1 Week

7 days is all I have left of my time in NY. Next Thursday am, I depart for Boulder, CO. Going to be working for FasCat Coaching!! It's getting a bit close, I'm nervous, a bit scared. But this will be good, this is what I want and need. Finally the summation of a dream (moving to CO) is going to be reached.

Things have been hectic, and I've taken a few days off the bike to unwind. As a result, yesterday was perfect weather day for a little boat riding. Seeing as it's my last day to fit in a boat ride I obliged and my father and I headed out onto Seneca Lake for a slow cruise.

The lake was incredibly calm, and we just cruised down past all the houses and hung out south of the state park just off shore. Downed a few beers, chatted and relaxed in the sunshine. Couldn't have asked for anything more.

I even got to drive the boat back (I had to give captains duties back, when the William Smith Crew Team was entering the harbor at the same time as us). It's actually surprisingly easy to drive.

So after all that relaxing, I guess it's really time to get down to business. Start packing up, laying down my itinerary and get some last minute errands done this week


Currently playing in iTunes: Dancing Choose by TV On The Radio

Oh yeah, yesterday I spent 3.5 hours in the dentist chair getting a root canal done. Took a while, but the infected tooth is fixed and the pain has ceased, just means I've got to get it crowned when I get to CO. Anyone know a good dentist out there?

Weekend Wrap (Full Report)

It was a long weekend of racing and driving in the car. Friday afternoon, I set out for the 4 hour drive north to my brothers place in Malone. Giving me about an hours drive to Whiteface Mt. for saturday's race.

Got there with plenty of time to play with my nephew Peyton, eat some gnocchi with homemade sauce by Grams and watch a movie. I managed to get a great night's sleep in and then get the the race right on schedule. However, I didn't really get a great warm-up in. Being as the race was new and recently scheduled it meant a small field (3 of us in the pro class), but it did mean we were all gonna get paid! That however didn't mean I didn't race my ass off.

The race started with a little prologue section with a climb, then onto the main course and up the access rd. Suffered a bit on the start and was struggling on the first lap, trying to get the legs together. I ended up losing sight of 1st place as he disappeared in the 1st section of singletrack. I surged hard, started to feel better and raced well over all. Race was a bit short at 1:40, but every one of my 4 laps was within 30 secs of each other, so I was at least nice and consistent. I did bag $250 for 2nd!! Everybody better hit this race course next year as it was one of the baddest and best ever!

Sunday (after a long drive home saturday) I headed down to Ellicottville for the Roots, Rocks and Ridges race. I think the last time I managed to do this one was about 5 years ago. There was good number of people and it was a great day for racing. Course started with a road prologue while we were lead over to Holimont and the start of the climbing. Didn't mean it was truly neutral though as we were clicking off a good pace on the road. Knowing the climb was coming up, I got near the front and stayed there trying to shake the legs out from the prior days efforts. Hit the climb and when it turned to dirt a small group of us split the main field. I was sitting at the tail end of the group around 4th/5th and came off on the climb prior to entering the singletrack. I was busy closing the gap to the rider in front of me, when I felt my rear tire was real squishy. I jumped off to throw a co2 in and didn't do much. I decided to tube it and it took me forever to get the valve stem out. Finally go the valve stem out, tube it and the co2 barely puts any air in, WTF!?! I spend forever hand pumping my mini pump (luckily does both), while getting passed by everyone. I got the tire up and ready to go and ended up behind a large smashed together group near the back. It was tight singletrack and I really wanted to get back to the front. Riders were dabbing and falling all over the place, I ended up having to use the "pro" lines to pass quite a few of the riders. After a few minutes being stuck behind them, I finally got free and clawed my way back up. I was surging and flying through the singletrack.

I was actually feeling really great overall. I managed to catch a bunch of riders. I did have to stop at one point and put some more air in my rear as it was still feeling soft. I shot up again and was catching more riders. Any chance I got, I was doing the Big Ring Challenge and hammering through the singletrack. I was creeping way up in position and just was catching 2 more riders when I realized I had a broken spoke. Took some time to get it out of the rotor and bend it around so it wouldn't get caught on anything. I managed to catch and pass back one rider, but ran out of trail catching the other.

Total time according to the powertap lost by flats and spoke: ~8:30. Unofficially according to mom, I was about 9 minutes down on first! I finished in 10th place, which I thought was incredible considering how many riders initially passed me. It was a great course and good ride and was happy to end my season on a strong weekend of racing!

Now it's time for 'cross

Currently playing in iTunes: Revelry by Kings of Leon

T minus 10 days and counting

Full Weekend Report coming tonight.

2nd place at Whiteface
10th at Roots Rocks and Ridges

Incredible courses and great competition. Loads of driving. I slept for 12 hours last night.

New Bike Day

Yesterday was new bike day! One of the greatest days for bike racers. I got the email that my bike had arrived from the crew at Geneva Bikes and rushed out after work to start the assembly.

While Mark was finishing up his work, I did the unboxing, prep work and light assembly, aka I was the "fluffer" for Mark to come in and do the real stuff. I managed to do this 2x somehow as we grabbed the wrong size box originally and I had the bike assembled before we really noticed. So the 2nd time around I was quite good and a bit faster.

I've yet to give her a real ride in the dirt, but she sure is purdy' and I'll guess I'll have to get her dirty next week. For now though, here's some pics!

From Cross 09

From Cross 09

From Cross 09

From Cross 09

Today is some fast and furious openers, then head up to my brothers place in Malone and visit him and his family as they are all coming down to cheer me on at Whiteface in Lake Placid tomorrow (click the link for course pics). Looking forward to putting the number plate on this weekend. I'll have to be fast as I need to wrap up, drive home and get up early again to drive the opposite direction for the Root's Rocks and Ridges race in Ellicottville. Looks like its going to be an early start!

Getting Cold!

So with the nights coming much earlier than usual, I've got the flasher and a simple bar mount light on the roadie for safety (I also had my Ay-Up headlight in my jersey just in case), I still am able to venture out after work for a bit of training.

Yesterday evening, it was a decent 65-70 and sunny at 5:45 when I departed, comfy with my armwarmers on and vest in jacket. 6:30ish as the sun was below the tree line I was freezing my ass off. Wishing I had my knee warmers or even full leg-warmers. Luckily I had my vest in my pocket and was able to keep my chest warm, but jeeze I forgot how friggin cold it gets in the late summer/early fall time. By the time I got back home, my legs were a little numb and I think it dropped to 45-50 degrees or so (and it was dark).

Meanwhile the ride itself, not so great. I had plans to do a few sets of 5 min threshold intervals. Got through the first one feeling great, got 3/4 way through the 2nd and I started getting side stitches, WTF? I haven't had them since I ran xc in high school! I've never gotten them on the bike. I grunted away for a little bit more, then decided to just shut it down. It took a few minutes for the cramp to go away, after that I rolled along doing a bit of recovery then just ramped it up to some steady state. It was tough to do any effort as all the blood was holed up in the inside of my legs trying to stay warm! I've got no idea where the cramps came from, but hopefully they won't show up this weekend!

Here's a few more pics from this weekend at Burning Bike out on the trail!!

Burning Bike Festival

The first ever Burning Bike Festival was held at Ontario County Park this past weekend. OCP has come along ways, it was once just a stopover as the Finger Lakes Trail ran thru it. Now it's being fully utilized and many new (and awesome) trails have been put in, and are in great shape and ready to ride.

I skipped out on the Friday night festivities as it was pouring out and I had no desire to camp in the rain. I got everything together Saturday am and headed over to the park. While a few were out riding, I managed to get a ride in on the singlespeed (with my new Black Ops Carbon Fork!) with Evil Steve and Andy August. After a few loops they dropped off and I decided to put the SS to the test and descend down off the hill and over to Cutler to climb some hills and do some more descending. The fork and the bike ride great and it's a fun play bike.

After the ride it was chow-time and then over to camp. Original plans were for a night ride, but the heavy rains and beer consumption kept that at bay.

The Burning Bike

Evil Steve's Glow Bike

mmmm...tasty

Schwarty having a Yee-haw contest

Schwarty moments later

It poured all night so Sunday was a crapshoot, but after a good hearty breakfast, and some consumption of non-alchoholic beverages, Casey, Jer-Bear and I headed out for a ride. We did a good loop around OCP on the slick trails, then decided to explore a trail we had never ridden. A top secret descent off the park. It was a great descent with a good mix of tech, super steep, super fast and fun. After that we headed over to Cutler and did a quick loop on the orange trail. It was a good day, a bit humid and windy, but much nicer than the prior day's tremendous rainstorms.

This week will be some short rides, wait for the cross bike and prep for the Whiteface Race and Roots, Rocks and Ridges race. My final weekend of XC racing!

back to laying on the couch.....

Feeling good

Yesterday, despite not wanting to truly get back on the bike, I managed to get in a decent road ride. Running late for the group ride as usual required the no warmup straight to tt mode for the 8 miles to the shop. Managed to get there only to find no one was there. So Jim and I headed out the door together and put in a good hour + into the wind heading south and chatting about the current political situation. It was a nice late summer/early fall day (not like today as it's raining).

The legs felt pretty good for the most part. I was able to put in a nice test on them for the ride home as it was hitting dusk (I did have lights though). I slammed it home and kept having to double check my numbers that I was putting out. I was feeling good and looking at the watts going, is that right? I managed my 2nd best 10 min power of the season for the ride home and it was dead flat! My best power was only 10w higher and that was while climbing! 2 100 milers back to back, I guess does a body good!

I've got one of these on order as the new Fisher Presidio is not going to be here in time for the cross season. I'll be looking forward to testing this bad boy out asap.

Also, going to be putting a Origin8 Black Ops Carbon fork on the Singlespeed. Will be looking forward to testing her out this weekend at the Burning Bike festival at OCP. Might be riding it all weekend!

Back in the swing with the Singlespeed

So it's been 2 days of sleeping and eating loads of comfort food after the Humbler. Seriously think I could have easily consumed 20,000 calories a day if I didn't stop myself.

Yesterday I pulled out the Singlespeed and headed over to glenwood in Geneva to stretch the legs a bit. Temps were cool and comfortable and the trail was in great shape. I had the 32x20 on and was a little bit overgeared for the place. I like the 32x19 a little bit better there. But it was good as I just needed to spin and keep it easy. It was a fun ride to just sling around the trails solo and whip out some laps. I felt really good physically, but didn't feel like going hard at any point.

I did however realize upon inspection that the front fork is bent and the wheel is mis-aligned. Tomorrow I'm going to swap it out with a Origin8 Black Ops Carbon Fork!

Tonight I'm going to pull out the roadie, hit up the group ride, and then get some xtra ride time in with the lights on the roadie.

08 Humbler Slideshow

Yesterday was worthless. I slept for 18 out of 24 hours. I'm still a little bit tired today, but no where near yesterday. I consumed probably 5x my recommended caloric intake also yesterday, and it was great. Eating is good!

Resting up today, then back to the grinder tomorrow

2008 Humbler

2008 Humbler is in the books. I'm completely wiped out today.

111 miles, 14,030ft of climbing, 12:19 of riding, 6229kj, 4 finishers. It took us 3 friggin years to finally complete our grandiose plan of ultimate misery.

Mark, Casey, Hanggi and myself soldiered on for the final loop. Spent, exhausted, sleeping in the middle of roads. We surged, we struggled, we finally slayed the dragon.

I'm exhausted today, far too exhausted to do a full write up currently. Pics and more to come

In the meantime, go buy my bike

Laurel Mt. Classic

Headed down to Northern, PA this morning for a little xc action. Having last weeks SM100 in my legs and a tough week of training, I knew the race was going to hurt.

This little guy gave me one of these so I could flog myself up the climbs

Race started out on a nice long 4 mile fire-road climb. Having never ridden the course, we were told it was about 3 miles. I paced and readied for 3 miles. Group quickly split into about 10 of us, shortly I was in the front group 4 of us and the chasers scattered. But soon, I popped off as it continually went up. The legs weren't comfy nor was the taste of blood in my mouth. I was picked up by a few stragglers and slogged the last 3/4 mile up the climb and into the singletrack about 7th. Picked off a rider right away and set to work on chasing down another.

Headed into a straight down descent, just a chute literally, I was cooking and came up so fast on the rider, I put the brakes on but started sliding into him, had to lay it down. He for some reason looked back, then laid it down also. I managed to get up and drop him on the descent and out into the fire road climb.

Some fire road action and a long, straight fast descent had me increasing the gap. At the bottom was a slow grind against the grain in a techy creek side trail. Criss-crossing the trail and slowly heading uphill. I realized my saddle bag was open and had to stop, took a few secs to get the zipper to close fully and ended up losing a spot. Attempted to chase said rider in front of me, then we headed out to an open grass climb. 2-3 miles of uphill, wet tall grass. I was hating life and hating my legs for not wanting to put out a decent effort and give it a go. Ended up getting passed on the climb by a single speeder and was being chased down by 2 other riders.

I had only 1 bottle and saw an aid station, was super happy to refill and grab a few cups to slam. I had to let the 2 riders slip by, but gave chase. Dropped the 1st shortly, and the 2nd rider hung on. Pushing it in the singletrack and he kept sticking, attacked on the powerline downhill and got a gap, but he shortly closed it. I had to let him go by as my saddlebag was open again. I reached around and put everything in my pockets. (I'm done with saddle bags!)

I closed the gap back on the road, and into the gravel road, I was sitting about 20 yards back. I made a huge surge and caught him off-guard and dived into the singletrack. It was all slightly down and I was flying and floating. Caught and dropped the singlespeeder, and had about 5-10 secs on the rider chasing. Continually surging on the flat fast singletrack to try to increase my gap, it was holding steady. Shortly after though, it pointed down, straight down. I slammed it into gear and just let her rip. All out downhill high speed, flying and floating. Checked over the shoulder, no rider in sight, gotta push incase I flat. Check the computer, I'm close a few k away. Keep pushing, killing it and flying. Hit the dirt road and sprint the last 200 meters to the line. Rider shows up about a minute or 2 later. He was on a dualie, I was on the superfly. He said he never chased on the top because he thought he could catch me on the way down. No chance, nada gonna happen on a downhill at speed.

Ended up 7th overall/6th age group. 1 spot out of the money.

Lizzy is gonna be alright!

So a few weeks ago Lizzy hit a car. Yes, she hit the car not the other way around. I was prepping my bike and getting set up to head out for a race the next day and ended up taking her to the vet. Well after a bit, she started hurting pretty good and I took her back a week or so later for x-rays. Come to find out she broke her pelvis in a few places. Today I had to take her to the vet surgeon for pre-op review. The surgeon thought that she really wouldn't need surgery and would be ok in the long run!! Woohoo! Needless to say, her and I are pretty happy!

Lizzy chillin at the vet

Tonight will be some prep work. I plan on heading down to the Liberty Mtn. Classic in Northern PA. Have not ever been to this race, so I figured I would throw down and see if I still have anything after SM 100.

Sunday is the Humbler!! Gonna be a bright and early morning, then 100 miles of awesome trail riding in Naples!! I'll bring the camera for sure. Hopefully the rain holds off this year and we get a good day and a good number of riders. Hope to see you there!

Reflashing my System

I'm ready to move onto the final bits of training this month. It's going to be a tough month, and I have only a few races left. I'm pretty much going to bust my ass as I want to leave this season with some top finishes.

Yesterday, with some tired legs, I went out and hammered down some Steady State Intervals. Hanging around 85% of FTP for well over an hour, was sure to put a hurt on me, especially with some heavily fatigued legs.

But I needed to just kill this workout, if not for some personal justification. I felt like I drilled it. A few times I had to back off as I was going a little harder than I should be, but in the end it'll pay off dearly.

Up this weekend, I think I'm going to head to the Laurel Classic mt. bike race in Wellsboro, PA. Then it's finally time for The Humbler BABY!!!

SM 100 pics

Here are a few pics that I managed to find from the SM100

Chasing JP down at the line

Finishing

Would have kept the rain out!

I'm ready to gear up and tackle my next event

Great Course...Bad Legs

Headed south to Virginia over this past Labor Day weekend for the Shenandoah Mountain 100. Arrived mid-day on Saturday, it was brutally hot. I set up the tent, registered and went out for my pre-ride of the first climb.

Heading towards the climb, the legs were a little stiff from the drive, so I hit a few openers and was feeling great. I was flying up the climb doing my sprints and was 100% ready to go. The first climb was simply the same thing over and over until the top. Climb a little, left hand bend with a slight descent, tight right hand turn into a steep climb. Probably did that at least 10 or more times over. It made a sharp left got a little steeper and a little looser up to the top. I turned around rolled to the bottom and made it back to the campground in time for the free spaghetti dinner.

Hit the tent around dark for the 5am wakeup. After about an hour a little sprinkle started, then a full on downpour till at least midnight. Did I mention my tent leaks? Every few minutes I had to move to keep from getting wet. Finally it stopped, then the fireworks started. After the fireworks were the bullhorn whoooop-whooooooooop just about every half hour right until 5am. Needless to friggin' say, I really got no sleep whatsoever. Knowing my history of racing after getting no sleep due to jackasses, I knew it was going to be a tough day. Little did I know how tough....

5am the gong goes off. I get up with everyone else, bleary eyed and tired. Slam a starbucks mochachinno, and a little bagel. Prepped and to the line. 500 eager racers in the middle of a field behind the lead moto, making a mad dash for a right hand turn onto a road 100 yards later. Announcer makes the pre-race speech and finishes with a "Ok, let's go" Moto wasn't even started yet, half take off, half hesitate, I go. Get to the first climb, feeling pretty good. I'm comfortable in the top 30 or so, perfect where I want to be for my sub 9 hour goal. Climb well, feeling good, yo-yoing in a few spots where I try to keep the effort low if I go to hard, top the climb about 2-3 minutes shy of Eatough and the front group.

Mad fast descent then over to the next climb. Singletrack slogfest, muddy, steep, rocky, narrow. Half are waking a few are riding. I start to feel like crap, no mojo to get going on the climb. Decide to walk, I walk slow and finally get to the top after losing about 50 spots. Start the singletrack descent and saddle snaps out of place. Have to jump off and fix, bolt was super tight, but fixed and got going. Make up about 20 places on the bombingly long singletrack descent. Feeling good and happy about going down.

Hit the dirt roads and picking people off, end up getting into a big group and just roll along. Dump the group shortly after and working with a few riders on the slightly downhill dirt roads and we are flying, picking off tons of riders. Feeling strong, taking good pulls. I'm working with Cheryl Sornson and Trish Stevenson (eventual female 1st/2nd). The 3 of us actually split the group and take off on the road climb and I give them a hand to help chase down Betsy Shogren. I eventually drop them on the road climb and make it to the aid station. They made a quick stop, and I stopped for some food and bathroom break. Never did see them again.

I start the long climb up the 3rd main climb and I'm feeling completely hosed. Wondering if I'll ever even finish. No snap in the legs, barely turning over the pedals. Granny gearing at 50rpm, while singlespeeders are flying by in 32x20. I have to stop and stretch my legs a few times. I finally make it to the top after what feels like forever. I got a sick, insanely fun singletrack off-camber 20+ minute long descent, caught a few people back and I'm having a blast. I hit the road after the aid station, having just slammed a coke. Catch a few riders and as we keep catching the group keeps getting bigger. I realize I feel pretty good on the road and no one else remotely wants to work. I roll ahead without anyone following. Have a good minute lead into the next singletrack climb. I decide to just climb at my pace. I feel good, climbing great. It's super techy and rocky, keeps going and going and going. Continually techy, continually up. I hadn't had any real food in a bit and feel my energy levels low. Decide to sit down and eat a bar. Lose a few spots, but get to the top with a few locals for the descent. According to them it was the best singletrack around. I'm following, riding blind, but not having trouble keeping up. Descent is sick and just a blast of fun. End up getting a little wide in a corner and front wheel washes out. I hit the deck, get up, go back to find the powertap cpu and get started. Get going again, and end up giving a tube to Betsy Shogren as she flatted for the 2nd time (she was waaay out in front early). Even after that, I railed the descent and caught the original riders I had started with.

Aid station, then death march. Long, long false flat on the road. End up pulling the trigger as the coke doesn't settle well. Paved road was forever long false flat, onto a dirt road roller/false flat. I'm feeling spent. I have to stop a few times to stretch the legs and keep from just falling over on the bike. Keep going, and onto a long fire-road climb. It went on forever, literally. I think it was a good 90+ minutes or longer after already having climbed slowly for the past 45 mintues. Make it to the aid station, spent. Looking forward to the descent. Refuel with pizza, and a few bites of food. Get ready to bomb, hit some fast double-track down. Then climb, and continue climbing. WTF! where's the downhill. Keep climbing for the next 45 minutes. Now, I'm seriously dead meat on the bike. I walk for a portion to gain some energy.

Finally the descent starts, feel great, flying down it. Pass a bunch and get to the road, feeling good and flying, final climb. We've been over this already, but the legs again shut down. Don't know what's wrong but keep going as slowly as I can. Finally over the top and hit the fireroad descent. It's almost over. I end up catching another rider, we're riding and chatting. Pretty much all downhill, he suddenly takes off. No idea why really so I follow, we quickly come off the road into a congested area, shit we are super close. I'm following hard on his wheel, into the campground. Whoa, he just railed a crazy jump in the grass, so I nail it too, get some good air. Can hear all the people cheering about the jump. Have to land and start sprinting hard, I pull right up next to him, but carrying so much speed, I can't swing the corner and have to go wide.

79th place 9:46 official. 9:02 ride time. Considering I felt like absolute death, I'm fairly ok with that.

Click thru for full size

Immediately grab 2 beers from my cooler and head to the creek under the bridge and just chill in the ice cold rain water from the night before. I'd been thinking about the water and beer for 99.5 miles!