Busy past few days, but some great riding

My last post was a bit ago. Ever since moving out here to CO, things have been a bit of a whirlwind. It's been a super busy last 5 days, that's for sure. But it doesn't mean I haven't ridden my bike at all. How can one not when the weather is 75 and sunshine (meanwhile it's snowing back in NY!!)

I managed to get myself in gear and do a cross race this past sunday. Nothing like lining up against the pro/1/2 guys having very little time on the bike, at altitude and a lack of fitness. Somehow, I mistimed the start and was spit out the back immediately. I swear I never heard a countdown or anything similar. Chase hard, run up the sand, ride in the sand, run up the sand. It was a tough course, I ended up flatting at the start of my 4th lap and called it quits. At least I wasn't in last place though. So as if that wasn't enough, I went and signed up for the Boulder Super Cup Weekend, 2 UCI races in Boulder this weekend, Running with the big dog's again! Hopefully I'll do a bit better.

Speaking of dog's I managed to get Lizzy out on her first trail ride since she broke her pelvis. I took her over to Green mt. on the singlespeed on Monday. I'm guessing the loop was about 12-14k, but some good climbing. This isn't east coast trails, as she's stuck running the whole time and no place for short cuts. But, she did great! Even when she saw a herd of mule deer, she managed to heed my command and not chase!! Maybe that truck she hit, knocked some sense into her!

Today was a bit of an epic day. I was in Boulder at 8am for the group cross practice ride. There was around 100 people or so! We rolled over to the Elks club in town and did a nice 25 minute or so effort. Mine, was cut short as my tire was soft and I had to steal a pump and get some air in it as I was banging my rim all over the place and didn't have a spare tire. After some air in the tire, I managed to get some good quality work in. Shortly after we re-grouped and headed over to North Boulder Park and did a quick loop on the grass. I felt much better at that then at the Elks course, but I'm still getting used to the high intensity efforts.

The ringer for the day was the road ride with Jeff Kerkove. We met up after the cx ride, and he dragged me up Sunshine Canyon to Gold hill. Head over to his site for a nice video of me suffering in my 39x25. I need a compact.

How Badly? Here's my cadence from the ride



The little town on the top was pretty cool, and had a nice little store with some awesome homemade goodies and a kick-ass cast-iron stove!

Little Village of Gold hill

At least when I was grinding up the hill slowly, I was able to take in some epic scenery

Wasn't the only one suffering though!

Tomorrow night should be interesting, gonna meet a group for a night ride at Green Mt!

Lizzy is gonna be alright!

So a few weeks ago Lizzy hit a car. Yes, she hit the car not the other way around. I was prepping my bike and getting set up to head out for a race the next day and ended up taking her to the vet. Well after a bit, she started hurting pretty good and I took her back a week or so later for x-rays. Come to find out she broke her pelvis in a few places. Today I had to take her to the vet surgeon for pre-op review. The surgeon thought that she really wouldn't need surgery and would be ok in the long run!! Woohoo! Needless to say, her and I are pretty happy!

Lizzy chillin at the vet

Tonight will be some prep work. I plan on heading down to the Liberty Mtn. Classic in Northern PA. Have not ever been to this race, so I figured I would throw down and see if I still have anything after SM 100.

Sunday is the Humbler!! Gonna be a bright and early morning, then 100 miles of awesome trail riding in Naples!! I'll bring the camera for sure. Hopefully the rain holds off this year and we get a good day and a good number of riders. Hope to see you there!

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!!

Unexplained Phenomenon

Just some random thoughts that I clearly have no explanation for:

• Why I wake up at 4am and am totally awake for an hour or so, go back to sleep, and I don't ever want to get up


• I rode down a road that was closed yesterday due to paving one side of it. The opposite direction I was traveling was freshly paved so no cars could use that side. A car was heading towards me in my lane due to the paving, clearly aware I was there. The lady barely slowed down, and almost ran me off the road, WTF!?! At least slow down a little bit


• Spending most of my road ride dodging piles of horse dung


• The Hay-bale that was randomly sitting in the middle of the road


• Drafting the trailer of the missing hay-bale, and subsequently passing him at 40kph because he was far too slow


• Why my legs felt like crap for 90 of the 105k I did yesterday? I mean couldn't have come around just a bit earlier? Maybe on some of the hills I was climbing?


• The dog on Wabash road, that ran past me so fast I had no idea. I sprinted, it sprinted, I chased and chased. Side by side at 45+ kph. I think I may have found a new training partner.

The winner of them all. Closing all the windows and doors in the house, only to come home and find that my dog, Lizzy, had yet escaped. Pawed through the screen door, pushed aside the baby-gate that was double insurance, slid the kitchen sliding door open, then jumped the 4ft high pool fence. She then spent the next few hours while I was out riding, apparently looking for me. Never venturing too far from home though, as the neighbor said she kept checking back. It took all of 5 minutes for me to arrive home and she showed up.

Seriously, I should've signed up for America's top dog. I think I might leave the laptop open and record some video of her sometime just so I can figure out how the hell she escapes every time.

Currently playing in iTunes: This Is How I Disappear by My Chemical Romance

Back to the grindstone

Back home after the Sea Otter. For the race report and some pics, etc go here. I'm pretty bushwacked. I didn't have my best race, but not at all concerned about it. I'll see some good gains from the fitness of 4 days of riding. Plus I got to ride with Gary Fisher, meet some cool people and rock the California singletrack!!

The Superfly easily conquered the dry, sandy, wide-open course. Yesterday, I put it back together and did a quick ride out to glenwood so that Lizzy could get a nice run in. Not that she didn't get a nice run in this past week. According to my sister, she let her out for a bit and lizzy disappeared. A few hours later, my boss called and she had shown up for work!! I wonder if I get actual pay for her showing up in my stead rather than vacation pay? She was rather mopey while I was gone, so the run did her good.

What's with this weather? Not complaining at all, but rather enjoying it. Seems like everything is up and blooming as compared to dull and dreary when I left.

I learned a good little lesson while out west. Don't drink 4 margaritas the size of your head the evening after the race. The hippie and I headed out for some post race celebration at the local mexican restaurant down the block from the hotel. A few drinks later, I vaguely remember making it back to the desk and asking the clerk to help me to my room. The time between dinner and then, well let's just say the memory card was full and stopped recording. I fared a little better than the hippie though, he was found wandering around the village, in his socks. Somehow he lost his shoes. The local pd, picked him up and were kind enough to take him back to the hotel and not have any issues with it at all. It was all good, except I lost my f@cking iPhone!!! somewhere in the mix!! Guess that's my punishment...and believe me I paid during the 8 hours of traveling home the next day.

I'm working on getting the video of my ride on the Sea Otter course converted up and chopped down into something a bit smaller so I can upload it......

Back to power

So very happy to have the ergomo back! Here's a quick post of Saturday's and Yesterday's power files (click for a larger version)

Saturday's Ride in the Hills

Yesterday's brutality into the headwind

I did pull out the Superfly and put her in the dirt before I boxed her up and shipped her off to California.

You can read all about Saturday's ride and Sunday's breaking in the Superfly here

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.....

Full Weekend

Managed to put in some decent time this weekend. Not as much as I would've liked, but I'll take anything right now as the temps are getting slightly better.

Saturday I took Lizzy out and headed over to Dryer Rd. Put in just over 2 hours in the snow and dirt. There was a light covering of snow on the ground making it a bit sketchy in a few parts, but there had been a few riders out and after some laps I had it packed in real nice. It was fun to get out there and just hammer a bit. I went out and just pushed it as hard as I could for 2 full hours and was pretty whipped by the end.

Sunday, was nice enough to get out and hit the roads. Light winds out of the south and low 30 degree temps and clear roads means pull out the road bike. It was a nice ride on a lightly rolling route. I was having fun and staying warm but around the 2:15 mark or so I flatted after a good stint on some back dirt/stone roads. I changed the flat with my 4inch mini pump (aka 400 strokes), but by the time I got back going again the gloves were cold and wet from sweating so I just finished my ride up and headed back home. I kept it mostly light tempo, with a few efforts here and there. I'm feeling really good putting in the hours and laying down the tempo, I just lack my climbing legs. They will come in due time though as I usually purposefully hold myself back on the climbs this time of the year. Mid to late next month I'll start adding some longer climbs to bring up the intensity. I'll add a few race efforts at the Giro's in the spring for sure.

Today, I'm gonna sneak out of work here in a few hours and see if I can't "raise the roof" with a few vo2 max efforts, and test how the legs are after 2 days of good rides.







This video is great! Found it over on Drunk Cyclist

Frozen toes

Hit up the Geneva Bicycle Center for the Winter sale this past morning. Picked up a few essential supplies. Usual tubes, lube and food, etc.

After that grabbed lizzy and headed over to Dryer Rd in Victor for some riding on the Supercaliber. Ground was nice and firm as it was brutally cold with a nasty wind. Still some snow out there on the trails, but for the most part was dirt. Managed an hour before I couldn't feel my toes anymore. My core and hands were plenty warm, but the toes just weren't staying nice and toasty.

Ergomo doesn't lie

Lizzy Surveys the scene

Climbing up thru Moon Valley

Hope no one was sitting there!!

Rare sighting of cyclist captured!

Ok, so It's been a little bit since I've been on my blog. What can I say, the holidaze were here and basically I was not in a position to type up anything, plus I went to Ohio a few times for work.

But, the weather has broke the past few days and is going to be great here for the next few


I got out to glenwood saturday am with lizzy while the ground and trails were still frozen. I didn't feel all that bad, and technically I'm still really strong at that aspect. Yesterday, I hit the road for a few hours.

Today, I sneaked out of work for an extended lunch and put some time in. But don't tell my boss!!

Rolling along on the wheelman route

It was crazy warm though and I peeled the layers off as the ride went on




Still some snow out in the country though...

Hoping to get out tomorrow am for a few hours before work


Currently playing in iTunes: Today Is The Day by Apollo Sunshine

Glenwood Snow Riding

Hit up glenwood yesterday with Mark, Burt, Cadence and Lizzy. It was great to get out on the trails and ride around on the snow. Decided to pull out the camera and take a little video. Edited it up just now and posted it here for you. Yes, the whole video was taken with me riding 1 handed!! on my Paragon!!... Not an easy task, there are quite a few logs that took me out and you'll notice me hitting the snow/dirt near the end of the video as I tried to navigate a v-ditch.

On a side note, I'm now a Sergeant Grade 1 in Halo 3!! Umm, yah I still suck as my kill to death ratio is .69 (but hey it was .13!!)

Currently playing in iTunes: Down Boy by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Snow

Mark, Suzanne, myself and the pups made an attempt to ride over at Glenwood this morning. We got a few inches of snow last night and figured we'd head out and pack in the trails, and run the pups a little bit. Unfortunately, the snow was a little deeper than we thought making for a tough romp through the trails. We made it down one trail and after a bit of sliding, crashing and walking (well, Mark had no issues as usual) we decided to head home and just pull out the skis. On the way home the rain came down and we had to bail because the snow sucked. So basically we were out and just decided to stick home for the day and chill.

Oh well, try again tomorrow.

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...

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!

Fresh Powder

Measured up the snow on the back porch this morning; 18"!! Plus its a lovely 3 freaking degrees outside. Man I shoulda took Erin up on those plans to vacation in CA for the Tour of California... A look ahead in the forecast shows mid 30's next week!! :)

Put some time on the skiis again last night. Right in the backyard, luckily the snowmobiles had a nice little loop packed in. I've only been out there to walk the dog during the fall, but it looks like come spring/summer time I can put in a good little loop and do some decent training. Lizzy was having a tough go of it as every time she went off the path the snow was up to her neck and she had to bound around, but that didnt really stop here. Poor dog, the snow is piled so high everywhere she is confused as to where to even go to the bathroom.

Saturday, I'm off to the Peaks Coaching Group Power Training Seminar in Buffalo. Looking forward to learning a great deal of info on power training and the inner workings of the software. I've read through the book and implementing a great deal of the info already.

If you missed it last night Lance was on the Colbert Report, be sure to watch it all the way through. Good line at the end

Poomba

This is the lizzy girl