Thursday, July 23, 2009

What is it with this guy and Leadville?



After waiting far, far too long for his October Factory Racing titanium hardtail, Factory Racer Greg Dalton is going to make up for lost race-time at this weekends Silver Rush 50 in Leadville, CO. Greg, as you may or may not know, is a 24hr finisher of the Leadville 100 Ultra Marathon. I had the, um, pleasure? of trying to pace this guy for a short 8ish mile section after he'd run something like 80 miles. Something about pushing the human body to its limits is what Greg enjoys. Good thing I love the kid, otherwise I'd wonder what's wrong with him! In all seriousness, the East Coast contingent of the October Family is in your corner my friend! We only wish we were there to cheer on our Rocky Mountain Division!!! We'll have to leave that in the capable hands of your lovely wife (and guru of October graphics) Dana!!!

Go Greg Go!!!!!



His weapon of choice:


Intermontane Challenge!


October Factory Racer Lyne Bessette will be contesting the Intermontane Challenge in beautiful British Columbia!!! We'll be back here, on the congested east coast jealously cheering her on! Lyne will be taking care of business on her custom October Hand Made titanium full suspension bike. We're so excited to follow along - Go Lyne Go!!!!


Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I heart Vermont


October Factory Racers will be tearing up Vermont and the Mount Snow Mountain Bike Festival August 7-9. October will also be a part of the fun in the expo - we'll have our bikes, softgoods, hi-5's, and lots of hugs! Come by, say hi, cheer on October Factory Racing, and enjoy what is so special about VT!!! We LOVE Vermont!!!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Training Room


October is proud to be a part of the Grand Opening fun at The Training Room! Friends and local business owners also stickin' it to The Man are gearing up to offer one of the best fitness experiences around. You'll have trainers that know what's what, spankin' new equipment, and a top-knotch faclility to boot.

Come this Saturday, July 18th from 12-8pm to learn, mingle, and blast those pecks...

More info click on the opening day schedule here. See you there!!!



Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Bromont Canada Cup


MUD was the defining feature of the Bromont Canada Cup course. Heavy rain in the days leading up to race day meant that the normally technical course was, for the most part, unridable. Lucky for me I have a bike that's easy to push.

The sun was nice enough to come out Sunday morning. It's been so long since I've seen it that I was getting sunburnt just waiting under the start banner. The Cadet girls (age 15-16) were given call-ups and at the last minute the rest of the women were waved to the start line. 10 seconds, GO!

The start goes straight up a wall with ankle-deep mud, crests a small hill; heads down briefly and then 180's onto the defining climb of the lap. I foolishly jumped on my bike at the top of the little downhill and watched as my pretty orange hub disappeared into a mud hole and I slo-mo endo’d elbow deep into another pile of slop.
So this is how it’s going to be… I picked up my bike and started running.

The first significant downhill was on the dual slalom course. We ran it several times the previous days and I confidently was planning on taking time out of the other racers. Instead what happened was I forgot how to ride bumps and aired it out; nose-wheelied and barely saved it. That was ugly. Made a point to slow down a tad and nose-wheelied the table-top. Hit the berm, headed toward the pump section and mistimed that too, awkwardly landing halfway between pumps. I swore loudly - much to the delight of the spectating teenage boys.
[I heard someone refer to themselves as a "moumoune" when riding this section - totally made my weekend]

The last third of the course was characterized by the totally unridable sidehill piece of singletrack. Early on I decided to run it and justified my decision by passing plenty of riders unwilling to admit that this was no longer a mountain biking race.

As I rolled through the lap zone I saw Colin on the sidelines. We had a brief conversation that went something like:
“I dropped out”
“Why?”
“Because it was stupid. I think you’re in seventh, you should probably keep going”

More pushing, some riding and the next time I lapped through he had all sorts of useful information. Like how the leaders were within sight and I was gaining on them on the hike-a-bike parts. Time to dig in for another idiotic lap.



I’d caught up to the leader on the last iteration of the sidehill and noticed she was breathing harder than I was. I kicked it into “oh crap, this is all I have left” gear and started running hard. My flubby arms managed to hang in there and drag my bike across the line for third overall, top in my age group.

It’s really too bad that the course deteriorated as much as it did. Without the rain it would have been a good hard, technical course.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Big Race Weekend!


While Kate battles it out in BC, Greg is exploring the Pacific North West, Linnea is also Canada-bound for the Canada Cup in Bromont, and our very own 4x Fitchburg-Longsjo champ Lyne Bessette will participating in the race once again. Follow along here:

Canada Cup
Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic
BC Bike Race

We are so proud of our racers!!! Go October!!!!