Tailwind USAC series Final race Stony Creek XC

Stop #9 of the Michigan USAC series:
Jason Lummis and Joberon raced this past sunday. The field was a little smaller than normal for the final race of the series. Jason finished 2nd with a last mile catch and pass of Greg Kuhn while Joberon rode steady and nabbed the 4th place stop ! Congrats to Christian Tanguy for winning the series again and also to Greg Kuhn for his continued improvement finishing 2nd in the series.

RESULTS


Stony XC Podium:




USAC MI series overall: Christian Tanguy 1st, Greg Kuhn 2nd and Jason Lummis 3rd
(best 6 of 9 races)

Erin's 29er Built

I wanted in on the big wheeled fun that the boys have been having so this year Scott Quiring made me a custom 29er bike frame to fit my girly 5'6" frame. White Brothers made me a custom 65mm travel fork to compliment the "mini" geometry of the bike Scott built. The end result being a top tube stand over height that's just perfect.

I haven't been able to ride it yet (neck problems- long story...no riding most of the year for me) so I still don't know exactly what I'm missing. I do know that it's so pretty that it's actually driving me kinda nuts just staring at it all the time...LOL. Hopefully I'll be able to at least take it on the dirt roads to tool around a bit soon.

Girls riding 29er's is becoming more & more common. Heather Irmiger, the U.S. Womens 2009 XC & Marathon National Champ, rode to victory on a 29er on both occasions. Willow Koerber just came in 2nd & then won in the 2 most recent national XC races on her 29er. And I know I've seen Katie Compton aboard one this year. Might be something to these big wheels ;o).

If I don't get to truly test it out & race it this year there's always next year right?! YES!!! Always next year...

:o)
Erin

Tailwinds USAC series #8 Fort Custer Time Trial

John Meyers, Joberon and Jason Lummis attended the 3nd to last USAC series race by tailwinds.net..... Race day temps where cool with an overcast sky..

Jason finished 2nd, John 8th and Joberon after a wicked crash 13th.....



Jason Lummis:
Nice day for a fast lap of the many trails of Fort Custer ! I needed to have a good race to stay in the hunt for 1 of the top 3 spots in the USAC series. Christian Tanguy has been unstoppable this year except for one bad flat at BIG M. I gave it a go for the W on sunday but only managed a 2nd by a few secs to 3rd/4th...I didn't make time to pre ride the course and found myself going to fast into the corners and braking a lot.1 log climb caught me off guard as you had to exit it via a skinny rail or drop 5ft to a flat, I made the skinny ;).....I felt strong the whole ride and I am looking forward to the Stony Creek XC this sunday as the XC season comes to an end here in MI....Chequamegon and Iceman are my last 2 MTB races, while I try to find parts to build up my CX frame so I can have a proper CX race bike for next months CX season openers !
I also won the 1st race in the Jolly Pumpkin CX series last wednesday night ! Great fun on a week night !
--JL

PLRA XC stop#7 of the Tailwind USAC series Pontiac Lk Rec area

PLRA podium via cell phony:
Greg Kuhn takes his 1st Elite win, Dave Walker (ohio) 2nd, Jason Lummis 3rd, Mark Parmelee 4th and the aint that old Hermitman 5th

A 90 degree humid day and 3 laps of PLRA.....Luckily the Lake ius close by !

ORE TO SHORE 09

Mike Anderson in the news: ARTICLE

JASON LUMMIS Garmin 305 data from the race: GARMIN

Good Luck Knuckles!

Mike Anderson 2nd, Jason Lummis 6th, John Meyers 11th, and Joberon 24th.

Scott Quiring (along w/Ken Blakey-Shell) got 1st place in the Men's Tandem division.
BRIAN MATTER WON !

John, Greg 'Kuhncappie-Chappy' Kuhn (5th place), & Joe catch'n their breath after the race:
photo from Land Lueck:
The competition was huge this year sans the Simonster and Jesse Lalonde. Wisco had at least 6 guys who could win it and Minn. studs Doug Swanson/ Jeff Hall made this stop #1 of the Midwest Triple Crown a fast/furious day....

Mike Phillips grabbed the hole shot from the start and the pace was fast. Jason Lummis took a quick flyer to see if anyone was willing to go, but no. Mike Anderson jumped on the first dirt on the RxR tracks and gapped the field, to be chased down quickly. Up and over the luge climb and the lead group was about 10-15 until the pace slowed and it grew to about 40 into Ispheming. The Eppens ramped it up and Tristan Schouten kept the pace high. Jason Lummis grabbed the better line on the old sandy RxR bed and pushed the pace again. Mike Anderson jumped off the front and Brian Matter bridged........The race changed shortly after this as the 1st chase group missed a turn leaving Lummis, the Eppens and another wisco rider Ted Hanes going the correct way (white chaulk lines and well marked course, guess you gotta think while racing)...... Soon it was just Lummis and Ted trading pulls for the 20 miles. Jason was having a rear tire issue with about 18 miles to go, it was losing air slowly, With about 13 to go a group containing Hall, Swanson, Marko, Mike P and MICHIGAN Greg Khun roilled up to Jason and Ted. Jeff caught a stick is rear deraillure and stopped. Jason stopped shortly after to air up his flat rear tire, jumped back on and chased for the next 8 miles. Jason caught Jeff Hall, then Ted and finally Marko as they neared the finish line for 6th.......more to come soon !


Mike Anderson report:
The 2009 Ore to Shore was a pretty eventful and exciting weekend. Rolled into town friday afternoon and was going to follow the usual pre-race plan of riding the last 10 miles or so of the course. Got saddled up and headed out on my dialed in Quiring rocket ship. I made it about 5 miles or so onto the course when my rear derailuer destroyed it self along with my one piece steel hanger, rendering my bike unrideable and my frame unuseable. I was pretty bummed as I walked out the woods, I called up Lummis and told him my deal. Lucky for me he had his spare Quiring on stand by, so after a couple hours of swapping parts we came up with a soild ride that was pretty close to my same position. I was pretty confident with the bike after a little ride on it, steel rigid forks and v-brakes make for one fast machine.

Onto the race...

Did a solid warm up with the crew and it was race time. On the start line I saw my seatpost had slipped down a little, I adjusted it up and cranked it down, not thinking anything of it. Typical O2S start as we hammered down the pavement and onto the dirt, I took the nice smooth line along the railroad tracks and no one followed me. Ended up with a solid gap letting me ride nice and easy until the luge climb, lead the group up the climb and let someone else take over at the top, but no one wanted to pull. We rode really easy through Ishpeming with a huge group. Lummis lifted the pace before the power line hills and strung out the group, I took over at the hills and kept the pace nice and high. Ended up with a gap, Brian Matter bridged across and the race was set. Before misery hill i noticed my seatpost was slipping down, by the time we got onto the pavement it was down about 4 inches. I didnt have a wrench and wasnt sure if i should stop and get one and let Brian go. I either could try to hang onto Brian for the rest of race and probably get 2nd pretty easily. Or stop adjust it and have to race the other guys for 2nd place. I decided to tough it out and try to ride it the rest of the way. I told Brian what my plan was and said he had a 25 mile TT to do if he wanted to win. After about 25 miles of mostly standing up my legs were pretty sore, but I was able to hang on for 2nd place, 2 seconds behind Brian. I think he would have been pretty tough to beat even if i didnt have any problems. He led the last half of the race and we were still 5 minutes up on 3rd place.

The race turned out pretty good considering all the problems, and was happy with the result. 3rd place last year, 2nd place this year. A huge thanks to Lummis for letting me race his bike, I would have been done for without him. Thanks to all the sponsors for the great equipment. Next up a journey into foreign country for some WORS racing and then Chequemegon.



Post race report:

Everybody LOVES Free Beer Tickets!

The Party @ Up Front and Company was a blast the band rocked the racers drank and free swag was given out ! Thank you Bells Brewery for always making these huge events even more special. BIG THANK you to Larry Bell, Jim Parks and Jason Reicherts for always being supportive of our team...
More appreciation for sponsoring help:
STANS NO TUBES the best wheels for 29ers
OAKLEY keeping our vision clear as we rip thru the dirt
CRANKBROTHERS pedals, skewers and headsets
GEAX tires roll fast and grip well
LOUIS GARNEAU great clothing, helmets and shoes
Alferd E Bikes shop support
ABERDEEN BIKE shop support

JOBERON BI-MONTHLY Report

Some Summer Racing

What a way to kick off the summer MTB season. 6 big laps around Stoney Creek Metropark's MTB trails. 60 miles of racing in the end and over 4 hours of saddle time. As always I was concerned my legs would cramp. My goal was to watch my fluid and calorie intake closer than I have in the past. Thankfully it helped in the end as I didn't really have issues until the last lap. And the leg cramps were minor in comparison to previous years. I didn't have to stop once and was able to push it all the way to the finish. The cooler temps this time around helped a bit too.

My teammate Jason took the hole shot and rode right through the finish chute by mistake. Hilarious! He was quickly back on track and leading us all out. We exited the first bit of single track and Jason was gapping us already. He flew down the first lose descent and I was following 10 second back. Shortly after Christian Tanguy(Fraser) caught me and I hopped on his wheel. He ended up bringing me, Greg Kuhn(Fraser) and Randy Laprarie(Macomb) back up to Jason. Christian make a strong move taking Randy with him as Greg, Jason and I chased. I somehow managed to hang on to the hard chargin Greg and Jason duo as they brought a fatiguing Randy back. Christian was long gone leaving us to race for 2nd. The pace was high for the first few laps eventually dropping Randy and leaving me to fight for survival. Greg and Jason traded pulls until the 4th or 5th lap when I poked my head into the wind in a attempt to contribute all I could. On the final lap we had a bit of a bobble with some lapped traffic and Greg attacked hard. By the time Jason and I could react he was gone and rolled in for that 2nd spot. Jason and I worked together to keep a roaring Robert Herriman(American Cycle and Fit) from catching us. Jason 3rd and I took the 4th spot and made the podium. I was pretty stoked. On a sad note, our cooler was stolen which housed my turkey on whole wheat and, sit down for this, a sixer of Oberon. I still haven't recovered from this malicious attack.

Next up was Big M. I was invited to crash for the weekend at my friend Randy's super secret training and hunting lodge(I'm not at liberty to disclose the location). It was perfect peaceful backwoods race prep. Saturday morning we downed some super secret go fast breakfast and headed out to the North Country Trail. Randy took me on a kick ass tour of some of the best single track Michigan has to offer. During I discovered the trails were dialed but my bike was not. My carbon fiber crank arm was lose and moving in unwanted directions. We continued with our ride anyway and returned to base camp a few hours later. We did our best to fix the problem but it turns out things had gone pear shaped. The carbon fiber had stretched around the spindle. At that point we decided it was time for dinner and that I'd be racing a bum bike. We brewed up a covert Bell's/Quiring Team original pre race meal which was enjoyed while watching Le Tour. Brought to us via satellite. After a good nights rest we were up and eating one of those go fast breakfasts again. I loaded the car, filled bottles and rolled out to the race. It was a beautiful morning. After a short warm up we were at the line ready for 5 laps of all our war. The race started super fast with Greg Kuhn(Fraser) at the head of affairs. Followed by Christian "The Flying Frenchman" Tanguy(Fraser), Mark Parmelee(Cycletherapy), myself, Jason and a host of others. As soon as we hit the hills Christian made a move with only Jason reacting. I stayed with the others. Christian took another jab losing Jason. The Frenchman disappeared as Greg reeled in my teammate. Those two were throwing down as the rest followed. At the end of lap one Jason and Greg gapped my group on the big sandpit of a downhill. It was then I noticed my rear brake was lacking...brakes and functioning poorly. I survived and hopped on Mark Parmelee's wheel. The chase to Greg and Jason was on. On lap two as we hit the hills we started to bring them back. I was hanging on best I could until the catch was made. Then, another surge and I blew up. I did my best to recover and limit my losses. I hit the sandy downhill again and nearly went into the trees. This continued for a couple more laps. I was going backwards. Couldn't put the power down and certainly couldn't rip the downhills. On my fourth lap my rear rotor blew to pieces. Again putting me into the woods. I survived, stopped and checked the damage. I had to bend the remnants of the rotor away from the spokes. Initially I thought my ride was over but Randy spotted me and forced me to ride on. Which I did and I managed to finish with a front brake only. Naturally not what I had hoped for at Big M but it was fun ride in the end. And I got one heck of a lap and a half interval in. Thanks Randy for your hospitality and I'd also like to thank Jason Bowne(Cross Country Cycle) and his family for the water bottle hand ups.

Thanks for reading. See you at the next one.

Joberon