6 Hours of Power

Well, the 6 Hours of Power went off yesterday down in Ellicottville. Course conditions were perfect, weather conditions were perfect. My fitness though currently is far from perfect. Having just come off a huge block of family obligations, pretty much had very little training in the bag over the past month.

All Smiles prior to the Race Start.

Once the race was underway, things shook out a bit differently than I would have liked. I felt ok on the 1st lap, but my hr was jacked higher than I would have liked it to be at the effort I was at normally. I had to scale it back a little bit on the climbs in order to keep myself from doing to much. I was sweating hard on the 1st lap, but wasn't feeling anything in the legs. The fact I threw my chain into the spokes a few times on the lap didn't help the mojo either. I slammed my bottle and took some endurolytes and sport legs at the finish of the lap. I started to cramp on the 2nd lap and made sure to take extra water at the aid stations. By the time the 3rd lap rolled around, I was still hanging on ok, but was now stopping at the aid stations to down about 5 cups of water and refill my bottles.

A Silly Crash on Lap 3 left me bloody and bruised >

By the time Lap 4 rolled around I was starting to feel a little better, but still nonetheless had to stop at the aid stations and down as much water as I could stomach. The heat had my stomach doing flips, so I really wasn't eating much of anything each lap so no I was starting to bonk, and bonk I did on my fifth lap. I had caught and passed a solo rider who I was battling with for most of the race and put in a little attack in the singletrack. I put some good time into him, but that pretty much zapped everything out of my legs. I ended up just rolling in the rest of the lap at a walking pace. I was barely turning over the pedals at this point. I ended up with 5 laps completed and for the 1st time at 6HOP I finished off the podium.

No worries though as I have a good 2 weeks to prep myself up and train pretty hard for the Suicide Six! I also can't wait till then cause Lindsey will be here!!!!

Currently playing in iTunes: To the Sky by Maps

...I believe Rasmussen...

...I believe Rasmussen...

(Via Drunk Cyclist.)

Tour de France 2007: Rasmussen pulled out of Tour, fired by Rabobank

Tour de France 2007: Rasmussen pulled out of Tour, fired by Rabobank: "After 10 days in the yellow jersey, Michael Rasmussen appeared to have beaten back all challengers in his pursuit of the top spot on the Tour de France's final podium in Paris this coming Sunday"

That's it Road Cycling and the Tour are Officially Dead. Astana is gone, Cofidis is gone

"Nature culls sick herds of animals. Cycling is just going through a natural culling . . . sad to say, but true. The riders and teams that have chosen to be clean will survive this." -- Jonathan Vaughters, manager of U.S.-based Team Slipstream


"The Tour is Dead, Long Live the Tour!"

Getting Back into the Swing

So my brother got married this past weekend. Poor Sucker! Just kidding. It was a great time. Had lots of fun at the Rehearsal Dinner and at the Wedding. But I sure am glad that it is all over with.....

Time to get the bike back up and running and to get back to some normal routines. Don't have too long to get some good fitness for the Wilderness 101, so we'll see how that one goes. I put a bit of time on the road bike lately. First miles in a long time. Also been doing a bit of singlespeeding and that has been a bit of fun.

Hopefully I'll have Mary Poppins up and running prior to Saturday's Dryer Rd time trial....

Currently playing in iTunes: Give 'Em Hell, Kid by My Chemical Romance

Tour de France - Live Tracker 2007

Tour de France - Live Tracker 2007: This is pretty frigging cool, follow along the Tour and check out the riders heart rate, cadence, speed and power and location.

I was all ready to ignore the Tour this year, but damn if I'm not getting all swept up in it!

FYI: Apparently doesn't work in Safari; use the fox

Drunk takes a free bike ride on car roof - Yahoo! News

Drunk takes a free bike ride on car roof - Yahoo! News: AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - "Police officers in the Dutch city of Alkmaar were surprised to see a car passing by with a man sitting on a bicycle on its roof.
The driver and his wife, when stopped by the police, said they heard a noise while waiting at a traffic light, but did not realize they were taking on an extra passenger.
The 26 year-old man who took the free ride was fined for public drunkenness, not carrying an identity card and providing a false identity to the police"

Always wondered if it would work!

Morning Road Ride

Got out for a nice early road ride with Mark and Suzanne Hartman this morning. What a beautiful morning it was. It felt great to get out and stretch the legs, especially after last night Glenwood World Cup. I rode the Single Speed again and Mark was on his new Blur. He was pretty much a blur to me the whole ride as I was pushing as hard as I could to keep up with him. But that's par for the course, especially when Betty shows up beforehand.

Tomorrow is my brothers bachelor party, going to play some golf in the morning then hit up some good food and fun that evening. We'll see if I behave myself completely or not. I have a feeling this is going to be one long week with all the family and friends in town for the wedding next weekend

Sunday hopefully I won't be hurting too bad and can put some time back on the road bike again with maybe a nice century or so...

Currently playing in iTunes: Bones by Editors

Shindagin Hollow

Yesterday, was a nice ripper of a day down at Shindagin Hollow. Mark, Suzanne, Chris, the dogs and I bailed on our original plan of pulling a century around Cayuga Lake on the road bikes and hit the trail instead. It was a cool, crisp and wet day. I rode Mark's Singlespeed (Fisher Rig) for the 1st time. Somehow I lost a crankbolt on my ergomo so the Supercal is down for a bit.

Trail conditions were incredible even though it was pouring. Ripping it up on the singlespeed was just so much fun. Plus going back to a hardtail was pretty cool. I think I might just have to go get me one of those :) . I had a full on blast. I kinda love those conditions where its sopping wet, but the trail is just perfect riding. I haven't had that much fun on a bike in a real long time. I think there was a permanent grin splattered with a little mud on my face the whole ride. Lizzy was having a blast too! She is for sure tired from it today though, as she hasn't moved. Same with Cadence, she never even made it upstairs to bed last night!

My racing is on a little hiatus with my brother getting married on the 14th. But I'll be swinging back in time for the Dryer Rd Time Trial on the 21st. That should be some fun.

I'm out for now...