Thursday, May 31, 2007

Horrible Hundred Update

So this past Monday, to celebrate the holiday, Matt Hanggi and I headed out for a little ride down in Naples. We wanted to scout and collect some of the tidbits for the upcoming Horrible Hundred Race in September. We chose to cover the last 40 miles of the course. For those of you that are climbers or those that just want to enjoy the suffering, there is good news! This course is going to have tons of hills! The 40 mile ride that we did had 8500ft of vertical!

Horrible Hundred


*I'm going to update the graph a little later and segment it out, but here it is for now



The Route: Started at the DEC and climbed Griesa Hill to Oakley to Gannet. Hit Ontario County Park and descended that and followed the road down to the backside of Bristol Mt. We climbed up and over the backside on the Dirt road and then descended on the snowmobile trail. At the base of the Snowmobile we hit Stid Hill and then climbed that to the Ridge Trail where we hit the tower drop (mile 24, drops 900 ft in 1.2 miles!). From there we took the road to West Gannet and climbed up to Ontario County Park again and descended the same trail. Headed across the road to Cutler, up and down the Orange trail then took the road down to the closed road that drops us in right next to Bob and Ruth's .



If I can ever figure it out I will get the google earth stuff up and we can all have some fun browsing over where we will be playing!



I rested up on tuesday and last night Hanggi and I hit Dryer Rd for a few hours of some good fun. Conditions there are great right now, even getting a little bit sandy in the corners. We both had a good time ripping around that place. For some reason we were a little more accident prone than normal. Perhaps with the dry conditions speeds were a little higher than normal and we just pushed it to the edge. I think both of us left our fair share of blood and skin out there yesterday. It's all in good fun. The great thing is that place is really turning into a mecca for area riders. There had to be at least 2 dozen riders out there on the trails including about half a dozen females getting their sweat on!



Mark Hartman and I are heading out tomorrow mid-day for the Mohican 100. I'm feeling pretty ready to rip this one up, but I guess we will see how the head feels 40+ miles in. I've been getting some great sleep and I'll be taking some sleeping pills with me to ensure that I sleep the night before! I cannot wait for the race, I've got those nervous, excited , scared feelings kicking around and just want to grab my bike right now and go!



I'll post from my phone a few quick blurbs from our road trip and our results after the race!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Epic 8 hours...err the Epic 4

Well, for my first endurance race of the year, things didn't go as well as I would have liked them too. Headed up to Canada for the Epic 8 hours this past weekend. Trails were in great shape and conditions were perfect for race day.

Started off pretty quick and settled into 3/4th place hanging with the eventual race winner for a few laps. We chatted for a bit, discussing our racing plans for the season, etc. For some reason my small chainring was jamming up and caused me to have to grind up the singletrack climbs, using quite a bit of extra energy when I shouldn't have been. With not using the small ring, I took my time getting up the climbs to not use the extra energy and ended up riding by myself for quite a bit of the race. Continually catching and passing riders and being caught and passed by others. I still need to get over the fact that it's ok to be passed in these types of races. After so many years of xc, I just don't like to be passed by riders and willing to fight them for position. I need to curb that quick so I don't waste too much energy. After a few laps, I stopped on the side of the trail and made a front der adjustment so that I could use the small. I was churning out pretty good lap times and holding steady, but there just wasn't any fight in my body. I stopped around the 4 hour mark and just hung up the bike.

The course itself, lacked any real long climbs. There were some short steep singletrack sections near the end of the laps. Laps were fairly short (~9k) so lap time were quick (30-35 minutes). It was a very fast and demanding course and I took in a bit too many calories early on as I was stuck in the mindset that I needed to finish a bottle each lap.

Being away all week for work fired up the stress levels and the lack of sleep time during my trip and NO sleep the night before did me in pretty well. I'm not big on giving up in races. In fact I was pretty furious with myself, but I guess you gotta know when to hold em and when to fold em.

This week I will be resting up big time for the Mohican 100!!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Epic 8 hours coming up

So I missed Farmall the other night, but apparently still won the series. Not sure how as I only made it to 2 races. And I took 2nd and a 1st, but I got relayed info that it's because my victory time was 4 seconds faster than my competitors. Little odd, but I'll take it.

Been away here in Southern PA for the last few days. Got to hit some trails in DE last night. Lil bit of fireroads and some nice singletrack. The singletrack was super-buff and flowing. I think they run a zamboni on that stuff, I coulda ran the road bike! I was able to open the legs up a little bit and they are feeling good and ready for this weekend.

The Ergomo is down right now :( so I put the Bontrager Carbon x-lite crank on the Supercaliber. So I'll be running blind for the race. No big deals, I don't need a 'puter to tell me to go fast! Plus it lightens the bike up a lil bit too. It will be nice to work out all the kinks for the upcoming Mohican 100 with Mark and then the Hardcore 24. Running thru the tests with some new nutritional supplements (Hammer stuff).

Back to work for now, but I'll get a write-up for the Epic 8 as soon as I can.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Away for a few days

Looks like i'm not gonna get a chance to fight for the farmall title tonight. I'm out of town for work but will be back andy ready to rip it up at the Epic 8 hours

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Farmall Victory!!

Well, Tuesday night was a great night at Farmall #2. Bagged the first W of the year for myself and the first W for the Supercaliber. It was definitely a hard fought race.

Off the gun, I settled into 3rd place and then slipped into 2nd up the first climb. Giving chase to the leader, keeping on his wheel and catching him on the 1st climb. About ready to make the pass up the grinder climb and my chain slips up. The leader slips away, maxing out to around maybe 35 seconds or so. I chased with everything I had, I think my hr was pegged around 185 for the 1st few laps.

Heavy chasing ensues for the next few laps




I finally caught him near the end of the 4th lap, put out a nice little attack up the steep climb and opened a decent size gap. I was able to maintain and hold the gap for the duration. I extended it to a max at the line of around 2 minutes. The bonus was I took almost exactly 2 minutes off my time from the previous week.


Raising the arms for the Victory!!

Next week is the showdown, Winner takes all for the series!

For the full collection of photos (Taken by the lovely Tif) Click here Huge thanks to my Grams and Tif for the support. It's always awesome to win in front of family!

Naturally though, as form is up high, health comes down. I paid big for the victory as I left work early yesterday with a nasty head cold and cough. Rested up yesterday and today. Tomorrow will be a night ride (probably short though as my light is not working properly, grrr) Saturday another big one and Sunday 1 more big ride. That should max me out nice and ready for my taper into the Hardcore 24

I'm super digging the Supercaliber. The machine just rocks, climbs like a rocket and descends like a downhill demon. Next weekend at the Epic 8 hours is going to be awesome! Plus it will be Tif's 1st time running support crew, making sure to work out all the kinks before the hardcore! :-x

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Farmal #2

Race #2 of the Farmall Training Series is again tonight. It's downpouring outside right now. I'm hoping that the conditions at the course are still good, as the radar doesn't show any rain up the way of the course. Hopefully the legs are still able to put something out tonight. I haven't been feeling top notch, and think a little cold is on its way out of my system right now. I'll get up a report asap tonight after the race as I can. I do plan on hitting MPH again and putting some xtra time in after the race for a little night ride action.

Highland Hex is postponed until the middle of June, so it looks like this is going to be my final week before the real events start kicking off. 2 weeks until the Epic 8 hour race in Canada, looking forward to that one. Followed by the Mohican 100 a few weeks later

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Dawn Patrol

6:33, 115k
TSS: 280
2700m climbing
4673kj

Just a little ride :)

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Farmall #1

Well, tuesday night finally got that first blowout of the legs out. Those ones always hurt. The course is so short and with so many super-steep climbs you are pretty much on the rivet the entire race. At least they re-routed the very first climb, but the course is still really brutal. I pulled down hard fought 2nd place finish to a shifting gears racer from Buffalo. I'll take it. XC isn't my game anymore so throwing down for an hour or so hurts a hell of alot more than it used to.

After the ride, I decided to put some more time in so Mark, Suzanne, Casey, Hanggi and I headed out to the MPH. We were flying around that place, the legs were a little rough on the climbs, but overall not bad. Then disaster struck. On a gnarly descent, I'm following Casey down, I see his light flop around, then his bike. He was laying a few yards away and in some serious pain. I jumped off and ran over to him and he had a nasty puncture wound in his shin about the size of a half-dollar. There was stick in the bushes, that snagged his leg and catapulted him. Loads of blood everywhere! We worked our best to calm him and used the 4-wheeler to pull him out of the trail. Mark and Hanggi took him off to the ER. There he found out that it almost went completely thru his leg! Bummer dude as it looks like he is off the bike for a few weeks. Best of luck and a speedy recovery!

Last night; Mark, Jer-bear and I pulled off a nice little ride down at BirdsEye Hollow off Keuka Lake. Put in a good barn-burner of a day. A nice little out and back for a good 3 hours. Although the woods were pretty upset at us. I took a nasty spill in the 1st 100 yards, 2 flats in the 1st mile, Jer-bear ripped up his jersey on a spill, and Mark flatted again on the way out. But the trail was some awesome stuff to behold. Cannot wait to go back and rip it up again.

Hopefully this rain doesn't do too much damage to the trails. I'm in need of a nice little epic ride down in Naples this saturday morning. Mark and I are gonna pull of some dawn patrol around 5:30 am so he can lay down some time in the am before work. I'm gonna add some x time. Working on the big build for The Hardcore 24. All is looking awesome for that as my CTL is reaching some of the highest scores I've ever seen.

Out.....

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Naples: Just a small day....Farmall Kicks off tonight

Saturday was an easy day in Naples :P



  • 4100+Kj's
  • TSS: 266

  • 83k
  • 2268m of climbing (7440ft for you that can't figure out the metric system)
Wolfganger, Griesa, OCP, Cutler, East Hill, DEC, Parish Hill, DEC. Trails are in awesome shape. It was a perfect day. The supercaliber was ripping everything up and spitting it out like it was pavement. Man do I love that thing. She will get her first test tonight at Farmall...



After Naples, I headed down to the Hollow for Val Pal's birthday party. Some good eats, with some free range chicken and some free range beef from Sweet Meats down in the Naples Valley (I wish I had a website or number). Followed that up with some campfire action and then some barn badminton.



Sunday I watched the Sabres clinch and move on in the playoffs.



After that I hit up dryer rd. Right now the trails are so super perfect there, just spun the legs out and headed home.



I'll have a report on Farmall tonight!!



Monday, May 07, 2007

Dirtbag!

Basso Admits Involvement in Puerto

I continue my abstinence from road cycling. So much so more that I may never purchase another road bike again and just ride my mountain bike. Forget it, they no longer have my support. The power-tap wheelset is going up for sale. Email me if you want it, pre-ebay pricing for local yocals. I won't be buying anything related to road products or supporting a profession that encourages rampant doping.

I love my bike and pushing myself to the limit. If I can't do it within the rules, I'll work harder not pick up a goddam needle. WTF, how do you look yourself in the mirror?

That's my rant for now. I'll get a nice post up later about this weekends epic in Naples...

Friday, May 04, 2007

What a great week!

Man have we lucked out with the weather. It has been perfect these last few days. So nice in fact, I took wednesday off and we headed down to Naples. Rolled out from Bob n Ruths along the rail trail to the monster of climbs in the area. Wolfganger, 3.3k long, rises up 325+ meters and avg grade of 10.5 %. With the first section averaging 17%, a few kickers in there that top 22%!! It is one tough SOB. After suffering up that we had marked a trail at the base with the gps so we pretty much bushwacked our way to the bottom to see if we could locate it. On the road back to the next climb, Suzanne had a major blow out, tube and tire blew completely off the rim at 30kph and she pretty much destroyed her bontrager race xxx lites. What a bummer that was as it was early in the ride and we just fetched the car and she headed to the hollow to chill. After that one we headed up Flint hill, descended Sliter rd on the mt. bikes (max spd 85kph!). Then it was over to climb and descend Italy Hill. Naturally both Mark and I were attacked by the vampire rock as we both flatted in the same spot!



Climbed up and over Brink Hill for the granddaddy of all descents! The DEC, the nastiest descent around. Drops 330 meters, 7+ minutes of super technical descending. We all made it off safely as usually it is so gnalry that it doesn't let someone down without having to make a bike part offering. The supercaliber was definitely rocking on that thing, I haven't felt that smooth, fast and flowing on a descent in a loong time. Damn, I love that bike!







Last night, headed over to GBC to pick up a new WTB Rocket V saddle for the supercaliber and some new kenda tires (as the vampire rock destroyed a sidewall). Also snagged me a pink bottle cage. Now I am officially part of the pink bottle cage coalition! Put the Rocket V to the test out at MPH with Mark and Casey, it was an awesome night. Nearly full moon, just glowing orange on the horizon and lighting everything up perfectly. Trails were in great shape too!



This weekend is shaping up to be another great one and hoping to put in a nasty big day down in Naples tomorrow morning! Cannot wait!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Hallejuneva!!

Noun: pronounced "Hollow-Geneva": indicates excitement, enjoyment, similar to Hallelujah.

That was the choice word of the weekend.What a great one it was too!

I busted out the Supercaliber for a brutal ride with Casey on saturday. After getting the sensor for the ergomo dialed in, we decided a nice dirt road ride in the mud and rain would break her in. We assaulted Schultz hill a nice 500 ft climb right off the bat, only to realize Casey forgot his pack, descended and did it again. That opens the legs up quite nicely for sure. We blasted around the area, either doing 15k or 65k. It was up or down all day. We drilled it pretty goddamn good to because my legs were killing me afterwards. The evening was great as we had some homemade spanokopita and played some barn badminton.

Sunday was an awesome day. After a brutal fight with the race x-lites to put a set of skinny tires on and the usual killer breakfast at the Hollow we rolled out. The fellas rocked the mt. bikes while the ladies hit it up on the road bikes. We pulled off a nice 100 miler with loads of smiles, sunburn and sweet views. We rolled into Corning and took a nice little break at Wegmans, filled up on a "real" lunch for once and continued our journey back to the Hollow. It was a welcome return to the 3 bumps with several cries of "Hallejuneva" , for the journey was over, but only temporarily.