Quiet around here, eh?

Check out what's going on over there instead.

Change

Some revisions to the world as I know it:

1) The governing body of the Blue Ridge Cyclocross Cup decided that the series is completed, wrapped up, game over, at the precise moment that Queen City took second and the Foof was relegated to the back of the bus. Finals, cancelled, due to a lack of fitness. I'd move to file a complaint, but let's be honest, facing Queen City and Rocktown on their turf, down 30 points, and more than likely too lazy to race on a Sunday in November anyway, we are dead to rights. So in case you were planning on it (you weren't), don't show up on Sunday for finals. Let's move on.

2) Fall is sorta sliding away now, and the population of Rallysville must ease back into base training, muddy gravel road rides, and the kind of weather that makes you want to put your head down and climb something tall a few times. Oh hell yes, it's early for that, but it's coming. Find yourself a hardtail.

3) Rumors, and other unsubstantiated unsubstantialness abound. They're all true. And wouldn't you know it, the world keeps on spinning anyway.

These and other news stories, at 11. Keep it in the red, and stay tuned.

Paranormal and onward

Another Paranormal came and went on Saturday night, probably the best one ever.

I won't go into a lot of detail. If you were there, you know. If you weren't there, you missed out - come next year.

But I will comment briefly on the nature of 130+ racers, many of them wearing elaborate, drivetrain-snagging costumes, all lighting it up off the startline into a 180-degree hairpin at outright dangerous speeds, and I'll say this - Everyone LOVED it.

Coolest thing to happen in my yard, maybe ever.

thankfully, someone thought to take pictures to prove it. Dangerous, crowded corner. All smiles.


"On your left, please. I'm on my way to plunder villages and rape women and children. "


This was, hands down, the fastest I've ever seen a man in a red flannel tutu ride a fixie on singletrack.


eventual women's winner, Laura Hamm, smiled big and then threw down 8 monster laps. And she did it all in a dress. In your face, bitches.


Kev29er taking the off-camber, caveman holeshot


at first, I thought "hey, someone dressed up as Markley." False alarm. It was just Captain America.

Outside of the party atmosphere and the luscious dirt conditions from just the right amount of recent rain, maybe the best thing was the racing. A couple of really close ones. Results are up (or soon to be up) at www.crcparanormal.com.

But why stop at 10 PM? The danger lasted long into the night with unattended bonfires, microbrews mixed with bourbon, howling at the moon and the like. Well done.

The letdown, however, was The Foof's dismal performance at the final regular-season BRCX race in Queen City. We sucked, basically failing to show up in any meaningful way, and the home team slid into second behind the mighty Cutters. But don't despair - revenge is nigh! Finals, conveniently will be November 7th at Massanutten, the very day after the 6 pak invitational DH finals in the GW. Beat that weekend rally with a stick, if you can (you can't.)

Knowledge:
The BRCX Cup - http://www.blueridgecyclocrosscup.com
6 Pack - http://www.bikemag.com/features/onlineexclusive/six-pack-invitational/

Number plates with Jesus on them? Blasphemy aside, I think Jesus would be very, very pleased to be a part of the Six Pack.

It's for the candy, kids. Might as well dress up a little. May your Halloween Weekend be haunted by the wickedest of skinnytrack.

Tuesday Crosstastic...and then the Paranormal

The Rocktown #2 postrace buffet. what 40 pounds of ribs looks like.

Well let's get crosstastic again. Tuesday, at the Cville Gardens.

http://www.blueridgecyclocrosscup.com/
It's bush league crossy crossness with, dare I speculate, vehicle traffic AND some autumn gardening? Nothing says safety like getting real hazy-anaerobe-vision while trying to dodge hapless yuppy sharecroppers and their subarus. God help us. The Fooftown fearless leader, Bruce Almighty, seems to think we'll be just fine. Nevermind that he's a veteran of some dangerous alleycat shenanigans with the scars to prove it, I'm in.

Moving on, by Wednesday the focus will then shift to the Paranormal.
www.crcparanormal.com
The course is downright silky right now. Come get some on Saturday, 4 - 10 PM. Kids race at 3. Tailgating to commence sometime mid-morning.

A threat to the duo podium, and also what 40 pounds of ribs looks like

Today though, before any of that foolishness commences, I've got to get serious for a second and say how awesome it is to have a beautiful, loving, understanding, nurturing, supportive, HOT wife that can rally, who wants to go ride on our anniversary for an hour before getting some Cuban steak and a microbrew and maybe watch some football.
this lady

Whatever I did in a past life that the world deemed, "yeah, OK, that was nice of him, let's give him the works next time around" must have been pretty freaking spectacular.

I am humbled by your awesomeness. And your ability to pick Monday Night Football games better than I can. But mostly your awesomeness.

2 years today. Rally.

It's Monday, sports fans. Go find that person that makes you happy and go ride something with them that makes you giggle.

Do something that matters

Let's start with what's important.

The world is run by the people that show up. Do something important:
http://savenorthfork.blogspot.com/


It's a little sobering to think about the freedom to ride this masterpiece over in West-By-God-Virginia being taken from we, the people. But it's a very real possibility.

Saving our access there could get tough. Really, the problem is focus. People are interested, but aligning the scattered parties in the right direction against the right enemy (not just wilderness designation, but oil drilling, etc) is difficult when you think about just who those parties are. Cyclists, hikers, mountain men - we are a wild, scattered bunch; and the disorganization can oftentimes be misconstrued with being the point itself.

It is NOT the point.
http://savenorthfork.blogspot.com/
Show up. The rest might just work itself out.

Speaking of focus, I saw a good bit of it out at the farm this weekend. Good hands came together, and the Paranormal course is absolutely dialed. Eric Moore showed up and rallied 6 laps, testing to see if he's got what it takes to win duo next Sat (he does, but DOES his teammate?) And my lady went and cranked out 20 miles on the road (on foot, mind you) prepping for the Richmond Marathon.
See, focus.

This is what focus looks like after 20 miles of pounding pavement.

On a less focused note, The Mighty Foof is getting a good clock cleaning these days in the Blue Ridge Cyclocross Cup. Rocktown is running away with the thing, and the Foof is actually in danger of falling behind the black sheep of the family, Queen City.
Shenanigan scorekeeping aside, we really haven't shown up in the biggest way possible just yet. But there are signs of improvement, namely Bruce Almighty putting Nick Waite away at the line in Staunton last week and stealing an almost-deserved 2nd place. Nice. Tomorrow, it's supertuesday over in Rocktown, one last chance to stick it to them on their home turf.

Bring it.

photo credits to whoever this guy is...http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c198/DUALRESPONSE1731/2010cyclocross%20series%20-%20rocktown/
And sweet Jesus that's a big picture of Fawley. But he's got talent that you just can't shrink.

In closing, I snapped this photo on the way out of Asheville last weekend, and I felt it summarized some things nicely, although I'm not sure what.

But don't forget your endurolytes.

The Silky Big Boy 2000

Most of you guys that ride with me know that I'm a trailwork fanatic. I'm often distracted mid-ride to pimp some trail, cut a downed tree, carve a turn a little finer, etc. So I carry a big saw - the Silky Big Boy.

Here's a sample of the Big Boy in action. It will cut ANYTHING. And oftentimes the places I ride are so remote that carrying a chainsaw to most of the deadfall is impossible. So having a saw small enough to fit in my pack but still highly capable is a real convenience.

Since I'm at risk of sounding like an advertisement for Silky Saws, let me lace some profanity in here to really drive my point home in the most secular way:

This fucking saw will cut through a goddamn refrigerator.

Now that you know Silky isn't paying for this, we can continue. Although, let's be honest, the minute Silky is ready to sponsor trailwork and trailworkers, and they stick about 30 of these monsters in the mail to us, I will happily remove or edit that phrasing to better fit their specific marketing environment, whatever that may be.

On with the story.

Well, sadly, after a long summer of some real abuse, my Big Boy 2000 broke last week. The blade actually split where the smallest tooth meets the handle (probably the weakest point.) In the future, I now know to avoid wielding my expensive folding saw like a bush machete. But this time out I pretty much assumed I was out of luck.

With no real expectations, I emailed Sherrill Tree down in North Carolina to see if they had a replacement policy.

I got this in response:
Subject: RE: Broke my Big Boy 2000
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2010 13:26:51 -0400
From: idemaio@SHERRILLTREE.com

David,

I will be sending a replacement Big Boy 2000 blade today, no charge and no freight. Please accept this replacement for your trouble with the Silky saw.

We appreciate your business and your good words about Silky products.

Regards,

Irene DeMaio

Customer Service Manager

SherrillTree

200 Seneca Road

Greensboro, NC 27406

Yeah, no questions asked replacement policy. They didn't even make me pay to ship it. Kick ass. Trail pimping to recommence this weekend.

Speaking of things that kick ass in North Carolina, this just in...
PISGAH KICKS ASS.
As of Friday, I've ridden Black Mountain as an out and back. The out and back are separated by 6 years and 6 months. Both ways pretty much rocked my socks.

Cunningham doing a little trudging to get to the action.

same spot, going the other way, 6 years ago and 6 months ago. Nice i-drive you ninny.

It's been a good year already. And on that subject of riding far away places and the once-mighty GT brand, I thought I'd put this picture up as a little parting shot.
Moore Fun in Fruita, Colorado, 2004ish. My addiction to the madhouse descent off of that Mesa, coupled with mankinds' inability to make a durable, aluminum full suspension bike in 2003, are probably the main two reasons that bike was reduced to scrap metal shortly after this photo was taken. But what a ride down.

Go stick it to something tall, Kids. Take your saw.

Fall

Riding around in crunchy leaves for a few hours today seems to have dosed me with insomnia instead of sweet dreams. The fall does that to me sometimes. It's the best season, no questions, and it's hard to get it all in sometimes.

Take for example, Foofville's attendance at race # 1 at the BRCC. Unable to find the venue in time due to a tight schedule, we put up only 80 points versus Rocktown's 790. Lame.

Despite the gross margin of error it's anyone's game in disorga-cross, and there's still time for a reckoning. So outside of staying up all night with the full moon to try to fit more things into these glorious 3 months, one might also try SHOWING UP to the next event, here at the Rancho Relaxo at 6 PM on Tuesday, 9.28. Details here: www.blueridgecyclocrosscup.com

What next though? Well, how about a road trip to Asheville with Kev29er and C-ham to see the big man himself, Papa Nolan? That much is a no-brainer. But how many rides will be cut short by the after-affects of the mighty Ninja?

Testing to commence on this subject in exactly one week.

One of the best parts about fall? The glorious conclusion, 7 days of riding in Sedona like a blaze of glory, before coming home and hunkering down for winter.
get some

That's about all. Again, show up on Tuesday. Race, spectate, and bring a beverage. Or just bring a beverage and mill about aimlessly for a while, we'll count you for points anyway.

Disorga-cross

That's right, the kind of Cyclocross that's so disorganized you can barely find the race.

OR IS IT?

http://blueridgecyclocrosscup.com/

That looks dangerously close to being an official series. Like it or not, get your game face on Fooftown.

BFR scores 4 for 4 at FORD

Congratulations to our riders at the Fredericksburg Off-Road Duathlon on Saturday September 11. Jenny L, Danielle, Shawn, and I lined up for a somewhat chilly 9am start that soon turned into a heated affair against some fast runners, talented teams, and tough competition from some locals and out-of-staters. Course conditions were primo with dry, dusty trails that were a bit on the technical side for the quarry, with both the run and ride capped off by a wet trip through the culvert under I-95. Shawn was off to a good start and ran well on both runs sandwiched around a very strong bike leg; not sure where it was but he took a digger on the run and got a little trail rash; the effort was worth second overall. Jenny opted for the shorter-distance race and finished strongly with an age-group win and second overall if my recollection is correct. Danielle finished the first run hot on my heels and held strong for second overall in the longer-distance course. I felt like my run was pretty good even though I was mid-pack or so on the first run; the cooler temps and reduced humidity made my runs less of a suffer-fest. My ride went well, and I tried to hold off runners on the last leg but got caught by a few including the dude who streaked past me to push me down to third in my age group by a mere 5 seconds. Oh, well, it was a blast.

Great job, teammates!

Blue Ridge Cyclocross Cup

In the world of underground cross racing, there are underground races and then there is the Blue Ridge Cross Cup.

http://blueridgecyclocrosscup.com/

Tuesday, 9/14, the Foof will fight the axis of evil, the Rocktown/Queen City alliance, once again for world cyclocross domination. Past that, the details get a little sketchy.

Where: Somewhere in Rocktown
When: Sometime after work on Tuesday

The lack of organization is the point, as I understand it.

Check the website sometime Monday afternoon to get the details. Maybe go for a jog over the weekend. Scrape the 10 month old mud from your cross tires. Prepare to bring the cup back to where it belongs.

This just in...

Colorado kicks ass.

Super D

Bruce Almighty, the Mighty Bruce, called this in: "The Super D is tonight. 6:30 PM, you know where."

That announcement is a lot of things all at once. Late. Cryptic. Perfect.
God forbid you actually use this blog to get news of some sort and you don't know where this is going down, then you better axe somebody.

See you at the gate.

Super Muddy D?

With no confirmed start list, no registration, and no officiating body, it's tough at this point (1:30 on Tuesday) to notify the seedy underworld of local racing that the Super D is postponed due to rain. That's if it were actually postponed, which would require someone in charge to postpone it, which would require both someone actually being in charge and it actually existing at all. Which, officially, there is not and it does not respectively.

So.

It's 1:30. It's been raining for 18 hours. Don't do anything dumb.

What a $6,000 pillow looks like, or how the 18 Hours on the Farm went

The thing is, after 18 hours of racing, you'd HAPPILY pay $6,000 for a pillow. Even a titanium one that was stuck in 34x19 all damn night.

Some other good napping pictures, because apparently that's most of what I managed to photograph this weekend.

What a really good wrench looks like after an 18 hour race.

You'll notice the slight sunburn, insect bites, and full REM sleep while sitting upright at the awards ceremony. All good indicators of a mechanic who poured himself 100% into his racers for 18 hours and has now come to a grinding halt.

And sometimes, just coming home turns out to be all the rest you really needed. Shannon rallied. She also crashed. She also shook it off, rallied some more, endured some nasty wet roots, and brought home some victory cash.

As you can see, Bailey loves cash.

Some further thoughts...

This just in: in case you hadn't noticed them blurring by you on the race course for the last year or so, Gordon Wadsworth and Jay Catlett are freaking fast. I feel this photograph represents pretty much how the men's duo race went the entire day.


Shawn re-affirmed himself as the solo racer to beat at the 18 hours on the farm. After a 2nd place finish last year, he came back loaded for bear and fully prepared to pee on himself if necessary to win out there.
He won.
He smelled like pee in the photo below.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Fast Joe Fish attacked hard down the stretch, relentlessly, even after some setbacks during the night which he could have avoided if he weren't such a damn fine gentleman. Watch out for him at Stokesville in two weeks - he's strong, and the Karma pendulum is about to swing back his way.

In a notable sub-plot, the summer of Toph concluded with a spectacular flurry of mostly unnecessary rallying, much like it began and progressed all summer.
The Toph rode the fastest double lap on file to barely make it in under the 10 AM gun and claim 3rd in co-ed 4 person, nearly 3 laps up on the competition and still 45 minutes back from second. And yet, despite the futility, it's the rally that really counts anyway - and that was one for the Summer of Toph record book.

Other big winnna's...

And on and on...

Plus, I'm told that Jazzy Geoff Keenan rallied in multi-sport, hardman style and brought home the serious bacon at the Walnut Creek Xterra. Other near-podium stories there as well? I'll leave those for someone else to tell.

What I will tell you is this: The Super D is on like Donkey Kong. Seriously, Donkey Kong is coming and everything. 6:30 PM tomorrow night. The location? I can't tell you that. But ask around, search the underground, troll the dirty underbelly of Charlottesville bush league racing in the right place, and you'll find it.

Thereafter, I'm told that a trip to the 12th street taphouse will be necessary to ease those aching bones. Hopefully, all bones will ache, but remain mostly unexposed to the elements. If not, the scheduled taphouse stop will have to be pushed back until after an Emergency room stop.

Any questions, ask the person in charge, whomever that may be, if you can find them.

Until Wednesday, then.

Endurance Racing

Someone who doesn't know me very well asked me the other day why I was into endurance racing. Seems like a miserable thing to put yourself through.

I couldn't really come up with any reasons to do it, only that when you go to an endurance race as a spectator and you see it actually happening, it occurs to you that you'd like to do it too. Mostly, if you look around at all the pain people are putting themselves through, you actually see a lot of smiling, laughing, and generally having a good time. It defies logic in a lot of ways.

For fun, I thought I'd put up some pictures of that fun.

The 24 hours of Moab.



The 24 hours of Winter Park


18 hours on the farm


The Paranormal


Camp Hilbert Enduro


The Burn 24

In every one of those pictures, I can pretty much recall that exact moment. Riding, having a good time, enjoying being on my bike for a long damn time. And as I was putting those pictures up there, something occurred to me...they're all taken during daylight.

Because it gets dark, and it really starts to hurt a lot, and I don't remember many night laps but for the most part, they're hard and they suck a little.

And when the sun comes up, you look like this sometimes:

Ouch.

You just gotta hope that all that pain you put yourself through during the night pays off, and when it gets light again, you're somewhere near the front and still moving forward. The memory of all that pain during the night fades away quickly, like a bad dream.

I am one of the few lucky enough to get to race with family. Shannon, though a self-proclaimed runner who is dabbling in mountain biking, has started to full-on rally. Riding with your wife is cool. Racing with your wife is even cooler. This is a real question she asked me, "Is running 12 miles on Saturday morning before the 18 hour race really a bad idea?"


And of course, Shawn is pretty freaking great at this stuff. Lots of experience, a huge engine, and the sort of stubbornness that it takes to successfully put yourself through that kind of pain for a long time. And yet, he's been through the worst of it enough times to still have some humility and fear it a little too. So when the 18 hours on the farm rolls around on Saturday, I've got him picked for that $500. The real payoff, though, is getting to pass him in the wee hours of the morning and slap his ass one time, real hard, because it's a rare occurrence to be riding with him when he can't catch me. So I've got to take advantage. What are brothers for.


Photo, circa 1981 or so. Shawn, as you might imagine, is pulling the sled. I am the good looking one in the Planter's Peanuts stocking cap. I only wish we could still go that fast.

Good luck everybody at the 18. Don't forget to rally a little bit while you're out there.

August is upon us

A little August update:

Rumors of my death are unsubstantiated and incorrect. I've been in Ontario. But not before racing the Wilderness 101 in absolutely primo conditions. Pennsylvania, my new favorite place to ride.

Let's get down to business:

First, the call has been made for the annual Super D Brownie Crit.

From: davidtevendale To: james.gist; brucewtj2; jeremy.senn; danielo.mail
Subject: Super D Brownie Crit
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:36:48 -0400

Super D Champions of Yesteryear - August is upon us, and with it, the annual super d brownie crit. By tradition, as reigning champion, Bruce Almighty gets his pick of location and date. If he fails to perform, former champ James "super d" Gist is allowed the privilege. And failing that, one time super-stud Jeremy Senn, whose whereabouts are largely unknown, will be offered the chance to pick a location and date.

Failing all of that, Danny O, last year's runner up, whilst not an actual champion, will be allowed to make the holy call. Rally the troops. If we're going to use BRS again, sometime in the next two weeks is a must.
Let me know.
Dave T.

As a follow up to this, sadly, it appears Jeremy Senn's whereabouts truly are unknown, as his email address got bounced back to me as "This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. And he's not that fast anymore anyway." Sad.

Moving on, all of us who have been following the summer of Toph will be simply thrilled by what we got in the BFR mailbag:
"SUMMER OF MOTHER FUCKING TOPH!!!"


It would appear the good people of Idaho may have overserved our boy by a glass of chardonnay or two. But he seems otherwise healthy.

Moving on, I decided to cut Bender's ears off.

It's not like he had that much to listen to anyway. There are really only two words he can hear, "Ball" and "Rally." Everything else is insignificant.

And that's a good way to live.

Last but not least, longtime fastguy, Fooftown all-rounder, and 5 time keg-wearing paranormal champion , Iron Mike Walling, has been gunned down by this deadbeat economy in this hellish year of our lord, 2010, and is being forced to move to Cleveland.

(for gods sake, if someone has a better picture of iron mike, send it to me and I'll replace this disgrace of a photo with something that really shows his softer side. if he has a softer side.)

You heard me, Cleveland. His memorial will be held this evening here at the farm, which most of you in the know already know. His ashes will be jettisoned via rocket-fueled space cannon into orbit, or perhaps the pond, and we'll all be allowed the opportunity to say a few words in memorium.

That's the news, kids. See you when I see you.