| Hi, my name's Dave and I ride bikes. I ride and do really stupid
stuff on bikes actually. I'm not that good at it, which is what
makes the stuff I do stupid. I ride with a bunch of guys who don't
do stupid stuff on their bikes, they do cool stuff. It's the same
stuff I try to do, but since they know what they are doing it's
cool. Someday I'll develop the skills to where the stuff I do on my bike will cease to be stupid and
start being cool. I hope it's soon because I'm 38 and I'm trying to
be cool before I hit 40.
WARNING: Just about all the photo's on this site represent
activities which at one time or another has lead to most of the
riders ending up in a doctor's office, an emergency room, or (in my
case) being scraped up off the ground by NYC paramedics. Do
not attempt the stunts depicted within unless you have good medical
insurance, don't mind walking with a limp and have a burial plan.
__________________________________________
24 Feb 2001
Mountain Creek followup. I received the following when I
asked if the closing was permanent or just for this season.
Hopefully they are just doing some work on the mountain to make it
better in the future.
From: Guest Services <info@MOUNTAINCREEK.com>
To: "'dfroman@ix.netcom.com'"
Subject: RE: 2001 Mountainbiking?
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 12:45:14 -0500
Hi Dave, As far as we know now its just for this summer. Thanks for the
interest pat
__________________________________________
22 Feb 2001
Okay, finally received a response from Mountain Creek. I'm
not really sure how to read this, but it sounds like they are closed
for mountainbiking because they are working on the lift. I'll
try to worm some more info out of them.
From: Guest Services <info@MOUNTAINCREEK.com>
To: "'dfroman@ix.netcom.com'"
Subject: RE: 2001 Mountainbiking?
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 14:18:36 -0500
Thank you for your inquiry regarding the availability of mountain
biking at Mountain Creek this summer. It sounds like you are a past visitor
to our mountain, and we appreciate your continued interest in our resort
development.
Our primary lift, the Cabriolet gondola, will not be in service this
summer. Since the cross country trail system originates on the top of our
mountain plateau; and for downhillers the lift access is a necessity, we
regret that we will not be able to access the trails this season and are
unable to offer the program we developed in the course of the past two
years.
Mountain biking is a sport close to our hearts, and we'll continue
to look for ways to integrate it into our resort recreation mix, including
the possibility of hosting events this summer.
Please keep in touch, and check our website for any special events
or programs for riders that may develop.
Again, thank you for riding with us and we hope to see you back as
our mountain village resort continues to grow.
__________________________________________
19 Feb 2001
It's getting a little frustrating now. I'm sure everyone
has heard the rumor by now that Mountain Creek in Jersey is shutting
down its mountainbiking as well. I've sent them a note, but
haven't received a response as of yet. Once I hear something
official I'll post it.
Next, is there anyone who is a downhill racer (or fan) in the
state of Virginia who has experience doing race
administration. That is what the state people are looking
for. I'm in the state, but I've only been here a few months,
know absolutely no one in the downhill scene here and have no
experience with any type of event planning. If no one else
will do it, hell, I'll give it a try. I'll suck at it, but
someone has to try it. If you can and want to do it sent a
note to Kyle. Finally, for
today anyway, if you know of any races/race series anywhere east of
the Rocky Mountains (including Canada) send me a note. Also if
they have a web site send it to me as well and I'll post the race
info and link to them.
__________________________________________
15 Feb 2001 Man, don't you hate it when you do an hour of updates
then close the page without saving them! Let me try this again. First
off, talk about a quick response. I got an email from Kyle
at mountainbikevirginia. I'm used to waiting at least a week for a
response from anyone in a position of authority in the biking
universe. So score one for Virginia. While we don't
agree on some points, at least he took the time to fill me in on how
mountainbiking has and is developing in Virginia (about 20k worth of
fill). Cool. He also told me that they (the state guys
that is) aren't opposed to having multiple downhill races, but
no one has asked for it. What's up with that? Com'on
guys even if you don't agree with me about the whole Massanutten/Wintergreen
thing, at least let Kyle know what you are thinking. With as
many Va downhillers that were filling the course at Whitetail last
year, there should be more than one race, don't you think? Next,
the whole infamous popping off headtube thing with Specialized
FSR-DH's. It appears that the FSR-DH is still going to be
produced. It is on the 2001
S-Works lineup at the Specialized website I talked to a Specialized tech rep (Nick) on the
phone today and finally got the real scoop. Here it is. There is no recall of the DH's. There was a tech note that
went out advising shops to inspect the welds around the headtube and
seatmast of the bikes. If cracks are found in those areas the
frames are being replaced. If a bike has been being used and
they haven't failed in those areas then they should be fine (sounds
like they got a bad batch of welding material). However if the
bike does fail then it will be replaced. I made an offhand
comment about not putting a Monster T on it just to be safe,
Nick said that putting a T on should pose no problem, the headtube
design is strong enough to take the stress. So if you have
heard about a) FSR-DH recall, it's untrue; b) Specialized not doing
warrantees on the FSR-DH, it's untrue; c) me being torqued as
Specialized for killing it's downhill team.... well that's true. Finally,
I moved last year's rants to a new page to
keep loading time under and hour. __________________________________________
14 Feb 2001 Happy Valentine's everyone. Guess what I got my
sweetie, something any downhiller would appreciate. An Azonic
AZX. Am I a hopeless romantic or what. Okay now on a more
serious note. Virginia Downhillers, we need to talk about
trail access. Currently the Virginia State Downhill
Championships are held at Massanutten. A resort that does not
allow access to downhillers except for that one race. About 50
miles south of Massanutten is Wintergreen Resort. This
resort does allow downhilling, provides shuttle service and
holds its own race. From an advocacy view, wouldn't it make
more sense for the Virginia State Downhill Championships to be held
at a resort that welcomes us. Personally I don't see how it is
fair for Wintergreen to put forth the effort to welcome us to their
resort and then be snubbed when it's time for the state's premiere
race. I have sent an email to that effect to the folks at www.mountainbikevirginia.com
.
Now I'm just knee-jerking on my reaction here, so someone yell at me
if I'm off target with this. But those of you who think this
is a point to be debated, well let's talk. Does anyone have
any thoughts about how either to get Massanutten to open it's runs
for a full season or should we talk to the Virginia Championship
Commission about supporting those who support us? Am I just
being a stupid interloper who is messing with a system that
everybody loves? Would Wintergreen even want the darn
race? What's up? __________________________________________
13 Feb 2001 Well it's official, Whitetail in Pa has closed it's
mountainbiking doors. Here is the form email I got in response
to a query about the 2001 DH series: February
9, 2001
Dear Mountain Bike Enthusiast:
Thank you for your e-mail. The decision to close our mountain
biking
program was not an easy one. We understand that there are many
faithful
riders and that each one has contributed to our program in some way.
In order to operate a successful Mountain Biking program a great
deal of
human and financial resources are required. Whitetail has
always made this
commitment as we did last year. It is my feeling that the
overall benefits
which we received from operating the Mountain Biking program were
not equal
to all the efforts which were put forth. In addition the
program has
required a great deal of focus and time on the part of our year
round staff
who, in additions have a great deal of other responsibilities in the
summer
relating to the operation of the ski area. This was not an
easy decision to
make, but after everything was considered this is the decision at
which we
arrived.
We appreciate you taking the time to share you comments concerning
our
mountain bike program with us, and most of all we thank you for
being part
of our past mountain biking program.
Sincerely,
Donald E. MacAskill
General Manager/Vice President
WHITETAIL RESORT
The links page has been
appropriately updated to remove them. On the plus side I have
found a couple more area resorts to add. Thinking back to last
summer it was kind of a bozo-fest as far as how they ran the
mountainbiking. But then again maybe it's just sour grapes
cause I lost a downhill slope 90 minutes away. __________________________________________
12 Feb 2001 Did some more updates today. The bike
reviews, shop reviews, parts
reviews, trail reviews have all been
updated. Give them a look, just remember I'm an opinionated
loudmouth. __________________________________________
11 Feb 2001 Lots of picture updates. Rich's, George I, Agnes
and me all have new pictures up. Give them a look. Rich
and George have the best pics so go there first. We took
Agnes' FSR-XC out for it's first ride this weekend. We went to
Whitney State Forest which is just south of Warrenton, Va. If
you are in that area it has a really good network of trails.
Nothing too difficult but it's good for practicing. Plenty of
downed trees and a couple of built up jumps. You do go up and
down too so your lungs will feel it as well. If you try it and
like it, stop by Ashby Street Bicycles and thank them, they put a
lot of work into it. __________________________________________
4 Feb 2001 Just got back from a weekend in New York. So
first the bad news. SPOOKY IS GONE.
Shutdown, bye-bye. Major bummer. So what if I wasn't
planning on a Project-X purchase in the near future, it still
sucks. Good news is that (possibly) Fred the welder is
still working on frames. So if you were wanting an 'X' there
is still hope. His website was supposed to be www.ftw.com,
but I tried that and it's Fort Worth Texas. I tried some
variations also, but no luck. I'll keep digging and when I
find out how you can contact him I'll post it. I'll also kill
all of the Spooky links since they don't work anymore. Now the
weird. It seems that folks actually do read the website.
Cause a couple people tried to use information from the page to take
possession of my DH. STUPID! First guy walks into Sid's
a while back and told them that he was there to pick up the 'white
downhill bike'. The guys sent him packing. Bozo number
two walks in and tells them he's working out a deal with me to trade
my FSR-DH for his Trek(!?!?!?!). A Trek? com'on, might as well
have said a Pacific. Helpful hint to people thinking of
scamming a bike out of Sid's. First off they are friggin' New
Yorkers. Jeeze, you think you are going to come up with a scam
they haven't heard fifty times before, get real. Second they
know their customers, especially the one's who buy seven bikes from
them and break them on a weekly basis. These guys know more
about me than my mom does. They know that I (and most other
guys who own bikes that take a year's worth of saving to buy) am not
going to let anyone come in an pick up my ride. They also know
that someone who has six Specialized bikes sitting in his living
room isn't going to trade one for a Trek. I'm riding that DH
until the head tube pops off (I don't care if Specialized is
offering to give me a Big Hit for it,) I've lusted for this bike for
two years, I'm riding it until it dies. Only then will I think
about another bike, and it won't be a TREK! So if you want to
impress Rich with a story about trading bikes with me, you'd better
be talking about trading me an M-1, TMX, Project-X or
Armageddon.... Maybe a Foes-DH (George loves his). Other
than that just shut up and buy something will ya, they aren't
working for free there. Okay blathering is out of the
way. Now for a trip report. Damn, it was cold up there
today. We still rode though (duh). Rich was on his new
TMX (John Deere green and yellow), George was on his new Foes-DH
tube, I was on the recently restored FSR-DH and Agnes was on her
Rockhopper (her other bikes are here in
Va). We cruised around
Van Cortlandt and checked out the BMX bowl. It's still
completely covered with snow and ice. That didn't stop George
for giving a quick demo of a catching major air with
bunny-hops. People with BMX skills are scary that way.
He also gave me some very rudimentary pointers on how to do
manuals. At least now I know what I've been doing wrong a
these years. I go too low off the back when I pull, so I'm
just pulling the bike backwards with no lift. Give me another
year or so and I might actually figure out how to do it, then I'll
get rid of the clipless pedals and be a cool flat rider. After
school we went for some urban assault (following a quick break at
Burger King). Rich took us to some steps and drops over by
Lehman college and I broke out the camera for some excellent
photos. Rich and George both cleaned a nice five-foot wall
(Rich stacked it the first time, and it's on film!). The
pictures will be up next weekend. I have to burn the rest of
the roll. As for me, well I didn't have spd shoes or helmet
and I used that as an excuse to beg out of doing the drops.
But we got some pictures of the steps as well. I think I
managed not to look completely lame. Web
news. Check out www.nycfreeride.com
they have some choice photos and video of city riding. You
might even recognize some of the riders. OH
YEAH! Notice the card! Feb 19 is the release party for
Chain Reaction II. If you are in the city this is a must
go! Stop by Sid's and pick up an invite. Not sure if you
need one to get in, but wouldn't it suck to need one and not have
it. Hey, buy a Fox jersey while you are there too, okay.
Me, well I won't be in city. But if I was in town I would be
there. __________________________________________
1 Jan 2001  Okay, I know. I've kinda become one of 'those'
web pages that don't get updated ever. But I have an
excuse. We moved. We are now living in the sticks in
Virginia. Wanna know something. Virginia sucks!
Well compared to New York anyway. We are out in horse country
so that means that every square foot of land is some rich dude's
personal property. If I work at it I think I can hit Steve
Case's house with a good rock throw (seriously, he lives right over
the hill). We're living in a converted barn loft. At
least we have a place to store the bikes downstairs. (4 Feb -
and hey, this is Virginia so I got a 12 gauge too, try to break in
and I get to shoot you for free!)
Okay, now for the bike news, in case you are interested. I did
take the opportunity to run the full season at Whitetail in
Pa. Have to tell ya something though. The DH was not set
up for it. I had the 24's on it with 3.0 Gazzalodis and a 36
tooth chainring. I
roosted at Plattekill but at Whitetail they actually expect you to
pedal some. What's up with that?! So me and my pig tires
finished in like 8th every race. If there were 15 people I
finished 8th. If there were 8 people I finished 8th. And
guess what... When the final standings came out. I
finished 8th. So Dave's helpful hint of the new year. Don't run 24's
and a tiny chainring on courses where you have to pedal. Oh yeah,
when all was said and done at Plattekill, with only running 3 of the
8 races I came in 16th out of like 42. Not bad eh. Next
year I'm racing Sport. So to all the sandbaggers out there
who are going on their fourth year in the beginners class.
BLOW ME! Cowards! I have a bunch of new pics up of me and Agnes. Finally got
some good ones up of the DH. Yeah, I'm pissed at Specialized
too. First Palmer, then the whole team, and now they aren't
even making the DH anymore. Hey, they keep
this up and my next
one's coming from Intense. Moving to Va has gotten us some more material to write about as far
as reviews go. There bike shops aren't much compared to Sid's,
which is why the DH is vacationing up in New York for a few weeks
getting a refit for next season, but I should find something good to
say about them no matter what. I mean, hey, they sell
bikes. I'll also be putting up more trail reports from the
area in the coming weeks (I think). So keep checking back. Oh
yeah, happy New Year. |