Clark Brothers Racing: Singlespeed-A-Palooza 2014

Get in the van!

I know for a fact that I spent the good part of my education sleeping away in creative writing class. Many afternoons I awoke to a puddle of drool and blamed it on the lunch, but it was a combination of many things. Hanging out with my friends late into the weekend nights, drinking too many beers , and lack of belief that there was a real world that I actually may have to perform in. Rarely does this happen now. Too much goes on in my life that requires coffee to keep me rolling. Sometimes gone are those days of carelessness and bliss unless I’m being inspired by others. Goofy movies come to mind during these moments. Such as Animal house, Old school, Fubar II and even reality television shows such as call of the wild man. Each portraying crazed characters individually motivated and on the fringe of society. Last summer our team mate Kevin had bought a conversion van for road trips with his family and friends. What this van would come to be is a reason to reflect on those days prior to the real world while being encouraged and inspired by others to enjoy life for the moment.

We loaded up the van with bikes, beer and some clothes and headed on our 5 hr. road trip to New York for the 2014 Singlespeed-A-Palooza race put on by Dark Horse Cycles. Careful calculations were made so that we didn’t exceed the weight limit of the springs on the van due to the coolers that were loaded with Iron Mike pale ale and Bone Shaker brown ale from Moat Mountain. Our plan was to spread the beer love at this event with the tasty Moat Mountain beers. Taylor would later yell to me to “Get in the van!” and blasting rock music and a van full of beer this fraternity was on the road. This year four of us would go down and race in the men’s open. Taylor, Kevin, Dave and me. Since we rode the course the year before on a 32x20 which was too spiny for the fire road sections we upped the ratio to a 32x18. The 18 is little faster on the fire roads and your still able to climb everything in the woods. This course features single track with a good flow to it and a point to point race. This is a nice change compared to the hamster cage races that we normally attend. The course this year was fast and fun with a couple of muddy areas near the end. Nothing terribly bad. We got a chance to pre-ride and then we checked into the hotel and got our room. Saturday night things got a little fun. We met up with Shoogs, Ray Cloutier, Lone Wolf Cycling Tim Woods, the boys from Gigantic Hawk, Team Awesome and the DAS crew at the camping area, got the bonfire rolling and cracked open the coolers. Sometimes you have to wonder if we forgot that there was a race the following day. It’s not every day that you get a chance to hang out with friends you see once a year. So let’s have a good time. By the morning we realized that the coolers were about bare. What a night, now what a morning. Race day. Ouch!!

We got ready for the 9am line up with a little Advil and a smile. Started off in the back and worked our way up to the front pack on the fire road. The 18 seemed to roll pretty well. With this gear I didn’t have to trade spots with many people and was able to just keep rolling forward. I got to the top of the fire road and looked back to keep my team mates in sites. We originally wanted to try and stay together but got split up by just a little bit. Into the first single track climb things were going well. Taylor and Dave were close behind and were rolling well. The second small climb would do my pedal in. Snap. Gone. My drive side pedal snapped right off and I was left with nothing. Taylor would later roll by and say “Get on that and RIDE IT!” What? I said I just broke a pedal. Screw it I‘ll Ride it out to the fire road. Half a mile more and I hit the road with one pedal. All right I paid 75.00 to race some of the best single track and I’m done at the 2.5 mile mark. The heck with it I’ll just keep riding. I was able to keep cranking with one leg and having the other just hanging over the other side off the ground. I couldn’t stand up but I was eventually able to rest my right leg on the sloping top tube of my Misfit frame and kept cranking with the left. Being raw aluminum I didn’t have to worry about scratches. Cranking and coasting down the single track and part way up the hills only to later jump back on over the top. This wasn’t going too bad. If I could keep it up until the beer stop at the half way mark I’d be content. I ran into Mike Rave at a fire road section and he asked “what are you going to do? “ I said “I’ll ride it out!” The race was long gone and I was having fun. Just before the beer stop I yelled to Kevin to wait so we could ride together but he wanted to keep riding. At the stop one of the event staff had an old Crank Brothers Candy pedal that he said I could have. Awesome!! I’ll drink to that! Two beers, a Red Bull, two GU shots, and some water all while he installed the new pedal and then I was off and running with a new outlook. Railing the downhill’s and making the climbs kept me smiling. I ran into Kev on the climb by the old car then I caught up to Taylor on the fire road going the opposite way and walking. Two flats had done him in. He told me Dave flatted once and was off to finish. So I rode on. I was still feeling good and made it to the finish and happy to have made it here. I think it’s a combination of determination, bliss and stupidity that gets me through those situations and keeps me rolling much like the characters in the movies I mentioned. Delusional and outrageous it puts a smile on my face. At the finish I was able to hang out with some great people, enjoy some beers, barbecue and enjoy the moment.

-AC