steroids in baseball?!!

oh come on now! say it aint so! whats next? ice dancing?
remember kids hypocrisy is the greatest luxury. steroids are bad! but if you take them we will pay you lots of money so just dont get caught! oh and dog fighting isnt really nice either so you might want to take a pass on that! ok got it?

Duffman loves a party!

The campmor h2h race series party is on the schedule! so get on over to bikereg and get signed up, shine up your party shoes and pick up your leisure suit from the cleaners cause its gonna be all that!

Got a tandem?

how about riding it for 40 miles in the woods? got a friend crazy enough to sit behind you for a few hours? well come on out!
the Darkhorse 40 will feature a tandem class this year!!! yup thats right come on out and get your tandem on! new open tandem class is up on bikereg. get on it!

June 15th 2008 Campmor H2H race #4 The Darkhorse Gallop

JUNE 15th 2008! THE DARKHORSE GALLOP!
you have cleaned up at the spring cleaning, you've gotten your climb on at tymor and you met Marty's Challenge, so now its time to saddle up on a DARKHORSE!

the campmor h2h race series rolls into stewart state forest for the Darkhorse Gallop. promising more hudson valley singletrack goodness and rolling course nirvana. no heinous deathmarch here, no babyhead rocks, no soul-sucking climbs, just fast, flowing, rolling singletrack. yeah it will be fast, yeah you will use your big ring and as easy as people might say it is it will hurt! but boy will it hurt good!
got a singlespeed? bring it out and see the light!

more details as they come to light.
the campmor h2h race series continues to grow and improve. look forward to another season of great racing!

August 3rd, 2008 baby!

ok folks, save the date, mark your calender, tattoo it on your forehead or shave it into your dogs back! AUGUST 3RD 2008! the 6th annual drakhorse 40! so that gives you plenty of notice to get it going. i can already hear the trainers whirring in the backround! hopefully this will give you something to think about thru the long dark winter.
we have some surprises in store for the 6th annual running. we will also have all your favorite elements of the 40 back and bigger than ever. the chicken bbq, the preem cards, the frosty refreshments, the lemans style start, tasty stewart singletrack, and of course george and his ever sunny demeanor.
pre-reg on bikereg. pre-reg is up now!
got an issue with the date or a comment? email us!

the end is nigh!

cue the opening scene of apocolyspe now, chopper blades cut the air with there whoomping, and the doors jim morrison begins to croon eerily................this is the end...........this is the end beautiful friend....the end......

and so on sunday the 2007 installment of the H2H race series comes to a close. its bittersweet in a way. its been a long season for the darkhorse crew. we bit off a huge piece of racing cake this year and it left us feeling a little bit like after thanksgiving dinner where you should have passed up that second slice of pumpkin cheesecake. two series races and the 40 really took a chunk out of the summer. george felt as if he spent all his waking hours in stewart clearing trails and getting poison ivy and i had to suffer a little extra listening to him complain about it! but all in all i think it was a very successful season. its pretty amazing that we can get a very competitive field of 300 racers to show up week after week especially since the season runs from may to october! big props go out to all you racers! thanks for coming out and making the scene!

so the darkhorse crew stepped out again this weekend in full force. some were even sporting the newly redesigned uber sweet team jersey! first out of the gates was sir richard the steady! fresh off altitude training in utah he took the hole shot off the beginner start and never looked back! claiming yet another victory in the series and i believe taking the overall top podium spot for the season! good show sir richard!
on to the sport class. we had quite a crew flying the colors. bobby showed up on his big wheeled one gear felt, chris had his ss seven, i had my seven sporting a single cog, georgie and the rave-in-ator where representing the geared carbon squishy bike crowd and tony was there on the one gear voodoo flying the DH colors as well. after a little parking lot pre-game warm-up crit we made our way down to the start. the usual suspects were out in force for the series finals and it looked to be a good field. i little bs and a little more warm-up and i suppose we were ready to go. tom rossi wasnt content to start the race intact so he got both a flat and a crash out of the way during his warmup! he figured turning his hip into 80% lean ground chuck prior to the start might just give him an extra edge! they sent the one gear blokes out towards the back which was fine with us. the first few miles of fireroad saw the ss class pacelining it. it wasnt until we got into the singletrack that things started to break up a little. tom, not content with one flat prior to the start figured a second one would set him right. couple other mechanicals thinned the field a bit more as we started to mingle with the elder statesmen of the pelaton and the youngsters who left before us. i basicly settled in at this point. i wasnt feeling bad but didnt have the snap in the legs either. about 3 miles in i realized that i had ejected both my water bottles! sweet, at least it was cool out. there were three of us one speeders mixed in with a group of total about 6 and we soldiered on for the first lap. prior to the b turn off i handed off my co2 inflater head to a ss conhort in need. ive had some bad flat mojo working lately. not sure how i got the jinx but i figured that by helping a bro out maybe i could lift the curse. more on that later..... coming thru the start i stopped to pick up my spare bottles and took off on the long fireroad. after a gu and a little too much drink i wanted to die. apparently riding a lap with no water then ingesting a whole bunch is a bad idea. pace edited at this point and felt better as i went into the singletrack. now i was basicly alone. just riding along. i knew that 2 other ss guys were just up the road and i was content to dangle a little . as the lap went on i felt good and was really enjoying the course. the singletrack was a nice mix of flowy buff sections and arm and back busting rock gardens. the fireroads were well roads. i was having a blast and psyched to turn into the b loop and blast down toward the finish. i made it about 500 yards and i boogered a rock section and felt i square thump on the rear. oopsie. then i heard it........wish wish wish wish wooooooooooosssssshhhhh. flat. sweet. so much for karma. i ran it in. yeah.
the darkhorse crew did well over all in the sport class. mr rave, the flying scotsman, represented with a strong 3rd! we will have to await points totaling to see if he can keep the overall top spot on the podium. georgie boy, showing what a training diet high in ipa can do for you, had another 3rd! bobbie piloted the felt 29'r into i believe 4th and the webb-man cracked in to the top ten as well! good show boys!

so where does that leave us? well its party time! look out for date and venue info on the banquet. should be a rip.

well its been a fun ride! a good series, good venues, and a great crew of guys and gals. i have to say i had a blast racing in the ss class. if you can call what i do racing! got some work to do over the winter and am hoping to come back strong next season or at least not any worse! keep your eyes peeled cause rumor has it darkhorse might be feilding quite a crew of singlespeeding freaks next year. and they might be running big wheeled bikes to boot!

i'll give george till thanksgiving and then its time to start planning for next season. stay tuned cause we got some cool new stuff coming for the 40!!!!

tymor(e) or less

tymor park tied one on this weekend to host the penultimate race in the hudson to highlands series. i unfortunately was unable to attend. life just gets in the way sometimes and to be honest the opportunity presented itself to be able to go on saturday and i passes it over with flying colors! just didnt have the motivation, the miles in my legs, or the confidence. a relaxing sunday at home with the fam sounded good to me.
team darkhorse stepped out in force once again and grabbed podium spots like sailors on shore leave!
mikey rave, the flying scotsman, grabbed up a 2nd place to help solidify his lead in the 30-39 sport class. hey mike i hear a train a comin' and its name is EXPERT class!
bobby swart stomped his way to the 3rd spot on the 40-49 podium edging out the infamous roger racer!
in the 50+, captain kegerator himself, georgie "sunshine pils" zubalsky nabbed another 3rd place! hey george looks like you may be hitchin a ride on the expert express as well!!!!
man i better get myself some legs soon, it might start getting lonely in the sport class with a good portion of team darkhorse facing possible expulsion into expert.

well one week to prep for the finals at ringwood. rumor has it the course is sweet.

see ya all at the finals!

welcome to the jungle!

"your in the jungle baby!" ah and yes we were this sunday and what a jungle it was! man what a sweet day! great weather, great event and some great new trails. its really nice to see a new venue opening up in the area. lots of high quality work went in to those trails and it showed. good technical sigletrack, tight and twisty with a little bit of rocks thrown in for extra flavor!
team darkhorse was out in force and showed they were ready for a throw down! the rave master dominated the sport 30-39'rs despite a few over the bar incidents and a rock drop that sent him into orbit. podiums spots were also grabbed up like ice cold ales by bob swart and georgie boy himself! the sport ss cat was heavy with darkhorse jerseys and at one point we had quite the paceline workin! good old fashion team tactics up the climb!
all in all a great day! thanks go out to the guys at town cycle, jorba, and all the volunteers who put blood and sweat into making those trails! a+ boys and girls!

now get your legs back and head on up to lagrangeville this weekend for the tymor challenge! rumor has it tim has been living in the woods, cutting new trails and refining the course to make it the best one yet!

guilty!?

i debated whether or not to comment on this but well here it is anyway. this whole thing really bothered me. dont care what you think either way, he did or he didnt, it just bothered me that the sport is this fubar. he seems like a good guy and well maybe he just got mixed up with the wrong crowd!
i can say that its pretty cool to see him mixing it up in the dirt. i realize there are mixed opinions about this as well.
hey floyd, get back to your roots. keep the knobby tires rolling and if you want to come to the 40 you can be my guest! hell if you want you can even crash on my couch! might not be pro-tour livin but hey gotta take it as it comes!

Stretched chains, flat tires and decapitated bikes!

Ah September, summer comes to a close and the H2H race series kicks back into action. team darkhorse and many other brave souls crossed the hudson river on sunday for the latest race in the h2h series. august was basicly an off month for the series so the WMBA chainstretcher had everybody itching to get back into action.
they must put something special in the water over there, or maybe its the proximity to the nuclear plant but those boys seem to look at course design a little different then some of us! now dont get me wrong, i love blue mountain, ride there lots and think it is some of the best terrain around bar none. but these guys set about to make a it a day of pain and they accomplished it in spades. we all knew what we were in for from the course map. lots of singletrack, lots of climbing, lots of technical terrain, lots of rocks, lots of logs, and of course a big steaming plate of hurt!
i had done a roll call to the shop during the week and gotten a fairly reluctant head count. the usual suspects were in, but they also knew what they were in for. i had a hectic weekend ahead and let it be known that i may not be quite on form. word on the street had the smart money on me making it a no show! well fiddledy foo on you. sunday morning i was up early and out the door headed to westchester. i paid my due and spent a bit catching up with all the usual suspects.
then sent us foolish enough to take on the mountain with only one gear out with the 19-29 year olds. great, not only will i get run over by the guys in my class but also by a bunch of younger fitter guys on geared bikes! sweet! it seemed that most of us had the same idea and poked or way thru the chaos for the first couple miles. i managed to crash in the depew singletrack and basicly give myself a charlie horse in my right ass cheek. sweet! love that. so that made the first trot up neds all the better. i had been fearings neds. not sure why but that old bastard had me a little intimidated but after the first time up it wasnt as bad as i remembered. i was glad to hit the upper singletrack but thats where the course really grabbed you by the short ones and didnt let go its grip. stinger lived up to its name but i knew that i had tougher terrain to come. MFT, "my favorite trail", kicked my ass. i can only imagine the MFT stood for something a bit less friendly then "my favorite trail, or at least it did to me on sunday! first lap done i come up the road to see mr rave standing on the side of the trail. now this is a bad sign, mr rave is very fast so either he has lapped me and finished or something has gone terribly wrong. i give him a "what up?" and he lifts his decapitated reba from the ground. hmmmmm, he broke his fork off clean at the head tube, thats not good. day over for mike. major bummer. i hear a few hoots and hollars from the gallery and off i go for round 2. the depew singletrack is much better this time around with less traffic. able to make some time in there and feel reasonable but am definately on the edge. i catch up to tom rossi on neds and we share a moment of suffering as we push our bikes over the top. from then on out we rode with each other on lap 2. thanks go out to tom for pushing me along and sharing his water, of which i had run out. i had about a 1/5th of a bottle of sports drink but it seemed to only make my mouth more pasty. thanks also go out to whoever the spectator was who shared his water with me and the crazy sick dude on the cross bike who rode a bit of the 2nd lap with tom and i! big props go out to him! MFT proceded to kick my ass again and i was happy to turn down the road and head back toward the finish. about a mile or so from the finish on what is one of my favorite pieces of singletrack, 2 live crew, the bike started to get a little squirrelly and feel a bit off. now i was at this point completely blown and had cramped and was hovering in the danger zone. so at first i thought maybe i was just lossing it but oh no, my rear tire went flat! damn it! oh well. too blown to do anything about it and of course wasnt carrying anything to fix it with. rode it for a bit, ran thru the rocks, made it to the road to the finish, rode for a little and then said ah hell and ran it in to the finish! sweet sweet finish!
have no idea how long i was out there, 2 hours and something. collapsed on the ground for a bit, got some water in me and talked to some of the guys about there experience. i then saw the familiar colors of the horse coming up the road. georgie boy pulling thru to finish up. i gave him my best lisa woo howl to which he replied with the 1 finger salute! georgie had a fun time! he looked like i felt and i'm sure i looked worse!
well the chainstretcher is in the books. i didnt stick around to see the experts and pros. rumor has it that harlan came out and smoked it. that dude is from another planet.

next up in the h2h series is the town cycle race at jungle habitat.

next weekend is overlook bikes race at wilson state park in woodstock. if you can go up there and support those guys. a good bunch all of them!


if you havent gotten your "less epo more ipa " shirts yet email us! they are going fast! get in on the first run. 15.00 american dollars is all it takes!

OPINIONS ARE LIKE........

got an idea for the 6th annual darkhorse 40? got a suggestion? george and i try to keep it fresh every year and maybe tweak things a bit. only problem is that sometimes in our think tank sessions, read beer and pizza, we overlook something. we want to hear from you!
you want longer laps?
you want more laps?
you want more bees?
you want a bbq throwdown with bobby flay?
remember there are no dumb suggestions. we just will laugh like hell and throw them in the trash!

seriously, drop us a email.

THE STRAIGHT DOPE!

had enough of dopers in cycling? like beer? well have we got the shirt and stickers for you! show your respect for the american microbrewer and your disgruntlement with doped up pro cyclists spoiling the sport for everybody. you wont find any of the team darkhorse riders hopped up on EPO but i can bet you will find a cooler full of hopped goodness nearby!
shirts 15.00
stickers 2.95
stop by the shop or email us and we will get you the goods!
also, like the pint glasses we had at the 40? didnt have any extra scratch on ya to get one? dont cry, dont pout we still got a few! drop by or email us and we will be glad to hook ya up!

email darkhorsecycles(at)frontiernet.net

The Hangover....

so the sun has risen on the day after.........and what a day it was. the 40 has come and gone in its 5th year. wow, and a big sigh of relief. its a tremendous undertaking every year but we keep coming back for more. it sometimes takes a little more encouragement, read many many pints, to get george back on the horse but he eventually comes around. the main reason being the racers! you guys rock. all the compliments yesterday did not go unheard. thats why we do it. our motto has always been so long as everybody has a good time and nobody gets hurt we're happy. well we had one visit from the "bus" for a collarbone meets rock incident but other than the normal bumps, bruises, scrapes, and bonks i think most escaped physically unscathed. now mentally.....well who am i to judge.

we need to send a huge shout out to all our volunteers! these guys and gals give up a lot of there free time to help us by doing all sorts of everything and a lot of it not very glamorous. from helping mark, clear, and even craft some of the trails to picking up trash these guys and gals give 110% and ask for nothing in return. if it weren't for them there would be no 40.
big props go out to the apron gang who cooked your chicken, made all the salads and even passed around a few "mega-rita's"! these guys literally slaved over the hot coals all day to get the racers and spectators fed. good work boys! we are currently re-negotiating their contract but i think we can hash out the details for 08!

special thanks to the emt's as well! these guys and gals are there to look after you guys when you have gravitational issues on your 2-wheeled missiles! they don't even complain about getting all up close and personal with a bunch of sweaty, stinky, and muddy racers! they seem to maybe even enjoy it! without them you would have to suffer with the first aid stills of george and myself. these mainly entail applying liberal amounts of alcohol, internally, and then worrying about whatever may be sticking out of your skin later!

last but not least thanks to all the racers who came out and gave it hell! whether you finished in under 3 hrs on a 1 speed bike (tim! holy moly your one fast crustacean toting dude!) or over 6 hrs you rock!

thanks for coming out guys and stay tuned for more darkhorse info!

remember to continue to support the hudson 2 highlands series! we will be there. if you see 2 guys on 1 speed bikes suffering like dogs say hi and remind us that it will be over soon and point us in the direction of the cooler!

hand me my 40!

the 40 looms large on the horizon!
get pre-regged if you arent already! save a few bucks and help to quell george's fear that no one will show up!
we got some great stuff in store. new t-shirt design this year thanks to the boys at american icon!
same great bbq plan with a few tweaks. but for the most part the boys will be back with their aprons on firing up the grill and cooking a bunch of chicken! no not the chicken that got booted from the tour! although i imagine he is pretty well cooked at this point.

the course is shaping up and we promise to bring you two laps of fine stewart singletrack aged to perfection and hand crafted for our fat tire pleasure.

so start kicking up the miles and get set to have a blast! any questions feel free to email or call the shop.

ROLLIN, ROLLIN, ROLLIN....................

just like elwood sang somebody, and i cant remember exactly who, told me that marty's course was rolling terrain with some really fun and fast singletrack. it rolled alright!
i had sent george out to utah for some good mormon teaching and 3.2 beer consumption so i saddled up early on sunday am and headed out solo. not that there weren't plenty of other darkhorses in attendance. to be quite honest the most time i spent on the bike the week prior was an epic singlespeed adventure around the cul-de-sac with the kids! hey we were all on bikes with 1 gear! so despite not having any miles in my legs i was stoked to ride the seven as a 1 speed on some new terrain, and really the race was in morristown how bad could it be? well i got there and reg'd and spent some time bs'ing with the usual crew. watched richard and bill represent in the beginner class and then decided to get my act together. my warm-up pre-ride consisted of riding the first mile or so and noticing that it was a gradual climb. hmmmm.
fast forward to the 1st lap and they let the ss guys go out in front, i think only cause we staked are claim at the start and who wants to mess with someone crazy enough to race a 1 speed bike anyway! we are about 2-2.5 miles in and pretty well strung out in single file but still together as a group when one of the guys looks at me with that grizzled, desperate, tongue wagging, on the rivot expression and says "rolling eh?".
so from there on out it was a war of attrition. after the 1st lap i shot down a goo and traded water bottles at the start finish, thanks mikes mom and sis!!!, and felt ok. well the next lap was a suffer fest and the third, well lets just say that i just kept going forward. i payed heavy for being off the bike. i was deep in the pain cave on the 3rd lap and glad to just finish.
it was the kind of course where you would be paying hard on the climbs and then come to a swoopy fast singletrack section and forget all about the torture you just endured.
yeah i'll be back! maybe with a set of legs that have some juice in them or maybe not but i will have fun!

all in all i think fun was had by all. great course and a great bunch of guys and gals.

anybody headed up to mt snow this weekend good luck and have fun!

got beer?

But dont have a sweet pint glass to put it in?
what ever can you do? hmmmmmmm

well fear not!!!!!

darkhorse 40 pint glasses are here!
new logo and design for this year!

stop on by the shop and pick one up!
guaranteed to make your beer drinking experience that much more bitchin!

darkhorse gallop is in the books!

well the gallop is in the books folks! and what a day it was!!
we had some prep issues in the weeks leading up to the event. we had to alter our intended course a bit due another user group being in the park. as it turned out i think it was for the best. we settled on a 5.5 mile first lap and a 6 mile main lap. we upped the number of laps for all groups from the first race and it seemed like everybody really enjoyed it! seeing some of the same trails as the first race but in the opposite direction really gave the course a while new feel.
sunday started early....at like 4:00am early....with george and myself sipping coffee and covering last minute logistics. next thing you know we were packing it up. always goes by to fast.
we want to send a huge thank you out to all our volunteers! without them non of this would ever happen.
so the Titus demo trailer was there and was a huge success. mike and his dog kula had pretty much the whole demo trailer on the trails and everybody seemed stoked to check out their bikes!
the series continues to grow and the turnouts this season have been awesome! great beginner class and huge sport class! the experts and pro classes are just smokin fast this year as well!
we had an awesome pro class! harlan price took top honors doing battle with fast eddy ceccolili and troy wells to round out the top three. we had a special guest appearance by the fastest pro women in the nation! georgia gould came out and mixed it up with the pro men for a 4th place finish! all i can say is hoora!

it was hot, it was fast, everybody had fun and nobody got hurt. i hope everybody went home happy and had a great day. we sure as heck had a blast!

thanks for coming out guys and gals!

Campmor series continues to rock out wih its....

campmor series continues in full swing. the stewart singletrack challenge was a resounding success. we had a great turn out and a great day of racing. big props to mike rave 1st place 30-39 and fastest overall sport male! thanks to everybody that helped us out! without our volunteers george and i would flounder miserably and most likely start drinking beer at 8:00am! thanks to everybody that came out and raced! we hope everybody had a good time!

i the meantime.........

this past weekend was the team bulldog race at kittatinny state park. what an incredible venue and event. big props to brian l and his crew who put on a top quality event an some of jerseys sweetest singletrack. congrats to all team darkhorse riders who were out there flying the colors! especially those with only one-gear!!!!!!!

the darkhorse gallop rapidly approaches. we have a new course in mind and it should be marked pretty soon. if you want to check it out drop an email to the shop and we can point you in the right direction.

dont forget that the 40 in rapidly approaching as well!

campmor series kicks off with spring cleaning!

well the 2007 series got under way last weekend with blackbear cyclings race at waywayanda. man was it sweet, great course, great promoter, and a great turnout. check out their website for results and pics from the weekend.
gotta send a shout out to some team darkhorse members who reached the podium! richard and bill in the beginner class! big george himself in sport master old guys! hip hip hooray! dont let them fool ya they just wanted to finish first so they could get back to the cooler!!! cant forget mike rave who was just a few seconds off the podium in forth! an awesome weekend for the darkhorse crew!

the stewart singletrack challenge is rapidly approaching! george is wandering the singletrack at stewart to come up with an epic course for this year. we strive to keep it fresh and challenging and no doubt this year wont disappoint. we will have more info up on the darkhorse website soon and dont hesitate to contact us with questions.

prep continues on the 40! we are coming up with some great surprises for the 5th annual running!

Campmor H2H race series

last year we were invited to host a race in the Campmor Hudson2Highlands race series. we had a blast to say the least. this is a fantastic series backed by Campmor and features the premier race venues in our area. everyone involved in the series really goes out of their way to promote exceptional events. professional atmospheres, top notch courses, and competitive fields make this a must do series for racers and beginners alike!
this year we will have 2 races in the series. the stewart singletrack challenge on june 3rd and the darkhorse gallop on july 8th. click here to see the full schedule on the darkhorse site.
you can also click the campmor link on the right as well to see the series schedule.
we encourage everybody to come out and support the series. lots of people work really hard all year to be able to give a little back to the racing community during the season.

Here we go again!

well folks here we are again! the darkhorse 40 returns for year 5. i'm having a hard time wrapping my noggin around that. seems like just yesterday i got george all good and loose on IPA and made him sign on for this crazy ride.
so here we go. we are stepping right into the 21st century this year with our very own blog just for the 40. we will try to keep you guys updated here and post all relevant info and maybe some irrelevant stuff as well. you just never know.

so the format stays pretty much the same. once we hammer out the course i will try to get a map up in pdf format. le-mans start, 2- 20 mile laps, 3 food stops, 24 hidden preems, start line trivia for cash prizes, t-shirts, and the chicken bbq is back! we are going to split the singlespeeders into 2 classes this year, sport and expert. the field is large enough and we had a few requests. teams are back as open men, open women, and co-ed. beginner class is back as well.

if you need to get in touch feel free to email us at darkhorsecycles@frontiernet.net