What Is "IT"?

Adam over at Epic Riding/Epic Writing had an excellent post today about the "drive" to want to race 24 hour solo races . I couldn't help but hijack his post and give my own thoughts on how I got involved in this type of racing and try to figure out what "it" is that drives me to WANT to do it.

The first time I saw a 24 Hour race was at the 24 Hours of Canaan in West Virginia. I was a spectator. I watched with such jealousy. I wanted to be out there racing so badly. I knew then I had to do it.

The next year my buddy Tom was on a 4 person team when the race moved to Snowshoe, WV. There was a possibility of me being the fourth rider if one of the other guy's wouldn't commit. I was so excited. Then the guy committed and I was out. Shit. Another year with no 24 hour race.

In 2002 I was finally in! A 5 Person Open team with Tom and some other friends at Snowshoe. I can't even tell you how excited and nervous I was for this race. I'd heard all the Snowshoe horror stories. The mud, the rocks, the blood. This was my first 24 hour race and the last year for the "long" Snowshoe course. I think I rode 3 laps. They were SO hard, but I was hooked. The only disappointment was not getting to ride more laps.


Shot of me after the prologue hill back in in '02 on my Dean. Man, I hated that frame. Beware of Dean.

I was back at Snowshoe again in 2003 on a 4 Man Sport team. This one almost didn't happen. That spring Tom broke his neck riding and we had to beg and plead to find another rider to suffer with us. This year they shortened the course, It rained again of course, but we were pretty fast and placed 14th. Once again I left with such a high I couldn't wait for the next one. The only downer was that at one point in the early morning one of my teammates decided he had enough, said he was hurting and wouldn't go out again. I pulled in the transition area and to my surprise found Kevin instead of the other guy. Wasn't happy about that, but you gotta roll with punches. I would go on to race another 24 Hour race up at Seven Springs that year. Once again we had a team member VERY unenthusiastic to pull another lap, so I went out and did one more.

In 2004 I did a 12 hour Duo at Lodi Farms. Had a blast and finished 5th. Pushing myself harder felt great and was anxious for Snowshoe. It was a struggle to find a team for Snowshoe though. Tom gave up racing since his accident (and who could blame him? He was lucky to be alive AND walking) My buddy Kevin was in again with some arm twisting, we tracked down our old friend Fernando again who we met back in 2002 and then had to beg one of his friends to join us. This team stuff was a pain in the ass. This year was pretty cool though. It rained AGAIN!!!, the course was muddy, attendance was down, but we had fun and raced fast and finished 6th. It was cool to finally feel competitive racing. Something I NEVER felt in regular XC. This was the first time I started watching the Solos with interest too.

After all my team troubles and pushing myself at Lodi doing a Duo, I was pretty convinced I could do a Solo. At least finish. So after I recovered from Snowshoe I decided this was it. I would race Seven Springs as a Solo. I was obsessed with the training. I loved the hours in the saddle, reading about nutrition, I loved it all!

I was nervous, but what the hell. Just wanted to say I did it. Race day the weather was great, I felt great and ripped off 4 or 5 nice laps. Then I started slowing down. I couldn't eat. The Ensure that worked great in training was not going down at all (bad choice), boiled pierogies sat like lead in my belly, I was tired, etc. etc. I really didn't think I would finish and couldn't believe what I got myself in to. I had to take a couple hour break in the early a.m. and had to be convinced to keep pushing. I went back out, ended up in 4th place out of 10 or 11 Solos and completed 10 laps. I was thrilled. By that evening I was already thinking of 2005. I was now done with the "team" and was now officially a Solo racer.


Catching Zs during a "short" two hour break at 7 Springs in 2004.

The winter of 2004/2005 I decided that I would race Solo and endurance races in the 2005 season. So I trained hard all winter and spring and had a blast this year. I pushed myself harder and further than I thought I could go. I wish I could have done more races, but finances got tight and I couldn't afford any more, but for my first year I think I did plenty and had a great time.

My buddy Tom thought this was just some sort of one off thing. When I started talking about 2006 he was like "whooaa, you plan on doing this AGAIN?" I was shocked at his response, because even through all the pain, sweat and coin dropped on this race season I couldn't imagine NOT doing it again!! This is just what I do now. No turning back. It's like a cult. HA!

I had some good results in 2005. A 3rd place 12 hour and 5th and 4th place 24 Hour finishes in a competitive field of racers. It's weird to go from racing Sport class a couple years ago to racing right along pros like Chambers, Eatough, Hendershot, and now Ernesto (Solo Goat). I would love to podium more in 2006 but if not, it's one hell of a ride and I wouldn't trade these life experiences, my fitness level, or the opportunity to introduce my wife and son to the world of Mountain Bike racing and the great people involved in it for anything.

2005 was just the start of what I hope and pray will be a long life riding and racing my bike and having a good time doing it. As I commented to Adam. It's like having a drug problem. You pay out good money to experience the high of racing, put yourself through hell, say you're not gonna do it again (at some point we all at least think it I'm sure), only to finish and start planning your next race. Why do I, or should I say "we" do it? Not sure. We just do. So have fun, do your best and keep on riding. I know I will.

Later

Post Nasal Thursday

Not too much going on today. Rode a brief 30 minutes on the trainer just too keep loose and get a sweat going. I had a HORRible night sleeping with some nasty post-nasal drippage. Woke up with sore throat. Think it's fall allergies. Get 'em every year.

Came home to some nice swag today:



I had applied for a Balance Bar Grant via the website and of course didn't get it but they sent me a sweet Balance Bar/Nike hat and a cool letter telling me to resubmitt this spring. I Had sent in all my info except my photos, thinking I had no chance. In the letter they pointed out that I failed to send in my photos... DOH!!!!! But hey I got a sweet Nike hat. And I love me them Balance Bars (Cookies 'N Cream... MMMmmmm)

Interbike is in full swing, there's info all over. Some stupid, some cool. Giant's Anthem looks sweet but If you check out this story it looks the tire clearance is a little tight. Still love to ride one though.

Saw that Kerkove updated his site from Vegas and reports that Maxxis is gonna make a 26 x 2.1 version of the Ignitor this year. SSSSSWWWEEET. I love the Ignitor, but the 1.95 is so skinny it's like a CX tire. Can't wait to ride the 2.1

Salsa's website is being updated with some '06 info... New El Santo:



Dig the lower top tube. Don't dig the color. Looks like feecus brown in the photo. Maybe in person it's a bad ass red.

New Dos Niner too...



Would like to try one of these. Not sure it would be great for tight singletrack, but most 24 hour race courses would be sweet to ride this on. Oh Bikeman....

Hope to get some quality sleep tonight and rest tomorrow. Would like to get some long miles in on Saturday on the road.

Plan to order my XT crank for Titus, and a new cassette, and chain for El Santo from Bikeman.com. Might get the Race Face but I'm leaning towards the XT just for something different.

"Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, dribble, drip,"- 10:15 on A Saturday Night....
- The Cure


Later.

Ahhhh Maxxis....

Maxxis is more than just great tires. Check this out.
Gotta get my hands on that (the poster) sorry Wifey. HA!

Opting For Dirt

Was gonna road ride tonight but figured with limited daylight, instead of wasting 35 minutes getting to my road ride launch pad after work, I'd just suck it up and ride my El Santo with it's 7 good gears (not in a row) at Boyce. So I got 1:15 of single track in. I just had to push some harder gears than usual, but hey I just considered it "on the bike strength training".

I also showed that log pile that was giving me fits last week that it was my "wood pile bitch". Felt good.

I've come to the conclusion that whatever bike I'm riding is "my favorite bike" . Tonight I was thinking the El Santo is the best, "I LLLLOVE full suspension" yada, yada, yada. If I had been on my Titus I would think FS bikes are for saps. Long as I'm riding, I'm happy. More or less.

That's all I got. Can't wait to start seeing some picts from Interbike. Little "window shopping".

Later

You Break It. You Buy It.

Been doing my research before forking over the plastic for a new crank. It's either gonna be the Race Face Deus or the Shimano XT. I have a Deus on the Salsa and it's working fine now, but I did have to get a 2nd bottom bracket for it, so it lost some points there. Heard good things about the XT and the price is good. Weight looks to be around 860g which is about 50 or 60g more than the Deus but about on par with my current (broke) Race Face Turbine LP with Shimano bottom bracket. Hmmmmm.

I may just chuck it for now, abort the Iron Cross race and just get my Salsa running smooth with a new chain and cassette. Save the crank for a winter purchase. The bummer would be that I will miss Iron Cross + I was maybe going to use the Titus for some of the Month Of Mud cyclocross races. Sorry but I'm NOT doing CX on a FS bike. Bad enough doing it on a HT. I know I'll cave though and get the crank too.

Oh well, It could be worse, I could have no bikes at all. Now THAT would suck ass.

Road ride tomorrow. Can't wait. I'm gonna half to hustle to beat the dark. Might take a light just in case.

Later.

Gettin' No Love From Up North (eh)

Pittsburgh was getting all the moisture from Hurricane Rita, Helen or whatever this week's hurricane is, today so there was no ride. Did an hour of spinning with some, weights and core stuff thrown in. Nice work out, but there's nothing like riding.

Gave Race Face a call today and I have very little few options. I'll need to go to a shop, have the shop call Race Face (even though I was talking to the kat on the phone) then they will give the shop a # to write on the box for return. If I have my receipt from 6 years ago they will give me a new one. But of course I do NOT have said receipt. So then there's option "B" where they will give me new crank at a discount price. BUT since I can get a brand new crank at a good discount already as part of my bikeman.com sponsorship there's no point to that. So I will be going with option "C". Waiting a week or two till I get some jing get a new Race Face crank or a Shimano XT.

I got a LOT of use out of that Race Face Turbine LP crank and I'm in NO way upset at Race Face at all. If I had my receipt I'd be as giddy as a school girl. They make great products and I'm sure they'll get my business again.

No ride tomorrow, I'll be hanging with the B-Man. Wednesday will be on the road for whatever I can get in before dark.

Later.

Quiet! It's Beer Season

Bike stuff first. Had a great road ride today. 2:08/40 miles. Sweet. Felt great. Had a great tail wind for the firt half of the loop. The bad news was I had a shity head wind on the second. But overall a great ride with no mechanicals. Something worthy of mentioning after this week.

My knees felt great too. I've come to the conclusion that the cleat setup on my Sidi's is F-ed and that is what is giving me the pain, 'caus the Specialized shoes are super comfy and give me no pain.

Grafitti sighted on today's ride: TWINKY BITCH! Spray painted on a Narrow Bridge Sign. How nice. It was clear out in the middle of nowhere. Is that where the Twinky Bitch lives? Odd.

Was gonna a give a little review of these 661 gloves that I bought back in May, but I think this photo will tell you all you need to know....



To be fair I've probably ridden 1500+ miles with them but still. Not good. Might look into some Salsa or Pearl Izumi full fingered gloves.

My man Yancy came over last night and we FINALLY bottled our Meade that we made last fall. It's been fermenting in my basement for almost a year. Shit was STRONG! But good. We bottled like 12 wine bottles full. THAT should help keep us warm this winter.

We also made a beer exchange. I traded him half of my Victory Hop Devil for half of his Stoudts Fat Dog Imperial Oatmeal Stout.


I'm sampling a few as I Blogg.

We both made out on this deal. A "Beer Trade" such as this is a great way for Beer Lovers to sample some other brews without making a commitment to a whole case.

This is FINALLY the time of year where I can sample some brews guilt free. Then about November I'll fire up the training and nutrition again. Except the day after T. Giving and Christmas when I need to get rid of all the family stress. HA!

Hope everyone got some miles in this weekend.

Wonder how DK is doing with Hurricane Marge?

Later.

One Legged Spinning Drill (The Hard Way)

Woke up today and decided the road will be there tomorrow and you never know about dry singletrack, so I packed up the Titus HCR and enough Hammer nutrition for a planned 3 hour ride.

Got going around 10:30 and was cruising nicely for the first 30 minutes, then at the 31st minute I rounded a tight corner, went to put the hammer down with my right leg ad SNAP!! I came to a stop and almost lost my "boyz" on the top tube. I thought I broke a chain, looked down and saw that I snapped my Race Face crank arm in two!!!! UN-FREAKING REAL!!! How does this even happen?? Just glad it wasn't during a race or at high speed. Could have been super bad. I was still clipped in and had a pedal and hunk of crank hanging from my shoe. All I could say was "ohhhhh yeaaaahhhhh!" and start to laugh. It was a scene.

Take a look-see...



Another look:



So I hike-a-biked the single track to the park service road and did some left leg only riding for about a mile. Packed up the Soob and headed home. Due to some later afternoon plans with Wifey and some friends I didn't have enough time to drive home, get my road bike, then drive to a road ride starting area, sooooooo It was onto the trainer with the iPod and a some intervals and steady spinning to ad to the my brief ride and hike this a.m.

The only thing I can figure is that during the Wilderness 101 I must have slammed a rock at some point and put a slight crack in it, because other than than race I've used the El Santo for ALL technical rocky singletrack this year and used the HCR for fast, buff singletrack and road trainning. Hmmmm.

What a week for parts: El Santo needs new chain, new cassette, Titus now needs crank arms (that I have NO idea where I'm gonna find discontinued 5 bolt crank arms). So it looks like I'll be on the road bike for a while till my cash flow improves. Even my road bike needs a new chain and big ring. How much do they pay for plasma? HA!

Funny thing is, this SAME time last year I busted a Hope lever and couldn't track one down because EVERYONE in the world was at Interbike.

So knock on wood I'll get a ride in tomorrow. The way this week has been I'm half afraid to go.

Hope SOMEONE is getting some miles in.
Have a good Saturday.

Later.

You Handsome (Hop) Devil

Not much going on today. Did a 1/2 hour spin to get sweat on tonight. Plan on hitting the road (most likely) tomorrow for some extended mileage. What bike though? The Trek road bike or my Titus HCR? Hmmmm. Probably going full roadie, but keep thinking of Iron Cross and want to be prepared for extened miles on the HCR.

Spent the eve. hanging out with Wifey and B-Man making some Mexican food and having a couple cold beverages.

Wifey is fighting off some illness, most likely what I had a week or so ago and what made B-Man a rat-fink last week. Looks like crime will run amuck this weekend in Gotham.

So it's time to look at porn... Bike Porn that is!! How gorgeous do these new Trek's look??

Top Fuel 110

Would need to dump that SID for a FOX 100 though. Mmmmm Full Carbon....

And the Elite 9.9


Cursed "bike lust".

Oh well time for bed.

Later.

Thomas Was Cross With Sir Topham Hat

No ride tonight. Hung with the B-Man whilst wifey was out teaching at the community college. We played with choo-choos, watched "choo-choos", pretended we were choo-choos. You get the idea. He was super fun tonight.

No ride planned for tomorrow either. Planning on a lot of miles this weekend. Hope weather cooperates.

Other news: My 24 hour pit buddy John completed a 3 Lap, 408 mile road race last weekend. Super job J.B. Check out his story over at Love2Ride. What a super accomplishment!

Later.

I Ate A Big Red Candle (Wednesday Night Ride)

Headed back to Boyce for some more single track tonight and to make up for last nights sub-par ride. Went pretty hard for 1:37. Got in close to 16 Miles. The Titus was great but my legs were missing that 32T rear sprocket my Salsa Has.

What's up with helmetless mountain bikers? Saw two tonight. All I need is for one of these knobs to bash his skull off a tree and the next thing you know bikes are banned in the park. Idiots. Sorry.

ISSUE: There is a log pile that I have done a million times. Except the past two nights. What gives? I know it's all mental. I mean I've done this pile a million times. Oh well I'm sure it'll come back.

Time to go cook up some burgs and home fries.

Later.

Tuesday In The Dirt and Some '06 Thoughts

Decent ride at Boyce tonight. Not long though. Only 1:15/12 miles of single track.
My cassette is shot on the El Santo. It's the classic new chain/worn cassette = aggravation. But it was a great night for riding. I just had to push some harder gears than I wanted with my knees a tad tender. I'll be heading back tomorrow for a longer ride on the Titus. God bless two bikes, 'cause I have NO cash for cassettes right now. F-Bomb!

Been thinking more about next year and my goals. I plan on pretty much the same schedule as this year with hopefully some more 6 hour and marathons as my finances will allow. Not sure where the closest NORBA will be. Snowshoe is done. It would be great if they came back to Seven Springs. I'd also like to venture somewhere new to race like out West. Hopefully Wifey and I can get back to Crested Butte this year. It would be cool to schedule the trip around doing the Leadville 100 or something. Altitude would be a BIG problem. I've ridden at 8,000+ Feet many times, but RACING might be a one way ticket to pain.

I would also like to be more streamlined with my planning and pits. The Element will be used to sleep in and I'd like to find my own pop-up tent to use for pits. Have Wifey or my Dad for nutrition and stick more to my two bike plan. One goes down, grab the other and go. Tom was great this year helping. But not sure he'll be in to another year. I on the other hand can't imagine NOT doing another year of racing. That's the problem with getting older. Everyone (including me) has kids and other responsibilities. Wifey is great though and I know I can rely on her for help. Thanks babe!

Fitness wise, I have the endurance, now I need to work on sustained speed if possible. I think doing a few XC races through the year might help as well as doing a better job of avoiding "junk miles". More work outs in my LT zone and more interval and power training should help. But what the hell do I know. More research needed.

Other Stuff: The new Death Cab For Cutie CD "Plans" is great. They're one of my faves. And if you like them I know you've checked out The Postal Service. That one has been in my rotation for over a year or more. Good stuff. I'm a sucker for good hooks with some "sad bastard" lyrics.

Time for bed.

Later

The Mary Martin Show (Monday Blog)

A no ride Monday. Took the El Santo over to Tom's. Appears I bent some spokes when i bent my derailleur hanger at the Springs so he got those fixed and was changing out some housing. I also got a sneak preview of some of the video that he's putting together of my races using iMovie/iDVD. Good stuff. There's one cool part from Seven Springs where he just has the video going during one of my pit stops and you get a real good idea of the great job he, John B. and JoErin did to keep me going. Bladders switched, bottles filled, food, Red Bulls, chain cleaned, etc. Real cool. Of course there's also some video from early a.m. when I look and sound like death propped up on a bike. Sweet!

Mountain Biking with Tom tomorrow provided the rain holds off.

Later.

Fried

This is how I feel...



Today's ride was one of those that you just have a bad feeling about before the start and most likely puts some bad mojo on it. Soon as the ride started I stared getting some pain in my left knee cap. I peddled on but it still hurt. Pain would come and go but worse than that my bod just felt drained. I figured after yesterday's "climb fest" on the Titus and with B-Man still germafied I'd just abort the ride at 1 hour rather than risk injury or wearing the bod down. I need to figure out this knee pain thing. Anyone have any ideas? It's right on the knee cap. Input appreciated. Time to Google.

Time to go watch 3 weeks of the Vuelta Espana condensed into 2 hours on OLN. Better than nothing I suppose.

Sighted: Woman in Scottdale today wearing Kordell Stewart jersey. Nice. At least it wasn't a "Big Ben" T shirt.

Later.

Road Knob

After a Saturday morning of java and watching Napoleon Dynamite (again, it's growing on me) on HBO I hit the road on the Titus HCR.

As a rule I hate riding my mountain bikes on the road but since I'm entertaining the thought of doing the Iron Cross next month, and the HCR will be my bike of choice I figured I should get some cheek time on it. Left my Maxxis Ignitors on, and went sans pack. Just seat bag with, Co2, tube, 2 bottles of Heed, 1 Clif Bar and a flask of Hammer Gel (half Espresso half banana- mmmmmm).

Headed on Saxonburg towards Deer Lakes Park. Felt good and legs were spinning nicely. Then I started to get a little bit of pain in the left knee cap. Weird. Ended up going away, but this is like the 3rd time it's happened so I may need to make an adjustment somewhere. Eventually the pain left which was nice.

When I got up near Deer Lakes it looked like that area didn't get as much rain as us last nights so I decided to hit some of the sweet single track there. It was nice to hit dirt, but then I started thinking that maybe I should just stick to the road. I was already 15 miles or so from the car and didn't need any mechanicals on this side trip. There were a ton of thorn on the trail to boot.

So I did 2 miles of dirt and then rejoined the road. Hit all the big climbs in the area.
Started to mist some rain now and I was happy with my decision to abort the dirt.

After crested the last major climb and I started putting the hammer down to get back to the Soob. Pretty sweet when you cruise the flats at around 23 mph on mountain bike with full knobs. Granted that 4 or 5 mph slower than on my road bike, but still fun.

Finished up with 39.5 miles of riding with 2 on some single track.

Got back to the Soob, downed a cold Red Bull I had chillin in the car and headed home.

Check out this smoothie I made once I got home:
1 small carton vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1 serving Espresso Hammer Gel
Handful of crushed Ice
1 Cup Skim Milk
1 Serving GNC Vanilla Protein 95
Mix in blender or food processor. And enjoy.

It was gggggggggggoooood. Tastes like a banana split.

Road ride tomorrow (on the Trek). Hope everyone is getting some miles in.

Later.

Another Post (Bored or Productive? Not Sure)

Nice Friday at work. Busy enough that the day went fast. Slow enough to cruise the web and see the NORBA Nationals (Marathon) results. Travis Brown came up with the win. Found this photo of him on cyclingnews.com, check out the bar set up he used. Must have worked...

Since he won:


Closer look at the bars...

Interesting.

Not much going on this Friday. Watching Thomas The Train, Making Mexican and drinking a couple Pale Ales with Wifey. Working it for the Bat Signal. HA!

Hope to ride tomorrow. Road or Dirt. Makes no difference to me. Might take the Titus on the road for some extened miles, in case I do Iron Cross.

The Month of Mud race series is coming up too. Not sure If I'll do it. Like 25 beans a race for 5 weeks and you know I'll get spanked. But I dig a good spank.

Alright. Dinner's done.

Later.

Rocking the Home Page

My ugly mug is once again gracing the Bikeman.com home page.
Half embarrased, half proud. My Seven Springs Solo recap is posted.
It's a slightly "cleaner" version of the one that was on the Chamois.



Check it out along with many of the other race reports from around the county.
Oh yeah, and buy something while you're there.

OK, pimping done.

Later.

Better Living Through Chemistry

Wow, what a day. B-Man's sick so I took a personal day from work to hang with him.
Stats from today: 3 Diaper Changes (no poop), 3 Thomas The Tank Engine Episodes and 3 readings of Green Eggs and Ham at his request! I now hate Green Eggs and Ham. I will not read it in a house. I will not read it with a mouse.

After his mid day nap it was over to my Docs to get the name of a good "snipper" for the Big-V and to talk to her about Winter Jason. The visit was very productive.

Didn't feel much like riding tonight after a semi stressful day, but I did spin my legs for a half hour while I listened to some downloads from Enduranceradio.com.
Listened to one nutritionist talk about protein for recovery and during exercise. He said one of his favorite post work out recovery drinks is...



Yep, Chocolate Milk. Milk is a quality protein and the chocolate adds carbs. It's readily available and cheap. Hmmm. Not sure my stomach will handle after mega hard efforts, but after a session of spinning and weights it might.

I also got the El Santo back in riding shape. Lube, tubes, tire switch, shocks pumped etc.

I put so much garlic in tonight's dinner that my tongue feels like it's covered in warm hair.

Later. Time to look at naked people web-sites. I'M KIDDING, RELAX!! EEESH!

You Get The Ankles and I'll Get The Wrists...

It comes down to this mmmmmm ahhhhhhh.

Sorry little Soul Coughing on the brain.

Got an super quick ride in at Boyce tonight. 1:15/12 miles of sphincter tight single track on the Titus HCR. Felt great. First mountain bike ride since Seven Springs. Wish it could have been longer but I had some post ride feecus to take care of.

I finally lost the few pounds I gained during my post 24 Gluton Fest last week. Good. Don't want to go into the off season weighing anymore than I should. Really have to figure out a plan this winter. Did good last winter. Lost some a few Lbs. and came into spring pretty fit, but if I want to step up my racing I need to get a plan together.

Classic: How freaking good is Blue Monday by New Order. Freaking good.

No work tomorrow. B-Man is sick with croup, crupe, krupe, however you say it/spell it, dude's sick. So I'm staying home with him + I have a Dr.'s appt. of my own.

Other news. A friend I work with apparently was having an affair whilst he was overseas in the army and has been found out. Idiot. Had a great wife and F-ed it up for some chick who already has a kid to someone else. Hard to be friends with someone that. Really feel for his wife.

My buddy Tom e mail me a linke to some cool video shot a the 24 Hours of Big Bear.



Don't see me anywhere. The music is hay-noose but it brings back some good memories from the summer. Makes we wanna do another 24 soon. Did I just say that?

Anyway. Gotta go eat. Made some bad ass baked potatoes and baked chicken sammiches.

Mmmm Ahhhhh.

Later.

Doin' the R.T.

Hit the local rail trail tonight for 1:20 minutes of crushed limestone riding. Fairly uneventful. Just a low key spin with a couple standing sprints to loosen up the legs.
It beat spinnin in the basement. That will be coming soon enough.

I saw that Adam Craig finish 7th overall in the men's World Cup this year. Pretty sweet!

No Tuesday ride. I'll be hanging with the B-Man whilst Wifey goes out to sling law knowledge at America's youth.

Could today's Blogg be any more lame. Why did I even bother logging in? Sorry. Maybe a bunch of shit will happen to me tonight and tomorrow.

Later.

Back, And It Felt gggggggggooood.

Congrats to Adam on his 2-4 win out in Utah. Way to go.

I was back in the saddle for real today. It felt so good. I was shocked at how good I felt. I got 32 miles in and felt great. Certain positions aggravated the scab on my right cheek but for the most part it was sweet. Rode for about 1:45. Weather was so sweet today, I wanted to ride longer but thought I better not push my bod right now.

Last night must have be UNNNNkind to the Scottdale area wild life. Today's fresh road kill included: a rabbit, a skunk and a possum. Unfortunately it did NOT include the black dog that chased me today. Sorry, I dig mutz, but this one's owner is gonna get a serious beat down some day if he bites me.

I just had some whole wheat pasta with broccoli, olive oil, and about 4 cloves of garlic. There's gonna be some serious stink coming from me tonight and tomorrow so back off.

Hope to get out tomorrow. Easing myself into Transition period food wise this week. No more shoveling the pasta in till I bust. Shit. That's my favorite part. HA!

Later.

Movement. Sweat. Thank God!

Despite my swollen side and healing saddle sores I finally got back in the saddle today for 30 minutes on the trainer followed by a 20 minute neighborhood ride on the Titus HCR and it felt SOOOOO good to ride again. It always amazes me how last Sunday I could have cared less to ever ride again, but then you feel it creeping back each day and today it was so nice to have my scabby cheeks back in the saddle. Even if it was sort of a lame workout. Today also marks the end of glutton Fest 2005 (where I eat all the foods I don't normally eat, such as Chicken Wings) I'll now start to refocus and try to get myself going for Iron Cross in October.

Watched Napoleon Dynamite today. Wanted to see for some time. Little underwhelmed. Felt so bad for those guys I felt bad laughing at them. Dug some of his T-Shirts though. Good soundtrack too. Guess it reminded me of high school when
I was the 290 lb. nerd.

Dinner out at John Harvard's Brew House tonight. What a great place. Alway nice when before we even sat down the manager had two samples of their new Barley Wine for use. Thanks!

Might spin on the road tomorrow. Hope all are having a great weekend.

Later

Damn I'm Bored

Damn I'm SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSoooo bored.

Been doing some two fisted recovery courtesy of Penn Brewery.



Tis the season. In my book, as soon as Labor Day ends you put the white pumps away and Oktoberfest Beer Season begins. The Penn Brewery's is my fave.

Had a little nasal drip action going on today. Not fun. I get it every fall. I think it's an allergy but it still sucks.

My left leg still looks like a Studda Bubba's (that's Western PA lingo for an Old Slovak woman)

Good luck to Adam at the 24 Hours of Soldier Hollow! Where the racers were actually given a "Mountain Lion Warning". Shit Caucasian! Stay safe and enjoy that new Fisher 29er.

That's Friday in a nutshell. Tomorrow's excitement will include..... A HAIR CUT! GETTING NEW TIRES ON THE ELEMENT... annnnnnd GRASS CUTTING!!!!! I MIGHT try to spin on the trainer if my saddle sore is healed up. My hip continues to look like the Elephant Man's face. Oh well. All for a good cause.

Hope SOMEone is getting some miles in tomorrow. Ooo wait there's the Bat-Signal! Time to fight some crime! Chicka-Chicka-Bow-Wow......

Later

Go Dog Go

Recovery is STILL going on. This one REALLY beat me up. My left side looks like someone stappled a purple Nerf Football to it and my ass looks like raw meat and feels like fire.



My mind wants to ride so bad but my body is NOT cooperating.

My Kankles were delayed this time and took till Wednesday to develop but I'm rocking some pretty serious granny legs right now. All I need is some Knee-Highs and bloomers.

Also battling the onset of what Wifey calls "Winter Jason". When race season ends, the days get short I turn into one hell of a bastard. This has been such a great summer I think this bout of "Winter Jason" may need some meds, for everyone's sake. The let down from The Springs isn't helping.

Trying to decide if I should go to the Dr.'s for this side swelling. Wanted to hold off till I got to talk to her about the Big-V. Yes, yes theeeee Big V. "snip" "snip".

I'd love to be on the bike this weekend, but if not I may do some hiking or something. Even if I ride I might just Rail-Trail it.

My race report is now up over at bikeman.com, but if you read this blogg, It's old news.

Saw a peak of the 2006 Salsa El Santo. Looks like they're dropping the TT 1" for more s.o. and added a brace at the TT/ST. The color is kinda burgundy red. Hard to tell in pict. Pretty sweet but I like the white better. Saw a pict of the new Dos Niner too. Has an even sweeter green paint job.

Wifey won free Windows last night at a Wa. Wildthings game. I mocked her for entering the contest and endured the dude giving us the estimate sell a few weeks back and NOW she goes and FREAKING WINS like 10 grand worth of windows. Way to go Josie!

Gotta go eat some Pasta and Turkey Sausage and wash it down with a Penn Oktoberfest.

F.Y.I. Off Road to Athens is FINALLY out to Pre-Order on DVD. It's a MUST. Includes 104 minutes of bonus race coverage. Get on it now!

Later

7 Springs Picts II

More picts courtesy of J.B... Thanks!

Wifey zipping me up.


Tom arrives to hook up the lights.

Look at my F-ing face. Jeeeezus!

Get two Solos together and you can make yourself a "double-wide" We even had our own battery charger. Thanks to John. Swwwweeeeet!


Red Bull and Advil to get me through the night. Sorta.


Look at all the goodies...

You got your Red Bull, Pepsi, Advil, Hammer Gel, Bottles, Saline for eyes/contacts, fig-bars, water, and various turd bars.

Me and the B-Man. He just got done checking my shock pressure. Thanks son. Wifey took this pict.

Note the blue band I'm wearing. It's NOT a Lance knock off bracelet. It was this year's "baton". You had to let the check-in person touch it then you could be on your way. Whatever.

Thanks for the picts John. Also I think these picts show that it takes more than the rider to do Solos. Friends and family are huge. It still takes a team.

Later.

Seven Springs Photos/Recovery Day II

Recovery continues. Still a bit sore and tired, but getting better.
Got some picts from ther race that my bud John took. Thanks!











Might have more later.

Later.

24 Hour Champion Challenge (recap)

Had posted short recap earlier, but when I read it I realized how tired I must have been 'cause it was all jacked up.

What a race. My last Solo of the year and I wanted to well. I gave it my all but came up short of the box. This was a LONG course. 13.5+ miles per lap, with 2 big rock gardens, 1 rocky technical decent, some fast down hill double track, sweet single track (that included a smelly deer carcass that I got to smell 11 times) and a BIG ass climb up to the top of the mountain and the finish.

My buddy John secured a SWEET pit spot right on course about 1/3 into a lap. Wifey and Tom would never even have to leave the pit (unless of course things got shitty, and they would).

Photo courtesy of Love2ride.

Weather was perfect. About 75 degrees and bright blue sky. There were 14 solo starters and a bunch of duo, 4 and 5 person teams as well as corporate class.

All lined up for the Lemans start (can we stop this ritual?). I was at the front. Why I don't know 'cause I would be dropped like a hot potato as soon as the whistle sounded. Up a short grassy hill and a flat, but long run around the lake that would take us to our bikes.

Felt great once I got on the bike. Was cleaning most everything with ease and had a nice pace going. I had my first crash of the race when we hit the rock garden and some dude in front of me took some hay-noose line, crashed and I had to bail. F!
Rock to thigh, ouch!

The first 4 or 5 laps were like clock work and I was pretty geeked up. Wifey was doing a great job handing off bottles, refilling my bladders and giving me food. John B. had to DNF due to vomit and chills but stuck around and helped me out a ton. Thanks John! Tom came around 7 or so, and was there though the night to help with bike repairs.

Around lap 5 John let me know that I was hovering between 2nd and 3rd place. I was motivated but knew that there was a long night ahead.

Once the sun went down things got bad. The temps dropped, the mountain dew was getting things slick and I was underdressed for about lap and half with my teeth chattering so hard they hurt. THEN On a flat section of double track I decided to take a different line between a huge mud puddle and a tree, slammed into a rock fell hitting my side super hard on some rocks, hyper-extended my thumb and fell in said mud puddle. Ouch! I hurt so bad it took my breath away.

I got up and started to move on. Shifted and CLUNK! my chain slipped into my spokes. I knew right then I had bent my derailleur hanger..FFFFFF! Took me about 5 minutes to get the chain out from between the spokes and cassette. Had to do the last huge climb without all my gears. Not happy. Made it to the finish, clocked out and rode down to the pit. Tom put the bike on the stand, I got my spare hanger put on while I ate some horrible Raman noodles and drank a Red Bull. Tom had it changed out in now time. In fact it was so fast when I clocked back in the woman joked about what a short rest I took.

Then on my next lap I got a front flat. F! Always fun at night. I got in 1 or two more night laps and then on the final climb I witnessed an INCREDIBLE sun rise. Good morning!

I was now loosing mad chunks of time. My body was falling apart. My legs were bruised and battered from about 6 crashes and it hurt to move them at all. Then I came by the pit and Wifey told me I was 14 minutes behind the 3rd place rider and to keep pushing. If she only knew. 14 minutes seemed like an eternity.

When I hit the 2nd half of the course I just fell apart. Bonked hard! Walked along muttering like the crazy drunk guy on the corner. I must have looked horrible 'cause when one rider past me he actually asked If I might I need medical attention. Nice.

I SOMEHOW made it to the last big climb. Wifey met me half way up told me I was an half hour behind of the 3rd place rider and had 4th place locked. It was 11:30. I was done. I was physically, mentally and emotionally spent. I sat in the grass with Wifey about 50' from the finish unitl 11:55 I rode up to the finish and chatted with some other racers until clockin in at 12:00. Fin.

I would finish 4th out of 14 starters. Completed 11 laps and rode roughly 150 miles. Disappointed? Yes. Proud that I finished again? Yes. Ready for more? Hmmm lets get a week of recovery in but I think you know the answer.

I know this recap sounds pretty negative. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast. Got to hang out with some great friends meet new friends and ride some great trails. I have a lot of work to do for next year. Not sure what I can do. Ride more? More gym time this winter?

Congratulations to Fatmarc, who's team finished 1st at Seven Springs. I actually got to meet Marc. That was nice. Also congratulations to Jeff Kerkove on his win out in Iowa and to Sologoat, Ernesto Merechin on this 2nd place at Worlds. Great job guys!

No race photos yet and I don't have any picts of vomit like Kerkove posted (nice.) but I have some picts on my wounds. These are just two...

Open sore and bruise on side...


Rock on Mr. Bruised Hand!...


This quote comes from Wifey (a.k.a. JoErin) after I asked her what one of my saddle sores looked like:

Me: (pointing to sore on naked butt cheek) What does this saddle sore look like?
Wifey: It looks like a 4th butt hole.
Me: 4th??
Wifey: Yeah, cause the other two sores look like butt holes 2 and 3.

FANtastic.

Later.

LET"S GO!!!!

7:30 a.m. at Papa-M's. Bagle down, smothie to follow.
Chase & Sanborn is rocking my colon. Heading back up to camp at 8:00.
I hope everything is still there and didn't blow away (as it did yesterday, more on that
another time)

Gonna do this new thing for the run. It's called jogging, or it might be pronounced "yogging" with a soft J. AAh Mr. Burgundy.

Later. Gotta poop. See you in 24+

P.S. Could Doctor's office radio favorites Wilson-Phillips be the WORST band EVER?!!! Oh, damn, wait I forgot about Mike and The Mechanics.... Later

I Like The Cut of Your J.I.B.

Had a blogg. Lost it. So here it is condensed quick. -F!

UKraig and his wife had a beautiful baby girl that they named Sophie. - Congrats!

D.K. in F.L.A. finally got his Trek road bike.- Congrats!

I'm done packing and ready to fight crime, I mean race at 7 Springs.- Sweet!

Everyone is racing somewhere this weekend. Me, J.B., J.Kerkove, Sologoat, Fatmarc . So if you're not racing this weekend, you better have a good excuse! HA! Good luck to everyone and stay safe.

Looting - bad.

Gas prices - bad.

B-Man - Great.

Have a good weekend. Check in Sun. eve. If I can function.