Rolling out of Montpelier, the Muddy Onion offers two route options, 21 and 39 miles, the latter with about 3500 ft of climbing. I chose the 39'er, as did Jason G and Glen G, and in total there were about 697 other riders lined up with us on Saturday morning.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
Muddy Onion 2022
Secret Squirrel MTB Race
Racer-X:
Time to Pony Up
Many many moons ago a fellow by the name of David Alden-St. Pierre reached out to me and asked if I had wanted to be a part of Racer-X. It was described to me as "bikes, bikers, biking PLUS sarcasm, beer, and tomfoolery." Naturally, I was all in.
Sunday, May 1, 2022
Farm 2 Fork Ride or Run
Monday, December 13, 2021
Cornucopia of Awesome: A Southwestern Utah Sequel
Cornucopia of Awesome:
The Southwestern Utah Sequel
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Leadville Trail 100
Ok, so this is only a few months late...we had a baby and stuff!
In December of 2019 I entered the Leadville 100 lottery on a whim…and got in. Little did I know, that was going to be the start of over a year and a half of training, race postponements, more training, pandemics, expecting our first child, moving and a whole bunch of other stuff…
After getting the notification that I ‘won’ the lottery in January 2020 I started training. I’d never done a ride or race quite like what Leadville is all about. My plan was to do the Wilmington Whiteface (Lake Placid, NY) race which is a qualifier for Leadville. Since I was already in the race, a good performance would have moved me up in the starting grid and been some good experience for a race of that type. By all accounts, Whiteface is the qualifier that is most like the Leadville course. Needless to say pandemic happened and it got cancelled. I was still hopeful that Leadville was going to happen but not surprisingly, it too was cancelled in 2020 (along with pretty much every other amateur bike race in the world). I was able to defer into the 2020 race at the cost of a donation to one of the charities that the race supports. 2021 rolls around and my plan is the same: Tons of training and Whiteface to get my starting position moved up. Well, Whiteface again got cancelled (well moved to the fall) and Julia and I had some ‘life events’ i.e. expecting a child and moving. Needless to say I had a busy spring and summer…
Friday, October 22, 2021
2n Glenn and the First CX Race
- Human: 57 year old male, mostly mountain biker, 5”6’ 150-ish pounds
- The bike: Fuji Gran Fondo endurance/comfort road bike, disc brakes, Shimano 105
- The race: Boss Cross, Westford, MA
- The enabler/coach: Ashely (Red) Hill
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Clearance, Clarence?? |
I was, of course, in the Men’s Cat 5 heat, I felt special at the start area because mine was the last name called! In the back row naturally.
The start signal goes off, and we are off, I’m trying to keep in contact with the second group, mostly failing, until we got to the corral thing, I mashed it thru that to catch them, almost ran into another guy, slammed the brakes, now I am in the wrong gear, and the pack motors off into the distance.
Most of the race I am kind of alone one the course, keeping ahead of at least one guy, trying to get better at my dismounts, my remounts remained abysmal and slow! That jumping and landing on your seat looks possible, feels impossible! At some point in my second lap, a guy comes out of the pits and pulls in behind me, I pass another guy who stopped on the course, no idea why. So, now I am trying to stay ahead of these two, racing right? Cross the finish line at the end of my second lap and the bell guy looks me in the eye and rings the bell with vigor! Last lap, can I stay ahead of these two guys? Well, the answer is no, on the long start straight, down in the drops, pedaling as hard as I can, those two breeze by me, racing right? Well, I finish my last lap and “blast” past the finish line in the drops, going fast-ish.
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The instigator |
Whew, I finished, no crashes, did not ruin anyone else’s race, third from last!! I will do this again, I might not ever be “good”, but it is super fun on two wheels!
Beverly GP Cyclocross
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You can tell by the fact that you can't see any riders behind me how far out front I am... Thanks Jen Carter for the pic! |
With the race happening in my proverbial back yard, I had to do it, lack of training or semblance of fitness be damned. In fact, the entirety of my "training" for the race consisted of the one-lap pre-ride I did shortly before the start.
If you want to skip past my ramblings and see some pics of my teammate/work colleague/bro, scroll below, but if you want to subject yourself to a tiresome description of the course, read on.
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Arizona--2021
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
RacerX Bike Maintenance Tutorial Edition 1: Bike Painting!!
The backstory: My Trek Fuel EX was my first mountain bike, which I got about 4 years ago, and since it was my first MTB, it has been crashed a bunch and the paint of the rear triangle has definitely seen better days. For some reason, my old MTB/CX shoes allowed a ton of float and my heels could rub on the seat and chain stays and over time a ton of paint had come off, to the point it was down to bare metal in some spots.
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Arizona Adventures
It wasn’t.
Friday, February 28, 2020
How the West was Won
Friday, January 24, 2020
Saturday, November 23, 2019
The Goose and the Hoodoo......A tale of two epic rides
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Fun bike stuff over the last 5 months
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Tour de Heifer
Those three factors came together on the weekend of June 8th & 9th as Jean and I, along with the illustrious Liz & Dan, brought our travel trailers to Brattleboro, Vermont, for the Tour de Heifer.
Brattleboro is one of my favorite towns, with a cool downtown and an amazing farmer's market, books stores, antique stores, coffee shops, and restaurants (like the Whetstone Brewery with great beers and awesome outdoor seating). We were there last year for the West Hill Grinder and had been looking forward to a return--the Tour de Heifer was the perfect reason.
Sunday, May 12, 2019
Waterbury Area Trails Alliance Gravel Grinder 2019
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Muddy Onion 2019
Starting and finishing in beautiful Montpelier, and hosted by Onion River Outdoors, the Muddy Onion has been a staple on my spring ride calendar for a few years now.
Be sure to also check back to past Muddy Onions: 2018 2017 2016
We've been blessed with generally great weather for previous years, but the forecast leading up to this year's event included lots of rain. Between the late snow melt and the precipitation, some of the pre-event course pics looked like it would indeed be a muddy onion.
The lovely wife and I headed up Friday, grabbed our ride numbers, had some great food and chillaxed at the Inn at Montpelier. As if obsessively checking the weather app... okay, multiple weather apps, would alter the predictions, I just about wore out the "refresh" part of my screen.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Southwestern Sojourn
I felt a pull towards somewhere exceptional, somewhere different, somewhere that has long been on the list.
Sedona has long been known for its beautiful landscapes and its culture. Of course, there are the Vortexes. Ever since my Reiki Master training back in 2012 I have been advised to seek out the power of the vortex. Promised a life-changing experience, I finally heeded the call. It was time to ride the enchanted trails of Sedona Arizona.
I convinced my co-worker Jeff aka JZ, to tag along. Eventually, his partner in crime Reggie was added to the roster. The Three Amigos took flight landing in Phoenix around 10:30 am. With the yearning for singletrack and an empty stomach, we hit up a co-workers family restaurant for some authentic Mexican. It was here where I discovered Horchata...my world will never be the same.