From: motivatedphotos.com
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Santa Cruz Off-Road Metric Century
Today the VeloNerds hosted the inaugural annual Santa Cruz Off-Road Metric Century. Never mind that the acronym for that is horrible, we're just never going to shorten it. The name of an event should match the event and this ride was LOOOOOONG!
Eight brave folks started at 8AM and five completed the planned route 12 hours, 115 kilometers, over 3,000 meters of ascent later. This year there was a special offer with 15% extra free! That's 72 miles and 10,000ft of ascent for those that can't deal with new fangled scientific units.
The goal was to ride 100 kilometers on all single track and never ride the same trial twice in the same direction. We came pretty close, only re-riding a few key connector trails and managed to ride every single one of our favorite trails (except Hillbilly).
At the end of the ride the people who completed it got a frickin' laser etched stem cap for their troubles and as with all great events there was a raffle! Nicole grabbed as much tat lying around her apartment that she didn't want and fobbed it off on the poor suckers who were too tired to realize they were being bamboozled! She still couldn't find anyone to take the huge package of Heed (heave!) she has though.
It was, by far. the best experience I've ever had on a bike, so much fun to be riding with friends and having a great time pushing out bodies riding hard. I can't believe I know 4 other people who can ride that long and hard and I get to ride with them several times a week, life is good!
There a few more pictures over in the gallery.
Eight brave folks started at 8AM and five completed the planned route 12 hours, 115 kilometers, over 3,000 meters of ascent later. This year there was a special offer with 15% extra free! That's 72 miles and 10,000ft of ascent for those that can't deal with new fangled scientific units.The goal was to ride 100 kilometers on all single track and never ride the same trial twice in the same direction. We came pretty close, only re-riding a few key connector trails and managed to ride every single one of our favorite trails (except Hillbilly).
At the end of the ride the people who completed it got a frickin' laser etched stem cap for their troubles and as with all great events there was a raffle! Nicole grabbed as much tat lying around her apartment that she didn't want and fobbed it off on the poor suckers who were too tired to realize they were being bamboozled! She still couldn't find anyone to take the huge package of Heed (heave!) she has though.It was, by far. the best experience I've ever had on a bike, so much fun to be riding with friends and having a great time pushing out bodies riding hard. I can't believe I know 4 other people who can ride that long and hard and I get to ride with them several times a week, life is good!
There a few more pictures over in the gallery.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
VeloNerd Traitors
Nicole and I betrayed the good VeloNerd name (HA!) on Saturday and rode a huge road ride (gasp! ... awkward silence). We road the Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge, a local Century ride with 10,700ft of ascent through most of the beautiful cool mountain roads around here. It was a blast. I wasn't quite as sissypants roadyesque as Nicole on her full carbon road bike, but I did ride a mountain bike with a rigid fork and slick tires to make it a little easier. We had a super great ride, so much fun, laughing all the way. Many people commented on our awesome team outfits and Mark also joined us but only wore a propeller and his cow jersey (no shirt and tie for him). Erin rode up and joined us for the last 15 miles and we saw Matt right before the big climb up Jamison Creek. A super fun ride (even if it was on the road).
Monday, July 21, 2008
Why Fox Rocks: a rider's view
Jun Says: So, what's with the Fox shorts, gloves, jerseys, t-shirts, socks, etc? I don't work there, I don't have any close friends that work there, so what gives? Well, it could be that they make the most solid, reliable equipment around. When I bought my original Blur, it came with a Progressive 5th Element shock in the back. I requested that it be replaced with the non-platform version Fox Float, because it's made by a local company, as is my 100 RLC fork. Since then, I've heard of many Progressive shock failures, but my trusty Float has never been serviced and is still going strong. Or maybe it's the fork, which never leaked a drop in its much-abused long life. I got it serviced at a local bike shop out of guilt for running it so long without maintenance and the mechanic said the oil inside looked fine. After that, it leaked badly until I took it down to Fox in Watsonville and asked them to look at it. They serviced it for me and it has not leaked a drop since, even after race punishment that warped both wheels. Their turn around time was awesome and they didn't charge me a cent! Yeah, they took good care of me, but it's their service to the wider mountain bike community that really shines.
When the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz was fighting to keep riders' access to Nisene Marks State Park, Fox developed the "Save the Trail" shirt campaign to help us raise legal fees. I've worked alongside Fox employees at local charity bike builds for disadvantaged kids to have bikes for Christmas. They raised the bar for professional decorum and community service at those events. At more than one trail advocacy event, such as Ales and Trails, I've seen Fox represented by staff and/or donations that furthered the goals of local access and riders. Even the local high school teams have benefited from Fox involvement. I cannot stress enough how fortunate we are to have this local company engaged in our endeavors and how many positive contributions Fox has made. So yeah, I support them and speak out on my appreciation for their help. Good people.
When the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz was fighting to keep riders' access to Nisene Marks State Park, Fox developed the "Save the Trail" shirt campaign to help us raise legal fees. I've worked alongside Fox employees at local charity bike builds for disadvantaged kids to have bikes for Christmas. They raised the bar for professional decorum and community service at those events. At more than one trail advocacy event, such as Ales and Trails, I've seen Fox represented by staff and/or donations that furthered the goals of local access and riders. Even the local high school teams have benefited from Fox involvement. I cannot stress enough how fortunate we are to have this local company engaged in our endeavors and how many positive contributions Fox has made. So yeah, I support them and speak out on my appreciation for their help. Good people.
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