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Mongolia Bike Challenge 2017 - A brief history of time

Typical view from my stay in Mongolia The Mongolia Bike Challenge 2017 Tired, heavy eyed, suddenly sitting in my office chair but my brain and body are traveling at Boeing 777 speed over the Pacific with the hum of jet engines in an unconscious area of my mind. I sit and try to get ready for the upcoming work week but the afterglow of a twenty day vacation as far away from home as possible is flashing a slow motion slide show of landscapes and feelings experienced while gone.   Prior to arriving in Mongolia I had little knowledge of the terrain.   I only knew what I found online and what one local professional racer was willing to share (not much at all). I composed this post to answer questions for those who are interested in the Mongolia Bike Challenge so they feel more informed than I did. Tamir Wellness Ger Camp I've wanted to visit Mongolia  since seeing pictures of it in a geography class in high school. Green is all i remember and green is what I got. I
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Trans-Sylvania Epic 2014 Day 5

Trans-Sylvania Epic 2014 Day 5 On or before day 5 of a stage race i typically decide that i am home where ever my bike is and thus want the vacation to go on and on (like the rambling of my posts here). My body starts to adjust to the difficulty of the racing, i start getting faster and the negativity of the world subsides in my mind allowing me to relax, read books, type blog posts and just really enjoy being me. It's funny how something so difficult can give you such a sense of peace. I've forgotten about work (almost), the problems in Russia/Ukraine, and what ever else was in the news the week prior to our trip. Right now it's only Pennsylvania trail, my wife and other crazy bikers. Today started in R. B. Winter State Park. This place is a gem. Lush green ferns, dark Pennsylvania forests, moss, more rocks and Amish or Mennonites hanging out at the park. Today's stage was 31ish miles with about half of that being single or double track including a brand new sectio
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Trans-Sylvania Epic 2014 Day 4

Trans-Sylvania Epic 2014 - Day 4 He's not heavy. He's my brother. But my bike is heavy. Real heavy. It seems as everybody has grown an affinity for carpet fiber or carbon fiber or fiber crabon, what ever it is, i decided to grow an affinity to a heavier material...steel. Steel is real so they say. It's also heavy. It breaks less than carbon fiber when your weight is around 215#. I stopped weighing my bike once it crossed the 30lb milestone. Than i added a dropper post, heavier fork, boo bar and a super thick rear tire made from hippopotamus hide or something very similar. Any way, I'm riding a tank.  So today i woke after a good night of sleep to rain tap tap tapping on the camper roof. This is not what you dream of as a mountain biker. I don't recall ever exclaiming "yay" I'm going mountain biking in the mud and rain. Oh boy! Maybe we'll have some summer hail or tornado or a giant lightning storm. Luckily we did not. The rain stopped 5 minutes
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Tran-Sylvania Epic 2014 Day 3 - Enduro Day Finally. A chance to thank Pisgah for her lessons regarding navigation of high speed, hand numbing, mind blowing descents. The trails here in PA are tough. The rocks turn a smooth pedal stroke into something more similar to a swift kick in the but. It really feels like you are getting kicked in the butt, over and over and over and over again. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I do ride a hard tail so maybe some of it is my fault. I just can't let go of the interaction with the trail that comes from riding a well built, super fun, steel hard tail 29er. It's a Transition Trans Am. Plug.  transitionbikes.com . This bike rocks. It's the best 29er I've owned, hands down. The only other bike that is similar was my custom titanium 26er by Steve Potts. Plug.  stevepottsbicycles.com . Steve Potts makes awesome bikes and I'm building up my first custom ti Steve Potts 29er soon. Anyway, today was super fun to me since the race was five sma
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Trans-Sylvania Epic 2014 - Day 2 Bad. Long. Hot. Never under estimate the difficulty of 40 miles of Pennsylvania rocks, hills and more rocks. We have rocks in Western North Carolina but they are typically small and usually move. In PA they are big and reach up from the earth to grab tires as you roll by. Upon completion of day one i knew that a podium spot in my age group was very unlikely. I knew that coming into this race. The Enduro aspect is still in my sights. Unfortunately there is only one winner in the Enduro category and it's winner take all. No second place losers. Long story short, I bonked around 25 miles in, went through two 3 liter camelbaks, 2 water bottles, 2 flat tires and 2 naps trail side. Distinction between reality and la la land was a fine line of which i was straddling over. A kind biker and two young riders stopped to ask if i was ok and if i needed help. All i could say was nothing at all. Then finally i lied and said i was ok. She read my answer and pre
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Trans-Sylvania Epic 2014, Day 1 review It's been a long time. I shouldn't have left you. As Eric B would say. 2014 and here i sit broken hearted. Tried to .......woops wrong saying. I find myself at the 2014 Trans-Sylvania Epic for the third time. It's all new and improved but i am two years older. Some things changed. Some didn't. I still like to race. I still like to ride, even though I tried to walk away from it for a bit. Racing gets in your blood like a bad virus you don't want. There have been times that i didn't want it, but around it comes and here i am in the middle of Pennsylvania, in a camper, with my wife, my tired legs, a belly full of food and nervous energy about the next 6 days. The new to me change is this thing called Enduro. It's like a race within a race in which your down hill segments are timed and the rider with the lowest overall time is crowned the Enduro champion. I'm older and don't want to keep up with the fast kids so
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Alley oop oop. Oop. Oop. Oop!

July 3, 2011 - First Annual (hopefuly) Brevard, NC Alley Cat Race. What a blast! Thirty some odd people (i use odd loosely) including kids, adults, adults who are still kids and in-betweens. This was my first participation in an Alley Cat Race. Typical alley cat format is basically no format at all. This race consisted of 10 or so check points, each worth a certain amount of points based upon their distance from the starting point. Also in the mix were a number of local landmarks, people and combinations of both that were each worth an additional 3 points each. Who ever has the most points and returns to the designated finishing area by the cut-off time wins. My buddy and official H8R, aka ZB, decided he just wanted to follow me for the race since he doesn't know Brevard all that well. Together we sped through Brevard and its outskirts, collected pictures, signed sign in sheets, danced, busted some rhymes, begged, consumed liquid refreshment, obeyed all and any traffic laws, improv
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