0 for 3

Didn't even finish a race at Farmall this year. Major Bummer. This last race I was following A. August around the course and on the 4th lap passed by someone smoking a pipe (there was tobacco in it sheez!). It ended up giving me a major asthma attack and I had to pull out. It sucked big time. I went to an acupuncturist yesterday and taking my meds as usual, but its been really bad this season.

Yesterday I had to keep the normal routine alive and headed south for a round in Bristol. I ended up hitting 4 peaks (Stid Hill, Cutler, OCP, Bristol) and got 4 hours of ride time in. It was a nice epic solo affair, probably my last one.

I did manage to score free beer in the parking lot from Doug who takes care of the scoring for the NYSERS series, then had to skip out on the post ride festivites and managed to score free slices of pizza at the gas station. Couldn't have been happier.

No racing for me this weekend as I'm packing up and we are moving out of our apartment this weekend. Heading to my fathers place for a few weeks until we make the dash out west.

~J

Plattekill/Willy Lake

2 days of racing in some downright shitty weather over this past weekend. I don't think I've raced at Plattekill in decent weather in years. The races dropped off the calendar, but came back last year. They are working hard to bring xc racing back as they are more known for their downhilling. I enjoy the new course at the top of the mountain, as you have to ride the lift to the top, but the old course where you rode to the top did the loop and came down was quite a bit more fun. It is a really technical course and even though it was cold and rainy, traction was excellent due to it being the top of the mountain and quite rocky.

I really rode the course quite well, I had a decent lead right off the bat and up the first climb, then disaster struck and my chain went over the cassette and into the spokes. I tugged and pulled and yelled at the bike while every single rider in every class rode by me. That was alotta time to loose, but I finally got it out and charged as hard as I could back to the front of the race. I managed to move thru the field pretty quickly, but still had the chain jump into the spokes 2 more times. I ended up 1st in my age/ 3rd overall. I was only down by 3 minutes. Even with the chain problems, if I didn't get an asthma attack on the 3rd lap (of 4) I think I would've made that time up. I was coughing so hard and couldn't breathe. I had to slow to a crawl for half the lap and stop to take my inhaler. It was crazy as they usually hit me after the race and not during, so that definately sucked a big one.

Williams Lake, there was actually a separate pro/semi-pro field for this race and the weather was nice at the start of the race. I prerode the course and it was brutally technical, by far one of the most technical I've ever ridden. I was liking my chances, and got a good start and into the singletrack without the legs exploding and falling backwards like a lead balloon. The 1st part of the singletrack was tough because there were lots of run-up sections to deal with, but I moved up after the 1st lap and the start of the second was going fairly well, but the rain and the 100 or so riders thru the course had torn it up completely. I was getting no traction, and sliding all over the place. I crashed pretty hard and took the handlebar to the groin, after about a dozen more crashes on the rocks and having to run about every section, I gave in and decided to just call it a day. I was either going to get hurt bad or spend the 4 + hours out on the course as we were set to do 4 laps, and the 1st one I did in 50 minutes or so with good conditions. I wasn't the only one who pulled out. I'd have to say 75% of the fields abandoned. It was just too hairy in those conditions, and not even fun.

I would have to say the course was kick-ass and would've been awesome had it not rained. The cool part was the 100 meter or so section thru the cave. You drop into this cave and all of a sudden its pitch black, can't see a damn thing only a few red flashers marking where to go, then out and back onto the course. It was cool, but freaky as you lost your sense of sight and hand to literally 'feel' the ground with your tires.

BTW, during warmup at Plattekill, I broke my chain again!! But fixed with a spare powerlink I had.

I'm racing farmall tues night, hopefully I can actually finish this time.

No racing this weekend as we are moving from victor to my father's place back in the 'loo for 6 weeks before we head west!

~J

Bristol/Naples Ride

Wednesdays are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. They are reserved for Epic rides. I made sure to throw my Hac4 onto the Paragon and get some data to share. Can't wait till we can get a full ride in and hit all the peaks, plus our 100 miler will be incredible. Our final descent down to the Lock Stock and Barrel, was in the pitch black dark.

At least I didn't break my chain, I only lost 2 bolts on my small chainring so everything after cutler was in my middle. My legs were starting to crack near the end...

That will teach me

Well, the streak of bad luck continues. Broke my chain at Farmall AGAIN last night....Lesson learned; dont' buy the cheap stuff.

I also got DQ'd from the O Cup #2. I flatted about 7 miles into the race, no co2! So I asked some fans for a pump, well a marshall at a road crossing overheard and even though I continued and finished I was DQ'd. The good news is I got a good portion of the course down for the 24 hour race their in June.

BASSO is the man Hands down the best rider in the pro peloton today!

Bristol

Been spending alot of my off road riding time down in Bristol/Naples area. I don't think that I need to ride my bike anywhere else. There are tons of trails and we are finding new ones all the time. Pulled the usual ride off down there this past Wed afternoon and found 2 new killer sections on Stid hill. Found a killer descent, but also found a major fire road climb that takes you right to the hang-glider jump off. It is directly across from Bristol Mt. and has one of the best views I've ever seen. Plus the major bonus is the insane descent that goes on forever. You ride right down the ridgeback and the trail just gets steeper and steeper and steeper. I was literally descending the trail in full drift as both wheels were locked up and I was just hanging on. I also got shown the snowmobile trail descent off of bristol which takes you right down to the post-ride party. The post ride at Lock, Stock and Barrels is just as much fun as the riding. Going to ride there this wed again. I will work on getting some good pics up and maybe a video...

With all the trails we've found down there we are making plans for a 100 mile off-road epic. Last year we easily pulled off a 100k, now its time to do 100 miles. Hell the mountaineer is 40k with 7,000 ft of climbing, can only imagine what we will get in 100 miles.

I found the giro online for free, probably not quite as good as the OLN feed , but I don't feel like parting with another 20 bones as I already paid for the premium subscription. I'll just work on my Italian.

How about Lance dissing Ullrich and touting Basso as the new face of the Tour?

Them's the breaks

I raced the Farmall hill Challenge #1 last night, I had taken the lead over on the 2nd lap (of 7) from the Champion of North Huron and was whipping myself to increase the gap and take over his title, but alas he still retains it as I frustratingly broke my chain while climbing on the 3rd lap. My chain tool wouldn't pop the pin out correctly after I had ran my bike all the way to the start line where I had left it (doh!). So I had to sit on the grass and be a spectator.

Oh well thats just racing....

I am excited that I have decided to attend the 24 hours of Cutler race. I'm planning on doing it solo. Let alone doing it solo, I am doing it after racing the NORBA Nationals XC at Mt. Snow the day before! It is going to be tough and will be my first attempt at a solo 24 hour race. I just want to get through it. Immediately after that I have another 24 hour race up in Canada, but this time I'm doing it as part of a team, as I'm sure that I will need the rest.

Thats it for now I gotta get some work done and then go riding

~J

Boulder

I was away this past weekend doing some house searching in Boulder. All plans look good so far for a move in mid-July.
we arrived on Thursday and immediately started our quest. We were lucky enough to stay with some friends and were able to skip out on the hotel. Friday was the super busy day, we must've viewed at least half a dozen places, we were pretty whiped out. But the saving grace for the day was having dinner over at Frank and Claudia Overton's house.

Saturday we decided to cancel all our apts and spend some quality time out and about in Boulder. Erin attended a local yoga class; and I hooked up with Frank and rented myself a ride and we headed up into the mountains. Here are a few pics from the top of the climbs, there were some good climbs and some awesome descents...



We also ended up signing the lease for our place in Lafayette, its a nice house about 10 miles East of boulder. So it looks like we'll be heading out sometime in early July!

This is gonna be our new place !


Don't forget that the Farmall Hill Challenge starts this Tuesday...hope to see you guys there.

Oh Canada

Headed up to the Great White North, for the Ontario Cup #1. What a well run and awesome event. As many people at their races as I see at the NORBA nationals! And USA Cycling needs to take a look at their sign in process. Pick up number plate, initial sheet...BAM that's it, no rider release to fill out for the 10,000 time.


The course and conditions were perfect, it was extremely dry and dusty and the trails were some of the best I've ever been on. They had that perfect u shape to them which means every time you corner there was no need to really lay on the brakes.

It was hectic at the start and my lungs filled up about halfway with dust. I had forgot how incredibly hectic and violent the start was to a mtb race compared to the easy rollout of the road. I suffered like a dog and was dropped like Britney's baby heading into the singletrack. Didn't really make much of a difference as it was all bottlenecked up. It was a tough course 5 laps on a 10.5k course. I finished around 2:24, not even sure where the leaders finished at, I'm awaiting the results. I did manage a pretty good sprint at the end and edged the rider on the left out by a tire width.


I'm still coughing up dust and my throat and lungs are pretty irritated from all the coughing.

The word on the street is that Roland Green and several other top Canadian pro's cut their teeth on this circuit. There were some good riders here and many were looking to impress for spots on the Canadian national team.

As soon as I get my results I'll post em

~J

Bad Luck Tuesday Night

Just finished up a good block of training. I attempted to race Tuesday night at the Rush Course, It was going be a nice hard one, but I didn't even make it one lap in as my Derailleur cable fixing bolt snapped right off on the climb. I didn't panic and just threw the bike on top of the car and headed over to Dryer Rd to hit the dirt. Ripped it up

Yesterday, I headed down to Naples with Casey and we pulled of the quadruple, 4 massive climbs.. We essentially did the entire mountaineer course from the Highlander. It was a long day. See pics below

Today I jumped out and hit it early in the am for a good ride.

I'm going to head up to the great white north this weekend and do the Ontario Cup in Ottawa; we'll see how that one goes as its the first true xc race of the season. I've been feeling good the past few days so I hope to do well.

Stid Hill, our first climb right off the bat



Bristol Mountain, the final climb is up over the backside and then descend the ski trails, yup we had a few snow crossings to deal with.

Gary Fisher Demo Days May 5th-6th

Demo Days at Dryer Rd. More information is available from Towpath Bikes or at Victor mountain bike club.

Unfortunately I will be out of town ;( But I am going to connect up and see if I can't get my rides over there for you boys and girls to play on.

Word on the street is there will be plenty of chicks on hand, so shave those legs and chammy up looks to be a good time.

Pictures from Bristol

I put up a video on my site, it is of the flooded road when I was in Alabama; more of these to come!

I have a few pictures that I took on my phone on 4-15, thought I would share them.



Can't figure out how to throw text between them so; In order
1. Gannett Hill from the view looking down the finish line climb on the Bristol Course
2. Canandaigua Lake > North looking at Vine Valley (between the hills on the right)
3. Canandaigua Lake > South Naples Valley
4. Bopple Hill > looking at the top of the climb
5. Bopple Hill > The top, this is where you go when you die as you hit the 24% gradient at the top

Finally Back home

I disappeared off the radar for a week as I was down in Birmingham, AL for some work. Man was it hott down there! A few days it was in the 90's, of course there were also some pretty heavy thunderstorms. I'll try to see if I can upload the video that I took while I was driving my rental car thru the flood! Pretty amazing as you watch the water come right over the hood! Good thing it was a rental.

But I'm glad to be back. I worked in that it was my rest week for training so that worked out good. I hate rest weeks. For some reason for me they only make me sluggish. I love my 3rd week of my training block, usually tired as a dog, but somehow thats always when I tend to have some good legs.

Speaking of good legs, mine were definately missing today at the GVCC Spring Classic, I got popped hard about the 5th time up Furman hill. I just had no legs at all, never found my rythmn. Usually on the climb I dig it as it suits me well. I rode around for another lap then bailed as it was cold and wet. Just another sign that if it's missing rocks and dirt, I should be somewhere else...

Hopefully my legs show up tuesday night.

How about the intense racing that went on this weekend. Tommy D diced it up with Floyd at the Tour of Georgia or How about Valverde pulling off the double! I think he could be a real contender for the tour this year.

Link Dump

I don't feel like a real entry; It's time to get off my ass and out the door for a ride and my knee is killing me from crashing at Dryer Rd yesterday. So I decided to grab a bunch of links for ya to read thru if you'r bored.

The New Gary Fisher Race Day at Sea Otter

Eurosport Feeds

Twentyniner.net

Twentynineinches

Ok to lazy to keep going time to go ride while the sun is nice..

~J

Paris-Ancaster

Sunday was my own Version of Paris-Roubaix, or more precisely Paris-Ancaster.  60k mix of road/off-road riding from Paris, ON to Ancaster, ON.  Most everybody was on cross bikes or fat tires.  Seeing as how I have 700c rims on my mtb, I put a set of cross tires on.  Perfect set-up.  1400!! racers registered.  I was in the first wave of 400, corraled up like a group of wild mustangs hungry to charge out of the gates.  They let us out onto the road and quickly we hit a dirt carriage road.  
Super narrow, it's hard to move up in a pack of 100 riders, how the hell do you do it with 400 other guys.  I got as close to the front as I could.  After about 10k we hit a 90 degree right, right onto a farmers field, total chaos, lost about 50 spots as everyone had to shoulder the bikes up the hill, and I hate running, especially with a bike.  Thru the field and onto the roads, it started to split up here.  I was giving it everything to make contact but the early pace whipped my legs and my stomach was grumbling.  After lots of mud and roads I put out a huge charge at the 30k point straight down an elevated railroad bed for about 10k, I made a huge move and gained tons of ground ala Van Petegem on the cobbles... I got into a group of 10 guys and another guy and myself were swapping pulls, I got mad  and biatch slapped em verbally to get working and we started to gain on all the groups in front of us.  

Soon a tandem came by and myself and another jumped on the wheels and we were flying away from our group and I was running out of gearing.  Ugh oh, my stomach was hurting again.  Headed down this huge mudslide where you had to run, and stomach got worse, time to emulate Bob Roll, (think switzerland, family picnic...anyone getting the picture ;)  After a 10 minute time out somewhere in the woods I lost 70 spots or so, jumped back on the bike and groveled my way to the finish hoping nothin worse would happen.  

Ended up 120th 21 minutes back on the leaders...

I made it home just in time to catch the 2nd half of Paris-Roubaix. Poor Hincapie, man does that guy have zero luck in that race. At least he has a hot wife to comfort him while he nurses his injury back.

So, seeing as how 2-4 were disqualified for crossing the tracks with the gates down, why wasn't Boonen and the 2nd chase group? There gates were down also...

~J

Saul Raisin in Coma after accident

Well, I was going to write up about the Wheelman's cup and then the 1st G-series race from Tuesday night, but then I checked the Eurosport feeds...seems kinda trivial compared to this

Credit Agricole's Raisin in coma

Today, 08:11 AM

American Credit Agricole rider Saul Raisin has slipped into a coma after crashing on the first stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe race.

Read more…

BTW Congrats to Frank and Claudia Overton on the Birth of their Second Child!!

Been online for 1 year

Hey, Happy Birthday to my website! Been online for 1 full year.
I just renewed the domain and the site, so hopefully you guys will continue to stick around.

I think I'm going to do an entire site revamp this weekend for you. Stay Tuned

I've found some pics of the new xtr, looks pretty sweet

available here

although, I've now switched to SRAM myself, it's all good stuff.

Hoping to head out here in a little bit and get a little suntanning action working. Not too often in March can you ride in just shorts and jersey, at least not here in Upstate NY. Sunshine is one of my most favorite things, can never get enough of it.

Going to skip out on the last weekend of the Giros as I'm heading to the annual Wheelmans Cup race in PA. It's a fun race, a few clubs all named 'wheelman' race in an industrial park or something for the honor of taking home the Wheelmans Cup Trophy for a year. Each year our club the Dutch Wheelman, gets thumped, but we are getting closer and closer everytime.

Don't forget to set the clocks back on Saturday night. A whole extra hour of riding!
The

Rochester G-series

also starts up on this Tuesday night, right around the corner from me.

So as I missed the Central Park mtb race it looks like next weekend is going to kick off my off-road season with

Paris-Ancaster

. Should be interesting, they get around 1000 people or so every year. The flier calls for a mtb, while some friends have raced it on cross. But I think I have the greatest advantage with my 29er. See you boys at the finish line, I'll be waiting!

Loving the forecast

Man, Absolutely psyched about this weather we are getting right now. Sunshine is an intoxicating drug. Seeing as how we usually get so little of it I'll be spending as much time as I can these next few days outside soaking it all up.

Yesterday I had a good ride, then met up with Matt K., the Fisher/Trek rep. His boss was in town and took the Geneva Bicycle Center and myself out to a nice meal. Huge thanks to them for the meal and everything else they've done.

Matt and I were talking that there needs to be a central hub for cycling in NY. Someplace online where info is gathered and distributed and a community of riders can be brought close. Sounds like a good idea, but I'm a long way from able to do that...Anybody else have ideas about it??

Better get back to work so I can sneak out for a ride later

~J

Can't even go one day without caffeine

So I was going to try giving up on caffeine for a while. Mostly so when I used it before a race, it would have a super effect. I have managed to quite drinking a 6 pack or so of diet soda a day, but I skipped the cup of coffee yesterday morning. Yah, that didn't work out as planned, It's 11am and I had to go make a pot of coffee, couldn't take it anymore.

Need a new alarm clock

It was a pretty good weekend for riding, even though I only managed to make it to the Giro and overslept for the mountain bike race. I had set 2 different alarms on my cell phone for 4 am and neither one went off. When I managed to check my phone to see what time it was the alarm started going off, only problem it was 5:35. Whoops, the dog new I should've been getting up as she woke me up around 3:30 and refused to go outside when I tried to take her. I hit the bed to grab the last 20 minutes, and the rest is history, oh well wasn't meant to be.

Giro-
Not too bad of a day, an early break got formed, but was reeled in pretty quickly. A second break took off that gained the interest of series leader Jay Josslyn so I jumped on his wheel for a ride up to the break. Our group of 8 worked together really well and we stayed away the entire time. Only problem for me is that I was suffering like a dog, I took a few turns off then jumped back in after I recovered. Last lap, Scheske attacked, I covered it too quickly as it put me in a hole and ended up getting popped off. I put in a big effort on the long hill and re-bridged. Quickly a solo attack went and the group took its time to cover it, as he was caught, Jay Delillo launched with 1k to go and looked like he was going to hold it, but Josslyn had different plans and the sprint was on. I was gassed from bridging and then just hanging on and had nothing in the tank for any sprint. But I'll take my 7th and be happy.

Sunday, Casey and I decided to punish ourselves for sleeping in with a nice epic road ride down into Naples. We headed down south into a solid headwind, picked up our buddy Henke (sp?) and rolled back into Victor, only to have the wind turn around an defy us the whole way north. We did manage to catch an awesome glimpse of the city of Rochester from afar, while at the top of one of the climbs, it was quite breathtaking. My legs were pretty crushed on Sunday, I don't know where the hell they went, maybe I spent them up on Saturday?

I'm excited about this week as it looks to be nice and warm and I have the traditional Wheelman's Cup coming up this Sunday!


~J

No Giro for Landis

Phonak have announced a change of plan for recent Paris-Nice winner Floyd Landis who will now skip the Giro d'Italia.

www_eurosport_com

Eurosport

3/26/06 2:16 PM

18

Basso wins Criterium Stage 2

Already second on Saturday, Ivan Basso won Stage 2 of the Criterium International Sunday morning, taking the reins ahead the afternoon ITT.

www_eurosport_com

Eurosport

3/26/06 6:42 AM

18

Freire repeats in Brabantse Pijl

Oscar Freire ran an impressive race Sunday to win the Brabantse Pijl for the second year in a row.

www_eurosport_com

Eurosport

3/26/06 12:23 PM

18

Cunego clinches Settimana Internazionale

Damiano Cunego sealed the overall win as Riccardo Ricco outsprinted Paolo Bettini to win the final stage of the Settimana Internazionale.

www_eurosport_com

Eurosport

3/25/06 1:46 PM

18

Racing Weekend

Is everybody bored at work on Friday's?? Funny how the hits on my site quadruple on Fridays.
Tomorrow is the 3rd GVCC Giro race in Rochacha, will only be my second as I bagged last weekend. Weather looks to be fair, but not great. Right after that I'm heading to Schenectady on Sunday for my first mtb race of the year!
Yup time to put the 29er to the test. I can't wait, I'm super psyched to see what she can do on a race course.
I'm pumped up and excited to kick off the mtb racing season so early, Usually its not for another 2 months or so that I'll make my off-road debut. Hell, the past 2 years it hasn't even been till June that I've put the knobbies to the dirt.
On a side note;

Happy Birthday OSX,

yes the greatest OS is now 5 years young. It looks like it's gonna be 5 years before

Vista is even released

. (BTW, VIsta was originally scheduled to release in 2003!!)

Premont, Killeen take golds in Commonwealth cross-country