Tales From The Weekend

So on Sunday, while I went for a really fun ride with a couple of friends I don't get to see that often, others went against the race of their lives. I went out for a good ride at Millstone. I snuck out before the boy woke up, and we got to the trailhead before 9:30. We rode our asses off. Sorry, but there are no pictures of our fun. But I can tell you that the "Orange Bike" performed flawlessly. There will be some action shots soon.

All of the suckers went to the Jay Challenge.

This is a contribution from a fellow 29er rider and Vermonter. He raced in the Jay Challenge. a very silly race with massive vertical gain mixed with distance. It is unedited and completely uninfluenced...

Starting with a beautiful day it was off to a good start until delayed
race start. After making us get up an hour early they then held us there
for about half an hour. I only noticed a handful of riders with big
wheels. Surly seemed to be the manufacturer of choice. The race begins
with a brutal climb straight up jay to the top of the tram. This helped to
spread the field out, with a loose, steep climb this forced many to
walk/run with the bike. After making it to the top there was a great
decent that had many people again off their bikes. I found this a great
place to open it up and pass many people. Once to the bottom of the
mountain I began to have many problems with my 1*9 setup. My chain popped
off many times. A short stint on the road to the top of the 242 and then
ducking into the woods for great single track. Any time there was
technical terrain my chain popped off. After trading spots with some
riders becuase of the chain problem a nice gentleman Dave with a chain
tool stopped and lent me his tool to shorten my chain which helped
emensly. Thanks Dave. The 29er was a great advantage for the next 20 or so
miles of dirt roads. Cruising quickly, I began to run out of steam. Going
through Montgomery and seeing my friends and hearing cheers from
spectators I was reivigorated to continue. Through a great single track
loop down to a road section the race began to get long. My legs were
beginning seize. back to dirt roads and climbing which there wasn't a lack
of. Becuase of chain issues my easiest and hardest gears weren't
functioning properly. After a tough dirt road climb there was a nice 9
mile section of single track. With insuffecent training I began to lose
enough steam to make it uphill in the woods. Level and downhill sections
were fine. Popping back onto 242 from the Montgomery side proved to feel
like an endless climb. In the easiest gear i could barely turn the pedals
over. My knees were shot and running on E I exhaustedly made to the top of
242 again. With legs and lower back cramping I barely made it back to the
resort. I was delirous after the 50 miles and tons of climbing. I pulled
the plug knowing there lie 15 miles and another climb, equvilant to
climbing to the top of Jay again. I do think 29er is the way to go for
this race with the majority of miles being on dirt roads. With the winner
of the overall (Brook Scatchard- Karate Monkey) and the winner of the
single speed (Jason Achilich- Indy Fab) both on 29ers I think it says
something for big wheels. next year I plan to train more or enter the
shorter 45 miler. According to post race chat it was over 70 miles with
11,500 ft of climbing. A great event that proved to be painful like no
other race. Thanks to all the aid station workers and everyone that
cheered.

Sefton Hirsch