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.

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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!