Ironmasters Mansion TT Starts This Thursday!

Howdy, cyclists!

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that, starting Thursday the 3rd @ 6pm, YBR will host a twice-monthly 10-mile bike time trial.

Who: Anyone who can complete 10 miles can ride - and it's free!

What: The Ironmasters Mansion Time Trial - 10 miles - 5 miles out, 5 miles back, riders separated by 1 min intervals.

When: 6 pm, 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month (rain date is the following Tuesday).

Where: A slightly different course this year - well, the same course, but we'll start at what was last year's turnaround point.

Start at Mountain Creek Campground (just off of Rt. 34, on Pine Grove Road) - ride 5 miles west to the Ironmasters Mansion at Pine Grove Furnace SP, and return to Mountain Creek Campground.

Park in the gravel/grass on the south/west side of the campground office. Restrooms are available at the campground - in the brown building across from the office.

Why: This is a great way to test/improve your fitness and to meet other local cyclists...

If you plan to race, please let me know by return e-mail...so far, C-Bo and "Sister of C-Bo" are in...

Questions? Let me know!

The campground people are being super nice about this; please buy some snacks or drinks or minnows from them - or just say "thanks".

Spread the word!

Mark

Fast Albert Says "Get Your Minerals!"

Mmmm...breakfast in Michaux! Name the trail, MTBers...

now THAT's Endurance Racing!

I'm sure some of you remember an area biker named Jen Krebs . . . she moved away several years ago and is now in Colorado. But she was instrumental in hooking me up with a lot of local riders back in the day and Donna and I continue to stay in contact with her. She's a pretty cool person. She must be if she's friends with me. Anyway, since we tout our "endurance" sports, I thought this might be of interest to the YBR crew.

Jen Krebs is racing RAW this year. That's Race Across the West, a new part of RAAM, Race Across America. RAW is the first 1000+ miles of the RAAM course, from Oceanside, CA to Taos, NM. In 92 hours. She's racing it. By herself. Yes, over 1000 miles in 92 hours. Or less. And she's using the effort to raise awareness of eating disorders. She qualified for this by setting a new Women's course record at the ADK544 in 2006. That was a 544-mile race in the Adirondacks. Sweet.

Donna and I are helping out on the support crew for her RAW effort so we get to drive around the West for a week and a half in June following Jen on her bike. It's our rest period in our training schedule.

If you get a chance, check out her website at http://www.jenniferkrebs.com/

And check out RAW at http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/page.php?title=Events+RAW
And, of course, RAAM at http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/

Fast Albert Demolishes the Competition!

Wow, does Fast Albert EVER have an off season?

Here's his report from the Mountain State XC Ski Marathon:

"I really liked the race. Very informal. It was a beautiful day -
Whitegrass in March with complete snow cover, bright sun, high 40's and no wind. It was supposed to be 25Km but it sure felt longer. There was quite a bit of climbing and they said the course was a bit different from previous years. I had skied over to Canaan, rode up the lift and skied back down around and down 3 mile trail earlier in the morning.

The race started at 1 so I had time to switch to my wife's lighter back
country skis (no metal edge) and couldn't believe how much lighter they
were. The boots felt like slippers compared to my boots.

It got fairly warm and there was very little glide at all in my skis.
The route was sort of slushy in places and the set track was missing in
various locations and then was wiped out by the skaters. There was a
fairly long downhill that was actually pretty fast. It has been a long
time since I used skis with out metal edges so it was tricky trying to
gain control. It reminded me of my first time cross country skiing and
flying thru the woods with no control. The sun went behind the trees and
the downhill section started to firm up and was very fast the last 2
laps.

The folks at Whitegrass are the best. I thought they would probably
cancel the race because there were so few people and was pleasantly
surprised they went ahead and had it. Then I felt bad keeping them out
there when there were only 3 of us left after the shorter races had
finished. No problem at all - they were just happy it was nice out.
Chip must have thanked me 4 different times for coming out and racing.
If you ever get a chance to do the race, you should give it a try. I
think they said it was the 15th year of the race but they might say that
every year.

I would like to try skating skis sometime. They look fun and fast.

Mountain State XC Marathon Sunday March 2 Results
25 Km Skate
Jason Cyr 35 Davis WV 2:26
James South 37 Uniontown, Pa DNF

25 Km Classic
Albert Greene 45 Woodbridge, Va 2:41
Bill Pope, Oakland, Md 3:02

10 Km Skate
Rodger Carter 39 Clarksville, Md 1:06
Chip Chase 54 Canaan Valley 1:11

7 Km Skate
Charlie Waters 45 Canaan Valley WV 0:42
Steve Strothers 49 Cabin John, Md :45
Marty Byers 47 Potomac, Md :57 min

7 Km Classic
Jennifer Carter 47 Clarksville, Md :56

BB Biathlon Sat March 1 Results
Name (Hits out of 9) Time
Eric Suter-Bull 9 8:26
Kathryn Suter 9 9:21
Mason Clark 6 11:06
Nick Merriam 6 14:02
Chase Sutton 9 14:51

Jennifer Fri 6 16:29

P.S. Sarah was going to school on Monday and was using the Whitegrass water
bottle I won. Karen told Sarah that I had won it for coming in first
place. Sarah immediately called me at work and asked how many people
were in the race - she is pretty quick for only being 8. Great deductive
reasoning - dad wins = he was the only one in the race. Actually there
were 2 people including me! The other racer was 70 years old (a super
fast 70 years old and super nice guy!)."

M.

A Living Legend Retires

First it was MJ, then John Tomack, now Brett Favre has called it quits. I'm in a state of shock. I feel like someone just stole my teddy bear, I lost my best friend, found out there is no Santa Claus, discovered my spokes are NOT DOUBLE BUTTED!!!

Just as I know the sun will rise, titanium rides better than aluminum, and Fast Albert will run a ridgid fork at Michaux, I KNOW Brett Favre will line up under center in a Packers uniform. Now this constant is no more, this immovable force has been displaced, this legend has ridden off into the sunset. And so I shed a tear, I pour my forty in the street, and I have one less hero to cheer for on Sunday. Here's to heros, here's to good guys who come out on top, and here's to Bret Favre. I'll miss you number four...