Suicide Six

My Suicide Six entry can be found over at the Fisher 29er Crew Site

Poor Lizzy

I was all prepped up Friday afternoon and ready to head to the God's Country Marathon at Ski Denton in PA. I was dialing in the Superfly, ready to put the pedal back on and all would be good. Then disaster struck, literally. My dog, Lizzy, who was sitting next to me took off suddenly. Darting for the end of the driveway at full speed. Mind you, she's a hound mix and in that short distance she'll top out at 30mph. As soon as Lizzy took off, my spidey sense went crazy and I took off after her. I was a bit late as she entered the road she plowed into the side of a vehicle. Yelping and barking, I managed to get her to calm down. An overnight stay at the vet with some major painkillers and she was back home on saturday am, limping and sore. She's still yet to put weight on her right hind leg, but all seems ok from what could have been a major disaster. Guess she is gonna be laid up for a bit and that means no more riding for her for the rest of the summer :(

On a good note though, I did manage to get out saturday after I made sure she was home and settled ok. I headed down to Honeoye Lake where this weekends NYSERS finale, the Suicide Six will be held and put some laps in the newly modified course.




The course is completely changed for the 2008 race. I'm not in agreement with the changes as I thought the course was one of the best ever the original way it was run. The infamous "rattler" 800ft super technical descent has been completely removed and the course is run backwards. This essentially makes it an entirely new course as the trail is hardly ever ridden backwards as the 8 mile loop is almost always run in the original course direction.



I can't complain though, it's going to be an awesome event and after putting in a few laps I was able to get the flow of the course.





Naturally though as I was onsite, I had to take a run down the "rattler" for old times sake.

Sunday, I pulled out the road bike and headed for the hills. I don't think I've pulled of a road century this season? So it was a good time to put in a nice hard one with ginormous amounts of climbing. Having saturdays efforts in my legs left me a little tired and weary, but I managed to drill it for the majority of the day. I headed south to some of my favorite hills into Penn Yan then over Naples for even more climbing.

It ended up being a great day (no pics as rain was forecasted) and by the end of the ride the legs finally loosened up. I was quite a bit tired post-ride, but damn excited as my newborn nephew was in town and I got to hold him for the first time!

Here's hoping the legs are good and the rain holds off for tomorrow nights Farmall XC!!

Plattekill(ed) me

This weekend was stop #2 for the NYSERS 6 hour series at Plattekill Mt.. While Platty is traditionally a downhill mecca, they have a great capability to put on a few xc races per season.

The 6 hour course would be a true return to the roots of Plattekill racing. No more taking the easy way out and riding the lift up to do the loop. This time we'd be riding the 1300' ft plus of climbing all the way up, but that also meant coming back down.

Temps were unusually high for early June (mid 90's, heavy sun and high humidity) as it was throughout most of the US this weekend. That meant hydration and staying cool would be the key to the race. It would indeed be tough to do both as the opening climb was a mile in length with hardly any shade, only to tuck you into another .5 mile of singletrack climbing.

My race started off great, the run was a little weird as it was only about 100 ft to get the bike. I didn't jump hard right away as we had a long climb and I slowly paced myself to the front of the group. I was chasing down a singlespeeder and caught him about 1/3rd of the way up the climb. I chugged on feeling great and into the singletrack where I had a few minutes lead. Once into the rocky and technical singletrack, the Superfly matched with the Bonty Dry X's were rolling along awesomely.

In the singletrack I kept humming along and really pushed it out in the more open sections of the course to expand upon my lead.

The descent was super fast and super fun. Having been spending lots of time in Naples recently, means I've been doing alot of descending. As such my high speed descending skills are getting really strong. With the descent switching from dry loose rock to grassy and wet in a few sections, it was important to be on top of your game.

I rolled through the 1st lap still holding my lead and stopped in the pits for a cold bottle and also grabbed a "mini" disposable bottle to dump on my head and keep me cool on the climb. It worked and I flew up the climb and turned in another fast lap only about a minute or 2 slower. However the sub 50 minute laps and the heat and humidity were catching up. At the start of lap 3 I grabbed a fresh bottle and 2 more disposable waters. I ended up drinking both waters on the way up the climb and slamming the bottle at the top of the course. I was feeling great and my lead was still holding on strong. I even managed to pass a group of downhillers on the main descent (the course used the beginner DH course, and the mt. was open in other areas, but a few poached the trail). I think my speed in the lycra and on hardtail suprised them a little bit as they were in full gear.

By the time I started my 4th lap, I had to grab 2 bottles of drink, plus 2 disposable bottles of water. The heat and baking in the sun were really adding up. My lead was holding steady and according to the checkpoints at the top, may have even been getting bigger. Slamming down the final descent, I tore a hole in the rear. I tried to shake it out and let the sealant do the work. It started to hold so I threw a co2 in and that ended up blowing the sealant out. It managed to catch again and I thought I would be ok, started riding and tire went flat again. I added another c02 thinking I could get it to hold as I was only about .5 mile from the bottom where I had spare wheels. I put the 2nd co2 in and managed to get just a short bit farther on the course and was forced to pull out the tube and start hand-pumping. Up until this point I was still holding my lead (~10 minutes), but as I was pumping the tire, which seemed like it took all of eternity to just get a little air in there, I got passed by a few riders.

With frustration, I remounted and was trying to regain my top spot. I managed to climb about 3/4 the way up the mt. and just wasn't shaking the heat. I actually started to get a chill. With the stopping to fix the flat and jumping up the climb I forgot to drink. With that I decided that I was happy with my fitness and what I had accomplished and decided to pull the plug and head home.

I did have good reason to get home, my sister was having her going away party as she leaves for New York City this weekend. I'm not disappointed that I dnf'd. It happens, it's part of racing. For sure I was a little bummed when I first dropped out, but looking back I had a good race and you can't make a big fuss over things you can't control.

My form is really coming along and temps should settle a little bit this weekend. I'm super-excited to be racing the Hardcore 24 Solo this weekend coming up. Home course, baby!

More time in Naples

Naples, NY is just too much fun to stay away from. Trails are about 45 minutes away give or take and offer multiple routes, incredible scenery, lung searing climbs and bike busting descents. With the trail building going on at Ontario County Park (check the map for the gory details), the trail network in the area is getting even better.

Last night, I headed for another go with Matt Hanggi down in Naples.

Yup, we climbed up to the top of that overlook and we are heading down into that valley!

The plan was to get down, do a few sections, grab the lights and do a little bit more. I've been doing a ton of riding lately and getting a little dis-satisfied with the constant intake of gels, liquid supplements, bars, etc. Last night I decided to go a whole different route:

The dawn of a new age in riding nutrition

We managed to pull of a nice little ride. Stats: 3:15, 52k, 1350m of climbing.

First 10k was a nice little road climb to the trail head

Right of the bat we hit a nice little 10k climb. I noticed I was feeling quite good and decided to test myself a little bit. I climbed about as well as I could. I wasn't ever really suffering and I toiled along on the flats not pushing it as hard as I could've. After a bit I realized I was on pace to set a new PR, so I started grinding away the last 2-3k to set a better time. I managed to climb it in 29:30, a good record, the usual 'decent' time to climb the hill is around 40 minutes. A far cry from my PR on the road (23:30), but I'll take it for sure.

At the top we dove into OCP where Hanggi has been spending plenty of time, marking manicuring and ensuring the existence of the trail network. Got to ride a few new sections. It seems every time I head to Naples, I'm treated with a new trail. Kinda like Edmund's turkish delight heading down there. Can't ever seem to get enough.

Superfly is rocking and rolling as usual

After the awesomely fun OCP descent, we headed over to Cutler to ride the Orange Trail. It's a main staple on the Hardcore 24 course coming up next weekend. I've ridden and raced the trail numerous times and it never disappoints. Besides I'll need to know it inside and out as I'll be half asleep riding it here in a few weeks. We were greeted by the Wednesday night Crew at the parking lot for Cutler. 20 or so fellas, out escaping from the wives, riding and sharing a few brews. We chatted and hung for a bit, but the lights were at the car and dusk was approaching fast. It's nice to see a large group of riders like that out and having fun.

After a brief pit stop at the car to mount the lights, we headed up the Parish road Carriage Trail climb. I was still feeling pretty good so I was able to gave it a little bit of gas there as well. At the top we jumped into the Hi-Tor section and had fun negotiating the slick roots and rocks from the short and light rain that we had just ridden through. It's always fun to work on the tech skills, even more fun at night!

Luckily we emerged from Hi-Tor unscathed and were ready for the finale, the DEC descent. Blasting down the descent at night is a little hairy. High speeds, singletrack on the edge of a ravine, shale rock gardens and some good drops keep you on your edge. The first section, I might as well have closed my eyes. Hitting the shale river bed, my light was bouncing around and creating all kinds of funky tricks on the eyes. I just pointed the Superfly straight and kept moving forward. Ate up the trail with ease.

I'm feeling great and ready for this weekend's Plattekill 6 hour race. round #2 of the NYSERS.

Currently playing in iTunes: Step Right Up by Black Lips

Power tap is here!

Highland was this past weekend. See the writeup over on the 29er Crew site

Farmall #2 is tonight. Hopefully, I can flip some things around and stay near the front this time. I've got my new toy to help me out. I picked up my power tap disc on from the GBC on thursday and today will be the first day out on it. I'm gonna head to dryer prior to the race and put in some time and a few laps to loosen the legs up after this weekend. I was a little lazy and the rain kept me bundled up inside the past few days.

I'll treat you to the pics though! It's oh so pretty!

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