Origins Part II

So yeah, Huffy Pro Thunder changed everything. I now had what I considered to be a bona-fide BMX racing machine (it was not). It was even track certified, whatever that means. I think it means that the first time I took it to the BMX track, the pedal came out of the crank and I now needed a new crankset. But this was just the start of what formed my love of off-road riding.

Growing up, I had a great BMX facility right down the street from my house. It was known as “The Trails” and it was a 2 acre site covered with BMX trails. There was the Ski Jump, which was a jump directly at the bottom of a three story tall steep hill. The jump was pretty much an Evil Knieval triangular/pie shaped ramp and folks used to line up tires at the bottom for jumping over. The longest jump I witnessed there was fifteen tires long. The rider rode a loop of the track and then dropped in. He was flying, down the hill and over the tires. Understand that the hill was so deep that one could skid 1/3 of the way down and still have enough speed to jump three tires. Not that I would ever wimp out that way, no sir ; ). The average rider could clear 8 tires.

Another feature there was the pit jump, which was a flyout jump preceded by a roll in. Imagine sprinting at 100% effort and then dropping down three feet and up six within a span of ten feet. That was the pit jump. Jumping tires was popular here too, but they were stacked high rather than laying them out lengthwise. Four foot was the average amount of air a good rider could get. I remember seeing a friend crack a brand new Powerlite cruiser frame on this jump. It was THE best jump in the entire place and definitely the most popular one.

There was a section called the Roller Coaster, which basically was a long downhill and uphill, but broken up with flat sections, so it felt like riding a roller coaster. In the middle of the park, there was a bump jump and at the top of the park, there was a hump jump. One was good for distance and the other one was just for fun with no real ability to get much air, but it was fun to speed jump.

As time went on and more folks were riding and racing BMX, we added jumps like the ones at the BMX tracks. I remember building a set of doubles, with one angled out further than the other so folks who could not jump them at the further distance could jump them at the closer distance. These jumps lasted a few weeks, and then the folks who could not jump them started to tear them out. We convinced them to turn the jump into a tabletop jump, then we made the tabletop jump a reverse step up. We then turned it back into a larger double jump with the center filled in, but the same folks who tried to remove the double removed the new double as well, leaving it a reverse step jump. I did manage to build another double jump in another spot. This set was only 8 inches high, but the jumps were about ten feet apart. This made for a challenging jump for those wanting to try it and those who did not could just ride them as two humps. These stayed until the park was plowed over.

This BMX park got a lot of use and I was lucky enough to be able to ride it every day. We played a lot of bike tag, rode a lot of laps, and learned how to jump there. It was not uncommon to have unsanctioned BMX races there, but the outcome was pretty much the same because the same people always rode there. It was here that I met two very good friends that I am still friends with today. One of these guys was a huge benefit to the place and a leader among the group. He had visions of what the place could be and had all of us moving large mounds of dirt to make it happen. He had the trails widened (which was good here) so that we could race side by side rather than have to follow the leader. He changed the roller coaster from a goat path to a six foot wide trail with a large step jump in the middle. He helped build all of the jumps. He raced BMX, road, MTB, and worked at Henry’s bikes when Henry’s was a small bike shop in the city. On the road, he raced as a Cat 3 and he raced Expert MTB. He still works in the industry, but no longer races. He is still pencil thin and could probably race road or MTB in the Cat 3 road/Expert MTB and do well with a year of serious training .

My other friend from this era still rides bikes as well. He races MTB from time to time, but work and his family keeps him from seriously training and racing these days. He was a very good BMX racer and won a national in NJ in 1985. He still has the five foot tall trophy to prove it, or at least I think he does. He was even lucky enough to have his picture with his name printed in Bicycles Today, the NBL monthly newspaper/magazine - - a feat of which I am still in awe of today. This is back when the internet did not really exist, blogs were just a twinkle in someone’s eye, and getting magazine coverage was pretty darn hard for “just some guy”.

BMX racing kept me out of trouble as a youth. There was trouble to be found there too, but wanting to race kept me on the straight and narrow. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to do well enough to get on a good team, someday getting good enough to be on a Factory Team, the ultimate achievement for any BMX crazed teenager in the 80’s. I always made sure my gear and bike were clean, just in case some BMX team manager was at the race scouting for new riders. Even at some little local events.

I probably raced 200 BMX races in my career and there are three events that stand out clearly in my mind as the best 3 races ever. In the summer of 1985, I had a great race that put me on the Wooden Wheels BMX roster. Tom Harvey Sr was at the track, as he frequently was. He was a huge supporter of the track and gave both dollars and time to the sport. I was racing 15 Novice (which is like Sport in the MTB class categories). I was not riding for a team at the time. Mr. Harvey was always extremely nice to me as was the rest of his family, although Tom Harvey Jr. was not working in the shop nor was he around the BMX scene at this time. I suspect he was pretty wrapped up in his band at the time. Anyhoo, Mr. Harvey was telling me he was considering adding a rider from my class to the team. It was right before my moto and he told me he was considering adding Bill Swanson from PA or some other guy named Billy from Kennett Square. I looked him in the eye and said both riders are pretty nice and that would be a tough choice. Bill and Billy were both in my moto that day and I went out and won that moto with Mr. Harvey watching. When I went back to staging for my next moto, I said to Mr. Harvey “What about me Mr. Harvey? Would you consider adding me to the team?” He shook my hand right there and said welcome aboard. I went on to win the next two motos, stoked to have been added to the team (a similar event would happen later in life, same team, different manager, different discipline, but the same excitement).
The second event that I clearly remember was the 1985 Ironman Classic in Howell, NJ. This race was held on the first weekend of December and it was a pretty big deal. Back then, BMX was usually finished as soon as the cold came, typically October. The Ironman was one last chance for a race and the payout was good. EVERY rider to make the main event (top 8) would get a new helmet. They had good sponsors for the event and you would even get a special number plate just for the event. I trained very hard for this event because I wanted a new helmet badly. I lifted weights every day to get my body ready, spent a lot of time on the rollers, and spent hours doing sprints outside in the cold. On the day of the race, I was leading the first moto by a lot and spun out in a turn, going from first to sixth quickly. Second moto was a win by a large margin. I was crossing the finish line as the second place rider was rounding the final turn. All I had to do was finish the last moto in 4th or better and I would transfer. The helmet would be mine. I led this moto out of the gate all the way to the final turn where I once again spun out and four riders passed me. I finished 5th and did not transfer to the main. It was a large disappointment at the time, but clearly it was my best race ever. If I had tires with more tread (I was poor, remember?), I probably would not have slid out. I may have been trying to apply too much power for the conditions as the track was frozen in the morning and thawed out during the day.

The third event I remember was a double points race at Lums Pond. It was 1985 and my last year as a Novice. No one else was registered for Novice in my age category, so I was forced to race the 15 Expert race. My good friend Craig was in the race too and this was about the time he was really training and racing well. We often rode together at the trails and spent time riding and hanging out, so when he got the holeshot I and rode on his wheel in second, it was just like riding at the trails for me. I remember telling him “I’m going to get you Craig” in every corner and followed him, beating all of the other Expert riders around the track. I finally got passed in the final straight by Alan Foster, who told me I should upgrade to Expert because I was good enough. I was do distracted by trying to beat Craig that I was able to beat a lot of great riders racing in a class above mine.

Around 1987, BMX racing dried up quickly in the Mid Atlantic. Kids stopped racing, tracks started closing, and BMX became unpopular. Having to get a job at 16 made it tough to train and by the end of 1988, BMX was done for me. It was hard to travel 2 hours plus to races to only have 3 or 4 guys in your class - - and that class was 15 and up, so at 18 I was racing 15, 16, and 17 year olds, which was not the case when I started in 1984 and BMX was huge.

I rode my BMX bike a little bit from 1989 to 1993, jumping curbs and bridges down by the brandwine, but the trails had been flattened and there was no real BMX “parks” around. In 1993, I traded a BMX cruiser for a Jamis Dakota that was way too big for me. I had a MTB though and that is all that mattered. The Jamis opened up new doors . . . . to be continued.

Origins

I really enjoy reading about how folks got started with riding and racing bikes, so I thought I would put my pen to paper and tell you mine.

It all started with an old Kent banana seat bike. For years, I begged my parents for a bike. Living adjacent to a four-lane highway (Concord Pike and by adjacent, I mean ½ block) and my front street being a 3-lane road (Broom Street), it was not happening. I remember going to friends of my parents’ house and seeing a “hopped up” Schwinn Sting- Ray with BMX style bars, flat black paint, and aggressive knobby tires. In case you were wondering, it was not meant to be, even though it was for sale and I really wanted it. I do think that is where my off road story begins though, because that was the first off road bike I wanted and wanted to copy. This would have been 1979 or so, so BMX was just getting started and most kids made their own BMX bikes themselves from whatever they could get their hands on. The kids in Cali had been doing this for years and the East Coast did have a BMX racing scene at the time, but most kids in my neighborhood had wanne-be BMX bikes.

Around 1980 or so, my grandfather was selling an apartment building he owned. Let me explain how my family owned an apartment building for a minute, so no one gets the wrong idea. The Italian Immigrant method of home ownership involved buying a house and then cutting it up into apartments. Most of the time, you rented the extra space to family, but if not, you rented to close friends. Even when you moved your family to another place in later years, you never sold the first one - - you just kept it and rented it out. You knew your tenants well and you took care of the place. So back to the story, my grandfather was selling the apartment building and there was a bike in the basement from a tenant many years ago. My grandfather contacted the former tenant and they had no desire to come get the bike, so it became mine. I am guessing that it was a Kent, but I really do not know for sure. My mom was not happy at all. She had never learned to ride a bike as a child and saw no reason for me to learn either. It was a red stingray style frame, red banana seat, tall chrome handlebars (ape hanger style), and the best part was a knobby rear tire, white wall of course. It was a single speed with coaster brake. It needed grips, so off to Pep Boys to get some new ones (Black Hunt Wilde’s motor cross style) and a patch kit for the rear tube.

It took me a while to learn how to ride the bike, mostly because I learned to ride in a 15 X 20 paved backyard (another city thing - - remove 80% of the grass and concrete it over - - less to mow, no mud, and everyone did it). I do remember riding down the street and in a parking lot with my father running behind, holding the sissy bar so I did not fall over. And like most kids, the first time he let go and I rode by myself and did fine until I realized he was no longer there and of course I crashed.

Riding was good though and my Dad took me to area parking lots to ride quite often. Wanting to be like Fonzie and having an abundance of wood around the house (Dad was a carpenter), it did not take long for a ramp to be built in the backyard. This was before I understood what getting air really meant, so I rode over the wooden ramp, let the front wheel drop to the ground, and then the rear. A bit like riding over a log, but I thought I was jumping.

One day, after “sessioning” the ramp in the backyard, I realized I had a decal on the down tube that was cracked. Kicking back on the deck, looking at my damaged sticker and drinking Kool Aid lemonade, I came to the realization that the sticker was not cracked, but the frame was. Said my first curse word, and went inside to tell my father. It seems that riding off the ramp and not jumping would allow the down tube (curved, like the “modern day” specialized MTB’s) to strike the ramp. My father was not pleased and even though I did not mention the ramp, I am sure he knew the break was caused by something stupid that I did.

Being from an average working family, a new bike was not possible for a bit. I probably could have obtained a frame from somewhere and moved the parts over, but it was 1980 and I did not know anyone that had a pile of bike parts just sitting around (yet). I think it was Christmas that year or the next, but a Blue and Yellow Huffy Blue Thunder made its way into my life. It was a whole new world now . . . . (To be continued).

Nothing new here . . . . .

Like most other bike bloggers, new materiel here has been pretty sparse. Unlike other bike bloggers, I do not have a Facebook page, so I cannot use that excuse.

Reality is I have nothing to say that is much different from the other bike bloggers in February. Trails are soft and wet, so all of the riding has been on the road or on the fire roads at White Clay when I feel the need to get out in the woods. Been fighting a sinus infection, well a cold first that turned into an infection. Rest has been tough with the cold, and has made getting my training hours in this week tough, but that is life.

The MASS schedule has been posted, as well as the Kenda Cup. I am going to try and race almost all of the MASS XC races this year, except for one (Sorry Travis, nothing personal but timing for me. I love your races and your venue). I am thinking about the Kenda cup races in NY and VT, but not sure if the time in the car will make it worthwhile, especially when the Cranky Monkey Race series takes place on the same weekends and the drive is only two hours VS six. Trying to find which venues offer the most family entertainment for weekends away and right now, Fountainhead park with the pools and waterpark seems most family oriented. Isabella loves waterparks! The idea of racing in the National events is tempting, but the competition in the MASS is probably tougher. At least the fields are larger. I have always wanted to race at Mount Snow though, so we shall see. Good thing about Cranky Monkey is the small number of events versus a season long battle for points. And no license to buy.

See, nothing new here. Same old “riding the road, fighting a cold” story as most other bike racers in February. Maybe next week will bring new topics. Like new kits for Allied Milk. And riding on trails again. Maybe frozen, maybe dry.

Racing Already????

Yeah, kinda crazy. I looked at this race as strictly training and not a race. It is January, my training efforts have had no real intensity (nor should they this early in the season). When I saw the Snotcycle advertised in December, I thought it would be a good place to go. I new the course lacked any major climbs, so it fit in well with the early season timeframe. I also knew it was blazing fast, because there was no climbs.

Prep for the race started on Friday night. Lisa had other plans for dinner, so I had to find another "date" for dinner. I called Isabella on her Fisher Price phone and she told me she had plans to watch some Snoopy films, but would be more than happy to have me over for dinner and a movie. I asked her what was on the menu. She told me she wanted Chicken nuggets, veggies, and sweet potato fries. Sounded good, but I had some other ideas for dinner. See I knew I would be racing this guy and I wanted to make sure my nutrition plan was in order.

Following the "If you cannot beat them, join them philosophy" I cooked up some whole wheat pasta with spinach and sauce. (one of Jason's favorite pre race meals). I topped it off with some cheese. It was delicious. A side of bread and my carbo loading was done for the day. Isabella opted for milk while I drank water. It was a delightful dinner.

After eating, we retired to the family room to watch Snoopy on the TV. Snoopy has become a favorite of hers, to the point where she has to hold her snoopy stuffed animal while watching his movies. Mommy, er, Lisa came home and we all hung out for some family time.

Saturday morning came pretty early. Up at 5:30 to get some food and get the car packed. I loaded my bike up the night before, but kept the clothes inside the house so they were not cold when I put them on. It was a warm 18 degrees as I left the driveway at 6:45. Drive was uneventful and I got to the venue at 9:00, got registered, visited with the Sappsfords, and got dressed for a warm up.

VA did not get as much snow as we did, but they did get some and the trails were covered in snow (but not ice like they are here). To help balance things out, the fields had melted and were muddy, at least later in the day. The fire road sections were totally ice covered. The trail sections were 10 inches wide of packed down snow and the rest was hard crust snow, so I knew passing was going to be difficult.

I get back to the start line a few minutes before the start. I lined up on the right, then noticed there was a big gap on the lap next to Jason. I figured I should mark him now, since he laid down the smack a few days ago - ha ha! The race started and I sprinted towards the front. The start, being a fire road in a sunny field, was slippery. My Niner stayed upright and I went into the woods in 3rd position. One guy seemed to be pulling away quickly and I marked him and the guy in front of me. We seemed to be pulling away from the others and I was feeling pretty comfortable. In the first mile, the leader went down and then it was me and the guy who was previously in second place. I was on his wheel for quite some time, but there was no way for me to get around him, although I did try. I knew there was another rider close by and when it opened up a little, he got around both of us (riding for Gripped Films/Kenda). At that point, we were at the halfway point back on the fire roads. The gripped films rider was pulling away cleanly while I focused on the 2nd place rider. The second half of the course was the technical part and the fun part too. The snow covered course was very twisty, so each turn was a slide, like in a muddy cyclocross race. I found there was three way to go around the turns. Method 1 was to just go fast and let both wheels drift until you hit the soft snow section. Method 2 was to tap your rear brake and let the rear end slide around the corner. Method 3 was put foot out BMX style and use it as a prop if I started to go down. All 3 methods worked well.

During the first lap, the rider who was in 2nd went down, putting me in second. I held this position for about 1/4 lap and then he came around me again when I lost sight of the trail (the snow made it hard to see the trail -- - like a whiteout I guess. So at this point, the I was back in third and was never passed again the entire race. I did have a guy come up to me at the halfway point of the second lap. He said "Ha, I got you. But I am horrible in the technical stuff, so I am going to follow you line". 10 seconds later and he was on the ground, never to be seen again. Since we were in the technical sections and I did not want to lose my podium spot, I decided to put this guy in my head and heard him saying over and over "Race your strenghts", so I decided to do that. During the second lap, I started lapping the women and Singlespeed racers who started after us. Most would let me by, with the exception of one woman racer who would not yield the trail AT ALL. She told me just because I was one of the leading riders did not mean she had to let me by. I waited for a little window and passed her, thanking her for her kindness. It was a rush to be passing the single speed riders, guys that I raced in previous years and being able to pull away from them strongly.

Third lap was more of the same, no one passed me, I passed singlespeeders and other sport riders from my class, who I was actually lapping at that point. I did had one really hard crash (my only one of the day) on the fireroad section. I hit a patch of ice at way too much speed and went down hard. I slid like 30 feet, got up, and got moving again because I did not wont to get eaten up by a more powerful rider in the open section. Got moving, NO ONE passed me and I knew I had at least 3rd locked up. I told myself to not settle and try and find 2nd and also told myself I could still win this race. I powered through as many sections as possible and finnessed the turns, because it was getting slippery. Out into the field that marked the last mile, I see what I think is the 2nd place guy up ahead (he had polka dots on his jersey tail.). I put it in the big ring and start hammering because he looks like he was not. I catch him pretty quickly, then realize it is not the 2nd place rider because this guy is on an orange SS and not the full suspension bike #2 was on. I still pass him and finish the race. I see the Kenda guy and the polka dot guy, who I know know as Matt and Marty, hanging out at the finish line. I am pretty sure Matt (Kenda guy) won and Marty was second, but then they tell me Marty passed Matt in the last lap and won the race. The ONLY guy to pass Matt. We are the only ones at the finish line at this point and celebrate our podium together.

Notice how the top three riders know where we were during the race and who passed us? There is a theme there. When results get posted, there is a mystery rider who won the race. The top 3 (me, matt, marty) all talk about how the race went, how we were the only three riders who passed each other and how no one else passed us, how we marked each other from the start of the race. The mystery rider is no where to be found and we all tell Rob (the promotor) there is no way this other guy won the race. They had timing chips and while they would have the times for each lap, they could not see them until all of the racers are done. After a bit (like an hour), Mystery Rider shows up and we all talk to him. Matt, Marty, and I agree that perhaps he got in front of us at the very beginning, but could not have passed us during the race. We ask him when he took the lead and he gets kinda weird. He tells us he was back in traffic from the start of the race and remembers passing SS riders, etc as did we. I think even Rob (the promotor) questioned his race, because he offered to pay the same amount of cash (yes CASH!) to the mystery rider and to the actual winner of the race. (he upped the 2nd place cash to match first). Me in 4th got nothing, but it was not the money I wanted, just my name in 3rd where I finished.

So it sounds like sour grapes, and if it were only me that could not recall someone passing, I would think it was just me. When three riders cannot recall this rider passing us, something is fishy. So the pursuit of podiums is still on, because the record books show me as fourth* (of 58), fourth*overall Sport (over 100 riders) and the podium only had three spots. (well to be honest they did not even have a podium, so maybe I should pretend they did and it was a 5 person podium?).

I am more fired up than ever to get training for the MTB season now. I am pleased with my fourth* place finish and it shows that I am on the right track. Since the first race at Fair Hill is April 19th, I have some work to do.

Back where we started, here we go 'round again

Day after day I get up and I say Let's do it again, do it again, do it again. OK. Song over. Woke up early today to head out and do some start efforts as prescribed by Fat Marc. He suggest some short yet strong intervals to get the body used to the efforts. This is actually the second time this year I have done these and they are starting to feel easier. Not really, but I guess I am adjusting. I rode around the resevoir doing these efforts, so I could get a good rest in between. There must have been like 1,000 geese in the water up there and at one point, I must have scared them because they all started flying out of the water. The noises they made, both their "quack" and with their wings flapping was pretty amazing. Some folks live really close to the water and probably hate the noise, but it is better than a highway or a passenger train zooming by (been there!).

Another workout tomorrow morning followed by a mellow (advertised that way anyway) group MTB ride. First time I have ridden with anyone in like three months! I am looking forward to it.

Early Tuesday AM . . . . .

So on Tuesday, I was having a great ride at Middle Run before work. Trails were rock solid frozen with a coating of snow, but traction was even better because of the snow. About 30 minutes into it, the rear tire started feeling soft.

I have been running a Bontrager TLR wheelset and tire since March with no problems. Unfortunately, the Stan's Latex is also ten months old and did not seem up to the task of fixing the wheel. At least it did not at first. I turned the wheel so the leak was at the very bottom and the air stopped leaking. The tire was very soft by then though, so I had a choice to make. I took an inventory of supplies and I had 1 26 inch tube, 1 Co2, and 2 tire levers. My tubeless set-up has worked so well that I stopped bringing 2 air cartridges on rides. I even raced last Fall at Marsh Creek without a tube or Co2. My confidence had grown that much with the TLR set-up. After thinking about it for a minute or two, I decided I would shoot some air in the tire so I could continue my ride. Air it up. Hssssssssssss. Turns out the air stopped leaking because the snow filled the hole and the pressure was low enough that the air was holding until I put a respectable amount of air in there.

At that point, I decided I would put the tube in so I could continue to ride. I had some air left in the cartridge, so I went ahead and started taking the tire off the wheel. As the tire came off, much to my surprise I found this little guy ---------> living inside of my wheel. I also found some very thin Stan's fliud inside. I suspect this little dragon ate up a bunch of my fluid (look at how full his belly is!) and that is why the tire was not able to seal. Pesky little devil.

I had some trouble getting the 26 tube into the 29 wheel, but it went in finally. I aired it up and to my dismay, I did not have enough air left to fill the tire. I started to ride home, but the tire was very soft and in 200 feet, it was totally flat. Apparantly I pinched the tube when I re-installed the tire (or ten month old tubes taped to a stem do not remain to be good). Lucky for me the snowy ground mated well with a flat tire and I was able to ride home very slowly.

So now I will ride today with a regular tire and tube and hope that works out well for me. I need some new more Stan's latex and hopefully I will be able to patch the old tire with fresh fluid.

January Training Ho Hums

This week has been nothing but MTB rides, because the high has been 30 and the average has probably been like 15 degrees! It is good to get out and ride and the trails have been nice and frozen, but I do miss getting out on the road bike. Yesterday was 30 during my ride and it actually felt warm.

I signed up for the first race of my season too. Pretty early to race, but I would like to get the race experience under my belt sooner rather than later. The race is the Snotcycle in Leesburg, VA and will be held 1/31/09, rain or shine. There are no age classes, just Beginner, Sport, Expert, and SS. I will be in the Sport class with my gears, unless the temps are warm and the course is wet and sloppy. We shall see.

Hopefully I can work on more frequent updates.