thorpe -> lgp -> thorpe

There is no shortage of beauty in Northeastern Pennsylvania!

spank the monkey!

Yet another action packed, fun filled weekend of mountain bike racing and hanging with great folks in the books. This time I hooked up with the infamous DCCOD, I think it stands for Delaware Cyclists Confused Organized Departure, and headed down to the Quantico Marine Corp Base for the 12hrs of the Cranky Monkey. We had a big enough crew to almost cover a rider or team in every class. I, along with my trusty side kick Amy, comprised the Sooper Dooper Duo in the Coed Duo catergory. After arriving at Quantico man, we took off on a pre-ride of the course. Swoopy, climby, fast, and fun. I could not wait to rip it up! Unfortunately, one of our group members went down and ended up hurting his finger pretty bad and could not partake in the race itself the next day. After setting up our station, we all headed to the hotel for some food, beverage, and rest. At dinner, Rotten Rob, inducted the group into the newly dubbed Frank Zappa Kappa with fancy pink t-shirts. The Sooper Dooper Duo's race strategy was simple. Double up on the laps for a few rounds, then kick it back to singles for the rest of the day. We stuck to the plan and managed to pull out top honors in the Coed Duo class. Great job Wonder Woman! As for the rest of the FZK: Chris and Ethan pulled off 1st in SS Duo, followed by Bob and Buddy the Keg Breaker in 2nd in SS Duo. Rotten Rob, Fatmarc, and Diane got 2nd in the 3-person Open. Jan and Blair pulled out 2nd in the Masters Male Duo. Wes and Matt rolled out 1st for the Male Duo, with Wes having the fastest lap time. Levi bested the Solo class with Andrew not far behind in 5th and Fitzy hung with 5th in the Solo SS class. A big thanks goes out to Tom and Meghan for being the support for the entire day. With pink t's littering the podium I would say that the FZK spanked the monkey!

tonights forecast...dark!

In lew of lou, some must needed rest is required. It is tuff to do, but good for you. Future endevours! Nice stuff! Gettin' results! Dutch treats! See ya there! Return of the Jedi!

ERC

So you want to ride some singletrack?

slightly stoopid 50

State college riding is burley! Almost 50 miles of it, mostly singletrack, is dashingly strenuous. The good old 4-H camp was the hostess with the mostess once again for some epic riding/racing in the Penn Roosevelt/Rothrock Forests. The usual suspects were out in full force to lay it down on some of the most technical, shall I say rocky, terrain there was to offer. The mood was set on Saturday night, which it was almost too hard to stop drinking beer in order to rest up for the next days adventure. I guess that is part of the mistique of the 4-H camp. Needless to say, the race was going to be fun. Figuring on some aide stations, I rolled out with two bottles on the horse and one in the pocket. Quickly, on the first downhill, I realized why I should have put new bottle cages on my bike. After spending some time in the woods looking for the magical elixir, I got on my way. Perhaps another downhill or two could solidify the stronghold or lack there of, of my bottle cages. I pressed on moving through the woods on familiar trail and just staying hydrated the best I could bewteen water stops. After the second water station, on the third half of the race, I started to amp it up a little. Rolling through the final section of singletrack I was relieved to give my plush rigid fork a break from smoothing out the bumps all day, and was on my way to the coldest warm beer I was imagining for most of the ride. Rolling through the finish I had a time of 5hrs 9min. My traveling mate, Amy, rolled in with 6hrs 40min. Pretty sweet indeed! On terrain like that, anybody who stuck it out to the end is a true victor! Props go out to the jackass that didn't race and led his girlfriend in after she spent 9hrs out in the woods. He looked fresher than a peach!

WUWH

Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams, Telling myself it's not as hard as it seems...