Windy Ride

Out for an hour yesterday to the end of Mill Street and back. Wind sucked. One of the farms was boiling sap to make Maple Syrup, that was a pleasant smell for a 1/4 mile. Yummy.

DEA was supposed to meet at 6am this morning to lift, he bagged out. Some excuse about work or something. I think he just wanted to sit in his basement and stare at all his new parts (bike parts that is).

A1

Check

Race Face cadence cranks- check
2 FSA headsets- check
new headset press- check
Rampage 29er tires- check
Crank Bros- cromo BB- check
2 new Salsa frames- check
2 bikes ready to be stripped- check

all that is left to complete- downtube housing stops- on order
road bike cable set, brandy new- on order
outboard bearing tool- on order


Time to do it all- yup the girls are all in Florida for 5 days.

Ride this weekend?


later- DEA

Weekend Ride

Saturday was beautiful out and DEA called so we headed out for a spin. Considered the Kanc but decided on a less trafficed ride. Mill Street down to 153, then through Snowville to Eaton and back up to Conway on Stark and home. Pretty mellow to begin with trying to get my legs warmed up, which took a while. Mill St. has some decent climbing although it doesn't look it. Then we headed west on 153 towards Snowville. There's one good sustained climb right off then it rolls for quite a while. Pace picked up after the climb and we quickly were in Eaton at Crystal Lake. The rolls in the road make it hard to ride at a slower pace and it seemed like I was shifting constantly until DEA upped the pace, then it was much easier. DEA took all three town lines, and the Center Conway sign seems to be gone so no sprinting there. All said about 1 1/2 hours of saddle time. Monday DEA and I were back in the gym first thing. Legs felt good but we seemed to be taking it fairly easy. Legs feel good now, back to the gym Friday morning and hoping to get out tomorrow for a long road ride.

Time to go finish tileing the bathroom.

A1

Spring Ride - Long winded post

Yesterday was beautiful outside so I decided to go for a spin on the road bike to stretch the legs. As I'm planning to leave Nikki called from the salon and was on her way home, she had a workout at 1:00. So I waited and she joined me and we road up to 121 where she went in and I continued on, her workouts are 1 hour so I figured I had enough time to ride up to Jackson and back. Up 302 to 16a, started to think about Thorne Hill but decided that wasn't in my best interests since I ran Monday, lifted w/DEA Tuesday, rode w/DEA Wednesday night, lifted again Thursday morning and here it is Thursday afternoon. I stopped at Thorne Hill to take off some layers and decided to ride it. With each incline I kept telling myself that I'd turn around at the next pitch, then the next, etc. till I was at the top and rewared with the views of Mt. Washington. Down through Jackson back 302 to 16a and back into the village where I met Nikki and we headed North South Home. At Pudding pond we met up with a few Fryeburg guys I've seen at some races, they had ridden from Fryeburg (7 miles ish) and turned around to give chase. Nikki and I had a good tow going and they couldn't catch up until we hit the red light at Wallies World. I offed to let them go by which they replied "No thanks we'll sit back here for a while." Great thanks, off we go with Niki behind me and the two of them behind her through Redstone. She keeps yelling to me to "Go, go, go." Yeah sure, my legs are spent and I'm taking the wind. So I listened to her as I always do, now I'm in my big ring with one left in the rear and she's still yelling "Go." I went until the next intersection, maybe 3 miles and that was it, ready to explode. We stopped at the light and was thanked by the other 2 who said they'd let me pull any day as long as I didn't decide to run. There was no running in my legs at that point. They took off at the green light, and so did Nikki. Now I'm on the back and getting dropped. This can't happen,my wife can't drop me I'm thinking, but it was. So I put my head down and caught back on and was happy to be in tow at the back for the next 3 miles until we got home. Great ride and awesome weather. Just over 2 hours and about 35-40 miles in total, not bad for a gingerly spin. It's nicer out today but my legs are happy sitting inside, the Recover Ease seems to be helping. I tried the Energease before the ride and that seemed to help as well, we'll see. Nice to get out with Nikki and she's fast, once she realizes how to climb I'm in trouble.

Getch gave me a copy of ROAM so I watched that last night. Insane trails and riding. I gotta say though, I was disappointed. I heard so much about it that was kind of a let down. I can only watch people race downhill so long. Someone needs to make a movie where people actually are filmed riding up. Just my take.

Stopped by Bob and Terry's to get a 29er tube and talked to Ron, who hasn't been on his bike yet, sold his 29er and isn't doing Crank the Kanc and probably not the 24 Hours of Great Glen. Lets hope he changes his mind.

Weekend ride anyone?

A1

Good ride

A1 and I snuck out for a little over an hour last night, leaving the house at about 9pm. The temps were pretty good- low 30's and really no wind. It was a nice mellow pace (most of the time) and we cruised some of the camp roads that lead down to Conway Lake. We got about half way out and A1's light died. He's got an HID that has a 12 burn time, and the last time he charged it as three rides and over a month ago- oops. I guess he now knows the battery life! It didnt' really mater as we were on road or gravel so my light was throwing plenty of light for the both of us- and the added bonus for me was that he couldn't take off on me on the climbs as he needed my light! Of course when we headed up Davis a car was coming up behind us so A1 used it's light instead of mine and raced the car up and out of my view- eventually the pitch slowed him down enought that he let the car "win" and the dark inspired him to wait for me. I tried to show my speed on the top pitch- that lasted for all of about 100 yards and my mind thought better of it. All it all a good ride- nice to get outside in the dark for a spin.

Then it was a race home to get some sleep to meet up at A1's house for our 6am lifting session. Which we did, but without great enthusiasm. However we got through the routine and by the end we were starting to feel pretty good, but we were both glad it was done when it was done.

In other news got an email for Mike talking about the Jay Challenge which is on a one year hold. Here's their site with thier explanation: Jay site

Time for me to go order some bike parts so I can build the two new Salsa frames.


later,


DEA

I'm Back (Again)

This time was a 4 day excursion in Rangeley, ME. I've never been there before, and I must say it was a nice place. Lots of good restaurants and stores. We had two tents set up for the Northeast High School Championships at the XC Ski Center there, which also hosts the Saddleback Challenge in September and looks like some great mountain bike trails. I brought my bike in hopes of getting out since the weather had been nice, but as DEA showed with the radar that idea changed quickly. It was heavy snow and wind Friday night which kept us busy all night, and Saturday, 40 1/2 hours to be exact. I was glad to get some rest Saturday night. We stayed at the Loon Lodge, nice log cabin inn type place, and I had the best steak ever while I was there. So maybe a trip this summer there for steak and a little riding? Home for a while now with no other work trips planned for now which is nice.

Anywho glad to be back, lifted with DEA this morning, then started using my Recover Ease that came in the mail for me last week. Just waiting on my team kit from Wicked Fast Sports Nutrition and I'll be set to go. If anyone wants to try out their product let me know, they sent plenty of samples. DEA has already gotten some and I have some set aside for JJ.

Critter watch for the week:

32 Deer - All on the ride home.

Sounds like a ride tonight, I'm thinking of plowing a course off in the field at our garage for a little winter cross riding, any takers some weekend? Loser gets a white wash.

A1

Excited

I just checked the UPS site with my handy dandy tracking numbers and looks like I should be getting my new Lazer helmet and my two new Salsa frames from Bikeman today. I'm pretty stoked about that! Now I've got to order a few bits to build them out and then go ride!. I need headsets for both bikes- I'm a huge fan of King- but throwing down for two at once can be a bit painful on the wallet- then again..... Then the other big purchase is I need a new crank and BB for the road set up. The cannondale (the current road ride) has their Si crank and BB so it won't work on the Salsa. I have to admit I've fallen in love with the new Campy record ultra torque- but I have absolutly no reason to own such a fine piece of equipment- that and if I'm going to whine about at CK headset then what am I going to say about a carbon record crank! So I'll need to vibe on that a bit before I pull the trigger.

On the riding front I got out last night for a nice 1:20 spin on the surly. Managed to get out right after work while K had the girls as swim lessons- so I actually enjoyed a ride in natural light. I was nice to be able to see the world beyond just the spot of light from your head. The best part- I got home and K had a great meal on the table- perrrrrfect.

Then this AM A1 and I hit the weights, can't say it was super fun but good for me. We're planning to head out for a night ride tonight- (JJ, A1 and I) but we'll have to see what the temps are looking like as I heard it is going to be cold- like single to negative numbers cold tonight- hmmmm- have to see.

That's it from here.


later,


DEA

Ready for Spring

I got spoiled last week with those warm days and the sight of rapidly receding snowbanks. Then we had a good size storm rolling our way, oh well. I had considered racing in a nordic race on Saturday, but a skate race in over a foot of fresh snow isn't my idea of great fun- so instead spent the time sledding with the kids- which was a great time. Sunday rolled around and I was hell bent to get out and on the road. The temps weren't to bad- about 34 degrees but there was a pretty good wind blowing, gusting to about 30 at times. I took out the surly SS with cross tires and headed out for a spin. The roads in New Hampshire were in pretty good shape, but as soon as I hit the Maine line the plows must have given up the ghost as there wasn't a whole lot of black pavement- instead a lot of ice and frozen slush. Which is fine except for when your got cars behind you and they can't understand why you're riding out near the yellow line. Oh well- everyone was pretty good about it and nobody tried to put me in the ditch.

But the road condition motivated me to cut the ride a bit short as I didn't want to keep heading further into Maine as the conditions continued to worsen. The only downside was the trip back was right into the teeth of the headwind, which was fine but didn't bode well for keeping the heart rate down. Either way got in an hour and a half, better then nothing! Then of course I go and read Dicky's blog and feel like I should have gone and done my Kanc ride regardless. I hate getting shown up by a Southerner when it comes to cold weather riding.

As a side note did anyone else find themselves glued to the velonews live updates on yesterdays last stage of Paris-Nice? Damn that was a race. Looks like Disco has some young talent. Could be an interesting year.

later,


DEA

Long Ride May be on Hold

Well this is New England- so my hopes for a good road ride may have been dashed. But it should bode well for the skiing! Yeah that's us right on the line between 15" and the 18" to 24"- time to gas up the snowblower.

later,

DEA

ps- crank the kanc registration is open

Long ride needed

I was cruising the AM blog loop- FatMarc, Dicky and of course our buddy Blue and it got me feeling like we need to get out for good long ride. I've never done a century ride in March or April for that matter, and the thought of that is quickly becoming very appealing. Now just comes the making it happen. Hmmmmm.

I'm not sure a 100miles is a great idea with little to no base, so we'll need to cram in at least a 50 miler first. I'll have to try and make that happen this weekend. Any takers? I've got an XC race on Sat afternoon, but it's just for fun so I guess I could do it on Saturday. Sunday is also a good option. So any takers? One of the weekend days- leave at 7am be back by 10am- it would be a road ride- not sure of the loop.

Then we could look at the last weekend in March for a possible century. Thoughts?


later,

DEA

Back to the gym

A1 called last night and wanted to know if I would be up for a legs session in the AM. I said sure, knowing I didn't want to but that it would be good for me. I called JJ to see if he was interested, but he was tied up with a fantasy online baseball draft- priorities you know.

5:15 am and my alarm went off and I slowly got up, dressed and downstairs for coffee and yogurt with granola. Not the most inspiring breakfast but it did the trick, then over to A1's. Checked out his new truck before heading in- I'd never seen a pickup truck with a jake break- pretty cool. Then down to the basement for some pain- that just sounds bad. Nothing seemed to want to work quite right but we got it done. About an hour of lifting, then A1 hooked me up with some Recover-Ease and Energy-Ease, we'll have to let you know how they work.

No time on the bike today, and maybe that'll be the case until Friday, but let's hope not!

that's it for now.

later,

DEA

Slip, slide and away

Well as DEA said, we got out for an early morning gravel grind sunday. When we planned it 6am didnt sound so early. Forgot all about the damn time change. Would up having to get up at what was really about 4:30am to ride, that sucked. I knew something was wrong when I lloked outside and it was dark like night. Oh well, I was up and had not started thinking clearly yet so I suited up and headed out. After rolling around for about 10 minutes waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive and added another layer as I was feeling a bit underdresed, mistake. A few minutes later I saw a couple HID's heading up the hill towards me and it was DEA and A1. I could also make out a dark shadowy figure with them. It was Michelin Mike who was on a skinny tired road bike without lights. A brave soul is he. We started our ride and within minutes a plow truck passed us and none of us thought that was a good omen. He was not out to plow but to sand. It rained saturday night and the ground was still frozen and by sunday morning was pretty slippery.

Elevation for the Ride

After riding a couple good climbs we came to a road that has a very good pitch that we would need to descend. Problme was we would have need to borrow the Jamaican Bobsled to do it. Not a good idea on the bikes we were on, especially Mikes. We turned around and headed back to the ranch the way we came. The ride was a little shorter than expected, but it was still a good day. It was nice to get a group together for a ride as it has been a while. Here' the numbers form the Garmin Edge 305.

Total Time 1:10.32
Distance 9.22 miles
Ave. speed 9.3 mph
Elevation 1,180
Ave. HR 136
Max HR 182

JJ

Back in the Saddle

With the time change it felt like 4am when the alarm when off. I looked out the window and didn't see much other then black and could hear the water dripping off the roof. Oh how I wanted to go back to bed.

We had planned a gravel grind for the morning so I knew I had to get moving. I ate some oatmeal and slammed back and cup of coffee and slowly started pulling on the lycra. I hadn't really done anything in over a week and my body knew it, and my mind knew that my bed was still nice and warm. Oh well.

Out the door and the timing was perfect. I could see A1's light coming up 302 as I rolled down the driveway. We connected and began heading over the Pine Tree to meet up with Mike, who none of us had met but since he was up to ride at 6am in the ice and wet then he had to be ok. We met up and he pulled out a very nice looking S-Works with Campy Record and confidence inspiring 23mm slicks. I was sort of hoping he was putting that in the car for safe keeping and had a fat tire rig with him for the ride but he saddled up and off we went. Now we were planning to ride "roads" but a mid March Gravel Grind in New Hampshire at 6am often means ice, that being said Mike seems to have some impressive handling skills as he stayed upright the whole time. So Mike- Kudos and next time we'll detail the ride a bit more!

We met up with JJ on the climb up Davis where I was in the red way too early and wondering if I was going to be up for Gulf road. Slowly my legs came back to me and the rest of the ride felt pretty good.

We cut the ride a bit short as the full loop looked to be a bit sketchy and would have been downright dangerous on slicks so we spun it around at the top of the climb and enjoyed the freshly sanded descent of Gulf road.

For the ride I got in 1:40 of saddle time. A good first ride after feeling like death for over a week. Hopefully this will be the ride that gets us back on track in terms of "team rides".

later,

DEA

Placed my Order

So today was the cutoff for placing our Team Bikeman.com orders for Lake Bike Shoes and Lazer Helmets. So I will be sporting the new 2007 model Lake CX230 C road shoes in black. They sport a carbon sole so should be nice and stiff. I also am getting the 07 Lazer Genesis in Red/white. Both should go nice with the Team kit. Thanks to Bikeman.com.




Can't wait til May 19 and the first real event of the 07 season, Crank the Kanc. DEA, A1 and I will be signing up to give the TTT a go. Should be intersting.



JJ

Sunday Ride

Gravel Gride set for Sunday morning (March 11th) leaving Pine Tree school parking lot at 6am. Estimate a loop that should take under two hours.

A couple good climbs, warm up on Davis Hill and then the big climb is Gulf Road. Should be fun. Keep in mind- "Spring Ahead" on Saturday night so 6am will come earlier then you think but it will be a bit lighter then it has been as of lately.

see you there!


DEA

I'm back

It's good to be home. For those who don't know I've been in Northern NH (Coleman State Park) at the Snodeo for the past 7 days. The Snodeo is a 2 day event where the snowmobile manufacturers display the 2008 models. Lots of new cool things, especially the trike that Can Am unveiled for the first time, this one had two wheels up front and one in the rear. Anywho, we set 6 tents for the event. We finished setting up Tuesday morning (event was Friday and Saturday) then spent Wednesday and Thursday getting tables and heaters set up for the vendors. Beautiful weather all week then we heard of the snow moving in Thursday night. Oh well we can handle snow, just makes for a lot of raking it off the tents, no big deal. So Thursday night I go up to the park where the event is at 11:00 pm since the snow is starting sometime after midnight. Put the seat back in the truck and try to relax, then at 2am the wind starts blowing. Wind, cold, snow and darkness mean trouble for tents. For the next 18 hours the wind blew a sustained 60mph. We hustled all night and day and the next night to keep them tied down. We were fortunate they all stayed in place, with a lot of work. So I'm glad to be home, I think for the entire week I got between 15-18 hours of sleep as it requires lots of babysitting of the tents in winter conditions. I look at it as sleep deprivation training for 24 hour races. The event went off fine besides the wind, no one got hurt and we've already been contracted to do it again next year. Good times. Here's a few pics from the event although, these were taken a few days before the event. Six tents we set up, for every pin we put in we had to drill a hole using a 18 inch long bit that was 1 inch wide, then drive them in with 16lb sledge hammers, again training for this season right.




For the week I saw 2 moose, 4 deer, 8 fox, 4 raccoon, and 4 turkeys.

This week I have a rental at Downeast Bike, hmm maybe I'll trade that one. Then next week it's off to Rangely, ME to Saddleback Mtn. for 4 days of tent pleasure. Hoping the weather is better.

Looks like a nice weekend shaping up, any thoughts on a ride.

A1 tired SOB.

Being Sick Sucks

I've been enjoying the Flu (or at least that's what I think it is) for the last five days, and it's not that much fun. Last Friday was day one and I just felt stiff and sluggish and my head was a little funky. By Friday night I was starting to feel a bit feverish, but I had to host the Live Show on Sat morning so I was trying to just get through that. I made it through the show without fully losing it and then proceeded to spend the next 36 hours mainly in bed going from uncontrollable shivering to tropical rain forest type sweating and back. Super fun. Monday I had to go to Mt. Sunapee for a pitch, left the house at 6:30 am and got home at 9pm- felt pretty wiped. Then yesterday I had a meeting over in Vermont so I spent another four+ hours in the car. Today we had meisters so I got out and made my race run and then three others just to see how my body would hold together. It's amazing how good it can feel to do something after being a blob for about four days. The only downside was all the chunking of my lungs that would take place each time up the lift.

I realize I'm bitching and moaning about being sick, so not to much fun to read- sorry about that.

On a good note I saw that ASO and UCI agreed to get back to racing. I feel bad for the Unibet.com team, they're getting screwed on this whole thing. The reason being given about some French law and advertising betting is such a joke when ASO has made a ton of money from PMU, Lotto, and FDJ. I love France and have good friends in that country- but they're way of thinking sometimes is just off. Of course they say the same thing about us (like why do we work more the 35 hours a week- good question!).

Either way I'm glad to see Paris-Nice will take place, it would have been a major bummer to see that and other ASO events not have the big teams present. Can you imagine Paris-Roubaix not having Boonen, Bettini, or any of the other instigators on the start line.

Enought out of me, time for Theraflu.

later,

DEA

LOSTBO

Blue reminded me that I never explained LOSTBO- the name of a pub and glad up at Black Mountain in Jackson. Well it's time to explain so that Blue can start breathing again ;)

A quick bit of history- this guy Les Otten had bought and grown a little ski area over in Bethel Maine- Sunday River. He turned a little backwater into one of the premier ski areas in the east, and he really did do a fantastic job (side note many hope Les will buy Sunday River back in the coming weeks from ASC).

After Les did such a great job with SR he descided he wanted to buy more areas- first up our local hill here in the Valley (and a place I used to work) Attitash. He did some great things there. From there he went on to buy a whole bunch of ski areas from coast to coast and many skier types weren't to sure if it was a good thing.

Ok, back to LOSTBO- a player to remain nameless at Black didn't like what good'ol Les was doing and descided to name his pub LOSTBO Pub.

LesOttenSucksTheBigOne.

There you go, the background to LOSTBO. Les in case you're reading this, good luck in your bid on Sunday River. (hey you never know- maybe he'll Google himself and this is what he'll see).

later,


DEA


one last thing- Crank the Kanc has a new 3 person TTT format this year for ten teams. JJ called me last night to discuss options- hmmmmmm, A1 are you up for this? If you are you need to be in a "game on" frame of mind so you can just tow JJ and I. Here's the listing: Crank the Kanc