Ergomo is on it's way!

Just got the FedEx notification that my Ergomo Unit is being shipped back to me!

Can't wait to start the power party again...

Weekly Wrap-up

I'd like to drive some traffic over to the 29er Crew website so you can read all about my riding and training for the most part over there. For the list of my entries go here ,I'll most likely double up my posts for a while. I'll keep adding little tidbits here on this site and maybe start blogging about other things besides just bikes and racing.

Back to the main event...

This has been a tough week. 18.5 hours and a TSS score of 964! Whoa. Needless to say, monday, I'm sitting here wiped out. I pretty much want to do nothing but sleep and eat food. I'm famished. I spent the middle days of the week doing some hill work and intervals and managed to get out for some big time riding this weekend.

Saturday, I had to get the car fixed in Victor again. I headed south into Naples, for some good hill climbing. Hit up West Gannett, Griesa, Egypt and the climb out of Bristol. It was a good day, 5+ hours in the saddle and I felt great.

the paragon takes a rest at the top of W. Gannett

As far as sunday goes; the post from the 29er crew and write-up is available here , But I'll throw in some pics for your viewing pleasure.

Rolling along the lakefront

Quiet Sunshine day



Suzanne enjoys the lakeshore



Stayin warm in the early am (20 degrees)



Mark attacks the rollers



The Champ tells it like it is



Climbing up Winding Stairs



Still climbing



Mark Flats





Sunday afternoon traffic

I miss my ergomo :(

Pic from sunset ride today is all...



Sun sets over Montezuma Refuge

Warm(er) and Windy...It's all relative

Work has been incredibly boring these past few days. When you are a software tester; waiting around for the developer to deliver you an application can take some time. I've filled my days by continually hitting refresh on various blog websites and trying not to drool on my keyboard while I sleep.

I do ask for work, believe me I'd rather be doing something. Yesterday managed to be a nice day, so I decided to leave a little bit early and head out for a ride in the wind and warmer temps.

On monday, I had swung into the Geneva Bicycle Center and picked up a new Giro Atmos (full flash site). So yesterday was a nice day to put it to the test.



Testing out the atmos

It's quite the helmet, very light and breathable. I could hardly tell it was on me noggin at all. A nice secondary aspect is my sunglasses fight quite nice when you put them up in the helmet.

The ride itself was great. Super windy day though, gusts in the 30-40 mph range, and constant around 20-25mph. Somehow I managed to ride mostly cross/headwind most of the ride and stay out of it directly. I felt really good and hit up a few hills for extra bike practice.



no need for shoe covers

It's starting to get to the point where I'm feeling good and strong and almost ready to race (less than a month!). I pushed it hard for the 3 hours I was out on the roads and came home feeling strong. It helped that I had a massive tailwind the whole way home. Even though I am running road gearing (12-27) on the paragon, I was running out of gear at 44x12 with the wind whipping so hard. I barely had to give it gas to keep flying forward.

It's looking nice out there again, better get back to work so I can squeeze in another one (I actually have work today!)

Currently playing in iTunes: Stars in Concert 10-22-2007 by NPR

Back to the dirt; Finally

Finally hit the dirt this past weekend. Been quite a while. Yesterday, headed over to MPH. Casey, Val, Mark, Suzanne, Jim, c-dog and lizzy along with myself put in a few miles before the trails thawed. Since the paragon has been pulling double duties, a quick wheel swap was required in the am and I was out the door.

It was nice to be on the dirt and the sugary snow that was left in a few hidden areas. I think the last time I was off-road was at the hollow a few weeks ago! Been that long, damn. Alas, my mind hadn't forgotten how to handle the bike, but some subtle nuances were missing. I wasn't out of my element, but definitely wasn't on top of my A-game. I felt really good climbing the hills and making the transitions, that you get in mt. biking but miss out on on the road. It was nice to be in the woods and get the stillness and quietness of nature. It wasn't very quiet though when you hit the crunchy snow; with a gaggle of riders, you could barely hear yourself think it was so ungodly loud.

The day ended a little bit early for myself and lizzy as she had taken off early for her usual exit. She returned, a little bloody, and tired. She hobbled on as long as she could, but I ended up having to walk her out of the woods as she could barely move. She hasn't opened her eyes up since she's been home.

Hopefully all the snow will be gone soon everywhere and the trails will open up.

Most likely not gonna happen, but one can wish right? Oh well, there's always the California singletrack to look forward to in a few weeks right?

Friday and Saturday where the usual road excursions. Friday was almost cut short, but a quick pit stop in the GBC helped bring some bloodflow back to my fingers, and I managed to make it home for the nice 40 minute hot shower to continue the thawing process. Saturday was nice sun-shinny 4 hour day and dealing with the wind.



Feeling really good on the bike right now, but taking today off to do some cleaning and bike maintenance and get some stuff up on ebay.

I'll edit this draft and post some pictures; I've got some, but have been slacking as the cable is at work and camera is always at home.....

Spinning in the Rain

I'm Spinning in the rain, just spinning in the rain...Well, the weather here in Upstate NY is at it's usual finest. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the snow is gone. But, ma nature isn't being extremely kind.

Yesterday it was in the mid 40's and wet, gusty and rainy. I had to head out of town the past 2 days for work related business, so I decided to loosen the legs up after work this evening. Having come off a nice epic ride this past weekend I definitely needed to get the blood flowing.

I hemmed and hawed at whether or not to go, why not just skip it? It's just a short ride to loosen up the legs. Well it took one glance at my bracelet, and my mantra for the current season:

Harden the f@ck up!

That was enough to light a fire and keep me warm for the entire ride.

Hopefully the weather cooperates and can get out the next few days. I've refused to ride the trainer for this season and regardless, get all my miles in on the road/trails (and I've been pretty good at it too!).

Considering my days left till race season was just cut in half as I'm heading out to Sea Otter next month, every day get's extremely important!

How does one know they are chomping at the bit? When the phone calls for Easter dinner come in, and you are running in your head how you can fit in a 6+ hour ride and still make it home in time for the food to be warm!

Woohoo Happy Spring!!!

Nice little block

Well, I got the powertap back on Thursday, only to break a tab on the battery holder. Essentially it's useless now. I got 5 years almost out of that bad boy so I'll take it, considering it lasted so long. Guess I'm stuck with training on the paragon (which isn't so bad).

Thursday was a pretty crappy day on the bike, I felt horrible. The legs were crushed and had no snap. It didn't help I was fighting a brutal cross/head wind the whole ride. Friday was a nice day so I rolled out for a few hours, the legs actually felt quite a bit snappy, but I reigned them in as Saturday was going to be a big day.

Saturday, I headed over to my old stomping grounds. I had to get the car fixed in Victor, so I decided to put in a big day from there and head south to Naples. It was a beautiful day, and I even wore gloves that were quite a bit too warm (as my shriveled fingers from sweat showed). I headed south as usual into Bristol. Its nice rolling farm country heading south, then slowly climbs till you get to the top of the Egypt hill (main climb in the Bristol Road Race). I descended that like a banshee (I was on the paragon after all!) and headed around to climb Mosher hill. Usually the thing is a bear of a climb on a road bike, but I had little lower gearing and actually felt really good climbing it. My legs were feeling nice now and I headed into Naples to refuel. After a few minutes in the bathroom (drying my clothing out from sweat), I topped off the water bottles and headed out. I immediately hit the Gannet hill climb (6 miles to the top). I was feeling good and keeping it tempo the whole ride. I flickered a bit here and there with threshold, but I knew that I had put a lot of energy out so far on the ride and continued climbing at a strong but quick pace.

Heading to the hills

After I the climb, I had a blast descending West Gannet. A car attempting to make a turn into the driveway scared the shit out of me. Nothing like descending like a madman at 40+ mph and a car unsure of how fast you are going and contemplating turning in front of you. Luckily, we made eye contact and me waving my hands like, WTF!?! he stopped quickly. A few miles of flats to stretch the legs, up the final climb out of Bristol and slammed it home.

To the top of that is where I'm heading



5 and a half hours of some good tempo in the hills and I was feeling great. I'm super amazed at Sustained Energy. It rocks! 4 bottles of that, 1 flask of gel and some clif blocks was all I needed for the ride. In comparison when I rode around Seneca lake, I was using a different drink and just fizzled out halfway into the ride. I felt like I could have ridden 10 hours on Saturday.

Looking down Gannet, what I just came up



Today looks nice and I might head to the trails in a few or hit the roads if they thaw. Short day for work as I have to drive to PA tonight for an early AM session tomorrow.

Wednesday, I'll be back on track....

Game On!

Well this weekend was a bit of a wash. Mother nature didn't want to let me out the door on Saturday. Saturday night was Suzanne's 30th birthday party. The Hallejuneva crew hit the local bowling lanes with flair. A bunch of skinny bike racers and a few beers makes for a rowdy crowd. After getting slapped in the face by the cost of "cosmic" bowling, we decided to do regular bowling and had ourselves a blast. Highlight of the night was Hanggi's two-handed over the head soccer-style throw!! Haha, I can't believe we didn't get kicked out.

Sunday was laid low, very very low. You see, Mr. Jagermeister and I became too good of friends back at Mark and Suzanne's place. Talking to him a few times is alot of trouble. I paid for it all day and I mean all day. And just getting back from the bike shop, so did Mark!

I did manage to get out last night. Temps are starting to warm up and the sun is shining. The new daylight savings time is awesome!! It was another great day on the paragon. Put in some miles and a few good hard efforts for about 2 hours total time. With any luck here I may shift my work schedule a bit earlier so I can start putting in 3-4 hour days on a regular basis. Power-tap is back, time to bump things up a little bit.

Major Side Note!!: I'm going to Sea Otter. Woohoo! Never been to Cali, and nothing like the first race of the season being an xc race against a huge field of semi-pro's. The legs are for sure going to hurt. Guess I better start putting in some more "xc" training hours for this one. Thanks to the folks at Crankskins, as I'll be heading out there with EJ and the crew. Working the booth/tent and sneaking away for some rides as much as possible.

"Wrap Your Crank!!"

I'm Superfly!

The order for this Bad-Boy has been placed!! Couldn't pass up the offer on this one as I'm part of the Fisher 29er Crew this season. Soon there will be a full site up for everyone on the 29er crew and you'll be able to visit and read about our racing adventures, bikes and blogs there....No worries, I'll most likely double post, or just set this site up to re-direct over there.

Yesterday was a great day weatherwise! :( But alas, I was stuck in the office with loads of work. So what did I do, I strapped on the lights and hit the road on the paragon and put in some time. It was a little extra inky black dark out, but I managed to have some fun on the bike and get some nice intervals in.

This morning I pulled the paragon back out and put in a nice few hours. The morning rides are so serene and peaceful. I rolled down along the lake front and enjoyed the stillness of the water and everything around me (I forgot my camera). I did see a Robin though! So that's a good sign the weather is changing. Form is coming fast and I feel super motivated, more so than any other season. Can't wait to line up and lay the tires to the dirt sometime again.

I'm feeling great right now and hopefully this winter storm we are supposed to get tonight/tomorrow never comes and I can get in a bunch of hours this weekend. I also hope Saturday night's bowling party for Suzanne's 30th doesn't do me in too bad ;)

Power-less

I went out for a ride on Monday to enjoy the weather, and well the power-tap wasn't agreeing. Possibly cause it's 4 1/2 years old? Literally the rear hub froze solid on me. I'm dropping it off and the GBC and let them rebuild the hub or it may need whole new axle. If it's anything excessive, buh-bye. My road bike is essentially used for training and it's showing it's wear. The durace (yah i know it's dura-ace, but its fun to say dur-rachi) is 5 + years old and the thousands of miles on the salty roads of upstate NY winters have me basically working with a front brake, and a "kick-shift" front der. I'll ride her till she dies.

In the meantime the paragon is fully set-up to handle all the necessary duties for road and off-road riding. I may never go back to the road bike if the ergomo returns. I may even end up with one of these. All depends, but most likely will. So in the meantime it's down to some Perceived exertion and manual TSS.

This weekend kicks off the Rochester Giros Spring Training Series. Guess who won't be showing up as you need a GVCC membership? $20 to race, plus another $60 for GVCC membership, plus $150 UCI license????? And it's now on the west side of Rochester, ya F that. I'll get better training on my own time rather than the 2.5 hours spent in the car.

Looks like a nice day out there, better get back to work so I can take a long lunch and sneak a few hours in today....

Oh Almost Forgot!! NYSERS site is now live and running!!

Currently playing in iTunes: Star Of Bethlehem by Angels & Airwaves

Solo Weekend

Spent the past weekend on some solo adventures. All in all a great weekend of training. Would've liked a bit more time on Saturday, but the Ol' man winter had made up his mind.

Saturday, I put in just over 2 hours of brutality. It was 30 degrees with 30mph winds. Pretty much every backroad that ran North-South was insane. With the winds blowing so fierce they were creating massive snow drifts across the roads in unprotected sections. I'd say I crossed about 50 snow drift, some up to 100 meters long or so. I was forced to walk one, as the wind pushed me around so much I couldn't stay upright in the snow. The good news is I didn't crash in any of the others and after negotiating a few difficult ones, they became fairly easy as you just found a good line and cruised. If there was no line, I just hit the gravel off the shoulder and it provided decent enough grip to stay upright. The last few mile, though the snow picked up pretty heavily and became difficult to see more than a few hundred meters. Naturally, after I get home and clean up the sun comes out and all is good.

Sunday, was a great day 35 and sunshine all day. Light winds, but nothing major. I decided I would just give it a good day on the bike. I headed south into the rolling hills of Seneca Lake Wine Country and put in 142k circumnavigating the lake. I felt pretty good for the 1st 3 hours or so, but by the time I climbed out of Watkins Glen, I could tell that my meal from the night before didn't prepare me well enough for the ride. I'd eaten well on the bike, and prior; but not enough for dinner. I can pretty much tell how much an effect a meal or even certain foods now has on my training. I didn't expect I'd put in such a big day, but then who can argue when the sun is shining and its a nice day. If there wasn't snow on the ground I'd have thought it was June. The last 20k of the ride I suffered a bit, but suffer now and feel good come race day!

I was suppose to ride this morning with Mark and Suzanne, but I bailed for more sleep after yesterday. However right now, its 47 and the sun is shining. Yah, I have a "appointment" around 3pm ;) ..... gotta take advantage while I can!!