Great Weekend

This weekend had some great weather, mid 70's and lots of sun. I have had a good string of day riding going back to riding Sticks & Stones at lunch on Friday. Saturday morning I got out with DEA and a few other guys for a ride on Davis Hill. It was a good hour plus but I had to bolt early as I had to get home so the family could head up to Cranmore Mountain for a cancer benefit called Jens Friends Climb Against Cancer. They added a new MTB class to the event this year so I headed out for that with my oldest son D3 for a good ride though some fun terrain.

D3 on Sticks & Stones

Sunday we were planning on riding over in Cedar Creek, but thos plans got shelved and DEA, A1 and I hit the trail at 7AM for some more riding on Davis Hill. We ended up riding for close to 2 hours which was nice. Trails were in nice shape and the air was cool.



Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:51:18 9:29 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:37:05 8:17 pace
Distance (mi ) 11.72
Moving Speed (mph) 7.2 avg. 15.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +765 / -762

Avg. Heart Rate 138 bpm Zone 3.3

Temperature (°F) 55.4°F avg. 60.8°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) SE 1.7 avg. SE 3.5 max.





Got a ride in to work this morning and the legs were definately letting me know they are not used to this abuse. This weekend is a trip up to Kingdom Trails for a little camping, beer drinking and a whole lot of riding. Can't wait. KT is supposed to be one of the best places to ride anywhere. We shall see.

JJ

Floyd is a loser, as are all athletes

So the decision came down from the arbitration panel hearing the Landis doping case. 2-1 against Landis finding him a doper and imposing a 2 year ban. I must say I am not surprised at the decision. Not because I think Floyd doped but because I think the arbitration process is fatally flawed, at least from an American legal point of view. USADA is now 35-0 in these cases. What bothers me is the process more than the result. The WADA system basically says that once an allegation of doping has been made against any athlete, they are presumed guilty of doping. It is the burden of the athlete to now prove not simply that the allegation lacks merit but hat they are innocent of the charge. This is completely opposite from what one would expect in an American Court, even in a civil suit, let alone a criminal charge. To place the burden on the accused is unfair to begin with, then to make them prove their innocence at their own expense is unjust. There are times when I think the Euro way of doing some things may be better or make more sense but this is plain backwards.

I do not want to sound like I have been drinking the Landis Koolaid but these charges would never have stood the test in an American Court of law. The Government did not appear to be able to show scientific reliability of the test, that the testing lab followed generally accepted laboratory practices or that the results that were obtained were in fact reliable.

It just seems to me that if we are going to impose a ban on an athlete that can effectively end a career that they deserve more than a kangaroo court and a process that is set up in favor of the Government from the get go.

I suppose the reason that it is this way is because the whole anti-doping agenda has developed in response to a perceived epidemic in sports. While I in no way condone doping or believe that that it is good for sports, I never like making policy decisions in times of crisis. It seems to me that we have a very poor track record of making good decisions in times of crisis and generally overreact or over legislate a perceived crisis and not the reality that exists.

Regardless of this rant, Landis is done for 2 years at a minimum, 4 years is the actual reality. He'll be 35 at that point and with a fake hip, he'll be done riding competitively most likely. If this is a fair result for Landis, I just think he should have gotten a fair trial to impose such a sentence.

JJ, Esq.

Safety First!

I know someone who has these on their bike for winter/dark riding- pretty sweet- gotta get me some! Rock the Bike


Gotta go do a running race- well gotta go to a running race and push the jogger with little E while big E runs. Should see JJ up there.

Tomorrow will be a bike day- TGIF


later,


DEA

Cross Season

It's that time. Now before I start talking about cross racing it's important to note that I really suck at cross racing- I love it but I've got a lot to learn. I've been giving it a go for three seasons, so this will be the fourth- and I'm hoping to have at least one clean race this year where I don't find myself looking up at the sky wondering how I got onto the ground, or totally blowing a remount and singing a few octives to high.

But I really do love cross racing and the reason is it's so much damn fun that the amazing amount of pain that you feel while you are racing doesn't seem so bad. It's anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour of all out pedalling and seat of your pant bike handling, with a bit of jumping on and off your bike at speed thrown in for good measure. You get to race the course a number of times so despite the fact you get tired you actually get better/faster as the race goes on as you find the sweet lines.

Plus you get to go and race and then after you get cleaned up and grab a coffee or beer you get to watch the best in the country do their thing- and try to figure out how the heck they don't fall on their face when they get off their bike when they are going that fast.

This year I'm running gears again for cross season, which I'm pretty psyched about. SS is great for mountain biking or crazy strong cross racers- but not for me. I'm hoping to be able to hang a bit more this year.

I've rebuilt my Jake the Snake and am trying to make it fit a bit better. I had planned to work with JJ to have it become part of his quiver but I got cold feet- I think the idea of four bikes leaving me at once was to much for me to handle so I spent a pile of money to try and make it fit better- so far so good (sorry JJ!) In hindsight (if this works) it'll be worth while as it weighs a GREAT DEAL less then the Surly Cross Check. I set it up with bar end shifters and while it's taken awhile to get used to them I kinda dig them! A wider bar and a layback seatpost and it's feeling pretty good. I think I do still need to go to my long 120mm stem, I'm running a 100mm right now but once I do that I think I'm golden. Now I just need to learn how to ride the damn thing!

On another note I saw a cool article by Lenord Zinn about getting kids into cycling and they had this picture:

Makes me realize that when I use Mountain Meisters (our weekly downhill ski race) as an excuses to not ride into work on a nice day that I'm just being soft!

That's the story at the moment.

Get out and ride.


DEA

Its about the benjamins

In reading DEA's rant, there are a couple big differences I see in comparing American Pro sports to those in Europe. The first is labor unions. The sports in this country have well organized labor unions which collectively bargain with owners for specific contract rights that cover everything from product licensing to health insurance. As far as I know the pro cyclist has only his agent to work on his behalf. The unions in some US sports have become so powerful they bassically run the league, take the NBA for example. Secondly, pro sports here have for the most part ownership that is into making serious money and understands that in order to put buts in the seats or sell TV ads they need a product that people want to watch. The prime example is the NFL. Another even better example is Major League baseball. If you look a baseball in the 80's & 90's they had significant problems with labor relations and as a result there were strikes and lockouts. This hurt the marketability of the sport. At about the same time, steroids and other performance enhancing drugs were becoming more available and more widely used in baseball. Baseball at that time had no testing policy or were most of these substances even banned. What happened was home run rcord began to fall and the fans came back. Who doesn't want to see a monster home run when the go to a game. Well baseball ownership profitted and began to market the home run and bsaeball returned from the grave, many think largely due to the benefit of steroids and the like. Now that the steroid issue has become politicized baseball and other professional sports leagues have had to deal with it because of the bad pr it has brought with it. They have, with the aquiescence of the labor unions instituted drug testing and suspensions for violations, but they pale in comparisson to the number of banned substances or suspensions handed down for violations when you view them against their international counterparts. Why? Because the US sports owners know that if they ban the product that the people want to see, they won't watch. DEA will still watch the Patriots even without Rodney Harrison for 4 games, but if they started banning big name players for years or careers it would potentially become a serious problem. Many folks consider steroids as cheating, I would submit that the sports leagues here do not. At least not is the same vein as point shaving or fixing a game or gambling on your team as a player or coach. If there was a concern that performance enhancing drugs were affecting the outomes of games here, there would be much more of an outcry as Vegas would not be able to make the $$ they do. The validity of an outcome of a game would be compromised and that would or could mean the death of a sport. Until the cyclists organize or there is strong ownership in the sport I do not see there being any real progress on this issue. What the progress would be I don't know. Maybe more reasonable suspension and more relaible testing at a minimum. Guess the bottom line is as long as there is money in the sport there will be people looking for whatever edge they can get to win, even if it may cost them their career.

JJ

a new site is born

A good friend of mine recently launched a new business, so for those industry types looking for someone to work with them on sponorships you should check her out: Align Partnerships

Her husband is also a great action photographer and he covers a lot of ski and cycling events in the area, his site: Keeler Photo

Beautiful day out there- can't wait for the ride home!

later,


DEA

Frustrating

I'm a fan of the New England Patriots and have long enjoyed watching the Pats defense put up impressive showings year after year. One of my favorite defensive players has been Rodney Harrison, I just love the way he plays 100% all the time. In a twisted way I've found that his recent admission to using HGH as almost enlightening in the wake of the way cyclists deny, deny, deny. But then I started thinking about it and there is a reason that the cyclists deny, deny, deny- the penalty in the NFL is laughable in comparison to what happens in cycling. Harrison used HGH, got a four game suspension. Bernucci from T-Mobile used a baned appetite supressant and has been fired, and will now face a FOUR year ban from a Pro Tour team (granted he can come back after two years to a Continental Team).

I guess what burns me most about this is you read the mainstream sports reporters and if a cyclist tests positive it is the lead of the story about cycling, in the NFL you almost had to search out the Harrison story- it's as Coach Belichick said "an unfortuante incedent". You want an unfortunate incedent- Tom Danielson's season.

Do I have a point- no (there's a surprise) it's just something that ticks me off about how cycling is percieved. Oh well time to get over it!

Onto other thoughts- I was glad to see Tyler Hamilton's name in the results of both the TT and Road Race at Nationals. I'd like to see him back in the pro ranks. It bums me out to not know what the story is with him and his on going struggle. If he did dope I wish he would just come out and say- yup I did it- I did my time- I'm sorry, I was stupid- now I'm going to go back to racing and putting on a show. It's good to wish.

Well that's it from here.

ride on,

DEA

Labor Day laboring

DEA and I got our for a nice ride in Cedar Creek and neighboring areas Monday morning thanks to the holiday. It was a nice dry, sunny, but chilly one.

Google Earth Map

A good chunk of the ride is twisty singletrack with very little elevation cahnge through paine barrons and nicely wooded areas. After a bit we decided to head up to the Mineral Site trail and then takes you ona fun descent through Sherwood Forest. As you can see ofrm the elevation below, the climb is basically up and up and up some more. We were both running our SS's and I was wishing I had gears. A few months agoe we did this climb and I was the first to the top, not this day, DEA cleaned my clock as I was suffering or should I say laboring.

Elevations

Once at the top we stripped off the vests as we were plenty warm at that point so we snapped a couple pics.

DEA


JJ

Overall it was a great cap to the long weekend and we topped it off with a stop for coffee and donuts whcih were well earned, not that we needed them.


Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:37:28 8:48 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:19:11 7:09 pace
Distance (mi ) 11.07
Moving Speed (mph) 8.4 avg. 24.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +834 / -831

Avg. Heart Rate 145 bpm Zone 3.7

Temperature (°F) 62.6°F avg. 68°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) N 2.3 avg. N 4.6 max

If anyone is interested in a 2005 Yeti 575, medium in Team Yeti Tirquoise, let me know. I have one for sale.





JJ

A good three days- now back to work

My vacation is about to come to a close, but I've got to say the last few days have been pretty good. On Saturday I got out for an hour spin on the fixie- road a loop that I do somewhat regularly and just about tore my legs off- it a good way! Then I took the girls over to Ham arena for some time on the ice- which was a lot of fun. We need to take advantage of that more often! Then yesterday A1 and I went out for our gravel grinder which ended up only taking us 2.5 hours, which was a lot less then it did last time! I managed to clean Moonie hill- admittedly in ugly fashion and A1 spent a good few minutes waiting for me at the top- but at least I cleaned it- now the next goal can be doing it with a bit more style.

Then this morning JJ and I got out to Cedar Creek for a bit over an hour, hopefully he'll post his data on the ride. It was good to get out and ride some singletrack that I don't know that well. We'll have to try and get JJ and A1 over there all at the same time after work one day this week.

Time to go mow the lawn and listen to Coach!

later,

DEA

Bugging Out

Wednesday I got out for a road ride with Nikki. We did the East COnway loop, 15 or so miles. Riding East Conway Road is quite rough and I forgot how bad it is down past JJ and my old neighborhood. What was worse was the bugs about a 1/2 mile before Shermans Farm. At first it started with a few hitting me, then more and by the time we turned and headed towards the Maine line it was a black cloud of little bugs. So thick I had my head down and couldn't stand it. Nikki stayed right on my wheel to keep from being pelted. At Weston's bridge we stopped and had to clean my eyes out. Nasty. Knee felt better, although the stitches were pulling a little. Took them out last night so hopefully it feels better for tomorrow's gravel grind.

Next year? Not sure, I'd like to do a 100 mile ride like Cohutta 100. Maybe go to Michigan and do the Ice Man Cometh. We'll see, Porky Gulch is in a few months so maybe I'll ride my bike a few times before that and get in some some sort of shape for that. Cross season starts soon, and the Great Glen series. Nikki's excited to do that so maybe I'll give it a go on the SS. We'll see, time for another Coffee, maybe I'll make it in my magic bullet.

A1

Ride Report for Wed.

I snuck out of work a little early with the hope of getting out a nice long ride. I didn't get started as soon as I hoped but DEA and I did get out for over an hour and a half of riding. We rode some new stuff, not really a trail though, rode some old stuff and had a good ride. One thing I am certain of is that I have lost any real fitness I thought I might have had 2 months ago. I just have no reserves, nothing in the gas tank. I sorta laughed reading DEA's post prior to this one as he is dealing with being 35. Guess that explains why I am such a mess, 35 was years ago for me, so far I cant see it in the rear view mirror, even with my reading glasses or bi-focals.



Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:30:59 8:53 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:18:14 7:38 pace
Distance (mi ) 10.23
Moving Speed (mph) 7.8 avg. 17.8 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +747 / -757

Avg. Heart Rate 152 bpm Zone 4.1

Temperature (°F) 83.3°F avg. 87.8°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) S 5.2 avg. S 9.2 max.


DEA does pose some interesting questions about next year. I entered this season with some goals, but really only met one, to race on a fully ridged SS and be competetive with geared racers. Other than that ther rest is history due to my inability to stay upright and not damage myself. As a result my main goal for 2008 will be to stay healthy and see where that takes me. Probaly not too far considering I'll be 40 next year and at my advanced age unable to be competative with the kids out racing, not that I ever was. Oh well, its all good.

Sold a couple of bikes for DEA and now I have a new to me road frame that I need to build up and maybe even a cros bike for the fall. Anyone want to buy a Yeti 575? I need some room in the garage.

JJ

vacation messing with my mind

It's been a good week away from the office. I've gotten out on my bike a few times, took the kids to Boston to go look at big and small fish, went up to GGTOC so Lillo could do the running race, sold a bunch of bikes (or I should say I bartered with JJ to sell the bikes for me because I'm to lazy), and have had a bunch of time to think.

Next summer I'll be 35, and according to the good people in the science world I'll be looking at my athletic peak in the rear view never to see it again. Of course that is assuming I had an athletic peak at any time in my life. But I'm having a hard time buying that I'll be in slowdown mode. It got me to thinking, what would I really like to accomplish next year? Well I'd like to make the podium in the Solo SS category at Great Glen. That's what I'd like to do. The only issue is that this past year was the year to go for it- JJ was on the sideline and A1 wasn't in kill mode at the race- so while 18 laps would have given me a shot at third this year- next year I'll have both JJ and A1 going for it as well. And that is a good thing.

This year I have yet to ride a century on the road. I haven't gotten up for a 5am ride in a LONG time. I haven't gone out and ridden in the woods for 6 plus hours finding new trails along the way. Last summer I did that and it was great. I learned a lot last year and this year and I think I can take that knowledge and do something with it.

Plus I'll start listening to Tony Robbins "Unleash Your Personal Power in 30 Days" again! Call this man Coach

Yes I bought this off an infomercial- along with my Total Gym and Little Giant ladder. Just you wait- I'll have one of those Magic Bullet blender things in no time. Tony will be my coach, the Total Gym will be my core workout, the ladder- not sure, but it weights a ton so moving it around could be a work out, and that handy dandy blender thing will help me with nutrition. Now I just need to call the psychic hotline and find out how I'll do next year and then skip all the training and call it good!

So there you go, I have a goal, no plan yet- but at least now I know what I need to plan for! I'll be interested to see what A1 and JJ think.

Back to this season, Porky Gulch is just a couple months away- I'd like to do well at that race. Here's a cool video from last years race:

That does it for me- time to work on my plan (that and do some laundry and take the kids to their doctors appointment, and do some grocery shopping and..... damn I love vacation!)

later,

DEA

Weekend ride?

A1 stopped by yesterday to get his BB tightened (that just sounds wrong) as he was heading out with his wife for a road ride. I tried to convince him to go out on a dirt ride with JJ and I, but he was set in his ways. Before he headed off he threw out the idea of a long gravel grinder this weekend- basically doing the ride he and I did last Christmas Eve- so that's the plan this weekend- I think Saturday (late edit- make that SUNDAY) AM- leaving 5:30ish. Not sure of the distance but I'd guess it'll be a good four to five hour ride with lots of climbing- any takers? If you want in let me know and we'll get you the details.

later,

DEA

Bike for sale

The 29er thing has bit me full on and I have a few 26" wheel bikes that I just haven't ridden. One being a Santa Cruz Blur that I haven't ridden in one year. It's a shame that such a fine bike not be ridden- so it is time for it to have a new owner.

So here are the pics- if you have any questions let me know. The price is $1500 plus shipping. And the buyer gets a limited edition, highly collectibles TWAF t-shirt!

It's a size large frame (19"), it's been ridden but well taken care of.








It needs a good home!

later,

DEA

Great Glen/Importech Race #8

Tonight was the last race for the season in the Importech Summer Mountain Bike Series . The race is a weekly series that runs in a Time Trial format where you race against the clock. It can be real tough since you are not really racing anyone head-to-head and just try to go as fast as you can.

I missed the last 5 weeks due to my damaged body parts. So tonight I figured I had healed enough to give it a try. My goal was to ride a clean lap and to see if I could place in the top 3 in my catagory. I was the only one running a SS so it can be a disadvantage on this course due to the layout. I warmed up by riding the first half of the course and inspecting the most difficult section that I had not been on in over a month and wanted to see what shape it was in since the 24 HR race a couple weeks ago. Overall the course was in nice shape as we have not had any real rain in about 3 weeks. The only problem from that was it was so dry that it was getting sandy in places and traction was becoming an issue in places, particularly on some climbs andin some of the faster corners. Oh well.

My race started out OK and I felt like I had descent legs. Once I came into the Whiplash section of the course I was determined to ride it clear, which I did. Problem is I think I basically burned every match in the book doing it. Once I came out of there I cought a few other riders which is always fun doing on a SS as you go past them and they shake their head at you.

By the time I was about 2/3 of the way through I just didn't have a lot of gas left in the tank to keep the cadence up as high as I needed or wanted. THe final stretch is an uphill climb across a grassy hill whihc always sucks and it did even more tonight. As I rolled across the finish I was quite pleased that I completed my first race since the crash at Pats Peak. 5 weeks of no racing has definately taken its toll on my fitness and race legs.

Once the results were posted I felt worse about my effort. I placed secong, but I missed first by a single second. Guess thats one thing about the TT format as you have no idea how other riders have riden, but with a margin that close its easy to second guess your ride and think of places where you could have made up a couple seconds here or there. I should just be happy to be back in a race, but I was bummed to be so close to first. Next race is the 2007 Red Jersey Summer Race Series
on 9/15 at the Bear Notch Ski Touring in Bartlett, NH. Come on out, its a great event and another race in a TT format of a fun course with a few river crossings just to make it interesting. See ya in the woods. Finally

JJ

Crap like this scares me

I hate reading stuff like this It freaks me out to realize how vulnerable we are when we are out on the roads, and that no matter how careful you are there are others who are in a much better position to kill you that aren't always that careful. I know we ride at night a lot and we try to be as visible as possible (not sure what type of lights he had on if any)- and I'm sure if he didn't have lights that will become a major bone of contention.

I don't know any of the people in this story, but I'm in Concord a fair amount and it just seems to hit home. I hope this guy pulls through, my thoughts and prayers go out to him.

Stay safe out there.


ride on,


DEA

First real action on a MTB in 5 weeks

Got out today after work for an hour. It was the first real test of the shoulder and elbow since my last crash/mishap. Felt pretty good but arm is sore. Still not comfortable descending for some reason. It will come, I hope. It was good to just get out in the woods and try to knock some rust off.
Elevations


Not sure that putting the 18 tooth cog on the rear end was a good idea considering how little riding I have been doing. It was a lot of work and the climbing that we did was really difficult. Time to go back to the 20 or even 22 maybe. Ordered up some 700x40 cross tires to atempt to run on the 29er for cross season. We shall see how that experiment goes. I have gotten mixed reactions about doing this with this tire on the Salsa Delgado 29er rims.



Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:27:49 11:25 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:59:02 7:40 pace
Distance (mi ) 7.69
Moving Speed (mph) 7.8 avg. 17.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +686 / -688

Avg. Heart Rate 146 bpm Zone 3.8

Hopefully I will feel well enough to give the last race of the Importech Summer Mountain Bike Series a go on Thursday night. It would be nice just to ride it let alone try to get on the podium.

Later,

JJ

Nice weekend in Canada, eh

Well the wife and I took our road bikes up to Mont Tremblant for a nice weekend getaway. Spent Friday night in Montreal and did some walking around, eating and drinking. It was nice to get to a real city for a change.
Condo

Saturday we headed up to Mont Tremblant. Got there around 4PM and checked in. We ended up at a pretty nice place. Much nicer than we expected. If you have not been to Tremblant before, its worth a trip, even if not in the winter to ski.

Sunday morning we headed out for a spin on the bikes in the morning to get the blood flowing. There are quite a few roads around that have a few hills and it looks like there are quite a few trails for the MTB. That will be the next trip if not in winteBike ride
r.

Later on Sunday we went to the Acrobrance Ropes/Zip Line Course. It was really cool. Definately a great workout.
Ropes Course


Zip Line


Got up Monday and went for another bike ride. THen took the GOndola up to the top of Tremblant. Some great views I must say. Overall a nice escape with much Canadian Ale consumed.

JJ

This is cool

I wish I had been in the initial design concept meetings for this!


The new Bontrager InForm saddle fitting system. : Step One: sit on the InForm fitting bench.

later,

DEA

Weekend off the bike

I'm trying to rember what my bikes look like, actually that's not true, I know what they look like as I walked by them on a regular basis over the past few days.

With K being over in France and me playing the role of single parent it's been tough to get out for rides. I'm not sure how the single parents out there do it! In some ways it's been nice to be off the bike as I'm really itching to get out and ride. I've been looking at the Surly and thinking about cross season, and then I got an email from Team HQ about ordering cold weather team clothing for Cross season. Hmmm, should I scare the world and put by beer gut into a skin suit? I know the answer to that, but the possible comedy is tempting!

This past weekend I traded in my trusty (LOL) SAAB and picked up a brandy new Honda Fit

I like it, it reminds me a lot of the way the old Honda CRX used to drive, but with more room. Now I'm anxious for the next fill up to see how the mileage is actually stacking up. I've read anywhere between 35 to 45 mpg- so we'll see. Of course the way it works in my world is that we got a new car so that's goes to K and I get her car- so I'm going to be driving the Ridgeline- which is a great truck but gets crappy mileage- so my gas bill just went up- time to up the amount of commuting!

This past weekend was the Mount Washington Bicycle Hillclimb- which got cancelled due to weather. This summer the Mountain just hasn't wanted to be ridden as Newtons got cancelled as did the weather date, and now the big race got nuked due to nasty weather. I know it's known as a tough race with rugged weather- but 80+mph wind, sleet, ice, poor visibility etc is just way to dangerous. According the Howie they had volunteers at teh summit just gettting slammed to the ground by wind so being on a bike would have been impossilbe. I remeber one year in 35-50 mph winds getting blown off my bike more then once. Nothing like going up hill at 3-5mph and getting body slammed to the ground. They made the right call for sure, you can always tell the first time racers as they piss and moan about the organizors being wimps- anyone who has spent any time up on the Mountain knows you don't mess with it when the weather gets nasty- there's a reason over 180 people have lost their lives up there.

Onto happy news- Team Weak and Feeble will be applying for a ProTour slot next year with the UCI, we're in a tight race with Slipstream but I think we'll beat them out- they may have the whole argyle thing going but we've got a monkey drinking PBR!

Anyone up for a good ride this weekend?


later,

DEA

View from the course

Big thanks to JJ for working the pit for me, it really does help to see someone at the timing tent asking you want you need. Of course that being said I wasn't really riding in such a way that I was completely spent, but none the less it was nice! That and he brought a large pepperoni pizza up on Saturday night, that and a beer was quite a nice dinner.

As I had posted earlier I had three goals- I hit two- riding every part of the course clean at least once and getting in at least 12 laps, the third goal of riding the full 24 hours wasn't even close. I'd guess I only had close to 14 hours on the bike, and I really slept well from about midnight to 5am.

So now I sit here a day later thinking about what do I want to do from here and if I looked a full 12 months ahead what would I like to do at next years 24hogg. I have come up with a couple of thoughts- one is to race HARD for 3 or 4 laps, and then party like a rock star with other like minded individuals and then wake up in the mid morning and go back out to finish the last lap. Another is to go back to a team and race hard, then there is this thought in the back of my head of (I know I shouldn't write the) what would it take to make the podium in Solo SS? Or, the kicker- what would it take to win solo SS? Of course the issue with this is even though 20 laps won this year (I think) I know that Jason could have gone harder and longer and put in 21 maybe 22- but who knows. The thing with this is (as JJ and I discussed while hanging out eating pizza) is it's really hard to train the crazy hours without a major goal. Jay was a major goal because it just seemed so damn hard (the effort I put out at Jay was 3 times the effort I put out at 24HOGG) and just riding Solo SS isn't enough to really drive me to put in the long hours.

The flip to all of this- why do I care about a possible podium? Isn't this supposed to be about just going out and riding and having fun? Ahhhh, there is the $100,000 question! I think this is one of those places where you start wondering what you've got and how hard can you push, knowing full well you didn't push hard but also realizing that that fact will leave you asking the what if's for some time to come. The tough part about setting a lofty goal is that you hanging it out there there and you may fail. Goals like 12 laps and clean every part of the course allow me to feel good about my effort, but have risked very little.

Then again this would also mean rededicating myself to the bike not just for the simple love of riding a bike (which is why I ride to start with) but to dedicate to the actual training, diet, stretching, core strength, nutrition- etc. That could be a tall task.

Anyway what a great event yet again. Kudos to the organizors and all the riders and supporters. Can't wait for next year!

ride on,

DEA

a salute to DEA and the abenator

yeah, it's been a while, but i wanted to give a major tribute to these two maniacs who decided that rigid, single-speed 29'ers were a viable mode of transportation for a solo assault on the 24 hours of GG. that, and this is also a good time to acknowledge the unsung hero of that whole endeavor (namely dennis). even though a litany of injuries kept him from competing, that didn't stop him from being a constant presence throughout the event, acting as pit crew and drinking free, fine moat beer.

personally, i was fat and miserable throughout the whole thing. i would have loved being fit and miserable, but impending marriage and a lack of motivation has kept me away. i shall return, less fat and more motivated...

can't wait to hear DEA and A1's comments about their laps... i'm guessing there'll be curse words, gibberish and sorrow, and that's the kind of stuff that keeps me going.

mahalo to you two crazy bastards, and JJ, i know you'll be there next year.

nK

My take on 24 HOGG

Overall it was a good weekend at the 24 HOGG. Good weather, good food (Moat Mtn. Smokehouse and Brewery) and good people. I haven't been out on my bike a whole lot this summer so it was good to get out on a nice long ride. I had no game plan or goals going in since as I mentioned I really haven't had a chance to ride. At the start Sven and I let the field get way ahead as we new it gets clogged up on the first climb. First few laps were good and ended up riding 8 laps before calling it a night at 10:30. Course was getting slippery and I was fading. Went to the camper to rest with the thought of meeting up with Sven around 5:00 am. At 5:00 I rolled past his tent with no signs of life so off I went. Felt really good in the morning and ended up riding another 6 laps. Probably would have done less except I timed the laps wrong and with having to be on course at noon would have had to sit for a considerable amount of time. I also had Nikki pitting for me telling me to keep going. When I had 10 laps in at 7:00 am she was telling me I could get 4 more. It was good having her push me though as I'm pretty lazy and was already happy with 10 laps.

As always the people there were great, and there were only 3 of us on rigid singlespeeds. (Charles, DEA and I).
My favorite was the guy on the last steep descent (the chute) who yelled "Go crazy solo-singlespeed-rigid-guy" every time we'd ride by. Next year I might just drink beers and sit with him, cheering everybody on.

It was good to get out and ride, and I got to ride 6 laps with DEA on Saturday which was good company as always. We got to ride with Dave from Hooksett who follows the blog, and Sunday morning I rode some laps with Tom from VT. who was a fellow SSer, although not rigid. At one point he mentioned he was 49, and he ended up with 15 laps.

Next year JJ will be back but it was good to see him up there pitting for DEA. Not sure about riding it again on a rigid, but since I'm to cheap to buy a fork I probably will. My wrists are certainly sore.

A1

24 Hours of Great Glen from the Pits

Since I was on the sidelines for this year's race due to a few physical problems I suffered at the Pats Peak 12 Hr race last month, I was working the pits for DEA. A1 had his whole family up at the race keeping him going. The Race started at noon with the firing of the cannon. A1 and DEA decided that this race was a marathon and not a sprint and took it easy on the Le Mans start/run to begin the race.
DEA & A1 "Sprinting" at the start
Since both of them were riding their fully rigid, 29er, singlespeeds they were definately in a class by themselves.
DEA & A1

Unbeleivably there was actually a NK sighting at the race as Nick made his way around the course racing on a cruiser class squad for the Moat Mountain Bewery.
NK


There was one other Bikeman.com rider at the race, Jason Achilich. Jason also rode
as a solo singlespeeder and rode great.
Jason from Bikeman.com
I have to say that I was pretty bummed to be at this race and not be able to participate, but it was nice to see everyone else suffering a bit.
DEA


DEA had set a pre-race goal of 12 laps figuring that it would put him just ver 100 miles of riding for the race. At about 10:30PM on Saturday he took a long break and had 8 laps completed. I think he ended up sleeping longer than he wanted but when he woke up he didn't need lights anymore and headed out while being saranadd by someone playing the bagpipes. That was pretty cool. I made my way around the course snapping pics and making sure that DEA had what he needed for food and drink. At about 10:30AM Sunday moring, he had 11 laps in the bank as he went out for one more to get his 12 and be on course at noon so he could roll in and call it a race.

All in all, the weather was great, the crowds were as big as they have ever been and there was a signifiicantly higher nuber of female racers which was very cool to see. Hopefully this is the last big event I'll be on the DL for and can get back to racing in a few weeks. We shall see.


JJ

Countdown and rain

24HOGG is rapidly approaching and with it our drought has ended abrouptly and we've been getting a good chunck of rain this week and it looks like that will continue through the week. The good news is that the weekend (at least at this point) is looking ok.

My legs are feeling a bit sluggish at the moment, I had hoped to spin them out this morning but K needed to leave a bit early so I played school bus. I'll have to spin them out after work.

I started to make a list of what I need for the race and began to think about strategy and my eating game plan. It'll be good to have JJ in the pits making sure we (A1 and I) are eating and taking on bottles each lap. Hopefully he can also help keep our heads screwed on straight (that may be a tough task).

I'm hoping tonight to tear the bike down and clean it up and get the EBB and BB dialed in- right now it's creaking like an old farm house floor. The good news other then that I think the bike is in pretty good shape, I should pick up an extra set of brake pads and then I think we're good to go.

That's it at the moment-

Later,

dEa

Back on the bike

After 23 days on the couch I was finally able to get back on my bike. Damn that was nice. I have been trying to heal as fast as possible, but I'm not 19 like A1 anymore. I saw the Dr. friday and he said I could ride despite the fracture in my arm still being displaced. My shoulder is still pretty f'ed up and it sounds liek it will always look pretty nasty.




So tonight was the first opportunity to ride with the work/family/weather considerations. I got out for about an hour and decided to just peddle and not kill myself. It was very nice but I have to say that I was a bit nervous on the bike, sort of favoring my left arm and not wanting to lean on it too much. I opted to take as flat a route as possible to avoid getting out of the saddle and just spin. It worked and I got a good sweat on. My left shoulder was fine but my left elbow was definately feeling it where the fracture is. The worst thing was my forearm as it is so atrophied that I was fatigued very easily. That will come back, but having a weak arm definately affects your handling and more importantly tyour confidence. My goal for the ride was to keep the HR under 150 as much as possible and I was able to do that for the most part and still was rolling along at about 17mph which I guess is OK considering everything.

Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:04:22 3:34 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:04:01 3:32 pace
Distance (mi ) 18.04
Moving Speed (mph) 16.9 avg. 36.8 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +793 / -790

Avg. Heart Rate 146 bpm Zone 3.7

Back on the bike and happy.

JJ

Good news, bad news

I met with the Orthopedic Surgeon on Friday and got another set of X-Rays. Its never good to see the x-ray tech looking at the x-rays and grimacing and then asking you, "doesn't that hurt?" before she hands them to the Doc. So the fractured radius has not healed, the fractured bone is still 3mm displaced. I'm supposed to get another set of x-rays in 3 more weeks to hopefully see some bone growth there, if not I might have to go under the knife and get the bone removed.

The good news is that despite the bad news I was cleared to begin riding again, so long as I don't crash. That's a tall order. Unfortunately its too close to the 24 Hrs of GG to get ready so I will still be in the pits, but it will be nice to be able to get back on the bike and peddle some. I am beginning to feel a bit mushy after not riding in 3 weeks. I was hoping to get on the roads this afternoon but as luck would have it we are having a major rain storm. Didn't think riding in the rain in my condition would be too smart. There's always tomorrow.

JJ

Less then a week to go

A week from today I'll be still laying in bed wondering what it was that I did to my body and why does it hurt so much. My two kids will be jumping on the bed wanting breakfast and I'll be wishing my wife could have waited at least five more days before she headed over to Europe so that I could still by lying in bed.

This weekend was in many ways a bust. I almost didn't touch my bike at all, and wouldn't have except for the fact that A1 called last night and dragged me out for a quick 45 minutes in the fast approaching darkness. It was a very easy ride just to shake out the legs and chat about the coming weekend. In that chat I realized I have three goals, and here they are:
1) ride a minimum of 100 miles- so 12 laps. I'd like to get to 15 but if I hit 12 then I'll be ok with that.
2) I'd like to clean every part of the course at least once, I don't have to do it in one run, but over the course of the race I'd like to make it happen.
3) I'd like to ride for the full 24 hours. I realize this one is a major reach, but the good news is that if I pull it off then goal number 1 will have been reached in spades.

So there it is- what will the final result be- who knows. I'll be honest I haven't done nearly the prep that I would have liked to have done, but that is the culmination in a lot of choices over the past few months- a lot of 4am's that a rolled back over and went back to bed. It's amazing how Jay gave me a foolish confidence and that combined with the fact that I have better then 65 laps on this course over the past decade my fear of the race is lacking (and it shouldn't be). So we'll see.

Either way it should be fun. My biggest concern is my shoulders and arms, I think my legs can go the distance but the rest of my body may cause me some issues. I've got some Grayhound juice in the stick form that I'll use on my arms and shoulders to try and keep them loose and I'm going to put a couple of reminders on my stem, such as- slow and steady, don't chase above your pace, stay loose, walking is ok- I may add a few others but I need to remind myself (when I get to that point when I forget who I am) that there are some "rules" to this race.

Rain today, we may see some more all week- hmmmmm.



later,


DEA

NK back in the saddle

We finally got NK back out on his bike the other day for a good spin after work, that was joined by Michelin Mike and Sam (can't remember his last name). We rode out and did a spin of Sticks and Stones, Peaked Traverse, the lower section of the Cranmore access road and a few other odds and ends. I think we got close to an hour and a half of actual ride time.

My legs felt pretty good, I tried my hardest to stay on Sam's wheel on the climbs and on Sticks and Stones- but I'll be honest- I didn't stay there long! To be 17 again with skills and lungs- the kid has talent- we'll have to see where he goes. The worst part was after each section I'd roll up next to him completely winded and he looked like he hadn't even broken a sweat. Oh well.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was nervous about 24HOGG- but not much we can do now!

A1 got a new road bike, and one for his lady friend- I'll hopefully check the new machines out today.

Oh yeah- Mayo had a little special sauce in his blood stream- he has no idea how it got there.... I have to give the t-Mobile guy a bit of credit- he cheated, got caught, admitted it and is taking his lumps (2 year suspension, 2 more not UCI Div 1, and pay back a years salary- pretty hefy price to pay!). I think if we can get to a point where the cheats get caught and don't go to court EVERY time then we will feel like things are cleaning up, and maybe they are. If the controls are catching people then the system is at least working somewhat.

That's it from here.

later,


DEA

DEA goes on a Rant

In a recent msnbc.com article by Michael Venture he said that the Tour should close up shop and put the jersey in the closet until it is a clean sport, making reference to our USA stick and ball sports as being minor in their infractions. Which may appear to be true, simply due to how poor the testing is in the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB- put them up against the WADA code and then let’s sit back and watch.

I’m not trying to make the case that cycling is clean, it has an issue and needs to clean itself up and fast. Riders that are doping should be tossed completely. Before I was feeling like two years and two years off a Pro Tour team (four total) was an awfully long time- maybe it isn’t- assuming the tests are truly bullet proof.

But to say cycling is in a tougher moral spot then Football, which is trying to figure out how to incorporate ankle bracelets into the uniform code, Baseball which has a drug issue that is obvious based solely on the growth of players had sizes, Hockey which has to find ways to keep the ice from staining red after vicious fights that have nothing to do with hockey, and Basketball that has a bit of a betting problem. What’s my point? Athletes and the organizations have become big business and have long left the job of role model to other segments of the population (like maybe parents?). Funny how ahead of the curve Charles Barkley was when he famously said “I’m not a role model”

Any time sport or anything becomes business and there are big dollars on the line then cheating is going to take place. This is where sponsorships have hurt the world of sports, the teams need to pull in the sponsors for the cash so they have to win- doing your “best” just doesn’t cut it anymore. I have no idea what the answer is and I can’t imagine being faced with actually figuring out the “right way” to approach the issue at hand.

In a very sad way I liked the sport more when the cheating via doping was hidden and was just innuendo instead of knowing for sure. Call it naïve but then it was more just about the racing, now I spend more time wondering how long until the days winner gets tossed.

I wish there was a rider, currently doping- that would come out and say- yes I’m still doping and this is why. I want to know how many are getting away with it. The issue I have is doping used to be this cloud off in the distance, but the rationalization was that “everyone was doping so it’s fair”- but now some are caught and we don’t know if some are just better at beating the system while others aren’t. It makes my brain hurt. Or have we really turned a corner and the ones that are getting caught are the only ones left doping? That would be a nice thought- time will tell. I wish in the T-Mobile case that it had been their internal controls that had caught their rider and that they had tossed him. When one of those teams (CSC, T-Mobile, Sliptream) catches one of their own before the UCI/WADA catches the rider then I think we’ll be heading in the right direction and people will realize it isn’t just lip service.

I just don’t know, I need to go out for a ride.


DEA

Here we go again

The T-Mobile guy, then Vino, then a Cofidis rider then Rass"got dope up my ass"mussen- WTF- I think it's time TWAF really fields a UCI level team- although between beer and coffee who knows maybe we'd fail too.

Oh well, at least to VS credit they didn't dwell on it too much- which at first I thought was strange but then I started thinking about other sports- you get tossed adn that's it- the game goes on- so chuck them out and keep racing. Maybe in some ways this is progress????

Either way I still love riding a bike!

later,


DEA

ARGHHH

WTF- just when it seemed like we were coming out of the dark on all this crap...

Vino crushes us all!


I need a beer to go and cry into....

later,

DEA

Ok, I've had a moment to have my temper tantrum. What are these guys thinking? Either the testing is so poor that they only catch them 5% of the time so they are willing to roll the dice or these guys are dumb as sticks! Vino knows you get tested after a win- so do you dope and then win and think you're going to get away with it? These guys are messing with so much more then their own livlihoods- they're messing with the entire economy of cycling- they've just got to stop- or the UCI has to say screw WADA we are ok with doping and that's that. Arghhhhhhhhh.

Cram time

Three weeks until the 24HOGG and it's now cram time to try and get ready.

With JJ having gone out of commission during our test I still don't really know how I'm going at the moment. I haven't done an effort for more the four hours yet this year (yikes!) but that's ok- just have fun right?

Got out and road Hurricane Mountain Road yesterday in the afternoon and then got out for a mountain bike ride at around 7pm with the dogs. My legs felt ok, but HMR beat me up on the way up- but the recovery wasn't to bad. The worst part was going down- I don't know how the tour guys race downhill so damn fast (well knowing there isn't any upbound traffic has to help!)

Speaking of the tour- damn it's getting interesting! I'm a Vino fan as he is always racing, attacking and leaving it all out there. That guy is tough and it was hard watching him get shelled yesterday- but boy did he put on a show Saturday and again today- I hope he can have form again next year and stay upright! Time will tell.

As a long time fan of cycling it certainly feels like there is a changing of the guard. I need to learn a lot of new names in the coming years and I feel like there are other names that are starting to run out of time. Vino for the TDF, Hincapie for RPB, Miller for a legit WC in the TT, Hamilton to just ride again with a number, Horner for a WC in the road race. But with that said there are some new riders coming up who are exciting.

Back to 24HOGG, I've adjusted my plan and will run a 32x22 for the race. We ran those at Pats Peak and it made a difference. Yes it'll spin out easily but it will also mean much more time in the saddle and will force recovery on some of the flat terrain. It should be interesting! My revised goal is to ride 100 miles, so I think that is 12 laps. I know I had said 20 laps about a month ago- but that was prior to reality setting in!

That's it at the moment.

Ride on.


DEA

And the Doctor Says....

So after reviewing my x-rays the DR diagnosed me with a 3rd degree AC Joint Seraration which is a rupture of the AC ligament and the coracoclavicular ligaments, with displacement of the distal clavicle more than its full width.



The other problem is I was also diagnosed with an elbow dislocation with a resulting Radial Head Fracture.

Trying to break a fall by putting your hand out in front of you seems almost instinctive. But the force of the fall could travel up your lower forearm bones and dislocate your elbow. It also could break the smaller bone (radius) in the forearm. The breaks can occur at the wrist (Colles fracture), or near the elbow at the radial "head." As the upper arm bone slides back into its appropriate place after the dislocation, it can chip off a piece of the radial head, resulting in a fracture.


So the bottom line is that I am in a sling for a min. of 2 weeks with another set of x-rays to follow to see when I can get to rehabbing the arm and back riding. Anyone need an entry to the 24hrs of Great Glen as a SS solo?

Where did I put that percocet?

JJ

Tough weekend

If you haven't already make sure you read JJ's post below- as it goes into the medical details.

JJ and I headed down to Pats Peak early on Saturday morning ready to ride, or at least a little bit ready to ride. I'll be honest I didn't feel fully ready mentally or physically, but this was really just a test so I wasn't to stressed.

We rolled into Pats with plenty of time to hit registration, think about where to leave our coolers for our feeds and then chat with other riders about the course. We both were running 32x20's but that was because we had been to lazy to put on the 22's- but both of us knew that hte 22's would be making there way to our rear wheels.

The pre-race meeting was interesting, "NO RIDING ON THE LAWN" screamed through the PA, insults to the downhill riders and a complete slam of EFTA. Can't say I was super impressed with the way they present themselves (Pats Peak)- oh that and "I give up $20,000 in wedding revenue to put on this race..."- WTF? I just dropped $80 to ride my bike on a course that you just admitted was built with free labor and I'm supposed to feel like me riding there is out of charity? Not sure I get their MO. I can understand that not having a huge field means you don't make as much money- but I can also understand why they havn't grown the field by leaps and bounds- but that's another story. Don't get me wrong the people were nice, it's just there was a lot of dirty laundry being aired that just put a weird funk in the air (or that just could have been my bike shoes).

Ok back to the race- 3.2.1- GO! we run get on the bikes and start to ride. It was a pretty good course- ok flow and some fun singletrack. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was thinking suspension would have been nice- time will tell what I do with that opinion. We rode the fist lap and then dumped down to the car to swap gears. Then we were off again like a herd of turtles. Lap two was where things went south. About half way through the lap on a downhill that had a nast waterbar I hear a yell from Charles (another SS'er that was racing with us) and turn around to see dust and a body on the ground in a position that I have seen to many times. The first thing through my head- "You've got to be F*&%ing kidding me! How could he not have seen that frickin waterbar- idiot!!!" (more on that in a minute)- so I hike back up and pretty soon I can see him and I know that JJ is all done for the weekend.

He's a pretty tough dude and doesn't usally show pain- but he looked like hell and you could tell he was hurting- oh yeah and his arm looked all f'ed up and his shoulder looked like he had a boil the size of a ping pong ball growing on it. Then I looked at where his bike as laying and asked Charles if he had move it- he said no- then it dawned on me that JJ hadn't even made it to the waterbar. I felt a moment of shame for having thought so poorly of my teammate a few minutes earlier when I had silently thought him an idiot of having slammed into the waterbar. Then I looked at what he must have hit... oh wait there wasn't anything. The best I can guess he was cooking a long and the loose gravel (billard ball size) took his front wheel for a ride and he went down- hard, fast and violently.

We sent Charles off to snag a bit of help, I pulled some old Gary Fisher course ribbon out of the woods and made a bit of a sling and we sat and commiserated about his newest injury. You have to keep in mind he has done this almost more times then I have fingers on one hand, and on a selfish note everytime it happens I get nervous that he's going to drop the sport- and then I'm out my best riding partner (I admit I'm being selfish).

The cart came up and took JJ away and I continued to finish out my lap, pushing pretty hard as I KNEW that I was heading home after the lap. I came through the timing tent, let them know that JJ was all done and so was I and headed down to first aid. There they told me JJ had left so I headed back to the building and no sign of him, then I headed back up to the tent where I found him and he told me to get my ass back on my bike. I don't think I expressed joy at that thought, although in hindsight it was awfully gentleman like for him to sit in pain for another couple of hours so I could put up enough laps to at least offically "finish"- but at the time I had mentally checked out and had ridden the rest of the lap pretty hard. But I grabbed my bike and Charles and I headed out for another spin.

The next two laps we went pretty easy (Charles was doing the full 24 so there was no need to hammer) and I went VERY easy over the JJ Spot of Carnage. By the fourth lap I was getting grooved in on the course and my legs felt pretty good. It gave me confidence that 10 laps would have been very doable if not more. But I knew that JJ would be getting pretty uncomfortable by now so it was time to call it a weekend.

We tossed back a beer and then loaded the van and headed north (well south first and then north).

Am I bummed, yeah I'm pretty down to see JJ in a sling again, as I don't know what that means for 24HOGG. He and I (and A1) have been sort of on this quest now for over a year and a half and I'm feeling a bit isolated at the moment (A1 works 300 hours a week and JJ is now broken again). It makes me realize that while I dig racing for the racing aspect I dig it way more to hang out with good friends and have good stories to share of future rides. Looks like for at least a little while I'll have to wait to share those stories- but JJ will rise again and hopefully soon!

Heal well JJ and let's find you some DH armor to start riding in!


later,


DEA


ps- anyone watch the tour yesterday to Tignes? I usually don't care for Moreau- but I actually felt bad for him yesterday- what was Cadel and Alejandro waiting for? They had a huge chance to put in some gains for just a little more work and blew it. I thought Moreau rode well- who knows the French may have a horse in this race.

What a weekend

First I wanted to followup on Thursay nights race. I ended up taking 2nd in my class and I was pretty happy about that and was therefore feeling pretty good going into the 12 hr race on saturday even though I had not been on my bike as much as I would have liked prior to my first endurance event on a SS.

DEA and I headed down to the race at 7AM and arrived at 9. The race is set at the Pats Peak Ski Area in Henniker, NH. The set up was nice for the size of the event. Besides the 6, 12 & 24 hr races, there was also a DH race and an XC race set for the weekend.


We hung out until the riders meeting then proceeded to get suited up for the start. At noon the horn blew and we were off. The race starter with a Le Mans start/sprint across a lawn to our bikes. Our sprint was more of a walk with purpose. We figured we'd let the guys who were all full of it get out in front. Neither of us had pre-ridden the course so all we had to go by was a topo map. That only tells you so much though.

We started out on a gravel road that led to a trail around a snowmaking pond. This turned out to be the only flat part of the course. We then ducked into the woods for some singletrack and began to climb. Over the next mile and a half we zig zaged across the ski trails as we climbed the mountain. You then descend a bit and start another climb to the highest point on the course. A good chunk of the climb is up a ski trail and then when we thought we were done it headed back into the weeds for some more climbing on some "fresh" singletrack. It was loamy and soft and I wondered how it was going to hold up as the race went on. We then began to descend and it was some technical twisty "fresh" singletrack. After a bit we came out on a washed out access road that took us to the bottom of the ski area and back to the start/finish area. We completed the first lap in about 40 minutes which was pretty good considering the amount of waiting we did as riders stacked up in certain sections of the course.



DEA and I atrarted the race out running a 32X20 gear but decided after the first lap to head to the pits and swap out the 20 tooth cog for 22's just to make the climbing a bit easier. Basically if you are not going up you were going down faster than you could peddle so the gearing was for the ups and not the downs.

After the pit stop we were back on course. The pit stop actually worked out nice as we were now spaced nicely from the rest of the other racers and had pretty clear sailing. At about 1/3 of the way through the second lap we had just finished the first of the two long climbs and strated to descend a ski trail known as " lovers Lane". DEA was in front of me and after only about 50 yards of descending something went terribly wrong. In an instant I was over the bars. I have no idea what caused it but the bike stopped and I didn't. I was doing my superman impression, but have not mastered the landings so good. I hit the groung hard. Really hard. My left shoulder blew up as did my left elbow. I knew the pain all too well. DEA hiked back up to me and another friend we were riding with went for help. I was feeling pretty bad, dizzy and thirsty. I found some snowmaking equipment to sit on as I did a damage assessment. Since I have dislocated both my elbows in the past Iknew that my left elbow was out. I was able to get it reduced and back in place. My shoulder has also had some history but this felt a bit diffeent than previous dislocations and fractures.

There was some tape along side the trail used to mark race courses and DEA fashioned up a nice sling. I was starting to not feel as dizzy but decided walking dwn the mountain was not a good idea. At that time a John Deed 4-wheeler cart came up with two first aid folks. I got a ride down in the cart to first aid, my race was over. DEA continued on to meet me at the bottom. I got to first aid and got checked out. After getting inspected it looked like I had an AC joint seperation. Basically the end of the clavical or collarbone had pulled away from the shoulder joint and was sticking up causing a deformity or a nice lump.

I was given a new sling and an ice-pack. DEA had not arrived yet so I walked over to the main base lodge where we had set up all our stuff and grabbed a seat. A few minutes later DEA came in suprised I was not still in first aid. He was ready to head home. I told him no way. I wasn't going to be an excuse for him to end his day early. I think he was half disappointed as I think he was already mentally thinking we were going home then.




I told him to get back on his bike and I would hang out and see how it went. DEA took two more laps to make a total of 4 which made him official and we called it a day. We packed up our gear and got in the van and headed home.

What a shitty day. We got home about 7PM, a little over half way through the race and ate some chinese food. I was feeling a bit depressed as we are now in the heat of the race season and had been feeling pretty good so far this year. I spent the rest of the evening watching the day's stage of the Tour while munching ibuprofin.




This morning I talked with my orthopedic surgeon and sent him some pictures of my shoulder. He said it looks like a classic AC joint seperation, probably a grade III. Looks like I have some more time off the bike and another visit to rehab. That is getting old. The 24Hrs of Great Glen is 4 weeks away and I have already paid the entry fee. My hope is to be back for that race, Not sure yet how realistic that hope is as my shoulder and elbow hurt like a SOB right now. Hopefully I can get on a bike and at least peddle some in a week or so to not completely get fat. Don't really want to spend the rest of the summer riding the spinning bike in the basement.

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:33:52 15:19 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:02:11 10:09 pace
Distance (mi ) 6.13
Moving Speed (mph) 5.9 avg. 17.4 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,414 / -1,149

Avg. Heart Rate 153 bpm Zone 4.1

Temperature (°F) 75.8°F avg. 78.8°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) SSW 6.9 avg. SSW 9.2 max.


Thats it for now.

JJ

Great Glen Series Race #2 and this weekend

Last night was the second race of the Great Glen series. I missed the first race as we were on vacation last week so this was my first race on this course on my SS. The weather was pretty nice and the course was pretty good. A little mud here and there from the rain of the past few days. The course has a fair amount of wide open carriage trails that I found myself spun out on quite a bit, but that wasn't all bad as it allowed me to coast some. I was able to ride it pretty clean and felt like my lungs were about to burst or maybe implode, not sure which. At some point I think I was hallucinating as I was sure I could smell cotton candy too.

All in all it was pretty good and I think I will be swapping the 20 tooth cog for an 18 for next week. Not sure how the results came down so I can update when they arrive.

Tomorrow is Pats Peak MTB Festival which DEA and I are riding in the 12 HR race on our SS's. Course has about 850 feet of climbing in each 5 mile lap. Looks like you are either going up or down on the course. I have a 22 tooth cog and have not put it on yet and am not sure if/when I will swap it.

This will be the first endurance race either of us have done on SS's so it should be interesting or frightening, maybe both. Hopefully we'll get some pics and be able to post some results.

JJ

Remember Me?

It's been quite a while. I finally got a break this afternoon and snuck out for a ride and left the boys to cleaning tents and chairs for the afternoon. Good to get out again, I haven't been on my bike since the Whitaker Woods Race two weeks ago. Rode out Old Mill to Mill Street to 302, down to Conway Village then up West Side to the village and then down North South back to 302 and then up Mill Street to Potter road and back home. Decided to see how I felt and went hard for the first hour, averaged 18.7 mph, then at an hour slowed up and spun for another half hour. Somewhere around 25 miles in total.

JJ and DEA are racing this weekend and I'm considering it now. Ruled it out but thinking I may try to sneak in last minute, we'll see. Planning on racing Thursday up at GG in the weekly series. Legs felt good today, I guess 2 weeks break will do that for them, although I need to start lifting as the power didn't seem to be there. Sold my road bike, but I have it until my new one comes in. That is when I decide what I'm buying and get it. If it's a decision like my other bikes it will take months.

That's it for now, good to be back. Going to try to get out tomorrow am if anyone is interested, DEA/JJ?

A1

I spoke with JJ and he had already pulled the trigger to race at Pats Peak this weekend, so I followed suit. We're both racing the 12 hour version solo, so that should be fun. A good chance to get a bit of a shake down prior to the 24HOGG.

Then this Thursday we haver our little race up at Great Glen for the weekly series- I'll looking forward to getting a bit closer to the fast boys. I think if I can stay upright and have a bit better legs then a 23 is possible, I'd love to get into the high 22's but I think that may be a touch out of my reach.

The tour is on and I have to say I'm getting into it. A crazy sprint by Robbie yesterday and a 1-2 for Quickstep today- yup I do love watching bike racing. I had thought about not watching it because I've been so sick of the doping stories- but watching the racing I remembered just how beautiful it is to watch.

Time to start stock piling on sleep.

later,

DEA

Back in the saddle

How did July sneak up on us like that? Now that it is post Fourth of July I'm feeling way off the back in terms of my fitness. Not much I can really do about it now, other then pile on some quality miles and use the local racing as a good way to do speed workouts.

Last night was the first night of the Importech Summer Series up at Great Glen, this is an eight week series that is a lot of fun. Run in a sorth of TT format (start when you want between 3:30 and 7pm. It's a quick course (fast guys low 20's) with a good mix of gravel roads and single track. The cool part for me is that I can race then attache the trail-a-bike and Emma and I can ride with Lillo while she does her race. Which is exactly what we did last night. Lillo did great, she wasn't too excited to ride a couple sections of single track solo as I couldn't take the trail-a-bike on them without a very real chance of launching Emma into the weeds. Lillo even had a great wreck on a downhill when she got the speed wobbles and ended up crashing into the tall grass (she was fine- embarrassed but fine).

I am pretty proud as she ran the Four on the Fourth two days ago (four mile running race) and then did the bike race last night. Not bad for eight years old!

Me on the other hand? Still barely able to walk after that foolish running race. But I had a good time last night. Two off the bike issues where I tried to find a new line during the race that didn't quite work. That and I think this course will be a good one to run the 32x18 as I was spun out a fair amount and could have pushed a taller gear over the climbs if I had to. It'll be good to see what A1 and JJ run next week!

That's it from me. Hopefully some good riding this weekend.

later,


DEA

Back in the USA

We got back late last night from 10 days in the Caribbean on St. Martin. We had a blast.



As you can see we kept the fridge well stocked with all the staples.




Life on the beach is not so bad.

I finally got back on a bike this mornign for the first time in 11 days. Nice and easy was the ticket.

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 2:24:07 6:12 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:42:12 4:24 pace
Distance (mi ) 23.20
Moving Speed (mph) 13.6 avg. 38.9 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,523 / -1,517

Avg. Heart Rate 114 bpm Zone 2.1

JJ