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...