Moped Sighting

Jill sent in some pictures of a moped sighting at Vernon Cycle

Adventure Race at Douglas State Forest

September 22, 2007
Adventure Race at Douglas State Forest
1st place all male team: Kyle and Rick
1st place coed team: Mike and Jill

Ok, this time I wanted to sign up for the advanced course and Michael wanted to do the open course. So we chose advanced and yet again switched back to open at the last minute. The Pachaug course was pretty tough and Michael was thinking about that long kayaking stretch from the last race and the fact that we could also team up with Rick and Kyle and work together which is allowed and encouraged. We went to the 8am meeting and found out this time we would be mountain biking first then the running/trekking and kayaking last. So we reviewed the map and planned our route. The 4 of us had done reconnaissance about 3 weeks ago at Douglas on bike and we had a pretty strong grasp of the trail system and we were feeling confident. Again the teams scattered at the start and the 4 of us ended up riding with about 3 other all male elite teams and this group was the first to get to cp1 and this group stayed together through checkpoint 4 when the elite teams broke off to get their advanced checkpoint. The four of us screamed back to the transition area and got our 5th cp. Kyle and Rick were quicker out of the transition area for the trek, Michael and I were about 30 yards behind them. Again we hooked up with the same guys from before because they got their advanced bike cp and caught up with us toward the end of the bike segment. Kyle and I ran up to the first trek cp – forgot to put on trail pants (should have reread my previous story before this race!) and just ignored all the branches that were scraping all the skin off my legs. Kyle and Rick were about 50 yards ahead for the first mile and I didn’t think we would catch them but we slowly closed the gap and arrived at cp3 at the same time. Back to the transition area was on the paved forest entrance so all that running around my neighborhood and on the treadmill over the past month kicked in and we started cruising and put about a 30 second gap between us and Kyle and Rick. Michael kept reminding me that we weren’t racing against Kyle and Rick but that competitive spirit grabbed me like it usually does during a race and I kept pushing. We got to the kayaks with Kyle and Rick right behind us. The cp was in a cool little cove, we punched the card and headed back toward the kayak start point, dropped off the kayak and hoofed it back to the transition area to be the first competitors to cross the finish line in 2 hours 10 minutes. 3 minutes later Kyle and Rick followed us in, they were the first to finish in the all male category. I’d have to say that everything went right for us in this race, no cramping, no missed cp’s, and we had Kyle and Rick to motivate us. I was really impressed with Kyle and Rick, especially on the trekking section because they ran the whole way. It was great to work with another team because if they didn’t stop, you didn’t stop. All in all a pretty successful day for Nerac Earth and I think Kyle and Rick are hooked and we’ll all be heading to New York in October for the next race. To do the advanced course! -Jill

Churn and Burn

On Saturday September 15 a few of us did a 24 hour race in Ashford called the Churn and Burn. Riders from Nerac Earth included Mike Nugent, Kyle Stockford and Cliff Kenyon. Art Roti was also a member of our team. We entered the 4 person division.

We arrived at the campground on Friday evening and were greeted with cloudy skies. Mike had gotten there earlier in the day and already had the Nerac tent set up in the campsite. Our campsite was huge which was a good thing given all the stuff and people we ended up filling it with. I arrived and went for a quick pre ride. I was surprised at how short the laps were but was happy with the level of technical terrain. After the pre ride Kyle arrived with Dana (our first fan / support person) and we got to setting up camp. We ended up with 2 tents, a pop up and 2 easy up tents.

Friday night the rain started around 11 and did not stop until Saturday morning around 10 (the race started at 11). The first few laps were a little slippery but as we have been in a drought for most of the summer the course was surprisingly dry.

Kyle started for us and was second after the run and second after the first section of trail. A good way to start the race. Kyle finished the first lap in around 8^th place as he had to stop and clear mud from his eye. Next up was Art followed by Mike and finally me. Lap times on the first laps for our team were between 25-32 minutes. We quickly decided on a new strategy given the laps were so short. Our new strategy was to order the riders as follows: Kyle, Art, Kyle, Art, Mike, Cliff, Mike, Cliff (repeat from beginning) we maintained this setup until night when each rider went out for 2 laps in a row.

The race went very good for us and we had only 2 significant issues during the race. 1^st Kyle decided that doubling a root section was a good idea, it was not! His front wheel came up short and he ended up with a nice cut (bruise) which ran from his hip to his knee. Next came Mike who apparently believes one cannot flat if you have filled your tubeless tire with Stan’s. He was wrong! After flatting his rear tire Mike got in some nice cross training, running with his bike for a mile or more.

Our support personnel started to show up late afternoon / early evening. First was Robin Stockford who brought us some pasta and chicken. Next was John Stockford followed by Andy and Jill, who brought us a feast of pasta. Everyone was great, providing needed encouragement, helping with bike maintenance and most importantly keeping the fire going! Saturday night was cold, 40 degrees or under. The fire enabled us to have a warm place to hang out and dry wet clothes after each night ride. Many thanks to all that helped out during the weekend!

We knew fairly early on our team was going to be competitive for the win. By 5 on Saturday night we had a 2 lap lead on the second place team and a 1 lap lead for the overall (competing against a 6 member team). We could not increase our advantage during the first part of the night and the gap stayed consistent at 2 laps and even decreased to a tie for the overall. The second part of the night we were able to get some more time and increase our division lead to 5 laps. The overall was still tight so we were going to have to keep riding well.

In the end we:

Won our division

Won the overall

Set a record for the most number of laps (46) (221 miles)

Had the fastest lap (25 minutes)

Had a great time!

–Cliff

Record Setting Performance

Saturday and Sunday, September 15^th and 16^th

Churn and Burn 24 hour MTB race in Ashord, CT

Congrats to our 24 hour Churn and Burn champions. The Nerac Earth team consisting of Cliff Kenyon, Kyle Stockford, Michael Nugent, and Art Roti placed 1^st in the 4 person bracket in addition to breaking the record for most laps ever at this venue.

V2V

Who: Jennifer Schirmer and Brian Hadix

When: September 16, 2007

I grew up in Vernon and always have wanted to do the Vernon to Vernon ride. 2007 brought some changes: it wasn’t on my call weekend and the route was a loop from Vernon Cycle rather than from Vernon Vermont to Vernon CT. The weather wasn’t raining or blazing hot so I was game. I was even able to talk one of my physician colleagues into riding the 40-mile loop. V2V supports Cornerstone which is a great resource to some of the women we care for in our OB/GYN practice.

I chose to ride the century loop figuring it couldn’t be any worse than the Steeple Chase. I think I may have been wrong (at least for the first 60 miles anyway). There was some serious sufferring going on. Geoff routed us through some steep grades north of 190. Not much draft advantage while riding due to the light attendance.

Thanks to Geoff for an outstanding job marking the route. No need to even use my route sheet. (BTW the route is on mapmyride.com). The three rest stops boasted some great power foods. I loved the jelly beans! The scenary was absolutely beautiful and the roads with minimal car traffic.

I hightly recommend this event and hope to see you all there in the future!

: ) Jennifer