Bubble Cross 2012 is in the books!

Well, chalk one up for Mother Nature - she may have messed with our original race date, and many of our lives these last 2 weeks, but she gave us a beauty of a day for the re-scheduled Bubble Cross at Bubbling Springs. After some early morning fog, we spent the rest of the day enjoy sun, brilliant blue skies, and some awesome racing!

A great big "Thanks!" to everyone who came out and raced - or even just heckled! Kenny Lundgren, we're looking at you! (Aside - Kenny should be a professional heckler - agreed?). David Kahl and Larry Towner set up an awesome course - challenging and fun - the classic cyclcocross combination!

Photo credits to J. Justin Fatuzzo and BJ Kisch

Also a great big thanks to everyone who helped us juggle the rescheduling - USA Cycling, the NJBA, the Township of West Milford, the West Milford First Aid Squad, Ruby Rose and all their awesome food, and Uncorked Wines for the beer. Also thanks to John Florey and Highland Sports Group for the 2 pairs of Shimano shoes for the womens race winners, along with for a bunch of prizes for our juniors, as well as Michael Hoek and the staff at Town Cycle, as always. Race sponsors ACD Security, Trius Pest, and Pro Power Endurance Coaching are ardent supporters of the club and our annual cyclocross race.

Results are posted here. We are already scheming for next year - thanks for your support in making this year a great success!

Bubble Cross is on!

OK, Bubble Cross 2012 - the "Go to Hell Sandy" rescheduled version - is on! November 11, at Bubbling Springs at 1428 Macopin Road in West Milford. Come race or come spectate - and bring some non-perishable food items for our food drive! More info -www.teamtowncycle.com. Weather is going to be sunny and in the 60's!!! 

Also - special call ups for veterans tomorrow - as a thank you to all that have served and in honor of Veterans Day!

Save these dates!

A few dates to throw out there -

• Sat., October 13 - Kids Ride - Jungle Habitat! Join JORBA as we have a great ride out there for the kids! Meet us at Jungle Habitat at 9:30 a.m., we'll break up into groups, practice on our "skinnies", and ride around Jungle! Snacks and water and maybe even some swag for our junior riders will be provided! We'll wrap up by noon. Mist or very light rain ok - steady rain will cancel. Any bike in good working order with knobby tires will work - and of course, helmets! Please bring a non-perishable food item for our local food banks - peanut butter, canned soup, pasta, beans, sauces, cereal, etc.  - they are in great need!
• Sunday, October 21 - the official Grand Opening of the West Milford Family Pump Track! Join us for a day of celebrating and riding as we show off the new pump track to the world! We'll be there from 12-4 p.m., so please come out and help us thank those who made this all possible as well as celebrate the awesomeness that is the new track!
• Sunday, November 4 - cyclocross racing comes to West Milford! This year, our annual CX race will be held right at Bubbling Springs, and we couldn't be more excited. More details to come!

So mark those dates on your calendar, and keep that pencil handy - more excitement is to come!

Attention all Team Town Cycle racers!

Attention all racers - or those who are interested in racing! Although race season seems like a long way off, eventually the snow will melt (Right? Please? RIGHT????), and we'll be back on our bikes before we know it. In the meantime, we're making plans for the upcoming race season, and we want to include you all in our plans!

Join us on this Thursday evening, February 10, at 7 p.m. at Town Cycle, and we'll talk about how the club will be working to support you and your goals for this season and beyond. We'll talk training, kits, race schedules, racer incentives, and more. Road racing, mountain bike racing, cyclocross - we'll cover it all!

Come find out what it's all about! Any questions? You know where to find us - info@teamtowncycle.com . 

Need a coach?

Everyone at Team Town Cycle is excited to announce that one of our own is now a USA Cycling Level 3 certified cycling coach! 

To those of you who know him or have ridden with him, it will come as no surprise - BJ Kisch is always there to offer advice on everything from equipment to riding style to nutrition. He's manned the pit area for many a racer, is always one of the loudest cheerleaders out there on the race course, is a tireless advocate for racers and racing - both on the road and in the woods, and is one of the hardest training riders out there! 

Congratulations BJ - thanks for all you do to help all of our racers in the trenches! If you want to contact BJ to discuss coaching or training, drop him a line at bkisch2000@yahoo.com . 

We're famous!

For those of you who are local, make sure to check out page 2 (continued on page 16) of this week's Aim of West Milford - there is a nice article and a few pictures from the Juniors in the Jungle race!

For those of you who aren't local, here's a link - http://tinyurl.com/27g7sem

Nice job, everyone!

Road racing news and notes!

This past Saturday was the first race of the Branchbrook Spring Training Series in Newark, NJ. Team Town Cycle braved the early start times (7:15 a.m.!!!) and made their season debut in style, with our own Jason Grossi finishing 12th in the Cat 4/5 race, and Matt Kuchavik and BJ Kisch coming through with flying colors! The series continues every Sat. for the month of March. For those who are interested, details are here - http://tinyurl.com/ygd9pf4

UPDATE - Branchbroook canceled for Saturday, March 13 because of flooding concerns! Join them next Saturday!

If Saturdays aren't good for you, try out the Augusta Training Series at the Sussex County Fairgrounds on Tuesday nights. It's another great way to try out road racing! For more info on their series, visit their website at http://www.skylandscycling.com/fairgrounds10/ .

Great job guys! If you get a chance, come out and support our racers - maybe you'll get inspired to join them!

Campmor Hudson to Highlands Mountain Bike Series - 2010

Before we talk about the 2010 season, we want to take a minute to congratulate our 2009 racers. Team Town Cycle had a great year in the Campmor H2H series! Big props to:

• Jess Reed - 5th place, Cat. 3 Women, 19-39
• Mike Moskowitz - 12th place, Cat. 3, 30-39
• Jason Grossi - 2nd place, Cat. 2, 40-44
• Matt Kuchavik - 6th place, Cat. 2, 40-44
• BJ Kisch - 5th place, Cat. 2, 35-39
• Chris Byrnes - 7th place, Cat. 2, 35-39
• Norman Marin - 13th place, Cat. 2, 35-39
• Adam Vandenbos - 2nd place, Cat. 2, 15-18
• Trevor Kahl - 5th place, Cat. 2, 15-18
• Dillon Van Wart - 1st place, Cat. 2, 10-14
• David Kahl - 2nd place, Cat. 1, 40-49
• David Van Wart - 6th place, Cat. 1, 40-49

We were well represented at the Campmor Hudson to Highlands awards dinner in Mount Arlington, NJ, and are very proud of all of our team members!

Now - onto 2010! Here are the dates for the 2010 Campmor H2H mountain bike series.

• May 2 - Waywayanda Spring Cleaning, Vernon, NJ
• May 23 - Tymor Park Challenge, Lagrangeville, NY
• June 27 - Lewis Morris Challenge, Morristown, NY
• July 11 - Bulldog Rump, Andover, NJ
• August 15 - Eastern Sports Promotions - Tymor, NY ??? (TBA)
• September 12 - Chain Stretcher, Peekskill, NY
• September 19 - Rumble in the Jungle, West Milford, NJ
• October 3 - The Leaf Blower, Ringwood, NJ

For more info on races and locations, check out www.h2hrace.com . Even if you don't race, come out and cheer our team on! Several of the races are very local, and we'd love to see you out there!

2nd Annual Juniors in the Jungle Kids Race

It's almost that time again! In just over 2 months, we will be hosting our second Annual Juniors in the Jungle Mountain Bike Race. This was a great event last year - we had 80 participants, and we're hoping for even more this year.

Once again, we will have 2 separate races - one for grades K-5, and one for grades 6-12. The race will take place at our favorite local state park, Jungle Habitat, on Saturday, April 24. For more info, see the links to the flyers to the left, or check on the "Races" page at www.teamtowncycle.com . Early registration is also open at www.bikereg.com - just search for "Juniors in the Jungle"!

We are also happy to again be teaming up with our friends at Team Bulldog to combine our races for the NJ State Middle and High School Championship - check out more info at their website - www.teambulldog.com.

As the race gets closer, we will post maps of the courses. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at info@teamtowncycle.com.

Rumble in the Jungle Race Reminders

It's only 2 days away - the Campmor H2H Race #7 - the Rumble in the Jungle! The trails in Jungle Habitat are all groomed, marked and ready to ride. All we need now is you! Before you come, we have three reminders for you.

First - we hope you read about our food drive. If possible, please bring a canned or other non- perishable item with you to the race so we can help re-stock our local food pantry. We know times are tough, but we also know we have a great community - let's show everyone else how big our hearts are!

Secondly, esp. for those who are pre-riding on Saturday, there is an airshow taking place next door at the Greenwood Lake Airport. The spectators will be parking in the Jungle Habitat lot on Saturday only. If you are coming to pre-ride, expect extra traffic in and out, and possible parking complications. Just leave yourself some extra time.

Lastly, on Sunday, if you are racing early, then hoping to catch the air show, you must move your car out of the JH lot. Our permit dictates that the gates be closed by 4 p.m., and your car will be locked in if you leave it in the lot. The NJ State Park supervisor went through a lot of trouble to make sure we wouldn't have to deal with air show spectator parking during our event, and we really want to respect their wishes to have those gates locked at 4 p.m. If your car gets locked in, you'll have to call the police to let you out, and no one likes doing that! We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

As a way to whet your appetite for Sunday, have a look at the video of riding at Jungle Habitat made by Art and Ellen White. It's just great - make sure your speakers are on! http://gallery.me.com/ellenandart#100187 . Thanks Art and Ellen - lovely work as always!

As always, any questions, let us know. Other than a bit of rain predicted for Sat. night, our day looks good - hope to see lots of you out there!

Rumble in the Jungle Food Drive

For all of you who are planning to attend the Campmor H2H Rumble in the Jungle race this weekend (Sept. 27) at Jungle Habitat, we are asking you to bring a canned or non-perishable food item to the race. Pasta, beans, canned vegetables, fruit, fish - all our items our local food pantries can use. We know times are tight for everyone, but if each rider bought just one food item, we'd have a couple of hundred donations to give - and a lot of thankful hearts.

We know that our community is a generous group - let's show the rest of the world as well!

Please contact us at info@teamtowncycle.com with any questions - and THANK YOU!

Announcement! Our First Cyclocross Race!

Team Town Cycle is thrilled to announce that we are sponsoring our first cyclocross race! There have been lots of people working behind the scenes to iron out all of the details - so here they are!

• When: November 8, 2009
• Where: The Hidden Valley Club, Vernon, NJ
• Who: Anyone who rides!
• Why: Why not?!!

Our race will be the 5th race in the NJ Cross Cup series. For more information about the NJ Cross Cup Series, check out http://www.njbikeracing.com. For the nitty gritty details of our particular race, check out our flyer at http://teamtowncycle.com/docs/cyclocrossflyerv1.pdf, see the link on the side bar to the left, or follow the link on the "Races" page of our website at www.teamtowncycle.com .

We're so psyched about this, and can't wait for this new gig. As always, please leave a comment or email us at info@teamtowncycle.com with any questions!

Bike Fests and Fat Tire Fun

After we get through today's rain, it looks like a good weekend, so here's what's on tap for this weekend!

On Saturday, Sept. 12, our good friends at JORBA are having their second annual JORBA Fest at the Waterloo Village Concert Field in Stanhope, NJ. Several of our club members attend the Fest last year, and had nothing but good things to say! Demo bikes, kids rides, beginner, intermediate and advanced rides, skills clinics, swag raffles, shows by our local trials legend Jeff Lenosky - all part of the adventure! Check out the details and schedule at http://www2.jorba.org/index.php?title=Fest . Bring your helmet and have some fun!

Also on Saturday, for any of our mountain bike racers, we will be pre-riding the Sept. 13 Blue Mountain Reservation race course. Meet us at 10 a.m. at in the parking lot at Blue Mountain. For directions, please check this link out - http://www.wmba.org/PDF/Blue-Mtn-map-rev3.pdf . For those who are curious, here is the race course map - http://www.wmba.org/racemap.html . Of course, you don't need to be a racer to join us - just be aware it will be more of a race-paced ride! ATTENTION!!! Due to rain, we'll postpone our ride until noon!!!!!

And Sunday, either come ride or cheer our racers on as they tackle the 6th race in the Campmor H2H series, The Chain Stretcher, at Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill, NY.

Don't forget - our own contribution to the Campmor H2H series, The Rumble in the Jungle, is coming up on September 27 at our own Jungle Habitat! Be there or be square!

Weekend rides

Well at long last, it looks like we're going to catch a break in the weather for a few days - whoohoo! No excuses for not getting out this weekend - come join us on one of our rides!

Friday - usual time and place. 6 p.m., parking lot of the Village Square Inn, Rt. 23, Newfoundland, NJ. Usual ride out Clinton Road, around Upper Greenwood Lake, and back down Clinton. Join us for a bite to eat afterwards at the Village Square Inn!

Saturday - Next weekend's Campmor H2H race is at Lewis Morris County Park in Morristown, NJ, so we thought we'd do a pre-ride at the park. Join us whether you are racing or not - it's a great park, and a nice change of terrain. We'll meet at 9 a.m. in the Sunrise Parking lot (near the lake). For more info, check out the Morris County Park's website - http://www.morrisparks.net/aspparks/lmmain.asp

Sunday - It's the third installment of Team Town Cycle's King of the Mountain series. Meet us at Town Cycle, and please be ready to leave at 9 a.m. - we wait for no one! We need some new challengers to push us along, so please come out and have some fun!

Come celebrate the good weather and the arrival of summer with a good head-clearing ride! Any questions, please let us know.

Weekend Rides - Come be a King of the Mountain!

Hopefully no one is getting moldy with all the rain we've been having - sheesh! Here's an update for our weekend rides.

Friday night - our usual Clinton Road ride. See the calendar for details.

Saturday - several of our Junior members will be participating at the Kids/Middle School/High School Race at Kittatinny State Park in Andover, New Jersey. It is the second in the series (our April race was the first), so bring your kids and come out for a good race! Brian and Team Bulldog always put on a good event, so check out the details at www.teambulldog.com and cheer our juniors on! Our Team Town Cycle ride will start from the main Kittatinny parking lot (not the one at the airfield) at 11:00 a.m. The ride will be about two hours long. For those that don't know this park, it's really great. It has a lot of smooth flowing single track and double track and is pretty fast. Really fun stuff and a good change from the rocks and root of the West Milford Area.

Sunday will be our first Team Town Cycle King of the Mountain Ride! We know, we know - maybe some of you wouldn't consider this a fun ride. We promise, it will be! The more you climb, the better you'll get at it! In between peaks, we'll gather the group back together and proceed at a group pace until the next climb.

We like to call this one the Three Peaks Ride. Please be ready to leave Town Cycle at 8 a.m. (and please be considerate of the church attendees when you park!). The ride will be about 3 hours long and cover approximately 40 miles. From the shop, we will go up Warwick Turnpike (Peak 1), down into Warwick, up Route 94, over Mount Peter (Peak 2), into Greenwood Lake, and up Sterling Forest(Peak 3). From there, we will go past IBM to Sloatsburg Road, to Margaret King, Greenwood Lake Turnpike, and back to the shop.

At the top of each climb, we'll award points ( and maybe some prizes!) for the first 3 riders in each category. At years' end, we'll award a polka dot jersey (and the right to do some big bragging!) to the top winner in each category! We're still solidifying our categories - there will be 3 or 4, for everyone from Cat 1 racers and Juniors to Clydesdales and weekend warriors. Town Cycle has graciously offered to supply us with some prizes for our King of the Mountain events, so come on out and see if you've got the right stuff to be a King of the Mountain - or Queen of the Climb!

And most important of all - remember to wish all of the mothers in your life a Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!

Weekend rides

Well, the weather isn't all that promising for the weekend, but we'll see what we can do to get out and ride - a little rain never hurt anyone, right?

Friday - barring thunder and lightening, we'll do our usual Friday night road ride on Clinton Road. Check the calendar for details.

Saturday - provided it isn't raining, or didn't rain too hard on Friday night, we will try to pre-ride the race course at Waywayanda State Park in preparation for Sunday's first Campmor H2H race of the season. Meet at the boat launch parking lot by 9 a.m. If it's too wet, we won't ride - the course encompasses many new trails, and the surfaces will be too fragile. Also, don't forget that we will also be working w/JORBA at Jungle Habitat doing more trail building. We'll meet in the parking lot at 8:45 a.m., ready to roll by 9 a.m.

Sunday - Tom Gallagher will lead an epic "Clydesdale" mountain bike ride from his home for all of our non-racing members. Be ready to ride at 10:00 a.m. Tom's address is 30 Gould Road, Newfoundland (Gould runs between Macopin and Union Valley Roads). Bring a little cash with you in case you happen to run across any "refreshment" stands along the way! If you need more info, you can call Tom at (973)255-9921.

Best of luck to all of our Team Town Cycle racers who will be riding in the first Campmor H2H race at Waywayanda on Sunday - go show 'em how it's done!

Wednesday Ride Reminders

Just a quick reminder about our Wednesday rides. Today's mountain bike ride is going to be at Waywayanda, with 2 meeting times. First group will leave at 5 p.m., doing a pre-ride of Sunday's Campmor H2H Race #1 "Spring Cleaning" course. We'll pick up a second group for a second lap at 5:45 p.m. All groups to meet at the historic furnace, where the races usually start.

Our first Ladies ride of the year is also today, leaving at 6 p.m. from the Village Square Inn parking lot on Rt. 23 in Newfoundland. We'll ride out Clinton Road and back. Any rain cancels our ride.

Hope to see you out there!

Juniors in the Jungle Rocked!

Wow, what a day! Thanks to all of you who came out and raced and cheered and supported us at our first annual Juniors in the Jungle Kids Race at Jungle Habitat on Sat. The weather was perfect, and we had almost 80 racers participate! Everyone of our racers were great sports, from our brave warriors with training wheels to our gravity friends and our soon-to-be experts.

Race results are posted on the sidebar on the left, for those who like to keep track! We'll have pictures up shortly.

There were many people who made this day possible. We'd definitely like to thank the West Milford Ambulance Squad for volunteering their time, and Ringwood State Park for allowing us to hold our event at this great site. We'd also like to thank some of our sponsors - in particular Town Cycle, Trek, and ResQtags for donating prizes. Also thanks to all of our club sponsors, including FX Solutions, ACD Security, Komodo Training, Paintland, Jim Weinbrect Construction, The Hidden Valley Club, and Precision Sprinklers. Special thanks to James Wilbur who acted as our USA Cycling official, and of course, all the members of Team Town Cycle who came out and volunteered their time and talents to make this a success!

Please don't forget the second race in the series, which is on May 9th, at Kittatinny State Park in Andover. For more information, see http://www.teambulldog.com/ . Also for those riders 10+, join us on September 27, 2009 for Race #7 in the Campmor H2H series, the Rumble in the Jungle. Go to http://www.teamtowncycle.com/ and click on the "Races" tab for more info.

We hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as we did, thanks again for coming out, and we hope we'll see you all again next year!

Weekend Rides

The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend, so we hope you'll be able to join us for a few rides!

Saturday - Meet/Leave from Town Cycle at 10:00 a.m. for a road ride. Loop will be Ridge Road to West Brook, Stone Town Road, counterclockwise around Greenwood Lake and back to the shop. Ride time should be 2-2.5 hours long. Some climbing, intermediate road/ride pace. If you are driving to the shop, please park in the church parking lot.

Sunday – Trail build at Jungle Habitat – meet 8:45 a.m, leave 9 a.m. from parking lot. Bring something to eat and drink and cycling gear - after the trail build we’ll do a mountain bike ride. The group will split into two sections- one section will be led by Dave Van Wart to preview the different courses and pre-ride the race courses for our Juniors in the Jungle race next Saturday. Parents or guardians welcome. This would also be a good introductory ride for new riders of any age. The second section will be an intermediate + ride around the park for about 2-2.5 hours. Both rides will begin from the parking area by the main gates at 12:30.

Any questions, give us a shout!

Juniors in the Jungle Race - maps and pre-rides!

For everyone who is interested in having their kids pre-ride the course for next Saturday's Juniors in the Jungle race, we will be organizing a pre-ride on Sunday, April 19. We will meet in the parking lot at 12:30 p.m. (after our trail work day - for any one who is interested!), and we'll take all who are interested on a ride of the different laps.

Also, here are the links for the maps for the different age groups - each map has a highlighted section for the age appropriate lap. Please note that the location of Mountain Circle Court as shown on the maps is incorrect.

Kindergarten through 3rd grade lap - trail highlighted in light purple.

http://teamtowncycle.com/docs/k-3lap.pdf

4th-5th grade lap - trail highlighted in green.

http://teamtowncycle.com/docs/4-5lap.pdf

Middle/High School lap - highlighted in brown.

http://teamtowncycle.com/docs/midhighlap.pdf


Hope we see you on Sunday afternoon - any question, let us know!