Home Course Advantage

Our home course race has now came and gone and I’ll have to admit I’m glad it’s over. When your hosting a race it takes allot of time and coordinating to pull it of. Although I was not responsible for the majority of the work, it still created allot of tasks for all our club members. Hats off to Dennis for shouldering most of the responsibility!!

With that said let’s talk a little about the race. The day started out pretty good and then turned into what we have dealt with at most of the races this year……..rain!! The trails at Logan have always been pretty hard packed and shed water very quick. Often we can ride the same day as an earlier rain and not be affected at all. I will have to agree with William when he said “the trails today are in the worst condition that I have ever ridden here”. Even with that, they were not too bad and the race went on.

Now to our results….William continues to dominate the Sport Masters and bagged a 1st place finish in the sport master and an overall 3rd place in the sport division. Dennis also continues to improve at the sport distance and took home a 4th place finish in the sport vet category. Josh started off very strong in the beginner class and was a couple minutes ahead of the pack until a slippery bridge took him out of the race and to the hospital for 12 stitches on his ankle. To poor salt in the wound, his front wheel was pretty messed up and will probably need replaced. I managed to hold onto 3rd in the beginner class after a flat tire on the Backbone trail climb about 2 miles from the finish.

We hope to update the blog in a couple days with a link to pictures that were taken during the race.

Until next post,
Chris

Race Course Marked

Finished clearing the trees that fell yesterday . Course is marked and ready for the pre rides. Expert will be approx 19...Sport is 15 and Beginner is 10...Trails are in great shape and if it rains tomorrow and sunday the course will still be in great shape. Course starts at the ranger station. The food will be great and an enormous prize table....Hope to see everyone there...

Tour de Peanut Butter

The crew headed to Spencer, WV for the Tour de Lake this past weekend. The weather that day was pretty good, no rain and pretty hot. The problem was the rain that they had on Saturday......just enough to turn the trails into a 10 mile loop of peanut butter mess. The trails were narrow, slippery and full of roots, this made for a very technical course and a great race. I got off to a slightly better start this race, I have had problems starting strong that have left me playing catch up for most of the races. This time I was a little stronger in the beginning and possible payed for it with a slower second half of the course. 3/4 thru the race I had worked my way to 3rd place in the beginner class and could here a ride closing on me. He caught me with about a mile left and passed me only to crash on a slippery root 100 yards after the pass. After this I was able to hold him off after a quick decent and a sprint across the dam to the finish, I managed to be about 5 second ahead of him for a 3rd in the men's beginner class.

William had a strong race even though the mud is his worst enemy, being his least favorite race conditions. He came across the line in 1st place for the Sport Masters. Dennis also was strong with a 4th place finish in the Sport Vet class. For an interesting story, ask him about the rider he came up on that was taking a dump on the trail...........Dennis has the worst luck!!

CHIEF LOGAN TRAIL VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1CoPi3UNrQ VIDEO 1 OF 3



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyiX4yOZSTA VIDEO 2 OF 3



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1K4FVUfCiM VIDEO 3 OF 3



THIS IS NOT ALL OF THE TRAILS IN THE PARK JUST A FEW. ENJOY THE VIDEOS...

Mountwood..........RAIN FEST!!

Dennis, William and I made the trip to Mountwood for the WVMBA points race #2 for the season. Weather was pretty good as we left Logan and went downhill from there. Just outside of Charleston it began to rain and continued pretty much the entire day. As we arrived at the park the rain was pretty steady and we knew we would be in for a wet day. As the race started I got off to a very slow start and just could not get the pedals turning as fast as I needed to. About half way thru the race I began feeling pretty good and managed to pass 6 or 8 riders and finished 2nd in the beginner class......pretty happy with that result given all the mud. Dennis and William rolled out in the sport vet and masters classes respectively and had pretty good runs. William was plagued by a long delay to fight his chain as it was hung from chain suck, almost to the point of giving up he managed to free it and finished 3rd in his class. Dennis finished about 4 minutes behind him to secure 6th in the vet class. Both suffered brake failure, a common comment heard at the finish line. All in all a petty fun race, defiantly a course I would like to ride again in dryer conditions. Next race that we will b attending will be the WVMBA #3 in Bluefield this weekend.

Hope to see you there!!!!

Tis Race Season

With our trail work season almost to a close it is time for LMBA to start focusing on another area of mountain biking interest..............racing.

With the opening of the WVMBA race season this past Sunday we have all been training and gearing up for the year. I thought I would tell everyone a little about our race team before we start giving updates on the teams progress after each race.

I use the term "race team" very loosely.......we are just a group of guys that like to ride and have stumbled onto racing as a fun way to do that and experience different trails across West Virginia. We are not sponsored by anyone but have managed to get custom uniforms created and hope to race with some minimal success this season.

Now for rider profiles on the team:

Dennis- This will be his 3rd season racing, 1st year he only ran a few races as a beginner and then cranked up the volume to win the overall beginner in his 2nd season. This year he has moved up to the Sport Vet class and faces the challenge of more miles and a higher level of competition between riders. His ride this year is a new Top Fuel 9.8, pictured below.



William (the Finisher)- Has been riding for several years and is one of the strongest riders of the group. He raced a few races last year in the beginner class and even won our home course event. After a few beginner races he moved up to the sport class for a couple races to finish out the season. This year he will be competing in the sport masters class and hopes to be very competitive. His ride this year will be Cannondale Flash Carbon 2, no pictures yet......bike is still on order and expected in soon.

Me (Chris)- Has been riding off and on since 1992, with several large gaps of no riding mixed in those years. Last year I got back in the saddle and have pedalled more than ever, competing in 4 races in the beginner class. This year I will be competing in the beginner class and hope to race 8-10 events with the main goal of increasing my abilities to ride the sport class. My ride is a 2004 Trek Fuel 100 that has been updated to disc brakes and is pictured below.



Josh- Has has been riding a couple years and plans on competing this year in the beginner class. Look for some good friendly rivalry between Josh and me, we are both real close in fitness and should have a allot of close races this year. He has a new ride this year and is trying out a Gary Fisher 29'er


Check back often for race updates and to check how we are doing in the WVMBA standings.

First Leg of New Trail Almost Complete

Work on the first leg of our new trail is almost complete. After much debate we have finally decided on a name......"wildcat". We have finished the bridge and only have a few hours of work left to complete the first leg from the wildlife area to the Guyandotte Beauty Trail. The trail has turned out very smooth, fast and has a great flow, look for it to be added to this years race course