Sunday, October 30, 2005

What I learned in College

So, erin is working on her gmats to head back to school. She has studied more in the past few months than I have in my lifetime. That is no joke, at college I spent a fortune on books, only to return them completely unopened at the end of every semester. For me, somehow I learn it as its taught or I'll never pick it up..

As Erin is going working on going back to school, I figured I would share what I really learned in college:

1-Garbage Cans make easy and fun tackling dummies late at night

2-Whenever a place says it is open 24 hours, don't trust it, after being holed up in our apartment one night (because the cops were outside waiting to arrest us) we got hungry and went to the 24 hour bagel shop, it was frigging closed!

3-Riding a toboggan down the beer covered stairs of a frat house is all fun and games, but your tailbone will remind you of it years later

4-Girls can get into any bar they want, it sucks for guys even with a fake id, but I had access to anywhere cause I fixed the pool tables/dart machines so I could always sneak in as needed

5-Cheeseburger subs are great late night snacks, but never ever ever, eat a pita from the pita planet, I still cringe just thinking about how god-awful those things were

I start training back up next week so I will have some actual thoughts about bike racing soon

~J

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Ebay

I've finally gotten off my keister and put some stuff up on ebay for sale, check it out , click the comments below to get the link, I can't figure it out for why I can't link it here.

Please, please help me out. If you are interested or have questions just email me. I need to make some money for racing next year !!!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Season Break

What a perfect time to take an end of season break. The weather has been absolutely horrid here, and I would much rather be sitting inside with my babe and lizzy (my dog) in front of the fireplace.

Seeing as how I don't race cross', I am taking my end of season break. Although I probably would race if I could figure out how to support 3 race rigs/seasons/more weekends away from home. Taking an end of season break is great, till about day 7. Living a rigorous lifestyle of training, concentrating on eating healthy (i said concentrating, not always doing it!), making plans for race weekends becomes ingrained. To take a few days off of it feels great, and eating mcdonalds and donuts is fun, but right now on day 8 with no exercise I feel like a blob. My legs are hairy, I'm staying up late, eating anything I want, and starting to crave exercise. Odd, but about right, I should be ready and geared up to go once my training season starts next week

On a side note, I have begun using David Allen's GTD or "Getting Things Done" system and installed it into my lifestyle. If you check out my stats page, you'll see a link to my to be done list and maybe get a sense of what I'm accomplishing here.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Shout outs!

New on my site is a little stat chart on my bio page, I'll try to update it as much as I possible

I just wanted to give some thanks to a few people who made 2006 a great season! (don't worry I'll keep posting entries all the time!)

My Mother and Sam-Pretty Much attend every race within driving distance (even regardless of weather)

My Grams-went to W. Virginia with me and we had a blast, and even gave a good feeds for doing it for the first time ever

Erin-My babe, my gf, without her support I don't think I would make it through the ups and downs, even gives me a massage every now and then

Geneva Bicycle Center-Thanks to Jim and Mark and Suzanne for always coming through on those last minute repairs, and hooking me up with Fisher

Frank Overton-Frank's training plan has helped me rise to the very top and he keeps me in check when I'm in doubt of myself

David O.-Trek/Fisher rep (now since departed) He believed in me and gave me a great opportunity with Gary Fisher...now I hope to continue the success under Mattt Koss the new rep

Kristen Dieffenbach-Kristen was/is my sports psychologist, helped me out of a few ruts, and gets me motivated and focused

Ej Rosipayla-Ej always helping me out, and hooking me up with stickers, thanks bro, those emails post race asking how I did make me remember its all in fun even if the race wasn't

Bob Schultz and the rest of the Dutchies-Thanks for helping me out on the road side of it all.

Anyone else who helped me, if I forgot you it wasn't intentional, but thanks!

Sunday, October 16, 2005

The season is over!-Plattekill wrap-up

What a lovely day for a bike race.  Awoke to a nice cold drizzle/downpour.  Packed up and headed to Plattekill for the race, it was around 40 degrees and 40 mph winds.  To top it off, they loaded us up on the chairlifts and took us to the top of the mountain to race, ie no access to the car and no place to stay warm! 4 laps around a 4.5 mile course

I focused on staying warm and dry so my warm-up consisted of a few quick rides around the start line and the first 300 meters of the course.  It was a small group, I was the only pro cat racer and about 10 other experts.  I hit it hard off the start and cleaned house in the technical sections, not bad considering I was riding the course, sight unseen.  I flew around and led the first lap, but was caught just after the start finish line.  I stayed hot on the riders heels throughout the second lap, any ground he was taking from me on the climbs, I was taking back in the technical sections, on one of the climbs, the 3rd rider in our group put up a nice charge up the hill and got off the front.  I was slowly losing power as my lower back was beginning to ache really bad and thus couldn't put the power down on the climbs, by the 3rd lap I was sitting in 3rd place a few minutes down on 1st but I was closing on 2nd.  I grabbed a nice bottle of coke at the start for the last 2 laps and it started to kick in during the 4th lap.  The caffeine caused me to forget about my aching back and get back to the task at hand.I charged hard and soon caught 2nd, who managed to break his chain just in front of me, but my efforts to catch 1st place weren't quite enough.  

Overall, my legs were pretty good, just the lungs and back took me out of the race for a bit. Besides, 1st place rider had home course advantage as he lived at the bottom of the mountain and that can go a long ways.  He snagged me by about 2 minutes or so.

My poor mother had to work alot harder than I did to stay warm as she rode the lift to the top (for the first time ever) and stayed the whole time to feed me, thanks ma :)

Plattekill always puts on a good race as they just got back into the xc side of it as they were doing construction on the mountain the past few years. They always hand out some good prizes, in fact the first person to email me can grab my $25 spy sunglasses gift certificate, as I just recently picked myself up a pair of tifosi. Look out for a good series to come from them next year, and maybe a 6 hour race as I spoke to the promoter about joining the nysers

This season is wrapped up and I'm looking forward to recharging the batteries and coming out with a full head of steam next year!

As its time to rest...I'm on my way to get me a twelve pack and some mcd's! Frank, you're not reading this are you?

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Video iPods!, UCI MTB Calendar

The UCI MTB calendar for 2006:

April 1-2: XC #1 - Curaçao (AHO)
May 6-7: DH #2 - Vigo (Spa)
May 6-7: Marathon #2 - Naoussia (Gre)
May 13-14: XC #2 - Spa Francorchamps (Bel)
May 20-21: XC #3 - Madrid (Esp)
May 27-28: XC #4, DH/4X #2 - Fort William (Sco)
June 3-4: DH/4X #3 - Willingen (Ger)
June 17-18: Marathon #3 - Mont-Sainte-Anne (Can)--I'll be at this one for sure!!
June 24-25: XC #5, DH/4X #4 - Mont-Sainte-Anne (Can)
July 1-2: DH/4X #5 - Balneorio Camboriu (Bra)
July 8-9: Marathon #4 - Villabassa (Ita)
July 15-16: National Championships - XC, DH, 4X
July 29-30: Marathon #5 - Bikepark (Swi)
August 13: Marathon World Championships - Oisans (Fra)
August 22-27: World Championships, XC, DH, 4X - Rotorua (NZl)
September 9-10: XC #6, DH/4X #6 - Schladming (Aut)
September 23-24: National Championships - Marathon

Now if NORBA could get their calendar out there quickly, please..

Apple has released Video iPods! Just as I was excited to buy a nano, now gotta switch gears and get me a video iPod, I don't think it is the real ticket, they were more moving to sell videos through iTunes 6. I can't wait till they sign with NBC and The Office is available, I love that show.

I have an addiction to apple, especially their iPods. I had (have but broke) a 3g 10gig, shuffle and mini, but I still want a nano and a video iPod! It's like drugs, they feed you little bits and then bam!! you gotta have everything that they give you all at once.

Back to bike racing, I hope the weather holds up thru this weekend for the final race at Plattekill. I always liked that course, I hope it is the one that starts at the bottom and climbs all the way to the top. The course at the top is ok, but usually in October wearing bike gear on the lift is way too friggin cold. And what if I forget something?

Monday, October 10, 2005

My current tunes/sheps letter

I figured after a rough weekend I would share with you guys some of the top tunes that I have been listening to lately on my iPod.

The number one song on my iPod.. "My Coco" by Stellastarr*, a few other top faves;
The Bravery's new Album, the free Album I found online by Harvey Danger, the new Coldplay album, and I'm hoping to get the new My Morning Jacket Album, "Z" this week as the single "Off the Record" is awesome.

You'll notice a new page I added to the sidebars, "Podcast" You can click over there and see what the lates episodes are about and hopefully you'll download them and check them out.


I found this on


Canadian mountain biker Chris Sheppard recently
tested positive
for recombinant erythropoietin (rEPO) after an out-of-competition test at his home in Kamloops, Canada, and was subsequently suspended by Canadian Cycling and . He was liked in the mountain-bike community but is now a pariah. Sheppard used to send a personal email to his sponsors and friends on a regular basis; a diary of sorts. The email was called the 'Shep Report'. What follows is what the outcast rider calls 'the final Shep Report.' In it, Shep, as he is known to friends, explains what led to his decision to take EPO and the consequences.

First and foremost I have to say that I cheated. Point blank. I have let down my girlfriend, family, friends, sponsors, fellow racers, and National team supporters. I have been led down a path that ends my career with question marks and lost hope especially to those who looked up to me. All I can say is I AM SORRY. There is no justification for what I have done - just a history of why I was pushed to this point. I am not trying to raise sympathy, nor have people feel sorry for me. Cycling is a tough sport and after 17 years of racing clean and pointing the finger, I gave in during hard times. I wanted what was taken away from me; that is, years of hard work culminating in a solid season that ended with an accident and my spiral into depression.
Some of you have already stopped reading and I don't blame you. It has taken months of me living every lyric from AFI's "Sing the Sorrow" for me to finally sit down and let it out. I could have drifted off into oblivion to never care again but I can't. I can't let this blow over and start a new chapter while not at least explaining myself to those that have become my family. In the end I am a cheat but I am not the guy who is saying, "I didn't" to his grave. I "did" and it has wrecked me more than my accident last year. For those listening, for those young guys I have let down, having fun has always been my claim. Doing this drug free hasn't been a battle because I loved the hard work, the miles, and the muscle pain. Ask any racer that has trained with me and they'll say I definitely over trained to the point that had to affect my results over the years. I guess that is why I have mostly kept to North American soil where the word "fun" can still be applied to our ritualistic suffering.
When I was struck by a truck last summer a few things occurred in my body that I have not been able to reverse. At first I thought things would be OK considering I didn't have to spend time in the hospital - then I raced. From leading the NORBA STXC and second in the XC series I started my descent into desperation and depression. I took almost 6 weeks off the bike while undergoing rehab for my back (which is ongoing), then started a slow build up to the season. For five months, every day felt like I had not had my morning coffee (to those who don't sip-each day felt fuzzy) while my back was always painful. I look back at my dark, days in December when I mentally started to fall apart. My therapist was working on the back pain I had while breathing as two of friends suggested over and over see a clinical psychologist. "I am a professional", I thought. "I am mentally strong and don't need help to get through it. I'll just keep on working hard and everything will be better. "
How wrong I was.
I continued body work, physio, and an hour a day rehab into the spring yet my back was still painful in the morning while driving me insane while I rode. As soon as my heart reached high aerobic zones it felt like a nail was being driven into my vertebrae. To this day I still receive a friendly reminder of that truck running the stop sign each morning and during each workout. My biggest issue would be the concussion I received. Since the accident I have not been able to raise my heart to within 10-12 beats of last years' maximum. An athlete's number one weapon is his brain. It seems that the problem that haunts me is my ability to concentrate. No matter how hard I try, I loose focus causing me to fall short of my body's maximum during training and racing. I think the worst part of this injury is that it extends past racing and into my everyday life.
Let me repeat: I have dug my own grave. These are not excuses and I will forever have a tainted reputation. I am sorry to those I have cheated.
As my poor racing and training continued I lost hope and my heart deflated. I have worked on my position, efficiency (thanks Andy, Scott and Justin in Bend) power to utilize what I have left. Clinging onto something will bring out the Devil's advocate in a hurry and that is what happened with me. Once again this does not justify cheating but my mind weighed the positives and negatives of, "It's not cheating, you're just making up for what was taken away".
Passion is a powerful drug and for a second if all of you could think of the one thing that drives your every day, that makes you smile even in the worst of times-then have it taken away. Ouch. I was blinded. I fought with these thoughts all spring pushing my girlfriend away while being drawn into self-loathing. It was at this point that I chose to do what I did. No one pushed me into it. No one told me how to do it and above all I didn't have hands on learning. I just did it. I felt cheated at the time. Can you believe that? I guess it is tough for all of you to accept and I don't blame anyone that is disappointed nor do I blame people posting on the internet or talking behind my back or thinking that I cheated to achieve past results. I can only say that I have never doped and that my results are consistent for year to year. As are my hematocrit levels, blood values, testosterone all which can be verified through past UCI test dates, out of competition testing and controls at the races.
Only after the fact you come to realize how cheating affects other people and how I didn't think about my girl, family, sponsors and supporters. I was so passionate about something I would risk my life to keep it instead of moving on. That is how the top can blind you. How a love so strong overwhelms judgment. The irony in it all was the fact that I was tested the first day I did it. My folks always preached to me that "A Sheppard should never gamble because we always loose". A bit of a weird way to be brought up but those words are so true. I kill myself every day on the mistake I made.
So now I reflect on a career that is tainted. Canada has always bred its athletes to believe that if they work hard and believe in themselves, they can lead a drug-free career. I have lived this statement for 17 years while fighting for every mile and every position. Through extremely hard training camps month after month, year after year the current crop of Canucks had a Russian mentor whom we wished to excel for. This belief in oneself was the foundation for all of us to push our limits. Now I push through one of the hardest parts of a lost career - the inability to spread my passion for cycling to others. To see the spark in a 10 year olds eyes after finishing his first race.
I have set it upon myself to open children's eyes to the world of cycling and life outside the normal boundaries. At every race I preach self-belief, and to have fun. When out with the younger National Team or American riders I repeat the same words of advice I was passed on while training with Canada's past greats. This is a mentorship I wanted to continue through my last years as a cyclist but I have jumped off a cliff with no way of stopping my fall. Now, every person I talk to - every time I open up - I feel the pain in my back twinge. It hurts me because in the end my fellow racers, who are my friends and my family, will only remember the spike I hammered into their backs.
I am sorry.
-- Shep

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Yellow Jackets swarming...

Well... The Bills game was certainly an exciting event for the crew that I went with. Without a doubt something incredibly interesting happens at hte games every year. At least the rain held off!!

Had some fun tailgaiting in the parking lot with my ol' man and his crew as I arrived with them, then went over to meet my brother and his crew to get my ticks and head into the game. All was well until the Bills got a big lead and I got a few beers in me, I decided to remove my fleece and sport my F@*k the Dolphins T-shirt. Got a few applauses from the crowd and headed to the pisser. As I leave a cop in a yellow security jacket tells me he is taking my shirt. With a few drinks in me, "Hell no, I'll just take it off" He responds that he is taking it or I will get kicked out, "That's Bullsh*t, I paid for this shirt, you are going to pay me for it...." Needless to say I removed it.

After halftime, my brothers fiance who weighs in at barely a hundred pounds passes out in the stands from too much alcohol. Begins to get a little sick and they decide to let her sleep. About 9 yellow jackets swarm her and tell my bro she has gotta go. I tell them to relax and let her sleep it will be fine. They decide she has to go, so my brother and Uncle start the process of carrying her dwon the steps and out. In the tunnel the yellow jacket says, he needs to talk to me. I tell him there is no problem and I am leaving. Within seconds the hothead killer b's have me pinned against the wall, and begin escorting me out. I was bit shocked that it took 9 guys averaging around 225 to take out a 140lb guy. The ass on my left wrist begins to push a little bit too hard and this sends me over the top!

I ask him to let go and he pushes harder, and now even a few bystanders can see I was being roughed up for no reason and tell them to let up on me. This only causes them to get more excited and po'd at me. At the gate they ask for my ticket and I hold it up but none of them take it, so I drop it on the ground. Pretty much infuriating them all at this point, my poor babe e is screaming at me and crying over the situation. I gave them the ticket, remembered their badge numbers and they closed the gates.

Poor becky my brothers fiance is in the infirmary getting some iv's and is released. Meanwhile I'm waiting for my ol man to take me home. What a friggin exciting day. The yellow jackets had some right to tell me to relax, but I had worn the shirt to the games for 3 years, and they could've relaxed a little bit as I was on my way out the gate when I told them I was leaving and everything was ok! I mean wtf, I think they were on a bit of a powertrip.

Oh well thats what a skinny cyclist gets when I drink a few beers after abstaining for a season! At least I have a good story to tell about the whole ordeal :)

Friday, October 07, 2005

TGIF

It's finally friday! I've been holding my breath all week for the new version 3.2 of rapidweaver (the program I use to design my site). If you use a mac and want to do web publishing simply and do it right check out rapidweaver.

I finally can sleep in 2 days this weekend, just a nice day of training tomorrow and then the Buffalo Bills-Miami Dolphins game on sunday... The weather has turned to crap here. Tomorrow will be a slog fest off-road down in Naples again. I've found that this time of year, unless I race I have no desire to ride in circles, I like a nice long ride that has no backtracking or repeating sections. I hate to even do road rides that return via the same road as the one I left on. I don't mind going back to the same spot to ride, I just don't want to pass the same tree/rock/root 10 times in a row!

I'm here at work with nothing to do, except answer the phone. I want to sleep under my desk George Costanza style, except there is a video camera that points right at me. The boss is on vacation, but everytime he checks in he tells me he has been watching me. Big Brother is always watching!!

If you need to get in touch with me for a short time my temporary email will be sprocketjockey at gmail.com. I am renewing my .mac service, but it is under the family pack and I have to wait until the 11th!!

As you can see I changed the format of the site to something new, leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it!

I'll leave you with a picture of my dog, Lizzy, she happens to actually be faster than me in the short run, but I am building her endurance up and she will be taking all the other biking dogs down in the future.

IMG_2076

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Leaves are changing...

The leaves on the trees are changing and that means the days are getting too short. Seems like every time I go out for a ride, I'm getting out the door late leaving me with less time to ride and I always forget my light set-up! Man is it incredible to look at the different colors of the leaves when you're temporarily blinded by the wonderful lactic acid induced haze, seems like you're tripping on acid when you look out into the hills and see the swirling colors.

I hit the dirt yesterday down in Naples, doing stid hill and OCP. I ran out of time but would've loved to climb over the top of Bristol Mt also. On the road between the two, I came across a roadie decked on his ride, who refused to recognize me. Now, I was on my mt. bike, a little bit dirty, I waved as I usually do, The guy didn't even bother to look in my direction. In his haste to look all hardcore he had to keep on pumping forward. I just had to chuckle to myself, unless your joe-pro, show some respect to other riders, I wave to grandma when I'm out for a ride. Who knows it might go a long way in producing interest in the sport in the long run.

Today, is the last of our warm front, its been near 80 and perfect every day. It would probably last forever, except I have tickets to the BIlls-Dolphins game this sunday. That is the sole reason it's getting colder, with any luck it will probably snow there. The weather when I usually go to the game is either raining, snowing, below zero or any combination of the previous. But a little bit of alcohol keeps the body warm. Plus I get to wear my F@#k the Dolphins! T-shirt, always a fan favorite. My brother is a big phins fan so I love to get him going anyway I can.

J

Monday, October 03, 2005

Not as expected

I raced yesterday at the Hudson to Highlans/Campmor Series finale. It was at Blue Mountain in Peekskill.

The course was incredible, really rocky, technical and flowing. Not alot of climbing, but never really any flat sections. 3 laps ~10 miles

A small spattering of pro/semi-pros showed up (8 to be exact). Off the gun, I missed my pedal and couldn't get my foot in...so I gave chase to the group caught em and was at the tail-end, bobbled on the rocky climb and lost some ground, but had them constantly within reach. Must've banged my rear derailleur on a rock somewhere as it jammed up in the spokes, quickly pulled it out and was on my way, only to have it happen again, this time it took a good 5 or so minutes to get it unstuck and bend the der and the hanger so it wouldn't do it again, by this time I was a ways down, even caught by most of the experts. I pushed it hard on the 2nd lap, and the 3rd lap the chain jumped over again into the spokes, I almost was resorted to walking the course but got it out after another good 5 minutes or so of fighting with it. After that I just took it easy coming in.

Tough day in all...but oh well that's racing. After not having raced on the dirt for a good month or so, I hope to come back stronger in 2 weeks at plattekill for the last race of the season!

At least I hope I will be faster than my dog, I've been doing my easy rides with her off road lately and she is keeping up no problem. Hell after the race on the short ride back to the car I couldn't even keep up with her on the little rise!!

Also, my 3rd edition of This Week in Cycling Podcast is up! Check it out in the iTunes Music Store under Podcasts>This Week in Cycling it's located in the sports section.

For those in the know how here is the xml feed
http://www.jasonhilimire.com/files/podcast.xml