Time to kickstart the bus

August is gonna be a barn-burner for sure. Racing is back in full swing after a light month of July. The

Farmall Series

starts up again, Highland Forest,

Suicide Six

and then another solo 24 hour race up in CA;

Hot August nights

. A perfect set of tune-ups leading to Hot August nights. Right now there are over 40 solo men, and it'll be nice to bust out a good ride without having raced the day before.

Been packing in some long rides this past week to get myself ready. Wednesday I hit the Naples area for a nice 6 hours off-road including some time at night. Was sweltering hot, but trails were in good shape and the shitload of climbing that is down there makes most climbs at any race around here seem pretty short. It was a little freaky at night when I was out there in the woods all alone, didn't help any that I was listening to a Widespread Panic show and it was a little Doors esque freaky solo session as I was cruising along. That always helps the mind get right at ease! I was pretty spent after that ride.

I recovered in time to head out for a nice 6 hours on the road bike this Sunday. Left G-town with a decent group of riders heading towards Watkins where Casey and I peeled off to head West across the ridgelines where a boat load of climbing awaited us. Was a good day of working on the tan and getting a nice bit of a workout in there too. We had a good time; and the 2 of us are usually treated to some rare occurances such as the kid faking the fall out of a wheelchair that cracked us up. But nothing has ever been better than coming across the Dungeons n' Dragons group at Cutler. It was a little bit surreal with the costumes and language, but we still get kicks out of bringing it up.

My

bro EJ

hooked up me up with some new sweet ass stickers for my ride. Come check out the paragon at any of the above races if you wanna see em. (I'm too damn lazy to get any pics up right now)

Landis Fails Drug Test!!

"Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site."

In related news... teamates realized something was wrong with Landis when he started approaching females near the finish line asking if they wanted a "pizza and a f#@k." When they answered in the negative he proceded to ask "What?... do you not like pizza?"

Well? Time will only tell what the truth is. IT was a pretty amazing turnaround.

Just say NO
~J

Dryer

Headed over to Dryer yesterday for an easy day of speedwork on the trails. Been a few weeks since I've been there and had a good time. Brought Lizzy along with me so she could have a bit of fun too. I was pretty tired after tuesdays ride as I had pretty much crushed it for 3 good hours. But somehow the more intensity I start to add the better the legs feel each day. Yesterday was no exception and I was rockin the trails.
I had perfect flow workin the whole ride, it was like the lines were painted for me as I was just smooth. I love those days when everything comes together perfectly.
Lizzy was even having a great time, it was a little bit warm for her so I let her take a few baths in the giant mud puddle. She loved it. I tried to take her over to the creek to wash up and cool down with some fresh water, but I saw a buck running through the woods. I had to make a quick stop and grab her or I woulda been waiting a while for her to chase him down and then come back. She had already done her fair share of chasing as she came super close to catching a squirrel. What she would do with it though I'm not sure of.
Bummer that I missed out on this morning ride, everyone was heading down to Casey's place for an early morning singletrack session followed by a breakfast, then heading out to hit some g.n.a.r. trails (home grown acronym: Greater Naples Area Riding). I'm thinking of rocking the lights tonight and heading to Spencer to pull of a 6 hour epic. I haven't been to Spencer in a bit and it will be great to train on the course as the final

NYSERS

race is there in a few weeks. I think I will hold out on an epic in Naples till this weekend.
~J

Discovery is making some moves

Ullrich admits Discovery interest

Jan Ullrich is reportedly in talks with Discovery Channel after it emerged that the German will have one last pop at Tour de France glory.

Eurosport

7/25/06 11:12 AM Cycling

Armstrong: We'd have Floyd back

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong insisted he would be happy to welcome Floyd Landis back into the Discovery Channel team.

Eurosport

7/25/06 2:48 AM Cycling

Leipheimer leaving Gerolsteiner for Discovery

Levi Leipheimer is leaving Gerolsteiner at the end of the season, and will sign for Discovery Channel, which is expected to confirm his signing later today.

Long Stretch

This has been my longest stretch of not racing in years. Its been what 2 weeks since 6 HOP and I'm getting the jitters! I need me a dose of the good stuff. Gonna be a bit before I can taste it too as this weekend is off again. Hopefully by then I won't have me the shakes.

Over the weekend Erin picked up a mountain bike so she could start doing some riding with me and lizzy girl. Naturally as it's her first time on clipless pedals; she falls hard and takes a nice chunk of skin off her arm. I give her credit though, she jumped back on the next day and had no problems.

I beat my brother again today in another round of golf. No longer a fluke I am just plain kickin his ass nowadays. Hell, I even had a few pars in there!

Congrats to Floyd!

Good Job Floyd!!!

(photo: AFP)

Go Floyd! Go Floyd! Go Floyd!

What a stage! What a day! What a way to never give up! Today's stage of the tour was absolutely incredible. I haven't seen anything better ever. After losing everything yesterday Floyd pulls one over on all the contenders and is set up perfectly for the time trial Saturday!
Hurrah for Floyd! I'm rooting for him

CyclingNews Report

Another page in the Naples Trail Handbook

The amount of trails and area of riding in Naples keeps getting better. Yesterday; Casey, Mark, Suzanne and I hit mostly all new stuff down in the Naples area. We were out scouting and working on figuring out how to link it all up for the Horrible Hundred (nickname for the 100 mile epic in Naples). I need to start carrying my camera with me on my rides and get some good pics up here for everyone

Conditions were still a little sloppy as the rain that poured down last wednesday left quite a few mudspots but other than a few tough sections, everything was ok. Temperatures yesterday were freaking brutal; tough to start a ride at 11; even tougher to do it with a hangover from my buddies 30th birthday party. As Suzanne said after we crossed a field "Remember in Poltergeist when the guys face melted? Thats what I feel like". It was hot, thats for sure.

As usual the DEC descent caused its normal rate of carnage. I got a nice chunk of mud right in me eye at the top and had to spend a few minutes cleaning my contact off with good ol' spit. After I saddled up to continue I came across Mark fixing a flat and Casey putting at new der hanger on. DEC 3 Riders 1. It's very rare that you make it down the descent without it causing a problem for someone in the group. The descent is gnar and eats bike parts for lunch.

The highlight of the day was dipping the feet in Naples Creek and washing up a little bit at the bottom of the DEC. Always a great summer time fave. The other highlight was taking a break at the Hanglider jump-off and chillin out for a few minutes checking out Italy Valley.

I did manage to see a few hangliders ready to jump ship off of the Stid Hill jump-off on my way home. Those guys are insane!!

~J

Golf

Played some golf on this past Tuesday as my brother was in town. It was a grudge match for sure. For several years now, he has whupped me with no problems. I think that I have maybe defeated him once in all our matches. Well this match was close to more of the same as he was beating me down with the clubs. I was 4 down after 6 holes! But then his "Mickleson Meltdown" started to come around. He was hitting the ball left, right, everywhere but where he should. After 9 holes I was only 1 down, giving me a little bit of confidence. On the back 9 he continued to crumble as we diced back and forth. I brought the match over to my side and was 2 up with 2 holes to go. He won 17 and I headed to 18 with a 1 hole lead. He scared me with a a great drive, but I matched it, I got in the green within 6ft and putting for birdie as he was chipping on for par. Naturally I missed the birdie putt cause I suck, but still managed to make par and my victory was complete.

It was amazing, he came tumbling down like a house of cards. Cracked under the pressure! Can't wait for the next match to defend the title, hahaha!!

6 Hours of Power

Finally broke the 3rd place curse at Ellicottville. The past few adventures I finished 3rd and thought that I was destined for another one yesterday. In a weird prize arrangement, I was given 1st place in my age category. Technically I was 2nd, but 1st had won the overall so is ineligible for age base prizes. I finished either 4th or 5th overall out of 75 or so competitors. I'm pleased about that as I thought I was having a really bad day (more on that in a bit). Finished with 7 laps at 6:41, 1st overall was 7 laps at 6:05?. With the placing I pretty much wrapped up the NYSERS race series title as its only 3 races long and best 2 count. Looking forward though to the Suicide Six at Spencer Park and hopefully I can keep the streak going. I haven't raced there since it was an xc race and looking forward to going back.

6 HOP breakdown.
After a shitty Lemans style run that seemingly goes on forever, I was dogging at big time I slammed it up the climb to end up 3rd wheel into the singletrack. Had a tough time getting a decent rhythm in the woods. Coming down the 1st descent and out onto the super fast ski slope descent, I forgot it was a hard 90 immediately into the woods; carried way too much speed and to the photographers delight ended up tangled in some bushes and trying to get back onto the course. Came through the line around 5th place, about a minute down. 2nd lap was more or less the same as the first; lost a little more time, by the finish of the 3rd lap my lap time had dropped off by a few minutes and I was dying hard. Thought I was going to pull a "Levi" as it was feeling like my worst day ever. I finished the 3rd lap and wanted to just lay down and die; my stomach was a little bloated from drinking a bit too much gatorade in the heat and every inch of my body was aching, I grabbed some advil and a little caffeine and by the end of the 4th lap was feeling much better and saw that I was on par for 7 laps. I continued to push hard and my body started to come around and with the switch to water so did my stomach. Lap 6 I was chasing a few riders around the course and almost killed myself on one of the infamous waterbars. I had forgotten that the last one was pretty major and hit it full on with as much speed as possible. As I soared about 15 feet through the air, I was wondering how they were going to get a stretcher up her into the woods. I could feel the front end of my bike lowering down a bit too much and just figured I was going to kill myself at this point, but luckily I leaned back just enough and pulled it out. I let out a big "whoooo" when I landed. The rider on my wheel gave a "Holy Sh#t; how did you land that one?". Lap 7 was just a final run around, but I must've pulled out a few passes as I moved up quite a bit in the overall. I did manage to jam my chain in the spokes, was passed by a solo rider but fixed it quick and gave it everything to get up and pass him back.

Right now I'm just looking to recover, My man Casey wants to do some scouting for a 100 mile off-road route down in Naples and has some nice new singletrack that he's found. I'm sure that'll be a bitch of a day; 100 miles on the dirt with 15,000 feet or so of climbing. Might get us ready as were going to attempt to pull off the Mountaineer/Highlander Double in September. 35 miles/7,000 ft climbing off-road followed by 100 miles/10,000 ft climbing on the road.


Later
~J

A Nice break

Took a nice little break for a while there. After that huge week with 2 24 hour races and a 200 mile road ride in between, it was time for a little R & R.
My family reunion was on 7/2 and it was nice to see everyone and hang out and drink some beers. It was a long weekend though...
I did manage to scoot out on monday morning for a quick road ride to loosen my legs up. They were quite a bit rusty, and the few extra pounds from the beer swilling and grill fest didn't help (not that much though!).
Yesterday though, I got back on the paragon for a nice ride and to blow everything out with the

6 hours of Power

coming up this weekend I needed to get my head (and body) back in the game.
I took off for a ride down in the usual Bristol/Naples area. Plans were for a nice long one finishing in the dark. I had brought my light with me, but the riding at night thing ended when I crashed on OCP and busted the lens so I had to cut er short. Hopefully I can get it fixed. Trails were in pretty good shape considering all the rain, but damn someone needs to get a weed whacker out there. Mid-summer growth on some of that stuff is unbelievable. The weeds at points are over your head and you are just praying you don't hit something. Not to mention that my arms look like a wild pack of family cats attacked me from all the pricker bushes. I did manage to take a few pics.
Don't gimme any crap, they were taken with my phone! I'm working on getting a good digital camera
I'm too lazy right now to put in all the code to get the fancy stuff working so you get what I give ya!

The setting sun from the top of Ontario County Park (OCP)

Stid Hill Trail



The Long climb up Stid Hill, The pic accurately reflects my vision at the time

Stid Hill Final descent comes right down the ridgeline

Cutler Shale Rock Climb-Cleaned it for the first time in a while



Cutler Orange Trail Overlook

You F'ing kidding me right!!

Ullrich out, Basso out, Mancebo out. Out of the freaking Tour!! What is happening!! These guys are scheduled to go off tomorrow!

From

Eurosport

Ivan Basso and Francisco Mancebo joined Jan Ullrich on the sidelines of the Tour de France after organisers dumped two of the race's top riders. Ullrich had already been suspended by his T-Mobile team Friday morning when Tour director Christian Prudhomme announced the exclusion of Giro victor Basso.

"The enemy is not cycling, the enemy is doping," Prudhomme declared less than 24 hours before the start of the sport's greatest race.

Prudhomme praised T-Mobile's earlier decision to suspend Ullrich, sporting director Rudy Pevenage, and rider Oscar Sevilla, while at the same time promising fortitude on the part of the Tour's governing body.
"We have been in contact with T-Mobile since the start of the week, and since yesterday we've been waiting for the official document, finally we received it, from the Spanish Civil Guard and the Interior ministry."
Prudhomme said that after a unanimous decision by the association of sporting directors, the riders who have been banned will not be replaced.
"This morning there was a meeting of the AGCP and they decided to respect the ethical code 100 percent, so it means that the riders who will be asked to leave the Tour de France will not be replaced by other ones."
During a grim press conference Prudhomme sat alongside longtime Tour boss Jean Marie LeBlanc and AGCP chief and Quick Step sporting director Patrick Lefevere.
"I'm not very proud to be here today," Lefevere declared, adding that the decision not to replace the banned riders was a unanimous one taken "to send a strong signal."
"The sporting directors of each team are informing the riders concerned right now," Prudhomme said.
Basso, the Tour's runner-up in 2005 and this year's favourite, had already been warned by CSC sporting director Bjarne Riis the Frenchman added.
"I am cool, I am waiting for someone to bring me evidence of my guilt," Basso had said earlier on Friday when leaving his hotel for a training session.
Prudhomme said that Vincent Lavenu, the AG2R team boss, was also talking to Mancebo, who finished fourth overall in last year's Tour.

What the hell is going on in the pro peloton?? Now I know why American mountain bikers suck ass in Europe. None of them are on dope. If they were don't you think we'd have a podium finish on a regular basis, rather than once in a blue moon!!!

Mt. Snow to host 2007-2008 MTB Nationals

Will they have a marathon event??

2007-08 USA Cycling MTB Nationals to Mt. Snow

Colorado Springs, Colo. (June 15, 2006)—

USA Cycling announced today that Mount Snow Resort in West Dover, Vt. will host the 2007 and 2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships. The two-year agreement brings the event to the east coast for the first time since the inception of a single-event national championship format in 2004.

Scheduled on the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) designated mountain bike national championship weekend, the 2007 edition will be held July 19-22. Dates for 2008 have yet to be determined.

“Mount Snow has a solid and rich history of hosting world-class mountain bike events for nearly two decades,” commented Steve Johnson, chief executive officer of USA Cycling. “The decision to award the national championships to Mount Snow was an easy one across the board. The courses are traditionally challenging for all disciplines, the venue and organization is second to none, and an Eastern United States location is something that should be well received by our membership after three years in California.”

The American-only, “winner-take-all” format will feature a full slate of disciplines and categories. The event schedule, as well as qualifying events and procedures, will be announced at a later date.

The USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships is the latest high-profile event to come to Mount Snow. A mainstay on the international mountain bike circuit, Mount Snow has hosted numerous world-class events including UCI World Cup, NORBA National Championships Series and National Mountain Bike Series events.

“Mount Snow Resort is honored to have been awarded the 2007-08 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships,” commented Matthew Zogby, communications manager of Mount Snow Resort. “We’re excited to again welcome the mountain bike community and thousands of competitive cyclists as they compete for the title of U.S. National Champion at what has historically been one of the top mountain bike venues in the country.”

24 hours of Summer Solstice

Just finished up my 2nd 24 hour race in 2 weeks. This time it wasn't a solo affair but with a few teammates just north of Toronto, Canada. What a blast. I haven't done a 24 hour relay in a few years

Amazing is the number of people that were in attendance. Something like 2200 people. There must be something in that canadian water.

The course was pretty close to the Albion Hills O Cup that I did earlier this year. Not a ton of climbing, but loads of incredible singletrack. Because there was so much singletrack it was awfully tough out there with something like 300 people on the course at one time. I had to have passed at least on average 75 people each lap. To note I was only passed once out of 7 laps. We had loads of fun out there. We led for a large portion of the race, but it was always super close. Our lead was only counted in seconds at any point. Somehow the 3rd place team must've swapped up the order as they jumped up into 1st in the late morning.

Infamous Incidents to remember:
- "Blame Canada" from SouthPark blaring in the campground
- Casey and the "tailbone incident"
- Losing my contact at night and somehow finding it in the tent
- Casey shoulder checking a rider down the hill
- Literally plowing through a group of riders caught up at a technical section
- Dinner at Fuddruckers with some Spanish flair

Our team turned in 25 laps. Had some great fun with the boys.










Our team SignsandLogos.net: Casey Conte, Jim Vreeland, Myself, Ej Rosipayla

Summer Solstice

Longest Day of the year = Longest Ride of the Year.

10 of us pulled of a 200 mile road epic this past wednesday. Weather was perfect.

We started at 5:30 am at Casey's place in Prattsburg, headed up to Lake Ontario then back down to Bath and up to Prattsburg. Rolled into the driveway at 9:30pm.

There is more to it than just riding; but putting it into words is tough (especiallya few days out). We had a fun ride

Weekend Wrap

Whoa, finally wrapped up one of the toughest weekends I'll ever do.

I hit Mt. Snow this past Thursday, got in a nice pre-ride and got hooked up by SRAM for a few nice parts. The course is basically the same as its always been. One minor exception is the addition of the feed zone to the opening climb. As usual it goes up and up and up and then comes right down. By far one of the most technical courses around. Conditions were actually really good for mountain. Mostly dry with a few mud spots. Race went off Friday afternoon, I had a good position and didn't blow sky high on the climb too bad, came off the first descent and up the next climb pretty well. Started slipping back a little bit on the upper part of the mountain but for the most part I was holding 20th position but wasn't really feeling hot. I ended up pulling the plug after 2 laps and save the energy for the Hardcore 24.

Hardcore 24-Solo
Damn brutally hot; Awesome course. Ended up getting just nicked at the line by Mark Hartman for the fastest lap of the day. I held the lead in the solo class for around 6 hours. Stopped to pit and get some food for around 20 minutes or so and lost the lead. I regained it till night fall when I pitted again. At the 10-11 hour mark of the race; I was pretty haggard. I was having a tough time just riding a straight line. I took a break again around 13-14 hours in and was having a hell of a time. I was crashing on everything and lap times were brutally slow. I finished the last 1/4 of my lap and figured that it might be my demise. I was gettting a pretty bad saddle sore and needed some time off. I ended up sleeping for 3 hours or so. I was ready to toss in the towel. I awoke to find out that not too much had changed and I was still sitting in pretty good position. So I pulled the kit back on and headed out for a few more laps. I had fallen into 3rd but was revitalized by the sleep and turning some good lap times again. At 11am on Sunday I retook 2nd place and the two of us agreed we didnt need to go out for another lap. I ended up with 16 laps, the winner turned 20.

Would I do something like that again?...I'm doing a team 24 hour race this coming weekend... Solo racing, I might be up for it :)

Almost Time

Getting close to time to do or die.

Leaving Thursday AM to head to Mt. Snow and get the typical pre-ride in. Snow is one of my favorite places to ride. I love the course and how technical it is. I just hope its sunshine and blue skies for race day. It's going to be one hell of a weekend.

I just plunked down the cash for Hardcore 24 and Mount Snow so I'm definately in. Am I ready for a 24 hour solo race a day after the NORBA Nationals? Only time will tell us how it goes.

I will work on getting a bunch of pics up from snow and H24. If you browse down a bit you'll see I added some new tricks to the thumbnails below.

Sugar Mt. went off pretty good for JHK, he is slamming it right now! Lets hope he does it again at Mount Snow


If the website ain't working go here

No Boulder

Doesn't look like I'm going to be heading to Boulder, CO anytime soon. It's a pretty big decision to make so close to d-day. Unfortunately the timing just isn't right for Erin and I. Hopefully in the near future the timing will be right and we'll be able to make the jump.

The one thing that really sucks is we signed a lease and even made the 1st month's payment. Doesn't look like we are going to collect that anytime soon. It's been pretty distressing but that life. Sometimes you gotta play the cards you are dealt and make the best of them77

So I'll just have to stay around here and keep spinning the cranks with you guys. That doesn't sound so bad!

Man was my bike ever hosed from the Highland Hex! I couldn't even deal with it, so I just brought it down to the Geneva Bicycle Center and let Mark work on it. Gonna go with a new set-up too. Getting rid of the trigger shifter on the left and putting a grip shifter on there. Mark's run that set-up and loves it and so don't a bunch of the SRAM sponsored pro's. Due to the bike being trashed I didn't make it to the Park Ave wed night series, and not sure if I will make any of them. Real Busy Schedule coming up!

With such a heavy schedule, I'm taking this weekend off and Erin and I are heading up to Old Forge, NY for a relaxing weekend. Rented a little Cabin, some dinner action and going on a canoe trip down the moose river Sunday morning. Should be loads of fun and just the relaxing break I need. I just hope I don't get too rusty though...

This coming Friday is Mt. Snow NORBA XC, and I have to pack up and haul ass back to NY for the HardCore 24. It's going to be a tough weekend of racing!

Highland Hex

Just home from the Highland Hex 6 hour marathon. Freaking brutal conditions. I went to bed hoping the rain was going to hold off, but awoke to a treacherous downpour and cool temps. The only bonus was that the rain was going to stay all day, keeping the trails nice and wet and the mud from sticking.

Started off pretty well; was in 2nd overall after the 1st lap and slipped into 4th overall after the 2nd. I fought my way up through the field back into 2nd after a few more laps and then found out 1st place dropped out due to the conditions. I pushed it to increase my gap and stay out front. I came in from my 6th lap and still had 20 minutes, so I jumped out for one more lap and ended up with 7. BTW, major chainsuck and had to mash the middle ring the entire freaking race. On the last 2 laps I pretty much had zero shifting and whatever gear I was in I was stuck in till I could force it out.

Course conditions for the race were awful. The course was dramatically different from last year and was no where near as much fun. There were streams of water just rushing down the trails. I was pretty psyched about the conditions actually as I've raced 2 marathons already in similar conditions so I was prepped and ready to handle whatever was thrown my way.

Here are a few pics:


Nice and clean at the start line





Taking the hole shot




EJ gives his review of the course





Getting a handoff from ma





Off for another lap




VICTORY!!!




Thank gawd thats over



Hilarious! We are know staying at my fathers house, and I went out for a quick road ride the other day. Well, lizzy is a bona-fide escape artist. The front 2 windows to the house were open and she decided she was going to come out and join me for a ride. The windows are about chest level and with the aid of chair in front of them she launched herself through the screen only problem is the house isn't on the level and she came through the window expecting the ground to be only a few feet, instead it was a good 8 feet. She must've hit the deck pretty hard cause the neighbors heard her and managed to get her into the garage. She is all good though :)

~J

Finally an update...

Ok, so I've been slacking but I have been super-freakin busy. I'll go right down the list

Moved out from Apartment
We are one step closer to moving to Boulder. Finally out of the Fascist Villas of Victor. That place was a real treat, they had a rule for everything and some of the dumbest broads running the place. Right now we are chilling at my fathers place back in my old hometown of Waterloo.

Rain Ride Monday
I rode super early monday am; got caught in a massive thunderstorm at 6:30am. It was crazy how hard it was raining. Thunder and lightning , and all that. I had to toss the towel in after about 1:30 into my supposed 6 hour ride and bail. It was crazy cold and I was scared I might actually get hit by a lightning bolt.

Wed Ride
Death march with Casey and the Sunshine Band
I met Casey, Matt and Jeremy at Cutler yesterday. Almost missed them as I descended opposite of what they were climbing. We hooked up and raced thru cutler. Matt wrecked hard at Cutler and messed up his wrist and his crossmax, I've never seen one of those that f'ed up . Luckily he has insurance on those. Matt and Jeremey split after Cutler and Casey and I were on our own. We hit the Nature Preserve, then grabbed some food then headed up Parish hill. I hit the hill pretty hard in the beginning and succumbed to the heat halfway. It was brutally hot, Casey gave in a little earlier but he had been out 2 hours longer also. I haven't been that hot in a long time. I like hot but damn that was tough. We came down the DEC and called it a day.

Highland Hex
Time to really kick off the season with a nice 6 hour marathon thru the woods in Fabius. Looking forward to this race for some time. Finished 2nd there overall last year to ol Ernie Marenchin. 20 minutes he beat me by, now he's a runner up at least years 24 hour worlds. We will see if I got anything come this saturday