Made in the Shade-Lou Short Track Mtn Bike Race #2

If last week was the "Ring of Fire", then this week's course ought to be called "Made in the Shade" and not because we'll be playing the Stones. We have an all new race course set up for you, and the big hill is gone.......hmmmm what ARE they up to? Only one way to find out.

Come on out to Seneca Park for another great night of racing this Wednesday.

Racing starts @ 5:30, but tell Doug it's 4:30. Don't ask.

Last week we had great racing at every level, from the Kid's Race to the Cat 1's. How do we top this? If we had 95 racers last week, we'd like to get over 100 this week.

3 Words

Short.

Track.

Racing.

Wild Ride to the South End

I asked for it, so it really was my fault. I'd planted the bug in their ears and even sent out reminders, so escape wasn't happening. I had gathered together too many fast mountain bikers and cajoled them into a fairly epic ride. This past Saturday a.m. I met Fatty, Seiler(on a freaking single speed), Zack, MrWine and depot Joe, to do some stupid level riding. why do we keep tweaking the level of ridiculocity until the almost breaking point? I have nofa king idea.

We took off from the usual coffe spot outside of Cherokee Park, with a full pace-line of rumbling knobbies and conversation. The noise from the tires was a low hum that had people on the sidewalks turning their heads to see the source of the commotion . We were headed to Waverly Park. Waverly is across town and a blast to ride, especially since kymba local Billy Davis spent his vacation improving and fine tuning the trails. the main feature that Waverly is known for is a monster hill called "Montana".

A long road ride on the mountain bike followed by tough trails, always has me apprehensive. I think the best rides are the ones that have me thinking hard about them the night before. I always spend time kind of obsessing about the details-food, tire pressure, etc. to calm the pre-ride jitters. Add to that the company I'd assembled and it was iffy at best. All of these guys are faster than me and can definitely handle the bike more ably. My goal was to hang on and finish the ride as close to the group as possible.

We held a solid pace on the way to the park and had decided pre-ride to tackle Montana first. It works because you get the monster out of the way, but its tough because you dont recover before you start climbing. It was a long way to the top, but once we got there it was the expected fast, swoopy trail system all the way back down. The trails were a little muddy, but not bad enough to be an issue for trail or rider damage. Its a fun, fast roll across the bridges and switchbacks. It really is beautiful back there.

From there we re-grouped(you dont think I led the pack, do you?) and started back down the road. The 29er riders had a definite advantage on the road, and were really tough to keep up with. Im fairly sure I dumped a few gallons of sweat that day, but what a great ride. Perfect training for the Fools Gold race we have coming up at the end of August. At least it won't be hot in Georgia in late August, right?

Here's a sattelite view of the ride. Damn, technology's fun.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fwww.trainingpeaks.com%2Fsw%2Fkml%2FJVLIZG3X664QAZ6JHX2JED63QM&ie=UTF8&z=12

the ring of fire- short track race #1

your humble race crew from The Ring of Fire Louisville Short Track Mountainbike Race #1

Last night was the first race of the Louisville Short Track Mountain Bike series or as we were calling it, the Ring of Fire. 91 degrees at race time with a monster climb facing the racers each lap. Possibly the cruellest thing I've ever said was during the Cat 1 race.

"10 more laps"

Anthony and Mitchell looked like they wanted to come off the bikes and discuss it right then. brutal heat and blistering speed were the order of the day.

This was the most fun I've had at a race in quite a while and I didnt even race. I was on the mic, and people huddled in fear clasping their childrens ears. Strong move there.

95 racers braved the heat and hills and all seemed to have a good time. Love the pain indeed.

thanks to Marcia Seiler, we have amazing pictures to share, and thats better than the verbage around here anyway.

that hill hurt a lot, but doug seemed to have a blast in his first mountain bike race, finishing strong and commencing to "rehydrate"

look at the intensity as they fight for position on the first turn. Ben wants blood there.

Zack kept score, recorded laps and took drink orders . "Waiter"!!

heres a great shot of the cat3 race as they take off from the start. this was a fast straight shot into a left hand sweeper, you wanted to be in front there!

yes, I know. 'cause when I rock the mic I rock the mic slightly incorrectly.

that mcshane kids kinda fast huh? Seilers wishing he had gears right here. Shift!! Shift!! oh, sorry.

We're looking forward to next week with a brand new course, more racers and more beer!!

Come join us in the park Wednesday night, its going to get better every week.

Holy Hardtails Batman!! It's Time For Short Track Racing

It seems like its been gestating for way too long, but it's finally time. We put the first few stakes in the ground and we have ourselves one hell of a racecourse.

thats right my friends, I have 3 words for you.

Short. Track. Racing.

TOMORROW

we start racing at 5:30 but come early and pre-ride the course so you can tell us all about how much better it was that one time you saw some youtube video from SeaOtter.

or come and have a blast on a tough course that will challenge your lungs and your technical skills. We have fast, flowy sections and a climb that is an absolute punch in the dick, followed by a sweet technical decent.

if some of these sound like inside jokes, I have to apologize, but Ive been staking a race course and drinking some golden hoppy goodness.

Im looking forward to seeing all of you at the party. come out, race your ass off and stay to heckle your friends. its a Wednesday, where else were you going?

Thanks to The Mountain Bike Depot, Everyone at Rogue Racing project and .....well thats probably it so far.

See you at Wilderness Loop Trail

whirled tour-fire roads, floyd and schwag

This past Tuesday was one of those days when work was akin to beating my head against the wall. I wasnt getting anywhere or making a dent and it felt really great when I stopped. thats when the call from Coach Tolson came.
feel like riding some fire roads today?
are there random vehicles on the Cherokee Trails???!?
you bet, tiger.

We loaded up the cross bikes, neither of which had seen any action in quite a while. Mine since Barry-Roubaix(details available @ http://www.xxcmag.com/) and Curtis' bike hadnt been out since cross. it was like running across an old friend, comfortable and instant fun. I sometimes forget how much I love to mix up the terrain.

A quick jaunt to indiana found us riding a mix of country roads and seriously climby fire roads. If we could have added some cobble stones we would have something epic. We may have to find some. Possibly a century filled with all kinds of riding. Pick your weapon BRX style? Stay tuned.

As you make your way around the loop that Curtis had plotted, you have a fast flowing country road course with 2 sections of sweet gravel goodness in the middle. Its a beautiful part of Southern Indiana. With the rains we've had the climbing was tough due to loose, slippery and steep conditions. How do you not love the constantly changing challenges? It was so good we rode it twice for a 40 mile ride that cleared my head, found my sanity and got me ready to head for the west coast.

I had a fast trip to nor cal that had me off the bike(stupid work!!) , but thanks to http://www.mapmyrun.com/, I found a great 6.5 mile loop to run around the Stanford campus. The smart folks there have beautiful surroundings with amazing architecture and even a rodin sculpture display.( i thought godzilla had destroyed all of rodins work but that could have been the charcoal series that mothra had on exhibit) Its impressive and hard to visit that part of California and not consider moving! This was furthered by an old friend who grabbed me from work and brought me to his casa for dinner, red wine, guitar playing, and the absolute best "stairway to freebird" ever played on a ukelele. I think Im going to pre-load with that before every cross country flight.


my real treat was waiting for me when I arrived home(no not the domestic goddes...I mean yes but not in this context).
What I found was the commision that the papist and i recieved from our work for xxc, you guessed it. t-shirts and stickers. How did they know that we are all sticker-whores? I feel so cheap and yet so fulfilled.




I do love the motto "sometimes fun hurts pretty fucking bad". It reminds me of the quote tallgirl dropped on me the other day, "There is nothing better than finishing something you were really stupid to start in the first place". It sounds so familiar, but maybe its just the getting called stupid part. No matter, it really seems to sum up where I've been lately. epic ridiculocities that just keep escalating.

That brings us to Floyd. Thank you for announcing that you cheated. Later we'll hear about the wetness of rain and the darkness of night. I didnt get his efforts to take Lance down with him until the email chain came out. It appears that sour grapes were the motivator. His greatest crime may just be thats hes so damn obvious. Who knows. I thought Adam Myerson's perspective was intriguing. His point was more that Floyd didnt want to be the scapegoat for something that they all do, rather than his outright innocence. Thats reasonable, but I dont have the experience to really get to a place where that makes sense. Adam's a pro racer, his input has a little(pronounced -"ton") more credibility than most of what you hear. read his thoughts here

see what you think.

i have 3 words.

short. track. racing.

this Wednesday come party and race, or the other way around. we're pretty easy, just give us 10 bucks first.

we'll be your scapegoats. just pay the man, first. before you ride.

XXC Magazine-lovin' the pain with issue #7

that's right, our good friend Jason Mahokey from xxc magazine has just released issue #7 filled with tales from the heart of darkness in endurance racing from all corners of the sport. why do I say "all corners"? because Mrs Mahokey's little boy knows the good stuff and has an article by the papist and myself loitering next to writing by real athletes(sorry man).

You can save a tree and save the wait by downloading the digital edition at xxc merch for only $2.25. no, seriously. $2.25. You people spill more than that in cheap beer!! There's only so many of this type of magazine around, written by the people at ground level competing in the sport.

So what do you get for your measley few bucks? Great photography and writing(besides ours) related to all kinds of endurance racing. Get yours now and post up about how you love it.

what were we saying about those nice gov't folks? watch out Hogan!!

Meeting Set On Cherokee Park Plan

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Get Thee to DeKalb, Illinois, for the Gravel Metric

Get Thee to DeKalb, Illinois, for the Gravel Metric

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Wildernes Madness and a Weekend Round Up

we had a week when things got pair shaped more quickly than usual. First, city decided to "test out" some new equipment on one of our local trails-Wilderness Loop. Naturally, everyone decided that it must have been done by the Short Track people. Because I have free time and heavy equipment right? It got bad enough that depot joe put up a disclaimer. see it at louisville short track.com

Then we thought they were bridle trails.....no, not for weddings dumbass.

Here's what really happened, according to a trusted source at metro parks.

The work that’s taking place has nothing to do with a bridle path… it’s actually a Public Works & Assets project to develop the multi-use Seneca Loop.

You can find more info on their project here: http://www.louisvilleky.gov/BikeLouisville/IWantTo/proposedbikelanes.htm

then, when the trails were finally dry enough to ride, we saw an entirely new feature! Cool! I cant get over it yet, but I am trying. Gotta get the front wheel up more.

I put the picture up , but lets discuss. HOW THE FUCK did that get there? How stoned was that driver to go that far(REALLY FAR) into the trail system. This had to be one rough ride. Luckily its from the K9 unit........I dont know why thats lucky, actually. Hope the dog's okay,

classic. thanks to Pope for the picture. I felt kind of bad not warning him about it, but I think he got a better experience seeing it without predisposition.

Also, our friends from the USGP(cue the horns) were hard at work. Bruce Fina and Joan Hanscome were working with the city to bring Bruce's vision to light. Rumour is that it'll be fast and theres supposed to be one "scary" feature. You think it's the truck from Cochran Hill loop? 2013 cant come soon enough. We are supposed to be able to use Sandman by this summer....somehow.

More to come on that. Register for the short track and celebrate after with us at BBC.

Oh, and our brotherman from the northern lands TPowers sent me an envelope full of super cool TSB swag. I was rocking the cap all weekend, maybe thats why people were avoiding me?????? Thanks my, man. Cool stuff.

short track course is getting dialed

with just a few short weeks until racing begins, we figured we probably out to figure out a racecourse. So many of the folks who have been helping w the project have gotten snowed under with life's usual rich pagaent(sorry, Im feeling 80's alt today) so it was going to be down to me and depot joe.

I went out to the course on Thursday before the group mountain bike ride w mr wine to get a kymba perspective, before my mtg w Joe. we rode the area and I took mental notes, and I got it into the gps to study upon later. there are many cool options, but I was stuck on one detail. as usual, at 4 am I figured out how to connect 2 sections of course safely and still make it fun. Now I had to get some informed opinions. Like homeschooling children, I needed this to be exposed to someone smarter than me.

@4pm on Friday, I met Joe, Fatty, little willy and father b and took them around what I had been stewing about. big grins were all around. this was finally looking workable. ideas were popping all around me, as Id found some experience to tap into, and gladly so.

fatty had us ride it backwards and we definitely have week 2 ready to go as well. sick, silly fun.

Id gotten a few concerned emails during the week from far more experienced folks than myself about what we had up our sleeves. you could easily make this a trip up and down serious hills until we pop a ventricle on someone....likely me. Concern was not unwarranted. Hell, Im no Bruce Fina. I dont have that level of vision. I was relying on small bits of knowledge and the help of those with more experience.

yes, theres a climb that'll have you calling us all kinds of motherf****s, but the descent after is divine. Spread folks out on the climb and let technical skill take over for the way down. I'm glad as hell that these are short races.

theres more tweaking to come, but come race day, we intend to show you a good time.

promise.

clif bar vs moon pie ultimate cage match

look at those charts again, my wife hates this by the way.

one of my friends left a box of moon pies at my house derby day. I cautiously circled the room, eyeing them like a shark eying his prey. tasty stuff but wayyy too fattening right? I should eat a clif bar before that ride. better for you right?

look at the numbers and its hard to say where the difference is. have we been fooled by the health and nutrition industry? on the face of it, the moonpie has fewer calories and a similar amount from fat. granted, the clif bar has a lot more vitamins and may be easier to keep in a jersey pocket.

whats the story? if you were waiting for me to drop the knowledge on you, im not totally sure what youre doing on this web site. Im working thru this one.....and Im having a moonpie while Im doing it. chocolate.

go ahead. hate me.

Im going to wait for dr john to post up on this...no, no. the OTHER dr john.

cat 5 worlds

Last night the papist drug me out for one of the village's shakiest street races- cat 5 worlds, or "sketchy fucker nationals" as I'm calling it. Beautiful evening as we rolled the park for a warm up. We picked up Barry(solo) and Ben w some of his twin spires team mates. Funny the difference in how you look "in season" vs "off season" Ben was the leanest I've seen him. Cyclist-manorexia kicked in and Immediately started thinking about calories in......glad that didn't stick!

We rolled out of the parking lot for the ride and the pace accordioned or "accellebraked" over and over. Every time it wound up, someone on the front slowed it down. Too many people for that. The aero bar rider in the paceline was the first to get dropped but from there the whole group stayed together.

I sat in, until near the end when I saw an opportunity to peel off w another rider and head for the house.

Its a good ride, but it always depends on the group......you know the expression "if you look around and don't see the sketchy rider, its probably you". But what if that's all you see. I stayed on Popes wheel and rode near folks I know.

All in all, it was good to get back in the frenetic environment. Good reminder of racing season that's coming all too soon.

Short Track Series Announcement

you know what they say in bike racing- "ocation, location, location"....okay they say that somewhere and we've been holding on to the spot for the short track series....we'll be racing at exotic Seneca Park!!!!!!!

We'll be using the land adjacent to Wilderness Loop. JC from the Depot and I walked it and theres as many options as you could ask for. Expect a different race course on the same property each week. That area allows for lung busting climbs, speedy descents, twisty turns and flats for out sprinting your friends. Geeked are we!!

Did we mention USAC poiints(pending)? seems like it'll all be there.

Count on the usual amenities and surprises as we work to make this a lot of fun with some great racing. Just a few weeks left until our start on May 26th.

As always, check the site www.louisvilleshorttrack.com or you can get your news here and dig for facts through scatalogical references and inside jokes. your choice.

southern culture on the skids-derby wknd just gets better

Derby wknd and it's all rolling. Even my customers couldnt figure out why I was at work on Friday, so takinig that as a major hint I boogied before I tricked myself into standing inside on a beautiful day.

I hit the trails w the papist on a 75 degree morning and they were dialed!! We played chase around Cherokee and then looked at options for the Short Track course. The series will rock. Joe and Zack are working their tucchases off but it'll all be worth it, for me at least. We rode hard and then hit the cars for lunch w the fams.

Then I got to make a repeat appearance w Kid A rockin his moms stumpy(somebodys got to ride it)
on the short loop that I ride with him. Nothing dangerous, but the big drops and fun stuff all get played.

Really, from here its just bragging. I got home from riding mtbs w my son(who cleared log stacks bigger than ever) to grill steaks w the domestic goddess/cowandvino wrangler. Not bad, no?

From there, it looked like the end.

You know the feeling. You're on the couch @ 9 o'clock with a few glasses of decent red and some cow in you and you haven't heard the plan about going out yet, how do you disconnect that ass-to-couch interface?

SCOTS my man.
Southern Culture On The Skids

Sooo many yrs down the road and just as good as the day we found them.

I toddled off to Headliners to met Doug, AriYHSMB and the Al(l)isons to hear the band. The domestic goddess/total enabler was feeling the allergies and wisely took to the bed.

You know its going to be a good night when the first people you run into at the bar are Little Ring Rick and Drew from On Your Left. Good people to start getting your drink going with, or with which to get your drink going. Sorry, Im working on the whole "grammar" thing. We talked booz, bikes and bands and I was ready for the tunes now. Makers and Diet? One in each hand my friend. It was going to be a long ride. I refuse to overuse the word "epic" here sop that I can overuse it in the next post.

They took the stage in a swirl of rockabilly goodness, and well. How do u not love a woman in a Marge Simpson wig that can handle that much bottom end? Right? Right! Ariyhsmb and the girls fled(wisely) before the first piece of fried chicken was even thrown. shame really.

When they got all the drunk chicks on stage for "bannana puddin" and threw the puddin? Genius. You know the first thing those girls did the next am? Google map their way home!!!

Doug and I closed it down and then made our way back to the 'burbs to get ready for the Derby Day Onslaught.