Ships Log: Fat Aircraft carrier war games
- Thread starter UtahJoe
- Start date
Sorry to hear this @UtahJoe. As stated by someone above, I also wept uncontrollably when I brought my rottie (my avatar pic) to the vet after 3 surgeries and a long drawn out ordeal, honestly might have been the hardest I've ever cried, at least that I can recall. I've met Elsa a couple times and she was always so happy, and I suspect she is carrying on that behavior on the other side.
Hey its April....im back, and I did a bike race!!!
I had to go back 10 pages or so to find the last XC race that I had done....Just shy of 3 years ago. Dam...the things that a worldwide pandemic and enduro racing will do to your XC career. Anyway...No, im not trying to make a comeback, however the enduro season doesnt really get going for a while yet for me.....And it been a LONG 6 months of just screwing around and having fun in the off season. So I needed something to spark me to get off my ass and do some training. I do a little bit of road bike training for enduro, but like 1 day a week at best and just sprints. I havent done my regular XC routine in a REALLY long time. I also now own 4 full suspension bikes now...The scalpel is my LEAST favorite and least fun to ride. Going back to this bike with 100mm of travel and skinny tires....man, it goes fast uphill, but the rest of the time, it can be scary.
Anyway, so the Ringwood rumble.
I wanted to do jungle first but I wasnt racing in that mess for a number of reasons. But we had some nice weather this week, so i took the road bike off the trainer....took the scalpel off the hook and had a solid week of training rides. My power numbers are still "there" but as I always tell people...Its not the power NUMBER that made me better or faster over the years....in fact, if you go back 10 years in this thread, but power NUMBER never really changed much. It was 1. my weight 2. my ability to HOLD that power number for longer periods of time...or in the case of an XC race...make ??? 50 500w burst instead of 30???. And thats really where I made my best gains, still having juice with 30min left in the race.
The loop is 12.5 miles, 1 lap, I think it was like ~1800ft of climbing and man, 200% of it on blown out fire roads. Almost the same loop as my last year in 2019 which I did in 1:18min, so not too long. Outside of the skylands trail, not very technical either....omg, the first climb though, according to strava from my 19 race was a full 18min at race pace
So the start is much nicer than i remember pro being....make the turn, start climbing and i feel like my old self powering past people on the climb. This long climb is broken up by about a 90 second fire road descent that is in every ringwood race.....I hit this hard, pass a couple of people, pull up behind mancuso then take the snotty line and pass him and another guy. My ability to go fast on downhills has much improved in the past couple of years, I ill certainly need that today. So then we start climbing again, I pass Dave Kahl and a bunch of the 19+ class thru blueberry. Then we keep going up and up and steve passes me back again....were in 3rd/4th.
Eventually we get to the white trail DH....I thought about passing steve and running it flat out, but its a long race and im sure im going to blow up at some point....so I just sit behind him and catch my breath. I can see that i can easily keep pace with steve on the DHs, so with some huge climbs coming up...i figured id try to stay with him and hopefully have a chance to pass him on the descent back to the start/finish. We get to the new 6 bridges area and the red chunky fire road DH that follows....ok, this is where I just let off the brakes and went flying by steve.....I figured he would repass me on the long climb back to white...he did not....Then I made a little time on the white trail down.....after that tho is the LONG climb back up to the top where skylands starts....this is a brutal fire road and I really gave it a huge effort.....Next was the skylands trail and wow, did I fall off the map in a hurry. I had to let steve by and my legs were informing me that plutonium levels were now exhausted. So I gave it what I had to the finish, but I ended up losing another spot to Dave kahl to finish in 5th. lol...wow...I haven't made an effort like that in all of 3 years and it was quite ouchie. Funny, I did a 1 mile longer course, 4min faster than I did in 2019...go figure.
It was about what i expected....the structure is still there, but roof leaks, and it needs paint. This is where the lack of training shows up, my ability to hold the effort longer. But I have never had a great first race of the season....in fact, I always find its more motivating to me to have a less satisfying result. But it was good, hurt like hell.
I had to go back 10 pages or so to find the last XC race that I had done....Just shy of 3 years ago. Dam...the things that a worldwide pandemic and enduro racing will do to your XC career. Anyway...No, im not trying to make a comeback, however the enduro season doesnt really get going for a while yet for me.....And it been a LONG 6 months of just screwing around and having fun in the off season. So I needed something to spark me to get off my ass and do some training. I do a little bit of road bike training for enduro, but like 1 day a week at best and just sprints. I havent done my regular XC routine in a REALLY long time. I also now own 4 full suspension bikes now...The scalpel is my LEAST favorite and least fun to ride. Going back to this bike with 100mm of travel and skinny tires....man, it goes fast uphill, but the rest of the time, it can be scary.
Anyway, so the Ringwood rumble.
I wanted to do jungle first but I wasnt racing in that mess for a number of reasons. But we had some nice weather this week, so i took the road bike off the trainer....took the scalpel off the hook and had a solid week of training rides. My power numbers are still "there" but as I always tell people...Its not the power NUMBER that made me better or faster over the years....in fact, if you go back 10 years in this thread, but power NUMBER never really changed much. It was 1. my weight 2. my ability to HOLD that power number for longer periods of time...or in the case of an XC race...make ??? 50 500w burst instead of 30???. And thats really where I made my best gains, still having juice with 30min left in the race.
The loop is 12.5 miles, 1 lap, I think it was like ~1800ft of climbing and man, 200% of it on blown out fire roads. Almost the same loop as my last year in 2019 which I did in 1:18min, so not too long. Outside of the skylands trail, not very technical either....omg, the first climb though, according to strava from my 19 race was a full 18min at race pace
So the start is much nicer than i remember pro being....make the turn, start climbing and i feel like my old self powering past people on the climb. This long climb is broken up by about a 90 second fire road descent that is in every ringwood race.....I hit this hard, pass a couple of people, pull up behind mancuso then take the snotty line and pass him and another guy. My ability to go fast on downhills has much improved in the past couple of years, I ill certainly need that today. So then we start climbing again, I pass Dave Kahl and a bunch of the 19+ class thru blueberry. Then we keep going up and up and steve passes me back again....were in 3rd/4th.
Eventually we get to the white trail DH....I thought about passing steve and running it flat out, but its a long race and im sure im going to blow up at some point....so I just sit behind him and catch my breath. I can see that i can easily keep pace with steve on the DHs, so with some huge climbs coming up...i figured id try to stay with him and hopefully have a chance to pass him on the descent back to the start/finish. We get to the new 6 bridges area and the red chunky fire road DH that follows....ok, this is where I just let off the brakes and went flying by steve.....I figured he would repass me on the long climb back to white...he did not....Then I made a little time on the white trail down.....after that tho is the LONG climb back up to the top where skylands starts....this is a brutal fire road and I really gave it a huge effort.....Next was the skylands trail and wow, did I fall off the map in a hurry. I had to let steve by and my legs were informing me that plutonium levels were now exhausted. So I gave it what I had to the finish, but I ended up losing another spot to Dave kahl to finish in 5th. lol...wow...I haven't made an effort like that in all of 3 years and it was quite ouchie. Funny, I did a 1 mile longer course, 4min faster than I did in 2019...go figure.
It was about what i expected....the structure is still there, but roof leaks, and it needs paint. This is where the lack of training shows up, my ability to hold the effort longer. But I have never had a great first race of the season....in fact, I always find its more motivating to me to have a less satisfying result. But it was good, hurt like hell.
As I told you today...at some point I thought about you doing 3 or 4 laps of this course and omg....FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK that!!!! lol. Nice work out there
Iron Furnace, express version...
So I couldnt make the pounding peter race last week since it was my sons bday party....but I really hate passing up a waywayanda race. This format being pick whatever you want...13mile, 26 miles, or 40+ miles.....I guess if I was seriously into XC still I would have taken the 2 lap version....I have done the BS50 twice and that is just more suffering than im interested in anymore...im glad I did it, but I checked that box and I have no interest in doing it again. IF50k I have done 3 times, also fun.....But this year im just trying to get 90 min or so of intense efforts as we head into June and I start doing enduros. With that in mind, I just did 1 lap...plus I did actually have to be home by 12:30 yesterday as my wife had to go to work. I actually considered signing up for the 3 lap, doing 1 hard lap and then bailing, but that sounded like bad form when I thought about it, so I just went with the 1 lap race.
Course was really fun....long fire road climb up laurel pond to start....ok, well this climb sucks, but nice to get it out of the way right off the bat. Then red dot out to plymouth, and back to nature jims....then a bunch of single track....fishermans, pickle, up old coal to rattlesnake, finish with south end and sitting bear. Good course.
So at the start I noticed a few guys who were dressed like they were here for an XC race with fancy xc bikes, while most everyone else in more casual attire. At the start, 3 of them just blasted off....like GONE....I mean I dont think i sprint that hard in an enduro race lol. By the time we got to the first hill they were so far ahead of me that I could barely see them. I know that it takes me a good 10min or so to get my engine working properly, so I just hung back and kept my pace where I liked it. As we were getting to the top of the first climb, maybe 5 or so min in....I could see that the two of them were other of the saddle attacking each other. Passing back and forth. In my mind I was thinking....they are going to kill each other and they dont notice me back here....This is good. At the end of laurel pond we hit cherry ridge and make a right down the hill towards green.....as im coming around the turn on the downhill i am presented with a KTM dirtbike coming the other way.....I lock up my brakes and just barely missed having a head on with him.....Its a good thing he had his engine running bc I SCREAMED every F bomb under the sun in his face. Anyway....that jolted me for a minute, but also got me FUMING angry and I can pedal so much harder when im pissed off. So they really dropped the hammer on the downhills and they were gone and out of site by the time we got to the two small bridges on green......as we started up the series of climbs on I started seeing them again...still out of the saddle passing back and forth....I inched closer and caught the 2nd place climb at the base of the steep climb....passed him...now I was REALLY feeling good....Caught the leader at the top of that climb then followed him on that fun red dot descent......good rider and we ripped down that hill....I chatted with him for a bit as we start the long climb before nature jims bridge....Made my way around about half way and then dropped the hammer to get out of site as quickly as possible. Nature jims bridge is tricky, as I cleaned all but the very last 10ft of it where there now seems to be some giant holes.
Rest of the race I just kept the pace as hard as i could...thinking to myself..."maybe I can have the fastest lap on the day?"....I never feel confident that the person I passed isnt going to come back, so I never ease up. My stupid POS hrm strap never seems to work and while this info is useless during a race....I enjoy watching it like im looking at gauges on a race car....whatever, it keeps me entertained for some stupid reason. It was just stuck at 73 for most of the race and I was really annoyed. By the time I got to fishermans I feeling really good. I dont ride the scalpel all that much anymore so it takes me some time before I feel like I can go fast and not die on it. I got to sitting bear thinking....maybe I can make this my fastest run thru here ever....felt great and kept on the gas right to the finish line. I didnt get to see the results before I left, but I think I won comfortably. It was super fun, got the effort I was looking for....I LOVE racing wayway....got to chat with a bunch of my old XC friends....the black bear crew did a great job with the course and this wooden plaque it really neat.
I ran home right after, then took my son to lewis morris....I bet him $10 that he couldnt make every climb on the old race course....once of those bets I hoped I would lose. He proceeded to do this with ease...really stoked to see that. So in all it was a great day.
So I couldnt make the pounding peter race last week since it was my sons bday party....but I really hate passing up a waywayanda race. This format being pick whatever you want...13mile, 26 miles, or 40+ miles.....I guess if I was seriously into XC still I would have taken the 2 lap version....I have done the BS50 twice and that is just more suffering than im interested in anymore...im glad I did it, but I checked that box and I have no interest in doing it again. IF50k I have done 3 times, also fun.....But this year im just trying to get 90 min or so of intense efforts as we head into June and I start doing enduros. With that in mind, I just did 1 lap...plus I did actually have to be home by 12:30 yesterday as my wife had to go to work. I actually considered signing up for the 3 lap, doing 1 hard lap and then bailing, but that sounded like bad form when I thought about it, so I just went with the 1 lap race.
Course was really fun....long fire road climb up laurel pond to start....ok, well this climb sucks, but nice to get it out of the way right off the bat. Then red dot out to plymouth, and back to nature jims....then a bunch of single track....fishermans, pickle, up old coal to rattlesnake, finish with south end and sitting bear. Good course.
So at the start I noticed a few guys who were dressed like they were here for an XC race with fancy xc bikes, while most everyone else in more casual attire. At the start, 3 of them just blasted off....like GONE....I mean I dont think i sprint that hard in an enduro race lol. By the time we got to the first hill they were so far ahead of me that I could barely see them. I know that it takes me a good 10min or so to get my engine working properly, so I just hung back and kept my pace where I liked it. As we were getting to the top of the first climb, maybe 5 or so min in....I could see that the two of them were other of the saddle attacking each other. Passing back and forth. In my mind I was thinking....they are going to kill each other and they dont notice me back here....This is good. At the end of laurel pond we hit cherry ridge and make a right down the hill towards green.....as im coming around the turn on the downhill i am presented with a KTM dirtbike coming the other way.....I lock up my brakes and just barely missed having a head on with him.....Its a good thing he had his engine running bc I SCREAMED every F bomb under the sun in his face. Anyway....that jolted me for a minute, but also got me FUMING angry and I can pedal so much harder when im pissed off. So they really dropped the hammer on the downhills and they were gone and out of site by the time we got to the two small bridges on green......as we started up the series of climbs on I started seeing them again...still out of the saddle passing back and forth....I inched closer and caught the 2nd place climb at the base of the steep climb....passed him...now I was REALLY feeling good....Caught the leader at the top of that climb then followed him on that fun red dot descent......good rider and we ripped down that hill....I chatted with him for a bit as we start the long climb before nature jims bridge....Made my way around about half way and then dropped the hammer to get out of site as quickly as possible. Nature jims bridge is tricky, as I cleaned all but the very last 10ft of it where there now seems to be some giant holes.
Rest of the race I just kept the pace as hard as i could...thinking to myself..."maybe I can have the fastest lap on the day?"....I never feel confident that the person I passed isnt going to come back, so I never ease up. My stupid POS hrm strap never seems to work and while this info is useless during a race....I enjoy watching it like im looking at gauges on a race car....whatever, it keeps me entertained for some stupid reason. It was just stuck at 73 for most of the race and I was really annoyed. By the time I got to fishermans I feeling really good. I dont ride the scalpel all that much anymore so it takes me some time before I feel like I can go fast and not die on it. I got to sitting bear thinking....maybe I can make this my fastest run thru here ever....felt great and kept on the gas right to the finish line. I didnt get to see the results before I left, but I think I won comfortably. It was super fun, got the effort I was looking for....I LOVE racing wayway....got to chat with a bunch of my old XC friends....the black bear crew did a great job with the course and this wooden plaque it really neat.
I ran home right after, then took my son to lewis morris....I bet him $10 that he couldnt make every climb on the old race course....once of those bets I hoped I would lose. He proceeded to do this with ease...really stoked to see that. So in all it was a great day.
Finally, its June and im racing Enduros.
Its been a LONG off season of waiting around, playing with my new toys and getting ready for this day. I dont think I officially made a post about it, but I did buy myself a new bike specifically for enduro racing.....Because why not? more bikes! My bronson is a GREAT bike, and I love it and not planning on selling it. But there are areas where it held me and my level of skill back last year. Its super fun/playfull, turns great but I always feel like at high speeds it a bit unstable. So I got my 2022 Pivot firebird...more wheel, more travel, more orange.
So unlike my bronson which I hopped on and was instantly at home with....this bike is all together different. It took a good couple of months of changing every setting on everything to truly get it dialed. I think I finally have it right now, but my confidence in fox forks has long since left me. But just about any fast time I set in strava with my bronson, I have now topped with this bike
The race: ESC glen park Enduro. This was the race I did last year with the famous "meat report". One of the greatest mountain bike videos I have ever seen. I got word that these are now banned...what a shame. Well no matter, the old meat report line from last year was thoroughly sanitized so there really wasnt meat left anyway. I did a few pre rides during the week as my best tool for enduro is preparation. What I lack in skill I try to make up in studying and homework. One ride was with @Kev and Ethan who is probably not on the board...not sure...But holy hell, im going to say that was the fastest I ever rode there.....Funny, coming from XC...kids are slow, old people are fast....In enduro...Kids go mach 5, move and jump like house flies, and old people are suddenly more careful lol. Then I rode Friday with @Meatball Mia....little more saturday with the OTBNJ crew again....So I felt like i did all of my homework. If the course is close enough and its possible...I want to put the time in, so on race day, its just automatic
Sunday was alot of waiting and chatting like most ESC races....headed up the mountain with @Sevenz and we got on line for stage 1. Weather was perfect on sunday and unlike last year we were cooking in the hot sun. Stage 1 is simple enough...no jumps of notes, couple of short steep sections and a WHOLE lot of turns. I dont think you go straight for very long at glen park. Im usually good at fouling up something on stage 1 as it takes a little time to get my brain running full speed, but I got thru everything really clean, albeit maybe a little slower then I would have liked. I think I was expecting it to be more slick, and it was grippy.
Stage 2: this is the longest stage...it has the most pedaling....i guess it feels pedaly for glen park, but its really not much....most of it lets say "trends" downhill...there was one short piece that was barely uphill...maybe about 20 seconds of hard pedaling. For me, I pedal every chance I get...this is where the Firebird is much improved over the Bronson. The bronson is not good if you have to sit on it and pedal while you are going fast.....I almost never did it...I would always be out of the saddle. After a minute of standing and sprinting...popping the dropper back up, sitting down and powering thru a little hill felt SOOOO much better with the new bike. After the hill you head down somemore steeps and tight turns...felt like I hit everything clean
Stage 3: this one is the gully jumps as i like to call it. After some pedaling at the top....its something like...in the gully, jump out, jump into the next one, jump out, right turn, rock jump, into the gully, back out, hard right, back into the gully, big wall of a jump on your way out......this line has been in every race and I can do it well not blindfolded...but maybe with my goggles foggy or something. Really fun stage, almost all down hill and all fast.
Stage 4: Couple things I remember....There is a giant boulder that has a line thru it, or there is a line around it. @Meatball Mia and I pre rode it and after a few tries, I thought the way around would be faster. Then I went back the following day and did this again with @Kev and the OTB boys....changed my mind and thought thru the rock would be faster....I dont like thinking about this stuff too much....just pick one and do it quickly. In the race I literally decided which way I was going to go about 3 seconds before I hit the rock.....and it was probably target fixation. Anyway, then there are some tight steep turns and eventually you get over to the fun double jumps and the meat report line. Got thru all of that pretty clean.
Last stage was really simple....tight switchbacks, rock garden, long fire road decent to the finish. Its a fun stage, pretty simple....the rock garden isnt very hard, but its also easy to go FLYING into it, lose your line and make a mistake. I nailed the line...which usually makes me say to myself: "you probably should have went faster" Finished the stage and as I was waiting for Rob to come thru I noticed my rear tire was suddenly flat. It made it thru the stage and went flat as I was waiting...that to me is like the perfect day lol.
Aforementioned rock garden....
Turned in my chip and waited around for MANY hours with Mia, Kev and rest of the scene. Its a good thing that the scene at an enduro is generally pretty fun, but you will be waiting around alot at an ESC. The only drawback. Turned out I finished 5th of 40 in my class....Very happy with that...considering the competition, I think it was by far my best effort...my first ESC podium, so that was good....when i look back at the results, sometimes it gets maddening of what a second here or there can do for you...
I like to think that at 45...ill probably never get the bigger jumps down well enough to feel good about doing them at race pace...and I am just not agile like some of the young kids....but to me, you can work around these things with good fitness, pedaling whenever possible, some preparation, riding VERY clean and not making mistakes. But whereas XC I just kept getting stronger, or able to hold the effort longer....thinking about myself ever getting fast enough to race pro esc....doesnt seem likely, but ill keep working at it. Enduro is FUN to work at.
Great seeing Mia get 2nd, but now in the pro ranks....and Kev got himself on the podium too...and only beat me by ~ 5-6 seconds...and hes like 20 years younger than me......I like to call that: "not bad for an old fat man"
Its been a LONG off season of waiting around, playing with my new toys and getting ready for this day. I dont think I officially made a post about it, but I did buy myself a new bike specifically for enduro racing.....Because why not? more bikes! My bronson is a GREAT bike, and I love it and not planning on selling it. But there are areas where it held me and my level of skill back last year. Its super fun/playfull, turns great but I always feel like at high speeds it a bit unstable. So I got my 2022 Pivot firebird...more wheel, more travel, more orange.
So unlike my bronson which I hopped on and was instantly at home with....this bike is all together different. It took a good couple of months of changing every setting on everything to truly get it dialed. I think I finally have it right now, but my confidence in fox forks has long since left me. But just about any fast time I set in strava with my bronson, I have now topped with this bike
The race: ESC glen park Enduro. This was the race I did last year with the famous "meat report". One of the greatest mountain bike videos I have ever seen. I got word that these are now banned...what a shame. Well no matter, the old meat report line from last year was thoroughly sanitized so there really wasnt meat left anyway. I did a few pre rides during the week as my best tool for enduro is preparation. What I lack in skill I try to make up in studying and homework. One ride was with @Kev and Ethan who is probably not on the board...not sure...But holy hell, im going to say that was the fastest I ever rode there.....Funny, coming from XC...kids are slow, old people are fast....In enduro...Kids go mach 5, move and jump like house flies, and old people are suddenly more careful lol. Then I rode Friday with @Meatball Mia....little more saturday with the OTBNJ crew again....So I felt like i did all of my homework. If the course is close enough and its possible...I want to put the time in, so on race day, its just automatic
Sunday was alot of waiting and chatting like most ESC races....headed up the mountain with @Sevenz and we got on line for stage 1. Weather was perfect on sunday and unlike last year we were cooking in the hot sun. Stage 1 is simple enough...no jumps of notes, couple of short steep sections and a WHOLE lot of turns. I dont think you go straight for very long at glen park. Im usually good at fouling up something on stage 1 as it takes a little time to get my brain running full speed, but I got thru everything really clean, albeit maybe a little slower then I would have liked. I think I was expecting it to be more slick, and it was grippy.
Stage 2: this is the longest stage...it has the most pedaling....i guess it feels pedaly for glen park, but its really not much....most of it lets say "trends" downhill...there was one short piece that was barely uphill...maybe about 20 seconds of hard pedaling. For me, I pedal every chance I get...this is where the Firebird is much improved over the Bronson. The bronson is not good if you have to sit on it and pedal while you are going fast.....I almost never did it...I would always be out of the saddle. After a minute of standing and sprinting...popping the dropper back up, sitting down and powering thru a little hill felt SOOOO much better with the new bike. After the hill you head down somemore steeps and tight turns...felt like I hit everything clean
Stage 3: this one is the gully jumps as i like to call it. After some pedaling at the top....its something like...in the gully, jump out, jump into the next one, jump out, right turn, rock jump, into the gully, back out, hard right, back into the gully, big wall of a jump on your way out......this line has been in every race and I can do it well not blindfolded...but maybe with my goggles foggy or something. Really fun stage, almost all down hill and all fast.
Stage 4: Couple things I remember....There is a giant boulder that has a line thru it, or there is a line around it. @Meatball Mia and I pre rode it and after a few tries, I thought the way around would be faster. Then I went back the following day and did this again with @Kev and the OTB boys....changed my mind and thought thru the rock would be faster....I dont like thinking about this stuff too much....just pick one and do it quickly. In the race I literally decided which way I was going to go about 3 seconds before I hit the rock.....and it was probably target fixation. Anyway, then there are some tight steep turns and eventually you get over to the fun double jumps and the meat report line. Got thru all of that pretty clean.
Last stage was really simple....tight switchbacks, rock garden, long fire road decent to the finish. Its a fun stage, pretty simple....the rock garden isnt very hard, but its also easy to go FLYING into it, lose your line and make a mistake. I nailed the line...which usually makes me say to myself: "you probably should have went faster" Finished the stage and as I was waiting for Rob to come thru I noticed my rear tire was suddenly flat. It made it thru the stage and went flat as I was waiting...that to me is like the perfect day lol.
Aforementioned rock garden....
Turned in my chip and waited around for MANY hours with Mia, Kev and rest of the scene. Its a good thing that the scene at an enduro is generally pretty fun, but you will be waiting around alot at an ESC. The only drawback. Turned out I finished 5th of 40 in my class....Very happy with that...considering the competition, I think it was by far my best effort...my first ESC podium, so that was good....when i look back at the results, sometimes it gets maddening of what a second here or there can do for you...
I like to think that at 45...ill probably never get the bigger jumps down well enough to feel good about doing them at race pace...and I am just not agile like some of the young kids....but to me, you can work around these things with good fitness, pedaling whenever possible, some preparation, riding VERY clean and not making mistakes. But whereas XC I just kept getting stronger, or able to hold the effort longer....thinking about myself ever getting fast enough to race pro esc....doesnt seem likely, but ill keep working at it. Enduro is FUN to work at.
Great seeing Mia get 2nd, but now in the pro ranks....and Kev got himself on the podium too...and only beat me by ~ 5-6 seconds...and hes like 20 years younger than me......I like to call that: "not bad for an old fat man"
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ChrisG
Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
Always enjoy your race reports. It’s great to see you getting solid results and having a good time doing it.
The enduro thing has definitely caught my attention in the past few years, but I’ve got some work to do before I give it a try. Maybe a MASS event this fall, if things go well.
The enduro thing has definitely caught my attention in the past few years, but I’ve got some work to do before I give it a try. Maybe a MASS event this fall, if things go well.
you should for sure...Steel city and Glen park are not technical courses....and while yes, with speed everything gets more technical.. but they are nothing like Creek where it was sketch city.
Oh look, there is a little video clip of that rock I was talking about on stage 4....this is the line over/thru it as opposed to around it
This is my THIRD spring for this bike, don't even get me started on buying more. Fox SLS springs are $$$$$
Truth , Especially when dealing with fox garbage.
I know I should probably just go buy the mezzer now, I cant really knock the rear shock yet. OH OH and I forgot to add this to my recap.
So as I have mentioned, this firebird is like LIGHT years better as a platform for pedaling thn my bronson and I think it was pretty helpful on sunday. However, on 3 occasions that I can remember, my nearly new fox factory dropper post got stuck in the down position and wouldn't come back up. This is after i re checked the torque on the clamp, the air pressure and oiled it......Its like every fucking this fox makes lately has gone to shit.
Other side note from the race....my first enduro with axs...man what a difference. So many times I found that ease of shifting really helpful....or being able to just hold down the button and sweep thru the gears.
JDurk
Well-Known Member
The Fox Transfer Performance dropper on my Trail 429 has been getting stuck in the down position too, however it hasn't occurred while riding. If I drop it to put on the hitch rack next to another bike, it will remain in the down position occasionally. A couple squeezes of the lever, and a tap to the saddle, it will pop up with force.
I have a PNW Loam and Thomson Covert available as backup.
Soundguy
#SenditGuy
The Transfer on my Evil will stick a little at the beginning of a ride or when I haven’t used it for a while, but it’s always fine after I cycle it up and down a few times. Maybe since yours is brand new it needs to break in a little? You probably checked this already but a few more psi might give it that extra oompf.
MTBNJAM
Hey we did a thing. It wasn't a race...was it a festival? How about a congregation? Maybe a gala?
Anyway, I really liked the change from our typical XC race format gathering.....Im not against doing an XC again race persay, but im just not a fan of doing it cookie cutter style. I like it better when we control all aspects. Where I can say to @Norm "im spending money, buying a freezer on craigslist, then serving ice cream!" We have some super talented people on the team and its awesome when we can do something that highlights their talents....Like @capedoc making us cool logos, or @rottin' @pooriggy and many others making handmade trophies, @jmanic on the grille, @Mitch being @Mitch, @Meatball Mia baking cookies, etc etc..... It just gets us together and working really hard to make something that doesn't suck. I feel like as a team, we take pride in the product that we put out.
For me...Myself, @extremedave and @shrpshtr325 were tasked with the enduro...Not sure how it became "beat Utahs time" but thats cool, im game for the beatdown....So while I have done many enduro races, I have never run, or timed one. I felt like the old downhill from the XC race course would be the perfect fit for this day...Its close to the camp, its fun, but not overly technical....ok, probably a little more pedaly than a GREAT enduro run, but whatever...always has to be some compromise. For the timing...Someone I know from the enduro races (Colby) told me how he uses stopwatches to do his weekly training enduro races. Seemed simple enough for a single stage race. We needed radios, a laptop, couple of stop watches, paper and pens...Coyote needed to mod his radios with longer antennas, but he got that working....Dave remembered all of the little details like paper and pen, which I would have forgotten....We went thru everything and felt like we had all of the details covered.
The race:
So after sweating bullets all morning about this....and man was I a wreck...As I say to people all the time...There are TWO rules of a bike race that can never, ever be violated.
1. There must be a course that can be followed 2. there must be a result. If either of those rules get broken, well your race has failed. So making sure we didnt screw up the timing was causing me some stress. Anyway...I got to the top...coyote got himself all set up down the bottom, stopwatches synced and it was time to throw down. Now according to strava, since 2015 when we starting putting on mooch maddness XC race...I have down that downhill over 30 times! So I know it really well, which helps...but there is also a fair amount of pedaling in this segment and thats also super important.....and with @DanBrodeen Johnny G @Kev Jeremy Fehey and @Meatball Mia in this race.....you can bet I was using every last watt my legs could put out. It was BONE dry which was perfect, I really hit all of the lines spot on...and MAN, I pedaled my ass off. When I crossed that line, I dam near fell over. That was everything, the kitchen sink, floor tiles and cabinets. So coyote told me 4:17 which was about 10 sec faster than I did it Friday morning when it was wet after the rain the night before. OK now the fun was over....
We next sent @graveyardman67 and when he came thru coyote plugged in his time and it came out 2min slower than mine.....Im like???? no way...Hey Bills getting old, but not THAT old 😁. So it turned out the stop watch on @extremedave s phone had some setting where it was comparing bills time to mine (he can explain)....the short of it...we fucked up Bills time, but thankfully this caused Dave to find the issue before anyone else raced. So Bill got screwed on the scoring sheet, but his real time was ~4:25...Anyway, that was Mike Tyson 101....we had a plan, we got punched in the face...but we fixed it. Then the race started....I was calling out to coyote when the racers would cross the line....Between this and taking the starting times from dave over the radio, he quickly started getting overwhelmed....So then I took over the stop watch and finish line duties and he handled the starting info. This worked out great and we finished the rest of the race without issue. I wont lie, it was stressful....I have never done scoring and by the end I wanted to smoke a pound of weed lol. Somewhere in the middle of the race, I see a little kid coming down the course...im like..wait..THATS ROBERT...how the hell did he get on the course???? Turns out my wife brought him to the top and he proceeded to ride the run....He tells me he cleaned the whole thing...Now he is as big of a bullshitter as his old man is, so I dont know....but ill say...seeing him come thru there, super happy...that was truly the highlight of my day.
So, by some miracle....nobody beat my time! I managed to just eeek out Kevin, Dan, Johnny and young skywalker...big thanks to my legs and those uphills/flats...bc I have beaten these guys exactly 0 times in a real enduro. Ok what was written on the trophies would make no sense with my winning, so we tweaked that a bit and moved me to 4th...but all good as I wanted everyone to get a shot at one of @rottin' s awesome trophies...and also thanks to Coyote for making the plaques on them.
OK so then I ate some lunch and joined @JimN @jimvreeland Dan, Kevin, Mia, Johnny and a couple others whose names are escaping me for the afternoon advanced ride. Jim made us climb cardiac and while im used to doing stupid climbs with him now...I was reminded how in ~2011 we put that uphill in an xc race...lol, long before the invention of the 12 speed cassette. We then hit rollie and eventually checked out a roller than I havent yet done. As most of us we eyeing it up, @Kev just goes full send and made it look easy. Johnny and Kevins friend hit it, but I decided not to....I think ill get that one, but saturday was SUCH a good day...I decided to not end it in the hospital. After that we headed back then @Meatball Mia offered to help me with the shit detail...which is unmarking/cleanup of the course. This is no fun and usually everyone is shot...so its nice to have someone to help....Huge shot out to this kid...Helped us with marking, baked like 400 cookies, brought bagels, swept the morning group ride, kicked ass in the enduro, rode the afternoon ride with us, then helped me clean up.....That list would most likely exceed every useful thing I accomplished for the full year I was 18.
Ok, thats as much blathering as I wanted to do today...Thanks everyone for coming out and we'll see you next year I hope.
Hey we did a thing. It wasn't a race...was it a festival? How about a congregation? Maybe a gala?
Anyway, I really liked the change from our typical XC race format gathering.....Im not against doing an XC again race persay, but im just not a fan of doing it cookie cutter style. I like it better when we control all aspects. Where I can say to @Norm "im spending money, buying a freezer on craigslist, then serving ice cream!" We have some super talented people on the team and its awesome when we can do something that highlights their talents....Like @capedoc making us cool logos, or @rottin' @pooriggy and many others making handmade trophies, @jmanic on the grille, @Mitch being @Mitch, @Meatball Mia baking cookies, etc etc..... It just gets us together and working really hard to make something that doesn't suck. I feel like as a team, we take pride in the product that we put out.
For me...Myself, @extremedave and @shrpshtr325 were tasked with the enduro...Not sure how it became "beat Utahs time" but thats cool, im game for the beatdown....So while I have done many enduro races, I have never run, or timed one. I felt like the old downhill from the XC race course would be the perfect fit for this day...Its close to the camp, its fun, but not overly technical....ok, probably a little more pedaly than a GREAT enduro run, but whatever...always has to be some compromise. For the timing...Someone I know from the enduro races (Colby) told me how he uses stopwatches to do his weekly training enduro races. Seemed simple enough for a single stage race. We needed radios, a laptop, couple of stop watches, paper and pens...Coyote needed to mod his radios with longer antennas, but he got that working....Dave remembered all of the little details like paper and pen, which I would have forgotten....We went thru everything and felt like we had all of the details covered.
The race:
So after sweating bullets all morning about this....and man was I a wreck...As I say to people all the time...There are TWO rules of a bike race that can never, ever be violated.
1. There must be a course that can be followed 2. there must be a result. If either of those rules get broken, well your race has failed. So making sure we didnt screw up the timing was causing me some stress. Anyway...I got to the top...coyote got himself all set up down the bottom, stopwatches synced and it was time to throw down. Now according to strava, since 2015 when we starting putting on mooch maddness XC race...I have down that downhill over 30 times! So I know it really well, which helps...but there is also a fair amount of pedaling in this segment and thats also super important.....and with @DanBrodeen Johnny G @Kev Jeremy Fehey and @Meatball Mia in this race.....you can bet I was using every last watt my legs could put out. It was BONE dry which was perfect, I really hit all of the lines spot on...and MAN, I pedaled my ass off. When I crossed that line, I dam near fell over. That was everything, the kitchen sink, floor tiles and cabinets. So coyote told me 4:17 which was about 10 sec faster than I did it Friday morning when it was wet after the rain the night before. OK now the fun was over....
We next sent @graveyardman67 and when he came thru coyote plugged in his time and it came out 2min slower than mine.....Im like???? no way...Hey Bills getting old, but not THAT old 😁. So it turned out the stop watch on @extremedave s phone had some setting where it was comparing bills time to mine (he can explain)....the short of it...we fucked up Bills time, but thankfully this caused Dave to find the issue before anyone else raced. So Bill got screwed on the scoring sheet, but his real time was ~4:25...Anyway, that was Mike Tyson 101....we had a plan, we got punched in the face...but we fixed it. Then the race started....I was calling out to coyote when the racers would cross the line....Between this and taking the starting times from dave over the radio, he quickly started getting overwhelmed....So then I took over the stop watch and finish line duties and he handled the starting info. This worked out great and we finished the rest of the race without issue. I wont lie, it was stressful....I have never done scoring and by the end I wanted to smoke a pound of weed lol. Somewhere in the middle of the race, I see a little kid coming down the course...im like..wait..THATS ROBERT...how the hell did he get on the course???? Turns out my wife brought him to the top and he proceeded to ride the run....He tells me he cleaned the whole thing...Now he is as big of a bullshitter as his old man is, so I dont know....but ill say...seeing him come thru there, super happy...that was truly the highlight of my day.
So, by some miracle....nobody beat my time! I managed to just eeek out Kevin, Dan, Johnny and young skywalker...big thanks to my legs and those uphills/flats...bc I have beaten these guys exactly 0 times in a real enduro. Ok what was written on the trophies would make no sense with my winning, so we tweaked that a bit and moved me to 4th...but all good as I wanted everyone to get a shot at one of @rottin' s awesome trophies...and also thanks to Coyote for making the plaques on them.
OK so then I ate some lunch and joined @JimN @jimvreeland Dan, Kevin, Mia, Johnny and a couple others whose names are escaping me for the afternoon advanced ride. Jim made us climb cardiac and while im used to doing stupid climbs with him now...I was reminded how in ~2011 we put that uphill in an xc race...lol, long before the invention of the 12 speed cassette. We then hit rollie and eventually checked out a roller than I havent yet done. As most of us we eyeing it up, @Kev just goes full send and made it look easy. Johnny and Kevins friend hit it, but I decided not to....I think ill get that one, but saturday was SUCH a good day...I decided to not end it in the hospital. After that we headed back then @Meatball Mia offered to help me with the shit detail...which is unmarking/cleanup of the course. This is no fun and usually everyone is shot...so its nice to have someone to help....Huge shot out to this kid...Helped us with marking, baked like 400 cookies, brought bagels, swept the morning group ride, kicked ass in the enduro, rode the afternoon ride with us, then helped me clean up.....That list would most likely exceed every useful thing I accomplished for the full year I was 18.
Ok, thats as much blathering as I wanted to do today...Thanks everyone for coming out and we'll see you next year I hope.
I don't want to call out the location specifically, but I'm curious roughly where that roller is. I did spot one over in that vicinity the last time that I rode there...looked fairly intimidating.