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

Finger Lakes Times Article

Finger Lakes Times Online - Sports: "Plenty of pain and plenty of gain"

I was lucky enough to get my recent win at the Hardcore 24 written up in the local paper. I thought I'd share the article.

(Via Finger Lakes Times.)

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

Want to get faster quick?

Forget all the training, nutrition, sacrifices, etc. Just get your self one of these!!

Own your own pulse jet-powered bicycle for just $650 - Boing Boing Gadgets

Looks both scary as hell and crazy fun at the same time

(Via Boing Boing.)

So you thought an hour on the trainer was long?

Illinois man reclaims stationary bike world record - Yahoo! News: ""

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - A suburban Chicago man has reclaimed the Guinness world record for time spent on a stationary bicycle.

ADVERTISEMENT
George Hood's time isn't official yet, but organizers say he spent about 177 hours over eight days riding a spinning bike at a suburban YMCA.

He rode the equivalent of 2,016 miles, burned more than 46,000 calories and never slept for more than 12 minutes at a time.

The retired Drug Enforcement Agency investigator from Aurora began his ride on May 5 and finished early Monday. He was taken to an area hospital as a precaution.

He had held the record until last summer after spending 111 hours, 11 minutes and 11 seconds on a bike. That record was broken by another cyclist from Tasmania.

Friggin ouch

The marathon is easy. There are no lions

The marathon is easy. There are no lions

Hmm, guess all our fancy gels and gizmo's are no real match for these guys.

Quotes from the Article:

I sometimes run for two or three days with my cattle, and I have to protect them from lions.

I miss meat and blood very much. Not vegetables because they are food for a woman. There is milk here but blood is better because it gives energy.

Guess next time you are out riding, give up on the Phil and Paul commentary that the peloton is chasing you dow, and imagine it as a pack of lions!

(Via Guardian.)

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!!"

Video of past weekend

Mark Hartman has a great little video up from this past weekend's adventures.

Check it out over at his blog, it's awesome!

Be sure to pay close attention and watch Bert lay 'er down at the end :)


I've been stuck in South Philly for the week, so no riding for me. I'll be back home tomorrow afternoon and laying down some big miles this weekend.

At least I'm not stuck in the snow like everyone else

2008 NYSERS/ Supercaliber down

The 2008 New York State Endurance Racing Series (NYSERS) is back again for 2008!!

Proud to announce the Addition of Plattekill to the NYSERS!!

The dates for the series are as follows:

Highland Hex: May 17th

Plattekill: June 8th

6 Hours of Power: July 27th

Suicide Six: August 16th

More info available here

Time to get out there and get training, before you know it the race season will be upon us!!!

So the Supercaliber is down and out for a bit. I broke the axle on the ergomo this past weekend. I was getting some odd play in the crank, and every time I'd put some force down on the right crank arm it sounded like I was re-clipping in and felt like it. I checked the cranks and there was some play in the right crankarm. When I got home, I pulled the bolt, put on the special tool and gave it a very light turn on the cranks and snap! the bolt broke right off. I took it to the shop yesterday to have them send it back in for warranty and you could visibly see the original crack in the bolt. No big deal, just be without power for a bit on the mt. bike. I'll just have to estimate my Training Stress Score (TSS) for a bit. Since this is the 2nd time the bolt broke, I'm taking a look into swapping the ISIS version for Octalink.

I also pulled the shock of the Paragon and swapped it with the one on the Supercal and set that on back for an overhaul. The Supercal rear shock is also being sent back to Manitou for an overhaul.

We're getting some really crappy snow/slush mix right now, but hopefully most of it will be gone before tomorrow am. I'm hoping to put in a pretty good weekend of riding. With the conditions of the roads, it looks like the new fen-dars will get some good use. All of next week looks to be in the mid 30's so it might be a good week for getting some miles in!

Currently playing in iTunes: Apocalypse Now by Muse

Panel: Landis guilty of doping - Yahoo! News

Panel: Landis guilty of doping - Yahoo! News: "Floyd Landis lost his expensive and explosive doping case Thursday when the arbitrators upheld the results of a test that showed the 2006 Tour de France champion used synthetic testosterone to fuel his spectacular comeback victory, The Associated Press has learned."

Dopers Suck!

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

Weather is freaky, but that's not all

So, I had to bail on last night ride at MPH, somebody grabbed the wrong shifter without looking (me) and it was 7 speed, doh! I was pressing for time and the bike was in pieces, and didn't feel like recabling the paragon to go back to the old shifters.



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?

Ok, my pc is asking me to reboot...

Course Creator

I just came across this a few moments ago and it looks really cool. It's called Course Creator. Just sign up for an account and right away you can start mapping out distances, elevation, and if you have a garmin gps you can get waypoints for your ride. This looks real cool and I'll be playing around with it a bunch for sure.



Ol' man winter looks to possibly be coming back tonight and tomorrow ; Really sucks as all the snow right now is pretty much gone. It's been real cold overnight so I'm hoping to hop over to dryer rd and maybe get a mt. bike ride in this evening before the snow comes. As far as tomorrow goes, I'm probably going to have to suck it up and do a little ski time and trainer time. I hope by Sunday they can get the roads cleared back up and I can head out for the gvcc giro.



I'm sure a few people are caught up in this weekend's training dilemma, How do I train and still celebrate St. Patty's Day?? Well don't have an answer for that one. Check back Monday for a wrap-up and see how I rolled. Will I be good or bad??



Back to work....

Snowed In? Check these out

ipIf you're stuck with all this snow and itching to get your mountain bike fix, check out some of these mountain bike video sites:



Rip.tv

TotalVid.com this site looks cool as you can download entire movies

Mountain Bike Zone.com

MTB Movies.com

PinkBike.com



Hopefully those help give you some extra trainer motivations