July is a Genius

Bike riding is sweet and warm in July.  How brilliant is the warmest month of the year!

Photo by Michael Boyes.  The start of the raddest super D from Reddish Knob

Tour de Burg

2014 Tour de Burg 

As I get a little older, I've become sentimental about certain annual biking events.  The Tour de Burg is one of those annual events that remind me the importance of committing to a full pull, pushing myself physically and mentally, riding with friends who share a certain kind of toughness and love of epic shit.   And of course, flair is encouraged in either your haircut, costume , riding style and talent.

KOM, Dan Wolf has flair

Tour de Burg is  the second of the Grand Tours of the Virginias.  I wrote about the first Grand Tour, Giro D'Ville, in my last blog post.  Tour de Burg is in it's 19th year of "slummin". Slummin' means that you are hurting, but you carry on. Slum and carry on should be next year's T-shirt slogan. It's just a matter of time before Slum hits you in a five day, six stage multiday race on some of Virginia's raddest terrain.

The only race that matters has their branding dialed

The format is 4 days on a mountain bike and one road bike day.  This is a race with more of an "enduro" format:  Ride as a group to the timed section.  This is what Enduro should be...really riding together catching up and talking with friends and then laying your best effort on a timed section.  Pleasure pace (PP) can be 30 minutes or 2 hours.  The same with the timed sections...long or short.

The whole Tour costs $175 dollars and that includes all the racing your body can take, big lunch spreads and all the soda that you can drink, sweet t-shirt and yummy group dinners.  The hospitality is big with Out of towners invited to stay at local's houses.  Shoot, they will even give you a free haircut or show you their local lines (if you can keep up!)

Jerseys are awarded.  Fooflandia took the Men's Leader jersey with a big smile and lots of poise.  You can image being thrust into the leader's jersey on your first tour!  Bryan Lewis went on to win Cat 1 National Championships in both XC and short track! Another Bryan, Bryan Fawley won the Sprint Jersey coming all the way from Texas!  He knows how important it is to put the Tour on the schedule year after year. The KOM was won by the skinniest guy in the peleton, Dan Wolf.  The  hot jersey was the Super D jersey.  Sam "Skidz" Skidmore was the fastest on the timed xc downhill runs.  Probably one of my favorite days from town and it had the coolest ever Super D is the run from the very top of Reddish Knob to Timber , to the end of Wolfe. I was the Women's Leader out of only two women.  I'm not sure if other girls don't know about it, or they aren't tough enough?  It's probably that they don't have summer vacation time. And some pros can't handle all the down time because everybody waits for everybody.  And lastly, Tour de Burg acknowledges the supreme effort of the biggest slummers and awards a DFL jersey with a ten thousand dollar check.

Photo by Michael Boyes. TDB podium 2014

The director has a sweet track suit and cool haircut

These leaders are slumming, but not as bad as you

You gotta listen to what the director says

Big congrats to Lindsey Carpenter aka Lizzy Clawprong on completing the Tour de Burg on her first full pull attempt at 19 years old.  When you are raised by a very sane mother and an insane father, you get a girl who is grounded but hauls ass!

Kari and Lindsey have been involved with Tour de Burg for 19 years

The director is quite a guy to put this whole thing on for the love of  the Slum

Next year's dates are June 30 to July 4 2015 for the 20th Anniversary.

Dicky knows how much it hurts but he'll be there!

Giro D'Ville...Fooflandia

Giro D'Ville

There were 40 full pullers and some day poachers

There are three grand tours that matter for a certain crew of mountain bike glitterati...Giro D'Ville, Tour de Burg and the Fall Tour.  These are off the grid events put on by folks that think fun involves a little pain, a little pleasure, but it must be done in the mountains with friends.  Yes, they are races and yes, they are hard. You won't find them on BikeReg.com. One of the main difference lies in the format of these stage races.  Its group living eating breakfast and dinner all together at camp and lots of hang out time on camp chairs and yoga mats.  There is beer drinking. People are not staring at their iphones...They are talking to each other, sitting close, laughing.

There is some hang out time that the pros might find tough

The big difference is the way the racing happens.  All stages start off with Pleasure Pace (PP) to the first timed section.  These PP transfers sound like an Enduro race, but no Enduro race transfer is this much fun and social.  Plus, its a no drop PP, meaning even the fastest guys wait for the slowest.  The PP sections can be long or short.  The timed sections can be long say 1:30 or short say 20 minutes.  The timed sections are racing sections. There are multiple racing sections. The fastest guys carry the watches and time everyone. Often  the Super D sections are timed by a volunteer.  And the riding is so fine and puts us out in the mountains all day and end at a swimming hole.

Captain Hoy gives us directions...Listen up!

I hadn't been to the Giro D'Ville in years because it conflicts with the Transylvania Epic in Pennsylvania.  Since, I'm skipping TSE this year, It was my pleasure to see good friends and catch up.  And ride!

Super Blue skies while riding in the Virginia mountains with friends makes me very happy

One of the highlights is eeing the new blood mix with old blood.  A new men's leader emerged in the uber fit and enduro ready, Collin Vento.  Marty, also the race director, got second.  Now wearing baggies and sneakers, Kyle Lawrence in third.  Riding for Freedom and Family, extreme Joel Maynard got fourth and C-bass Quinn rode strong into fifth and selflessly stirred the Port a John for us all. O-Dog won the sprints and the lumberjack contest.  Last year's winner, Alex Kurland, was this year's climber's jersey. And of course, Dan "ice cream" Oates is DFL.

DanFL again!

Collin dominated all with a smile

Alex in the climber's jersey

Quinn Bros. Racing kept Oliver in the blue sprinter's jersey

I am the Maghlia Rosa for the women, miraculously.  I wanted to keep the leader's jersey because I like the color pink but it always hung pretty precariously on my shoulders. The 19 year old daughter of one of my best buds showed her mountain bike pedigree with some steamrolling downhill sections and some stubborn pedaling.  Hopefully, she'll smartly channel that hereditary rage into some great fast racing in her future and making lots of friends. Whitney March was in third showing that she is tough as nails after coming back from giving most of her liver to her mother for a transplant!  And our little friend who moved to Massachusetts, Jennifer Wolfson,  rounded out the podium for the ladies.

There is only one jersey, it does not get washed and was only worn by me

Lindsey Carpenter is growing up fast

Wolfie at Spy Rock

My favorite stage was Whetstone Ridge, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is 11 miles of some of the best.  Classic Virginia Backcountry Ridge riding...and one of the best downhill rewards at the end!

Love, Love this trail!

Thanks go out to the CAMBA crew and the heros that make the Giro happen.

April update

I entered the Leesburg Baker's Dozen race as a duo with my friend Libbey.  I knew it was going to be hard from a fitness standpoint, but loved the aspect of hanging out in a chamois for 13 hours.  This is a super fun flat lap with twists and turns, log hops and some neat rock features.  The lap times were fast at under 45 minutes, so not much downtime for us. 

I did the first lap.  I was enjoying the chaos and loving the course.  I felt good and efficient on the mountain biking aspect of my lap.  Then about a 1/4 mile from the finish, I clipped a pedal and went down hard.  I hit a rock with my left pedal and flew off the bike landing on my head and back.  The wind was knocked out of me and I was gasping.  Its not a good feeling.  It never is when you can't breathe.  About 10 people asked if I was okay and one sweet singlespeeder actually stopped.  He got my bike out of the way and made sure that I wasn't critical.  I really appreciated that.  There is nothing like not being able to breathe that makes you feel vulnerable. 

I collected myself and the lenses that popped out of my glasses.  I finished the lapped and was in shock.  Shock and awe because I actually clipped a pedal last year at this race on the first lap.  I guess I have bad timing of when I lean my bike over.  Or maybe my vision is going, or I lost focus...or maybe I just suck.

I would of quit the race, but nothing was dangling, you know.  If you have ever had a rib injury, you know the next days are much worse than the present day.  So, in a way it was great to keep moving.  Plus, that is the power of a teammate.  You don't want to, in any way let them down or pull them down with your misfortune.  And we were in the lead from the start and Libbey was pulling really great lap times.

Relay style racing with Libbey. Photo by Chris Merriam

It was kinda brutal way to do 72 miles.  I was being really hard on myself, too.  I felt like such a loser because I could see what other people were doing wrong in the corner and over the logs, but then I have a horrendous wreck myself.  I am teaching mountain biking frequently and just got certified to teach mountain biking, so to wreck like I did and on easy terrain, really bummed me out.  Plus, it hurt!

The pain is  under my armpit now but before was in my upper back

That wreck really made me question why I fucking keep wrecking and why I even mountain bike!  One of my first thoughts was, its because you are not in good shape!  You have slacked and this is the result.  But even people in amazing physical condition who are Olympians still wreck.  Then, it must be because your skills aren't good.  But even people who are in awesome shape with  good skills still wreck like this Frenchie.  Not that I want other people to wreck, but it happens.  And all mountain bikers have a high pain threshold and a stubborn spirit.

So, still hurting, and knowing that I probably shouldn't go, I go on a ride with some buddies up on Spruce Knob.   My breathing seems to be at half capacity, but at least I'm getting some oxygen to my muscles.  I think the worst part is the inability to be dynamic and strong on the singletrack.  I'm forced to ride lazy, which is very dangerous.  I'm protecting myself which results in poor riding.

Superwoman,not photo Michael Boyes

So, I wreck again and it hurts.  It's just a knee scuff and some soreness, but I'm humiliated and frustrated and scared.  This isn't supposed to be happening to a coach, instructor, pro and badass and on a backcountry ride!

So what do I do?  I watched this movie and that helped inspire me to be strong mentally.  I go back to the fundamentals of good body position and balanced riding.  I got the pilates tape out.  I try to stay positive and hang out with young people who don't have the baggage of smackdown.  I'll keep on keeping on because I do love mountain biking and nothing worth a damn is ever easy.

IMBA ICP

I decided  to take the IMBA Instructors Certification Program in Delaware the other weekend, hosted by the Trail Spinners.    I've been teaching mountain biking for a while now, but I am constantly hungry for more knowledge about good technique and sound ways to teach these techniques. And the idea of a certification has a certain appeal.

Its official

Personally, I've taken clinics from Gene Hamilton, Harlan Price, Lindsey Voreis, and Angi Weston.  I learned so much from these professionals. Those lessons are all since I retired from professional mountain bike racing.  I never took a single lesson when I was getting paid to ride a bike!  And I'm not alone in thinking "what if" I had exposure to really great teaching at the beginning of my career.

It is a big chunk of money to take this course, especially right now in my life. I was able to test out of Level I by paying $100, having adequate experience guiding and teaching and by taking and passing the test.   Normally, the Level I course is 3 days and $350.  I don't recommend testing out.  It's just too much important information to lightly touch on.  In the end, its over $1000 for a three day course including your dues, memberships, first aid and insurance. You have to take the course in person again every four years and keep your memberships and first aid up to date.

We lucked out getting Shaums March and Gale Dalagher as our instructors.  These two are ,of course, amazing riders  who give the best demonstrations of techniques.  But I was so impressed with their professionalism, knowledge, respect for students and their patience.   They really came prepared and were fun to learn from.

Gale and Shuams worked hard to teach us well

Shaums can lean a bike! Photo credit www.kurtkuhn.com

The weather was very cold and windy the first day, cold and sunny the second day and downright miserable and rainy the last day.  Those were not ideal learning conditions or teaching conditions!  The days were long, starting by 9 am and finishing at 7 pm.  They were intense too!...  Lots of information, lots of demonstrations, lots of practice and lots of looking at the other students practice. One thing I wasn't expecting was the homework!  I had to read and study the material and then really study for the test and to be able to teach a skill. 

A highlight for me was the conciseness of the material and teaching process.  I like the idea of saying less!  Say what you need to say and say it well.  Don't crowd a student's brain with unnecessary wording and analogies. 

Another great thing that I took away was the ability to make corrections to a student's riding instead of just identifying mistakes.  This takes a lot of practice and I need to work on developing my system for doing that.  There are basically 10 fundamentals that come in to play mountain biking in order for the rider to be in control and balance in different situations and hopefully increase their fun, too!

We were graded on our teaching. Photo credit www.kurtkuhn.com

It was very difficult assessing students errors in mere seconds in under 15 yards in a parking lot, while giving compliments and corrections.   The instructors would tell the students to make mistakes and we got points off if we didn't identify the mistake, make the correction and give a compliment.  Its funny because I usually give my students lots of compliments, but at this class, I was too overwhelmed to give my usual, "Nice!" "Great!"  And I was so fixated on mistakes, that I didn't even realize when someone was doing something right.

I was overwhelmed at times. Photo credit www.kurtkuhn.com

Something that could be improved is less time listening to students teach a skill.  None of us students were good at teaching, including me, sorry!  It doesn't help anything to listen to 5 other people make a bunch of mistakes while learning to teach.  Of course, we all had to get up in front of a crowd and practice, but I'm not paying this much money to be a test pilot for others.  And purposely doing things wrong for the benefit of the other students is very counterproductive.  I was actually getting a little bit confused when I had to do things wrong.  Practicing things correctly is the only way to go.  And I get more out of listening to Shaums and Gale teach well than a fellow student teach mediocre.

Always Assessing. Photo credit www.kurtkuhn.com

I did enjoy meeting and learning with others, though.  It was a great group of people who are all going to make great teachers for their clubs.

A great group of people

Everyone must use flat pedals for this certification.  Yes, that was challenging for me having used clipless pedals for over 20 years.  I absolutely agree that it should be done on flats, though.  I learned a ton because of it and actually really enjoyed it! If you can do it with flats, you really have mastered that skill more soundly.

Kurt Kuhn doing a level lift

So, I did pass.  I scored really good on the written test, but not on my skills or my teaching. I think nerves and the newness of the lingo and different structure of a lesson made it weak. The fact that I managed and spoke well to the group was my strong point.  Sure, I'm a good rider, but obviously there is room for improvement with my demos especially with flat pedals.  I need to make sure that I'm clearly hitting the teaching points for each skill. 

This course is a good call for people who want to learn to teach mountain biking better.  This is not a personal skills improvement course.  I think it will continue to evolve and get better and better too!

Racer girl Cheryl working on her level lift

Michaux MTB School

This is the 7th year that the Michaux MTB School of Hard Rocks put on by Zach Adams has been run.  I've been involved as an instructor for the last two years and its been a really great experience.

 The camp is divided between a men's group with instructors Harlan Price  , the legendary Jay De Jesus and racer and coach, Ryan Fawley.  The campers have the option to learn from all the  instructors as the weekend progresses.  Sometimes having things said in a different way really helps and then of course the personal style of the coaches clicks with different people.  The women's group was led by me and the ever enthusiastic and very fast, Cheryl Sornson.  I'm always amazed at the positive nature of women mountain bikers and the energy that is created by a group of women learning.  I also loved that later in the day  the women could switch to one of the men's group and visa versa if they preferred.

I really like the idea of a dedicated weekend to learning and practicing mountain bike skills with a group of people and some really great instructors.  Ideally, a mountain biker does something like this at least twice a year.  I recommend a more intensive weekend camp and then some clinics or private lessons.  If you are a racer, then it will make you faster for racing.  If you don't race, it will totally increase your fun factor while riding trails.

photo by Liz Spencer

I know that a lot of riders who  can do some features in situ on the trail, but can't in a field.  I know many riders who say, I'm not incentivized by a board in a field, it has to be on the trail for me to jump over it.  And I say that is a bad attitude.  Learning skills in a field with repetition will only enhance anything that you do on the trail, especially when you figure out the how and the why of the body mechanics of a move.

Of course the weather was less than ideal, meaning it rained hard most of the weekend and nothing was left clean or dry.  But my new favorite phrase is "There is no bad weather , just bad friends"  , so make sure that you have friends that will go out with you on the tough days and make the most our of it.

photo by Liz Spencer

There was also a little rippers group led by a very sweet and qualified Karen Krasley. I think its great to have kids and adults learning together.  It helps them both.  Whenever you find yourself complaining about the rain, make yourself a kid again and enjoy the mud.  The little rippers certainly did! And the junior racers camp led by Jeff and Gunnar.  Gunnar had attended the camp the first year as a little ripper and is now an instructor, so cool!

Photo by Ralpe Pisle

And any instructor will tell you, that they learn a lot by teaching others.  I always learn something about teaching, technique or people and of course my own riding.  It is a very gratifying part time job for me.  Next up for me is professional development and finding some fitness.

Tuscarora Off Road Weekend Marathon

The format of this race was to do as many laps as you could between 10 am and 2 pm.  The lap was 6 and a half miles and took around 45-50 minutes for me.  It was a cold morning in the 30's.  It is always tough to dress for a cold weather race because you know that you are going to hot on the climbs and cold on the long gravel descent.  But you could tell the folks that have been biking all winter, not just because they had better fitness, but because they had less clothes on.

Photo by Jack Copley

It was a great women's field with a dozen girls.  The gun went off and up the hill we went.  I went my pace and got some saddle time in.  Selene and Laura were pushing each other hard and had a great race with Selene winning on her new bike that as a size small fits two water bottles.

 Laura is on the fast track to racing success this year.

I finished five laps and ended up in third, which was good enough for the cool El Salvadorian machete prize.  In the words of Cory Rimmer "Tough day at the races. Skills kept me in the race and my legs took me out. Lots of training to be had."  My skills were remarkably good.  Maybe all the cross country skiing had a positive effect on my mtb skills?  I also really like the Scalpel and my Kenda Nevegals, they rock on the rocks!

 It was great to get racing and really, just riding!  I have a lot of work to do to get in shape which is full of possibility and promise.  I want to be able to do TSEpic again but its hard to know if two months is enough time to be ready for a 7 day stage race.

Zach puts on nice races and feeds us great afterwards.

Tuscarora Off Road Weekend Super D!

I really love a two bike race weekend.  I got to pack up both the Scalpel and the Jekyll and head up to Fast Forward Racing Productions Tuscarora Off Road Weekend in Tuscarora State Forest.

Oldest in the middle

This was a special weekend because it marked the first mountain bike ride of the year, as well as the first race.  I don't recommend that, mind you!  But you have to start somewhere.  And now that I've started, I'm where I'm at...so Zen, it must be the Yoga.

After squeezing into my NoTubes jersey and Zoic baggies, The first race on the agenda was the Super D on Keane Trail.  Last year, it had snow on a most of the trail and was really tough.  This year had less snow on all of the trail, but all corny, slippery snow was just on the toughest, steepest section.  My first run, I actually walked most of it and contemplated skipping the race entirely.  I had no courage.

But, being an experienced rider and being a mountain bike instructor, I decided that I needed to really use my knowledge of technique to conquer the fear voices in my head.  I mean we all have fear, but we need to manage it or it will run wild and have us in a gripped flight or fight mode unable to relax and perform.

 I was thinking about the huge lump that I still have on my hip from crashing hard in the snow and landing on a rock on the Keane Trail last year.  I was thinking that I hadn't actually rode this particular Jekyll in exactly one year.  I was thinking that I hadn't ridden a mountain bike since December 20.  All these things that our brain does to keep us safe and alive and comfortable.

I tried some  different lines.  I talked to some of the other riders. I watched the men's first and second place riders in practice and saw them playing on their bikes and having a hoot. I tried some different techniques like more weight on the  front wheel and less front brake.  I kept a lot of weight on my feet and stayed low.  I tried to set up for things and be proactive.  I tried , then I did.  My friend and mentor Gene Hamilton always uses that phrasing when he teaches ( and he borrowed it from Yoda)  "don't try, do".  And of course my winning run wasn't perfect, but it felt good and fun and fairly smooth.

Smooth is fast.  I want to be smooth.  And I keep finding an outlet for those ambitions in racing.  I really don't have to win to feel satisfied, of course it feels so frickin good to win, but priority is smoothness.  I want to be , skillful, fast, fit and  have a bunch of fun doing it.  And since I don't have to win to feel good about myself, it frees up a lot of good energy.  I really enjoy being out there.

But, I did win the super D, by a good margin, too!  I beat a really phenomenal downhill rider, Anne Galyean.  She is  an amazing woman on and off the bike and a rider who I probably won't beat much in the future, if at all .   But it wouldn't of mattered where I placed, because I figured some things out technique wise and I overcame debilitating fear.

Super D shouldn't die because of Enduro.  Its still a really cool format and a great opener for a cross country race or great practice for both XC and Enduro.  Thanks to Zach and his sponsors  for the cool prizes, too!

Sorry, no pics of me yet from the Super D!  Next blog about the next day's race