Welcome! The 2008 mtbnj.com Race Team!

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
well, after much fan fare, a lot of celebration and a little negotiation we are finally ready to announce the members of the 2008 mtbnj.com Race Team! in addition to announcing the team to you, we're also announcing the team to themselves. see, we've kept this little piece of information to ourselves in order to add to the mystery. aren't we just smitten with drama? :D

at any rate, we are simply thrilled to have this caliber of talent on our roster. we have a killer line-up of "home grown" riders that we feel represent both phenomenal talent and the type of attitude and vibe that we want mtbnj.com to be associated with. below, in their own words (and in no particular order), are their bios. we thought it would be best for the team to tell you about themselves...plus it's more interesting that way.

i'm sure all the team members will chime in on their own, but please take a minute to welcome them. we're really looking forward to the 2008 season...and hey...aren't some of these folks doing that 24 hours of Allamuchy thing this weekend? best of luck and once again...welcome.

ArmyOfNone:
Real world name: Fred Brown

Class: SS Sport
Town: North Brunswick
Strength: Crashing (I’m the best!)
Why I ride: To heal the world
What started me riding: A good friend of mine got me into it. But J was a huge influence and still continues to be.
Marital Status: Single (well technically)
What I wanted to be when I was a kid: A professional baseball player
Best idea of a good time: Riding bikes and Sex…Very Nice!
Favorite riding spots: Six Mile, Sourlands, Chimney Rock

ChrisG:
Real world name: Chris Gozick

From the beginning, riding has been about having fun. I pretty quickly discovered that going faster often led to more fun, and racing took that concept even further.
I’ve been riding the mtb since 1992, racing since 1993. The road bike entered the scene in 1995, with road racing starting pretty much immediately. Over all this time, I’ve done all sorts of events in the woods and on pavement, and my focus has shifted back and forth between the dirt and the road, but the fun factor has never been out of my sights.
Fifteen years in, I’m racing Expert in the woods and Category 3 on the road, and I’m more stoked about riding than ever. The bike keeps me fit, keeps the adrenaline flowing, has brought me many great friends and acquaintances. It’s impossible to quantify how important riding has been, and is, to me. I’m sure 2008 will be a continuation of all this- looking forward to seeing you out there.

Glancing Aft:
Real world name: Will Weismantel

MTBNJ: Glancing Aft
Age: 27
Race: Sport Cross Country (Geared)
Bio: I grew up mountain biking in Ringwood in the mid 90s, after way too long of a hiatus during college I got back into the sport last year. Last August I did my first ever mountain bike race, at non other than 24HOA, and finished 3rd place in the 4man Senior Team class. After that I started doing H2H Races in the fall and haven't stopped. Well, that is until this year's finals in Ringwood. I'm choosing going to the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado over racing in my home town, shame on me. As for my credentials, USA Cycling rates me as the number one Sport Class rider in my zip code. With Boonton Township's thriving race scene that must mean I'm good, or in practicality I'm the only racer. I usually finish H2H races near or close to the top 10 and I strive to do even better, maybe we'll even see me in expert soon enough.

normZurawski:
real world name: (Joe) Norm Zurawski

A little about who I am first. I'm married band have a 15 month old daughter. I'm a programmer by trade who commutes to the city every day. Interests other than biking include reading, writing, eating, and drinking. I have no cats. My real name is Joe. Norm is a nickname I acquired in college because I was a fat lard who could drink a lot.

As far as racing is concerned my resume is second to none. After starting my career as the 4th member of 4 man team at the 24HOA in 2005 it almost ended at 4:00 am in the rain as I swore never to do that stupid race again. In 2006 I did it solo where I cramped, and a few weeks later I added the All-a-Moochy 50k to the resume, a painful 5 hours and 23 minutes of it.

After that Earth shattering performance I was offered a spot on the EdgeCrusher racing team in 2007, the mountain bike racing arm of mighty p9 SportsGroup. In 2007 I took on the Granouge endurance race where I cramped, the Lewis Morris Challenge where I didn't, and the Rattling Creek 50 where 3 flats delivered me my very first DNF. The last 3 races of the season will be the Darkhorse 40, my third crack at the 24HOA race, once again solo, and my second shot at the 50k.

In 2008 I hope to do more of the same, just more of it, as a member of the MTBNJ team. I plan on bringing my mediocre skill set, over ambition, and astounding lack of preparedness to the table as forceful as ever in 2008, with plans of taking on an even broader array of big races that either break me or cause me to curse the sport and myself for participating in it. At the very least, I hope to entertain the MTBNJ readers with tales of adventure and mishap in 2008.

My best finish was a 12th at Granogue and my worst was a DNF at Rattling Creek, both in 2008. In general I find myself on the backside of the Bell Curve in most races. In 2008 the real aim is to push myself closer to the middle of that envelope and to have fun doing it. Everything else will fall where it may.

Maurice:
Real world name: Maurice Gamanho

I'm 35 years young, married with 3 kids, started riding MTB in the
summer of 2003 and started racing XC in 2004. My racing highlights are:
- 2004: Sport NJ State Champion 30-34
- 2005: Expert H2H (ex-NJ State) 3rd place overall 30-39 (1 win)
5th place overall All-A-Muchy on a singlespeed
- 2006: Expert H2H 1st place overall 30-39, (6 wins)
4th place overall All-A-Muchy
- 2007: Semi-pro
6th place finish at Greenbrier AMBC
2 top 5 finishes in regional races
10th place finish NMBS#5 Sugar Mountain
1st place Tour of High Bridge cat 4/5 (second road race)

I'd like to see how far I can go with this. I've only done 2 road races
so far so I'd like to step it up. Cyclo-cross looks exciting but...

I do TM whenever possible, and like to participate in group rides mostly
in the off season (for some reason people hate riding with me
in-season...). I can usually be found riding Round Valley and Chimney
Rock when I'm not commuting on my beater. And recently acquired a new
taste for road riding.

My current sponsors are Yeti, Fox Shox, Magura and CycleCraft.

Kirt:
Real world name: Kirt Mills

Race class: Sport Master
Age: 38
Results: 24 Hours of Allamuchy Corporate Champions 2006
24 Hours of Allamuchy 4 Person Team Master Champions 2005
Genesis 12 Hour Race Stewart, NY 4 Person Champions 2005
Genesis 12 Hour Race Wawaywanda, NJ 4 Person Champions 2005

I’ve been racing on and off for the last 3 years and have thought about joining a race team for some time. I was excited to be asked to join the newly created MTBNJ race team. My hope is that this will inspire and motivate me to do more of what I love, race mountain bikes. I’ve had some success racing in team events and hope to bring that success to racing as an individual. I began training more seriously this year and have improved my lifestyle, both of which I hope will translate into better results.
As for my non-biking life, I’m married and have 2 beautiful daughters (the latter my full time job) and enjoy spending all my non-biking time with my family. I don’t have any cats nor do I like them very much.

Graveyardman67
Real world name: Bill Christman

Race Class: Sport
1st Place Sport 40-49: 2007 Lewis Morris Challenge
My Dad, having been a semi-pro drag racer always encouraged me to go fast. My first bike was at age 3, it had an engine. I have always been on two wheels and to this day live under the curse of having only two speeds; on and off. As I learned in my teenage years it was too easy to go fast with a throttle. An injury to my Achilles tendon freshmen year in high school left me unable to participate in sports that required running. That led to a BMX racing career where I raced against the likes of now professional mtber Tinker Juarez and was schooled in the earliest days of the Woodward Camp.

Later I worked at Bicycle Tech in Lincoln Park and found mountain biking. I raced mountain bikes for quite awhile but over the last few years work, being a full time father and owning my own business had kept me from riding as much as I’d like. This year I made the commitment to do the Mt. Washington Hill Climb only to have the event first cancelled by rain then the horrific Mt. Washington winds. I decided that since I was back in pretty good shape I’d give the Lewis Morris Challenge a try. I was pretty happy with my results but I can always go faster. I may still race Ringwood this year but next year I’m planning on doing the entire H2H series as well as some other roadie stuff. I’m thrilled to be part of the mtbnj.com team and look forward to a great 2008.
 
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bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
One more thing!!

i ran out of room in the sticky, but this is equally important. as you can see, we have a killer line up...of dudes. what we want, what we need to round out our team are some women who truly rip. XC, DH whatever. we had a fantastic female rider lined up but due a "conflict" she is unable to fly the mtbnj.com flag. that said, if you know a woman rider that is intersted in wearing the mtbnj.com jersey please have her contact either myself or shaggz.
 
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DANSPANK

Guest
Congratulations guys? Good luck with the races next year!

But moderators, where are our lady flyers?
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Congratulations guys? Good luck with the races next year!

But moderators, where are our lady flyers?

Thanks!

Ah, the ladies, this is a great question. We had an ace, but in the end she wasn't able to swing the team for various reasons that were out of anyone's control. It was disappointing for sure.

As for going forward I would absolutely love to have some female teammates as teammates. As I was mentioning to both Jake and Steve, woman riders seem to be gobbled up fast by other teams. So we're really starting from the ground here and have to build it over time. As you can see, there's some awesome male talent not associated with any teams.
 

carabs

New Member
Congrats all! I'll definitely be following you guys (and maybe sooner than later) gals next year!
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Congratulations guys? Good luck with the races next year!

But moderators, where are our lady flyers?

dan-
like norm said, we had a great female rider lined up and we're really bummed that we weren't able to ultimately make it work with her. we still have at least one more in the pipeline, but that's no where near a lock. see my second post above.
 
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pdm362

Guest
Congrats

Good luck to the MTBNJ racing crew, make us proud. How do you become an MTBNJ racer? I've been MTBing for about a year and really interested in racing. any info would help thanks.

Paul
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
You guys couldn't find anyone to race in the endurance Unicycle class??
 
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Phatbiker

Guest
congratulations to all at MTBNJ. it's good to see all this activity coming from this site lately.

phat

p.s. can i race for you in the female catagory?
 

Shaggz

A strong 7
congratulations to all at MTBNJ. it's good to see all this activity coming from this site lately.

phat

p.s. can i race for you in the female catagory?

thanks! glad you noticed the changes over here ;)

Nice team good bunch of guys. Good Luck to ya:getsome:

thanks! BFJ has been putting a lot of effort into this. there is a lot in store for the '08 season, and we are fortunate to get this group together.
 
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Phatbiker

Guest
on a more serious note..keep up the awesome work and please let me know if i can ever be of any help.

nelson

okay..back to clowning around.. SURE! i'll race in kilt.. just don't ask me to go camando underneath!
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
thanks! BFJ has been putting a lot of effort into this. there is a lot in store for the '08 season, and we are fortunate to get this group together.

thanks steve, much appreciated. right now our two main sponsor shops are Cycle Works and Halters. in addition, we have one other non-biking sponsor in Feed Granola. they make killer stuff which you can check out here:

http://www.feedgranola.com/

on a more serious note..keep up the awesome work and please let me know if i can ever be of any help.

nelson

much appreciated nelson. dunno your background (only really met you once on the trail at mooch last year) but feel free to PM me.

okay..back to clowning around.. SURE! i'll race in kilt.. just don't ask me to go camando underneath!

oh god lord...i didn't need that visual. if you are going to do that, i insist that you carry at least a second camelbak of BagBalm. hey, that's a pretty fitting name! :D
 
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Phatbiker

Guest
my background? well, there's a wall, with a calendar, a phone list.. oh THE OTHER BACKGROUND..., i like bikes. all kinds of bikes.. been riding bikes a long time.. me likey bikes.. just let me know if i can every lead a ride or show you guys around the mooch or ringwood.

phat
 

Maurice

New Member
Props to you Jake for taking the time to do this.

You need to set up some sort of boot camp for the new recruits. I volunteer for hill climb drill sergeant ;)
 
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