Cycling | The Blood Singing

The Blood Singing

Jon Stillman's personal blog

Running through the obstacles at the Bethlehem Cup CX race, Fall 2013.

Race Plans for 2016

Here’s what I’m thinking about for 2016 (an asterisk after a race name indicates that I raced this previously and have a report on it elsewhere on this site): Vermont Overland Maple Adventure Ride.* 4/3, Woodstock, VT. I rode this one last year, but the weather leading up to it was just miserable. I’m going to try again…

Vermont Overland Maple Adventure Ride

Not a race, but a great early season cycling experience! This cycling event in and around Woodstock VT is organized by Peter Vollers, who also organizes the Vermont Overland Grand Prix, a Vermont cyclocross bike oriented race you can read about elsewhere on this site. Suffice it to say here that it’s a well-organized race…

Rebecca Rusch Book Excerpt

I’ve got this book on my winter inspirational reading list. Rebecca Rusch is an impressive endurance athlete, and I’m even more interested in reading her book after reading this excerpt provided on the VeloNews site. In it, she presents a nice race report describing her experience racing the 2010 Leadville trail MTB 100. The most commonly used…

Don Rice and I swap a virtual baton at our change of laps.

ADK 80K

The Adirondack 80K is actually two races: the first is an 80K running race, held on Saturday of race weekend, and the second is a mountain bike race, held on Sunday. It’s run by Brian Delaney (and a team of volunteers, I’m sure) at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic ski center just outside Lake…

Vermont Overland Grand Prix

Last winter, not too long after my first season of offroad cycling (mountain biking and cyclocross) and becoming hooked on trail racing, I came across what looked like an interesting race called the Vermont Overland Grand Prix (VOGP), to be held in Woodstock VT on Sunday, August 24th, 2014. I had raced the Vermont…

Hardcore 24

I had heard from others over the past several years what a fun race the Hardcore24 24 hour MTB race was. But I wasn’t a mountain biker, so I was satisfied to hear some great stories about it. Last year I finally broke down and started mountain biking, so when friend and HRRT teammate Don…

Wilmington – Whiteface 100 (Leadville qualifier)

The Wilmington-Whiteface 100k is put on by Life Time Fitness, which runs the Leadville 100 MTB Race. In addition to being a challenging and interesting race, it is one of several races around the country that serve as qualifying races for the Leadville 100. The course was designed by multiple Leadville 100 winner Dave Weins,…

Black Fly Challenge 2014 Race Report

The Black Fly Challenge has become an early summer tradition for many in the Northeast. It’s a point-to-point race between the towns of Inlet and Indian Lake in NY’s Central Adirondacks. The race is approximately 40 miles long, run primarily over seasonal use dirt roads. It switches directions each year, includes both MTB and CX…

Preparing for the Long Ride

Prefatory Notes: These notes were assembled for a talk I gave at Blue Sky Bicycles in Saratoga Springs, NY, on May 8, 2014. The audience consisted of people who were either interested in tackling their first “long ride,” perhaps a Century Ride of ~100 miles, and people with experience who were either seeking some new…

Tour of the Battenkill 2014 Race Report

April 5th came very early this year. This was the third time I raced the Tour of the Battenkill in Cambridge, NY. It’s always difficult to live and train in the Northeast and still be ready for the first spring races, and this winter was particularly brutal and relentless. Several of my HRRT teammates and I had…