This was probably best winter i've had in years. it was a long snowy winter and usually i would be inside watching AFV waiting for the sun to come out or in a wear house skate boarding or climbing on artificial rocks but this winter we had deuce and kokoe and they want to play 24/7.
amy and i started out taking them for long hikes/walks which was fun but not very exciting so we dusted off the xc skis and this made our time in the snow much more exciting.
see i was laid off for about three months this past winter and with amy in school full time i had a ton of free time with the pups so we made the most of it. i would usually try to get a ride in either on the trainer or out on the fixie in the morning then take dude and kokoe-mo out for a little skijoring come home and pick amy up and go out again. it was lots of fun and good cross training for the up coming racing season.
cant for the life of me figure out how to rotate this video...anyway here are some photos i do know how to rotate
I also got in a bunch of long rides with jeff "the freak, the animal, the machine, etc" pendelburry they were always cold hard and long but fun and educational we would usually ride down by his house in amish country. he would school me on amish life and point out different plants and animals along the way. This year im focusing on shorter races 30 miles or less and maybe throw in one or two longer races. jeff and i are going to do some of the closer national races and hopefully do well enough to upgrade from cat 1 to pro. its something like three top three finishes or five top five finishes to get the upgrade.
The first race of the season was race 1 of the V-knob series and after training all winter i was excited to see how i would do. steve twining lined up next to me and said jeff told him i was the man to beat this year i just laughed and told him no jeff is the one to look out for.
the gun went off and steve got the hole shot followed by brad, dave hall, john proppe, and myself. jeff came by me and got past john and dave i tried to stick on his wheel but couldn't get by them so i waited for my chance. once we got out of the woods i passed john and tried to get by dave in a corner but was going too fast and slid out right in front of john who somehow didnt run me over. i got back up and took off. a few min later i passed brad with his bike upside down fixing a flat or something. somewhere on the first lap i passed john and dave and was sitting in third.
john was never too far behind and i learned from cross season john is a very strong rider and wont give up or back off so i kept pushing hard. i would catch a glimpse of jeff or steve here and there and couldnt believe how far ahead of me they were. i managed to hold john off for third place 8 minutes behind jeff! i figured jeff would beat me but i was thinking 3 maybe 4 min, not 8... i have a lot of work to do.
a week later was the first ombc race at mohican wilderness i wasn't looking forward to this race i've done a hand full of 24hr races there from four man and duo and the last two were solo. in 07 i was racing solo there on my single speed and after about 15 hours had to pull out because i thought my achilles was going to explode, 32x16 was not a good gear to run. the following year i made another attempt this time i came equipped with a 32/20 and felt much better still i left that race not wanting to ride my bike ever again. so coming back to this course is nothing i look forward to.
the race started off fast, a little pile up as soon as we got in the woods slowed things down but just for a few seconds. steve and jeff were really pushing the pace and i couldn't hold on. eventually i caught and passed teddy and tried to put some distance between us but he held my wheel and dropped me on the 2nd lap. i was just trying to hold on to my currant position and get the race over with.
then i see ross clark creeping up on me. he finally passes me on the third and final lap, i hold his wheel and figure ill make my move on the last climb and try to hold him off and sprint for the finish. but im climbing faster than him on the second to last hill with maybe 2 miles to go so i figure what the heck ill make my move now so i pick up the pace and just as im passing him i get bumped out of the saddle by a log i didnt see and into ross. i apologize and let him take the lead. its flat for a few hundred feet then a long down hill.
we both pick it up and ross tears off down the hill and im right behind him we come to a downed tree that we have to dismount to get over ross gets over it clean and so do i my bike on the other hand gets hung up on the trees roots and and i have to take a second or two to get my bike free, i jump on and my chain drops into the granny gear. sh*t! i look up and ross is standing up getting smaller and smaller finally i get into the middle ring (somewhere in the race i broke my shifter and was stuck in my middle ring so getting it back into the middle ring was a little challenging) and take off hoping i can still catch ross on the last climb. i get to the bottom of the climb and ross is already just about at the top i figure he's too far ahead now but i try to catch him anyways. i pop out of the woods and ross is no where to be seen. i roll across the finish line looking for ross to talk about the last fifteen min of our race. i cant find him apparently he hasn't come through yet. he must have missed the turn out to the road for the finish and kept going on for another lap.
i finished 6th
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