Alternative Ride

Today Joe White, Bob, and I went or a Mtn Bike ride @ Mass. It was hard but Fun. Good to ride some XC for a change.
Here is the Garmin of it. I like the elevation change map, reminds me of the TDF. Thanks Joe:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42594424?sms_ss=facebook

Recovery Ride?

Tonight was supposed to be a recovery ride. Brian and I have both (i think) been enjoying doing new loops that I plan out around town. We are riding a lot of the same sections of roads that we have ridden before but in different orders and different directions. Today worked out well because the beginning of the ride was almost all in the shade: wonderfully cool shade. We ended up doing 22 miles with an average of about 16 mph, definately a recovery pace, but this had lots of hills in it. The fresh loops are where it's at right now and we are having a good time. It was also good to burn off some of the cookie calories that I consumed today.

Sausage Legs

Today I got on Google and looked for a ride that was about 30 miles. It works pretty well adding destinations to create a loop. I met Brian at the Bike Stop and we left from there. It was pretty hilly at the beginning and middle. My ability to hold pace got weaker. The goal was to ride for an hour and a half and we did 29 miles in just over that time. It was pretty warm but I think I am getting used to the heat. Good ride but the increase in milage that I have done this week is taking its toll.

Free food is Great

It was a hard humid sweaty ride to the top of the Moormont mtn. The Wednesday night ride started out really fast and after the shake out I was able to climb really strong, but maybe that is becuase I didn't do as much pulling at the beginning. Sally did great, made it to the top of the steep climb. The wind seemed to be in our faces both ways. More importantly there was a free dinner at Alex's. Great pasta and sauce and good cucumbers. Good way to finish the evening. I am sleeping a lot harder with all this exercise and I have already consumed all my lunch for today by 9 in the morning. 27 miles with a 18+mph avg. but that would be a lot slower if I wasn't riding in a big group.

In between

The training program for the century ride says I am supposed to exercise/ cross train between the big rides so last night I rode my Caliente Fixie to the store to purchase Stuff. Great evening for a ride, cloudy and cool. Took the senic route home and had a good ride.

Training

Tonight I did my first ride of what I hope will be a six week training regiment for riding a century (100 miles). Today was the Speed ride for 1.25 hours. I had to keep making my loop bigger to get all the time in. The wind was relatively calm but I could feel it when heading east. I ended up riding 27.8 miles in just under the time for an average of 19.1 mph. I felt surprisingly strong and attribute that to well timed eating. It wasn't crazy hot- in the mid to upper 80's, I think. Good Start.

Snowshoe #2

This weekend was great, the second awesome weekend at Snowshoe. The weekend started on Friday evening with Brian and I doing a quick road ride of 13 miles. It was quite hot and I didn't want to blow myself out before practice on Saturday so we took it easy. Saturday morning at 4:30 we got up, finished packing and drove up to the Resort. We (Sally and I) got there just before 10 and was on the trail by 10:45. I decided to run amateur (expert) this time which meant that I ran a harder course than beginner and Weekend Warrior. The first run BLEW MY MIND! This race course was the hardest I have ever ridden. The mud race at Windham last year was tough but the technical requirements were one after another and RUG-GED. The rock gardens had giant holes that just tried to stop you every 2 feet. Multiple Rock Drops, 35 ft.road gap, steep switchbacks, about 8 rock gardens, muds sections, everthing was stacked- Steep and Deep!!! I love it. I have been bitching that some of these race courses are way too easy and this one was world class. Its the first time that the couse was so hard that I didn't ride it from top to bottom, nonstop, before race run. As Stefan and I started learning lines, and as the course dried out a little, it got easier but the really rough rock gardens also got the big holes filled in by course workers with a bunch of flat rocks. I crashed on the first two runs in the same garden. If the course wasn't so hard I would criticize them for making it easier but this jam was the Real Deal. On the second run I followed the local pro over the 30+ foot road gap and came up just a touch short but after the fourth run I got it dialed in. It was the easiest part of the course. One thing I have noticed with DH vs. MX is that it is more important to nose in on the DH bike for a smooth landing. If you keep the front end high it slaps down too hard. We would do two runs and then take a water break. Another highlight was that it was in the 80's on the hill while it was in the 90's and 100's at home. We ended up doing 8 runs - i think. The course really got run in well (lines were worked in good). Practice ended at 3pm so Sally and I went for a 15 mile road ride with 7 miles of decent and 7 miles of climbing. The first half was fun and the second was ok but there were a lot of flies down there. By the time we set up camp I was beat. It was also the first time it hasn't rained at night and we slept with the fly off the tent. Great night for camping. Sunday was great weather and we were waiting for the trail to open to get two runs in the one hour practice. The first run went good and the second went great. Ready for race run. The Race went on schedule and even though there was only three guys in my class Sean, one of my two competitors, is one fast dude. My race run went pretty good. It was right on the edge, I had my front end wash out twice under braking in high speed sections and my shoe caught on my crank arm which broke my concentration and I almost went off course and lost a couple of seconds in the slow down. Apparently that was a smaller mistake than Sean had- almost going over the bars and I won!! Unbelieveable- specially since Sean is Super Fast. I feel like I could have had a little more speed in a few sections but a I am happy I was able to put it all together. My legs were on fire by the time I got to the end of the rock gardens. Super Duper weekend.

Rides with Squirrels

Today is over 100 degrees and a heat index of 110. I got home somewhat early so I took my touring bike to the shop and did my wet weather maintenance on its bottom bracket. Afterwards Brian and I went for a ride in the crazy heat- but it wasn't so bad. We did an easy 13. On the way back a squirrel came from the left and was running right for my front wheel. Brian was on my right so all I could do was hold my line and wait to see what happens- don't panic. Brian watched the squirrel run between my two wheels, (at 24 MPH) run under me for way longer than i thought possible and then dashed off to the right to safety. Crazy. If i didn't have another witness I wouldn't have believed it myself.

Humidity sucks

Went for the Wednesday night ride yesterday and it was really hot and humid; it didn't seem to get any cooler, either. It was over 30 miles but seemed longer. Joe had an early break away (TDF style) and six of us followed. Three of us (including Joe) got dropped by Guy and the Young Guns and then I fizzled at the end. Limping on home was ok because I didn't get caught by the rest of the pack. it was a big group- almost 30 people I would guess.

Road Rides

Last Wednesday we did the group ride from Brandy to opal and then back home. It was very warm, but as with all hot evening rides the shade feels great and the cooling air is a welcome change. Riding from home was about 34 miles. Saturday, Sally and I went to the Racquet Club ride. We did just over 20 miles and Sal did good practicing her pacing.

Section Training

Yesterday night, after work, my new friend Robin took my to his DH training area which had several berms, a gap, drops, hip jumps and BMX jumps. Runs were 10 seconds and very fun. The dirt was almost powder and kind of slippery. The hard part was pushing back up the hill. The humidity was off the chart and even though it was all in the shade, it was hot as hell. Good times. We did that for about 2.5 hours. Afterwards he took me for a ride in a 350hp Audi TTRS coupe. very cool.

Race Time

I was ready to start practicing at 9 am so i went on out, to beat the heat (its hot in these mountains). The first run went as close to perfect as I can imagine so i did a fun run on the expert course and called it good. I came back to the truck to happily find my new friends hanging out under my e-z up. We ate some food and hydrated and chilled to race time. Problem was that race time was supposed to be 11 am and didnt happen until 12:30. I thought after years of running races they would have learned how to do it well, but apparently I must have been here:


In addition, they had to re-run a bunch of people becuase the timing was busted. My run finally came at around 2:15 (hour and 20 mins late) and it went pretty good. I felt all the weekends riding in my legs and my only real mistake was going around a speed jump that smoothed the section out. There were lots of speed jumps that just slowed you down on this course and when you finally learn to ride around all (but 1) of them the course is almost without features. It had a few drops and roots to deal with but not very technical at all. I ended up placing second to my Nemsis Luke, but this is his home turf so i will concede.
I went to do another fun run but halfway down i was reminded about my broken rib and decided to call it a day. I am curretly waiting for the awards ceremony and then on to the 8 hour drive home.

Plattekill 2010

Saturday June 3rd

Despite the drive on Friday being very long (seven hours), so far it was worth it. Yesterday I got up and came into town to get some breakfast. Everyone was gearing up for the 4th. Gas was almost $3 a gallon for 87! Got back in time to get the the front of a VERY long line for registration. These dudes do not know how to run a race. Practice was good. I did several runs (almost the same as last years course) on the Sport class course and also a few on the much more challenging and fun expert course. I took a break a lunch and met some new friends that live near DC. Robin is a very fast German? CK borrowed my knee/shin pads, and another guy.
I also sold my pair of backup 5-10's to a guy who forgot his. Broke even on the deal. After lunch I did some more runs on both courses. the expert course got "run in" very well and is a lot of fun. It was hot and beautiful. Practice ended at 5pm. Afterwards, I participated in a free duel salom. the course was just made and full of loose dirts. I got two runs to try to beat a fast young buck and came close to keeping up with him on the second run. It was fun. Now on to the race
[edit 10-7-10] cant remember all the details of race day but upon reflection the upper part of the course was pretty good and fun but the lower section had a spun out fire road followed by another super long fire road follow by yet two more long fire road sections. WAY too easy for over half of the course.
at the end of the race they showed me as second only to find out at the ceremony that they didnt score one guy and that i finished third and got a check for 11 dollars!! i waited two hours for that shit and they were giving tires away to beginners... so LAME. but the riding was good and Thanks again to Matt De Lorme for the great photo!!!

http://www.gravityeastseries.com/Gravity%20East%203.pdf?r=20056&u=0
here are some more shots.
http://sicklines.smugmug.com/Events/742010-Plattekill-GES-4-Cat-23/12820017_WC89e#929116139_iEtCK

Wednesday July 30th
I went for the Ruth Road ride with the crew.
It was about 36 miles and was a lot of fun. The weather was Perfection- low 80's and no humidity. The end of the ride has 5 miles of Hills. I was able to keep up with the lead group, which is easy as long as you don't pull too much.

Mixed bag

6/26 and 6/27
Saturday:
Getting up this morning was really hard. I almost didn’t come to the race because I was burning the candle at both ends this week and felt like I need to recharge. But I forced myself to get up and go take a shower (at 4am) and see if I could get going. I did.
The drive up was 6 hours- but it was an easy 6. I arrived at around 11 and was bummed that I missed 3 hours of practice. On the second run I was entering a short steep pitch with a left turn at the bottom and, at the apex, I high sided with my chest slamming into a root. It really hurt(s). I had body armor but the impact landed right under my armpit.
I ran the race course all day because it was just a bunch of rock gardens linked together for two thirds of the course. I started out with 25 psi in the tires (my normal pressure) and put dings in both rims within the first three runs. I came back and put 35 psi in both and after two more runs still got a snake bite in the rear. That is my first flat on DH. Jinx. I am now running 40lbs in the rear. I studied the lines and a new friend Jason helped me find some. By the end of the day I picked up some speed and found some lost time and feel pretty good on the course. It’s hard riding with higher pressure in the tires, so much less traction.
Sunday:
Despite a rain shower last night the trail was dusty this morning. This trail has several root sections that, if wet, are a nightmare. I did a couple of runs and everything felt good. On the third I watched some faster guy’s lines and picked up some better ways through the rock gardens- the hard part is just hitting them all on race run. I didn’t want to blow my load on practicing, my legs are feeling tired from yesterday. Race run is in just over an hour.


I CHOKED!!
Race run sucked. I hit two trees on seperate occasions and i figure i lost about 12 seconds, give or take. I got 11th place of over 20. The amazing thing is that had i not hit any trees i would have only achieved 8th place. there was an almost 11 second gap between two guys. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0taLtAMHh3hdSCU4hO0NDDBI73o1_C6OWOmvdeQHfeopL1bjbPmw5fTtvvp5-rEZ5EdjS6ihi9f-YktkVXURmwYtS-G3OznZa7Upw4KawnEwfYRnF8_vy2PfGYbfLAyX139Et0tmq6gB/s1600/2010GRAVITYSERIES2DH1-1.jpg