KENDA Tires

This past season i have done over 20 mountain bike races, and countless rides on Kenda tires. After all of that, I have come to the conclusion that they are the best. I raced in so much mud you couldn't tell what kind of bike you are riding, and also in such dry dusty conditions you created a cloud of smoke every time you stopped. From mud to dust, Kenda tires rock.

First off, lets talk about the Kenda Karma. When people say mud tire all kinds of things get tossed around, but really only one should be. The Karma. It had the best mud shedding power i have ever seen. It seemed like you only had to get one revolution of the wheel and the mud was gone. In Granogue, where entire fields were dropping, i had more difficulty clipping into my pedals then i did cleaning my tires.

Now lets discuss the Small Block 8. If you are looking for low rolling resistance, exceptional cornering capabilities, and all around speed the Small Block 8 is the perfect tire for you. It seemed like i could lay the bike over as far as i wanted and it held. I could run insanely low pressure without a problem. This is the tire of choice for any condition, except mud.

I did a few short track races this past season. All on the Kenda Kwicker. It has excellent cornering knobs, perfect for railing the gradual turns. Yet not to much rubber to feel resistance on the straights. I also ran the Kenda Kwicker in the cross tire. Fantastic! I couldn't find a thing the matter with them.

All in all, Kenda tires rule

Gunnar

Crankskins

After a season using crankskins I'm a huge fan. You can use them to protect your new crankset or make that old crankset look a little better. They have all kinds of patterns and colors, from clear to rasta. I decided to put on a pair of the clear ones so I could still show off my shiny cranks. This past season I have been all over the country on all kinds of terrain and by the end of the season I couldn't believe my eyes when I peeled them off. Not only did my cranks not have any scratches they looked as if they just came out of the box! They didn't stop at crankskins either! They have rim skins, fork skins and all kinds of frame protection too. Check em out!!

http://crankskins.com/

Caffeine Attack!

Hey Folks,

I'm very proud to announce the arrival of new sponsor, 53x11 Coffee, to our team! I am very excited about this new sponsorship as it embodies the kind of company we strive and desire to support through our efforts. 53x11 is a fair trade company, all organic, and is passionate about the same thing we are, CYCLING! Look for more on their products in the future!

Zach Adams
Team Director

One season later on the Caffeine 29er

So after a season of racing on this fine machine I figured I would share my thoughts on it, albeit briefly.

The Frame: Aluminum. Pretty much sums it up. Given Aluminum's known history of yielding a harsh ride, and my limited experience with Al hardtails, I would say this bike rides pretty darn smoothly. Smooth enough to get me through some long, tough races this year without to much pain. It's not quite as smooth as my steel HT, but C'dale sure does know how to make an Al bike. Welds are sanded and painted, which I just think looks damn sexy. I have had no cracks, so I deem this frame "Michaux Approved for riding just about anywhere." Oh, and they are light. I got mine built up to 22.5 lbs with endurance race-ready parts.

The Geometry: My experience with 29ers is pretty limited, but I do have to say that the way the 29er geometry puts you more inside your bike than on top of it like my previous bike (a 26er full suspension race bike), suits my riding style, and dare I say East Coast riding in general, better. Cannondale really nailed their geometry here though; the bike feels just as fast at Fair Hill (a tight and twisty speed-fest where I pulled a 3rd place) as it does in Michaux (rocky and gnarly where I pulled a 4th). That is just about the best thing I can say about this bike.

The Fork (or is it a knife?): The Lefty is truly an interesting thing. It's stiff, it tracks well. It goes where you want it to. It is smooth as hell. The DLR is a no-brains, no fuss XC race fork. And on top of that, it looks damn sexy and garners lots of compliments from riders and non-riders alike. Oh and did I mention that it's a 29er fork that weighs 2.60 lbs? That about seals the deal...

So all in all I'm super happy with this bike. Next year, though a full suspension is in my future, and I think it will be a Scalpel (maybe 69er style?). Full suspension bikes seem the ticket for the crazy Endurance racing I like to do. The Caffeine 29er will come out for short races, as well as the smoother endurance events where rolling and light weight are paramount.

-Jake

The mountain bike season finale, Bear Creek!

This was the MASS series finale, and the end of the mountain bike season for most of the guys. The fast forward developmental team was out in full force, with almost everyone in attendance.

This year the sport race started right after the expert race at 10:30 in attempt to speed up the results that followed.  Everyone was getting ready and warming up.  This was is the last mountain bike race of the year and everyone wanted to end on a high note.  

My race started off with a killer pace down the fire road.  Then their was a mad rush to be into the single track first, i managed to get to the front and had open trail.  I knew that part of the course very well, due to the old short track races that were held their.  I felt like i was riding good, cleaning everything, and keeping it smooth.  I made an attack at the rocky climb that turned right onto the old rail road tracks.  I was flying down the rail road tracks and feeling good.  I held the lead till the technical climb at the very at very end of the lap.  Cameron passed me and i couldn't respond.  Then Hal caught up with me and we road together till about the same spot on the third lap where he then pulled away.  Todd caught up to me at the top of the climb before you head into the single track.  I managed to keep him close enough that when he had to get off his bike to fix something i made up time and passed him back.  I then road to the finish where i got third in the race and third in the series.

Their was a tight battle going on between Jacob and Kyle going into the race.  Kyle took 2nd in the race with Jacob right on his heels for third.  However Kyle's impressive finish wasn't able to take down Jacob's insane consistency for the series,  Jacob climbed onto the second tier of the podium for the second year in  a row.  Kyle came in third for the series not far off Jacob and also went onto the podium for the second year in a row.

Zach had another sweet finish, battling his way to a top 15 finish in the pro/elite field, as well as in the series.  Forrest doing some class changing in the year could have been on the podium in the sport junior field but decided to bump up to race expert.  Where in only his second race he cranked out a 7th place finish!

Possibly the best part of the day was when the announcer called up the team for our third place overall finish in the team standings.  For a first year team to be collecting those kinds of points is awesome! It just shows the overall consistency the team had, to perform as a whole, incredibly on a regular basis. 

the end

Seven Springs 24 hr Champion Challenge

7 Springs is a race I have been thinking about all year. It has been lurking in the back of my mind whenever I felt my worst during a 4,6,9 hr or 50 mile race. I kept wondering, if I can't keep this up for this many hours, how can I keep it up for 24 hrs? Well I did, and I still have no idea how.

The run was the worst part. I hate running. A lot. The most running I like is whatever happens during a cross race. That is ok running. It has a purpose. The only purpose of the Le Mans start in a 24hr race is to jack your heart rate up and give a good show for the crowds. The only thing worse would be if we swam across the lake instead of running around it. I rode the first few laps and settled into a rhythm. It was slow. For some reason I couldn't motivate my self out of the middle of zone 2. I guess that was good in hind sight, because it kept me from loading my legs with crap.

So I rode on. The course, by the way, was awesome. It opened with a ripping singletrack descent, fast and flowy with rocks. It was basically perfect for me. So I continued ripped off the first lap in my fastest time, a 1:33. About 2/3 of the way through the lap guess what happenned? My fork had no travel any more. Yeah. I rode cautiously, and traded for my fully steel, fully rigid singlespeed in the pits. Mmmmmm funness. I had visions of riding the rest of the race out on my SS because my fork was a no go. I did get my main rig back the next time through transition, and I rode out the lap with decreasing amounts of fork. When I came through the pits the next time I was given Don's bike (thanks a lot Don). I did the next lap on that while my bike was being fixed. His not necessarily new bike was very nice.

A lap or so later I was given back my bike, but fixed. The mechanic from the Pro Bikes team across the way had diagnosed the problem, pulled the required part off a spare Lefty he had, and installed it on mine. Apparently there was no bottom seal on the air spring. Boo.

So on I rode. Nothing really happenned until about 3:00AM. I was starting to spiral downhill, but pressed on for another lap anyway. It was slow going, with lots of walking. Around 4:30 I completly lost it and decided that the only way I would make it back to the pit in one piece was to walk. So I walked for about an hour, got back to the pits and slept for an hour. After much pressuring from Ms. Geology I got back on my bike and continued on with Don trailing me. It was nice to have someone riding with me. It really kept me going. Thanks Don.

At the end of the lap I found out I was in 3rd place, and that 2nd wasn't too far ahead. More laps. Two laps later the guy I thought was ahead of me came walking up a short steep climb behindme. I took off hard, with Don following me. I came through the pit, picked up the National Forrest and went out on my last leg of my last lap. We ripped though the 3 miles like butter, arriving to the finish after 24 hrs 7 min to take 2nd place with 11 laps. Stoked.

I could barely walk, I could barely sit, but man was I happy. Big props go to my parents and Ms. Geology, who stayed up all night to keep me fed. Thanks to the Chas at Pro Bikes for the mechanical support, and Matt, Don, Zach, and Megan/Jen for the encouragement. Also thanks to everyone who gave me 24hr racing advice: Brandon and his parents, Vegan Rob, Chris Scott, and anyone else out there. Especially to Vegan Rob for lending me that Lupine Tesla that led me through the night. Also thanks to Ergon USA, Crank Brothers, and Cannondale for making great products, to Squirt Lube for allowing me to lube my chain only once in 24 hrs, and Hammer Nutrition for keeping me fueled and hydrated. More pictures later.

French Creek Marathon

Last weekend marked the newly rescheduled On the Rocks @ French Creek races sponsered by the good folks at Bean's Bikes. This race, which was supposed to happen in May but was rescheduled due to heavy rain, was one of my key races in my quest to win the MASS Endurance Series. I went into it not having ridden a long race since before we left for Colorado so I was a tad bit nervous. How would my fitness be since all I've been doing is XC racing for the last month and a half? I was slightly consolled by the fact that French Creek trails are the trails I cut my teeth on, as it were. They are about 40 min from my home. So the race started at 8 AM...

Lap 1

I went near the front of the group at the beginning of the lap. On the climb a larger group caught and passed me. One descent and one climb later I was bombing down the blue trail, enjoying every minute of it's nicely rolling waterbars that we built up four or five years ago. There was a loud pop in the area of my back wheel. Not a tire, I saw, but my wheel felt funny under me. At the bottom of Blue, I stopped on the road to find a broken spoke. Not even a lap into the race and a broken spoke. I finished the lap off, after spending about 15 min trying to get my wheel straighter and pulling the spoke out (the spoke nipple split in two).

Lap 2

I rode very conservatively this lap, because I needed to at least finish this race. I couldn't risk further messing up my wheel and not being able to ride anymore.

Lap 3

When I rolled into the pit at the beginning of the lap, I found that my parents had done some work for me (yay parents) and I had the offer of a wheel for the lap. I gratefully accepted a wheel from Tom (my friend and pit neighbor), and preceeded to rip the descents on the solid set of Chris King/ Arch wheels I was using. They were nice. Thanks Tom.

Lap 4

Since Tom had dropped out, I swapped his wheel for Don's, which was essentially the same as mine. On a side note, congrats to Don for winning the Sport Master I race by 5 some minutes. I began to catch people who had passed when I was fixing my wheel in the first lap.

Lap 5

At 1:50PM (the race ended at 2:00PM) I rolled out for a 5th and final lap. I was glad that it was my last, as my forearms and shoulders were beginning to hurt from the relentless rocks of French Creek. One lap later I found that I had worked my was up into 4th place overall.

At awards, I found that I had missed out on prize money by one spot (top 3 got paid). Oh well. the important thing was that I jumped from 4th to 2nd in the MASS Enduranc

e standings. Although I will still be a few hundred points behind the leader this gives me a good chance of at least getting on the podium. A win will take two wins at my next races, the Rattling Creek 50 (Which everyone should come too because it is going to be awesome and half the proceeds go to our team! Support Junior Racing!!!) and the 24hr Champion Challenge at 7 Springs. I am racing solo for that. Wish me luck.

So all in all it was a good weekend. Jacob picked up another win in the Sport Jr. field, with Kyle slotting in a solid 3rd after a broken pedal. That's all for now, but remember:

Come to the Rattling Creek 50 this weekend! Pre-reg ends at midnight tonight and is $30 cheaper than day of!

Some pictures now:

Makeshift Team Banner

Refueling at the pit...

... and off I go.

-All photos courtesy of Don

-Jake