There was a knock at that door that shook through their hearts

recap on last weekend. a large turnout for the peanut butter festival despite the poor weather. luckily no rain during the race. a challenging 15 mile course. jason forgot his helmet and finally found one to borrow only to realize he forgot his shoes to... jimmy passes me around mile nine or so, passes up the trail marking as i yell for him to return and he never caught back up. i finished fourth overall, 1st singlespeed and jimmy finished first in his age category. **jars of peanut butter went up to three dollars. we still bought two cases but i am not even sure that is a discount.

ended up not going to the other race - still have a slight cold as i leave for Nova Scotia today.

i am almost finished with packing. we now have a total of four people going on the trip. jimmy finally came to and realized he is going to go and we picked up a girl bike racer from pittsburgh that we recently started hanging out with. she did the seven springs race solo so there shouldnt be any problem with her abilities.



it looks like the weather is going to be fantastic. Dave Krack who was there in july doing the Ride The Lobster unicycle race said they experienced 52° days then. the ten day forcast for halifax showed sunny days in the upper 50's and nights in the lower 40's. can't wait for these next three weeks.

i am taking no phone so i will not have any email, text, or phone access. i am however taking a camera. take care and i will post pictures after i return.

there was a fanfare blowing to the sun that was floating on a breeze

Two races this weekend. The Peanut Butter Festival and the Michaux 50 miler I have been doing the peanut butter festival for the past three or so years. Its a great 15 mile race and we always pick up a case of $2 jars of smuckers peanut butter Currently it is raining here and it is possible it will rain for the next five or so days. Follow Hurricane Ike. That and the fact that i am still sick is making this weekend a tough decision. I did some changes on my 29er that dropped it a couple pounds. That should make it much more pleasant to ride/race. Racing this weekend is up in the air as of now. If i am going to race id like to do both.




Pumking!! Had it this weekend on tap at Sharp Edge This beer is fantastic and the best pumpkin beer i have had-not to take away from some of the other great pumpkin beers but once you have had this it would be hard to drink the rest.
We love the Sharp Edge and after seeing Fat Heads with a team at the 24 Hour Subaru Championship I decided to ask Sharp Edge if they would be interested in sponsoring a bike team. Ill keep you posted.


As for Nova Scotia. I found out the ferry we were planning to take there stops the first week in october so we are now driving another 5.5 hours to st. johns, new brunswick to catch that ferry. the pluses are that we will save $100 on ferry fees and parking is free compared to $10 a day. plus this ferry runs every day opposed to twice a week. I purchased two waterproof stuff sacks for my sleeping bag and tent and a pair of chacos

The adventure is right around the corner!!

and the rabid bits of time have been eating you....

a short recap on the laurel classic championship as i remember. 22 mile single loop course.. start 4 mile climb... climbed with a lot of strong racers.. stuck with two other single speeders who at the time were unsure of how fast they were. after that climb i was still racing with the other singlespeeders but realized they were stronger riders than me. mile 12... still 3rd singlespeeder and enter another LONG climb. 3 miles after that climb i am passed by jason and soon after jimmy. we are all racing close together and i am having fun since i was racing alone much of the course.

bottom of the hill and entering the woods jimmy breaks a chain and i lose sight of diurba. eventually i come across diurba on the side of the trail fixing his tire. LONG descent. would have been a lot more fun with a suspension fork or at least less tire pressure. surprised to see the finish at the bottom. finish 3rd single speeder with two single speeders i never saw pretty damn close to me.

a good race with cash payouts and talented strong racers. TOO far away - 4 hour drive....ill informed and i thought it was going to be a two hour trip.

some excellent beer and a home cooked meal- magnotto's carrot/spinach pasta with eggplant, squash, tomatoes and peppers (all from the garden) and a pumpkin cheesecake. peanut butter festival is this saturday.

but gravity always wins, and it wears him out, it wears him out.

off to the laurel classic mtn bike challenge. looking forward to this race although i just found out about it yesterday. 22mile single loop. i found myself with a fever, clammy, and drop dead weak this week. i am still not fully recovered because as i found myself soaked in sweat this morning and as i now type i am clammy. should be ok enough to race as i have energy. ill be racing singlespeed but hoping to place in the overall category.

the difference a GEAR makes.

24 hours of seven springs recap.

dry weather and mild temperatures made for a pleasant environment. the course however was equally brutal as it was fun. i have been riding single speed for about two and a half years and this was the first time i changed my gearing on my bike. the first lap was brutal wondering how i would be able to climb another lap. battling the rocky sections of this course left for no power when it came time to climb. it was a course for big wheels and gears but not that bad of a course for the SS after getting the proper gear down. justin pulled consecutive 59min laps but there were some boys sponsored by the state of pennsylvania who were ridiculously fast and skillful. here are my laps as i remember. we placed 2nd and it was a battle to the last couple laps.

lap 1: 1hr 5min 29in 33x18
lap 2: 1hr 4min 29in 33x19
lap 3: 1hr 8min 29in 33x19
lap 4: 1hr 4min 29in 33x19
lap 5: 1hr 4min 26in Geared

jimmy at the top of the big climb 7 or 8 miles into the 12 mile course


heath. strong and consistent.


diurba. riding strong with walking pneumonia. way to stay strong durb.


our fast girl paula and our help for the race becky. she was awesome and we wouldnt have been nearly as on top of our game if not for her. thanks becky! also...without her we wouldnt have these photos.


paula. turning her fastest lap at 1hr 18min. nice paula.


what you feel like. sometimes more often than not.


the final lap. top of the climb awaits a paleo ipa a few swallows of that was fantastic after that climb. good idea!


finished racing and celebrating a great job racing. waiting for me to finish my final lap.



to my team we did a great job and it was a fun race. congrats to pro bikes for pulling off a win and everyone else who raced. peanut butter fest is next weekend and then i will be touring nova scotia. talked to justin about cross racing and will try to join in a few of those races this fall when i return. happy labor day.