Max the film maker.

I found this little gem on the point and shoot camera. Max made it all on his own--not sure how he managed to get the video going all by himself--pretty cool. This is the last 50 meters of Mt Washington.

I should have been working on the House.

I could not help myself it was beautiful out. When the cats are away the mouse has to play.

North of the lake--looking over the Mohawk Valley.

We stopped at the Black Cat Cafe--great coffee. The only downer is the steep part of the climb out of Sharon Spring really kicks up about 50 yards out the door and it murders the legs after the rest. The coffee--it's worth it!

By the way I spent the first part of the ride talking to Mike about doing Leadville next year--I think he is intrigued. It would be a blast with a group--will see.

I got 5:11 in today which felt really good--Hope to do it again tomorrow.

Still can not decide if I'm going to race Windham on Sunday--I sure am digging the low stress of LSD.

Epic!!! again

Even though the training schedule clearly stated this is a week of rest, I woke up and looked at the forecast thinking I should get out and spin the legs as they were still a bit, shall we say pissed after Mt. Washington. By all accounts the forecast was for 100% rain. I was thinking how bad could that be--it would have to stop eventually. I sat for a while, ate some breakfast and starting loosing motivation which was fine.

Fattail and I were most content watching Sports Center when the phone rang. I could tell there was determination in Chris's voice when he said he was still planning on getting in 150 miles. I looked out the window and it was pouring--it was too late, my fate was sealed--I had to ride. I agreed to ride the first part of Chris's ride which was about 75 miles and would most likely get me home in about 4 hours.

I headed over the hill north on Rt 28 to meet Chris at the Flycreek General Store and was soaked in about 5 mins. We headed south for the first 2 hours which I failed to realize was all down wind--thus I felt like I was flying. More importantly, it was not very cold. The cars were few and we joked about how it always seems like we only ride when the weather really sucks. All in all I was having a blast.

We stopped at about 2 hours so I grabbed a coffee which hit the spot. The folks in the gas station had a bewildered look on their faces as we walked in and I'm sure they were not too happy as we left a huge puddle of water on their floor--oh well.

Back at it, we were now heading a bit west and it seemed to be getting colder and certainly windier--my legs were definitely questioning the wisdom of stopping.

By the time we made it to Edmeston, both the rain and wind were picking up and it was definitely colder.

We stopped quickly to top off the water bottles which killed my legs.

Heading east along Route 80 was tough--much colder mostly because we were riding into the wind and the back to back rollers add up in a hurry.

We made it back to the Flycreek General Store for some much needed real food--they make a fine sandwich!

Bryne Dairy 1% chocolate milk--undisputed number one recovery drink (well, okay, the best lowfat recovery drink--Battenkill Valley Creamery chocolate milk is absolutely the very best).

We were about 75 miles and 4 hours in when we stopped for lunch. Cora called and asked if I wanted her to come pick me up. I said no--although I was awfully tempted to call it quits, I had just told Chris I would try to knock out another 25 miles--I figured a hundy would make a nice story.

No sooner did Chris's phone ring-- it was Heather, she and Cora were together and pretty much told us they were coming to get us as they could barely see the road while driving the kids home from the movies. They said that it was absolutely crazy (actually, I think the word was stupid or maybe idiotic) to be riding in monsoon-like rain. I think deep down, we were both relieved to get yanked. We suffered the 10 mins back to Chris's house and took a most welcomed hot shower and had a fantastic dinner. All told, we logged about 4:15 mins and it was 100% in the pouring rain.

2010 Mt. Washington Hillclimb Race Report

Disclaimer—I’m manic and this is going to be a long one.

We were so, so lucky, as we got the hall pass grande this weekend because my super-special extra-fantastic mother took the kids yet again. The funny thing is that they would much rather be with her than go to another one of my races. We left for New Hampshire early Friday morning and after several stops for "necessities," we got up to Mt. Washington by 1:30--perfect timing to get an hour ride in before the 3 pm sign-in.

The stop

"necessities"

I must confess as I walked over to the sign-in table marked 40-49, I was slightly disappointed about my narrow miss at Newton’s Revenge—14 seconds and I would have been at the Top Notch table which, by the way, had no line—oh, the perks of being faster. As with Newton’s Revenge, I left registration with an awesome shirt and some sweet “usable” swag. Cora and I headed down to North Conway with two very simple purposes: 1) get to Delaney’s Hole in the Wall for some eats and 2) get a very nice uninterrupted night of sleep. I was unusually proactive about getting all my gear together, so having nothing to do but go to sleep at 9 pm was surreal and oh so nice!

I slept really well which for me is unheard of prior to an “A” race. I did, however, wake up in a panic because I thought I was doing Leadville and had forgotten to discuss my nutrition with my crew—kind of freaky. We got out of the hotel in record time which included a traditional breakfast of oatmeal and a banana. Cora suggested that my recent switch to bran flakes for breakfast has contributed to the compulsory two pre-race porta-potty stops that have been greatly eating into my warm-up time. This morning I beat the system by going back to oatmeal and by leaving 15 minutes early. I only had to make one porta-potty stop and I was able to get in a very nice warm-up.

A beautiful morning--cool and crisp.

My only complaint about this event would be that they make the cars go up the mountain by 8 am, which leaves 40 mins or so with nowhere to stash last minute goods/clothes, but I found some cool guys who let me stick a jersey in their jeep to be retrieved after the race. When it came time to line up, I started at the front, as I was told that there could be some traffic issues. I felt really good waiting for the start as I was not that nervous--as funny as this sounds, not feeling that nervous made me feel less nervous. Now that’s not to say that I was totally composed--with 6 mins to go, I bolted 100 yards to hide behind a dump truck and express my bladder one last not-so-fruitful time.

On my return, I noticed that Selene Yeager—“the Fit Chick” from Bicycle magazine was lined up next to me. I had two thoughts: 1) I know she is probably going to be super fast--if I’m not mistaken, she won the Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic and 2) Oh my god, is she hot in person. Well, make that three thoughts—she was riding a very sweet I'm assuming custom- painted pink Pinarello Prince. Needless to say, fast hot fit chick on a sweet ride made her the one to follow—if I could.

I made it across the flat section with only a couple of people from my group in front of me. For whatever the reason, I suddenly got really nervous that the day was going to suck—I really made an effort to focus on my cadence and find a rhythm that would keep me on target to knock out a mile every 10 minutes—if successful, that should get me to the top in 1:15. The bottom 2 miles were easier than I remembered and I went through the 2 mile marker in about 17 minutes—not bad--way ahead of pace. I started to worry again as I rode that section fairly well for Newton’s and then went into a catastrophic melt-down mode which resulted in finishing like a small recently-spanked child. Thankfully my self-doubt was short lived. The day was gorgeous--absolutely perfect for climbing and as I went through miles 3 and 4, I was still 3 mins ahead of schedule and starting to realize that I may be able to uncork a good one today. I knew if I could get past the dirt section on pace, I would be in great shape to hit 1:15.

The dirt section starts somewhere just before 5 miles and ends before the 6-mile marker. I don't know why, but I find it to be mentally very tough--this time up was no exception. As I made it past the first steep part on to the brief “flatter” section just before the right hand turn, I noticed my average speed was still 6.1 mph—on pace. The only problem now was the steep section after the turn and I knew if I could get to the pavement without a meltdown, I’d be golden. I really concentrated on rhythm and cadence--something I could maintain which was only yielding a very spry 5 something mph. I was a bit surprised/very psyched when I went past the 6 mile marker still with an average speed of 6.1 mph. After some calculation, I realized if I could keep this going and picked it up a bit on the top I would be in the 1:13 range.

Now I was really feeling like I needed that second porta-potty break as I knew the last mile and a half was going to hurt badly. It was at that point I recalled a conversation that the baby Moose had with me when he said “Daddy, I am going to be very angry and very aggressive until I get what I want!”—true story. If I have not said it yet, this was my race this year and I really wanted to break the 1:15 mark--a pipe dream would be 1:10. Although I promised myself I would not put all my eggs in one basket, having learned that lesson last year with Leadville, breaking 1:15 was the only specific goal I had this year and in my mind I was going to be very angry and aggressive if I did not get it today. I kept reminding myself of this as I passed the 7-mile mark and rounded the last steep left right combo.

starting up the steep section

With less than 5 mins to go, I was behind a guy wearing a 545 velo jersey and for the first time today, I started to race someone else. With a couple of tenths of a mile to go, someone jumped out on the road screaming at me to catch him—it was really cool--it was as if he knew that I had just decided that was the plan. I turned up the final 22% grade--it was crazy with people--basically all the people watching at the top are packed into the final couple hundred meters, all screaming and ringing cowbells. They were fueling my fire and god knows it was trying to go out.

Spectators HELP!!!

The really steep section can’t be more than 50 meters or so, as I came around the first turn, I was crushed and intentionally looked up at the spectators. It seemed to me that everyone was screaming, "Catch him!" One last glance and I saw 2 things: the guy in front of me was now only a couple of meters ahead and the clock said 1:22, which minus 10 mins. meant that if I could get my ass in gear, I could break 1:13. I dug deep, passed him at the line and finished at 1:12:45.

Mission accomplished!

We had a premium parking spot at the start of the steep section so I had a front row seat as I warmed down.

Mountain bike legend Tinker Juarez finished second.

As I said before, we had a premium parking spot which literally got us off the mountain first after they released the cars to go down--it was nice to be first down as that got me started on my traditional post "A" race gluttony of food and drink. As they did for Newton's Revenge, the organizers put on a fantastic spread at the bottom serving none other than my favorite meal of all time--turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing with salad--yum, yum good! They were also kind enough to serve a little ice cream which went to my hard working crew chief. The 7-hour drive home was a real sufferfest made no shorter by stopping multiple times for coffee. I know this should be no surprise but we got home at 10 pm to find 2 crazy kids wide awake and one snoring little animal lover.

Mt. Equinox Hill Climb Race Report

I was looking forward to this race for a while--not sure why as I knew nothing about the climb.

It was a really long, but good day. We were up at 3:25 am to make it up to Manchester VT early enough to get a warm up in. My wonderful mom was kind enough to come over and watch the kids, so yes Cora and I had a hall pass and it was most welcomed time alone. We made good time up to VT. The only downer was that we were too early for a Starbucks stop as none were open yet.

I took my time signing in and started to warm up on the trainer, but then we realized that Cora had to leave to go up the hill at 7:40am. I hopped off the trainer and rode up and down Hwy 7A instead, which was fine. My wave was off at 8:10 am with perfect climbing weather, clear and crisp, with temps I'm guessing in the 60's.

Both the above images are borrowed from www.northeastcycling.com

If you are at all interested in hill climbing, I highly suggest you check out this site.

I emptied the tank with a couple hundred meters to go.

I liked the hill a lot. The start allows you a couple of minutes before the grade kicks up which was perfect to get into a rhythm. I think the thing that made the climb so nice (at least for me) was that it seems to have very well-spaced out areas of rest, including a small downhill. The "rest" for me was enough to recover a bit without destroying my rhythm. I found the corners to be steep but they actually were enjoyable as you can enter them outside and cut across and it felt like you could actually gain a little speed. The hill is rumored to have a very short steep section in the 28% grade neighborhood. I never felt like I was riding anything that steep. I suspect that number was measured on the inside of one of the turns, if at all.

As what seems to be the norm at these things, I found myself off the back right at the start. Of course I started wondering if people were going out too hard or was I riding like a child. I was especially preoccupied with this, as I opted to leave the PowerTap at home. I wanted to ride the bike as lean as possible with the same set up as planned for Mt. Washington. I concentrated on riding my own race and slowly started passing the folks in front of me. I was feeling better and better as the climb went on. I finished in 46:25, which was about 3 mins faster than expected, so needless to say I was very happy.

The race itself was great--really well-organized. They had people handing out water halfway up, which made for a nice shower. At the top, they not only had ample goodies for recovery, but they managed to woo my wife--Cora was ecstatic that they also had doughnuts for the spectators. They announced each finisher by first name, which I thought was a class act. At the bottom, after the race, they had a really nice barbecue. My only ding against them would be that they served up arguably the worst hamburger I've ever had, but in all fairness, I have to say they recovered completely by having a very well-stocked ice cream cart. Doughnuts and ice cream--I think it's fair to say that Cora will be back next year, as will I.

Two Days, 3 Races, One Epic Fail. Quinn Podium.

Possibly the most unflattering picture Jess took of me. I could not stand after my "sprint."

Results: Psycowpath

The weekend was going to be long and hot I knew that. What I did not know was how poorly I would perform, and how obvious my lack of riding would become. Firstly, a huge thank you to RF and the whole Psycowpath crew for an amazing weekend of racing. Excellent planning and execution for all three races. Day one had two parts and began with a time trial around Lewis and Clark. Last year at this venue I did the marathon and felt I did pretty well. This year on a shorter course I felt terrible and had to hike a bike on the trail in multiple places. My legs felt like rubber and my breathing and heart rate were spiking after only a few minutes of mild effort. I just couldn’t figure out why. It may have had something to do with a crash on Sunday 6 days earlier that left me with either a bruised or cracked rib. My breathing was still a bit shallow and tight due to stiffness so it may have caused my lactate to build at an unreasonable rate. Either way, I was ridiculously slow. As a punishment to myself for being so crappy at the TT I decided to go to the afternoon race and torture myself at my favorite bike park, Tranquility. The name is really quite appropriate, even on a busy day I may see 10 riders the whole time I am there and my son can do the entire loop and nobody seems to mind us walking sections. Which by the way are fewer and fewer this year. The little dude will probably clear the whole course next year, but that is a different story. So, the race was to be a Short Track race. I have never tried it before so I was a bit leery at first.

Thankfully the Cat 3 40Plus group went off before us and I could see that they were taking it easy and not going too hard. The other great thing is that 3 laps took only 15 minutes. I didn’t fail in the morning race until about 15 min in so I figured maybe I could last. Heck it was only a year ago that I would rip this entire section in the dog and never change gears from the flat to the moderate climb that was the real race section here. At the start I went very easy hitting the climb at the back of our group of 9. I passed 4 guys along the way and entered the trees in 5th.
Then I hit a tree and fell about 10 seconds in to that section…great. Back to 8th as 3 passed me while I quickly got my yard sale out of their way. I jumped on no worse for the wear it was just a hard shoulder tag and a clean endo. The second lap was uneventful as I took the back and tried to see if I could put on a late surge on the final climb. Sadly, I could not. Instead I saw an opening at the very top and passed two guys right before the descent. I passed one last dude on the final straight and tried to sprint for 5.th I was about 3 or 400 yards from the finish and there was a guy loitering down the trail. He must have thought I was way too far back to worry about. Any way, the guy I had just passed tried to go by me and I big dogged it and tore ahead to get the guy up the trail. He heard an elephant panting and tugging at his big gear and turned just in time to challenge me. It must have looked kind of ridiculous to the 10 or so spectators who saw me charging for 5th but this dude was game and he was not going to just let me nip him at the line. He got out of his saddle and we did a real sprint for the line. I came out from his slipstream at exactly the precise time and dug deep. I had been at redline for about 200 yards before he stood, but I still managed to swing out and pull even. We both shoved our bikes at the line…it was very close. He got me by 4 one hundredths of a second. I saw that he barely got me…timing chips were the proof. It really was my highlight of the weekend. I was slow and depressed, but I still had a killer instinct. Everybody that beat me that day earned it, I still will never let anybody get a freebie. Never. Even though I really and I mean really sucked it was still fun to pretend. Race three was a straight up XC race. Two laps at Tranquility on Sunday afternoon. This was an epic fail from every angle. I felt horrible, the bike was having trouble, and it was 97 degrees out. I did one lap as the front crank became useless and was actually ghost shifting because it was detaching from the bottom bracket. The front fork was bottoming out even though it was locked out. I may have been able to nurse it for two laps but I was going so slow it seemed pointless. So I bailed and waited to see Qman decimate the under 10 race. He was stoic at the start, but I had given him instructions that as an official Jackrabbit racer it was imperative that he hit the single track in first. I was ecstatic as he whipped by while buzzing the pace rider’s back tire. The pacer was about 14 and riding a 29er it was really funny. The kid had not expected someone on sixteen’s to be that fast.




He hasn’t seen Qman at top speed on his SS I guess. Any way the pace kid sped up and Q hit the single track in first. That meant that all the kids and I mean all the kids were chasing a 5 year old on a tiny bike with no gears. He hit the technical section that included a straight wall that is twice his height and a log fall that is twice the thickness of his tires. The little bugger didn’t even dab. Now the bigger kids were worried…he actually pulled away from them at this point. There was a long straight on a dirt road that connected two parts of the trail. Two nine year old boys on 26 inch bikes got past Quinn who was turning about 10,000 rpms trying to stay ahead of them. They hit the last single track section and Q maintained third right behind them.
It was freaking awesome.

Check it out! .

A Return to the Blog--Newton's Revenge Race Report

All right--it's been a while since I've posted--and this time, I can't blame work, the house or the family--it's just been a great summer weather-wise (knock on wood) and I've been out riding! Truth be told, I have just been burnt out on blogging and rather than boring you to near death with the same old tales of our local training rides, I thought I'd wait for something worthwhile to write about. Yes- I realize this post is way after the fact, but better late than never, right? I had started it, but never managed to put the finishing touches on it.

We were off to Mt. Washington again--this time for Newton's Revenge. We took the whole family and headed over to North Conway, NH the Thursday before the race. This gave me a little time to relax after the interminable car ride. We stayed at the same hotel as we did in June and the kids were thrilled with the swimming pools. I went for a short ride on Friday while Cora and the kids explored some trails and waterfalls. Although Max and Phoebe wanted to repeat the awful meal we had last time, Cora had done a little research and found a great little place called Delaney's Hole in the Wall, which I think will become our restaurant of choice in North Conway.

Saturday morning we got up and got going a little bit late. The forecast had been for a few showers, but nothing major, so we were a little perplexed when we started to see cars with bikes on top with racing numbers headed toward us, away from the mountain. When we got there, we found that they had postponed the race for a day because the gravel parts of the road had gotten washed out overnight. So we turned around and spent most of the day at the pool with the kids. I was able to get out for an hour or so and spin. I happened across Hurricane Mountain and couldn't resist climbing to the top--probably wasn't such a great idea, but damn, it was a cool climb. Anyone who's done it knows what I'm talking about. I'm definitely going to hit this climb again--I'll just make sure to do it after Mt. Washington, not before.

When I got back from my ride, I found the kids totally waterlogged. We began the 3-hour process of trying to go to bed early. I actually slept really well, as this was not a high priority race for me. Without a taper and a couple of heavy weeks of training, I knew the day was probably going to be longer than I wanted it to be. On Sunday morning, the weather couldn't have been any more different than it was in June for the practice ride, or from the day before, for that matter. It was absolutely gorgeous--the car said it was 72 degrees at the base of the mountain.

Compare that to June:

The one lesson I took home from the practice ride was that I needed to get a solid warm-up ride in, so I headed out on Route 16 south and worked through my zones for half an hour or so. I actually felt pretty good, but I should have seen the writing on the wall, as I was sweating like a hog and had to stash my base layer. Being a novice (relatively speaking) to Mt. Washington, as I was sitting at the start, it never occurred to me that it wouldn't cool off as we went up the mountain. For the first two miles, I was well ahead of my pace from the practice ride and right on target with my power numbers. About 25 minutes into the climb, I was sweating like crazy and had already worked my way through most of my water bottle. I quickly realized that today was not my day. Miles 3, 4, and 5 I was really struggling, but surprisingly I was still on pace with my practice ride times, maybe even a touch faster.

By the time I hit the dirt road, I was down to maybe a sip or two of water, my average heart rate was 11 beats higher than it was in June, and my 5-6 mile split was a good 35 seconds slower. I was hoping for a little wind, as I was burning up--if it was there, I sure as hell didn't feel it. Whatever it was, climbing the dirt road section may arguably have been some of the worst suffering I have ever done on a bike. Mile 6-7 on the pavement was a little better--it was then that I realized that breaking 1:20 was going to be close. It seemed to me at the 7 mile marker that I was feeling better and probably went a little too hard, as I hit the final 22%, I was absolutely crushed--my heart rate was at a season high--never in my life did I ever think that I would love a 34x36 so much. As I made the final left-hand turn, I looked up and saw the clock hit 1:20.

The Devil got me good today!

I crossed the line at 1:20:14. Check out Max--he actually managed to shoot some video all on his own--I love that little Spanish climber!

I vaguely remember 3 or 4 volunteers grabbing me and holding me upright after crossing the line--I'm sure it wasn't for very long, but it seemed like an eternity as I tried to process whether or not I could get off my bike. I managed to hobble over and sit down--I was absolutely sopping wet--somebody gave me a bottle of water and it felt like the last supper. I must have looked pretty shitty, as I remember that 2 paramedics came over and checked my pulse. I'm not sure what they were getting at, but I much appreciated their efforts.

14 seconds--wow. People always talk about how steep and unrelenting this climb is, which it is--couple that with the unpredictability of the weather--hot, cold, driving rain, snow maybe? I'm starting to feel that doing well on this climb is a crapshoot. I'll be honest with you--I get more stressed out about what to wear (do I bake--do I freeze?) than I do about the actual climb. The verdict for now is that I would absolutely rather climb this in 40 degrees and raining than in 70-something degrees and sunny.

Tom Danielson missed breaking his own record by 8 seconds--he did manage to crush me by more than 30 minutes with an astounding 49:32. If I'm not mistaken, that 8 seconds cost him $5,000 bucks.

I guess the one good thing about my effort is that as bad as I felt, and I won't be dramatic and say it was the worst, but it definitely was in my top three crappiest days ever on a bike, I still managed to get pretty close to breaking 1:20. I was quite a bit faster, and certainly felt a hell of a lot better during the practice ride a month earlier. I've got no idea of what to expect now on August 21--I think it's fair to say, though, that the stars are going to have to line up for me to get into the 1:10-1:15 range. I still think it's possible if my taper goes well and the weather cooperates, but it's certainly going to hurt like hell--praying for a nice, light rain.

As far as the event goes--it's first rate--after gingerly walking to the car and waiting a bit we were able to head down and I made my way over to the tent, where I enjoyed a fantastic lunch. I'm already looking forward to August.

We stayed another night at the hotel and headed back to Cooperstown Monday morning. Cora and the kids went out for breakfast and I started out on my bike heading west on Rte 302. They caught up with me about 40 miles later, which was perfect, as it was hot and I had run out of water again--you'd think I'd learn.

We decided to make a stop at Mt. Ascutney on the way home, as it's just off the highway and I wanted to check it out before the race on July 17th.

Ascutney is a great little climb--certainly very comparable to Mt. Washington, except it's half the length and there are several areas where you get a little respite. I ultimately decided not to go back and race, as the 30-35 minutes of racing was greatly overshadowed by the 7 hours of driving. For once, I think my wife actually thought I was being practical--please don't tell anybody--it may ruin my reputation.

I Don't Know Burt Friggin Hoovis

But this video is really inspiring. Enjoy.



Then of course there is this:

Whiteface Hill Climb Report

Sorry I do not have lots of sexy pictures--I flew this one solo. I was really excited to head up to Whiteface as I have read it is a great climb. In July's Bicycle Magazine (can't find a link, p. 60 if you're interested), they compared it to Alpe d'Huez in length and grade. As a sidebar, I think the descent is crazy, as the frost heaves at 50 mph on a 13 lb. climbing bike make for a really scary ride.

I left Cooperstown and it was absolutely beautiful out. Three and a half hours later, when I arrived up in Wilmington, it was overcast and trying to rain. After signing in and finding out that I was in the third of nine waves, I believe, I had enough time to climb the first three miles, which served as an ample warm up--something that was sorely missed at Mt. Washington.

I wasn't sure what to expect, as I did not taper at all for this race and I did an extremely heavy week of training. My pipe dream goal was to go 54 minutes or better. Given how my legs felt, I thought that breaking an hour was a fair target. My strategy was to average about 95% of threshold and let the time work itself out. It was fun sitting on the starting line looking at all the modified gearing that people come up with to get up these hills. I later realized that Whiteface is very doable with a 25x11 on the back--the 36x11 sure looks good, though.

As the start gun went off, I was absolutely going backwards for the first mile. I think there were only 3-4 people were behind me. I couldn't figure out what was going on, as I was feeling pretty good. When I looked down at the Powermeter and saw that I was putting out 350 watts, I was hoping this was a case of a bunch of people going out way too hard. I dialed it back quite a bit, hoping the pace would slow. By the time we hit Santa's Workshop, things seemed to be coming back a bit.

I felt pretty good and got into a rhythm. I started passing quite a few people, which gave me the sense that I was flying. As always, pacing is so important, so I concentrated really hard on my cadence and maintaining my power. At the 20 minute mark, I was averaging about 2% over threshold and realizing that I wasn't going to be able to maintain this pace for an hour. Although it didn't slide off catastrophically, the power did come down more that I would have liked over the next 37 minutes--not ideal pacing on my part.

I had not pre-ridden the course, but was told that it flattens out at the top. I just wish I had known how much, as it seemed like the finish came pretty quickly. I finished in 57:38--I believe 47th overall and 14th in my age group, although I haven't seen any official results yet. As seems to be my MO on hill climbs, as I got to the top and got off the bike, I started freezing my ass off and only had my rain jacket on me. After ravaging the well-stocked food station at the top, I didn't have to wait too long before I noticed that people had already started down. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'll say it again--I'm not a huge fan of going down hills. I was reasonable certain that this was going to be sketchy. I hit 52 mph, which in my opinion was crazy, and there were people flying by me like I was standing still. Wow!

Luckily the rain didn't start until I got to the car. A quick change netted me third for getting in on the free massage table. A very nice bonus for what was a great race. I'm already trying to think of a way to go back up and ride it again--looking forward to next year's race.

Westside Dirty Benjamin

At the start, a happy and only slightly confident Dave. In the bottom right corner of this shot you can see a very unique single speed. A unicycle. Someone was going to do 106 miles on a uni! Qman was impressed. I was wondering about the taint damage.

At the half way. I was pretty bummed because I was working pretty hard and hadn't passed anyone in a long way. Only a few had passed me and my pace was relatively strong. I told myself I would back half. Anyway, I rode up to a group of four who were chatting away and one dude asked me what I just ate. I didn't compute until he said you rebound fast. I chalked that up to the fact that a small group passed me up a hill about an hour before. I was delerious and in a no talk zone as they blew by on their "super brutal cyclocross bikes" (say in a dorkey robot voice) anyway, I said thanks and hit the gas for a 15 minute leg burner. Needless to say that was my only tactical move of the day.

I rode into the halfway a litle despondant, but after my slight move on the 4 cyclo dudes I thought I might be aable to reel in a few more after the refuel. I rolled in to see the whole family and about 40 or 50 people laying around in the grass. I thought fuck there are only about 40 or 50 people in front of me by my calculation and here they all are. So, I never got off the bike I grabbed a Starbucks double shot and pounded 1/2 a pbj and took off right as Jess was saying "everybody is taking like 10 minutes what are you doing?" I guess to everybody, wifey included, I looked like a tool rushing in and out. I just figured, hey I'm going to make you idiots chase me. So I took off. I counted 20-25 tire tracks in the road as I was whaling away trying to put as much distance between me and the "slackers." Then the trail got a little loose and the gravel gave way to a section of very powdery dust. My bigger tires didn't seem to notice. But, it made tracking really easy b/c all the bikes in front of me were searching for purchase. I counted tracks. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8...no fat tires. What the hell...in the gravel each pair looked like two bikes. When they began to weave around climbing in the dusty ground I could make out each pair individually. Holy shit...now I really began to whale. At about this time I was feeling like the back half strategy was going to pay off. A group of 3 went by noticebly faster than me, and blew by a turn. As I slowed to turn around and go back I yelled out to them and a broken spoke flew into my der and crunch good buy xt der and hanger. 1 hour later and 40 riders passing I have a SS and a good gear ratio. It was a real bummer to see all those guys go by who I would have been holding off mostlydue to a very flat second half that had very loose gravel...to my advantage. I figure I was going to be able to average 16 on the way home. On the SS I averaged 14. Pretty fast for my first 45 miles on a SS.

Here is a shot of the little dudes. Mack has a red mohawk.

The finish, legs cramping. I had just enough water for a 3 and 1/2 hour second half. It took closer to 4 and 1/2. That left me rationing a little and I finished my rationing with about 1/2 hour to go.

The single speed.

Dirty Hands


Ouch, as the pack comes off.

So, I finished my first official hundie race in pretty exciting fashion. What I can say is that in the first 50 miles I was under 8 hour pace and the second half which was mostly flat or downhill...well, lets just say I managed to limp in. I had a marvelous and spectacular technical. With the help of a bunch of great local riders: Tan (sp) Neal, Jay, and a really cool local shop owner Porter we converted the EMD to a single speed for my roughly 45 mile finish. I hope to pay it forward someday. I had a perfect gear that didn't spinout until I hit 16-17 MPH. It made for a few uncomfortable climbs when my legs were scorched, but I never dabbed. I only changed gears once, stupidly b/c the der was gone. That did make me feel stupid, but hey, nobody will ever know...right. I'm thiking SS is really good for BigDave...less to break. Anyway Dr. MJ is right...new team bikes are in order.

My Little Friend

This little guy hit me in the head about an hour into my two hour and twenty minute ride. I tried to feel around when it happened and felt nothing so I gave it no more thought.

When I got home and took the helmet off, I noticed him as he popped up from the vent.

Just another reason to wear a hat under your helmet. The kids were impressed that I was not scared and would "let" a bee "ride" with me--I just played cool--not a big fan of Hymenopteras.

Blackfly Challenge Race Report

This was a rough week for my bikes. The Powertap was not working--got it fixed--then it stopped working again. My 29er rear ZTR race rim was cracked and I sent it off to be replaced by Stan's crash replacement program. On a more minor front I managed to strip a chain ring bolt on the Serotta. That's a little backround as to how the week was going.

I was very excited about the Blackfly for some reason--partially because a group of us from Cooperstown were going and also because after riding the course earlier this week, I really thought I could do well. I woke up physically feeling good but for some reason I still felt like something was not right. I chalked that up to the last minute late night change-out of the rear wheel--remember I had a similar problem the morning of the LT 100--really bad karma.

We picked up Nate and were on the road by 6:30--on time for a change. I was a little startled when the GPS said we would get t0 Inlet by 8:30--a full two hours before the race start--I've never been that early to a race in my life. I figured I would use the time for a nice solid warm up. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Inlet it was pouring which pretty much left us running for cover and dragging our asses getting ready.



I'm the guy who always brings everything to a race--like leg warmers when the forecast is for the 80's. But somehow I managed to forget my knickers and baselayer--not really a big deal but it was a touch cold (in the low 50's) and certainly the rain was not helping--more bad karma. With a brief and wet warm up, I was feeling surprisingly good.

Do not blink because this is going to be a really short race report. After getting a nice spot on the starting line, I managed to get myself to the front pretty quickly. I settled in behind 10 or so guys on a cyclo-cross bikes and was feeling really good. I stayed up front and the first paved section was going like a road race. My plan was to kill myself to stay up front over the first couple of climbs, as I figured that was where the race was going to get sorted out. I was with Chris on his single speed cross bike and Nate also on a cross bike. As we hit the first little climb at the 2-mile mark, I was going full throttle and got to the top with the lead group--I'm guessing maybe 15 guys. I saw only one other mountain bike--I was feeling really good, but then I noticed that my HRM was now not working--what's up with all this?

As I suspected, the cross bikes all took off over the top and I was totally spun out in the 42x11 and loosing ground. As we made a quick left right combo onto the dirt road, they slowed just a touch. I was hoping the big tires would now be an advantage. As I hopped over a 4 inch rock all was going really well until I landed and could not figure out what the hell just happened.



I heard something that sounded like a shotgun going off--the 2 guys next to me screamed something and the bike got really squishy--OK, I flatted! As I tried to pedal to the side of the road, I was not moving.

I'm not sure how this happened--someone thought I hit the wheel with the chain ring when it came off--who knows.

I then realized this was hanging from my right foot--I'm thinking--what the f@#$ !

I looked at the bike and realized what had happened and knew my day was over. I was very lucky that I was not hurt and that this happened a couple hundred yards from where the spectators were, otherwise I would have been walking or even worse waiting a good long time for help. I was very fortunate to get a ride (thanks Tim) to Indian Lake where I was able to wait for Cora. No cell service can be quite a problem.

I was so bummed--I really felt like I had a good race in me.



Chris riding very strong on his SS--finished in 2:15 and change--huge ride on a 53x17--just plain sick--he was 9th in his category--congratulations to him on a great day/ride.



Mike finished strong as well--very nice! Great job getting 1st in his category/age group!



Nate smiling, though not having fun--he'll tell you it was not his day. Nate--I know you easily have top ten speed--Cora and I had a great time with you in the car and I really look forward to racing with you more in the future.

Although I didn't get any pictures of him, John did a fantastic job and placed 5th in his category and age group. More importantly, he looked sweet in his new Jackrabbit kit!

CycleOps Power News Article by Joey Adams

Check this out. I'm famous--nah, apparently I'm just an ordinary guy. Seriously, though, a huge thank you to Joey for all his help over the last couple years.

Mt. Washington Practice Ride Report

It's kind of crazy to think about the insane things we do because we are addicted to riding. Case in point--our trip to New Hampshire this weekend to do the practice ride for Newton's Revenge.

Crazy spending close to 15 hours in the car getting to and from Mt. Washington as there is no real direct route from Cooperstown.

Crazy getting up at 5 am.

Crazy that this was all to ride for about a hour and fifteen minutes. One might suggest that this is not the most efficient use of time.

As you know by now, Mt. Washington is one of my A races this year, so I felt it was well worth the drive to go up and see just how hard the climb really is. The start was any time between 5 and 7 this morning. I opted to "sleep in" which meant we were up at 5 to make it to the start by 6:30. As I was signing in, it was 60 degrees at the bottom and 40 at the top with 30 mph winds. I was told there was a 2 hour window of "no rain" forecasted--of course, that was 4:30 to 6:30 am.

The challenge was figuring out what to wear. I started out way over dressed. Ten minutes in I was burning up, so I dumped a layer with Cora which left me with a thin base layer and a long sleeve top with knickers. This combo worked just fine until I got above the tree line.

Cruising along at about the 3 mile mark. Rain status--light drizzle and I'm guessing it was some where in the low to mid 50's--very comfortable.

Popping out above the trees--the rain got heavier and the wind started to show its presence. I was starting to think it was getting a bit cold.

I think the unpaved section starts at about the 5 mile mark and goes to just past the 6 mile mark. I'm sure when dry, it's not all that bad. This morning it was wet, so to add insult to injury, it was a real power suck. I could feel my skinny little tires just sinking in. For whatever the reason, I found that riding up the little streams of running water gave the firmest ground.

Just before getting off the dirt, the rain was really coming down. Luckily the wind on this side of the mountain were not blowing as hard. I remember feeling like I hit a "flat" section which was much needed as I was able to ease up a little--I looked down at the Garmin and the "flat" section was weighing in at a corpulant 14%.

Once I got off the dirt, there was another relatively steep pitch and then it seemed to ease up a bit--I'm guessing this is somewhere between the 6 and 7 mile mark. As you can see, the fog had set in--what you can't see is the rain, which was much heavier and the wind had to be at a full 30 mph--I felt fortunate as the winds are 75+ mph 100 days out of the year.

I actually managed to ride the last mile above threshold, which I had not intended on doing but I was getting really cold and there was something about seeing the 6 and 7 mile signs that got me kind of jacked up.

You certainly can't tell, but this is the last 50 yards and it's 22% grade over the roughest paved road. Funny thing is that it's so unbelievably cool that the 500+ watts it took to get up came pretty darn easy. I can only image how cool it will be with hoards of spectators hootin' and hollerin'.

You may notice I now have a rain jacket on--this was my second time up the steep part. I beat Cora to the top on my first trip so I re-rode it for the photo-op. Not the brightest move as the 5 minutes of standing around soaking wet in the wind before going back up literally almost did me in--I have never been that cold--kind of scary how fast it came on.

A shot from the car on the way down--it's a pretty spectacular mountain and it's an even cooler ride. I was very pleased with my effort. My goal was to average 90% of my threshold and break the coveted 1:20 mark which I did. The road up averages 12% grade and other than the first couple hundred yards at the start, it literally never lets up. I started late which meant my "warm up" was on the hill--not so fun--it took a good 20 minutes to get into a rhythm. Teaching point to self--bring the trainer and a tent next time.

I'm scheduled to ride Mt Washington 3 more times this year and my goal is to increase my average power each time and then go for broke on the 21st of August with the lightest set-up possible. If I can ride at threshold for the whole trip up, I should be able to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 1:10. Of course, this is all contingent on the weather as it is every bit as unpredictable and nasty as they say--oh I forgot to mention a brief moment of hail today--sound familiar? What's the deal with me and big climbs?

Going to scout the Blackfly course tomorrow--did not spend enough time in the car this weekend, so I thought I'd add another 5 hours. At least this time, it will be sans whining, fighting and cranky kids. Good times.