The Jackrabbit Chronicles

2Days 3Races Jewell Park TT Swanson Park Short Track + XC

2011-04-04T13:32:00.000-05:00

Bigger post to come....but first podium. I didn't stay for a picture...dang nabbit.

Men Cat. 3 35-plus
1. Erik Zingler (The Bike Way)
2. Rob Livermore (Powerade/Independent Fabrication)
3. Dave Tyler (Jackrabbit Racing)

BigDave Live Podcast3

2011-04-01T11:54:00.000-05:00

CIRREM 2011 Race Report

2011-02-27T09:03:00.002-06:00

Final Results are in. Well I put on every piece of CWG (cold weather gear) that I own. I saw that a lot of riders went with the balaclava. I went with the Pearl Izumi head band. It is simple and doesn't annoy me when I'm breathing hard. I find I do that quite a lot. I also wear heavy Pearl Izumi Barrier riding gloves. My plain black, but soft, wool under-garment from Sugui was topped with a short sleeve team jersey and team vest from Champion System. Under that was a team bib and and pair of Specialized long therminal EX riding tights. The feet were protected by a pair of The Blaze DeFeet socks. The shoes were covered with Pearl Izumi Barrier winter shoe covers. Now, the reason that I made all these links isn't to shill these products to you. No no no. My point is that you need the proper gear to finish an extreme race like this. I wasn't very fast, but I finished for the third year in a row and I was fairly comfortable. Is $20 a lot for a pair of socks? Ask yourself that 20 miles into a 65 mile race in 14 degree snowy weather.

If you finished ahead of me you rode fast. And I invite you to come try your luck at this years North O! Rock Road 100 for free. If I beat you, gear up properly and give it another try next year. Of course you can come to the North O! Hundy too. I will wave the entry fee for you as well.

In this shot I am deciding if my gloves are up to snuff. The last time they were worn I did the Iceman, also a 3 pete.

The boys went to the Des Moines zoo while I rode. They had a great time.

The roll out was much more mellow this year. I think the studs are much more weary of warming up properly before a four hour effort. Damn that sounds cool. Four hours...I wanna go fast.

This shot is of me when I decided to blow by the checkpoint for the third year in a row.

Bike Build Redux

2011-02-25T17:02:00.000-06:00

Well I went and picked up the old EMD frame and it's reincarnated Scandium Air Nine. See what you think.

2011-02-05T10:34:00.001-06:00

Really? Sure would be a nice Valentine's Day gift.

Just Drank a RockStar Double Size Double Strength

2011-01-28T15:28:00.001-06:00

I made this racing calendar in about 15 minutes. I hope I don't regret writing this all down

A First and A Last.

2011-01-01T00:45:00.000-06:00

David B. called me at about 9:30 tonight and asked if I wanted to go for a midnight ride. At first I thought he was kind of crazy, but the more I thought about it, it seemed like it would be an awesome way to ring in the New Year. I got the nod from the boss, so we met up at 11:45 pm and rode the Beaver Meadow loop. It was the warmest it has been in over a month and it was a great ride. Hope the riding the rest of 2011 is as much fun.

2010-12-22T11:31:00.002-06:00

Ahhhh....just what I needed--the Festive 500! The good folks at Rapha have laid down a challenge--to ride 500km between December 23-30. I suppose if one had no family, was on vacation for the holidays, and lived in a warm-weather climate, this would be no big deal. However, given that the kids are home from school, I'm working the night shift 4 of the 7 nights and we've been below freezing for close to a week now with morning temperatures in the single digits, this is going to be tough. But I'll tell you what--the challenge of riding 500km outside under these conditions is so much more motivating than the thought of riding the trainer watching Tour de France reruns. Can't wait to get started!

Birthday Present Came in Mail

2010-12-16T20:36:00.000-06:00

While I have been patiently waiting for my new Air 9 Carbon to arrive I received my Scandium frame and some other goodies.

It was cold today!

2010-12-05T21:22:00.004-06:00

Burt Hoovis Inspires

2010-12-02T15:14:00.000-06:00

If you aint seen the video you might like it. Just sayin it has its high points. So to speak.

The Leadville sleds and The Leadville Are Coming. (It's Really Real)

2010-11-19T15:20:00.003-06:00

The boys have been mulling over a team comeback after the 2009 Pbville disaster. Deacon MJ has been a bike riding fool and grand master D has been eating his way into an insulin induced coma. We have both donated 15 bones to the cause...whatever that is. Now we wait and start the training. Here is a little ditty about how we went back and forth for a while.

Addendum to Team Bikes! (Wife Never Checks Blog Anyway)

2010-11-18T16:35:00.004-06:00

As you may have read team Jackrabbit is building a pair of Carbon (pronounced car-bone) Air 9's. What isn't as clear is that BigDave is a huge Niner fan, so it was with much trepidation that I would be retiring my sturdy and much trusted EMD 9. Low and behold an email sent to my gmail account about an XTR crankset and a Niner Air 9 Scandium frame. I was thinking wow, it is nearing my birthday and Christmas is coming...what the hell...I'm already breaking the bank on the car-bone build. (I always say it that way in my head...get with the program) I'll rebuild all my EMD components on the Air 9 Scandium frame and voila a "divorce ready" plan was hatched. Yep, BigDave is building two bikes. Please come looking for me if I dissappear any time soon. Check the back yard and that newly sodded area...strange bump in lawn. Please donate to the Dave has 3 kids and two bikes fund. Anything will be much appreciated. Anyway, a very big shout out to Kyle W. for the new Niner and crankset.

Riding for fun--busting Nate's hundy cherry

2010-11-16T00:51:00.006-06:00

We decided to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and get a 100 miles in--Nate's first-ever and my first of a new goal to do at least one 100-mile ride each month. I think we figured it was something like the 12th one Chris has done this year. I think I can speak for all of us --we had a blast!

Chris, Nate and I

Absolutely gorgeous day.

We were bummed when we got to Cobleskill only to find that the coffee shop was closed--we pushed on another 15 or so miles and had to eat at Stewart's. I opted for the above meal which hit the spot.

Nate, on the other hand, opted for the "less traditional" meal of two chili dogs--absolutely the most impressive thing I saw all day. Yes, Nate was relegated to riding in back.

A little premature but the chocolate milk sure did taste good.

As we rolled into Cooperstown, we all had differing mileage so we rode around town until we all had an official 100.00 on the computer.

We finished in the dark and headed to my house for an awesome dinner with the entire Cook, Sentz and Jones clans--hope to do it again soon.

Team Bikes!

2010-11-16T00:00:00.001-06:00

I just got an email--the frames and forks shipped today!

Jah Army - Stephen Marley featuring Damian 'Jr. Gong' Marley by Stephen Marley

2010 Iceman Cometh Race Report

2010-11-10T16:29:00.010-06:00

Having suffered through the drive to Michigan with the kids for the previous 2 years, we wised up and had a 2-pronged plan of attack this year: 1) leave late at night, so they would hopefully sleep for a majority of the 13-hour trip; and 2) get them Nintendo DSis for the girls' birthday/early Christmas for Max. Once their initial frustration at having to figure everything out on the game systems resolved, it was a successful plan! After the kids fell asleep in the middle of New York, I commandeered Max's DSi and occupied myself by playing Call of Duty (very thoughtfully purchased in advance by my wife). I drove for a couple hours through Canada and then napped for a little bit before crossing the border into Michigan. I woke up, rubbing sleep out of my eyes, when Cora pulled into our first Starbucks stop--thank god for Meijer's!

Boochie gaming on her new DSi--outlasting her brother and sister into the

wee hours of the night.

I slept for a while longer through Michigan, waking up in Grayling with a crusty right eye. Nice--just what I needed--a ripe case of pink-eye! I called in an antibiotic prescription to a Walmart pharmacy in Traverse City and then realized that I couldn't wear my contacts to ride--I was going to have to ride with my regular glasses--definitely not ideal. My mom saved the day by going to our house, finding my prescription riding glasses, and overnighting them to us at the hotel.

Really, really not a big fan of the Rx for riding--way too much distortion.

Our plan was to get in on Thursday morning and get out in the early afternoon to pre-ride the first half of the course--that was all well and good except I could not see and both Dave and I were tired from the drive, so we opted for a long and much-needed nap, as Cora was kind enough to take the demons to the water park.

We woke up Friday morning to low 30's and snow/rain. After a fantastic breakfast at the Omelette Shop, we went over to sign in and pick up our race packets, dragging our feet waiting for my glasses to show up so we could get out and pre-ride the second half of the course. We hoped the weather would clear, but it only got worse to the point that the pre-ride was going to be way more work than it was worth. We almost didn't go, but figured we'd better see what the course was like with all the snow and ice, so we braved the now driving snow and 3 inches that had already accumulated. Traditionally the back half of the course takes us about an hour to ride at "pre-ride" pace. We finished the day at one hour and 40 minutes--very fun but slow and quite dicey in some spots.

It is the Iceman after all!

I was secretly hoping the Big Man would refuse to ride and make me go back to the hotel--glad he did not.

The Big Man cutting his own track.

Me--Just bitching because it was cold.

On race day I was really glad that we had ridden this part of the course. It was the only really icy part, so during the race I slowed into this corner as the guy in front of me hit it way too hard and put on one hell of a yard sale.

I have made no secret that this was one of my "A" races this year, but with the weather and now both my eyes and the cold that derailed most of the prior week's training, I went to sleep content with the idea of just having a good time and that setting the course on fire was most unlikely--I slept very well.

I woke up at 6 AM which was way too early according to the Biggin' and looked outside to see a still dark yet cloud-free sky--it was at least a start in the right direction. I had breakfast and got ready only to get out of the hotel 20 minutes later than I wanted--you try to herd the little monsters and Big Dave for that matter. We got in the truck and the temperature read 17 degrees on the dash board. My panic over being late to the start and missing a very necessary warm-up was quickly surpassed by my dread of how I was going to drop race weight in a porta-potty at the start line when it was 17 degrees out and I was fully dressed in CWG (cold weather gear)--that's true panic. As I got dressed at the start, it was now 19 degrees by Dave's truck and it was a bit of a challenge not to overdress, so I went with the "start cold" philosophy. I managed to get in about 20 minutes of a very cold warm-up and felt surprisingly good as I rode to the start line. In case you are wondering, it appears that my body is willing to pass on tradition when it gets really cold--no trip to the jiffy john needed.

The format from years past was changed, so the start was very different. In an effort to free up congestion on the course, which has been a real problem in the past, they seeded everybody by their prior finishing times. The fastest guys (excluding the pros) started in heat two then went heat three and so on from fastest to slowest. Those who had never done the race before were sent off later and seeded by age group. Rather than having beginner, sport and expert you just race everybody in your age group--in my case that was all 41 year-olds. I thought the new format was a fantastic improvement as I had very little traffic to deal with. My only complaint is that because the waves were formed based on time, you were on the course with people of all ages and therefore I had no idea who I was racing--it turned out that there was only something like five 41 year-olds in my wave. In my mind I was basically racing against the clock.

The start went off and 85 guys who all went roughly the same speed bolted off the line--it was weird dynamics, there was quite a bit of bumping and it was much faster than I thought it would be. We seemed to hit the single track in single file--it did not appear that anyone had pulled away. For the most part, I rode with the same group and did not do much passing or get passed, for that matter, until the last 5K when I was able to pass a handful of riders on the hills and move up a bit.

To my great surprise, I was really psyched to find the first half of the course almost free of snow--just a little wet which made it a touch slow. As I neared the halfway point, the snow seemed to be more abundant and it was definitely slicker. I felt like I was going really well and crossed Williamsburg Road on pace to break two hours. My pace honestly seemed a little slow for how fast I felt I was going, as my average watts were up significantly. I would say about a mile past Williamsburg Road the course got slipperier (that's when the guy in front of me went down)--there was a good stretch of solid ice that slowed me down a bunch--I felt like I was riding on a hockey rink. In the last 10k, I was still feeling really good but tentative about going down the hills and around the corners, as the trail was starting to get muddy from the snow and ice melting. I was really bummed as my garmin hit 2 hours with about 1k to go. I felt like I hit the last climb really hard, passing 4 people and then managing to get by 2 more inside the barriers to finish at 2:02 and change.

Just before crossing the line I passed one more.

I mentioned that my only criticism of the new format was that you have no idea who you are racing because I really think I could have gone harder if I had known who was who. I know I was much more spent the last two years when I was done. So how did it go? All things considered, it was a great race. I never would have thought I would have done this well given the disruption in training from being sick and to some degree my eyes and the weather. With the new format my goal was a top twenty finish--I finished 12th out of 115 41 year-olds--not bad, except I really wanted to go sub two hours--which I did not. If it is any consolation, I averaged 15 more watts this year with a NP of 269 watts--that was unexpected. So as I have said in years past after Iceman, I can't wait to go back but for now I'm going to enjoy some rest and the only riding until December 1st is unstructured.

The Big Man rolled to a strong finish, given his lack of preparation. I think he's got the bug again and is already getting ready for a possible return to Leadville.

Don B killed the start and rode hard to the finish.

The highlight of the day is always the Snowcone race--the kids absolutely love it and talk about it all year long. I apologize for the lack of photos--we missed both Bella and Q-man as the race is complete chaos! Bella and Q also finished strong--can't wait to get the boys on geared bikes so the junior Jackrabbits can sweep the podium.

Congratulations--you guys made my day!

I could write a entire post on the celebratory burger-- let's just say The Blue Tractor is out and Bubba's is in--yummy!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T23:28:00.008-05:00

Some photos of our local ghouls and goblins.

A Late Jackrabbit Hundy Race Report

2010-10-19T21:35:00.011-05:00

(picture courtesy of Caroline Thompson)

The day started early--after a quick stop at Starbucks, we headed over to the start to set up. Sunrise was gorgeous as was the weather all day--60's and not a cloud in the sky.

There seemed to be a 50/50 mix of MTB and CX bikes. I think both had their advantages. One guy did it on a SS--not sure there was any advantage there.

I'm not sure what I'll ride next year.

I'm guessing between Dave and his father Duff there has to be 50 plus years of experience of putting on swim meets--no wonder the day went off without a hitch.

Duff was awesome--after the start, he headed to the 20 mile mark and then to the half way point--a welcome face and he served up a mean Coke--the first taste I've had in three years.

The whole field rolling out. These guys dumped me as soon as we came over the back of the first climb, but by the end I'd manage to catch all but three of them who were on cross bikes.

Roads are awesome and in great shape--long and rolling.

Definitely some soft areas to stay away from.

(picture courtesy of Caroline Thompson)

About 20 miles in, I was feeling great--no wind and no cramps. I was in 12th place and losing sight of the lead group--not a lot I could do rolling the one cog.

Most of the "rollers" were in the 7% range and nothing longer than I'm guessing 2/10 ths of a mile long.

I should have listened to the Big Man as we gained about 6000 feet of vertical on these "flat" farm roads. Why again did I ride the one speed? As Baby Don would say, "you stupid daddy". It was not the climbing that hurt but the down hills and flat sections--I'm not accustomed to spinning at 120 rpm. That 120 rpm dished out some nasty cramps in muscles I did not even know I was using.

I forgot to put the mount for the Garmin on the bike before sending it out to Omaha--my little zip-tie get up worked just fine.

The MMR (that's minimum maintenance road) was awesome. I was a little concerned as Dave had said it was really nasty and may not be ridable for the CX bikes. I think they must have done their "minimum" maintenance just before the race because it was some of the best road we rode all day.

Confused? I was wondering if I would find my way home--I never loaded the gpx file into the Garmin.

Dave's directions were fantastic--I pinned them to my jersey in a plastic bag.

I finished in 7:25:15--4th overall.

Not bad considering it was 65 miles further than I had ever ridden my SS before.

Big Dave rolling along--wondering why he got himself in to this.

He finished 12th--most impressive given he has been very delinquent in his training.

I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next year. The general feedback from everyone was that this was a great day--I would certainly agree. Great job, Big Man.

The Hundy is tomorrow.

2010-10-15T19:17:00.000-05:00

The inaugural Jackrabbit Hundy is tomorrow we are getting pretty excited.

Furnace Creek 508 2010--Caretta Caretta!

2010-10-05T18:35:00.009-05:00

I just got back from California--witnessed a truly amazing race--508 non-stop miles through the eastern California deserts. A really epic ride, made even more heroic by Chris, aka Caretta Caretta, on his fixed gear. Think of it this way--he pedaled every inch of the 508 miles--no coasting--no rest whatsoever on the bike. I couldn't fathom the feat before I saw it--I thought he was totally crazy when he told me he was going to do it, and not to sound corny, but I am totally awe-inspired after watching him finish it. I wish there was a way to convey how much suffering, and I truly mean suffering, Chris and the other 200+ competitors endured.

I'll write a full post on the crewing experience later--in the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

The monotony of the long, straight roads, baking in the 100+ degree heat.

I can't even remember where this was--this photo sums up the course pretty well--miles and miles of roads that go on and on before dropping over the horizon, or worse, disappearing into a mountain range.

Although it looks as though the wind is really howling here, the conditions were pretty nice early on. The punishing headwinds were to come on Day 2.

Climbing Jubilee Pass Road as the sun rises on Day 2.

We just missed a hailstorm--the light rain was quite welcome, as the temperature dropped 20 degrees--only 108 miles to go.

As the sun set on Day 2, Chris still had about 10 hours to go--a brutal day--wind and unbearable heat.

Congratulations, Chris--a truly amazing accomplishment!

What Happens in Vegas...

2010-09-30T12:50:00.004-05:00

As the saying goes, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, so my babies back at home do not have to know about this, right?

I thought going to Vegas kind of guaranteed me to hook up with some kind of hottie--well, I sure as hell was wrong. You can imagine the look on my face when I got up at 5:30 am to go meet her for the first time--shiiiitttt.

Ahhh--the joys of riding inside--looking forward to the winter.

I think I managed to get about five hours in--quite a bit better than I thought the week would go.

A little pool-side breakfast.

Determined not to gain--not easy with all the fantastic restaurants.

Had to go with iced coffee--how long do you think the extra ice lasted with the 103 degree temperature?

The pool made me miss the kid--they would have loved it. A little rest time between lectures--tomorrow it's gonna be an early start as we are off to Santa Clarita for the 508--can't wait.

Vegas, Baby!

2010-09-28T01:13:00.004-05:00

As usual, we were running late and I had to rush to catch my airplane. I flew Southwest--a great non-stop flight from Albany to Vegas. It was also a score that they don't charge you for checked baggage, so it was awesome being able to walk onto the plane with just a book and a magazine.

Flying over Omaha--"Hi, Big D!"

After a very nice flight, I finally made it to the hotel. My room is on the 34 th floor and has a window from floor to ceiling-- amazing view of the strip and the airport--not a cloud in the sky and the mountains in the background--pretty nice and strangely enough, it's getting me motivated to do some serious leisuring!

View from my room

I had dinner with a bunch of folks from residency--it was nice to catch up.
This place is crazy--the hotel is literally the size of Cooperstown. Other than the abundance of cigarette smoke, I've been completely content wandering around and watching the complete excess. Of course, it doesn't hurt either that there is a handful of Starbucks strategically placed to keep me going. Off to bed--going to sleep in really late, then go ride (in the hotel gym) so we'll see how that goes.

Random images from the last three days

2010-09-27T12:10:00.004-05:00

Fall is my favorite time of year to ride--always makes me realize how lucky we are to live where we do.

Gorgeous!

Up by Rum Hill--love the color.

Out with Mike for 3ish hours. We found some new roads--some steep dirt which made me reconsider the 39x25. Putting in my dirt miles--can't wait for the Jackrabbit Hundy with the Big Man.

We rode in the clouds for a good part of the day--amazing!

Keyes Road--cool, misty and clouds--absolutely fantastic day with Mike. Mike is flying--can't wait to see another piece of Blue Stone on his mantle after next week's race.

Had myself prepared to be cold and wet all day.

I've come to love--okay I've always loved, a nice latte prior to a ride. That's not my pastry--I'm making space for that Blue Tractor burger.

Mother nature was kind enough to get all the rain out of the way while we were inside the coffee shop.

Brain says this is "real" biker food--made me feel "pro" until I realized it's something like 420 calories--then I just plain felt like a fat Amish mule.

Another flat--tubeless sometime soon on the road bikes?

Chris, Nate and Brian. Chris making the fixie look easy--good luck to him next week in the Furnace Creek 508--Yes, that's 508 non-stop miles and oh yeah, he's doing it on the fixed gear.

What I've been up to--all with the Iceman on my mind

2010-09-25T23:26:00.015-05:00

Iceman Cometh is coming up in 6 weeks or so and I'm really excited. I love everything about the race and for whatever the reason, I have managed to do very well the last two years, placing 4th last year--only 10 seconds off the podium and 6th the year before--both in fields of nearly 200 riders. I originally felt a win this year was a real possibility, but with the format change that's going to be much harder--nonetheless, my real goal is to go sub 1:50 and with the new format, that should be easier, although perhaps more painful as the race should be quite a bit faster--racing faster people with less traffic to ride around.

So, what have I been up to in an effort to make that sub-1:50 happen? Well, my strategy this year has been totally different from the past 2 years. I have spent the last 6 weeks doing a lot of Z1Z2 rides without any real intensity workouts since the week before Mt.Washington, other than Mt.Greylock, Critz Farm and a ride or two with the Paceline boys.

In my opinion, this is the way the front of a coffee shop should look--it's a blast getting out in a large group.

Heading up Konchar road--next time will definitely hurt a whole lot more, as this is my recent hill of choice for the threshold intervals.

More miles up in Amish country--great roads and few cars. The occasional horse and cart keeps you on your toes.

Due to my high level connections, I got a chance to ride with Tim Duggan while he was in town--what a nice guy. I always wanted to know if the pros really spend a lot of time riding long slow distance--in this case, the answer is yes. I also had the pleasure of riding with him the next day as well when he was doing some intervals--I've always wondered how fast are these guys?--the answer here is really really really fast--I got dropped like I was standing still as we started up Hooker Mountain. My power meter said 460 watts as I was reconciling with the taste of vomit and going backwards--I lasted less than a minute--Timmy accelerated up the hill for 8 more minutes--that boy is CRAZY fast. Timmy-thanks for the great conversation.

I was just talking to Brian about how good I have been feeling in the 250-270 watts range. I think I have really built a nice base and my CTL would support that as it is hovering just below my all-time high. The cost, however, of all the hours on the bike is obviously fatigue, so I have planned a week of real rest in Vegas, which spells sleep and pool side laziness and, oh yes, I have allotted myself exactly 100$ to play the games of chance. Now, if all goes as planned, this will leave me feeling nice and ripe for a build up in intensity and race specific workouts, this of course, will also come with a drop in volume. I am going to do a lot of 1 min., 5 min. and 15 min intervals to add the high end to my base. My goal will be to maintain the same training stress via intensity and ideally my CTL will continue rise until I start to taper. On paper it all seems easy--now let's see if I can make it all happen and the race gods let me deliver--after all they know how much I love the Blue Tractor.

Critz Farm Kermis

2010-09-19T06:50:00.008-05:00

I originally thought the Critz Farm race might be fun to do, as it was nearby and a nice way to get back into my intensity blocks for Iceman. I mentioned the race to Cora last week and it turns out that Critz Farm is the kid-favorite pumpkin patch of the last several years. So when I asked Cora if she and the kids were interested in going, I actually think that for once, they were genuinely interested in going to one of my races. Couple that in with a kids race and I was golden--so off we went.

Out pre-riding the course with Phoebe and Max (it takes Bella a while to wake up and get going in the morning and according to her, you don't need to warm up to get great results).

I'm not entirely sure what a kermis is, but this event was really cool. The men's field was broken up into a masters 40+ and an open category, and I would say that there were maybe 10 people on mountain bikes, with the rest on cyclocross bikes. Nate and I both chose to ride mountain bikes (as I don't own a cyclocross bike YET--hint, hint, wife). The course was a mix of dirt roads, some doubletrack and grass, with a touch of mud thrown in to make the kids happy. There were several rises, but no real climbs (except according to Cora and Phoebe). There was one area where most folks on cross bikes dismounted. I personally found that on a mountain bike, it was easier and faster to ride through (not surprising, as I have a hard time running up my driveway). My understanding was that this only differed from a "real" cyclocross course in that it had no man-made barriers. Not to sound soft, but this was fine with me, as the whole dismounting thing is tough for me--I feel like a complete spazz. A lap took about 7 minutes at race pace and the whole race was scheduled for 40 minutes. In a nutshell, this was a fantastically cool event.

Although Max was quite a bit older, he "totally dominated" the two kids races he entered.

Max "rocked the one cog" up to the finish line.

Max kept riding after the finish line--maybe it's hereditary?

Phoebe elected to do the 1-lap race--looking great all kitted up in her Jackrabbit gear.

Coming into the finish line with Phoebe--she was a real trooper and finished out her lap after having some mechanical issues on the climb.

Ahh...Boo Miles--she's a handful and a real character. She adamantly stated all week that she was not going to race, so I was a bit surprised and ecstatic when she jumped on the line for the 3-lap race.

Boo finds the untraditional kit of sparkly studded jeans and her Littlest Pet Shop tee far more stylish than the Jackrabbit kit. No joke, but just prior to this photo, she was complaining that her clothes got muddy. "Daddy made me ride through a puddle..." fake tears and all. If you believe that...

If you do not know Boo Miles--this is Boo. Less than a minute after taking 3rd overall in the 3 lap kids race it's all ho-hum.

The kids race was a huge success. The Ommegangsters and the other folks putting on the event were fantastic--especially with all the kids. The crowds of people cheering them on was so cool and put huge smiles on their faces. Very safe to say that we'll be back next year. So how did my race go?

Rolling smooth--trouble to come.

I really wasn't sure how this race was going to go, as I rode pretty hard Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. As this outing was nothing more than an intensity workout for me, I wasn't really concerned about a result, but I didn't really want to drag my ass around with crappy legs.

Well, the gods were good to me in that my legs felt great--the more I do this, the more I think training and racing is voodoo. If there were ever a time that my legs should have been shot, today was the day. Either way, I'll take it and really enjoy it for that matter. I started out on the far right of the start line, which was probably a mistake, as it put me back a ways going into the first left-hand corner. As we rounded the second corner, we headed down a bumpy straight, which was one of the areas where I thought being on a mountain bike was really beneficial. I was behind Nate and I'm guessing we were in the middle of the pack. We went through a series of straight dirt roads, which I think favored the CX bikes--here I had to work hard to keep up.

The pace seemed to settle towards the end of the first lap and my goal was just to pick off a rider in front of me. All was going really well and I could see that I was making time on the riders behind me. By the fourth lap, I felt like I was really cruising. I was flying on one of the dirt roads on the back of the course when I tried to go around a slower rider on the left, leading into the bumpy double-track. I was too far left, caught my front wheel in a rut and went down. It was probably the fastest section of the course for me--it was kind of surreal in that I remember riding sideways for what seemed like a while and then I let loose and supermanned it into the tall grass.

Unfortunately doing what I do for a living doesn't help. As I was flying through the air, I had a multitude of thoughts--liver lac, tibial plateau fracture, dislocated finger, head injury--all bad. So after the initial shock of hitting the ground and realizing that it was just bumps and bruises, I remember having the distinct thought that now I'm a "real" bike racer, as this was my first time going down really hard at full speed, knock on wood. I initially tried to jump back on my bike and ride, but my front wheel wouldn't turn. I was ready to turn in, as I thought the wheel had tacoed. One of the spectators came over as I was cleaning myself off, put my chain back on and reset the wheel in the dropouts. Although it wasn't perfect, I was able to finish out the last lap and a half. The fall cost me a bunch--I really had no idea where I was placed when I fell, but Cora estimated that I was somewhere in the back half of the top ten.

Nate racing for an extra place at the finish line.

As always, it was a total pleasure racing with Nate. With any luck, I'll be able to con him into doing a handful of cross races this fall--we'll see.

2011 Anyone?

2010-09-14T15:50:00.000-05:00

Race Across The Sky 2010 from Citizen Pictures on Vimeo.

The real hillclimber of the day

2010-09-13T01:47:00.007-05:00

Phoebe wanted to go for a bike ride when we got home from Mt. Greylock, so I asked her if she wanted to ride up Chicken Farm Hill. She said sure and off we went. I knew this was going to be tough for her, as it is for most adults let alone a 6 year old, but she killed "almo" hill several days ago so I figured why not give it a try.

According to mapmyride.com, the actual climb she did was 0.7 miles starting with 6% and finishing at 17%--not sure how accurate this is, but you get the point. She started to climb from Main Street and stopped at the corner on the dirt section--pretty amazing--I had to continually tell her to slow down as I was afraid she was going to poop out. I'm so unbelievably proud of her!!! She wants to do it again with BooBoo--can't wait!

Mt. Greylock Hillclimb Race Report

2010-09-12T22:52:00.006-05:00

I was at the end of a "rest" week, which is typically a good thing as far as racing goes but I had my reservations for several reason. First, I have not done any intensity since the week prior to Mt. Washington, as I am back to base building to ramp up for Iceman. Secondly, although I'm supposed to adhere to a strict diet of base miles, I binged on Friday by going a touch too hard with my Paceline teammates Nate and Steve, so I was not so sure how my legs were going to feel Saturday morning.

With that said, I was very much looking forward to climbing Mt Greylock. I tallied it up as a "B" race, which is always nice as my body knows that means I can sleep the night before which I did. We got an early start without the kids for the two-ish hour drive over to North Adams. As we made our way out of the fog, it was absolutely beautiful out--cool and crisp in the low 50's with 3 hours to get a bit warmer by race time--perfect climbing weather.

I had considered taking the Serotta with the 34x27 but opted for the Parlee and its forgiving 34x36--largely a decision made by Nate and Steve on Friday--good choice! After completing the now compulsory pre-race de-bulking process, I managed to get in about twenty minutes on the trainer--I was sweating like I was sick and starting to dread what was to come, as my legs were really feeling dead. I was hoping this was a case of a little more warm-up and they would come around. I was actually feeling warm (not sure if I felt like ass or it was the temperature) so I changed out of the skinsuit which always runs a bit on the warm side.

I was told I had the last start time--not sure if that would be a good or bad thing. It dawned on me that I really had no idea what this climb was like other than it was 9.2 miles instead of the published 8.9 which was no big deal and that Chris, who rode most of it on his fixed gear said all the steep stuff was at the beginning and it was not too bad.

The riders went off every 30 sec, so I figured I would try to pass as many people as I could without getting passed (which should not be to hard given I was supposed to be the last to start) and finish under 50 minutes which seemed realistic.

So at 10:21:30 I was off and sure enough the steep stuff came quickly--about 100 yards or so the course turned left up Furnace Street and up it went for about a mile or so--mapmyride had it in the 10-11% range but I remember seeing signs on the way down saying it was 17%--either way it hurt and I was seriously questioning how the day was going to go. Thankfully it eased up--maybe 2-4% with some rollers after the first mile and I really had to resist the temptation to ease up as I was now in and out of the big ring. I could not figure out what was going on, my legs felt smoked but my HR was right where I wanted it. I seemed to be going pretty fast--I had already passed 3-4 people. As I started to think it was going to be easy then of course the questions started--was I going out too hard? Nah! Was I rationalizing to justify backing off a bit? Most likely. Could it really be this "flat" all the way up? No way. Who is this guy who just passed me? I thought I was last to start?

Then as I passed the two mile mark, the grade kicked up again, I'm guessing it averaged a good 10% which lasted for the next three and a half miles. I managed to get into a rhythm which was helping my cause, but I could not get back on the wheel of the guy who passed me and

I felt like I was going backwards as he rode away from me. By mile 6 the grade mellowed again and fortunately I was feeling a lot better and much of the last 3 miles were spent in the big ring.

At the top, I flew past the finish line without even seeing it. I must have looked like a complete fool as I was full gas fifty feet past the finish line, screaming at a car that was running me off the road. I heard someone say "you're done" with the inflection that I was riding the short bus rather than a bike. I looked down at the Garmin to see 48:39 less the 9 seconds of over-shooting the finish I finished with a very satisfying 48:30.

I'm not sure how good that is or where I placed as we did not stick around for the results. Given the lack of intensity in my training and the suspect legs I had, it does not really matter, I was very happy with the result.

This looks like any one of the last four hillclimbs I have done--perfect with not a cloud in the sky. I'm definitely going back--great climb with spectacular views--I'd love to ride it as part of a longer ride. I'll see what I can put together for sometime this fall.

I'm all typed out.

2010-09-10T02:26:00.001-05:00

I do not feel like typing, so I thought I would leave you some photos from this week's riding-- another 14 hours of "base miles"--not bad for a "rest" week.

Soft Bike Porn.

2010-09-03T02:14:00.004-05:00

I know I have not mentioned mountain biking much lately, but with our recent discussions about a return to Leadville next year I have secretly been thinking about new bike options. We came across these gems at Windham.

I'm still not sold on the SRAM XX. I am sold on the 2x10 however--found a very nice solution --when can I get it?

I've long been a fan of the Scott hardtails and have quietly been waiting for the carbon 29er--it's here--very nice. I thought the Carbon Air Niner was an easy choice, but now?

Still just riding.

2010-09-02T02:08:00.001-05:00

Another great day--more beautiful weather and 4 more hours on the bike.

Northwest of Milford--more gravel and no cars--very nice!

North of rt. 20 on the gravel--can't wait for the Hundy!

Just riding.

2010-09-01T00:41:00.008-05:00

Like I said before, I should have been working on the house but I just could not help myself. The weather has been gorgeous and begging me to ride--I got 23 hrs in over the last 6 days--by far my biggest week of the year in terms of volume. My training schedule has me back in the base period, as my next"A" race is Iceman in early November. It has been so nice to just ride. Other than a couple of relatively short tempo efforts on the mountain bike, it has all been LSD. Brian and I have made an effort to find new roads all week which has been a blast as we have ridden a ton of dirt and gravel--getting me psyched for the North O Jackrabbit Hundy--can't wait.

Max the film maker.

2010-08-29T19:54:00.004-05:00

I found this little gem on the point and shoot camera. Max made it all on his own--not sure how he managed to get the video going all by himself--pretty cool. This is the last 50 meters of Mt Washington.

I should have been working on the House.

2010-08-27T20:20:00.008-05:00

I could not help myself it was beautiful out. When the cats are away the mouse has to play.

North of the lake--looking over the Mohawk Valley.

We stopped at the Black Cat Cafe--great coffee. The only downer is the steep part of the climb out of Sharon Spring really kicks up about 50 yards out the door and it murders the legs after the rest. The coffee--it's worth it!

By the way I spent the first part of the ride talking to Mike about doing Leadville next year--I think he is intrigued. It would be a blast with a group--will see.

I got 5:11 in today which felt really good--Hope to do it again tomorrow.

Still can not decide if I'm going to race Windham on Sunday--I sure am digging the low stress of LSD.

Epic!!! again

2010-08-25T02:41:00.009-05:00

Even though the training schedule clearly stated this is a week of rest, I woke up and looked at the forecast thinking I should get out and spin the legs as they were still a bit, shall we say pissed after Mt. Washington. By all accounts the forecast was for 100% rain. I was thinking how bad could that be--it would have to stop eventually. I sat for a while, ate some breakfast and starting loosing motivation which was fine.

Fattail and I were most content watching Sports Center when the phone rang. I could tell there was determination in Chris's voice when he said he was still planning on getting in 150 miles. I looked out the window and it was pouring--it was too late, my fate was sealed--I had to ride. I agreed to ride the first part of Chris's ride which was about 75 miles and would most likely get me home in about 4 hours.

I headed over the hill north on Rt 28 to meet Chris at the Flycreek General Store and was soaked in about 5 mins. We headed south for the first 2 hours which I failed to realize was all down wind--thus I felt like I was flying. More importantly, it was not very cold. The cars were few and we joked about how it always seems like we only ride when the weather really sucks. All in all I was having a blast.

We stopped at about 2 hours so I grabbed a coffee which hit the spot. The folks in the gas station had a bewildered look on their faces as we walked in and I'm sure they were not too happy as we left a huge puddle of water on their floor--oh well.

Back at it, we were now heading a bit west and it seemed to be getting colder and certainly windier--my legs were definitely questioning the wisdom of stopping.

By the time we made it to Edmeston, both the rain and wind were picking up and it was definitely colder.

We stopped quickly to top off the water bottles which killed my legs.

Heading east along Route 80 was tough--much colder mostly because we were riding into the wind and the back to back rollers add up in a hurry.

We made it back to the Flycreek General Store for some much needed real food--they make a fine sandwich!

Bryne Dairy 1% chocolate milk--undisputed number one recovery drink (well, okay, the best lowfat recovery drink--Battenkill Valley Creamery chocolate milk is absolutely the very best).

We were about 75 miles and 4 hours in when we stopped for lunch. Cora called and asked if I wanted her to come pick me up. I said no--although I was awfully tempted to call it quits, I had just told Chris I would try to knock out another 25 miles--I figured a hundy would make a nice story.

No sooner did Chris's phone ring-- it was Heather, she and Cora were together and pretty much told us they were coming to get us as they could barely see the road while driving the kids home from the movies. They said that it was absolutely crazy (actually, I think the word was stupid or maybe idiotic) to be riding in monsoon-like rain. I think deep down, we were both relieved to get yanked. We suffered the 10 mins back to Chris's house and took a most welcomed hot shower and had a fantastic dinner. All told, we logged about 4:15 mins and it was 100% in the pouring rain.

2010 Mt. Washington Hillclimb Race Report

2010-08-22T09:40:00.009-05:00

Disclaimer—I’m manic and this is going to be a long one.

We were so, so lucky, as we got the hall pass grande this weekend because my super-special extra-fantastic mother took the kids yet again. The funny thing is that they would much rather be with her than go to another one of my races. We left for New Hampshire early Friday morning and after several stops for "necessities," we got up to Mt. Washington by 1:30--perfect timing to get an hour ride in before the 3 pm sign-in.

The stop

"necessities"

I must confess as I walked over to the sign-in table marked 40-49, I was slightly disappointed about my narrow miss at Newton’s Revenge—14 seconds and I would have been at the Top Notch table which, by the way, had no line—oh, the perks of being faster. As with Newton’s Revenge, I left registration with an awesome shirt and some sweet “usable” swag. Cora and I headed down to North Conway with two very simple purposes: 1) get to Delaney’s Hole in the Wall for some eats and 2) get a very nice uninterrupted night of sleep. I was unusually proactive about getting all my gear together, so having nothing to do but go to sleep at 9 pm was surreal and oh so nice!

I slept really well which for me is unheard of prior to an “A” race. I did, however, wake up in a panic because I thought I was doing Leadville and had forgotten to discuss my nutrition with my crew—kind of freaky. We got out of the hotel in record time which included a traditional breakfast of oatmeal and a banana. Cora suggested that my recent switch to bran flakes for breakfast has contributed to the compulsory two pre-race porta-potty stops that have been greatly eating into my warm-up time. This morning I beat the system by going back to oatmeal and by leaving 15 minutes early. I only had to make one porta-potty stop and I was able to get in a very nice warm-up.

A beautiful morning--cool and crisp.

My only complaint about this event would be that they make the cars go up the mountain by 8 am, which leaves 40 mins or so with nowhere to stash last minute goods/clothes, but I found some cool guys who let me stick a jersey in their jeep to be retrieved after the race. When it came time to line up, I started at the front, as I was told that there could be some traffic issues. I felt really good waiting for the start as I was not that nervous--as funny as this sounds, not feeling that nervous made me feel less nervous. Now that’s not to say that I was totally composed--with 6 mins to go, I bolted 100 yards to hide behind a dump truck and express my bladder one last not-so-fruitful time.

On my return, I noticed that Selene Yeager—“the Fit Chick” from Bicycle magazine was lined up next to me. I had two thoughts: 1) I know she is probably going to be super fast--if I’m not mistaken, she won the Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic and 2) Oh my god, is she hot in person. Well, make that three thoughts—she was riding a very sweet I'm assuming custom- painted pink Pinarello Prince. Needless to say, fast hot fit chick on a sweet ride made her the one to follow—if I could.

I made it across the flat section with only a couple of people from my group in front of me. For whatever the reason, I suddenly got really nervous that the day was going to suck—I really made an effort to focus on my cadence and find a rhythm that would keep me on target to knock out a mile every 10 minutes—if successful, that should get me to the top in 1:15. The bottom 2 miles were easier than I remembered and I went through the 2 mile marker in about 17 minutes—not bad--way ahead of pace. I started to worry again as I rode that section fairly well for Newton’s and then went into a catastrophic melt-down mode which resulted in finishing like a small recently-spanked child. Thankfully my self-doubt was short lived. The day was gorgeous--absolutely perfect for climbing and as I went through miles 3 and 4, I was still 3 mins ahead of schedule and starting to realize that I may be able to uncork a good one today. I knew if I could get past the dirt section on pace, I would be in great shape to hit 1:15.

The dirt section starts somewhere just before 5 miles and ends before the 6-mile marker. I don't know why, but I find it to be mentally very tough--this time up was no exception. As I made it past the first steep part on to the brief “flatter” section just before the right hand turn, I noticed my average speed was still 6.1 mph—on pace. The only problem now was the steep section after the turn and I knew if I could get to the pavement without a meltdown, I’d be golden. I really concentrated on rhythm and cadence--something I could maintain which was only yielding a very spry 5 something mph. I was a bit surprised/very psyched when I went past the 6 mile marker still with an average speed of 6.1 mph. After some calculation, I realized if I could keep this going and picked it up a bit on the top I would be in the 1:13 range.

Now I was really feeling like I needed that second porta-potty break as I knew the last mile and a half was going to hurt badly. It was at that point I recalled a conversation that the baby Moose had with me when he said “Daddy, I am going to be very angry and very aggressive until I get what I want!”—true story. If I have not said it yet, this was my race this year and I really wanted to break the 1:15 mark--a pipe dream would be 1:10. Although I promised myself I would not put all my eggs in one basket, having learned that lesson last year with Leadville, breaking 1:15 was the only specific goal I had this year and in my mind I was going to be very angry and aggressive if I did not get it today. I kept reminding myself of this as I passed the 7-mile mark and rounded the last steep left right combo.

starting up the steep section

With less than 5 mins to go, I was behind a guy wearing a 545 velo jersey and for the first time today, I started to race someone else. With a couple of tenths of a mile to go, someone jumped out on the road screaming at me to catch him—it was really cool--it was as if he knew that I had just decided that was the plan. I turned up the final 22% grade--it was crazy with people--basically all the people watching at the top are packed into the final couple hundred meters, all screaming and ringing cowbells. They were fueling my fire and god knows it was trying to go out.

Spectators HELP!!!

The really steep section can’t be more than 50 meters or so, as I came around the first turn, I was crushed and intentionally looked up at the spectators. It seemed to me that everyone was screaming, "Catch him!" One last glance and I saw 2 things: the guy in front of me was now only a couple of meters ahead and the clock said 1:22, which minus 10 mins. meant that if I could get my ass in gear, I could break 1:13. I dug deep, passed him at the line and finished at 1:12:45.

Mission accomplished!

We had a premium parking spot at the start of the steep section so I had a front row seat as I warmed down.

Mountain bike legend Tinker Juarez finished second.

As I said before, we had a premium parking spot which literally got us off the mountain first after they released the cars to go down--it was nice to be first down as that got me started on my traditional post "A" race gluttony of food and drink. As they did for Newton's Revenge, the organizers put on a fantastic spread at the bottom serving none other than my favorite meal of all time--turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing with salad--yum, yum good! They were also kind enough to serve a little ice cream which went to my hard working crew chief. The 7-hour drive home was a real sufferfest made no shorter by stopping multiple times for coffee. I know this should be no surprise but we got home at 10 pm to find 2 crazy kids wide awake and one snoring little animal lover.

Mt. Equinox Hill Climb Race Report

2010-08-09T14:49:00.005-05:00

I was looking forward to this race for a while--not sure why as I knew nothing about the climb.

It was a really long, but good day. We were up at 3:25 am to make it up to Manchester VT early enough to get a warm up in. My wonderful mom was kind enough to come over and watch the kids, so yes Cora and I had a hall pass and it was most welcomed time alone. We made good time up to VT. The only downer was that we were too early for a Starbucks stop as none were open yet.

I took my time signing in and started to warm up on the trainer, but then we realized that Cora had to leave to go up the hill at 7:40am. I hopped off the trainer and rode up and down Hwy 7A instead, which was fine. My wave was off at 8:10 am with perfect climbing weather, clear and crisp, with temps I'm guessing in the 60's.

Both the above images are borrowed from www.northeastcycling.com

If you are at all interested in hill climbing, I highly suggest you check out this site.

I emptied the tank with a couple hundred meters to go.

I liked the hill a lot. The start allows you a couple of minutes before the grade kicks up which was perfect to get into a rhythm. I think the thing that made the climb so nice (at least for me) was that it seems to have very well-spaced out areas of rest, including a small downhill. The "rest" for me was enough to recover a bit without destroying my rhythm. I found the corners to be steep but they actually were enjoyable as you can enter them outside and cut across and it felt like you could actually gain a little speed. The hill is rumored to have a very short steep section in the 28% grade neighborhood. I never felt like I was riding anything that steep. I suspect that number was measured on the inside of one of the turns, if at all.

As what seems to be the norm at these things, I found myself off the back right at the start. Of course I started wondering if people were going out too hard or was I riding like a child. I was especially preoccupied with this, as I opted to leave the PowerTap at home. I wanted to ride the bike as lean as possible with the same set up as planned for Mt. Washington. I concentrated on riding my own race and slowly started passing the folks in front of me. I was feeling better and better as the climb went on. I finished in 46:25, which was about 3 mins faster than expected, so needless to say I was very happy.

The race itself was great--really well-organized. They had people handing out water halfway up, which made for a nice shower. At the top, they not only had ample goodies for recovery, but they managed to woo my wife--Cora was ecstatic that they also had doughnuts for the spectators. They announced each finisher by first name, which I thought was a class act. At the bottom, after the race, they had a really nice barbecue. My only ding against them would be that they served up arguably the worst hamburger I've ever had, but in all fairness, I have to say they recovered completely by having a very well-stocked ice cream cart. Doughnuts and ice cream--I think it's fair to say that Cora will be back next year, as will I.

Two Days, 3 Races, One Epic Fail. Quinn Podium.

2010-08-09T11:56:00.010-05:00

Possibly the most unflattering picture Jess took of me. I could not stand after my "sprint."

Results: Psycowpath

The weekend was going to be long and hot I knew that. What I did not know was how poorly I would perform, and how obvious my lack of riding would become. Firstly, a huge thank you to RF and the whole Psycowpath crew for an amazing weekend of racing. Excellent planning and execution for all three races. Day one had two parts and began with a time trial around Lewis and Clark. Last year at this venue I did the marathon and felt I did pretty well. This year on a shorter course I felt terrible and had to hike a bike on the trail in multiple places. My legs felt like rubber and my breathing and heart rate were spiking after only a few minutes of mild effort. I just couldn’t figure out why. It may have had something to do with a crash on Sunday 6 days earlier that left me with either a bruised or cracked rib. My breathing was still a bit shallow and tight due to stiffness so it may have caused my lactate to build at an unreasonable rate. Either way, I was ridiculously slow. As a punishment to myself for being so crappy at the TT I decided to go to the afternoon race and torture myself at my favorite bike park, Tranquility. The name is really quite appropriate, even on a busy day I may see 10 riders the whole time I am there and my son can do the entire loop and nobody seems to mind us walking sections. Which by the way are fewer and fewer this year. The little dude will probably clear the whole course next year, but that is a different story. So, the race was to be a Short Track race. I have never tried it before so I was a bit leery at first.

Thankfully the Cat 3 40Plus group went off before us and I could see that they were taking it easy and not going too hard. The other great thing is that 3 laps took only 15 minutes. I didn’t fail in the morning race until about 15 min in so I figured maybe I could last. Heck it was only a year ago that I would rip this entire section in the dog and never change gears from the flat to the moderate climb that was the real race section here. At the start I went very easy hitting the climb at the back of our group of 9. I passed 4 guys along the way and entered the trees in 5th.
Then I hit a tree and fell about 10 seconds in to that section…great. Back to 8th as 3 passed me while I quickly got my yard sale out of their way. I jumped on no worse for the wear it was just a hard shoulder tag and a clean endo. The second lap was uneventful as I took the back and tried to see if I could put on a late surge on the final climb. Sadly, I could not. Instead I saw an opening at the very top and passed two guys right before the descent. I passed one last dude on the final straight and tried to sprint for 5.th I was about 3 or 400 yards from the finish and there was a guy loitering down the trail. He must have thought I was way too far back to worry about. Any way, the guy I had just passed tried to go by me and I big dogged it and tore ahead to get the guy up the trail. He heard an elephant panting and tugging at his big gear and turned just in time to challenge me. It must have looked kind of ridiculous to the 10 or so spectators who saw me charging for 5th but this dude was game and he was not going to just let me nip him at the line. He got out of his saddle and we did a real sprint for the line. I came out from his slipstream at exactly the precise time and dug deep. I had been at redline for about 200 yards before he stood, but I still managed to swing out and pull even. We both shoved our bikes at the line…it was very close. He got me by 4 one hundredths of a second. I saw that he barely got me…timing chips were the proof. It really was my highlight of the weekend. I was slow and depressed, but I still had a killer instinct. Everybody that beat me that day earned it, I still will never let anybody get a freebie. Never. Even though I really and I mean really sucked it was still fun to pretend. Race three was a straight up XC race. Two laps at Tranquility on Sunday afternoon. This was an epic fail from every angle. I felt horrible, the bike was having trouble, and it was 97 degrees out. I did one lap as the front crank became useless and was actually ghost shifting because it was detaching from the bottom bracket. The front fork was bottoming out even though it was locked out. I may have been able to nurse it for two laps but I was going so slow it seemed pointless. So I bailed and waited to see Qman decimate the under 10 race. He was stoic at the start, but I had given him instructions that as an official Jackrabbit racer it was imperative that he hit the single track in first. I was ecstatic as he whipped by while buzzing the pace rider’s back tire. The pacer was about 14 and riding a 29er it was really funny. The kid had not expected someone on sixteen’s to be that fast.

He hasn’t seen Qman at top speed on his SS I guess. Any way the pace kid sped up and Q hit the single track in first. That meant that all the kids and I mean all the kids were chasing a 5 year old on a tiny bike with no gears. He hit the technical section that included a straight wall that is twice his height and a log fall that is twice the thickness of his tires. The little bugger didn’t even dab. Now the bigger kids were worried…he actually pulled away from them at this point. There was a long straight on a dirt road that connected two parts of the trail. Two nine year old boys on 26 inch bikes got past Quinn who was turning about 10,000 rpms trying to stay ahead of them. They hit the last single track section and Q maintained third right behind them.
It was freaking awesome.

2010-08-06T01:48:00.003-05:00

Check it out! .

A Return to the Blog--Newton's Revenge Race Report

2010-07-31T19:44:00.009-05:00

All right--it's been a while since I've posted--and this time, I can't blame work, the house or the family--it's just been a great summer weather-wise (knock on wood) and I've been out riding! Truth be told, I have just been burnt out on blogging and rather than boring you to near death with the same old tales of our local training rides, I thought I'd wait for something worthwhile to write about. Yes- I realize this post is way after the fact, but better late than never, right? I had started it, but never managed to put the finishing touches on it.

We were off to Mt. Washington again--this time for Newton's Revenge. We took the whole family and headed over to North Conway, NH the Thursday before the race. This gave me a little time to relax after the interminable car ride. We stayed at the same hotel as we did in June and the kids were thrilled with the swimming pools. I went for a short ride on Friday while Cora and the kids explored some trails and waterfalls. Although Max and Phoebe wanted to repeat the awful meal we had last time, Cora had done a little research and found a great little place called Delaney's Hole in the Wall, which I think will become our restaurant of choice in North Conway.

Saturday morning we got up and got going a little bit late. The forecast had been for a few showers, but nothing major, so we were a little perplexed when we started to see cars with bikes on top with racing numbers headed toward us, away from the mountain. When we got there, we found that they had postponed the race for a day because the gravel parts of the road had gotten washed out overnight. So we turned around and spent most of the day at the pool with the kids. I was able to get out for an hour or so and spin. I happened across Hurricane Mountain and couldn't resist climbing to the top--probably wasn't such a great idea, but damn, it was a cool climb. Anyone who's done it knows what I'm talking about. I'm definitely going to hit this climb again--I'll just make sure to do it after Mt. Washington, not before.

When I got back from my ride, I found the kids totally waterlogged. We began the 3-hour process of trying to go to bed early. I actually slept really well, as this was not a high priority race for me. Without a taper and a couple of heavy weeks of training, I knew the day was probably going to be longer than I wanted it to be. On Sunday morning, the weather couldn't have been any more different than it was in June for the practice ride, or from the day before, for that matter. It was absolutely gorgeous--the car said it was 72 degrees at the base of the mountain.

Compare that to June:

The one lesson I took home from the practice ride was that I needed to get a solid warm-up ride in, so I headed out on Route 16 south and worked through my zones for half an hour or so. I actually felt pretty good, but I should have seen the writing on the wall, as I was sweating like a hog and had to stash my base layer. Being a novice (relatively speaking) to Mt. Washington, as I was sitting at the start, it never occurred to me that it wouldn't cool off as we went up the mountain. For the first two miles, I was well ahead of my pace from the practice ride and right on target with my power numbers. About 25 minutes into the climb, I was sweating like crazy and had already worked my way through most of my water bottle. I quickly realized that today was not my day. Miles 3, 4, and 5 I was really struggling, but surprisingly I was still on pace with my practice ride times, maybe even a touch faster.

By the time I hit the dirt road, I was down to maybe a sip or two of water, my average heart rate was 11 beats higher than it was in June, and my 5-6 mile split was a good 35 seconds slower. I was hoping for a little wind, as I was burning up--if it was there, I sure as hell didn't feel it. Whatever it was, climbing the dirt road section may arguably have been some of the worst suffering I have ever done on a bike. Mile 6-7 on the pavement was a little better--it was then that I realized that breaking 1:20 was going to be close. It seemed to me at the 7 mile marker that I was feeling better and probably went a little too hard, as I hit the final 22%, I was absolutely crushed--my heart rate was at a season high--never in my life did I ever think that I would love a 34x36 so much. As I made the final left-hand turn, I looked up and saw the clock hit 1:20.

The Devil got me good today!

I crossed the line at 1:20:14. Check out Max--he actually managed to shoot some video all on his own--I love that little Spanish climber!

I vaguely remember 3 or 4 volunteers grabbing me and holding me upright after crossing the line--I'm sure it wasn't for very long, but it seemed like an eternity as I tried to process whether or not I could get off my bike. I managed to hobble over and sit down--I was absolutely sopping wet--somebody gave me a bottle of water and it felt like the last supper. I must have looked pretty shitty, as I remember that 2 paramedics came over and checked my pulse. I'm not sure what they were getting at, but I much appreciated their efforts.

14 seconds--wow. People always talk about how steep and unrelenting this climb is, which it is--couple that with the unpredictability of the weather--hot, cold, driving rain, snow maybe? I'm starting to feel that doing well on this climb is a crapshoot. I'll be honest with you--I get more stressed out about what to wear (do I bake--do I freeze?) than I do about the actual climb. The verdict for now is that I would absolutely rather climb this in 40 degrees and raining than in 70-something degrees and sunny.

Tom Danielson missed breaking his own record by 8 seconds--he did manage to crush me by more than 30 minutes with an astounding 49:32. If I'm not mistaken, that 8 seconds cost him $5,000 bucks.

I guess the one good thing about my effort is that as bad as I felt, and I won't be dramatic and say it was the worst, but it definitely was in my top three crappiest days ever on a bike, I still managed to get pretty close to breaking 1:20. I was quite a bit faster, and certainly felt a hell of a lot better during the practice ride a month earlier. I've got no idea of what to expect now on August 21--I think it's fair to say, though, that the stars are going to have to line up for me to get into the 1:10-1:15 range. I still think it's possible if my taper goes well and the weather cooperates, but it's certainly going to hurt like hell--praying for a nice, light rain.

As far as the event goes--it's first rate--after gingerly walking to the car and waiting a bit we were able to head down and I made my way over to the tent, where I enjoyed a fantastic lunch. I'm already looking forward to August.

We stayed another night at the hotel and headed back to Cooperstown Monday morning. Cora and the kids went out for breakfast and I started out on my bike heading west on Rte 302. They caught up with me about 40 miles later, which was perfect, as it was hot and I had run out of water again--you'd think I'd learn.

We decided to make a stop at Mt. Ascutney on the way home, as it's just off the highway and I wanted to check it out before the race on July 17th.

Ascutney is a great little climb--certainly very comparable to Mt. Washington, except it's half the length and there are several areas where you get a little respite. I ultimately decided not to go back and race, as the 30-35 minutes of racing was greatly overshadowed by the 7 hours of driving. For once, I think my wife actually thought I was being practical--please don't tell anybody--it may ruin my reputation.

I Don't Know Burt Friggin Hoovis

2010-07-27T12:58:00.011-05:00

But this video is really inspiring. Enjoy.

Then of course there is this:

Whiteface Hill Climb Report

2010-06-21T01:15:00.004-05:00

Sorry I do not have lots of sexy pictures--I flew this one solo. I was really excited to head up to Whiteface as I have read it is a great climb. In July's Bicycle Magazine (can't find a link, p. 60 if you're interested), they compared it to Alpe d'Huez in length and grade. As a sidebar, I think the descent is crazy, as the frost heaves at 50 mph on a 13 lb. climbing bike make for a really scary ride.

I left Cooperstown and it was absolutely beautiful out. Three and a half hours later, when I arrived up in Wilmington, it was overcast and trying to rain. After signing in and finding out that I was in the third of nine waves, I believe, I had enough time to climb the first three miles, which served as an ample warm up--something that was sorely missed at Mt. Washington.

I wasn't sure what to expect, as I did not taper at all for this race and I did an extremely heavy week of training. My pipe dream goal was to go 54 minutes or better. Given how my legs felt, I thought that breaking an hour was a fair target. My strategy was to average about 95% of threshold and let the time work itself out. It was fun sitting on the starting line looking at all the modified gearing that people come up with to get up these hills. I later realized that Whiteface is very doable with a 25x11 on the back--the 36x11 sure looks good, though.

As the start gun went off, I was absolutely going backwards for the first mile. I think there were only 3-4 people were behind me. I couldn't figure out what was going on, as I was feeling pretty good. When I looked down at the Powermeter and saw that I was putting out 350 watts, I was hoping this was a case of a bunch of people going out way too hard. I dialed it back quite a bit, hoping the pace would slow. By the time we hit Santa's Workshop, things seemed to be coming back a bit.

I felt pretty good and got into a rhythm. I started passing quite a few people, which gave me the sense that I was flying. As always, pacing is so important, so I concentrated really hard on my cadence and maintaining my power. At the 20 minute mark, I was averaging about 2% over threshold and realizing that I wasn't going to be able to maintain this pace for an hour. Although it didn't slide off catastrophically, the power did come down more that I would have liked over the next 37 minutes--not ideal pacing on my part.

I had not pre-ridden the course, but was told that it flattens out at the top. I just wish I had known how much, as it seemed like the finish came pretty quickly. I finished in 57:38--I believe 47th overall and 14th in my age group, although I haven't seen any official results yet. As seems to be my MO on hill climbs, as I got to the top and got off the bike, I started freezing my ass off and only had my rain jacket on me. After ravaging the well-stocked food station at the top, I didn't have to wait too long before I noticed that people had already started down. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'll say it again--I'm not a huge fan of going down hills. I was reasonable certain that this was going to be sketchy. I hit 52 mph, which in my opinion was crazy, and there were people flying by me like I was standing still. Wow!

Luckily the rain didn't start until I got to the car. A quick change netted me third for getting in on the free massage table. A very nice bonus for what was a great race. I'm already trying to think of a way to go back up and ride it again--looking forward to next year's race.

Westside Dirty Benjamin

2010-06-19T18:26:00.009-05:00

At the start, a happy and only slightly confident Dave. In the bottom right corner of this shot you can see a very unique single speed. A unicycle. Someone was going to do 106 miles on a uni! Qman was impressed. I was wondering about the taint damage.

At the half way. I was pretty bummed because I was working pretty hard and hadn't passed anyone in a long way. Only a few had passed me and my pace was relatively strong. I told myself I would back half. Anyway, I rode up to a group of four who were chatting away and one dude asked me what I just ate. I didn't compute until he said you rebound fast. I chalked that up to the fact that a small group passed me up a hill about an hour before. I was delerious and in a no talk zone as they blew by on their "super brutal cyclocross bikes" (say in a dorkey robot voice) anyway, I said thanks and hit the gas for a 15 minute leg burner. Needless to say that was my only tactical move of the day.

I rode into the halfway a litle despondant, but after my slight move on the 4 cyclo dudes I thought I might be aable to reel in a few more after the refuel. I rolled in to see the whole family and about 40 or 50 people laying around in the grass. I thought fuck there are only about 40 or 50 people in front of me by my calculation and here they all are. So, I never got off the bike I grabbed a Starbucks double shot and pounded 1/2 a pbj and took off right as Jess was saying "everybody is taking like 10 minutes what are you doing?" I guess to everybody, wifey included, I looked like a tool rushing in and out. I just figured, hey I'm going to make you idiots chase me. So I took off. I counted 20-25 tire tracks in the road as I was whaling away trying to put as much distance between me and the "slackers." Then the trail got a little loose and the gravel gave way to a section of very powdery dust. My bigger tires didn't seem to notice. But, it made tracking really easy b/c all the bikes in front of me were searching for purchase. I counted tracks. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8...no fat tires. What the hell...in the gravel each pair looked like two bikes. When they began to weave around climbing in the dusty ground I could make out each pair individually. Holy shit...now I really began to whale. At about this time I was feeling like the back half strategy was going to pay off. A group of 3 went by noticebly faster than me, and blew by a turn. As I slowed to turn around and go back I yelled out to them and a broken spoke flew into my der and crunch good buy xt der and hanger. 1 hour later and 40 riders passing I have a SS and a good gear ratio. It was a real bummer to see all those guys go by who I would have been holding off mostlydue to a very flat second half that had very loose gravel...to my advantage. I figure I was going to be able to average 16 on the way home. On the SS I averaged 14. Pretty fast for my first 45 miles on a SS.

Here is a shot of the little dudes. Mack has a red mohawk.

The finish, legs cramping. I had just enough water for a 3 and 1/2 hour second half. It took closer to 4 and 1/2. That left me rationing a little and I finished my rationing with about 1/2 hour to go.

The single speed.

Dirty Hands

Ouch, as the pack comes off.

So, I finished my first official hundie race in pretty exciting fashion. What I can say is that in the first 50 miles I was under 8 hour pace and the second half which was mostly flat or downhill...well, lets just say I managed to limp in. I had a marvelous and spectacular technical. With the help of a bunch of great local riders: Tan (sp) Neal, Jay, and a really cool local shop owner Porter we converted the EMD to a single speed for my roughly 45 mile finish. I hope to pay it forward someday. I had a perfect gear that didn't spinout until I hit 16-17 MPH. It made for a few uncomfortable climbs when my legs were scorched, but I never dabbed. I only changed gears once, stupidly b/c the der was gone. That did make me feel stupid, but hey, nobody will ever know...right. I'm thiking SS is really good for BigDave...less to break. Anyway Dr. MJ is right...new team bikes are in order.

My Little Friend

2010-06-14T02:15:00.001-05:00

This little guy hit me in the head about an hour into my two hour and twenty minute ride. I tried to feel around when it happened and felt nothing so I gave it no more thought.

When I got home and took the helmet off, I noticed him as he popped up from the vent.

Just another reason to wear a hat under your helmet. The kids were impressed that I was not scared and would "let" a bee "ride" with me--I just played cool--not a big fan of Hymenopteras.

Blackfly Challenge Race Report

2010-06-12T21:14:00.010-05:00

This was a rough week for my bikes. The Powertap was not working--got it fixed--then it stopped working again. My 29er rear ZTR race rim was cracked and I sent it off to be replaced by Stan's crash replacement program. On a more minor front I managed to strip a chain ring bolt on the Serotta. That's a little backround as to how the week was going.

I was very excited about the Blackfly for some reason--partially because a group of us from Cooperstown were going and also because after riding the course earlier this week, I really thought I could do well. I woke up physically feeling good but for some reason I still felt like something was not right. I chalked that up to the last minute late night change-out of the rear wheel--remember I had a similar problem the morning of the LT 100--really bad karma.

We picked up Nate and were on the road by 6:30--on time for a change. I was a little startled when the GPS said we would get t0 Inlet by 8:30--a full two hours before the race start--I've never been that early to a race in my life. I figured I would use the time for a nice solid warm up. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Inlet it was pouring which pretty much left us running for cover and dragging our asses getting ready.

I'm the guy who always brings everything to a race--like leg warmers when the forecast is for the 80's. But somehow I managed to forget my knickers and baselayer--not really a big deal but it was a touch cold (in the low 50's) and certainly the rain was not helping--more bad karma. With a brief and wet warm up, I was feeling surprisingly good.

Do not blink because this is going to be a really short race report. After getting a nice spot on the starting line, I managed to get myself to the front pretty quickly. I settled in behind 10 or so guys on a cyclo-cross bikes and was feeling really good. I stayed up front and the first paved section was going like a road race. My plan was to kill myself to stay up front over the first couple of climbs, as I figured that was where the race was going to get sorted out. I was with Chris on his single speed cross bike and Nate also on a cross bike. As we hit the first little climb at the 2-mile mark, I was going full throttle and got to the top with the lead group--I'm guessing maybe 15 guys. I saw only one other mountain bike--I was feeling really good, but then I noticed that my HRM was now not working--what's up with all this?

As I suspected, the cross bikes all took off over the top and I was totally spun out in the 42x11 and loosing ground. As we made a quick left right combo onto the dirt road, they slowed just a touch. I was hoping the big tires would now be an advantage. As I hopped over a 4 inch rock all was going really well until I landed and could not figure out what the hell just happened.

I heard something that sounded like a shotgun going off--the 2 guys next to me screamed something and the bike got really squishy--OK, I flatted! As I tried to pedal to the side of the road, I was not moving.

I'm not sure how this happened--someone thought I hit the wheel with the chain ring when it came off--who knows.

I then realized this was hanging from my right foot--I'm thinking--what the f@#$ !

I looked at the bike and realized what had happened and knew my day was over. I was very lucky that I was not hurt and that this happened a couple hundred yards from where the spectators were, otherwise I would have been walking or even worse waiting a good long time for help. I was very fortunate to get a ride (thanks Tim) to Indian Lake where I was able to wait for Cora. No cell service can be quite a problem.

I was so bummed--I really felt like I had a good race in me.

Chris riding very strong on his SS--finished in 2:15 and change--huge ride on a 53x17--just plain sick--he was 9th in his category--congratulations to him on a great day/ride.

Mike finished strong as well--very nice! Great job getting 1st in his category/age group!

Nate smiling, though not having fun--he'll tell you it was not his day. Nate--I know you easily have top ten speed--Cora and I had a great time with you in the car and I really look forward to racing with you more in the future.

Although I didn't get any pictures of him, John did a fantastic job and placed 5th in his category and age group. More importantly, he looked sweet in his new Jackrabbit kit!

CycleOps Power News Article by Joey Adams

2010-06-09T22:48:00.003-05:00

Check this out. I'm famous--nah, apparently I'm just an ordinary guy. Seriously, though, a huge thank you to Joey for all his help over the last couple years.

Mt. Washington Practice Ride Report

2010-06-06T21:17:00.006-05:00

It's kind of crazy to think about the insane things we do because we are addicted to riding. Case in point--our trip to New Hampshire this weekend to do the practice ride for Newton's Revenge.

Crazy spending close to 15 hours in the car getting to and from Mt. Washington as there is no real direct route from Cooperstown.

Crazy getting up at 5 am.

Crazy that this was all to ride for about a hour and fifteen minutes. One might suggest that this is not the most efficient use of time.

As you know by now, Mt. Washington is one of my A races this year, so I felt it was well worth the drive to go up and see just how hard the climb really is. The start was any time between 5 and 7 this morning. I opted to "sleep in" which meant we were up at 5 to make it to the start by 6:30. As I was signing in, it was 60 degrees at the bottom and 40 at the top with 30 mph winds. I was told there was a 2 hour window of "no rain" forecasted--of course, that was 4:30 to 6:30 am.

The challenge was figuring out what to wear. I started out way over dressed. Ten minutes in I was burning up, so I dumped a layer with Cora which left me with a thin base layer and a long sleeve top with knickers. This combo worked just fine until I got above the tree line.

Cruising along at about the 3 mile mark. Rain status--light drizzle and I'm guessing it was some where in the low to mid 50's--very comfortable.

Popping out above the trees--the rain got heavier and the wind started to show its presence. I was starting to think it was getting a bit cold.

I think the unpaved section starts at about the 5 mile mark and goes to just past the 6 mile mark. I'm sure when dry, it's not all that bad. This morning it was wet, so to add insult to injury, it was a real power suck. I could feel my skinny little tires just sinking in. For whatever the reason, I found that riding up the little streams of running water gave the firmest ground.

Just before getting off the dirt, the rain was really coming down. Luckily the wind on this side of the mountain were not blowing as hard. I remember feeling like I hit a "flat" section which was much needed as I was able to ease up a little--I looked down at the Garmin and the "flat" section was weighing in at a corpulant 14%.

Once I got off the dirt, there was another relatively steep pitch and then it seemed to ease up a bit--I'm guessing this is somewhere between the 6 and 7 mile mark. As you can see, the fog had set in--what you can't see is the rain, which was much heavier and the wind had to be at a full 30 mph--I felt fortunate as the winds are 75+ mph 100 days out of the year.

I actually managed to ride the last mile above threshold, which I had not intended on doing but I was getting really cold and there was something about seeing the 6 and 7 mile signs that got me kind of jacked up.

You certainly can't tell, but this is the last 50 yards and it's 22% grade over the roughest paved road. Funny thing is that it's so unbelievably cool that the 500+ watts it took to get up came pretty darn easy. I can only image how cool it will be with hoards of spectators hootin' and hollerin'.

You may notice I now have a rain jacket on--this was my second time up the steep part. I beat Cora to the top on my first trip so I re-rode it for the photo-op. Not the brightest move as the 5 minutes of standing around soaking wet in the wind before going back up literally almost did me in--I have never been that cold--kind of scary how fast it came on.

A shot from the car on the way down--it's a pretty spectacular mountain and it's an even cooler ride. I was very pleased with my effort. My goal was to average 90% of my threshold and break the coveted 1:20 mark which I did. The road up averages 12% grade and other than the first couple hundred yards at the start, it literally never lets up. I started late which meant my "warm up" was on the hill--not so fun--it took a good 20 minutes to get into a rhythm. Teaching point to self--bring the trainer and a tent next time.

I'm scheduled to ride Mt Washington 3 more times this year and my goal is to increase my average power each time and then go for broke on the 21st of August with the lightest set-up possible. If I can ride at threshold for the whole trip up, I should be able to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 1:10. Of course, this is all contingent on the weather as it is every bit as unpredictable and nasty as they say--oh I forgot to mention a brief moment of hail today--sound familiar? What's the deal with me and big climbs?

Going to scout the Blackfly course tomorrow--did not spend enough time in the car this weekend, so I thought I'd add another 5 hours. At least this time, it will be sans whining, fighting and cranky kids. Good times.

New Kit on Old Fat Man

2010-06-05T11:12:00.004-05:00

Contrary to popular opinions the new kit was totally necessary. Totally. What you really have to ask yourself is if it is necessary for spinning class. I thought so and gave it a whirl today. Special thanks to the team captain for suiting me up.

New Kit

2010-05-27T12:37:00.003-05:00

I know, just what we needed--love the old school look.

Fitwerx and Parlee Z5 Review

2010-05-25T21:00:00.003-05:00

Ever dream about finding that ultimate bike shop? Of course, it would have to sell high-end bike goodies-even better, it has them in stock so you can see and feel the bounty, as if you need something to push you over the edge. Then it's instant gratification--out the door you go with the much "needed" goods--much better than the standard operating procedure of "we'd be happy to order it for you."

If asking for in-stock, super high-end goods was not enough, let's ask for a staff that knows more about all things bike than you ever thought possible. Now I know this is already sounding too good to be true, but in my dream world, the customer service would be second to none and while I'm at it, I would also ask for a mechanic that treats my bike like the piece of art that it is.

Well, I finally found the perfect place--Fitwerx in Waitsfield, VT.

I had avoided getting a new road bike for quite awhile, mostly because my current road bike at the time was a rolling torture chamber and I had no desire to pay a lot of money to revisit that pain in a new flavor. After talking with Joey about how much less taxing it can be to train on the road, he assured me that Ian at Fitwerx could solve all of my problems. After doing some online research, all of which was extremely positive, I took the plunge and called Ian to talk about my needs. We scheduled a fitting (you can read about the process on their website). The fitting was most impressive--four hours later, after many measurements of both me and my current bike, much conversation and some very cool video footage, Ian had his numbers--the magic angles, inches and centimeters that were going to change the years of unnecessary suffering I had done on my Litespeed.

Much of the conversation was about my desire to have a road bike that was not only race-worthy, but more importantly, comfortable enough to ride all day. Of course I had to build the bike with components that will last a good long time. I was amazed by Ian's knowledge of a wide variety of frames and components but even more remarkable was his insight on how each of these parts would or would not best suit my needs. I left the shop thoroughly impressed. Several days later I got an estimate for my perfect bike and as you know, that was the Serotta Ottrott--I can only say I love it more now after several thousand miles than the day I got it.

Ottrott

So why am I writing this now? Well, several months ago you may remember the wheels started churning so to speak and I wanted to build a bike to climb Mt. Washington. So again

I called Ian and did not really say much more than "I need all the help I can get to climb Mt. Washington in August--what can you build up that is super-light, comfortable and tough enough to ride everyday?" We discussed several frames and that was that. Realizing that my requirements were somewhat of an oxymoron, I was not expecting a build quote by the end of that day but I got one. Again-perfection! A mixture of components that I never would have thought of on my own--and I do a lot of on-line research--built up on the new Parlee Z5.

I took a couple of days to research the parts I was not familiar with--the frame, Zipp crankset, and Hive brakes, to name a few--all of which got high praise across the board in the performance, light-weight, style and durability departments. The most clever part of the build is the SRAM XX rear derailleur and 10 speed cassette which will give my feeble little legs a bunch of bail-out room as the gas starts to leak all over the place half-way up Mt. Washington--very smart and I'm sure I'll love it even more when I have to use it.

I can go without my power so I have the 404 on the back for training purposes.

The Zipp 202 tubular--I went with Continental GP 4000 tires because they are super puncture resistant. I'm sure I could brake the 13 pound mark with lighter tires--not sure it's worth it.

I also used Tufo Extreme gluing tape instead of glue which works very well--lots less hassle and has eased my "transition" to tubies.

The SRAM XX 11-36--lots of bail out room.

It's like a piece of jewelery--now I want to upgrade the mountain bikes to the XX.

The 202 rear wheel with the SRAM XX 11-36 cassette. I think I will eventually try a Red 11-28.

This wheel is close to a pound lighter than the 404 (with Powertap).

I'll tell you what, I sure do love having power on board--my only regret.

SRAM XX rear derailleur to accommodate the XX 11-36 cog. I am going to put a Red derailleur on after Mt. Washington.

The Selle Italia SLR team edition with carbon rails--the same saddle that is on the Ottrott--love it more and more each time I ride it. The Easton EC90 post is an old favorite--I think it's my third one now--if it just had some markings on it to help with adjusting saddle angle it would be perfect.

The bottom bracket area is big and stiff. I can't honestly tell the difference of the narrower BB30 bottom bracket which is a good thing. The Zipp cranks came with ceramic bearings--very nice!

I've never been a guy to buy high end pedals but these rock and were well worth the upgrade.

The Zipp cranks are another piece I wish I had put on the Serotta as they are lighter and of course look great. The biggest benefit though is that you can go to a 53x39 by changing the rings--a lot cheaper than swapping out the whole crankset.

Everyone seems to love the SRAM red. I keep hearing great things about it, but truth be told, I did not put it on the Ottrott because after riding it I was not impressed. This time around, after hearing even more positive feed back from other riders I went with it--still reluctantly but justified my decision because it weighs less than the Dura Ace. I'll be honest and I thought I would never say this I'm a big fan--it just took awhile to get used to. Now I'm wishing I had it on both bikes because going back and forth between the two is causing me, with my limited mental capacity, to make a lot of bad shifts.

The Hive brakes--awesome--what else can I say. They stop like crazy and are super easy to adjust--can't ask for any more than that.

More about this later--the new Joule 2.0.

With this build, after the initial estimate, I worked with Steve for the majority of the process--with big-time industry credentials, he knows bikes and could not have been more awesome to work with. Like Ian, Steve went above and beyond--prompt in returning phone calls and e-mails, and pleasant in dealing with my last minute vanity changes--top notch customer service.

So, here she is, all 13 lbs 2 ozs of her.

( wt is with the 202 rear wheel)

So back to why I am writing this now. I picked up the new bike a month ago and have had the chance to really ride it (close to a 1000 miles now)--again, as with the Ottrott, the Z5 fit is spot-on perfect. As for the ride, out of this world--for being as light-weight as it is, the bike feels surprisingly beefy, stiff, smooth and super comfortable and yes, it climbs like a mountian goat. I'm still waiting for the stem, which is on backorder from Zipp.

My second go-around with the crew at Fitwerx was again fantastic--since getting the bike, I have received several e-mails and a card thanking me and reminding me to let them know if I have any problems. More so, these guys love their bikes and they just plain want to make sure I love mine too. So you can bet on it, I'll be back--hopefully in time for cross season, if I can just somehow sneak it past my wife.

DirtRag Dirtfest and the Niner Carbon Air 9

2010-05-24T19:34:00.013-05:00

Yes, I'm still alive--just been in recovery mode as far as the blog goes. I spent the last four days down in PA at DirtRag's Dirtfest with Mike, Mark, Dave F. and Rich. We got off to a very early start Thursday morning. I was up at 4:20 which probabaly would not have been so bad, except I didn't get to bed until 3:15. Mike picked me up and we were off to Raystown Lake, PA --about a six-hour drive--you know how much I hate to drive, so I was most excited to find out that Mike seems to live for coffee as much as I do. Our first stop was Starbucks in Scranton which is about two hours away.

The bikes were looking like a blur through the sun roof in the blue morning light.
We arrived a touch ahead of schedule at 11 am--not bad considering we stopped and got a bit lost in State College. The first thing I saw when we arrived at the campsite was Rich's espresso machine--SWEET!--I had heard rumors that he might bring it. Between Dave's camper and Rich's machine, this was hardly "camping." I should also mention that the weather was absolutely perfect--70 and not a cloud in the sky.

The fruits of my 3 am labor--my Niner Carbon fork arrived at 5:30 pm Wednesday. I had been hoping it would get here as I really wanted to test out the bike as it will be set up for the Blackfly +/- the wheels--powertap or not?

Pretty slick and about 2 lbs. lighter--I was exceptionally impressed with how it rode all weekend. The trails were a perfect testing ground as they were no bumpier than the roads up at the Blackfly. The fork is very smooth and responsive, so needless to say I'm very happy with it. It should be perfect for the Iceman as well--can't wait.

I'm guessing there is something like 40-50 miles of trails in the park. My understanding is that they were done by IMBA and what a great job they did. 95% of the trails are rippin' single track--the rest had a touch of rocks and roots here and there--nothing really technical.

Mike coming up Ray's Revenge--I think this was our favorite. The view from the top was spectacular. I believe I read somewhere that this trail had the most climbing which was in the neighborhood of 750 ft. None of the trails seemed to hit very hard when climbing--of course I would have preferred a bit more punch going up.

A little hot dogging at the top of Ray's Revenge. We rode about 30 miles a day and only missed one trail (Loco-Motion) by the time we left.

We finally made over to the festival to check out the vendors. At sign-in they were giving away the mini Stan's sealants. It became somewhat of a competition as to who could accumulate the most--the winner had 18.

I'm guessing there were about a dozen bike manufacturers there--I stopped by Stan's to see if I could get my badly beaten rear wheel trued--it was beyond repair so it's got to go back to their shop this week. I've got to send both the front and back wheels back--I hit something on the last day--I think it was the rock garden and now the front rim is more out of whack than the back.

Before we headed back out to ride the rain came and it got a bit chilly--some hot coffee from the Standing Stone Coffee shop hit the spot.

So is this what you want to know about? I was fortunate enough to demo the new Carbon Air Niner--Wow!! In person, it is much beefier than it looks in pictures.

I was not sure what to expect as the bike was not mine nor was it set up especially for me. It was set up as a single speed--I'd spent the past 3 days on gears. For starters, it weighed in at just about 19 lbs. but it sure felt a lot lighter that that. I got about 45 mins. on it and all I can say is that it is sick--it climbs like crazy and it's so responsive going up the hills it felt like I was on my road bike. I was a little tentative going downhill as it was starting to get wet and slippery (not to mention that this is a bike you cannot buy yet). I could not believe how rock solid it was going down and through the corners it accelerated and went exactly where I pointed it. As you would expect, the carbon dampens the vibrations which is really nice--it's stiff and light--pretty much perfect for a bike but I still have my concerns about the durability of carbon for a mountain bike if you crash or it gets hit. Time will tell. The coolest thing about the bike is what Niner calls the CYA botton bracket system which allows you to run the bike either as a SS or geared.
The frame is designed to hide the derailleur cables a small detail which I absolutely love--it is such a clean look. Will I get one? What do you think?

While I was on my dream ride, Mike was demoing a beautiful Atomic Blue ONE 9--which he absolutely loved. I think he is torn as to which one he wants--he loved the carbon but the One 9 was so nice he may not be able to wait.

After our Niner detour, we were about 4 hours into our day--neither of us had counted on being out that long and we were running short on calories. Sitting pretty next to the Stan's sealant was a box of Reeses--no competition on those but they saved the day. I think I ate four of them and was good to go.

You can't really tell from the photo but we were covered with mud--it pretty much had been raining for two hours now and didn't stop until the next morning. Other than being a bit slippery (the Stan's Crow on the back did not help), the mud was actually a blast--the fine watery stuff which was a nice departure from the thick stuff I ride up here.

As it had been the previous two nights, dinner was fantastic, although the rain brought the party inside. I managed to doze off shortly after taking this photo at 10 pm--have not gone to bed that early in a long time. We woke to rain and ultimately called it quits, heading home without riding on Sunday--a bummer, I chalked it up as a rest day--could not wait to see the possums.

We had a great weekend-fantastic food, ride, rest, ride, more food and lots of sleep--oh and did I mention Rich's espresso machine. I think we are going to plan a trip back in the Fall.

Wood Beetle Attack!

2010-05-11T20:55:00.002-05:00

The Baby Don was kind enough to give Cora this little treat for Mother's Day. When I asked him why he did it, he said, "I didn't--it was a wood beetle that attacked me because he thought I would taste good."

It must have been a hungry beetle--Donny was pretty sure he tasted good.

Here's Waldo--the cover-up which I guess made sense 'cause a Trump-style comb-over was certainly out.

You have to hand it to Cora and me--we sure are consistent in our parenting style--we are now 3 for 3. At the age of 4, each of our kids managed to cut their own hair. Well, that depends on whom you believe--apparently Max told everyone at school I "did" this to him. All is good--Max is now convinced he is more aero on his bike.

2010-05-10T01:44:00.002-05:00

Rocked by the one cog--Single speed polooza race report

2010-04-26T12:26:00.013-05:00

What a weekend! After 9 hours in the car on Saturday, I got home in time to take the new climbing bike for a quick spin before total darkness. I finally collapsed in bed at 11 after packing for Sunday's race. 4 am came around rather quickly. At 4:42, I went out to the car and felt a bit of optimism as the forecasted rain had not yet appeared. I headed back inside to brew a cup for the road. When I returned outside at 4:49, it had started to alternate between drizzle and light rain, which continued until about an hour and a half into the race.

When we got to Stewart State Forest, it was obvious that the SB8's were not going to work, so I put on a set of Kenda Karmas, which was a wise decision--as even the Karmas were caked with mud and sliding all over the place. The other equipment decision that was questionable was my choice of gearing. I have raced at Stewart twice before and both times the singletrack was hard and fast. I decided to go with a 32-17 on the 29er after hearing from the awesome folks down at Dark Horse Cycles that after the big climb, the trail was relatively flat and even if it did rain, the course would hold water well.

Ouch!!

So how did the race go? After a brief and inadequate warm up which left me wet and covered in mud, I got to the start line and waited as my group started last. I started on the front line and managed to make the turn into the singletrack in the top three. Feeling pretty good, it did not take long to realize it was going to be a long day with a 17T on the back. I popped out of the first singletrack loop in 7th or 8th and headed for the climb, which started on the road and after a very short flat section turned into the woods and started up on the single track--not fun on 2 inches of thick slippery mud on a over-geared SS. I was able to ride the climb but it was taking way too much effort and very slow-going. I felt like I was turning the pedals over at about 30 rpm--just crushed my knees.

Popping out on the road to start the road climb.

After getting over the top, the descent was a host of sharp off-camber turns again with the thick mud and now the wet roots were making their presence known--did I mention my SS has a rigid fork--reconsidered that choice all day! The hill, both up and down, killed my hopes of a top ten finish as it seemed like I must have lost 10-15 places--mostly on the descent. As I was told, after the descent, the trail was relatively flat with nice manageable rollers--the gearing felt much better and I just tried to be efficient and choose the best lines. The trail was still very wet and slippery but more of a watery mud, not the super thick stuff that sucks the power out of you, so I felt like I was going good. Towards the end of the first lap, the course detoured through a old building which was pretty cool--would love to see those pictures. By this point, I had been riding by myself for half an hour or so and was guessing I was in about 20th place.

Somewhere on the flat part of the course getting killed by the rocks and my rigid front end.

As I finished the first loop, I was still feeling really good all things considered and my goal for the second lap was to pass 10 people--I managed to get by 4 by the top of the road climb and I held them off through the singletrack climb which was now totally trashed after 250 people had ridden over it--that hurt! I got 2 more before the trail spit out on the next road section where I got on more that was number 7. Back on the singletrack, the guy I passed on the road passed me, so I was at 6 and he seemed to ride away on a little downhill through tight trees. I did not see him or anyone else for that matter for a long while. On the other road sections, I could see people up the road but could not close on them. It was not until the last mile that I caught him and 2 others--there was a steep little rock face that we all came into and I ran up, getting ahead and managed to hold them off for the last couple of minutes. I ended up passing 9, which was nice--unfortunately they were not all from my group. I finished in 2:31 which was a lot slower than I had planned--of course, my planning was based on the dry super-fast singletrack I rode at the 40 2 years ago.

The steep little rock face that I mentioned--got by 3 on foot.

In retrospect, with the 17t, I felt like I definitely had an advantage on the road sections and probably passed a dozen or so people; however, I got killed on the wet, muddy hills. My goal was to get in a 2.5 ish hour hard training ride and have fun doing something different,which I did. This was my first SS race and I must admit I greatly under-estimated single speeding as a specialty--I have a lot to learn. Will it be my last? Not sure, but safe to say it was my last for a while because the one cog killed my legs and the rigid fork beat the piss out of the rest of my geriatric body--man am I sore today! No wonder I've been loving the road bike. In all seriousness, I did this race to break up the monotony of training and that was accomplished, but I'm so sore I'm not sure I could get on a bike today if I had to and tomorrow's intensity may be out the window as well.

It's worth mentioning that I think Stewart State Forest as a race venue isn't the greatest--i.e., very limited resources/parking--which always makes it hard on the family, but with that said, the singletrack rocks and the folks at Darkhorse Cycles have always put on great events--they did not disappoint with the 2010 SSAP.

Just before the finish--still love to play in the mud--man were my legs cooked.

About the cleanest my glasses were all day-- During the race I had to spray them with my water bottle every chance I got just so I could see.

What's going on.

2010-04-23T16:23:00.003-05:00

It's been a long week. I worked the last 3 nights--really long, really painful, but finally over.

I have 15 hours of riding scheduled this week--lots of z1z2 and some well-planned intensity. I set new zones this week as I got the data from Joey--as always, it makes everything feel harder which I love--makes ya feel faster. I took today off for some much needed rest.

Tomorrow I'm off to Fitwerx to pick up the Z5--rumor has it it weighs in at an anemic 13 lbs. 2 oz. fully loaded with heavy tires. With light-weight tires twelve something pounds should be very reasonable for Mt. Washington. I'm going to ride App Gap and possibly Lincoln Gap after I pick up the bike--should be a pretty sweet maiden flight. Not sure what I'm going to do on Sunday. I'm registered for the Single Speed a Polooza which I have been really looking forward to, but the combination of cold rain and the 6 hours of driving has me reconsidering. I did put the 17t cog on the SS earlier today and after a quick spin I can say it feels pretty darn good--we'll see. Sorry about the lack of pictures--it's your recovery 'cause you know what's coming--uber bike and rocking the one cog in the rain!

No more rest!

2010-04-20T00:27:00.003-05:00

Yes, Obi-Wan, I have been transported here to work on the house--man is it slow going! Back to the shop tomorrow to finish up some of the window crown for the bedroom--we'll finally have the bedroom windows done and on to the bathroom.

It feels like it's been awhile since I have trained hard. I think my taper was preceded by a rest week and the ToB was followed by a rest week so it's been about a month since I have had a lot of volume and intensity. The next two months are loaded with both--I'm kind of excited as my training is all focused on Mt. Washington and raising my LT. That means a lot of time doing intervals.

Looking down my new home away from home on the bike--Cornish Hill is steep and takes pretty darn close to 5 mins to climb at threshold wattage.

Today I went out with Chris for about an hour and a half and then headed over to Cornish Hill for the day's real suffering.

I got in 9x 5 mins at 300-310 watts with the only rest being the ride down hill, which was about a minute. I'm going to try to do this workout twice a week until Mt. Washington--hopefully this will morph the legs and up the threshold--we'll see.

The Wabash Trace Ride

2010-04-11T18:38:00.004-05:00

Got a few miles in today on the old Wabash. Mack and Jess walked and scouted on foot.

Right before we took off.
Getting back from a grueling off road trek, about 7 miles total. About 3 on trails and 4 on rock road. Q prefers trails.

Mack got some mileage in with his buddies big wheel.

2010 Battenkill Race Report

2010-04-10T19:49:00.009-05:00

After a relatively peaceful night at the "Duck Hotel" in Albany, we were up at 6:30, which frankly came as a relief, as I had been lying in bed, drifting in and out of sleep since 3 am. I was a bit startled when we got out to the car and it was 35 degrees and windy as shit--great day for a bike ride.

We made it over to the race venue by 8:15, which for once left me enough time to warm up and attend to all of my pre-race rituals. I was feeling pretty good after a meager 20 minute warm-up--I was sweating and the now 41 degrees and even windier than shit was starting to feel somewhat manageable. As the forecast was for sunny, warmer weather by early afternoon, I wasn't entirely sure of what to wear. I went with the knickers, fleece jersey and a vest, which worked out perfectly, as the wind really never let it warm up.

My start time was at 9:55am--our group of fifty was off and we spent the first ten miles or so at a pretty chill pace.

I had the race profile taped to the handlebars--I was told that our race would be decided early, on Juniper Swamp Road, which is the second tan little blip on the chart. The climb on Juniper Swamp Road is relatively short, but steep. Someone with 20 years of racing experience told me that this is the only place they've ever seen pros get off and walk. Not sure if that's true or not, but nonetheless, you get the point. I knew that when we got to the hill, I had to be out front, which I was, and I managed to get over the top in third or fourth place.

My crew froze their asses off waiting on top of Juniper Swamp.

At least she froze in style. . .

Working hard over the top as the field started to fall apart behind me. I managed to get into a five-man breakaway--working together, we quickly put a nice gap on the field.

The five of us rode together until about the 52-mile mark, when we lost one off the back and the eventual winner managed to get out about 30 seconds in front of us.

Taking my turn up front--I tried to pull at about 330 watts, which seemed to work well, but it was awfully tough in the strong headwind, which were gusting at about 25 mph.

Heading up the last climb, we were still 30 seconds behind the leader. We seemed to slow down quite a bit on the climb. I felt like I had 2 choices--to attack and try to close the gap by myself or to stay together and take my chances in a sprint.

I'm not sure what the right decision was--I'm still kind of kicking myself for not attacking. I guess I felt I had a better chance in the sprint and was worried about overcooking it on the climb, getting dropped and placing fourth. So the three of us rode the last five miles together, taking very short pulls. We were all racing for second now--we made the last right-hand turn with 300 meters to go. I started the turn on second wheel, went really wide to the left and couldn't see the finish line. I waited for a sprint that never really came.

I finished second in my group--a great start to the season.

I almost missed the awards ceremony when I went to the car to change. Cora borrowed a stranger's phone and called me to tell me to hurry the hell up. I rolled up just in time to hear "In second place, from Jackrabbit Racing, Matthew Jones."

To the victor go the spoils. This Battenkill Creamery chocolate milk is phenomenal and I'm sure you'll find it hard to believe that I had a ton of help finishing it off. The jug is going to make a fine trophy--hopefully the first of many that will line the walls of the CBC.

A quick rest before loading up the car.

Got a little help from Don Bull who reportedly told Cora that it was all because of him that I got second because he's been teaching me to go fast.

In case you forgot, a spot on the box earns a burger and fries. We made it back to Cooperstown in time to take my mom out for a birthday dinner. A good time was had by all.

Jackrabbit Squad Rounds Out

2010-04-09T10:34:00.003-05:00

Team Tyler: 5 Team Jones: 5

How bout them apples?

JcL#3

2010-04-03T20:20:00.003-05:00

I headed over to the Johnny Cake Lane race in Coxsackie which was about 90 miles away. My Mom was kind enough to tag along with the camera and to keep me company. I figured it might be a good idea to get a road race under my belt before next weekend. Other than the experience, I just wanted to get in one last really hard effort before the Tour of Battenkill.

What a great day for a bike race--in the 70's with the Catskill mountains in the background and not a cloud in the sky. The course was a 7 mile loop which was relatively flat with only one small hill to mix it up on. The wind was a bit stiff at times and put a premium on riding smart within the group.

Giving a little love to my girl-- OK I couldn't get the (bike) pump to work.

Doing a little work at the end of the first lap. Yesterday Big Dave and I had a bet about who could post the best race report ala Sir Helmet the Tool. We were both too tired , so we'll give you our best rendition from the tool shed next week.

That's me on the far left--I think I ended up ninth. I would have raced a bit differently if a win was the goal but as far as getting a hard effort in, I was successful. TSS was 109 for 1 hour of work--just wish it was a little longer.

The pay off--had to feed Mom, so we headed over to Moe's for a double order of tacos--that girl loves her tacos. Of course we stopped at Starbucks for coffee before driving home. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again--my mom is awesome and such an amazing lady.

We got home and I found the kids making a huge mess in the yard or what's left of the yard. I thought this looks a touch like Shelby Lee Adams work--my kids go all Appalachia in Cooperstown.

Just like that--Max goes all postal.

Psycowpath Jewell Park TT Race Report

2010-04-03T19:52:00.009-05:00

RF being a goober on the mic while I wait

Well RF put on a great race at Jewell Park today. I had never ridden the course so I was a bit skeptical of this whole time trial thing. The shram chain got twisted on my last ride so I spent some time massaging the old chain back into shape this morning. Then at exactly 11:25 I lined up behind two leg shavers and in front of two t-shirt wearers. The field looked pretty tough. Right before I started Kent Mcneill of Leadville fame rolled in under 17 minutes. I was then thinking cool Kent can do it in 16 minutes so how much pain could it be. Well let me tell you, I sprung out of the starting shoot and up the first little rise and realized I had not been on a real mtb trail in over 6 months. I felt acid in my chest and I don't think my heart rate came below 185 for the next 26 minutes. I passed one guy in the last 25 yards so that helped me feel a little better. Quinn later told me that that guy took a huge digger into some really gnarley looking rocks near the finish. At about half way I heard some puffing behind me an within seconds I was passed by one of the t-shirt guys.

Getting clipped in while Qman watches the start
Out the start shoot

Turning onto the only flat 50 yards of the course

Dropping out near half way

Popping out at the finish

Westside Dirty Benjamin

2010-04-02T00:00:00.003-05:00

Well the Jackrabbit squad is all signed up for the Westside Dirty Benjamin...Hmmm which one is Dr. M.J.? Is he the Wax Toilet Bowl Gasket? Maybe he is the gallon of Rocky Road...I'll not tell. He has agreed to "ride with me" which means a good deal of heckling throughout the day about my sorry climbing skills. It will be a great day and a good warm up for the North O! Jackrabbit 100 miler.

April Fools Day

2010-04-01T10:13:00.002-05:00

My last shift before a very needed three days off--can't wait.

April first was day one of commuting by bike to work. Even though I can walk to the ER in about three minutes, I thought it would be fun to try to ride to work. I have been going the long way around up and over the back side of Chicken Farm Hill which takes about 25 mins. each way on the single speed--a pretty decent workout. As daylight extends, I'll think about lengthening the route. It's like a free hour of riding. I just have to hone the shower at work routine and I'll be good to go.

Got home--with the thought of the next three days off, I was in heaven. Max and I rode downtown to the bakery for some "prizes."

Max needed a "extra" prize on top of the donut he already had in the bag.

Good thing he had the glasses on--food was flying.

After a few hours of sleep, John and I went out for a nice two-hour ride. We went up and over Hooker Mountain, came back over Konchar Rd. then up to Middlefield before finishing over Murphy Hill.

A quick water break saved the day--this nice lady was kind enough to fill John's bottle, she even put ice in it. It took a little thought to ride in the warmer weather again--had to remind myself to drink.

After a little rest, it was back out with the crew. Max took us all out on his favorite ride which he calls "that Ahmo road." Great day--four rides.

Where is Big Dave?

2010-03-26T01:45:00.003-05:00

A photo of the Omaha TNR--where in thee hell is that Big Man? Goddamn boy, youse have got to get out and ride! Where is my June itinerary?

Cold and wet recovery ride.

2010-03-26T01:21:00.004-05:00

A nice hour and a half trip around the lake in the forties and raining--loved it.

I finally had a chance to wear my new rain cape from Hincapie--it kept me warm and dry. It is not as breathable as I thought it would be. It should not be a big problem as I was not left wet from sweat--it was actually nice on a cold day. The final grade will have to come when it's warmer out.

The Hincapie Alpe Brim cap continues to be one of my favorite--never too warm--never cold.

I still love to play in the mud--Cold and rainy and it just so happens that I got a package from Mad Alchemy yesterday (more on that later), perfect timing, so I applied a very nice Russisch Thee embrocation which did the trick keeping the legs warm.

Just a hint--we got the Baby Don his own jar of Mango Love--a non-warming summer embro--talk about a kid that was jacked up--that kid is so cool!

I got worked by the Baby Don.

2010-03-23T20:54:00.001-05:00

This week brings a much welcome week of rest before the final push leading up to Battenkill. I got out for a relatively easy spin this afternoon. When I got home, the Baby Don raced out and asked if I would go with him on his "training ride" today. With an invitation like that, how could I pass it up? As it turns out, Max keeps a training log and today's plan was a "weawwy wong ride." When I asked him exactly what that meant, he explained that he wanted to go around the block, over and down the big hill by the hospital, up the street by the gym (Brooklyn Avenue), around the gym and then back home. Pretty ambitious for the little climber--that route is a little over 3 miles.

As we started out, it started to lightly rain and the Bull couldn't have been happier. He kept going on and on about riding in the rain and how much fun it is.

The Bull is looking incredibly fit now that he is on his regimen. He says that he is at his racing weight of 40 pounds.

Max explained to me that it's much better to ride in the road than on the sidewalk because he is a big kid now. He also explained to me that he couldn't go "hard" today because he didn't "embro," but thought it would be okay because riding in the rain is more fun. True story, I swear. Let me explain a little bit about Max's "embro." He actually sneaks into Cora's medicine cabinet and takes very liberal amounts of Cora's $80 face lotion and rubs it into his legs. A debate for another time, but who the hell needs $80 lotion anyways? She swears it's from before we were married. Whatever...it's provided her with the incentive to order us some real embro from Mad Alchemy. Max is hoping for a jar of Mango Love, a non-warming summer embrocation.

As we were coming up Beaver Street, the last little hill, which is the steepest we rode today, the little man hammered and made it up without incident. I almost soiled myself when he told me that this hill was too steep for his one cog. Again, true story. I was pretty darn proud of him as he hammered the whole 3 miles. Just up the hill, we needed to make a left to head home, but the little guy refused and made me do the loop again with him. Pretty darn impressive. Can't wait to ride with him again tomorrow. Love you, buddy.

I got a lot done this weekend.

2010-03-21T23:37:00.006-05:00

After working Friday night, I managed to get 4 or so of hours of sleep in before heading down to Oneonta for some testing with Joey. I was excited to do the test for a couple of reasons. First, I am always excited to see Joey--always good conversations and good times. Secondly, I was anxious to see where my threshold power is, having been working my ass off and coaching myself. I want to make sure that I'm headed in the right direction. Things seem to be firing on all pistons--but numbers always tell the truth.

Ground Control to Major Matt: you are cleared for take-off. These were the last words I heard from Ground Control before he cranked up the power and tore my legs off.

I was really excited--in 3 years of doing this, it was the first time I was allowed to wear my headphones. Little things always seem to make the difference. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but yes, U2 "Out of Control" was blasting--it was a little extra jack. Another bonus was that my mom wanted to come to check out what all the hype is about and to meet Joey. She also agreed to man the camera--she's quickly earning champion photographer status.

At first look, my power seems to be up around 15% across the board. I was looking for something in the 10% range, so I was pretty pleased. Now if I can move it up 10% more by Mt. Washington, I'll be really happy. The only bummer of the day is that I always wish I had more time to spend with Joey--one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and super-knowledgeable.

I got home around 8:30 pm and there was a message from Mike, saying that he was in for the Battenkill course recon ride. I'm not sure if I would have made it out of bed when my alarm went off at 6 am the next morning if I was doing the ride solo, as I was pretty cooked from the testing and the lack of sleep. I've been anxiously awaiting the ride as I've heard so much about how epic the course is--it's 62 miles of rolling paved and dirt roads. I was most curious as to what the dirt roads were all about.

It was a little chilly at the start but then we were treated to what turned out to be an awesome day. We never saw the forecasted 40% chance of rain and in fact, I got my first sunburn of the year. I had a great time with Mike--he's one of my favorite people with whom I work--all around very fit. I was very impressed with the way he rode, considering that he's only put in something like 22 miles in his legs so far this year.

So the verdict--I would agree--the course is epic. The dirt roads, for the most part, are more pleasant to ride than the pavement, as they were super smooth and packed down. The hills fit into my game plan nicely, as they are relatively short by local comparison, but will require big, big power to get up them quickly. I'm sure things could change significantly when wet. The only dicey part were several sharp turns covered in loose gravel which I'm sure will be a real pleasure riding with 100+ other guys. I've got to remember to keep my head up--the big learning point of the day--a road bike doesn't soak up a pothole like a mountain bike does--just a touch scary when you're not paying attention.

We saw all these cool trucks lined up as we were leaving town--the one on the far left had an Alaska plate. I sort of felt like we were cruising down old Route 66, heading out of Radiator Springs. Hmmm...thinking about Disney movies? Definitely time to get home to the kids.

The Vomit Comet

2010-03-17T22:57:00.005-05:00

The last couple of days have been brutal. Tuesday I went out with one of my neighbors and put in a nice hour and twenty minutes or so of z1-z2 which serve as a warm up for what was to come. I got home in time to hook up with Chris to go out and "kill the hills" for an hour and a half. Well, the only thing we did not kill was the first 5 minutes over to Murphy Hill. For the next 1:25 mins., we went ape shit--great ride! We talked about doing it once a week as it was a great intensity workout--hopefully our schedules permit. Afterward I managed to put in a 40 min. z1 warm down before heading home.

All-aboard the vomit comet--all out for 1:20 mins.

I grabbed a bite to eat and headed over to the shop to work on the window trim. What was supposed to be a hour of work managed to turn into 4 and a half--it was pretty easy to do--make the wrong cut and cost yourself 2 hours of work--fun!

Today I got up at 8am to meet Bud for my window trimming tutorial and then worked until 1 pm on the bedroom which pretty much got me nowhere--not so sure trim work is my thing. I grabbed 2 hours of sleep before heading out for 2 and half hours. I needed to get in 45 mins of "sweet spot" power on the hills--it all went well--I'm beat and going to sleep.

You know your kid is cool when.....

2010-03-16T19:28:00.002-05:00

Had a great ride today. I went out early with Max. After insisting on applying his own"embro," we were walking out the door and he turned, looked at my bike, then at me and said "Daddy are you going to rock the one cog today?" True story--damn that little man is cool. He rode like a champ today. Wish I had a picture of him today wearing his jersey with his "thirsty bottle" hanging out the back.

This is how Jackrabbit rolls

2010-03-14T21:48:00.005-05:00

Memory lane...last years roll out.

Well if I couldn't be fast I thought I would lay down the power. I entered the 35 mile Panama enduro race and decided to bring the boys along. I was thinking it would be a three hour jaunt, but it was a 4 hour sufferfest. The darn head wind blew me down to 6 mph for a six mile stretch. I was wondering if I would just take the easy way out and let the boys get their wish because at this point they had had it. Q was cold and pissed that Mack wouldn't share his sticker book. Anyway, fist-a-cuffs were thrown, biting may or may not have occured...either way there was about a half hour of screaming for mommy and screaming about fair and other drivel I couldn't hear because of the wind. There was some bouncing while brothers fought for position, some yelling from Bigdad then mercifully everybody fell sound asleep for almost 1 and a half hours leaving me to the task of dragging them back to Panama. It was a great workout.

Here is about a minute of suffering at like 10 miles into the race. There are still other riders in my sites. After about 25 miles there were no others at the back with me. But with about 3 miles to go I caught 2...I'm only grudgingly going to mention the two whipped dudes short roping their lame girlfriends right in front of me for like 15 miles. Come on! Grow a pair and make them drag their own fat asses up the hill...there I said it I feel better now. Piece out.

40 in 40 hit 40

2010-03-13T23:12:00.002-06:00

About 20 miles into our ride we had to stop and take a shot of this crazy bastard trying to cut down an enormous tree with an ax and a tiny chainsaw. Of course the tiny tractor was really going to save him if the 20 mile per hour wind decided to blow the other way.

Here I am about 10 miles in with Rance. I was excited that he brought his camera. Next time I'll bring mine.
Rance, while he was still smiling in my presence. Always supporting the home team. GBR! Right buddy?

Did a few miles today scouting the Jackrabbit hundie course...My buddy Rance wanted a taste of the course so I threw a leg over and we hit 40. 20 of the out and 20 of the in. Not sure if Rance will want to ride with me ever again. I realize that the JR course isn't for the faint of heart. Train brothers or these roads will grind you. 1000 feet of climbing every 10 miles. No flats...no tarmac...just great country back roads. I've got a few pictures coming...

Intervals

2010-03-11T22:35:00.001-06:00

I capped off a tough week with more intensity--intervals up Cornish Hill. I wanted to vomit!

The speed suit

2010-03-11T22:19:00.002-06:00

Hills and then some more hills.

2010-03-10T08:09:00.007-06:00

The last four or five days have been absolutely gorgeous here, clear skies, temperatures near 50 and dry roads. I was also fortunate to have four days off from work. I managed to string together great training in over the last couple of days, which was greatly helped by actually getting some normal sleep. I'm convinced I would get faster if I did no additional riding and just started working days, so I could sleep like a normal person--oh well. Battenkill is just around the corner--can't wait.

I would love to tell you that this is solely to illustrate the "euro" sheen that one produces with a nice embrocation or that it is to show it was so warm out that the Belgian knee warmers were all that the legs needed to stay warm for today's ride. I could also use it to reiterate the absolute need for caution when applying embro so as not to get it on your chamois-yes, luckily my faux paux today was limited to that rugged area between the balls and the ahnu. Years in such a harsh climate kept the suffering to a moderate degree. But the fact is I'm vain and I really just could not pass up posting up a shot of the legs which are looking jacked or as the Big Man would say "yoked up."

I took a new route today--awesome! I got in about forty miles and found several new hills that were definitely keepers for the regular rotation.

I did just a touch over three hours--my goal was to ride all the hills at 90% of my threshold which amounted to about an hour--crushed.

Kunchar Rd at two hours in was a killer!

Yes, the roads were dry which was great, but the dust was a bitch--dirt and road salt do not soothe the lungs when you are blowing a gasket!

Over the back side of Hooker Mountain--only one hill to go--legs are pissed.

Going with the old school look--last little effort for the camera.

My wonderful Mom tagged along for today's festivities and did a great job with the camera--thanks--love you.

See if you can find Bigdave.

2010-03-09T20:35:00.001-06:00

A little reminder.

2010-03-05T18:36:00.002-06:00

Kind of odd, I know, but this reminded me of my last couple of nights at work.

Final Finish

2010-03-03T18:19:00.003-06:00

As it turns out, the "stealth" finish is a no-go on the Z5. Clear coat with red and white outline-- not original I know, but it fits in with the rest of the tribe.

A Ride with Big Georgie

2010-03-02T17:49:00.004-06:00

Looks like this will be a good watch--we just ordered ours.

Epic--I was trying to earn a Darwin award.

2010-02-28T23:14:00.009-06:00

I have to admit that I was really looking forward to today's ride as it has been a while since I have ridden with anyone else and I really needed a break from the trainer and the long cold solo missions. Given the recent weather, I was not sure it would happen. This morning's walk home left me even more doubtful because the roads were pretty much covered with slush. I got home and went to bed and vaguely remember Chris leaving a message on the machine saying it was on for 2:30. I love riding with Chris--he's a great guy, super fit and we always seem to push a little harder when we ride together. Chris is somewhat sick--he is training for the Furnace Creek 508 which he plans to do on a fixie. 508 miles on a geared bike is just wrong, let alone a fixed gear.

We got out by 2:30 and it was surprisingly pleasant out, although it felt a touch colder than the 42 degrees our defunct thermometer was reading. I usually wait and see what Chris wants to do, given that he is riding the fixed gear, it's only fair that he choices the route. He almost always comes up with something I have not done before which is always cool. Today we headed up Middlefield Center Road which is about 10 miles of very subtle climbing and down into the village of Cherry Valley where I found a nice little coffee shop which, of course, was closed.

Quite nice heading out Middlefield Center Road.

From Cherry Valley, we headed over a longer climb on one of the back roads which brought us into Sharon Springs. This was all good and new territory for me so I was excited--time was passing by quickly and today's required 2.5 hrs was going to be a breeze.

A few flurries heading into Sharon Springs.

We briefly stopped in Sharon Springs to decide which way to get back home when we realized it was 4:30 and we had at best 1.5 hours of daylight and no matter which way we went, we would need every bit of 1.5 hours to get home.

Chris blasting away on the one cog--he sick!

We decided to go south on Rt. 10 for about 5 miles, then turn west on 165. Rt. 165 is a rolling 10 miles with one hill which is a steady 13% grade for maybe half a mile, dumping us out on Rt 166 where we turned south again for 7 miles before we turn right onto Murphy Hill for the final 3.5 miles to home.

The sun was starting to set as we came across the valley--still 10 miles from home.

The calm before the storm.

Here it comes.

Great, except 5 miles before we were to turn up Murphy Hill, it started snowing like crazy, which was bad enough, but add in the fact that it was 6 pm and getting really dark, things got really sketchy. In 10 minutes the road was covered with snow, making it super slick--luckily we were only passed by enough cars to scare the shit out of us. I could just see a car being surprised by the 2 idiots on bikes, slamming on the brakes and sliding smack into us.

Great--2 doctors earn a Darwin Award for riding in a snow storm at night without lights, not so surprising that they got run over. We finally called it quits as we turned onto Murphy Hill, we could barely get enough traction to ride the wheels and were spinning out with every other turn of the cranks. I finally got through to Cora who, as always, was kind enough to come bail us out.

I can't see!

Now it's epic--getting scary!

Now it was just crazy--we pulled the plug here as we started up Murphy Hill.

All in all, 3.5 hours--good times.

I'm looking forward to my rest week--maybe I can get some painting done around the house--we'll see. I'm off to bed now--busy day ahead--wish us luck--tomorrow is the Iceman registration and the practice ride sign up for both Mt. Washington/Newton's Revenge.

CIRREM Results

2010-02-28T10:02:00.008-06:00

Well I got her all cleaned up again...with a toothbrush. Then I went and hit the CIRREM ride. A 100 kilometer leg burner in Iowa. There are a ton of small climbs that just sap you. It was 18 degrees at the start with sustained winds around 10-15 miles per hour. I wore pretty much every piece of CWG that I own. I was more comfortable than last year mostly because of my booties and two pairs of wool socks. There was only one point where I thought I might cool down by unzipping my wind breaker, after about 5 minutes I changed my mind and kept zipped for the entire race. My time was a few minutes slower than last year...I added about 4 miles to the race near the end when I went right instead of left...bummer. I ended up 43 out of 65. The road conditions totally favored the road bikers and "super brutal" cyclocross dudes. They had rock hard roads. Sadly, I got beat by a guy on a Pugsly so my whole "I'm slow because my tires are fat" argument gets pretty screwed.

Mileage looks pretty good for the day. As always the boys taunt me with their pedal damn it.

A quick shot of the carnage.
If you notice the crud between the wheel and the fork...hard as cement.
Here are a few pounds of frozen mud and sand...front der became totally useless after about 30 miles.I had to get off the bike and run warm water on it from my bag hose. What bag hose? Wouldn't you like to know. Anyway the front der is going to get extra soap.

2010 Kit

2010-02-27T13:27:00.007-06:00

Finalized the new kit today--clean and simple--old school.

I ordered the new bike--can't wait. I'm thinking we may be sub-13 pounds.

Signed up for Newton's Revenge--the season is finalized, only need to get into Iceman--wish me luck--registration opens Monday.

A Lot of Snow.

2010-02-26T17:38:00.003-06:00

Something like 22 inches fell--4.5 hours of shoveling almost got things cleaned up--so much for a real rest day cause I'm spent.

I'm bored and dreaming again.

2010-02-25T21:43:00.013-06:00

If you have not heard, we here in the Northeast are getting dumped on. It's been snowing pretty much all day. When I walked to work tonight, the snow was just about knee-deep--it's really pretty out. Why am I so bored? Well, lots of snow means poor roads and that means the good ole' folks around here do not get sick and have no need for our services until the weather clears a bit--funny how that works. Either way, I'm more than happy to take what I can get.

I can't stop thinking about Mt. Washington--I'm so psyched to do it. I think I'm going to sign up for Newton's Revenge as it's half price for those already signed up for Mt. Washington. With both races having a free practice ride, I should be able to get 4 trips up the hill--good practice and time to dial in the gear.

As I have mentioned, I want to get a hill climbing bike and to make it worthwhile, it needs to be significantly lighter than the Ottrott--I'm aiming to trim 5 lbs of bike weight and for what it's worth 4 more pounds of my weight--9 lbs is pretty significant, if you ask me.

So here is what I (actually Ian at Fitwerx) came up with--should be in the 13 pound range.

Parlee Z5--approx 900 grms for the frameset

Different frame showing off the nude carbon finish--stealth!

Edge road taper fork 340 grms

The new Keo Carbon Blade--258 grms with cleats and mounting hardware.

easton EC90 post--168 grms

Selle Italis SLR Flite Team Edition--150 grms

REVL carbon road brake--115 grms per wheel

SRAM Red front derailleur--72 grms

SRAM Red shift/brake levers--318 grms

SRAM XX rear derailleur--180 grms

SRAM XX rear cassette--186 grms

Zipp VumaQuad crankset 50/34 with ceramic bottom bracket--590 grms

Zipp SL145 stem--135 grms

Zipp SLC2 handlebars--192 grms

Zipp 202 tubulars--1095 grms for the front and back

with Tufo elite jet tires--160 grms each.

Pretty straight-forward build right out of the weight weenies playbook. Although the primary goal is light weight none of these components are giving up performance for weight--it's all pretty much as good as it gets. This all adds up to 4.7 kgs which does not include bar tape, cables, wheel tape and a chain--it gonna be light, know what I is saying!

The gearing is going to give me a 34x36 which should be more than enough for any hill and still remain some what functional on non-hill climb rides--if that gets to be a problem, i.e. not enough gear I'm going to put the SRAM red rear derailleur and cog on when it's not "hill climb season." So hopefully I can get her ordered up in the next week or so.

House Update Video for Big D

2010-02-23T22:26:00.003-06:00

A little bit faster.

2010-02-22T12:08:00.006-06:00

The weather was beautiful today-I was so psyched to get outside for a ride after 10 straight days of riding indoors. I headed over to Westford and then back over the hill into Cooperstown and around the lake. I was really feeling upbeat, as spring feels like it's around the corner. Unfortunately, I know that feeling will be short-lived, as I heard that it's supposed to snow for the next 5 days. Anyhow, I'll make the best of it. I was riding outside full-time last year in March. Three more weeks--tick tock-tick tock.

The valley is always a nice ride.

Looking up from the head of the lake--you can't see the crazy bastards out ice fishing.

I always like riding by these old tractors--for some reason, they always remind me of multiple bikes all lined up. I imagine this guy to be as psyched as I am getting a new bike when he got the second tractor.

So amongst all the random things I think about while riding, I got to thinking about where I was thirty years ago today. I remember it clear as crystal--I was eleven years old and after watching the USA beat the former Soviet Union in Lake Placid, I was determined to be a professional hockey player. After the game, I went outside and rallied the kids on the street for a game. Big Dave got suited up in a variety of equipment taken from other sports, padded up nicely and making a fine goalie. The only problem with my great plan was that I lived in South Florida and organized hockey was really hard to come by. The largest piece of ice around was the ice cube in my neighbor's gin and tonic, so my dreams died about a week later.

Thirty years later, I'm 41 and am determined to get a little bit faster on my bike. My quest for speed took me out for 3.5 hours today which included some pretty brutal intervals (first of the year) and some sprint--all in all I'm pretty cooked.

This is what I really ride for--the recovery meal.

Cora made these "barbars" for me--they are out of this world and I can't stop eating them.

Happy 30th!

2010-02-22T00:52:00.002-06:00

Thirty years ago today--happy anniversary.

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing?

The dirty girl is back

2010-02-21T01:27:00.006-06:00

Alright, she is a pretty girl I will admit. But really when I first saw her I thought she was out of my league. Now a little back story. Originally when I was still a 26'er fan and just beginning to research these new beasts I thought I wanted a Felt. They cost a shitload, but really how many of those do you see around these days. Niner isn't just a bike that a lot of people have because they are considered cool...they are durable, well made, and you guessed it sexy. Now back to my girl...she is an EMD which stands for Eat My Dust. In reality not many people are eating any part of her dust, truth be told that is my fault not hers. Any good rider could take my 25 lb chick and thrash almost any trail. She smokes single track even though she is a long legged drink of water. She climbs descent and descends like a bullet train in Japan with a tailwind. When you think about it somebody is nailing the hot ones so why shouldn't it be me. I tried to live by that credo with the real women in my life and for the most part it worked out pretty well. Some funny notes about that: for all you tiny bike weenies out there its true bigger is better. The two nine is the only way to go period. Even the pretty ones get real dirty you just have to steer them that way. Maybe the EMD isn't the top of the line Niner, you might think "what the hell Bigdave you could roll the Air 9 Carbon then I would understand." And of course I would say "yes she IS hot, but...and this is a big one...I would split her wide open and then how great would she be?" Nope the EMD is perfect for Bigdave.

I mean come on what the hell has she been up to? This is a sweet POV of the undercarriage. Very dirty. Jeezus clean yourself already.