Monthly Archives: April 2010

Lance Armstrong and Honey Stinger team up

One of our sponsors has joined forced with Lance Armstrong.  That’s a powerful combination!  Joe and I appreciate Honey Stinger energy and recovery foods because of our busy schedules and because we are trying to make the best of our micro sized race effort.  It’s good stuff!

Here’s the press release announcing the partnership:

Lance Armstrong Joins Honey Stinger Ownership Team

Seven-time Tour de France champion partners with natural foods company

April 28, 2010 (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) – Honey Stinger, the manufacturer of honey-based nutritional foods, announces a partnership with professional cyclist Lance Armstrong. In addition to future product development and endorsement of Honey Stinger energy gels, bars and organic chews, Armstrong becomes part of the ownership team in the Steamboat Springs-based company.

“I first tried Honey Stinger products during a mountain bike race in Colorado,” says Armstrong. “I was impressed with the great taste and energy they provided. Honey Stinger works for me in training and racing because you want to eat them and they work. I like the whole team – they understand what athletes need and they’re great to work with.  I’m excited to be part of the Stinger team and work with them on expanding the products and business.
Armstrong first met Len Zanni, Honey Stinger’s marketing director, when they teamed up to race the 12 Hours of Snowmass mountain bike race outside Aspen in 2008. The foundation for a new business partnership was hatched over the course of long bike rides and get-togethers with company leaders.

Bill Gamber, an athlete/ entrepreneur, teamed up with his father William, a honey industry veteran, Bob Stahl, a food product developer, and John Miller, a professional beekeeper, to found Honey Stinger in 2002. Today, the company produces over 20 honey-based energy products that are distributed internationally at specialty sporting goods retailers and natural food grocers.
“We’re thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to work with an athlete of Lance’s stature. Beyond his athletic achievements, Lance is an inspiration and a leader in the fight against cancer,” states Bill Gamber. “Our relationship with Lance comes at a time when Honey Stinger is riding a wave of momentum and this partnership is a major step for our brand.”

About Honey Stinger
Located in Steamboat Springs, Colo., Honey Stinger makes convenient, nutritious and great tasting honey-based foods including energy bars, gels and organic chews. Honey Stinger fuels some of the county’s top cyclists, runners, triathletes and teams including Tinker Juarez, Jeremiah Bishop, Katie Compton, the Giant Mountain Bike team and the Trek Livestrong U23 cycling team. The Colorado Office of Economic Development recently honored Honey Stinger as one of 50 “Colorado Companies to Watch.” Honey Stinger products are available at specialty sporting goods retailers, natural food grocers and www.honeystinger.com.

Len Zanni
Honey Stinger
970-963-2045 direct
www.honeystinger.com
Twitter: @honeystinger
Sting or Bee Stung!

Mud or Dust.

We raced in the mud locally this weekend.  So did the GNCC circuit at Loretta’s.  But just 2 weeks ago, the GNCC circuit raced in the dust.  Here is the video from that race.

[Vimeo 11230611]

District 16 Season Opener

Our camp. We let local ledgend John Buechner put his bike under our tent becaues the skies looked like they could open up at any moment. Luckily, they didn't.

The first race of the District 16 Hare Scramble series is done. It was held at the Aztalan MX park just east of Madison, WI under gloomy skies and on very soggy ground.  We have had zero precip for the past few months and we were hearing the dust was going to be an issue had it not rained.  But we had a gully washer storm roll through the night before the race so there was no chance of a dry race.

Aztalan is about 15 minutes from my house so its very much in my back yard but I don’t consider it to by my home course.  I never ride there.

I’ve been looking forward to getting the season under way for a long time.  While I’ve ridden a fair number of times this spring, there’s nothing like competition.

The race promoter made a few safety announcements then said “two minutes to the start!” and handed control over to guy with a shotgun full of blanks.  I had one foot on the kicker and the other on the box but hardly but a hand full of seconds passed before the gun went off.  My foot kicked but it wasn’t enough to start the RM-Z.  The entire AA line of 12 bike left without me while I got around to getting my bike fired up.  How embarrassing and not the way I wanted to start the year off.  It was my fault for being asleep on the line.

The mud was sticky and heavy. Some of the grassy sections were amazingly slick. This was one of dozens that took some care to get around.

I caught the back of the group by the first turn then passed a few guys before exited the MX track for the woods.  I could see the front of the field at times and started thinking it was best for me not to panic – just take my time and work my way to the front the best I could.  I had walked the entire loop prior to the race so I knew a few places where the course would open up or of a few turns that had multiple lines so whenever I had the chance I tried to get past guys.

The tight terrain suited me since I have been spending so much time at Homann’s doing sprint laps on those 10 wooded acres.  It was a huge boost to my confidence when I caught the leaders then passed John Strangfeld to take over second.  But in my haste to get to the front, despite trying to remind myself to take it easy, I burnt a lot of energy.  And, worse, was that I had used up all 8 tear offs by the end of the first 8 minute lap. I wasn’t a few feet into the second of 16 laps that I tossed my goggles into the woods.  I hoped for better vision, that nothing would hit me in the eye and that I could find them after the race.

An opportunity came my way early in those opening laps to take the lead.  Normally I wouldn’t be in that position and I would usually opt to follow for a while no matter what position I was in.  But the mud that was flinging off the bikes in front of me made riding behind dangerous.  I moved into the lead and continued on with a pace I was happy with.

This is some part of the MX track but I don't recognize where. We ran the MX track in reverse so few of the jumps were doable and some of the turns had bumps and berms in odd places.

Not long after that we caught groups of riders from other classes.  Although I didn’t have a ton of trouble passing the AA riders early in the race, I really struggled to get by the slower riders we were catching.  I guess we were all getting tired and we were all doing battle in our own races so getting by or just getting down the trail was a tough for all.  It was while I was trying to get by a group of lapped riders that I made my first of several mistakes that unraveled my race.  Strangfeld got by then others that I wasn’t aware of.  On lap 9 I rear ended a guy that was struggling to get up a hill.  That put me stalled in the middle of the hill.  I lost 3 minutes that lap and knew that my race at the front was over.

To get a feel for what the conditions were like, check out spiderwebmxpics.

Parts of my race were way better than I had hoped for.  I had great speed and I could ride in the mud and ruts without any hesitation.  I was super stoked with my bike set up and have absolutely no complaints about how it worked.  But I made silly mistakes that cost me tons of time.  That I have to fix if I expect to be at the front of the race.

Congrats to John Strangfled on the win.  Once again he proved to be the best muddy conditions rider in the area.  Race results are posted here. Thanks to Brian Terry for dealing with the messy conditions and putting together a diverse course on a small piece of land.

Next weekend we are at Sugar Maple Motocross on the west side of Madison.  We’ve never raced there but from what I have seen from the road it looks like a hilly and challenging place.  Can’t wait!

My daughter Emma isn't so sure about the mud on my face. She wants me to take a bath.

1st race is in the bag!

Aztalan has left the building.

The first race of the year is always a great thing.  It can be sketchy, because it is April and you just never know what the weather will do.  But, whatever it brings it is always just a great thing to get it going – for crying out loud.

Finally! We get back to racing on this stuff.

It has been super dry around here.  I mean, like mid summer dry.  Last week on Wed, Scott and I went to Dyracuse to ride and it was 75 and almost dusty.  This week, the guys at Aztalan were telling me that it was super dusty out there.  Well of course, a super pile of storms came through and dropped more than an inch of rain.  Aztalan went from being dusty to snotty slimy muddy.

Oh ya. I am going to race this thing! Yep.

That would be me above sporting new Moose Racing gear, and that would be my sweet Vesrah Suzuki hoody that I was warning that I would be wearing.

So the dirt at Aztalan is a mixture of 50% clay, 10% sand and 75% small rocks.  That adds up to more than 100%, because that is what it adds in weight on your bike when you race in the mud there for 2 hours.  There is so much rock jammed into every little nook and cranny of the bike.  I swear my bike weighed 300lbs at the end of the race.  I absolutely could not even lift it up on the stand.

There wasn’t any standing water on the race, but there was everything from pudding mud to snot on glass to the kind of mud that just turns your tires into huge doughnuts of mud.

It really didn’t do much to the mud to have the C class, or the Vintage class or the RGN class, race before us.  Sometimes, that race before us busts up the mud and gets us down to a better racing surface.  Not today.  It was just as mucky for us as it was for the 1st race today.

The RGN class of racing is pretty cool.  They race a bunch of different disciplines of racing during the year.  The key is that they have to do it on the same motorcycle for each discipline.  MX, Supermotard, Road racing, Drag racing, Harescrambles, Enduro, Trials etc…  Most people choose an MX bike, and change the wheels for the other disciplines etc…

There was a guy in the RGN class racing a KTM adventure bike. Seems like a good way to ruin a nice motorcycle.

Our race started at 1:30, as advertised.  It was raining a little bit when we started, and it would keep that up for the whole race.  I got a good start in 3rd at the 1st turn.  But, at the 2nd turn, the 2nd place guy stalled his bike and blocked my line.  I was shuffled back a few spots at that point. Unfortunately, I would not see the front anymore today.

I made my way back up to 2nd place at one point, but as I said I just could not seem to find the front today.  I am not exactly a mud specialist.  Actually, after a year of GNCC racing I really don’t care much for the mud.

I eventually fell back to 3rd, as some local MX’er made good and beat both John and I.

Liz was there and took a bunch of photo’s.  Enjoy.

Scott putting it down

Pretty Muddy

If I was just going a bit faster

I really should open my eyes

Also there was mud

Gratuitous ass shot

Pretty much what everyones bikes looked like after the race.

How I feel about mud racing!

There are a bunch more photos at SpiderwebMX facebook page.  Take a look.

Out.

Joe

New Season – Same old bike!

It is just 1 day till our first local race.  Jeez, it took long enough.  Seems like this winter was at least 380 days long.

But, I did the training.  I did the random offseason race.  I did the training camp in Missouri.  I worked on my bike.  I trained.  I worked on my bike some more.  I trained.

Now, it all pays off tomorrow.  The flag goes up, and the first turn chaos will be there, the mid race slump, the being stuck in the mud, the tip over that just completely taxes you, the choking dust, the picking mud out of your eyes 2 days later, the sore shoulder from smashing it into a tree, the blistered up hands…

I will be there with my new gear from Moose.  Probably XCR since it is cool out tomorrow.

Tomorrows gear

Tomorrows brand spanking new Bell Helmet will kinda match, but maybe not perfectly.  It is pretty sweet though.

Brand new helmet - mmmm, love the smell.

After the race is over, I will be bouncing around the pits in my Vesrah team wear.  You remember that stuff, that is the pretty cool casual stuff that Scott and I put together.

Vesrah team casual gear is here!

It’s a new season, but I will be on the same old trusty bike.  No upgrade yet for me.  I still have a new one coming, but it will be another 2009 just like this one.  2010′s are HARD to come by.  It does have fresh decals and fresh everything else.  Runs like a top – starts easy – handles great – Rekluse Zstart Pro clutch keeps me going down the trail, even when I am too stupid to remember to pull in the clutch lever.

There is a full gallery of my bike here.

Thats it for me.  See you tomorrow.

Joe

Racing is almost here!

I put the finishing touches on both my bike and my body yesterday morning at Homann’s.  I’m feeling fit and sometimes feel fast but I need some race time to really get in the groove.  That will happen this weekend, I hope, since its the first race of the season.

I’ve switched to my practice bike from last year as my primary race bike for this year.  The practice bike had far fewer hours than the race bike but now has my Factory Connection suspension and carb settings that I liked from the past few weeks of riding.  Its feeling GOOD.

My Moose gear is packed and ready to go and Chuck Platt at Bell sent Joe and me some new Moto 8 helmets to don this year.  We are stoked!  Thanks Chuck!

It looks like rain but it is so dry here that it would take a monsoon to make it a muddy race.   The conditions could be really good.

Hope to see you at Aztalan this weekend!

More, More, More Video blasts!

Not much to post up this week, but a few videos.

This first one is the reason we all want to live in Vancouver.  It is a Rocky Mountain bicycle video, but get past that and you will see why we all love it there.

The classic DH helmet cam video.  This one I saw a long long time ago, and I have wanted to find this trail forever.

Don’t know this rider, but this is a dynamite video.  Guy has some skills.

Weekend of 2 wheelers!

The weekend turned out really good for 2 wheeling. I always figure that if you can ride 2 wheelers both days on the weekend, then it is a good one.

Saturday – 3 hour road ride from Madison with Chip Camillo and the Pinnacle Health and Fitness team.

Sunday – 2.5 hours on the RMZ at Dyracuse.

Saturday was a bit windy and cold.  Long sleeves, caps, full finger gloves, knee warmers, vests.  But, it warmed during the ride and we ended up peeling most of it by the end of the ride.  60+ miles, 3 hours.  Group of 8 or so, and a decent pace.  On the way back in to Belleville, we were motoring right along at 26 or so.  Fun.

Midway through. Warming, but still cold.

Sunday Moto ride at Dyracuse.  I am a little bit bummed, because I did not go to do the Enduro in Iowa.  I was a bum.  Actually, John bailed on me and it had raining down there overnight.  I assumed it was going to be a mud pit, and I really do not like racing my bike and shredding it in mud bath races.  I know – wimp.  Pete is going to call me later this week and tell me that I made a huge mistake not going.

Anyway, I went to Dyracuse on my own.  I scoped out a 20 minute loop and did 2’15″ at race focus.  It went well.  I softened my suspension just a tad from last week and I was really surprised how much better my bike went.  I had gobs of traction everywhere I rode.  I could not believe how good it was.  The sand is drying out up there and getting deeper, but still not powder and dust.  A few more weeks and it will not feel much like the rest of our terrain that we race on.  But that is ok, because at that point we will be racing every weekend.

No photo’s from the moto ride, as I was there alone.

Sunday eve, I watched 3 different 2 wheeler races on Tivo.

Moto GP from Qatar – dang it was disappointing to see Nicky get pipped for the podium at the end like that.

Houston Supercross – Good race, but Villipoto ran away with it so badly that it got boring halfway through.  Chad Reed is definitely not as fast as he was on a Yellow bike.

Paris Roubaix – This was completely worth it.  Cancellara is the man.  Dang that was a good race.  Not as much fun to watch as a muddy race is, those always result in tons of crashes. But, wow is the man fast.

Joe

Work and ride camp

I just spent the last week in Tempe, Arizona on a business trip.  I must confess, however, that my business trips aren’t what I would call typical business trips, especially when most of the people I sit next to on the plane are in suits and wingtips while I’m in shorts and a t-shirt.

None the less, I was away from home on business.  My days were filled with the stress of making sure my customers were happy and my nights were filled with keeping up with the normal flow of emails that I would see if I were sitting at my desk.  But the early mornings were mine so I was determined to make the best of that time by topping up on some hearty endurance training.  After all, D16 races are just two weeks away.

My approach on the endurance training was to do steady effort mountain bike rides for 3 hours each morning for six days straight.  Perhaps this isn’t the best way to increase endurance but the riding is fun and I enjoyed and appreciated the fatigue I experienced as the days of riding added up.  I have experience with this kind of training before and know it works for me; it makes a hare scramble race easy.  Having to be in a place where I could ride every day for nearly a week was too good to pass up and the timing as it relates to D16 races could not have been better.

The desert in bloom is a beautiful place. El Nino year makes it greener than normal.

The sun was not up at 5am but it was Arizona so at least the temperature were in the 60s each morning.  For the first 30 minutes of the ride I felt my way down the trails in the dim light of a waning moon.  It was fun but slow going.  Then the sun brightened the horizon and my speed picked up.

The first two days I explored Phoenix’s South Mountain and linked trails together to make 3-hour rides.  I felt fit but I hadn’t ridden my mountain bike since last fall so my timing and grace was amiss.  The third day was rough.  My legs ached on the steep climbs and I couldn’t get my heart rate up.  I expected this and pushed through.  The fourth day was the beginning of a new level of fitness.  I was really strong for the first half of the ride then fatigued near the end.  The last two days I was strong and confident for the entire ride.  Woohoo.  I rode over 16 hours and covered 120 miles of single track trail in 6 days.

My friend Ray Waxham gave me this photo - Thanks Ray!

Now it’s time to pay attention to recovery and staying healthy.  When I feel like I can train hard again I will be working on some speed and balance in the gym.  With any luck I can get sometime on a moto between now and the D16 opening events.

Everything in the desert is fighting to survive even if its a pretty as this

I agree that it’s ludicrous to be putting this much effort into getting fit to do a local race series – just ask my wife.  But I’m a competitive soul (as is Joe) and motivated by goals.  Racing locally isn’t going to accomplish much of anything other than make me feel good about putting forth my best effort towards reaching my goals.

Friday Video posts – it’s a party!

Here are a few things I have found this week.  In general, I would say Watch26.com is well worth the time.  It will suck time away from your life, but damn is it fun!

I got a little bit ambitious and found way too many this week.  So, at the last minute I decided that I  should have broken this up into a few posts, so I did.  You will get them all, eventually – until then enjoy.

This first one is of Danny MacAskill.  Wow, he has to be the most talented rider of all time.  This video only shows some of his talent.  I do not know what I would do, if I could ride that well.  That’s stupid, of course I know what I would do.  I would ride my bike!

This is the really great DH race through the streets of Rio.  You may have seen this before, I have.  But, I needed to show it again.  Helmet cams are great.

This is not a mountain bike video, but – hey – who said everything on Friday videos had to be mountain bikes.  It is GEORGE for crying out loud.  He is cool.  I wish the Peleton would just let him with this weekend at Paris Roubaix.  I am really tired of the “can he win it”, “will he win it” debates.  Good god people, this is George we are talking about.  GO George, Go!

I do not really know what this one is, and I may have even shown it before.  I like it though.

This one has a cool soundtrack.  Haven’t heard this song in forever.

Ya, so that is it for now.  Next week, probably back on the motorcycle posting.  Only 14 days till the first race.  HOLY CRAP!!!! 14 DAYS!!!!

out.

Joe

Weekly ride

Homann’s has been treating me well lately.  The abnormally dry conditions this month combined with the tight trails have helped me hone in on a few of my riding weaknesses.  Because it’s so dry I’ve been able to ride far more this spring than in recent years and because there are so many turns at Homann’s you can’t help but get better at turning.

My fitness is good: I feel strong.  My weight has come down some since the warmer temps have also allowed me to be out on my bicycle more.  I haven’t weaned myself off the sweets or limited my diet in any way yet but that will be next as the racing gets closer.  But no matter how fit I think I am from doing off the moto stuff, nothing can duplicate the effort it takes to ride a 227lb, 33 horsepower bike in tight woods.  I’ve woken up sore and tired the day after riding at Homann’s Farm every time.

I figure that woods races are won in the turns.  Staying on your bike helps you finish on the top half of the result sheet but there’s more to it than that.  Everyone can go down the straights at roughly the same speed, at this level of racing at least.  I’ve been passed on the straighter sections of GNCC races by Knight and Strang and Kanney and amazed at their speed but I’ve rarely been passed by a D16 rider on a straight.  Where I think I can make up time is getting into, around and out of each and every turn.  When I get beat at a D16 race its because the guys in front of me turned better than me.

That’s where Homann’s comes into play.  The place is tight.  And now its rutted, too, since I’ve been riding there once a week for the past two months.  All of that has made me focus on getting around the bend in the most efficient way possible.  While I feel like I’ve come a long way, I know I can be more consistent and carry even more speed if I keep trying to improve.

My race season opens on April 24 at Aztalan.  Azzy is about 12 minutes from my breakfast table but it’s not really my “home” race, per se.  I’m familiar with the place but no more or less than the other D16 woods riders are.  There will likely be a gamut of local motocross riders at that event. That’s cool as long as we all get around the opening turn in one piece.  I’m a little like Joe in that I can hardly wait for the racing to get underway but I still have a few things I want to flesh out in these closing weeks before Azzy.

I’m actually on a business trip this week in Arizona.  I have a bicycle with me and plan to put in some big hours each morning before work.  This should get my endurance up to the next level, and, as long as I don’t fall down, help keep my two-wheel skills sharp.  Time will tell.


Perfect dirt – big crowds – 4 hours!

Yow! If you are a rider, and live in Wisconsin, you were at Dyracuse riding Saturday.

The first day of the local riding season is always a beautiful thing. People come out of the woodwork. I mean it has been a long dormant season. So the first days that Dyracuse is open brings everybody out. The quad riders the freestyle pant cigarette smokers, the serious mxers, the one or two lap blitzers and the serious woods riders.

The parking lot was full yesterday. If you were a rider in Wisconsin, you were riding yesterday.

Some years, the trails are completely dry already.  Some years, the motocross track is perfect and the trails are underwater.  Some years, the trails are partially covered in snow.  Some years, it is a balmy 29 degrees for the high.  Yesterday, the dirt was absolutely perfect.  Perfect moisture to have loads of traction, yet zero mud.  The temperature was a high of 65.  It just does not get any better than that.

It is no secret, that I have been struggling with my bike of late.  I have been trying different things.  I guess it is the season for that.  But, with just a few weeks till the race season, I was starting to get impatient.  So, yesterday I rode with the bike all the way back to where it was last year.

- stock exhaust.

- bars and grips from last year.

- tires I was familiar with

- suspension set up from last year.

- brake levers at the foot

etc…

Everything fell back into place yesterday.  I went from very out of sorts on the bike, to very comfortable again.  It was great.  The bike turned where I wanted it to, it did what I expected it would do on bumps, it had the throttle response I was expecting etc…  My bike was spectacular yesterday.

I put in about 4 hours of riding time.  An hour to get started with, then about 2 hours in the middle and then a break to make some adjustments and then another hour or so.  Felt really great.  The photos below show that even after 4 hours of riding, my bike was in good shape.

Out,

Joe