Daytona Beach it is...

Yep, the wifey is rolling us thru the old stomping rounds as my fat fingers peck away. The temp is closing in on 70 and it's crystal clear skies, so what are we gonna do....saltwater baby. My pale buns are hittin the beach.

A few highlights after 1000 miles and six states:

Number of Cracker Barrels counted from Philly to Daytona.....59

Number of sodas that blew up in in my/wifey's laps.....2 (don't mix an Airborne tap with soda)

Number of cars sliding sideways down the highway at 70 plus mph 20 meters in front of us.....1

Number of drivers needing to change their shorts after the above....2 (luckily I was not driving)

Number of times flashed by other drivers/passengers.....0 (hoping for a big uptick in that number)

So with today being the last day/night of 08 it's time to drink up, eat up and lube up. Before you stop doing one, some, all or none of the above for the New year....or at least for a couple days.

Me......I'm just hoping to get out of Daytona without being shot by an ex girlfriend, or husband. Their's not mine.

And we're off...

well, we're on the road that is.

The Creamsickle (the new Shortbus) is loaded and rolling towards the land of orange juice....and better yet my personal favorite, the thong.

I'm still pounding so much Airborne and vitamin C that I'm guessing I'm legally pissing said orange juice....not that I'm gonna test it thou. So with any luck I hope to be at about 80-90% by the starting run (have I ever said I hate running starts?)

So if I'm 80-90% of my normal (slow) self...that should put me mid pack of the women......this trips getting better sounding already.

Ho, Ho....

hack.

Yeah, Merry Christmas. Mom, Pop, Brotha and all (his kid) are here...and I'm hackin up things you may find at a Chinese buffet. But yet I'm doing a 12 race in tee minus seven days....WTF!!!!

No one ever said my mother raised a smart one......thank you FL school board.

Ridiculous...

that's the best way to put it, this running thing is getting out of control.

After putting in three good days on the bike, ending with a 45-50 mile spin on the fixie Saturday (then the weather turning to crap) I again decided to pull out the running shoes to hit the streets....in the rain no less. Stupid.

Don't get me wrong, I've ran more miles in the past then I care to remember. Some were planned, and some let's just say were not....I'll leave it at that.

But for some dumb reason I did not think I needed to stretch out to much.....to run in 35 degree rain. I made it about a mile and a half before my left calf left the building. So after walk/limping back home Dr Wifey went to work with the Stick and some Biofreeze, and brought things back to life.

So after two days of the house smelling like a geriatric ward things are about 80% again, so time to test the old man parts out of the bike....hopefully 911 will not need to be called.

Crap...

I know, not the best title for a post...but I'll make it work.

The weekend rides were a little painful with the legs still sore from running, but I got a 30sih mile fixie spin in on Saturday and a shorter MTB spin on the 29er in on Sunday. First time riding the mountain bike since the eight hours down in NC....forgot I still had two broken pedals.

So on to the crap.

It's been raining here since lastnight, so riding is out the window (not worth riding in crappy weather this time of year.) So I told myself that if the rain stopped by noon I'd go running...knowing I was pretty safe because the radar was full of green.

So what do I see outside with my selfmade deadline only half hour away...sunshine. Crap...
Crap.

Running...

is stupid. Yeah that's right, I went running yesterday...twice. And no, there was not any blue light involved....even thou a cop just drove down the street. Weird.

I dropped off the FJ for a new stereo to be put in, and with it only being a little over two miles away I thought why not run home. Even thou like I've said before I run like...

a hippo in water. But I got home and all was well, guessing my speed was a blistering 8-9 minute mile range. A couple hours later I get the call the girl's all done, what the hell...I'll run back. Run number two again went ok.

Then this morning came, and now I feel more like a harpooned hippo. Let's just say the stairs are not gonna be my friends for awhile. With that I say again running is stupid...but I plan on doing it a coupe times a week, it felt pretty good.

And no Wifey, running is not the new twist I'm throwing into the training plan.

Secret Squirrel out.

Cold...

damn cold, that was the best way to sum up the riding the past couple of days.

Winter's made it's way here to the Philly area, and with it the boxes of cold weather riding gear are out of the basement. The 40 degree temps I can deal with, but it's the 10-15 mph wind that's the killer.

But even with the crap weather the fixie is rolling down the streets. Pretty much have the riding/eating/fitness plan worked out, gonna be throwing something off the wall into it this winter (more on that to come.) I love being "cryptic" as the Wifey says.

But with a little over six weeks until the first race of 09 I've still got time to work out the minor deals.

Interesting article on Stan's rims too....who says you can't buy your way to a faster time on the bike.....

Paris-Roubaix...

in PA. No, but that's what part of my past couple road rides have felt like.

I've always loved the Paris-Roubaix race, both for the toughness of the course and that racers end up looking like this more then not...

But thanks to the ever happening (and forever taking) road work here in PA a couple of my favorite riding roads look more like cheese graters and anything else. It felt more like I was riding a jackhammer then the fixie...maybe I can send the Pennsylvania DMV my dental bill, cuz I'm pretty sure I need to go after that mile.

As for the other areas.....paging Dr Wifey.

The best and the worst...

time of year/and or types of days.

With the changing of the clock this past weekend it's now dark (and I'm talking black dark) by a little after five. I still try to ride in the warmer part of the day, so it's not really cutting in to ride time. It just sucks that it's so dark so early...plus the past couple of days (and the rest of the week) the sun is not coming out...AT ALL. Gray, deary and nasty looking outside...kind of like a horror movie.

But with this time of year brings fixie rides, and I love my fixie. Riding a fixie is great for strength and increasing your cadence, plus it's the best thing to work on a fluid pedal stroke. I also love just being able to zone out...no thinking about should I up/down shift, should I sit on this climb and spin, blah, blah, blah. You've got two options, in the saddle or out...other then that you just push the pedals....weather it's 60 rpm's or 110. You can figure out yourself where the sitting and standing are in those numbers.

Now go vote, I'm going riding.

Never gonna live this down...

Wifey made Cycling News, here the article, it's under the Oktoberfest write up.

Time to go put my dress on now...

National MTB Oktoberfest

The laundry is started, water bottles are in the dish washer, the fuzz balls are pasted out after four days in doggie jail...and it's snowing outside....really. Perfect time to do a race report.

So what do you do an hour before the start of an eight hour endurance...

A shot down pit row before the madness started...

The Shortbus (the pit box on wheels) packed full of food, water, fuel and bike parts for three...

After a night, and morning of rain we kicked off the start at noon on to a slick but fun ten mile course...and with no Lemans start....thank God, I run like a wounded three legged Hippo.

Harlan Price looking as cool as the other side of the pillow... Tinker...being Tinker, steady as a rock...
And then there's this smuck...
The first couple of laps were pretty slimy, but after an hour or so things started to dry out pretty nicely...other then the last climb that stayed nasty all the way thru.

Trying to clean a little crap out of the drivetrain...
I think this was the point where I realized they I was having a hard time clipping in (other then the mud.) I'd broke both my pedals, I love Eggbeaters...but I've gone thru about 3-4 pair this year alone....mostly I think it's because of my riding style (crappy) pedals are not meant to be pounded on roots and rocks.

The box of spare pedals seemed a little light when I drug it out of the bus...yep, empty. That's when I remembered I put them on the fixed gear a couple weeks ago...nice job jackass.

So back out I went with what I had and things worked out pretty well.

The cut off time for heading out on laps was 7:30...(my laps were in the 38-40 minutes range) on my tenth lap I was kind of milking it as I tried to convince myself to push harder in order to get back in time for an eleventh lap.

Heading into the last climb I knew I had 10 min's till the cut off...and believe it or not I'd convinced myself to head back out. I looked up and saw Wifey making her way up the slick climb, and yell up to her "are you going back out for a lap?" She throws back "we're done, it's 7:40."

I looked down and saw I had the computer on ride time, not the clock. Hell yeah baby, talking about a pick me up...that last half mile was a blur, the knew what was in the cooler.

So seven and a half hours and 70 miles later I threw an eleventh place in the books. Not to bad with the competitors that were there and my lack of training the past month.

Now it's time to get things back into gear...diet, base miles the whole works. Next years not that far away...and this year my not be done yet either.

Results and the return...

drive that is.

Yep, the race is in the books and the Shortbus is 95 northing it as I type...and I still hate driving.

I'll throw a full write up and some pictures up when we get back in the land of the Amish, but here's the shorted version.

I could only pull out an 11th place of the 22 finishers, but with the talent that showed and a couple minor problems I was cool with that. Wifey made up my slack with her first appearance on an endurance podium...if this keeps up I could be down graded to her pit bitch. But the beer is in the pit...that's something worth thinking about.

Huge props to both Jeremiah Bishop and Harlan Price, nothing like having an eight plus hour race come down to a sprint to the line.

The drive...

and I hate driving. But the Shortbus is just now crossing into NC, state number five of the day.

Was an early morning to take the fury kids to doggie jail (they love the kennel...really, they do) met Bikewrench back at the casa to load bikes, gear and asses in the bus....and we're off.

That was six and a half hours ago...and we're still driving.

Probably gonna bail on the night shortrack tonight...forecast is call for heavy showers with 1-2 inches of rain. No point in doing a 45 minute race just to spend double that in clean up time to get the girl ready for the race in the morning.....plus that means I can hang out and have a couple beers to, and you know I'm game for that.

....and the Shortbus rolls on.

National MTB Oktoberfest...

finally, somebody that spells as well as I do....but either way it's on.

Started getting the gear pulled together for Wifey, BikeWrench and I to head down to NC on Friday morning for Oktoberfest. Looks like the weather is gonna be questionable (calling for showers and highs in the 60's) but with the big hitters that are signed up this is just gonna be a fun event for myself (plus we get to see some long lost friends).....but I really got to say I'm looking forward just to being on the same course as this guys. Last time I checked there were three of the top five endurance racers in the country already signed up and I'm sure a few more are not far behind.

Ernesto, Nat Ross, Harlan Price, Sapsford......you figure out yourself which one of these does not belong. Just not sure about this David Juarez guy thou, I've never heard of him....he must be new to MTBing or something....

yeah, that a stale attempt at a joke this morning.

Off to do a final tune up spin of the 29er's with the Wrench this afternoon, till then.

Photo ride...

well half the ride was....then the ride got shortened and the praying started.

Took the fixie out again yesterday for what was to be a 30-40 miles spin...but about 10 miles out the bottom bracket started sounding like someone with braces chewing on rocks. So toward home I turned....and started praying the old girl would hold up till I got home. Did not feel like walking miles and miles in cycling shoes.

But here's the shots I did get...

She's back...

Look at want got pulled off the hook in the basement after an eight month vacation...

Yep...the fixed gear is back in the game. Felt a little strange riding her around with it being in the 70's...but damn I love riding that thing. Only put 25 miles in the books, but I don't want to jump into the deep enf of the pool to fast....again.

Even thou I hate the cold more then I can put into words, I can defiantly say I really dig Fall up here in the northeast. The color change is in full affect right now, thou it's only gonna last a week or so....I'll drag the camera along tomorrow.

I'm back...

not that I went anywhere, but I'm back on the bike.

My two week recovery ran a little long with a sickness (me) the Wifey's birthday (yeah, she's 18 again) and even a wedding anniversary (five going on life.)

So today was the three week mark anniversary if you would of my buns being in a saddle (not counting the 15 mile roll on Monday.) But with a eight hour endurance race only two weeks away it was now or never.

So this morning was a kickass three hour medium paced ride down at Wissa. Things felt so right that I wanted a cigarette once I was done riding....and no, I don't smoke.

So tomorrow I'm hoping to thru down a good 2-3 hours on the road to start biulding the base back up and we'll go from there.

336 hours...

20160 minutes, 1209600 seconds....that's how long it's been since my bulbous (yeah, it's a word) buns have been on/in a saddle....that's two weeks in english.

Maybe I should change the name of this blog to long outside of the saddle?

But the body needed the break.... plus mentally I was shot, dead, useless. We're good on that front now....I've got focus again. Have some new short/medium range goals (more on that later) even thou I'm still lost on next years focus.....Expert XC, back to Endurance.....competitive eating/beer drinking?

Today was gonna be day one of "gearing back up".......but now I've got a freaking cold. WTF! I've not been sick in three years....

TWIN SIX OCTOBER FOUR DAY SALE

The boys over at Twin Six are puttin on a four day sale starting today, swing by and take a look.


They also have the new 09 line up out too, I like this one myself...

The way I'm feeling right now I think this will be my new race day shirt for next season...

Now go see Brent and Ryan, they're great guys.

Fall has fell...

...and no, I don't mean the trees all nice and full of color. I mean it's been raining for the past four days, highs in the 60's and has looked like this outside since Thursday...
In other words a FL kids nightmare.

Bruised, broken and burnt...

but it's done.

After the Cross race on Saturday (and the crash that happened there) Wifey took my bruised body and ego to Bear Creek on Sunday for the final race of the MASS.

I debated all morning long on weather to race or not, but after watching the start of Wifey's race I decided to put on the Superman costume one more time....but it was all Clark Kent and no Superman.

The race both started and ended fast, to bad mine did not end as fast as the guy that tore off his rear tire in the first ten feet thou (not really sure how that happened) but that would have saved me a 20 minute walk. About a mile into the trail my rear derailleur snapped in half...game over.

But I believe that everything happens for a reason...whatever the reason is that I've destroyed two rear wheels, snapped a rear derailleur and crashed more times then a five year old girl learning to ride over the last month is I have no idea.

So after my lovely walk thru the woods it was time to hang out the friends (over beer) and tell lies about how great we all were this season while the real racers finished racing.

Sour...me? No...I was not sour, bitter yes....sour no.

So on to the series awards we go....and the winner of Sport Vet 1 is....

yeah, some guy with a cool cycling cap and a black and blue knee.

Now it's time to heal a little then start getting things ready for next year. I know it's a long way away...but I have a long way to go. Let's just say my first few Expert races have not gone the way I wanted them to. Long walks in the woods dragging a broken bike.....been there, done that.

We've only got 200 days (ish) and a wake up before the first race of the 2009 season, time is short. Are you gonna be ready?

Status check...

...one, two....let's Rock

...I have no idea what I was/am doing...in the picture or in a Cross race....and speaking of The Rock....the quote of the day..."ride it like you ride his mom."

Being a jackass at race = free, being a jackass at a race and being put in your place = Priceless.

Sadness...

and no, I don't mean that crappy Enigma song that's pretty much only good for one thing...I'll let you fill in the blank on that one.

But sadness on the coming end to the racing year, on the MTB side of things that is. Sure, there's still Cross....but Cross is a different breed of racing, and I'm not sure it's my cup of tea.

One of these girls is not like the others...

and I don't mean the dude rocking the Florida Gator jersey next to me, still surprised Wifey did not try to do a little throw down on the startline...long story.

So after the not so happy ending to the Saturday race I wanted to redeem myself on Sunday....let's just say this was the happiest I looked during the 45 minutes bloodfest.

Racing the MTB on Saturday was a great idea, the course was a nasty mess of fun for me on the fat tires while all the guys on Cross bike were having a tuff time at best....that is until the rear wheel decided it was done for the day.

So after a 4-5 minutes run/walk/crap while trying to drag a dead bike I get to the pit and jump on Wifey's bike....a nice 4-5 minutes off the pace...day done.

So Sunday it is...and let's just say that trying to race the MTB again was like bring a knife to a gun fight. The Cross bikes were just laying down the speed hammer and I just could not keep the pace on my fatboy tires.
So 45 minutes of dying and crying later it was over...thank God.... and I ended up being mid pack.

So with that in mind I think I'll be bring the Cross bike to the throw down this Sat....and rumor has it there's a MTB race on Sunday too.

Torque plus flex....

equals first to last.

That was the Cross race today, details tomorrow after I get a little revenge. In a nutshell I destroyed my rear wheel again (when I was leading the F-ing race no less) but now I know why atleast.

Tomorrow I'm head hunting...

Pictures and question marks

Thanks to Jason for posting a link to a ton of pictures from the 24 hr at Seven Springs taken by Don Pagano...great sunrise shots.

Personally I like this one...
This weekend is up in the air on the racing front, kind of depends on if I can get my destroyed rear wheel fixed in time....either way we'll see.

Seven Springs and the Cross

...and by no means do I mean anything to do with church. Cyclo-cross kids, Cyclo-cross....as sick and mental as it is....it's started.

So I hit most of the highlights on Seven Springs in my first post, but here's a little more.

As the norm for any endurance race you had the questionable attire...

...lucky the Wife did not get a shot of the dude wearing the paisley dress, some form of fake boobs and a pink wig....sadly I thought dude was pulling it off pretty well. Thou I'm not sure why she missed getting a picture of the all female team rocking the schoolgirl look...plaid skirts, knee high socks...one even had pigtails, not that I really noticed.

On the the race:

Just past the two mile mark on my first lap I plowed my right pedal into something on a super fast downhill singletrack section...I saw on later laps it was a rock about the size of a cider block. Needless to say I went down HARD, and I truly thought I'd broken my leg. I knew a first aid station was at the bottom of the hill so I thought I'd just one leg it down the rest of the way.

After a minute or so I was able to start moving it and by the aid station I rode. I'd mostly forgotten about the leg when I came flying in for the pass off to the next rider on my team. As they she took off two women came over to me freaking out..."come with us, just leave your bike and come with us." My brains not really working after red lining it the past hour so I stagger with them as another teammate grabs my bike and gear.

They sit me in a chair and now I see what they were freaking on, my left leg from my knee to my ankle is covered in blood. Long story short, the sweat made things look much worse then they really were...just some cuts and two really good impact points.

The night laps were cool, nothing like doing a MTB race and hearing the Ted Nugent concert at the bottom of the resort most of the course.

My fourth and last lap was just about riding safe and burning up time. At that point we knew we had a fifty minute lead on the second place team with just over two hours to go. After my lap I took a couple shots of the resort on my way back down....this was about halfway the mountain.

The area reminded me of western NC alot, a sea of rolling green "east coast" mountains.

Proof that I can't get dressed without Wifey...

I've also got to thank the guys from Lupine Lighting System for the lighting system they raffled off....and I won. This thing is pimping and will gets LOTS of use....a huge thank you.

Now on to this Cross thing. Lastnight was the first cross practice here in Doylestown and I have to say that guys/gals that do this are a sick, sadistic group...really. I mean who in there right mind sprints for 40 minutes on a fat tired "road bike" thru grassy fields, rocky dirt roads, dismounts to run over barriers (put there on purpose) just to come to a hill so steep it's not ridable...therefore you throw the bike on your shoulder and run up it.

I know, like I said sadistic, damn near stupid......and yeah, don't even ask...I'll be back next week.

Mini Seven...

Here's a snap shot of the weekend. But we warned, the brain's only running about 50% of normal right now.....and when "normal" is about 50% of where it should...well, you get the point.

Late Friday afternoon easy pre ride of the course....atleast it was nice and flat:

....result. Seeing the kickass course firsthand and a destroyed rear rim...on the paved road heading back down the mountain to the villa no less. More on that once Bikwrench does his "CSI" investigation, good thing for back up wheelsets.

Friday night brought a Team carb load.....one part pasta, three parts beer. Three plus cases of beer over 14 racers is good hydration right? After a LATE night and an EARLY morning (ie two hours of "sleep") it was more bike love time....a big thanks to our neighbors:

....not sure who these guys were, but they seam to be good riders. If you're not a local these guys are STUDS on bikes, hands down some of the best riders on the east coast.

Back up top to watch the releasing of the hounds at noon

It was a awesome clear day....if you have three drinks and close one eye you may be able to make out the runners on the back side of the lake heading to there bikes.
Jump 24 plus hours ahead of racing with about an hour of sleep and what do you get:

A win of the five person Expert class and victory 'gift' from the second place team.

Will fill in the blanks later today or tomorrow, after I regain full motor control. But a way to man up award goes out to Jason on throwing down nine laps in the Solo class...huge props man.

Pack and Promote

The past few days have been a lot of running around to pick up small things here and there for the trip out to Seven Springs tomorrow for the 24 hour this weekend.

Sad thing is it's taking me so long to get all the gear together, I'm just not sure what all to bring. I mean I've got my normal endurance race packing list down to a science, but the thing is this will be my first team fling....in other words a lot of standing around between laps. Therefore extra clothing but better yet....more beer.

It's been a pretty easy week on the bikes. I did a easy 20 on the road Monday just to work the funk out of the legs after the century Sunday, then hit Wissa up lastnight with Bikewrench and Dr Bob....probly do a medium 25-30 on the road again today. Then hoping the weather is good for a pre ride of the course tomorrow afternoon/evening.

On the promotion side of things....I threw out there the other day that I was asked a "interesting/cool question" during the ride on Sunday. I was asked to take over as the race promoter for my Team race here in the local MASS series, and as cool as it sounds I was a little scared at first.

For the first time in awhile I got the feeling of being a small fish in a big pond, I mean these guys put on the best races/events I've done...just hoping I can live up to there standards. Nobody can compare to the FatMarc's and Kuhn's in the world of race promotion but with the core support group I have I'll do my best to make sure we give you a fun event for all....it's give back time boys and girls.

Lake Nockamixon century

Yesterday was the Lake Nockamixon century that had a starting point less then two miles from the house....and at one point the course passed within 400 meters from the house (to bad it was at the 100 mile mark.)

Even thou the course rolled thru all my normal riding routes I could not pass up the opportunity to ride with the large Team turn out we had.

Most of the 20ish rider pack we had at the start did the full century (plus the extra 7 mile ICU hill climbing option) but a few pulled off at the 75 mile turn because of timing. When all was said and done a dozen of us rolled back to the start/finish with an average just under 20 mph. Not to bad considering the amount of climbing that was in the course.

Here's the course/profile from last year...pretty much the same as this year too. (edit: Here's this years course/profile from a buddy on my ride.....over seven grand of elevation change and at a 19.9 mph average too.)

I also had a very interesting/cool question asked to me on the ride yesterday....sounds like I'll finally be pulling my share in the mountain bike world next year. It's about time I gave a little something back...more on that to come thou.

Till then I'm resting my spent legs for the 24 hour coming up this weekend.

I'll live....

for now that is.

That is until Wifey knocks me off to get that dollar seventy-five in life insurance....and there's still that hit out there that a couple guys in my Sport age class put on me too. But I think we're all good on that one now.

After a MRI (plus one more to come) and lots of blood work the doc thinks that I have something called essential tremors. The long and short of it is my right hand/arm gets slight tremors from time to time....and by time to time I mean daily.

The bigger scare was it was something worse...like Parkinson's.

The doc said she would/could give me drugs that would help, but it sounds like the side effects are worse then my symptoms in the first place. Fatigue, cold hands, dizziness and weakness sound like me in general....once she said loss of sex drive.....

"thanks for your time doc, got to go"....see you in three months.

Snap Crackle and...

...what the Hell was that?

That was lap one of the Iron Hill endurance race yesterday. Halfway thru the first lap I pushed in the thumb shifter on the rear derailleur and hear a loud snap, I try it again.....Houston we have a problem. The cable broke inside the shifter, not really what I wanted to happen ten minutes into a four hour race.

But things could have been worse, the course was perfect for my new ghetto three speeder. Each five mile lap was full of fun fast twisty single track, several super fast rocky downhills and a few steady climbs.

Even with my limited shifting and even more limited training the past few weeks I felt pretty good the first two hours. But in the third hour the extra torque on the legs was starting to take it's toll. Not so much on the legs themselves, I started to cramp a little in both lower biceps. All I could guess was that it was from the extra pulling on the handlebars. A little extra fluid and a few Endurolytes helped a little, but it was just time to nurse the body thru the last hour.

I started the race with the goal of eight laps, but as I headed out on my eighth lap I saw I was gonna be cutting it really close to be able to go out for a nineth. I tried to give it a little extra, but there was nothing left....I missed the cut off by just over a minute, and to tell, you the truth I'm not one bit upset by it.

So a ninth out of the 20 solo "geared" men it was, and considering the field plus my bike issues I was pretty happy with that.

A different kind of bottle...

and something new to put in them too.

I got my supply of the new Team water bottles in the mail yesterday, and I think they look really sweet...I really dig the green/yellow ones.

I'd like to thank my buddy Ray Z for the time he put in on these, sounds like everyone is pretty happy how they turned out.

Then on the that to put in these sexy new things front, I give you my new sponsor Motortabs. I've been looking for something to use as a fuel source for on the bike now for a few months, and knowing myself it needs to be a liquid...the belly just don't work well with most solid foods on longer endurance stuff.

I love using Nuun for electrolyte replacement (nice mild flavors,) but on the longer rides when I need to re fuel is where I've been searching. I've tried all the normal sports, but most have fallen short in one area or another. Some are to sweet, others have to many calories/sugars and some just plan taste like crap.

A friend gave me a couple of the Motortabs caps to try and I really enjoyed them. A great taste that's not to strong and I my mind just the right amount of carbs for a bottle. I'll give more of a write up once I try all three of the flavors...until then get on your bike.

New mistress...

Dear Wifey,

There's no easy way to say this, so here it is....I've found a new love.

As you know I've got around a lot in the past few years. There's been Blonds, multiple Red's and even a Blue or two in this long search. I've tried many of her kind (even a good number in her own family) but none have floored me....even thou as you know, I've ended up on the floor a couple of times in this search.

She may be to strong for some, or to dark for others. But it's her earthy complexness that sends my pallet to places never before known. I'll still flirt with others and maybe even have a fling or two with the old favorites....but I think my feelings for this new mistress are true....

Your loving hubby

Pumping Iron...

No, I'm not talking about that crappy movie with this guy in it...
I'm talking about the Iron Hill Challenge next weekend down in DE.

The wifey, Pam the Rockstar and I met up with a few other of the Team members for a little pre ride of the race course yesterday morning. Having not been on the course in over two years my brain was a little foggy on what it was like....not to mention life in general.

We knocked out four laps on the five mile loop in right about four hours. The course is a freakin blast with a great mix of everything. The second half of the course has a little more of the climbing, but nothing major. But the best part of the thing is the amount of singletrack, looks like next weekend is gonna be four hours of fun.

Plus it'll be a nice warm up for the 24 hour coming up at the end of the month....or maybe I'm just trying to burn off a few extra calories before the Donut Derby on the Labor Day?

Pissing contest...

...that's the best way to sum up lastnights shop ride, or better yet maybe this...

Yeah, I think that the one there.

I've not done this ride in awhile, but I knew what it was going into it....a bloodfest. It's a big boy ride that for some the unspoken goal is to drop as many above average riders as possible. Sad to say but I think this is the highlight of some of these guys week....that's why myself and others joking call the ride "Wednesday Night Worlds."

We headed down to the river out of Doylestown and crossed over into Jersey. After a four mile spin gone the river we turned upward, and the "fun" began. Anybody that's ridden this area knows it's about as flat as your area stripclub.....you can find your on picture on this one, if I start searching I'll never finish this post.

The ride broken down this this: come to a hill = someone attacked, the steeper the hill the harder the attack was. Once over the top the speed went back to a fast tempo, if you were dropped on the hill you were gone...if you were dangling off the back it was your job to fight your way back on...if you couldn't, again you were gone.

I'll spare the blow by blow but 60 miles later with an average of 20 mph plus I drug my beat, broken and defeated ass back into the parking lot....but I was with what was left of the group, and there was not much left.

Right move, right place...

...wrong time.

That sums up the road crit I did on Sunday. The race was nine laps on a nice 2.8 mile course that had one slow long climb on the front leg, a few sweeping turns then a short steep downhill that sent you right back uphill for a hard right for the last 1000 meters to the finish.

The big minus for the race was that it was not on closed roads, so the yellowline rule was in affect. That together with the narrow roads we have here in PA meant passing/moving to the front was tough with the 75 plus racers field.

With no teammates in the race I was a one man band so I sat in the field the first 4 laps to see what was gonna go down.....and not much did. A few single riders attacked hear that there just to be pulled back in by the peloton. On the sixth lap I saw the strongest of the single attackers from earlier moving to the front again...once he went I jumped on his wheel.

We managed to put a 20 meter gap on the field for a few minutes, but on his third pull he was toast and sat up...we were pulled back in like the rest.

Coming across the start/finish for the bell (final) lap the whole field slowed the pace to start setting things up for the final sprint to come. Not wanting to play in the whole field sprint game I knew I had one last shot to get away...this was it and I took it (even thou it was two miles from the finish.)

I went and went hard, and to my luck three riders came with me. After my pull I sat back in and saw we had about 30 meters on the field. After my second pull we were down to a twosome, on my third pull this was the picture...
...the only bad thing was we were about to be eaten alive by this...

Less then 100 meters later I heard the train coming...and I do mean I heard it. Anybody who knows what I'm talking about knows the sound.

So a field sprint it came down to...and having blow my load the past tow miles I just sat my happy broken ass up and watched things unfold.

With all that said it's time to start turning things back up again to get ready for cross season. Goodbye nachos...

Brain MRI...

...yeah you heard me right, I had a MRI done today on the old brain (I'll go into the why part another time.) I'm guessing things are gonna come back looking like this...
Won't know for a week or so thou.....Hell the way I'm going they may even find nothing but a avocado in their.

I'm back...

...well I never left, I've just been off crime fighting.

Ok, not really on that one too. Unless you call saving the world from being overrun with Oreo's and Belgium beer, even if that's the case I'm only batting 500. I'm pretty sure I've single handed keep Hoegaarden in business the past week and a half, but the cookies are gettin the best of me. Just can't really do much junk food, but I'm giving any avocado in five square miles the warning to watch out.

I've made and eaten more guacamole in the past week then your average Mexican restaurant...and plan to keep it going for a little while longer.

If you can't figure it out I'm taking a much needed break from any real training. Nationals has come and gone and MASS is won, therefore I'm doing what I've been told for once...taking a break.

Still doing some base miles, but I don't think my HR has been over 150 in the past ten days.

Some if you're a Belgium beer or a plate of nacho beware...I'm coming for you. Atleast for the next few days still.

Mt Snow Nat's...

As some of you may have read the MTB Nationals were this weekend up in Mt Snow VT.

After a easy pre ride on Thursday I headed out early on Friday morning for a test of my knowledge of the lines....little did I know it would be with Georgia Gould...
...(for those of you that don't know she's one of the best female MTB'ers in the World...and cool as Hell on top of that.) But with my race only being three hours away I tried to keep my HR as low as I could while sucking in all the knowledge Georgia was throwing down (she's forgot more about MTBing then I'll ever know.)

But noon was throwdown time for my race, and after seeing the "call out" I knew who my competition was...not to mention it was gonna both start and stay fast. The course started with a half mile climb up and combination of dirt/gravel and jeep trail that then sent you bombing back to the start/finish area.

Only then to head back uphill for a three mile climb to the top of the ski resort for the last technical mile long downhill to a fast 500 meter sprint to the finish of the lap.

The race started FAST and I hit the climb about mid pack, but my body just had this cold/not warmed up feeling to it. But after 10-12 minutes I felt in the groove and start passing riders both in my and earlier fields....only to be hung up behind a couple slower riders in the technical downhill.

The second lap was a blur of pushing as hard as I could and passing riders when/where I could.
But with about 100 meters to go on the last technical downhill I heard a rider coming behind me and I gave it all I had. I came into the last 90 degree turn out of the technical stuff WAY TO FAST and grabbed a handfull of rear brake knowing it was to late. By some miracle the rear of the bike snapped around (in a powerslide I never knew how to do in the first place) and I found myself pointing the right direction and gave it all I had. Needless to say the 20 plus people watching in that corner went nuts....the one thing I heard was some guy yelling "that's how you f-ing do it right there." Little did he know I thought I was gonna forever be apart of the tree he was standing next to.

Once I knew I was not dead I gave all I had left into the pedals for the last 500 meters to the finish never looking back, and never heard a sound again...still not know who was behind me.
The first thing the wifey asked once I finished was "how you do?" I told her I thought I was 5th-8th and was somewhat happy knowing I gave all I had for a lap and a half.

Turns out I was third of the field 28. Being on a podium is cool...but being on a podium at Nationals was really freaking cool. But a third is a third, and with that in mind I'm setting goals on next year and Expert Nat's at that.

But until then it's time to reset short-term goals rock the house in Cycle Cross.