Movie Night! - Gripped Takes a Ride with George

This past Thursday night, Gripped once again packed the house at Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse as they hosted a showing of Hincapie Sportswear's A Ride With George.

The theater filled up early!

The evening also provided the opportunity for the first showing of the trailer for Gripped Film's new movie, Chasing Legends -- you can check it out here!

There was plenty of excitement in the air for the film and trailer, but Gripped further added to the fun atmosphere with a raffle of cycling items that included signed Eddy Merckx posters, a signed National Champion Jersey from George Hincapie and a Cannondale Capo single speed!

Photos of the evening:

Matt excites the crowd tossing out water bottles from Conte's

Jason welcoming everyone and introducing the film

Signed Eddy Merckx posters!

George's Signed National Champion Jersey

Picking the winner of the bike

Happy winner of a new Cannondale Capo!

Gripped Ladies Brave the Cold

Not even sub-freezing temperatures this morning could deter the Gripped Ladies from getting out for their first team-training ride of the 2010 season. The girls met up at Conte's in Arlington for a brisk (to say the least) 40-mile ride throughout the DC metro area.

Despite the cold, the sun was out and our spirits were high - as it's rare to be able to get one or two strong girls out to ride - and here we had 4! The route took us through Georgetown and out toward Great Falls and Potomac, where we were faced with some 'fun' hills, numb toes, some icy patches to navigate and even a few turkeys who tried to knock us off our bikes. Glad to say we all survived unscathed with smiles on our faces.

Well-earned post-ride coffee and bagels!

Gripped Shapes up for 2010

Last Thursday night Gripped Racing hosted its 2010 Team Night at Conte's Bikes & Fitness in Arlington Virginia. Already the team is eager to race and looking forward to an exciting 2010 season.

Jason welcomes the 2010 Team

With both familiar and new faces in the crowd, the 20+ member team for 2010 looks to be a strong group of riders, who also know how to have fun. Team manager Jason Berry welcomed everyone and gave a quick overview of what the team is about and season goals as well as requirements for team members. Jody Bennett and Scott McAhern, the owners of Contes were on hand as well to introduce the staff at Conte's and pledge their continued support for the team through 2010.

Jody and some of the Conte's Arlington Staff - Harris, Seth, Alex and Kat

After the meeting the team headed over to Dogfish Head Alehouse in Falls Church, for some more team bonding and always, good beer!

So be sure to start keeping an eye out for the 2010 Gripped Team on the roads and trails (and at any of the 3 local Dogfish Head Alehouses)!

Back for more fun - Iggy, Maureen, Vas and Matt

New to Gripped for 2010 - Colby, Alex, Steve and Gwen

Gripped Racing at the 2009 Capital Cross Classic

Gripped Racing had a great end to the 2009 season today at the Capital Cross Classic in Reston. Big thanks to the promoters & the Bike Lane for such a well-run race on the most challenging of local courses. The snow and mud made it spectacular. The heartiest of Gripped Racers Colby, Buki, Iggy and Jason rallied together in the Men's B Masters race. Amidst the exceptionally tough course Colby milked his primo start position and hung on for 9th. Buki's legs weren't working as he froze them solid on the warmup (wearing only shorts), not sure yet where he placed. Iggy gets props for showing up to a race he once won knowing he would probably not win and would definitely suffer - great spirit. Jason released a ton of pent up energy from having been stuck in the editing room and went from near last in staging to 11th. Colby has no idea how close he was to a winter full of heckling from him. Emmac misjudged the ride from Arlington and missed the action but didn't miss the team beers! Rourke, Shane, Laura & Maureen kept us honest on the course, huge thanks for the cheers. Great to see friends like Scott Scudamore, Ryan Bannon & the Bike Lane crew, Joel Gwadz and the DCMTB crew and Chris Scott. As always, great big thanks to Dogfish Head Alehouse for providing the recovery drink!

Gripped's Fall Mountain Bike Clinic - A Fun Day on the Trails!

Last Sunday, October 11th, Gripped Racing hosted it's first Mountain Biking Skills Clinic up at Patapsco Valley State Park just south of Baltimore, Maryland. Jason, Tony and Em were on hand to guide participants around the trails and have fun all the while!

Jason stoked as the group crosses Patapsco's swinging bridge

With sunny skies and a nice chill in the air, members of Gripped Racing took to the trails with 5 enthusiastic participants. Jason and Tony took turns demonstrating how to cross logs with ease, flawlessly corner and fly downhills.

Tony catches some air on a technical log

Then our willing 'students' got the chance to try it out for themselves! It was great to have a group so stoked to try new things and ride!

Jessica charging a steep descent

Jeff works on crossing a large log at Patapsco

Gary navigates one of Patapsco's many rock gardens

The group also learned a bit of trail maintenance, when one of our participants unfortunately taco'd his wheel. However, Jason is an expert with trail maintenance (and from time to time wheel issues) so he was quick to fix and give a lesson!

Steve blazes along through the fall sunshine

After several hours of riding, learning, and trying new challenges, we wrapped up our clinic with a barbecue and of course, some well earned Dogfish Head!

Thanks to all our participants - hope to see you out on the trails!

And be on the look-out for another clinic coming this winter!

Gripped Ladies Tri at Nations

This past Sunday Gripped Racing's Maureen Forsyth and Emily McDonald set out to tri their hardest at the 4th Annual Nation's Triathlon.

Maureen, Gripped's Kona-bound triathlete, dove into the cool waters of the Potomac River promptly at 7am with the elite group of athletes. She emerged from the Potomac with DC's Mayor Fenty on her heels, and after a quick transition, headed off toward Rock Creek Parkway and Canal Road for the 40k bike leg.

Just as Maureen was settling into her speedy rhythm on the bike, Emmac entered the water as an age-grouper around 7:54. Admittedly not the strongest swimmer in the world, Em managed to pull it together and survived the swim and once out of the water she was on her bike and riding strong.

Meanwhile - Maureen was out on the 10k run, again with Mayor Fenty at her heels. Iggy provided great support, following along the run course and snapping some great photos. She had him coming into the finishing stretch, but the mayor was worried about getting "girled" and surged ahead of Maureen at the last minute. Maureen finished strong putting in a 2:21:28 and placing 8th out of the Elite Women! Congratulations Maureen!!!


Finished with the bike, Emily headed out for her run. The 10k to go around Hains Point (which it seems every race in DC goes around...) was a familiar run, but after 40k on the bike, the legs were slow to come alive. Iggy again provided support for Em, following her as well along the run route. Right at mile 5, just back from filming the Tour of Missouri, Jason arrived to help cheer Em and congratulate Maureen on her top 10 finish!


Emmac finished strong and was happy to have completed her 2nd triathlon ever ... and this a week after completing her first 100-miler. The Gripped Ladies definitely had their game faces on at the Nation's Triathlon - and both finished strong!

And again - keep your eyes peeled for Maureen as she heads out in a few weeks to compete in the Ironman World Championships at Kona!! Wish her the best of luck!!

100-Mile Rookie

The Shenandoah 100 is considered by many to be one of the toughest 100-mile mountain bike races around. I had listened to countless tales of tragedy, triumph, perseverance, pain, misery and even perhaps some magic surrounding this race. Warnings noted, I still decided to sign up, to train and to finish. In training and preparations for the race, it is far easier to sit in the comfort of one's home or car and boldly state that you will finish the race, but it takes far more than words to survive and conquer the 100.

I was told from the start, that this race is not just physical, but mental. Again, easier noted than carried out. You can tell yourself 1,000 times that you'll be fine, but it's not until you're actually out there on the trails, slogging your bike up narrow switchbacks, peddling up seemingly endless climbs and holding on for dear life down screaming descents, that you fully understand what it means to be mentally and physically tough. And the Shenandoah 100 will teach you all of that...so if you have the time and curiosity, here's how Labor Day weekend 2009 unfolded for a Shenandoah 100 Rookie (that'd be me - aka Emmac).

Friday 4 September:
I spend the afternoon figuring out how to put tubless tires on my bike and then head out for a light spin on the Mt. Vernon trail with teammates Jason and Tim and my bike won't stop creaking. We head to Conte's in Arlington to find out my bottom bracket needs replacement. The guys at Conte's are awesome and fix it while we wait. Ride back, load up on pasta for dinner, pack the truck and sleep early. Note - next time, fix the bike up a bit earlier than the day before. TGFC (thank goodness for Conte's)

Saturday 5 September:
The alarm goes off at 4:55am and bleary-eyed I pour coffee into travel mugs, slug down some cereal and we are on the highway before dawn. As we cruise down I-66, I watch the sunrise in the side-view mirror, knowing that in less than 24-hours I will be out racing my first Shenandoah 100. Deep breaths calm my racing heart, and Jason's advice and stories of 100s past motivate me and excite me for tomorrow. Cinnamon buns in hand, we arrive at the Stokesville Campground around 8:45am and the place is already bustling with activity. We set up "Camp Gripped" in a shady spot, and sit back and relax as the rest of our teammates roll in. Between the smiles and jokes, there's still a very apparent air of the gravity of what will occur tomorrow, and everyone from the seasoned vets like Jason and Iggy (a former top 10 finisher!) to the rookies like me and Vas are anxiously and nervously anticipating what will unfold tomorrow.

Camp Gripped!

To calm nerves and stretch the legs, we set out for a quick spin up to Todd Lake. I bring Chickeeee along for amusement (and good luck of course!).

We clean up, put the feet up and try to relax. 4pm rolls around and we head down to pick up racer packets, I'm 'lucky' (?) number 122 and grin as I see a big Dogfish printed on the number plate. HUGE thanks and props to Dogfish Head Alehouse for being the beer sponsor for the Shenandoah 100 this year. Back at Camp Gripped, we sit around, filling our aid-station drop bags with Powerbars, gels, cookies, spare tubes, lights and any countless number of other things we think will help us along the way. I pack my bag for aid-5 with my favorite pink gloves and a few cookies, hoping it will bring a smile after 75 miles tomorrow.

5:30pm and the loudspeaker blasts that dinner's ready. Scott Scudamore and his kitchen crew have done an amazing job cooking pasta for 550+ people. We load our plates (the boys go for seconds...and perhaps thirds if you're White-D) and then I revert back to being a 5-year old as I do my best to loose my spaghetti playing on the campground's swings. It's neat to see so much representation from our team, as we seemingly all have our team t-shirts on and are sitting out together, filling up for a long day tomorrow.

Pre-race carb loading

Matt (White Dynamite) and Tim working on Matt's bike

Fat and happy, we play mechanic on our bikes until the light fades and we head back down to the pavilion for race director, Chris Scott to go over all the important info for tomorrow. Chris and his crew from Shenandoah Mountain Touring do an amazing job putting on this race and deserve huge thanks for all the work they do into making the Shenandoah 100 what it is.

Race Director Chris Scott - looks like he's enjoying some of the Dogfish Head 60-Minute!

10pm and I've opted not to sit around and drink beers with some of the gang, instead, I crawl into my sleeping bag, snitch some earplugs from Jason and drift off to sleep - dreaming of what sunrise will bring.

Sunday 6 September:
Game on. In the quiet pre-dawn, a hoot-owl cuts the silence, but not for long as the clock turn to 5:00am and car horns, firecrackers and gong hits erupt throughout the Stokesville Campground. Time to wake up. Time to ride. By the time I crawl out of my cocoon of warmth, Jason is already up boiling water for coffee and oatmeal. Not quite awake, I manage to get the food down before my nervous system fully awakens and realizes what I'm about to embark on.

Jason fixing breakfast race morning

Time seems to speed up as I clean up breakfast, pull myself together and go to get my bike. Minor disaster strikes as my camelbak starts leaking, but foresight proves invaluable as Jason had a spare in his truck and we perform a quick gear switch and roll down to the start as a team.

Out of the 550 starters that day, there are 12 of us in the blue and white of Gripped Racing. I'm 99% sure we had the largest team presence out there, and I could not be more proud to be a part of it. Flanked by my teammates, as 6:30am rolled around and dawn broke, we rolled down a dusty dirt road and out into the mountains for adventure.

Nervously awaiting the start of my first 100-miler

Jason rides with me the first five miles, giving me a great lead-out away from the masses and boosting my confidence for the next 95 miles. I let him go once we hit the fire-road rollers, hoping he'd have a break-out day. He rolled off with a smile, laughing and taking pictures and I knew he was happy.

Jason out on course - taking pictures and riding strong!

I survived the first climb staying steady, but started to come un-glued on the first downhill, getting pushed off the trail by another racer in a rush. Just as I was starting to question my ability to finish, I hear a friendly voice say "Hey Emily - how's it going?" I turn to see Scott, the co-owner of Conte's ride up behind me. I feebly say "okay - just don't like downhills" and then Scott tells me no worries and rides a ways with me, which boosts my confidence and calms my nerves.

Scott from Conte's at the start

Seeing what a little doubt and fear did to my riding, I knew I couldn't let any more of that creep into my day. I turned my energies toward thinking positive and being happy come what may along the trails. And then, almost as if someone sprinkled a bit of Tinker Bell's fairy dust on me, I seemed to fly up the hills (still cautious on descents) but my day unfolded into one of smiles and positivity.

A quick stop at aid 2 and then off to climb. Climbing up Hanky Mountain, I embraced the ~45 minute climb. Hanky was the first part of the race course I ever rode (and thus had a melt-down on) and I made it my mission to look forward to the climb, make it something positive on my race, and in doing so, I smiled spinning up it. I ran into teammate Iggy, who gets mad props for even entering the race after having no time to train with a busy work schedule (he's Obama's chef...) and then saw some more of the Conte's boys. It truly is motivating to see friends out on the race course. You'd be amazed how spread out 550 people get over 100 miles in the mountains, and while yes, you do catch up with other riders frequently, to catch up with a friendly face pushes you onward.

At aid 3 I was greeted by fellow teammate, Maureen, who was volunteering, and perhaps deserves the unofficial "Rockstar Volunteer" award. In no less than 5 minutes, my camelbak was filled, my aid bag unloaded and I was off again with a smile. Bridge Hollow and Braley's passed in a bit of a blur. I did manage to skid out on Braley's descent - of course right in front of teammate Paul.

Maureen, the Super-Volunteer helps Iggy out at Aid 3

And there were friendly faces aplenty as I pulled into aid 4, waving and smiling, as I knew aid 4 was staffed by the folks from Conte's. Pulling in I felt like a celebrity myself, as Stacy and Andrera started shouting "Go Emily!", Andy grabbed my bike and threw it to the mechanic for a quick chain lube, and Jody and Dana fueled me up with water and food. Got a quick high-five from Jody as she pushed me off and told me to "Get Going!" Now some people might have found that odd, but Jody is an impressive cyclist herself (she did RAAM last year) and having her cheer me on and support was just awesome.

Leaving aid 4, you start on the road toward what Shenandoah vets call the "Death Climb" It is a slow and steady false flat that turns into a steady uphill on fireroad for 20+ miles. Alone for most of this, I kept my cadence steady and followed Jason's advice to eat, eat, eat on the long road section up to the climb. Finally I took the sharp right onto the fireroad. This was it, I was entering the last big push to the finish. In and out of aid 5 with enough time to change gloves (life saver!) enjoy my cookies and thank the great volunteers. Two miles of climbing left to go and I was not backing down now. I crested Shenandoah Mountain (aka the Death Climb) and finally was able to let loose a little on the 7-mile descent of Chestnut Ridge. Once I hit the road again - I felt a swell of emotion as I knew I had done it. There was one climb left - and it was just part way up Hanky Mountain again, and Hanky was my friend.

Cruising past aid 6, I saw a rider in a Gripped jersey heading my way - it was Maureen! She rode with me for the last bit of road section, filling me in on the amazing finishes of my teammates. Jason had finished in 8:51 - his personal (and team!) best!

Jason Berry - Sub 9-hour Finisher!

I was thrilled. With one of my best friends at my side giving me some thrilling news, I found the last bit of strength and energy I needed to fly to the finish. Pushing up the last bit of Hanky and then holding on for a few more miles, I cruised into the campground, and crossed the line smiling in 11:28. Not too shabby for a girl's first crack at it.

Jody stoked when I cross the line

I was greeted with a high-five from Jody, a HUGE hug from Jason, and congrats from all my teammates and friends. I felt overwhelmed with a combination of excitement, relief and exhaustion. I had finished. And not only finished, but beaten my goal time of 12 hours by 32 minutes. I sat and relaxed in the grass, sealing some "Scud Fries" off Jason's plate as we watched the rest of our team roll in.

Pint glass earned! I am exhausted and dirty - but thrilled to be finished my first 100!

Stories started being told - it had been a wild day for everyone. Vas on a borrowed bike (thanks to Roberts - our Cannondale rep), Tim having to switch bikes mid-race due to a blown fork (again, Jody to the rescue), Poz and Jason tearing up Dowel's Draft, Connor being one of the youngest and fastest (at 11 hours!) to complete the race - Gripped had a stellar day, and we all were able to smile when the dust (of which there was plenty) settled, the wheels stopped spinning and we could finally relax.

Jason, Poz and Jeremiah Bishop

(Not-so)White(after 100 miles) Dynamite enjoying some DFH in his finisher's Pint Glass!

Tim hitting the finisher's gong

The Gripped Racing Junior Squad - Ben congrats Connor on finishing his first Shenandoah 100

Tim - Happy to be finished his 2nd Shenandoah 100

Paul finishes strong in 11:48 - a personal best!

Vas, Matt and Connor relaxing and enjoying burgers and fries post-race

Vas showing off his spiffy 'new' ride for the Shenandoah 100 - thanks again to Roberts of Cannondale for hooking Vas up for the race!

Gripped's Ryan Fawley and JB goofing around post-race

Later that evening, as the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale flowed (again - HUGE thanks to DFH and the crew that came down to help out! You guys rocked!)

The guys from Dogfish Head Alehouse

I was surprised again as Jody determined that Jason and I had, respectively, the fastest male and female times for her definition of the DC Area. I couldn't believe it! I knew Jason had been super-fast, but me!? Dumbstruck, we got to step up on the podium, where legends of the race (Jeremiah Bishop, Sue Haywood) had earlier stood, and Jason got to pop his first podium champagne! A very happy surprise ending, to what turned out to be a practically perfect day.



So, you may ask -will this rookie become a seasoned vet and try again next year?

Heck yeah.