Doug writes:
This trip has been a rollercoaster of greater proportions. The past two days (we've dubbed "race day #10" and "race day #11") have been both stressful and tiresome. So much for resting post-race...
Many promises were made about this 'race' (logistics, winnings, etc..) and many promises were broken from the minute we set foot here in India. This continued all the way to the amount the winners got in their checks yesterday (0-50% of the advertised amount). We (all 40something participants) questioned the authority during yesterday's 'awards ceremony'. As a result we were all over this morning's local newspapers and TV. After yet another stressful day today, things are rectified and the winners are paid out what they were owed while I was paid what I was owed in hotel and food and transportation bills that my race entrance fee was supposed to cover.. In the end, this was a life changing trip..
Tim, Janel and I begin our travels home tomorrow morning, 12hrs from now. Harlan and Courtney are staying another week.
I gave away a bunch of my Vicious Cycles jerseys and vests to some of our new-found friends and compadres. I also gave my one-off Ghostship T-shirt (from last year's Hustle 'N Flow contest) to my friend Mangal, one of the top Nepalese mountain bikers. Ghostship is now global. hahaha
Time to finish packing.
Doug
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
News From India
Our man Dougy-Fresh sent us a heads up all the way from India:
we finished the race today and are back in gangtok. its been a long 9 days on the bike (something like 30hours). feels like an eternity but i got stronger as the days went on. lots of good and bad things. we are all safe and okay. the bad has been trying to eat in a timely fashion and get protein. also decent sleeping arrangements. the bike race wasn't what we expected. we weren't racing all day as we have come to expect with endurance races. That kind of killed tim and i with our singlespeeds but we fought hard and did well. actually switched to a tougher gear ratio on day 3 because the grades of the climbs weren't as steep as we thought. it allowed us to ride faster and hold our on on the climbs. probably less than a mile of singletrack and the climbs were all pavement roads and jeep trails. i had two flats and blew the compression cartridge on my fork (this morning... last day thank goodness). tim had one flat and also blew his fork (he had a spare lefty). halan and janel had no mechanical issues.
harlan took 1st solo men. janel (tim's gf) took 1st solo female. tim took 6th solo men (singlespeed) and i took 7th solo men (singlespeed).
met some great people from canada and india, europe and nepal. the nepalese riders want us to come back and ride/race with them in nepal.
time to eat again. i think i've lost a lot of weight. protein has been hard to find since chicken and eggs are banned due to bird flue.
DOug
we finished the race today and are back in gangtok. its been a long 9 days on the bike (something like 30hours). feels like an eternity but i got stronger as the days went on. lots of good and bad things. we are all safe and okay. the bad has been trying to eat in a timely fashion and get protein. also decent sleeping arrangements. the bike race wasn't what we expected. we weren't racing all day as we have come to expect with endurance races. That kind of killed tim and i with our singlespeeds but we fought hard and did well. actually switched to a tougher gear ratio on day 3 because the grades of the climbs weren't as steep as we thought. it allowed us to ride faster and hold our on on the climbs. probably less than a mile of singletrack and the climbs were all pavement roads and jeep trails. i had two flats and blew the compression cartridge on my fork (this morning... last day thank goodness). tim had one flat and also blew his fork (he had a spare lefty). halan and janel had no mechanical issues.
harlan took 1st solo men. janel (tim's gf) took 1st solo female. tim took 6th solo men (singlespeed) and i took 7th solo men (singlespeed).
met some great people from canada and india, europe and nepal. the nepalese riders want us to come back and ride/race with them in nepal.
time to eat again. i think i've lost a lot of weight. protein has been hard to find since chicken and eggs are banned due to bird flue.
DOug
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Dougy-Fresh Update
Our man Doug is racing in India. Yes. India. We know. Crazy, right? Here's his latest update:
March 19th
Hello all.
I have been here for four days and it feels like it has been a few weeks. the people here in Sikkim are so nice it has significantly reduced the stress within this adventure. We have found some wonderful people to host us in their hotel (hotel owner's name is Bassant) and make us feel at home. I'm even using their computer right now. The culture is very interesting and I've been taking in so much and have had such a great time interacting with the locals. So much taken in that I have to go get another notebook for the one I brought with me is just about full.
We (us Americans) are all here now (Harlan, is girlfriend, Tim, Janel and myself) and had safe travels out here. Harlan and I got a 50km ride in yesterday out to an old Tibetian monestary in the village of Rumtek and back (we are staying in Gangtok). The climbs are long and seem to go on forever (2000 vertical feet in 12km). Everyone seems to stop what they are doing and cheer us on. School children come running out to support us. Kind of like in Costa Rica. It has been a thrill.
The roads are crowded (very narrow) and are quite scary to ride in town seeing as there is only one road in and out. Traffic as bad as NYC traffic (or worse at times). There is no room for error and we are being very conservative with our speeds (specifically when descending). It is not worth it to hurt ourselves just to ride down a road quite fast.
My 32x22 gear ratio on the 29er singlespeed feels good on my legs. We are all feeling pretty good but a lot of our competition (including last year's winner) are Nepalase Sherpas. Kind of intimidating but, regardless, I am positive it will be a good event and experience. Tomorrow is day one of the actual event.
Things have been quite challenging, exciting and fun thus far. It is only getting better!
Talk to you in a few weeks. Enjoy!
Doug
March 19th
Hello all.
I have been here for four days and it feels like it has been a few weeks. the people here in Sikkim are so nice it has significantly reduced the stress within this adventure. We have found some wonderful people to host us in their hotel (hotel owner's name is Bassant) and make us feel at home. I'm even using their computer right now. The culture is very interesting and I've been taking in so much and have had such a great time interacting with the locals. So much taken in that I have to go get another notebook for the one I brought with me is just about full.
We (us Americans) are all here now (Harlan, is girlfriend, Tim, Janel and myself) and had safe travels out here. Harlan and I got a 50km ride in yesterday out to an old Tibetian monestary in the village of Rumtek and back (we are staying in Gangtok). The climbs are long and seem to go on forever (2000 vertical feet in 12km). Everyone seems to stop what they are doing and cheer us on. School children come running out to support us. Kind of like in Costa Rica. It has been a thrill.
The roads are crowded (very narrow) and are quite scary to ride in town seeing as there is only one road in and out. Traffic as bad as NYC traffic (or worse at times). There is no room for error and we are being very conservative with our speeds (specifically when descending). It is not worth it to hurt ourselves just to ride down a road quite fast.
My 32x22 gear ratio on the 29er singlespeed feels good on my legs. We are all feeling pretty good but a lot of our competition (including last year's winner) are Nepalase Sherpas. Kind of intimidating but, regardless, I am positive it will be a good event and experience. Tomorrow is day one of the actual event.
Things have been quite challenging, exciting and fun thus far. It is only getting better!
Talk to you in a few weeks. Enjoy!
Doug
Saturday, March 14, 2009
News From India
Doug made it to India...here's his latest:
Made it to New Dehli, India. My friend's uncle picked me up from the airport and is letting me stay at his family's house until my next flight (11am and it's 2:30am now). Using his wifi with my phone and used his iPhone to call my parents.
Didn't have any trouble finding him, or rather he finding me. Let's see: tall skinny white guy with tattoos lugging around a bike box and a ton of gear looking utterly confused. Yup, thats me.
Driving in this city. Oh My God!! Pure chaos. I thought driving in Costa Rica was crazy. This is a whole new level. Upwards of 100km down dilapitated roads with trucks at a standstill. Good thing he know this place like the back of his hand. I'll have to get video tomorrow on the way to the airport. I was taking stills but the rough roads make for blurry photos.
Time for sleep in a bed rather than in cramped economy flights....
One more flight and the heli tomorrow.
Doug
Made it to New Dehli, India. My friend's uncle picked me up from the airport and is letting me stay at his family's house until my next flight (11am and it's 2:30am now). Using his wifi with my phone and used his iPhone to call my parents.
Didn't have any trouble finding him, or rather he finding me. Let's see: tall skinny white guy with tattoos lugging around a bike box and a ton of gear looking utterly confused. Yup, thats me.
Driving in this city. Oh My God!! Pure chaos. I thought driving in Costa Rica was crazy. This is a whole new level. Upwards of 100km down dilapitated roads with trucks at a standstill. Good thing he know this place like the back of his hand. I'll have to get video tomorrow on the way to the airport. I was taking stills but the rough roads make for blurry photos.
Time for sleep in a bed rather than in cramped economy flights....
One more flight and the heli tomorrow.
Doug
Dougy-Fresh's World Tour
Our man Doug is traveling halfway around the world to race his bike in India. Crazy! You can check his blog to see what a single-speed endurance racer packs to withstand 9 days + of riding. You should also subscribe to his twitter to get updates of where he is. Not sure what the wireless connection is going to be like at the foot of the Himalayas, but we're guessing somewhere between non-existent and offline.
The Scorchers have been kill'n it lately. Head on over to their website to see what they're up to.
The Highbridge Hustle and Flow race is going off again this year, April 25th in NYC at the Highbridge Mountain Bike Trails. The Ghostship Collective was the 1st place winner at last year's first annual event. Head on down and watch our boys defend their championship. Or better yet, jump up to get beat down here.
It's finally nice out here in our corner of the world. Temps are expected to reach the 50's today and 60's tomorrow. Alas, broken bikes and unfulfilled dreams are keeping us stuck inside doing some artwork...get on out and enjoy the weather!
The Scorchers have been kill'n it lately. Head on over to their website to see what they're up to.
The Highbridge Hustle and Flow race is going off again this year, April 25th in NYC at the Highbridge Mountain Bike Trails. The Ghostship Collective was the 1st place winner at last year's first annual event. Head on down and watch our boys defend their championship. Or better yet, jump up to get beat down here.
It's finally nice out here in our corner of the world. Temps are expected to reach the 50's today and 60's tomorrow. Alas, broken bikes and unfulfilled dreams are keeping us stuck inside doing some artwork...get on out and enjoy the weather!
Monday, March 2, 2009
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