AUGUST 1st 2010
STEWART STATE FOREST
NEW WINDSOR NY

Friday, November 21, 2008

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!!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

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!!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

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.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

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!



Friday, July 25, 2008

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!

Friday, July 18, 2008

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!