This just in

Our own Gene Rutledge is poster boy for IronCross V to be held in PA in October. Gene is one of the most solid wheels out there, on- or off-road. And if a person's fame (or infamy?) is measured by the number of nicknames he has, then Gene is in a solo breakaway. He will love that I am cutting ties with bikevoice's "Be nice" motto to record a conversation that I transcribed in a paper about cycling blogs:

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Kevin then started into a story about how he once received a Trek Grassroots sponsorship back when he worked part time for HDK Bike Shop (now Bike Beat).

“I sent Trek a photo of my sideburns, and said, ‘don’t they look like Travis Brown’ and that they should sponsor me,” Kevin said.

“Who is Travis Brown?” I asked.

Gene jumped in. “He’s an old school pro mountain biker.”

Neat, so what did they give you?” I asked.

Gene jumped in again, “A junky old piece of shit."

Kevin ignored him. “Two road bikes and a mountain bike. It was a pro deal.” I was surprised that in ten years I have been cycling with Kevin, I had never known about the sponsorship.

--from "Small Community Connections" by Liz Schleeper

Mountain Monologues II

(Right, Kay Lynn's license plate says it all. Bottom, I make a move on a black snake.)

It is such a simple thing to admit but one I have never thought necessary to admit until now: I like pain. I like it a lot. Is there any other explanation for mountain biking besides that? Or maybe I just suck so bad that what pain I feel climbing mountains is disproportionately higher than what someone like Kay Lynn feels?

Over 2 days, Kay Lynn and I did 85 miles of Shenandoah 100 course. The first day (55 miles) took over 7 hours and by the end I was toast. I ran out of water for the last hour, and though Kay Lynn shared hers, it really did not matter because I was over cooked and needed something much colder than what was left in her Camelback.

As we rode back to the car, I drifted back and flagged down two dudes in a truck and asked if they had cold water. “Nope, but I got a cold beer,” the driver said as he handed me a chilled unopened Natural Lite . I graciously accepted and figured they got paid with the entertainment of watching road kill coming back to life as I chugged it down. That nasty beer was so darn good and I was energized and even buzzed for 15 minutes. It was enough to get me over a couple of climbs.

I admire Kay Lynn’s skills and sure appreciate the hospitality. It was great to hang out with someone with local knowledge and local lodging.

Day 1: Ramsey’s-Braley loop first. Then Rt. 715/ 705 to FR 95 to FR 85. Chestnut Ridge back to FR 95 and Rt. 705/ 715 back to Braley Pond. 55 miles, one cooked rider, one flat, 7 hours. Sitings: turkeys, bear

Day 2: Stokesville up Narrowback climb to FR 101 to Briery Branch Road. Up that brutal Lynn trail, down Wolf Ridge and back. 30 miles, 4 hours. Sitings: bear, deer, black snake

Mountain Monologues Part I

False flat must hide what the false altimeter doth know. It seems the more brutal the hill or mountain climb, the greater its power to make rider forget its true nature.

Sally sent me this picture to prove that there are real hills in Lancaster County, PA. I had told her and Carol that I had ridden all over that county and that I didn’t recall any real climbs. Ok, so I lied—but I really didn’t intend to, so that would not be a True Lie but a Cyclist Lie. Luckily, they suspected that I lied and brought climbing gears anyway. Yet, they will learn that even as this image burns on this blog, the slope will get short circuited in the brain, and when the next person comes along asking about Lancaster County, they’ll say it was pretty much flat.

Anyway, congrats to Carol and Sally for representing in the Tour of Christiana. [Help me out here, Stephanie. Did we do hills there?]

On Location

(Tandem competitiors Vicki and Mark point "in phase" at the start line of Wilderness 101. )

I worked with Wes this weekend on a story for Dirtrag magazine during the Wilderness 101 near State College, PA. He had pitched the idea of doing a story about tandem teams who race monster off-road events.

We could not hit the road until 11:30 pm Friday night. The plan was to sleep and drive in shifts, but really neither of us got sleep. We arrived 10 minutes before the 7 am start, and I was already feeling like I could puke. I figured it would be easy to get through a day of being the photographer's helper and doing a couple of interviews. However, I think a racer on that start line possessed my body, because from the gun I had the sensation of suffering through an endurance event for the next 12 hours.

Wes set up cameras and lights at the 25 mile point and at the 75 mile point. After both tandem teams passed those points, we drove to the finish line to set up a portrait studio there, similar to his street studios that he set up in Richmond. He made sure I grabbed Danielle Musto at the finish, mostly because he wanted photos of her with the Slingshot. I was happy to invite her for photos not for her bike, but for her resume. She finished 3rd at Elite Nationals 24-hour mtb last weekend, and she will represent USA at Worlds 24 hour.

(Wes will be posting much better photos, but here is my take on Danielle at Wilderness 101 finish.)