I really enjoy riding my singlespeed, and this year decided my season objective would be to tackle another epic endurance mtb race, the Park City Endurance 100 (PCE100). Last year I raced another 100 miler, the Cascade Cream Puff. It was hard, but I had a great time. I’d read online that the PCE100 was harder, but didn’t think twice about it.

I drove from Truckee with my friends Matt & Rich, and met our friends Dave and Jen Noble, their two daughters and Jen’s parents, who generously hosted us all at their house in Park City for the weekend. Park City reminds me of Northstar in Truckee, a large sprawling ski area on gentle, family-friendly hills.

The race was REALLY hard. Unlike the Cream Puff, the climbs were all technical singletrack, much of it difficult on a singlespeed. The trails were super fun, all rideable, flowing, in and out of the trees. It was also fun to see and race with our friend Erika formerly from Truckee who was there with her husband Pete. With the exception of Dave, none of us finished. Here are their stories:

• Rich: brought his bazooka to a knife fight: racing slick tires and a 34X18 gear on his Sycip singlespeed. He opted out at 50 miles, changed his registration, becoming the 1-speed winner of that distance (wish I’d thought of that).
• Matt: had the longest list of problems I’ve heard of in a race: 4 miles in on a climb he was in the middle of a line of riders when the guy in front of him crashed, Matt ran into him, then was run into from behind. His saddle popped off the rails and his derailleur hanger was bent. Creatively, he used one of his arm warmers to tie his saddle on and made it to the first aid station where someone loaned him a saddle, but not before fixing a flat on the way. Since he was so far behind, but looks so pro, a volunteer thought he was a lap ahead and directed him the wrong way. I knew something had gone wrong when I caught up with him from behind even though I had just heard he was an hour behind me. After all that, he ran into my bad attitude, and that was it for him.
• Dave: Rode strong, stuck to his nutrition/hydration plan of an Ensure and fresh camelback at each aid station. Rode strong and steady the whole time and finished 11th overall with a time around 12 hours.
• Erika: Only had to finish to shore up her win in the National Endurance Series. She was in 2nd place after getting lost twice and decided she’d had enough and called it quits.
• Most of the other racers: All of us feel a little better since only 23 out of 60 or so racers finished.

As for me? I headed out with the leaders, then got a flat at 20 miles and was passed by ~10 riders while I fixed it (and almost lost my wheel down a VERY steep hill when I dropped it while trying to put it back on the bike). I had bars, gels, blocks, Gatorade nutrition shakes, and Starbucks doubleshots in my cooler and every lap tried to throw down whatever I could stomach and take whatever I could fit in my pockets- usually a coffee, 2-3 gels and 2 bottles (or camelback). After 60 miles I was in 5th place overall, and ahead of the next singlespeed by 2 hours. However, I was over it. I was out of energy and not having fun. As soon as I started “praying for a mechanical” so I had a legitimate reason to quit, I decided I was done. When I caught Matt, he and I decided to pack it in, so we took a long break on the side of the trail before turning around and heading down.

This is the first race I’ve ever not finished, which is definitely a bummer. I wasn’t ready for it- 100 miles on a mtb takes a lot of training, and I should have known I was in trouble when I didn’t finish my 60 mile training ride. I’m not sure if I’ll go back, but anything’s possible….

Special thanks:

• Dave and Jen Noble for arranging accommodations
• Jen’s parents Dick and Judy Valliere for providing unbelievably fantastic accommodations and a BBQ to boot!
• Gary Leuders for showing us the trails the day before the race (where Rich and I saw a moose) and for helping us in transition
• Erika’s husband Pete for helping us in transition

Trek released a new singlespeed mountain bike this year. Since I’m taking a break from racing Xterra and focusing on endurance singlespeed mountain bike racing, this was the bike I selected for 2008. While there was a slight delay in receiving the bike, it was well worth the wait.
This singlespeed hardtail bike is called a 69er, since it has a 26” rear wheel, and a 29”front wheel. It was developed by mountain bike Olympian / alternative MTB legend Travis Brown, who I’ve had the misfortune of racing against at Sea Otter (there’s nothing quite like getting beaten by 4 minutes, well actually there is - more on that later). It’s the first of Trek’s 69er line, in 2008 they will be producing geared hardtail and full suspension versions as well. The original 69er will remain largely unchanged for 2008.
Frame: The frame is aluminum, which works great for this application. Since singlespeeders spend a lot of time climbing out of the saddle and reefing on the handlebars, a stiff frame is key. If I may dream for a minute, I’d love to see Trek make this in Carbon Fiber, especially since no other manufacturers are doing it…
It may sound strange to have a 29” front wheel and a 26” rear wheel, and the bike indeed looks different. However, there are sound reasons behind this, and after riding it all season, I’ve become a believer.

1. The 29” Front wheel rolls better. The larger contact area, and larger wheel diameter cause the wheel to roll faster and not get deflected as easily as a 26” wheel, most noticeable on rocky descents. The bike descends SO well, I feel almost as fast as I do on my full-suspension.
2. The 26” rear wheel accelerates faster than a 29” wheel and allows for shorter chainstays, which climb better (I’ve never ridden a full 29er, but both points sound reasonable).
3. The sliding dropouts are just about the coolest thing ever. They allow the user to run a standard quick release hub as well as a normal BB. This facilitates tire changes and chain adjustments. Speaking from experience with all singlespeed options, the sliding dropouts are so much better than horizontal dropouts or an eccentric BB that I can’t imagine either of those will be around for long..
4. The rootbeer brown color is terrific. It looks very cool. (though this year I’ve certainly done my best to scratch a tremendous amount of paint cartwheeling the bike across the rocks)
5. The geometry is perfect. Since I ride a medium, I was concerned the handlebar would be too high and it would be difficult to weight the wheels optimally while climbing. Turns out, it climbs as well as it descends.
6. It sure gets a lot of attention! It’s a unique and new design, and I get comments and questions on every ride and at every race.
7. The Bontrager Race X lite wheels are stiff and light. I don’t notice any wheel flex, whether climbing out of the saddle, or hard cornering on descents.

While I sincerely like the bike, I feel there are a few minor areas for improvement (of course I pretty much feel that way about everything in life:

1. The whole thing should be lighter. 25 lbs is too heavy for a singlespeed. It’s pretty easy to lighten it up, but it would be nice if it came that way, though that would make it more expensive…
2. The bike should be a little cheaper. I realize this is in direct contradiction to my quest for it to be lighter, and I understand this is surely a result of a small production run of a new product, but feasibly this will change when they start mass producing it.
3. As mentioned, the frame would be ridiculously cool if it were carbon, though I’m not sure how that would stand up to my recent rash of crashes…
4. The fork should be toned down (see pt 1). The bike comes with a 3.75lb Maverick dual-crown fork. While the travel is nice, as a traditionalist I find the thru-axle a little inconvenient and the double crown over spec’ed. A Rock Shox Reba Race would be 0.25lb lighter.
5. The rear disc rotor should either come spec’ed as 140mm, or allow an adapter. Most racers are running this to save weight, since most braking power comes from the front anyway.
6. It needs a second bottle cage mount. Since I train and race for the longer endurance events, I need to carry more fluids, and don’t want to carry a camelback.

Interestingly, the complaint I hear most from non-believers is you have to carry 2 tubes. Before I go any further on this, I should state that EVERYONE should be running tubeless. However, if you get a front flat, simply inflate your 26” tube to the point where it fits in the 29” tire, mount it the rest of way, and inflate it the rest of the way, and you’re good to go!

In conclusion, I really like the 69er’s ride, and definitely recommend this bike to anyone shopping for a singlespeed.

I love Vermont!  Ok let me change that, I love Vermont when it is sunny and warm!  Now that there is no more snow and it’s getting warmer the past few weeks I have been able to get in some great training, however, as with spring comes rain and mud season here in good old VT.  Let me share a recent experience with spring…

I was out for an 18 mile run (~29km for our Canadians and Europeans friends!) and having a short attention spam I decided to do one big loop, instead of several smaller loops/routes thrown together.  Now I also tend to take random turns and make up the loop as I go (the beauty of the Timex body link is I can always know exactly how far I have gone and where I went once I upload the workout the my computer!).   I was running along at about when, on a whim, I decided to take a turn and run about 3 miles on dirt trail alongside a river and some farms, normally a very scenic route.

About 2 miles in, the trail began to get a little muddy…no worries I’m tough.  Shortly after there was about a ten foot section of trail which was covered in about 6 inches of water, no problem, I’m water proof.  I continued to run along, now with the lovely sound and sensation of water squishing in my shoes.

I turn another corner and the river had totally flooded into the adjacent farm field, no problem, I can wash my shoes later.  I decided to run around the edge of the water through the field, however, the farmer must have recently fertilized…it didn’t smell very good and now the mud up over my ankles, Ummmm this was getting to be a problem.  I had thought about turning around, but I knew the trail ended and I could get back on the pavement in less that half a mile, so I continued to  trudge (it wasn’t so much running anymore) through the mud and…agricultural fertilizer, no problem, I’ll just shower really well after this run.    

I began to think this trail run may not have been a good idea.  On this little adventure the best was definitely saved for last.  I could see the end of the trail and pavement ahead, however, between it and me was what is normally a little trickle of a stream, only it had become a river!!  I’m serious, normally I could clear the stream in one small stride, however, this time I had to wade across about 10 feet (9 meters) with very cold water above my knee, normally I wouldn’t have cored too much, but that agricultural fertilizer smell was a little too strong for my comfort!  Houston, I think we have a problem!!

I made it home and considered burning my clothes and shoes, but decided to just take a shower first!  I have since decided that I need a new pair of shoes because my fiancé has made me leave them outside due to a rather unpleasant smell. 

Ahhhh! Spring in Vermont!  I figure as long as I don’t get into too many problems I should be ok!  Oh and for those who are interested as side from the above mentioned snafu’s it was a great run!! J

Swim Fast. Bike Strong. Run Hard.

-Alex

Singlespeeding is an absolute blast. Remember growing up as a kid and having a bike with only one gear, maybe it even had a coaster brake? Remember racing your friends up and down the street, to school and back, and through “The Ravine” (or your neighborhood’s equivalent)? THAT’s what it’s all about.

Here’s the way it goes down: don’t even think about shifting, don’t slow down as you approach a hill to figure out which gear you need, don’t miss a shift, don’t break a chain, don’t brake as much, learn to work momentum, ride faster, smile more.

Other reasons?
- It makes easy/old trails hard/new
- It’s quiet - no chain noise
- More Here

On Thanksgiving day in Sheboygan it has been an annual tradition for the past 19 years or so for my dad and I to do the annual 10k “Gobbler Gallop”, held along Sheboygans lakefront. This year my original plan was to put in a top time here in an effort of run focus this fall, but following IM WI I ended up battling a medial plica inflammation in my knee which knocked down the running quite a bit. I had finally managed to get over that, and started running a little more consistently 2 weeks prior to the race. So I was just going to be happy with running the 10K all together.

Down at the race it is always a fun day because I am able to see a lot of friends that are back in town for the holiday. This year the weather was unbelievably mild, almost 50 degrees. Some years we are running in parkas and ski goggles!

Despite not having run consistently lately due to injury, I still put in one of my better times; a 37:52 for a 6:08 pace. I was very happy with this, and I managed to place 7th overall and 1st in age group. Teammate Laurel Kleiber was also running, being in good form in her return from California running XC at USF, and taking 1st overall in the womens 10K!

Being back in Sheboygan also means that I was able to return to the local YMCA masters group down at the Y on Friday morning. It is always fun to come back and swim with the guys that got me started in the pool. I also got back onto the local mountain bike trails with top local pro and training partner Brian Matter http://b-matter.blogspot.com/. Being on the dirt is a nice change of pace from the pavement, especially with the wind this time of year, when in one direction you’ll be zone 5 at 13mph, while the other direction your going 30mph without breathing hard.

The trails that we ride in the local city park have quite a variety of singletrack, slickrock, roots, and rocks and can be pretty technical. It is a really nice trail system to have less than a mile from our house. These trails were where I got my start in cycling. They also hold the season finale of the Wisconsin Off Road Series race here. Back in my mountain biking glory years I won the Pro/Elite race in back to back years here.

Now that the Thanksgiving break is over it will be back to La Crosse to finish up the semester. Next time I come home we will probably be busting out the x-country skis rather than the mountain bike.