FORTY FOR 10?

Its almost 2010. really? seriously? how the heck did that happen?
anyway, the Darkhorse 40 is only 8 months away! start your prep now! race registration is up and live on bikereg.

we have made a few changes this year. first of all weather permitting we are going back to two twenty mile laps. 90 percent singletrack goodness. course details will be released when the mayor see's fit. trust that it will be as sweet as ever!

we have changed the categories a bit. maybe changed isn't the right word, condensed. we have streamlined them to better align with other endurance events. we feel this will only enhance the competitive aspect of the event.

we will be paying cash to the top five in all categories! thats right, american money! we will be giving swag to placings below 5th as deep as registration in those categories permits.

more details to come as they are available!

feel free to leave comments. we welcome your feedback!

lucky seven?

when i got home late sunday night i had that look on my face. my wife saw it. it was similar to look i had after racing the cohutta 100 and driving 2 hours back to her relatives house. the 1000 yard stare. i was a beaten man.

our day started around 4:00am. i say around because i was up most of the night or at best sleeping fitfully. we were ready as we could be. we had spent the better portion of the afternoon and early evening prepping everything we could. it was on, one way or another.

things started to turn ugly when i realized i had no cable for the microphone for the pa system. argh. we would have used it at the start to make announcements and set the starting order. we would now have to make due with a aging megaphone.

we lined up nearly 400 racers at the shale pits, made some announcements and tried to contain the chaos. 15 minutes later and everybody is off and out on the trail. controlled chaos is the only way to describe the start. it was not pretty.......

from there it starts to all blend together. running water to the aid station by truck and by bike. dealing with injuries and heat related trauma, solving little issues as they arose, etc.....

did i fail to mention that it was a trillion degrees out? yeah it got real hot real fast!! i had soaked my Hawaiian shirt by about 9:00am. i apologize if i stood up wind of you!! yikes it was gross!

riders started to drop like flies after the second lap. we usually have some attrition but never like this. it was brutal out there. the heat, the course, the pace, it was kicking people right square in the mouth!

1st place pro Jason Sager finished in a little over 3hours. the course and the heat proved to add a bIt of time to everyone's laps. riders began trickling in for the next 3 hours or so. many doing all they could just to get to the finish line. others motivated by the "sirens of stewart" offering up salvation in a ice cold can of PBR! i will admit to sampling 1, for the racers sake of course!

the BBQ was off the hook! those guys did a fantastic job and we got nothing but kudos on the chicken and pasta salad! big props to the darkhorse kitchen contingent!!

the 4 lap format proved to be good, bad and ugly........
the good......
the course was freakin awesome! it was dry, fast, and damn challenging!

the bad......
4 laps meant tighter quarters for the racers, which didn't seem to be much of an issue actually. it also meant more traffic thru the scoring transition area. this was tough. with spectators, dnf's, racers, etc.....it got a bit congested.

the ugly.....
this made the results very difficult to compose and things got a bit turned upside down for a while.
first of all our scoring VOLUNTEERS are top notch. they devote their entire day to making sure that the results go smooth and over the course of 7 years and many races beside the 40 we have had very few issues. ICANNOT THANK THEM ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it got ugly. people got a little cranky and the results got a bit wonky.
thanks to everyone for their patience, thanks for the input on who was ahead of who and helping to sort out your categories.
this is not our standard operating procedure! we are usually very smooth with results.

this process crushed me. it took way longer than it usually does. it just drained me down below my reserves. shattered. i suffered a promoter bonk! for this i apologize.

other than that we gave away a pile of great stuff! preems, swag, etc........

i need to send a huge thank you out to all our volunteers! without them none of this would be possible.

and of course last but not least thanks to all the racers who came out in support of our crazy little event! it was great to see all your faces! new friends, old friends, etc! its a wild bunch and we are stoked that you came out to enjoy our little party with a race thrown in for good measure!!!

thanks again to all!!!!

do we have to start planning for next year already?..............

Top reasons why the 7th annual Darkhorse 40 will rule the universe!!!

1.August weather rocks!(fingers crossed) after a great ss race in May on some stellar singletrack the gods of thunder decided to water the lawn at stewart for 24 days in June!! so all that sweet singletrack was a bit "submerged!" but don't fret! we are calling in some favors and crossing our fingers for super sweet summer singletrack goodness!!

2.Harpoon you like? no not the implements of whale death, the fine craft beer from Beantown. thru a bizzarre 12 degrees of seperation we have hooked up with the good people at Harpoon brewing and we will be providing frosty cold Harpoon beverages to wash away that singletrack thirst!

3. singletrack? same great 40 course returns! back by popular demand. after a few years of shifting and swapping and swooping the consensus is that we have it dialed. barring any more acts of weather related calamity the same sweet 40 course returns!!

4. need a economic stimulus? are you a pro or cat 1 racer? well win the pro category and go home 300 richer!! win your expert category and go home 200 richer!!! yes american dollars! big payouts deep into the classes! come on out, go fast and get paid! hoorah!

5. t-shirt, BBQ, great medals, swag? yup, all back again! all included in your entry fee!

6. hidden preems? yup they are back! look for the numbered index cards hidden along the trails. collect one and bring it to the awards ceremony for cool cool prizes including more american dollars!!!!!!!!!!

7. great vibe! chill festival atmospehere! come out and race or come on out and challenge yourself just to finish the 40 miles. or team up with a guy or gal pal and do it team style! but most of all come on out and have fun!!!!

8. 3 fully stocked aid stations on the course. water, heed, banana's, cookies, etc..... keeping you topped off on fluids and food for your 40 mile adventure!

hmmm, so lets see...... great singletrack, sweet t-shirts, and big ass free chicken BBQ, FREE HARPOON BEER, cash money, great prizes, fun festival atmospere, man where do i sign up?

RIGHT HERE!!!!!! and do it now! DO IT NOW!!! PRE-REG ONLY this year! yup no day of registration!!!

come on, you know you want to! all the cool kids are doing it! here kids, sign up and ride you'll be back for more!!!!!

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!!

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!

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!

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!