For Havens Sake, Do the ride thing!!!

Wow, where to start.... over the past several months we have been following the story of Haven Fowler and her families struggles with her medical problems. Plesae visit Havens Blog for more details:

Havens Blog

So, riding home after a Tuesday ride a few weeks ago, someone made the suggestion of doing something for the family. They said, why don't we try to do a charity ride or something. Well, a few phone calls later... we have set up a full blown night time in Phoenix summertime mountain bike time trial and fun ride!! We have a ton of interest from everyone because the trails that we actually received permission to use... have not been open to legally night ride EVER!!!

We have also received a ton of support from different companies and local bike shops. We have items for raffles, beer from Ska Brewery, a sponsoring bike team, volunteers, the coolest awards ever, promoters helping out, a sweet website and flier set up, insurance for the event, and all the proper USCA permits/permission/etc..... holy crud a lot in a couple of weeks!!!

So, visit the event website, sign up on bikereg.org, sign up when you come out to the event, just come out and donate to a good cause!!!

For Havens Sake Website and Registration

Flagstaff Frenzy MBAA Race

We drove up to Flagstaff this weekend for the 7th race of the series... the Flagstaff Frenzy. The course had some of my favorite trails in Flag, a sweet rocky singletrack section and a fun swoopy downhill.

I arrived at the race and found Sarah and Zach. Zach was off to do some volunteer work so we hung around the "campfire" ring from the night before and waited for Sarah to get ready for her race. While we were sitting there, a forest ranger pulled up and gave us a hard time about having a fire (even though it was out and there from the night before) He was going to give us tickets for "tending" a campfire... even though it was out and I had just arrived 10 minutes prior! Sarah came to the rescue and talked him out of it!

Sarah Tearing up womens PRO Class!!

The women's race took off a couple of hours before the men's race, so I took pics and handed waterbottles off. During the women's race, there were all kinds of announcements about people that were on the course rerouting it, putting up wires across the trails, and basically doing what they could to derail the race. Some of the locals in Flag do not think the trails should be used for racing... and they were doing what they could to discourage the riders. About half of the women ended up getting lost and were not able to finish... bummer

Somewhere on the course

My race went ok... I had a pretty good lead for the first lap, and flatted my front tire. I got it changed in record time and still had the lead. I am not sure what I did, however about 2 miles from the end I looked back and Scott Countryman was coming up the trail... only about 100 yards back!!! What???? He had a giant gear on his singlespeed and it was almost downhill or flat the entire way back to the finish, so I knew I was in trouble. I did what I could for the rest of the climb and went as fast as I could to the finish to keep him back... but he ended up passing me about 1/2 mile from the end. I have no idea where he came from or how he managed to push that gear for this race... but it was nothing short of spectacular! Scott is 17 years old, been racing in the mens singlespeed classes for a couple of years, and is basically a bad ass... and one of the nicest people that I race with. Man, he is not going to do anything but get faster.... SCARY!!!

Scott Countryman

After the race we hung out for a while, took some pics, and then just went home. Very fun day on the bike and I can not wait to get back up to Flagg for the next race!

Zach looks like he is FINISHED!!!

New Cross Bike!

Vassago Fisticuff!!

Vassago Cycles is probably the coolest bike company with the nicest people ever! A few weeks ago Misty contacted me and asked what color cross bike I wanted... they are starting to do a custom paint program, so they started with a custom color cross bike for me... AWESOME!

After a few days of going back and forth on the color I finally just had Misty pic the color for me... well, it came out better than any color I would have selected... THANKS MISTY!!

Now, for the glamour shots...

This is a really nice frame and fork with a TON of different options! I have it set up as a "road bike" right now and will probably rid eit like this for a couple of weeks... When I was setting it up I just had to see what size tires I can fit on it... well, the front will take a WTB Vulpine 2.1" and the back took a 1.8" Mutanoraptor... SWEEEET!! It is going to be set up as a "Monstercross" bike for an upcoming 100 mile race on dirt roads... should be a fast machine!

Flagstaff/Black Canyon/New Optimus Ti!!!

What a great weekend!! I decided not to drive up to CO for a 12 hour race this weekend (and solo was full so I could not register...doh!!) and just hang in AZ and ride in Flagstaff for the first time this year... WOOOO HOOO!

Flagstaff is freaking awesome! Miles of super fun singletrack, empty trails, and beautiful weather. I met up with Sarah and prerode the course for the upcoming MBAA race. The course was pretty fun, with a tough dirt road climb... not because it is steep but because it is on super loose gravel and it is almost impossible to stand on the pedals without spinning out!

After the pre-ride, I went off on my own and did a 3+ hour loop on beautiful, technical trails through the Aspens and pines... a much needed ride to just relax and enjoy being on the bike.... speaking of the bike.... I recently received a new Optimus Ti frame and this was the first weekend on it. This thing is awesome! Rides super smooth and quiet, lightweight, and looks super awesome. This will probably be my endurance bike for the rest of the season... just awesome!

Sunday I decided to ride the Black Canyone trail... just north of Phoenix. The trail is only a couple of years old but it is AMAZING! Miles of buff singletrack with tons of switchback climbs, fast downhills, and awesome views. What a nice way to spend a Sunday morning...

Next weekend is the next of the MBAA races in Flag. I do not have the race the SS class for this race because I think I have enough points to finish the series out in first... and I get a couple of throw away races, so I may just do the marathon race to get some extra miles... and spend more time on the bike in Flag!!

MBAA Payson Race

The MBAA Payson race was a good one this year! There was a new course and venue that was completely different than the past courses... which was a welcome addition to the series.

I headed up to the race the morning of, so I did not have a chance to pre-ride. I spoke with several other singlespeeders and they all said the course was very flat, and I would need to a bigger gear than normal... so I changed it a few minutes before the start... good thing! The course ended up being VERY flat all on dirt roads... which made for a tough singlespeed race.

We all took off and a couple of us got a pretty big gap on the field. Travis... a very strong roadie... ended up getting away on the first lap. My head and neck was still hurting a bit from the crash the weekend before, so I just let him go. In the end, I finished second a couple of minutes behind... but I was happy I was even able to do the race!

Afterwards, we hung out with Zach and Sarah and talked a bunch of crap before heading home... ended up being a very fun day on the bike!

Whiskey Off Road

The 2009 Whiskey off road was last weekend and it was another great race put on by Epic rides. The race starts in downtown Prescott AZ and is 50 miles of great singletrack, tons of climbing, and awesome views!

I went up for the race the night before and stayed with Zach and Sarah. We had a couple of beers, a great dinner, and then watched some of Zaqch's old high school movies.... something is wrong with that guy in a good way.

The next morning we got ready and headed out for the race. It is amazing how many good people I know that do these races! The entire morning was spent catching up and talking about the race season so far!

I was a few minutes late to the start and about 300 prople had already lined up! I was walking past the front of the group when Fuzzy and Dejay yelled at me to line up with them... pretty cool! They helped me get my bike over the fence and we catught up for a few minutes before the gun went off. The start of the race was not as fast as previous years, and I stayed in the front of the pack... even pulling on the paved road for a bit.

The start of the race was pretty uneventful, other than a couple of close calls with people running into each other in the group... kind of scary! Zach and Evan eventualy passed me on the climb... they were both riding awesome!

Once we hit the singletrack I just kept a normal pace and was riding fairly well... the first 10-12 miles of climbing seemed to go by prety fast. Then the trail turned downhill.... the downhill is super fun, loose, rocky singletrack with a bunch of big waterbars and fast turns.... well, I was tearing it up and came around a corner and BAM!!!! I went over a waterbar, hit a rock, and my bike stopped... I proceeded to go over the bars and land right on the top of my head on a rock! It happened so fast I really have no idea what really happened, but I was laying on the ground. I tried to stand up and fell down a couple of times and was pretty disoriented... and my vision was super blurry!

Another rider came up on me and helpoed get my bike out of a bush and told me to sit down and regroup... I kind of came around and rode the rest of the downhill to the road. Man, my neck hurt and my head was pounding! When I hit the next aid station the volunteers were yelling for me to stop and quit the race (I guess someone told them about the crash and head thing)

The rest of the race was painful... a lot of climbing, a couple flat tires, and a pounding headache! I managed to finish it and ended up catching 7 or 8 people that passed me during the crash and the flat tires, but still finished in 7h or 8th place. I caught Dejay withabout 1 mile to go and we had a pretty fun singlespeed sprint on the paved downhill into the finish.

Then rest of the day was spent trying to recover from the wreck, and catching up with friends. Overall, it was an awesome event and a lot of fun... just bad luck! Can't wait for next year to redeem myself!

24 Hours of Old Pueblo

Well, the 24 Hours of old Peublo was about a month ago and I am finally getting around to posting about it!!

The race was a lot of fun! I arrived at the venue at about 6:00 friday morning and there were a ton of people already there! The city in the desert had grown at that point to about 1000 people or so... very cool and the race was still a day and a half away!

I drove around for about a half hour and finally found a sweet spot to set up right on the course. It was close to the transition tent, and right with a bunch of other solo racers that I know... Jason Ranoa, May Metcalf, Kimo Seymore, Dave Harris, Linda Wallenfalls, and a bunch of other people... very cool to say the least! I set up the EZup, a table, the Vassago banners and a few other things and waited for Zach to show up to get everything dialed and hang some banners and stuff. The rest of friday was spent hanging out, visiting everyone, and drinking a few "carb loading beverages" for the race the next day.

Saturday morning came and we spent the morning setting up our pit area, dialing bikes in and doing basic housekeeping and organizing things. Zach was cracking jokes the entire time and pulling crap out of his mustache, so that was entertaining.

At about 11:45 I made the long walk down the road to get ready for the run... I hate running. I lined up in the front next to all the bad asses and tried to look cool while talking as much crap as I could... thats how I am :) When the run started, I tried not to kill myself and was passed by about 14,546 people in the quarter mile... man I need to start running!!! But, I made it to my bike and managed to pass almost everyone back in the first couple of miles and get on the tail end of the lead group....

About halfway throuogh the first lap I managed to pass Dejay.. we chatted a little and I took off, knowing I had to get a little bit of time on him in the first lap. I think that I managed about a minute, which lasted for quite a while in the race! It was a close race for the first 12 or 13 hours... My pit was right before the transition, and Dejays was right after. So when I would stop to eat or get drinks on my laps, Dejay would roll by, finishing the lap before me. Then when I would go through, I would see him in his pits... passing him back. It was SUPER cool to have a race this close for this long...

Well, it did not last forever... at about 3:00 in the morning I EXPLODED!!!! I guess that lack of experience in 24 hours races really showed in this one. I had multiple issues including blurred vision, vomitting, shakes, all that good stuff... really things tht I do not ever want to experience again! Dejay ended up having some issues as well... the pace we were pushing was pretty fast, however he lasted a little longer than I did...

I ended up getting a couple of more laps in by the end of the race and was passed by one other person in the end... 3rd place is not too bad, however pretty dissapointing to say the least. Next race I will be using a little different strategy and listen to my body a little better at the beginning...

All in all it was a super awesome experience and I am already looking forward to next year!!

12 Hours of Temecula

Last weekend Zach and I loaded up one of our identical twin Elements and headed to the 12 hours of Temecula race.... the first race in the SoCal endurance series. Driving over was a treat as always, with stuff hanging out of Zachs stache the entire time.

We arrived at the race and picked up our packets. The race promoters, Heather and Jason, were there and we hung out and talked to them for a Little while and got the scoop on the course. The course for this race had been changed, and we were told that it was a lot of fun... little did we know what we were in for!

There was no camping for us at this event... we went first class all the way and stayed at the Chateau De Motel 6, had dinner at a nice Italian place, and then a second dinner at a sandwich shop... man, Zach can really put down the food!

We arrived at the race the next morning and set up the pit (an Ez-Up, couple of coolers and a box of junk), got our bikes ready and warmed up for our customary 3.2 seconds before the race started. When we lined up, I looked around and there were a ton of people there!! This race keeps getting bigger and bigger each one!

I lined up at the front and looked around... Tinker, Dez Wilder, Matt Turgeon, Mike Hileman, and a bunch of other super fast guys... this was going to be a long day! The race started with a parade lap around the campground on a paved road, then onto the course. I managed to stay in the lead group which was key once we hit the course.

Once we hit the course it was game on! The course started with a short steep climb, then a fun downhill, then a pretty big super fun climb with a lot of switchbacks, and finished up with a very long, fast downhill. There was a little over 1350 feet of climbing for every 9 mle lap, so it was challenging, but not too horrible. This was by far the most fun course I have ever ridden in a 12 hour event!! The uphills were fun, the downhills were fun, the flats were, all the little bridges we rode across, the banked turns.... I totally looked forward to going out and doing another lap every time I came in!

It was a pretty close race, however Tnker and Dez ended up getting away and I finished 2nd in the singlespeed class (Dez won, however we would have finished 2nd and 3rd in the pro class too I think) Zach ended up winning the Solo expert category with a strong performance! After the 130+ miles and 20,000+ feet of climbing, I was trashed and ready for a couple of post race recovery drinks.

Jason and Heather put on one of the best events that I have been to, yet again, with a fantastic course, excellent support, and a really good time! I am looking forward to the next Temecula race at the Nordic center by big bear in June... should be a good time!!

2009 MBAA White Tanks Race

The first race of 2009 is finished and it was a fun one! It was really nice to get to catch up with everyone that I have not seen in a while, race a little, and just relax and hang out!

Kudo's to MBAA for putting on an excellent event again this year. The MBAA race series usually includes the same courses every year, but they are really trying to mix it up a little for 2009... and this one was no exception. For this race, they decided to run the course backwards... which was really challenging. Normally, all the tech sections are downhill, but this year it was a lot of technical climbing... very fun!

I raced my Jabberwocky in the Singlespeed advanced class... a tough class that you never know who is going to show up in, and this race was no exception. At the start line we only had about 15 people, however they are all expert/pro racers that really hammer! When the race started, I took off and got the hole shot and kept the lead for about half of the first lap... but there was someone on my wheel the entire time... and I had no idea who it was! We ended up getting a fairly large lead over the rest of the field in the first lap... he had a bigger gear and would get away on the flats, and I would catch back up a little in the tech sections, but partway through the race he just rode away... very impressive!

SS Advanced Podium (Scott Countryman 5th, Tom Ament 2nd, Greg Miranda 4th)

I ended up second place at the end of the race by a couple of minutes, which I was happy with, however I wanted to find out who this mystery guy was... well, he ended up being Jason Tollus... an ex pro XC racer that has accomplished a lot in his career... very cool!

Zach Posing for a Glamour Shot

Zach and Sarah (Vassago teammates) had excellent races as well! Zach ended up second in the Cat1 race... which was a huge field!! Sarah was battling for first in the pro women's race when her chain broke and she had to DNF because she did not have a tool to fix it (she did fix it and finished the race, however she had to take outside support.... bummer)

SS Novice Podium (Guy bell on far left, and RJ McNulty Far Right)

A couple of other people that had awesome races were a couple of guys in the Singlespeed Novice class... Guy Bell, who has been racing since 1989, finished 4th place, which is his very first ever podium finish in a cross country race! Also, RJ McNulty finished in 3rd place in his first Singlespeed race aboard his brand new Jabberwocky! He just got the bike a month ago or so and has fallen in love with singlespeeding and the bike... way to go guys!

Just a great weekend, fun race and an overall good time... what a way to start the season! Next, off to Temecula for the first of the So-Cal endurance series... should be a good time!

2009 Race season Starts!!!

Its been a little while since I updated my blog... I have been really busy remodeling my house, riding, and getting everything ready for the upcoming race season... but back to it now!

For 2009 I have several new sponsors and am on the Vassago Bicycles race team... very exciting! The people at Vassago have been awesome to work with and make the most fun bikes that I have ever ridden... mmmmmm Jabberwocky and Optimus Ti! I will have periodic updates on the bikes, the team and also new stuff coming out from Vassago.

Good luck to all in the upcoming season and stay posted for many race and product updates over the next year!

Last Race of the Year!! - Dawn to Dusk

What a busy second half of the race season! The final race of the year, the Dawn to Dusk 10 hour race, was held last weekend on Pemberton trail in Phoenix, AZ and I am glad to be able to take a couple of months off from racing!

I arrived at the race at about 5:00 in the morning and set all my stuff up, and just talked to everyone for a while. The transition area was about a mile from the camping area, so we all rode our bikes over, warmed up, and chatted a little. When we arrived at the start line, I was in for a shock - there were a lot of people lined up for the race! This is the second year for the event, and the field probably doubled in size! There were over 100 solo riders, and I have no idea how many teams!

I lined up in the front along with the super fast pro guys that were on 4 man teams... I figured I would just spin like crazy and hope not to get bogged down when the race hit the singletrack... which worked out pretty well. I just hung on their wheels roadie style and turned a pretty fast first lap... which came into play later in the day!

Pemberton trail is pretty much the easiest, non-technical, and least amount of climbing you can do on trails in the Phoenix Area. The course was 15.4 miles of smooth fireroad and singletrack, with about a mile of pavement thrown in... and only about 800 feet of climbing - no problem! Wrong!! This was by far the hardest endurance race I have competed in this year... this ended up being more challenging than the courses with a ton of climbing and techy stuff thrown in. The trail is really not that fun to ride and actually pretty boring, which probably explains part of it... but the other part is the speed that you have to maintain!! In a little less than 10 hours, I managed 150 miles on my singlespeed... pretty much spinning like crazy the entire day! The downhill was not steep enough to coast but just steep enough to be spun out (about 4 miles long!!) and the uphill was steep enough to just almost spin out a big gear so you had to push pretty hard the entire time (about 4 miles of uphill). The rest of the course was flat - Ouch!!

Well, back to the reason the first couple of fast laps came into play.... I had a pretty big gear on for the first couple of laps and pushed pretty hard, opening up about a 10 minute gap on the second place rider before I settled down to a normal pace. That 10 minute gap in the first couple of laps lasted for the entire rest of the race!! I was pushing to maintain the lead but not blow up, and the second place guy was pushing to close the gap and not blow up. I think the top 5 singlespeeders were all within a half hour of each other... a super competitive race that strategy really came into play on!

I will have a lot of blog updates coming over the next couple of weeks... I bought a camera finally and have several new to me bike products that I have been able to put some serious race miles on the second half of the season that are working out great: WTB Vigo Saddle, Crank Brothers parts, Ergon Grips, WTB tires, and Vassago bikes. I am also going to start using an altitude tent to see if that can help with performance (Simulated Altitude Technology)... should be fun!!

12 Hours of Temecula

The end of the 2009 season is proving to be very fun with a lot of racing. In the past 2 months I have done three 12 hour races and three endurance type races... and there are still a couple of 12's left for the year... the southwest is great!!

Zach and I loaded up the car on Friday morning and drove out to Temecula... basically being stupid and cracking jokes the entire way. Zach is about the best race travel partner ever... next year is going to be a blast! When we arrived in Temecula, we found the venue, set everything up and headed into town to meet Kris and Mike from Vassago cycles. We had dinner (Zach ate the biggest sandwich I have ever seen... disgusting!!!) and talked bikes for a couple of hours.

The plans for this race was actually not to race. We were going to go out, ride a couple of laps, and then hang out with the people from Vassago for the day and do demo rides/etc. on the bikes. We were just going to hang out and relax for the weekend and just kind of do nothing... good plan!!

Well, the race started at 9... I was late getting ready so I rolled to the line with no warm-up (I still lined up in the front... what was I thinking) We all took off, did a parade lap around the park to spread everyone out, and off onto the trail. The course was super fantastic!! There was a big giant nasty climb that I had to walk part of every lap... and then one of the most fun downhills that you could have in a 24 hour race. It was fast, and smooth, with lots of turns and jumps and just fun stuff to ride... it was actually a downhill that I would go and ride even if there was not a race!!

I ended up not quitting (there is no way I could bring myself to stop racing) and won the singlespeed class... was able to quit the race a little over 9 hours. I also managed to win the SoCal endurance points series, so that was an added bonus. Zach did the same and rode the entire race... and ended up with a 3rd in the Geared Expert Solo class. After the race I just hung out with the Vassago guys and Bendan from Siren bikes. We had a few beers, laughed a lot, and talked a lot about bikes and framebuilding and racing and all that stuff... very fun!

Zach Riding his little bike

Huge props to Jason Ranoa for another Fantastic race!!! This one had about 500 people, and was run very smoothly and everyone seemed to have a really really good time. I know I will be out for more of his events in the future. Also, huge thanks to his dad for handing out water bottles on the course... for the entire race!!

12/24 Hours of Fury

Where do I start... I could write a book on all the cool stuff that happened, but I am just going to share some highlights... maybe like a top 10...

Adrenaline Team - There were about 10 Adrenaline racers out there... what an awesome group of people! Everyone was laughing and having a good time, but took the race super serious!! Good job to the Masters of Adrenaline team for their 2nd place finish, Chad Sheirborn for taking on the 24 hour event (2nd 24 hour solo in 2 months!!), Zach Stanford for 12 hour solo, Darrin Austin 24 hour solo and Evan Smith, 12 hour solo singlespeed!!

Jeremy, 4 Peaks Racing - This was the promoters first mtb race, and it was a 24 at that!! After many months of promotion and handing fliers out, the race ended up being a lot bigger than anyone expected! He did an excellent job and the race went very smoothly... even when the timing tent caught on fire in the middle of the night!!!

The Race - I raced in the Solo Singlespeed 12 hour category. For some reason, I put the wrong cog on my bike and rode the entire race a little undergeared... I actually noticed it about 300 yards from the start... but I just rode it for the rest of the race. I ended up winning the solo 12 hour category overall, and was able to stop a couple of hours early because of the lead I had built... which is a good thing because the course was starting to beat me up a little!!!

After the race - Evan, Zach, Jeremy (the promoter) and I sat in my car for a couple of hours after the event and told stories and cracked jokes. We were parked next to a friend of mine that was doing the solo 24 hour so we were messing with him during the race.... somehow all of the garbage from my race and a pair of my boxers ended up in his car... :)

The Raffle - What a freaking blast!!! The promoter had a bunch of stuff to raffle off, but did not have tickets... so I walked around the entire venue, went to every campsite, and wrote down the names of everyone that would be attending the raffle... well, you would not believe how many people drink at 10:00 Sunday morning after a 24 hour race and are more than willing to share... special thanks to Bitty Bitty team for that cup of whatever the heck they gave me!!! :)

Everyone at the race - What a super fun group of people!!! Everyone was super cool during the race, and at the venue. It seemed like I knew everyone on the course, which was very cool and motivating! Most of the people I would pass would say "Good Job Tom" or something like that... and I did not even recognize half of them! I think that this was one of the best races as far as
people letting you pass or passing...

WTB Seat - I received a new WTB Vigor seat... and my butt is super happy! This is the first race with the seat, however it worked awesome!!! I will complete a full review of it as soon as possible, however it worked so well it was worth mentioning!

Vassago Bicycles - Vassago donated a frame for the raffle and sent some banners out for the race. Congratulations to Vickie Nelson of Big Fish Racing for winning the Jabber frame!! There were people all weekend checking out the raffle frame and asking questions about the bikes. Misty from Vassago was checking in to make sure the race was going well and that we were all taken care of... what an excellent bike company that really supports their riders!!

OK, so the first race of my fall endurance races is complete and I get to go to Temecula for the final 12 hours of Temecula race... I also get to meet the rest of the Vassago Crew and see a lot of the people that I have not raced with in a while... should be fun!

DCB McDowell Race

Last weekend was the 2nd race of the DCB fall series. I raced in the marathon class on my singlespeed and had a blast! The race was about 50 miles long on the same course as the upcoming 24 hours of fury race, so it was a good opportunity to get out and ride!

There were about 20 of us that started the race. When we lined up I looked around and noticed that I was the only singlespeeder in the race and Eric Salstrand, the top pro in the state, was in the race... so it was going to be a fast one!

When the race took off I ended up with the hole shot and made it to the top of the first big climb ahead of everyone. I managed to stay in the lead for the first few miles until the course flattened out.... then Eric big ringed it and just rode away!! Man, it was super impressive watching how fast he went on the flats! For the next few miles that continued... I would catch up to him on the climbs, and he would just power away on the flats and smooth downhills...

I ended up second place in the end and had an awesome ride! The course was perfect, the weather was a little on the hot side but still nice, and hanging after the race was a lot of fun. This is the first time I rode my new Jabber on this course and it performed flawlessly!!! Now, on to the 24 Hours of Fury!!!

24 Hours of Fury Pre-Ride

A bunch of the Adrenaline team showed up at McDowell park this morning to re-ride the course for the upcoming 24 Hours of Fury race. We met with the race promoter and talked about how transition areas were going to be set up, the vendor area, and all that good stuff. This is a first year event, however it will be a lot of fun and should be a pretty good turnout!! The promoter said registration is around 300 right now with a couple of weeks left - awesome!

The McDowell course is in excellent shape thanks to the park and a bunch of people doing trail maint out there the past few weeks. The race is going to have a big movie screen, bonfire, a ton of different vendors, and a couple of kegs of carb drinks... :) I also found out there are going to be several bikes given away, including a Vassago Jabberwocky frame, and a ton of other cool swag... SWEEET!!!

The ride was a ton of fun this morning! I met one of the new Adrenaline members... Zack, a 16 year old hammerhead freak cross country racer that is super fast. He is going to be one to watch over the next few years!

I also had the pleasure of delivering a new member to the Herrera family... a 16" Bandersnatch for Jeff to race on next year and win the Pro state points series on!!! He was super stoked to get the frame and should have it built pretty soon!

It was great to get out there today and catch up with a TON of people that I have not seen in a while.... a lot of people were out pre-riding and tearing it up today. I had a great ride and had a blast on my new Jabberwocky... that thing just screams on this course and will be an awesome weapon for the 24 hour race!

BCT Trail Ride

On MTBR last week there was a post about a group ride on the Black Canyon Trail system... a trail that has been built over the past couple of years. I have read a lot about it, however have never had a chance to go and ride it... was I in for a shock!!

Saturday morning I loaded everything up and took off for the 7:00 ride start. Well, I had no idea that Black Canyon was only about 20 minutes from my house so I ended up about 1/2 early to the ride... no big deal, I just kind of rode around and checked things out. Well, the 7:00 group ride turned into me and one other guy... another singlespeeder! We took off at a leisurely pace, with a very bad paper map, and no clue where we were going. We ended up getting lost a few times and doing a little scouting but ended up completing the entire loop.

There is only one thing that I can say about the BCT trails... WOW!!! They must have been built and designed by a singlespeeder! It was all uff, pristine singletrack with a ton of switchbacks, long, gradual climbs, awesome views, river crossings, technical sections, and super fun twisty downhills... easily one of the best trails I have ridden in the state... and it is only 20 minutes from my house (closer than almost every other trail in Phoenix) Huge props to all that worked on the trail and the trail designer... I will be spending a lot of time up there the next few months!!

Tuesday Night Ride

Ok, so I have written about the Tuesday night ride several times... however it is one of my favorite rides of the week, even if it is a roadie ride!

Tonight there were about 30 people in the group... about an average size ride. Well, there is a father and son that show up every week on their mountain bikes with slick tires and tear it up! Tonight, we did our normal warm up laps, and Brandon, a 10 year old mtn biker, was pretty close to the front of the group.

After the warm up laps, the pace really picks up and normally the group splits into a faster and a slower group... well, the same happened tonight, however Brandon hung in the group for a long time!!! I was totally drafting off a 10 year old on a mountain bike in a fast road bike group ride!!! How cool is that? He was totally putting a hurt on his father, which was pretty cool to see also. He has been winning all of the local races and is probably bumping up to race with the 12-13 year olds the rest of the year... it is going to be exciting to watch!!

Keep it up Brandon!!

New Jabberwockies!!!

This week a couple of new bikes were delivered to my house... a new Black Vassago Jabberwocky for me, and a white one for Evan. Well, I took a couple of hours and built Evan's up for him and it looked pretty cool. He took it out for his maiden voyage and could not believe how awesome it handled and how much better the bike fit him than his last singlespeed (it was a little big) Anyway, a pic of Evan's new bike... the Jabber Junior... :)


I also had a chance to build my new Jabberwocky... and it turned out sweet! There are a couple of changes to the frames, most notably the new headtube gusset. It looks really clean and the paint is super shiny!!! I took mine out for a spin tonight and it rode excellent! Nothing like the feel of a good steel frame!

This bike is probably going to end up being my race bike for the rest of the year. I just can not believe how well these things climb, descend, and handle techy rock gardens in AZ. Just a blast to ride and they are pretty too!!! (also, all built up with pedals my Jabber came in at 22.01 lbs with a suspension fork and normal parts! Very nice!)

DCB Estrella Race

It was great to see everyone at the race this weekend! All of the people that only attend the cross country races show up so it is a different crowd then the past several endurance races, so it was really nice to catch up.

I arrived at the race at 7:30 set to register for the cross country race. Well, Zach pulled up, we talked for a few minutes, and then registered for the marathon... which started at 8:00. So, we both did our best superman impressions to get into our supersuits and get ready in about 20 minutes for a 40 mile marathon race! I set everything up, filled a bunch of water bottles, and took off for a one minute spin around the parking lot... and then heard my name over the loudspeaker. The race promoter was getting everyone lined up and he started calling my name... it was pretty funny actually.

Well, the start of the race freaking hurt!!! I took off and got a pretty good lead on the first lap. I kept looking back, and Zach was right there, maybe 30 seconds back... man he is riding strong! On the second lap, I went a little harder because I was warmed up and was feeling really really good!

Thats when all hell stated breaking loose. I was cruising along in the middle of the lap and my chain broke! No big deal, I had a couple of powerlinks and a chain too with. So I jumped off, fixed it in less than a minute and jumped back on. I then came through the transition area, grabbed a bottle and took off on my third lap when.... my chain broke again!! This time, I was trying to fix it and really struggling. There was a lady that was timing how long I was spending and where second place was. After 4:20, Zach rolled by and smacked me on the ass when I was bent over trying to fix it. I struggled for a couple more minutes and broke my chain tool... DAMMIT!!!

Well, I was only about a hundred yards from the parking lot, so I coasted back down the hill and to my car. At that point I knew I was still in the race if I could get the thing fixed. I dumped all my tools out and did not have anything to fix the chain... so I noticed Darrin had his bike in the truck next to me... so I jumped in the back, stole the chain, and tried to put it on my bike... well, it was not the right length and I could not get it to work.

At this point at least 20 minutes had gone by and I came to realization I was not going ot be able to finish... so I went to go find the promoter and bag the race. I found Dave, and he said... "Just take my bke out"!!! He is a super strong singlespeeder and we have been pretty good friends for a few years, so I grabbed his bike and went to get it ready.... Well, he rides a 17" Gunnar with a rigid fork and different pedals, so I moved the seat up as high as it would go, put my pedals on and took off hell bent for leather to catch anyone I could in the race. That 25+ minutes in the parking lot put me down a LOT!!!

Changing bikes to something that does not fit and something you have never ridden before in the middle of a marathon race is tough.... I just did the best I could and hammered out a couple of pretty fast laps.... one other thing.... rigid forks are not meant for riding Estrella... trust me on this one.

Well, in the end I ended up making up all the time and caught up to second place. Zach ended up with the win, and was almost exactly 11 minutes ahead... bummer. It was a pretty hard effort and just to get that close after almost a half hour of the bike was a very very successful race in my books!!!

After the race, I took the promoter his bike back and he was shocked that I had come back from all the issues to even finish the race and was congratulating me on the second place. I talked to him for a few minutes, and then asked if this was a NORBA sanctioned race with NORBA rules and he said it was. Well... I ended up withdrawing from the results because it is against the rules to switch bikes mid way throug an event. I was thinking about this the entire time I was racing on his bike but I wanted to make sure I was not cheating. He said it would not be a problem and he was OK with me staying in the standings but I withdrew anyway... oh well...

In the end it was super fun and a totally different experience for a race!!! I was happy with my ride, overcoming all the crap, and not quitting even though I almost did not have a choice. That would have been my first DNF in several years and I would have lost sleep over it.... :)

Anyway, great ride, awesome to see everyone at the event, and just a good time!!! Congrats to Zach on his win.. he really tore it up and is a total force to watch in all the upcoming races.... I think maybe I will carry an extra stick to throw in his wheel when he is passing me from now on!!

Tour of the White Mountains Race

This is one of my favorite races every year. The trails in Show Low, AZ are very fun, scenery is awesome, and there is just a good vibe at the race. This year was no exception!

I arrived at the race on Friday night to get camp set up with Zach and some guys from Prescott. Zach is off his freaking rocker. We laughed all night like elementary school kids having a sleepover... I am still amazed that he is a school teacher!!! It was also great to meet Tim, one of Zachs long time friends from Tucson and a really cool guy as well.

After getting camp setup, we went and mingled with all the racers. There were so many people at the race!! I think there were well over 1000 people that registered this year (thats what the promoter said), making it one of the biggest races in the southwest! We in a group talking when Dejay Birtch came walking over... with a couple beers in hand. I have not seen him in months, since he has been travelling the country going to all the big races, so it was nice to catch up and talk some crap and stuff. He also said Fuzzy was racing this weekend, so it should be a lot of fun!! (the #1 and #2 singlespeed endurance racing champs...)

The start of the race was super cool. There were 350 people lined up for the 60 mile event (actually 67 miles, but the promoter likes the sound of 60!!!) and I lined up about 4 rows from the front, right behind Dejay. While waiting for the start, the guy standing next to me asked if I was Tom that used to ride the orange singlespeed... we talked for a minute, and found out that we had done a smaller endurance race last summer together, and the guy next to him had done it, and three other guys right behind him.... the entire group of guys that did the marathon in that race was all lined up together... pretty cool! Also lined up next to me were several of the fast Sho-Air guys from the Payson race and some of the people that I had met the previous weekend... very fun!!

The race took off and the start was a blast!!! We were almost immediately on singletrack, and fast fun fireroads that climbed to the top of hills with nice views... riding through open fields, through trees, over logs, and screaming downhills. The next 15-20 miles of the course was gradual, easy climbing up wide service roads... not technical and really not a lot of fun, however it was a good way to get the climbing out of the way. I totally under-geared for the event not knowing how my legs were going to feel, so I paid for it in this section. I spun as fast as I possibly could to not lose ground on the other guys... and it worked! I ended up catching Dejay and riding and talking with him for a while, and then I basically sold out.... all I could do and as fast as I could go on the singlespeed on that fireroad. I am normally a little better at stuff like that then he is, and he is a better climber and tech rider, so I figured I better get as much time as I could in that section... Zach passed me on the road section as well.. he was drafting a super fast pro-guy and they were just flying!!!! He came by and waved and gave me a goofy ass smile...

After that section ended it was back to super fun trails again!! There was a really really steep hike-a -bike... yuck, and then a ton of rocky, rough, techy singletrack to fly down. I was going as hard as I could go in all these sections and having major cramping problems in my legs. I tried to suck it up and just hammer through the cramps, but it was painful. I also knew that Dejay was behind me so there was not way I was going to let up just because of cramps... Also, I broke my freaking chain in one of the rocky sections... I have no idea why it broke, however I fixed it real quick and got back going.

The rest of the course was amazing... pretty much the best and one of the technically hardest endurance courses I have ever ridden. There was fast downhill twisty singletrack, and about 5 miles of nasty rocky technical singletrack... the kind that you would get a downhill bike and ride, or a trail that you would actually make a trip to ride... it was that fun. I rode it WAYYYY over my head, blasting all of the sections as hard and as fast as possible... I dinged my rims probably 100 times, however my WTB tires heald up without a flat... which is simply amazing!! The last 12 miles of the course was pretty sweet singletrack that twisted through the trees, however it was rough and punishing!!! There were horses on the trail right after it rained a couple of weeks ago and they totally tore it up. There were big horse foot post-holes that were hard dried up bumps for the entire rest of the ride. It was freaking torture that late in the race but my Optimus Ti and White Brothers fork did an awesome job smoothing them out and I was able to maintain a lot of speed through those sections. I really felt sorry for the guys on the Scndim bikes or the 26ers while I was riding that part... OUCH!!!

I ended up second place in the SS event (Fuzzy was first by a couple of minutes and Dejay was a couple minutes in third) which I was super happy about considering the way that I have been feeling and also the level of competition at the race!!! I was also happy that I was only a couple minutes behind Fuzzy... who is probably the fastest singlespeeder in the country at this time!!!

After we finished the race it started raining (there were several hundred people caught on the course in the rain!!!) so we hung out under the Fat Tire tent and drank a bunch of beers and told war stories about the race. Man, it is only 1 year away, but I am totally looking forward to tour of the White mountains again... I hope all of the rest of the races this year are as much fun as thid one was!!!