dirt sweat and gears write up

pre-rides on friday were not out of the ordinary - scan for the best lines, check for trouble spots...



and ride with some local ohio riders - brett davis.



Start of race day was cool with temps in low 70’s, by mid-race, the temps would hit in the mid 80’s.

Trail conditions were excellent – the rain held off and what moisture was in the ground helped traction.



Start was hectic as usual, Nat got on his bike first, I was right behind him. Couldn’t have asked for a better start. Soon into the woods, things started filtering out pretty quickly. Roughly ½ way through the first lap, Tinker flats and Rob L comes to his rescue with a tube.



By the end of lap one, it was clear that the pace was pretty fast as I came through the pits – I could see Nat and Josh in front of me, but not a sole was behind.



This was to continue on for the next 5 or 6 laps until Tinker caught up to me.



I got a second wind when Tinker caught me, and we ended up riding about a lap and a quarter together. He stayed nice and smooth, really consistent pace the entire time. The entire time together, people kept cheering Tinker on.

I have raced Tinker plenty of times, this surreal time I was holding my own with a legend.

Rob L was 10 minutes ahead of me at one time, now it was down to 2 minutes. The heat and the Cohutta 100 were getting to me, my pace slowed and Tinker road away with the same consistent pace he was riding before. Rob’s time on me continued to grow again.



I continued on, staying with my standard nutritional game plan relying solely on Hammer Nutritional products and basically no stopping in the pits. I felt I was not riding that fast, and soon Sloane ended up catching me.



I pressed on, and when the heat went away, I felt better and my laps got faster once again. I held onto 6th, with Nat Ross flying and taking the win, Josh Tostado in 2nd, Tinker 3rd, Rob 4th, Sloane 5th and myself coming in for 6th.



Overall, the race venue was setup nicely and there were great prizes for everybody – cash all around (including single speeds!), prizes included 3 bikes and 4 frames and swag from princeton tec, tifosi and ergon. Great race that is definitely worth coming back to - you definetely missed a good race if you weren't here.

That’s it – gotta catch up on some much needed rest.

Sologoat out

less then 12 for a 12

pre-rode the DSG course today with mr 24 himself - check out jeff's page for some pics

going to be hella fast tomorrow - tinker, nat, rob l, eddie o, sloane.... going to be nutz.

single speeds freaks should show up in masses tomorrow - pay out is good for all. turning out to be a cool venue overall - very impressive for a first year event.

course has a ton of ups and downs, nothing really sustained. rocks here and there, nothing really major.

rain may happen, i am hoping not - this is the type of mud that will turn slippy and into peanut butter thickness in no time.

lap times will probably run around an hour, guessing we will be running 13 laps - less if there is any mud.

that's it - gotta rest.... pics/results up tomorrow night.

sologoat out.

heading south - again

this time, it's for a little bit of dirt, sweat and gears.

one of the NORBA enduro series, the prize money is sure to pull in a few tough guys. tinker and nat ross are already on the list, so it is going to be hella fast no matter what.

course looks to be a roller type, lots of ups and downs - not sure on the technical stuff.

weather looks to be kinda cruddy today, then clearing out tonight - nice the rest of the weekend. should be good racing weather and a nice warm up for me and the first venture out for my pit crew team.

race is from 8am saturday and wraps up 12 hours later, just in time to grab some dinner, pack up for sunday, then hit the hay.

ERGON will be at race and will have demo grips to try out, so check that out.

also...

PRINCETON TEC will be hosting a night ride on Friday night. I don't know how many lighting systems Justin will have available, but stop by early if you want to check them out. Website says that everybody is meeting around 7pm on Friday.

That's it - gotta run. See you at the races.

sologoat out

Lennard Zinn Velonews article on Sologoat

well, not really...

but check out his tech article on the Princeton Tec Switchback lights line up.

the thursday of sea otter, i was invited by mr kline from princeton tec to ride along with some magazine editors/writers -- one of the them was the famous lennard zinn, author of the classic Velonews book "Zinn and the art of Bicycle Maintenance".

lennard is a well respected authority on all things bike related and is a fan of 29er's (did an article with cameron chambers a few years baack).

check it out.

sologoat out.

cohutta pic post 2

results are now up at the COHUTTA website. check it out.

here's local ohio rider shawn adams - his strong road power and mountain bike skillz from back in the day showed this past weekend. he rolled in 5th place.



garth, mark and single speed legend dj birch relaxing after a hard days effort.



podium shot.

overall great race and good vibe, hope to be back next year.

this was my first attempt to change some things up nutrition wise and it left me a little low on calories - biggest thing was the switch from Hammer Nutrition's Sustained Energy to Perpetuem. Less calories, but more good stuff in it.

adjustments made for my caloric intake, and the next race approaches... stay tuned.

sologoat out

cohutta post 2

welcome to the cohutta race venue. pretty sweet location that was host site to the 1996 olympic kayak type events.



the site utilitzes dams to flood this area - this weekend, the water was calm and cold with a ton of people hanging out on saturday evening.



jeff took a spill in the begining of the race - check out his blog for the full details. this was taken a few minutes after his finish.

more up later tonight - sologoat out

cohutta update

just a quick post as i just back into town.

chris e was hella fast and tore it up for the win, with tinker about 10 minutes down.

i settled down into one of the chasing packs, was doing fine until about the 90 mile mark and then bonked, finsihing around 15th. fueling on my part was way off, guessing the high overall speeds of the race left me calorie low. harlan had similar results with fuel intake, but he came back in the end and finished around 11th.

i came in around 7:30'ish or so, not bad for a training race with a super solid field.

pics and more updates tomorrow - for now, i need rest.

sologoat out.

heading south

for the cohutta 100. should be a good time, weather is shaping up real well. temps will be in the mid 60's and sunny.

should be interesting to see who show's up as the NORBA 12 hour is near this area the weekend after next.

that's it, gotta run - probably won't be able to update until late sunday, early monday.

until then, ride your bike.

sologoat out

Princeton Tec Blog

is now coming at you from Justin Kline of Prinecton Tec.

Livining on the Dash is the title of the blog as it chronicles Justin's travels to races, bike shows, killer hikes, and..

roller skating rinks.



be sure to check out the lights at the race venues if you can - he'll be out at no less then seven 24 hour events including nationals, moab and big bear.

sologoat out

hendershot looking like a badass

meet santa cruz syndicate team member mark hendershot. he is fast. and he has some ink. and he was also at the premiere and starred in 24 solo.

overall, i thought the film did a great job of telling the story of the enduro scene, especially from the point of the supporting crew. a perspective i can say that i have never had.

overall, great time out there.

sorry for the lack of photo's from saturday - plan was to ride in the early AM then head down to the festival. as i made my way through the course, i was passing a freaking ton of people out for the mountain bike tours. there were people everywhere, including some younger riders.

half way through, it started to sprinkle.

three quarters through, the wind picked up to about 40mph and the temps dropped as the rain blew sideways. with no trees, the wind was nearing blowing me over. i felt bad for the masses of people out there as i passed them up, but i freezing.

got back to the car and i headed for a warm lunch and to pack up - left early sunday so there was no time to waste.

and when i got back, it was like interbike all over again - i checked out the internet to see what i missed.

some of the noteables:
1. 29er mavic crossmax wheels.. interesting..
2. yeti cross bike - very cool frame indeed - running a single tubed rear triangle
3. look's 986 mountain frame - running a long carbon seat tube

that's it - gotta run.

sologoat out

chris eatough 24 solo grand entrance

here's chris making his grand entrance at the 24 solo premiere.

sorry for the odd angle - feel free to edit and re-post!

thanks ken, jason and chris!

post two from sea otter

the salsa mamasita. you can't have one yet, but i got to touch one today.



the salsa caserol - very nice do everything kind of bike. reminds me a lot of my old panasonic road frame.



mark hendershot is forced to work on his own bike to earn his keep. watch out for the syndicate and their super kewl new bikes this year.



they are sporting some awesome paint jobs. there are 40 frames out there this year with this paint job.



mark said they took about 4 hours each to paint the detail on and they look super sharp. also, watch out for his "rider card" put out by santa cruz - great photo.



upclose of the new ergon pack - the swivel on top keeps everything centered and off the back. very unique design that seems to make "light" of carrying heavy packs.

i should of been a comedian.



pic 2 of the ergon. watch out for this bad boy in ergon green.



justin is the rep for princeton tec back east - had the full line up to check out at sea otter. watch out for him and their lights coming to a race near you.



on a quest to find something stupid light, i can up with this. the newest stork carbon frame that utilizies some new technology to sqeeze out all the extra glue on the carbon frames when these bad boys are put together.

stupid light weight: 850 grams for the frame. oh my.



prototype of the stork mountain frame. they use some crazy kind of technology to get a super sweet weeve going on the frame. this frame was built beefy and came in around a very heavy 1300 grams.

the production version...

stupid light weight: 1000 grams. oh my. again.

issue with this frame: it is not running 29 inch wheels.



kish ti frames. nice line up, all custom, super clean welds, great paint.

nice, simple, clean looking ti. very impressive work.



the dirt jump area. super high winds sent one rider a flyin' to the hospital.



the down hill for the kids - there were tons of little ones bombing down this.



when i'm not riding enduro, i like to practice back flips. hells ya.



the new litespeed. more of a moots guy myself, but they got this top tube to increase stiffness and a flattened stay like the mamasita so that the rear end is a little more compliant.

that's it - gotta run. next post will probably be late tomorrow, early monday.

got some good pics from the solo 24 showing - stay tuned!

sologoat out

post one from sea otter

just a few updates before i head out to the 24 solo premiere.

weather is a non-horrible sunny 60 degree day in monterey. pre-rode the long 19 mile'ish course. very open, with some single track. although it does not have any long sustained climbs, as soon as you go up....

you must come down. pics of the course up in the next few days.

got to walk around the venue today - pretty much an interbike for the consumer. the downhill kids were all out in mass today, which kind of got annoying after you watched the 100th kid ride a wheelie past you through the vendor tents acting as if you had never seen a wheelie before.

ergon, princeton tec, tifosi are out here. justin from princeton tec took me out on a night ride last night that included maurice from dirt rag, an editor from bike magazine and two editors from velonews. very kewl. also got to check out the switchback 1. nice.



got some new pink tifosi's from shannon over at the tifosi tent. nice to run into her again - she handles all my tifosi relations and is one of their reps.

and, ran into mr mark hendershot. he's got this kewl rider card and a super sweet paint job to match. santa cruz has been nice to him and has let them crash out in california for awhile. he'll be at the premiere tonight.

with that, gots to run. much more to post, including some great pics of the new products out there including some stupid light frames from stork. we're talking 850 gram 57cm frames. prototype 1000 gram 18 inch mountain frames (running 26 inch wheels) with stupid kewl carbon weaves to match the stupid light frame it is.

sologoat out

off to sea some otters

more updates on the 24 solo premiere - the premiere party bash starts on friday at around 6pm, chris makes his red carpet appearance around 6:30'ish. chris, poz and i will be singning autographs and sipping martini's before the start of the film at 8pm.

hendershot is also in town for all the festivities, but i am not 100% sure if he's at the premiere.



finally getting my new stuff dialed in - most noteably, my new northwaves. pretty sweet carbon soles, new buckle system, adjustable velcro straps. very nice.



asylums are almost complete now, still waiting on those dt 190's. i could do dt 240's, but at this point, it would totally kill me to know that i could have a lighter wheelset.



ah, and jim b has now hooked a brother up with another wobblenaught fit. this time through, we concentrated on getting one bike really dialed in before we start working on the other bike. we are hoping for better fits for both bikes.

also, this gave me a little time to work with jim on some pedaling tricks to eek out some additional power.

a friend once told me that you can learn how to cast a fly rod in a few hours. but to master it, it takes years.

same could be said about pedaling a bike.

hoping to get some pics up on the blog from sea otter, but don't know how much time i'll get inbetween having fun and having fun. i'll post when i can.

with that, gotta run - good-bye thy damned cold rain!

sologoat out

Gripped Films Announcement

For Immediate Release

Gripped Films Announces 24 Solo World Premiere

Arlington, VA, April 9, 2007 — Gripped Films is pleased to announce the World Premiere of their newest film, 24 Solo Friday, April 13th at 8pm. at the historic Golden State Theatre in downtown Monterey, CA .The Friday show will have cast and crew available for autographs and will be followed by additional screenings both Saturday and Sunday nights (7pm. & 9pm. each night). Tickets and pre-orders for the DVD (due out immediately after the premiere) are available at www.24-solo.com. While visiting the site be sure to watch the new trailer.

Presented by TREK Bicycles and VW, 24 Solo, follows 24 Hour Solo World Champion Chris Eatough on his quest to a 7th consecutive title. The film balances action and emotion with commentary from the biggest names in mountain biking including Gary Fisher, John Stamstad, Alison Dunlap, Ned Overend and others cut to a powerful soundtrack crafted by the award-winning Off Road to Athens composer Haik Naltchayan. From resounding victories in China and Wisconsin to his intense training that leads to the final race, viewers will have an unprecedented glimpse into the intense machine that is Eatough and his support crew. For the championship race 5 high def. cameras were rolling for 24 hours to capture what VeloNews called “The most epic race of 2006”. From the first lap Eatough and Australian Craig Gordon push each other into a state of life threatening exhaustion. Viewers hear each rider narrate the chain of events that ended with one racer hospitalized with severe blood poisoning.

More information, photos and production notes are posted on the movie website, www.24-solo.com

Film maker’s bios:
Jason Berry has produced multiple features for broadcast as well as 2 sports documentaries. His first feature-length production, Off Road to Athens, has won multiple awards and was nominated for Best Documentary in 6 international film festivals. Jason manages our Arlington editing studio when he’s not kayaking, cycling and surfing.

Managing Gripped Films and a successful exhibit production company, Ken Bell operates our Harrisonburg office. When not cycling and researching new gear, Ken splits time between running Trade Show Direct, Gripped Films and chasing after his 3 active sons. 24 Solo is his second film and he looks forward to new projects.

Contact info:
Jason Berry, Director
jason@grippedfilms.com

Ken Bell, Producer
ken@grippedfilms.com

cold day in ohio

yet again. short post, gotta sneak in a ride before heading north for some dinner with the family.

wobblenaught fit now complete, will be tweaked a little more before my next races - then that fit info will be carried over to asylum #2. no sense in having two bikes slightly off, better to get one perfect first, then carry that info over to the next bike.

pedal stroke is still getting dialed in, makes a HUGE difference in wattage and heart rate. but, easily said, it is not something that comes without practice.

sea otter is next week, looking forward to warmer weather though it is only supposed to be in the mid 50'ish the last time i looked. hell, at this point, 50'ish is a ton better then 20'ish.

with that, gotta roll. stay tuned for some pics from my wobblenaught fitting and some princeton tec switchback 2 and 3 photo's.

sologoat out

ergon and princeton tec updates

speedgoat has some new links and blog post up.

check out their site HERE to check out all the lights in the switchback series.

and, a SPEEDGOAT BLOG ENTRY inspired by my recent swithcback 3 review - this time, the blog entry is from a customer.

also, check out booth 151 if you happen to be at sea otter - you can check out their entire line up.


and, thinking of cool new products out there, have to check out jeff kerkove's blog to check out a picture of the new ergon seatpost. carbon suspension. that's all i am going to say - check it out for yourself.

ergon will also be out at sea otter (which from the looks of it, is basically an outdoor Interbike) at booth 234. check it out - they will have their new packs there and more then likely, some of the new carbon grips. jeff will be handing out free stuff, so go check them out. (just kidding, but go see jeff anyway)

that's it other then wobblenaught fit on the new bikes will commence tomorrow. lowering of bars, adjusting for new stem and grips, setup of new northwave shoes - all in the quest for more power.

sologoat out

mother nature is playing tricks

today hit in the high 70's - tomorrow's high is going to be 44.

i need to move south.

initial rides on the new asylums are complete and once again, dan has worked his magic building up two very solid machines. without the new stupid light wheels, the new build ups are around a 1/2 pound lighter then last years version.

biggest change in overall feel of the bike is going from running a riser to straight bars and running the ergon grips. switched them due to two factors - one being that the bend of risers tend to put my wrists at odd angle and that itself seems to cause more fatigue (at least it does in my head), and the second is because of my new obsession on overall weight. straight bars tend to be lighter then risers - less material, less weight. 'nuff said.

and the ergons seem to be helping out as well with the whole hand fatigue thing as well as i can now rest my hands a little more and have a little bit more to grip onto. i swear every time i ride with them i get this thought in my head, "why didn't these come out years ago?"...

anyhoo, gots to run. early am ride hopefully before the weather goes south.

sologoat out