Chugging along

Training is continuing to progress smoothly. Got some good riding in over the weekend. Put in a few hours over at Dryer Rd. with Casey, Jer and Dave. Always have a blast at that place and we found a few trails we hadn't even been riding before. All the night riding we had been doing we were just zooming right past them. Speaking of the night riding, what a change it was to ride during the day on the trails. It was truly different and I was amazed at how much faster you actually ride when you can see more than a circle of light 12 ft in front of you.

Sunday we headed down to the Hollow for a "flat" training ride on the dirt roads. It was a gorgeous 55 degrees or so and I was jacked to ride and put in some good time in the saddle. Naturally our flat ,easy ride turned into a few good climbs and seeing who could drop whom. I put my heart rate up a few times on the climbs but never let it get too high and backed it off when it was time.

Here is a nice chart of our "flat" ride with 4000ft or so of climbing


Notice the 4 major climbs, yah had no idea those were coming up, but not one to complain it was fun.

Gotta take some time off here wed-thurs as I'm helping to move the company office from NH to NY so tonight looks like a trainer night and hopefully I can put in a few hours tomorrow am before I have to head out.

~J

Underground Horrible Hundred

Plans are underway for an Underground Endurance race in Naples. I'll have a full page dedicated to the race and the info pretty soon. Website is now up!! Click Here
Will hit some of the best trails in the Naples Area, Stid Hill, The Tower Drop, Ontario County Park (OCP), Cutler, Nature Preserve, East Hill, Wood Hill, Hi-Tor, Italy Valley, DEC descent. It's gonna be a fun crazy event!

A Sunday event in September (FREE)

Interested Leave it in the comments or on the forum thread for mtbr

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=253199

Another Warm Spell

Man, we are just lucking out with the training weather here in the Northeast. Looking at the temp gauges my widgets are giving me says its 57!! degrees outside. Under normal circumstances I'd probably be doing everything I can to get outside. But we are doing a little night riding tonight so It's all good.

It was pretty decent over the weekend also and managed to put in a good 100k on the road up north on the lake. Mark, Suzanne, and I took the guided tour from Brandon. We headed out to Sodus Point and back, along the way our guide filled us with drunken stories from his youth about stealing golf carts, stealing boats, driving trucks on the ice and all sorts of drunken craziness.

Post ride I think he was trying to get us to relive those days as he gave us a nice pint of beer that was 10% alcohol! for our recovery drink. Needless to say it only takes on of those after a long ride for us to start jabbering away on old race and ride stories. It was a good fun ride and relaxing weekend. Looking forward to doing something like that again.

~J

EDIT: Just got a phone call that Mark's Mother's cancer is back from remission: I hope everyone can send some good energy her way.

First (but not last) Trainer Ride of Season

Tuesday night at Dryer was interesting. Ended quickly when Casey slipped off his bars and took a digger over log. Resulted in my first "walk-out" of the woods ever. Pretty good I'd say considering the number of races/rides I have done over the past 11? or so years. He got checked out in the emergency room and I believe ended up with no major problems; albeit a possibly initially separated shoulders and some good bruising.

(Casey post in the comments and let us know how you are doing)

Last night was my first trainer ride of the season; man I really dread that thing. I can now understand why cycling in the US will never catch on with the youth. A: Who wants to sit on some torture device and stare at the wall and B: It's too frigging cold outside 5 months of the year for them with the gaming console of choice so easily available.

My power numbers have dipped a little bit now that I'm back on the road bike with the power-tap. Funny as I can only really tell on the road; on the trails I'm feeling really great and pushing bigger gears than I was last year at this time on the same climbs. I chalk it up to a longer off-season compared to years past along with the lack of road riding or any intensity for that matter the last 3 months. The good news is that I can pretty much only grow from this point. I am feeling a progression of getting stronger and it's only really been 4 weeks in the prep phase. I've dropped about 3 kilos of weight; feeling alot more focused and motivated to excel in next season. Scary to think that the GVCC Giro races are something like 14-15 weeks away??


~J

Listening to ''Suzie'', by Boy Kill Boy

December....

Ah yes. December; 20 days till xmas. 0% shopping done, haven't even thought about it. Hope all you roadies are going stir crazy on your trainers. 28 degree temps are bliss, means only 1 thing; frozen ground!! Makes riding so much more fun. Hopefully hunting season ends soon so that riding areas open back up. Anyone know when the season for those woodchucks ends??

Got down to the Hollow over the weekend to hit Casey's homegrown. Good Stuff, the trails were a little bit muddy as they started to thaw out during the day. Overall they have a kick ass little riding spot right out their back door. Can't wait to get some more time on them.

After the trail session, we hit some dirt road riding around the hollow for about 1.5 hours. Just tooled around the area, jokingly throwing down and covering attacks on Shultz Hill(sp?). Ran into a few back country folks on our route. It was barely 40 degrees and a bunch of the kids were running around barefoot, wtf??

It was a bit chilly from the wind, and the coffee afterwards was a welcome retreat :)

I have an account on facebook now, anyone else use that?? If so, poke me or whatever its called to link up.

Halo 3 commercial was on MNF lastnight! Anyone catch that? Looks frigging sweet. I'm still awaiting xmas here so I can get some Gears of War action in (hint, hint mom;)

That's enough for now; going night riding tonight. Booyeah!

Listening to ''Lillian'', by (+44)

Luck is about to Change

Looks like our good weather is about to end. It's still hovering around 70 right now, but wind is picking up and the rain showers will be moving in soon. Hopefully I can get in my ride to the gym and back without getting too wet. Not sure how I'll fill in my gaps for riding this weekend. If it doesn't get too wet, I'll probably just be on the mountain bike the whole time. If its nasty guess it's time to bust out the Medieval torture device.

I did manage to get in a good night ride on Tuesday night. There was 6 of us ripping up the trails (and 3 of us were on 29ers, with another's on order!) It was good fun. I seemed to suffer quite a bit on the climbs after hitting the gym the night before. I'd forgotten how much soreness you can accumulate in your legs from the weights. It really hit me hard on the super steep stuff. Rode a bunch of new trails over at Dryer Rd, they've been working on that place a ton and its coming a long ways. Always seems like there are a ton of cars in the lot. I think it's really becoming a mecca for riders around this area.

Yesterday I managed to sneak out and get a decent road ride in. Short, but sweet. Just stretching the legs and enjoying being outside. I rode without my always-by-my-side-trusty-ipod. It was nice to be free from it's reigns and listen to the sounds of the road. Apparently, alot of other people were up to the same hijinks as the golf courses were packed!

~J

EDIT: Spoke to soon....just heard some sprinkles on the windows

Weather

Hmm... It's 55 degrees out right now at 7pm. I'm heading out the door for a night ride. Suppose to be 65 tomorrow. Looks like somebody is going to be going into work a little late...

Holiday Weekend

Hope everyone out there had a good turkey day. I know I enjoyed all the fixings and the family time for sure!
The weather has been absolutely amazing the past few days and looks to continue right on thru next weekend. That sure as hell is some good news for me as I'm trying to keep off the trainer as much as I can this season.

Friday, I busted out a great ride. I was down on Keuka lake at Erin's parents cottage for the holiday and brought my roadie down so I could ride home due to the great weather. Put in close to 4 hours as I toiled down in the hills for a bit before I hit north and headed up through Italy Valley and home. I was a little overdressed for the climbs, but I'd rather be safe than sorry at this time of the year. In the evening, Erin's family and I headed to Buffalo for a Sabres games. I'm a huge fan of the Sabres and was looking for a good time, well we certainly got that. Game went into overtime, and the Canadiens scored with 1 second to go in OT!!! It was crazy. The entire arena was stunned, you coulda heard a pin drop when the puck went in the net. Final score Habs 2, Sabres 1.

Saturdays Temps hit the low 60's so I pulled out the mountain bike and headed over to Dryer Rd to hit the trails with EJ and Jimmy. Had a great time ripping it up over there for a bit. I had to utilize the good weather clause with Erin, as she was painting the living room :)

Anyways its 55 out right now at 10am and I'm heading out the door for a nice road ride.

~J
Listening to ''Truckers Atlas'', by Modest Mouse

Preparation

It's that time of the year again for cyclists in who have wrapped up their past season. I'm through the rest and relaxation phase and on to the prep phase. I've planned out the majority of my season and my season goals. Now it's just up to me to get back into the swing of things. Funny thing is as a cyclist you are used to the 'routine' during the racing season. It swallows you whole; day-in day-out you are focusing on your training, eating and prepping for the next race. It becomes you; and then you spend 2 weeks sitting on your ass enjoying the good life and undoing everything you worked for. The hardest thing in the world is to swing yourself back into that routine.

Well, I've managed to peel myself off the couch and start putting the time back into the gym and on the bike. Managing some decent rides over at Dryer Rd and even got out on the road bike for 3 hours on Saturday. Starting to get used to being back in the 'routine' and enjoying it again. My goal this off-season is to stay off the trainer as much as possible. I'd rather freeze my toes and fingers off on the trail than have my eyes bleeding from staring at the wall as I go nowhere for an hour or so.

More later...
~J

Bikin Dirty

I ran across this video on Youtube and found it friggin hilarious. I think I've watched it 20 times by now

Speaking of the Landis scandal. Wouldn't you know someone close to him hacked the labs, or was it that they mislabeled the sample?

I'm off to the gym to kickstart the weightraining

~J

Listening to ''White Unicorn'', by Wolfmother

Bears Game Wrap-UP

Alright, we finally have some wifi here at the new place, so I guess I can get my write-up of the past weekend I spent in Chicago.

My calves and hip flexors are still sore from about 30 miles of walking! Arrived in the Windy City this past Friday afternoon, managed to not get mugged on the metra on the way into downtown and made it to our hotel. We got settled in there and took a Taxi down to "Ditka's" the restaurant. Had a beer or 2 in there at the bar while we contemplated if we should spend 50 a plate on dinner. To our surprise none other than the man himself Mike Ditka was there in person!! Didn't get a chance to shake his hand as he was walking out the door, but goddamn he is the biggest person I have ever seen. And I'm not talking heavy-wise. His shoulders are about 4x as wide as me! (Ditka vs God; Trick Question, Ditka is God!)

After we bailed on a place a little over our heads we headed over to a place called Gibsons that was rocking and asked for a bar table, well we ended up in the dining room. The waitress did one hell of a sale of the steaks, and we couldn't resist. So much for not throwing down the cash. After dinner we shot over to a little Irish bar across the street where the drinks where cheap and we could watch some sports. And to my great satisfaction they sold Fat Tire Ale!!! Yippee I was damn excited. The bartender was excited too as she kept giving them to me right up until 4 am.

Needless to say, when you get home at 4am, Saturday was a wash of day. Slept in, went and got some late lunch and thats about it.

Game-time!
Pre-Game starts early in Chicago, we were in the parking lot by 8am and there was loads of tailgaters. We didn't have tickets, so we had to find them. Considering the game was sold out, the Bears were 7-0 and my bro was wearing Dolphins gear; it wasn't an easy task. He took his swings with a laugh, but ended up putting on my Bears Jersey for cover so we could find tickets. He played the part pretty well and chatted it up with all the fans. We scored some tickets finally, but they were only singles. After our massive search and the cost people wanted for 2 tickets together we took them. I tell you what I've been to some Buffalo Bills games and people say that is the craziest stadium in the NFl. Well, it pales in comparison to Soldier Field. The Buffalo-Miami Rivalry is huge and my bro can get by wearing his dolphins gear, not in Chitown though! The lot was filled with 99% Bears fans and half of them were there just to party and not even go into the game!!

The Game-Let's not even talk about it. Go watch Sportscenter!

Photos are here!

Side Note: Basso to Discovery!!

Bear Down

Well, I'm sitting on the plane on my way to see the Chicago Bears v. Miami Dolphins game with my brother. I'm not gonna comment on the game until its over; alot riding on it. Our personal bet that includes the spread of 13 1/2 pts for the Dolphins is that the loser must wear the others teams respective jersey on Monday. That sounds like a girly bet, but the loser must also comment to each Bears/Dolphins fans that they see; aka "How bout them Bears", etc. I'll put some pics up after the weekend.

Once I return from the game it's time to start throwing down for the upcoming season. I'm back in Victor now so that means that the gym is accessible and so is Dryer Rd. A change of pace for this season as I've switched coaches; I'm now working with Peter Cummings of Plan2Peak. I'm excited to be working with him and think that I should see some new growth this season.

Looks like I better get everything out of my system this weekend, one final blowout to flush everything out!

More to come on Monday with the recap

~J
Listening to ''Long Distance Drunk'', by Modest Mouse

Hot Prospect

Gary Fisher Supercaliber



Runaway favorite at the Fisher demo yesterday. I had to come out of my off-season shell to get a preview of the 07 models. Rocked the trails over at Dryer Rd. By far the favorite was the 29" Supercaliber. I'll admit I had my doubts on how a FS 29er would feel and if it would feel sluggish and heavy, but no way. This thing was an outright bad-ass ride. I swung a leg over the new HiFi and the Fuel Ex 9.5 also. Both were great rides also.

On the homefront Erin and I are moving back to Victor around the corner from where we were last time. This time Erin bought the place. She is pretty damn excited as its here first home!! So expect to be seeing me and the lizzy girl a little more often back on the trails.

~J

Horrible Hundred

Whoa, it's Wednesday and I think I'm still not recovered from the Horrible. That might qualify as one of the hardest rides I've ever done. By the time we reached the house I was cashed in. Nothing left. Hell, I slept till 1 pm the next day. Walking into the shop monday evening was like walking into a zombie safe house. Everyone was walking around aimlessly.

10 Brave soldiers stepped into Battle 10/15 2006. Only 4 would return.



From Left to Right:
Val Pal, Hanggi, Mark, Suzanne, Bruce, Radar, Jer-Bear
Front Row: Myself, Furber, Casey

Note that the sun hasn't even risen yet.

Our task was to be an epic one. 100 miles of dirt road/seasonal road climbing and descending. Cross bikes might have made sense, but the steepness of the climbs and the loose rocky descents kept everyone on the fat tires.



Click for the full graph. Note: my odometer stopped at mile 80. Yah, that was fun the last 20 miles to look down and not going anywhere.



We stopped around mile 62 (Horrible Hundred K) for a big refuel at Casey's place. It was damn good and was needed for sure. Computer read 14 hours, but it was around 10 of actual riding. Hanggi's heart rate monitor read 8200 cals burned. I'm guessing based on extrapolating power data from the road I was somewhere around 6500-7000. All I know is that at mile 75 or so as I was stuggling up a nasty climb we all decided we would stop at 100 and not the 120 as planned. We, Yes Us, backed down from an adventure. We still had alot left, and none of us were sure if we would even make it. Somewhere around mile 80, I cashed in my chips. Pulled the "wanderer" climbing up one of the final climbs. I was done, the last 20 miles were absolutely brutal. My body had nothing left to give and just pedaling on the flats took full concentration and max effort. Hell, at the end of the road from the house (3/4 mile away) we had to stop and refuel because nobody could ride any farther.

Now that finishes the season with a !!!! Time to get fat, and drink beer.

~J

BTW, Anyone see the amazing comeback by Da Bears Monday?!?!

Listening to '' If The World Ends'', by Guillemots

Horrible Hundred still on.....!!

Screw the wet weather, we're still gonna take the hills of the southern tier on. Plans are still to start at 5am, but this time from the hollow. Looks like its gonna be just a small hardcore group of us. Temps are calling for high of 50. Swapped things up to pretty much all dirt roads, but extended by about 20 miles.

Am I ready, we'll see. I rode monday at Stid hill and Bristol, tech skils are still there, base fitness is around. But throwing a 120 mile ride in during "off-season" well, we will have to see. It's gonna take alot of advil and caffeine.

My thumbs are getting in shape for the upcoming event. errr.. That would be next months release of Call of Duty 3 for the xbox 360


Little Late but: Eatough goes down in a blaze of glory

Basso Back?

Floyd makes his case




~J
Listening to ''White & Nerdy'', by "Weird Al" Yankovic

Good Weekend

Had a nice weekend here in Upstate, NY for October. The Fall Foilage is changing colors and close to full effect and it was nice to take it in with a few sunshine days. Friday night was usual dinner with E at Parkers. Our favorite hangout, good food and huge beer selection. Saturday, I put in a few hours at the GBC helping them out while everyone else is out west, enjoying the mountains. Saturday night went to see the film "The Departed" It was a pretty damn good flick.

Sunday Erin and I headed down to OCP to put the tires to the trail, spent a few hours cruising around the upper area of the park. E is still getting used to her mountain bike and is coming along really awesome. At first she was pretty scared of descending but once she did it a few times she was a natural. I was quite suprised that the trail were as dry as they were. I think I'm going to head down there tonight and put some ride time in and try to get some saddle time in here this week before the Horrible Hundred.










~J

OctoBEAR

Yup, 37-6; Total domination of Seattle. My Bears are just rolling. NHL starts up wednesday, Let's go Sabres! (FWIW the new uni's suck!)

Oh, you want to read about me and bike stuff; Well, I'm planning out the 2007 season and its more of the same. 24 hour races, marathons, NYSERS. I'm refocusing and re-motivating myself for next season. On paper, this year looked good. But personally and physically it was the worst of the past few. I'm over it now, getting energized and ready to rock for 2007.

I've got the Horrible Hundred coming up in a few weeks, but I haven't ridden in a bit. Gonna try to scoot out for a few hours tonight, but my right knees is painful right now. All came from the Highlander event last month. Pedaling even lightly I can feel it ready to pop. Hell just being still in my chair I can feel it's probably not right

Ah well time to get back to work....



Listening to ''it's not your fault'', by New Found Glory

~J

Microsoft Sucks

That about sums up my day. I work on a pc all day, and those f@ckers released an update today, and it killed my outlook. Granted, I was using the 2007 Beta. However, it stopped displaying the actual messages. I erased the 2007 Beta, redownloaded (took an hour), re-installed. Bad Install, re-installed a few more times, bad-installs. Finally it installed, and well, crashes whenever it opens. Needless to say, it doesnt' work and I have no backup of any of my emails so 10 months of work data has just been erased.

I'm going to swallow 35 painkiller pills at once.

DA Bears

Showdown at Soldier Field. November 5th. Airline and Hotel tix have been purchased.

Who: Chicago Bears v. Miami Dolphins
Why: Grudge match for all-time bragging rights; My fav team Da Bears taking on my bro's team the Phag boy Phins.

Just the 2 of us are going to tackle the City of Chicago for a few nights and then do some tailgaiting in the lot for this one.

Hopefully, I won't get kicked outta this one ;) Hotel is half a mile away. I'm wearing roller skates so it'll be easier to drag me home after the Victory Celebration!!

Gotta Love the Offseason!!




Listening to ''Likufanele'', by Zero 7
~J
09/22* Autumnal Equinox

Quick Update/Horrible Hundred

Not much happening since the highlander ride. Looks like I'm cutting my losses now and going to end the season. No more events for me besides the Horrible Hundred.

The Horrible Hundred Off-road ride date is set in stone. October 15th (sunday). Start Time: 5:00am Naples, NY at Bob and Ruths.
50+ miles of singletrack, killer climbs, gnar dirt roads and pain
You will need your lights. Lights will be dropped off and recharged for the evening part of the ride. Route will be 100 miles give or take, expected climbing is around 15,000-18,000ft. Expected finish will be late in the Night 10-11pm. We will be making a few stops and waiting for everyone (unless we decide to split into a/b groups). Bring cash, lights, extra food. sprocketjockey at mac.com for more info

My training for the horrible is like this: Play Xbox 360, ride with the girlfriend, Play xbox 360.
Yah, we'll see if I can even finish it.

As far as xbox 360 I'm about so/so online at NHL 07 (11-6). If you're interested in a game or want to add me as a friend my gamertag is livtoridedirtus. Pretty much all my wins are against my brother (Shut him out in last 4/5 games!!!)



Listening to ''Shoot The Runner'', by Kasabian
~J

Highlander

Click image for full size pic

Ahh the Highlander. So 100 miles, 11,000 ft of climbing just wasn't enough for us. So we decided to add an extra 60 miles and 5,000ft or so of climbing.

Friday Night was the Alpe D'Gannet TT. It was pure pain. I haven't done any real climbing or race like efforts in a few weeks. But I'll take my 2nd place (age group) and 4th place overall finish. My time was 21:48. For the 3rd year in a row climber Chayne Hoag won again with a time of 19:53 this year. I suffered bad on the climb, put too much effort into the run-in before hand and just had a hard time getting a rythmn after the 18% section. It's tough to tell if its an improvement over last year (1 minute or so) but I also flatted last year and got a wheel change at the top of the climb.

Highlander Ride: Casey, Jeremy, Hanggi, Mark and I rolled out of the Hollow at 6:30 am. I pretty much got no sleep as I was jacked up from the TT the night before and then we were up super early for the ride. Hanggi pulled off in Naples to head to work and we rolled on to catch up with Dave. We headed out tackled the climbs and had some fun. With our late start and screwing around we ended up being the last riders pretty much on the road. About 105-110 miles or so in Casey and I dropped the hammer to get to the next sag station as it was getting ready to close. 10 miles of race effort after 110 miles of riding was a tall order, but we just made it in time to pass the word on that there were a few riders behind. Shortly after that Jeremy, decided to roll in with Dave and Mark, Casey and I had another 40 miles to ride. We missed the post ride feeding frenzy at Bristol, so we decided just to grab some caffeine and food and 'take er easy home'. Something about us implying we are going to relax, gets us all fired up and we ended up pretty much flying at full-tilt up every climb on the way home. After we climbed the Prattsburgh Pass and descended into town it was dark with some miles still to ride. Luckily our escorts (Wendy and Val)arrived and gave us a boost home.

Needless to say I was pretty drained afterwards. I suppose if I woulda got pulled over on the way home I probably woulda failed a DWI test.
~J

There are photos of the Highlander Here

I've also added a Photo Gallery Page; Enjoy!

Tragedy

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Dechau Family. Wednesday evening Jon Dechau was tragically killed while out on a training ride. (More info available here) I personally knew Jon, if only from cycling and I am saddened by the loss of a great cyclist.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bucky Phillips escape to Pennsyltuckey ride

Had a killer ride from the Hollow yesterday. Dave, Jeremy, Casey and I hit the road to PA in search of the nations top fugitive; "Bucky Phillips".
115 miles or so later we found out that the Super Troopers already caught em'. It wasn't in vain though as we got to see some great scenery, back-country inbreeding, and whole loads of other crazy mis-adventures.

So here are the pics from the ride!

Midnight Hollow

Still groggy from last nights late night dirt road epic. 5 of us (Mark, Suzanne, Hanggi, Casey and I) pulled out from the hollow at 11pm. Cruised around the country side for a while. Hitting a few of the dirt roads that will be a part of the Horrible Hundred coming up next month. It was a perfect night, cool and moonlit for the most part. It was a bit foggy in the valleys, but cresting the hilltops, killing the lights we all enjoyed a midsummer nights view. Valleys were settled in Fog, patchwork clouds racing across the moon, quite enjoyable. We did manage to lose Casey and Hanggi for a bit, the only 2 who had any idea of where they were. We descended down into a valley only, to find they weren't there. subsequently climbed the massive hill back out to find them looking for us, only to re-descend the same hill over again. Ah well, it was just as much fun the 2nd time as it was the first. At one point just prior to getting separated, we were cruising along a back road, headlights off, surrounded by fog and the your view was only 20 yards ahead. It made it look as if you were approaching the end of the world.

I ended up getting home at 4 am. Needless to say, I'm tired. Have a huge pot of coffee running thru the veins to keep the eyes open. Looks like the rain might hold off. If it does, gonna take lizzy up to dryer rd. She will love that.....

~J

Labor Day Weekend

I'm away for the weekend down on Keuka Lake at Erin's parents Cottage. So this update might be a little delayed till I hit net access

Weather right now is pretty crappy, but we are hoping that it will clear up after today and we can get a decent ride in around the bluff and area. Plans are just to relax, unwind and chill for the weekend. Maybe some wine tasting, some good home made healthy food. Play with lizzy girl and what not.

Had a good, but little muddy time this past wednesday down in Naples. Mark, Suzanne, Matt and I put in a solid 50 off-road in the hills. It's getting pretty crazy anymore when we decide on a ride, nothing really is ever under 35 miles. Who'd have thought that when we talk about doing the mountaineer, which is 35 miles and 7,000ft of climbing we consider it a pretty 'easy' ride. Considering that it had rained here quite a bit, the trails were in moderately good shape. Roots and rocks were slick as hell, and Stid Vicious kicked mine and Matt's asses.

Gonna spend this next 2 weeks hammering in the hills, getting ready for the Highlander TT.

Also took a nice easy spin this past tuesday on the road bike. I've removed my power-tap for the rest of the season and just riding by feel. It's nice to not be concerned about 'the numbers' and just enjoy the scenery and relax.


Monday's Road Ride



Here are some quick pics from Hot August Nights







Note how crazy dry the course was and how covered in dust my arms and legs are!





Listening to ''Destiny'', by Zero 7
~J

What Have I been Up To?

Relaxing, thats what I have been doing. I decided to take a nice week off the bike after the last 24 hour race. It pretty much wraps up my season, so why not kick back and do some other stuff for a bit.

I bought myself an xbox 360, been playing that a little bit, but not all consuming ;). Need something to do when riding time decreases, as I don't watch tv except for football.

Rode some easy few miles with my babe Erin. One easily takes for granted that riding a bike/racing isn't really that easy. Plus it's nice to take a step back and just enjoy. She is doing really good and will only do better in the future.

24 Hours, Hot August Nights

Where to begin? Still recovering from the effort and a bit tired. We (Mark, Suzanne, Casey, my mother and I) arrived at the venue late Friday evening. Set-up camp and went out for a night ride. Course was tougher than last time. A bit more climbing and quite a bit of it was steep middle-ring grinders. Hit the hay afterwards only to be awoken shortly after by a bunch of drunk campers. Didn't sleep a bit at all and that really sucked. Arose with a massive headache and no appetite. Not good.

Race started well, perhaps a little too well. I had a killer first lap and was the first solo rider across the line. In fact I think I was somewhere in the top 10 overall when I crossed the line. I hammered out a few more laps and then started to settle into a decent pace. I led the race for the first couple hours and then was swapping places with a few other riders. Depending on who rested and when was the deciding factor. Pretty much was hanging in the top 3 the whole time.

I took my first break at nightfall (after 7 laps) to snag my light, get some food and head out. Turned over 3 night laps and came in for a short rest. I was starting to cramp up a little bit, and my back was aching from the constant pounding of the course. I grabbed some food and Casey's ma Wendy worked on my back, while Jeremy worked on my bike. I had just come in from my "wanderer" lap as it came to be called (2 hours). I was having some issues in which my chain jammed in the spokes twice, plus was just trashed and feeling the effects of my back, no sleep from the night before and a tough course. I scooted out for another lap and turned a good time for a night lap 1:10. Legs were feeling good and I thought all was well. I pulled my next lap and the back pain started to creep back, it was 3 am by the time I finished the lap.

I'd had enough. Pulled the plug, wiped out, finished, exhausted. I was still hanging in the top 3 at the point, but back pain and sleep deprivation had gotten to me at this point. I took a nap and was awoken at 6 to head out again. I was still feeling exhausted and decided not to go. Slept up a little bit, awoke at 7 and rolled over to go, and the stomach was in complete agony.

I'm happy with the effort, but not the outcome. Being only my 2nd 24 hour solo effort there are alot of variables. So it will take a few more to get things working properly. All in all I turned in 12 laps, winner was 20. 15 hours of racing and still finishing in a respectable 11th place

HUGE Congrats to Mark and Suzanne who raced it a s a duo and finished 2nd. Suzanne had some chammy problems and Mark ended up turning 13!! laps.


Ready to Roll at the Start Line


Coming out of the woods in the top 15




Off for another Lap



Transition Area



Mark Hartman gives it some gas at the start



Woohoo!! Podium for GBC



Kicking some Canadian ass!

Blame Canada!


Are you sure you guys were riding the whole course?
~J

Farmall #3

Well, not much to say here. I pulled the plug about halfway thru the second lap. The legs were crushed from Saturday's effort and I really didn't need a race in my legs before the 24hr HAN. I'm feeling strong going into this race and I want to be as well rested up as possible. No more racing the day before a 24 hour race ;), let alone a few days out.

The National Ultra-Endurance Series has a new website here. Looks like a kick ass series with 4 events right within driving distance and some of the 2007 Granny Gear dates are up.

Not much left in the season after this weekend. Might hit a few Plattekill races, but other than that hitting the double at the Highlander and the top secret 'Horrible Hundred'...

~J

Suicide Six-NYSERS Finale

Wrapped up a killer weekend at the Suicide Six. What a great day it was to be racing. Temps were beautiful, trail conditions were perfect, racers were ready. Harriet Hollister Spencer Park was where the course was. I haven't raced there since it was a normal xc race a few years back. But I have logged countless hours on the course and I am very familiar with it. If you've ridden the course you know how technical and difficult it is. I would say it is on par with Mt. Snow or Snowshoe for the technical aspects. Except there are no open ski hill climbs. This place is pure singletrack.

Race Summary: They were offering cash for the fastest solo and team rider lap. For the solo's this was for sure going to be our first lap. I settled into 2nd right off the start as it's my preferred position. Casey attacked at the top of the hill and I followed his wheel into the singletrack and down the infamous "rattler" descent. On the climb out I attacked and drew my compatriot (Matt D.) from last weekend's race. He stuck on my wheel throughout the next few sections. As we came out of the singletrack across the road, Casey pulled us back in with a great bit of riding and counter-attacked on the climb as soon as he caught us. I followed his wheel into the singletrack and not willing to chase my own teammate down I gave him some cushion as I was still being tagged by the solo rider behind me. Matt behind me never made a move and graciously allowed me to take the solo lap across the line a few seconds behind Casey. Halfway through the 2nd lap in the singletrack I dropped Matt who chased for a few laps, then withdrew. Bummer as I was really looking forward to the challenge. The majority of the race after that was just spent conserving energy on the climbs and hammering it on the singletrack. Lap 7 got a a little exciting when I took a drink right before the "rattler" and ended up crashing pretty damn hard before the entrance. At full speed pulled off a header, lost all the crap in my saddle bag and bent the hell outta my big ring. Managed to destroy my kneecap on the remount as the chain dropped. I had managed to finish my 7th lap with plenty of time to finish my 8th and squeeze in under 6 hours for a 9th. But the 8th time down and out of the "rattler" I couldn't feel my arms anymore and decided I would slow her up just a bit and skip the extra lap.

I was super psyched to take the win and also to take the NYSERS Overall Solo Award!

Other GBC Notables:
Rob Allen: 2nd; 2nd NYSERS 19-29 Solo
Casey Conte/ Mike Wonderley: 1st Team with an incredible 10 laps!! and Casey took home the fastest overall lap.


Coming up is the Farmall finale!!

~J

Shootout at Farmall #2

Exciting night of racing last night at Farmall #2. Weather was much cooler than last week and it brought out a few more racers. After last weeks throwdown with my teammate Casey; I figured he would be hot and ready to go again. Legs were a guessing game as to how they would function after Highland.

I took a few second lead through the first lap, I was suffering like hell though and felt some pretty bad heartburn. Never experienced that on the bike before. I bobbled on a steep section in the woods, and Casey snuck by on the 2nd lap. I had to cool my jets as the heartburn was zapping me. I fell into 3rd and recovered for a few minutes. I recharged the ol batteries and the chase was back on. Quickly pulled 2nd place back and the chase was on to reel Casey in. He had about a minute lead on me which is super tough to close on a course like Farmall. I just put my head down, and gave chase after we both were running through lap traffic I finally caught him halfway through the 5th lap as he got stuck behind some riders. Passed him asap and worked on putting a gap between us. I ran it up but he is a fighter and closed it down to within a few seconds but their wasn't enough course for him.

It's been a blast and Geneva Bikes has finished 1-2 the last 2 weeks.

I got stung by a bee in the left quad on the 6th lap, luckily adrenaline kept it away till post-race.

Next up is the Suicide Six, looking forward to that.

~J

Highland Forest Classic

Wrapped up a decent weekend of racing at the Highland Forest Classic. Small showing for the semi-pro class but that didn't mean the racing was small. Unfortunately as nice as it has been around here it was flashbacks to the Highland Hex as the course was in really good shape in some spots and absolutely atrocious in others. As a result drivetrains everywhere were crapping the bed. We were on tap for 4 laps (28 miles); Haven't really raced a true xc race since Mt. Snow so I was in for it for sure. Was able to grab the holeshot; but as I was a little late to the venue I hadn't previewed the start, so naturally made a wrong turn, regrouped and dumped heading right into the first section of singletrack. Hopped back on the train and we rode around for a lap together; dropped 1 rider on lap 2. Rode around lap 2 and most of 3 with Matt D. We weren't really pushing it too awfully hard by any means. In fact I thought we were easily going to be caught by a few of the experts. Anyways as I was chasing Matt down I ended up getting a huge chunk of mud in the ol eye. Had to stop and pull the contact and clean it all out as I couldn't see a damn thing. That pretty much took the wind out of my sails and I gave a half-assed chase for the last lap. Ended up 2nd out of our huge group of 3.


Shout out to the rest of the Geneva Bicycle Center Team (GBC): We kicked some serious butt!
1st Female Expert: Suzanne Hartman
2nd 19-29 Expert: Casey Conte
4th 30-39 Expert: Mark Hartman

Rob where'd you finish?? email me...

Fed Up

Well, No Suprise

Here

, Steroid Floyd's B sample tested positive.

My POV I'm done with road cycling. Fed up; every incredible ride I've seen since I began cycling (96') is now under question. I have no faith that anyone's victories are clean. As far as I'm concerned Professional Road Cycling can go the way of the

dodo bird

.

I have some faith vested in US Pro mountain bikers, but not the Eurodogs. There is no other reason to explain why we barely make the podium in the World Cup's other than no one is on drugs.

NMBS visits Brian Head this weekend

, so we will so how things go there. I can remember when I was in Sandpoint and the new broke about Filipe Merhaige...

At least mountain bikers smoke their dope. F@ck road racing!

Farmall #1

Hot, Hot, Hot. That was what was on tap for yesterday's Farmall #1. Numbers for the race were a little low considering the brutal heat. But we lucked out, temperatures cooled a little bit halfway through the race and all the climbs were mostly in the shade.

Having not raced in about a month, I needed the hard effort to refresh the legs for the race upcoming Highland Hex. Boy, was the pain there. I don't think I'll let myself forget how to suffer like that again. Combined with the brutal heat, I almost bailed a few laps in. I had to stay out there and finish the race considering what happened in the last series (3 dnf's).

It ended up being a ball busting race with Casey riding my ass the whole time. He dangled just behind me for the first few laps, then closed the gap on #4. That light a fire under my ass and I had to ask the engine room for some more power. Luckily there was a little in there and was able to throw down and actually ran my fastest lap to get away from him. I managed to get my gap back up but only for him to remount another charge on the last lap. Luckily I held him off and crossed the line for the V.

Hopefully next week the heat dies down a little bit and some of the missing riders show up.

~J

Time to kickstart the bus

August is gonna be a barn-burner for sure. Racing is back in full swing after a light month of July. The

Farmall Series

starts up again, Highland Forest,

Suicide Six

and then another solo 24 hour race up in CA;

Hot August nights

. A perfect set of tune-ups leading to Hot August nights. Right now there are over 40 solo men, and it'll be nice to bust out a good ride without having raced the day before.

Been packing in some long rides this past week to get myself ready. Wednesday I hit the Naples area for a nice 6 hours off-road including some time at night. Was sweltering hot, but trails were in good shape and the shitload of climbing that is down there makes most climbs at any race around here seem pretty short. It was a little freaky at night when I was out there in the woods all alone, didn't help any that I was listening to a Widespread Panic show and it was a little Doors esque freaky solo session as I was cruising along. That always helps the mind get right at ease! I was pretty spent after that ride.

I recovered in time to head out for a nice 6 hours on the road bike this Sunday. Left G-town with a decent group of riders heading towards Watkins where Casey and I peeled off to head West across the ridgelines where a boat load of climbing awaited us. Was a good day of working on the tan and getting a nice bit of a workout in there too. We had a good time; and the 2 of us are usually treated to some rare occurances such as the kid faking the fall out of a wheelchair that cracked us up. But nothing has ever been better than coming across the Dungeons n' Dragons group at Cutler. It was a little bit surreal with the costumes and language, but we still get kicks out of bringing it up.

My

bro EJ

hooked up me up with some new sweet ass stickers for my ride. Come check out the paragon at any of the above races if you wanna see em. (I'm too damn lazy to get any pics up right now)

Landis Fails Drug Test!!

"Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site."

In related news... teamates realized something was wrong with Landis when he started approaching females near the finish line asking if they wanted a "pizza and a f#@k." When they answered in the negative he proceded to ask "What?... do you not like pizza?"

Well? Time will only tell what the truth is. IT was a pretty amazing turnaround.

Just say NO
~J

Dryer

Headed over to Dryer yesterday for an easy day of speedwork on the trails. Been a few weeks since I've been there and had a good time. Brought Lizzy along with me so she could have a bit of fun too. I was pretty tired after tuesdays ride as I had pretty much crushed it for 3 good hours. But somehow the more intensity I start to add the better the legs feel each day. Yesterday was no exception and I was rockin the trails.
I had perfect flow workin the whole ride, it was like the lines were painted for me as I was just smooth. I love those days when everything comes together perfectly.
Lizzy was even having a great time, it was a little bit warm for her so I let her take a few baths in the giant mud puddle. She loved it. I tried to take her over to the creek to wash up and cool down with some fresh water, but I saw a buck running through the woods. I had to make a quick stop and grab her or I woulda been waiting a while for her to chase him down and then come back. She had already done her fair share of chasing as she came super close to catching a squirrel. What she would do with it though I'm not sure of.
Bummer that I missed out on this morning ride, everyone was heading down to Casey's place for an early morning singletrack session followed by a breakfast, then heading out to hit some g.n.a.r. trails (home grown acronym: Greater Naples Area Riding). I'm thinking of rocking the lights tonight and heading to Spencer to pull of a 6 hour epic. I haven't been to Spencer in a bit and it will be great to train on the course as the final

NYSERS

race is there in a few weeks. I think I will hold out on an epic in Naples till this weekend.
~J

Discovery is making some moves

Ullrich admits Discovery interest

Jan Ullrich is reportedly in talks with Discovery Channel after it emerged that the German will have one last pop at Tour de France glory.

Eurosport

7/25/06 11:12 AM Cycling

Armstrong: We'd have Floyd back

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong insisted he would be happy to welcome Floyd Landis back into the Discovery Channel team.

Eurosport

7/25/06 2:48 AM Cycling

Leipheimer leaving Gerolsteiner for Discovery

Levi Leipheimer is leaving Gerolsteiner at the end of the season, and will sign for Discovery Channel, which is expected to confirm his signing later today.

Long Stretch

This has been my longest stretch of not racing in years. Its been what 2 weeks since 6 HOP and I'm getting the jitters! I need me a dose of the good stuff. Gonna be a bit before I can taste it too as this weekend is off again. Hopefully by then I won't have me the shakes.

Over the weekend Erin picked up a mountain bike so she could start doing some riding with me and lizzy girl. Naturally as it's her first time on clipless pedals; she falls hard and takes a nice chunk of skin off her arm. I give her credit though, she jumped back on the next day and had no problems.

I beat my brother again today in another round of golf. No longer a fluke I am just plain kickin his ass nowadays. Hell, I even had a few pars in there!

Congrats to Floyd!

Good Job Floyd!!!

(photo: AFP)

Go Floyd! Go Floyd! Go Floyd!

What a stage! What a day! What a way to never give up! Today's stage of the tour was absolutely incredible. I haven't seen anything better ever. After losing everything yesterday Floyd pulls one over on all the contenders and is set up perfectly for the time trial Saturday!
Hurrah for Floyd! I'm rooting for him

CyclingNews Report

Another page in the Naples Trail Handbook

The amount of trails and area of riding in Naples keeps getting better. Yesterday; Casey, Mark, Suzanne and I hit mostly all new stuff down in the Naples area. We were out scouting and working on figuring out how to link it all up for the Horrible Hundred (nickname for the 100 mile epic in Naples). I need to start carrying my camera with me on my rides and get some good pics up here for everyone

Conditions were still a little sloppy as the rain that poured down last wednesday left quite a few mudspots but other than a few tough sections, everything was ok. Temperatures yesterday were freaking brutal; tough to start a ride at 11; even tougher to do it with a hangover from my buddies 30th birthday party. As Suzanne said after we crossed a field "Remember in Poltergeist when the guys face melted? Thats what I feel like". It was hot, thats for sure.

As usual the DEC descent caused its normal rate of carnage. I got a nice chunk of mud right in me eye at the top and had to spend a few minutes cleaning my contact off with good ol' spit. After I saddled up to continue I came across Mark fixing a flat and Casey putting at new der hanger on. DEC 3 Riders 1. It's very rare that you make it down the descent without it causing a problem for someone in the group. The descent is gnar and eats bike parts for lunch.

The highlight of the day was dipping the feet in Naples Creek and washing up a little bit at the bottom of the DEC. Always a great summer time fave. The other highlight was taking a break at the Hanglider jump-off and chillin out for a few minutes checking out Italy Valley.

I did manage to see a few hangliders ready to jump ship off of the Stid Hill jump-off on my way home. Those guys are insane!!

~J

Golf

Played some golf on this past Tuesday as my brother was in town. It was a grudge match for sure. For several years now, he has whupped me with no problems. I think that I have maybe defeated him once in all our matches. Well this match was close to more of the same as he was beating me down with the clubs. I was 4 down after 6 holes! But then his "Mickleson Meltdown" started to come around. He was hitting the ball left, right, everywhere but where he should. After 9 holes I was only 1 down, giving me a little bit of confidence. On the back 9 he continued to crumble as we diced back and forth. I brought the match over to my side and was 2 up with 2 holes to go. He won 17 and I headed to 18 with a 1 hole lead. He scared me with a a great drive, but I matched it, I got in the green within 6ft and putting for birdie as he was chipping on for par. Naturally I missed the birdie putt cause I suck, but still managed to make par and my victory was complete.

It was amazing, he came tumbling down like a house of cards. Cracked under the pressure! Can't wait for the next match to defend the title, hahaha!!

6 Hours of Power

Finally broke the 3rd place curse at Ellicottville. The past few adventures I finished 3rd and thought that I was destined for another one yesterday. In a weird prize arrangement, I was given 1st place in my age category. Technically I was 2nd, but 1st had won the overall so is ineligible for age base prizes. I finished either 4th or 5th overall out of 75 or so competitors. I'm pleased about that as I thought I was having a really bad day (more on that in a bit). Finished with 7 laps at 6:41, 1st overall was 7 laps at 6:05?. With the placing I pretty much wrapped up the NYSERS race series title as its only 3 races long and best 2 count. Looking forward though to the Suicide Six at Spencer Park and hopefully I can keep the streak going. I haven't raced there since it was an xc race and looking forward to going back.

6 HOP breakdown.
After a shitty Lemans style run that seemingly goes on forever, I was dogging at big time I slammed it up the climb to end up 3rd wheel into the singletrack. Had a tough time getting a decent rhythm in the woods. Coming down the 1st descent and out onto the super fast ski slope descent, I forgot it was a hard 90 immediately into the woods; carried way too much speed and to the photographers delight ended up tangled in some bushes and trying to get back onto the course. Came through the line around 5th place, about a minute down. 2nd lap was more or less the same as the first; lost a little more time, by the finish of the 3rd lap my lap time had dropped off by a few minutes and I was dying hard. Thought I was going to pull a "Levi" as it was feeling like my worst day ever. I finished the 3rd lap and wanted to just lay down and die; my stomach was a little bloated from drinking a bit too much gatorade in the heat and every inch of my body was aching, I grabbed some advil and a little caffeine and by the end of the 4th lap was feeling much better and saw that I was on par for 7 laps. I continued to push hard and my body started to come around and with the switch to water so did my stomach. Lap 6 I was chasing a few riders around the course and almost killed myself on one of the infamous waterbars. I had forgotten that the last one was pretty major and hit it full on with as much speed as possible. As I soared about 15 feet through the air, I was wondering how they were going to get a stretcher up her into the woods. I could feel the front end of my bike lowering down a bit too much and just figured I was going to kill myself at this point, but luckily I leaned back just enough and pulled it out. I let out a big "whoooo" when I landed. The rider on my wheel gave a "Holy Sh#t; how did you land that one?". Lap 7 was just a final run around, but I must've pulled out a few passes as I moved up quite a bit in the overall. I did manage to jam my chain in the spokes, was passed by a solo rider but fixed it quick and gave it everything to get up and pass him back.

Right now I'm just looking to recover, My man Casey wants to do some scouting for a 100 mile off-road route down in Naples and has some nice new singletrack that he's found. I'm sure that'll be a bitch of a day; 100 miles on the dirt with 15,000 feet or so of climbing. Might get us ready as were going to attempt to pull off the Mountaineer/Highlander Double in September. 35 miles/7,000 ft climbing off-road followed by 100 miles/10,000 ft climbing on the road.


Later
~J

A Nice break

Took a nice little break for a while there. After that huge week with 2 24 hour races and a 200 mile road ride in between, it was time for a little R & R.
My family reunion was on 7/2 and it was nice to see everyone and hang out and drink some beers. It was a long weekend though...
I did manage to scoot out on monday morning for a quick road ride to loosen my legs up. They were quite a bit rusty, and the few extra pounds from the beer swilling and grill fest didn't help (not that much though!).
Yesterday though, I got back on the paragon for a nice ride and to blow everything out with the

6 hours of Power

coming up this weekend I needed to get my head (and body) back in the game.
I took off for a ride down in the usual Bristol/Naples area. Plans were for a nice long one finishing in the dark. I had brought my light with me, but the riding at night thing ended when I crashed on OCP and busted the lens so I had to cut er short. Hopefully I can get it fixed. Trails were in pretty good shape considering all the rain, but damn someone needs to get a weed whacker out there. Mid-summer growth on some of that stuff is unbelievable. The weeds at points are over your head and you are just praying you don't hit something. Not to mention that my arms look like a wild pack of family cats attacked me from all the pricker bushes. I did manage to take a few pics.
Don't gimme any crap, they were taken with my phone! I'm working on getting a good digital camera
I'm too lazy right now to put in all the code to get the fancy stuff working so you get what I give ya!

The setting sun from the top of Ontario County Park (OCP)

Stid Hill Trail



The Long climb up Stid Hill, The pic accurately reflects my vision at the time

Stid Hill Final descent comes right down the ridgeline

Cutler Shale Rock Climb-Cleaned it for the first time in a while



Cutler Orange Trail Overlook

You F'ing kidding me right!!

Ullrich out, Basso out, Mancebo out. Out of the freaking Tour!! What is happening!! These guys are scheduled to go off tomorrow!

From

Eurosport

Ivan Basso and Francisco Mancebo joined Jan Ullrich on the sidelines of the Tour de France after organisers dumped two of the race's top riders. Ullrich had already been suspended by his T-Mobile team Friday morning when Tour director Christian Prudhomme announced the exclusion of Giro victor Basso.

"The enemy is not cycling, the enemy is doping," Prudhomme declared less than 24 hours before the start of the sport's greatest race.

Prudhomme praised T-Mobile's earlier decision to suspend Ullrich, sporting director Rudy Pevenage, and rider Oscar Sevilla, while at the same time promising fortitude on the part of the Tour's governing body.
"We have been in contact with T-Mobile since the start of the week, and since yesterday we've been waiting for the official document, finally we received it, from the Spanish Civil Guard and the Interior ministry."
Prudhomme said that after a unanimous decision by the association of sporting directors, the riders who have been banned will not be replaced.
"This morning there was a meeting of the AGCP and they decided to respect the ethical code 100 percent, so it means that the riders who will be asked to leave the Tour de France will not be replaced by other ones."
During a grim press conference Prudhomme sat alongside longtime Tour boss Jean Marie LeBlanc and AGCP chief and Quick Step sporting director Patrick Lefevere.
"I'm not very proud to be here today," Lefevere declared, adding that the decision not to replace the banned riders was a unanimous one taken "to send a strong signal."
"The sporting directors of each team are informing the riders concerned right now," Prudhomme said.
Basso, the Tour's runner-up in 2005 and this year's favourite, had already been warned by CSC sporting director Bjarne Riis the Frenchman added.
"I am cool, I am waiting for someone to bring me evidence of my guilt," Basso had said earlier on Friday when leaving his hotel for a training session.
Prudhomme said that Vincent Lavenu, the AG2R team boss, was also talking to Mancebo, who finished fourth overall in last year's Tour.

What the hell is going on in the pro peloton?? Now I know why American mountain bikers suck ass in Europe. None of them are on dope. If they were don't you think we'd have a podium finish on a regular basis, rather than once in a blue moon!!!

Mt. Snow to host 2007-2008 MTB Nationals

Will they have a marathon event??

2007-08 USA Cycling MTB Nationals to Mt. Snow

Colorado Springs, Colo. (June 15, 2006)—

USA Cycling announced today that Mount Snow Resort in West Dover, Vt. will host the 2007 and 2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships. The two-year agreement brings the event to the east coast for the first time since the inception of a single-event national championship format in 2004.

Scheduled on the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) designated mountain bike national championship weekend, the 2007 edition will be held July 19-22. Dates for 2008 have yet to be determined.

“Mount Snow has a solid and rich history of hosting world-class mountain bike events for nearly two decades,” commented Steve Johnson, chief executive officer of USA Cycling. “The decision to award the national championships to Mount Snow was an easy one across the board. The courses are traditionally challenging for all disciplines, the venue and organization is second to none, and an Eastern United States location is something that should be well received by our membership after three years in California.”

The American-only, “winner-take-all” format will feature a full slate of disciplines and categories. The event schedule, as well as qualifying events and procedures, will be announced at a later date.

The USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships is the latest high-profile event to come to Mount Snow. A mainstay on the international mountain bike circuit, Mount Snow has hosted numerous world-class events including UCI World Cup, NORBA National Championships Series and National Mountain Bike Series events.

“Mount Snow Resort is honored to have been awarded the 2007-08 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships,” commented Matthew Zogby, communications manager of Mount Snow Resort. “We’re excited to again welcome the mountain bike community and thousands of competitive cyclists as they compete for the title of U.S. National Champion at what has historically been one of the top mountain bike venues in the country.”

24 hours of Summer Solstice

Just finished up my 2nd 24 hour race in 2 weeks. This time it wasn't a solo affair but with a few teammates just north of Toronto, Canada. What a blast. I haven't done a 24 hour relay in a few years

Amazing is the number of people that were in attendance. Something like 2200 people. There must be something in that canadian water.

The course was pretty close to the Albion Hills O Cup that I did earlier this year. Not a ton of climbing, but loads of incredible singletrack. Because there was so much singletrack it was awfully tough out there with something like 300 people on the course at one time. I had to have passed at least on average 75 people each lap. To note I was only passed once out of 7 laps. We had loads of fun out there. We led for a large portion of the race, but it was always super close. Our lead was only counted in seconds at any point. Somehow the 3rd place team must've swapped up the order as they jumped up into 1st in the late morning.

Infamous Incidents to remember:
- "Blame Canada" from SouthPark blaring in the campground
- Casey and the "tailbone incident"
- Losing my contact at night and somehow finding it in the tent
- Casey shoulder checking a rider down the hill
- Literally plowing through a group of riders caught up at a technical section
- Dinner at Fuddruckers with some Spanish flair

Our team turned in 25 laps. Had some great fun with the boys.










Our team SignsandLogos.net: Casey Conte, Jim Vreeland, Myself, Ej Rosipayla

Summer Solstice

Longest Day of the year = Longest Ride of the Year.

10 of us pulled of a 200 mile road epic this past wednesday. Weather was perfect.

We started at 5:30 am at Casey's place in Prattsburg, headed up to Lake Ontario then back down to Bath and up to Prattsburg. Rolled into the driveway at 9:30pm.

There is more to it than just riding; but putting it into words is tough (especiallya few days out). We had a fun ride

Weekend Wrap

Whoa, finally wrapped up one of the toughest weekends I'll ever do.

I hit Mt. Snow this past Thursday, got in a nice pre-ride and got hooked up by SRAM for a few nice parts. The course is basically the same as its always been. One minor exception is the addition of the feed zone to the opening climb. As usual it goes up and up and up and then comes right down. By far one of the most technical courses around. Conditions were actually really good for mountain. Mostly dry with a few mud spots. Race went off Friday afternoon, I had a good position and didn't blow sky high on the climb too bad, came off the first descent and up the next climb pretty well. Started slipping back a little bit on the upper part of the mountain but for the most part I was holding 20th position but wasn't really feeling hot. I ended up pulling the plug after 2 laps and save the energy for the Hardcore 24.

Hardcore 24-Solo
Damn brutally hot; Awesome course. Ended up getting just nicked at the line by Mark Hartman for the fastest lap of the day. I held the lead in the solo class for around 6 hours. Stopped to pit and get some food for around 20 minutes or so and lost the lead. I regained it till night fall when I pitted again. At the 10-11 hour mark of the race; I was pretty haggard. I was having a tough time just riding a straight line. I took a break again around 13-14 hours in and was having a hell of a time. I was crashing on everything and lap times were brutally slow. I finished the last 1/4 of my lap and figured that it might be my demise. I was gettting a pretty bad saddle sore and needed some time off. I ended up sleeping for 3 hours or so. I was ready to toss in the towel. I awoke to find out that not too much had changed and I was still sitting in pretty good position. So I pulled the kit back on and headed out for a few more laps. I had fallen into 3rd but was revitalized by the sleep and turning some good lap times again. At 11am on Sunday I retook 2nd place and the two of us agreed we didnt need to go out for another lap. I ended up with 16 laps, the winner turned 20.

Would I do something like that again?...I'm doing a team 24 hour race this coming weekend... Solo racing, I might be up for it :)

Almost Time

Getting close to time to do or die.

Leaving Thursday AM to head to Mt. Snow and get the typical pre-ride in. Snow is one of my favorite places to ride. I love the course and how technical it is. I just hope its sunshine and blue skies for race day. It's going to be one hell of a weekend.

I just plunked down the cash for Hardcore 24 and Mount Snow so I'm definately in. Am I ready for a 24 hour solo race a day after the NORBA Nationals? Only time will tell us how it goes.

I will work on getting a bunch of pics up from snow and H24. If you browse down a bit you'll see I added some new tricks to the thumbnails below.

Sugar Mt. went off pretty good for JHK, he is slamming it right now! Lets hope he does it again at Mount Snow


If the website ain't working go here

No Boulder

Doesn't look like I'm going to be heading to Boulder, CO anytime soon. It's a pretty big decision to make so close to d-day. Unfortunately the timing just isn't right for Erin and I. Hopefully in the near future the timing will be right and we'll be able to make the jump.

The one thing that really sucks is we signed a lease and even made the 1st month's payment. Doesn't look like we are going to collect that anytime soon. It's been pretty distressing but that life. Sometimes you gotta play the cards you are dealt and make the best of them77

So I'll just have to stay around here and keep spinning the cranks with you guys. That doesn't sound so bad!

Man was my bike ever hosed from the Highland Hex! I couldn't even deal with it, so I just brought it down to the Geneva Bicycle Center and let Mark work on it. Gonna go with a new set-up too. Getting rid of the trigger shifter on the left and putting a grip shifter on there. Mark's run that set-up and loves it and so don't a bunch of the SRAM sponsored pro's. Due to the bike being trashed I didn't make it to the Park Ave wed night series, and not sure if I will make any of them. Real Busy Schedule coming up!

With such a heavy schedule, I'm taking this weekend off and Erin and I are heading up to Old Forge, NY for a relaxing weekend. Rented a little Cabin, some dinner action and going on a canoe trip down the moose river Sunday morning. Should be loads of fun and just the relaxing break I need. I just hope I don't get too rusty though...

This coming Friday is Mt. Snow NORBA XC, and I have to pack up and haul ass back to NY for the HardCore 24. It's going to be a tough weekend of racing!

Highland Hex

Just home from the Highland Hex 6 hour marathon. Freaking brutal conditions. I went to bed hoping the rain was going to hold off, but awoke to a treacherous downpour and cool temps. The only bonus was that the rain was going to stay all day, keeping the trails nice and wet and the mud from sticking.

Started off pretty well; was in 2nd overall after the 1st lap and slipped into 4th overall after the 2nd. I fought my way up through the field back into 2nd after a few more laps and then found out 1st place dropped out due to the conditions. I pushed it to increase my gap and stay out front. I came in from my 6th lap and still had 20 minutes, so I jumped out for one more lap and ended up with 7. BTW, major chainsuck and had to mash the middle ring the entire freaking race. On the last 2 laps I pretty much had zero shifting and whatever gear I was in I was stuck in till I could force it out.

Course conditions for the race were awful. The course was dramatically different from last year and was no where near as much fun. There were streams of water just rushing down the trails. I was pretty psyched about the conditions actually as I've raced 2 marathons already in similar conditions so I was prepped and ready to handle whatever was thrown my way.

Here are a few pics:


Nice and clean at the start line





Taking the hole shot




EJ gives his review of the course





Getting a handoff from ma





Off for another lap




VICTORY!!!




Thank gawd thats over



Hilarious! We are know staying at my fathers house, and I went out for a quick road ride the other day. Well, lizzy is a bona-fide escape artist. The front 2 windows to the house were open and she decided she was going to come out and join me for a ride. The windows are about chest level and with the aid of chair in front of them she launched herself through the screen only problem is the house isn't on the level and she came through the window expecting the ground to be only a few feet, instead it was a good 8 feet. She must've hit the deck pretty hard cause the neighbors heard her and managed to get her into the garage. She is all good though :)

~J

Finally an update...

Ok, so I've been slacking but I have been super-freakin busy. I'll go right down the list

Moved out from Apartment
We are one step closer to moving to Boulder. Finally out of the Fascist Villas of Victor. That place was a real treat, they had a rule for everything and some of the dumbest broads running the place. Right now we are chilling at my fathers place back in my old hometown of Waterloo.

Rain Ride Monday
I rode super early monday am; got caught in a massive thunderstorm at 6:30am. It was crazy how hard it was raining. Thunder and lightning , and all that. I had to toss the towel in after about 1:30 into my supposed 6 hour ride and bail. It was crazy cold and I was scared I might actually get hit by a lightning bolt.

Wed Ride
Death march with Casey and the Sunshine Band
I met Casey, Matt and Jeremy at Cutler yesterday. Almost missed them as I descended opposite of what they were climbing. We hooked up and raced thru cutler. Matt wrecked hard at Cutler and messed up his wrist and his crossmax, I've never seen one of those that f'ed up . Luckily he has insurance on those. Matt and Jeremey split after Cutler and Casey and I were on our own. We hit the Nature Preserve, then grabbed some food then headed up Parish hill. I hit the hill pretty hard in the beginning and succumbed to the heat halfway. It was brutally hot, Casey gave in a little earlier but he had been out 2 hours longer also. I haven't been that hot in a long time. I like hot but damn that was tough. We came down the DEC and called it a day.

Highland Hex
Time to really kick off the season with a nice 6 hour marathon thru the woods in Fabius. Looking forward to this race for some time. Finished 2nd there overall last year to ol Ernie Marenchin. 20 minutes he beat me by, now he's a runner up at least years 24 hour worlds. We will see if I got anything come this saturday

0 for 3

Didn't even finish a race at Farmall this year. Major Bummer. This last race I was following A. August around the course and on the 4th lap passed by someone smoking a pipe (there was tobacco in it sheez!). It ended up giving me a major asthma attack and I had to pull out. It sucked big time. I went to an acupuncturist yesterday and taking my meds as usual, but its been really bad this season.

Yesterday I had to keep the normal routine alive and headed south for a round in Bristol. I ended up hitting 4 peaks (Stid Hill, Cutler, OCP, Bristol) and got 4 hours of ride time in. It was a nice epic solo affair, probably my last one.

I did manage to score free beer in the parking lot from Doug who takes care of the scoring for the NYSERS series, then had to skip out on the post ride festivites and managed to score free slices of pizza at the gas station. Couldn't have been happier.

No racing for me this weekend as I'm packing up and we are moving out of our apartment this weekend. Heading to my fathers place for a few weeks until we make the dash out west.

~J

Plattekill/Willy Lake

2 days of racing in some downright shitty weather over this past weekend. I don't think I've raced at Plattekill in decent weather in years. The races dropped off the calendar, but came back last year. They are working hard to bring xc racing back as they are more known for their downhilling. I enjoy the new course at the top of the mountain, as you have to ride the lift to the top, but the old course where you rode to the top did the loop and came down was quite a bit more fun. It is a really technical course and even though it was cold and rainy, traction was excellent due to it being the top of the mountain and quite rocky.

I really rode the course quite well, I had a decent lead right off the bat and up the first climb, then disaster struck and my chain went over the cassette and into the spokes. I tugged and pulled and yelled at the bike while every single rider in every class rode by me. That was alotta time to loose, but I finally got it out and charged as hard as I could back to the front of the race. I managed to move thru the field pretty quickly, but still had the chain jump into the spokes 2 more times. I ended up 1st in my age/ 3rd overall. I was only down by 3 minutes. Even with the chain problems, if I didn't get an asthma attack on the 3rd lap (of 4) I think I would've made that time up. I was coughing so hard and couldn't breathe. I had to slow to a crawl for half the lap and stop to take my inhaler. It was crazy as they usually hit me after the race and not during, so that definately sucked a big one.

Williams Lake, there was actually a separate pro/semi-pro field for this race and the weather was nice at the start of the race. I prerode the course and it was brutally technical, by far one of the most technical I've ever ridden. I was liking my chances, and got a good start and into the singletrack without the legs exploding and falling backwards like a lead balloon. The 1st part of the singletrack was tough because there were lots of run-up sections to deal with, but I moved up after the 1st lap and the start of the second was going fairly well, but the rain and the 100 or so riders thru the course had torn it up completely. I was getting no traction, and sliding all over the place. I crashed pretty hard and took the handlebar to the groin, after about a dozen more crashes on the rocks and having to run about every section, I gave in and decided to just call it a day. I was either going to get hurt bad or spend the 4 + hours out on the course as we were set to do 4 laps, and the 1st one I did in 50 minutes or so with good conditions. I wasn't the only one who pulled out. I'd have to say 75% of the fields abandoned. It was just too hairy in those conditions, and not even fun.

I would have to say the course was kick-ass and would've been awesome had it not rained. The cool part was the 100 meter or so section thru the cave. You drop into this cave and all of a sudden its pitch black, can't see a damn thing only a few red flashers marking where to go, then out and back onto the course. It was cool, but freaky as you lost your sense of sight and hand to literally 'feel' the ground with your tires.

BTW, during warmup at Plattekill, I broke my chain again!! But fixed with a spare powerlink I had.

I'm racing farmall tues night, hopefully I can actually finish this time.

No racing this weekend as we are moving from victor to my father's place back in the 'loo for 6 weeks before we head west!

~J

Bristol/Naples Ride

Wednesdays are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. They are reserved for Epic rides. I made sure to throw my Hac4 onto the Paragon and get some data to share. Can't wait till we can get a full ride in and hit all the peaks, plus our 100 miler will be incredible. Our final descent down to the Lock Stock and Barrel, was in the pitch black dark.

At least I didn't break my chain, I only lost 2 bolts on my small chainring so everything after cutler was in my middle. My legs were starting to crack near the end...

That will teach me

Well, the streak of bad luck continues. Broke my chain at Farmall AGAIN last night....Lesson learned; dont' buy the cheap stuff.

I also got DQ'd from the O Cup #2. I flatted about 7 miles into the race, no co2! So I asked some fans for a pump, well a marshall at a road crossing overheard and even though I continued and finished I was DQ'd. The good news is I got a good portion of the course down for the 24 hour race their in June.

BASSO is the man Hands down the best rider in the pro peloton today!

Bristol

Been spending alot of my off road riding time down in Bristol/Naples area. I don't think that I need to ride my bike anywhere else. There are tons of trails and we are finding new ones all the time. Pulled the usual ride off down there this past Wed afternoon and found 2 new killer sections on Stid hill. Found a killer descent, but also found a major fire road climb that takes you right to the hang-glider jump off. It is directly across from Bristol Mt. and has one of the best views I've ever seen. Plus the major bonus is the insane descent that goes on forever. You ride right down the ridgeback and the trail just gets steeper and steeper and steeper. I was literally descending the trail in full drift as both wheels were locked up and I was just hanging on. I also got shown the snowmobile trail descent off of bristol which takes you right down to the post-ride party. The post ride at Lock, Stock and Barrels is just as much fun as the riding. Going to ride there this wed again. I will work on getting some good pics up and maybe a video...

With all the trails we've found down there we are making plans for a 100 mile off-road epic. Last year we easily pulled off a 100k, now its time to do 100 miles. Hell the mountaineer is 40k with 7,000 ft of climbing, can only imagine what we will get in 100 miles.

I found the giro online for free, probably not quite as good as the OLN feed , but I don't feel like parting with another 20 bones as I already paid for the premium subscription. I'll just work on my Italian.

How about Lance dissing Ullrich and touting Basso as the new face of the Tour?

Them's the breaks

I raced the Farmall hill Challenge #1 last night, I had taken the lead over on the 2nd lap (of 7) from the Champion of North Huron and was whipping myself to increase the gap and take over his title, but alas he still retains it as I frustratingly broke my chain while climbing on the 3rd lap. My chain tool wouldn't pop the pin out correctly after I had ran my bike all the way to the start line where I had left it (doh!). So I had to sit on the grass and be a spectator.

Oh well thats just racing....

I am excited that I have decided to attend the 24 hours of Cutler race. I'm planning on doing it solo. Let alone doing it solo, I am doing it after racing the NORBA Nationals XC at Mt. Snow the day before! It is going to be tough and will be my first attempt at a solo 24 hour race. I just want to get through it. Immediately after that I have another 24 hour race up in Canada, but this time I'm doing it as part of a team, as I'm sure that I will need the rest.

Thats it for now I gotta get some work done and then go riding

~J

Boulder

I was away this past weekend doing some house searching in Boulder. All plans look good so far for a move in mid-July.
we arrived on Thursday and immediately started our quest. We were lucky enough to stay with some friends and were able to skip out on the hotel. Friday was the super busy day, we must've viewed at least half a dozen places, we were pretty whiped out. But the saving grace for the day was having dinner over at Frank and Claudia Overton's house.

Saturday we decided to cancel all our apts and spend some quality time out and about in Boulder. Erin attended a local yoga class; and I hooked up with Frank and rented myself a ride and we headed up into the mountains. Here are a few pics from the top of the climbs, there were some good climbs and some awesome descents...



We also ended up signing the lease for our place in Lafayette, its a nice house about 10 miles East of boulder. So it looks like we'll be heading out sometime in early July!

This is gonna be our new place !


Don't forget that the Farmall Hill Challenge starts this Tuesday...hope to see you guys there.

Oh Canada

Headed up to the Great White North, for the Ontario Cup #1. What a well run and awesome event. As many people at their races as I see at the NORBA nationals! And USA Cycling needs to take a look at their sign in process. Pick up number plate, initial sheet...BAM that's it, no rider release to fill out for the 10,000 time.


The course and conditions were perfect, it was extremely dry and dusty and the trails were some of the best I've ever been on. They had that perfect u shape to them which means every time you corner there was no need to really lay on the brakes.

It was hectic at the start and my lungs filled up about halfway with dust. I had forgot how incredibly hectic and violent the start was to a mtb race compared to the easy rollout of the road. I suffered like a dog and was dropped like Britney's baby heading into the singletrack. Didn't really make much of a difference as it was all bottlenecked up. It was a tough course 5 laps on a 10.5k course. I finished around 2:24, not even sure where the leaders finished at, I'm awaiting the results. I did manage a pretty good sprint at the end and edged the rider on the left out by a tire width.


I'm still coughing up dust and my throat and lungs are pretty irritated from all the coughing.

The word on the street is that Roland Green and several other top Canadian pro's cut their teeth on this circuit. There were some good riders here and many were looking to impress for spots on the Canadian national team.

As soon as I get my results I'll post em

~J