On the Trek wagon again for 2011...Superfly 100 WOW!!!

Thanks again to Trek Bicycles - riding on the team again this coming year and on a new steed thanks to the Gary Fisher/Trek merger that is now officially complete. Now the Fisher bikes are all Treks, labled as the "Gary Fisher Collection". This move makes sense as a company from a marketing and distribution standpoint and should help us all get more for the money.

I have ridden a 29er before, a Superfly as a matter of fact. Never had a full squish 29er though. Now that I have some time on it and a late season race on it, all i can say is wow!! Gary knew what he was doing. This bike hits technical sections and downhills like my downhill race bike. It is unbeliveable. Pedals really well and once you get the wheels moving it just keeps pulling you. I'm really happy with the offset fork - bike turns great. Even at high speeds it turns better then any bike I have had - lots of grip thanks to more of a contact patch due to the bigger wheel, more rubber on the ground. The only difference I notice versus my 26 inch bike is that some turns require more preperation coming into them, but I'll take it for how great the bike sticks. I find myself pushing the limits hard in corners on this bike. Bottom line is that not only is it a fast race machine, but it is tons of fun to ride and isn't that what it is all about??? Hell Yeah!!

Here's Jonnynails Jr. getting ready for world domination. LOL. It was big man Brock's first time sitting on a bike. He really had a grip on those handlebars - it was tough to get his fingers out of the death grip!! We were at the Trek Store of Charlotte so I wanted to see what he thought about the Trek Trikester. This thing is one bad momma jamma. Looks solid and dern near impossible to hurt or break anything. Won't be long and he be scaring his grandma and mom to death on this thing.

This past weekend I was a ride leader for a training ride for Bank of America employees who are riding in the MS150. The ride was sponsored by the Trek Store of Charlotte. I was asked if I could help out and of course I was happy to do so. Hats off to these folks who are doing something fun for a great cause!! There were a few first time bike riders, which made for an interesting "B" ride which was 36 miles. The "A" group did 55 miles at a stronger pace - I think they averaged 17-18mph and the "B" group was suppose to be 15-16mph. Since we had some first timers the "B" group got broken up a bit and the sweeper said the back of the group averaged more like 11mph. I was impressed with folks who made this their first ride and rode 36 miles. Good luck to all of you in a couple weeks during the MS150 ride!!!

This got me thinking about my involvement in riding a road bike just 18 months ago. I had originally purchased a used bike to help me get better prepared for mountain bike racing. My wife laughed at me and stated that "I'd ride it once or twice and hang it up in the garage". I believe she said something about a waste of money too? Well, the jokes on her - I've put probably 2,000 miles on the road in that time period and I'm on my second road bike. A beautiful Trek Madonne 6.9 - thanks Trek for the hook up, I cannot believe how great the bike rides. All that carbon just feels like butter underneath you, but at the same time it's so flippin' stiff that it's unreal. I have come to enjoy riding on the road. It's nice to open the garage door and hit it right out of the driveway. Don't get twisted though - mountain biking is still where it's at for Jonnynails. If I don't have some roots, rocks, and some 2 wheel drifting on dirt every once in a while I start to get like a hungry bear. So just remember folks, it's ok to ride on the road and drop some of the leg shavers, but always remember that sometimes you gotta let the bear eat!

This is the official start of my blog for the 2011 mountain bike race season. 2010 has been an interesting year and I have come a long way on the bike, but more importantly I have learned a ton. The biggest lessons I have learned:


1. Don't eat a huge meal 2 hours before a XC race(LOL), and


2. Learning how much intensity and volume my body can take before I have to throttle back in my training and preperation, especially during race season! This has been a big and learned the hard way lesson for me - it took trial and error, which had me borderline burned out and overtrained most of the season from June to August. I feel like I have a better plan for next year as far as managing my training/workload and I'll be better prepared before the season starts.





I wanted to give a big Thanks to Trek Bicycles this past year. It has been an honor and a privelage racing on the Trek Coop Team. The Top Fuel 9.9 bike felt like I was cheating most of the time!! Looking forward to being involved with Trek again this upcoming season.

I'd also like to thank everyone at The Trek Store of Charlotte as well - without the help of Jeff, Anthony, and Steve this season would not have been as successful as it was.