Charm City Velo Records Blog

All kinds of updates:

So I haven’t updated this thing in a while, but I will try to start back up:

Oh, if you haven’t been turned on to google reader yet, it’s a really good way to keep up with your daily web stuff and it’s particularly good for reading things that don’t get updated regularly. It’s worth a try, and maybe you’ll even put this on there.

So here is a recap of what’s been going on the bike front:

CCVCX Summer fun series never happpened.
I have been racing ‘cross, I made it out to a bunch of races this year

charm city, where I did OK.
cross vegas where I got crushed, but it was really cool just to get to race it.
ed sanders which was muddy
kelley acres which was a very interesting course
granogue which is still a favorite
wissahickon which was way better than i expected
dccx which is now the best event of the mabra series
rockburn which was my worst race so far and extremely hard but fun. I crashed before a sand pit and ran through it with my bike shouldered backwards.
coming up are tacchino, taneytown, and capital cross. training has been thin so poor results are expected, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy myself anyway.

there have been a few updates on my team’s blog so you can check their for more details. It’s really grown, there are between 10-15 members now depending on how you count.
I am in the process of getting all the paperwork submitted for a real-deal legit post-season cyclocross race in College Park on Feb 1st sponsored by Proteus Bicycles. It’s going to run backwards with the Men’s Open going first. The last race of the day is the real selling point. A Single Speed Only ‘cross Race. Tom Palermo is donating a fork to the winner! So keep that date clear!
The BMORE CX Stage Race WILL happen again in 2009. The date is up in the air because I want to make sure that I don’t conflict with another underground event.
If you are planning on buying a bike in the next week or so, you might want to wait because the shop where I work has a huge sale coming up and there will be some ridiculous deals.

Here is an update of things on the music front:

the comp. yes, it’s taken me forever. I’m about to get it mastered and it should be coming out. HELL is actually on Hiatus until January 09. I want to make sure that it comes back from Hiatus because if it doesn’t, that might change some decisions I make in terms of how many to press etc.
I’m in 2 bands now. one is playing a show this friday @ in baltimore. the other is playing at the black cat on the 25th. The 21st is a rockin’ show. the 25th is a screamin’ show.
Brace Face Mini PunX release. Apparently the band has restructured. So maybe it will get recorded, maybe it won’t.
Some bands that I have been really into lately: Pedals on our Pirate ships from Richmond, Cringe from Baltimore, The new Dillinger Four. your friend google will take you to their webpages I’m sure.

ccv cx summer fun series

so cross season is coming, but not soon enough. I had the idea of doing a summer cross series. I would like to do 4 races, but my summer calendar is almost packed to the gills already so I had to compromise a little. If you have done cross before, it will be like that, but MUCH less organized. If you have not raced cross before, it will be like riding your road bike, but less comfortable and more fun or riding your mountain bike but less technical and more fun.
Here’s the basic details:

Wed July 30. Riverdale MD. early evening. this is very close to my birthday. Feel free to chip in and buy me a Surly Karate Monkey or a Kona Kapu because everyone knows that I don’t have enough bicycles.
Sunday Aug 10. Columbia MD. EARLY morning. later that evening, or perhaps as a matinee show, I haven’t decided, there is a rock and roll show for a band called Pedals on Our Pirate Ships in Baltimore. One of my bands will probably be playing as well.
Sunday Aug 17 ccvcx finals in Baltimore MD. This will be another “stage race” event. There will be 3 stages. Each stage will have a recommended rehydration point.

A few more details.

ride whatever bike you want. cross bike is ideal. road bike with knobbies or rigid mountain bike after that. suspended mtb or regular road bike will still work . and as always single speed is strongly encouraged.
this is NOT a very serious event.
Don’t want to race? Come Spectate, take pictures, bring a cowbell, rehydrate with us.
to “register” you have to e-mail me directly at jim(AT)charmcityvelo.com you will receive all other important details that way. I would like to keep a running tab of who’s coming so I have a general idea. Even if you have my normal e-mail address that I check more often, e-mail me at that one so I can keep everything in one place.
flyer will follow.
at this point, this is VERY tentative.

monument to monument wrap up

5 of us left baltimore at 8:15 AM. There were many no-shows. they got caught be fear, reason, or the aftermath of the previous evening. 1 fixed gear, 4 road bikes.
met up with 2 members of the SSOFT in Elkridge. 2 more fixed gears.
met up with a random guy rolling on a really nice seven road bike in Laurel. He asked where we were riding to, and decided to join in.
took this picture @ a 7-11.
In College Park, we lost our first rider (pre-planned). Jen parted ways and hopped in my pre-stationed getaway car and drove back to Baltimore.
in DC we about doubled in size. all but one on fixed gears (2 more SSOFT members, they rep hard). I suspect that Steve will probably write something up about it.
DC riders were fresh and ready to go, some baltimore riders (especially me) had a little less vigor and vim.
lost our second rider to some non drive side crank problems in beltsville.
made it back to Baltimore later than expected. Some riders, and by “some riders” I actually mean just me, were totally fried and rolled in the last 20 miles at a snail’s pace.
Brewer’s Art French Fried made everything better.
DC folks hit the road at 7 PM hopefully not too much darkness on their way home.

CUE SHEET FOR SUNDAY’S RIDE FINISHED

Here’s the link.

http://charmcityvelo.com/monumentcuesheet

24 hours of Big Bear 2008

1st time in a 24 hour race. Anyone who has ridden with me knows that I am a mediocre mountain biker on my best day. The following thoughts occurred to me as I completed my first foray into 24 hour racing:if you don’t feel like reading, here’s a video of the lemans style start from my helmet cam. I wanted to record my first lap, but I forgot to delete old footage so I ran out of memory pretty quick.Friday evening:

Well Joe and Julie of Single Speed Outlaw say that it’s not so bad. Julie warned me about a tricky descent and how I need to just let go of the brakes and trust it. I met internet celebrity Joel Gwadz, and he said that it’s an easier course to race than to ride because you want to keep your momentum up on it. I guess that makes sense.

1st lap:

this is horrible. really really horrible. I never want to do this again. In fact, I don’t even know if I want to do another lap after this. This is ridiculous. That mud is entirely too deep, and there is way too much of it. This descent is terrifying, I’ve been getting better at descending but this steep loose rock business is for the birds. I don’t know what’s worse, steep descent or crazy long climb? How am I going to do this for another 6 miles? Oh, the course is 12.8 not 17? (I guess I should have double checked that one) That’s much more reasonable.

Rest 1

Apparently Zach’s not coming. We decide that the best plan of attack is to have a “Zach Lap” figured in. The rotation goes me, Kevin, Ben, Rest for 2 hours when imaginary Zach is riding, then back to me. This makes my lap times look really long, but they already looked long so it doesn’t really matter. Lowered my tires to 40 psi (I don’t know what they were at, but it was too high) and had Wes soften up my fork a bit. Hour long nap in the hammock made a big difference. As I waited for Ben to come in from his lap to tell him the plan, I ran into Dr. Stacy, an old rock climbing acquaintaince who has done this race a lot of times now. The only other amusing moment is Wes’s infatuation with the Granny, the race mascot (a young lady dressed up as a grandmother rolling around giving everyone temporary tattoos). We couldn’t tell if she found him charming on slightly disturbing.

Lap 2

Ran into Karen from Dirt Rag at the bike rack. I was going to stop to chat about the Aydin track on the Ride Like Hell Comp, but it turns out that she is on a 2 person team so I’ll save the chit chat for later. No time for chatting when you are a badass. I went out at 8 and it was going to go from day to night during my lap. Best case scenario, I would make it to the steep rocky descent before that happened. She came from out of nowhere and whipped past me at the first muddy section. I was by myself again for a while and then I hit the pine trees. This was clearly the best part of this course, smooth singletrack with really nice bermed turns. It was really just beautiful, then it opens up on this awesome ridge. I really didn’t appreciate it as much on the first lap, but the second time around
I realized how cool it was. Dr. Stacy flew past and then it was on to the descent. Didn’t make it in time to avoid using the lights, so it was a little dicey. I went down a few times but nothing dramatic. The last half was covered with toads. It was pretty surreal. Finished my lap at about 10:45.

Rest 2

If we all pulled 2 hour laps and accounted for a 2 hour “Ghost Lap” I wouldn’t be up again until 5. Ate a little food and then fell asleep. I set my alarm for 5. Promptly proceeded to sleep right through it. At 7, I woke up and realized that I had absolutely no desire to do my next lap. Kevin blew rear brake line and rode 9 miles on a rigid SS with only a front brake. Ben was still asleep. We came to the conclusion that we could quit right there and have had a fulfilling trip. Then I saw a few guys roll by that had just finished their laps and remembered that plenty of people were doing far much more than we were, so I couldn’t go out after 2 laps even if my 3rd would take a really long time.

Lap 3

I went out at 8 AM, 12 hours after I started my 2nd. I thought I would be cool, but the first mile suggested otherwise. I was picking bad lines and not rolling over things as smoothly as I should have been. I was pretty much toast and thought about taking the early exit option at mile 2. I fought the temptation and then really started to enjoy my lap. It was by no means a fast lap, but it was enjoyable. I stopped to eat an energy bar as I looked out over that ridge. My last name drop of the day would be when I pulled aside so Tinker Juarez could pass me. I guess I looked pretty beat because he told me to “keep it up, dude”. Then, just to say I did it, I tried to stay on his wheel for as long as I could. That only lasted about 100 yards, but it gave me something to focus on for a bit. Nevermind that he’s 10 years older and was on his 14th lap. If anyone didn’t know who Tinker Juarez was, the announcer should have cleared that up by saying “Tinker Juarez is a 1996 Olympian and veteran racer. Anything you can do on a bike, he has done. Except maybe eating one”. I would now like to see Tinker eat a bike, just to fill out his resume.
funny moment, trying to clear a logpile, I lifted my rear wheel a bit too much and started to go over the bars, but I didn’t. Instead I unintentionally rode a nose wheelie for about 5 feet. It was pretty cool, it would be way cooler if I did it on purpose or could ever do it again.
My finish should have been triumphant, Kevin was going to go after me if he could get an Ellsworth as a loaner. I rolled up the ramp as fast as I could, and then didn’t quite turn enough and went straight into the rail. I knocked my bars crooked but didn’t realize it, then as I started to ride again (with my bars straight but wheel crooked) I went right into the rail again. I figured everything out and then ended up running down the ramp. hardly memorable, but better than crashing into the side 3 or 4 more times.

Kevin’s lap was crazy fast, full suspension 29′ers with gears are a bit faster and smoother than rigid single speeds with front brakes only. At the end, I realized it was the hardest +/- 39 miles I had ever ridden. I suspect I will end up riding them again next year.

Route for Monument to Monument ride.

things are coming together nicely. I’m getting a lot of “probably” responses and a lot of “I’m totally doing this” responses. Hopefully, those will turn out to be true. But honestly, everyone will probably have a good time regardless.

If you’re interested in coming out for this, please drop me a line at jim (at) charmcityvelo.com . it will give me a general idea of how many cue sheets to print out.

If you would like to help, the best thing you can do is tell people about it. print out a flyer, hang it in a bike shop, stick it in the spokes of a parked bike, etc. I’m pretty swamped with work, but that should die down soon and I will be able to put some more time into getting the word out.

Here’s the tentative route from Baltimore. If you’re going to do the ride, please take a second to check it out, maybe trace it with a google map. I’m sure people will be more than happy to help if anyone has a mechanical or gets lost, but since this is an unsupported ride, it’s totally worth it to review the route beforehand. Here is a preview of the route, I will make sure that there are pretty cue sheets and all that business.

click for the route.

cathedral street to federal downtown, pick up the gwynns falls trail
take the gwynns falls trail to annapolis road.
annapolis road to nursery road.
nursery road to river road
river to furnace to furnace again (I don’t understand the signage but it’s obvious)
furnace to race
race to hanover for a very short distance and back to race
R on Park Circle
L on Coca Cola
L on Dorsey
R on Faulkner (which turns back into race)
R on Jessup (175)
L on Brock Bridge Road
R on Guilford (there is a 7-11 here for people who need food)
L on Dorsey Run which goes all crazy, but eventually…
L on Brock Bridge again
Cross Laurel Road and Brockbridge turns to Montpelier
L on Cedarbrook
L on Muirkir and an almost immediate R on Odell
L on Edmonston
R on Sunnyside
L on Rhode Island
Probably stop at Proteus for water and snacks
Get on College Park Trolley Trail where Rhode Island crosses Greenbelt Road. this turns back into a road and then…
back onto the paintbranch trail to lake artemesia
go around lake artemesia and get on the (I think it’s the) Northeast Branch Trail
Get off the trail at Charles L Armentrout Drive and take that to Rhode Island.
Rhode Island to 14th
14th to Constitution to the monument

then backwards

Monument to Monument June 22nd

More details will follow, but here is the general idea:

There will be a pretty elaborate cue sheet available (probably on bikely). In the end, it will end up working out to be a century or something close.

oh, and anyone who drops me a line to let me know that they’re in for it will get a monument to monument pin (like the 1″ punk rock pins but with bikes not some crusty band)

darkside alleycat

was a great time. still learning the best way to set up the helmet cam. I’ll be out of town for a few days, so I won’t get a chance to do a real edit, here’s a quick thing I threw together, it’s not very exciting and everything is sped up double time. when I get back, I will try to put together something a little better. It’s pretty anti-climactic and obviously unfinished, but I realized the more time I spent on it, the more likely I would be to try and do the whole thing today. SInce I have things to do, this is what you get:
video evidence

music and bikes in the winter.

I’ve been trying to ride outside for as much of the winter as I can, but spinning classes have had most of my hard workouts indoors. On the indoor trainer, I usually watch cyclofile and transition 2. To switch it up, I popped a music DVD in while I hopped on the old trainer and it was a burner of a workout.

It’s a shame, because I think this band is bound for obscurity in a few years. If you’ve seen them, you know that they were just insane. If you don’t know anything about this band, do yourself a favor and pick up GOAT or LIAR.

Baltimore CX Stage “Race” 1.0

Wasn’t sure how many people were going to show up for this. If everyone that said they were coming actually posted, there would have been between 10-20. In the end there ended up being 5, which was much more manageable for a first shot at this.

Here;s a pic from the finish:

The Riders (in the order that they showed up) and their bikes.

Kate - mad skills on a surly karate monkey.
Mike - cx on a fixed gear pista with slick tires…tuff! (absent from the pic, he bailed partway through)
Josh - can do logpiles on a Felt F1-X. skills.
Chris - is fast. period. also on an F1-X.
Daren - eye of the tiger on a frankensteined schwinn letour. this bike rules.
Jill and Yo were in attendance, but decided not to race after doing hard labor the day before.

Stage 1: Patterson Park

Probably the hardest stage because of the sustained climb at the start. After the preview, I rode the first lap with everyone. I could write up a stage description, but much easier is posting a link to the video.

Results: Chris, Daren, Mike, Kate, Josh

Stage 2: Druid Hill Park

We rode out to Druid Hill for Stage 2. This was an abbreviated version of the charm city cross route (which is an excellent course involving sand and a “natural” dismount). Mike bailed for this round. Chris took it again with Daren behind, then josh and kate. On the way to Stage 2.5 (Dizzy Issie’s), We rode onto a construction site where josh tried to ride up a giant mudpile and kate ran up and rode down.

Stage 3: Riverside Park

With some food and additional carbs in our stomachs, we rode downhill all the way to riverside park. This was probably the most exciting course of the day. Short course that ventured onto a baseball field with 3″ deep mud and ended with an uphill paved sprint. Chris took it by inches with Daren in 2nd. Josh took 3rd and Kate 4th but was throwing hard elbows on her way to the finish. Stage 3.5 was complicated because Porter’s was closed for vacation, fallback #1 was thirsty dog and they were closed until 4PM, fallback #3 was packed full of college basketball fans so we ended up at Ropewalk. On the way to Stage 3.5 everyone was feeling a little punch and josh ended up riding side saddle and kate was doing superman tricks.

Stage 4: Federal Hill Hell

Basically, this was a circle with a big downhill and a big uphill. And the big uphill was hard. So hard that Kate saw fit to give me the finger. Chris and Daren sprinted up the hill on foot for another photo finish, with Chris ahead by a spoke’s width. Josh beat Kate out for 3rd.

Stage 5: Rash field

One of the keys to a cool cross course is a variety of surfaces, and rash field provided us with some nice fine gravel and a long stretch of sand with some pavement giving respite in the middle. The sand pit was not so popular and Josh made some disparaging remarks about my mother. When it came down to the end, Chris managed to gap Daren who came FLYING through the sand on foot. Kate followed and Josh rolled in DFL.

THe Final REsults:

Although it was unintentional, I managed to capture another ‘cross tradition (at least locally): some sort of controversy in the results. And this is coming from someone who got lapped at a race but got called to the podium for finishing 3rd. I decided last night that there would be some bonus points and handicapping. Here were the bonuses:

+5 points for riding singlespeed
+6 points for riding fixed
+3 points for anyone who has never raced cross before

I think I might have overweighted some of these things, but it’s not like anyone’s mad so maybe it’s not like a real ‘cross race. Using that points breakdown plus the points from the stages The final results go like this:

Daren 31 points (with an 8 pt. bonus)
Chris 26 points (no bonus)
Kate 22 points (8 point bonus)
Josh (no bonus)

Hopefully everyone had a blast. There was going to be a prize but I couldn’t get my shit together. THen after stage one, Jill decided that Proteus Bicycles would donate a super cool Louis Garneau Backpack to the winner! congrats Daren!