Top Secret, Black Ops ride with Roger!

Stick it to the man, that what I always say! OK for those of you who really know me out of my millions of readers (who will now been know as the Petsko Pets)I don't know if I have ever really said that. ***Warning*** If you can't keep a secret stop reading. I will have people watching you! Tonight covert action was taken in Canaan Valley. Commander Roger Lilly and I hit some of the super sweet trails on the Wildlife Refugee. I sure that we total destroyed the whole damn echo system of the valley. Well that's what the fuckers at the refugee would tell ya. But maybe their right?! That one foot wide trail on 48,000 acres really hurts the animals and land! I sure it hurts the echo system much more then 20 years of the Blackwater 100 motorcycle race and getting the shit bombed out of it as military test range! WTF!
Pretecting your lands so no one can use it!


We were looking at a $500.00 fine if we got busted but with some of the best views I have seen since I moved to Davis it would be well worth it. Check this out!




See told ya it was worth it! We just a short ride recap. I made the mistake of telling Roger that I wanted to climb. Davis doesn't have climbs like Valley Falls but he made sure we found every hill possible. I was doing fine until about 1 mile from home and believe it or not I ran out of gas.. I could still pedal but I could no longer hold the pace. Ohh well. What hurts only makes me stronger, right? Here is the GPS info from the ride. It was so total worth it and would do that ride again in a heat beat, but I guess we really shouldn't do it for a while. Mainly because I can't aford to get caught. This message will self distruck in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1....

The Fastest Race of My Life!

This past weekend was a trip around West Virginia packed with racing. Saturday I was off to Bridgeport to cover the J. Cecil Jarvis Memorial Triathlon. Some of you many remember Cecil since he was an avid cyclist and WVMBA racer. Cecil was killed last year while riding his bike by some jackass kids who though a rubber snake at him. It was really nice to see that over 150 people came out to take part in the tri. Thing went well and my photos for iPlayOutside were not so bad also. I did run into Adam Anderson there and asked him when he was going to get a mountain bike, he answer was NEVER. He said, "you guys crash to much". Ok the guy has turned into a hell of a road racer but that answer was total weak!

After the tri it was just a few miles over to Gina's moms house where we would spend the night. Klara Hitchcock would be meeting us there to crash for the night and car pool the next day. Gina's mom made a killer meal of BBQ chicken and tomato pie for us. We the ended the night by watching the movie into the Wild. Great move if you have not seen it, but a little sad.
Dinner at the Desmond House


The next morning it was a 6am wake up call for the drive to Beckley. We had all kinds of photos from the trip that Klara took to post but she needs a lesson because not one of them came out. The weather was perfect for a race when we got to little beaver state park. I was pumped and ready to race. Unlike the last few races the climbing in this race was limited and it was pretty technical. Perfect for me. At the start the climb was not steep so I told myself to go hard to the top and beat the other to the single track before the log jam happened. Go! The plan was working well I was going hard but the legs were there and the pain was not to bad. I got to the top of the hill and heard people saying my name. How nice I thought to myself. It sure is nice to have people cheer for ya. Then I heard the voices again say JR STOP! Fuck I said to myself. I knew what it was right away. The time system was not working... Well I road over to the finish and worked on it for a while. Turns out I think one of the cords is back. 34 minutes after the start I decided to head out. I would love to say I finished still but after 3 miles I just wasn't into it. I had no interest in making everyone wait for me and going hard for no reason. The biggest bummer is that second may have happened. Everyone who road Clydesdale but the winner had issues during the race.. Ohh well..
Looking good 100 yards into the race


So now I am siting at home looking for the motivation to ride.

Time to hit the scale.

So it been two weeks now since the crew over at Team Bi-atch created this blog for me to report on my intelligent thoughts but most importantly track my progress in losing weight since I start riding again. Two weeks ago I top the scale at 250 lbs. I am happy to report that tonight I am at 253 lbs! Wait what? 253? WTF!!! I been riding my ass off. I spent around 9 hours on the bike last week alone! Well it may not be showing on the scale but it is in my riding. I was even told tonight on the Thursday night ride by a guy I don't know that, "your misleading". What he meant was that I look like a weeble (80's toy) and not like someone who can ride a mountain bike. So I guess I take that as a compliment. So keep riding is all I can do, I guess.
If I don't lose weight soon I amcalling this guy!


Tonight was a beautiful night in Davis and 31 people showed up for the ride at 5. 10 alone came for the B ride. 19 people is actually a little much when everyone has totally different abilty. So it didn't take long before me and 5 others took off on our own. I will admit it was not as fun as night with talking with friends and all that but we did get a good right in. Here is the GPS info.



This weekend the WVMBA series is headed to Little Beaver but I sad to report that Team Bi-atch will be at the Wilderness 101. What will I ever do with out their support. (lol, hope that fills your guys heads).

Top Ten List

Here is my top ten list on why high gas prices increasing the amount of people cycling is a good thing!

10) You will sleep better!



9) Finally you will look cool when you tell you date you dont own a car



8) Kid spent more time out playing and not infront of the TV



7) Super fit people from more exercise!



6) No gas, new ideas!



5) Bicycles are greener then we even thought



4) Bike lanes will come more of a common thing!



3) Always plenty of parking



2) I won't be the only fat guy in spandex


1)Chics Man!

The Suriname Crew

I was excited to open my e-mail tonight and see that Julio de Rooy had e-mailed me. I met him and his crew while I was in Suriname a few months back. They were very excited to meet me once they learned I was the head of WVMBA. Julio sent me the link to a free ride video that they had posted on Youtube. These guys are total into the cycling scene. They even took me out and asked for idea about their trails. The truck you see in the video I was out riding in the jungle in with them. Also I did that crazy zip-line with them. And yes I did what that old man was doing with them.. Don't tell.. It really kind cool to see a place you visited and people you know on youtube. Check out the video..

Dizzy!

So as most of you know I trying to stop smoking with the help of that new pill that is out. Well I must say that I am already smoking less then normal but some of the side effects are starting show up. I spent most of the day not really dizzy but having trouble focusing on things. I have also been to the bathroom more times then I care to count and just overall not felling to great. I have only been on the pills 4 or 5 days and I double the dose in two days. I do think that it will really help me stop since I can already feel a less of a need for a smoke and I still have over a week before I need to completely stop. However I hope the side effect don't continue, but I guess it better to deal with the side effect and stop smoking then continue to smoke. Wish me luck!!!!

Two Wheeled Kindred Spirits

PS from DS-
Nice one Goose.
This was from Clifford, past Harrisburg, going up to VT.
The crew was mesmerized.

Papa got a brand new hat?!

OK this may sound kinda werid but isn't that what blogs are for? I have always been one of those bigger people. When in junior high I was known as fatboy just like today. Back then kids were just being mean and of course I didn't like it very much, but now a days I own it. The nick name started again from Roger Lilly at Blackwater Bikes. When I first moved to Davis I was fat and out of really out of shape. Roger would pound me into the ground when we rode togeather. So the nick name begain. I still fat and I would say semi out of shape now, but when Roger and I rode togeather on saturday I turn the screw and hurt him a little I think. :) So like I said I am really starting to own the nick name and must say I dont mind at all. At yesterdays race I even wrote it one my water bottles that I placed at the water station. Now it has all come full circle with my new hat!


I am also on day 3 of taking my stop smoking pills.. Starting to get nervous!


Now for a little race recap. At the pre-race meeting the race director said the course was a little hilly. In english that means your going to be climbing your ass off. My bro Jason Cyr said it was the most climbing he'd ever seen in a WVMBA race. Not good news for Fatboy. It was hard but I finished. I was however the last sport rider of the course once again and that drives me nuts. Got to keep riding I guess. I would say though that the legs are really starting to get there. It is the fact that I pull 30 or 40 pounds more weight up the hill then the rest of the clydesdales in my class. That goodness that the expert class did a very long loop and I was able to finish before a lot of them to not be the last person to finsih. Here is my race GPS info. Even though it really really hurts I happy to be out racing again. If nothing else it great to get me in shape. I go a lot harder then I would one just a ride. I also what to say that Jason Martin did a fantastic job of putting on his first race. Bang up job!

Time for Jackie to go.

Well it been funny but tomorrow will meet the Shogren at the Valley Falls race and give Jackie back. I question how much Jaackie really wants to go. Her and Anni have spent hours playing tug-a-war.




Ride information for tonight. Short ride, just trying to warm up for tomorrow. More tomorrow night after the race.

Busy Busy Busy!

OK first of all it been nice being friends with you all! Why do I say that you ask? Well I started taking Chantix (the stop smoking pill) this week and when I stop smoking I become an a-hole. So I am saying I am sorry before hand. Will see what happens, wish me luck.
Ohh Boy!

Day one done!

So the Shogren's, Chris and LB all left for Mount Snow yesterday. I drove up to Grantsville, MD to meet up with them before there really hit the road. For the next four days or so I be taking care of their puppy Jackie.
Team Bi-atch plus LB ready to put it down at Nats

Somebody get LB some water and soap

Jackie seems to be liking life at our house. Her and Anni are getting along pretty well. LUcky is more like WTF another dog? The cats aren't to happy and I really don't think Jackie knows what to think about cats living in the house also.
Jackie and Anni playing with the rope

Jackie getting ready to get the business from Pedal

So after all the I did make it for the thursday night ride. I hate to say it but it rained at about 4:40 and scraed almost everyone off. About 10 people showed and we just had one group of riders go out. Fast guys and super slow people make for kinda werid ride. Here is the ride info. Well that is it for now. Good luck to all of you up at Nats.

Knowing is half the battle!

Riddle Mountain

Tonight I head 40 minutes down the mountain to visit my friends the Riddle's Joey was going to help me with a few bike issues I was having at his new kickass bike shop he has started. While Joey and I work on my bike, Mandi was busy like a bee working on a new bird house for their back yard. Since I was coming down to have "Joey's Bike Shop" work on my wheels he suggested we go for a ride after shop hours. I was game..



The right took us on a killer loop of back roads around the Elkins area. I was even feeling pretty good. There was only one real climb on the ride. At the begining it was like uphill steps. You would ride a flat section then the road pitched up. I was dancing on the pedals and rolling pretty good for me. After about the 10 tenth step I was starting to get tired. I was to worried cause I figured we were near the top. Then Mandi said a few work that killed my spirit. "It really starts to go up now!". I not sure on the distance but it was a long stead climb. It hurt a good bit but I made it and was not to far behind the Mountain goats that the Riddles are. Of course though I was going full out and they were just riding lol. Once to the top there were some great views of the mountains. Totally worth the ride up. It was then time to fly back down hill towards home. We even did a litlle pace lining on the road. But I would have to say Joey small body doesn't cut though the wind as well as my LARGE body! I have to send him a box of donuts or something every week to fix that.

I had a blast and I thing they did to. Sounds like we may start riding together on most Tuesdays. Here is a link to the ride data! Thanks guys!

Fat don't go up hill very well!

Busy busy this past weekend. It all started off Friday afternoon with a drive to Morgantown. I was headed there to take photos of the Twilight 5 miler down on the rail trail. I give the credit that is due for the folks who can run 5 miles in 27 minutes but damn running events are so boring to take photos of. With cycling you have cool-looking uniforms, shiny bikes, mud, and the riders have personalities, unlike a lot of runners. Well, I made it through the event and headed to the Black's house to crash for the evening. They were out of town so I made myself at home watching tv and eating some of their son's chicken nuggets and animal crackers. To top it all off, I found Star Wars playing on TV to fall asleep to.

The next morning it was a 8am wake-up call to head down to North Bend State Park near Parkersburg, WV. I had to get down there a day early to start setting up for the WVMBA race. Since there was no shade at the registration/finish area we got a big tent to put up. It was kinda sweet, wish it was our's (WVMBA) so we could have it every weekend.
WVMBA - Life under the big top?


After the work was all done I was ready to pre-ride the course. My new found friend Klara "Czech Chic" Hitchcock was going to meet me to ride. We never setup a time and I wish we would have because when 7:00 rolled around, I was sure she wasn't coming, so I instead decided to tackle a big fat burger!

Ohh this isn't going to help!


So about 10 pm Klara called to say she was not going to make it to ride.. lol.. Ya I kinda figured that when the sun went down a few hours ago I told her. Well it was then time for bed. Busy day tomorrow..

I awoke in the morning after a lot of tossing and turning during the night.
1 small tent + 2 dogs + 1 fat guy = no sleep
Registration was a nightmare. I was solo and had to deal with taking money, putting people in the computer, number plates and the rest of the stuff that goes into it. At about 15 minutes to noon I closed down registration and tried to get dressed to race. Then I had to run over and do a rider's meeting. I was able to get Steve Hill to do the timing at the last minute. I really had no one to do it so, Thanks Steve!

After the meeting we all headed down the hill to the start. First off would be the black plates (experts). Go! Less then 30 seconds into the race, Chris Baker decided to get off his bike by landing on his shoulder and head. He ended up breaking the shoulder. Maybe I should have given him a refund?! Next up was the blue plates (sport classes) and that was me. So we were off. Traffic was so backed up at the first climb we all walked up it single fill. The traffic was so slow we even had time to chat a little. Once it started to clear everyone was jumping on their bikes. I went to do the same but was in the wrong gear. I jumped off and shifted and got back on the bike. I made the worst sound ever. By the time I got it all worked out the majority of my class went by me. The first climb put me on overload early. Look at the profile !! I tried my best to make time back up, but the hills just would ot stop. I must admit I even thought it was too hard and wanted to stop, but I didn't. The highlight of the day was T-boning a tree. I came around a turn way way to fast and couldn't hold the turn. I ended up going right into a tree and hit it hard. I told myself oh well thinking that I trashed the wheel. I picked the front up and turned the wheel and was amazed that it was ok. So off i went.

At about mile 6 I caught up with Klara and she had also just come off a hard crash. I could still see mud on her face where it had been sliding on the ground. She said well let's just ride together and I agreed. We started picking a few people off here and there. Thanks to her for helping me keep the pace up. The finall climb to the finish was on a paved road and I could see one of the guys in my class a head of me. I jumped on the pedal and gave it all I could but couldn't close the gap..

I finished in 2:26:55, and the biggest thing was I wasn't last. Not in the race or even in my class.. I was happy. I still think I am faster than that but I have never been able to climb well and there sure was a lot of that. I like to see a big-gear-pounding race!

So after getting off the bike I was told that the timing system was not working. I kinda knew this was going to happen. I probably shouldn't have raced but I wanted to so what are you going to do.. So I got out the pen and paper and start figuring out the results by hand. No biggy I have done it before but it kinda sucks after a race.

Once the results and the awards were done I was beat and so were the dogs.

Lucky sleeping on her bone


So all and all things went pretty well. After the race Benji Klimas walked away with over $2500.00 to help his family. I raced and survived. Gunnar won, Betsy won, Chris got 2nd in SS but was also 3rd overall. I got 7th out of nine guys but I can do better... Till next time..

The B Ride

To night was the world famous Blackwater Bikes ride at 5! Some night more then 30 rides show in town for the ride but surprisingly tonight there was only around 17 or so. I had been riding with the A group but last week after moving furniture all day I decided to ride with the B group. What fun it was. This week I just wasn't sure what group to go with but when Nick W. showed up and 3 other guys that probably hit puberty in the last few year my mind was made up to go with the B team again. I am glad I did. Mikey, Mandy, Jordan, Kim, Sarah and I were joined by 4 other that I really don't know and we headed out to camp 70. Mikey made the pace which I felt was perfect.

As always there was some passing going on by some of the guys. Never understood why people always want to be in front. It sure is a pain in my ass because I hate being passed.. So Kim (Mountain Goat) and I took the lead and push the pass just enough to keep the guys in check.. I could tell it was a good pace when one of the guys behind took a spill trying to keep up. It was kinda funny because when he fell over his pedals didn't release and he was one his bad with the bike above him. Kinda looked like he was trying to ride that way. hehe. After a few miles every one settled down and it because a very nice relaxing ride. The natives got a little restless with all the climbs but the climbs up here are so short even in out of shape state I don't think to much about them. Doing a 2 or 3 mile climb from Henry clay now that's a climb and that what I been used to riding in Mo-Town for years.

One thing that I love about living in Davis is all the girls that come out for the rides. I been in Davis since October and I road with more girl in that amount of time than all the years in Morgantown. Hey Goose maybe you come down here and meet a biker chic that would understand your life style?!

Next was the final push home. Easy rail grade back to town and I love it. It a perfect time to chat and get to know each other better. Congrads to Mandy on riding the dip. Early in the ride she said, "do we have to go through there?". She tried it for the first time and made it.

Here is the GPS info from the ride - http://www.allsportgps.com/Data/ActivityDisplay.aspx?tripId=179388

Once back it town I was tickled pink to see that the A ride had been back for sometime. Its a good feeling when were out longer then the dick swingin' boys! After a good cleaning of the bike we headed to sirianni's for some pasta and Mikey's buying!!! On a said note we had a nice conversation on the love of sugar kids cerals. Kim husbad even admit he get up in the middle of the night to have a bowl.. Many offer a bowl of lucky charms at her house but I had to get home and blog before the team bi-atch crew gave me a hard time..

Well tomorrowit is off to Morgantown to shoot the 5-miler race the Saturday morning it is off to Parkerburg to start setting up for Sunday's WVMBA race the North Bend Challenge.. Yes I am racing again.. Goal is to not be the last one of the course like last week.

The B Rider eating some free food! Thanks Mikey!

You Too Can Be A Champion!

Nick Waite

Gunnar Shogren

Jason Cyr

Davis to Elkins

I guess for the first post I should give at least a little back ground. First off I am the fattest (that I know of) director of WVMBA (West Virginia Mountain Bike Association) ever. I can pretty much guarantee that I am the only smoking one. Well I wasn't always this pleasantly plump, now around 250lbs. The goal by the start of next racing season is 205lbs so I can once again race (contend) in the clydesdale class..

OK that all pretty boring.. Today was a blast. I headed out for a ride from Davis,WV to Elkins, WV. In all it would be about a 37 mile ride. I must admit I was a little worried before I it the trail because in my shape that was a pretty long haul. It was also a route that I had never done before, but about 4 miles into the ride I road passed a waterfall in the blackwater canyon that I never knew was there. About a half a mile later another waterfall, then another and then another. In total I saw 5 waterfalls in the first 12 miles. I need to get one of those little pocket cameras that I can take with me on rides. My 12 pound Nikon D2X is to big and a little over kill.

The first 7 miles was old rail road grade that has grown up and looks like single track. Want to know the best part? It's all downhill. Really, all downhill. zoom-zoom-zoom. Next up was some black top rail-trail in parsons, WV for about 2 miles. Not really riding in my book but I guess it counts. After getting out of the major metro area that is Parsons (hey don't laugh they got a sheetz!) I had a 4 to 5 mile climb up the mountain. Note to self: Don't try to eat a cliff bar half up the mountain when your breathing if heavy. I would take a bit and have to try to chew it up and breath through my mouth at the same time. Every bit took like a minute to get down. Once at the top it was 5 miles all down hill again.. Thank goodness because at that point the legs were starting get a little tight. After the downhill it was on to the rail-trail once again for a 8 mile pedal pounding push into Elkins.. I legs were still ok but my ass had just about had enough.. I had to do a lot of standing in those last few miles just to give my butt a break for a bit. 3 hours and 30 minutes later I pulled in to the Riddle's driveway for one of my famous surprise visits. All was good though cause Joey was painting his garage that he is turning into a bike shop. I sure I must have made them sick though because the first thing I did when I got off the bike was smoke a cigurate.. I know!

The ride was sweet and I planon doing the first ten miles again soon with the camera.. 205lbs here I come!!!

You keep this up

And you won't be fatboy for long.

Course you'll always be fatboy in our hearts!