Bruises & Broken Frames!

Hello all,

We had a great MTB ride this morning! 8 riders total, including Ben Stefanski who we haven't seen in a while, and Brian Bermudes as well. We did a little Power-lines-Jesusita-Tuckers Grove loop that was really fun. Jesusita is as good as I've ever seen it right now. We can thank the Santa Barbara Mountain bike Trail Volunteers for that. We saw a few hikers, but they were very friendly and we all had bells on, so no problems there. We did have a couple little mishaps worth noting though.

First off, we were doing a little section of Tunnel Trail on our way over to Jesusita when Blingerman did a perfectly executed endo and landed on his head. Luckily, he landed right on the "sweet- spot". That would be the area between your eyebrows and your helmet. So he didn't damage his new helmet, or his eyes..........his forehead was not as fortunate. To his credit, he shook it off and kept ridin'. I actually think he looks better with a Neanderthal like forehead.....very distinguished.



The second incident happened on Jesusita. Now nobody's ever accused me of being a good descender. That's why I like riding with guys like Mike Abbott and Dale Kramer and.......(you're not gonna believe this one)...Dave Lettieri. That's right, Dave's become somewhat of a kamikaze on our Sunday Mountain rides. But he actually has the "skillz" to back it up. He flew down the stair section of Jesusita today like a man possessed. It was awesome! He used every inch of suspension on his carbon fiber Trek as he bounced down the trail...and he pulled it off. After watching Dave, Mike, and Dale ride all these sections that I was walking I learned two things.

1. I'm not a very good descender

and

2. Sometimes it's better just to close your eyes and let go of the brakes.

Now while Dave is very good......he's not perfect. Later in the ride he crashed amongst some rocks and broke the top tube of his beloved Trek Fuel. For the rest of us this would be a terrible turn of events. Fortunately for Dave, carbon frames are cheap, and easily replaceable.

Besides a couple dings and scratches the rest of the ride went according to plan, and we all got home with big smiles on our faces and in one piece...........except Dave's frame.....that was in two pieces. Hope you'll join us next weekend!

Matt

Santa Paula Re-Cap

Hello,

Wow, what a turn out! I was shocked to see how big of a group we got to do a 100 mile ride! We probably had 30 or 40 riders at the start and just under 20 that did the "Full Monte".




When we rolled out I thought we might be in for a brutal day due to the wind. But for the most part it was beautiful. We did run into a little headwind coming back through Carp. but the whole Santa Paula-Ventura-Ojai part was great! The route was really cool with lots of rolling hills, nice roads, and beautiful scenery. Having such a big group made the distance seem a little easier, and there were lots of different people to talk to. It was nice to see Ryan Yee and a few more of the Ventura boys hooking up with us, always good to have a couple extra engines at the front. There's a cool General Store at the top of the 150 climb into Ojai that made the perfect re-group/pit stop. Besides our two early flats no major problems to report..... unlike last weekend. Thanks to Dano and Blingerman for showing us the route, and I look forward to doin' that ride a few more times....It's a keeper. Nice job everyone! Just another day in paradise!


See ya out on the road,


Matt

Front Page News

A couple of the boys got a little love from the newspress as they rode the Time Trial Course up in Solvang! Matt you should get that growth on your stem looked at. Edhat also had some photos of the event you may want to check out. I saw some photos of our very own celebrity Barney and a couple other Chicken Ranchers in the pictures.

Amgen Time Trial Pre Ride

Hello,

This morning a few of us went with Dave to the "Ride the Route" ceremony in Solvang. It was basically a little presentation where they announced the route for the Time Trial Stage of the Tour of California, and you got to ride the course...... with a police escort.

We got to Solvang at 8:00 and then rode around for a couple hours until the festivities started at 10:00am. The weather was clear and cool and the roads are awesome. Everytime I ride back there I realize why so many pro teams go there for training camps. We definitely have to organize a team ride over there one of these days. We could invite Mark Fennel and his Platinum crew as well, it'd be fun to get a big group from SB to all meet up for a valley ride.

Dave got word from some people at the Santa Maria Times that they wanted to put a camera on somebodys bike and get video of the TT course, so of course he volunteered......me for the job. I was expecting some high-tech miniature camera that would be mounted on my helmet, or on my stem or something stealthy and cool like that. Instead I got a hand-held cam-corder duct taped to my bars! Check out the pictures...too funny! As if anyone was surprised, it fell off about halfway through the ride. Luckily I was trying to reposition it right at that moment and it basically fell right into my hand. So, I stuck it in my jersey pocket and kept riding. The look on the newspaper guys face when I rolled back into town without the camera on my bars was classic. Oh well. No harm....no foul.

We did get to ride with Pro rider Tony Cruz (formerly with Discovery, next year with BMC) which was fun. He was super cool, and by the end of the ride it was down to all the Chicken Ranchers... me, Dave, Brett, Rick, Dan, Barney, some Bike-Barn guy, and Tony Cruz. Not that we were going fast, a lot of the people who showed up were on commuter bikes and stuff like that. But, we had a great time and I look forward to doing more rides in the valley.....and watching the Tour of California! See you all on Saturday!

Matt

Attention Christmas Shoppers!

I know that everyone on our team is wondering who is going to get the coolest stuff to show off on the rides come January. I have absolutely no doubt that Blingerman and LJ will be facing off in that epic battle. One of the other combatants could obviously be our very own Halftrack or Rookie, Dave Lettieri. Dave has a bit of an advantage since everything he gets is a tax write off. Lucky Dave! I wanted to chime in and at least get the boys thinking towards one of the latest Garmin gadgets. Check it out and let the bling battle begin. Dave can you order these little goodies or are you stocking them? Who knows maybe someone on the team will surprise us and score some other cool items. If you are coveting something feel free to share by commenting below. I also know that now is a good time to let Dave know what you may want, because if you significant other is anything like mine she usually checks in with him before splurging on the new underwear and dress shirts. Merry Christmas!

The Legend Grows Of Dale Kramer

The legend of Dale Kramer grows.....

We had a nice MTB ride this morning, even though it was lightly attended. Only four Chicken Ranchers showed-up for this mornings ride. Fortunately, I had also invited a few of the Platinum "Bad-Boys" so we ended up with a group of 8. I think Saturdays big road ride kept a few of the usual suspects out of action.

We were enjoying a great ride when on the impossibly steep Romero Catway, Dale Kramers rear derailleur exploded. Rendering his bike pretty much unrideable. But while the rest of us were standing around discussing what we should do, Dale took off his derailleur and chain and started running up the rest of the climb. He beat us to the top, and then also beat us down the technical Bella Vista Trail. When we finally caught up to him he was running on East Mountain...with his bike......still about 4 miles from his car. I should have included a picture of the whole event but I was too impressed to remember to take a photo. I would've been calling my mommy to come pick me up for sure, but not Dale. Of course Dale is the kinda guy that goes for 7 hour back-country rides solo....so it shouldn't surprise me that he was resourceful and determined. Anyways, I found out later that he kept running about 2 miles then "McGyver'd" his full-suspension rig into a single-speed and rode the rest of the way home. The best part is, through the whole thing he never cussed, never whined, in fact, the smile never left his face. He was just happy to be out there........running.....riding.....it's all good. That's two motivational stories in one weekend. First Kim's 40mph "Slip & Slide" then Dale's 27 mile "Ride-run-Ride". Can't wait 'till next weekend!

Thanks to Craig Zimmerman, and Philip Friden for showin' up and ridin' strong. It would've been embarassing to have more Platinum riders than Chicken Ranchers on the weekly Chicken Ranch ride!

See ya out there!

Matt

and if that wasn't enough.

Also, The day before, Dale Kramer worked the 2nd half of the SBMTV Trail Maintenance day, non-stop till 3:00. He also ate more SB Chicken Ranch chicken than any one else, and took the extra home.

The legend continues to grow…

Jed

Dec 1st's Ride up Hwy 33

Saturday Ride Re-cap:


First things first. Kim Turner is one tough cookie! Unfortunately she crashed on the back-side of the Casitas climb going about 40mph! Incredibly, she got up and rode home under her own power. I didn't witness the crash but half the group did and said it was incredible that she walked away. Gabe said she was yelling "I'm OK!" before she even stopped rolling! I hope you're OK Kim? Please let us know how you're doing?




We had a very large group show up at the start. Maybe 30 or so. The weather was cool and crisp. People peeled off as they needed but at the bottom of the Hwy 33 climb we still had 16 people. We've got a lot of strong riders! That's a great climb! For about the first half of the climb big Bob Wilcher just tapped out a nice tempo with everyone single file behind him. But Corey can never be contained and he ended up just riding away from all of us. Everyone rode their own pace the rest of the way and we ended up with 15 riders at the summit! Great job everyone! Then after an enjoyable descent the hard part began. We rode 45 miles home into a stiff and continuous headwind. Ouch. By the end it just felt like survival mode...at least for me it did. Great ride though and great turn-out. Good weather, good friends, good miles, you can't beat that!

Final ride stats: 97 miles, 6 hours and 27 minutes, 7,768 ft of climbing.


See ya next time!

Matt