HAPPY HOLIDAZE!!!

GOT SINGLESPEED?

got a singlespeed?
like to hang out with other people on one gear bikes?
like to drink beer?

HAVE WE GOT THE EVENT FOR YOU!!!

SINGLESPEED-A-POLOOZA 2009! MAY 31ST!!!!!
yup that's right! think of it as the singlespeed championships of the greater tri-state universe!!!

so heres the 411......
one twenty mile lap. fully self supported. we will have no aid stations. if you need 100oz of water or a 12pack of pbr bring it with you! hell strap a keg to a bob trailer if you want!!!
super cool and unique prizes for 1st second and third in their respective categories!
oh yeah categories...usa cycling has gone and made it all complicated and we are just simple minded beer drinking promoters who cant even figure out how to put more than one gear on our bikes so.....
expert men and women
sport men and women
no you don't need a license! sign up for the category that you think suits your skill level. don't sandbag, that's just dumb and if we think you are sandbagging the category we may handicap you in some way! think 10 krispy-cremes 2 minutes before the start! it would be in everybody's best interest if you raced with the guys you usually race with!
so all this and more for only 25.00!!! thats right $25.00!
and more you say? yup more!!
everybody who registers gets a pint glass, a bottle opener and.....

adult refreshments (as long as you are of age, don't make us ID you!!) at the post race festivities. hell depending on how we are feeling we may tap a keg at the start line!!!

so get on over to bike reg and sign up!

PRE-REGISTERED ONLY!!!!! NO DAY OF REG!!!!!

BIKEREG

Any questions? drop us and email or leave a comment.


see ya there!!

Darkhorse gallop takes over the web!!

check out the video below from the guys and gals at rad-x sports. check it out now as i'm sure the hit counts that this video will receive on youtube will be crashing servers the world over!!

09 brainstorming and recon begins

george and i headed down to Virginia to the Shenandoah 100 this past weekend for a little camping and a whole lot of suffering. very cool event and great to see these guys organize a event of this magnitude. 500+ racers 14k of climbing. lots of tired souls. it gets the creative juices flowing a little for what we might want to do in the future with the 40 or just maybe something a little different...

we'll see.

full race recap report will be up on the team blog. check it out.

Pour out another 40! 6th annual in the books!

It was 4:00 am and I am laying in my sleeping bag staring at the ceiling. Dawn is about to break on race day for the darkhorse 40. I can hear George wandering around his kitchen as I lay there and try to come to terms with what’s in store for us. Thankfully the pitter patter that I hear is the sweet sweet blue mountain Jamaican coffee brewing and not rain hitting the roof. We had some storms roll thru the day before but they seemed to have helped take the dust off while doing only a minor injustice to the ridiculously fast course conditions.

We had completed most of the heavy lifting the day before with the help of our crew and Jason from Pivot cycles. Its amazing what a bike company rep will do for free beer!! We had sorted out some last minute details over delicious veggie chili and tried to call it an early night. No late night course inspection needed this time around. Maybe we had learned our lesson from previous adventures!

We opened the gate at about 5:30 and already had a few people hanging around looking to get in. By 7:30 it was full on parking mayhem. The cars just kept rolling in. We handled it well but the stress level does begin to rise as start time creeps closer and the cars keep stacking up in line to park.

9:05 and we have everybody on the line. Few announcements and their off! Hooray! Now we just have to hope that everybody stays safe out there. Thankfully, most did. There were plenty of mechanicals, lots of flats, and a few injuries. But considering the fact that 400 people took to the 20 mile loop I think things went off fairly smooth.

We had hoped to try to get awards going at 2:00. We thought that would give us enough time to get the majority of racers in and at least preliminary awards tabulated. We were wrong. Sorry if you planned around that and had to split early. As it was awards were late but most seemed to be having fun eating chicken, having an ice pop or two and enjoying a couple cold beverages.

As we locked up the gate at 7:30 I couldn’t help reflect on the amount of work that goes in to this event each year and how fast the day goes by. We have to send out a huge thank you to all of our volunteers! These guys and gals come out and give their blood, sweat and tears to help make the 40 what it is. There is no way we could do it without them!!! Thanks to all!!! First off have to thank our official/scoring ladies. They do a great job making sure that all the racers are accounted for. Gotta send out a huge thank you to our kitchen crew! Brian keeps the boys in line and makes sure that things get cooking on time and keep rolling smooth! The bbq rocked again! Thanks guys and gals! I would be remiss if I didn’t send out a huge thank you to our EMT crew! These guys and gals treat all sorts of injuries all day and do it with great care and concern. Thank you!! We couldn’t have the race without them and we always hope that they will come out and have a nice relaxing day!

Of course there wouldn’t be any point to any of this if the racers didn’t come out. We appreciate you guys coming out to support our event and hope that you all enjoyed yourself. It makes it worth it when somebody says they had a blast out there on our course. We have always been in this for the racers. To give back a little something to the mountain bike scene that we really enjoy. You guys come out and bring such a great vibe that we just feed off of it. thanks!!!

So another darkhorse 40 is in the books! We always keep trying to improve and make it a little better and a little more interesting. So we will wait till about thanksgiving and then start scheming some new stuff for next year. By then the poison ivy should be gone and George should be a little less cranky. Ok maybe not!

Thanks again! See you next year!

As always we welcome your questions and comments so don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Some things you might not know about the 40, or some answers to FAQ

the race starts promptly at 9:00am for all classes! registration opens at 6:30 and closes at 8:30. please plan accordingly. remember you can pre-reg on bike reg and save $10! that way all you have to do is pick up your packet and head to the starting line!

1- george and i are not nearly competent enough to pull this off on our own! no, thats right we require way to much adult supervision to keep us in check. so we rely heavily on our dedicated crew of volunteers. these guys and gals come out and help us in so many ways. from cleaning trails, weedwacking grassy sections, cleaning the brush from the roads, set-up, scoring, registration, cooking, etc.... i could go on. basicly if we didnt have these guys and gals this whole thing would devolve into george and i alone in the woods argueing over who gets the last beer from the cooler. believe me, it wouldnt be pretty! i've been there!

2-the racers make this the event that it is. and not just the racers but the spectators as well. you guys come out and support our crazy event and for that we thank you. but you also come out with great attitudes and a killer vibe! we love it and feed off it. its what makes all the hard work worth it! thanks!!!!

3-camping. stewart is actually a state forest, not a state park, and as such you can pretty much camp where you like. however, there are no provisions for it. so, no open fires, no water or facility's barring a porta-jon here and there. now of course on race weekend we have a plethora of portajons so that isnt an issue. we get lots of calls about camping and some people have camped in the past. one year we even had a couple of fine young lady's come out and camp, get us coffee in the am, race and then help us break down the tents and make sure that the coolers were nice and lite for the ride home!!! here's to ya girls!! so if you want to camp let us know and we can hook you up with a good spot.

4-chicken bbq. yeah we tried a few other food options in the past but the chicken bbq was just so way over the top that we had to stick to it. heres to our chefs! these guys do a heck of a job making sure that you guys and gals get to eat some delicious free range, locally farmed, umm uum good bbq bird! yum!

5-beer. being that stewart is a state forest, not a state park, you are free to have and consume adult beverages. that being said, if the ranger thinks your under 21 they can and will ask for id. of course we ask that you act responsibly, well at least as responsibly as you can! listen, we have beer. its for everybody, it will run out. be nice, be considerate, be responsible, and have a good time.

6-norba. this is a non norba event. you do not need a license. that being said all norba rules apply! race accordingly folks. be considerate on the trails, race fair and of course have fun.

7-aid stations. there are 3 aid staions on course. these will be stocked with water, heed, hammer gel, bannanas, maybe some cookies and a few other things. they are manned by volunteers. they will be there to help you as much as they can. we do not offer drop bags. if you wish to leave something at an aid station it is your responsibilty to get it there and get it after. aid stations may or may not, depending on who is manning them have the following, tools, tubes, tequila, etc. we suggest you bring your own. it you think you might need something special. bring it!

8-preem cards. there will be a number of florescent index cards hung from trees in the woods. these cards will be numbered. you can redeem ONE card per person at the awards ceremony for a prize! please be considerate and let everybody have a fair shot at them. there is no special prize for collecting them all!

9-directions. the easiest thing to do is put 1 new rd, rock tavern ny into a map program, google maps or mapquest. it will take you right to the parking lot and main access rd.


so thats a few that we get asked from time to time. as i think of more i will post them up. if you have a question just shout it out to us and we will be happy to answer it!

DH40 course map!

alright folks here it is for your viewing pleasure! the darkhorse 40 race course for 08!

we have a few changes in store for you guys. the start and finish will be in the same location this year. you will start down on weed road in the standard location and you will finish in the same spot. you will not be climbing the gravel road up to the finish! we have routed you thru the single track instead!! hooray!
the location of 2 of the aid stations will be slightly different. there will be an aid station at the entrance to major mike(food 1 on map). this is on top of the gravel road just after you exit the orchard trail. the aid station at beaver pond(food 3 on map), which you will pass twice, will be in the same spot. the other aid station(food 2 on map) moves slightly, it will be at the intersection of new rd just after muskrat as you enter pine root trail.

we have sent one of our top trail gurus out and he has placed mile markers on the trail. they are yellow surveyor stacks with numbers on them. there are also markers to designate the food stop locations.

so have at it boys and girls. we will be in there this weekend marking the course so if you see us say hi!

wrappers

no not that kind!!!
this kind!

alright heres the deal. we hate these wrappers! whatever brand they are. they get discarded on the trail and they are nasty! they make a mess of the trails and quite frankly are just gross to clean up. i equate leaving gel wrappers on the trail to leaving miller lite cans scattered in the grass in front of your trailer!
so this is what we are doing. when you pick up your number plate for the 40 you will be given a bag. this bag will contain one of these....
we will have jugs of hammer gel for your consumption. feel free to fill up with the delicious flavor of your choice or put whatever gel you brought into the flask. the flask is obviously yours to keep, you think we would want those nasty things back? ick! the aid stations out on course will be stocked with hammer gel as well so feel free to top off or refill when you need.

see thats easy, no nasty wrappers out on the trail!

now, if you choose to disobey the gel flask mandate and take wrapped gel on course and should you discard these wrappers on course, well hell hath no fury like a george who has picked up a sticky wrapper!!! you have been warned!

thanks for your cooperation!

whats on george's mind?

so maybe you have attended a few 40's. maybe you read this blog and think its all about the good times, tomfoolery, and drunken singlespeed shenanigans? well you would be right...........

but alas, there are 2 sides to every coin. so to give you a little idea what rattles around in george's noogin point your mouse here

you can check back monthly for a dose of george! just to keep things in perspective!

ride on amigos

tick tock tick tock

its coming folks! looming large on the horizon. better get those pedals turning.

new design for this years shirts and glasses. new medal design as well but we're keeping that one under wraps! if you've seen it, and we know who you are, keep it to on the down-low!

as always we are making some changes to the course. maybe a little different feel this year. take you some places you might not recognize. we'll see. el hefe has been wondering the woods, scratching his balding noggin, working on a good batch of poison ivy and trying to get his mojo working. he's telling me its all up there rattling around in his head.

the chicken bbq gang has signed on again this year and have begun preperations on another monster grill. they promise to be able to cook a rediculous amount of chicken in a short amount of time and well i believe them! plus best not to argue with guys who make mega-ritas with a 2-stroke powered blender!

stay tuned.

same darkhorse time, same darkhorse channel!

have a safe and happy 4th!

free rides!

we have received word that the good ole boys at pivot will be bringing their humongous demo trailer full of goodies! so while your buddy or your significant other is out suffering take a free ride on a sweet pivot bike! mach 4's, mach 5's and the 429!

demo a pivot west coast pimp style baby!!


what not cool with pivot? ok, well specialized will be there as well with their ginormous trailer full of sweetness! throw a leg over one of their steeds and feel the power of the big red S.

thats right, pivot cycles and specialized helping to make the darkhorse 40 into one big ole trailer park for your demo-riding pleasure!!!

galloped!

the Darkhorse Gallop is in the books and i would have to chalk it up as a success! it seems a good time was had by all including your humble promoters. the weather gods shined down on us this weekend! lets hope we can keep that mojo for the 40!

check out the team blog for a detailed report!
darkhorse racing blog

to all those that came out to the race i would like to extend a THANK YOU!
to all of our volunteers THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! we cant do it without you guys!

bring on the gallop

ok so above is a preview of the gallop course. check it out. little different this time around and got some fresh new trails in it for your riding pleasure. not going to be a walk in the park but no death march either. fun factor is way off the charts here kiddos!

100 southern style miles

raced the cohutta 100 this weekend and learned some interesting things about endurance events and participants. good recon for the 40. basically came away realizing that we do a lot of the right things at the 40 and thats why people keep coming back. got some ideas to pass on to the boys and of course its time to start digging in and getting this show on the road. race season is here and the 40 will be right around the corner.
i'll post up a race/roadtrip report over here

Hammer time!

ok, not that hammer!
hammer nutrition is signed on as the official hydration and gel-ation sponsor for the darkhorse 40! the darkhorse crew has been testing hammer products for a while now and they have met our rigorous standards so we are pleased to be able to hook them up for the 40!
we will be supplying flasks and gel for any racer who wants one as well as HEED drink mix in jugs at all the aid stations. the flasks are an effort to limit the amount of foil packs that need to be retrieved and discarded following the race. although George derives immense pleasure from picking up sticky, half sucked on gel packs that have been embedded in the trail, we always like to do what we can to leave the park cleaner then we found it. so if you like Hammer gel and want to fill a flask for the race you can grab one at registration!

159 Days till the Darkhorse 40!

thats right guys and gals the 40 is right around the corner! well, sort of..........
as winter tries to throw a death blow at your motivation just remember this, the race season looms large on the horizon. fire up the dvd or dvr and get on the trainer! better yet bundle up in all the clothes you have and get out on the road. the trails may be buried in snow and ice but you can always spin the skinny tires on road salt and winter debris caked roads. what more could you ask for! i mean we do live in the northeast and it is supposed to be cold in the winter. it makes you appreciate those sun filled summer days all the more!

so folks get out there and get ready. spring is just waiting to be sprung and summer is around the corner. the next thing you know you will be lining up for the lemans start and trying to answer george's trivia questions!

ride on......brrrrrrrrrrr

Shotgun start to the 08 season

Shotgun start to the 08 season sponsored by darkhorse cycles!

The wildlife of stewart state forest breathe a collective sigh of relief as the men with their guns leave for the season. However, as is usually the case, they have left behind some souvenirs for the rest of us. Seen the spent shells on the trail or on the roads? Pick up their spent rounds to keep your wheels going round!

Pick up 5 spent shotgun shells, bring them into darkhorse cycles and get yourself a free tube! Yeah that’s right, a free tube just for picking up a couple of shells!

So stuff your pockets and spare your wallet to kick off the 08 season!

Happy new year!

happy new year to all and happy post holidays to all! i hope that your holidays found you all happy,healthy and well and that santa or Hanukkah harry brought you all the little bike toys your hearts desired!
2007 has come and gone and we have survived another year as race promoters and "racers"!
it's hard to think that we have 5 darkhorse 40's under our belts. it doesnt seem that long ago that the 40 was just a vague idea and we wondered if anybody would actually show up.
well 2008 is here and the gears are in motion. george has been in the woods cooking up new schemes for the 40. we are into the h2h series with the Darkhorse Gallop and the NY series is a brewing as well. we aren't hosting a race in that series but we will be passing on all the details as they come to us.
keep your eyes and ears peeled as "Darkhorse Racing" has been inking off season contracts with a number of local heavy hitters! be afraid people! new jerseys, new team members, big wheeled bikes and bigger coolers! look for Darkhorse Racing to be flying their flag at an event near you! stop by and say hi, we may look a little strange but we are really only half as strange as we look!