Photo Blog: Elk Neck

Dear Readers,

Elk Neck is my favorite place to ride mountain bikes. Tight, Twisty, quick up and downs. A bike driver's paradise. (that one was for you Rotten). As Kelly said, "toughest 12 miles..." Great group yesterday and perfect conditions. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend.

I snapped a couple of quick shots that I really like from the look out:

l-r Benny the Jewler, Jacob, Joe B, Eddie, TedLogic, Buddy the leg breaker, CONsorto, 

Nick, Kelly, Jeffy.

that dude to the right is definitely cuter than James Franco. 

CONsorto, Kelly and Jeffy  are all smiles enjoying the view...

Eddie and Joe take in the awesomeness of the day...

thanks for reading.

respect
Mr. Vanderbacon if you're nasty.

Cocker Rides

Dear Readers,

This time of the year, I'm happy to lead some pretty amazing road rides out of my place. I'll say that I have a pretty consistent format and I think it helps maximize winter miles. Generally I plan out a route with a few challenging sections that folks can open it up on a bit, but at the end of the sections we always regroup, and then we ride steady to the next section. I like to think of these rides as Joe Cocker rides, meaning that "we all get by with a little help from our friends". The rides are generally pretty well attended. They are hard, but fun.

Today we had one of these rides. I got dropped a lot. Luckily, I'm surrounded by a great group of riding partners, and I was able to get home with a little help from my friends. The group today was Nick, Phil, Brandon, Dave, Shane, Buddy, Jay Jay, Consorto, Me, Eddie, Kurtee and TedLogic.

Here's a quick video of me getting dropped one of the "peppy" sectors:

and again:

The final "peppy" sector clears, we work together and drag my enormous carcass home. (thank you).

After the ride, my kind training partners were happy to help me with another of my projects, which was reducing the number of awesome winter/Christmas beers in my fridge!

what can I say, I get by with a little help from my friends...

thanks for reading....

respect
Vanderbacon

Festivus: Feats of Strengths

Dear Readers,

Happy Hanukkah. Happy Christmas. Have a great 2015.
Happy Festivus.

Mother Nature decided to be a bit of  Grinch this week, as light rain fell all day yesterday. The weekly Fairhill ride would be a fire road expedition. (Note I did NOT say gravel grinder). Unlike last week's first ride where we had 2 rides of 15, this week only 7 hearty souls showed up.  Six of us where certified ride leaders for Fairhill. The group was Jim B, Justin, Jimmy V, Dave S, Brian K, Sharon the Hammer, and I. It was misty, but really warm. A light fog settled in over the park. The lights brightened our way, but the fog had us riding in our own amazing bubble of light. The fire-road network at Fairhill easy provides 20+ miles of riding. It was warm, and kinda of beautiful night.

Near the end of the ride, as is often the case when you have a group of solid riders, it got a little chippy as we climbed up one of the park's main gravel sections. Brian, Dave and I moved towards the front of the group. Brian, who doesn't realize yet how amazing of a rider he is yet set a nice tempo. Dave is like me, an old dog who has been around bikes for years. Dave graduated to the Cat 1 class in 2014 and made a pretty big splash. Dave is a cagey and smart rider. The force is strong with this one.

Despite my affection for my two companions at the front, we sped up the twisting climb, and the boys had me hanging on for dear life. I was hoping to pull a rope-a-dope and make it to the top with these two. I heard Dave shift into a harder gear. The lunacy of shifting into a harder gear while climbing never ceases to amazing me. And yet, here we were the three of us bounding towards the top of the climb. I stood and spun out the gear on my single speed monster bike (note I didn't call this bike a gravel grinder). I could see the crest of the hill, and in our own little bubble I was smiling. We all felt the effort. I'm not sure who got to the top first. It was meaningless, but fun. It was an awesome night.

Perhaps Mother Nature wasn't a Grinch at all...

thanks for reading.

respect
Vanderbacon

Please note: Night Riding at Fairhill is not permitted outside of the once a week sanctioned Fairhill ride. If you have questions about the note shoot me a note or hit up the trail spinners facebook group.

Winter Blogging...

Dear Readers,

Yeah I know. It's the slow time of the year for your team's mid pack masters rider blog. I'm getting to put in some really good, fun rides. Doing some of the work that I haven't been able to the last couple of years, because of school. The rides have been great but they don't always translate to wonderful blogging. Monk got me a sweet go-pro for my birthday in October, that I have had some fun with, but again I'm not sure that POV (point of view) video of your team's mid pack master rider trying like hell to stay on Buddy, Jay, Chris or Steve's wheel on our local trail system is great blogging either.

The subtleties of my bike driving skills don't translate to the blogosphere very well. (HA!)

Sunday's ride was a sweet one, as we ripped through White Clay and Middle Run. I'll admit it was a bit harder than I had expected. Buddy drove the pace, and is really going good right now. Probably the first time in years that he's been 100% healthy on the bike. I'm happy for him, even if I want to kick him in the nuts as crushes my soul with a smile on his face.  He thought he was laying down a nice even pace. (warning adult language below):


BUddy from marc vettori on Vimeo.

One of the challenges of having a camera just run on the ride is that you record every bit of shit you talk on a ride. Sometimes that's funny.  Good thing I didn't have the camera when I told Consorto I'd pay him $100 to go get his car and come pick me up as I died coming home from Turkey point on Friday.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing family, getting some more miles and a great Christmas

thanks for reading.

respect
Vanderbacon

something about monkey

Dear Readers,

After a week of being sick with the Flu and a sinus infection, I finally got myself back out on the bike with Monkey Sunday morning over at White Clay. Monkey had been taken it easy herself in an effort to not catch what I had, and well- December.

We bombed around the trail system, and both of us were clearing out sinuses via snot-rocket-palooza. This could have been the cool weather, or the effort finally allowing us to clear out the last of a sinus infection. Monkey has always shot a lot of snot during her rides, today was an all time level of snot rockets. It was truly impressive.

Up the border trail, one of the longer escalating climbs in the park, Monk fired a snot rocket which I thought came by my head a little close. "easy there monkey, let's no have any friendly fire accidents here..."

We laughed and enjoyed the rest of our our ride.

Flash-forward to Monday. I head out on the road bike a lunch, My glasses are sitting on my helmet as they were Sunday during my mtb ride. I pull them off and actually use them. When I place them on it is immediately clear that I cannot see out of the right lens. My near miss, was actually a hit. I had visions of Something about Mary, only with Snot not... well hair gel.

Smiling, I placed my glass back on my helmet and spun on...

thanks for reading.

respect
fm

Bob Joos: Mid Atlantic Cyclocross Man of the Year

Dear Readers,

Just prior to the start of the season, Kelly Cline, who no doubt would belong on the Mount Rushmore of Mid Atlantic Cross, or the Mid Atlantic Cross Hall of Fame if such a thing existed posted this to his Facebook page:

"Before heckling. Jeers of now use to be cheers. We used to have something called the Brotherhood and Sisterhood.  We fed each other. We pitted for each other. We trained together. We unconditionally supported one another regardless of what kit we were wearing. We rode hard and had fun. Let's get back to those days."

Bob up the stairs at Sly Fox

Bob at Crossasaurus Awesome

It is with this quote that I approached my cross season, and while I had only intended to do 1-2 races, my season and love of cross blossomed into a wonderful time, 13 races strong. And while it may have finished a little pre-maturely -getting to cheer for, be cheered on by, supported by and in general watching Bob support and foster our community will be one of the memories of this season that I will keep fondly.

Bob ready to take on his race..

Bob is a 56 year old cat 5 in his third year of cross racing. He has done 16 races this year. Bob has produced strong results on the race course. But far more important that what Bob had done between the tape, is what Bob has brought to the community. 

Bob pitting for one of many riders this year...

When I read Kelly's pre-season quote, Bob Joos is the guy who quickly comes to my mind first. Our friends at crossresults.com confirm that Bob raced 16 races this year. I know that doesn't seem like enough, because from his race reports, and cheering voice, 16 doesn't seem to capture all the places and races Bob has been. Bob would race his guts out, and regardless of placing, start the hard work of his day. From the moment he was done racing, you could count on him to be in the pit working for everyone regardless of team. Shouting encouragement and sharing his energy with all the community.

On your worst days, Bob was the voice that keep you digging deep, and on your best days Bob was the voice that made you feel like Sven Nys. Bob embodies community. After each race, Bob would write up a brief report of his race, honest and fun to read, but his race was never the focus of the reports, it was his friends, teammates, and community that he continued to cheer on, encourage and take pride in.

We all have the power to lift people up or knock them down, I'm proud to have watched Bob lift far more than his share this season. Bob is awesome, and his efforts this year truly unmatched. I hope we can all bring what Bob brings to the race next year!

Please join me in congratulating Bob Joos as the Fatmarc.com Mid Atlantic Cyclocross Man of the year.

Thanks for all you do Bob. Thanks for being one of the guys that makes this community special.

thanks for reading.

Photos by: Jen Sears, Bill White and Nicole Sheets

respect
fatmarc

Buddy the Leg Breaker...

Dear Readers:

Here's a video of Buddy the Leg Breaker throwing down watts on Saturday:

See I told you.

Here's a little of Buddy, Consorto and I doing a little dip, duck, dodge and dive...
More watts from Buddy on the climb... And my first experiment with snarky commentary..

thanks for reading and you know watching some strange  POV videos...
The second video is not playing as I would like... Still figuring this out to some extent...
All for the benefit of the Fatmarc Vanderbacon blog readers...

best to you

respect
fatmarc