Devil's Backbone Mountaincross

Saturday was the Spring edition of Devil's Backbone Mountaincross.  This has quickly become my favorite race.  It is much like Ironcross but more road and less Mt. bike trail.  Weather was warm but the rain started falling while we were standing at the start line.  It was very comfortable and made for a nice day of riding.  I was feeling really good but with all of the climbing in this race it is not the best course for someone of my size.  Everything was going well leading up the third of four major climbs.  At the top of the climb was the final rest stop/ refueling station.  From there, there was 17 miles left to race and 13 miles of that was down hill.  This is also the point where my bike decided it would rather go through life as a single speed and completely stopped shifting.  I was unable to shift into a harder gear to pedal the downhill sections of the course and was passed by 3-5 riders.  I ended up finishing in 14th place of the 85 starters.  I was satisfied with the result.  Hopefully next time will go better and my bike will allow me to shift gears the entire race for a better result.  

3/20 and 3/27 TNR

It's been a great two weeks at TNR.  Groups have been really big (15-17 people for a mid week training race is pretty good around here).  More importantly I've finished with the lead group and sprinted for 2nd place 2 weeks in a row.  That is a great result for me after not finishing with the group for close to a year and a half.  All of these fast youngins' tearing up the race.  Hopefully a good sign of things to come and form to follow.

Merry Christmas

Well, winter and indoor training season is upon us and I've been back on my bike for about a month.  I did another round of power testing yesterday and it was up from a month ago but not by much.  This may be because I'm sick right now with a chest cold or it could just be because I'm slow.  Anyway, being sick sucks.  Christmas is tomorrow and I have to work but it shouldn't be too bad.  After work I'm going to have dinner with Sheree.  Next weekend is Stacey's wedding and then only one more week til my January Florida trip.  Then this winter should really begin to fly.

Morgantown MonsterCross APCXS #2 & #3

 

OK, I know my blog posts have been slow and infrequent this year and that's because that is how my riding has been.  I've been riding on a regular basis but real "training" has been at an all time low.  I think with all of my travel last fall and the CX season running late into the year it just didn't leave much time for an off season and recovery.  Now I'm riding slow but enjoying CX season.  I have some pretty big plans in the works for next season that I'll make known soon but until then I'm going to enjoy the rest of this season and off season on whatever fitness I have left.

 Anyway.  The weekend in Morgantown was a blast.  Good times with good friends.  I have never done one of J.R. Petsko's races before but I must say the course was a blast and organization was great. 

 I didn't really do very well.  I finished 11th on Saturday and 14th on Sunday.  I did, however have a really good time. 

Back to the Future

I really wanted to try something new this year.  Just doing races based on how much I enjoyed them in the past.  It seems too common that I have been doing races to meet some goal or criteria and not doing the races that are the fondest in my memory and I have done for a long time.  So.........on this note I'll be headed back to the Tour de Strongland road race tomorrow.  I really like this race.  It has the competition of a big race but a small race feel about it.  I can't wait. 

CX racing and Tour De Latonka

Last weekend was a busy one.  I started by driving 4.5 hours after work Friday  to get to Steve's In-law's house so I could use that as a staging point for the weekend's racing.
Saturday was the first CX race of the year.  It was super hot(95 degrees and sunny).  I ended up finishing 8th and Steve finished 7th.  Hanna finished 6th in the women's race.  Kirk was in the Super Master's race and finished in 15th place.  It was a good time and I felt good on most of the course.  It was really tough through the single track section and the sand pit.  Steve did really well in those sections.  I was disappointed by how much I faded in the second half of the race.  I guess I gotta start training again.

how I felt after each day of racing

Sunday was the Tour De Latonka and it was, once again, killer.  I felt really good for the first 5/6th of the race and was leading going into the final two mountain stages.  Then I bonked and would have crumbled and given up the lead but Skip waited for me and let me keep yellow.  It was a great time and I can't wait to do it again.  It seems like a really good way to kick start a cyclocross training program.  Hopefully I'll be stronger headed forward from here on out.

Church Creek 40K ITT #1

I'll keep this short and sweet since it's 2 weeks late anyway.  The drive to the race was uneventful.  Warmup went well but it was really hot.  This race is kind of unique in that you have to ride 5 miles from registration/warmup area to the start of the race.  I made it to the start line just a few minutes early and felt good at the start.  Very good, in fact.  I started out way too fast averaging over 30 MPH for the first 6 miles.  There was a tailwind during that period but it was still way too hard.  After that I settled down into a nice rhythm but the damage was already done.  At about the 10 mile mark I was really starting to feel the effects of my fast start and from the half way point I was just trying to hold on for an OK finish.  I ended up getting my second wind at around mile 22 and put in a nice push to the finish.  Final time was +-55:30 and good enough for second place.  Still in 1st place for the Mid Atlantic Time Trial Series but hopefully I can make a stronger showing at the next race. 

Carlisle 40k ITT- 6/19/11

I had big plans for this weekend.  I was planning on going to Pittsburgh to race at the track on Friday and then travel to Erie to race at Presque Isle on Sunday.  After a series of events that included: 1)most of my teammates going to Colorado and 2)I decided it just wasn't worth driving that far on my birthday weekend, I decided to stay close to home and race in Carlisle so I only had to drive 7 miles to the race start.  I made every mistake possible leading into this race:

1)Didn't ride the day before the race
2) Didn't ride 2 of 3 days prior to the race(Thursday and Saturday)
3) Drove 7 hours the day before the race and then sat around for 6 hours at a family reunion
4)Didn't drink enough the day before the race(start of dehydration)
5)Ate bad mayonnaise at the family reunion and got diarrhea (continued dehydration)
6) ran out of Breathe Right strips
7)Ate breakfast 2 hours before race start
8) Arrived at race start 1 hour early(instead of 2 hours early like normal)

The race was pretty uneventful.  The wind was blowing in an odd direction.  It usually blows from west to east providing a tailwind for the return leg of the race but it was blowing the opposite way this day making for a killer return. 
I ended up winning with a time of 55:10 but it is my worst time ever on this course.  I was able to get my 2011 Sub 1 hour t-shirt but that's about all. 

2011 PA State ITT

Podium Pic

The weather was kinda iffy on the drive to the race.  Half of the time I wasn't sure if it was raining or if it was just really dense fog.  Upon arriving at the race venue the fog had lifted but the sky still looked like it might rain at any minute.
I felt good during my warm-up but from about 3 minutes into the race I could tell something wasn't right.  I wasn't able to put out the power that I was normally able to and I my legs just felt heavy.  At that point I made a decision to abandon my power meter readings and just ride as hard as I could and try to hold on for a good finish.  The course was fast and flat.  There were no real turns to speak of.  At one point on the way out to the turn around point I was passed really closely by a large truck and it blew me off of the road and into the berm.  I had to use my CX skills to keep pedaling and look for a low point in the lip to hop back onto the road surface.
After alot of suffering I finally thought I was close to the finish and then the organizers decided to make the course longer than advertised to make it just a little more painful.  It ended up being over half of a mile longer than it was supposed to be.  I hurt so much after the race that even cooling down was difficult.  I was very excited about the win (and my mini medal)

results

2011 Philadelphia Amature TT

This was a short painful 8 mile time trial along the Schuylkill River.  There was little wind and the weather was warm and sunny but not hot.  It was a great day for the event.  My Dad was with me at this race which doesn't happen very often so that was nice.  I ended up winning Cat 3 with a time of 17:05 @ 28.4mph.  The best part was that my power output is really where it needs to be with the State ITT coming up next week.

C-130 Hercules Time Trial

 Riding out of a C-130 Hercules sounds cool.  It should be easy enough, right?  Well it is certain that the rear ramps on these cargo planes were not designed for bicycles.  Every rider who entered the airplane while I was waiting in line said exactly the same thing, "is this thing safe for bicycle wheels?" 


 The ramp started descending at a nice grade and then around the midpoint the angle became really sharp and caused most of the riders to have visions of taco'd wheels.  The Officials were giving instructions to all of the riders to just take one pedal stroke off of the airplane and then coast until you are completely on the ground.

 The first 7/10ths of a mile was a very technical and only about 6 feet wide.  Add to that the tail/cross wind leading from the Air Force museum to the highway and it was a very sketchy start @ 30mph.
  As soon as I got to the highway I turned into the headwind.  The course was all head/cross wind from there until the turnaround.  It was all completely flat so shifting was at a minimum.  It was kinda like a trainer ride with turns added. 
  After the turnaround it was super fast.  I managed to hit 35.5mph at one point with the gusty tailwind.  I was keeping a pretty good pace and starting to make my last ditch effort to the finish when all of a sudden the finish tent came into view(0.8 miles too early). 
  I must say I really enjoyed the 22mile TT format.  The last 3 miles of a 40K TT are just too much, IMHO, so I think we should just stick with this;)

t

 After the race we hit the museum while waiting for the results.  As you can see here Team Ag3r was realy "flying" on this day.

 Finally came news that results were going to be awhile and medals for all but the juniors did not arrive on time.  With this news in hand we decided to head home and await for finishing news via email.  I ended up winning the Cat 3 race by over 2 minutes and took the lead in the Mid Atlantic Time Trial Series (MATTS).

  Pictures of the finishing medal will follow when it arrives.

2011 Dismal Dash #1

Unlike any of the past years' races this year the Dismal Dash was warm, sunny, and lacking any significant amount of wind.  This was my first race of 2011 and this year I decided to change up my warm-up routine a little bit so I lengthened it to 30 minutes and made it a little harder than before.  My hope was that this would better prepare my legs for the destruction that they were about to experience.
I started the race easier than normal to try to ease my way into it.  All seemed to be going well with a slight head/cross wind for the first 4 miles.  That was great because it meant that the last 4 miles was a tail wind and at that point I was dieing and was readily accepting any help available.
The nicer weather(and possibly me being a bit stronger this year) allowed me to cut 3 minutes off of my time from last year and finish in 3rd place in the Cat1/2/3 and 3rd Overall.

(I was number 278, 2 additional times were added to this list bumping me into third place)

Not all sunshine and happiness

So I'm in FL again visiting my parents and avoiding winter.  I've been enjoying my time away and the weather has been really nice.  Until today.  Today was unseasonably cold and wet.  Today I rode for two and a half hours in 58 degrees and rain.  The Weather Channel said it was going to get nice it just never did.  Oh well, at least I was able to get outside for a couple of hours.  The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny for the rest of my trip so one day of cool and wet isn't so bad.  Only 30 days until my first TT on 2011, I can't wait!

It's been a trying few days and no chance to ride my bike:(

It is now Thursday evening and I haven't ridden my bike since Tuesday.  No big deal except it that riding my bike is my major mechanism for relieving stress and I've had plenty of it in the past two days.
On Tuesday night I stayed at my brother's house because Wednesday morning I was supposed to take him to the oral surgeon to have 6 teeth removed.  His appointment was canceled because there was a major ice storm and the office didn't have electricity.  I came home and was making the most of a mostly wasted day.  I went to get a shower so I could get ready and go out to eat when I heard a pounding at the door.  I ignored it and a few seconds later there it was again.  I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel and that is when I heard the yelling, "Mt. Holly Springs Police! Come to the door!"  I heard the yelling as I exited the bathroom to the sight of a policeman standing at the bottom of the steps with a tazer pointed at my face. 
He asked me(half naked and surprised) for my ID and told me that someone had called the police because they saw my door hanging open and hadn't noticed anyone around for the previous couple days.  So...........long story short I got it straightened out and I was headed back to the shower. 
I get back into the shower and turn the nob, no water.  I get out and try the sink, no water there either.  At this point I panic because I know that there is water running somewhere and I don't yet know where that is.  Turns out that a fitting in the basement had blown off and water was being pumped directly in from the well into my basement.  After looking for a shutoff valve for several minutes, while the basement flooded further, I flipped the breaker switch to turn off the pump in the well.  I stopped the water but the basement was a disaster. 
Let the clean up begin!  Lots of wet/dry vacuuming, a dehumidifier and a couple fans will do the trick. 
Thursday morning I called Roto Rooter at 8am to see how long it would take to get someone out to my house.  They made the appointment from 1-3pm and told me there was no way I could make an appointment for later in the day.  I was there waiting at 1pm and I was still waiting at 3pm.  At 3:15 I called told the Roto Rooter Dispatcher that I hadn't even heard from anyone yet and she told me she'd get right on it and my house would be next on the list and that she would personally call me and let me know when that was going be and who would be coming.  An hour later she called back and told me they were a 30 minutes away.  An hour after that the guy finally showed up and was here for about 3 minutes before he told me he didn't have the parts and had to run to Home Depot to get them.  When he arrived back it took a whole 15 minutes to do the repair and allow the glue to dry and I now have running water again!  Hooray!
$420 and 25 hours later and other than some slightly damp carpet and a disaster of a house things are back to normal:(
BTW, if anyone needs to borrow a nice new wet/dry vac just let me know.
*(none of my bikes were injured or in any way harmed by the aforementioned events)

Pond Skating

I got to go ice skating and play some pond hockey today after work.  Cross training can be exciting:)  Still can't wait for warm weather and racing!