A Nice Quiet Week...

I have been pretty much taking it easy since SSWC. It has been a long season for me and I am trying to rest up for 7 Springs 24 hr race next weekend. I did get out on the bike Wed. Rachael and I went out for nice easy ride at White Clay. She hasn't been out on the bike in a while but she still did very well. We had a good ride and a lot of fun.

I also got out today. I wanted to do about 2 - 2.5 hours. I met up with DenS, Jay Jay, Bill Doh! and John Thompson even joined us for a while. It was good to see John riding again,I know he was frustrated earlier this year, but he seems to be getting into shape pretty quickly.

We had a good ride today, nice pace and Bill Doh rocked out leading us down Shock and Awe. He said he's been riding there a lot.

I also start a job Monday, it should be cool but we will see.
Well I am done for now, Thanks for reading,
Buddy

SSWC05 Part 2...

I failed to mention quite a few things last night. One of the coolest parts of the race for me was being able to wear my new Spot jersey. Marc, Matt (run Forrest), Todd (local old guy with one gear) and myself were all very proud to be in black wool. Marc had a great ride and Todd wasn't far off of him. Matt was feeling the effects of a lot of beer the night before but still rode well. Fort James is coming into form as well. All of the IF chicks rode there asses off as well. Tiffany was 2nd and L Webb was 6th.

Bob Elam from Beans Bikes, had one of his best races, and he did it on someone else's bike. There were way too many Gary Fisher Rigs to chose from.

The after party and awards were a blast. I mean Free BEER, a really good Rockabilly band and a bunch of people reliving an awesome day. I got to meet some really cool people this weekend, whether it was on the trail or at the bar, I tried to talk to as many folks as possible. It was pretty amazing, I met people from all over the world all sharing the same passion for single speeds. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.

I was also given the honor of choosing the random people for the Go-Kart race. That felt pretty cool, thanks to Eric for letting me play a role in the events of the day. Well I am done for now, but I am sure I will think of more to say later.
thanks for reading,
Buddy

SSWC05

This past weekend was the SSWCo5 in beautiful State College, Pa. Over 400 single speeders blew into town for the event. The race drew some big names including, Travis Brown, Adam Craig (who raced Snow Shoe the day before) Barry Wicks ( also did Snow Shoe), Marla Streb, Keith Bontrager, and mountain bike icon and developer of the now popular 29er, Gary Fisher himself. I have been looking forward to this event for almost 2 years and it did not disappoint. Before I go into what this event was like I want to send a big thanks to Eric Roman and the rest of the Mt. Nittany Wheelworks crew for putting on a stellar world class event.

My weekend started Friday afternoon. I headed to Reading to pick up Wes the Conqueror, driving was the least I could do considering I was crashing at his parents house all weekend. I must pause once again to thank Mr. and Mrs. Shempf for having me and feeding me, they are truly good people, not to mention they waited nearly an hour after Wes finished to see me come in. That was really cool. We rolled into town about 7:30 pm had a nice dinner then crashed.

Saturday we headed to the shop to register then it was off to do a ride. Frank from Mt. Nittany asked if we would lead some folks around if we saw someone that looked lost. As we were ready to head out agroup of guys from Wisconsin asked us to show em' around. They were a good group of guys, and little did we know one of them would be the first guy across the line. It was a good ride even though I felt like shit.

Spot Brand Rules!

Saturday night was a blast. I got to meet the people I will be riding for from now on. Michael and Jessica seen with the original Spot Brand Whore. We stopped by their place for dinner and a few beverages. These folke are super cool, and I am now even more excited about racing for Spot. We had a good time but afew people paid for it the next day, right Matt.

We also got to hang out with Jeff Jones seen here kicking back with Wes the Conqueror, also check out the mans bike, I have to tell you that thing is really fucking cool. Jeff was a super cool guy and he loves to talk about bikes and I was enjoying hearing what he had to say. I got a lot of useful info from him, he told me how to set up my H Bars the right way and I am looking forward to trying them again. Eventually we hit the bar, I switched to drinking water while most people were slamming beers.

I didn't sleep well that night but I felt ready for the race. The Lemans start was long, and some folks had a problem finding there bikes, Topher. There are so many stories to tell about what went on during the race, but I will be short. The course was awesome, it was dry it was technical and there was a SHIT load of climbing. There was one called Thick Head, it is 4 miles long and gets harder after 2 miles. I think we climbed some where between 4000' and 5000' in 25.5 miles of racing. I felt bad for the first hour or so, but then I started to find a rhythm and felt better. I rode really well in the rocks, even though I didn't clean the bottom of Wild Cat Gap. I finished in under three and a half hours. My boy Wes finished 6th right on Adam Craig's wheel, Awesome ride dude. He finished in just over 2:30. The winner was a guy from Wisconsin that rides for Subaru Gary Fisher, Travis Brown was 2nd. Buck from Gettysburg was your overall winner. He kicked ass on the go-karts to claim the SSWC05 crown. Marla Streb took the win for the women, this was the 2nd year in a row for her.

The boys from State College put on a hell of a party for us Sunday night. There was a band, Free beer, a bike derby, fire in the streets, and a visit from PA's finest. This will go down as one of the best Mountain bike events ever, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it.
It is late and I am exhausted, so thanks for reading.
Buddy