5.28.2006

05.28.06 - weekend update

hey gang - just getting caught up with house and life stuff this past week.

stopped out at the shop on saturday - bikes are getting some TLC from dan the man this week before my next race adventure. hmmm... which race will it be?

hmmm.... i'll keep it exciting and NOT tell you... (insert evil laugh here...)

at the shop, they got some new stuff in..

they are now a ARGON18 dealer, so if you like carbon, this stuff looks pretty sweet. mostly road/tri/time trail bikes, they also have a pretty nice looking cross bike.

and, they also got a full range of the BMC frames - mountain, road, you name it. did get a chance to hold up their high end full carbon frame/fork and it got my "silly light" seal of approval, odd top tube shape and all (looks like a tube in the shape of the letter "T"..)

and... there is also some stuff going on with asylum, though things are still in the very rough stages at this point. details won't be out until later this year.

and in ernesto bike news, i just picked up a SOMA 29er to replace my surly as my winter/bad weather bike. the surly is OK, but i find that the bottom bracket is too flexy. when in a big gear, i can get it to jump off the big ring under a lot of force. not a big deal when seated (other then being really annoying), but when standing - i swear, i have nearly died about a dozen times on that bike. i think the frame would be fine as a single speed, but as a geared bike... i would watch it.

so, i have a surly fixed rear wheel built up. i may keep the surly and set it up as a fixed 29er.. or i may sell it...

oh - and the cool thing about the SOMA - i got one of their first runs on the 29er frame. comes in black with no canti/v-brake mounts - which the new ones have them installed. very clean looking.

and in sponsorship news...

yes, believe it or not, i in the works for sponsors for next year, and possibly.... the rest of this year. talked to the rep just saturday, stayed tuned for updates. not saying a word on the sponsor names as i am a firm believer in jinkxing.

that's it - gotta roll.

gonna' love tomorrow - no work! hells ya!

sologoat out.

5.24.2006

05.24.06 - Granny Gear 24 Hours of Conyers write up

5.20.06

8am
Wake up and grab breakfast at the local IHOP. Before leaving the hotel, I make sure to slam the door extra hard for an early morning wake up call for our hotel neighbors. Apparently, screaming out the door to each other and slamming the hotel room door randomly over the course of a half hour period is appropriate behavior at midnight.

9am
Arrive back at hotel. Pit crew packs up and heads over to the venue. Fearing the heat, I decide to stay out of it as long as I can as to not dehydrate.

11am
Arrive at the venue and sign in. 2 other men have signed up for the race, bringing the total up to 7.

12am
Race starts. The run is long enough to stretch things out. Heather Mosley actually finishes the run in front of me, but by the time we get into the woods, I am leading the pack which is stretched out single file behind me.

12:42am
The heat is blazing, and so is the speed as we click off the first lap. I am in hot pursuit of a rider #20 who is 1 minute ahead of me. Not knowing who he is, I try to chase him down. (Incidentally, his 42 minute and my 43 minute laps are the fastest laps of the day).

1pm
I have caught #20 on the second loop of the second lap on the very first climb. The climb is rough over a huge rocky mountainside and the heat is radiating off it, making it seem hotter then it actually is.

#20 is having a difficult time – he is riding a hard tail and I quickly drop him, keeping the same fast pace we have been setting.

1:26pm (approximate)
I just ticked off our second lap. The temperature is rising. I later find out that it hit an approximate high of 94 degrees.

3pm
#20 has now dropped back due to some issues with a loose cleat and Eddie O is roughly 2 minutes down on me. I can see him in some sections. (Also note, apparently Eddie had a flat on the very first lap or else he would have more then likely been right with me for the opening laps).

6pm
Finally, the temperature is getting cooler. I pick up the pace, and slowly my lead grows.

Midnight
Towards the end of one of my night laps with about a mile to go on the lap, I catch Eddie and we ride together for awhile. This is actually the first extended conversation with him I have ever had. We talk briefly about the Wobblenaught fit system.

We would ride in together to the lap tent, I refuel quickly and head out.

3am
Temperatures have cooled due to the night so I pick up the pace, and tick off three 50 minute’ish laps in a row. I was sometimes riding faster laps during the night then I was during the day.

5am’ish
I have now lapped the entire field at least twice by this time. I stop for my last battery exchange and some tastey Campbell’s chicken soup.

9am
I ride in for what I am thinking is my next to last lap, but it ends up being my last. Eddie is waiting for me in the pits, now making me 3 laps up on him. Third place is three laps down on Eddie. All we have to do is ride one more lap as the word from the third place rider is that he is content with his placing.

We ride together for the last lap, logging about a one hour lap. We talked a lot about the race season, the Conyers course in general, the ultra series, Wobblenaught, etc.

We both log out at the end of the lap which was around 10AM – we are done for the day.

Interesting point of the day – I was actually leading the race OVERALL (for both teams and solo’s) until about 8AM Sunday morning, and would of finished 2nd OVERALL for the race had I logged two more one hour laps.

Thanks
For all my sponsors (Asylum Cycles, Speedgoat.com, Schwalbe Tires, Hammer Gel, Tifosi Optics, Light & Motion, Wobblenaught, Crank Brothers), my pit crew (Dan the Man, Ernesto Sr, and Drew), and for all those fans who gave a shout out at the race.

05.24.06 - more race pics from conyers



the sologoat pit tent. stacked with extra clothing, food, ice, lights, etc.



start of the race. jumped on the bike cyclocross style for maximum speed and kewlness points.



end of the race. riding in with eddie o.



thumbs up to my pit crew of dan the man (wrenching), dad (food and general trouble maker) and drew (techno wizzard/weather man/everything else). job well done - couldn't of done it without them.



the iron crank award was given to the first ever solo man john stampsted. he pretty much invented the event. this is a replica of the original which lists every single granny gear 24 hour solo men winner.



this shows one side of the trophy - for event winners in 2004. tinker, ernesto and nat. pretty awesome company to have, indeed.



the podium at the 24 hours of conyers.



ernesto and the iron crank.

photo credit goes out to dad.

gotta run - race update later tonight....

sologoat out.

5.23.2006

05.23.06 - pics from georgia - set 01

these pics are coming at you from sologoat fan thomas n.

these were all taken on the first lap of the race.



i believe this was taken right before the first section of singletrack.



this picture was taken on the first loop, right behind my pit tent area.



this one was taken in the same spot.

thanks thomas for sending the pics - if anybody else has others, please forward them to me and i'll post them as soon as i can.

stayed tuned - more race pics from eddie o, ernesto sr and sologoat himself.... in addition to the full race recap.

and, you may want to check out the wobblenaught site... word travels fast...

gots to run-
sologoat out

5.21.2006

05.21.06 - victory at conyers

quick update - longer post with pics to come tuesday sometime.

field of 7 solo's started in 94'ish degrees. fast pace at the start, had to back it down for fear that i would not finish if i kept the opening lap pace. heat was getting to me.

eddie o was close behind for the first 12 hours and i lapped him around midnight.

third place ended up 6 laps behind me by the race end.

eddie came in second, 3 laps behind. we ended up riding most of the last lap together.

that's it - gotta run. still completely wired from the past 24 hours. hands are a little sore, my big toes are a little numb.

for all those who said hi to me during the event - thanks for the shout outs.

pics/updates will be posted tuesday.

sologoat out.
this is an audio post - click to play

5.19.2006

5.18.2006

05.18.06 - update from conyers



sitting at the atlanta airport. once again, in akron, i was bleeding in my ears after hearing the life story of a passenger in the two minutes it took me to get my ipod going.



got busted at the venue. aparantly, my asylums are really fast and the "five - o" found out about it.



ah, the new asylum kits (or "outfits" as jennifer calls them) have arrived.



trail is dry, temps are humid and hot. weather for the weekend looking like possible wet stuff.

right now, the trails are dry and fast.

that's it - gotta run.

more later.

sologoat out

05.18.06 - off to GA

'bout to head down to atlanta where i will be meeting up with my posse - dan the man, dad and my brother in law drew.

we are going drinking heavily tonight, more tomorrow night, and will drink shots of vodka to celebrate my first 24 hour of the year two minutes before start time.

NOT

looks like we may be getting a slight heat wave down there - up to 87 degrees on saturday with some possible showers coming to cool us off sometime on sunday. it's going to be hot, hot, hot.

with that - gotta run.

but stayed tuned - audio updates from my pit crew to come during the race, with some possible text updates too via laptop and a dial up card via drews laptop from the pits. very high tech.

sologoat out.

5.17.2006

this is an audio post - click to play

05.17.06 - i got wobblenaughted



yesterday, i got my last adjustments to my race bikes for my next race which is...

the granny gear 24 hours of conyers

field is looking to be super small - under 20 teams (including solo's!) - should provide to be a pretty low key event as number of total participants go.



will have 3 members in my conyers posse for this race - my father helping out with the food/clothing, dan the man wrenching and my brother in law helping to fill in the gaps. should be good times.

weather - looking to be OK for saturday, maybe some early evening rain on sunday, but it keeps switching back and forth. not holding my breathe on anything, but it looks at least the temperture will be fine - somewhere between 82 and 58. not bad.

and..

2006 new asylum clothing is in and from what i hear, looks really good. i will be wearing my new stuff this weekend. would show you pics, but i haven't seen the clothing myself (other than a pdf which i cannot find).

for this weekend, granny gear should have good postings up during the race. please check out the results section as they should have hourly updates.

and - starting tomorrow, i should have some pics/updates posted of the course, venue, airport, etc. i should be landing sometime around 11'ish at atlanta tomorrow.

for the fans that will be waiting for me there - please have a latte waiting for me.

just joking.

that's it - gotta sneak in a ride.

sologoat out

5.15.2006

05.15.06 - starting to pack

for my first 24 hour of the year.

i'll have one more hand of support for this event - i'll have my father, dan the man, and my brother in law. should make things a little easier.

this weekend, skipped the last of the local yocal criteriums. every race has had a crash when the course was dry, so when i woke up and it had been raining all night and there was a light spray of rain in the air, i opted to skip the race. not what i really wanted to do, but i just didn't want to take a chance.

updates to the sponsors just went out - need to keep everybody in loop as far as my schedule goes and how products/bikes have been working out so far.

as far as schedule goes, man... NORBA changed the marathon race around for nationals, and the website has conflicting dates on it. the web site list of events has the marathon on thursday, the web site for the registration has it for sunday. hmmmmmm.

that would make booking a flight at this exact moment pretty impossible. hoping they have this resolved by the end of the day.

that's it - just a quickie update today as i needs to get things organized.

sologoat out

5.12.2006

05.12.06 - tgif

long week coming to an end...

and i am still trying to figure out some type of racing schedule - seems that this year there is so many races to do and they all fall on the same dates. very frustrating - i swear i need a team manager. or call that, ernesto manager.

the ultramtb series, the NORBA series, the east coast UCI race in Sainte Anne, Granny Gear, Adrenaline - seems like you can't pick a race without missing the other.

And then, late changes to race dates - NORBA just switched the NORBA nationals to the Sonoma location in July. Makes the race more "do-able" for those wanting to hit up both the Marathon and 24 Hour National, but you'll have to miss out on one of the ultra MTB series race.

very, very frustrating.

new dirt rag came out the other day - got the new "ernesto" asylum ad, an ad for the salsa 29er hardtail and an article on enduro racer rob l. you may remember rob from my conyers write up last year - i rode the last two laps with him. rob did the event solo (no support), came in second, is vegan/straight edge and all around good guy. pick up the issue - it's sure to be a good read.

gots to - good luck to all those racing this weekend. see jeff k is hitting up his first major enduro of the year - check out his blog for updates.

as for me - one more crit this weekend if it doesn't rain (dang roadies fall too much in that stuff) and then weekend after next...

my first 24 hour of the year.

stay tuned.

sologoat out.

5.10.2006

05.10.06 - late weekend update

suuuuuuuuuuuuper busy with domestic stuff lately, sorry for the lack of updates.

with rising fuel costs and a certain sense of taking some responsibility for the environment, i "stuck it to the man" and bought a electric lawn mower. kind of a pain with the cord, but i got a small yard. cord shouldn't be an issue as i got sockets all over the house on the outside. big thing is where you start cutting an how you lay out the cord.

anyhoo... back to racing stuff.

last saturday was the 3rd of 4 local yocal crits. as usuall, three quarters of the field are either cat 1 or cat 2's (some of the cat 1's are former national champs and/or pro's) so it was going to be a blistering pace.

with hopes of my off the start line attack sticking a little longer then usuall, i threw down my attack as planned off the gun and went extra hard this time because i was hoping to last 3 laps. (there is lots of cameras around, so i was trying to get some press for asylum.. ha,ha...) with a huge tailwind going up the climb, i gained a good margin on the field very quickly. going up the climb the second time, i looked back and saw the field chasing at a very high rate of speed.

as the story goes (heard this from a buddy who was in the field), the ambercrombie guys were taking pulls at 32mph to chase me back. the field was strung out. then, paul martin (former national champ on the road, former navigator/go-mart pro and current super freakin' fear me strong) attacked off the front. yep, attacked off the front at 32mph.

attacked off the front at 32mph.

blows my mind when i think of that. well, i guess it also blew apart the field as well. from the accounts i heard, we dropped at least 10 guys within 3 laps as a direct result of my initial attack and the paul martin response attack. very impressive to watch him race - even if you are racing against him.

the rest of the race was business as usual - slow down to 25, then up to 35. repeat again and again. loose a few more guys in the process. in the end, i think we lost about 1/2 of the field as when it came down to the sprint, i sat up and turned around and saw only a few riders. if i am nowhere near the top 10, i don't even try to sprint in these races - way too risky for me. and although i can corner with the best of them, i can't sprint all that well - so if i don't have a good gap in the last corner, i usually don't stand a chance.

i see these as mostly training races. my main races - are coming up very, very soon.

with that - gotta run. lots of updates this week and next as i get prepped for my second major enduro of the year.

sologoat out.

5.05.2006

05.05.06 - 4 dayz of daziness

hey folks - back from my go live client in cinci. things were hectic, we did some remote training today via a net meeting and will do so again monday and tuesday.

this internet, cell phone, lap top stuff is crazy when you think about it - you can work all day if you want to from any where in the world.

or..

you can stop and go ride your bike.

like tomorrow. another crazy fast criterium at the local venue near kent ohio. sure to be fun... and hopefully not dangerous.

last week, i did my classic attack off the front at the start of the race. two laps and a half laps later, they chase me down. at least i lasted a half lap more - tomorrow, will i get three? hmmmm. about 8 laps to go, a little group escapes. they are within reach, about 5 seconds up on us. then it happened.

going into the last turn, there is a slight "s" turn. imagine starting at the bottom of the s, making your way through the slight turns at around 25'ish miles an hour. at the end of the s, you make a super hard 90 degree slightly off camber turn that can fit a max of two riders (and only when you tell the outside rider "inside" because the turn is so sharp that the rider often can't see you).

i come into the corner fast, tell the outside rider "inside" to let him know i am there, and at the split second before we hit the corner i see a rider coming up between us. we are going well over 25mph, and all i can think is that he is going to take somebody out but it probably won't be me because i am on the inside.

i feel his hand brush my hip. i hear his front skewer hit the spokes on my rear wheel. i hear him skid. i hear his tire pop. i hear bikes crashing.

i come out of the corner OK, and turn around to see the carnage of 3 riders crashed and about 10-15 riders held up behind them. luckily, all riders we not seriously hurt, but man, that was close.

so with that, just a shout out to race safe this weekend.

in other news - NORBA nationals to switch venues but not dates? hmmm.... shall we pray for snowshoe, oh yes... maybe seven springs? yes, that too... how about a switch to the east coast?

and don't know if i gave a shout out to nat ross last week or not - he must of had wings at the first granny gear of the year as he beat second place by a crazy margin of something like 6 laps. he could of quit riding at 18 hours and still won.

with that - gotta run.

sologoat out.

5.02.2006

05.02.06 - ernesto cycling news interview up

thanks to stever over at cycling news - interview is up.

check it out here: ernesto marenchin cycling news interviw

check it out - steve did a really good interview. we talked a lot about the upcoming ultra mtb series, endurance cycling, training and racing as a pro.

i think he has done a few interviews in his day.

he also did some good write ups on sea otter. if you haven't seen the page, it really does a nice job of coverage for cycling of all types - road, track, mtb, cross. and nice tech areas too - stuff that even the guys over at speedgoat hasn't seen.

CYCLING NEWS.COM

gotta run - my "go live" client is gonna' kill me if i don't get this stuff done!

sologoat out

5.01.2006

05.01.06 - busy

hey - sorry for the "no post" stuff going on this last week - have a client going live with their accounting system tomorrow and i am in a rush to get it all done on time.

got some updates for ya - but, i gots to run.

races coming up and maybe a rest day for these tired legs.

and - sorry to hear about the bad weather at trans iowa 2 for all those who attended and for jeff who put it on.

gotta go -
sologoat out