Sandtown Heats up for the Winter (Ryan)

Well kids, I know its been awhile since you've heard anything from the Beast of the East, and I'm sorry to dissapoint. Andy summed up our fall mountain race campaign fairly well, so I won't dwell on that (or call him out again for wimping out on the Tidewater Challenge...far be it from me to declare myself winner by default). I am indeed suffering from some sort of sickness/ complete fitness meltdown, but as of the ride today, I'm beginning to claw my way out of it. He did get one thing wrong in his post, however. Contrary to his spy photos, my new power tool is not the internal combustion engine, it is an unholy combination of this:



and this:

(Andy is correct, I recently moved up to Cat 2 in boozing)

A fixie and PBR, two great tastes that taste great together. I anticipate both a great improvement in leg power and overall bulk for downhilling to come out of this new winter training program.

Now for some Sandtown news. Whatever passes for winter this far southeast is fast closing in on my sandy home, and this means one thing; me and the W&M boys are scrambling to organize and promote a road race several months behind schedule. Owen, James and I went out exploring today to find interesting pave sections and decisive climbs to add to the course, and we were not dissapointed...although I'm unauthorized to reveal details, suffice to say I officially have less reason to complain about the riding down here. Some of you may remember the First Annual Tidewater Winter Classic from last year, and I assure you the second edition will be even more epic. Due to popular demand, the Classic has grown from a simple one-day race to a full weekend of racing. While course details are being kept strictly under wraps until the official race announcement, I can promise a very difficult individual TT and sketchy crit on Saturday, February 24th (for the collegiate crowd only, unfortunately) and what promises to be a brutal, technical road race to put the Het Volk to shame on Sunday the 25th. This seminal event will be open to all cyclists willing to make the pilgrimage to Sandtown. To make sure the Classic lives up to its name, I'm secretly praying for snow all winter, although some of you may hate me for it...you have to agree that snow would make the race soooo much more epic right?

In addition to the race, the boys and I have upped our trail riding miles since finding the hidden gem of New Quarter Park, with its smooth single track, sweet log jumps, and boardwalks...its the perfect place to hone our techy skills and for me to master the fixie.


The infamous Ludwell crits have started up again as well, and if you're in the greater Sandtown area, meet up at Ludwell Appartment 100 every thursday night at 9 for some bus-dodging, cold as hell racing action.

Once this race is squared away, I plan on moving on to a new and exciting project; finding a job...anyone in the 'burg have any leads for me?