Weather channel

So I was looking at the weather forecast on weather.com for the coming weekend. I wanted to see what things were looking like for the race in Warwick, RI. It seems the weather channel is catering to cross races now. Notice the forecast highlight for Saturday, "course conditions." Cyclocross course conditions? And Sunday, "stay warm on the links." Is that chain links?

Wrap it up and eat some pie

Here we are, exiting the eleventh month of the year and nearly at the finish of the racing season, at least for me. This is a good thing, though. As fun as the riding and racing of this year has been, it's time to take a break from riding to train and riding in general. I've reached the point where riding very much at all is making me slower, or so it would seem and feel. The dreaded precipice of over training. The difficult thing about over training in these late months is that it becomes very, very easy to do. When we change the clocks I think the body naturally wants to rest more. Instead, I've been forcing my body to ride with headlamps burning.

Cheshire Cross went well. I'm happy with my result though not fully satisfied. I'm very happy that I finished relatively well in front of the friends that came to cheer us on. A top 50% finish is never horrible. I could have finished better though, but I faded as the race wore on. I was running top ten for a while, but just couldn't hold my pace anymore. The legs just felt more and more tired with each lap. This does, of course, happen every race, though in a different way than when the legs just turn to bricks.

I figured all would be well the next day at Durham though, since I always tend to do better on day 2 of doubleheader race weekends. According to the online preregistration page there were only 5 of us signed up; 3 of which were from our regular group of riding partners. Lee, Taylor and I all figured we could take it easy for a few laps before really racing each other. Things changed as several guys registered the day of the event. The field size was close to fifteen guys. This being the case, the race started as usual; fast and aggressive. I got into a lead group of 5 and was pretty excited. I figured I might have a chance at a win. The pace was high, and the legs hurt; in fact they were feeling that sluggish, made of bricks hurt instead of the "bring it on show me what real pain is, I want more" kind of hurt. I was definitely faster than the others in some places, mostly the turns, and even took the lead at points; but after two and a half laps the legs just couldn't turn an effective gear anymore. I rolled across the finish in 6th. Despite a good finish, the placing was a bit disappointing. I knew if the legs had felt good, or at least some level better, then I could have easily finished in the top 3 or won.

I took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday to deal with the over training situation. I didn't ride a whole lot the entire week, but I did eat a fair amount of stuffing and pie. I hope the rest allows some snap to return to my legs this coming weekend as I hit up two days of racing at the NBX Gran Prix.

Apples, Cheesesteak, and a Break.

The week after Hartford Cross came the West Hill Shop race in Putney, Vt. I had a great start to the race and was hanging with a group of guys that fluctuated between 3 to 4 of us for a few laps. I'm guess we, as a group, were holding somewhere in the range of 4-8 positions at any given point. I was feeling good with the group, but the other guys were rather strong. There were places on course where I was faster, and there were places they were faster. Strangely enough, I tended to be faster in power areas, and most of them in the slick corner sections. I finally cracked at the top of the run up one lap though. When I jumped on the bike, the legs just couldn't turn the gear over that I needed to turn over. I faded back for two laps, at which point Jake bridged the gap I'd had over him. He brought one other guy with. I figured Jake was riding much stronger than I at this point, so I decided to get between him and the other racer and block for Jake. With one lap to go Jake was pulling away, but then with a half lap remaining I managed to close the gap on him, then power away through the soft feeling corn field. I placed 8th, Jake 9th. Our prizes, sacks of apples.

I eventually made apple pie with them.

The following weekend was a planned trip to Philadelphia, a city which I'd never visited. Since my friend Sarah and her boyfriend, Matt, live there it was a great opportunity to visit them and see the city. Before I headed for Philly, I needed to make a trip to my home town to pay my final respects to my Grandmother. She and my Grandfather are together forever now.

I made it into Philly Friday night, and after some brief hellos we ventured to a local pub to catch up over some beverages. Saturday morning we headed into the city. We started with a great breakfast at a small restaurant/cafe which gave very large portions of very good food. It was obvious the food would be good from the line outside the cafe. We then ventured to some historical sites including Independence Hall and Elfreth's Ally. We rounded the night out by living the scene from Rocky and running up the steps of the Art Museum.

That brings me into this weekend, in which there were no trips, and no races. That's not to say there wasn't any riding. Sunday was a beautiful day for a bike ride after a very rainy Saturday.

Where's my helmet?

Full on into 'cross season and I've only managed to do one race since Gloucester. I'd have done two, but I managed to forget my bag with shoes, helmet, jersey, et cetera right by the door. Since that was the case, I worked as chauffeur for Lee and Taylor to the Mansfield Hollow race. It was a rather picturesque Autumn day, but I have no pictures. I left my camera at home figuring that with Jake, Lee, Taylor and myself riding the same race we would be able to get any pictures. My bike did get used though! Jake's shifter stopped working midway through the race and he was stuck spinning in his easiest gear. He shouted at me and replied back double checking his style of pedals, which were compatible with mine. I sprinted back to the car, got my bike together, and got to the pits to make a bike swap with him. It was a little funny watching him on a bike that was too small, but he managed to gain some positions back after the swap.

Then came Hartford Cross. Woohoo, I remembered everything this time. And I took a camera just in case. Hartford didn't have much in the way of technical features and was a bit of a power course. Had it been dry, the place would have been super fast. Heavy rains the day before left some soft ground and mud holes in places. My legs weren't feeling very chipper, and the conditions weren't making things any easier. The one awesome feature about the course, was that we went straight up a rather steep 40 foot levee. During warm up I managed to ride up it, maybe the only person to do so all day. During the race though, I was too gassed to get the whole way up. I'd managed to get about halfway then I'd have to run the rest. The best part was that I was much faster up it than anyone else I was around. Between the up and the off camber, muddy, rut filled down hill that followed I was making time there.

I was battling with a few guys, and they would pull away for the half lap leading up to the levee. At that point I would catch back up, stick with them for a little while the slowly get dropped. I thought I'd had it at one point when they'd built a lead at least 100 yards on me. But I managed to surge through the levee and the following section in the woods to catch back on. With one lap to go I was determined to minimize the lead they were pulling, which I managed to do. They didn't get far ahead and I put everything I had into attacking at the levee. I passed them and pulled away. I kept driving for the remainder of the lap and held off the one guy that was slowly surging back up to me. All in all, not a bad race considering I never felt particularly good the whole time. 13th of 30 guys with 2 nonfinishers.

Cheshire Cross is coming in about a month. We're trying to get some of out friends to come out and have a tailgate party yet again and cheer us on since it's sort of like our home field race. I put a video together to go along with the invitation I sent out to hopefully garner more interest.
Check it out.

Cyclocross - be there from Scott Frison on Vimeo.

Diving into Cyclocross Season

So here's the recap since vacation since I've failed to stay up to date with it all.

I returned from vacation and on September 19 headed for Rocky Hill, CT for a race. Actually two races. I competed in the Cat 3/4 race then rode in the 1/2/3 race for training. I was doing well enough in the 3/4 race but just didn't have enough gas to ride they way I did for the first 20 minutes of the race. I faded pretty hard after that point, but still managed to finish well. During the 1/2/3 I was just trying to survive the entire hour of the race.

I was scheduled for another race the following weekend but I needed to pay my final respects to a truly great man. My grandfather was quite the role model. I hope he's putting in a good word for me in heaven.

Then this past weekend was the Gran Prix of Gloucester. The third year that I've attended New England Nationals, as it has so been dubbed. Competition is fierce and many. Saturday was a complete mudfest. It rained all day. Jake and Taylor suffered through cold temperatures and rain during their race at 8 am. By the time I raced the rain was intermittent, but the course was a complete mudbog. I didn't have the most particularly awesome race, I was still feeling a bit worn down from the events of the past week and a half.

Day 2 began far nicer. Jake, Taylor, and Lee raced at 8am on a changed up, cleaner course under a dense fog. Jake even pulled of the victory in a solo break away. By 1pm, the sun was out and the course was drying out where it had still been wet. The corners were tacky and everything was fast. I'd rested up well too. Despite starting in the back, and I mean the waaaay back of nearly 100 guys, I managed to fight my way through. Place by place. After some aggressive passes in turns and putting the hammer down I managed to work my way up to 48th.

It was quite a weekend, and now we are full on into 'cross season. More cowbell!

Pictures from Gloucester can be seen here.

Vacation!!

The Thursday prior to Labor day weekend I began my trek South towards a much needed vacation. I stopped in the D.C. area and stayed with Derek and spent the day Friday relaxing around his place. Saturday morning he and I ventured further South to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. We were meeting numerous other friends at a house that we were all renting on the beach of the outer banks for a week. The house was fantastic, and huge, perfect for a week long relaxation fest. Okay, maybe some parties too. It was a much needed break, that much is for sure.

The weather was wonderful to start the week, then turned slightly less that desirable for much of the week. We were blessed with a fantastic Friday to end our week there though. After spending a while at the pool, we moved to the ocean to finish our day.

I managed to get a few bike rides in as well, though some late nights and rain stopped me from completing some of the rides I'd planned.

On the way back through we stopped to see two old high school friends in Newport News, VA. After spending a few hours there we continued back to D.C. I dropped Derek off and then spend the night with my sister in Arlington. The trip worked out to be a great opportunity to see a lot of people.

There are some pictures from the trip at this link.

Time to ride. A lot. Again.

The properly functioning bike and enthusiasm for the sloppy weather were short lived.

I warmed up on the stationary trainer for a bit at the Palmer cross race, though there was no protection from the steady rain that was falling. I was damp to wet before I went out for a course inspection lap. I'd been hearing people talk about it being a very mountain bikey course, something I was happy to hear. I usually do relatively well on such courses. My pre-race lap confirmed the reports, and also left me soaked and muddy before the race had even started.

I felt good from the warm up lap, I felt good on the bike though all the mud and water. Then I got stuck in the back for the start, not the most favorable place. Well, everything was pretty dicey off the start, and I didn't make up much ground, it was hard to be aggressive in such slick conditions. As things thinned out I started to move up little by little. Then, I crashed on some slick roots. Shwwooop, in a semi-over the handles bars kind of move. My right hand hit the ground hard as I tried to catch myself, three fingers went into a painful, numb kind of state (my pinky is still swollen and sore). My right shifter hit the ground and moved slightly inward too, though not horribly so. My shifting capabilities seemed to disappear though. I had maybe three gears in the back as I started back out, but quickly lost those. I was down to shifting with only the front chainrings.

My brakes faded, a lot, my hand was numb, the bars were wet and muddy, needless to say, I had a hard time controlling the bike from there. I didn't feel like I had much stamina either.

I didn't get last though. I wasn't as close to first as I wanted to be either. Finally got the motivation to not suck and start riding more again.

I found some pictures from the first race of the day. I'm not in any of them, but they paint a pretty good portrait of the race, and cyclocross in general. Check them out here.

Pre-Season continues

Hopefully the pre-season continues without further woes. The bottom bracket I bummed from Jake, didn't have much life left. It was good through the race, but managed to start making some very strange noises midway through the first ride after the race. Noises that I've never heard come from a bottom bracket. I just took it out and there is definitely a bearing or two rattling around freely. Further inspection of the tube from the flat in pre-season race numero uno finds that I had a pretty gnarly pinch flat.

I picked up a brand new bottom bracket from the shop this evening and the bike is back together. Everything seems to be in order with it, which is nice, because pre-season race numero dos is tomorrow. The weather has turned rainy, first time in a while it seems. That stint of hot sunny weather was wonderful, and I kind of like racing cross in it. I'm not complaining about the potentially sloppy conditions for tomorrow though, should make things exciting.

2009 CX Begins

Today was the first cyclocross race of the season. I'm going to call it, PRE-season for me. The plan was for it to be a warm up race, just to get my frame of reference into 'cross.

I just got the bike up and working properly, somewhat late last night. There was a last minute bottom bracket pick up from Jake, for which I am eternally grateful, there were two tubes that went flat on me on the stand, and I'm still not sure if I've got it shifting quite right, but it seemed to be riding well this morning.

Warm up went well, but at the start line I dropped a little tiny bit more air out of my tires, hoping to make some of the bumps just a little smoother. I started fairly well, feeling aggressive, I dove hard into some corners and was trying to get past one particular rider that wasn't taking, what I felt, to be good lines in the corners. I could definitely get through the corners faster, I just couldn't quite get the edge on him going through the first narrow section into the single track. I was annoyed, I should have gotten through those corners much better but he was disturbing my line and speed.

Then, maybe a third of the way into the first lap I flatted. I may have pinch flatted from letting just a little too much out at the start, or maybe I ran over something when I swung into some rough sketchy stuff to get by some guys off the start. I'm not sure yet, but I let the field get by, as it was a single track section and I would just plug everything up. Once everyone passed I rode the course to the pits, picked up a neutral support wheel.

Once I got going again, I spent nearly a full lap pretty alone. Then I started to pick off some riders. Little by little I moved up positions. Of course, I didn't get anywhere near the front, but I was happy to be able to finish, and not be last.

Next race I leave the tire pressure alone.

Random Notes

The last two weeks have been mostly mental rest and recovery. I just took my third ride since the 24 hour race. The first was a pretty easy going ride, the second, was a pretty tough one on the single speed, and tonight and easy going ride on the road bike.

The cyclocross bike calls though! Tomorrow morning I get it working well enough to 'race' on Sunday. I'm just going to the race to get myself in the right frame of mind. It's tough not to get excited about seeing skinny knobby tires under me.

I might also mention that I found a new bagel at the grocery store. Among all those other flavors I'm not interested I found one that I was extremely interested in. French Toast Bagels! They are quiet tasty with a little butter on them.

When does a cult become a legit religion? I'm not sure, but we have converted another rider. Lee just got himself a great looking, used, Van Dessel Gin and Trombones. Not quite the bike that Van Dessel shows on their website but still a very nice bike! I had to keep looking at it during tonight's ride, it got me rather excited for some cyclocross action.

Riding Bikes up Mt. Washington

I ventured to the Mt. Washington, NH area Friday night to support Matt Saturday morning at the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb race. The second weekend in a row at the mountain. I just can't seem to stay away from the place.

Saturday morning was beautiful; clear blue skies and warm enough to be comfortable in a t-shirt at 6 am. Driving from Gorham to the mountain I could see the summit was perfectly clear of any cloud cover. There are very few days this nice at the summit, it was going to be wonderful for taking pictures.

After meeting up with Matt and Bill and talking for a while, Bill, Rob and I headed for the summit. Once we were there I started snapping some photos, then decided to walk down the road a ways to where I could a few sections of the road further down the road. I waited there until Matt came by then head back to watch people finish at the summit.

I was really trying to get some good shots with the camera; the scenery, the pain, the glory. I feel like I got some good ones. In doing so, I experienced an extremely emotion scene.

I rode the mountain two years ago, it ranks as one of my favorite bike rides of all time. 7.6 Miles with an average gradient of 12%, all uphill, gaining 4700+ ft. of elevation. It doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but what an experience and accomplishment. My own experience, on some level, let me into the emotion that these people were carrying into the final steep slopes near the summit. I could see so much in their faces, and then to see family and friends of all ages, just as emotional while cheering on their loved ones; the entire scene was amazing. I almost cried at one point. Unfortunately, my words don't do the scene justice. Hopefully my photographs do a slightly better job.

Pictures and Video from the 24

Finally uploaded some pictures for viewing from the 24 hour race. Just click here to see them. They're in no particular order.

I've also got some videos uploaded. Just follow the links below.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5
Video 6
Video 7

Account of the 2009 24 hours of Great Glen

Team Dirt Nuts had its 4th incarnation this year. The roster was yet again, slightly different, but contained alumni of the team. Taylor and I were now in our 4th straight year of the event. For Solin, it would be the 3rd time at the event after a year off. Jake would join us for the 2nd year running.

We jumped from the sport division to expert this year. Speaking for myself, and maybe my teammates, I had really wanted to make it onto the podium in sport. We were so close last year, problems with our lights cost us at least the 10 minutes between us and 3rd place. I knew we could make the podium, however, Jake and I upgraded our regular cross country racing categories to expert and therefore, the entire team would be entered under expert. We would just have to shoot for a podium spot in the expert division, a far more difficult task for certain.

If you followed along in the live updates, you are aware of some of the story. I would like to fill in some of the details at this time.

I would start the race off with the Le Mans style running start. A 1/3 mile lap around the pond would spread riders out a little, making things a little safer upon starting out on the bikes. The course narrows after a short distance and within a mile is a short but very steep hill. I’ve watched this area the last three years, and was quite aware that a significant traffic jam was going to occur there, no question about it. The sprint finish for 4th place, still playing in my mind from last year has me thinking that every second counts. Even over 24 hours of racing. It’s hard to say what kind of time would be lost if I got stuck in rider traffic for the first few miles, I knew I needed to get past that hill near the front of the pack. I took off in the run, holding a steady but quick pace and managed to be 5th to the bikes. I kept my pace up until I made it up and over the steep narrow hill in the clear. I then settled into my pace.

The course this year, was 99% the same as last year. The biggest difference was the course condition. It was far dryer. There was still some significant mud in places, but it was possible to ride the entire course.

Our lap times reflected this, they were a bit faster than we expected. We started the race by rotating through our entire roster of riders, one lap at a time. With the fast laps, we found that there was very little down time back at our camp. Lee, who had ridden the last two years, was our head pit guy. His plan to live in 40 minute increments had been changed to 30 minute increments. By 5 pm, I’d felt as if we’d raced far more than 5 hours by the sheer number of laps we’d gone through compared to previous years.

At this point we were holding steady in 5th place, expert class. Team UNH (University of New Hampshire) was holding steady at 3 to 5 minutes behind. Some of the lead teams had already pulled out of reach, as long as they maintained their speed without any major problems. I went out for my 3rd lap just before 6 pm, as I completed the first small loop on the other side of Rt. 16 and came back through the tunnel under the road I saw a UNH rider coming through in the other direction. Some quick math said I had approximately 4 minutes on him. I decided I’d need to put some distance on him if I could and tried to pick up my pace a little.

As we completed our third round of laps I was getting set for our night shift. The strategy would change here. Jake and I would alternate laps, such that we would each complete two, while Taylor and Solin caught some sleep. They, in turn would do the same. On my way to take over from Solin I noticed my bike handling funny, but contributed it to the bag of clothing swinging from my handlebar. It wasn’t until I was halfway to the timing tent that I realized my front tire was flat. I quickly went back to camp and changed the flat, but I was not quick enough. Solin had come in, shouted for me briefly, then made a quick decision to get back on course and not waste time. Lee and I started to rework the strategy. It would be best to give Solin a longer rest period after pulling the double lap. Jake or I could pull an extra lap during this alternating shift. Reality said that Jake was the best candidate; he was the strongest rider on the team and could handle the extra lap better than any of us.

Solin came in, and I took over. I needed to make up for time that we might have lost if Solin’s 2nd lap in a row had been much slower. Turns out that it wasn’t too bad of a time, but inevitably, the 2nd lap is always slower than the first. I had a great lap for my first dark lap, nearly as fast as I’d done the course in the daylight. Jake went out for a very fast lap, then I headed back out.

I struggled to find my rhythm this time out. I hit the steep hill, almost rode the bike over the side of the bank, and ended up falling backwards down the hill. I started to feel hungry only 3 miles in, not good. Despite putting down food constantly and eating a banana after my last lap, I was apparently running on empty and I could feel it. I took the Cliff bar out of my pocket and shoved it down the hatch. It didn’t take long to feel better, and then I started to find some rhythm. Right as I found some strength and rhythm I took a bad line while overtaking a slower rider and pounded my front wheel off of a root. “Oh no,” I thought, “my tire is surely going to go flat!” Sure enough, just a few meters later I noticed the ill handling of my bike. I pulled over to fix it.

Surprise! My frame pump was not working. I’ve had a few of these model pumps fail between uses, likely due to mud and water getting in the seals. Through some miraculous event, I’d decided to get my spare tube partially inflated before unseating the tire from the rim. When I couldn’t get the spare inflated, my first reaction was that of Ralphie in A Christmas Story when the wheel nuts go flying everywhere when he and his father are changing a flat, “OHHH FUUUUUUDGE!” Except, just as with he, fudge wasn’t exactly the real word. I felt the front tire; some way, somehow, it still had some amount of air in it, enough to suffice for riding, at least for a while. I figured, if I bang the rim off a few rocks too hard, I’ll just buy a new one, I’m riding it. It actually held up quite well, the handling was only a problem on the dirt roads on some high speed turns, where I could feel the tire trying to peel off the rim.

I came in to hand the baton to Jake, and explained very briefly what had happened to me and told him to put down some good laps while running with him to his bike. He was now going to go out for two laps to make up for the two laps Solin had done.

I took a shower and went back to lay down for some brief sleep. At first my stomach was wrenching in knots, but that faded away. The other issue was the two cans of Red Bull at early points in the afternoon and evening, and they’d seemed to help earlier while riding. Now they might be causing me trouble. I don’t normally drink much in the way of caffeinated beverages, so these were possibly affecting me a bit. My mind was racing. Despite feeling tired and ready for sleep, I couldn’t get my mind to settle down. I closed my eyes, but never really fell asleep. At 4:15 am it was time to start getting myself ready and prepared to ride again as well as eat some food. If the laps that Taylor and Solin were doing were as fast as they’d gone during the day, I would need to ride shortly after 5 am.

At 5:26 am I started my 6th lap. My legs were tired, but I was still turning over a pretty good gear on the bike. We were now back to rotating straight through the line-up. When I came back in, Lee informed me of the reworked strategy he had come up with to get us to the finish with as many laps as could fit in. Oh the beauty of technology and real time updates on lap times. This strategy had me going out sooner than I’d expected, but I’d have a normal break after then next lap. As much as I wanted to wake myself up with some Red Bull I decided to hold off in hopes that I might actually get some sleep after the next lap. That next lap I felt tired, it was my slowest lap without any problems. I finished then went back to camp to fall asleep for a little while.

That nap was great, I felt much better. I coupled that with a double dose of Red Bull, and I was ready to go. Just before 11am I headed out for my final lap. It was clear that Jake would take the final lap. As much as we’d hoped to get Taylor out before noon, it simply wasn’t possible. That final lap, I passed several people. A lot of people were out riding again, the course being sparsely populated at night. Unless we encountered a terrible failure of sorts were set to finish 5th in class (of 6) and 6th overall.

The two major goals I had going into the event would be met. I didn’t want to finish last in expert, and I wanted to be in the top 10 overall (we’d been 14th and 11th the previous two years). The goal of making it onto the podium in sport class would have been reached if we’d registered as a sport class team; we beat every team in the sport class. We could have finished first and paid for our entry with the prize money. That is something to feel good about too I guess.

The only remaining question is, next year?


Pictures and Video soon.

Fin

That's all folks! We are all done. Jake even managed to slide out in a little crash in the final grassy turn. Not as much traction as he thought. Spectacular style points! He finished at 12:24, bringing us to 24 hours and 24 minutes. 6th overall, and not last in our class. Not too bad.

Almost there

Just had a nap with the best sleep i've had in 36 hours. Too bad it was so short. I've got one more to go then Jake will follow up with what will be our final lap. Holding steady in our placing, just have to keep it up. Thank you all for the comments and encouragement. I hope you've had as much fun as we've had. See you at the finish line in a little while.

Getting ready for his bacon lap...

2.5 hours left... We are onto the bacon laps a.k.a. last laps at warp speed!

Time to tick off laps

Well here we are just over 5 hours to go. And go they will, rather fast actually. We will be putting laps down one at a time for each of us. If we hold steady we should stay in 6th over all. It's the final count down.

Welcome to Sunday Morning!

Dark things

Noticed the front tire was flat on the way over to take over from Solin. Despite a quick change I still managed to miss him. Quick thinking on him to go out again. Went out after that and really put down a good lap in the dark. Then Jake went. Then I went and had a less than awesome first half of a lap. Crashed then hit a root way to hard and semi flatten the front. Trouble with my frame pump. But the original tube was still holding some air. Decided to ride it like that and worked pretty well. Time for some brief sleep, expect to be back out about 5 am.

Flat

I was rolling over to start my lap when Solin came in and noticed the bike was handling funny. I stopped about half way to the timing tent and realized my front tire was flat. Even though it was a quick change I missed Solin. Under quick thinking he just went out for another. We'll have to make some slight alterations to the strategy. Going out next, hopefully without further problems.

Woops

I threw down another good lap, even without a pace rider. Time trial as I'd seen the team behind us when the course crossed by itself, figured we were about four minutes ahead. I mentioned that Taylor should with only one light mounted, but he went without a back up so we lost about two minutes when he had to rush back to get his other light. If that is the only problem we have, I'll take it. Solin is heading over to await Taylor coming in. Still feeling pretty strong!

So far to go

That was a good second lap, I had a pace rider for the second half of the lap. He was riding the 12 hour race on a two man team. It was quite a pace to follow but nice to have. As I type we are still 5th in class and tenth overall.

A few laps in...

Solin just left to await Taylor's arrival from lap three. The laps are very fast. I went out and got past the cluster funnel uphill before the crowds then let up just a little to find my groove. I settled in for a quick lap, around 44 minutes. Jake went for a sub 40 and we're just waiting for Taylor to come in.

The start

It has begun! Scott had a great run & was fifth onto the bike.

Checked in and counting down

We have checked in as a team and we are #138. Real time lap results should be available at www.myrealtimescoring.com . In about two hours I will lead off the race with the le mans run and first lap. Jake will follow, then Taylor, and then Solin. Final preparations are in progress.

Sat Morning

Cooking, eating, & relaxing before the start of the race. Everyone made it up okay & slept well last night.

And to all a good night

We got a pre-ride in, only minor changes to the course. The single track is greasy and muddy in places, but the rest is dry and fast. The entire team is here now and the 'compound' is set up. We are just relaxing and thinking about bed soon. See you all in the morning.

Pre-ride

Just got back from food shopping & dinner at a pizza shop. Going for a ride. Hopefully the weather stays nice! It is already cold out...

Arrival

We arrived at mt. Washington to a brief bit of sunlight then got the easy up set up. We were just getting tarps on the sides when it started to rain, then poor, then hail. It is sunny now, wait, here comes some more sprinkles.

Departure

7:30am departure with Lee, Taylor, & a very packed car for the five hour trip to Mount Washington.

Heading North

Nearly everything is packed into the car, so we're pretty much ready to head North to Mt. Washington for the weekend. Hopefully everyone's training has set them in great shape, and hopefully the legs will be there for everyone. See you soon as we get some live updates going.

Live Update Testing

Live update test 1 was a resounding failure.  It was almost a success, until that vital moment when I tried to place text here.  Then failure.  And since this is pass or fail, we got a fail.  We have other options though.

Test 2 was a success if you are reading this.  Plan 2 is to update the blog via email.  Which seems to be working fine.

I'll fill you in on the plan.  Lee's phone accesses the internet, and the hope was to use it to make some short updates when I had a chance to keep everyone up to date on what was happening at the race.  Problem is, it treated the way I enter text on this one particular spot a little strangely.  Plan 3 is to tether the laptop to the phone to use the internet.

Of course this is all good and well, as long we even have a strong enough cell signal at the base of Mt. Washington.  There are a lot of variables, but I hope to throw out some live updates for everyone.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Team Night Ride

With just over a week to go, We have finally put in a night time ride though we did have to wait a little longer than expected for the sun to go down. The team, minus Jake, was all there. The last time I rode in the dark with lights was around the winter to spring transition. In past years, we've been out after dark a few times throughout July. We just didn't get to it this year.

Riding in the dark is always fun, when it's by choice that is. There is something soothing about it to me. Perhaps it's that most of the living world has calmed down and there is a certain quiet serenity floating about. Perhaps it's the idea that my world only exists as the conical beam of light in front of me.

Riding at night presents a special set of challenges. The trails do not always appear the same as they would in daylight. Some small things appear bigger than they are, and some of the big things appear smaller. I have found that a light mounted on the helmet and one mounted on the handlebars works best. The handlebar light can be aimed higher to see things further ahead, while the helmet light allows you to see where you are actually looking which works well in
tight twisty trails.

All in all, a good night and a good ride.

I might also mention that I am hoping to be able to make updates to this blog on a regular basis throughout the 24 hour race.
That's right, real time race reports! I'll throw out some more details in the near future.

Count Down to Cannon Fire

It is now down to a week and a half until the annual 24 Hours of Great Glen. This is the event upon which the summer training has been focused, as were the previous two summers. In some ways I am more nervous and anxious about this year, yet I also feel far more calm, relaxed and laid back about this year. It's a strange place to be, and I can't decide whether it's good or bad, or if I should really worry about it.

I find myself reflecting upon the three years I've participated in this event. The first year we hardly spent time training, specifically for the event. It was an event that sounded crazy and absurd enough to be fun. Four of us, Taylor, Solin, Bill and myself rolled up to Mt. Washington, and staked out our campsite in the dark the night before the race. I didn't even have a tent, luckily Solin had one big enough for the two of us. We certainly learned a lot that year. We had a great time, though our approach was slightly haphazard.

For year two we got a bit more serious. I had started racing the regular XC circuit again with Taylor. Lee had also started racing as well, and with Bill bowing out, Lee was our clear choice for the fourth man. Solin of course was back and we had a much needed addition of Matt Feiner for pit support. Lee's twin, Chris, and his girlfriend also came up to provide additional support. Our friend Mike came along as well, volunteering a significant amount of time through the night to help the organizers of the event keep things running smoothly. Solin's wife and little girl came along to cheer us on as well. We were trained and hungry for a good result, and with the support we had, we would be well taken care of. I have to say, Matt's entertainment value alone
changed the whole event and atmosphere at camp. He and Chris had us taken care of too, we were certainly eating a lot more than we'd done the previous year. I remember coming back from my night laps, I was drained physically and mentally. Spending 2 hours alone, in the dark, in the woods while pressing your physical limits does strange things to your head. I sat down, with the grandest of blank stares, I'm sure, and Chris immediately got after me to get some food in me. The single greatest bowl of warm oatmeal was in my hands in no time.

Year three saw another change in the team roster. Solin would be unable to join us, so we picked up Jake. We were getting more serious about the event as well. This season was surely dedicated to finishing as best we could, we were hoping for a podium spot. Matt was back for support, and Lee's girlfriend Kristy would be our second pit support helper. I had warned Kristy that we would be in a strange place upon returning from our night time laps. Much to her dismay, I returned from my laps in the dark rather chipper. The biggest issue we had was
the mud. Our bikes came back from each lap absolutely caked in mud. Matt had to spend far more of his time cleaning and prepping our bikes and so we suffered a little in the nutrition category at times. We suffered problems with lights yet again, a running theme for us. Despite placing quite well after a very dramatic finish, we missed the podium in our class by 10 minutes. (The complete account of last year is available in 3 acts plus one for the data crunching, you can read them via the following links; act 1, act 2, act 3, data)

Year four now approaches quickly. The roster has changed yet again, though each of us is a veteran of the event. Lee opted not to ride this year, rather work as our cheif pit man. We are still attempting to secure a 2nd pit person to make Lee's life a little easier since Matt will be unable to join us. Jake, Solin, Taylor and myelf will ride in the expert class, upgrading ourselves from sport. I would have loved to stand on the podium in sport, but none of us really wants to be a 'sandbagger,' so we now aim for the expert podium. We all look strong on the bike this year, we have the potential to complete more laps than we've ever done and finish better than we ever have.

When the cannon fires, marking the start of the race, another 24 hour period will begin. We will have to emulate time, and operate like clockwork. While it seems that 24 hours is a long time, every precious second and every bit of energy, will have to be used wisely. While our fate in the race is yet to be determined, one thing is for sure, memories will be made that we will talk about for weeks, months, even years to come.

6 Hours of Power

The 6 Hours of Power was to serve two purposes; training and preparation for the 24 hour race, and a confidence builder. One thing was for sure, the time spent in and around my home town was worth the trip, I only wish I’d allocated more time to spend there and alleviate a little more stress. That alone was probably worth a bit of confidence.

The morning of the race we were a little later leaving than desired, but I didn’t figure it to be a big problem. With at least six hours of riding, I wasn’t going to need much of a warm-up. We arrived at Holiday Valley ski resort about 30 minutes prior to the start of the race. I checked in at registration and we began to unpack the van and take things to the pop up canopy my uncle Jim had set up. He was there supporting my cousin Pat who was also racing. As I pulled my bike out of the van I realized that my front wheel was not there. In my less than attentive state earlier that morning, I’d taken it off, but forgot to put it in the van. Luckily I had managed to throw my back up wheels in, so I had a front wheel to use. The back up front wheel had less than desirable tread on it, but it would have to suffice.

The race started with a Le Mans style running start, everyone scrambling to get to the bikes as fast as they could. I found mine, and took off up the opening climb. I’d ridden it many times several years back, so I was very confident in how hard I should climb it. I passed several people right away. At the top of the hill, the single track began. Fantastic single track, I’d forgotten how good some of it was, even if it was a little damp and greasy in places.

I finished the first lap, just beginning to feel warmed-up. I took a half banana and a fresh water bottle and got on with the second lap. The field had thinned out a bit, so this lap I was able to see more of the trail ahead of me. I had a blast in the single track, riding it relatively fast, even jumping the bike here and there. I felt smooth and confident.

Each lap I came through, I stopped at the pop up, where my mom had a tray full of food selections. I would grab a thing or two, and shove what I could in my mouth and hold on to what I could to finish off as I headed through the timing area at the start/finish line. When I looked through the pictures taken by the professional photographer, it seemed as if they took most of their pictures in this area, my cheeks were puffed full of food in most pictures. The food was extremely important, in order to ride strong for six plus, straight hours I needed to keep calories coming in.

As I finished lap three, my legs were getting tired. By the end of lap 4, all the zip had left my quads, and my hamstrings were feeling a little sore and over-worked. The final downhill was fast, and also steep and rough in places. On a mountain bike this means hovering above the saddle, using the legs as shock absorbers. My calf muscles were now burning by the time I was getting to the bottom of the hill. The bumps and hard braking from the hill, and the overall nature of handling the bike in the single track was taking its toll on my arms too, especially my triceps.

I started lap 5, knowing I had only two laps more to ride. I went up the hill, slowly but surely. At the top, I stopped. The only time the entire race other than at the pit. I felt like I needed to stretch my hamstrings a little. It helped a little, but not enough to warrant the stop. I continued on, slowly. Anywhere the bike would coast, I was coasting. I began to think about making this my last lap. I could just stop at our pit, located just before the finish line and wait until 4pm to finish. (The rules state that you cannot ‘finish’ before the end of the 6 hours. Crossing the line earlier means completing another lap to finish.) I was headed toward a bad place, mentally.

Near the end of the lap, Pat came through to lap me. I sped up and kept with him for a short bit, it made for a quick uplifting moment, seeing a familiar face out on course. I finished out the lap, and essentially forgot that I’d almost thought about stopping. That is until I crossed the finish line and was committed to completing another lap. Any feelings of regret were soon gone and I focused on getting through one more lap. I even found a little hidden drive and strength over the last half lap as I caught and passed one guy that had passed me earlier. I was determined to finish ahead of him, especially since he was riding single speed.

The confidence I was looking for, didn’t come right away. Some of it did, but some of it has come as I reflect and look over the results. Certainly, I rode well. Despite being tired at the end, I felt good, really good. I have felt much worse at the end of far shorter races.

My total riding time was 6 hours 38 minutes 44 seconds. Throw in a few pit stops, and my total finishing time was 6:44:59. I completed 6 laps of the course for 58.26 miles. I was 26^th overall, of 83 solo riders, 43^rd overall of 123 solo riders and two person teams. (Results here)

My lap times were

lap 1 - 1:01:18

lap 2 - 1:00:19

lap 3 - 1:04:44

lap 4 - 1:11:39

lap 5 - 1:15:30

lap 6 - 1:11:29

There are a few pictures here from the day's event.

Pictures from the professional photographer’s site are here. I’m in photo #18, #252, #253, #468, #565

On a side note, Pat finished in first place for the solo riders. Only two of the teams were faster.

In the search for some confidence

Confidence has been hard to come by lately. Finishing near the back of the pack in every race, sometimes in a race to not be DFL can do a number on your feel good. The weekend after Putney was the race at Domnarski farm. Well, I'll blame it on the sunburn, but I didn't feel particularly chirpy the day after the burn, which was the day before the race. I didn't really have an appetite to eat dinner, then not much of an appetite for breakfast the morning of the race. Domnarski is long, with lots of climbing, and it is rough in places. Just before the start, I felt slightly hungry. Not good.

I never really bonked, thankfully. I even found some kind of power on the last half of the last lap, mainly cause I was trying to drop the other guy so I wouldn't be in last place. It was way too little, way too late though. The entire Cat 1 field had walked away from me on the first climb.

I'm supposed to be good at climbing. It has always been where I stood out in racing. It doesn't seem to be so this year. I find myself wondering, am I just no good at climbing any more?

Truth is, everyone in Cat 1 is just plain fast. There is no hiding.

I'm probably just as fast, if not faster than I ever was, but I don't feel it. Not when I'm hanging out some place close to last in every race. So, with the traditional XC races winding down for me as I prepare for the annual 24 hours of Great Glen I'm looking for a lot of confidence. I think we all know that the mental aspect can be the most powerful part of a sport, especially one like cycling. If you're confident, you'll be fast, if you're not confident, best of luck to you. I'm trying to find that mental boost that makes me feel fast, so that I'll be fast, for me and my team mates.

The first boost finally came the other day. I did a little fitness test. The fastest I'd done this particular loop before was with an average speed of 19.7 mph. Despite the one killer hill, and it's a killer, there are some places where the pace can sit above 20 mph. Monday night, I did the loop at 20.1mph.

Big boost. Maybe I am fast.

This weekend will hopefully give me the next boost. A 6 hour endurance race at the Holiday Valley ski resort. If it all goes well, I'll be mentally ready to shred the 24 hour course.

Here, take some Speed

Hey you, here, take this speed. Actually, I don't promote drug use. In fact, I won't even take ibuprofen unless my body really, really, hurts. But, despite my lackluster show of speed at Putney I was rather surprised tonight. I think someone injected me with something in my sleep or slipped something in my lunch today.

I took Monday off as a rest day and caught up on some chores. Then, today, I wasn't sure I'd even get to ride, strong thunderstorms were on their way. After consulting the radar several times, I decided it was a go, and then even decided it would be possible to pull off the Tuesday Night Sleeping Giant ride before the rain came. Lee rolled out the door with me and we rolled a nice warm up before arriving at Sleeping Giant State Park. I told him as we pulled away from the house and my legs screamed in agony, "I hope I can manage to hold on until the Paul Bunion Statue." The statue sits about half way through the ride. As we warmed up more, my legs started to feel alright.

The the Sleeping Giant ride started, this week it was split in two, with another group riding a slightly longer route. This was nice because it dropped the total number of riders in one group down, and the really fast guys opted for the long route while I opted for the short route. That's not to say the short route was going to be slow though. It may have started out a little easier since no one really wanted to pull at the front, but after a few miles the pace was sitting high. Somehow, I was easily sitting in the first 10 guys of the pack through nearly the entire ride. A few times, on some short uphills I surged to the front.

Then we pulled onto route 10, I was getting positioned for the sprint up the hill to the grocery store entrance. I let three or four guys expend large amounts of energy at the front and when the hill kicked up I began to surge. Unfortunately, I was sort of blocked into moving up the ride side and after I got to the front and was pushing on the pedals with everything I had for about 5 or 10 seconds I heard it. "Clank, clank, clank." Each time the tires rotated something in the back end was smacking the frame of my bike. I pulled off onto a sidewalk entrance as the entire peleton kept on trucking. I'd taken a metal spring to the rear tire. After a quick change of tubes I was up and rolling. Though I had no hope of catching the group again, likely going 5mph slower on my own, I time trialed my way home holding 20-25 mph.

Upon arriving at the house, Lee says to me, "I decided you're a liar." Truly, I didn't think I was going to be able to hold on tonight, some how I ended up playing around at the front of the pack.

I made it home about 5 minutes before the rain too.

I posted some select pictures from Putney. I included some random faces, just because I kind of like some of the pictures. Look at them here.

Slippery Race at Putney

And so it has continued to be wet, and it even rained as Taylor and I entered the state of Vermont. Not particularly exciting when I'm planning to race, though, I guess I didn't care a whole lot. I just prefer dry trails, especially technical ones. Wet roots and I have never had the best of relationships, cordial to one another, but never out of our way to be friendly.

It had rained quite a bit at Putney recently so the trails were damp, greasy, and extremely ready to suck the life from each rider's legs. The race started out okay, but soon enough the entire field just walked away from me. It took me nearly all of the 4 laps to begin to find a rhythm I'd had through roots and mud that I'd had before pile driving my shoulder into the ground. Until I began to show some ability, I pretty much looked like a kid that just got off his training wheels. At least that's how I felt I looked. I looked forward to the climbs, at least a little. After all, it is where I usually shine.

Not so on this day. I was doing pretty good compared to other people I saw, even getting pretty far, farther than most, over some really slippery technical uphill stuff. But, the greasy mud was too much for even the best of us. I saw no one riding, on two particular spots of the course. The less technical climbs proved to be suffer-fests. Many riders were reduced to slow, grinding climbs as their rear wheels struggled to hold traction.

Through it all, I felt that I rode fairly well, I was even beginning to catch some guys towards the end of the race. I have the endurance, just no high end speed yet. So I felt good about my ride, even if I was really close to the back of the 19-29 Cat 1 field.

Getting Wet

Somehow, despite the fact that it seems to rain or threaten rain every day now, I managed to pull off a second big week in a row. I was nearing the point of over doing it. After a few days rest I was back out today, even though there was rain in the area.

Sometimes being wet, or damp, is just plain annoying. Like a sock that is wet from a shoe that failed to provide protection from the rain soaked ground. To me, there is little more annoying than a wet sock. But for some odd reason, a ride in a light rain is slightly refreshing once in a while.

It may have something to do with the fact that spring rains are associated with the rebirth of life after harsh winters. Or it could be that the forestation along the road looks so much greener and more lush after a rain. It could be even more than that. Whatever it is, it felt good to get a little wet on the ride today. I started out with a light misty-type rain falling on me, and after a mostly dry ride, finished the last few miles in a similar rain. Instead of the usual grumpiness associated with wet clothes, I was rather cheerful.

It certainly was not my first foray into a rainy ride. There have been other occasions, some more enjoyable than others. I recall donning what I had for 'water resistant' clothing once in my early teenage years, simply to go ride and play on my bike in the rain. Sometimes, it is just fun to get wet.

So today's ride passed, as many rides do, without a particularly notable moment to record other than I got damp and enjoyed it.

BIG week

It seems like so much has happened since the race in New York City, and yet I have some how put off writing, or at least forgot to when I had the time. There has been a lot of riding since that race.

I took the day after the race off to rest, then Tuesday I would have normally done a moderately paced recovery ride. Instead, I was somehow convinced to take part in the Tuesday night Sleeping Giant ride. It is the so called 'race without an entry fee.' I can't describe it any better than that. Guys from all sorts of categories show up (read as, guys who are a lot lot lot faster than me show up). Anyways, I think this was the third time ever that I tried this ride. It is a bit sketchy to start, the roads are littered with potholes for the first 2 miles and the ride is fast, and if you've ever ridden in a large group of cyclists, there is next to no ability to see what is coming your way on the road. Well, in short, my goal was to simply survive with the pack to the end of the ride, which I had yet to accomplish in my previous attempts. That night things went just right, and I managed to finish up with the big guns. Wow, the legs hurt.

I put in some recover miles on Wednesday, took Thursday off, then went riding with Jake on Friday. We ended up killing a few short, steep, punchy climbs. With as strong as Jake has been this year, I was hurting. I hadn't really recovered from Sunday and Tuesday's efforts. Quite likely not the greatest move on my part since I intended to race the next morning in the Nutmeg Criterium.

Note to self, don't ride with Jake the night before a race if you hope to do well.

I showed up at the crit, with few ambitions to place, but plenty of hope to stay in the pack to the finish and get a good work out in. Goals accomplished. I was wishing I'd had legs at the end of the race though, tactically it was the best I'd ever been able to read a race. It may have helped that a majority of the field was comprised of squirrely, inexperienced, junior riders that thought they could walk away from the peleton into the head winds. I was near the front with 1/3 lap to go at the top of the small rise and decided to try for a sprint, but I didn't have it, realized it, sat up and let the peleton pursue the sprint to the finish. I proceeded to pack up, drive 30 minutes home, and put an extra 28 miles in for the day.

Sunday was the annual Tour de Cure, which members of the Sikorsky Cycling club participate in. What is exceptionally nice is that it starts just a couple miles from my residence. I didn't actually sign up this year, but decided to ride the route with some friends that had signed up. I just went self supported, while the helped themselves at rest stops. Despite some significant issues with a flat and a tire that was far too worn out at the start of the ride, we ended up having a good ride. We all agreed that we were just warming up when the tire issues started and never really felt like our legs were quite there after sitting around playing with the tire. I ended up with 67 miles out of that ride at an average speed of 18.2 mph.

I started the week off with another Monday rest day. My legs were a bit sore all day from the high mileage, and heavy efforts of the course of the week. Then came Tuesday again. Feeling ambitious I went for the Sleeping Giant ride again, but put in some miles before the ride. This time, I was struggling to hold pace at times but managed to stay in the peleton. At one point I was feeling really pretty good. Then made a turn, into a slight rise, and the usual accelerations out of the turn happened. Well I got caught up behind the wrong guy and had to brake check a bit killing all of my momentum. I tried to accelerate back up to speed up the small rise, but my legs just filled to the brim with lactic acid and pretty much shut down. I watched the group pull away. I took a small shortcut and managed to get just ahead of the speeding peleton. The shortcut allowed me enough rest to jump back into the draft for the remainder of the ride down the smooth and straight asphalt.

My legs now hurt so good.

Mountain Biking in New York City

Sunday started out like any other race day. This time I was picking Taylor up at a wonderfully bright and early time, and with bikes on the roof and all of our stuff in the back we hit the highway. Things got a little different though, instead of the usual where we drive further from civilization, this time we found ourselves surrounded by more and more concrete and more and more people. Then we came around a tight little corner on the cross county parkway and saw the sign for our exit right in front of us, hard right onto the ramp. As I pulled the hard right I realized there were actually two signs for the Saw Mill parkway and I'd just taken the wrong exit. No worries, we made a U-turn near the Dunwoodie Golf Course, which Taylor found the name of to be strangely funny. It was just the beginning of odd things to come on this day.

A few minutes later we were on Manhattan Island, at High Bridge Park. Strange place for a mountain bike race, but I think that's why we were there. Taylor partook in the Cat 2 race, and I decided to roll over to the staircase and grab some pictures. From there I decided to continue in the direction of the course. Bad idea. I was still wearing sneakers, heavy shorts, a regular old t-shirt and had a camera on my shoulder. I had worn my helmet though. I ended up in some gnarly, greasy single track that was likely to be difficult to negotiate in race attire let alone what I was wearing. I also climbed the toughest climbs on course, and despite trying to take it easy through all that, I managed to work up a serious flow of sweat in the mid-80° temperatures. Turns out I rode most of the course.

Well onto my race. I'd already sweated out more than my fair share of liquids, so it wasn't long into the race before I realized I wasn't prepared with enough bottles to last me through the race. Luckily I'd warned Taylor that I'd likely need an extra bottle. There were only 2 of us in our age group and I managed to stay on my competitors wheel without difficulty through the climbs of the initial partial lap. I pulled away a little in some of the technical stuff but I figured he might crack with the gear he was trying to pull up the hills so I let him go without too much worry.

I might mention that we started out with this 3/4 partial lap that went straight to the top of the park off the start. It was really a pretty darn good climb. After that we (the Cat 1 field) did 5 full laps of the course. Starting out with some gnarly single track, followed by a long semi paved section into the ride down the staircase. After that was a little bit of grassy stuff, before entering the caverns under a few bridges. Then it was climb, climb, climb up mostly pavement to the top of the park. Greasy rocks, roots and off camber stuff followed in some amazingly awesome single track. My only complaint, the switch backs were the worst bit of hike-a-bike, back to the top of the park and around the baseball fields. From here it was mostly down hill, with a few minor hills just to keep the roller coaster ride going. This was some of the best single track I've ridden, period. The lap ended by popping out on a sidewalk, and though it was taped and barricaded down the middle, and had few warning signs, there was the occasional oblivious pedestrian to avoid.

Back to the race. I had my competitor in my sights through part of the first full lap, but things shortly went dry for me. At 45 minutes in I'd done a 3/4 lap, plus one full lap and I was realizing that my hydration supply was quickly disappearing. At 2 and 3/4 laps I was beginning to get lapped by the pro field. Near the end of 3 and 3/4 laps I saw Taylor and Christina and yelled out, "I NEED WATER!". It would be another lap before Taylor could meet me at the feed zone with water.

2 laps to go and I'd just started my 2nd bottle of fluids. I should have planned on a bottle a lap. Well my breathing had been comprised for a few laps, I could only seem to bring in enough air to fill up half of my lungs. I side effect of the heat and dehydration I'm sure. This kept me from being able to get my heart rater higher, or efficiently provide oxygen to my legs. The result, I had but 1 speed that I could ride at. It wasn't particularly slow, but it certainly wasn't fast.

Somewhere in there, while I was descending a couple of sketchy looking rocks I saw a guy come flying up my ride side on an 'alternate' line. Nothing I was going to tempt riding, and out of the corner of my eye it seemed that he was going waaaaaay too fast. My thoughts were that he came up on me too fast and couldn't make the slight turn for the good line and couldn't stop quick enough. Oh, man, I'm going to have to stop and help this guy, he's just crashing down through the weeds. I got down over the rocks, and followed the trail back to the right, looked up and saw that the guy was not out of control and crashing through the weeds down the embankment. Rather, he'd hucked off one rock into this 'line' then popped back up onto the main trail, catching air, and doing a slight tail whip too. Hmm... I just got schooled. I still shouted at the sheer awesomeness of it.

At just over 2 and a half hours I finished my 5 and 3/4 lap, 21 mile ride. Cooked. My competitor was about 4 minutes ahead. Not really that much considering how long we were riding. Had I been more prepared with water, I might have tipped the balance the other way. An awesome ride either way.

Since there were only two of us, I got the 2nd place prize pack, which included $30. Taylor, Christina and I headed for a pizza joint. We found one, with prime parking, I think it was the only open spot we saw on the way there. Some little shop, near Broadway and 207th. Food!

There are some selected pictures here, taken by Christina, Taylor, and myself.

Another entertaining report on the race, by Gary Fisher 29er Crew rider Thom Parsons can be found here.

New Wheels!!

I'd been longing for a nice set of race wheels for the mountain bike for some time. I'd been looking at parts online, comparing price versus weight versus performance, and trying to find that optimal blend of the three. I'd looked at some of the high end wheel sets that were available, but decided I could spec out each piece on my own and build something close enough without spending as much money. So I ended up with Mavic XC 717 Disc rims, Wheelsmith XL14 spokes, Wheelsmith alloy nipples, a Cannondale Lefty hub for the front, and a Chris King hub for the rear. I mounted a Shimano XT cassette, the rotors that came with my Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes, and some random light wieght tire I found in my dad's garage for the rear. A Kenda Karma stick-E on the front. I'm rather pleased, the best wheels I've built yet too. I should clarify, the best I've built a set of wheels yet, they've held true through the first round of beating.

On a side note, a cyclist I met a few years ago, pointed me in the direction of a blog some friends of his had started. Joe's friends are riding across the country, in a speedy sort of way. Since I have a life goal to accomplish just such a task, though likely a bit slower to stop and see things, I've been following along. You might enjoy their journey as well. Follow along here.

Weekend Get Away

Memorial day weekend became a 4 day weekend for me with the company furlough on Friday. Not a problem with me, I'd already planned to travel for the weekend and the extra day was great to have. I made the drive, through throngs of bugs, back to the home town. The front of my car, and the bike on top, were absolutely plastered with bugs. Pleasant to clean, let me say, especially off the bar tape and brake hoods.

As much fun as densely populated areas can be with all they offer to do, I always seem to feel so much better in the rural areas of Northern Pennsylvania. The rest is better, the rides are better, the air is better, a lot of things are better. I'll stop short of saying everything, because there are some great things about Southern Connecticut as well. I always enjoy getting quality rides in though.

This particular trip didn't see as much riding as a normal trip to the area. I spent a good bit relaxing, as well as visiting various extensions of the family. The biggest ride was nearly 58 miles, in the warmest weather I've ridden to date this year. I struggled a bit in it, and downed the 2 bottles I'd brought along, by the time I'd reached the halfway point. Luckily, as I'd hoped, there was a water fountain in Kinzua Bridge State Park. The biggest hills climbs of the ride came in the last 9 miles of the ride, I struggled with them to say the least.

The best ride of the weekend may have been the morning of Memorial day. I'd planned to start my trip back to Connecticut early, but thankfully came to my senses. Why head back early to get a ride in there, when I could ride the perfectly wonderful roads of McKean County? My dad and I put in a great 25 mile ride. The roads were quiet and nearly void of traffic, the winds were light when they were in our face, and we hit the fastest downhill I've been on. I only managed 51.6 miles per hour, a little shy of my personal speed record, which had been achieved on the same hill a few years ago.

Unfortunately such enjoyable times of relaxing and riding had to come to an end.

Riding Again

I'm back on the bike again! It's been a tough first week. I'd like to be stronger, especially on the hills, but I have to say that all in all I'm happy to be riding at this point. Those 3 weeks off were starting to get tough on the mind.

Helping even more with my motivation is the great coverage of the Giro D'Italia provided by Universal Sports. If you are lucky, like me, you get the television channel and get to watch the coverage in great clarity. If not, you can still watch! Just go to their website and watch the video for the stage you'd like to see.

As much as I'm tired of hearing about Lance and his return, it is probably everyone's infatuation with him that has allowed us here in the states to get this great coverage of the race. By the way, the Giro is a three week race, just like Le Tour. The other grand tour is the Vuelta A Espana. So, in some weird way, thanks Lance, for riding again, and for riding another big race beside Le Tour.

Insta-bonk

After suffering a grade 1 A.C. separation and being off the bike for 3 weeks and 2 days, I made a triumphant return to the road bike on Saturday. Surprisingly enough I felt pretty good and was even able to push my pace to some decent speeds at times. It was really great to be back on the bike, and in such good weather too.

My legs hurt a bit after I finished the ride, but I wasn't all that shocked. I'd put in a pretty good ride after such a long time off. Sunday, I figured I'd get another good ride in, though my plan was to take it fairly easy. I did keep myself from going overly hard, though the head wind certainly gave me its best.

Then after about 17 miles, the legs got real tired. Luckily I was already on the return portion of my loop. Not far after the legs got tired I was really starting to struggle and the wind was wreaking havoc with me. Then I began too realized just how hungry I was. It hit me, I'd just bonked. Quite possibly the quickest bonk that had even struck me. Thinking about what I'd eaten early in the day I quickly came to the conclusion that it was no where near enough to be out exercising for very long. It was really probably just enough to exist with basic functionality.

Lesson learned: eat more, ride well, get stronger.

Spring Travel

Travel has been my theme as of late. About a month and a half ago I made a trip to Washington D.C. metro area. With two uncles, a sister, and two good high school friends in the area it always makes for a busy visit. Three or four days just never seems enough time to spend the time I feel I need to with everyone.

A few weeks later I made a weekend trip to Florida to visit my brother and his family. Oddly enough, the weather that weekend was actually warmer in Connecticut than in Florida. I have to say, the weather in Florida that weekend was just about perfect for me. It was the type of weather I could get used to; sunny and warm, but not hot.










I was also able to meet up with up with my aunt and uncle in Stuart, just a few miles from my brother's house. They hosted me for a wonderful dinner.

The number of people out cycling in Florida made me rather anxious to get out and ride, but an injured shoulder and no bike, it was not to be.

I returned late on a Monday night, then that Thursday I took off yet again for D.C. I'd had so much fun during the recent visit there I really wanted to get back down before cycling season really took off for me. Being off the bike with the shoulder injury really opened up some weekends for me to take off and go do things in place of the usual training.

End of the early season

Getting too comfortable can be a bad thing. It turned pretty sour for me at the end of last week as my shoulder pulled a nice pile drive right into the ground. No broken bones, but awaiting the verdict on the rotator cuff. Needless to say, no riding for quite a while. Extreme bummer considering I'd just got healthy after nearly three weeks of random colds/bronchitis.

On the positive side, at least I shouldn't be burned out come 'cross season. Maybe this year I'll make beyond Charm City Cross riding strong.

Here's a little bit I put together from Hop Brook during the Cat 2 race.


Hop Brook Cat 2 Opening Lap from Scott Frison on Vimeo.

Lessons on the holeshot

I'm not going to say that getting the hole shot would have done me much good at the Hop Brook race on Saturday, BUT I think there is a lesson to be learned here. If you plan to be competitive with the front of the field on a course that involves narrow sections (read single track), you best get to the front at the start and not get stuck behind someone in the first tight section. This especially holds true if that section will be difficult to ride due to technical features and/or slippery mud.

Notice the group come through, then a gap, then the guy struggling to gain traction right in front of me.

Opening weekend, 2009

This was the first big weekend of racing for the 2009 season. I'm still just getting the riding going so there wasn't much to be expected for results. Mostly, I knew I'd get some good saddle time on the bikes.

Saturday was the first Root 66 series race at Hop Brook Dam. It was also my first race in the Cat 1 field, formerly known as expert. Right off the start I was somewhere near the back. A little way into the first lap I found myself riding closely with two other guys. Shortly into the second lap, one of them found some strength and pulled away. The other got a small gap on me shortly there after. Every time I closed most of the gap I started to make silly mistakes in technical sections of trail. Finally I caught and passed him. Now, as far as I could figure, this might have been the race to not be DFL. I did not want to be last. Starting the third and final lap, I dug deep and tried to prevent my competitor from passing, and to my pleasure, I found that I was pulling away. I dug deeper. Success ensued, I managed to completely lose him and finish relatively strong.

Did I mention that the race was just that much tougher because of the rain that fell during our entire bout on course? Well it was, rear tires were sliding around going up some of the hills. There was actually more traction in the wet leaves then in the clear line that people were following up the hills.

Upon just checking the results, I found that I actually placed 15th in a deep field of 19 guys.

After my race, I stuck around to watch Taylor in the Cat 2 race. It continued to rain throughout their race as well. Our friend John was also racing in Cat 2, so I got to cheer for a few guys. It was rather fun to watch despite the significant moisture. I jumped around the course and tried to grab some good photos. You can be the judge by looking at them here.

Battle of the Bronchitis

The sore throat and cold that was mentioned last post turned into bronchitis. This was not diagnosed by a medical doctor, rather by logical reasoning that I was around someone that had it, and after a little reading at an online medical site, it seemed pretty clear to me.

Despite dealing with a bit of the effects on the lungs, I felt pretty good and mostly normal I headed for the Plainville Spring Series on Saturday. I felt good at first, I even bridged a gap to a potential breakaway on lap two. We got caught though, and no one wanted to pull at the front as we headed into the strong headwind. Seeing as I was there for the work out, I decided the heck with it, I'll just stay here at the front then and they can go the measly slow pace that was all that I could muster into the headwind. Finally a few riders capable of more speed into the wind decided to pull up through, increasing the speed of the peloton a notch or two.

It was disaster for me. Just tired from the pull at the front, and beginning to feel that I didn't have much left I couldn't hang on to the peleton and promptly got dropped. Each time they came around to lap me, I tried to catch onto them but I just couldn't hold the speed for long. The headwind was really taking a toll on me while I was alone.

Sunday it was off to Rhode Island with Jake for the King of Burlingame mountain bike time trial. The course is quite fun, which was a bonus this year. It was the first race as an expert for me. Considering I haven't really started 'training' yet, I was still suffering from a bit of bronchitis, and the competition was going to be a step up, I wasn't expecting much for results. Riding a fun course was going to bring a lot more joy to the whole event. My legs felt like bricks the whole time and I figured I was slow.

Suprisingly, my bike computer said I was about a minute and a half faster than last year. The 'official' results, listed me as a minute slower. After finally getting to see the results I realized that something just didn't make sense, as I had suspected after hearing my time on Sunday. The way the start order worked with bib numbers, the start intervals, and the finishing time I was 3 seconds behind bib 103 at the finish, real time. He would have started exactly two minutes ahead of me. This simply wasn't the case. There was no one that close in front of me as I crossed the line. There were two guys not far behind me as I crossed the line, but not at a 3 second difference. I did catch bib 106, who started 30 seconds before me, we finished not too far apart. I figure I had about 40 seconds on him, race time. That would place me at 36 minutes 5 seconds, which is nearly identical to the time on my bike computer. I'm pretty sure I should be listed at 17th with a time just over 36 minutes instead of 20th. I could go on about how my time just doesn't make complete sense, but the reality of it is, I wouldn't have won anything anyway.

Ah well, onto the first Root 66 race of the season and Easter weekend.

This Spring seems to have a high K constant

Spring is suddenly approaching rather quickly, I feel like I've barely done much riding to speak of and the important races are drawing close. So far I ventured to Bethel for a short criterium, mostly for the workout, not really the results. Though I finished mid-pack without contesting the sprint. Last Thursday, a whole week ago now, was my last ride. I stopped at the velodrome in Trexlertown, PA on my way to Washington D.C. After going in ovals for an hour I continued my car ride. Upon returning from D.C. I immediately wound up with the second sore throat and head cold in less than three weeks. Riding was a thought, but with a nice chest cough it seems I'll be holdng off for maybe a day longer.

I'll get to see just how poorly prepared I am soon enough. For another work out, I'll be at the Plainville Spring Series for another criterium, then the King of Burlingame mountain bike time trial. I fully expect to get womped in my first race as an expert. I finished midway in the results last year as a sport rider. A week later is the first Root 66 race of the season, Hop Brook Dam. This is the first 'important' race, and at 21 miles, I fully expect to be somewhere way behind the leaders. My primary goal at all of these, not to be DFL. I figure Hop Brook will be my wake up call to start putting some hours in.

My big excuse? I'm claiming that I don't want to burn out a third of the way into 'cross season this year and I'm only racing expert so that I can get a chance to ride longer races. We'll see how it all works out.

In the mean time, here is a video of riding at the velodrome. 25mph doesn't look as fast on video.

Velodrome Riding from Scott Frison on Vimeo.

Ride, Ride, Ride!

Two days, Four rides. All fun! I tuned up the road bike with a new chain, brake pads, bar tape and other minor tweaks Saturday morning then took the bike out for a ride. Twenty miles later, plus a stop at the bike shop to shoot the breeze I had a good ride in. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, it was off with the mountain bike for some rather technical riding. Despite the legs feeling mighty tired, I was getting through the technical stuff rather adeptly.

Sunday morning started early, too early to be awake and be happy. I headed up to the Bethel Spring Series for a little high intensity, high speed work, and my first criterium. It was cold. As a newly licensed roadie, I took part in the mighty short cat 5 race. My legs had nothing, and I was simply there for the workout, my only hope was that I could stay with the peleton for the entire race. I managed to do so, and even found myself near the front on a regular basis. If I'd had some legs I might have even contested the uphill sprint for the finish.

I packed up, headed out, stopped for breakfast #2 and swapped bikes. Another good mountain bike ride in the afternoon. The legs are pretty tired after all those rides, but it was all a lot of fun.

Spring is springing

Winter seems to be fading away and spring not far off. The warmer weather has found me riding more and more each week. Despite being nearly destroyed on a road ride a few weeks ago, I'm beginning to feel some strength in the legs. I must say, the benefits of riding the single speed in the woods since last fall is showing. I finally pulled the scalpel off the storage stand and got it in running condition. After riding a hard tail with minimal front fork travel, the scalpel just felt squishy and I didn't feel like I knew how to ride in the woods. Following a handle bar swap and a little more air in the shocks, and I feel good on the trails. I certainly suggest some single speed trail work to boost the training.

Curing Cabin Fever

The period of rest that was recovering from being burnt out turned into a bit of a long spell without any good riding. I fell into a rut and couldn't find the motivation to pull myself out. The weather was cold, the sun wasn't out when I could be, and heck, it's easy to sit on the couch or in front of the computer.

The sun is out longer now and spring is showing itself if but through some small cracks in the cold. Along with some new parts for the bikes I'm getting rather excited to spend some time outside. That, and it's getting mighty tough to sit still.

I've been getting out a little bit here and there. I don't know that I'm quite up for training as of yet, but it sure is nice to get out and enjoy some time rolling around on two wheels. As painful as they were, the couple of hours I spent riding this afternoon gave me some time to think a little about life, friends, the idea of training, and a lot about how strong the wind was.

Thursday night, Tom and I got out after work and rode some trails. I was surprised at just how long it stayed light. We did finish up in the dark and took a few videos while we were out. Click on this link to see Tom ride over the log pyramid, then crash as the video ends.

Here is a clip he got of me coming down the last hill near the exit of the trails.

Night Riding at Trumbull from tjfuzz on Vimeo.