliness of the event because we were staying far away and because we had to rush back to Dublin afterwards so I can't comment on who won the partying (though I know Thom won the pre-party). 

Next year is in South Africa which definitely is not going to happen for me.  It's ok because I think singlespeedapalooza and Dark Horse 40 are probably better anyway.

I didn't take many pictures, but there are some good ones here: http://acunamatadaar.blogspot.com/2011/08/sswc-2011-ireland.html

Addiction

Being a cycling addict is much safer than being a drug addict. Even though my wife and family may think otherwise, I am pretty certain I could never over dose on cycling (racing is another story though). I'll keep trying but I'm confident it won't happen.

I just received these pictures from my father-in-law. This was right before I left their house in Montana and began a 30 day stretch without seeing any familiar faces. It's always hard leaving Montana because we have so much fun and it is a beautiful, relaxing environment. It's even harder when you know you won't see your wife for 35 more days.
Hard to believe that trip was more than a year ago.

what'd you do this weekend?

I got lots of emails about 4 hour rides scheduled for Sunday. Instead, I chose to leave town on Saturday afternoon (before the warmest day in months) and head to Grand Junction, CO where I have work obligations until Wednesday. So I've missed the warmest few days of 2009 in Boston.

Oh well, I got to do this(snowshoeing) on Sunday so I don't feel too bad.At 10,000+ ft, you can see pretty damn far.
Oh, my coworker flew in early too.
We tried to go to Rockslide Brewery on Main St to watch the Super Bowl but it was closed! Seriously, the brewery was closed on Super Bowl Sunday! I got to see this really clever sculpture though. Fitting since Grand Junction has lots of great mountain biking and is close to both Fruita and Moab.

better late than never

Oh yeah, I forgot that this blog was supposed to be about the places I travel. Well, earlier this week I found myself at the familiar Logan Terminal A waiting to board yet another Delta plane. After the big Sunday morning snow storm and hearing of my coworker's 5 hour flight delay and ultimate cancellation, I aborted the Sunday travel plan and rebooked for an early Monday departure. We were boarded and ready at 7:50 as scheduled but apparently Delta only employs one person to load bags for every plane on Mondays because we spent an hour waiting for the oversized carry on bags to be loaded. By the way, has anyone else noticed that the new fees for checked luggage has encouraged people to try to carry on absurdly large bags that inevitably have to be checked at the door and inevitably take extra time to load in the cargo area and inevitably delays the flight and inevitably causes missed connections, upset customers, and added work for the airline? So, is that stupid $25 fee really worth it Delta?
So the short story is that we were delayed 1.45 hours in Boston (despite boarding on time) so I missed my connection in Cincinnati. On the plus side, a former coworker was on the plane and he had a long layover too so after chatting for nearly 3 hours on the plane we continued catching up over lunch (at Chick Fil A of course!).
My flight to Kansas City was uneventful except that my coworker had already come and gone 2 hours earlier and he had the rental car so I had to wait for him to pick me up after the client meetings some 30 miles away. Fortunately I was only spending 24 hours in Kansas City so I didn't worry about seeing the sites in such a short time. We had lunch out by the Nascar race track and dinner at a brew pub. Never did get to see the cross nationals venue but from what I saw of the area, those of you who might have felt like you were missing something by not going...didn't (sorry Kyler). Pretty standard "anywhere USA" type of place. I'm sure I'll have another few trips there and I'll try to branch out to see more sites, but so far I'm not impressed.
My next two trips are to Grand Junction, CO and Billings, MT. Hopefully I can produce some more exciting reports.

This is how I ride...in FL

I've never seen anything like this place. The Villages, a "community" in Florida is overrun by golf carts. And we're not talking boring old white golf carts that do 10 mph. We're talking tricked out, $10,000 fashion statements with their own dedicated road network and bridges.



When I went for a run I could barely breath between all of the laughter. I saw people whipping through the area using arms extended out to indicate turns. I saw golf carts decorated with Florida Gators stickers and Auburn Tigers stickers. And for those who can't afford to pimp their rides, they take the vanity plate to a whole notha level with their auto vanity plates affixed to their un-pimped golf carts.

Other interesting facts about The Villages:
- must be 55 or older to be a resident
- no public schools or mayor
- highest concentration of STD's in Florida (I heard this one from my client who is a medical professional, but hopefully not part of the statistic...)

Now I wonder, does the guy with the most pimped out ride also carry the highest number of STD's??? Is there a linear relationship between the value of a man's golf cart and the number of STD's he is likely to carry?

Hunting ground in Huntersville

I'm sitting in a bbq restaurant with one more day to burn in Boone county KY before heading a little further east to Huntersville, NC. I rode the excercise bike at the Courtyard Marriott since I did not feel like unpacking the Ritchey for what would have been a short ride tonight. Excercise bikes make me sweat more than riding outdoors yet feel more awkward, slow, and uncomfortable than any other piece of excercise equipment I can think of.

Tomorrow night I'll be in Huntersville and Thursday I have the whole day to myself to put in an epic 50+. Hopefully I don't get too lost since I do not know the area at all. Don't fail me now trusty Garmin gps!

Can't I get out of Boone?

Well, now I am in Boone County, which is quite different than Boone, NC. In fact Boone county is in Kentucky, near Cincinnati and CVG airport. I brought the trusty Ritchey with me and managed to find a ride on the good 'ole interweb. This guy showed me around and despite the rain showers that the area drastically needed, we had a good, hilly spin along the little river dividing Kentucky and Ohio.

Here are a few pictures from the ride.

It's nice to find a good spin when I really have no expectations. Unfortunately work has been overwhelming while I'm here so I'm awake playing catch up until 2am. Oh well, at least my legs are happy.

More Boone play

Wednesday was another day of fun riding with the climbers in Boone. Check out the route details. We ain't got hills like that in Boston. Me and the Specialized rep got schooled by a world class triathlete. He was a friggin' rocket ship going up the hills. I am happy to say I was second to the top, although I don't think the rest of the group worked quite as hard as I did.

Judge for yourself, but I think Boone rocks for road riding. I've heard the mountain biking is sweet too. Next time.

Oh, and if you happen to stay in Boone, look out for this guy and this fine dining establishment.

Boone?

I was looking forward to this week's trip to Boone, NC because I knew there would be lots of hills and amazing views. Unfortunately I was not sure if I'd be able to hook up with a group to show me around and the area did not look easily navigated alone.

Luckily these guys were nice enough to let me join them for their recovery ride. I rode with the shop owner, an NAV (NY-MA based club) rider, and a touring Specialized demo bike rep. Unfortunately I was scrambling to get my bike assembled in time to leave with them so I forgot to grab my camera. On the plus side I set a personal best time in assembling the Ritchey.

Tomorrow should be another fun ride with these guys. I'll remember the camera so I can capture some of the awesome views. In the meantime, google Boone, NC.

Napa Valley beauty

On Friday I had some time to kill before heading to the Oakland airport for my red eye flight home. I had the bike and 1 hour so I decided to take a spin up one of the Napa canyon roads. There were a bunch of small vineyards and being "crush" season the grapes were looking as picturesque as possible.

This ride was a leisurely stroll since time didn't permit much else and my body was still feeling the effects of the whale's vagina. Here are some nice pictures of the grapes.

If I had more time and energy there were some great 30-80 mile loops going out of Napa that I would love to explore. Maybe I can do it on one of these next time...

Rumor has it that the single speed world championships will be in Napa next year so maybe I'll have a chance to do more exploring then.

Look for a post about the travel bike very soon. I plan on showing why I spec'd it the way I did and how it packs up for easy travel.

whale's vagina?

no Ron Burgendy, Mt. Diablo is not German for whale's vagina. It is Spanish for Devil Mtn. On Wednesday I was determined to conquer the devil. In the spring the devil was victorious, crushing my will after a long day of 6+ hours in the saddle.

From the first turn of the pedals I knew Wednesday's ride was not going to be easy. I was not to be deterred though and I continued on my journey. This would be a 70 mile vertical assault and already my body said no. Maybe you should listen to your body...


I had the map and had ridden most of the route once before. The route is in San Leandro/Diablo/Walnut Creek and is beautiful and mostly void of cars. Here is the route map.

It is well worth riding if you find yourself with time to spare in the area. Just don't be surprised if you are crushed by the wale's vagina.

C'mon, that view was worth 80 miles of suffering, right?

excitement of the chase

I'm not usually eager to travel for work because lately it has meant time away from the wife, friends, bicycle, and normal routine. But this morning I woke up extra early with my travel bike packed because I anticipate a nice 5-6 hour ride around the hills of San Leandro, Walnut Creek, and especially Mt. Diablo! Work is taking me to Napa Valley and along the way I am going to punish myself with some serious altitude and great views. I'll post some pictures, route details, and travel bike pictures later this week.

cycling in Dallas

I had an opportunity to do some riding in Dallas area back in July. Despite being 95+ degrees and humid, it was nice to ride in a new area. It was also the maiden voyage for my break away so I was doubly excited.

The bike was a bit tricky to pack but it made it without incident. Assembly was easy. The first Dallas ride was a Tuesday night crit put on by these guys: http://www.blogger.com/Tuesday%20Crit

I got there with plenty of time to warm up and check out the course. About as standard as a crit course could possibly be. If you find yourself in Dallas and want a good Tuesday evening workout, I suggest giving this one a shot. No primes so the group stays together until the finish usually.

On Wednesday I tried to find this group: Mirage Apparently they meet somewhere other than White Rock so I didn't make it to their start. I did find a triathlon group doing intervals through White Rock so I jumped in with them and did some butt kickin' efforts before calling it a night.

If you're in Dallas area and want a nice place to ride without the effort of joining a group ride, check out White Rock. Lots of people ride there and there is very little car traffic due to all the cyclists.

finding a direction

I created this blog a while ago but never really knew what I wanted to do with it. Well, I've decided to document the places I travel to and the cycling opportunities that one can find in these locations.

Since I travel a lot for business, I invested in a break away bike to travel with. Previously I've relied on the generosity of previous associates but I really prefer to have my own equipment. The break away has allowed me to experience cycling in even more locations and at no recurring cost (minus the initial purchase of course). I've raced crits in Dallas, climbed glacier roads in Montana, and I plan to do a lot more in the future.

I hope you enjoy the highlights and find the information useful!