cast your vote

ok facebooker pals and gals out there, mr montana miller is in need of some desperate help in the form of vote to get him into the pisgah mountain race for free. rumor is, his cat is very upset at the closeness of the race - and he has personally promised me a couple of worn out chains and an old saddle if he wins.

both those last facts may not actually be facts, but he does ride a single speed pretty fast, so get yer vote in for a single speed freak. you can get your vote in at facebook HERE!

sologoat out

new jagwire site and quick update

Thanks again for their support for my 2011 season, but you need to check out the new revamped Jagwire USA website.

and - also need to check out the updated sponsored rider section HERE!.

this weekend, laying low and resting up for the mohican 100. my guess for the course... mud. wetness. soft muddy trails. more mud. a lot pain. eating/drinking something that has mud on it. and 100 miles.

sologoat out

recap of the past days...

IMG_5414, originally uploaded by solo_goat.

sorry for the lack of posts the last week or so, been pretty hectic at work and life.

got into a little fender bender with my awesome vibe - i am OK, but the car is no more. i am still bummed out a week later - was an a great car. anyhoo, things could of been a lot worse.

dirt fest has come and gone, the riding was awesome and so was catching up with a ton of friends at princeton tec, pivot, dirt rag, stans and niner. beer drinking festivities ran late into the night and fun was had by all.

tuesday night worlds westlake training crit was hectic as ever. think the good weather (finally) made everybody a little jumpy and feeling fast - and the cross winds made the gaps to close a little tougher. i missed a major split 8'ish laps to go and cursed myself for missing it. a few of us starting pulling to chase them back and after one rider pulled through twice at around 5 mph's slower then the rest of us, it gave me the anger to take longer and harder pulls until we caught them back with about 3 to go.

i chased a few others, went for it in the sprint, but somebody went wide in the last corner and washed me off of paul's wheel. dang. but i am still convinced i need to get some standard cranks (as opposed to my compacts) as i am going nowhere fast in the sprints. love the compacts, but i don't think they are doing me any favors in crits.

that's it for now - tonight's race is against the storm headed this way.

sologoat out

6th place at Syllamo Revenge

2011_SyllamoRevenge_ (12), originally uploaded by solo_goat.

whew, another NUE race completed, this time syllamo's revenge in mountain view arkansas.

course was 125km, roughly 95% single track, no sustained climbs and mostly fast'ish rolly types of power climbs. rain left sections a little muddy and the rocks super slippy.

gun went off, christian, jeff and brandon took off. not being able to hold the pace, heart rate screaming, i backed off. with that pace it would surely backfire for those who tried to stay with them, the course was just too demanding.

i snaked into the single track ahead of a single speed rider and kept to my own pace. i boobled once on the first odd sections of rocks and he gave me some crap about me wanting to be in front of him. now, with the energy of being pissed off and the jack tail behind me, i took off.

i then would the next 70 miles by myself.

i pedaled on, riders came back. about 10'ish or so miles in, i caught gerry and andy and eddy. gerry stuck with me for a little while, then i took off.

sitting is 6th position, i started catching site of eventual 4th place rider kip. i damn near caught him, then he took off.

rocks were slippy, i took it easy. on the flatter sections, i locked out the front fork so i could punch it up the short uphills. half the time i forgot it was locked out.

on the 2nd half of the 125km course, we strated catching some of the 50 mile riders - all of whom were very cool and allowed me to pass without mishap.

at this point, forearms were started to cramp up from me trying to crush the little climbs. i stretched them out a bit and the cramps went away.

was also glad the hella section of rocks on the lap 2 section was taken out - just wanted to roll out the last 20 miles fast and that's how it was layed out.

fast, fun, twisty and always kept you on your toes - very tough course, but i loved every mile of it. i think it's a great addition to the NUE series.

would end up 6th on the day.

next up on the my fun filled month o' may -

dirt rag dirt fest and mohican 100.

sologoat out

preliminary results - syllamo ravenge

This is preliminary - took off before results posted.

1 Christian t
2 jeff s
3 Brandon
4 kip ? From Colorado
5 tomac rider - he got 10th at cohutta
6 Ernesto
7 John Davis
8 Eddie o

Gerry won SS, Amanda won womens race.

Jeff was with Christian at end and broke chain. Brandon was with them earlier but flatted.

Kip snagged 4th in the last 5 miles or so. I rode about 70 of the 75'Ish miles solo.

Sologoat out

race at the lake #3

DSC_0055, originally uploaded by Robert Sroka.

better late then never, busy work week...

saturday brought race #3 of the RATL series and things picked up pretty quickly.

eventually, a small 3 man break would head up the road, gap got out to about 30 seconds.

13'ish or so laps to go, a rider over lapped a wheel and went down, taking a few others with him. one off to the hospital, the rest a little banged up. hope all is well.

race stopped, and then restarted - and i think the pace was upped by about 2.

gap stretched out to 50 seconds, and the major pulls and surges came - a few from paul, a few from jeremy and i threw in a few too going up the climb. we caught them with 2 to go.

flyers on the left, flyers on the right, some goof trying to go on the inside on the sharp lefty in the parking lot and a high speed sprint brought me 7th for the day.

next up, syllamo's revenge - 125km of offroad fun.

sologoat out

new pivot 429

2011_ernesto_429, originally uploaded by solo_goat.

say hello to my new best friend. pivot cycles 429 - sized small with custom extra fastness built in.

thanks out chris, cindy, daniel and the rest of the gang out in sunny arizona for their continued support into the 2011 season.

sologoat out

9th at the Cohutta 100 - long version

(Photo Credit to Sara Kristen Photography)

The Cohutta 100 is the first stop on the NUE endurance series for 2011 and with it brings 100 miles of fun starting out with a fast road climb into some fast non-technical single track followed up with lots of climbing and fire road climbs in between and then some more single track thrown in at the end.

I made it to the start line just in time to snake my way up to the front, say hello and then 2 minutes later, the gun goes off. Pace is hot, but I manage to stay in the main group towards the front before the first turn. Into the woods, I am about the 15'ish or so rider in.

In the single track, I am with the main group, but a rider 3 ahead of me is slowing down just a bit here and there - next thing a big gap is opened up. I manage to get around all 3 riders as they dab their feet, but I don't get past until the damage is done and the first section of single track is over.

I set off in hot pursuit on the double track before the creek crossing, passing a few more riders.

Over the bridge, up the climb and I pedal on - I catch a few more riders, and then set off for the next gravel road section. I am by myself at this point.

Two riders eventually catch up - they immediately try to drop me, I catch them pretty quickly. This goes back and fourth about 3 times before one of them drops off the pace and the other sets off on his own. With 70 miles to go, I was not about to burn all my matches - especially with a major climb coming up in about 10 miles. I proceed to race the last 70 miles riding by myself.

About 1/2 way the climb, I catch the rider I was with previously - and then ride right by.

Up one climb and up another, I down a bunch of endurolytes and hope cramps don't set in. My legs are feeling good, my heart rate is not maxed out too bad and nobody is in sight.

At mile 75 or so, I find out I am sitting in 9th place. That (and a little bit of Coca Cola) gave me the energy to push over the little climbs here and there. Loose gravel at the end nearly had me crashing my brains out, so I took the corners a little easy and pushed it when the trail was pointing up.

Wound up coming a little over 7 hours in 9th place - besting my best place and overall time for this race.

SoloGoat out

9th at the cohutta 100

2011_Cohutta100_ (08), originally uploaded by solo_goat.

long day in the saddle, 9th place overall.

that's the super short version - longer version up tomorrow.

now it is time to unpack.

sologoat out