Winsted Woods MTB "Race"/Trail Run

A lesson in futility.

This past week we had arguably the nicest string of weather we've had all year- low 70's and not a drop of precipitation. Being .25 miles from the Winsted Woods course, I had that course dialed. Promoters Bikers Edge had made several changes to the course from previous editions and it became one of the more technical tracks in the Root 66 Series. Add torrential rain to the mix and yeah, you know where this is going...

I wake up Sunday morning feeling great, take a peek out the window and it's showering. I say to myself, ah, the course is really dry anyway so it'll firm things up. I pour my first cup of coffee, tune into the Giro stage to Etna, look outside and now it's a straight-up deluge. Wonderful. I pull up live weather radar and there is a swath of rain containing large areas of red. So much for Accuweather's "Showers around" forecast. I look outside again and as Em's great grandmother Henrietta used to say, "Pixies are dancing in the street." Not to mention, there's a goddamn river running down my street.

The storm is moving quickly through but the damage had already been done. I kit up, throw some embro on, grab my backpack and ride the 1.5 miles to the race. At least I had that going for me... I arrive at the race start, set up my bottles, and am content just sitting under a tent not getting wet as it became clear today would not be a day for me. Word filters through that they're going to cut ~.5 miles from the course AND a lap. Yeah, that pretty much equals course has become a SHITSHOW. I ran into my buddy Josh and he tells me that this is one of those days where you just salvage what you can and try to get a workout out of it. I quickly employed the "I've got to go to work on Monday" strategy. No risks.

Toeing the line, I had firmly resigned myself to the fact that I was merely doing this race to do it and hopefully I wouldn't get hurt in the process. Whistle blows, off we go, and it took exactly 2 minutes for this venture to become not fun. Hitting the first twisty, rooty section my front tire was completely useless. A Karma filled with mud may as well be a slick. I was slipping all over the place, unclipping seemingly every other pedal stroke. All the lines I had previously dialed were now gone. It was so bad I literally felt at times like I was riding in snow. I was quickly in last as everyone from my field disappeared. Were they running Nokians or what? I felt like a Cat 3. All the climbs I had mastered were now unrideable and at times they felt unrunable. I kept muttering to myself that this was such bullshit as I nearly fell on my face. At times the sections I could ride consisted of 3 and 4 pedal strokes before forward motion occurred. The jumps that I was hitting with reckless abandon earlier in the week now skeeved me out when I looked down at my mud-filled front tire. I resorted to cyclocross dismounts which probably lost me 15 seconds a lap. The descent from the field that I had been bombing was now an uber slimy slip and slide. My lack of confidence in my front tire was reinforced when I crashed spectacularly on the huge log pile before the finish. In front of like a dozen people. Fortunately only thing hurt was ego. But I forged ahead. The successive laps were just a pleasant mix of mini-crashes, 100 meter runs, and expletives.

All told, I'll bet I ran at the very least a mile in the race on Sunday. I actually felt good running. I almost want to do some trail running again. NOT. To give you an idea of how much slower the course was (or I was on the course), I had done a hot lap in 27:40 on Thursday. Sunday I averaged 34:14/lap on a course that was .5 miles shorter! But alas, as the old saying goes, that's mtb racing! Onward.

As a fitting end to the story, I'm riding back over the ridge with Emily in tow carrying my water bottles and stand. I'm descending the other side and I decide to perform a slow-motion over the bars crash on a rock that I've probably ridden over 50 times. Yeah, that about sums it up.

Winding Trails Fat Tire Classic

"It's raining cats and dogs." That must have come out of Em's mouth at least a dozen times Saturday night. She has a penchant for hyperbole but it did really start coming down after 9pm. I began thinking that the now non-roadie friendly Winding Trails course was going to be that much more well, non-roadie friendly.

I had a relatively relaxed week after Battenkill. My lovely girlfriend is a sleep-pusher so it's not unusual to be in bed at 8:30. I was thankful for that and I've become a believer in the value of 9+ hrs of sleep a night. Train hard/rest hard. That's my motto for 2011.

Pre-riding the course Thursday night, they had cut several sections of singletrack that paralleled and crisscrossed the fire roads that were once part of the course. For the life of me, I couldn't lay off the brakes. I guess this was to be expected seeing I hadn't been on the mtb since AZ, nearly a month ago. And we all know that riding singletrack at "training" pace and race pace are completely different animals. Anyway, getting back up to speed requires a call to the engine room for more power. This isn't the most efficient way of racing a mtb as there's only so many times you can call down to Scotty.

Fastforward to race day. Our race wasn't going off until 2pm so it being local was both a blessing and a curse. Yeah, it's the second closest in Root 66 but I had to wait around for 5 hours until race time. So to pass the time and perhaps draw on some inspiration, I watched "Phil" smash everybody on the finishing climb of the Cauberg at Amstel Gold:





The weather cleared up nicely though it was still quite windy. Ah, I guess redlining in the woods for 90 minutes would be better than pounding the pavement today. (Still open for debate.) It's funny I wasn't really nervous about the race; I was more anxious about the impending pain. From the pre-ride I knew it was going to hurt- full gas with very few (if any) spots for recovery. The "climbs" are just a bunch of kickers with none lasting more than 20 seconds. Do this for 4 laps at 10x a lap...yeah you get the picture. And oh yeah, the mud bogs..

I lined up in the front row. We had 15 guys in our race. I was next to a guy at the start who looked like he just blew 1/2 a kilo, so I just said, "you can take the holeshot, bro." Because as the old saying goes, "we've got to go to work on Monday." I got a pretty good start (for me) as I think I was 6th going into the singletrack. This is actually a phenomenal start; I tend to start off ridiculously slow and pick off riders as I go. But I knew this race was going to be relatively short with few places to pass and positioning was to be that much more important. As it was, the 2 guys immediately in front of me were slower than me through the techy stuff (really?) and a gap was opening up to the 3 guys out front. I got around Scarface and company on one of the climbs and started to chase down the leaders, two of them being my teammates.

I must have not read the memo on the whole Newton's law of conservation of energy thingy as again I was all over the brakes. Put energy into pedals, lose said energy in form of heat on brake pads. Wonderful. I wore my HR monitor with the Garmin and to tell you the truth, I don't really know why. I didn't need an electronic device telling me that I was at my limit (and beyond). The course was twisty, wet, and rooty. I guess this is to be expected as it is a mountain bike race. I felt like I was going ok, but I made it a point to hammer every hill and flat section where I could lay down the power. I was working REALLY hard. So hard that I began to contemplate driving the bike into a sharp rock going into the 4th lap.

But I was in a battle with 2 guys in my class for what place I didn't even know. My teammate Craig, a mtbmind rider and myself decided to play musical bikes the last couple of laps. It was funny; I think each one of us traded positions at least 3 times. At least it kept my mind occupied. Finally, going into the last lap Craig and I put some distance between us and the other guy. I was keeping Craig's wheel but he started creating some space through the twisty stuff and quite frankly I was running. out. of. gas. I may have yelled a "I thought you were sick?!" as he gapped me due to the fact that he "apparently" had been ill most of the week prior to the race. Yeah, yeah, I fell victim to the gamesmanship, bro. Chapeau. The nail in the coffin was when we started catching the women and he did the very veteran move of getting by a couple of them going into some singletrack. I welcomed the break as my HR finally fell below 170 (Aaah) and of course, I didn't want to be that guy. Craig pulled about 15 seconds and I was content on powering home solo in what would surprisingly be... 3rd place! Teammate Jason took the victory so our squad swept the podium with very strong showings from Miles and TJ in 5th and 7th as well! Brian again shattered the hopes and dreams of everybody in his field. Nice work, boys!

It's obvious I need to work on becoming faster in the woods. To have to ride within 5 beats of VOmax for 90+ minutes is ridiculous. But I figure it's easier to work on tech skills than fitness, right?

For the Stravists:

http://app.strava.com/rides/442097

Lap1: 23:04

Lap2: 24:12

Lap3: 24:18

Lap4: 24:52*

*Getting caught behind women in singletrack may have accounted for 10 sec. so fatigue implosion wasn't too bad.

ToB 2011

Well, another Battenkill in the books. Before I get into the race report, I would like to say that it was a success on many fronts. I was fit and very strong throughout the race, I had no crashes, and good ol' Black Betty performed admirably in her first go on the dirt roads of Washington County.

And now for a little perspective. I was out doing my opener Saturday and on my return home I passed a house where a woman was all bundled up in a chair while a couple of her family members were doing work in the garden. It was a mild day and the woman is obviously ill. I waved and smiled. She returned the favor. In a way, I wanted her to know that I was enjoying my life and I wasn't taking a second for granted. I sensed she felt that. So as I was racing Sunday I explicitly remember looking out across the rolling farmland and being thankful for being healthy and able to push my body to its limits.

And now for the gay race report. This year's race was to be exactly my 4th road race. EVER. I can't imagine the amount of experience the rest of the field had, considering that the field included many of New England's finest. I knew going in I was in pretty good shape but I had to get my head out of my ass and be in the right place at the right time. Yeah, positioning in these type of things is a pretty big deal. I would say it accounts for at least 60% of the result. I hung comfortably with the peloton until we hit the Joe Bean climb. Once again I was toward the back going into the climb, weaved through a bunch of traffic, and came over the top in no man's land. I chased in earnest for 10k solo until I let off the gas and got caught by 3 guys. I remember thinking, sweet, a little help. The only problem was that these guys apparently didn't get the memo regarding pacelining. One guy would get on the front and stay there until we were almost down below 20 mph. Don't these guys watch the pros? Get on the front, take your pull, flick the elbow and peel. Hit repeat. I coached the guys into taking short pulls and getting a quick rotation going. We started to make progress and the peloton was in sight. We picked up 2 more guys and I was thinking we can do this if these guys are able to do anything. I was wrong. They were worthless. I got frustrated and dropped all of them and just focused on the next guy in front of me. After another solo 5k I caught another guy in my field. We somewhat worked together for a spell but he didn't get it either and would stay on the front for an eternity until the pace was pedestrian. I dropped him. He caught me later on a sketchy descent and we somewhat worked together again until we caught another guy from our field just before Meetinghouse Rd. We rode the rollers together and the dude in front of me nearly went down in what looked like 4 inches of granular material at the bottom of one of the descents. (Note to mtbers: I unclipped but didnt' dab.) So the three of us again "pacelined" to the Stage Rd climb. I had put in a nice 1 minute pull going into the climb so I immediately went into the scr to spin the legs out. We hit the climb at a pretty good pace and picked off several riders from our group. Summiting together, Joe Pull insists on staying on the front again. We must be going at a pretty good clip as we pass several riders from all fields. Either that or everyone's BLOWN. I took one pull in the last 5k and I remember thinking that I'm going to give it a go with 1k to go as we get full use of the road. I was already on the front as we hit the sign and I launched up the left side of road doing my best Cancellara, holding 30+ in the saddle. I must have been going at a good clip as I gapped the guy by 5 seconds at the line. So in the end I was 52nd out of 105 finishers which is about as mid-pack as one can get. I guess it's not bad considering how the race dynamics unfolded, i.e. riding solo-dolo for extended periods of time. Again. Unfortunately my result is not indicative of my fitness level but as the saying goes, that's road racing, folks. Maybe one of these years I'll be in shape AND figure out what the hell I'm doing at this race. All-in-all it was a positive experience though. I felt good and kept the rubber side down.

For the Stravists: http://app.strava.com/rides/409104

Fast

That would be my mountain bike. I picked up my Titus Racer X from Benidorm over the weekend after getting some work done. With ship date for trip to AZ looming, a test ride was imperative. Last year, I had a 44t/29t chain ring set up with an 11-34 in the back and I just recently picked up a 42t big ring. I figured losing 2 teeth in the front was no big deal as I don't think I've EVER spun out on the mtb. I also went with an 11-32 in the back because even on the steepest/longest pitches (think Mt. Snow) I rarely used the 34. Doing the math, you're faster walking. So the new drivetrain configuration now afforded the use of a medium cage rear derailleur. A couple of advantages here would be improved shifting by allowing for shorter chain length and a little more ground clearance to (hopefully) avoid the dreaded rear derailleur shearing. Been there, done that. I think smaller chain ring difference up front will also improve front derailleur performance as well.

So I headed up to the lake for a couple laps to see how she's running. I was immediately impressed with rear derailleur performance- fast and very crisp, almost like a road derailleur. The Stan's ZTR wheels are amazing. The Karmas at 35psi were rolling magnificently. I was enjoying the ride experience thoroughly when I looked over to the lake and I saw a bald eagle lifting off the ice. There was no doubt- white tail feathers and a white head, not to mention immense size. It took off flying North, probably headed for the Colebrook Reservoir on the CT/MA border, ~8 miles "as the eagle flies".

I ran 175mm cranks last year and though they provided better leverage for torquing over techy stuff, my lower back would feel like someone was jabbing knives into it toward the end of a race. I popped out the cranks, sold them, and picked up some 170s. As I was riding the lake, it felt like I was spinning better, applying power evenly throughout the pedal stroke. With the 175s I lost some of the power at the very top and bottom of the stroke. My hope is that the better spin with the 170s will help with the technical loose 20% climbs where constant torque is needed. Sound like fun, right?

Kicking it up a bit on lap 2, I was surprised how fast I was. I guess it's not bad for a sub LT ride over rolling terrain on a mtb. I'm not sure how much of it was the wheels or maybe I'm in better shape than I think I am. The bike weighed a tick under 23# which is pretty damn good for a full suspension mtb.

Returning home, I cleaned the bike up and I was now faced with the enviable task of breaking it down and packing it in the TriCo case. This was my maiden voyage in this arena so I did a little research on the internet and bombarded Doug with multiple emails. I ended up removing pedals, chain, handlebars from stem, seatpost/saddle from frame, and rear derailleur from hanger. I wrapped handlebars with towel and ball bungeed to frame, wrapped rear derailleur in foam and placed in rear triangle. I put spacers in brake calipers, and spacers in rear drop out and fork. I didn't have to take air out of fork but it probably would have allowed for a few more inches of space. The lady at the FedEx "authorized ship center" (more on this later) said I had up to 80lbs for my size package (huh huh) so I also threw in the following: hand pump, shock pump, tools for bike assembly, mtb shoes, helmet, spare tire and tube, camelbak, canister of Perpetuum, bottle of Hammer Gel, water bottle, chain lube, Stan's, grease, and probably a few other things I forgot. Placing foam over bike and gear, I then put wheels on top of that layer, rotors down. The 26" wheels fit comfortably but I can see how a 29er would probably require tire deflation. I then placed another piece of foam over the wheels along with the other half of the case. Looking at this "bike gear sandwich" I thought to myself that this compression procedure from 20+" to 11" is going to be a barrel of fun. Strap by strap, inch by inch I finally got it. I sweat more in that half hour than I did on the ride that night. I had read that this procedure is a lot easier when someone can stand on the box while you tighten straps. I agree.

In the days leading up to the bike packing I probably was on FedEx.com maybe 50 times running all sorts of size/weight scenarios for shipment to AZ. There is a "hold at location" option with FedEx so that Sunday night we can hit the FedEx near our hotel that's open 24hrs and pick up the bikes. So TriCo says their bike box dimensions are 47" x 30.5" x 10.5". My actual measurements of the box were 47" x 29" x 10 5/16". The deal is that FedEx uses some sort of dimensional weight formula. Not sure exactly how they calculate this but here was the breakdown:

47x 31x 10= $113.82

47 x 30 x 11=$110.76

47 x 30 x 10=$103.36

47 x 31 x 11=$166.27 <--Effed

These costs are for 60lb ship weight (though I'm allowed 80 with no price difference) along with $4k of insurance.

So I was told by a woman at the Packaging Depot (do not go there fellow cyclists) that "their measurements are very precise and FedEx uses lasers". I'm kicking myself now for not measuring box height after packing the bike, but oh well. I guess I assumed because each side of the box was flush that it was at the most, still below 11" in height, given empty box height of 10 5/16". Length and width dimensions remain unchanged as the contents of the box are in no way changing my initial measurements. I wheel the box in the place, a guy puts it on the scale and it's 72#. Ok, no issues there. He gives me a form to fill out while he busts out his trusty tape measure. Here we go. He literally measures all 3 dimensions in less than 10 seconds. I stopped midway through my form filling and asked him what measurements he got. He says, "47 x 30 x 12". He gives me an attitude as I questioned his height measurement. "It was over 11", so it's 12"," he flatly states. (.1" over and FedEx apparently rounds up) Well, I knew this was heartbreak hotel. I asked him the cost. "$130". I wasn't about to get into a measurement debate with this guy but it almost seemed like he knew that by inflating one of the measurements it would result in a significantly higher cost. At this point I really just wanted to get the damn bike shipped. I opted out of insurance because I didn't feel like giving this douche another dime of my money. I find it funny how the lady I spoke with earlier said that FedEx uses lasers for measurement but this a-hole takes a height measurement of a less than 12" tall package from a standing position with a floppy tape. Oh well, lesson learned. I will no longer go to an "authorized ship center" or Packaging Depot for that matter, ever again. I'm hoping sending bike home will cost less. If there's a measurement issue in Tucson, I will be going behind counter and measuring the damn box myself. Or strangle employee with it.

Sorry for rant. I'm done.

Refocusing

After a month of dedicating my body to the removal of snow from various structures and surfaces I am now ready to commence more serious training for the upcoming season. The month sort of ended in a shitstorm crescendo; I had an intense albeit short, bout of the flu last weekend. I had gone to the gym in the morning and felt ok but I had a feeling that something was a bit off. I got home and progressively got worse as the afternoon rolled around. Em and I were supposed to attend a birthday party for her nieces later in the day so I was a trooper and off we went. I don't think I was there more than a half hour when I ended up leaving Em there, with our couch being my most singular focus. I got home, promptly changed, and covered myself with several blankets hoping to cease the (now) excessive shivering. I was burning up. It was probably one of the worst fevers I've had. Em finally came home some 2 hours later with recently purchased digital thermometer in hand. The verdict: 101.6. I can only imagine what it had been when I first got home. Em put her sick nurse skills to good use. I was feeling better within the hour. The fever finally broke and all that was left was a night of every 2 hr diarrhea. Hey, at least I didn't shart in the bed.

Next day I came around. I started downing Gatorade to replace fluid electrolyte loss. That's when you really start feeling like shit- when you lose a ton of electrolytes. I probably get a little carried away making sure I get them back in. Anyway, it must have been a 24 hr thing. Never had it that intense and that quick before. So I think I'm in the clear and late Sunday afternoon my back starts spasming out of nowhere. I mean the type where if you move a certain way (usually unconsciously), it takes your breath away. As par for the course for most athletes, I start racking my brain in what I could have done to eff my back up. It must have been the shoveling Friday that did me in.

After 2 days of sitting around, we get yet another 4" of snow on Tuesday. I was back at it again. Sadly my hands have been wrapped around a shovel more this year than my handlebars. Even though I employed proper mechanics (I must look like a robot to my neighbors), I still managed to tweak an on-the-mend muscle. Wednesday night I figured I'd better try testing my back doing something so I decided to jump on the trainer (I know, I know) for an easy spin. Miraculously I was able to watch 3 episodes of Family Guy (1:30) with no issues. I can't help but feel like I'm incredibly far behind at this point but I guess you just have to hope that everyone else is too.

A couple of positives out of all this are that I currently weigh a pound less than I did all last season. I've gotten really focused with my eating. I eat several small meals a day and limit excess carb consumption after 6pm. I got that going for me. Which is nice. Seeing as I probably have less than a dozen rides in the first 6 weeks of this year, at least my equipment has that much less wear. I think I also have like 40 prs of chemical toe warmers as well. When it does get warm the roads will be eternally wet as this shit melts, so bikes and clothes are sure to take a beating then. Maybe this weather will end up being a blessing in disguise, giving us all the break we needed. Hopefully not completely breaking my back in the process.

Stay positive. Those first couple 60 degree days are gonna be unbelievable this year!

Quads

Interesting email I received from Graeme Street, owner of Cyclocore:

Dear Alex,

Are you riding "Quad Dominant"?

Most Everyday Cyclists are and if YOU ARE, it could be:

 *Making You Much Slower in the Hills.
 *Increasing Your Susceptibility to Back fatigue.
 *Decreasing your power and speed potential.
 *Leading to Chronic Imbalances and Potential Injury.

What is Quad Dominance?

Basically, it refers to a very common, over-dependance on the
contraction of the quads through the pedal stroke and more
importantly, a decrease in Glute/Hamstring/Hip Flexor utilization
leading to most of your power, coming from the front--not the rear.

Very common for people in general, not just cyclists and is
a PRIMARY REASON for most peoples back pain/problems.

In cycling, I refer to it as "mashing the pedals" as opposed
to "levitating the pedals".  Again, very common in cyclists.

Usually, we want a 60-40 split in action power between our
glutes/hams/flexors and our quads.  However, most of us are
more likely to be 50-50 or worse, 40-60.  The 60% being the
power supplied by the quads alone--WAY TOO MUCH!

If you cramp a lot, have trouble snapping out of the saddle or
getting low and hammering at high leg speeds--you more than
likely are QUAD DOMINANT. 

IN A NUTSHELL:  "You're Not Pedaling from your Hips & Core!"

Basically, you're IMBALANCED and you're not alone!

What can Quad Dominant Imbalances cause?

In my experience...

 *Poor climbing power due to weak glutes/hams.
 *Increased back fatigue, usually from a weak core.
 *Inability to get aero and for longer periods. (poor flexibility)
 *Increased susceptibility to knee pain/injury.  (big one!!)
 *Cramping!  Cramping.  Cramping!  (insidious truth)

Not to mention, losing huge potential for MORE POWER!

If you use my Cyclo-TRAINER Sessions, you know how
much emphasis I place into teaching you to RIDE FROM
YOUR HIPS and CORE!   (at nauseam)  Keep doing them!

It's my "core philosophy" and one that works incredibly well
to help you re-balance your hip power, quad strength, and
leg speed for more efficiency, for longer periods of time.

I'll attack your hips, core, leg speed, & power in
every trainer session we'll do together...

**TRAINER SESSIONS #1-10 + BONUSES (special today)**
http://www.on2url.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=530859

**NEW 2.5 Hr "CLIMBING EPIC" TRAINER Special (#17):
http://www.cyclo-club.com/products/item124.cfm

***NEW Strength & Wt-Loss TRAINER Bundle (# 11-13 + IN 5')
http://www.cyclo-club.com/products/item120.cfm

My Cyclo-TRAINER sessions will systematically help you:

 *Retrain your hips and core to ACTIVATE while riding.
 *Increase Glute and Hamstring Utilization and Power.
 *Strengthen the back and open the hams for aero stability.
 *Decrease dependance on your quads for power.
 *Open new channels for more leg speed & efficiency.
 *Super-charge your climbing muscular endurance.

You see, to help you balance your quads and hips, I need
to attack your body in multiple ways, that do not always
utilize the bike--which is why in many sessions, we get off the
bike and I'll attack you with Cyclo-CORE like training.

In fact, the more you ride with quad dominance, the more
quad dominant you become!  READ THAT AGAIN.

Use my Cyclo-TRAINER Sessions 1-3x week, and I promise
you, you will be quad dominant no more and finally begin
to MAXIMIZE YOUR POWER & STRENGTH by tapping into
your "Cottage of Wattage".

I use to be quad dominant for years and I always had back
pain, tight hams, and was weak in the hills.  Really weak.

Then, I started Cyclo-CORE Training and Cyclo-TRAINER
sessions and not only are those problems solved--but I'm
climbing and riding stronger than I was when I was in my 20's.

I want you to feel the same!

Ride Hard.  Balance Your Quads.  Dominate!

--Graeme Street


Totally makes sense.  There is a huge reservoir of power in the back of your body.
You just need to tap into it...

I cracked...

and rode my trainer! Hey, it's been one of those winters. I've been keeping busy with the gym sessions, snowshoeing, and seemingly daily snow removal. "I challenge ye to a shoveling contest!" Sorry, had to get that in there. But anyway, when my buddy Craig asked if I wanted to come over and do a sufferfest video, I said sure, what the hell.

I've done more spinervals workouts than I care to admit and I will say Coach Troy is a good motivator. But I was willing to give this a shot. After warming up with an episode of Family Guy on hulu it was time to get down to bi-ness as they say in the more non-rural areas. The workout was "The Hunted" and I was immediately taken aback by how interactive it was. It honestly felt at times like I was Robert Gesink. (Well, maybe if I was 5" taller and 20 lbs lighter.) The first part of the workout was 10 minutes of tempo followed by a 20 minute climb with some over/under efforts and at the end were some reverse intervals done like this: 10 sec full gas/50 sec recovery, 20 sec on/40 sec recovery, and so on until the last two (which hurt) were 50s/10 and then the whole 60s at full gas. I highly recommend these videos if you're really hurting (like I was) to spin the pedals. They are WAY better than Spinervals and if you can get a group together, all the better. I just got my wireless internet straightened out at the house so if you want to come over to the Combes torture chamber and do one with me, hit me up. After all, it's still only January...

Desperate times call for desperate measures, sure, but riding outside trumps the trainer any day. One could argue that you're constantly pedaling while on the trainer, but to be honest I pretty much ride like I'm on a fixie anyway (I know, I know, CB2) so that advantage is effectively eliminated. Trainer workouts have their place- probably more so in the recovery ride realm. I honestly don't have any flat routes near me. It's all good when you're in the heat of battle in the Strava climbing competition, but if you're just looking to spin the legs, the trainer is where it's at. I think overall you lose your sense of exertion on the trainer. If you don't have the luxury of one of these, then you don't really know how hard you're working. Sure you can wear a HR monitor but HR is more of a response to the power needs of the legs. In other words, the elevation of HR is purely autonomic: You don't will your heart to beat faster. The heart beats faster in response to the physiological needs of the body. Another important positive of riding outside is exposure to light. At least for me, to get outside helps minimize seasonal affect disorder. The end of November and into December sucks when it's starting to get dark at 4:00. We've turned the corner in a big way in that regard. On a non-cloudy day, the sun is still decent until 5:00 now.

I took the Nokian Hakapeliittas off last night and threw on the Michelin Mud2s for the ride today. What a difference dropping over a pound of weight (per wheel) makes! At times it felt like I was flying compared to the Nokians. It's funny how your body and mind get used to something. Had I been running slicks, the Mud2s would have felt slow. It makes me wonder why racers train on ultra light bikes. Ego, I guess. I'll never forget showing up to a fast group ride last Spring and getting dropped like a bad habit. Needless to say, I didn't show up with that bike again. I might ride my 24 lb winter beater more this Spring though, so that my 21.5 lb mtb feels light.

On the weight loss front, I've managed to dump 2 lbs already. Hey, a kilo is a kilo. I've got to get in shape for my little Spring training trip with Hilljunkie. We're headed to Tucson for a solid 7 days of riding. This will be my first bike centric trip. I'm looking forward to riding, eating, and sleeping my face off. I guess we're going to drive north a bit and hit Sedona as well. You can check out the latest scenery there on Sue Haywood's blog. 6 weeks away and would you believe it, a mere 9 weeks until Hopbrook Dam which will undoubtedly be a mudfest. Get your ass riding!

Making the best of things...

We've had it quite easy the last few winters in CT. Since I started riding, this is probably the "worst" yet. Excessive snowfall and arctic cold have produced several Jens Factor 5 days. But I guess in a way, it's a good thing- this whole getting off the bike for a couple months (well, not completely) helps to refresh the body and the nervous system as it won't be long before we're BLOWN from the hard rides to come. I can't imagine if I lived in Southern California; I'd probably be perpetually overtrained.

The offseason is a good time to work on things that are neglected throughout the year when we're turning the cranks tens of thousands of times. It's funny how unathletic I feel this time of year when I explore other arenas of fitness. Hip flexibility and core and upper body strength have completely hit the fan. I remember the days when I could run and jump like a deer but I suppose those days are behind me now. I often like to say, "the older we get, the better we were." So true.

I've managed to get out on the bike when there's Jens Factor 4 or lower and if there's significant snow, then snowshoeing it is. I think continuing to get exercise outside is good for the mind this time of year as diminished daylight can really get you down. (Although, we are heading back the other way now.) I've probably been snowshoeing a half dozen times or so and let me tell ya, it's a heluva workout. The movement is almost identical to climbing hills out of the saddle. I've actually seen HR's in the low 180's going hard up a steep hill with 2+ feet of snow. I went backcountry xc skiing once and my hip flexors were sore for 3 days. Skate skiing is tantalizing but I guess it's my unwillingness to travel to a good place to do it, my lack of gear, and my impatience in learning proper technique that have kept me away. I believe I blew out all my patience learning a new sport with swimming 5 years ago.

With nearly 19k miles in the legs over the last 3 seasons, I'm not so concerned about "base" at this point. I believe I have a base level of fitness in the legs. I'm just trying to work on weaknesses at this point which include but are not limited to core strength/flexibility and leg strength all while decreasing the old bodyweight. Apr. 2nd is the first mtb race of the season, a mere 10 weeks away.

Got blood drawn this morning for 1st blood test in 15 years. I'm anxious to see really how healthy I am.

Saw a post from Todd Holland on Facebook last night:

http://www.ultracycling.com/events/GMD.htm

Never done a double before and that would be one mother of a way to pop the cherry on that. I know the word "epic" is probably overused, but if this isn't epic then I don't know what is. I might have to email that sicko Sandy for some details.

Be careful what you wish for...

I was just saying to myself that I hadn't gotten a real good workout in a while and was hoping I'd get it today. Given the weather (17 for a high) and sub-par road conditions there were several exchanges of "What do you think?" and "What do you think?" before we finally pulled the trigger to ride.

Riding with Brian is never easy. Couple that with the fact that I still had the studded cross tires on and I was in for a ride to Hurtsville. Pulling out of his driveway, you're met with a nice 400' climb as a warm-up. Plain and simply, it sucks. Those tires seriously have to be worth a couple gears and with a 42x28 minimum, yeah, you know where this is going. ON top of that, I had to ride like I was on a fixed gear on the descents (Brian still effortlessly coasted away) and then slog back up the climbs. I initially thought that because it was so cold that my Garmin wasn't picking up my HR properly, i.e. it was running about 10 beats higher than normal. I tried a Fonzie tap of the unit, but I was still a regular vistor the upper 160's/low 170's. Well, it wasn't the Garmin, it was the goddamn tires.

The ride was nondescript, really. It was cold with a slight head wind as we headed north but my trusty Assos gear was (once again) doing its job wonderfully. I know everybody has their go-to gear, but let me tell ya, Assos is the best. Yeah, it costs an arm and a leg but there's a reason- It works. If you ride outside a lot, a Fugujack and a pair of bib tights will not let you down.

My water bottle was frozen solid 20 minutes into the ride. I think I was able to get the top off at one point and take a sip but I otherwise went without water for nearly 2 hours. Yeah, all the risers were taking their toll and for sure my mounting dehydration was only exacerbating things. I felt a twinge of a cramp coming in my right hamstring at one point and thankfully things just held together until the end.




For shits and giggles I weighed the cross bike with the studs. About 3# of rotational weight added over the Michelin Mud/Jet combo.










Also for shits and giggles I weighed everything I had on laden with sweat. I figured around 10# so nearly 9.5 was pretty close. And yes, I may have shot this naked.







For the metrics geeks: STRAVA

Note to self: Remove studded tires before riding with Brian.

Strava inspiration

Well, if you need any winter motivation, there's a climbing competition over on www.strava.com. I think it's $50 for the annual membership. The site is quite interactive in that it will automatically tabulate and categorize any climbs you hit on an uploaded route. I'm currently sitting in 15th as of press time. I think something like 10 of the 14 ahead of me are Aussies so while I'm swerving around black ice, they're riding around in shorts. The other 3 are Southern Californians. Bastards. Unless I start hitting Winsted Woods on a regular basis, I predict CB2 will be climbing (pun intended) the leaderboard seeing as seemingly 90% of his miles are on dirt.

I'm still weighing in at a buck fifty eight so that with my 26 lb winter bike and probably at least another 6-7 lbs of clothing/shoes, I'm pushing 190+ up the hills of northwest CT. My full intent is to go into Spring at sub-150 and hopefully when I jump back on the Cervelo, I won't be Battenkilled in April.



I've got one of these babies and I think that if I track my weight daily I'll do a better job of staying on top of my weight.




In other news, I'm going to be racing with Benidorm Racing in 2011. I was approached a month ago by some guys I ride with and it looks like the team's got a good group of people to hit the area race scene with so it should be a lot of fun. I'll probably do most of the Root 66 series and a few road races. I'll more than likely do a couple hillclimbs as well as the old standby, D2R2 and maybe another 100/10000'. Looking forward to it.

Power:Too Much Weight and another Hilljunkie Classic

Well, yesterday was the Greylock TT, part of the BUMPS series. I had no expectations going in (as usual) and was sort of guesstimating where I'd finish. Based on past results, I was figuring ~48 min. Given my weight as of press time (157.4) I had no illusions of going much faster. Looking back to last year's log, I was 148 and change this time last year. I think I have a hormone problem. Like Oprah.

Anyway, I got a shit warm-up which apparently is my standard pre-race protocol. It's a good thing I don't take these things too seriously. I rolled up to the line literally <30 seconds before my start time. I spent the first 50 meters getting my right foot clicked in and away I went. It wasn't very long until I was passed by my 30 second guy. Have at it, buddy. Reservoir Rd. kicks up something fierce (in the neighborhood of 17%) and stays there. I was still trying to get my CV system opened up. It wasn't until I got through the gate into the park that I started to find my rhythm, well, whatever rhythm you can get at a steady 9-10% grade with steeper switchbacks. It was 25 minutes into the ride now and I was picking off riders. As I made it up to the upper slopes where the grade comes down a bit I went up into the big ring and began hammering, holding 20+ mph through this section. I probably went too deep into the well here because when I hit the turn with about a mile to go I had to spin for 30 seconds to recover. I had noone in front of me at this point and so I just put my head down to the finish. I crossed in 47:40, just under my pre-race estimation. If I have intentions of going faster on these things I have to work on the divisor in the power/weight equation. It's no mistake that the fastest guys are carrying the least amount of weight.

Post-hillclimb Hilljunkie Soiree

Doug seems to be coming back into form after his ankle mishap. I think he blitzed the TT in 44 and a half. I guess a week in Colorado at altitude will always help. Hanging around the summit, another young buck who apparently met Doug through his site wants to join us on our little "jaunt" through the Berkshires. I brought my buddy Paul along to show him just what these rides feel like. I knew Doug would appreciated this as he has this perverse satisfaction of ripping people's legs off on ridiculously steep climbs. Last year we did the Berkshire Boondoggle, a much longer version of the planned post-hillclimb route. A "fuck" may have slipped out of my mouth when the intended route would bring us over the famed Kingsley Hill Rd., aka meanest mile in MA. Great. My legs were pretty much toast from the hillclimb and I had serious doubts about even getting up this climb with a 34x26 minimum.

So starting out on 8 South after descending Greylock (fun, despite shivering for first 5 miles of descent) aforementioned young buck aka Aaron comes to the front and begins setting an "honest pace" at 26-27 mph. I began thinking, oh the climbs are going to feel wonderful if this keeps up. We make the turn for Hoosac Rd. and I resigned myself to backing off on the throttle as I knew this climb was a spanker and I hadn't yet flushed the legs out from the hillclimb. I took comfort in Doug saying that he was pretty trashed too and we rode up at conservational pace. Paul and Aaron were up the road a bit hopefully not burning too many matches for the ensuing climbs.

Hoosac Rd is roughly 4 miles, gaining ~1400' of vertical. The grade isn't too bad, maybe averaging 8-9% with a couple pitches exceeding 12%. My legs started to come around thanks to taking effort down a notch. The next 25-30 miles were nice as we made our way down 8a and West Hawley Rd., following the river.

Coming up Zoar Rd. heading toward Rowe, I was spinning with Paul and Dougie livens things up a bit by asking if we ladies are on an MS ride. I thought that was hysterical. Paul started to cramp and our water supplies were dwindling. A nice addition to the ride was Brittingham Rd., which gained over 300' in less than half a mile, the first couple hundred meters being well over 15%. It was here that I dug in a little bit and decided to see if I could catch Aaron who to this point had been KOMing all the climbs. I was able to catch him just as the road started to tilt downward a bit toward the top. Perhaps the standard gearing was getting to him or he was taking it easy.

Monroe Hill Rd. was next on the menu. The pace came down a bit on this one. A pall of anxiety descended upon us as the "Meanest Mile in Massachusetts" loomed just ahead. Descending Monroe Hill and coming over the bridge I quickly inhaled a gel hoping that it would magically transport me effortlessly over this beast of a climb. No such luck. Taking the right off River Rd., you see the worn out sign and you look up at a wall of asphalt. How the hell they paved this thing is beyond me. The first 100-150 meters the grade pushes 22-23%. I hit it out of the saddle in my 34x26 at a whopping 3.5 miles an hour. Aaron, pulling a move right out of the overgeared archive, dismounted and exclaimed, "This is so discouraging!" It really is if you look up. The road just ever so slightly snakes up the side of the mountain with exactly ZERO relief. Riding next to Doug his front tire was bouncing off the pavement. I'm probably a sick bastard, but I find these types of things highly amusing.

I notice that it's times like these that I feely truly alive. Everything is stripped away and all you hear is your breath (and Doug hacking). Every pedal stroke is agony but you keep going, inching along in your own exercise-induced trance. I think you just have to have faith that it will all be over sooner or later. I can say that if I hadn't done all those lovely ski resort mtb races this year, I would have been walking up Kingsley for sure. We all made it up one way or another and forged onward.

Paul began suffering badly from adductor cramps and so I gave him the remainder of my water. We still had Tilda Hill to contend with before the Rte. 2 plummet down into North Adams. Tilda drags on at an ever-increasing grade until it hits ~10%. I believe you've hit the top when you ironically see the sign for Bliss Rd. Seeing that Paul now knew where he was, I descended Rte. 2 with Doug and we all made it back to the car safely, facial bones intact.

Here's the file for metrics geeks.

D2R2 2010

Oh what a day! Weatherwise, that is. I mean, it's August 21st, it's in the 40's and I'm shivering at the 6 am start. I didn't have any plans as far as pace and even though I'm considerably stronger that last year, my climbing isn't great due to the 3-4 extra kilos I find myself carrying around this year. All muscle. Sure, keep telling yourself that, Alex.

I haven't done jack for distance either, having opted to try doing the mtb thing this Spring/Summer. So weeks would go much like this: Race Sunday, Monday off, Tuesday moderate, Wednesday a little interval session, and by Thursday I'd be already shutting it down for a race the following weekend. But I suppose "base" carries over year to year and I guess the 13k+ miles I've done the last two years would carry me through.

I fully expected road conditions to be at their worst as it has been one of the driest Summers in recent memory. (Though as I type it is in fact raining.) I opted to go with the Michelin Jet 30mm's but I think they may actually be a closer to 35. I ran moderately high pressure @60 psi to avoid possibility of pinch flats. They're moderately light at ~340 gms per, but I wasn't so much concerned with weight as I was with cornering washboard descents at high speed and traction on loose gravel at 20+% gradient.

We shoved off at 6:07, little did I know that Doug had planned on me riding with Pain Cave, Kevin, and the Corner Cycle boys. Sorry Doug. I ended up riding with 4 Benidorm guys, two of which were on 29ers. They are doing Shenandoah 100 in a couple weeks and figured this would be a great "training" ride for it. They were keeping up with us though we weren't going at breakneck pace, just a solid steady tempo. I did notice that their was a distinct advantage riding a mtb on the marbly decents, although lugging nearly 30 lb bikes up relentless climbing started to take its toll. I think by mile 50 or so and some 7000+ ft of climbing they told us to go on without them.

This was my 3rd stab at the beast and I still don't really know the route. Efforts to upload route to Garmin were unsuccessful. (I need to learn how to do that correctly.) Several times we would end up following people that we thought knew where they were going, only to end up a 1/4 mile up the road. Another time we actually added another 1/2 mile and missed the first covered bridge. Oh well, all good. It was funny to see the first timers hitting the climbs WAY too hard. I just repeated the mantra I always tell myself on rides of this nature, "There's alot of game left." Not to sound high and mighty, but rides of this length and difficulty must be respected or they will certainly tear you a new one.

I was hitting all the climbs right at or at times slightly above LT. The 34x28 minimum was perfect, though I was wishing I hadn't lent my 11-30 to Brian by about the 60 mile mark. Some of the climbs were quite loose, notably Archambo (cleaned, Yeah Baby!) and the middle and upper parts of Hillman. (I personally think that sector 2 between Heath and Green River is the worst with these 2 climbs and Franklin.) I frankly remember a guy coming into Heath (after climbing Mountain Rd) complaining he had to stop and walk. Apparently he didn't get the memo after I looked at his bike with standard gearing and 25s. One guy summed it up for him, "Poor equipment choice, my friend."

I was feeling pretty good, though I probably could have lightened my saddle bag a hair. I was prepared for Armageddon: 2 tubes, half a dozen zip ties, 4 tire boots, 5 patches, a multi-tool, a chain tool, 2 tire levers, and 3 CO2's. I think the bag weighed in at 3 lbs., pushing total bike weight up to about 22.5 with the Jets. Better to be safe than sorry I guess. I was very confident railing the descents at high speed and the CX bike performed flawlessly.

We took an extended lunch break at the Green River Covered Bridge. I found the Roast Beef sandwich hit the spot though I knew the 400' climb coming out of the stop would probably have me burping half of it back up. It's always difficult to get the blood back in the legs but after 10 minutes they're good to go but your body's pissed off at you again. Maybe it's just me but I get to a level of fatigue at about the 4-5 hour mark and it never gets worse. Yeah, I hurt but I feel I could keep going indefinitely as long as my mind keeps telling my legs to keep moving. Maybe it's the Hammer Perpetuum or I'm just better able to burn fat as fuel. I guess that's one thing I've found I'm particularly good at (relative to myself) - the long sufferfest type rides. Unfortunately for me there are no medals, awards or prize money for my "talent". Oh well, I've always been drawn to hard things and over my first 3 years of riding I've managed to try a little of everything- Road, MTB, and CX racing, hillclimbs, and 7-8 hour death marches like 6 Gaps and D2R2. I've always come away from the long ones with a tremendous sense of completion. No matter where I "finish" I'll always have that and that's enough for me. I had doubts this year going into D2R2 primarily because in the days before the event I had some freak back issue out of nowhere. It literally was so bad that it was waking me out of a sound sleep whenever I rolled over. I questioned my ability to be able to ride for 8 hours, on no less a course like D2R2. But I have to say, that JB riding two weeks off a horrific crash at Nationals inspired me to forge ahead.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. It reminded me when I was a kid when my buddy and I would seek out the biggest hills around just to go down the other side. It literally is climb for 10 minutes, descend washboard for 5, repeat 40 times. Brian, Paul, and I met up with Andi, Brian's wife, at the optional Green River Road water stop at ~mile 80. What are the odds of that? We cruised Green River Road at ~23-24 mph only to have an entire Bike Barn Racing Team blow by us at upwards of 30. Apparently they had no idea what was in store for them at Nelson Road because as we hit the climb, it looked like someone threw a grenade in their group as they were scattered all over the road. Paul and I were hitting the climb at a good clip and it was at this point that Brian wasn't feeling too hot. We took the turn where the 100k and 180k split and waited about 100 meters up the road. Apparently we did the stupid thing not waiting AT the turn. Brian waited for his wife to catch him and rode in with her. If you're feeling like absolute dog meat then you might as well pack it in. You made the right move, buddy, and don't worry we're well aware of your ability to rip our legs off at any time.

And then there were 2. Paul was riding ridiculous. He was rocking a single 38t up front with an 11-28 in the back. I think it probably helped on the loose stuff when a turn of the crank actually equated to significant forward movement- kinda like trying to ride the granny ring through tech stuff on the mtb. I ripped Greenfield Road at almost 50 (49.8 to be exact) but started to feel a little insecure with the Jets as they chattered on the turns. It's funny how 112, Lyonsville Rd., and later Call Rd. take on this calm before the storm sort of persona. You're enjoying probably the tamest few miles of the ride when you can't help but look up at the ridge and you're hit with this sinking feeling- that is where I must go. Suddenly at mile 96, with upwards of 6 and a half hours in the legs you see the sign for Patten Hill. Patten Hill for me this year was all it's cracked up to be and then some. The paved wall at the beginning softens the legs up real freakin' nice and then the real fun starts when you hit the dirt. Forget about standing up. It was way too loose. The ensuing 10 minutes were a sight for sore thighs- churning away at 45 rpms while trying to pick lines through deteriorating road conditions, praying that my rear tire would hook up with something so I wouldn't waste another kj of energy. I entertained the idea of walking for about a half millisecond but then quickly realized I couldn't live with myself if I did. I know, ridiculous. I made it into the rest stop at top of Patten about 15 seconds after Paul.

Coming out of the rest stop we hooked up with a group that must have been among the first to shove off that morning. Matt Surch was there, a rider from Tall Tree Cycles in Ontario who finished in our leading group of 6 last year. Todd Holland, another strong rider from the area, was also there and I knew this was going to be a fast drive to the finish. It's all downhill from there anyway, so how bad could it be? Well, not really. South Shelburne Rd. is a bitch. It's usually at about this time that I'm completely sick of climbing and South Shelburne just gnaws at you. (Gee, it only took 100 miles and 11000'.) Matt, another rider, Paul, and myself upped the pace a bit. I was quickly entering the "let's get this fucker done" state of mind. Todd caught back on an ensuing descent and we hit Hawk's Rd. like it was a CX race for crissakes. It was getting real hairy in there as we were passing (or attempting to pass) 100k traffic. I backed off a bit and settled in behind some riders because a.) I didn't want to be "that" guy and b.) I didn't want to crash or cause someone else to crash. The problem is alot of these riders aren't great technical riders and they fishtail all over the trail, not realizing someone faster is coming up their side. Yelling "on your right/left" only unnerves them even more. It wasn't until a guy on a mtb behind me yelled "just hold your line" was I able to finally find a proper hole through. Whatever the case, I made it through unscathed though I have no idea how I didn't crash or flat on a pile of rocks I hit towards the end.

Seeing the group about 200 meters up the road, I gave chase for a while, but decided to just ride tempo to the finish. I ended up coming in about 20 seconds behind a group of 3 or 4, including Paul. I stupidly forgot to check in until about half hour after pounding a couple of ice cold Cokes. My ride time was 7:46, a bit slower than last year, but as I said we took several wrong turns and road quality was down a bit. It was probably a wash though, as the weather was ideal compared to last year when at times it felt like a convection oven. Here's the Garmin file.

Because the pace was much more civilized than last year I actually took in the scenery. Imagine that. If you are some semblance of a serious rider, this is a ride you must do before you die. Even if you opt for the 100k, you will not be left unfulfilled. There are countless scenes of rolling hills and breathtaking farmland that could be used as postcards. If you don't count Greenfield Road and Rte. 112, I bet I was passed by no more than a dozen cars in 111 miles. Support was again fantastic and it keeps getting better. I made one suggestion- a couple cases of cold Coke at the top of Patten would hit the spot. Food was catered by a nearby business and was also quite good. Sandy and organizers put on another incredible event and I look forward to D2R2 2011.

Beast of the East- and oh yeah, I suck at descending

I should have known driving up that this one was going to go down in the annals. Anxiety regarding the impending pain was in the air. Ignorance is bliss I guess because I had no idea what I was in store for.

Looking out the window while heading north on Rte. 100, I could see Mt. Snow in the distance. My immediate thought was, ah, it's not that steep. I should probably not make quick assumptions. This being my 7th mtb race ever, I've come to the quick determination that I'm not a big fan of ski resort races. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the sustained 20% climbs (who wouldn't?) but these courses are just up, up, up, and down, down, down. Pat's Peak a couple of weeks ago was an absolute sufferfest- 2:40+ in 90 degree heat with a blown back and triceps. I've never experienced a pain like that on a bike. Ever.

Well, Mt. Snow couldn't be as bad. Or could it? I found out we were doing 3 laps of a roughly 6 mile loop. Like Pat's Peak it would be climb for 25 min. and descend for 15. Only thing was that the descending would be roughly 100x as hard. This was to be a course where a good technical rider would excel. And that good technical rider is not me. Lining up, we've got like 15 in our group. Whistle blows and I'm settled in to roughly 10th place as the climbing begins. I was feeling pretty good, though a trend started to develop where I'd pass a couple guys on a climb and get passed back on an ensuing singletrack descent. I remember thinking early on that this course wasn't too bad. Boy, would I ever be wrong. The last section of singletrack that shot you back down to the start/finish was ridiculous. I was sliding all over the trail and it felt like I started riding a mountain bike yesterday. I ended up washing out on a mud-covered root and going over the bars at slow speed, hitting my head (lightly) on a tree. At this point I made the executive decision that I didn't want to pull a "hilljunkie" (sorry, Doug) so I ran the rest of the tech section in lap 1 and lap 2.

Just after coming out of the woods on Lap 2, I was caught by the first Pro woman who started 2 minutes behind me. I've been making a habit of getting girl'd of late and that, along with the fact that I was getting beaten by guys I know I'm stronger than, was starting to wear on me. The rest of lap 2 and all of lap 3 went something like this: Open up gap on Pro woman (all 94 lbs of her) on climbs and let said gap evaporate on ensuing descent. On final techy descent I let her go and she thanks me. She says, "Come ride with me" as she goes by, and I stick to her like glue as she starts railing the descent. I follow her lines and I feel like I can semi-ride a mtb again. It's by far the fastest I've ridden this section all day. I guess maybe I need a little carrot dangling in front of me in the form of attractive woman to get me through the techy stuff.

I ended up having to open up a bit of a sprint to the finish as a guy in my class was bearing down on me. Not the greatest result on the day- 9th, but I'm still holding onto 3rd in the series standings. The last couple of races haven't been my best efforts or should I say, results. Unfortunately for me, mountain biking has a huge technical component and a more adept rider can gain huge chunks of time on a course like Mt. Snow. I was getting a little frustrated but I have to remind myself that I've been riding a mountain bike for less than two years and yet here I sit 3rd in the series as a Cat 1. I'm racing against guys that have been riding a mtb for 20 years. I'll get there.

Stats for metrics geeks:

17.02 miles, 2:11, 3651' vert

Lap 1: 43:02
Lap 2: 43:54
Lap 3: 43:27

How's that for consistency?!

Sports Drinks- Don't Believe the Hype

Throw out your Gatorade, boys. Stumbled on this article on Cramping:

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/11/muscle-cramp-part-iii.html

Basically the gist of the article is that we have been famfoozled by advertising (what else is new?) to believe that cramps are caused by electrolyte loss. It centers on neural fatigue theory: Fatigue causes cramps by interrupting normal balance of spinal reflex control.

Essentially there are receptors called muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs located within muscle tissue that initiate reflexes responsible for protecting muscle from excessive load or stretching. There are specific pathways for this process described in the article that you can (try to) decipher yourself.

I personally have experienced the calf cramps while swimming. I can tell you it is most definitely NOT from electrolyte loss as I never swam longer than 1 hour. Contracting the calf in a shortened position (in sustained plantar flexion) for a long period of time creates optimal conditions for cramping.

Another interesting point of the article is the section describing how pushing your body beyond it's level of fitness, i.e. trying to do a challenging 7-8 hour ride when you've only been doing 5, also disposes you to cramping. This would explain why my hamstrings cramped last year on D2R2, the only time they've cramped on the bike. My legs weren't ready for the load, especially given that I was overgeared. Also throw in the fact that when riding a bicycle, your hamstrings are in a shortened state while continually contracting and you'll be screaming sweet baby Jesus when those babies involuntarily contract.

This is just a theory, but it makes sense to me.

Domnarski Farm

Sorry for the race report delay oh faithful three readers. Last Sunday I headed up to another Root 66 Series race with B. Cantele at Domnarski Farm in Ware, MA. It was to be two 10 mile laps for the Cat 1's and for anybody that broke an hour, you got $10 and a "kick in the ass" from Matt Domnarski himself. Weather was questionable heading up. I'm still a newbie to all this so any help I could get from Mother Nature would only help in the technical department. Apparently, they had been hit by a deluge the day before and earlier that morning. Pre-riding affirmed this as the course was quite wet. So yeah, there would be alot of running, er, walking really fast.

My starts have been terrible so I focused on series points leader J. Harris. I was probably about 5th or so heading into the singletrack, which was a mere 100 meters from the start line. I immediately dismounted and ran as there were a couple of small brook crossings early on and I didn't want to risk a bobble and lose valuable spots. I stuck to Harris like glue until he botched on a wet off-camber rock and I went by. I held him off for a while, maybe another 10 minutes or so, until he came by on the steep, long techy climb. He was gasping for air as he went by and it got me thinking that I don't think I'm trying hard enough. I keep having this fear that I'm going to completely blow up in a mtb race and everyone's going to pass me. So because of this, I find that I'm holding back 10% or so. This is evidenced in my lap times which are usually within 2% of each other. You'll see what I mean later.

Getting to the top of the long climb, Harris was now gone. There were 2 guys in my category that I kept within sight. The fireroads up top were flat, fast and wet. These were big ring sections involving zipping around (or through) large puddles. Well, the latter didn't work out too well for me as my front wheel decided to wash out at around 20mph and Alex went for a little, I mean, BIG swim. I'm talking entire body immersed in the puddle type of swim here. I stopped, took stock of body- Everything ok physically. Checked wheel- Fine. Brake lever and handlebars were functional, though they were twisted about 5 degrees from center. This was annoying but I didn't feel like taking any more time to fix them. I remounted and off I went. I probably lost about a minute. I wondered how much bacteria was now covering my body. I was completely covered in shit. Ah, the joys of mountain biking.

B. Cantele, starting a minute behind me, caught me soon after, as I slipped on a wet off-camber root while circumnavigating another puddle/swimming hole. I stayed with him for a while through the fireroad sections but once we hit the singletrack he too was gone. The lap continued on in some twisty singletrack with a few crossings of uber wet rock/mud sections. There were some nice bridges in place that helped you through but I found that running them was WAY faster than "cleaning" them on the bike. We made it out to the power line section in back and this was a real doosy. You came out of the woods and immediately in front of you was a 100 meter wall pushing 25+% grade. Needless to say it was painful. It flattened out for a spell and kicked up to an equally hard grade and length, then a 30%+ section that was unrideable (for most) and then it came back down to ~22% for another 100 meters. There was a nice descent on the other side of this ballbuster which provided for much needed recovery. The rest of the lap was a mixture of swoopy singletrack, mud, rocks, bridges, and more mud. There were a couple of unrideable steep rocky sections in the back as well that required a dismount.

Just before the end of the first lap the 3 chasing 40+ guys caught me, some 7 minutes plus after B. Cantele passed. So, barring mechanical catastrophe, he had this one in the bag. Crossing the start/finish, I my lap time was 1:00:51. Had I not decided to swan dive into the biggest puddle on the course I probably would have went sub-hour and won my first money racing a bicycle. And a kick in the ass. Oh well. Anyway, one of the 40+ guys continued on, but I hung with the two others the rest of the race, one of them being M. Gunsalus. The other guy was better than Mark and I on the techy stuff but we were outclimbing him. So the three of us see-sawed back and forth for the next hour or so. I felt pretty good being able to climb with M. Gunsalus, well at least within a couple of bike lengths on the steepest pitches. I had no idea where I was in my category, as usual. I think I passed one other 30+ on the second lap and as I said before, the series points leader was gonezo on the first lap.

I ended up running alot more in the 2nd lap and I was actually feeling pretty good doing it. The rest of the 2nd lap was a blur although I got thoroughly pissed when a guy came up from behind the three of us and totally went off the trail around a deep mud section while we were running through it. I don't know what kind of rules there are as far blazing your own line on a cross country race course, but that was bullshit if you ask me. His "line" was clearly WAY faster. Whatever the case, the group of (now) 4 of us finished the last lap together all within 5 seconds of each other. My time was effed up by over a minute as M. Gunsalus and the other guy in the 40+ were shown to be 2:10 ahead of me, when they started only 1 minute behind and I finished with them. Being an exact numbers type of guy, I was annoyed by this but I guess there are bigger things to worry about.

I did, however, find out that I ended up 2nd! First Cat1 podium in only my 4th race as a Cat1! I was and still am pretty pumped about that. I didn't wait around for the results as there seemed to be a big cluster eff, but I contacted Matt and he's going to mail me my $50! I'm not in it for the results but it's a nice validation of all the work I've done on the bike in the last 4 years. Who knows, maybe I can make it to the top step by year's end, but I am certainly enjoying the journey.

For number geeks:

1st lap 1:00:51

2nd lap 1:03:24

Finish 2:04:15

19.80 miles, 2458' climbing

Coyote Ugly

I should have taken James Harmon's words to heart when I asked about Coyote Hill's mtb course: BRUTAL.

Headed up early with (40-49) Root 66 series leader Brian Cantele and his wife Andi for what would be a 3+ hour drive. We dropped off Andi and her trusted Giant in the neighborhood of Walpole, VT for her (what would be) 5 hour slog to the race in 20+mph headwinds. She gets the tough (wo)man award for the day.

Arriving at the race venue, I soon realized what Brian meant by terrible accommodations. It's bascially a narrow pitched dirt road that you just park on the side of. Warming up, my legs felt like cement pistons and I was thinking that this was going to be a sufferfest. At the start, I saw some familiar faces from the previous 2 races I've done.

I'm still getting the hang of this whole mtb race thing. It seems I can't get my effort dialed in just right. My miles being primarily aerobic on the road, I suppose going anaerobic repeatedly over a nearly 2 hour period is going to take some getting used to. In essence it's a glorified cross race. Being a notoriously slow starter, the first mile or so was tailored more to my strengths. The deal was they sent you through a field that kicked up and out onto a dirt road. The dirt road nagged on for another kilometer or so at a solid 15% grade. Near the top, it shot you into some fast swoopy singletrack which provided for ample recovery. They had started us 30's with the singlespeeders and I was wishing CB2 was there for "carrotting". I got into the woods about mid-pack which is significantly better than my previous starts. I seem to get this anxiety thing through the techy stuff when someone who is better than me starts breathing down my neck. So being the (too) nice of a guy I am, I usually let them pass when it opens up. I know, I know...

After the swoopy descent, we were back to a climbin' in the form of a techy, rocky kicker that was pushing 20+% gradient. I was thinking that this was going to be a whole lot of "fun" on the ensuing laps. The singletrack after this point just got progressively more technical. I kept the usual suspects in my sights with Robbie Carmen and Kerry Robair just ahead and Craig Kennedy a few seconds further up. Kerry ended up flatting or something on a rock garden in the first lap and I had to dismount and run by him. There were several small brook crossings and myriad roots to traverse. My feelings about roots became eerily reminiscent of my feelings about rocks toward the end of hiking Mt. Washington. This course was far and away the most technical to date. I would give this course a solid 8.5/10 whereas Winsted is maybe a 6.

I picked off Robbie in the feedzone after semi-attacking in the field. (Sorry if that was against mtb etiquette, Rob.) I began to find my legs on the beginning of the 2nd lap and absolutely cooked the dirt road climb before the singletrack. I think I picked off 3-4 riders here including Craig. I hit the singletrack descent as fast as I could in order to "disappear" but keeping in mind that "I still have to go to work on Monday". It's interesting to note here how much slower the better technical riders get when they're tired. Rode the 2nd lap primarily by myself until someone was coming up hard. I didn't look back but I was thinking that it had to be a junior as the way he was railing the rocky root descents, he wasn't thinking about tomorrow. I let him pass and paced off him for another 10 minutes or so until he disappeared.

The deep mud sections were getting worse and I dismounted and ran for probably 2 minutes each of the last two laps. I started to think that a little running maybe a couple times a week would be beneficial for times like these, especially when my calves felt they were being blowtorched. My 2nd and 3rd laps were faster than my first which again is indicative of my pathetically slow starts. I felt like I was maintaining speed much better "over the roots and through the woods" and braking much less. I ended up in 6th about 7 minutes down to the winner after being (again) misinformed that I was 4th. Oh well, the elusive podium will have to wait. If only three guys ahead of me had untimely mechanicals...

All in all, it was another positive mtb race experience. I feel like my tech skills are coming along nicely particularly on a course as tough as Coyote Hill. Brian won again despite being (finally) pushed a little on the final lap. James represented well in the Pros finishing 4th. After feeling like I fought an hour and 45 min. MMA match, I sit here with battered body wondering how James did 4 laps of that course on a single speed with zero suspension. Crazy.

Giro

What an interesting Giro it's been. I like how the promoter likes to push the envelope, particularly with the stage of the strade bianche that Cadel won and today's nasty hillclimb time trial up Kronplatz. No hiding there, just straight watts per kilogram my friends. I guess I like the unpredictability of stage outcomes with the stage where 50 some odd guys got away and gapped many of the favorites by close to 15 minutes. This last week will be beyond epic. I'm getting tired just thinking of it. I can't imagine how those guys are feeling some 2+ weeks into it. I'm really rooting for Cadel or as an outside shot, Sastre. I'm still waiting for this bump in form that you usually see from him.

Tough ride tonight, 50 miles, 3700' climbing, 18 mph avg. Felt pretty strong on the climbs despite mtb race Sunday and spirited hike with Em up Mt. Alander yesterday. Creaking bottom bracket needs to be attended to asap. I'm thinking tomorrow would be a good day off, maybe I'll mow the lawn. Probably encountered the biggest douche ever in the 4 years I've been riding. Hanging out the window, I get:

"Nice tights, asshole. Do you suck his dick?" (referring to Mark who I was riding with)

It really goes beyond my commenting but I'm still some 3 hours later looking for the humor in that one. I will say that if that were my kid I'd be thoroughly embarrassed.

Old school "training" and racing...

Or shall I say, down to. I've dropped ~8# over the last 3 weeks, currently a svelter 152 and change. Definitely feeling faster on the climbs. I've started riding my CX rig with a large water bottle weighing ~.3kg about a month and a half ago. I've since graduated to a smaller bottle half-filled with sand at ~.5kg and finally about a week ago, a full bottle weighing a full kilo. To tell you the truth, I don't really know it's there, probably because I've lost more bodyweight than I've put back on the bike with "training bottle". The bike with "training bottle" and full large water bottle weighs over 22# and pedaling this thing around has without a doubt made me significantly stronger. To check my progress, I did my first real fitness test early last week on my unloaded cross bike on a nearby climb that rises ~400 ft. over one mile. I was surprised to see that I was within 3 seconds of my PR despite riding my unloaded CX bike at ~18.5# and my bw at the time was 154.5. Last year, when I set the PR, I was on my sub 14# Cervelo and my bw was 148. If my math is right, I'm producing roughly 7% more power than last year. It might actually be more than that if you factor in differences in frame performance (Giant TCX is a tad more noodly than the R3SL), drivetrain drag, and tire width (23 vs. 25). Whatever the case, I believe I'm onto something here and I highly recommend trying it, even if it means getting dropped from time to time. But hey, you've got nothing to lose: If I hang on the climbs, you get them thinking, damn, he's got a kilo of sand. Or if I happen to get dropped, well, you should drop me.

Speaking of Cervelos, I went up to Hot Tubes last Friday to pick up Black Betty. Toby did an outstanding job. Now all I need to do is buy new shifters, brakes and other miscellaneous parts. In the meantime, my buddy Brian has upgraded to a 29er so it was an opportune time to buy his Titus Racer X. The bike is multiple steps up from my Specialized Epic Comp. It weighed in at a scant 23.5# the other day with Stan's ZTR race wheels. I'm extremely happy with ride quality, as it climbs and descends like a missile. Now I just have to catch up to it. So yeah, due to some prodding from the Cycleworx crew or Cyclejerks as Brian calls us, and SS guru CB2, I've entered the world of mtb racing. I did my first race at Winding Trails (what better place I guess) as a Cat 2 and finished 2nd. Probably would have been victorious had I not entered singletrack DFL (30+ in field) and been taken out by a number of riders. Oh well, scored a nice pump and got to hang with infamous hilljunkie.

Upgraded to Cat 1 due to additional "prodding" from Brian. Would have been nice to actually win a race in Cat 2, but I guess I'd rather finish mid-pack against better competition. We headed up to Orchard Assault, with Cat 1 mtb license in hand, and no bottle holder to speak of. I believe the latter is what led to my undoing. I had one large water bottle and drank roughly 2/3 of it over a 2 hour period. It was relentless climbing with some swoopy singletrack. I think I had over 4000' over 18 miles. It was 7 laps of a 2.6 mile loop or so. I guess that's what you have to do when you only have a few acres to lay out a course. They lined all the Cat1s up together, the gun goes off and Brian was pretty much instantly gone. I am notorious for ridiculously slow starts but I managed to be middle of the pack and probably burnt too many matches in the first couple of laps on the climbs passing people. My hydration, or lack thereof, started to take its toll in the 6th lap as I resorted to having to granny this section that was probably pushing 25% gradient. My last lap was progressively worse and I got passed by 2 or 3 guys. I was glad it was over as my back felt like someone jammed a pitchfork in it. I crossed the line 9th out of nearly 30 starters. Not bad for first Cat1 race despite imploding in last 1/3 of race. Brian finished 8 minutes or so ahead of me despite numerous stops for mechanicals. James won his first Pro race while Josh rounded out the podium. On the bright side, at least I have strong riders to chase after (well for a couple of minutes anyway) in order to get faster.

Winsted Woods was yesterday. The course is literally in my backyard. I've probably done a dozen or so laps of the course over the last month so I knew the lines pretty well. Hey, due to mediocre tech skills, I need all the help I can get. Lining up, the 30-39s had I think 15 guys. Of course, going into the woods, who's in last place? Yep, me. I figured it would be a 2 hour effort so there'd be plenty of time to pick people off on the climbs. Besides, I'm down to an even svelter 151 so I'm feeling better when the grade pitches upward. (If only I could drop another 15# I'd be down in CB2 territory.) So I work my way up the field and I'm probably mid-pack when CB2 comes by halfway through 2nd lap. I gladly gave him a clear lane as to not impede his progress. The countdown was on when Brian would come steaming by and sure enough, maybe a minute or so later he came upon me. On the upper ridge of the course, he pulled me through the traffic, yelling encouragement. How he's talking at all I could not figure out. I guess when you're an anaerobic animal you don't need much O2 to supply power to the wheels. I probably picked off 4-5 guys during Brian's "tow". I crested the top of the rocky climb not far off him and I was glad to take a cup of water from the guy up there in order to rinse the vomit back down my esophagus that was slowly creeping up. I kept Brian in sight for another minute or so and then on another kicker he was gone, as he passed maybe 6 guys, including CB2. My last 2 laps were unceremonious. In retrospect (I know, I know) I probably could have ridden them harder. I caught and passed a few 19-29s and they misinformed me that I was in the lead. I rode tempo the remainder of the lap. I honestly could have done another lap if I had to which leads me to believe that I didn't go as hard as I should have. (This was definitely NOT the case at Orchard Assault.) I'm thinking that the new water bottle holder had something to do with it. I wish I had ridden harder though, as I was only 30 seconds or so from the podium. Oh well, I'll be there next year. James finished just off the podium with Josh in 7th despite numerous mechanical issues. That's a mental victory in itself. Brian blasted the 40+ field to smithereens and the venerable CB2 was victorious in the SS. Everyone came over the new house for post-race refueling. Sorry about the burnt veggie burgers, Charlie and Josh! I'd like to thank the lovely Em for cheering me on (as usual) and Kevin and Kara (with child) for their support as well.

Batten-killed

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29621036

That's what happens when you hang out in the back of the group on a windy day. BLOWN. I'm just now recovering, almost 4 days later. Fun stuff. I've found one positive to this experience: I now know I can pretty much red line for 3+ hours.

Looking forward to Winding Trails. Pre-rode course tonight on my buddy's Titus Racer X. Nice flowy course. See y'all Sunday. Hopefully it doesn't get too wet.

Battenkill it is

I guess alot of riders out there have shrugged off the entry fee increase and have decided to give the Tour of the Battenkill another go. As of this post, there are nearly 1500 riders registered. There has been a shitstorm and a half swirling in the blogosphere ever since the entry fee increase from $45 to $75 came to light. Arguments ranged from setting a precedent for higher entry fees, promoter price gouging, and the race not being worth the money, among others.

My ego does not have a need to race every weekend through the Spring and Summer so the whole argument of ToB raising enry fees in other road races in the area does not personally affect me. (If you are a regular racer, I do not regard myself as holier than thou, so my apologies for any offenses.) Something tells me that I doubt it will happen. And if it does, I'm sure you will see it get to a point where racers don't race due to monetary reasons and you will see entry fees swing back the other way to draw racers back. As far as a promoter making money on a race, I really don't care. Honestly, where my money goes is the furthest thing from my mind. Take for example a ride like D2R2 where entry fees actually go to a worthwhile cause. Preserving open space in Franklin County was not even on my mind; I was drawn to the incredible difficulty of the route. (Just ask National Cross Champion Jonny Bold) Here it is in a nutshell: What dollar amount am I willing to pay for a ride experience? For $75, I guess it's worth rubbing elbows with a bunch of 30 somethings for 3 hours while navigating sketchy dirt roads. And I don't care if I get a t-shirt. On the other hand, I'd personally love to do something like the Mt. Washington Hillclimb but I haven't warranted dropping $350... yet, anway.

Which brings me to the topic of riding with the 30+ category. I was asked yet again by my buddy why I'm racing the 30+ when "there are so many guys stronger than you". Well, it's a good thing that I don't race my bicycle to feel good about myself. Thank God. (Just for the record, for a "non-racer" I thought I fared pretty well last year- finishing 34th out of 90 finishers. And that was doing an ITT for over 20 miles.) My buddy goes on to ask, "Why don't you just do the Cat 4 and go for the win?" Well, I guess even if I was realistically in contention, the feeling of the "big win" is too fleeting for me. So yeah, I win and then I want to duplicate that feeling again so I have to race again and then I don't win and I'm pissed or I win again and I have to race again. It never ends. Not to mention, I hate to burst your bubble but on the grand scale of cycling, we all suck. Unless of course, Lance or Alberto happen to be regular readers of this blog. Doubtful. I guess it comes down to this: Why do I ride a bike? For me, the experience and feeling of completion is satisfying enough (and why wouldn't it? ehem) and if I need to race to see the fruits of my labors then so be it. There are plenty of riders out there who are strong who never toe up to a start line. I rode with a guy the other day (61 years old and strong as an ox btw) who rides 10K a year and never pins a number to his jersey. That really struck a chord with me. The guy doesn't have to get out and do 3 hours with 4 x :20 at LT or anything like that. He just rides his freakin' bike.

All this being said, I fully intend on improving on my paltry 34th place at the overpriced ToB this year. That may require some more structured training ala Friel, but I'll try and make it enjoyable. Watch, I'll probably flat out or crash but I'm hoping I got the latter out of my system on Smuggler's Notch.