Welcome // JayP's Dirt: Endurance Cyclist Jay Petervary

Tour Divide 09'

Yee ha! We made it! In just a couple of short hours we will be taking on a 2800 mile off road ride leaving from Banff shooting for the Mexico border.

You can follow us here Tour Divide . We will be carrying a SPOT GPS tracker so you can view us 24/7. There will be a MP3 podcast to listen to here at MTBCast . Look to the sidebar for Tracey and Jay.

I am going to try and upload some photos from time to time to the picasa web alblum below along the way, so check back.

Divide Route 09' (Click the photo above to view the album)

Happy trails! Thanks for following and all the support. Let the good times ROLL.

Complete Tandem and then some...

complete tandem Wow! Not to far from a year ago I have ordered this frame and this past weekend the final permanent parts have been added to call it complete. Besides a frame bag and some fuel cell accessory pockets this clydesdale is roaring to roll the 2800 miles it has planned, leaving this Friday. This project was'nt easy, I learned a lot and taught others. There are/were many people involved that helped make this build happen and have helped us prepare for the upcoming weeks on the trail. Here are a few highlights of the rig and some of the gear we will be carrying.

Vicious Cycles built the frame. It is a steel frame built around the 29" wheel with a 150 x 12, thru axel, Maxel system rear hub. This was an idea that was concieved after some research and then MikeC helped make it concrete. I consulted with Mike on a few parts and build ideas. He also pimped me out with a nice wheel build. DT Swiss FR hubs laced up to some Flow rims wrapped in my favorite rubber, the WTB Nano Raptor filled with a Slime tube pumped up to ~40 - 45 psi. 150 mm rear Slime has saved my arse many of times when I did the route in 07' so this year I will be going Slime the whole way. I thought about the new Slime Pro Tubeless but since I like to run higher pressures in this type of event tubeless does'nt seem to make sense and once you flat the first time with tubeless it's over anyway.

The front cockpit . Made up of Salsa Pro Moto Ti stem and Pro Moto carbon flat bar wrapped to expedition touring fatness with of course Salsa bar tape. Super sweet! I stack an additional stem with a dummy bar holding my aero bars to give me the upright feeling of leaning at the bar, I prefer Snake River Brewery. Speed is one thing but comfort overrides speed. In my eyes comfort over a long time will make up speed.

I have dealt with many different people and manufactures but one guy that stands out huge is Alex from MTBTandems.com. This guy is the guru of tandem building and design. Without him I would still be building the bike. He has thrown down huge making sure I have everything to get rolling. It is great to meet up with people that are just as stoked as you about making something happen. Besides all his knowledge, advice and support he mailed out the MiddleBurn crankset, rings, stoker stem, Phil Wood BB's, and he is even going to see to it that we have another drivetrain in Steamboat. This guy really knows his stuff and anybody even thinking about a tandem should talk with Alex first, check out his cool affordable ready available Fandango. The Crank Brothers tried and true Candy pedals are a reliable favorite (was just riding in the mud with somebody who could not clip into there Times, no problem with my Candy's).

From the front front view and the back rear view .

Saddle comfort; WTB Rocket V for myself and Deva for my lady.

At night we will be getting all lit up, with the Princeton Tech Corona on the bike, Apex and Fuel on the heads, and the Swerve for safety sakes.

The rear Old Man Mountain rack will be holding the sleeping system and Carousel Designs Works bike packing bags will hold the rest.

Speaking of sleeping systems, the MontBell Thermal Sheet makes a very versitile system. Here we have 2 zipped together, which provides plenty of room for 2 with venting on both sides. Coupled with a big tarp that turns into a double bivy, there are countless options with this dual set up, and light too! MontBell will also be keeping us dry with some rain gear and warm with this. Boy, I love MontBell gear.

skins Recovery is key when the only time off the bike is when sleeping, which is typically 4-6 hours nightly. Skins will help take care of this while sleeping helping to promote hydration, circulation and minimize swelling. It really helps with the itchy spastic twitching feeling that happens in the legs when trying to sleep after big efforts, therefore we should sleep better!

Happy feet = happy rider. Loius Garneau shoes, sized up for swelling, comfort and extra socks. Socks, wool of course, Smart Wool that is. SmartWool feels so good against the skin, wears great, and odor free. Since I like it so much, arm warmers, knee warmers, linear gloves, liner hat, and base layer are all SmartWool. So comfy, practical and stylish too!

I don't worry about mechanicals but I am always prepared and having the right tools makes the difference. lezyne Lezyne's craftsmanship is down right sexy and so so light. The compact floor pump is my new favorite for long bike tours.

Appropriatly enough I see everything through my polarized Zeal glasses. zeal Zeal = passion, eager to pursue. This certainly stands for my cycling.

Fitzgeralds Bicycles is my shop of choice not just to work on my bikes and get parts etc ,but to hang out at, have a beer, talk with others coming buy, or meet up for a ride. Scott, the owner, mayor, and just good guy, although very busy is in full tune with what I am up to and is a full supporter. It's nice to have a shop willing to do almost anything to make sure I am rolling, whenever, wherever. Thanks to all you guys, it's been an epic build!

THANK YOU to ALL that have been involved. Friends for riding with me and everybody for just hearing my blah, blah about the event. Tracey is my favorite "part" of this build and the key part to making it most enjoyable. We have an epic journey on our hands and oh boy I can't wait. We leave on Wendsday and start riding on Friday.

All info and links should be available through Tour Divide. Call ins and GPS SPOT tracking, super fun armchair follow!

Still have plenty on the plate to clean up...till next time...

Turning Roadie...

Torch Crit
With RAAM on the horizon I thought it would be a good year/time to start racing road bikes. I've been riding road bikes just as long as mountain but just never got involved in racing that scene. Partly because I did not want to race in the lowest category of 5 and this crowd is just a little to up tight then what I am use to in the free for all friendly kicked back mountain bike crowd. In road racing you have to earn your rankings starting from the bottom, thats fine, but I have been racing bikes and riding road for almost 15 years and feel my strength and experince on a bike is not worth endangering (due to a crash) or the frustration of racing in with the cat 5's. I have given a resume and tried talking my way to a cat 3 a couple years ago but they are pretty much by the book these days.

Well I am now 36 years old and the category of Masters 35+ is a choice for me. Overall this is a fast paced experinced crowd including riders from the Cat 2-3 field. This is definitly where I belong as I work on my individual Cat status.

So, OK I have done 2 road races in the past. One a few years ago, Bear Lake Classic, where I raced Cat 5 and just did'nt feel the vibe, just some frustration. Then last year I raced the Adirondak 540, RAAM qualifier, and won. The past several years I have been saying I want to start road racing regularly and now I'm off.

Two weeks ago Jackson had it's first USA sanctioned Crit race. Easy enough, no travel, and help support cycling in and around Jackson. I have never done any crit racing but this was a prime oppurtunity to get the feet wet. I got soaked by entering two categories. Master 35+ and Cat 3,4,5's. The masters race was first. I was'nt really sure how to go about racing this so I read the pack as we circled the .9 mile course for the first half the race. Did my share of pulls, attacking and keeping the pace up. With about 12 minutes left I shot of the front thinking I could hold a strong tempo for that long. I eneded up doing about 6 laps on my own with the help of 1 guy, Nate, giving me a pull 2 times at just the right moments. First crit was a first win. The second race was equally as hot paced but with no breaks being allowed, which made it come down to a final sprint. I had a tough position, but a safe one, and took 3rd.

This past weekend I went to the Garden Creek Gap road race in Pocatello. This was my first road race in with the fast guys of Masters. I was very excited to be racing this crowd and was nervous since I am not familiar with anybodys ability's. I asked around to a few of the folks I do know and it was mentioned to me if you can stay around and challenge the guy in the Walmart kit that would be a high level gauge. So at the start/finish, which was on top of the climb, we rolled out on our own just the 35+, not grouped with the 45's. Small group of us but solid. About 10 miles in I realize the Walmart kit is a few ahead, perfect, a gauge. The 25 mile lap was'nt really going to break anybody up till the climb which was at the end of the lap. Going into the climb the first time I set myself back a few bike lengths and let Walmart and another set the pace going up. Walmart would repeatedly attack and look back, I stayed steady to not let the gap increase. As we approached the last third of the climb I got on Walmarts wheel, pulled along side him, then passed him and as I heard him trying to go for a counter pass I picked up so he could not. I crested the top first. I probably should not have shown that I was a threat. On the next lap the hesitation among everyone was apparent. The pace actually slowed a touch and the pulls of some people were very short. When it was time for Walmart or I to pull we were both pushing the pace. As we rounded out the last flat to the start of the climb, where I was pulling, I tried letting somebody else lead it but they obviously were going to make me set the pace up. So I did. Riding the climb at a fairly strong brisk pace I was anticipating the attacks and finally at about 2/3rds through Walmart launched through. Bam, attack, I responded. Then again, again and again. He finally made me crack. 2 others also got buy while I was reeling my tounge back in. I finished the race 5th with some guy passing me with all he had as I was sitting up spinning to the line. Yep, he was one that never really pulled or initiated anything during the race. Funny stuff.

I really had a lot of fun at these past events and am looking forward to building on my road racing experince and category. I have/was reminded and learned quite a few things at these event. Always race to the finish. You can't have enough patience in road racing. Gambling on a big effort will sometimes pay off but also sometimes back fire. I am pshyced to be keeping up and riding with these riders. I will always be a mountain biker.

No more road racing till later this summer and I am already looking forward to it. Bigger fish to fry starting next week. Tour Divide.

Torch Finish