Crank The Kanc 2009

Saturday morning was the Crank the Kanc Kancamagus Bicycle Hillclimb Time Trial. A race we all try to do each year. A couple years agoe we did it as a 3 person team. We went back to doing it solo last year. This year I was slow on the entry and all of the solo spots were full when I realized that registration had opended. There was one Team spot left. I checked and saw that my TWAF mates had already registered as solo riders. Hmm, what to do??? I registered at a team and told two of my co-workers that we were doing Crank the Kanc and that they were signed up. A team was formed; Charles, Chris and me, Team Bikeman.com/Cooper Cargill Chant.




Usually the concern all week leading up the to race was the weather. Well it was one of my concerns, besides being not riding as much as I would have liked. However doint the Tuckerman Pentathlon in April helped a bit. Earlier in the week the weather looed like it was going to rain pretty hard and be in the low 40's. Quite a combo that could also mean some snow at the top. As Friday night rolled around the weather pattern had changed and had actually gotten pretty nice. When I got up early Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised that it was warmer than I expected.

We met up at race registration and then got suited up and rolled over to the start. We had a start slot in the middle of the teams and were set to go off at 8:46AM.
We usually stage a car at the top of the climb but we had some friends drive it up for us and they stopped along the way to chear us on. As we waited for the race to commence the sun started to appear and we all started to wonder if we were overdressed. By the race start for me I was wearing a long sleave Team Bikeman.com jersey and bib knickers. The weather turned out to be fantastic. Mid 60's and sunny.




Overall the race was the same as it usually is, 21.3 miles of up hill fun. The first ten are a constant climb gaining about a thousand feet of elevation. The middle section is a little flatter where over the next 6+ miles you gain about 200 feet. Then you hit the wall of the final climb. 4.8 miles where you gain over 1,500 feet. There are no flats or places to rest. Well there are rest areas and scenic vistas, but if you stop you might not decide to get back on the bike again.




Our team seemed to roll along pretty well over the first 17 miles. Each of us doing turns on the front of 90 secs to 2 minutes. I felt pretty descent during the ride, and my teammates also appeared to have good legs as well. Since we had not actually trained together I had no idea how we were going to attack the final climb. As we started up the first pitch I asked the other guys what they thought. The consensus was that each of us ride our own pace and we get to the finish when we do. The only problem with this stratefy is that the team time is when the final team member crosses the line. The good thing is of you are feeling good you can ride your own pace and cruise along.




After the first mile Charles and I had started to lose Chris. He appeared to be starting to suffer some. We were now a bit over an hour into the race. My legs were feeling pretty good and I felt like I had plenty of reserves. At about the halfway point of the climb we thought Chris was about 100 yards behind us. Close enough that he was still in contact. We continued along assmung that he was going to remain there. A little further along and I mentioned to Chrles the I could really use some tunes to spin the peddles too. Neither of us had any and unfortunately Charles started with some Sonny & Cher and then went onto some Captain & Tennille and his rendition of Muskrat Love. It was time to drop Charles.





I think we ended up passing a couple teams on the climb and only got passed by one so that was a plus. As I passed the mile to go marker my legs were still feeling good and I tried to put in as good a finish as possble. I crossed the line as the pain was really starting to set into my legs and lungs. I coasted into the parking lot and looked at my computer, an OK time. About a minute later Charles rolled in. Now we wated for Chris. We assumed he would be right behind us. We were wrong. He had cracked. After the race I asked him if he bonked. He said "a couple times."

Chris ended up coming in about 8 minutes back from Charles and I. It was a fun race and I do enjoy it with a team, however we have not had good luck where everyone is on their game the day of the race yet.

Congrats to everyone who raced. See ya on the trails.

JJ

Realization

Realization is a good thing. Like when you are a kid and you realize you can’t fly, and you realize that when you hit the floor from jumping off the couch. It’s good we realize that before we have the means to get to places like Angel Falls to test our “I can fly” theory. Realization sometimes comes in an envelope- like my bank statement “I just realized I’m definitely not rich!”
For me my most recent realization came yesterday out in the woods of New Hampshire while I was trying to stay on JJ’s wheel out on the trails of Davis Hill. The realization was twofold- my dryer hadn’t shrunk my jersey (I am fat) and two- I’m woefully out of shape.
Of course I had known this, and I had actually done a shameful thing on Saturday, I skipped a race I was signed up for- Crank the Kanc, as I knew I was going to get blown up. Now I did have some actual reasoning, as I came to the realization that I have two small children and didn’t have a game plan for what they were going to do while I went and raced my bike (K was working and my parents weren’t home- obviously I put in major effort in finding a solution).
Instead I took the girls out for a ride, Emma on the trail-a-bike and Bean on her bike. It was fun, a good day of just cruising. We stopped an visited my grandmother and then I took the girls to lunch. I can’t say it was an “epic” ride or a great “training” session, but it was a great ride in its own way. Then yesterday I got out for a ride with JJ and got schooled. I had hoped his legs would have been shredded from his Crank the Kanc effort the day before, but if they were then I feel even worse about my current fitness!
Of course the tremendous upside- I’m going to get faster and lighter, so I do have progress in front of me! The other good news, my broken ass is feeling much better. I am realizing that I am thinking about my ass wayyyyyy too much, I’m worried about falling on it and that is actually increasing the likelihood that I will wreck- man I hate that. I think that fear will subside a bit, especially if I can get out and spend some more time riding in the woods.
So that is the situation as it stands. Now it’s time for the whining and excuse making to come to an abrupt halt- or at least that is my current realization.

Later,
DEA

A New Start?

Graduation is behind me (which was an entertaining, but draining week) and now my schedule frees up a bit more so that I can get out there and start building some miles. This is a good thing, as I'm still standing on the scale and seeing a number that is not that conducive to being fast on a bicycle.

Got out for a good two hour ride today, the first hour (or close to that) was with someone that I work with the second hour was out on my own tackling some of the short, punchy climbs of western Maine.

It felt great to get out and ride for a solid two hours, but it was a definite reminder that I need many more of those two to six hour rides under my belt before too long. We've got Crank the Kanc this coming weekend, that should be a good wake up for the old legs! After that not much on the immediate horizon- but we'll start looking for a few other races to get me motivated for the rest of May.

One of the things I need to start doing is spend some time in the woods working on the trails I began laying out last fall. It will take some time, but I bet I can get about four to five miles built by the end of the season, and then if I make it a goal to add a couple miles each year I can have some great riding here withing a few years (gotta look long term!).

In a couple weeks the new cross bike should be showing up from Salsa pretty soon. I'm pretty stoked to get this into the quiver, and then the cross-check can go back to it's land of fixieness (is that a word).

So that's it at the moment- more entertainment soon as I decompress from a crazy busy couple of weeks.

DEA

No longer about my A$$

I’m tired of always thinking about my ass. Not that I’m thinking about it like some wanna be supermodel who is always worried that an extra carbohydrate will make her ass look big, or like a first time Sumo wrestler (I mean they must realize how ridiculous that towel turned g-string must look), I mean thinking about how much my ass hurts since I broke it by testing Newton’s theory on gravity with an ass first slam into granite.
Enough about my butt. I’m now in recovery and have been able to put in about four hours of saddle time in the last four days and think I can start to build upon that and slowly regain a bit of fitness. The part that is stressing me the most is how much all my lycra jerseys obviously shrunk this winter, as they are all wayyyyy too tight around the gut. It can’t have anything to do with the 12 pounds I had added to my already not so svelte frame. I had hoped to be getting close to fighting weight by the time Kranc the Kank

came around (in about two weeks), but I’ll settle for no longer qualifying for the Clydesdales division at this point.
I’m waiting for a parts order to come in from Bikeman Team HQ. I’ve been dealing with a set of too narrow bars on my road bike for a few years now and since I’ve spent so much more time on my cross bike with the appropriately wide bars I prefer, going back the road bike and being all narrow and aero just isn’t cutting it. The narrow bike people and keep their narrow, I want to be able to breath and ride like I’m riding a bull not a razor blade. So a pair of 44cm Salsa bars
are on their way, ahhhh to soon be breathing properly. While I’m at it I’m going back to my 120mm stem from the 110mm I’ve got on there. I realized that one thing I have worked on is my flexibility and now I’m feeling a bit bunched up. Add to that the bars have a longer reach and it’ll be like going to a 130mm stem when I’m on the hoods- ahhh my back will be so happy.
I’m also going back to a Look pedal from the be-bop’s I’ve been riding. I’ve bounced back and forth over the years, but since I’ve started using a much further back cleat position I’ve fallen out of love with the Be-Bop’s. I’m going to give the Look Keo’s a try and see how they fair.
That is the extent of the excitement from my world, spending money on bike stuff I really don’t need, but really want. I figure I’m doing my part to help the economy. Getting out and riding a bit, hoping to put in a longer ride one of the weekend days, and also hoping to get over to do a dirt ride with JJ in the near future.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

DEA

Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon (Bike Leg)

My first event of the season was riding the bike leg of the Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon. The Pentathlon is made up of 5 separate events or legs: 8.3 mile Run, 6 mile Kayak, 18 mile Bike, 3 mile Hike, 1 mile Ski.

Event Poster

We put together a team from work to do the Inferno as none of us had ever done the race before but were intrigued by it, particularly since its basically in our back yard.

The race benefits the Friends of Tuckerman Ravine which "seeks to preserve and protect the unique alpine and sub-alpine eastern slopes of Mount Washington NH and work in partnership with the US Forest Service to sustain the traditional uses of this distinctive area.

The bike leg is the middle leg with the first two legs being the run then the paddle followed by the final two legs being the hike into Tuckerman Ravine and then the final leg of skiing a GS like course to the finish line. With our 5 team members its basically a relay race which there were also tandem teams and a select bunch of freaks doing all 5 events solo.

Our Team got together after work on Friday at Flatbread for race registration and then some free pizza and beer(not free). Registration was a long line that seemed to move kinda slow, but finally we made it to the table. We checked in and were given our number plates, there must have been some sort of mistake, but we were Team No. 1. Guess my co-worker was the first to register, we were first at something fir the event.

You were given the normal pre-race swag bag. Trial sizes of this or that, usually some granola bars or power bars, that sort of thing. These bags had an extra surprise, OREO's. My bag had 4 little packs of Oreo cookies, better than and gel or cliff bar, maybe not as good for ya though.

After plenty of carbo loading I went home to sort out the race gear and lots of clothes as the weather for the next morning was pretty suspect. It was almost 60 degrees out then but the morning was calling for cold and wet. I had lots of stuff laid out on the kitchen table as I figured I would wake up and see what it was doing and check the radar in the AM and decide then. With that I decided to watch a movie (Anchorman) and call it a night. I think I might have strained my abs laughing though.

The next morning was odd, it was 50 degrees out at 7am when I got up. Nice thing was the running leg had just started at 7 as well, glad I wasn't running. I figured I had about 2 hours to get to the exchange point and get warmed up. I had some breakfast, got dressed and packed some clothes for post-race since it finished in a very different place from the start.

Race Rout


I got to the exchange site which was a parking lot near Humphrey's Ledge along the Saco River in North Conway.

Humphrey's Ledge

I parked and got my bike set up and started to warm up by riding up and down West Side Road trying to get loose. The weather was getting cooler by the minute and it was now getting quite breezy. I met up with a couple of my teammates as we awaited the arrival of our kayaker. We had gotten a report that he was doing well and was seen only a mile or so from the line. We waited and waited and we started to get concerned as he was not coming. Finally he came around the bend and I jogged to my bike and awaited the tag. The tag happened a couple minutes before 9:30AM and I was off. The first four miles or so are relatively flat, mainly rolling hills but nothing too bad. So after a stretch along the Saco River you cross and make a turn North towards Glen Ledge. This turned out to be the most difficult section of riding with areas over 16% of steepness. I passed a couple riders in this climb and one of them had given up riding and was pushing his bike, that's never a good sign.

I hit the top of the climb at the 30 minute mark and was very happy that it was done. Problem is the descent is not much better than the climb. It is even steeper as it is in excess of 19% and the road is in very poor shape with frost heave damage and just poor maintenance. As a result of this and the general curvyness of the road you cannot just let it go and fly down the mountain. I was basically white knuckleing it.

On Rt 16 Heading towards Pinkham Notch

I made the turn onto Rt 16 in Jackson, NH and headed North towards Pinkham Notch. I was about 10 mile from the finish or so at this point. It was still getting colder and the wind was still increasing which now was going to be more of a problem as this section of road was more exposed. After about another mile the rain started. It was mostly a heavy mist, almost like riding in a cloud. This continued for the next 5 miles or so. By the time I had gotten to the Dana Place Inn the rain had subsided but this was the beginning of the last climb. In this climb you gain more elevation than you did up to this point in the race.


The race info tells you that the bike portion is 18 miles with 2,000 feet of climbing. Well my gps begs to differ, and so did my legs. From the beginning of the race my heart rate was pretty much pegged. Every time I looked down I could see it in the high 160's or 170's. I knew that for a race I was hoping to finish in under 90 minutes I could have some problems. Well at about the 17 mile mark I started to feel some cramping in both of my calf muscles. I knew that if they seized up I was done and would not make it to the end very well as I still had some climbing to go. I grabbed an Accel gel and ate that quickly with some water and then shifted into a taller gear and stood and climber for about a minute. This helped a lot and I was able to avoid any major problems.

By this time I was at Dead mans Curve and almost to the top of the climb. I had just passed a couple more people and was fighting to keep a guy behind me from passing. He had more in his tank than I and made it around me as we crested the summit. The last mile or so is basically flat so it was a good sprint to the exchange. As I approached the line I looked for my teammate to tag so she could start the hike but she was not there. I rode in and got off my bike and was getting a bit nervous as there was no way I was hiking up to the base of the headwall. After a couple minutes she appeared and we tagged as she explained her parking issues delayed her. Either way I was very glad to be done and off the clock.

Inferno Elevation


So my goal was to do it in under 90 minutes. I met that as I finished with a 1:24:45 total time. I was mostly pleased with that. The ride turned out to be 18.5 miles and almost 2,600 feet of climbing. Below is the rest of the data from the Garmin Edge 305.

Summary Data

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:24:45 4:34 pace

Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:24:40 4:34 pace

Distance (mi ) 18.54

Moving Speed (mph) 33.9 max.

Elevation Gain (ft) +2,581 / -1,109

Avg. Heart Rate 171 bpm Zone 5.1

Temperature (°F) 24.8°F avg. 24.8°F high

Wind Speed ( mph) WNW 31.1 avg. WNW 47.2 max.

Maximum Ascent Grade 16.1%

Maximum Descent Grade -19.4&

Heart Rate Data Avg Low High
Heart Rate (%max) 91 73 97
Heart Rate (zone) 5.1 3.3 5.7
Heart Rate (bpm) 171 138 183

Special thanks to The Red Jersey for the pre-race tune up on my bike. It was flawless, thanks Carl.

I was very glad that my new Team Bikeman.com kit had arrived the week earlier for this race. I definitely needed the fleece knickers and long sleeve jersey.

First race down and the next is about 3 1/2 weeks out. Another Road race Hill Climb TT event,

Crank the Kanc

.

A fun little 21 mile time trial event to the top of the Kancamagus Pass. A long uphill ride with a nasty finish.
Kanc Elevation

Better get back out and ride some more hills.

JJ

Sticks & Stones

Got my first ride of the season on dirt today. Had a baseball coach's meeting after work but had enough time in between to get in a short spin on the dirt. I went over to Sticks & Stones and rode for a little over a half hour. Not long but it was nice to be on something other than pave.



Sticks & Stones is a very fun trail that is quite windy and twisty with lots of small hills, burms, turns, granite elements and fun. It was very dry but there were still a couple sections that had snow/ice that I was careful around.



Garmin Edge 305 Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 0:35:27 9:13 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:32:36 8:28 pace
Distance (mi ) 3.85
Moving Speed (mph) 7.1 avg. 14.5 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +280 / -282

Avg. Heart Rate 157 bpm Zone 4.3

As you can see it was short and not very fast, but considering the little walking that was done to avoid the snow and ice it wasn't too bad. Weather this week looks pretty good so hopefully the rest of the snow and ice will be short lived.

Regardless, it was nice to ride the 29er SS since it was getting a bit lonely.

JJ

Power failure

At about 2:45 this afternoon something happened to the electricity in North Conway. Most of the village lost power. Once that happens in our office, the network goes down, the phone system dies and very quickly work comes to a halt. So I took this as a realy "Good" Friday and closedthe office early and headed home. Since I had been driving my bike around the past couple of days on top of my car with good intentions of riding it I figured that the early release from work was the perfect opportunity to ride.

The new team Bikeman.com kit had arrived a couple days before so I decided to get all suited up and see how the new knickers and long sleeve jersey fit.

2009 Bikeman.com Kit


Since next Saturday is the Inferno Pentathalon and I have really been slacking or at least letting the weather be a good excuse to keep from riding anything other than hte spinning bike a couple hills were in order. The goal was about an hours ride and 20 miles or so.

Ride Map

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:10:54 3:29 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:10:48 3:29 pace
Distance (mi ) 20.31
Moving Speed (mph) 17.2 avg. 34.9 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,258 / -1,258

Avg. Heart Rate 161 bpm Zone 4.5

Temperature (°F) 55.4°F avg. 55.4°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) WNW 8.6 avg. WNW 9.2 max.


Ride elevation


So it turned out to be a nice ride, a bit over 1,200 feet of clmbing over 20+ miles in a touch over an hour. I was pretty happy with the average speed , but had some pretty good cramping in both calf muscles as I hit the 14 mile mark. Luckily for me the climbing was pretty much over and there was some good descending where I could try to stretch a bit as I could not turn the peddles with any force at that moment.

Once I was back ont he flats the cramps had subsided and I was able to make it home without an issue. THe cramping is a concern as that would be a really bad thing next weekend. Need to solve that problem, hopefully I can get fit in 6 days, ya that should do it.

JJ

The Answer

I think I found the answer to DEA's brocken ass. Now he can get out and ride.



JJ

Wondering about bike seats

I went to Colorado with the family to ski and hang out with my sister. We skied. I fell down went boom on a pile of rocks and stumps. My bum is injured. My bike is now mocking me. My bike seat looks like it is a razor. The sun is out the roads are clean, the trails are drying. The food that I eat is now not going to pedaling circles, instead making my belt use a notch it shouldn't use. Argh.

DEA

Where Is My Bike?

It's been a crazy couple of weeks and I'm ready for things to relax a bit and to get into the cycling season. But before I do that I've got one more ski focused trip to take, as we are jumping on a plane tomorrow (K, the girls, and I) to head out to Colorado for a visit with my sister and to get in some skiing. I know I should be taking my bike, but just wasn't in the cards for this trip.

But when I get back it'll be full on cycling season with a few trips up to Mount Washington thrown in for good measure (and fun). Hopefully we'll also be looking at some dry trails within a couple of weeks- so the mountain bike can come out of hibernation as well.

Until then...

DEA

Trail Booty

Not really sure of the proper spelling for "booty", maybe its "bootie" either way I found some on my ride today.

I put my road bike on top of the car this morning when it was 18 degrees out hoping the weatherman was right and temps would rise to almost 50 by late in the day. By about 3PM I still had not made it out for a ride. I must have been acting miserable or maybe I was being mean to my secretary as by 3:30PM she told me to leave and go for a ride and that she would see me tomorrow. So I took her order and threw on some lycra and headed out.

Turned out as a very nice day. Temps were in the high 40's with only a light breeze. I ended up riding not far from the office looking for a few small hills to climb and then recover. After about 45 minutes I figured it was time to head back so I could change and head home.

As I was about 2 miles from the office I saw something laying right along side of the road. It looked like a book or magazine. I got closer and saw that it was a magazine indeed. As I we right above it I was the cover and almost crashed into the ditch laughing.

I realized that I needed to loop back and take a photo of the trail "booty" that lay at my feet. I have found CD's, money, sunglasses and all sorts of stuff while riding. Things that fall off cars or people throw out windows, but this was a first.


True Trail Booty

My first trail porn.

JJ

Nervous

I'm finding myself looking more and more at dual squishy 29er frames. Is it just a curiosity? Is it just to know what the rest of the sane world gets excited about? Or is it the beginning of bike lust? Hmmmmm. I've already bought my one bike for the year, so I have a while to let these fleeting feelings run their course without any concern of pulling the trigger!

I think I just need to get out and ride my trusty SS, that will fix everything!


DEA

Interesting Effort

Pretending to be a cyclist

I've snuck out on the bike a few times this past week as I'm realizing that I've got a lot of work to do to get fit, or even remotely fit.

Here is Sunday's ride
and then today.

Been out on the Surly with cross tires and damn it's heavy, I'm ready to get out on the road bike and maybe, just maybe feel a bit faster!

That's it at the moment- more to come now that I'm thinking about the bike a bit more.

DEA

Time to get crackin'!

Well it's rain/snow/yuck outside right now. This weather doesn't get me excited for much other than going back to bed.

Road a bit this past weekend, here is Friday, and here is Saturday. Friday was a good day, as I also skinned up and got in a run at Shawnee Peak first thing in the morning (tougher now that the clocks went ahead).

So I haven't totally been sitting on my butt, well I have the past couple days, but that will need to change and quick.

So far here are the confirmed races for 2009
Crank the Kanc
Mount Washington Hillclimb- foot race (WTF?)
Four on the Fourth foot race (WTF again)
Newton Revenge- a bike race up Mount Washington
24 Hours of Great Glen
Porky Gulch Classic (which includes the Toughest Two TT up the first two mile of the Mount Washington Auto Road)

I hope to add to this a 12 hour race and a number of XC races as well as cross season. We'll see how that all adds up!

Anyway that's it for now- time to go to work.

DEA

Frozen gravel

First ride for me outside since dislocting my shoulder last weekend. It felt good to get outside and ride for a bit. Spent about an hour out and rode up a pretty good hill and back. Was going to ride some snowmobile trails but they were a little too soft and I was sinking in too much to make it any fun.

Ride Elevation

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:09:20 7:09 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:56:20 5:48 pace
Distance (mi ) 9.70
Moving Speed (mph) 10.3 avg. 29.0 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +962 / -961

Avg. Heart Rate 143 bpm Zone 3.6

Temperature (°F) 24.8°F avg. 24.8°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) N 5.2 avg. N 5.8 max.


Ride map

It was a little chilly and after about 45 minutes my feet were getting pretty cold. Need to get me some of them fancy winter riding shoes that DEA has.

Supposed to get another dump of snow tonight, really want to get in a powder day but should probably stay off the snow for another week and rest the shoulder. We shall see.....


JJ

Chilli Con Crosso

Found a pic of the new Chilli Con Crosso from Salsa over on the Soiled Chamois and he had this pic of the new bike up- I've got one of these on order and can't wait for it to get here so I can drool on it. I just hope I can stay smart and ride the Cross-check until the roads get a bit cleaned up- no need having a brand new rig get all salted up!

That's it for now, I got out for a great ski this AM, recap over here.

later,


DEA

Skiing at Smugglers Notch, VT

D3 in the Terrain Park
Spending the week in Vermont at Smugglers Notch. DEA and his crew were here for a couple days for some fine skiing and riding. We are here a couple more days and are getting some major weather right now. Calling for 4-8 inches, hoping for the 8. Need a powder day before we go.

View from the chair at Smuggs

JJ

Can I use this as a reason to buy a new bike

I saw this and think it is the perfect reason to justify a new bike purchase (well I already pulled the trigger on a new Salsa Chilli Con Crosso- so this just further makes me feel like I'd doing my part!)

Temps today- 40+, rain, fog- killing the skiing but getting roads just a bit more bike friendly!

later,


DEA

Snuck out again

Two rides in two days- but the streak may end there.

Here is the map from yesterday:

It was nice to get out in mild temps, but the wind was a bit excessive, gusting to 28mph (I'm sure Blue would laugh at me calling that wind).

My knees are telling me that a 42x27 isn't cutting it this time of year- so I think I may been to go back down to the 39 or maybe even put the 36x50 back on the front end and make the bike a full on shifty bike. I keep looking at my fixie wheel- and I will soon put that back on- but I want a few more miles in my legs before I start doing that. I can't wait to feel how out of round my pedal stroke is!

I'll keep you posted.

later- DEA