Team Darkhorse Racing

Stewart super six pack!!

2011-05-25T07:27:00.004-04:00

the Stewart Super Six Pack went off without a hitch! well done boys and girls!
the best part is that "we", the mayor, myself and the Ravinator all got to race!! super fun times!

i wrote a very clever and witty blog post congratulating everyone on their performance but blogger ate it! argh!!
so this is all you get!!

send me your reports and photos and i will post them up.
great job out there everybody and it was a pleasure being in the Darkhorse Jersey versus the Hawaiian shirt for the day!!!

SSAP 2011 in photos

2011-04-26T09:51:00.004-04:00

these just about sum up the 2 extremes of Darkhorse racing.......

Monte locked and loaded. looking determined to defend the crown. on his way to victory rocking the #1 plate!! hoorah Monte!!

CDUBS.......loaded for.......or just loaded? chasing the chinamen into DFL...
he was unable to secure last by the way....nice effort though...

SSAP 2011

2011-04-18T14:25:00.001-04:00

holy smokes!

team darkhorse represent!!

Monte with the victory and 3-peat! EPIC!!!!!!

Aaron bringing it home for NY men with the victory and fastest overall time!!!

awesome day out there guys and gals!!

2011? already?

2011-01-06T08:55:00.003-05:00

ummm. yeah so this blog has been a little dormant lately.......
oops!!
so 2011! holy crap!
how was your 2010? the Darkhorse gang had a damn good time and did a bit of racing as well!!

Monty continued to ride ridiculously fast! he has a new super secret training program and rumor has it a whole new outlook on things!! stay tuned! all i can say is if you race in the pro class i feel sorry for you!

c-dubs, despite our best efforts to "transfer" him to another squad, will be back in 2011 in Darkhorse colors. argh! check in to his blog for "updates" on all things some what cycling related. he has a bum hip that despite copious amounts of "chinese" herbal cures continues to be an issue.but like a true hero he soldiers thru the pain with the help of pure agave nectar and mental instability!

check in on the Mayor and Rave on the "book of faces" to see what sort of nifty happenings are occurring in the new digs! yup thats right! a new HQ! if you haven't set foot in the cycling mecca of the greater Hudson valley you are truly missing out. the kegerator made the transition intact and continues to pour smooth frosty libations!

2011 races are up on bikereg! so get over there and sign up already! i'm tired of hearing George tell me that we don't have enough people registered 6 months in advance!

if you have news or notes send them our way and we will post them up!

happy 2011!

Mohican domination

2010-06-08T07:15:00.003-04:00

epic conditions.
stacked singlespeed field.
100 miles.

Darkhorse Jersey on the top step of the podium!

congrats Monty! Keep up the good work!

New Team kits say it all.....

2010-05-07T07:46:00.002-04:00

Team Darkhorse

2010-05-05T16:35:00.004-04:00

this is Team Darkhorse......

Singlespeed? check
Miserable conditions? check
Grit and Determination? check
Killing it! Nuff said!!

is this thing on?

2010-05-03T08:26:00.004-04:00

ok ok ok.
i have neglected the team blog. sorry. really i am sorry.

so with race season officially open, ssap in the books and some little race thing over at waywayanda this weekend maybe i should do some updating? yeah i guess so!!

if you have race reports from either ssap or wayway or granogue send them thru and i will post them up.

sunday saw the mayor, c-dubs, 2 beer tom and hawaiian mike out for a road ride. all was going well until c-dubs figured out where we were and how he could get home and started to turn the screws. i gave chase and caught on. the mayor well he just kept on trucking. as the heat rose off the pavement we continued to play roadbike games. hammering head down, tongue wagging, inches from the wheel in front of you as your vision blurs.....good times, unless your the mayor.....
he wanted a nice long social ride. well it was nice and long and it was social for a while....
suffice to say the mayor was displeased with our behavior.
a few cans of Dales made it better though!!

so, get me some reports from the field!!!!!!!

THE 40!

2009-12-22T11:01:00.003-05:00

The forty is up on Bikereg.
registration makes a great holiday gift!!

sign up and stick a darkhorse in your stocking!!!!

2010 Singlespeed-a-polooza!

2009-11-30T13:38:00.001-05:00

check here for more info!!!!

be there! all the cool kids will be!

New motto?

2009-11-03T08:36:00.002-05:00

so somewhere on the leaf strewn trails of stewart this sunday and epic line was uttered by the mayor himself in only a way that he could deliver it......

"THIS SPORT IS STUPID"

and if you really think about well.....i try not to.

i would have to agree and i think this should be the new team darkhorse racing tagline.

don't be surprised to see this emblazoned on the back of some team shirts next season!!

24 or 11 in Moab...... grown men behaving badly!

2009-10-23T12:34:00.003-04:00

so while I suffered the indignity of an early arctic blast whilst chained to the east coast, the better part of the darkhorse singlespeed syndicate headed out west for some good times!

breweries, desert singletrack, bike with one gear, and grown men acting a fool...... what more coiuld you ask for?

read here for the gory details from c-dubs himself.

i'm not sure if i am better or worse off for having missed this......hmmmm.......

Moab looms large and interesting phone calls at the HQ

2009-09-24T09:50:00.002-04:00

darkhorse racing headquarters, 4:00pm........

(the HQ private line rings)
HM "C-dubs we don't care what flavor scented bath oil you bring to moab...stop calling here..."

"umm, yes is this darkhorse racing HQ?"

HM "umm, yes. sorry about that we have been getting some nuisance calls lately...ummm from ummm well its a long story. how can i help you?"

"this is Sheriff John T Nofunn at the Moab county sheriffs department. we hear that you may be sending a crew out here for the 24hrs of moab?"

HM "yes sir, you are correct. umm, how did you get this number?"

"homeland security has it on speed dial after that incident with c-dubs in Baja. but well we like to run a quiet little town out here. its bad enough that these damn hippy mountain bikers have taken a likin to riding on our truck tracks but now they gotta have some sort of all night "race". sounds to me more like one of them weirdo freak retreats or something... banging drums, bonfires, and grown men hanging around without their pants on.... sickening...."

HM "umm, ok but why exactly are you calling..."

"let me cut right to the chase here son. we ain't gonna be puttin up with the same kind of tomfoolery that you can get away with down there in west virginia. we'll let you marry as many ladies as you like but we gotta draw the line....."

HM "umm, i'm sure our crew will be on their best behavior...."

"dont give me that crap. i got six boxes of files on one of your "team" members alone. damn son, and the fbi told me that they dont have it in their budget to photocopy their files on him. they said it would be cheaper to fly me to washington....let alone what the mexican. south african, and the pennsylvania authorities have told me."

HM "umm, well ok. umm..."

"you just tell them we will be waiting. we just finished a new underground wing at our county lock-up. it will be mighty nice for them......"

HM "umm, ok, I appreciate the call and all. umm, have a great day......."

"hey, el jefe, we might want to double the "incidental occurrences" ie bail fund, um check that may triple it!!!!!!!

shenandoah calling!

2009-09-21T14:51:00.004-04:00

the boys went to shen.
blood was spilt, beer was drunk and one came out a victor!
i wasn't there so i will send you to the places you ned to be sent to read up on it.
i missed the big picnic in the mountains and for that i will be eternally bummed....argh.

oh well.
congrats to all who went and survived! especially to c-dubs for killing it even after 3 days of "camping" with top-chef, the mayor gets the "i will finish this bitch award", and monty gets the "who the fuck is this guy and how did he kick all our asses" award in the ss cat!

touche brother darkhorses! touche!!

click the links below to read words and see pictures......

cdubs

monty

call the shop and ask the mayor to regal you with his tale of woe, just make sure you have a cold one poured before hand.

the boys in action!

2009-08-20T08:28:00.004-04:00

webb feeling it!

cdubs can smell the PBR!
rossi says "my old bones can't take this much shakin!"
sal with his game face on
paul says.."my seven can fly!"
grif gets down with the power of 29!

hmmmmmmm......?

2009-08-19T08:59:00.003-04:00

its right around the corner.........must pull trigger and commit to the suffering........

to be continued....

cooked!

2009-08-17T08:26:00.004-04:00

yeah. been feeling it.

darkhorse racing has been throwing down. results, reports, etc to follow. dh40 #7 in the books

2009-07-06T08:35:00.003-04:00

This.......

plus this.....
equals good times!

darkhorse gallop

2009-06-23T08:55:00.001-04:00

team darkhorse prepares for the gallop!

SS-APOLOOZA

2009-06-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

nuff said!!

team darkhorse officially welcomes new member cdubs!

2009-05-13T08:11:00.003-04:00

well after heated contract negotiations, long conference calls, and much bartering it seems that CDUBS has become an official unofficial member of team darkhorse singlespeed syndicate.
to, ah "lure" cdubs away from the heavy hitting IF team some concessions were made. apparently team darkhorse sent IF an empty growler, some old 26'r tires and some half full goo packs, in exchange darkhorse aquired the rights to CDUB, a lifetime supply of IF merchandise and a player to be named later. it seemed that IF lawyers had some "issues" with having CDUBS associated with the IF brand. there was "excessive liability" and "conflicting message".
this may be associated with CDUBS recent announcement that he would be flying off to belguim to embark on a secret training plan with non other than Tom Boonen himself. this secret training regimen has recently come under some scrutiny. we at the darkhorse are "looking into the matter". CDUBS assures us that he will be "fired up" for shen and moab. we have ah, no doubt....

you can see the man above donning his new darkhorse kit. we asked him to refrain from wearing any IF gear due to legal issues and contractual obligations but it seems that those are not arm and leg warmers but actually full sleeve tatooes! we are investigating what ramifacations this may have on contrat agreements.

stay tuned for more details as they become available!!

Team Darkhorse VS Waywayanda's rocks

2009-05-05T09:46:00.006-04:00

The Campmor H2H race series kicked off this weekend with the black bear cycling waywayanda spring cleaning. el hefe made the trip down but due to a nasty bout of squirrel flu had to sit on the sidelines. I was sidelined for other reasons so all of this report is either heresay, lies, misinformation or stuff i learned on the interweb!
as always a fantastic showing by the riders in red, black and white.
you can see above the singlespeed syndicate stakes its claim on the line. smell the fear from the other riders!! argh!!
rossi smells the fear and decides to take his strange wheelsize bike and go home!!
he did actually stay as George wouldn't let him have any brooklyn lager until after he finished a lap!
apparently there are still rocks at wayway. apparently they were a bit muddy. they may or may not have had their way with a few people. in a post race interview the wayway rocks were quoted as saying "i made rossi's 650b's my biatch" they were also heard saying "blast those 29'rs and there rock foiling rolling goodness"
there are actual race results up on the interweb and a bunch of our guys deserve huge props for their finishes! big hoorays go out to you all!

remember kids its time to shine up those singlespeeds!!!

George gets a visit from dr. hanibal wurster

2009-04-27T15:08:00.007-04:00

the following conversation was recorded on hidden microphones in the back room of darkhorse by undercover DEC officials. tapes were "leaked" by a source to remain nameless. above photo obtained from same source.

Hannibal and The Mayor sit down over a pint to discuss all things singlespeed...

H
pour me a beer and get me a straw. this damn mask makes me drool.

G
you drool anyway but here is your straw
so what are we doing to this bike anyway? hey, don't we have about 12 of your bikes here in the shop now "waiting" for forks? what's up with that?

H
never mind. tell about the lambs.....

G
lambs? what the hell kind of waffles are these anyway?

H
here have another. they are the breakfast of champions.

G
ummmmm. they are good. lambs? i didn't say anything about lambs

H
tell me again about the dream

G
you mean the one with the llama's?

H
yes, that's the one. oh, here refill this for me.

G
well there are all these llama's and they are all screaming. i don't know why. they are all riding singlespeed trek's and saying that they pre-registered on bike-reg but i can't find their numbers, and we don't have enough bottle openers and the kegs are empty.......

(sobbing is heard in the backround)

H
ummm i see. here have another waffle. wash it down with this.

G
hey who are you again? i feel kind of funny? what the..............

that's all that we got on the tape. all i can tell you is strange things are afoot in the backroom of darkhorse!!!!

singlespeed-a-polooza course released!!

2009-04-02T10:10:00.002-04:00

some of the hardy DH teamsters have actually put rubber down on this course already. for those of us who have not i give you the official map!!!!
so, have at it! it looks to be a sweet sweet ride! after 2 laps of this you will be thirsty for a hoppy beverage fo-sure!

Team Darkhorse 24hrs of moab new sponser!!

2009-03-20T10:21:00.003-04:00

The Team Darkhorse 24hrs of moab crew, here to referred to as TD24MC, has been secretly working with industry insiders, outsiders, strange doctors from Bolivia, and anybody that is silly enough to pick up the phone in order to obtain any advantage for our all day desert super-party!
after careful consideration it looks as if we have found a sponser which may actually allow us to get a few night laps out of the Mayor himself. see below for our new energy drink of choice. if this doesnt work we will have to resort to crystal meth and kool-aid. you know old school style cause thats how we roll.

above links stolen from team dicky

NEWSFLASH!! DARKHORSE TEAM MEMBER FEATURED IN INDY FAB MARKETING CAMPAIGN!!

2009-03-16T11:46:00.005-04:00

darkhorse singlespeed team member CDUBS is the star of the new Indy Fab marketing campaign. no word as to when this photoshoot took place.
calls where made from DH headquarters to the north county to speak with IF.

DH
so we hear you have an ad with cdubs in it?

IF
ahhh, yeah. its a new guerrilla marketing initiative. we wanted to place ads in some, ah, non-ordinary areas and well cdubs sort of fit the bill.

DH
hows it working out?

IF
it seems to be going over well in the west village of nyc, and in europe for some reason. lots of requests for a ad featuring cdubs and david hasselhoff. we made some calls but havent nailed it down yet.

DH
so where can we find this ad? any bike mags?

IF
no we have been posting it in public restrooms by urinals, you know community toilets, behind dumpsters, back alleys, fast food joints, stuff like that.

DH
interesting.

IF
yeah we are trying to branch out a bit.

DH
ok thanks for your time

IF
i'll send you a shot of the ad in the "wild".

DH
great. do that.

so click the pic to make bigger. CDUBS now even more world famous!!

Singlespeed sufferfest....or the black dirt that ate my soul....

2009-03-16T11:02:00.002-04:00

so the darkhorse singlespeed crew rallied sunday am for a little throw down in the stewart state forest. shiny new and old steeds alike emerged from winter hibernation to see what the trails had in store. all but CDUBS sported their one gear machines. he however has more bikes in varying states of disrepair and as such was relagated to a geared bike. heathen!

we hit up some dirt and soon found out that picking trails carefully would be the measure of the day. the oatmeal paste mud was exciting! trails that are bomber fast had us pedaling dowhill. about 8 miles in "el jefe" asked for my opinion on our current direction. i apparently answered in a bit of a curt fashion. "ride it out" was what i said. this incited the commandant to reply in a not so cordial manner and turn up the pace. i suffered.

ever have one of "those" days. you know the ones i'm talking about. the mind says go and the body gives you the finger! yeah thats where i was at.

course direction was changed and it was decided that we would hit up the "black dirt". this is a little known section of stewart that we ride on occasion. it is usually dry, drains well and rolls along at a good clip. you can cut from one side of the park to the other in short order usually. sunday was different. i had no gear. the black dirt grabbed every knob on the tire and tried to pull it into the abiss. i slogged along well behind the bunch while they made jokes about my guppy face. in short it was horrible. bad day on the bike. sweating and then cold. heart rate all over the place. just not a good showing for the maiden voyage of my new 29'r. come to think of it thats probobly the only thing that got me off the couch. i wanted so badly to turn the pedals on that bike in the woods. well nowhere to go but up from here i suppose...

from the black dirt we hit up some of the fireroad/pave and looked to pick up a few trails on the way back to the lot for a much deserved beverage. along the way we ran into a crew from Conn. and let them tag along for a bit. little snowmobile trail action, a stream crossing and a couple hills and it was back to the lot.

a great ride regardless.

spring is in the air. if the weather holds the trails should be in great shape in the coming weeks. hopefully i can say the same about myself........

Ronde Van Rocklander

2009-02-09T09:07:00.006-05:00

so the team darkhorse singlespeed syndicate met up for some skinny tired geared mileage in the greater rockland and bergen counties this sunday. with the forecast calling for sunny skies and temps reaching the 50's it looked like a road ride was in order.

9:00am saw 4 hearty souls depart from the "hawaiian mike" headquarters under blue bird skies. we rolled our way thru rockland county avoiding potholes and a-holes who amazingly seemed to be able to drive with one hand on the wheel, one on a cellphone and their heads imbedded deep within their ass!

the first 17 miles ticked off fairly uneventfully. El Hefe inquired at this point as to our route and total distance. it had been decided earlier that about 35 miles would be nice. we were somewhere into the halfway point here so no one seemed to fuss. now you must understand something here. there are miles and then there are mike miles. 35 mile rides have become 50 milers on occasion. there was also a rockland county death march a few season ago..... but i digress.

nature called shortly hereafter and our pelaton of four pulled over for a pitstop. it was here that mister CDUBS noticed the blackening skys. "man it looks really bad over there. which way are we headed" well i doubt i need to tell you. we saddled up and headed into the dark ominous skies. temps began to fall and so did the rain. so from rockland county we headed into bergen county and some how ended it in flanders!!!

the rain and wind pounded us in the face for the next few miles. brave souls endured yet the conversation seemed to get a little quieter. thankfully showers past and the sun returned. at about the 25mile mark i noticed an odd feeeling in the rear of my bike. it seems that my saddle had worked its way loose from my seatpost. exciting. call the boys to the side of the road and reach into my saddlebag for a tool. yeah, its not in there dumbass. sweet. well four guys and no tool means mike gets to ride the rock and roller seat home! sweet!

about mile 30, seat doing the flexy hippy shake and riding into an exquisite head wind hawaiian mike self destructed. legs just gave up the ghost. any climb saw me right out the back. kaboom!

mile 35 and we pause for another call of nature under an overpass. two guys are riding at us headed the other way. they slow and i ask, beg, for as tool. sweet mercy they have a 5mm!!!! my ass is saved! and that is no small feat! so seat fixed and hey shouldn't we be done by now someone mentions? well 35 became 42.

42 miles later hawaiian mike HQ saw four well worn souls, some worse off than others, roll back into the driveway. thanksfully there were growlers of fresh microbrew, dry clothes, yummy hot food and much revalry to put a fine end to an epic febuary ride! a pre-spring classic! hoo-ra!

"Hawaiian" Mike hits the road......

2009-01-26T09:50:00.003-05:00

rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated!
while some others out there would have you believe that i have disappeared from the cycling world and crawled into a dark corner to hibernate away the winter i am here to tell you its just not so!

some members of the Darkhorse singlespeed (see above) gang have been gathering to stroke out the miles thru the crusty snow and brave icy stewart pave but i have had other ideas...

on sunday after taking care of some family stuff i found myself with an afternoon, sun shining and a high temp of around 18 degrees. hmmmm, what to do?
the old trusty road steed had been hanging upside down since christmas. neglected and unloved. little air in the tires and she was good as new. bundle on the layers, fire up the ipod, fill a bottle and i'm out the door.

5 minutes in and i'm climbing thru some rolling rockland county back roads. legs feel good, cold air is burning the lungs as they adjust.

15 minutes in and i'm rolling along trying to come up with a route. just making turns that feel right at this point. climb some, spin some. body warms up, legs feel loose, widespread plays on the ipod.

cars pass, get an occasional glance from a passenger or driver. close call with a side mirror of a van. they dont even notice. i grab a bigger piece of the road avoiding the slushy mesh and the deep potholes on the shoulder.

35 minutes in i roll thru the empty streets of an orthodox neighborhood while matisyahu raps it out dancehall style. i giggle at the irony. the cold has apparently seeped into my brain.

there is nothing else out here on the road. just the pedals turning, steady cadence, nice tempo ride. build the base back up. no big ring hammering. climb steady, long and gradual thru the rolling hills. dont head out to the steep ones. save those for later. soon enough.

55 minutes in and trying to figure out where to go for another hour. pick a direction and head that way. no grand plan just spin. no economic crisis out here, no work stress, no obligations, no deadlines, just turn the pedals. rage comes on the ipod. pick up the cadence a little to keep in time.

1:35 climbing toward home. couple gradual climbs and then a short punchy one. keep it steady and feel pretty good. watch for glass and road debris. hands and toes cold. dont want to have to stop to fix a flat.

1:55 cold has seeped thru. almost home. coast the descent past the middle school and my loop doubles back on itself.

Home 30 miles in the books. gotta get warm.

and so it begins or it continues depending on where you start and or finish. almost febuary and soon the days will get longer and lighter and warmer. next thing you know we will be towing the line at the local races or heading south to test the legs in the mountains.

Winter B(l)ooze

2009-01-13T10:51:00.004-05:00

ah yes the post holidaze winter doldrums. high of just warmer than death, frozen fields and roads. sweet sweet northeast ice storm winters how i love thee so......

fear not as some of the heartier of the darkhorse lot have been out fighting the elements and getting in some hard earned miles! gotta earn your turns and earn them indeed this time of year! for a update click here, as mister w has been doing an excellent job of avoiding the rollers and mocking me out in cyberspace!

as i sit indoors sipping dark hoppy goodness and watching the snow pile up on my window sill faster than on the mirrors of sorority girls in florida i cant help but yearn for the warmer months. this of course breeds the hatching of plans.... the race calender is coming together. check out bikereg for the latest. sign up now and get not only a discount but also some motivation for the coming months! the singlespeed race, h2h series and the 40 loom large on the horizon!

so here's to kicking the empty's of 08 out to the recycle bin, wiping the last of the pumpkin pie off our chins from last season and hoisting a fresh cold one to 09!

HAPPY HOLIDAZE!!!

2008-12-24T08:11:00.001-05:00

2009 EVENTS ARE BREWING!!!

2008-11-21T14:14:00.002-05:00

check out the 40 blog.

click me to go see what's up

election day!

2008-11-05T06:50:00.003-05:00

-- the big dope dealer don't make no friends...
just yens and euros and dollars and cents
-- the CIA runs intelligence for...
yens and euros and dollars and cents
-- a new president will he make a difference?
or just yens and euros and dollars and sense?
michael franti

i hope you all voted. i don't care who you voted for as long as you went out and voted. it is our privilege as Americans to be able to cast our vote.

where do we go from here? how about for a long ride before the snow comes? i'm in!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

2008-10-31T08:55:00.001-04:00

and so it comes to a close.......

2008-10-30T07:37:00.002-04:00

the 2008 h2h race season comes to a close. official results are posted on the h2hrace website so have a look see.

its been a while since i posted any new info up here and its not due to a lack of exciting happenings it is due to a lack of time to do so. so.....since the rumble in the jungle there were more races. blue mountain, some catskill races and in that time summer left us and we got our first october "winter" storm. ick. so not ready for winter! congrats to all the boys and girls out racing thru the fall. many podium spots were grabbed up like free cold beers!

back to the h2h race series....congrats to team darkhorse racing on a fantastic showing in the overall!!! we had beginner class rookies weather a full season and come out ready to step up to sport, we had heavy sport class participation and domination of the top spots in the singlespeed class. we had boys and girls ripping it up in the expert class and a huge hoorah goes out to paul kolb for making the leap to pro!!! you go pro boy!

in other news team darkhorse racing had a grand end of season gathering at team headquarters over the weekend. diabolical plans for domination were hatched, brats, burgers, hotdogs and cookies were consumed as well as mass quantities of brooklyn lager fresh from the tap! a fine time was had by all. at least as much as anyone can remember......

so stay tuned. team darkhorse racing will be whiling away the winter months putting in the hard cold and unforgiving miles in an effort to throw strong unshaven legs over our new steeds in the spring and bring forth some crazy racing goodtimes!!

Rumble in the jungle!

2008-09-22T11:24:00.001-04:00

or bungle in the jungle? depends on who you ask.....

see below report from el capitan, george..

West Milford New Jersey....the now defunct Jungle Habitat...scene of the H2H race Rumble in the Jungle. Did some one whisper rocks!?!?!?!?
One of the toughest, and best courses I've seen this year. Kudos to Town cycle for putting on a class race, and the same for Team Dark Horse...we had some showing .

Representing the beginner class were Jim Boyd, and Curt McDermott who continues to podium, working himself ever closer to the Sport class. Curt had another 2nd place, and in a tight running for points in the series.

Sport singlespeed brought out Tony Bright....don't know where he finished...Tom Rossi, who looked stronger driving his convertible Miyata then he did in the rock gardens...Paul Livornese, racing in another time zone, but representing with a fresh growler of Dead Guy Ale in a glow in the dark bottle....impressive, most impressive!....and Sal the quiet man, icing 3rd place...gotta watch those quiet guys! Good job by all!

In the geared category were Chris Webb with family in tow...looked good as well....guy is always smiling...go figure...Kevin DeClerck in 4th place beating yours truly by 24 seconds...13 guys in 50+ category and growing yearly...

In expert class with two 2nd place finishes were Paulie Kolb, and Cindi Bischoff...votes are in....Cindi looks better in the Hammer shorts than Paul...sorry Paul, work on the Glutes!!!

Last race in the series is The Chain Stretcher...not my favorite race. Tough place to ride for sure, and lots of racers being scraped off the rocks last year. Been a long season, and everyone is looking forward to toning it down and enjoying some night riding, and some serious socializing.

Two dates to make note of....this weekend the 28th, Paul is going to lead a team ride at Lundy Manor, early, followed by a BBQ at his house. Lundy is about 50 minutes away from here, so as soon as we have a head count, we can make arrangements to carpool. He also has a hot tub, and all are welcome to bring a bathing suit for some post ride relaxation. October 25th, we will be hosting a team appreciation dinner at the shop, for team members, and spouses. We will have some nice surprises for the attendees, and will get an idea from the team if there's anything new for next year that you would like to see. Paul mentioned warm up jackets, and arm and leg warmers...awesome ideas. Let me know if there's any interest, and I will check into it.

"Yours still pedaling ever more slowly" George

look ma, we are on the web!!!

2008-09-18T06:36:00.003-04:00

ok, so i just hung up with ESPN, and i will not be the next sportscenter anchor. we just couldn't work out a deal that let me wear Hawaiian shirts on the air.

check out the video from the Darkhorse Gallop. hey, if you were there you might even catch a glimpse of your bad self!!

Shenandoah 100 recap

2008-09-02T11:40:00.001-04:00

Aid station 3, 45 miles in, I stand there with two full bottles and wonder what I am looking for. My mind is blank and thoughts are not coming thru clear. I am in the midst of a heavy bonk. My stomach shutdown about an hour and a half ago and I am soaked with sweat. I ditch my nutrition plan and switch over to Gatorade and water. I finally figure out what it is I am looking for, my bike. I had handed it off to one of the exceptionally helpful aid station volunteers and he had made sure to lube my chain and have it ready and waiting for our departure back out onto the course.

Flash back about 24hrs and George is pulling the crimson cruiser into my driveway in a spitting rain. It’s still dark as we load the truck and make haste for rt 287. Seven plus hours of highway under our belts, couple stops and a lunch break and we roll into Stokesville campground. We stumble on some familiar faces and try to find a campsite. Not wanting to camp in the blazing sun of the field we head back down a dirt road and eventually find a kickin spot tucked into the pine trees, just far enough from the mayhem to be quiet but close enough to where everything is going on. We make camp which of course is a comedy of errors. We pitch the tent, put up the ez-up and get our table and chairs situated. For a couple of half retarded haven’t camped in a while rejects we have quite a sweet set-up. Over the next hour or so we get our registration packs which include a sweet t-shirts and our number plates. Our fates sealed we zip tie the numbers to our bikes and head up to the pavilion to meet up with some other New York boys for dinner.

I’ve got to send out a huge thanks to Chris and his crew who put this event on. The organization is spot on. They were at capacity this past weekend and they handled it very well. All the volunteers were friendly and efficient and everything went off pretty much without a hitch.

After dinner and a little bsing with some familiar faces we head off to call it an early night. I know what’s in store for tomorrow and can already feel the nerves creeping in. A few pints of Sierra Nevada helped to knock them back for a little while but that didn’t last long.

We make the decision to ditch the rain fly as the skies have cleared and we want to maximize the airflow thru the tent. At 11:30 it starts to rain. By 12 it is pouring and I am struggling to get the rain fly on by myself. George is snoring thru the thunder and commotion. As I start to get thoroughly soaked I rouse George to get some help. We rig the rain fly and move the ez-up to cover as much of the tent as we can. I dry off and climb back into my sleeping bag. George climbs in and is asleep in seconds. I stare at the roof of the tent as gale force winds and rain pound at the thin layer of nylon. I sleep maybe a matter of minutes the rest of the night. I am awake when the alarm goes off at 4:30. It has stopped raining and is fairly warm. We get up, sort out the camp and begin to prep. It’s going to be a long day.

At 6:30 we are off, all five hundred plus of us. George and I had made the decision to try to stay together and we had made the offer to Matt Davies as well. He had a bad time on a pre-ride the day before and we figured we would have strength in numbers. I lost both of them off the start. I see matt and then lose him. George is a little way back. I feel great all things considered. I spin on the road heading for the first climb and chat with a single speeder from Marty’s. We hit the first climb and away we go. Good pace all the way up. We get to the first gate and there’s a bottle neck. I take a break. Eat some hammer gel and resign myself to move at the group pace. Up and thru the single track and down the other side to aid station 1.

I stop here and refill a bottle, take a hit of hammer gel and wait for George. Matt rolls thru and wants to keep going. Good on to him and he rolls off. George comes thru a few minutes later and we head out. We make our way to the second climb and get separated on the decent. I roll into aid 2 and am swarmed by volunteers. They give me my drop bag and refill my bottle. I refill my big bottle with my perpetuem and heed mixture. At this point it is going down well. George rolls in and gets refilled and we snack a little and out we go. We roll about 5 miles on gravel roads and double track before we get to a heinous hike a bike section. I hear one of the riders behind me talking to another saying that we will be pushing our bikes for quite a while and push we do. It’s just excruciating. It’s here that I start to have real problems. On the bike I was ok, but pushing thru the muddy slick climb I can’t keep my heart rate stable. I feel like I could vomit at any minute and dry heave a little from time to time. I stop to rest but it makes it worse. I’m a little dizzy and don’t want to drink any more of the mix so I use the one bottle of just heed but I am way low. I steal some water from George but the damage is done and I know it. We crest the top and bomb the sweet decent into aid station 3. I feel like I might be getting something back until I realize I have been standing in the middle of the road wondering what the hell I am looking for. Oh yeah my bike. Oh boy its game on now. We roll out onto the road and toward the next check point.

About two miles down the road George turns to me and asks what I want to do. “Just keep going” is all I can say. I need to spin on the road. It hurts but it’s good. The wind cools me down as I have been alternating between cold sweats and hot flashes. That’s probably a bad sign now that I think about it. George stops for a nature break and I slump over my bike and just wait. We start to feel human again after spinning on the road but that is short lived. We cross a dry creek bed and more heinous hike a bike ensues. Now I know that I will walk during these races on my single speed but at this point I could barely turn the pedals on the light grades. Mix in the peanut butter mud and slick shale and roots and my morale took a deep six. We finally crested the top of the climb and bombed down to the bottom. There was a little creek crossing and I dropped my bike and proceeded to soak my head in the cold mountain water. I can’t lie to you as I was seriously thinking of refilling my nearly empty bottles from the stream. I mean how much worse could it make me feel at that point! We rolled thru some fresh cut swampy grassy single track and into aid station 4. This was the end.

We were at mile 58. We had a 20 mile climb ahead of us on gravel roads and then a long decent and another climb and decent yet to the finish. We were well ahead of the cutoff time but way behind on our schedule. We were 7 hours in and our pace certainly wasn’t going up. I know how badly George wanted to continue. I could see it on his face. I also knew what a poor decision that would have been and how exposed we would have been out there once we left the aid station. The probability that we would make the cut-off at the next station was still pretty good but after that we would be close to needing lights to continue and I purposely didn’t bring any. I just didn’t want to be out that long. So we called it a day. We sat in the grass and waited for a ride back to camp. We didn’t talk much. I made small talk with the volunteers and tried to keep my mind off the fact that we were done.

I lost the battle mentally on that last long hike a bike. The body was in rough shape but I lost it mentally and that’s a huge part of being able to ride all day like that. I was able to turn that corner at the Cohutta 100. There was point where I realized I was on pace to finish in a decent time and as much as everything hurt I knew every turn of the pedals was closer to the end. I never turned that corner at Shenandoah. The mountains had their way with me.

We got back to camp cleaned up and ate. George took a nap. I called the family to let them know that I survived at least part of the race. After I hung up the phone I just wanted to sit in the chair and cry. All the emotion drained from my body. So instead I took a walk up to the finish area. Watched as people crossed the line, chatted about the race with people I knew and some I just met. I ran into Christian Baks who had just finished ahead of Chris Wurster and we chatted about the course and race. This started to revive me. I took in the whole atmosphere and was glad to just be there. I went back to camp and woke up George for dinner. We ate with Chris, his wife Beth, and Christian. George finished his plate and disappeared. Shot and not feeling particularly sociable. I hung around up top. Watched the awards ceremony and saw a few people coming in with lights on and cheered loud for them. I knew how hard they worked for it. Matt finished in 12:01. He wanted under 12 bad but man I give him a lot of credit for that time. I give a lot of credit to everybody who came out and gave it their all. I have to say that I left everything I had up in those mountains. I came back empty. For whatever that’s worth .

Needless to say I slept like a log Sunday night. We were up early packed and on the road home. Had a great breakfast at cracker barrel and made it back to New York in the early pm. All in all a great road trip.

Well Shenandoah 100 you had your way with me this year. I will give you that but I just might be back so don’t laugh to loud just yet.

tick tick tick........

2008-08-28T12:00:00.003-04:00

countdown is on to this weekends painfest. final bike prep was done last night. everything looks to be in order so you know it will all go wrong at the last minute!

full report, update, and maybe even some pics when and if we return!

Team darkhorse goes to the west point tri?

2008-08-26T12:14:00.002-04:00

yeah, you heard it right. team darkhorse was represented by non other than "el hefe" george at the west point tri! i can't come up with words for it so i will let his email do the talkin! all i can say is yeah it sounded bad and i'm sure in reality it was worse. thankfully he survived. as had he passed on i was going to have to find a new ride down to sheandoah for the 100 miler and that would have been a pain on such short notice! so see below for the gory details.

(all below text from "el hefe")

So there we were, bright and early at Camp Buckner on Sunday for the 19th annual West Point Tri. Mike Rave and I were set up for neutral support, and I had entered the event as well. In usual fashion I did not bother to train in the selected fields of swimming and running as I had put all that nonsense behind me...I just wanted to finish, and go home to cut my grass.
John Epidy showed up as did Stevie Pruschki with the whole female Pruschki contingent in tow...Marie, Laura, and Sara, all looking svelte in their "tri-finery".
I could tell Stevie was wired hotter than the business end of a cattle prod as he paced the parking lot, and decided to get away from everyone so they wouldn't speak to him. I on the other hand was as cool as could be considering I haven't had a check up by my physician in so long, I could only assume my heart would handle the half mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 5K run, without imploding!
On to the beach for final instructions, and there was Stevie lubing himself up with some sort of agent, allegedly to help him slip in and out of his wet suit easier...if you ask me, he was enjoying that far too much!!! Anyway, I passed the time chatting with Marie, with the off handed remark if I happened to beat Stevie, I would play it for all it's worth.
Without going into the gory details, I finished 12th out of 29 in my age group with a time of 1:36:13, and felt darn good doing it in spite of my lack of training or caring. Mr. P. on the other hand turned in a time of 1:38:16, and anyone who finished 1st grade can do the math...I had came, I had seen, and I had conquered! Only after slapping a multitude of backs did I find out that he had a flat with his bike still in the rack, and lost time changing the tube.
Doesn't matter...in the record books, to the victor go the spoils!
So, this is the last say I will have on this matter, as we all know the truth is George got lucky...gotta play lotto this week! Wonder where Stevie got that tube dontch'a know???
I have taken this all in stride, and decided I will give Stevie a chance to redeem himself next year...what the heck, I might even jog once or twice before then, and perhaps swim in something other than self-pity, and or conceit....nah, why bother?
So it's on to Virginia this weekend for the Shenandoah 100 with "Hawiian Mike"...looking forward to this big time as who knows when I'll get another chance to shine...Mike need not worry, as I have resigned myself to allowing him to pace off me for the race. Who knows, I might even let him lead... "Yours in cycling" George

The Bulldog Romp! Kittatiny!

2008-06-30T10:40:00.003-04:00

ah kittatiny! it sounds so much cooler when you say it like groundskeeper willie!

so the boys from Darkhorse, and lady, saddled up this weekend to head on down to kittatiny state park for team bulldog/campmor's bulldog romp. this race was not only on the AMBC calender but also served as the NJ state championships. so if you were able to prove you were from dirty jersey and possessed a norba licence you could get yourself crowned king or queen of the garden state! thus big crowds were to be expected, and big crowds there were. while checking out the pre-reg list the sport singlespeed class looked like a darkhorse training session! a veritable whos who of the 1 gear crowd with el hefe himself, big george, ditching the gears and joining the pain train!
i hitched a ride down with our westchester representative, voodoo tony. we arrived a bit early so we saddled up for a pre-ride/warm up. the trails were in excellent shape. swoopy and fast! with just a few roots and log overs to keep you awake. one of these log overs had its way with tonys rear wheel and he burped a bit of stans and some 02 back to the atmosphere! pre-ride abridged and back to the car. after a quick tube insert back out we went to scope out some more of the singletrack. we ran into rasta paul, a fellow singlespeeder and eventual member of the darkhorse ss syndicate, and spun around the singletrack. with the exception of some sweaty rocks the course looked primo.
the rest of the crew trickled in and we all held court under a tree awaiting the start. eventually we lined up and resigned ourselves to the fact that we would indeed have to do a bit of racing. they sent us one gear folk off the front and we all fell into pace. i grabbed rossi's 650b wheel and let him run crowd control. the first few miles went by in an anaerobic blur. bobby and sal were off the front with the big boys, tom was my pace man and tony came up shorty to take over. george was letting his internal diesel come up to speed a little ways back.
the next lap and a half or so went by smooth. i was enjoying the singletrack and getting into a good rhythm. i would see a flash of a darkhorse jersey from time to time and was working my way up. riders passed me and i passed a few. all in all it was a good singlespeed course. there was one rooty climb the needed to be dismounted for but other than that, if the line was clean it was all rideable. coming into the last few miles i came up on none other than the distinquished mr rossi and quietly sat behind his wheel. i eventually announced my presence and he let me know that tony wasnt far up the road. we paced together and spun out the last few miles. when we entered the field i thought i saw tony and we agreed to make chase. of course it wasnt tony and so tom backed off and i spun ahead. now here things will get a bit snarky. you see there was this little climb to the finish and it had some rocks and roots and you had to pick your line. i hit it in front of tom and he claims he called the left. i drifted left and may have blocked him out. we will have to consult the video for a play back. i can only console tom with the immortal words of Harry Hogge, Cole Trickle's crew chief in Days of Thunder.
Cole: he bumped me!

Harry: he didnt bump you. he rubbed you, and son rubbin is racin!

so i concede that i "may" have impeded tom's line slightly. i may even have rubbed him. but "rubbin's racin!

all in all the darkhorse crew had a strong showing. i didnt stick around for official results but i believe bobby was 5th, sal was not far behind 6th/7th, followed by tony, myself, then tom, and george sliding in not long there after.

if anybody has official results for the other guys send them our way and we will get them up. as well as anybody with ride reports from those classes that they allow to run gears! send them this way!

the series takes a break for july and august. there's plenty of action in the area and we will be busy in the lead up to the 40! start getting those endurance miles in!

Webb dominates the 12hrs of round top solo!

2008-06-27T06:22:00.002-04:00

RE: 12hr?

Well it started out at 60 degrees with 100 foot visibility do to the over night rain, which made for some real interesting greasy singletrack. Notice I said singletrack because the course was 90% singletrack and 10 percent duo track, which made for real slow going, especially with the 800 plus feet of climbing and descending per lap. Tymor would be the closest course I can say it reminded me of, with strong climbs and awesome single track. Well, correction, being out on a course for 11:13 minutes, nothing is awesome.

I raced in the 30-9 SOLO geared division which was kind of cool, being that all 11 of us were sport riders, so we did not have to race the super powers of the experts, like in the other solo age divisions including SS. There were lots of riders from our area and h2h series, that made the 160 mile trip up to Pennsiltucky (Pennsylvania), which made me feel at home. That's till the gun went off and these guys took off like it was a 15 mile sprint, I was like wow these guys must be team riders. No, I was wrong they were solo guys and 47 minutes later when I crossed for the start of lap 2 in dead last place in my division and 20th overall, I realized it was going to be a long lonely day of suffering. All the early bird sprinters started to die out around lap three and started pitting, right about when the 85 degree temps with blazing sun appeared. So I just kept it consistent, navigated the course, bombed the downhills and creeped up the climbs, and stayed out till lap 5 before I made a pit. Just before my pit I heard the announcer say that I had the lead in the division and made my way up to 9th overall. That really excited me, and when I pitted I prepped the bike which was nasty with petrified early morning mud, refueled and ditched the stupid camel back. Twelve minutes later I was back on the bike. At this point the east side of the mountain was dry and fast, funny how it still had those nasty climbs though, which at the end of the day, I death marched! By the end of lap 6 I had built up a 36 minute lead on the group behind me, consisting of three riders chasing . I was averaging about 51 min laps, and know the mental games started, why I was here, this bike sucks, life sucks, I should be home with the kids, I should pull money out of the spiraling market, my ass is sore , my balls ache, will I ever be able to get a stiffy again??? all that stupid mind crap. Then I remembered I was in the lead, wow this is pretty cool, that was till the rains came at like 230, then back to the mental crap again. Its like a private Mental soap opera out there, up, down, up ,down etc. Just as the sun came out again and the temp went back up to about 75 I pitted on lap 8, ditto of the first in and out in 17 minutes. The course was getting fast again till the monsoon came with wind, 60 degree temps and lots of scary lightning. The trail know became very tough with slippery roots, rocks and peanut butter mud which quickly became little streams. There was one climb that you went straight up a power line for about a 1/4 of a mile and a gain of about 160 foot vertical, and it was in the wide open and besides the waterfall coming down the lightning scared me like a little boy. I climbed that pretty quick to get out of the open and back into the thick canopy that the rest of the course was under. There were riders and spectators slip, sliding ,falling and study Geography all over the place. I pitted for my last time on lap 10, put my 60 lb. Titus in the stand, blasted it with the hose back down to 25 lbs, rested up all for a total 20 minutes and went out into the absolute torrential down pour for 2 more laps. I caught second place and just rode his wheel thinking that he was a whole lap down, to my surprise he was almost 2 down. So as George says I do so well, I just half wheeled him. At hour 10:20 I started out on the final farewell lap. The monsoon stopped and the course was like a war zone, but juiced and confident with victory, I managed not to fall , and actually rode a good lap. I came through at 11:13hr mark and I could of gone out for another, but the promoter said there was no reason, that second place was on lap 10 and he only had 17 more minutes till cut off. So trusting their judgement on the bad conditions, and not wanting to abuse the bike or cause any bodily harm I called it a day. Second place came through with 11 laps in 12 hours 6 minutes I believe, so he was about 2 hours back.

I ended up, I was told 4th overall with the winner doing 15 laps in 12hrs ,second doing 12 in 10:45 hrs, third 12 in 11:06, and myself with 12 in 11:13. The post race meal was awesome, sausage and peppers, chicken penne, ziti, pirogue cheese pie, hot dogs, hamburgers, beer, soda, vitamin drink, and a awesome band. I think I ate two helpings of everything. That day I used (3) 24oz 1300 calorie perpetum cocktails and 128oz of heed, 3 pb&j's, a good breakfast, and huge post race meal and I went from 194lbs-186lbs....crazy! I got a bottle of wine, really sweet floor pump, and a 35 pound polished engraved granite trophy, for my suffering..... very cool. Oh yea and our sponsor at the shop says if we win we get our entry fee back......is that so Bobby?????

Its funny, that in the gallop the week before under perfect conditions on a hard tail single speed I had all sorts of problems. If I did not have Steve Prushki and all his tools I would have never had completed the 15 mile race. But this race in horrible conditions with gears and all the suspension pivots, I had a great race, and besides alittle chain suck, no mechanicals/ flats for 12 hours......again crazy. In all it was a great race, nice course, great food and cool awards. So will I go back .........????

see you on the trail
CWEBB

get your gallop on!

2008-06-16T10:47:00.005-04:00

well the gallop is in the books!
we had a great turnout over the weekend and team darkhorse was well represented!
preparations for these races begin months in advance and actual course prep begins in the spring. george got down to the nitty gritty at the beginning of last week by getting out to mark the course. using many many arrows and leaving a considerable amount of blood, sweat and tears out in the woods the course was looking real good.
saturday afternoon we set about assembling registration and scoring, placing banners and the specialized arch, and assembling the "chute". while thunder and lightning threatened and apparently pounded some of the surrounding areas we stayed dry! barely a drop fell in stewart. a quick pre-ride tape check proved that the course was in stellar form. fast, flowing and extremely fun! with all the hardware set for the am we headed off to darkhorse headquarters to feed ourselves and tie up a few loose ends.
race day started early. it was around 4am when i heard george wandering around. it was 5 when he poked his head in to tell me coffee was ready and it was time to get our game on. we stepped outside to a perfect morning. cool, little overcast, but dry.
by 7:30 registration was getting cranked up for the beginners and the usual cast of characters were starting to arrive.
the beginners set off on time at 9:00am and they had quite a field. there were many hard fought battles for the hill climb preem and the spectators got into it cheering on the riders!
the sport class was huge! a great turnout and a very large womens field! its always good to see the ladies coming out to these events. this wasn't always the case and its nice to see that aspect of the sport growing! the sports went off without a hitch and a pile darkhorse racers were in the mix. the singlespeed syndicate was in full effect with all the usual suspect as well as a few guest appearances from some darkhorse racers who decided to shed their gears for the gallop! overall the team did very well in sport and a huge high five goes out to them!
the experts and pros waited very patiently during a slight delay while the emts tended to an injured sport racer. once the green light was given the pros took off like they were shot from a canon. the expert singlespeeders went next and our own mike rave grabbed up the hill climb preem only to be delayed by an untimely puncture on the trail that he helped build!! our darkhorse experts put in a good fight. battling for 3 laps in the increased heat and humidity for solid finishes all.
in the end a good day was had by all! now its time to begin focusing on the 40! couple pictures below of the guys stolen from the web! if you guys have pics or race reports send them this way and we'll get them posted!!!
Rossi climbs with his game face on!

Webb brings it home. he seems to be in a spot of bother!

Gallop preview/course sneak peek!

2008-05-29T14:06:00.004-04:00

alright boys and girls here it is, the 08 gallop course! yeah we are putting it out there and letting everybody have a good look at it. george has been scratching his head since there was snow on the ground to come up with a fresh course. the ravenator has been grooming some new trail for this years addition and it is fixin to be sweet with a capitol S baby! yeah you still get to climb the hill but they have fixed the road so it is nice and smooth! new singletrack includes "dumpster", "major mike", "pinwheel" and "skipnbill"
so check out the map and as soon as you are done stomping Marty's get your tails up to stewart and check it out!
********special offer********
in an effort to offset our carbon footprint we are putting out a special offer!
carpool to the gallop with 3 or more racers and you will receive a special prize!
hint....this special prize may come in handy in quenching your thirst after the race......

so there you have it! new course, less carbon, more fun! remember kids beer is cheaper than gas so drink up and dont drive! support your favorite micro brew not big oil!

Tymore Rce report from "El Capitan" george

2008-05-19T07:42:00.000-04:00

Team Dark Horse....first let's welcome ElCid Cabangon to the team...newest member to rail the dirt at the races...sport rider 40-49...welcome ElCid.

Nice representation at Tymor with Tom Rossi, and Tony Bright ripping it up single speed. Also in attendance were Ed Burgess, Mike Rave, Walter, me, Manny, Kevin DeClerck who in his second race ever moved up to sport, and Bobby Swart who won his class...sport 40-44...congratulations Bobby.

Alta did the Longest Day Adventure race Saturday, and we need to hear how her team did...meeting time was 4 am, and I'm sure it was cold, and wet, and perhaps some second guessing going on.

Next race in the H2H series is Marty's down in Morristown...not a bad idea to get a head count, and try to carpool. Walt, Bobby, and myself drove together to Tymor, and I am driving us next time to Marty's...easy way to save on gas.

Wednesday night rides continue, and if you are in the market for a real spectacle, I have challenged Brian Petzold to a pizza eating contest after the ride over at Johnny's. Even if I win, I lose as the extra calories might temporarily deform my boyish figure!!!

We'll post official results as they become available...George

Wawayanda Spring cleaning or the black bear duathlon!

2008-05-06T15:38:00.001-04:00

Consider your spring cleaning done!

So the h2h race series kicked off this weekend out at wawayanda with the black bear race. There had been a few other silly races over there in Connecticut, but they don’t count! We were kicking it Jersey style this past Sunday and launching right into the Campmor h2h series.

Team Darkhorse Cycles Racing was out in force and well represented in the beginner and sport ranks. In true springtime Jersey fashion it rained most of the week prior and threatened to rain on race day. The ominous forecast may have kept some of the racers home in their warm beds but by the looks of registration and the parking lot most brave souls ventured out to do battle with the course. The course was interesting to say the least! The weather having been fairly dry in weeks prior and then seeing a consistent and soaking rainfall last week took all the little nasty bits on the course and made them just that much more exciting. There’s a little climbing, there’s a little fireroad and there’s lots of singletrack which has lots of rocks! The rocks were extra special! The beginners may have seen the worst of it as it was foggy and damp when they started in the am. This didn’t seem to slow down the Darkhorse boys as a podium placing was grabbed in the beginner 50 plus! By the time the sport riders took the line it was starting to clear up, however the rocks and roots now had a nice greasy peanut buttery mud coating! Yummy!

Sports took the line and they let the singlespeeders go off first. Apparently best not to get in the way of guys too, um, something, to run bikes with only one gear! Darkhorse jerseys were a plenty in the singlespeed class. The gun went off and so did we, up the road and into the woods at the standard beginning of the season pace. Too fast too soon, I knew this was coming and as we got into the doubletrack a few of the boys went a little hot onto a bridge only to find themselves rubber side up. After that things began to settle down, a line of riders formed and a pace was sent. Some moved forward and others moved back thru the line. Some miles later the geared boys began to catch up and mingle with us. It was here that things started to get a little sketchy. I dropped my chain on one of the many rock gardens and had to stop to fix it. “You good” yelled Tom as he rode past, “yeah all good I’ll catch back up.” Chain back on, a few geared guys go by and I’m back on the bike and moving. Make my way thru the crowd and catch Tom. Go around and tell him to catch on. We get caught in traffic and ride/run/walk some of the sketchy sections. Lap one goes by pretty quick and the course is wet, slick, and technical but still pretty fast. I’m pleased with were I am and go into the second lap feeling good.

Maybe a little too good, just before the slippery bridge I hear the dreaded whoosh. Front goes all squirrelly and I’m off and changing the flat. Make fairly quick work of it but it still takes time. Tom comes by again. “You good, oh man you and your flats!” “Yeah, Yeah, I know I’ll catch back up.” Flat fixed and about 3 minutes lost. Back on the bike and making my way back up thru the group. Catch a couple singlespeeders and a bunch of geared guys. Come up on Matt pre-riding for his expert race and he lets me know that a couple of singlespeeders are just up the trail. Carrot in front of nose and pedals turning, I can see them now and will be on them shortly.

Whoosh! A few expletives later and I’m off the bike with the front flat again. Stupid rocks! It’s not the rocks fault, user error. Argh! “Race over” is the first thing the brain says but I stop to collect my thoughts. I have half a co2 and only need a tube. Nobody around, I’m in no mans land. I start to run with the bike. I figure I can catch up to somebody or somebody will come up on me and I can bum a tube. About a mile or so later Roger rolls up on his pre-ride. We chat and of course he has no tube. I keep running and he rides off. Then there is a savior! Mark rolls up and offers a tube. I gladly accept and he rolls off! Sweet, wheel out and new tube in, George rolls up at this point. “You need anything?” “No, I’m good” he rolls off. Thirty seconds later I push the button on my co2 and get absolutely nothing! It must have bled out in my seat bag. Argh! Back to running. Couple of guys catch up and one of them (who’s name I can’t remember) throws me his co2! Sweet! Were back in business, I proceed to fumble the co2 head and let the majority of the compressed gas out into the atmosphere!!! Thankfully another one of my singlespeed brothers sees this go down and lends me his pump! Sweet salvation, I have never been happier to use one of those mini pumps! Tire full, back on bike and riding! Race is pretty much over at this point for me but I feel good and want to keep pushing. Make my way thru a few guys and ride some of the rock sections I was forced to walk in traffic on the first lap. Get about a mile from the finish and the course lets me know it isn’t done with me yet. Nice big endo in a rock garden.

Cross the finish line and see all the boys hanging out. Explain some of the gory details and accept that sometimes you’re the Louisville slugger and some times you’re the ball! (Thanks Mark Knoplfer!) Hang with the boys for a bit and try to redistribute all my borrowed goodies. (I still have your co2 head and tube man! See me at the next race!) We all get cleaned up and changed and tell stories of the day. No official results but I think Bobby got 3^rd, Tom should be somewhere around the top ten with Tony and George not far behind and myself somewhere in arrears.

It’s good to get the season back underway. We have Tymor coming up and rumor has it there might be some changes to the course. After that is Marty’s which is always a good time and then it’s the Gallop! So keep those pedals turning.

Southern fried miles

2008-04-22T13:53:00.003-04:00

COHUTTA RACE REPORT

Its 12:00 o’clock and I’m standing on top of a mountain off a forest service road next to a tent shivering and eating peanut m&m’s, they are the greatest tasting thing I have ever had! There is a guy cleaning and lubing my chain which had been crying out in agony as I climbed the last few thousand feet to get here. It’s freezing up here but at least the rain has stopped. I have mentally and physically turned a corner. I remount and head back up the road. Up being critical word. If in doubt of course direction head up!

The family saddled up and headed south on Thursday am. The drive was as uneventful as a drive with two 7 year olds can be. I actually slept a couple of hours on the way down which is odd for me as I usually am a pretty alert shotgun rider. We arrived in Alabama at about 8:00 and proceeded to get to relaxing!

Friday am I was up at 7:30 or so with the kids and hung out a bit while they played. We all had breakfast and I started pacing around the house, checking bike stuff and directions to the whitewater center. After about an hour of this Michele told me to just get going and be back later. So I saddled up to make the ride up to the Ocoee whitewater center. I wanted to pace it out to see just how far I would be driving in the am to get to the start. The ride once off the highway was pretty cool as it ran along the Ocoee river and offered up some cool scenic vistas. I arrived and picked up my race packet, maps, t-shirt and three one gallon zip lock drop bags. After loading up the drop bags I started to see some of the heavy hitters arriving. Rich Dillon of bad idea racing fame was hanging out and Harlan Price and his gang from Philly pulled in a couple cars down from me. I dropped my bags and chatted with Harlan, Topher, Elk, and Chris about the race course and them coming up for some Darkhorse events this summer. They left to pre-ride and I left to drive back to home base.

The rain started sometime in the middle of the night and I was awake listening to it hit the roof for a while. Sleep, well it was fitful at best when it did come. The alarm went off at 3:30 and I was already awake. Clothes on, breakfast eaten and in the car and on the road by 4, they had said the lot fills up fast and I didn’t want to end up in overflow parking. It rained on and off on the drive. It was probably a mix of the rain and the early hour that caused that little voice in the back of my head to start saying, “turn around, go back to bed”. In the lot in the dark misty rain I had to find a flashlight to be able to find the bathrooms. That business taken care of and suiting up it was tough to decide on what to wear. Some guys from North Carolina next to me were debating tights, tights? Tights were out for me but I layered up good knowing that I could drop clothes along the way.

I found myself at the start line next to Matt Davies, Christian Baks, and Chris Wurster. Chris took the edge off by telling us about drinking beers with Floyd that night. They called the big boys up to the line and eventually off we went up the paved climb. I rolled up on Ryan Heerschap from Campmor/Team bulldog and we chatted as we climbed. The road tilted downhill and I let him ride off as I spun out my single ring. I fell in line and rode the first 20 miles or so with a group of about seven riders. This was smooth fast flowing singletrack that just rocked. Of course it was muddy and raining on and off so it made things a little more interesting. The pace was good and I was pleased with how I felt. My stomach was a little off but I chalked it up to nerves although my brain started doing the math and came up with the fact that I had been real tired on the ride down and couldn’t shake the butterflies for the last couple days so it might be more than nerves.

We hit aid station 1 and I refilled my bottles and headed out onto the gravel road section of the course. This cuts a large loop thru the big frog wilderness area and lasts for roughly 65 miles. Talking to Elk the day before he, very appropriately as I would find out soon, described this section as a real mindf@@k. This also started the big climbs of the day. I rode along with a couple of guys who chatted about average speed and such and from the numbers they were talking all looked good. I didn’t let myself look at elapsed time or mileage. I only looked at speed and at the clock. It was here that the stomach began to say bad things to me. I found myself coughing into dry heaves on one of the climbs. That was exciting! I just kept turning the pedals and moving forward. I dug into a pocket and pulled out an oatmeal raisin clif bar. These are one of my favorite snacks. However, shortly after putting it in my mouth it turned to pasty concrete mix! I washed it down with some perpetuem and tried not to throw up.

At aid station 2 I shed a long sleeve base layer and left that and my jacket in a drop bag. Reloaded my bottles, grabbed another clif bar and kept going. I was not feeling great and just wanted to keep going. I kept telling myself to make it till noon. Then make a decision what you’re going to do. The road went up, and up and up and up. I rode a lot of climbs and walked some as well. The last little push up to aid 3 was steep and hard. It was just after 12 and I had 50 miles under my belt. The volunteers at the aid stations were super nice, very helpful and really made things much easier. I dropped my bike and handed off my bottles for a refill. When I turned around a guy asked if he could clean and lube my chain. Sure! Thanks, man did it ever need it. I saw a number of mechanicals due to the conditions. While struggling up one of the climbs I passed a rider who looked over and said, “hey at least you don’t have chainsuck!”

Maybe it was the peanut m&m’s, maybe it was turning the corner on 50 miles. I left aid 3 feeling better about this whole adventure. The ride from there to aid 4 was up and down and up and down. I rode most of it and walked some of the steeper climbs. The legs were feeling it. Before aid 4 there was a long gravel decent. These gravel forest service roads were no joy. They contained a mix of compacted wet gravel, sand, mud and loose gravel. Yeah had to watch your line and they had some sweet stutter bumps that if you weren’t attentive would send you over the edge and out into oblivion! I basicly cooked my front brake on the way down. But hey, the rain had stopped! It was even warming up!

Aid station 4 comes up out of nowhere! Sweet! I drop the bike and a volunteer hand me my drop bag. Awesome! She takes my bottles and asked what I would like. Another volunteer asks if I need anything on the bike. “can you check out the front brake? I think I cooked the pads.” Before I can even unwrap a clif bar it is in the stand and adjusted. “Here try this” he says as he hand it back to me. I squeeze the lever and its perfect! Sweet! “Dude, if you were a chick I would kiss you on the mouth!” he laughs and I ride off in delusional excitement.

It’s supposedly 10 miles to aid 5 and then 10 more to aid 6 where its all downhill singletrack. Yeah, well over the last 7 or so hours I have learned that in the south they apparently tabulate mileage differently. Because lots of 15’s became closer to 20’s and 10’s well they were a little longer as well. 6 false flat miles later and we start to climb again. Its steep and I walk. Some geared guys walk to. One says to me, “singlespeed eh?” “yeah I’m dumb like that. It’s just how I roll I guess.” We laugh. It is around this point that I realize I am going to finish this thing. It makes me a little giddy. I think I may have even yelled out into the mountain silence. I push on to aid 5.

Aid 5 I hook up with another Mike who is riding a niner singlespeed and a guy on a seven sola who's name I apologize for forgetting. We ride and chat and walk and eventually Mike falls back a bit as the two boys aboard seven’s, his geared, mine single ride on. We get to aid station 6 and I am fired up. 10 miles of downhill singletrack to go! Lets rock! Mike catches us at the aid station and heads straight for the woods. We follow.

Downhill is apparently all relative as well. We ride some singletrack and then climb more busted up doubletrack. Argh. Legs are toast now. I lose Mike and the seven rider. They maybe have a minute on me but I can’t get into the rhythm. After so many miles spinning and climbing the gravel the legs are having a hard time adjusting back to singletrack. About 6 or so miles from the finish I case a rock thru a turn and hear the hiss. “Seal up, come on, seal up.” No joy. Flat. I have to say that for as completely blown as I was it was the easiest flat change ever. Back on the bike and now finally that downhill singletrack. It’s rooty, rocky, and after so many miles just downright hard. Make it thru and onto the forest service road, past the TVA station and into the home stretch. Spin as hard as I can along the road and thru the lot over the bridge and see the finish and the clock. 11:11 and some seconds, done, really wanted sub 11 but hey that’s what next year is for.

What a great time. Epic riding with a whole bunch of great people, everybody who worked the event was great and all the other riders were all really great people. I have to give much respect to any body that finished.

I got back to home base and looked like a zombie. I showered, ate everything put in front of me and fell asleep in a chair. Yeah, it was a good day!

Winter Welcome!

2008-02-25T09:51:00.003-05:00

so winter is sticking around for a while yet and the Darkhorse crew is doing its best to start ramping up for the upcoming season. trainers are whirring, weights are clanging, and the kegerator is getting some serious action.

the shop is alive with preseason happenings. redecorating, new tile fitting area, and building team members new rides. what better way to pass the winter blues then wrenching on some bike bling!

the Darkhorse team continues to grow. we have added a few new members and are still finalizing the roster. in a hard fought off season negotiation we were able to barely keep Eddy "Big Decals" Burgess as apparently Michael Ball of rock racing was trying to lure him out to the west coast! however in the eleventh hour Darkhorse sealed the deal and Ball had to settle for Mario Cippolini. sorry Mike, better luck next time!

keep your hopes up for warmer temps and keep your eyes peeled for the new Darkhorse kit which should be arriving real soon!

The new home of the new Darkhorse Racing!

2008-01-28T08:35:00.000-05:00

well here it is. the new home of the newly reorganized darkhorse racing team! check back often for all kinds of interesting musing, race reports and other nonsense from our members and other special guests!