Bike Factory Elite Racing Team

Bike Factory spending some time on the podium yesterday 🏆

So happy to share that our new athlosports Bike Factory of Charlottesville kits have arrived at the shop. Be sure to pick them up before the weekend.

😍😍😍 I didn’t think athlosports could top last years kit but they did it again.

So excited to offer the Bike Factory of Charlottesville kit for 2018!

Simple - Easy - Fast ordering again this year: click the link, pick your kit and Athlos will do the rest👍
https://www.athlosports.com/collections/bike-factory-of-charlottesville-2018

me: I want a kit that stands out; something different.

athlosports: challenge accepted

Excellent work folks! Everyone is over the moon pumped 👊 to ride the new kits.

New athlosports kits are here....get them and go shred⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

Ugh

I have to cancel tomorrow's team ride due to the rain we are getting. I will get another day scheduled in a few weeks.

On a bright note athlosports has our NEW kits just about ready to go. I will let everyone know when we get them.

Happy Racing!!!!!

OK everyone athlosports has made the order process SO ridiculously easy I almost want to order new kits every week!

Process is simple.

Step 1 - Click the link
Step 2 - select your items (if you don't remember I have a list of what you wanted)
Step 3 - pay online
Step 4 - wear your new kit and Win Races!!!!

http://sbrtrifit.tuosystems.com/stores/bike-factory-of-charlottesville-2017

BIKEFACTORYOFCHARLOTTESVILLE2017 Welcome to the online store. This online store has been developed to greatly simplify the team gear ordering process for you. To get started, just select the appropriate sizes and quantities for the items below.

John P Petrylak's Virginia Off-Road Series blog entry for the first race of the 2017 ; True Grit Epic Bike Race.

Power Meters tell it like it is:

I'm doing True Grit❗️

I said this to my wife around October of 2016. She said "what's True Grit"?

It's a mountain bike race in Utah in early March. Her reply was "OK" with a puzzled look on her face. The problem is sometimes when I plan something so far out I build up what I think the experience will be like in my head and it turns out to be nothing like what I thought. More on this later......

I devoted most of 2016 to Marathon Nationals and a more traditional XC season with some long stuff mixed in. As the fall approached and the thought of what's up for 2017 crept in I remembered a conversation I had with Keck Baker about the NUE Marathon Race Series. We talked about the marathon distance "possibly" being more fun😁 over the traditional death march 100 miler???

I did a quick preliminary status check with my wife Amanda; which went somewhat like this " hey do you mind if I attempt a national series this year"?
Her reply "no let's do it" Hell Yes I'm in!!!

After that I was now competing in NUE Marathon Series for 2017....woo hoo
Jeremiah put together a plan that had me pushing my limits but I know what doesn't kill you makes you stronger💪.

Fast forward to late winter and things are going well, lots of good training weather and pretty decent results at my training races leading up to the first NUE. A few weeks before True Grit my power meter said I should have a good race at True Grit. I'm not going to lie; I thought a top 10 or better would be in my cards barring any mechanical issues. I kept the training strong and thought about Tue Grit and what the race would be like. A Google search reveals 100's of videos of the trails the race is held on. In a nut shell the course is 900 billion rocks in every shape, texture and size imaginable. Think about riding up and down Lookout Mountain for 50 miles that's about what it felt like.

A few weeks out became a week out and then I was sitting on an airplane at 6am two days before the race.

We landed in Salt Lake City Utah and met up with the Cameron Mountain Bike racing team. Cameron had a super stacked team this year and then 2016 NUE champ Dylan Johnson signed on making them the premier team for sure. I built up my bike pedaled it for 5 minutes to make sure it was good to go and then stuffed it in into the trunk of our rental car and pointed the car South towards St George Utah.

Four hours of driving surrounded by beautiful scenery in any direction. Amanda and I were in awe of the pure beauty that is Utah. The day before the race I headed out with my friend and Bishop Training partner Heath Thumel to ride the "must do" technical trails. We both quickly agreed we could spend all day riding and really damage our chances for a good race the next day. After about 2 hours we reluctantly headed back to the parking lot.

I was really, really glad I chose to hit them before race even if was only 10 miles of the race course.
Drops...⬇️drops....⬇️drops⬇️ around every corner.

I cleaned up after the preride got some food and picked up the race packet and then off to bed after dinner. So at this point I'm still feeling pretty confident about the race. Although no less than 20 people mentioned that the 50 mile race is "super stacked" with for real pros making it a national caliber race.

I woke up after an unusually good nights sleep before a race feeling ready for what I hoped would be the best 50 miles I have ever had on a Mountain Bike. My usual prerace breakfast was fantastic and I'm still feeling pretty dang good👍👍

One hour before race time I started to pedal for a warm up with a couple of efforts to wake up the legs.
Oh Boy this ain't good😳
The same power meter that said I "should" have a good race was now not so sure. I felt like I was doing big efforts during my warm up but it was barely mediocre according to the watts displayed.

OK...OK. Don't panic it's probably nothing just finish warming up and get back to the starting line I told myself.
Now I am on starting line nervous but ready to get this thing started.

GO‼️ Click, Click both feet are clipped and I'm now racing my first NUE of the year. The pace at the start wasn't terribly unreasonable. Once our tires hit dirt the Monsters mashed their pedals and my heart rate was taking off like a rocket.

About 5 miles into the race I knew today was not going to be a "best day" on the bike kind of day. Every pitch felt much harder than it was and every pedal stroke became a forced effort.

Now the mission was no longer trying to hold onto some of the fastest guys in the country. The mission became damage control. I slipped back to 15th place and could see a large pack of chasers closing in right before the single track of Zen. I had a decent climb to the top which put some space between myself and the chasers. For the next 30 miles I was on mostly unfamiliar terrain. Too many times I came up to a big drop wide open hit the dropper post and then I was just along for the ride😬😬

I caught a few guys but my legs never came around and I just felt blah. Oh well it's over now and I'm taking back so much experience.
13th place is not what I wanted but I got it so now we head back east to more familiar terrain and conditions.

Back to my original thought about building something up in your head but the actual experience doesn't fit what you thought it would be. I never could have prepared myself for how amazing this whole experience has been. Although the ego is a little bruised the time away with my wife has been a life long experience we won't forget. We got see a part of the country so beautiful it can't be captured in pictures only an in person experience will do. Please find time on your calendar to head out to Utah to race or ride; the terrain will force you to come back a better rider.

The is about to start and I'm ready to see those familiar faces and trails!

It's racin time folks🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

Sent from my iPhone

NEW KITS for this year folks!

We have samples for everyone to try on at the shop. athlosports is bringing major game to the cycling clothing scene👍👍👍👍

They offer 3 tiers and we can mix/match depending on what your needs are. Shorts, bibs, jerseys, arm warmers, leg warmers, baggies.....they have it ALL!

The goal is to have everyone try on the kits by the end of February. Get your size and let me know how many kits you need so we can discuss options.

FYI the kits run big so please try them on; I was pleasantly surprised to fit into a small 😁

Please email me with your order:
[email protected]

Bike Factory of Charlottesville

https://www.facebook.com/mtbmagcom/posts/1306288302819126

MTB MAG Awards 2016: Scott Spark RC wins the XC category Happy New Year everyone! Yesterday at midnight was MTB-MAG readers' last chance to vote for their favourite bike in 2016, so at this point the results are

Basically the new Spark is the perfect mountain bike.....

Scott Spark 900 RC SL First Ride review There are a whole range of iterations of Scott’s all new Spark full suspension platform, but this RC model is the only one