19th Annual Rowdy Dawg Notes

This has been my first year directing races. The Rowdy Dawg was my second go of it and I hope everyone had a fun experience. By all reports I've heard, the 19th Annual Rowdy Dawg went off well. Felt a strong positive vibe from everyone all day. I had fun at least and look forward to the next one.

I want to give my friend and Co-Director, Brad Buchanan from Montgomery County Parks & Rec a shout. He has wanted to be a part of the race for a couple years, and the energy and resources he brought to the Rowdy Dawg this year was extraordinary.

We did a few things differently this year to prepare folks for a bigger event next year. We moved the Registration Tent & Start/Finish Line back to Boley Field (the more traditional location) and put racer parking up the road at Broce's Field about 8/10ths of a mile - it worked pretty well. We'll tweak a few things next year to reduce confusion.

We had the support of VT Corps of Cadets - Bravo Company, at key marshall stations. They ROCKED! I had numerous comments from racers about the great job they did.

Alpha Chi Omega came out and did a super job manning up our two aid stations. There help was also well appreciated - and I have heard many compliments on how smoothly the aid stations were run.

We are already preparing for the 20th Anniversary of Rowdy Dawg. We are hoping to do a two-day festival that will include things not seen since the first race at Price's Mountain back in 1988, and add a few new twists.

Some of the highlights we are hoping to include:
- Huffy Toss
- MTB hill climb
- Super D
- Super Freestyle
- Hopefully a nice bonfire!
- Lots of food
- 1988 era entry fee that covers the whole event - hopefully sponsors can help make that a reality.
- Of course another tough Rowdy Dawg race on Sunday.

Next on the list for events is the Dirty Dawg Cycling Festival up at Mountain Lake on June 14-15th, 2008. The plan is to include both road and mountain bike events.
- Road HillClimb TT up Salt Pond Mountain
- Hopefully a Trek/Gary Fisher Demo
- Possibly an IMBA presentation
- An improved XC Race
- A stupid hard XXC Race
- Guided mountain bike rides for all levels on the trails
- Guided road bike rides showing off some sweet back roads
... much more to be done

Shenandoah 100 / 'doah MTB Festival / Rowdy Dawg

Shenandoah 100
A busy summer has led to an intense autumn. Leading off was the Shenandoah 100 Mountain Bike Race on September 23rd. This was my second go of it and I wanted to improve over last year's performance. I focused on better hydration and smarter tire selection. I only rode about 150 miles more than last year in preparing for this event. Instead of doing more longer rides I did high intensity short rides more often. Short as in about 30-35 minutes on a the crit course in the woods around our house. Id go in, warm up 5 mins. and then just crush it till I had to get ready for work in the mornings

My tire set-up was Bontrager Super X Revolt Tubeless 2.2's with Stan's of course. At about 32 psi front and 35 psi rear they really hooked up and rolled with minimal effort. Best thing was - NO FLATS! This is the same tire that Chris Eatough (6 World 24 Solo Champion) runs and he has had one flat in that entire span.

The race was extra exciting this year because Floyd Landis (TdF Champion 2006) was racing and everyone thought he could give Eatough a run for his money - he had just finished second in the Leadville 100 - could've won it but for a crash and a flat. Unfortunately, Eatough had a mechanical on the second big climb of the race and we were denied the opportunity to see who had what. Floyd went on to finish third.

My race went well, Greg 'HiFi' Hylton and I duo-teamed up after a fast start and attacking riders on 'Cookie' at the top of the first climb. This rocky, singletrack had most folks pushing their bikes while we middle-ringed on through - passing dozens. Greg had his first of 6 flats for the day (NOT running Stan's) on the fire road leading to the Hankey Mtn. climb. We changed them out like an F-1 team and didn't lose too much time.

My hydration plan consisted of two bottles of Hammer Perpetuem and HEED throughout the race. Regular shots of Hammer gel and Clif Blox did the job. My energy was steady through the race with no twinges or cramps. We kept our pace steady - hammered the downhills and team time-trialed the flats and climbs.

We had a good time and things went well. The Death Climb after checkpoint 4 went by pretty fast - we rolled it up and felt really good. On the final downhill off of Hankey we smoked past a few more guys in the techno-rocky single-track that had tightened up and rolled into the Finish Line together. The Dominion Ale tasted really nice. I improved on last years time by an hour and 18 minutes. Felt good the next day too. Next year will shoot to break 10 hours.

'Doah MTB Festival
Went to the festival in Stokesville held by the Shenandoah Mountain Bike Club for the first time this year. Got a sweet campsite set-up with the Moonstompers and immediately suited up for the 6 Pack Downhill Race. My first - so I didn't know really what to expect. We rode up Trimble Mtn. Trail and waited at the top to sign in for our start times. The wx was cool on top and I pulled on my jacket as we waited for folks to roll up. Mike Carpenter was running the show and seeded me fifth in the running order - I thought that was earlier than I should probably go - usually the fastest guys run first - there were 50+ riders there.

I had never seen the course - and was not really set-up for DH - but figured to have fun and be conservative. When my start came I hustled off trying to keep my tires on the trail and just be smooth with the brakes. As the trail wound down over the rocks and roots I found my flow and opened it up a bit more - getting pretty aggressive near the bottom. I took the whoops at the bottom with a lot of speed and got some applause and hoots from the Carnage Crowd assembled there. My time was 30 seconds slower than the fastest finisher - but proved to be the 8th fastest for the day - I was about 13th overall - three guys were tied for 1st and three more tied for 4th. I'll take it - no crashes!

Rest of the weekend included a battleball tournament that nite. Our team consisted of Joel Maynard, Craig Riddle and myself. We eliminated about 6 teams before finally succumbing in the semi-final to a team that eventually won the tournament - what a BLAST!

Next morning, Sully, Chenger, Cridder, Eric, Fedak and myself did a climb out of camp after breakfast up to Hankey Mountain than out Lookout - about 10 miles. Beautiful lookout there - the climbs were very stiff but worth it. After lunch Sully had to roll out to a wedding (poor guy) and Than arrived. After we got Than settled into camp it was time for another ride of about 25 miles. We rolled up the SM100 initial climb - out on Cookie - where I endo'd while trying to pressure Chenger (on a fancy 6" travel rig) doing a head auger into a big rock, smashing my helmet pretty good and leaving a nice contusion my left thigh. The ride went on and we hit the new Narrowback section before guessing at our route - no map - and finding Festival Trail to climb back up and back track along Cookie (where we ran into the Sue Haywood led Women's Ride). We continued back along Cookie as the sun got lower and made it to the downhill on Tillman Trail. Our arrival back in camp was just in time as there was almost no light left.

Saturday night's burritos were really good and followed up with a slide show. The observatory was open so I went over and got to see a nebula and a star cluster. What beautiful night, I spent about an hour after in the field looking up at the Milky Way and counted 9 falling stars before falling asleep, waking up and rolling into the tent.

Sunday morning we packed up our camp and Cridder shuttled Fedak, Thanimal, Chenger and myself up to Reddish Knob for a run down Chestnut and Grindstone. Jacob (the Trek/Gary Fisher Demo Dude) loaned me a GF Carbon Pro HiFi to test out on this very demanding ride. 5" of Fox plushness was exactly what I needed. I got it dialed in and the trail just flew on by. Very impressed with it's performance - climbing, downhilling through the rocks and loose gravelly and sandy corners. At 23.5 lbs - pretty tough to beat.

What a great weekend - lookin' forward to next year!

Rowdy Dawg this Sunday - lots to do to get ready for it - hoping for some rain to knock down the dust.

What a SUMMER!

So the last post I made was back in May. The summer has flown by like it always does. This weekend marks the arrival of fall for me with Hokie Football kicking off on Saturday and the Shenandoah 100 rolling out early Sunday AM.

Trying to better my time from last year's SM100 by using better suited tires, and hydrating better - tried to ride more this year but only a hundred or so more miles in my legs now compared to last year. Aiming to break 10 hours - would be very surprised if I do - but if I get lucky and manage my day right - could happen. Just gotta stay steady and not over do my effort.

Enjoying a new OCLV main frame for my Fuel (originally a Fuel 100 back in '01, now a 9.9). It is the best it has ever been. I can't beleive how much better that carbon performs over the old XR9000 aluminum. I'll never go back - it is that big a difference. Broke a Ti rail on my old trusty recovered WTB Podium saddle today at the top of a fireroad climb at Mountain Lake. Just went 'POP' - and I had to limp home on the good rail - tough last 9 miles. Lucky I have a replacement at home - super lucky it didn't happen in the race this Sunday!

Big news this summer though was my 4 1/2 year old daughter Ruthie riding her bike w/out training wheels. She is very brave and has really impressed me with her persistence even though we don't get to practice as much as we'd like. Today we practiced some more on her self-starting and she is right on the cusp. I think next time we go she'll have it.

Have had a lot of other stuff on the burners this summer - hopefully some big changes are coming. We'll see what the Fall brings.

--dB

dB UPDATE - Tires, Tubeless & MoM 200k

XC MTB Tires...
My sealant comparison was kind of interesting. I am running Stan's rim strips in standard rims (Bonty Mustang Disc - rear & a Cane Creek WAM Disc - front) and using standard tires (Tioga XC Xtreme 2.1, Conti Vert Pro, IRC KUJO - rear & a Tioga Factory DH 2.3 front). The XC Xtreme was the tire I've run for the past 16 mos., but it has been discontinued. Great tire with center tread blocks being a little too short and quick wearing for my tastes. Also had puncture issues in sharp rock situations - which Stan's reliably countered in most instances - sometimes it needed a little help - but always got home tubeless which is the goal.

The Conti is an awesome climber and descended fast s-track almost as well as the Tioga - but the sidewalls bled fluid, and it was more susceptible to punctures than the XC Xtreme, also tore off tread knobs. The KUJO got thrown on as an emergency back-up and well - you can ride it on 20 psi no sweat. Just ignore the extra weight - the tire does it all and with no punctures. It helped me give Chenger all he wanted on his favorite downhill - so... Awaiting the rebuild of my shock and fork to try a new tire on the back... Kenda Nevegal with dual tread compound and side wall protection. Than recommends!
We'll see - never ridden Kenda before. The Tioga front is going into it's 2nd year - Bomber BEEF-O tire! Point and shoot, it doesn't let you down.

Stan's versus Juice - UPDATE ...
Bontrager Super Juice is pretty good stuff. I guess if you are in a west coast thorny environ it would do fine - BUT, if you are on East Coast singletrack with rocks sticking up like landmines - then you need to run the Stan's. It stops most punctures w/out you having to stop - the bigger ones plug up with a little debris shoved up in the hole. The latex clots around it - a little air from a pump and off you go. Forget about the hole - it stays plugged until you finally ditch the tire months later.

Mountains of Misery Double Metric 125 miles, 13,000' of climbing ...
- FINISHED in 8hrs, 54mins
Did first 100 miles in 6:10, good pacelining really helped. Steady on the climbs saving the oomph for the last climb - and I needed it. This was the first time I've climbed the back side of Mt. Lake and heard voices in my head telling me to get off and walk - I refused - and barely stayed upright - but gritted it out - told the voices to "shut up an go to hell".

Last week I set a new personal best on that climb riding from my house. The old time was 1hr, 03mns. My new record is 58 mins and 24 secs. I was not about to give in - though this may have been my slowest ever ascent. I looked down and saw 3.8 mph on the computer after I rounded the hard right hand switchback one mile from the top while standing on the pedals and thought... 20 MORE MINUTES OF THIS?!? ARGHHHHHH...!!! There was a crowd at that switchback too.

Rougher day for some...
25 miles in a deer plowed t-bone style right into the paceline I had just bailed off of (needed to pee). Witnesses that I joined up with just a few minutes later said that the young deer was startled by the large group of 30+ cyclists, ran into a fence, spun around then charged up the bank across the road and hit a guy mid-pack who flipped 8' up in the air landing on his face on the rocky bank beside the road.

When I came through there were about 8 folks on the side of the road and a bloody dude laying on the bank looking pretty shaken. A small deer was in the ditch just twitching. I later heard a deputy shot the deer - it's neck was broke. The cyclist was stable at Montgomery Regional - no confirmation of his injuries yet. Just BAD luck.

The other bloody mess I saw belonged to a guy with VT Team jersey that had crashed on the descent after the last rest stop (Eggleston Road). I suspect he missed the chicane in the road that is the bridge creek crossing at the bottom. Some local in a farm truck gave him a ride to the rest stop where I was taking on water for the last assault. He wasn't talking much, had a bloody chin and forehead, looked pretty stunned. I told him he didn't look too bad - he looked like he'd been on one of our typical mountain bike REGIME rides... he just groaned... oops!

On the final assault I just put it in 'chairlift mode' - I knew I had my goal of under 9 hours in sight if I didn't cramp or blow up - so I just took it easy. Caught a lot of folks in the final two miles who had blown past me at the bottom all chipper about the end of the ride. They looked pretty bad - and most of them were walking their bikes - or laying in the shade. I saw one guy who was just standing there holding his bike looking lost. One lady had taken her shoes off and was pushing her bike up the hill in her socks. No walking - I'd hate myself all year and have to come back do it all over again.

Hammer Heed and Perpetuem did the job I stayed hydrated in spite of the 85 degree heat. I didn't drink any pure water on the ride. Had a bottle of Perpetuem the night before, another after my morning coffee, and another in my bottle cage. Drank HEED throughout. Hit the Hammer gel - Vanilla before the climbs and on Maggie Valley. No cramps, no stomach issues.

The smoke from burning meat at the finish line almost did me in though - that smoke really flipped my stomach for a awhile - managed to get some watermelon down before riding down the mountain with Paul Ely and the Eggleston gang. That actually felt really good! Finished up the day with 136 miles and a New River Pale Ale. Oh yeah and a chocolate milk. Went to bed at 8:30 and slept till 7AM. Felt pretty good Monday and this AM. Usually I am sick as a dawg. I am sold on that Perpetuem stuff. You can believe I'll be hitting it on the SM100 in September!
--dB

Sick kids supercede mountain bike race participation

Well another of Kyle's races take place today (Douthat), another race I had on my calendar that I am going to miss. Damn shame too, nicest MTB course in the state. Henry wouldn't sleep last night and Ruthie woke up at 4:30 this morning vomiting. Ann got little sleep and so we will not be making it out there. I hadn't planned on racing - just wanted to sweep course and enjoy the day up there. Trying to save money for entry fees for Shenandoah Mountain 100 in September and Mountains of Misery (Memorial Day weekend) and a new HiFi Carbon Pro for next March.

The fun in going to races is in taking the family along - otherwise I don't get to spend any time with them. Planning to get a ride in though up at Mountain Lake this afternoon with Greg 'Squeeky' Hylton.

After riding with him - you might think he gets that nick name from his old thoroughly beat Klein hardtail. His buddies know better.

Guess we'll have to plan on doing a camping trip up to Douthat soon to make up for this weekend.

UPDATE: SUPER JUICE vs STAN'S
Well, I must say I am impressed with both right now. I am running on tires that are past their best service life - knobs are worn down to nuthin', they are looking pretty bad - but still holding air and the stuff is still sealing punctures.
It blows my minds that more folks don't run tubeless. I can't remember the last tube I installed on my Fuel. Need new tires - but my final upgrades to the roadie bike have tapped me out.

The roadie bike (Trek 5200) is sporting some new super chi-chi Bonty Race XXX stuff, a proper width VR h-bar, and fork with the proper rake. Mated this up to a super short Race X Lite stem (Thomson too long for my fit on this 54cm bike - I should be on a 52 - but this is a gift horse) and a sweet blue Chris King headset. New Michelin Krylion Carbon tires are mounted and am awaiting new Dura Ace brakes and front der.
Next year I may upgrade the shifting to DA 10 speed and new Bonty Race X wheelset. That will finish it up.

Just did my first big solo ride of the year with it this past Weds., finally attempted the Waiteville loop all the way counter-clockwise around Mtn. Lake, a distance of just over 65 miles. Did it on three water bottles and no pakpak.
One super tuff dirt road climb out of Clover Hollow, the dirt road climbout of Maggie Valley was easy. Beautiful ride, started at 9AM and rolled into Pembroke at 1PM, chatted with Steve-O at TO for a bit and got home by 2PM. Saw two turkeys up close and many deer. No dogs!
Gotta run - stuff to do.
--dB



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