How do.

Just thought I'd throw a post up of some random photos from the last month or so.

Pumpkin festival in nowhere Ohio

Monsters

Had some pumpkin donuts there that were superfantastic (I had no idea)

Ben drove down to help me create a small workshop/trainer area in my basement

And to do this

Last pic, from a hike Bear and I did earlier today

Hope y'all are well.

BT Epic - Through the Eyes of the Promoter

We just finished the 2009 BTEPIC and it was a huge success. I would like to thank all of the racers/ riders and volunteers for all of the positive attitude that I seen over the whole weekend.

I witnessed Jason Ozenberger who was in the money hunt stop for an injured Eric Pyrtle, who crashed at Brazil Creek in the lead. Jason stayed with Eric until myself and Rocky Hudson our medical staff could get on site. Jason also did not leave until Eric was in the car on the way to hospital. Jason was rewarded a life time free entry to the BTEPIC. He did not ask for anything but I believe his actions are what we would like to see from every mountain biker out there. Jason finished with a time of 6:38:41. This is remarkable with the amount of time he stopped.

I also seen from the very fast pro to the entry level racer battle the elements and the challenge of the course with a smile on there face. I personally enjoyed watching the top guys battle all day long it was very fun and everyone should take a chance to watch these guys ride. I have to say this was the most fun and rewarding race I have had the fortune to promote.

I started the BTEPIC in 2008 with a friend of mine Tony Schardt. I had been to Ouchita and Syllamo and really enjoyed both events. I took what I learned from those and other races i have promoted or raced in to combine to what you see now. Even some adventure racing such as the drop bags. Even the location at Bass River Resorts, was brought to my attention when doing the Berryman adventure race. Tony and myself spent a lot of time riding and plotting the course for the BTEPIC. The goal was to offer as much single track as possible but with road breaks to help out the body. The 3 mile road climb at the start was set to separate the group before entering single track.

In 2008 we started out to clear the trail for the race 2 months before event it was rough, nearly 79 trees laid in our path. After sawing,pruning, and weed eating for 2 months we had it clear. In 2009 it was much easier. 2008 I only had 4 dedicated volunteers that helped the whole time with 3 more joining up for event. In 2009 i had 17 show up for work day and 25 for the race. I cant brag enough about how big of a role volunteers play in a race.

2009 showed to be just as big of a challenge since we got 2 inches of rain Thursday before the race. i got out of bed Friday morning to see the flooding. I contacted Stephan bass owner of bass river resorts. He said he hoped it would go down but would not promise anything. so i waited and went to bed Friday night around midnight I then got up Saturday morning at 4am to check on all of the water crossing, it did not look good, so i went back to Stephan at bass and we came up with the truck and trailer hauling idea. Stephan had 2 tall trailers one for his truck and one for mine. While most tour people were sleeping Stephan took me down to the river crossing and gave me a crash course in how to cross a bridge you could not see and that had water rushing across. His not was see that dead elm tree straight ahead that is the center of the bridge, keep you truck centered on that and go slow if you go off we can pull you out with a tractor. The way back was a little harder i was told to keep that same tree in my rear view mirror that sounded crazy.

So i went to the start line and explained to all of the tour people how we would be crossing the river leaving out the scary parts. The tour started and all the riders were waiting at the shore line of what looked like the ocean. People started to pile on the truck and trailers it was a sight. Stephan went first then i went. As my truck entered people on the trailer commented how deep it was but they were dry. I pulled up to the bridge that i could not see and started across. This was a little scary because i had a load of rider this time. When i got across to the other side safely i was relieved that it went so smooth. at the end of the ride i again showed up at the river and shuttled people back across but by this time i could see the bridge it was easy.

After the morning start most tour riders did not realize that i still had to build a bridge across hwy 8 since the water had been to high. when i and volunteers reached the site it was still to deep and wide for my bridge so after walking across the water(which was cold) to find the best spot we constructed the bridge but it was to short my dad and John Bradley went back to Stephan for Pallets to get people across dry. We had 3 rider that had to get a little wet but after that it was dry. i want you to think about how far back that crossing is from hwy 8 on a bike not so bad but carrying sections of a bridge forever again thank volunteers.

Again going to bed late Saturday night i again got up early Sunday to check on river crossing it looked a lot better but still deep. so again i go to Stephan he is ready to trailer people again for second day in his own personal truck but i have a problem how do you get all the racers across at same time without causing unfair time delays. we could only haul 25 at a time so i asked Stephan if i could borrow his trailer we parked it in the middle and put out ramps and pallets to get riders across dry this worked perfect. I watched the line get long for the crossing but not one person bitched or complained, thank you.

Also in 2009 Ryan joined to help out with promotion and work this proved to be huge. One person cant do it all. I have received a lot of thanks and praise but without the dedicated group that helped this year it would not have happened. Next year has already began in planning and i already have more volunteers dedicated to 2010. The race has also picked up some more sponsors so i promise you the BTEPIC will be a race that will continue to grow and hopefully encourage people to help the sport grow.

I have been asked why I spend so much time and effort into a race. I have been mountain biking since 1993 and have had some unbelievable experiences that have for every changing my life. I realized that without promoters and volunteers there would be no races. So by doing the BTEPIC is my way of giving back to a sport that I love so much. The only regret is that as this race grows and becomes a popular race I can never race in it, but the reward I got this year from all that happened and all the things i seen gave me the same satisfaction as if i were in the race and won.

Thanks to all that attended and i hope to see you next year although i would not wait long to sign up because i see this race filling up quickly.

BT Epic

Second year for this event. Extremely well run, big payouts and worthwhile raffle. This brought out some of the fast guys from the area and beyond. It was a great weekend. The perfect way to finish up the long race season. I really love the scene of MTB racing around here. Everyone is in it to have a good time and I've met a ton of cool folks. I had a decent ride with a good two hours, then a bad two hours, then a decent hour and a half. I'd love to figure out why I slump so bad like that. Training, nutrition, going out too hard? Not sure. Sometimes I feel powerful, sometimes I can barely turn the wheels. It was a sloppy day but I don't think it really bothered anyone too much. I know I had a blast!

Read these if you want some good accounts of the race.

1st Place - Jon Schottler

2nd Place - Steve Tilford

Mitch the Masher

Mr. Brace


I linked to some pics from various places, none are mine.


The start, 120 racers or so.









After less than a mile we had to cross this.



So they made this.



And we did this.





Credit Jim Davis of Team Trail Monster / Seagal Joint Venture with the nutrition, motivation, and entertainment award.




Results

Photo Time

It's been quiet for a while here. I don't have a lot of text, but plenty of pics from BURNIN (huge thank you Zac) and some other random stuff.

First, the randoms.








And the BURNIN.

I'm on a Boat....I mean Bike!

20 Days and Counting

Til Burnin'.

I just made a giant pot of chili.





It's getting dark a lot earlier nowadays. Been doing quite a bit of this lately.







Congratulations to the happy couple, Zach and Erin.







I fell asleep on the way home and when I woke up we were pulling in here. Jess can't get enough of animals. She'd adopt every one she came in contact with if she could. We really had a lot of fun here.





China. Big beautiful quarterhorse. She was my favorite resident.





There was a dog show going on. Has anyone seen "Best In Show"? They nailed it.

Blog Schmog

Have a couple weekends stacked up to report on. This will be short and sweet.

Made it out to the Tall Oak Challenge 6 Hour a couple of weekends ago. Great time, awesome conditions. Happy with the performance but I've got a couple things to work on. Here's the results. Scroll down to male solo.

Did some Council Bluff recon last weekend. We had time for two laps and made the best of them. Getting so pumped for Burnin'. Trail is in good shape.

Riding, Planning, Burnin

Did some riding over the weekend. Saturday was 40 miles 4 hours of all Castlewood singletrack. I haven't ridden there much this year so it stayed fun the whole time. Sunday was 12 miles of fun with Jess and the dog. Once again I was impressed with her riding. I think she's really enjoying it.


Big Skies


With a Smile



Obligatory


Old School





Planning on this for this coming Saturday.



And BURNIN'!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Cue beer discussion.

Schenectady Tuesday Night Race Series - IV

The fourth and final race in the Schenectady Tuesday Night Race Series was last night. The format was changed from 4 laps (16 miles) to 3 laps (12 miles), to allow for awards and enough daylight riding. I had mixed feelings about this, because I liked tracking my progress each week. But, I also knew that I could ride a little faster; without worrying about running out of steam. I also knew that a lot of other riders would be thinking the same thing and the pace was going to be a bit quicker.

Strangely enough, this week there were nearly double the amount of riders from the last couple of weeks. As a result, the line up and start was really clustered. I ended up somehow getting in the back of the middle group at the beginning. There were just so many riders, there wasn't much I could do. On top of this, I found out that more Pro level riders had showed up.

We start off and right away I could tell that there were some riders who had bit off more than they could chew and lined up too close to the front. At the very beginning there were a lot of riders trying to get around each other and being a little ridiculous about it. I even saw two guys right in front of me literally elbowing and yelling at each other trying to get in front.

Something I feel that I've learned doing these races is that regardless of where I end up in the line up, I eventually will get around the slower or weaker riders. And, those better than me will end up getting past me at some point.

During this first lap I was extremely patient when I was behind a slower rider and just waited for them to mess up on a technical feature or slow down too much going uphill. I would then just crank it out and pass them.

I ended up getting around the two guys elbowing each other really quickly when they both messed up on a technical feature. I passed a few other people at other points and then it was open terrain. I caught up with the 3 guys that I've been chasing all series long, and one other rider. Sure enough we all ended up together, tailing one another and pushing really hard. I knew this week that I really needed to make it a goal to stay with them. I ended up in the back of this pack and we all held a really quick pace into the first lap at 24 minutes.

Going in to the second lap, the two guys at the front started to gain some distance. This is where I normally start to mess up or slow down. Sure enough, I slipped on a skinny plank and flipped over my bars (getting completely covered in mud). I jumped up, got back on the bike and worked really hard to catch up to the guys in the second lap. I ended up making up the distance and by the end of that second lap, I passed one of the guys. It was me and one other guy left who was definitely at my pace and level of riding. We stayed with each other the entire third lap, riding really hard until the end.

I ended up finishing one second behind him, in 12th for the night. After I rolled in, the guys that I was riding close to and myself, stood around and talked about how much fun it was. It was a great feeling and a great, fun ride.

My time was 1:16 for the 12 miles, which is a personal best for me. In the overall series standings (results here) I finished tied for 9th place. I'm pretty happy about this, considering my mechanical in the first race and that my goal going into this series was to place in the top ten. After looking at the results and talking to some other folks, the first 6 guys are all Pro. Which means out of the 26 total riders, 2o were Sport class. And I was probably in the upper-middle (3rd or 4th) for the Sport class. Good stuff. No pics.

Cedar Lake and Michaux

Thought I'd throw up a post from recent rides. Rode Cedar Lake Illinois while stopped at my folks on the way up to PA. Great trails (although in need of a little more upkeep due to storm damage) and kicked my butt.

Also got in a couple rides in Carlisle local. Michaux State Forest actually. I'm stoked about these trails.

Open invite to come up and ride 'em with me.