The 2005 mtb
race season marked my third year racing a full season and my second
year on the Bean's MTB Team. In 2005 I would race the Sport
class for my last time, but I would race in the Sport Single
Speed category. Winter training wasn't what I'd hoped
for. I spent most of February in Michigan for work, then got
sick for half of March. Traveling to Michigan continued off and on
through April and May. I wasn't really sure what my fitness would be
for the start of the season.
Not wanting to do the race at Blue Marsh and being
on vacation for
the race at Camp Mack, my first race of the Mid-Atlantic Super Series
was Granogue. I like Granogue. It's one of the more technical courses
in the series for its off-camber trails, roots and mud. This was
taken near the beginning of the first lap. There's a
series of logs through some mud that I didn't quite
make.
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I took my time through the
race and tried to enjoy myself on the various technical
difficulties. In the end it paid off. I got third at my first race
of the season. I learned my fitness was in pretty good
shape, and I learned who my season foes would be. The guy in first
was John Miller.
He was using the single speed class loophole to
keep from going to expert. If you won a class in sport the previous
year, you had to move to
expert or do the single speed
class. Luckily after destroying most of us in the single speed
class at the first few races, he decided to move
up to expert.
The guy in second place was Dan Conrad. Dan would stay in sport
and remain in front of me for the rest of the
season.
Fortunately Dan was pretty cool and we had a
fun season chasing each other around, though I did most of the
chasing.
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The next race was Neshaminy.
I've always liked Neshaminy, but it doesn't me. I didn't
do well and finished eighth I think.
French creek was my
third race. I remember being really nervous about this
race. The French Creek course is usually very
long (compared to
the other races), very rocky and lots of
hills. Thinking about it now (over a year since it happened),
I can't say I have much fear at all for
French Creek. I guess
I've ridden enough miles and many other places to not really be
concerned about it anymore. John Miller was no longer
racing single speed sport by this race, so Dan moved up to first
and I got second. Dan actually double flatted and still beat
me.
Danville was my fourth race for the season. I had heard
lots of things about Danville, but still wasn't prepared for what we
had to suffer. I guess
it had rained recently, because
everything was slick and wet. The worst part about it was for every
steep wet trecherous downhill we had to do
(which I like), we
immediately turned and went right back up to the top on a steep wet
trecherous uphill. Instead of the normal lap format, they
put
together one big loop for us to race. Even the locals said it
sucked. Pain tolerance prevailed and I got third. Danville did
introduce me to
another contender - Jamie. I had seen him at
Granogue and Neshaminy. At Danville we spent most of the race pacing
each other. In the end,
he pulled ahead. Like Dan, Jamie was also
cool, but I could actually ride with
Jamie.
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My
fifth race was Hershey. It's a true favorite of mine and this year
was the best. For the first time the course was completely dry. We
flew!
Dan and I actually rode together the entire first lap
changing the lead between each other. Unfortunately for Jamie he had
chain issues and
never caught up with us. On the second lap, Dan
left me behind, though I finished less than a minute behind
him. Here's a picture of Ben and
the elite single speed
crew waiting for the start of their
race.
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Marysville is becoming another favorite of
mine. It's a weekend bonanza with a night time trial, cross
country race, short track, camping, etc.
We started Friday night
with the time trial. I got caught early behind some really slow
stubbern people in the tight single track next to the
creek, ran out of steam near the end, then nearly missed the
finish. Even with all that, I managed to finish third in the Sport A
category (they
combined us single speeders with gearies, so
that's not a bad finish at all). The following day was the cross
country race. The picture below
is basically how it all went
down. Dan lead out ahead of me and we finished it that way. I was by
myself for most of the
race.
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Dan didn't show
up for the Sewell race, so I finally had my chance to take the
win. The race started well, as you can see in the photo below.
I was comfortably leading the race till half-way
through the first lap I got some brush stuck in my rear brake
caliper. It even pulled my brake
cable into the caliper. Trying
to get things unstuck, I quickly dropped to eighth place. When I
started riding again, I still had issues. My rear
brake would
either drag real bad or not work at all. I decided not having a
brake at all was better than too much brake all the time. I adjusted
it
so and took
off.
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Here is me on the chase. I
think by the end of the first lap I was back in third. Somewhere
through the second lap I passed the guy in second.
He started
with us at the front. But by the looks of him then, he was
done. With a quarter mile to go at the end, I saw Jamie up
ahead. I
yelled out to him so he would know I was
coming (probably a mistake, sneaking up on him would have been
better). There were a couple of
switchbacks and about
10 riders between us. I passed as many as I could, but just couldn't
get him. I finished twentyfour seconds behind him
at the
finish. Another second place for
me.
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This was right at the
start of the Susquehanna race. Nothing too special about this one.
Though that's Dan directoy behind me. He won it and
I got second
again.
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Every year there's a
SingleSpeed World championship held somewhere in the world. This
year it happened to be in State College, PA.
Literally
singlespeeders from all over the world came to
participate. This is me in the parking lot before the
race sizing up the competition. It
was quite an event. You
can read more about it here
.
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Labor Day weekend marked a new adventure for
some of us on the team. The Super Series included a 24 hour
race in the series for team
bonus points. We had two teams - an
expert team and a five person open team. Our five person team
(the team I was on) got third in the
open class. Our expert team
got 4th. To read more, go here. Below is Marcus
with his special 24hr race hair cut.
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