5 races in 10 days

This is going to be hard. I've know about this 10 day stretch since late winter, but now that it's almost here I can only hope that my preparation was good enough. Not only are there a bunch of races piled on top of each other, but they are all in different disciplines.



This Friday is the first of three road racing events in three days - all part of the 2006 Coventry Commonwealth Games Road Omnium - The Mill Mountain Time Trial. 2 miles and a bit over 800 feet of climbing. Saturday will be an early morning road race. I have no idea how my body is going to react at being pushed hard this early in the day. And finally a crit on Sunday to top off the weekend.

I'm trying to use these three road races to help me peak for the following weekend's events - the 2006 Coventry Commonwealth Games Mountain Bike Omnium. Once again I'll climb Mill Mountain first - this time on Saturday, on trails, on my mountain bike. Then, Sunday we'll make history by participating in the first ever cross country mountain bike race at Carvins Cove.

Then, I think it will be a week off the bike entirely - knowing full well that the Shenandoah Mountain 100 is looming just around the corner in September. My training rides are about to get much longer.

It's all fun and games, til someone gets hurt

So this ride started like all the others...

Then things started gettin' a little weird.

And the more we rode, the more weird things appeared...

(Look closely! Have you ever seen a Porta-John tapped directly into the sewer system?)

Until finally, Ron couldn't take it anymore!

Pics of the pros from the 2006 Showdown at Sugar

JHK descends a tricky bit of Sugar singletrack

...followed closely by Jeremiah Bishop.

Men's Pro podium 1-JHK, 2-Jeremiah Bishop, 3-Jeff Kabush, 4-Ricky Federau, 5-Nick Waite

The Pro Ladies battle the long, steep slopes of Sugar Mountain

Fan favorite Sue Haywood rides smoothly through a tough technical section.

Pro Women's podium: 1-Shonny Vanlandingham, 2-Heather Irmiger, 3-Kiara Bisaro, 4-Kelli Emmett, 4-Sue Haywood

Skip on the podium at NORBA National!

Way to go Skip!

My singlespeeding buddy Skip Huffman takes 4th at the Showdown at Sugar NORBA National in NC last weekend.
















Then he went home and worked on his kitchen.

Fixed Gear Junk Box of Death Project

Yes my friends, let the insanity begin. I have an old Giant XTC SE1 frame hanging in my basement, along with a perfectly good rear SS wheel with a Surly hub laced into it. I don't need just another SS, I need a fixed gear. I'm through with coasting. I want to pedal, dammit!

So the project starts by dusting off the cobwebs (you'll notice I left most of the mud) from the trusty ol' frame that used to be my race bike, making sure the rear wheel was nice and true, and rumaging through my parts bin for some goodies to start the build. Bontrager seat post, Rock-hard Selle Italia saddle that I won at a WVMBA race, old Bontrager ISIS cranks from the Rig, Bontrager OS bar & stem...I'm almost finished!

It shall be called the Fixed Gear Junk Box of Death, or FiGJuBoD for short. Where did I get such an idea? You need only click on www.fixedgeargalley.com to understand why my mind has been altered in such a way to actually want no gears, no coasting and no brakes. Sounds like fun to me! OK, so maybe I'll put on a front brake...

I was inspired by bikes like this Scott. Looks like this one has gearing similar to a normal 26" SS MTB, but it probably sees more pavement than dirt.

This next one belongs to Scott Root, Dirty Harry's sales guy and Expert Masters racer from my old stomping grounds of Western PA.

You'll notice that the FiGJuBoD has vertical dropouts, as the frame is supposed to be geared. I'll have to play around with different cog/chainring combinations to find the gear I can run without a chain tensioner. Half links will be a necessity. I also haven't decided if I want this to be a mountain bike, or some sort of hybrid monster. I think it will see action mostly on the side streets and alleys around Roanoke, but some light trail action too. Don't expect to see the FigJuBod on Gauntlet.

Outtakes -photos without a post