Why SSCX Matters

photo by Cindy Brennan

None of these photos are from the actual SSCX race at Orchard CX this past weekend. Its my blog and I can do what I want to. Ok, that came off more aggro than intended. These photos captured the radness of Orchard CX and had to be a part of this post. Even if the post is about why SSCX matters. I have been hearing about how fun Orchard CX is since we started the Zank SSCX series. My good friend and long time supporter of everything SSCX and CX, Derek Griggs has always asked me to come. It just never worked out. Until this year. And wow I can't believe what I have been missing. This race is what SSCX is ALL about. Whether you were in the costume race or the actual SSCX race. I think people are getting tired of traveling to a race to just race. They want an experience. Why would you get up early, drive two hours to race 45 minutes and then get back in your car and drive two hours home? This is an actual serious question. That makes zero sense. From a time management standpoint, a money allocation stand point and an environmental standpoint. Why invest the time, money and carbon footprint for 45 minutes? Its much better to have the day be fun. Not just the racing but good food, stuff for the kids and family to do, maybe a place you can hang out with your friends and have an adult beverage? Orchard had it all. And cider donuts. Nothing says Fall in New England like cider donuts. 

Ok so saying cider donuts is the main reason to go to a bike race may seem crazy. But cider donuts are really, really good.

photo by Elaine DeBitetto

So are you smelling what I am cooking? Orchard is one of the most fun CX races I have ever been to. It out PDXs PDX. And without orange cones! Ok they did mix the elite men and women and that ended in a predictably PDX fashion. But other than that it was all that we secretly (or not so secretly in some cases cough*JohnnyUTAH*cough) admire about PDX. A legit costume race. The CX giraffe is possibly the best costume in a cross race of all time. How this man actually rode in that is beyond belief. A great SSCX field. Tough jungle style course that used everything. Orchards, corn maze, pump track, table top, awkward barrier, crazy sand pits of doom. Coupled with a really fast course built for SSCX and you had pure gold.

photo by Elaine DeBitetto

I have been a bit of a reluctant SSCX racer. Yes, I have been co-promoting the Zank SSCX series for three years. But the only SSCX race I really have ever done is Ice Weasels. And that isn't racing. That is a drunken bacchanalian celebration on two wheels. So basically I have never been sober enough to realize how horrible SSCX can be. I was much to concerned about the next beer hand up or getting rad on the mini barriers to care that some dude (or dudette) blew past me and took my coveted 57th place in the SSCX race at White Barn Farm! But this season I made a commitment to race the series. Why should every one else have all the fun. I did Quad. It hurt. A lot. And felt sort of like racing. I missed PVD but did the Madison, which felt like a SSCX race even though I had gears, then raced Mansfield, which was HORRIBLE. Mansfield was soooo hard. And it was a SSCX wake up call. I learned a lot of things at that race. And vowed not to make the same mistakes at Orchard. I picked a much bigger gear. Basically to race SSCX you have to have a bigger gear than you think you can handle. You only have one gear. It better be ready to rock.

photo by Elaine DeBitetto

We had a big field. About 40 men and 10 women. The start was uphill on grass which sort of made me worry about my gear selection. I switched up my usual start stance to the right foot at 2 o'clock but butt on the TT so I could do a foot down sprint start instead of my usual butt on the saddle click and go. It worked perfectly and I was in a good spot. The 100% opposite of my start at Mansfield which saw me spinning like a hamster at 150 rpm while the WHOLE field hammered off and left me in their dust until the first turn. I locked in on Nick's wheel as I knew he would spray watts all over the start of the race. We made it to the first orchard section and I came sooo close to crashing out. In a geared race you can brake and accelerate every turn. With one (big) gear you can't use your brakes. Stuck in the scrum at the start of a race that can get dicey. Luckily I was able to use enough body english that I did not ram Phil from Stampede from behind. I doubt he even knew how close to doom he was. We hit the awkward barrier and then went to warp speed once again. The race became a sick roller coaster of just going into every corner and turn as fast as you could and laying off the brakes. A couple of times I tested the limit of my tires traction and my ability to handle the bike. As the field thinned out some good heckles started raining down. Kurt's was a classic "BAKER GO HARDER LIKE AN EVIL PUPPY IS CHASING YOU!!!" Pure heckling gold. Oddly I was not angling for beer or cider donut feeds. It actually felt like racing.

photo by Aaron Hubbell

One of the more memorable parts of the race itself happened towards the end of the race. I felt pretty good which is shocking considering how insane the #CBL has become. Its not the #CBL anymore I am basically a glorified taxi driver, manny, dogwalker hybrid. I probably would be earning about 13K a year if this was a paying gig. Which its not. Well unless you count the sweet minivan, puppy with papers and nice bikes. Ok, maybe I am actually coming out ahead on this. Never mind my whining. So anyways. Steve Lehman is tracking me. He has a HUGE gear. Something like 42 x 17. He was working on his bike for an hour before the race. Not sure doing exactly what to be honest. All while I was scouting out the cider donuts and Kurt was trying to get me drunk. So I can feel him hunting me. And I see lead SSCX woman Joanne is pulling him to me. Joanne is so strong. Way stronger than I am.  I am sooo screwed. I keep seeing them out of the corner of my eye. I keep hoping and praying by living the no brakes lifestyle I will keep them at bay. As I am just about to get to one of the trickiest sectors of the whole course I feel someone coming up me on the inside. I know its Joanne. That is the beauty of SSCX. Unlike geared racing not too many people can come flying up from the back towards the end of the race overcoming a mechanical etc. Your spot is your spot once it settles in. The main factors after a lap or two are how much you are willing to suffer and did you pick the right gear. So as she slides through right before we drop of a sketchy sand offcamber I make a joke. I say something like "Thank god I didn't crash you out!" Then joke " I only do that to Jerry" She laughs at me and says "Jerry deserved it." Hilarious.

The good news is I didn't crash out the lead women. The bad news is Steven has just used Joanne to get on my wheel and has a much bigger gear than I do. But its fun to race with him for a lap or two. Its basically Steven, me and Joanne in a bit of a conga line. With one to go I fumble the sand drop off and drop my chain. WTF? How do you drop your chain in a SSCX race? It only takes me a second to get it back on but Steven is gone. I chase and get to witness him out sprint Joanne for the line.

What a great race. Had a blast. Finally get it. And to be honest I am only doing SSCX from here on out. I will do the fun races and may hop in at Sterling and NBX. Especially if there is snow but its all about SSCX from here on out. 

So why does SSCX matter? Its not because its a hipster tractor pull. Its not because of the beer hand ups. Its not the costumes. All those things are fun don't get me wrong. But SSCX is a reminder of why we got into CX in the first place. CX used to be a rad thing you did in the Fall to stay in shape and have fun. It used to be this weird oddball sport where it didn't matter what bike you showed up in or what tires you had. No one showed up with $3,000 carbon wheels. No one. It was all about DIY crazy setups. CX couldn't be further from that now. SSCX reminds me of the old days. I for one miss those days. Don't get me wrong, I love how big CX has become. And I love watching World Cups and the big UCI races in the US. But we need to keep CX weird. 

#notoriousjunk

Photo by Liz Chabot Allen

Newsflash blogging isn't dead. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (ok maybe Tumblr in a lesser degree) have lured many to the Darkside. Those that need to blog, still blog. Mostly just to exercise our creativity in ways that the other media do not support. Lots of us have to write. Have to. Its in our DNA. I will never stop. Twitter of all the social media is near and dear to me. Its a water cooler of sorts. And at times it can create some of the most hilarious content possible. It has recently given us #notoriousjunk and #porktits. You can't make this stuff up. Its a way for us to keep this bike game light and to build and grow the community. Let's face it bike racing is hard. To be half way decent it is really hard. And to race against people who have been training and racing all summer long and on diets of hot water with lemon and kale chips with zero training and even less sleep is much harder. #notoriousjunk was a hashtag that was created after Providence. ENGVT (or NOFUNVT as those in the MACistan like to call them) have a very how you say revealing kit. Some kits are more transparent than others. White is obviously very see thru. But red and orange can both be very see thru. I still remember over hearing a phone conversation between the marketing director of Marin Mtn Bikes and Marla Streb. Basically she was telling him that she was going to have to do some serious bikini waxing to make the kit even remotely safe for podium photos.

But this is what makes cycling so absurdly beautiful. We stuff ourselves into skintight lycra ( I LIKE SPANDEX!) and hurl ourselves unto the breach on any given sunday. Some of us show too much. Whether its because we are naturally gifted, we ordered a size smaller than necessary or perhaps we had a few too many bon bons over the summer. I race on a faux Belgian team who's most epic kit is as white as fresh tracks on St Moritz. But the photo of Gewilli over the barriers at Providence with his CXboner launched a new twitter handle. Its awkward to follow a twitter handle dedicated to a friends junk. It takes a person comfortable in their own skin. And someone who has a sense of humor. As I stated earlier this is what we need to keep CX growing. And to avoid the implosion that has happened to both road and mtn biking over the last couple of decades. Cross is something special. The Zank SSCX Series (or the New England SSCX Series as Ron from Mansfield called it!) has championed this from day one. Make it for the people. Make it easy to race. Zip ties are cool. You want to do some crazy mod to make your bike a SSCX? Go for it. My CX season has been a disaster. Year's past I have at least done some CX training. Not this year. Why bother? Um because SSCX racing as I have learned is WAY harder than geared racing. Gear selection is ridiculously important. Who knew? Racing a SS Mtn Bike is easy. It is like soul surfing. Racing (and I am talking about actually racing not partying) SSCX is brutal. To stay in contact with the group you need a HUGE gear. As I learned in spades on Saturday at Mansfield.

I know its odd that a co-promoter of a SSCX series has very little actual experience racing SSCX. Its true. I have been too busy the last couple of years helping herd the cats at the races to actually race the SSCX. But this year I have been really stoked to do it. Lots of reasons. The CT CX Metal Mafia is probably the biggest influence. One of our newest HUP members Nate is another. Matt and Nate both race against geared riders on SSCX. Then race the SSCX. Insane. There will be a sledge hammer award at the end of the season for those two. To be clear, I race SS mtn bikes. Love it. But SS Mtn Bike and SSCX couldn't be more different. I have participated in the SSCX race every year at Ice Weasels. But come on, if you are racing the SSCX race at Ice Weasels you are doing it wrong. 90% of the field are #dronk. It is a keg party where a cross race breaks out. Last year Leah and I raced it on the Zank SS mtn bike. I am pretty sure we were the inspiration for the CX Madison at Providence. Of course we were. But I have never raced SSCX. This year has been my first season doing it. And its complicated. Its "fun" but you only have one gear. You have to pick the right one. Or you will be riding alone. For a long, long time. My CX racing style is sort of a hybrid NECX meets mtn biker meets Tokyo drift. I come into corners way too hot, slam the brakes on (or don't touch them) then accelerate out. I do a ton of micro shifting. Its one of the reasons I love SRAM. It lends itself to that style with double tap. And I love the big ring on paved sections.

But SSCX isn't like that.  People (Not sure who exactly) have been critical of our technical director and his love of the zip tie. They say its cheating. A geared rider can pre-ride, pick a gear and then set it. Yeah what ever. That is ridiculous. To be good at SSCX you just have to pick the biggest gear you can and realize you are going to suck at lots of spots on the course but will have a big enough gear that you can dust people on the flats and power sections. I have been gearing myself to get rad. Aka a gear that allows me to shred corners and to ride the hills etc. Yeah that has not been working out so great. I even consulted Sheldon Brown's gear calculator to mirror Nate's and Lolli's gear ratio. Then Lolli tweets he is running a 15t cog. FML. So we line up. Ron gives us a pep talk. An official "checks" that we are all locked out. Then we go. And Gewilli doesn't clip in. And is in the CBLZ. Not good for the big man. And then he clips in and goes to warp factor 10. Umm yeah so 34x15 vs 46x17 isn't even a contest. I am basically DFL and spinning like a hamster by the first turn. FANtastic. But CX has turns, and barriers and stuff. So at the 3rd turn I am back at the back. And then I hear people screaming "BARRIERS" WTF? Is this a CRW Saturday am ride where everyone yells out HOLE at the slightest crack in the road? But know I have hope. Oh goodie, people who don't actually race cross. Maybe.

I am somehow in sight of Abel. And Matt and Doug. This seems odd. But then I hear ROYter scream that I am so far off the back its not even funny. I know man but I have this shitty spiny gear. Then he starts heckling me to hop the barriers. He knows I can't hop barriers. Its almost cruel at this point to go there. But I keep battling. Its horrible. People shouldn't have to race SSCX sober. I keep thinking please baby cheezits this is a grassroots jungle CX race, please let someone offer me a Handup. No handups, just hate and heckles. So I see how it is. So I keep racing. My groin is fucked. I can barely get on and off. And the heckles keep raining down. Liz shows some mercy on me and yells positive encouragement. I love you Liz! I hate you Colin!!!! So long story short after 2 laps its a Fate Complete. No way I am catching Abel. And no way anyone behind me is catching me. On a geared bike you can hammer and go harder. Not on a SSCX. Once a gap is formed it is ALL over. Yes it hurt. Yes I suck at SSCX. But now, thanks to Brian aka the devil, I want a dedicated SSCX. Zip ties are fine. But a dedicated bike is cooler. And if I pimp it out and put a massive gear on it who knows!!!! Maybe everyone will be #dronk and I will crush them at Ice Weasels!

HUGE props to my good friend Leslie for trying SSCX and being a trooper. She did awesome. And is really one of my favorite people at the CX races. Next stop on this Zank SSCX World Tour is Orchard CX. I can't even wait.

Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money

Holy Week in the NECX is something special. The term is not as contrived as it sounds. It really is a week that the entire cross community holds on a lofty pedestal. And this one did not fail to deliver. But like a lot of highs in life there is always the low counterpoint to the high. After one of the most fun Night Weasels I can remember we all woke up to the tragic news of losing Amy Dombroski in Belgium in an accident. The news struck us all so hard. AD was a special rider and did so much for US CX and pushing forward women and girls in CX. It really devastated our small community. But once again I am struck by how we all support each other and take care of each other. Heading into Providence I didn't know what to expect. What I found was a spirit and racing style that Amy would approve of. We did what Amy would want us to do. Ride hard, smile, be classy, love each other. There was a moving ride of silence and many hugs that weekend. We miss you AD and you will ride with us in our hearts and souls forever. 

I might be "retired" from racing. Racing as the primary reason I go to races anyway. I have been moving much more into the role of working at the races than racing at the races if that makes sense. Its something I love. Maybe more than the actual racing itself. Racing is a hugely selfish act. The training, time spent away from family etc, the money spent on equipment and race fees. And you need to be very self focused to do well. I have really never been self focused. Its not in my nature. I love my friends and community and get more joy helping them or seeing them have a great race than I ever would doing well in a race. The few times I have done well have felt fairly empty to be honest. Its nice to be fit and beat some frenemies but I know I will never be anything but a mid-pack masters racer. Not making a judgement statement just stating my own metamorphosis in CX. I have resisted in the past and tried to take CX "seriously" but its time to be honest. I love working. I love putting on CX races and events. I love supporting a team and racers who deserve it. So this Holy Week was really about work. And the work I love. And I have to say I came away way more happy than I would have if I'd raced 7 times in 10 days. I raced one race. The Madison relay CX at Providence. And it was amazing! More on that later.

Sometimes I feel like I am one of the Hanleys - The hardest working Jamaican family from the In Living Color skit with the Keenan Ivory Wayans. "Only one job 'mon?" Suffice it to say I wear a lot of hats. We put on a Holy Week Teams of the NECX party at the Ride Studio Cafe, Night Weasels, attended the Builders Ball, worked the Honey Bikes booth at Provience, raced the Madison, promoted the Zank SSCX race, encouraged and supported general mayhem in concert with the Philly SSCX Worlds crew. And took care of a brand new puppy. There is only one way I wasn't a total hot mess by Sunday. Everyone chips in. HUP United has blown my mind. They are the best crew on the planet. In my absence they have manned the HUP tent, worked racers, raced their hearts out and just done what we always do. I love that HUP New England has become such a part of the CX scene. I heard so many race promoters telling me how great it was that the team helped set up race course after race course. Carrie, Markie Mark, Lazer (MVL), Deitch, Michele, everyone. The other side of HUP that makes me so proud is what happens between the tape. Michele and Ed are on fire. They are racing on a whole other level right now. And it is beyond inspiring to me. Both have big jobs, two kids, totally involved parents, always in good moods, always supporting the team and other racers and are having break out seasons. Ed is proof that Tri-athletes can kill it at CX. Frankly I think he is a CX racer now who does a Tri every once and a while. Respect to those two. The fact that Michele can trace her CX street cred back to Boston Cross is icing on the cake. Its why we as a team are growing and not suffering the fate of some other teams who burn bright and then implode.

People often as "what I do?" Fair question. Tough answer. Some is straightforward. Putting on a race is fairly simple in a complex way. Especially when you have ROYter and Pedal Power keeping you in check. But what are all these other hats? We run a series within a series? What is that all about? The Zank SSCX series was and is about growing CX from the bottom up. Not the top down. Make CX more accessible. Make it less intimidating. Less a cliche or cool kids club. If you have met me you know why I want to encourage less cool kids and more everywomen/everyman. I have never been cool. Never will be. The SSCX series has been fantastic this season. And with Philly SSCX Worlds looming I knew it would be something special. When Pat and Richard asked if we could be a part of Providence I knew it would be a launching off point. Showing SSCX off on such a big stage got me so stoked. I had no idea just how rad it would be. I tip my hat to all who made it so fun. And I tip my hat to Pat and Richard for adding in the Madison to Friday's races. Having the SSCX and the CX relay on the same day made Friday one big CX party. Sure the USAC officials were having to shake their heads a lot. And some "serious" racers got their spandex in a bunch at some of the shenanigans. But all in all it was a great gathering of the tribe. Racers from PA, MACistan, MD, NJ, all over came to just get rad. Even Tim Johnson came out to party. Ok I don't know if he actually partied but he was there so...yeah he partied with us.

After the races on Friday I flew over to the Biltmore in Providence for the Builders Ball. The Biltmore is an old time hotel in downtown Providence. When I went to art school in the late '80s we didn't go downtown. It was sketchy as hell. RISD was a great 4 years in my life. Being back in Providence stirred up some old memories but also inspired me in ways that are way more relevant to the future. The Builders Ball had such a good vibe. About 500 people packed into a ballroom drinking beer and talking bikes. Cross Jesus was in rare form. I am not sure what to think. Agent Utah seems to be long gone. Replaced by a character that is so far nameless but resembles a CX Hobo. He may or may not have spent the evening licking the top tubes of very fine handbuilt bicycle frames. I was able to meet a few of the RISD cycling team and that was pretty rad. I remember some of my friends riding way back in the day but no one was organized enough to form a race team. Kudos to the new generation for making this happen. The kits are awesome and I love their attitude about racing and riding. There is a weird Art School bike industry connection. So many racers, builders etc I know have some background in art. Its being replaced a tad by the engineers of the world but it gives me hope that cycling will keep its grunge roots. A bike is after all usable art. 

Night Weasels was a huge success. After 3 years of horrible conditions we finely had a warm and dry evening. The difference was enormous. When you aren't battling the elements you can actually focus on putting on a great race. I know racers love near biblical conditions. I do myself. I love muddy, nasty CX races. But from a promoters standpoint it makes every single action 100% more difficult. And spending two days out in the rain and cold tends to make you sick. Kudos to everyone who came out and had a blast. I love this race. Working with Colin and Sara always cracks me up. Huge thanks to everyone who has supported us and made it possible. Ski Ward deserves major props. They work their tails off on the event each and every year. And they open up their arms to us and let us take over the ski hill and throw one of the raddest CX parties on the planet. 

One of the best parts of the #NECX and our extended CX family are all the characters that fill our ranks. I guess that is why this transition from bike "racer" to bike "worker" bee has been so easy. I would rather hangout and laugh at all that is going on around me than freak out and be so serious that I can't see all the amazing things that happen at a cross race. From taking group photos inside the Boloco burrito truck to taking handups from the Philly SSCX Worlds crew to putting on a Teams of the NECX show at the Ride Studio the whole week was filled with so many cool people and laughs. Below are a few shots from the week that just say it all:

Jon Nable getting a little too rad on a table top. Love that he is shredding Night Weasels on his 29er!

MVL and Leslie with matching Worlds t-shirts. Those two are hilarious. Love how hard Lazer races and love that Leslie is digging racing cross. They both crack me up.

There were so many cool bikes at the Builders Ball. Honey brought three to show. Here is a Final 200 Meters.

I love old hotels. I do get a bit creeped out and envision waking up to Redrum painted on my hotel wall but I like ghosts and am cool with some spirits trying to talk to me.

The big wookie. GeWilli is Providence. Never seen the man so happy. Makes sense as it is his turf. Providence may be my favorite CX venue. It was an incredible course. Like a CX rollercoaster ride. It was so hard if you didn't really understand how it worked. But for me it had everything I love. Fast barrier/stair transitions, technical aspects everywhere, super fast drop ins and lots and lots of fast corners. Even the paved sections didn't bother me. And in all seriousness we need to do more CX relay races. Maybe extend the time. We were supposed to do 45 minutes or an hour. We did almost two hours. And my last lap was in almost darkness. Which I loved. Make it 4-6 hours. Have it go into the night. It would be amazing.

Metal. SSCX and CX are all about Metal in my mind. I said it before I will say it again my friends are what make all of the cool stuff I am involved in happen. Without them it would be impossible. Matt Lolli has been a huge influence on me the last two seasons. He is a great friend and a real warrior on the bike. He's brought so much radness to our SSCX series its not even funny. SSCX is growing. It won't be one thing. I like that everyone puts their own stamp on it. Its ok to race in a bacon suit, its ok to race in full kit and be "serious", its ok to use zip ties, its ok to take handups. Philly SSCX Worlds are going to be bananas. After Providence I am super stoked. I have heard some rumors but for now we will just have to black out December 6, 7, & 8th and #GETINTHEVAN!!!

Miles of Smiles

The Honey One Hundred was amazing. Can't really put into words all that I experienced because I experienced so much during the 7 hours we were out on the bikes. I guess the first thing is to say thank you to Rob, Patria, the whole crew at the Ride Studio, the ride leaders, the support staff and of course all the riders who joined us on this adventure on CX bikes! The title of this post really says it though. Miles of smiles. I have been doing these types of rides for a while. Driving Johnny Utah home he was remarking how great these rides are and how this "started" up about 5 years ago. Granted people have been doing these types of rides since the dawn of bikes. But here in Boston we have been doing these as an "organized" group ride/race for about that span of time. And the rides have evolved in a very holistic fashion. Some are races. Some are rides. Most are bandit. Some have zero support others lightly supported. But the Honey One Hundred was the first fully supported ride like this that I can remember. It was a big undertaking. And even though I was a part of it and helped with some of the logistics I honestly didn't have any idea how much work was going on to make this happen. My first glimpse was on Friday night before the ride. As I was going to bed or trying to as I was pretty nervous about the ride I logged into twitter. I wasn't nervous about my own ride, but because I wanted to make sure everyone who came to the ride had fun and was safe. Throwing a bike party like this is always a leap of faith. Will anyone show up? Will they like it? Will they think that we are crazy because we think this type of riding is "fun"? Lots of thoughts were racing through my brain.

But as I was going to bed I checked my twitter feed and saw a photo of Sal and the Ride Studio crew making cold brew coffees and bottling them. They were preparing all the rest stop food and making delicious snacks late at night. It brought a huge grin to my face and I relaxed and stopped worrying about things. When you work with people who are that dedicated and that passionate, it takes so much pressure off. You can really just do what you do best. The morning of the ride was hectic but really just by the volume of people who showed up. We had 83 riders pre-registered for the ride! We decided to break the groups up into about 7 groups based on speed and technical ability as well as how much time people wanted to spend at the rest stops. We had 5 rest stops over the 100km route. Basically every 10 miles. At each rest stop we had the riders sign in to make sure no one was lost or having an issue. The ride leaders were tasked with keeping everyone together and navigating the course with GPS. I am becoming a big fan of GPS. Especially for these types of rides. Its really the only way to do a ride in the woods like this. In New England we have such a vast and intricate trail network. But its not that well marked. It would be next to impossible to follow the route without a GPS.

My group was a "mountain bike" group. I had a great group. The plan was to use the roads as recovery and the woods as fun. We moved so fast through the woods.  Everyone in the group was an experienced mtn or cross rider so our only "issues" were due more to shenanigans than lack of skill. Doug Jenne and Matt Lolli drove up from CT. It was so great to ride with them all day in the woods. Doug was of course on a SSCX bike. Bad ass to say the least. And it certainly didn't slow him down at all. Met a couple of new riders as well which is always great. And had one of my good friends Scott Novick as Super Domestique! Scott is a beast. No other way around it. He is preparing for the VT 50. That mtn bike race is no joke. I also had my good friend Johnny Utah in the mix. Always a crack up. Been on many an adventure with that man. His in-ride heckles are both vicious and hilarious. We all were on same page about the rest stops! EAT ALL THE FOOD. No easy task we would soon find out! I assumed the rest stops would be water, some Skratch Labs hydration mix and some gels etc. Wrong. At each rest stop we were greeted by a nice support staff. Once we checked in we had cold brew coffee, mochas, cokes and numerous treats to chose from. I won't lie. I think I had a cold brew at each stop. I was so highly caffeinated by the end of the ride it was insane. And might explain one of my more near death crashes towards the end in Carlisle!

The first part of the route was pretty familiar to me. We rode in a two man pace line until the first woods section. Once in the woods we would ride our own speed/pace with separation in between each rider so we could shred. Then we would regroup at the end of the trail. Its a method that really works for keeping a group together in the woods but also ensures everyone has fun. But then things got interesting! Following a GPS in the woods can get challenging. GPS is fine on the road as the satellite has the road info. In the woods it gets "confused" but we stayed on track and were having a great time. We found some incredible trails I had never been on before. I guess this is what makes me just in awe of how Rob has built up these rides. He knows so many "secret" trails and goes out and dials in the route until it is perfect. He does a lot of this at night. It really boggles my mind. And for someone who loves riding in the woods as much as I do it is something I hold in high regard to say the least. So we are smashing through the woods a bit and then Matt just starts laughing and saying "We are going so FAST!!" and he was right! Doug Jenne had gotten on the front and was pegging it. We were on one of the fastest and most flowy trails I have been on in this area. Usually the trails we ride on are a bit nasty. Hidden rocks and roots waiting to smash you. We popped out at the end and everyone was laughing with ear to ear grins.

We somehow popped out at Walden Pond. I still don't know how we did this. It was sort of like jumping in a time machine and being popped out into a woods riding nirvana. We checked in. Regrouped and saw Drew and Matt O'Keefe's group. I have a lot of friends called Matt don't I? It can get confusing at times. Drew is the best. That smile above pretty much sums up what a great guy he is. We split back into groups of 10 and gave them a head start. Frankly we wanted all the ice mochas at the rest stop to ourselves anyway! Let me stop and take a step back for a minute. So the Honey One Hundred was billed as a 100km CX adventure ride. But one of the coolest things about it is that people interpret CX in many different ways. Plenty of people were on CX "race" bikes with either all around or file tread tires. But there were also a bunch of people on winter bikes or rando bikes with either fat slicks or Jet's jammed in. I even saw a couple of road bikes. And yes even a couple of mtn bikes. It was a nice mix and there were some really special bikes on the ride. I tend to be a bike geek so I notice what everyone is riding. The community is what makes these rides so special. Like I said I had a bunch of friends in my group and leading and riding with other groups. It was great bumping into them at the stops or on the trail. Its rare these days to have this much time to spend with your friends. And I always cherish it.

The ride almost went off the rails in Acton as we were flying down a rail trail. Rail trails are almost the most dangerous parts of these rides. In the woods you are lazer focused (ok unless you have had 5 bottles of cold brew!) and flow through the roots and trees at the speed dictated by the terrain and the limitations of tires and brakes. But on a rail trail you can go almost race pace. They are flat and tend to be straight line. But they have little land mines that you don't always see. I was riding next to my good friend Matt Lolli just talking. I was thinking man this is so awesome. Oddly he was thinking the exact same thing when BOOM. His front tire hit a rock I guess and his hands go flying off the bars. He starts careening into the trees. Somehow his bars bounced off his knee and he was able to get both hands back on the bars and stop before certain death. Well not death but some serious loss of flesh. Matt and I took it down a notch after that. And then of course forgot all about it seconds later and were blasting along and getting rad. I have so many great memories from the day. One overall feeling that I am still processing is how much ground we covered and how much we interacted with the communities we rode through. That is one of the really special things about these rides. You get out there. And see what the local towns near you that you would never visit in a car are all about. We rode buy soccer games, baseball games, cook outs. Everyone smiled and waved. People like bikes. They can't help it.

Lunch was amazing. At the half-way point a full lunch with make your own burritos was waiting for us. We sat down and again just enjoyed the day. Said hi to lots of new friends. This was also the second time during the day where the ride almost derailed. Matt Aumiller starts jumping around and says he got stung by a bee. Ok. I sort of ignored him. Then John from the Ride Studio gets stung. Now I am starting to focus through the cold brew haze. Then Doug Jenne comes running out of the woods. slapping himself. All in all I think we had ten bee bites. They probably were wasps. We got some first aid on it but the boys just shook it off and got on the bikes. I love mtn bikers. We joked that bee stings may become a new form of doping. That it gives you a performance advantage. Of course it does...The three guys who were stung were troopers. The only time they really noticed the swelling and pain was when we would stop. So we kept moving of course. One of my favorite trails of the day was one called Otter Slide trail in Carlisle. It was as it sounded like a slip and slide on the ridge above a creek. You had to totally focus on the tiny line of sand winding through the vegetation and not look down at the dropoff to your left! Somehow no one ended up in the creek!

We had zero flats, zero mechanicals, 10 bee stings, and one real crash. Towards the end on the last real technical section the caffeine was really taking its toll, we were all just laughing and shredding the amazing root covered singletrack. John smashed into some roots pretty hard. Then I came up over the top of a lip a touch too fast hit a bunch of roots that then propelled me down the offcamber into a tree. Luckily I grabbed a fist full of brake to scrub some speed but was till about to go face first into a pine tree. I unclipped my left leg and karate kick/self arrested with my sidi dragon. It was probably the funniest crash I have had in a while. We somehow survived this last section of woods and were at the last rest stop. We topped off our bottles, said one last thank you to the amazing support staff and then headed home. It was an incredible feeling rolling in together to the Ride Studio after a full day of riding and adventure. Great food was once again waiting for us! We sat down and even though we weren't "hungry" had to indulge. I have never eaten so well in my life. What a day. HUGE thanks to everyone who came out and did the ride. We need to do more of these rides. So great seeing so many friends and making new ones. Hope everyone had a great day.

One disclaimer: I know a lot of the above text talks about going fast and shredding in the woods etc. I want to be clear that we are all very experienced woods riders and respect the environment and other trails users. We dismounted and walked across Old North Bridge in Concord because the docent asked us to, we stopped for an equestrian group we saw in Acton, we said hi and always slowed down for any hikers/dog walkers. To be honest we saw very few people in the actual woods. The biggest group was a group of equestrians who we stopped and talked to in Acton. These types of rides are new so we ask that you always be respectful and nice and yield to other trail users.

#OccupySinglespeed

True confession time. I have never "raced" a singlespeed CX race. That may be shocking coming from a co-promoter of a singlespeed CX series. Sure, alongside my teammate and bike twin Leah Pappas-Barnes, I am the NECX/Intergallatic/World Champion of coed relay SSCX. But I have never, ever "raced" the SSCX race at Ice Weasels. That is a party, where a bike "race" breaks out. The past two seasons I have been head cheerleader/minister of mayhem for the SSCX series. We have been building up the series and I have wanted to make sure everything went smoothly. But I am learning to let go. This season I am bringing the funk back. My mission is to only race SSCX. Bold statement but true. I blame Ray, and Team Awesome, and Parsons, and a whole legion of dirty single speeders.Those two pictured above are probably the most responsible for this. Matt Lolli and Matt Aumiller are beyond rad. They know how to have fun while turning themselves inside out. SSCX isn't just some hipster tractor pull. Yeah everyone focuses on the handups and the cross dressing and the chaos but what gets missed in haze of all the paisley sundresses and Beyond the Thunderdome sideshow is that it strips CX down to a very pure and brutal 45 minutes. And it brings the fun/funk back into a sport, that in New England anyway, is teetering on the brink of taking itself way too seriously. 

photo by Ginelle

Quad CX was both the season opener for the Zanconato SSCX series as well as the official start of cross season in New England. There were over 440 racers battling it out at the Maynard Rod and Gun club on Sunday. If there is a better venue to get the season started than a gun club I can't think of one. Quad cycles has done a great job building this race up into a New England Classic. Ted and his crew changed the course up a bit. They put the start/finish on a grass field which was much better than the old finish on an uphill dust bowl! They also added a nice twisty field to increase lap times. Deciding to only race SSCX may be the best decision I have ever made. The SSCX race at Quad was the last race of the day. This afforded me a very gentlemanly Sunday am. While my phone was blowing up with texts and instagram photos of dusty carnage and freak outs, I was rolling on my CX bike to Cutler for a soulrun. Why not? My initial plan was to ride the bike to Quad and race, but the realities of bringing two cases of podium beer for the SSCX race squashed that idea fast. Its been way too long since I have ridden Cutler anyway. So I rolled out around 10 am and got about an hour and a half just enjoying the woods and riding over rickety boardwalks. It was a gorgeous day. I felt slightly guilty missing the fun of 100 Cat 3s clawing and scratching each other to pieces for 48th place. But then I dove into a pump track solo and forgot all about that.

I left my house at 12:30. The manvan was packed with beer, a bike and some cold drinks. Damn I love local grassroots races. I got the venue and had no problem finding a great spot to park in the soccer field. And there waiting for me was the Death Star in all its glory. Carrie deserves HUGE kudos for setting it up and picking the perfect spot. Team tent placement is critical to enjoying a day at the cross races. This may seem trivial but its not. You need to be in a key spot to both heckle, get the bikes ready, attend to any disasters that may unfold and to have fairly easy access to the start/finish. The HUP tailgater was at mid-season form yesterday. Impressive to say the least. This season is only one race old and I can already tell its going to be something special. HUP both new and OG were in large numbers for an early season race. And we had some VIP guest hecklers as well. I finally got to meet Cyclismas Editor Leslie Cohen. This was her first cross race. And she crushed it! Very stoked she had so much fun racing. She is also a Cat 1 heckler I will say that!

I messed about with my bike getting it ready until Abel just could not take the site of me fumbling with tools like a 600 pound gorilla and politely had me move away from the bike before I did any damage to it or myself. We are pretty lucky to have such great support on HUP. So my CX and mechanical knowledge under that Noir tent. This was my first race zip tying a geared bike as a SSCX machine. I made a fairly lame attempt at picking a gear. Still not sure what gear it was. Let's call it the magic gear! SSCX is a tough event to pick a SS gear. You need to have a big enough gear to go fast on the flats and sprint out of corners but you also want a gear that is fun and that you can get rad on. I don't think I picked a very good gear but what are you gonna do. Over thinking SSCX defeats the whole purpose. We had 47 men and 4 women on the line. I got a second row call up which was rad. I was right next to Nick "Ironman" Maggiore and Markie Mark. Have I mentioned I haven't been on my cross bike in a while? Yeah. Transitioning from a mtn bike to a CX bike is always interesting. Quad is a pretty jungly course. Today was dusty and fast with a fair amount of gravel. Time to do some serious drifting!!!! I also was on last years tubular glue job. It was Wilcox approved but still hitting a gravel filled corner at 20 mph on last years glue job can be a test of will and flesh.

The gun went off and in a dust cloud SSCX season was on!!! During the earlier races Carrie tweeted out about how many HUP were reg'd for the SSCX race.  We had 10 riders in the race! She coined the best hashtag ever and what will be our mantra for the rest of the season. #Occupysinglespeed. HUP is going to be all over the SSCX series this year! We had Rosey in full OG HUP Bleu, Markie Mark, Abel and Parke in Blanco, and the rest of us in a mash up of B sample and Noir. We also had one of our newest HUP in the Special Rooster kit. That kit was a beacon for me in that first dust filled mayhem filled lap. The course was a tough one. Lots of crazy loose sandy ups and downs, a ripper of a descent and of course my favorite euro chute woods section. I only wanted to ghost shift on the gravel descent. I could feel my index finger getting twitchy as I spun out at about 150 rpm. Then I would get bored and just coast. There was some carnage fairly early on. Abel had some difficulty. And Jerry's bike decided to assplode on him. Both of them came FLYINg by me with a lap or two to go. Those two are legit SSCX killahs.

I had so much fun. Was in a fun group with Parke and Nick and Phil for a while. It really was a huge learning experience and I was constantly screaming NOBRAKES to myself in my head. The only thing you have in SSCX is momentum. My usual come in hot, slam on the brakes, power shift and accelerate out of corners clearly was not going to work on a SS. So I tried to be way more smooth. I think this is going to be the biggest learning in the SS Dojo this season. That and power. And running. Damn not being able to shift down changes the game. Go harder or get off and run. ENGVT had a great crew. So great seeing those dudes out smashing and always bringing it. Some shoutouts:

• Johnny Utah aka Matt Aumiller gets the dirty double award for racing the Landmine mtn bike race in the am and then the SSCX in the afternoon

• Matt Lolli gets the Paul Bunyan award for chopping down a tree with his body in the Cat 3 race and then smashing it in the SSCX

• Nick gets the Triple Crown for doing 3 races at Quad. And never complaining about being tired or mentioning once on the tubes about how "hard" it was. He was shivering at the start of the SSCX race. It was about 80 degrees. I am pretty sure he had heat stroke.

• Markie Mark and Abel pretty much tied for most photogenic HUP rider. I may have to force them to wear Blanco all season.

• Carrie, Julia, Sara, Cori and Tami get high fives for coming out and racing hard. Julia and Tami got a bit bloodied up but were still smiling. I hope they aren't too dinged up. It just looked like a flesh wound.  If you ask them I think they would all tell you SSCX is a blast. We would love more women to come and race with us. It really is awesome. I promise you will have fun. Everyone looks out for each other. People pass safely and it is becoming a real family.

• We have an Official Photographer! Ben Stephens takes amazing photos. We are so lucky to have him shooting photos for the series. The 3 action photos above are his work!

Next stop on the Zank SSCX World Tour is the double NH weekend. White Park is Saturday, September 21, and Sucker Brook is Sunday, September 22.

Thank you to our sponsors: Ipswich Ale, ENGVT, Boloco, Death Touch Cross

Honey One Hundred

The Honey One Hundred will be held Saturday, September 14th at the Ride Studio Cafe in Lexington Center, MA. What is the Honey One Hundred? The Honey One Hundred is the "first" ride project Honey has put together! The "first" is in quotation marks because all of us at Honey have been doing these types of rides and leading these types of rides for years. There are so many secret/forgotten paths winding all through New England. Some are maintained with almost reverence. Others are rough and strewn with sticks and leaves and other trail debris. But its this balance that makes riding in the woods and on the less beaten path that has drawn us so into this type of riding. Its hard to define what this type of riding is. It really is a pretty new thing. I call it a cross ride because I have a cyclocross background. And riding your cross bike on basically an endurance mtn bike ride has always been a huge part of cyclocross. The woods are where crossers gain their skills. Nothing improves bike handling like riding a cross bike on a singletrack trail. But that is just one aspect of the ride.

Another part of these rides, and one that I personally am in awe of, is riding a "road" bike in the woods. When I say road bike I mean a road-style bike that can handle wide tires. At least 28. Bigger is even better. Disc brakes are changing what a "road" bike is as well. One of the bikes we are really excited about at Honey is called the All Roads. It is a bike purpose built for this type of riding. As its moniker implies it is built to handle all roads. Even roads that would not be considered a road but a path. I have even seen my friends ride technical singletrack on these bikes with zero problem. It always blows my mind. Yes you have to adjust a bit and ride smart. Once and a while dismount for a stone wall or slick rooted section. But the satisfaction that comes from being able to ride through such beautiful woods can't be measured. There is a reason the riders are always smiling in the photos from these rides. This type of adventure riding is just so much fun. It brings you back to why you started riding a bike in the first place.

On Saturday the 14th The Honey One Hundred will start and finish at the Ride Studio Cafe in Lexington. It will be a 100km on and off-road adventure ride. 100km when the route is 50% off road can take a while. This ride isn't a race. Its a fun day on the bike. We are anticipating ride times between 6-10 hours. We will serve breakfast, mid-ride meal and post-ride meal. It will be a great day of riding, eating, drinking and adventuring! Pre-registration will be required so we can plan for food and support. This ride will include so many of the great paths and roads we all love. Matt Roy, Roger Cadman and I did a recon ride last weekend. Matt and Roger were on 28 slicks and I was on my CX bike with 32 Clement MXPs (an all arounder CX tire). We rode about 40 miles of the route. The course has an amazing mix of history, classic New England paved roads and wooded paths and single track. Riding Battle Road always blows my mind. Admittedly I am a history buff but its hard to not love both the historical aspect and the shear beauty of riding on a nice path through woods and farms. It can get a bit busy but that is easily managed by just slowing down and being nice and respectful to all the other path users.

We crossed North Bridge and said hello to a Redcoat! Many photos were taken and smiles once again on all of our faces. Matt mentioned that a ranger asked him to walk the bikes across the bridge a week or so ago. There weren't any signs posted but out of respect its probably a good idea. This type of riding is relatively new so it is a good idea to be respectful and always be a good ambassador for cycling. A simple hello goes an amazingly long way to building bridges with other open space users and will ensure our continued access to these great paths and trails.

I have lived here for 8 years. I have been riding in the Lexington area for 5 of those years. On Saturday I rode some of the nicest paths for a cross bike I have ever been on. I literally started laughing at one point it was so nice. Its almost like you have found some secret that no one else knows about. And its this secret stash that we hope to share with all of you. The ride will include all meals, drinks, and snacks. Omnivore, vegan, and gluten-free options will be available. Limited edition t-shirts will be for sale. To pick up the t-shirts on the day of the Honey One Hundred orders will need to be placed by September 3rd. Bring a working bike, a helmet, plenty of tubes and tools, money, two water bottles and a sense of adventure. The ride will be well-supported with ride leaders and sweepers. Groups of 6-10 will leave the Ride Studio at 8 am on Saturday. If you would like you can register for the ride and use your own GPS to self guide yourself on the route. A cyclocross bike with wide tires is the best bet. But a road bike with clearance for at least 28c will work for those who are comfortable riding in a wooded environment on that platform. There will be some singletrack and some rocks and roots.

But back to the recon ride with Matt and Roger. We left the Ride Studio really excited to see what Rob had put together. We followed the GPS file onto Battle Road. I had to stop a bunch to take photos. There are just so many things that catch your eye. We rode a very mellow pace as the path was pretty busy with joggers and walkers. At the end of the path we cut through to Old North Bridge the site of the first day of battle in the Revolutionary War. We were greeted only by smiles by the Redcoat standing watch over the bridge. Matt joked with him about how it might have turned out if Paul Revere would have been on a steel horse instead of a flesh and blood one. I suspect he might not have been caught if he was on the bike Matt was riding. After this trip through history we continued on to Red Coat Lane and an open space I have never ridden before. It is a gorgeous loamy path that winds through the woods of Concord. We had it all to ourselves except for a few dog walkers. When we popped out it was nice to get back together on pavement and continue on our adventure. We rode a bunch of different types of paths and roads. I don't want to reveal too much of it as I don't want to ruin the surprise. But trust me you are in for a real treat. It is going to be a fantastic route!

We will meet the morning of the ride for a light breakfast, then break into groups and head out. We will have fun-, medium- and fast-paced groups. The ride is a no-drop ride but its best to pick a good group that suits your speed and how you would like to pace yourself. At the mid-point we will stop for lunch. Then upon our return to the Ride Studio we will have a post-ride meal. It will be a full day of riding, good food and adventure. The 40 miles we did Saturday flew by. One of the most fun parts of these rides is how each rider has different strengths and weaknesses. And how each person's bike is equipped to tackle some parts of the rides better than others. It really becomes this great teeter totter. I tend to be a bit better on the technical terrain but not as strong on the climbs or roads. But my teammates are strong on the road and push me and protect me from the wind. The teamwork really is one of my favorite parts of these rides. We share food, and water and stories. I have made so many of my good friends this way.

I hope you can come out and join us. For those new to this type of riding it is a perfect entry to adventure. Ride leaders will help with the route and help make sure everyone has fun. For more experienced riders it is a chance to explore some really cool trails together. If you have any questions fire me an email at velocb@mac.com. We are down to less than two weeks. Get your bike ready, get some miles in and we will see you at the Ride Studio for the Honey One Hundred! To register go to Bikereg and fill out the information.

Pug Life

Working with Honey Bikes has been an amazing journey. Its only been a short seven months but its already taken me places I have never been before. Or even thought possible. D2R2 has been on my bucket list since I moved to Boston. I would get so stoked to do it each year and then something would come up. Or I would be too nervous or psyche myself out. So it never happened, until this year! I work with a great crew at Honey. Just being around them has brought out the type of rider that I really always was, I just wouldn't allow myself to become.  Its easy to get lured into the siren song of "racing" but the fact is I will never be a good racer. I like to ride. I love going on rides where we end up getting lost or having to hike a bike up some crazy overgrown rock strewn hill. I love simple bikes. I have always had a thing for steel. My idea of a great ride is one that includes dirt. All rides, no matter what bike you are on must include dirt. Woods or some long gravel road are even better. The ability to travel through a broad range of parks and open spaces even better.

Doing D2R2 as a team made so much sense. Roger Cadman, Rob Vandermark and I have been doing a ton of riding together. And we have been thinking so much about the types of bikes we would use for the ride. The first bike that we rolled out for one of these types of rides was Roger Cadman's Winterrando. Its a great bike. Just as the name implies its equal parts winter bike, equal parts rando bike. Plenty of room for big tires, fenders, racks, long reach calipers. Just a great bike. Roger would be riding that bike with 28s. I have been riding my Honey CX pretty much non-stop since I rode it for the first time at the Ronde de Rosey. I love the bike. It has replaced my road bike. And with the addition of TRP 8.4s has become so much fun in the woods. Its amazing how the ability to stop can actually improve your experience riding in the woods! Joking aside the TRP mini-Vs. are a big jump up from cantilevers. I have used every cantilever brake I could get my hands on. For cross racing it really doesn't matter. But when you are descending down a gravel road at 30 mph it matters. A lot. The 8.4s give you a ton of confidence. Its not one finger disc brake breaking but its close. The other revelation of late has been the Clement LAS 33 file treads. They have lots volume and roll pretty fast. I know people do D2R2 on 25s but for me I really enjoy being able to descend at speed with confidence on these types of rides. To me descending, comfort and safety were all big factors in choosing the LAS.

Rob had a special bike he was cooking up for D2R2. We have done a version of the All Roads specifically for D2R2. But I could tell Rob had some new ideas that he wanted to put into play. When he showed up with a gorgeous All Roads 700c with mechanical disc brakes I knew we were in for a special day. One of the coolest things about Honey is we are constantly pushing the limit of what the bikes can do. And how they look. The paint that has been coming out of the shop has been amazing. Each paint job just gets better than the last. For this bike we introduced the bee icon. The "maker" if you will. This was Rob and my first D2R2. I wasn't nervous as Rob and Roger and I match up really well. Rob is an incredible bike handler. It can't even be put into words how well he can handle the bike.  Roger is a solid climber and a diesel engine on the flats. I am sort of an odd mix. Very comfortable descending. Not a great climber but not afraid to suffer. Our goal from the moment we signed up was to just have fun. Stay together. Not put anyone in jeopardy by going to hard or fast. We rolled out on the 115k at about 8:15. Just pulling into the parking lot at D2R2 it felt like a CX reunion. So many faces I hadn't seen since last winter. Tons of hugs and high fives.

It also became apparent that D2R2 is like a rolling NAHBS. So many gorgeous bikes. And so many different types of bikes and riders. People were in such good moods and so friendly. All the volunteers were super helpful. We had special Honey Team Rapha jerseys embroidered with our logos. I am sort of embarrassed to say I really have only worn my team kit for the last 3-5 years. Wearing a garment as nice as the Rapha jersey was such a nice change of pace. People respond so differently to you when you are in a non-team kit. They smile at you and are more apt to slow down and talk. We had a really great roll out for the first 15 miles or so. Both Roger and Rob had Garmins with the course loaded so I could really just chill and ride and talk. I didn't even bring my phone with me! I can't say enough how freeing that felt. All we were doing was riding. Pure and simple. No other agenda or distractions. Just the three of us following the course and enjoying each others company. There were some tough climbs. Obviously. You are riding in Western Mass and up into VT. But even with all the hard climbing you would pop out on some ridge and there would be a farm with sheep or some weird barn covered in cool stuff and you would just smile. 

At lunch we regrouped with a bunch of friends who were doing different routes or had started out earlier than we had. It was incredible really. The lunch was held on the bank of a nice stream, right at the foot of a classic covered wood bridge. The highlight of the day was seeing a couple roll up to lunch in casual clothing, with their daughter in a bike seat and a pug in a bike basket! I still don't know how this is possible! The pug was soooo happy. Seemed to be enjoying the riding more than all the humans! After a nice lunch and lots of great conversations we joined up with two riders from the Ride Studio Cafe. They were a great addition to our group. Really strong riders and super nice. Its always a great sign when you can meet someone for the first time after riding 2 hours and then just all flow together as if you had known each other for years. Both were on Seven mudhoneys. Gorgeous bikes to say the least. In my mind a cross bike is the best choice for this ride. But I tend to like to descend at what some might call aggressive speeds. There really were only two times during the ride where I was on the razors edge while descending. One was actually a "paved" road. It came pretty shortly after the lunch stop. And as we dropped into it I remembered one of my friends who has done D2R2 a ton had warned me about it at lunch. But the Honey has super powers. That might sound like hyperbole but its true. I have never ridden a more stable and capable bike in my life. People were remarking at how stable it was even on the craziest of gravel roads. Some of this can certainly be attributed to the 33s. Those tires smoothed out so much of the rough stuff.

I have so many great memories of D2R2. My only regret is not swimming in one of the many creeks we passed by as we were riding down gravel roads. Rob's "test" bike stood the trial by fire with high marks. We had zero mechanicals. No flats. No crashes. No bonking. In all honesty I don't think any of us was even close to being in difficulty. Really it was all about pacing and working together to make sure we were always ok and never in danger of bonking. I am biased but I think a lot of the credit goes to the Honey Bikes. They are three very different bikes for three very different riders. But that is really the core of what we are trying to do. Build bikes both for the ride and rider. Its a pretty different approach than trying to fit the rider to the bike. Next up is the Honey One Hundred. I hope a bunch of you will join us. It will be on Saturday, September 14th. 100k of fun riding, 66% of road/34% on road. Meals, drinks and snacks will be provided. It will be another ride with a ton of adventure and more smiles per mile!