Been just crazy these past few weeks. Don't even know where to begin here on the blog. This past wednesday I did manage to get out for a good ride with the GBC and Hollow crew prior to my departure.
We hit up Shindagin Hollow for a few hours of play. The night prior we had played hard at the Hartman's. Suzanne served up some great chili, then it was time for some pool and mod racing. The mod crit quickly grew into a who could do better donuts. With that, we preceded to open the garage door and try to do them out on the wet driveway.
Needless to say, there was some fun that we had. Wednesday down at Shindagin was a great day. Fall foliage was in full bloom and the trails were in perfect shape.
We managed a huge crew (Jer-Bear, Casey, Der-Kaiser, Hanggi, Fry Guy, Marky Mark, Suz and I) for a wednesday afternoon. Mark was kind enough to lend me his Hi-Fi 29er. I made sure to put it to work hitting some gap jumps, riding 6 ft high skinnies, north shore bridge drops (and subsequent crashes) and tearing up the trails. Could a dualie be in my future?
The past few days were spent at a Coaching Seminar in Ypsilanti, Mi. I learned how to go real fast, and learned boat loads of info. It's going to come in real handy. Next week I have the Coaching Summit in Colorado Springs and plan on learning even more info. Believe me, if you want to be fast for next season, hit your goals, and have fun, there's nothing better than a coach
Monday, October 06, 2008
Busy, Busy
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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
Friday, September 19, 2008
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!
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| From Cross 09 |
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| From Cross 09 |
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| From Cross 09 |
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| 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!
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
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
Monday, September 08, 2008
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
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wednesday's Moonlight Ride in Naples
This past wednesday saw the band get back together again. Mark, Suzanne, Casey, Hanggi, myself and even Brandon Furber and Chris Frey! We had quite the group. We decided to meet down in Naples and traverse the first loop of the Humbler, aka "dirty thirty". 30 miles of brutal climbing and insanely ripping descents.
We started off attempting to bush-whack our way through a newly built trail that overlooks the Naples creek, but the gang forgot that things grow during the summer and not during winter/spring. It was like Jurassic park, trying to get through a jungle. I nearly ripped my rear der off, and ended up bending the hangar and having a bunch of crap wrapped around my cassette. After we got through and to East Hill, we decided we'd have to skip that section because there is too much work that needs to be done in too little of time. After our usual grind up East hill, we decided we'd do a bomber run down the Hanglider trail (not in the Humbler as technically it's not rideable)
The hanglider is one of the fastest and fun descents around, super steep, lots of twists and turns, mud, jumps, etc. Casey showed us all how not to ride a water bar as he thought the best way to do this was only on your front wheel, with your chest on your stem. He managed get ahold of that bucking bronco, but the trail eventually wrestled him down when a good set of thorns reached out and wrapped around him and tried to drag him into the earth. Luckily; Mark and I were following closely enough and could rescue him. It took some saws and clippers, but we eventually defeated the mutant thorn bush. Casey wasn't the only victim though as Hanggi destroyed a wheel (just riding along!) and Chris flatted.
Our next adventure had us taking the long climb up Italy Hill to clear that trail, and then descend back down. Luckily, the anaerobic olympics had been held earlier this season as we climbed a little easier this time around, but still had quite a few major trees down that we had to clear. At the top after doing some good trail maintenance we managed to catch an incredible evening sunset.
It's awful difficult to explain the beauty, but a nice pine woods backdrop, with a fire engine red, fading to an incredible indigo blue, fading into an inky black, with stars peppering the scene. All this while standing in a tall field of white carrot flowers. It was quite mesmorizing and will stick with me for a long time.
After that, we got to firebomb down the trail with our lights. Descending at night, on high speed tech is just incredibly thrilling. Your reaction times need to be ninja quick at high speed, because you have a flash of a second to react as most likely, you really can't see what's coming up on the trail. Suzanne fell victim to Italy Hill and managed a pinch flat on the way down, after a quick fix it was time for the last climb.
Basset/Brink hill would brings us up to the top and ready for the DEC descent. Our non-chalant group ride quickly turned into a testosterone fest on the final climb. Hanggi took off early and established a gap, while Casey, Brandon and I rode tempo. Upon seeing Hanggi no longer increasing, I started to up the tempo to catch. Brandon followed and we caught Hanggi and accelerated up Brink Hill. As we climbed the steep pitch of Brink, Hanggi dropped off the pace leaving Brandon and I to ride side-by-side down the road, neither of us able to drop the other, nor willing to provide the shelter of a draft. In the end it'd have to be a draw.
The ride finished off with the DEC descent, bone-jarring, cliff-traversing, super tech. All at high speed in the dark. Mark decided to take the lead and I followed. At such high speeds and the light bouncing around, I was truthfully riding completely blind. Working only on instinct and the feel of the rubber to the dirt. After having followed Mark's wheel for the past 10 years or so, one has a good feel for the rider. I trust his lines and followed him and can read his body movements perfectly and adapt to the trail just by watching him and never looking at the ground. We all managed to make it down and out of the trail safely.
It was an incredible ride, and I'm bummed I forgot my camera :(
Best of luck to Mark/Suzanne and Ej and Jimmy this weekend at the Hot August Nights. I'll be finishing off my final weekend of prep work before the Shenandoah 100
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Hardcore 24: Long Version
The Hardcore 24 was this past weekend. I raced the solo category for my 4th SOLO 24 hour event. I finished 2nd overall at the even 2 years ago with 16 laps and last year had turned in 9 laps before the race was called. My goal this time out was to turn in 20 laps and keep consistent.
The first few laps, my energy was good and strong. Even with the poor weather and amounts of rain, I was still motivated and ready to race. I ran consistent and actually geared down on the climbs so I wouldn't exert a tremendous amount of energy early. I kept myself in check even though, I really did want to race like it was a 6 hour event. I turned a good first lap, and was the first solo to cross the line and one of the top 5? riders. I grabbed my first feed and kept on moving. I banged out the next few laps and early on was hesitating to take a feed at the midway point of the course. I was using sustained energy and my bottle still had plenty, but after a few laps I wasn't making it to the end of the lap and started grabbing feeds swinging through the pits.
Turning and Burning
After I finished my 6th lap, I came into the pits for a short break. I ate a delicious turkey and mayo sandwich, grabbed some advil, got the drivetrain cleaned and headed out after a few minutes of my feet and the saddle. It was somewhere around this point that 2nd place had closed the gap on me. I saw him in a few spots and pushed it in the singletrack, but eventually he managed to get a gap and get away from me. After running a few solid night laps, I had pulled him back in and eventually passed him. My plan at 10 laps in (10:30pm) was to take a solid rest, change into some dry clothing and give the bike a good overhaul. The muddy conditions were taking it's toll on the bike and a fresh set of clothes and the iPod were what I was looking forward to. I managed to break my front brake lever when I hit a tree a few laps prior. It was functioning, but needed a few zip ties to hold it together properly. A cleaning of the bike made a huge difference in the shifting and dry clothes never felt better. Another turkey and mayo sandwich and I was back out on the the course.
Grabbing a feed at the midway point
I was feeling great, I swapped to coke and water for my feeds. Was eating gels and clif bloks and my energy levels were up. I buried myself for a bit as I had been overtaken during my long break. I ran a bunch of consistent laps and held strong all through the night. I pulled back into 1st and was keeping tabs on my time checks. Sometime around 4am, I pulled into the pits to take a quick 5 min break, get the bike cleaned and eat another turkey sandwich. I emerged feeling great and still had a decent gap on 2nd.
Dawn brought newfound energy and resilience. I was motivated and hungry at this point. I still was feeling great and working hard. I was getting consistent time checks at the midway and end of each laps. I was putting almost 10 minutes per lap into 2nd. My pace was holding up and I wasn't losing time. Adrenaline was flowing and I was feeling great. Around 10am, I was up somewhere around the 40 minute range and disaster struck. Horrible pains in the tendons behind my left knee. Top of my calf and lower quad, were burning. I was babying my left leg and having trouble putting power down on the climbs. I gritted my teeth, pushing my bike up each steep climb and trying to make the time up on the descents.
Consistency is key, while hr was dropping each lap, my power levels pretty much remained the same. I averaged 1:07 per lap!
Hoping my time gap would stick and I could grind it out till the end. I crossed the line and headed out for my 19th lap, knowing I could finish it, but could I finish a 20th and could I 'race' for position? My gap was still in the mid 40's at the start of the lap. Suzanne actually caught and passed me, knowing I was in pain, hoping it wasn't going to be a "24 Solo" incident. I focused everything I had on finishing that 19th lap, and when I came through the halfway point, 2nd placed had conceded and was no longer on course. Man, was I exalted at that point. I lagged up the long climb and walked a few portions of the trail to ease the pain in my leg, but slammed it on the descent and back to the finish line. I checked to make sure I didn't need to go out for another and headed to the pits, only had to wait an hour and I could cross the line 1 final time for victory!!!
Victory!! My eyes are closed because I had been sleeping the last 30 min
Post race chatting it up with 2nd (white on the right)
Ma works the zoom a little too much on the podium
I had an excellent pit crew to help me out. My mother was there for every need for all 24 hours, at every lap and midway point when we swung through the pits. Jeremy (camp manager) took care of setting up the camp on Friday and taking care of my bike along with Dave the mother-f'in man. Special thanks also to Wendy, Val, Doyle and everyone else that was there and helped out.
Ma hands off another feed as I ready for another lap
Also a Huge thanks to my sponsors! Gary Fisher for making the best and fastest bike ever, the Superfly. Who says you can't race a hardtail at a 24 hour race? The Geneva Bicycle Center, taking care of my bike maintenance and accessory needs. EJ at Crankskins.com for pimping me some fat 29er Crew Custom Crankskins. Jeff at Ergon Grips for Keeping my hands comfy the whole race. Also thanks to Ay-Up Lighting for making some bright and lightweight lights, making it easy to see at night and not having to worry about carrying any extra weight. And a big thanks to Park Ave Bikes for putting on the race!
Huge Congrats also to Mark and Suzanne Hartman of the 29er Crew for not only taking the mixed doubles win, but the doubles overall!!! Also Congrats to Casey Conte and Matt Hanggi for taking the doubles win and 2nd doubles overall!!
Hosed after the Race
I won a nice 29er rigid Singlespeed!!!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wheelman Ride
Yesterday headed over to the Geneva Bicycle Center and headed out with a few new riders to hit the old Wheelman route. It's about a 38 mile ride with a few rolling hills, nothing major though. I added a few miles by riding there and back.
I was on the paragon, while everyone else was on the roadies. I suffered like a dog, it was a lot harder work than I thought it would be. But it was a great workout, with lots of time at threshold. Considering I don't think I ever made the ride once last year, I think they were teaching me a lesson for not showing up in a while ;) I tried my hand at a few attacks, and was able to bridge a few others, but the bike doesn't have the top end speed to bust out a killer move on the road or in a sprint. If I was on the trails it might've been a different story....
Time to rest up and clean up the road bike so I can ride that for the next time I make it out.
Coming up this Sunday is the Ramble around Prattsburgh, hope to see you there.
Currently playing in iTunes: Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie
Friday, April 04, 2008
I am Speed
(EDIT: this is a carbon copy of my blog entry on the 29er Crew)
I think the quote from the movie Cars, "I am speed!" is befitting now that I've got my Superfly in hand!! At least that's what comes to mind when I look at it.
I spent the better part of yesterday at the Geneva Bicycle Center playing hookie from work and installing my ergomo pro into the paragon, and doing some swapping on the Superfly.
I'm totally jacked to be rocking such a bike for this season. I haven't yet ridden it, but I can just tell it's gonna be fast, and we are gonna have some good times together. I can't wait to ride er'. My guess is it'll be out in Cali for Sea Otter when she gets broken in.
Naturally, I had to go with the Pink Bonty Cage. I didn't want to be kicked out of the CPBC (Coalition of Pink Bottle Cages). Fellow CPBCers and 29er crew members;Mark and Suzanne Hartman will be out there sporting the pink this season also. Suzanne's HiFi is even pimped out with some super-sweet pink brakes! I'm sure you will be reading some similar posts from us as we ride and train together often.
It was also nice to get my ergomo back. It's been a while since I've had some power data to work with. I used the ergomo on my supercaliber all of last season and found the data invaluable for training and racing. I did run power on my roadie, but now that I'm using the paragon for paved and un-paved adventures; the power numbers will be nice to look at. Below is my ride from yesterday, short and moderate paced. I gave it some gas on a few hills to check some numbers, and things are looking good for this season
Yellow is power, orange is elevation (30 second smoothing)
Back to work, looks like this will be a good weekend for riding. More posts and pics to come....
Currently playing in iTunes: All In It by British Sea Power
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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
Thursday, March 06, 2008
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
Monday, February 25, 2008
Exploring Corning
Headed down to Corning yesterday with the Geneva Crew to meet up with the Hollow Crew. Jer-Bear had pre-scouted some roads and terrain for what would shape up to be an "epic" day to say the least.
Temps were great, sun was shining; perfect day to be on the bikes.
Group climbs out of the city into the hills, enjoying the sun
Unknown to us on this very road, would be where we would do most of our playing
Coleman Rd aka the road of a million crashes. Under these few inches of snow was solid ice. Any sudden movement on the bike and you went down. Everybody hit the deck, often multiple times. It was hilarious, you could hardly go a few pedal strokes with out starting to slide sideways. Once you got speed, it was just inevitable you were going down. I can only imagine the thoughts of the people who lived in the area. For the howls weren't from the coyotes, but our howls of laughter.
Good time, loads of climbing, 40 miles out in the sun playing around. Can't wait to go back for more
Monday, September 17, 2007
Horrible 100: Long Version
My apologies for the lateness. I had to head out of town for work; and then I fell ill over the weekend
Full Writeup from the Horrible 100: Went of this past Sunday the 9th with 19 riders who showed up to brave the rainy conditions.
As is usual we kicked off as early as possible and got started just past 6am. The rain came down and was there all day long. The trails were wet, but completely rideable. Thankfully it was a predominately warm day.
The first loop (of 3) had us riding up East Hill right away and into Hi-Tor for some fun fire-road climbing then descending down and hitting the 2nd major climb of the route (Burke Hill). We hit the new section of singletrack across the top and then, Hanggi ended up needing to replace his der hanger. While he repaired that our group ended up re gathering and riding out acroos Pulver and onto the Italy Valley descent. Taylor and Chad had ridden thru and I bridged up to them on the descent. We hit the road together prior to the Wood Hill Climb were Taylor and I picked our way up the thru the loose rocky sections while it downpoured on us. We decided to roll on from that point and we pretty much rode together for the remainder of the day. Thru the Orange trail in Hi-Tor and down the DEC. descent was all that was left at this point. The roots in Hi-Tor proved to be pretty damn tricky but negotiable. I was afraid that the DEC descent was going to be super slick due to all the shale rocks being wet, but it was a tree root that took me out about a third of the way down.
Arrived back at base camp, refueled with all the goodies that the girls provided (huge thanks!).
The 2nd loop was epic. Taylor, Chad and I rolled out to the Griesa rd climb. Taylor and I hit it pretty good up the climb and bombed straight thru Ontario County Park with no issues. Took the road over to Stid hill rd and climbed that. The road was brutally steep but not that bad. Got into Stid Hill where it was a bit muddy but tolerable and picked our way clean to the base of Bristol Mt. Bristol was where everyone cracked pretty much. It's a tolerable climb coming fresh into it. The base of the climb is not bad but it get's long after a while and right as you get to the top you hit the steepest points. Needless to say, I was fried at that point and decided to walk. I wasn't the only one.... Bombed the super loose shale/rocky descent on the backside and started the road climb up to Cutler.
The soggy day took its toll
I hit Cutler feeling ok, but by the time I got on to the Carriage Trail I was out of food. I bummed a bar off of Taylor and headed up the climb to the top of the field and into the Pinewoods (Essentialy riding the 24 hour race course backwards). The bar really wasn't enough food at this point and I had scarce energy left. Taylor was riding strong but I was dropping him a little bit on the descents. Seeing as we had to descend the orange trail and ride mostly road back with a short bit of descent through the closed road, I decided to ride on ahead for fear of bonking. I hit the rest area about 5 minutes ahead of Taylor. I was happy to see Lindsey there waiting for me, but just as happy to gorge myself on anything I could put my hands on. I was soo hungry and ate everything I could. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was, because the next group of riders all came in from finishing the loop and everyone had run out of water and food!
4 soldiers decided to head out together for the last loop; although Chad was shortly behind us after some food and change of clothes. Taylor, Hanggi, Jim and I decided to brave it all the way to the end. I was the only one who forgot my light and I paid for it. The rain started to come a little heavier and the temps dropped quite a bit more as we climbed the final few hills. As we descended off of Flint hill, I almost crashed into the guardrail as I had no light. Taylor and Jim decided to turn and head back to base camp. Hanggi and I decided that we would trudge on and make the final push up Wolfanger. A brutal monster of a climb that was the perfect finish to the route. We slogged our sopping wet carcasses up the hill and had a enough time to take a photo at the top. I had to ride side by side with Hanggi down the descent to make use of his light and we arrived back at base camp.
We were exhausted but happy and picked up our trophy.
The Chart of the whole ride: I lost the last few climbs as my ergomo battery was dying
All the Pics from the season of scouting and the event. Click thru and you can go to the online web album
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Weekend of chilling and riding in E-ville prior to the Hardcore
Well, finally home and still wiped out. I hit Buffalo Friday night with a friend for some dinner down on Elmwood. Had a great time and then had some coffee and a good chat. It was nice to enjoy night life in a city. After dinner, I hit up an old friend that I grew up with and we hit the town for some craziness. Really got to enjoy the nightlife then!I awoke a litte razzled and tired on Saturday morning. I spent some more time in Downtown Blo grabbing a quick cup of joe and just people watching for a short while.
After that I packed up and headed down to E-ville. Casey was late, so I spent some more time in another coffee shop, grabbing some quick lunch. Once Casey arrived we set up camp, I packed the 'cabin' bag in some pine trees for a lil bit of privacy, and the fact that I forgot my bedroll. The nice soft pine needles made it like a pillow top mattress back there!
Saturday; Val, Casey and I rolled out and put some time in the trails. Conditions were pretty fair considering the rainstorm that swept through the night prior. We had some fun rocking out together.
Val had to head into town for a minor upgrade, while Casey and I headed out for the forest of Endor. Climbing up and through the trails we felt like and Ewok or an Imperial Speeder were going to fly by us at any moment. It was a surreal moment as we were plodding up this climb and suddenly realized that the entire forest undergrowth was nothing except ferns. Lighting was too poor to grab a good pic, but it's banked in the internal SD card for a long time.
Mark and Suzanne showed up later that evening. Mark and I and the dog's headed out for a night ride. You know it's gonna be a good one when the trails have names such as; Rim, Bent Rim, and Pale Ale. It was crazy fun, and super, super tech. Loads of rocks and roots everywhere. Some crazy lines just up and over everything, stuff that would be brutal to even walk on. I probably would've taken some pics, except Mark was his usual self and just blasting off through the stuff while I was left to fend for myself. Back to camp, we found the crew had dug into the Sam Adams Summer Lager's and were having a grand ol time. I was wasted and headed to the cabin, where according to Val I fired up my generator to turn the heat on, watch some TV and cook a quick meal before I grabbed some shut eye.
Sunday, was a perfect day for a nice group ride. We climbed up the road to the backside of the mountain then hit the famous descent down to the bottom of the race course. Val and Casey headed down to Burger King to pick up Dave. I think they had a few whoppers and some fries while they waited. 
Dave was a no show, so we decided to climb to the top of the of the race course and hit some of the fun stuff. Once on top, it was all coming back to me. I've ridden a ton here for the 6 Hours of Power races and loved every minute of the course. It's amazing how once you jump on a trail, it's similar to re-reading a good book. Each new rock, root, corner is similar to reading a new paragraph. There is some familiarity, it's recognizable and enjoyable to be re-acquainted.
Casey and Val dove off and headed back for camp, the rest of us took the scenic route and slowly made our way back, hitting some crazy fun stuff on the way. The trails were plenty packed with quite a few riders and it was nice to see so many people out having some fun on their bikes. By this point the pups were getting a little tired and I had no more water for Lizzy so we let them cool off in the stream crossings.
Once back at camp, we packed up and then headed over to Golden Hill for some riding on some new trails. The trails were nice and ripping fast and very flowing. Speeds were constant and ripping. I tried a funky set-up to grab some video from my camera and it came out pretty cool. Once I edit it down, I'll get it posted up for you to view. After Golden Hill, it was off to the Ellicottville Brewery for a burger and a nice brew. Great way to wrap up the weekend
See all the pics from the weekend here!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Weather is freaky, but that's not all
Oh well, looks like I'll have to put some time in the wind and rain today.
Was down at the Geneva Bicycle Center the other day and I ordered myself up an ergomo pro for the Supercaliber, hopefully that will arrive pretty soon. Gonna also attach a sweet set of the Bontrager Race XXX Lite Carbon cranks to her. Probably going to go with the Rock Shox Reba, but the possibility of a Fox fork is exciting. Because I'm dropping the dough on the ergomo, I'm going to run my older dual control xtr set-up and hopefully upgrade to the new stuff as the season goes on. I can't wait to rock that bad boy.
Weather looks to be dropping off for the next few days, acting all freaky. But for some reason today, there are some really freakish stories in the news
- WTF? Keith Richards snorted his dad?
- Lady on horse arrested for DUI
- Saved by a pile of poo?
- 102 yr old man takes out 25 yr mortgage?
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Sunday's Epic
2 days later I can't lay down a good recap so you'll just have to look at the pictures instead.
For some odd reason you might have to click hide/show to the far right in order to see them???
Right now its 60 and sunny out while I'm sitting here at work, ahhhh! I have family plans afterwards so it looks like I'm going to have to pull off a night road ride and then tomorrow morning is the usual meet up with the gbc crew for the wednesday ride
Epic Peaks Coaching
