Family ride

Got out on Sunday morning with the girls, Emma was in tow on the trail-a-bike (her maiden voyage) and K and Lillo leading the way. It was great to get everyone out for a spin, especially now that Emma was able to ride the trail-a-bike.
Lillo and K

Emma and I out for a cruz

We rode a bit of singletrack and a few of the camp roads that lead down to the lake. We got out for about an hour. Lillo was trying to jump every big bump in the road and Emma was encouraging me to hit all the bumps that her big sister hit. Good times.

Later in the day I snuck out with JJ for a good spin with the dogs. He posted a pic of the new trail dog, but here is the original trail dog with her new knee all healed up (granted this is a winter shot but it's my favorite of her)
Molly Dog
JJ the dogs and I rode the beaver damn loop and, as shown by JJ's photos, I had to push part of the climb- I've never cleaned that thing and I don't know if I'll ever find the line. That wasn't the only pushing I did- the Nasty took me out as well. We rode a couple of sections multiple times, but then I tried to clean the rock step and it took me out. I ripped up my ankle a little bit, but after seeing the images from Jim's wreck (scroll down to JJ's post) my bodily damage didn't even get a score from the bribed Russian judge.

So that's it from here. Get out and ride.

later- DEA

Good weekend

Didn't get out riding this weekend as much as I had hoped. Was planning on riding from N. Conway to Concord Saturday morning but a little league game got rescheduled and since I am the coach I was told I couldn't go for the ride and had to go to the game. Oh well. On Friday night my cell phone went off and it was about 12:30 in the AM, guess that makes it real early Saturday morning. But I get up and answer it and its a picture that I can really make out. Looks like a lot of skin, but I was a bit bleary eyed and couldn't make it out very well. Either way I figured it was just a friend sending me some sort of dirty pic. I went back to bed and forgot about it until I got to work this morning and Jennifer asked me if I got her pic. Turns out Jim, one of the guys I rode the 24 Hours of Great Glen with last summer was riding Friday night and had a run in with a tree, and we thought BP had a problem with trees.


Union Leader Article

As it turned out, Jim impaled his lower leg on a pretty good sized tree the punched a big hole in his leg, right between his tibia and fibula. Guess it was pushing to come out the other side, ouch. Jim's out of the hospital and recovering. Damn that's nasty.




Well DEA and I did get out for a ride last evening and it was not too bad, except I fell in a nasty bog and seemed to find anything that was wet and muddy. Looking at the two of us you'd think we were on different rides as DEA was clean and I was not at all.




DEA did have a mishap in a rock garden and smashed his ankle into some granite. It looked nasty and very hurtful. I know that particular granite well as it has left its mark on my legs permanently as well.


This is Jake, DEA's newest addition to the family and a new trail dog. He was the only one who wasn't winded.



Looks like a nice day for a ride.

JJ

Test Ride results.....

As DEA puts it, we did the test ride of the 24 Hr course to see if the idea of doing a Solo SS effort was a bad idea or a really bad idea. I think the concensus was that it is simply a bad idea and as a result I anticipate we will be riding in the Solo SS class, most likely without suspension.

I did have the Garmin GPS with me and here's the eleveation.
After running the tracks throug Garmin's sotfware, a lap came in at a bit over 1,300 feet of climbing. Wow, that's going to add up fast.

Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:18:41 9:32 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:01:01 7:23 pace
Distance (mi ) 8.25
Moving Speed (mph) 8.1 avg. 23.2 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,338 / -1,338
Avg. Heart Rate 155 bpm Zone 4.2
Temperature (°F) 38.6°F avg. 41°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) NNW 36.4 avg. NNW 41.4 max.


Since DEA said most of waht happened it doesn't make sense stating it all over again.


We had a good group of riders and the trails were in suprisingly fine shape. I think we all rode well but very differently than if this had been the actual race. There would have been much more walking in that case as we knew this was a one lap affair. Needless to say that I'm feeling very comfortable on the bike on this course at this point and hope that over the next 10 weeks I can get some better fitness to allow me to be on my bike at the end of the race.


I can't think of goals for laps at this point as I think its too far off. All I know is that if we did 10, that would be 82.5 miles and over 13K feet of vert. Thats a bunch. Guess time will tell as to whether we get there.

Ride on.

JJ

Course recon complete

We got out (JJ, A1, MM and new to the blog- Bug Picker or BP for short- I'll explain that later) to do some early season re-con on the 24 hour course up at great glen. I've never ridden the course this early but with the idea of solo SS becoming a reality I wanted to see how it would feel.

We got up to GGTOC and met up with Eli, Ryan, Howie- and all the players that make GGTOC go round and round. They had their spring trail running series taking place so we cheered for a few runners before we had the all clear to head out on the trail. JJ brought the Garmin so that we could get some new numbers (I'm sure he'll be posting those soon) and so we could give Howie an elevation chart for the course. We rode down to the start finish area and began our journey.

I've put in a lot of laps on this course, but this would be the firt trip on the SS. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous as this would be the reality check as we head towards August. The first obsticle that had been giving me fits at night was the switchback climb that come in the first mile of the course- it wasn't all that bad- but it made me realize that at the start we either have to hammer to try and be near the front or lay up and let a gap open at the bottom of the climb- cuz if you ride it your moving right along. I'll let you guess what my tactic will be- yup no Tin Cup move coming from this guy.

Then the next piece I didn't even try- the new climb that shoots you up this little bridge and up towards honeymoon. I never rode it last year successfully so I didn't even try- only to watch JJ and A1 shoot up and stomp the climb- damn. I knew I'd have to go back at the end and give it another go. So that was my first push. Then I made it up to the pond but the roots took me out on the last steep pitch heading up Aquaduct. the rest of that loop- which I call Honeymoon loop (not sure it that's what anyone else calls it) was good. Only MM blew a chain so he had a bit of hike-a-bike and coasting to deal with. We rebuilt his chain and connected with BP (again more on that later). Once MM's links were all linked up we continued on our mary way. The SS's were working well and hte carriage road- which in the past have been big ring hammer sections, became relaxing and good recovery. The singletrack flowed nicely and in some places the SS seems down right silly fast.

We finally got to Whiplash the major technical challege of the course- I rode most of it well- but once I got bucked off it took me a while to get my groove back. I think a couple laps in there and I can have that section fairly dialed. The next pig effort came on Dugway. It sucked. Litterally- sucking our wheels down into the mud. I did a fair amount of pushing. If dry it shouldn't be to bad. At the top Patrick- I mean BP took the lead and quickly earned his nickname. A1, JJ and I let the fully suspended duo go first as we didn't want to slow them down. This section is very wide but there are waterbars and rocks so I knew I wasn't going to go super fast. We come around a corner and there is a large hemlock tree that has fallen partly into the trail, the broken end of the tree is a good four feet up in the air- kinda a bad thing to run into- but of course there was a good 10 feet of open trail to the right of the tree. Anyway Patrick had a bug in his nose, chose to let go of the handle bars with one hand, look down, adn then dig the bug out of his nose. In so doing he somewhat lost control and slammed into the down tree with his arm (hence the nickname- Bug Picker). I'm quite sure it hurt as it looked nasty and thinking of how fast he was likely going and how big the tree is- it just couldn't have been good.

Back to the trail, we continued on our way. It wasn't to long before I blasted into a section of SS and manage to toss my chain. Then about 1/4 mile later I managed to go over my bars going uphill. But other then that it was a good ride. I think everyone enjoyed the course and I know I have a much better feel for how many laps I can do. That number 20 that I threw out a couple weeks ago now brings laughter to the air. Here are my new numbers- goal- 15, safe 10, likely 12-13. I'd like to cover at least a 100 miles (12 laps). The scary number was the elevation- over 1000 ft per lap so we'll be looking at Jay type of climbing if we do 12-15 laps- but hey we have an extra 12 hours to do it!

That's it at the moment.


later,

DEA

24 hour course tour??

Spoke with JJ last night and there are the rumblings of a course inspection up at Great Glen tomorrow night. Now upon writing that I wonder why on earth I need to inspect a course that I have close to 80 race laps on and almost as many laps when just out riding or doing course work. Well this year the TWAF crew (A1, JJ and I) are racing on SS's in the solo catagory- so a totally different animal then in years past. We need to get a feel for gearing, and I need to get a feel for running rigid vs running the Reba.

I'm hoping the course gets a chance to dry out a bit as today is looking pretty good and so is tomorrow. Yesterday and the past few days have seen their share of precipitation- I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I didn't get out on the bike at all yesterday, but was able to commute on Monday and again today. Monday, as JJ pointed out, was VERY wet- but I was pleased to see how many other foolish people were out pedaling in the rain. Of course now that it's nice out I looked at the road bike and felt anguish at how dirty it is. Oh well. That reminds me- I've got a very nice new road frame that has the headset pressed, fork installed and cut, new BB and cranks installed- http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif hanging in the basement. I think I've had the frame for close to two months now and nothing- haven't finished the build- what's wrong with me? I got the other Salsa, the mountain bike- built in about a day- but the road bike has just not taken priority. Part of the issue is that I need to buy a new front derailleur for it as the one on the Cannondale is a 31.8mm clamp- toooooo big for steel. Excuses, excuses.

I did see that Mike has his new 29er SS built and ready to go- so we need to get out on the trails with him soon!

That's it for me.


later,

DEA

A wet one

For some reason, maybe the few drinks we had, but DEA and I decided that today would be a good day to ride to work. AS you can see from the Radar Map. We were wrong. It was basically a monsoon. Guess that's dedication for ya. Maybe its not. Oh well, got my June commute taken care of early.

The end of the week looks to be a bit drier. DEA and I are planning to go do some 24 Hr recon and test run the couse on our SS rigs. We'll find out if its a good idea real soon.

Ride on...

JJ

Landis and I co-workers?

I hosted the Live Mountain Report this morning on RSN tv16, where I've had the chance to inverview Tyler Hamilton, Ned Overend and my favorite, Jeanie Longo- over the years but never have I had a chance to call one of them a co-worker. So when I checked velonews after the show to see how the final stage of the Giro was going I was surprised to see this image:


Notice the mic flag on the mic Landis is holding. Hmmmmm.

Ok so he won't be working the show with me anytime soon, but you never know. We have the hillclimb coming up, a race that Tyler competed in during his ban (non-uci) maybe Floyd will come and give it a go- if so we'll have to get him on the set at RSN here in North Conway.

On the riding front JJ and I got out for a spin yesterday, I felt terrible. I'm hoping to sneak out on the road bike for a ride in a bit and hopefully feel more human, but you never know.

Ok so that's about all I've got at the moment. Oh- hopefully our mid west readers are enjoying the Cavs going to the finals! Of courst that just means a bunch more nights where I won't get the right amount of sleep. Any for you non NBA fans- you need to be a Cavs fan now as there star (LeBron) is a major player in Cannondale. I bit with him on board you'll see some interesting 29'ers coming out!


Time to ride.

later,


DEA

Good spin yesterday

Got out for about 2 1/4 hours yesterday on dirt. Was supposed to meet JJ around noon but got a text message saying "My day just went in the shitter..." didn't bother with the rest, I'm going solo. Parked at Mt. Cranmore and rode the powerlines to Sticks and Stones. Went up the Peaked trail to middle mtn. traverse. Only problem was I didn't know where the new trail was so I kept climbing until it was way to far, turned around and headed down. Did a few lasps through sticks and stones (nice new sections) then headed to Whitaker Woods for a few laps. Called DEA and asked where the new trail for middle mtn. was, he wasn't sure but gave me a rough idea. Decided to ride back up Peaked and found the traverse. Again, nice new section of trail. Rode across to Sticks and Stones and did 3 more laps then back to the truck. Good ride. This was the first time I've climbed Peaked on my SS. Got to say it's a pretty good climb for a SS. Took a good wreck too.

Sounds like a night ride maybe tonight forming.

A1

Needing a Goal

I've been feeling a little lost, a bit misguided, a tad off track, you know what I mean? Last year we had that beast of a race- the Jay Challenge and that had all of TWAF very focused and pulling in a good direction for training. My overall milage last year was way ahead of this season and my head was working in a good direction, but this year- hmmm not so much. Now that being said we've got the 24HOGG out there on the horizon but for some reason it hasn't really kicked in that we're all planning on racing Solo on SS's (well A1, JJ and I- NK I think is riding on a team and PJ is talking about coming over and working the pits).

I did talk to A1 last night and he reminded me that the 24HOGG is only about 10 weeks away. Hmmm, maybe that's the reality that I need to get moving. I think the thing is that I've raced 24HOGG so many times (10 so far) that I know the course and the environment so well that it's not scaring me. That's bad- I need it to scare me so that I come to grips with my goal of riding 20 laps (enter laughter here).

That's it, that's where I'm at. I'd like to get in a century ride here pretty quick as a good fitness guage- any thoughts or takers?

That's it from here.


later

DEA


ps- looking at those photos from Crank the Kanc- hmmmm, we're not he well oiled machine that we should be! Look at those gaps between the wheels!. Next year- next year we'll be laying the smack down.

Crank the Kanc Pics

Here's some pics of the TTT on May 19, 2007.

Saturday Morning Group Ride

6 of us got hall passes on Saturday morning for a nice ride. The weather was perfect, mid 60's when we started at 7AM. Ended up almost 75 by the time we were done. Davis HIll has a group of usual suspects that ride most weekends, but only a couple of them joined DEA and I, but we did have a special guest in Radair. With Radair, DEA and I the SS crew was evenly matching the geared bikes. We rode at a pretty good pace and had to stop a bit to let the group get back together, but it was not a problem except for the bugs, THe skeeters were out in full force.



DEA and I were sorta out front most of the ride, which can and does lead to sometimes getting lost. Well it was no different this morning. We made a right turn onto a trail we had taken lsat year and sorta ended up lost or at least somewhere we didn't know where we were exactly. It was deja vu all over again as we led our group to the same dead end. Oh well. We made it back to the more well travelled trails and spun around those for a bit until the geared bikes headed home and the SS guys went on for some more climbing and some fast singletrack. It was a great way to kick off the long weekend and fun to ride with Radair. Rumor has it there's a night ride tonight and a 6PM group going off south of us tomorrow....





Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 2:08:47 10:35 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:40:50 8:17 pace
Distance (mi ) 12.15
Moving Speed (mph) 7.2 avg. 33.0 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,136 / -1,047

Avg. Heart Rate 148 bpm Zone 3.8

Temperature (°F) 74.3°F avg. 75.2°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) WNW 8.1 avg. WNW 8.1 max.

JJ

Last Night's Ride

For my birthday, it was a few weeks ago for those of you that missed it. I'm still accepting gifts and $$ in case you were concerned. But anyhow I got a new HID light which I finally got to use last night on a late evening ride with DEA. We headed out for our local ride and had a very good time. Did some hills and have found a new challenge for us for the season, to clean the Nasty. A very fun ride to go down, but pretty technical and steep in spots to go back up. SO the goal is to clean it before the other does.


Light was great, my first ride with an HID. I used to think my normal halogen lighting system was pretty good, I was in the dark ages. Still need to get the mount tweaked for the best angle, but this should be the nuts for 24 & 12 HR racing this summer.

Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:27:07 8:42 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:13:50 7:22 pace
Distance (mi ) 10.01
Moving Speed (mph) 8.1 avg. 18.5 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +893 / -894

Avg. Heart Rate 150 bpm Zone 4.1

Hope to sneak out during work for a good afternoon ride in the heat tomorrow, any takers?? Heading out around 2 I think. Long weekend too, hopefully leads to some long rides.

Its all good....

JJ

Good ride

I spent a good part of the day in the car as I had a client meeting in Bar Harbor, about 220 miles (one way) away. I got picked up by my boss early this morning and we picked up one of our designers in Bridgton and then headed up the Maine coast. Beautiful day for a drive, and headed to a pretty spectacular part of the state. The meeting went well, got to go out to lunch at a good restaurant in Southwest Harbor (had a killer lobster roll) and then we jumped back in the car and headed home. I figured a day that had nine hours in the car could only be capped off by getting out for a night ride. JJ was game as he had had a similar day spending time in a cramped space down in Concord so we hit the trails at 9pm. I got in about 1.5 hours total (I picked up about 20 more minutes then JJ as I had the ride to his house and the ride home)- it was good to get out into Davis Hill and we got to ride the new section of Two Bridges and then headed over and climbed Nasty before turning around and riding back down.

Tonight JJ's legs were more of what I had expected on Saturday and I was seeing pretty crooked as I tried to stay on his wheel going uphill. I've descided that my goal this summer is get to the point where I can ride clean up Nasty on the SS. I'm not there yet but it's doable.

Rumors are flying around (or at least I'm trying to start them) that PJ may come over this weekend for either skiing or riding. I'm voting for riding as I really don't have any interest in skiing right now. Time will tell!

That's it for me- midnight is only a few minutes away and I need to go snag some sleep. But maybe I should check for ticks first.


later,


DEA

Crank the Kanc results posted

Results were posted this morning for the 2007 Crank the Kanc. Team Bikeman.com/TWAF posted a 4th place finish in the Team Category. Respectable, but it would have been nice to be on the podium, however not sure that was a realistic hope. Either way, another race in the books and a descent showing.

JJ

My take on Crank the Kanc

Saturday morning was Crank the Kanc. A 21 mile time trial up the Kancamaugus Highway. It's basically up hill the whole way. We (DEA, A1 and I) decided to try out the new team format this year. It sounded like a good idea anyhow. A1 and I met at 6:30AM to stage a car at the top as the weather was not looking to nice to ride back down and we wanted to drive down and cheer on our wives who were riding it for the first time as their first bike races ever.

After registering and getting our start time we had a bit of time to hang out and wait. DEA arrived and both A1 and I made fun of him when he broke out his trainer and started warming up. We shouldn't have laughed as I definitely could have used something. We rolled up to the start line and got ready to roll as the timer ticked down and we were off. I stared out front and was supposed to do a 30 sec. turn on the front. We were quickly moving along at about 23 mph and I didn't peel off as soon as I should have. We were pulling close to a minute right out of the box. Once we stared to climb it became evident that we were not all riding at the same level this wet chilly morning. DEA was feeling great and A1 and I were just not right. I did not feel bad, but there was no snap in my legs. As we hit the 6 mile mark we were having trouble staying together and were staring to get strung out a bit. Sort of defeating the whole drafting thing.

The and of the first third of the ride was a 1/2 mile section that was under construction and all the pavement was torn up, so we were riding on dirt that was a mess. My HR quickly went from a comfortable 165 to 180ish and I was in the red. We regrouped once we were off the dirt but I had burned a match or three trying to keep momentum over the uneven dirt section.

The middle third of the course is the flattest, well its a false flat that continues to climb. A1 seemed to get his legs back and gave DEA a break out front and put in a nice pull but all of the sudden he peeled off and was spent. I was fortunate to be on the front for another couple town lines, probably the only uncontested lines I'll see all season, but I'll take em.

AS we hi the 16 mile mark the real climbing began. I was starting to feel a little better and were made our way up the climb. A1 was in front of me and I was just staying on his wheel keeping pace. At about the 18 mile mark I pulled in front of A1 and rode up front with DEA and was feeling better as we progressed up the hill. Figures that it took this long to find any legs. Problem was A1 was not feeling it. As we hit the last mile to go marker we picked off another team that was in front of us, but that joy was short lived as the Red Jersey team came by us with about 1/2 mile to go. We regrouped for the last 100 yards and rolled across the line.




It was a chilly wet day on the bike and was tough as I was not feeling 100% and neither was A1 so I think we both felt a little bad that we were not on top form to go along with DEA who was really feeling it. I guess that's what can happen with a TTT. I had a blast as its always nice to suffer with good friends.

Not too many events on the calendar for the next few weeks, but looking forward to getting in some long MTB rides over the long weekend coming up.

See ya on the trails....

JJ

Crank the Kanc

Saturday morning came and it was time to try and make the legs work. I was not thinking I was going to have good legs as the two weeks leading into the race had not gone very well from a riding point of view. I meet JJ and A1 at the staging area to get my number, they had driven to the top of the course to stage a car as both of their wives were racing as well. My wife was going to meet us at the top (stopping along the route to cheer us on with the girls). It was misting and in the upper 40's when we began to get ready. I chose to chuck the bike on the trainer to try and get my legs to open up a bit, and despite the chuckles from A1 and JJ I think it was a good idea.

We were the fifth team on the road and the start was somewhat comical as I couldn't get clipped in. I figured that was a sign of what was to come. We had descided to do 30 second pulls, that quickly fell apart as we were doing minute plus pulls right from the start. I quickly became apparent that A1 was a bit tired from setting something like eight tents the day before (each tent weighing in excess on a thousands pounds or so- and in the rain) and JJ had spent the better part of the week in Colorado drinking and eating good food. My pre-race fears of struggling to hang on washed away and JJ and A1's comment about me pulling them to the base of the climb seemed to become sort of a reality. I was having a tough time picking a pace and I think JJ and A1 were a little uncomfortable getting tight enough on my wheel to enjoy the vacuum like draft my large ass offeres up. In hindsight we should have practiced pacelining a bit more prior to the race.

Either way we rode well to the base of the climb, JJ managed to snag all the town and county lines out on the course. Not that we were racing for the town lines but we mangaged to put JJ on the front each time we came to a line. I knew A1 must not be feeling good when we hit the climb as that boy has been climbing like a 200 pound Pantani- I was certain JJ and I would be struggling to hang onto his wheel but it was clear early in the climb that he was hurting. He still managed to maintain a good pace- even at one point putting it in the big ring for a bit to "stretch his ass"- we ended up posting a time of 1:25 or 1:27, not to bad. It was a lot of fun (at least for me).

We all took the easy way down, via car and looked for Nikki and Susan and cheered them on.

All in all a good day.

Yesterday it rained all day so I took the girls for a hike and then sat on the trainer for a half hour last night just to spin the legs out. Commuted to work this morning and hopefully there is a NEMBA ride going out tonight- will try to take advantage of that. I'm hoping A1 and JJ will make the ride and I have a feeling they will be riding a bit stronger today.

That's it from here.

later,


DEA

Back from Altitude Training

Last weekend we headed out to Colorado to visit a friend in Denver to do some high altitude training(drinking). We had a great time and caught a Colorado Rockies game.


Got to go to Co. Springs and check out the Olympic Training Center and the Velodrome. Went over and saw Red Rocks and a few other spots as well. Now we're back and tomorrow is the next event of the season, Crank the Kanc. Weather is iffy at best.



We'll see how it shapes up as it looks like it will be maybe 40 and raining during our start time. Yipee. Hopefully someone will take some pics of the race and we'll get them up this weekend.


JJ

Out and back

Nikki and I got out yesterday for 1 3/4 hours. We planned on doing the Kanc but by the time we got going we didn't have enough time. We're leaving the driveway and Nikki fell over in the sand and scunned her knee, so back to the house for a bandaid. We rode up Mill St. to Hampshire Road where Nikki go a flat, fixed that and we were on on way again. Decided to do Old County as we were now running shorter on time. Up and back on Old County back to Hampshire Road and then back up Mill St. Total was just over 21 miles, good climbing too. Saturday is looking like rain which will make the race even more interesting. Looks like the teams are going out first at 8:30 according to schedule instead of 9:00.

A1

Happy Monday

I'm not sure how the weekend got away from without a ride, but it did. A1 and I got out with a huge group on Friday after work for a couple hour spine over in Cedar Creek. It was great to ride with a group, except for the stopping and waiting. I'm so used to riding with TWAF and we don't really stop very often, or if we do it's for about 30 seconds or if it's longer it's due to a mechanical or need to do trail work.

With that being said it was still super fun to get out with a group and ride trails that we don't often ride (but we should!) JJ was missing as he had to pack for his trip west, so he was missed- but we'll get him next time.

Then the weekend came, I played a bunch of softball and wiffle ball with the kids but no riding. Also did a lot of work around the yard- so that's good. I have to admit I can't remember the last time a weekend with two gorgeous days got by me like that- oh well.

Next weekend is CTK so that should be fun. I'm planning on just hanging onto A1 or JJ and letting them pull me up the climb.

That's it from here!


later,

DEA

Training Ride on the Kanc

The Destination

Snuck out of work early today to pre-ride the Kanc before next weekends TTT. It has been pretty warm the past couple of days and it was today as well. It was almost 90 and for early May that's a bit above the norm. My wife is going to give the Kanc a go next weekend as well and she has never ridden it so today was her first try. We drove in past the construction and left from the Rocky Gorge parking lot. Figuring we'd have a good distance to get warmed up befor the nasty climbing started.


As you can see the ride is pretty much just up and then turn around and come back down. I didn't feel too bad but it was hot and once I made the top I looped back down a ways to meet my wife a couple times as she made her way to the summit.


Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 2:39:44 5:16 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 2:09:06 4:15 pace
Distance (mi ) 30.32
Moving Speed (mph) 14.1 avg. 35.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +2,821 / -2,820

Avg. Heart Rate 135 bpm Zone 3.3
Temperature (°F) 84.8°F avg. 87.8°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) ESE 9.2 avg. ESE 11.5 max.


As we climbed there was still snow along the sides of the roads. Pretty crazy for as warm as it was. We hit the top, took a break and chatted with another guy who was training for the race next weekened as well. On the way down you can pretty much go as fast as you want or feel comfortable going.


Overall it was a good ride with some good climbing and very nice views from the top today.

JJ

Sticks & Stones for lunch

Got out for an hour during lunch to go ride Sticks & Stones. Headed from the office over through Whitaker Woods. It was mostly dry but the Perimeter Trail was still pretty wet. Continued over to Cranmore and then to Sticks & Stones. It was my first ride there this year and I noticed some new trail has been added which was nice and also some of the rock elements have been made a bit more rider friendly. Maybe if I get the stones I will attempt some of them instead of riding past and just looking at them. It was very dry and pretty dusty, quite a difference from a week ago. Doing a training ride tomorrow afternoon on the Kanc to remind myself that it wasn't a good idea to sign up for that race. Then we're off to Denver on Saturday for a visit to some friends. Should be a good time with plenty of good eats and margaritas.

Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:04:22 7:47 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:57:27 6:57 pace
Distance (mi ) 8.26
Moving Speed (mph) 8.6 avg. 23.3 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +569 / -570

Avg. Heart Rate 139 bpm Zone 3.5

Supposed to be a good group ride heading out friday after work (6 ish) leaving from Echo lake if anyone's interested.

JJ

Couple good rides

Got out yesterday with Nikki. We rode the Mill St. to Hampshire Road to Eaton Village and back up 153 to Conway. About 1:45 ride time and about 25 miles (I erased the numbers prematurely so I don't have exacts). Decided to try and sprint the hill on Hampshire Road near the state line on the Eaton side. I made it, barely, then road back down past Nikki turned around and did it again. Thought I felt OK but few minutes later I was suffering and it took a good 5 or so miles to get it together. We were running later than expected so the pace was a little more elevated than we had intended the remainder of the ride. Good to get out with Nikki though, she's doing Crank the Kanc now so she'll hopefully get out a few more times before then.

Got out again after lunch today. Fired down a can of Hormel Corned Beef Hash (one of my secrets to keeping my 19 year old figure JJ) and headed out the door. Rode 302 to North South Road up to North Conway Village, averaged 19.2 MPH to the village taking 22:42 to get there. Headed out West Side Road to Conway village and back up 302 and home. Absolutely beautiful out with little wind, even got a few good wiffs of cow manure by the farms on the West Side, good times 90 degrees and cow poop. Here's the numbers.

Ride Time - 1:01:33
Total Miles - 19.5
Avg. Speed - 18.9 mph
Max Speed - 32.5 mph

Hopefully JJ, DEA and myself can get out and ride the Kanc together before the race. Off to the Red Sox game on Saturday then riding Sunday morning in Vermont with my brother in law. Should be fun.

A1

Countdown to Crank the Kanc

We're only a couple weeks away from Crank the Kanc, for A1 and I it will be our first race of the season. JJ of course has a podium under his belt- he's kinda setting the standards pretty high!

Rode the Kanc on Sunday with Vos, it was great to get out on the bike with him again. Vos is a long time cyclist and skier and I've had many a great trips (both on skis and bikes) with him- so it was good to reconnect. It's also good to get your ass handed to you just when you start to feel good. Sunday was supposed to be a recovery day for him as he had raced a TT on Sat. Well his recovery was my Zone 5! Maybe not quite but pretty damn close. Anyway it was good to get out a put in 50+ miles with a good chunk of climbing.

I heard from Howie up at GGTOC and they're looking to open the trails in a couple weeks as there is still some mud and snow. Their trail running series starts tomorrow night if anyone interested!

Anyone wanna take bets on how many doping stories vs racing stories there will be on Velo this morning? Argh!

That's it on my end. Time for coffee.


later,


DEA

First Race of the Season in the Books

We, I guess I should say me and the family headed to Amherst Mass. on Saturday for the Orchard Assault Mountain Bike Race put on by the UMass Cycling Club. The idea for the race was DEA's. Funny, he didn't go. For some reason I did. I had not heard of this event before and had no idea what to expect before arriving.

Car loaded and ready to go


I sent an email to the Race organizer asking for some description of the course and was told that it was about 3 miles long and had about 600 feet of climbing per lap. I started to do some high level math in my head and came up with about 18 miles and 3,600 feet of climbing. That sounded pretty steep and like the climbing might be a bit exaggerated. Either way that was the entire description of the course. I was wondering about my gear setup and whether I had the right one. I was running a 32x20 and thats all I was bringing with me. Once the car was loaded up with the bikes and the family we rolled out at about 7:00AM and got to UMass Amherst about 11:15AM. It was a pretty easy drive and was a little quicker than I thought. My heat was scheduled to start at 12:30PM so I had a little time to get ready and warm up some. They were still running the sport division race as we waited and I asked the race dude how it was going and he said that the course was a little slower than expected and that lap times were running close to 30 minutes. As a result I decided to not go out and pre-ride the course. I was thinking that it would be a bit risky but I was not looking to go too crazy as this was my first race on a single speed, let alone a fully rigid single speed 29er. My goal was to finish. By the time we headed to the start line there was quite a group of expert and semi & pro riders. They gave them a 1 minute lead and my class, the Single Speed Open was a group of four nut jobs like myself. There was one other 29er in the class, but I was the only one running fully rigid. Right before we stared they gave the racers the option of cutting the number of laps from 6 to 5 and because of the slower lap times we agreed.
Starting Line

The race started out climbing a short dirt road to let folks spread out before entering the woods and singletrack. The course was very twisty and turny. It wound around over many a log and then began a sharp descent only to turn right back up. All the elevation that was lost was quickly back in front of you as you began a lengthy series of switch-backs. This foretold the way the rest of this course was. If you were not going up a switch-back you were heading downhill at a pretty good clip.

My first lap came in about 25 minutes or so. I felt OK, but knew that there were 4 more laps to go.
End of First Lap
The second lap just about killed me. I was severely spent at this point. The climbs were getting unridable as I was really suffering. I was getting so that I could not turn the cranks climbing and when I was going down I was just coasting trying to recover.


Problem was there was not enough downhills and too much uphills. The course was designed with so many switch-backs that for a single speed there was no way to carry any momentum. As a result I began to really wonder if I was going to be able to finish this race. Its not like I've never walked during a mountain bike race before though. I ain't proud. So I kept going.



The lap times didn't really fall off that much more and I was sort of just working through it lap by lap. By the fifth lap my legs were cramping and really shot and my upper body was getting very fatigued as I was using everything I had to rock the bike back and forth on the climbs as I was no longer able the climb at all while seated and had to stand quite a bit.




I got passed by a few folks and passed a couple myself. I think they abandoned as I never saw them again. It was a very tough race. Haven't decided if I enjoyed it yet. I was happy to finish and not quit, cause it definitely entered my mind. I hung around for the awards and was very pleased to take 3rd in my class and got a nice UMass Racing sweatshirt.



Lap Times

Lap 1 25.02
Lap 2 27:45
Lap 3 27:47
Lap 4 29:09
Lap 5 28:06


Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 2:19:03 9:25 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 2:14:40 9:07 pace
Distance (mi ) 14.75
Moving Speed (mph) 6.6 avg. 24.1 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +2,908 / -2,872

Avg. Heart Rate 168 bpm Zone 5.1

Temperature (°F) 62.6°F avg. 62.6°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) NW 9.2 avg. NW 9.2 max.


So it ended up being about 15 miles with a touch under 3,000 feet of climbing. It kicked my ass. I was very pleased with finishing but would have liked to have felt a little better doing it. I guess its early. I saw one other Bikeman.com teammate at the race who said hello and chatted with another guy who rode SS with me that does the Pats Peak 24 Hr race so maybe we'll race again this season. All in all it was a good weekend and a lot of fun with a significant amount of suffering. A prelude to the next event, Crank the Kanc.......


JJ

TGIF

Wow what a week. Work has been crazy and I don't think I've wanted a weekend to get here quite like this! T-four hours.

Busy is good but it's been tough to get out on the bike. Today was the only day I was able to commute and only got in one night ride this week- so slacking on the saddle time. I'll try to play catch up this weekend. Hopefully I can also get my oldest out on some mellow single track as well- she'll dig that. May even try to see if my youngest wants to give the trail-a-bike a go. Should be fun!

Good luck to JJ in his race tomorrow. I'm somewhat envious but I also know that right now I'm so far off the back in terms of fitness that it might be more frustrating than anything else- but it'll come around.

That's it from here. Just got an email that Wildcat is going to spin the lifts again this weekend- so who knows maybe a last hurah up on the mountain?

later,

DEA

Late night TWAF spin

DEA, A1 and I got out for a nice spin in the dark. Pretty good pace considering until near the end when A1 decides to go for a town line about a mile away and we lost sight of him for about 5 minutes as we just rolled along wondering when he was going to come out of the shadows and scare the crap out of us. He went hard and dusted us easy. Kudos to him.

Garmin Edge 305 Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:32:44 6:32 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:29:15 6:18 pace
Distance (mi ) 14.16
Moving Speed (mph) 9.5 avg. 25.3 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,013 / -1,014

Avg. Heart Rate 143 bpm Zone 3.7


SO I am signed up for my first race of the season, which was DEA's idea. Needless to say he is not doing it but I am. It is The Orchard Assault Mountain Bike Race Presented by UMass Bike Racing Club, Amherst, MA, Saturday, May 05, 2007.

I'm registered in the SingleSpeed/Open Cat. so that should be interesting as I am usually a Sport class rider.

Hopefully I'll get some pics from the race and represent Team Bikeman.com well, or at least not cause too much embarrassment.

JJ

Pretty Quiet

Looks like the weather has turned for the better (hopefully). DEA and I got out Sunday afternoon and rode the Davis Hill area for 2+ hours. Trails were still pretty wet in spots but should be good by the weekend if this weather holds. It's a good thing DEA was hitting the Total Gym hard this offseason(insert laugh here), we had to move a ton of downed trees. It was good to get out there, next time we won't have to stop so much. Logging has done a number on the section climbing over by state line but once it dries it shouldn't be too bad. Seems like everyone is busy working once the nice weather arrived, there is rumor of a night ride tonight. Happy belated birthday to JJ.

A1

Saturday SS Salsa ride

DEA and I got out for a nice Saturday MTB ride. It was pretty cloudy and looked like it could rain at any time. Lucky for us it held off.



We were both on our new Salsa El Mariachi's. mine in blue and DEA's in green. Couple a wicked sharp looking bikes I must say. We got about 20 miles on the dirt in which was nice. SOme mud but not too bad considering the rain we've had recently.

Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 3:02:26 8:41 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 2:21:00 6:43 pace
Distance (mi ) 20.98
Moving Speed (mph) 8.9 avg. 30.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,569 / -1,568

Avg. Heart Rate 137 bpm Zone 3.4



DEA in full Team Bikeman.com kit calling A1 to see if he wants to meet up to ride with us.


JJ sucking wind.



JJ

Can't Get There From Here

Went out this afternoon to try and connect the last section on top of Rock House Mtn. that DEA and I couldn't find last death march. Parked at the top of Dolloff Hill and went up the logging road that drops back to Eaton Village. Rode about 1/4 mile in, really wet and muddy, then turned off onto the other logging road which I thought went to the top of Rock House Mtn. and would connect the two. It climbed for a mile or so and finally I crested and thought I was in the meadow, only to find I could see the top about one mile west and no trail. So there doesn't appear to be a connection from the top, oh well riding Moddock Hill to Colby Hill connects and we don't lose elevation for the ride, and keeps us on logging road instead of gravel.

Decided to ride down Dolloff Hill then turned around and rode back to the truck. Pretty steep 6/10 mile climb. What made it worse is it was raining and the gravel was really gooey and they had also just put new stone down like the backside of Davis Hill which made it really sloppy. Decent ride although I got thoroughly soaked.

A1

Death March Part 2 - Pick a weekend

Went out on a recon ride tonight, got back just at dark, good thing since I didn't bring a light. Wanted to ride one new piece for the TWAF Death March. DEA and I rode it last XMAS but I've figured a way to add 15+ miles and about 4-5K feet more of climbing. Tonights ride was about an hour of singletrack, a section to connect us to some of the other trails added, that's basically untouched and none of us TWAF fools have ever ridden I'm guessing. First 1/2 mile was steep technical climbing, but 100% ridable, although my legs and lungs were both screaming by the top. Few spots I had all I could do to turn over the pedals on the SS. Then it rolls for the remainder until the other new section, then will climb again. So lets pick a weekend and get word out, it's all 100% ridable gravel, logging road and singletrack. I'm guessing we'll end up at around 50-55 miles and somewhere around 7,000 feet of climbing.

Got out for an hour with DEA last night checking out Pine Tree loop. Got back about 10:30, put the Stoufers pizza in the oven took a shower and sat down with a High Life. Good times.


A1

Team Bikeman.com kits have arrived

The UPS man arrived at work today and delivered the Team Bikeman.com kits. I rode home from work today and wore the kits to see how it fit and felt. I must say that I guessed right on as far as sizing. The jersey was a nice fit while not skin tight. Since I don't have six-pack abs I don't think I need to be wearing anything too tight. The bib-shorts we also nice. Chamois was top quality and quite comfy on my rear end. Socks were also good. Overall I think its a wicked sharp get up.


Please pardon the pics as I asked my 8 year old to shoot them and the subject it limited as well.



JJ

Ok I'm poaching JJ's post but since he's looking as sexy and svelt I thought I'd post this JJ classic:

later- DEA (the post poacher)

improvement

New England has seen a drastic improvement in the last week. We went from a deadly Nor'easter to temps in the 70's and 80's with plenty of sunshine. Can't complain about that!

On Friday I got out with Michelin Mike after work, we spun up to Thorne and back down into town, a short but punchy ride. He's got some power and on the flats it was fun to sit behind him and just get sucked along. It'll be fun to get him out with TWAF on some longer rides both in the dirt and on the pavement. Saturday didn't see much riding action, I did get Abe's brakes installed, my new chainring for the SS installed, and got out for a test spin (still have some work dialing in the brakes). Then the rest of the day was spent at a birthday party for my youngest (A1 was there as were JJ's kids and wife- but he had scored a hall pass and was out for a ride). Sunday I snuck out for a couple hours, spent the first hour with JJ and then the second was solo. Felt pretty good. Then the past couple of days I've been able to commute so since Friday I've picked up about 6.5 hours of saddle time. I'd love more but it's a start!

Team Bikeman clothing should arrive tomorrow (UPS sent it to MA first so it's running a day late). I'm excited to see it.

That's it at the moment.

Ride on.


DEA

Sunday Ride & Monday Commute

DEA and I got out for a short ride (shorter for me) on Sunday morning and tackled a few hills getting ready for Crank the Kanc Hillclimb TTT coming up on May 19. It was nice and as usual DEA got all the lines without much trouble. I have realized that I might have a flaw in my riding/sprinting technique. Apparently when I stand up I slow down and when I sit back down I accelerate. Sorta makes my sprints for lines somewhat counterproductive when I try to stand and sprint with the fast guys. I basically become slower and an obsticle should anyone be behind me. I guess I need to work on that minor issue. Well here's the nmbers from Sunday

Garnim Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:20:50 3:53 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:20:02 3:51 pace
Distance (mi ) 20.77
Moving Speed (mph) 15.6 avg. 38.9 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,862 / -1,981

Avg. Heart Rate 139 bpm Zone 3.5

Temperature (°F) 61.4°F avg. 64.4°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) NNE 1.5 avg. NNE 4.6 max.


I rode in to work this morning and was all ready to ride home the normal (shortest)way when at 3:40PM I was reminded of a PT appointment for my shoulder. I quickly donned the lycra and hit the road to MCPT for some shoulder therapy. I got done about 5PM and called DEA to see if he wanted to meet up for the ride home. We ended up meeting basically back at my office and then began the ride home from there. We kept a pretty nice pace and it was a good ride. I need to work on my drive train as it's really f'd up right now. Either way I ended up getting a nice 30+ miles today and that makes a nice even 80 miles over the last 3 days. Guess the miles are coming. Just would like to see some dirt soon.

Garmin Edge Summary Data
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:44:25 3:18 pace
Distance (mi ) 31.53
Moving Speed (mph) 18.1 avg. 35.0 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,992 / -1,989
Avg. Heart Rate 141 bpm Zone 3.5
Temperature (°F) 79°F avg. 84.2°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) S 7.3 avg. S 12.6 max.


No commute tomorrow as I have to head to Manchester to Fed. Ct for a couple hearings. Yipee. Maybe I can sneak in a ride after work. We'll see.

JJ

Customization in progress

Well I started the conversion of the El Mariachi to a SS. Pulled off the rear der. and Sram shifter. Put on a nice new Surley 20T cog and new chain and its ready to go.



I also took the very nice Salsa bar off and replaced it with a funky On One Mary Bar. I then put my Ergon grips on. It does look pretty unconventional, but that is fitting with the whole bike.

The trails around here are all still very wet and some still have snow covering them so all the riding I have been able to do so far has been on pave. Oh well it will come.



DEA's youngster had a birthday party today at McDonalds but I was able to get a hall pass and went for a ride instead. I got a text message while riding from him saying bad things as he and A1 were rolling around in the ball crawl together eating their Happy Meals. I did a nice 27 mile loop and pushed pretty good.
Garmin Edge Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 1:28:54 3:17 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:27:32 3:14 pace
Distance (mi ) 27.06
Moving Speed (mph) 18.5 avg. 34.2 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,659 / -1,655

Avg. Heart Rate 158 bpm Zone 4.6

Temperature (°F) 71.6°F avg. 71.6°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) SE 9.2 avg. SE 10.4 max.



Hope to get out together with TWAF tomorrow and hit the roads for a spin.

JJ