Those are condoms.
2015 Lewis Morris Challenge
- Thread starter Superfly100guy
- Start date
Those are condoms.
Just the drive there
gtluke
The Moped
Magik was there?
Juggernaut
Master of the Metaphor
#Spray-on-Chesthair?😀
1shot?
Affirmative. Pretty sure he's been granted a new mtbnj name. It's a sign of love really. 😀
Errybody was there.
I'll write my non-blog recap here, because that makes sense.
While slogging away on my fatbike all winter, the plan was to do well at Lewis. I've had a bug about the place since my first attempt at a race there something like twenty years ago. Revenge!! Or something. Since I had a pretty strong Spring, I was contemplating jumping to Cat2, but various personal and scheduling reasons made me stick to 3 today.
Just as I park Maciej (1shot1beer) rolls in. We ride around a bit trying to get warm and talk about the course. He's on...Minion's I think? as he didn't think the muddy course would work for his other, Ardent-shod bike. I look down at my Ardent front and rear combo. Thanks for the confidence boost buddy.
I can never warm up properly. I always feel like I'm going to use too much gas warming up and not have enough for the race. This needs sorting. I DID at least plot well enough to be up front for the start, instead of my usual slog through the pack. I only had to pee a little while waiting, dealing with that being another reason I generally get stuck in back. Conditions are wet but not terribly slick. The hardpack feels solid enough to be fast but it is soft on top.
So the start goes off, I do an awful job clipping in and try to drive up the hill. My legs aren't responding at all. Aside from the immediate problem of the lead pack disappearing, it's weird and has never happened before. Perfect. Someone bobbles the uphill right and I have to unclip and run. Run past a guy or two then get hung up on the next little DH, then work hard on the really crappy root climb. Legs are ok now but I think the lead pack is well ahead and I'm now mixed in with a group of younger racers.
I'm working my way through the pack, but have no clue where I am. I'm going like 6/10ths on the downs, even Utah said it was slick enough that he was taking it easier on them. I climb past one dude who sticks around and almost gets me back, but I can't tell what class he's in. Roll up on an older guy who I think is in my group and ask him where we are. He says 4th or 5th, there's a few guys ahead. Well, poop. Although I'm kinda bummed I still pass him and finally get it to stick on the next fast section. Oddly, a whole group of riders are stopped at the entrance to the new switchbacks. I holler for them to clear the way, dunno if they're racers or just riding, but it was odd. Log overs are slippery as all heck.
I'm entering the last stretch. There's nobody ahead of me and since my ever-reliable DH speed has given me a gap on the group behind it's simply bring it home and see how I did. But then! I merge onto the old yellow final stretch and jam myself into a group of MTBNJ'ers pre-riding; Utah, Pearl, and Kirt maybe? I say something good-naturedly derogatory towards MTBNJ riders in general then holler at Pearl and Utah specifically. They pull off to let me by and Pearl says, "dude, big ring!" Oh, right, here I am spinning 26-11. Derp, thanks Pearl. Utah cheers me by onto the final roller coaster. One younger guy passes me on the gravel road but otherwise I just roll across the line solo, thinking I'm somewhere between 3-6th.
After being first for burgers AND beer with Maciej (score!), we watch Cat1 take off and at least see one lap of them roll by while hanging with Dominique, who happens to knows how she placed (well). Results go up and I'm looking down the page for my name and it's up top, first with a time of 36.10. WTF? Apparently the lead group that got away wasn't as large as I thought, the dude I ran across was wrong, and obviously some of the guys I passed were in my class. How about that! We designated Maciej staff photographer for podium shots (thanks dude!) stood on the (highly inferior to MTBNJ) box and got my medal.
Even with the poor weather Marty's did a very good job and it was a fun event. Post race was a party and I met some new peeps while putting faces to names of others from the board. My next race (I'm away for KVSP sadly) will have to be Cat2, which will hurt. I doubt I'll have the same advantage downhill and my not-awesome climbing isn't going to help the overall cause. A racier bike wouldn't hurt either. But that's next time. Today I'm pleasantly surprised with my results and even manage to impress my ruthlessly critical 7 year old daughter. Who wore my medal around most of the day after I showed it to her. 😀
Cheers!
I'll write my non-blog recap here, because that makes sense.
While slogging away on my fatbike all winter, the plan was to do well at Lewis. I've had a bug about the place since my first attempt at a race there something like twenty years ago. Revenge!! Or something. Since I had a pretty strong Spring, I was contemplating jumping to Cat2, but various personal and scheduling reasons made me stick to 3 today.
Just as I park Maciej (1shot1beer) rolls in. We ride around a bit trying to get warm and talk about the course. He's on...Minion's I think? as he didn't think the muddy course would work for his other, Ardent-shod bike. I look down at my Ardent front and rear combo. Thanks for the confidence boost buddy.
I can never warm up properly. I always feel like I'm going to use too much gas warming up and not have enough for the race. This needs sorting. I DID at least plot well enough to be up front for the start, instead of my usual slog through the pack. I only had to pee a little while waiting, dealing with that being another reason I generally get stuck in back. Conditions are wet but not terribly slick. The hardpack feels solid enough to be fast but it is soft on top.
So the start goes off, I do an awful job clipping in and try to drive up the hill. My legs aren't responding at all. Aside from the immediate problem of the lead pack disappearing, it's weird and has never happened before. Perfect. Someone bobbles the uphill right and I have to unclip and run. Run past a guy or two then get hung up on the next little DH, then work hard on the really crappy root climb. Legs are ok now but I think the lead pack is well ahead and I'm now mixed in with a group of younger racers.
I'm working my way through the pack, but have no clue where I am. I'm going like 6/10ths on the downs, even Utah said it was slick enough that he was taking it easier on them. I climb past one dude who sticks around and almost gets me back, but I can't tell what class he's in. Roll up on an older guy who I think is in my group and ask him where we are. He says 4th or 5th, there's a few guys ahead. Well, poop. Although I'm kinda bummed I still pass him and finally get it to stick on the next fast section. Oddly, a whole group of riders are stopped at the entrance to the new switchbacks. I holler for them to clear the way, dunno if they're racers or just riding, but it was odd. Log overs are slippery as all heck.
I'm entering the last stretch. There's nobody ahead of me and since my ever-reliable DH speed has given me a gap on the group behind it's simply bring it home and see how I did. But then! I merge onto the old yellow final stretch and jam myself into a group of MTBNJ'ers pre-riding; Utah, Pearl, and Kirt maybe? I say something good-naturedly derogatory towards MTBNJ riders in general then holler at Pearl and Utah specifically. They pull off to let me by and Pearl says, "dude, big ring!" Oh, right, here I am spinning 26-11. Derp, thanks Pearl. Utah cheers me by onto the final roller coaster. One younger guy passes me on the gravel road but otherwise I just roll across the line solo, thinking I'm somewhere between 3-6th.
After being first for burgers AND beer with Maciej (score!), we watch Cat1 take off and at least see one lap of them roll by while hanging with Dominique, who happens to knows how she placed (well). Results go up and I'm looking down the page for my name and it's up top, first with a time of 36.10. WTF? Apparently the lead group that got away wasn't as large as I thought, the dude I ran across was wrong, and obviously some of the guys I passed were in my class. How about that! We designated Maciej staff photographer for podium shots (thanks dude!) stood on the (highly inferior to MTBNJ) box and got my medal.
Even with the poor weather Marty's did a very good job and it was a fun event. Post race was a party and I met some new peeps while putting faces to names of others from the board. My next race (I'm away for KVSP sadly) will have to be Cat2, which will hurt. I doubt I'll have the same advantage downhill and my not-awesome climbing isn't going to help the overall cause. A racier bike wouldn't hurt either. But that's next time. Today I'm pleasantly surprised with my results and even manage to impress my ruthlessly critical 7 year old daughter. Who wore my medal around most of the day after I showed it to her. 😀
Cheers!
Last edited:
Superfly100guy
Well-Known Member
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
I saw two guys snap'n pics during the race, anyone have any details of the company or web site where the pics will be available?
