jump to navigation

DCMTB wins EX2’s Day of Endurance

Tom Vaughn and Lynne Oliver represented DCMTB at EX2’s inaugural Day of Endurance. Not only did they win the coed duo class in the 6 hour MTB race, they beat all the duo teams for 3rd overall. Lynne is especial happy to have beaten all the boys, while Tom was just happy to have raced having bruised the heck out of his ribs while preriding the day before.

The course at Rocky Gap State Park was like two courses in one; one section climbed up into Gambril-like rock gardens with a screaming descent back to the mostly smooth and fast lakeside section. There was also some very Lodi-like twisty-turny sections as well, making it a varied and fun course. Jim Harman of EX2 said everybody loved the course and will be doing it again next year.

Thanks to Jim and everybody at EX2 for an expertly run race and thanks to our sponsors: City Bikes, Merkle, Whole Foods P Street, Continuum Energy Solutions, Serfas, SRAM, The Looking Glass Lounge and WTB.

Race 3# of Cranky Monkey series and over-all results

Lynne Rocking it

The weather was warm and conditions dry and dusty at Quantico for the last of the three race Cranky Monkey series. Matt Donahue, Tris Newbury, Lynne Oliver, Mike Scardaville, Tom Vaughn, Eric Welp and Jon Wheaton were present to represent the black and red.

Lynne put the finishing touch on her domination of the Expert Female class taking 1st place again for a perfect score of 150 in the series! Way to go, Lynne! Jonathan placed 4th at Quantico and 4th in the series in the Single-Speed class. On a rigid fork, no less! Tom took 4th place for the series in the tough Expert 35+ class, despite a 7th place finish at Quantico. Also, congrats to our friend Steve Viers for a second place finish in Single-Speed, taking first place in the series!

Thanks to Jim Harman and all at EX2 Adventures for such a well run race series. Thanks to our sponsors: City Bikes, Merkle, Whole Foods P Street, Continuum Energy Solutions, Serfas, SRAM, The Looking Glass Lounge and WTB.

Cranky Monkey #2 - Fountainhead

By: Jonathan Wheaton

I decided after the first lap of Cranky Monkey #2 at Fountainhead Park in Virginia that the trail there isn’t such a great singlespeed race course. Especially riding fully rigid and having your teeth rattle about in your head. The whole thing is just roots, direction changes and short, steep hills, with very little chance to stay in the saddle and pedal, and taken all together it worked to minimize the advantages of riding a singlespeed. Having said that, it was still a lot of fun to race today.

8 AM this morning found me wolfing down a bowl of hot cereal, then racing down to the car to put a pair of cleats on a brand spanking new pair of biking shoes, to go with a new style of pedals (Crank Brothers) that I had ridden for the first time the day before. I was hoping everything held together, as I’d also installed a new bottom bracket to go with the pedals. At 8:08 AM I was on the road, and after an hour and a half drive I arrived with not much more than 20 minutes to put shoes on, hit the porta-john, get my race packet (thanks for getting that for me Mike!), get everything together, and make it to the line for the 10 am start. No warm up and cold legs is not how I would normally want to start a race, but what the hell, I could warm up during the 2 mile road start. I was on the front line for the start, and a few guys went off quick, spinning like mad. I have a pretty fast spin, but without warming up I just wasn’t feeling too spinny. After the first mile (is it really 2 miles?) I was near the rear of the class of 15 or 16 riders, but was able to make it to mid-pack in the second mile, and was positioned about where I wanted to be going into the woods. Although, after going fast on the road, a few of the guys in front of me were slowing me up on the trail. Whatever, I had determined not to blow myself up in the first few miles, choosing instead to keep a good steady pace and let the engine warm up for a bit.

My legs were feeling good for most of the race, and as the first lap wore on I passed 4 or 5 singlespeeders, until by the end of it I was somehow in 4th place. I didn’t know it at the time though — I thought I was somewhere in the top third but didn’t realize how far up I’d gone. I managed to pass Jonathan Seibold somewhere near the end of the first lap as well, before passing one more guy. During the second lap Seibold recovered from going out too hard and about a third of the way into it I looked back to see where people were and there he was, chasing me down. “Damn. Okay, I can’t let up. I have to keep on pushing hard, see if I can hold onto this position until the end.” For most of the rest of the lap I was looking back periodically. Sometimes I wouldn’t see anyone, and then there he’d be, and I’d think, “Damn, he’s closing on me.” That lap seemed like a long one, with me and my sore back trying to hold onto our gains. As I came to each hill I’d think, “This race is going to be decided on the hills. I have to gas it and give it all I’ve got.” Surprisingly, my legs always felt strong, and even on the steepest hills that were near impossible on a singlespeed I was able to jump off and run up the rest of the way. I can’t remember ever having that kind of fitness. Up the last of the hills I pushed hard and kept pressure on the pedals, and was finally able to make some distance on Seibold, but he pushed me to give it my all that whole lap. I didn’t know it, but I must have been closing in on third place, as I finished only 24 seconds behind.

So, I got to stand on the podium and collected a 4th place finish pint glass. Sweet! There was a bit of a mix up with the scoring, as originally I didn’t even show up in the singlespeed class at all. Several of the guys let me know this, and I was able to straighten it out with the scorer. Apparently they had recorded my number as 386, but the number they gave me was 286.

There weren’t a whole lot of DCMTB/City Bikes jerseys there today, I think a total of 7 altogether, but we had 5 people on the podium. Tris Newbury took 4th in women’s sport, Joel Gwadz dominated the clydesdales to take 1st, Tom Vaughn battled the expert vets to get 5th (and that’s a hard class to race in to be sure!), Lynne Oliver stepped on the gas for her third lap in the women’s expert class to soundly beat the woman she trailed for two laps, and I held a steady pace to wind up 4th in the singlespeed class. Great job everyone!

Monster Mash

The DCMTB \ CityBikes team came and had a good showing at the Monster Mash.

Monster Mash 2007

12 Hours of Cranky Monkey



By Darren Biggs
This Past weekend was the 12 hours of racing at Quantico on the Marine Base. There was a large contingent of DCMTB/City Bikes riders intent on riding and having fun.
This race was an example of why people mountain bike race, and especially at the relay events. The team had good energy with people helping out one another, and making sure people were eating and drinking, when their stomachs did not want to. When you have a team atmosphere things like a broken chain, a flat don’t seem as bad if your teamates boost your spirits. The DCMTB/City Bikes team didn’t have the most racers at the event, but they had the biggest presence on the podium.

Expert
1st Darren, Kent, MattyD
The Solar Ring Blingers-Was the name of this team, The team had a tough battle with the Principle Health Fitness team that was only 2 minutes behind for most of the race. What stands out is the consistent performances of the team. The team was lucky to not have any mechanicals, but it was due considering Darren’s bike completely blowing up at Big Bear two weeks prior. The standout performance was Kent pulling a 47 one lap. That gave the team the lead and they never let it go. Matt put in a big effort and road strong, he also was the only one to have to do a 5th lap, and he complained not at all. Darren was the unknown factor, he had many excuses, and he had some legitimate tendon issues, but with the good energy of his teammates Kent, and Matt and some ibuprofen he was able to pull some really good lap times. He was able to defend their lead and build it to 8 minutes by the last lap. Darren’s personal goal was to help his team not hinder it, and he achieved that; but he did not achieve his secondary goal of posting a faster lap then Marc ;-). This was a big race for Kent, in that it was his first 1st placing in expert. For Darren it was his first 1st placing in expert and his first REAL expert relay race.

3rd Tom V,Mike S, Jonathan
(from Tom V)
These guys were riding consistent laps, with Jonathan on the SS doing those steep hills. Tom did win the DCMTB/Citybike lemans start race, with his goal of being in the top 10 in the run, only to be passed by many riders. So Tom says learned there! At one point Mike S must have been putting the hammer down had to have his crank arm come off!. Tom and Jon were happy they were able to pull 0:50 laps. They finished 10minutes out of second place. Tom V. thought the race was physically harder than Big Bear. He is still hurting!
EX2 did a great job, especially for the first time.Our race was kind of uneventful compared to everybody else, except for

Masters
1st Steve, Chris, Marc
(From Mike K)
The Master’s race was the best story from the race. Viers went out first and turned in a solid lap. Chris went out without a chain tool and, guess what? Broke a chain. He was running and Scardaville caught up to him and gave him a tool. He lost about 15 minutes on that lap. He was bummed. Marc went out next and DOUBLE FLATTED *AND* couldn’t get his CO2 to work then borrowed a bad pump. Damn. He was less than happy. They were 35 minutes down. Through the race, they pulled back into first. Chris passed the first place rider, broke a chain, got passed, fixed his chain THEN pulled back into first! STUD! Talk about redemption. These guys pulled from 4th to first and had the race won without sending a rider out before 7pm.
(From Steve)
Chris and Marc summoned some big courage and poise to turn good laps after the gremlins bit them during the first rotation. And then they rode us back into contention after a second gremlin attack. Um, wow. Nice work. I do wonder, though, if the team name (Retread) had anything to do with Marc’s 3 flats. Good rides, good vibes. I’m proud to call myself a “retread”!
One of my favorite racing memories EVER is now that first lap. Matt, Tom, Mike K. and I rode much of it together or just turns apart. The energy was amazing! Camp energy was pretty good too.

Open Duo
3rd Ilana, Mike K
(From Mike)
I pulled 6 laps, all under 1hr which was my own personal victory. I rode 3 doubles and had a really good time. It was a SUPER slippery course as it was amazingly dry and loose. There were jumps and great turns and high-speed stuff and tight stuff with some REALLY steep climbs. I managed to ride everything on every lap with the exception of this one section that no one could ride. Steep, loose, big roots, big rocks… I almost cleaned it twice.
I started with the run which was a bad idea. That and the fact that I hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a week made for a tired first two laps. I figured that doubling-up would be good as I’ve never ridden the course. Then Ilana went out for her first lap telling me that she had ‘a mechanical’ and could only do one lap. Ok, no prob. I went back to the City Bikes staging area and tried to eat, drink and rest in the hour that I had to chill. She came back and I went out for two more laps. Ilana pulled the next two laps, I did another double and then Ilana did the last double to finish up a lap ahead of fourth but on the 2nd place lap. The winners only beat us by one lap. That’s pretty rad. We only decided to race duo on Wednesday so it worked out well. Podium in our first Duo attempt. We were both tired and stoked. Next time, we both agreed that we should actually try to strategize to improve our position but laughed it off as we both had a good time.

Solo Women
?Mid-Field Tris
This was Tris’s first race of the season, and she had just moved the day before. She came out to ride, and have a good time. She was in good spirits even after she hut her hand on the trail. Tris pulled 6 or 7 laps and ended the day with a smile on her face which is most important of all.

More Photos

12 Hour Crankey 2007 Monkey

O’Hill Melt Down

-Darren Biggs

For the weekend of April 29th, most of the DCMTB\City Bikes team was racing the Greenbier UCI rated race, I was representing down in Charlottesville. I was doing a cabin weekend with some friends not far from there so I decided to leave there early on Sunday and do this race. I was not feeling my best, I had some stomach issues I figured I would be OK for the race length. So I get to the race, and the turnout wasn’t as large as they usually get(oldest MTB race in the state 17 years) they said. I debated about signing up for expert, but decided to see how I did in this race to see what category I should ride so I signed up for sport. So the Experts went off a minute ahead of us and then we started the race at the bottom of a paved road climb that we would do to get to the trail. I usually can start fast and this kind of start was right up my boat a road hill climb. We start off(I think 20 in the class), and there is one guy in front of me, and I then pass him on the road climb a little bit before I get to the trail. I am off on the trail, I did not pre-ride the trail so I have no clue what the trail was going to bring. I knew from reading on line it was like Fountainhead, and Gambril together, with more steep hills and that was right on target. So I am doing the course and passing the female expert, and one or two expert vets. After about 3miles of a 14mile race, I was so anaerobic, I had to let up a little. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for the full race. I had some people on my tail that I let pass, then I passed them later that same lap. I had a guy who was able to get up this steep section behind me, I gave him the trail since it looked like he was going to clear something I didn’t. He was going good until he got right level with me, then I heard Hisssss. I was like awh man sorry, and he was pissed! threw his bike down(I think I had already left it sounded like that). He flatted so I was still in the lead. I let a guy pass me who was a light guy like 145 he had me on some of the hill sections. There is a Powerline climb that is brutal, in the fact that you could do it, just not in a race. The first lap I made it halfway before dabbing and walking up it. The second lap, I made it 3/4 the way and that made me think that you could clear it if you didn’t blow yourself out on the course. So I was thinking that I was in second place, and I saw some guy behind me so I was just thinking I got to keep this position. I passed an expert Vet guy Scott who I was trailing for allot of the race. The last half of the last lap I was trying to catch the 1st place single speed guy. I was pretty shocked at how well he could ride the course with one gear. In the end I kept my 2nd place and was a minute behind first. This was the hardest course I have ever raced on. I think my riding up at Liberty Furnace in the beginning of April helped with the rocky downhill sections. I also have to be thankful I didn’t flat, with all the rocks I was flying over. I would definitely do this race again, just not go out quite as hard in the beginning. The question is if I should race expert at Walnut creek on May 20th, I will look at the expert times and decide.