IT'S RACE DAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

quickie

Here is a quick rundown of the last day’s training.  Yesterday morning: jog with dog.  Yesterday afternoon: mow lawn with 30+ lb pack (baby stuffed inside).  This morning: 4am road ride, legs were dead so I took it pretty easy.  

Exciting stuff huh?

Here’s an interesting referral (http://finance.google.com/finance?q=ptc&hl=en) that I’ve been getting a few hits from.  Its from the Google Finance search engine.  If you scroll down, I’m the top blog referral for the day because of my “Short Track Beating” post.  Sorry suckers who link from there must be truly disappointed in what they find.  Its good to know that I can disappoint two demographic groups now.

More pics

Brynna pimping one of the sponsors with her Salsa tricycle t.















Candidate for manliest man of the year photo.



















Pretty much my first farmers tan of the year was had yesterday.



















The CTS dvd and coffee schwag.














All for now.

Short track beating

Yesterday was the Rotary Park Short Track race. The promoters were kind enough to have the expert and ss go off at diffent times so that people could double up if the mood struck. Well, the mood struck me so I did the ss race at 10:45 and the expert race at 12:00. The ss race was a total hoot. The promoters had set up an area with three consecutive 18" logs to hop/run over and I made a point of trying to ride them as smoothly as possible on each lap. By the end, I had really improved my form and now can easily hop consecutive logs without hitting my chainring. Bonus points to me and my sub par tech skills! The course also featured a couple of really tough, steep but short climbs. They were doable on an ss but very hard. Today though, my upper back is killing me from reefing on the handlebars so much while on those climbs. Shortly after the start, myself and three other ss'ers had passed the sport field and were settled into a nice battle. My goal was to stay with the first place guy until the last lap so that I could conserve energy for the expert race and then try to open a gap on the last lap. Things went perfectly with the four of us trading the top spot back and forth many times until the final climb before the last lap which was where I made my move. I quickly developed a gap and then settled in until the finish triumphantly in first. Soon after the finish I found out that I wasn't actually in first afterall. Apparently one sneaky ss'er had gotten ahead of the sport guys during the opening climb and was out of sight before I got to the front so I never saw him. Oh well, second place was good enough and I had a blast so all was good. As a prize, I got a CTS climbing video for this winter's trainer sessions. Bonus, since I really need to build up a supply of vids for the sufferfest that is indoor trainer season.A half hour after the ss race I lined up for the expert race. When the gun went off I was quickly passed by most of the field including some guys who never, ever beat me. I plugged away hoping that my legs would open back up after a lap or two (of 8-9) but unfortunately they never did so I ended up just cruising (but still suffering mightily) the rest of the race. Fortunately for me and my points for the season, only one other sucker showed up for my age group (pretty lame) and I actually managed to get the win. I was actually pretty embarassed to accept my prize but you've gotta take em when you get em.

The ss start. Rolling with the gearies.



















Hopping the logs.

























Mucho thanks to Marcy for taking the pics and entertaining Brynna while I rode in circles. B finally seems to be getting to the age that she actually enjoys (or at least tolerates) going to the races. She does seem to get a bit confused by all the skinny guys in lycra though. She's only used to seeing daddy looking like that.

Cross progress

On Friday, KWood agreed to purchase some of my cast off parts from previous bikes. Not much but just enough that I had enough money to get most of the cross bits I needed for the Van Dessel. KWood bought $65 worth of stuff and my total for new parts came in at $64.95. Phew, that was close!

Here is a list of what I ordered today. Nothing fancy but they’ll get the job done.

Bar: Salsa Moto Ace Bell Lap

Brake levers: Tektro R200A Ergo

Bar tape: Salsa Goma

Cantis: Tektro Oryx, Front/Rear

Total: $64.95

Pack Mule

I managed to get in another somewhat suprise commute this morning. It was a kinda suprise because Marcy gave me the green light just before bed last night. Of course, since it was a suprise, I wasn't fully prepared with food etc at work so I was forced to pack it in with the Jandd Hurricane bag. The bag is pretty comfy overall but when you're used to riding without one, it can be a real drag. Its most noticeable on hills when the extra weight really slows you down. But of course, without one, I'd be without food today so I am very happy I have one. Plus, I use it on a daily basis as my giant lunch bag anyway so it sees lots of use.

Thankfully, this morning was close to 20 degrees warmer than yesterday, ringing in at 59 deg. Throw in a pre-ride jog with the dog and I had a pretty decent workout this morning.

Why do I always look like such a dope when I take the type of pics in the morning? Probably because I am a dope, taking silly pictures of myself.



















Mouth agape.

Frozen nips

Last night as we were going to bed, Marcy reminded me that she was home today. Shit, I had forgotten and I usually like to ride to and from work on days that she’s home. Thankfully, I keep a stash of clothes at the office so I decided to do the jaunt in this a.m. assuming Brynna allowed us to sleep. Unfortunatley B didn’t allow a full night’s sleep and when we did finally get her back to sleep at 3, I laid there for at least another hour stressing about not sleeping. When I finally did get back to sleep I had a dream about not being able to sleep. How f’ed up is that? Anyway, when the alarm went off at 5 I briefly thought about resetting it to 6 but decided against it since I probably wouldn’t get back to sleep anyway. Upon reaching the living room and turning on the weather channel I thought again about going back to bed when I saw the temp was a balmy 40 degrees. Yikes! I had many reasons to go back to bed: 1. It was cold as hell. 2. I didn’t get enough sleep. 3. I’m just getting over that pesky flu thingy I had. 4. I was feeling like a big fat puss. Thankfully, I also has some good reasons to ride in: 1. If I went back to bed, I would end up waking Marcy two more times. Once getting back in and once again getting back out and if there is one thing that marriage has taught me its that the fewer times I can wake Marcy the better! 2. I have a race this weekend and really need to ride at least a little bit. 3. I didn’t want to be a puss.

So, in the end, I manned up and hit the road with more layers than I have worn since spring and I was still freakin cold. Downhills were brutal and the flats weren’t much better. It was one of those rides that you couldn’t wait for the climbs so that you could warm back up. Along the way I had one seriously sketchy moment. On a narrow road after having just been passed by a car, I drifted too close to the side and dropped off of the pavement onto a shoulder that was about 6” wide before dropping into a nice ditch. Usually, when I drift off the road I’ll simply slow down, ride it out and get back on the road when I’m under control again. On this occasion I knew that if I didn’t act fast, I’d be somersaulting into the ditch and the prospects of flying into a dark ditch with stumps, rocks and who knows what else just didn’t appeal to me. I also knew that if I tried to pull right back onto the road I risked eating it on the pavement because I had a good 2-3” lip to get over and with no time to bunny hop, I would be forced to try to turn back onto the road. Knowing how many layers I had on, I felt fairly confident that even if I did eat it, the road rash would be minimal. Thankfully, when I did correct my path the front wheel got up fairly easily with a slight lift, the rear slammed into the road edge, made some horrible rock to metal sounds and finally made it up on. Phew, unscathed except for maybe a couple of minor dings in the rim.

Afterwards, I started to wonder, how can a guy who has a hard time remembering his cell number run the above scenario through his head in about ¼ of a second?

Down for the count

So last week I got in a pretty decent amount of riding and cross training.  Probably more hours than I’ve managed to squeak in since early summer.  I was pretty pumped about that.  Until yesterday that is.  I got up at normal time, went for a run with the dog, got ready and headed in.  Was feeling pretty good until about 8am when the chills set in.  Damn!  Ended up toughing it out for a couple more hours then packed it in and went home to sleep it off.  Usually a good nights sleep will knock any illness out of me but I still feel like ass this morning.  A nicer ass, but an ass none the less.  Hopefully I can kick this thing quick because I’ve got the short track race this weekend when I hope to pull double duty racing both the single speed class and expert class.  I did the same last year and pulled a first in ss and second in expert so hopefully I can kick it up a notch this year.  We’ll see.

Nooner

Man, what a sweet lunch break! I just got back from an hour lunchtime mtb ride. I still don’t know the trails behind my office very well so I have to be careful not to get totally lost (which is quite easy there) but I was able to put together one short loop and some out and back stuff but more importantly, I got to orient myself in a couple of places by coming out at houses and roads so that next time I’ll have a little better idea of where the f I am. Have you ever been on a trail that twisted and turned so much that you didn’t know which way is up? Well, this is one of those trails. At some point I’ll have to borrow a gps and map the trails well so that I can put together some cool loops. It also looks like I’ll be able to connect it together with the Zak preserve with just a bit of road riding and turn it into a 1-1 ¼ hr loop. Perfect for a long lunch.

Ok, back to the grind, gots me some stuff to get out in the mail this afternoon.

morning suprise

I had an interesting morning today. The alarm was set to go off at 5 (when I typically get up to jog with Chance) but somehow I had managed to re-set the clock so that it was an hour ahead so in reality it was 4 and not 5. Since I was up, I decided to get in a quick road ride. I quickly threw my stuff together and hoped on the the road stallion and headed out. I brought my camera so that I could get some cool coastal shots since I was heading down to Pemaquid and Bristol but unfortunately I wasted the batteries taking pictures of myself and a penis painted on a street sign so I have no lovely coastal shots for you but you do get to see some more pictures of me (yippee!) and some local Maine artwork.

the obligatory photo while riding shot.

Maine artwork at its best. The artist was obviously a bit confused when he/she put the stem looking thing just above the berries.

In the end, I rolled in with 1:20 and about 23 miles. I also have a lunch time mtb jaunt planned if all goes well. The weather is looking good so it should be a sweet ride.

Sick day with B

I’m passing the time at home today. B-girl has been sick for the last couple of days. Marcy took the bullet and stayed home with her yesterday so I took today’s shift. Thankfully (for me), B was more sick yesterday and has been in pretty good shape today. Yesterday, I rode the road stallion home with the hopes that B would be feeling better by morning. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case so I had to get up at 4 after a night of little sleep and get into work to pick up my car so Marcy could get into work. Lazy s.o.b. needs to drive the work, the nerve! (just kidding baby!) Unfortunately, the early hour and lack of sleep made for a pretty sub-par ride. To top it off, I didn’t have the time or energy to make a pot of coffee before leaving so I grabbed my Hammer Gel flask (that was left over from the Sugarloaf race from 2 ½ weeks ago) and hit the road. About five minutes in I took a hit from the flask and immediately realized I had made a huge mistake! Apparently, mixed gel (espresso, vanilla and water) that has been sitting in the flask for almost 3 weeks is no longer consumable. It tasted like a mix of sour chocolate milk, bile and pond water. To be honest though, the bile was probably mine as I fought to keep from spewing whatever was left in my stomach from dinner the night before. Yummy.

I'm also running the potential changes that I'd like to make to the Van Dessel to make it a bit more commute friendly and somewhat cross ready. I had contemplated putting a set of old v's on for more stopping power but the more I think about that, if I go with drop bars they wouldn't work too well so I need to think of alternatives. Speaking to KWood on Tuesday, he told me he needs a new derailleur after he toasted his so I'm thinking that maybe I can sell him one of my various xtr's (3), maybe my xt shift/brake pods and avid v's so that he can make the jump to the world of 9 speed. In the process, I could scrape enough coin together to get some decent canti's and maybe some new bars for the VanD. Fingers crossed.

Soul searching

I’ve been doing some thinking since my “Stuff for sale” post last week.  We got the bill from the electricians who were camped at our place for a full day last Monday and am beginning to think that a new bike, no matter how cheap, isn’t in my near future.  With that thought in mind, I went out for a cross type ride yesterday on the Van Dessel to see what the potential is to use it for a cross race or two this year (if I decide to do any that is) and I think the potential is high.  I’ll definitely need to put some better brakes on.  Right now it has some really old and cheesy cantis from my brothers first mountain bike that only just barely work.  I have a set of avid single digits in my parts box at home that might do the trick to give me a bit more stopping power.  I’m not sure how they’ll work with road brake levers but they can’t be any worse than the cantis that are on there now so I’ll probably give them a try.  Secondly, I’ll probably pick up a set of uber cheap cross bars so that it’ll look like a respectable cross rig.  Even if I never use the drops, I should at least look like I do right?  Eventually, I’d like to build some better wheels for it as well but the current set-up works fine for now.

The bike is fun to ride so I’m actually excited to make these changes to breath some new life into the steed.  My next xc race is actually a short track in two weeks so I may actually spend a bit of time on the Van D. doing some cross style training and getting it dialed in.

stuff for sale

Hey all, In the process of trying to scrape some money together to buy a cross bike, I've decided to sell two of my trusty steeds. I'll have better info (and pictures) about them after the weekend but I figured I'd better hurry up and get the word out there.

Bike 1: Van Dessel Country Road Bob (http://www.vandesselsports.com/crb.php?bike=9). Its the older version with the curved top and down tubes. I believe it is 59cm but will confirm this weekend. Its a sweet commuter/light trail single speed/fixie. Its super fun to ride and virtually maintenance free.

Bike 2: Trek Fuel 98 (http://www2.trekbikes.com/bikes/bike.php?bikeid=1167610&f=14) frame size large. Full carbon front and rear triangles. I replaced the carbon rocker with an aluminum version because the carbon wore out really quickly and I got tired of replacing it. It rides the same with the new rocker and the weight difference is negligable. This is a sweet ride but I stripped it to build my Dos this spring so now it is lonely and looking for a new home.

Both bikes have been used a fair amount but have been well taken care of and will provide many more years of use.

The first reasonable offer for each will be accepted. If I don't hear>from> > anyone they'll be going up on ebay and mtbr next week.

If you have any questions or want more info, give me a shout.

Time to breath

Phew, coming up for a breath of fresh air before diving back into the fray. Its been one serious ass kicking at work and home recently. I have about a bazillion projects behind schedule at work that have been working me over plus B-Girl’s one year b-day party this Saturday which we’ve been frantically trying to get the house ready for in the evenings. All of this has lead to little posting and even less riding.

Here is a quick rundown of the last weeks riding activities:

Saturday I finally watched “Off Road to Athens”. It’s pretty lame that it took me this long to see it but it was a cool video and it really makes you realize that the selection process for the Olympics is retarded. Nothing like burning everyone out just trying to get to the big O.

Sunday I lead the slow ass group ride for the local bike group. 1 ¼ hours with an average speed of less than 11 mph. Ouch! I really wish I had had B in the trailer with me so that at least I’d have a reason to go that slow plus the extra resistance would have been nice. It was a nice day though and I was able to work in some hard efforts on the way over and back from the rally point so it wasn’t a complete waste. It was interesting to do the warm up and cool down in the middle of the ride with the intense efforts crammed into the beginning and end of the ride. Gotta shake things up right?

Monday was spent at home while a couple of electricians spent Brynna’s college fund. Two guys x 8 hours each + materials = one huge bill. At least the house isn’t likely to burn down now and we have functioning lights and outlets in the living room again.

Monday I also got the XO derailleur put back together and will get in back on the Dos in the next day or so. I’ve decided to sell the X-9 to the bro to free up some cash. I had initially planned to save it for a spare but fund necessitate a different approach right now.

Wednesday was my first ride day since Sunday and I tried to make the best of it by getting up at 4 and taking the Dos for a long, meandering commute to work taking in all of the trails on the way. It was good fun but my night riding eyes are quite functioning yet so I ended up riding pretty damn slow on the trails but I’m sure the night time skills will come back to me quickly enough. After work, I took a more direct route home only hitting the Schmid Preserve. Soon after leaving the office, I realized I had forgotten my pump so was hoping to not have a flat. Sure enough, about ½ mile from the house I got a puncture and ended up jogging the final 15 minutes down my road. I must have been quite the sight running in full kit with my bike by my side. What a dork.

Ok, that’s about it. Time to dive back in.

Say it with vomit.

You know your daughter loves you when she's kind enough to projectile vomit from your nose to your ear lobe. Love ya right back. 

"B" ride

Loading her up. Pimpin the sponsor.

Ready to roll.

No pooch for you!

Off we go.

Chip off the 'ole block

Brynna takes after me. Check it.

Also, I got the new "lower unit" for the xo rear derailleur yesterday and now I have no clue what to do with it. I had thought it would be an easy switch but it looks like it requires a complete tear down of the piece. A quick call to Bikeman to confirm and sure enough, they suggested I bring it in so that I don't F up the whole thing. Damn. I had hoped to have that puppy back on my steed this weekend. Oh well, such is the life of a rider with sub-standard mechanical abilities.

Knock, knock

During Sunday's race, my bike developed a concerning knocking noise that was coming from the rear end. Initially I assumed it had something to do with the new derailleur I had installed Friday night (which shifted perfectly by the way) but after the race, when I inspected it, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. Tuesday, when I finally got around to cleaning the bike, I found out what the problem was. The plastic carrier for the lowest gears (4 I think) had somehow managed to notch itself a bit over the pawls (I'm not sure if that is what they're really called) on the freehub body which allowed them a little bit of play to move back and forth thus creating the sound. To fix it, I had to pull the cassette off which turned out to be quite a freakin ordeal. The aluminum hub body so completely chewed up by the top 4-5 gears that it took a rubber mallet and a wrench through the other side of the wheel to get them to come off. F! So not only did I somehow ruin a perfectly good cassette (which I've decided to save along with the chain for this fall) but I munged the hub body as well. I know that alloy hub bodies tend to mark up a bit because they're softer than steel but damn, this shouldn't happen. Thankfully, before the season started I bought another cassette and a few chains so I had a new one to slap on and everything is good to go now.

This bad boy went on and an older style 980 came off. After checking the SRAM website, apparently they no longer make them with the plastic spider. Good move.

my new lust

Team manager Big Gay Al has got me lusting for this beauty. For a few more bones than what the El Mariachi frame would cost me, I could have a complete, pretty well spec'd cross bike and with cross season quickly approaching that would be a good thing. I know, I know, to die hard cross racers disc brakes are a no no but really, what are the odds that I'll ever race at the elite cross level? Zero, zilch, nada. Truthfully, in the two cross races I did years back I was barely able to hold my on in the C races and the disc brakes would be really nice on winter commutes. So the hemming and hawing continues... 

Gross

I have a creamy favorite that is served by hand... oh, never mind. 

Attack of the Zombies

Ever wonder what you might look like riding at 4 am? Well, here is what I look like. I sort of look like I'm staring down the business end of a semi. Talk about dilated pupils! 

Recap #5

Well, race #5 of the year is in the books.  I’d like to say I went out and kicked ass but sadly I didn’t.  I did manage to finish 1st expert in my age group but that is of little consolation when about eight others finished ahead of you.  I have to admit it was good to get my first win of the year though.

As usual, I got a horrible start despite having a good position at the line.  I really need to learn how to start because it really sucks to have 12 people beat you off of the line (many coming from behind you).  I don’t know what it is about me but I’ve never been a good starter.  It was important to get a good start yesterday too because about a mile into the course was some freshly cut single track that was super soft and tight and passing was not an option so I found myself bottlenecked unable to ride at all while the leaders scampered off into the distance.  Kudos for them for getting their asses off of the line faster.

Finally out of the singletrack, I picked up one or two place until the climb started.  Sugarloaf has one of the tougher climbs in the series and yesterday it kicked my ass.  Not only was I not passing many on the climb (as I usually do), I was actually getting passed by a few.  To be honest, one was good ole Skip Brown so I don’t feel too bad about that but a few others who wouldn’t have usually passed me did.  I’ll chalk it up to a no-go leg day.  Thankfully, when I reached the top of the main climb and started to rocket down the rough descents and ripping through the technical singletrack, I found that dos and I were one and I was able to really make up time.  It was one of those days where you could just let the bike go where it wanted, making slight weight and direction changes but mostly just going with it.  It was a blast.  

Unfortunately I had two more of those climbs to do in order to enjoy the descent again.  Oh well.  Over the course of the next two laps (3 total) I picked off a few more guys and finished strong, totally spent and the legs on the verge of cramping, but strong.

Series points haven’t been posted all year but I’m fairly confident that this “win” puts me solidly in first place.  The only question is whether Boobar shows up for the next few races or not.  If he does I might be in trouble but I welcome the challenge.  Bring it on!

I quote

I saw this quote today while surfing MTBR during lunch.  This probably sums it up pretty well for a lot of people.

Dee Zee “I am just going for a ride and you act like I am going to a strip club”.Non-biker wife“ I would rather have you go to strip clubs.........it would take up less time and money”.

For the record, Marcy has never said this.  She is very supportive of my riding.  Right up until I start smashing expensive carbon bits that is! (

His spot

You know you get too many packages when the ups guy doesn't even bother marking where he left the package and simply writes "my spot".

 

Morning commute

I rode the dos into work today. Notice anything wrong with this picture? 

Here's a hint.

Suprisingly, despite having no bottom pulley I was able to complete the ride which included an additional 1 1/2 miles of singletrack and a few miles of pavement. The pin that holds the plates of the cage together acted as the pulley and it actually continued to shift really well. Thankfully, you can replace the lower cage and pulleys without replacing the whole derailleur because these suckers are too expensive to just throw away.

Turn your head and cough

Here I sit, at my home computer waiting for someone to stick a finger up my butt.  I’m actually not kidding.  A nurse is swinging by this morning to give me a physical for my life insurance policy.  Hopefully no violating will take place but just to be sure I’d better give the ole cornhole a little extra love while in the shower this morning.  You want it to be squeaky clean, ya know?  I bet that went way past too much information and straight to deleting any shortcuts you have to this blog.  I apologize.

As part of the physical, I had to fast since midnight last night and I’m not allowed to do any strenuous activity.  Damn!  The one day that I would actually have a couple of hours to kill in the morning and I can’t ride.  Instead I sit here with both my legs and stomach growling.

To try to make up for today’s missed ride, I snuck out for a quick mtb spin with the pooch after we put B down for the evening last night.  I didn’t get to the trail head until 8 so it was an artificial light ride from the start.  I haven’t been on a real night ride in a couple of months and it showed.  I felt like a monkey fucking a football, bouncing off of every rock and root in sight.  The cobwebs were also unreal.  I had so many hanging from my head and chest that I felt like a freaking party favor.  Nothing like a big ole mouthful of web.  All bitching aside, it was still nice to get out though and got in a quick 1:15 to keep the systems happy.

Probably no riding tonight but tomorrow I plan to commute to and from work with the Dos via as many trails as I can hit on the way.  KWood should be accompanying me on the way back so it should be a good ride.

Ricky's Knee 8-15-06

Never, ever use Greyhound Juice or any other warming lotion when you have razor burn on your legs. It sort of feels like slowly setting your legs on fire. You have been warned.

Nice work

Got word yesterday that the team fared really well at the 24 hrs of Great Glenn this weekend. We had a 4 person women’s expert team that totally cleaned house taking 1st for women and 22nd overall. Congrats Mary, Emmie, Olivia and Alyssa. Also, this years new addition, Ellen Noble, who is only 10 yrs old won the junior (0-18) female solo class. Yeah, you heard me right, a 10 year old did a 24 hr race. How kick ass is that?

Edit: I just checked out the Men's Pair results (the class my brother and I raced the last two years) and it looks like the winners had 26 laps. Last year Rus and I did 30 laps total to take second place (of 15) and the year before we did 27 laps for first (of 12). Huh, maybe we should go back again next year and put the hurt on.

tweeked nipples

This weekend finished out a fairly good week ride wise for me. Not a ton of time in but what I got was good and I was able to shake the illness that I felt creeping in. All in all pretty decent considering.

Saturday we were going up to Marcy’s mother’s place for her b’day party so I headed out early to get in a couple hours of nice hilly road riding in. It turned out to be a killer ride. I always like riding up to the in-laws because at 30-ish miles away it allows me to take different routes up each time to check out new roads and to try to find some new hills. Saturday’s route has one of the longest sustained climbs in the area and had me begging for mercy the whole way. The best part had to be when I thought I was at the top so had really honked on the last rise only to find I had another ¾ mile of climbing to go. Blast! I guess it did teach me how to recover on a climb after a hard effort. Maybe that’ll pay off at this weekend’s race at Sugarloaf. Who knows, but it couldn’t hurt.

After the ride I noticed my rear tire is about shot with threads showing in several location. I training tire down, one to go. I guess I’ll be throwing a race tire I have laying around on there now so that I don’t have to pony up and buy a new tire. Things are getting expensive enough without having to buy any new tires right now.

Today after work I have to drop the Dos’ front wheel off at the shop. I’m not sure but I think they have the wrong length spokes on one side since I can’t get the proper tension and dish without bottoming out the nipples. Hopefully they can get it fixed up soon since I’m racing this weekend and don’t want to have a pull a wheelie for 2 hrs straight. I can barely ride one for 10 seconds straight so I’m not sure that’ll work.

Some observations.

Here are some observations from my ride in this morning.

Coffee from a water bottle is really bad.
The full (or at least close to full) moon was beautiful.
Bats seem to love the early morning hours because I have at least a half dozen flutter past me in the 45 minutes I was out.
For some odd reason, I worried that I was going to hit a deer.
My blinkie light died this morning so I should have been more worried about ME being hit by a car.
4 a.m. is early.
I’m lucky to have a wife who understands my need to get up at 4 a.m. to ride.
4 a.m. is early. What? I already said that one? Well, it still is.

Feeling crappy

Yesterday, Marcy took pity on me and told me to ride my bike home from work and she’d pick up B-Girl from daycare. At first I resisted since Marcy is still sick but finally relented because I was starting to feel like that dog you see tied to a tree compulsively pacing back and forth, killing an arch shaped path of grass in the process.

The day was beautiful but despite that, the ride started off a bit ho-hum with the legs feeling like crap and the mind not much better. Within 10 minutes, I began to worry that maybe I was coming down with what Marcy and Brynna have been fighting for two weeks now. Shit, now is not the time to get sick. By the end of the ride I felt a bit better and was able to get in a few hard efforts to try to open the legs up.

As a final test to see if the body is ok, I got to bed early and got up at 4 this morning to try to get in 2.5 hrs before work. Unfortunately the morning ride was no better than yesterday’s so as I approached my office I pulled in instead of riding past to do the planned Southport loop. I figured it was better to take it easy than try to push it an make things worse. Plus, I need to make up some work time anyway.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’m just having a blah 24 hours and not actually getting sick. I’ll be hitting the hay early tonight. Hopefully that helps because if all goes well, we’ll be heading to Vermont tomorrow morning to spend a couple of days hiking and biking. Fingers crossed.

Meat Up

Just saw this over at Bike29. It looks like they're going to have a weekend shindig for 29'er riders on Sept. 8-10 at the Kingdom Trails in Vermont. Man it would be sweet to get over there for that. I've been dreaming of riding those trails for years but every summer slips away from me before I get the chance to get over there. Hopefully when Brynna is old enough we'll start getting over there every summer. For now, I'll have to live vicariously through others. Thats what blogs are for right?

In the trailer

 

A bit behind

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Marcy and Brynna have been sick (Marcy especially recently) so with work, taking care of both of them and trying to squeeze in a quick ride here and there, there has been precious little time for riding. This past weekend though, I did get out for one ride. As I mentioned ages ago, there is a new bike group that was started over the winter in my town. Its geared more towards recreational and geriatric types so I hadn’t ridden with them yet but had thought it would be the perfect place to go when I have Brynna in her trailer. Well Sunday morning I decided to take B for a ride while Marcy tryed to get some sleep to beat her illness. As I was in the garage getting B into her trailer I noticed the Sunday morning organized ride cruise past my house so I quickly finished up the prep work and hit the road in an attempt to catch them. I managed to catch the stragglers of the group after a few miles and then put my head down and pushed it to catch the leader. This can be tough with a trailer with a touchy baby inside though because I was unable to stand on any of the climbs because it rocks the trailer too much for her right now so I was forced to sit and grind. For a double ring set-up this isn’t always ideal on a normal ride but throw in a 20+ lb baby and a 10+ lb trailer and you’ve got the making for some nice tough climbs. Once with the group it was easy though since the pace rarely went over 15mph. An hour into the ride I decided it was time to head back since Brynna would likely wake up soon and be royaly pissed. For some reason if she starts the ride awake and stays awake she is fine but if she falls asleep and then wakes up mid ride she freaks out. I’m not sure of the reason, maybe it scares her, but I decided to try to get back before she managed to wake up. Unfortunately about 2 miles from the house, the demon awoke and screamed to high heaven until we got back. Thank god I turned around when I did, that would have been quite nerve wracking had I listened to it much longer.

I also stole away for a bit last night after putting B and Marcy to bed to get an hour of night ride in on the dos. I hit up some trail where it is frowned upon to ride in so I always wait until all mud is gone and go at night so that I don’t piss anyone off. Unfortunately though, it appears that no-one has been using the trail because it was getting extremely overgrown in areas and extremely un-fun in sections. It would probably do the trail a world of good if they publicly allowed bikes to use it after mudseason to keep it packed down and weed free. Maybe some day.

What a week!

Well, this week has been all balled up.  Both Marcy and Brynna have been sick most of the week so its been rough riding-wise but not totally horrible.  This morning I got up at the butt crack of dawn (4) to get in a couple of hours before work so I got my fix for today.  Its this weekend that I’m worried about.  On Sunday, we’re supposed to heading to Vermont for a few days of relaxing, hiking, swimming and of course a bit of biking but with Marcy and B’s illnesses, I’m not so sure we should go.  There will be 3 other babies under 1 yr old there so we don’t want to risk getting them all sick with the dreaded PINK EYE! (ominous dum, dum, dum).  I guess we’ll just see what happens.  They’re both medicated right now so maybe by the time we’re supposed to go over on Sunday things will be cleared up a bit.

Ricky's Knee

Going along with my advice column over on DAMNelsons, I’ve decided to do some of the same over here at RacinRick.

Episode one: Nipple chaffage.

Apparently I have very sensitive little nips because whenever I race while wearing bib shorts my nips are practically on fire by the end of the race.  I love wearing bibs but unfortunately the straps fall directly over my man boobs and cause serious chaffage.  To combat this, you can cover them with little band aids or as Marcy suggested, some nursing pads.   Both good options but if you forget they are one when you finish the race and strip your jersey, you might have some serious explaining to do.  Sunday, at Bradbury, I tried a new tactic.  I put a little dab o’ Assos chamois cream on each little nub.  Not only did this work to keep my bits from chaffing, it also kept them nice and cool and minty fresh.  Try it next time you go out for a long hard ride.

Take two

I do 100 nipple presses a day to keep these babies in shape. Notice how nicely I glisten?



















.

Bradbury quick recap.

Uber quick post time.

The field was stacked for yesterday’s race at Bradbury.  EFTA doesn’t have a pro category so I’d be duking it out with the pros.  There were three in my age group and 3 or 4 others in other groups, plus a shit load of fast Southern New Englanders from the main EFTA series.

The race was supposed to be 30 miles but ended up only being 24.5.  I got a bad start but worked my way up through the field, in the end passing all but one expert and the pile of pros.  Finished 4th in my age group behind the likes of Ben Moody, some McKeefe dude and my nemesis Matt Boobar.  I felt strong all race long so I don’t feel bad losing to 3 super fast pros.

My finish time was 2:41 and change.  Not exactly an enduro but maybe they’ll have more miles next year.  If I had known the race would finish so quickly I probably would have tried for a better start.  Oh well, at least the legs felt good and to be honest, I had nothing for the guys in front of my anyway.  Probably could have caught the other expert ahead of me though.

Poo Finger

Over on DAMNelsons I have started a weekly column called “Ricky’s Knee” where I will give all sorts of advise on being a father, husband, annoying etc. If you’re wondering how you’re going to handle being a dad it would be good to check out. If you’re having trouble satisfying your wife, future articles might be worth checking out. If you want to read about baby poop, you most certainly want to check it out. So, in short, check it out. It may not be all that useful but hopefully it will be funny in a sort of “I can’t believe I just wasted five minutes of my life reading this” kind of way.

Back to riding. Yesterday, I met up with my bud Kevin to ride some of this weekend’s race course down at Bradbury State Park. Neither of us had a bike computer so I’m not sure how much distance we actually covered but I’m guessing we hit about ½ of the course’s 30 miles in about two hours. Factor in an increased race pace and I’m guessing we’re looking at about a 3 ½ hour race. Its really hard to say for sure but that’s my guess. One thing is for certain, most of the trails are going to be slower than usual because smack dab in the middle of really fun, fast sections they have added new trails (to lengthen the course) and thereby totally screwing your speed and momentum. Thankfully most of the new trail that I saw seemed to be fairly rideable but some of it will be downright brutal come race day. It also looks like they are saving all of the climbing and super technical trails for the last ½ of the course. Thanks a pantload for that one. It will be sweet to hit all of the brutal climbs and scary descents when I’ve already been at redline for over two hours. It should be mucho fun. Bitching aside, I think it is going to be a sweet race and should actually be really fun assuming I make it through in one piece.

After the ride we ran into Leslie and Olivia. Les is a good friend of Marcy’s and a former Bikeman teammate and Olivia is a current teammate and the dutchess of dirt from two years ago. When I saw them standing at Les’ car, I cruised up and tried to do a rear wheel skid but f’ed it up and almost face planted right in the middle of the parking lot. Leave it to me to screw up a move that any self respecting 5 year old has mastered. Damn, my tech skills are lame!

This morning I woke up with a somewhat gimpy right knee. It must have been the 2 ½ hours of single speed gear mashing that did it since before this week, I hadn’t ridden that small wheeler in almost three months. So its vitamin I time for me so I can get rid of the soreness before this weekend. Fingers crossed.

Spreading the love

I’m sorry and you’re welcome for the infrequency of posts recently. I’ve been up to my short and curlies with work and other duties recently and have had little time to post.

I’ve been thinking recently (never a good sign) about the various posting methods of which two are most relevant to me. The first is the blogger who posts something each day regardless of quality just to keep things rolling and keep people checking back everyday. The second is the blogger who posts every few days when he/she actually has something informative and useful to say so although the volume of posts is relatively low, the quality is high. I fall into category 3, infrequent, low quality posts. Best of both worlds if you ask me! Others, like Mr. J.M. fall into another category altogether, frequent posts of good to excellent quality. I don’t like J.M., he makes me feel inadequate.

Ok, back to the task at hand. Sunday was a rocking day on the bike. It started off with an easy spin with my father and bro up at Rancho-de-Nelson. The cool thing about that ride was that it was actually initiated by my dad. When he found out I was coming up, he actually asked to go for a ride. I was amazed because he rides about four times a year. Apparently he really enjoys it but can’t get motivated to go unless I’m around. Of course, I’m more than happy to help when I’m up. My brother, on the other hand, needs to be dragged out kicking and screaming. He seems to have a good time once he’s out there but he’d never go on his own.

After the mountain bike ride, the plan was to ride my bike into the office where I had left my car on Friday. Its about a 50 mile trip on some pretty nice roads so I had been looking forward to it until it was time to go. Some background here. My parents always have a healthy supply of cookie dough ice cream and mountain dew on hand so whenever we’re up there, my inner glutton kicks in and eats and drinks itself silly. Sunday was no different, within an hour of being there I had a can of dew and some ice cream. Needless to say, my gut wasn’t feeling so great. Add to that, I was leaving at 5 pm and didn’t have any real food to eat so I grabbed a handful of Chewey Chips Ahoy (of which there are always plenty on hand) and hit the road. The first 15 minutes were sheer torture and I was just counting the minutes until Marcy drove by so she could pick me up and take my sorry ass home. Soon though, I was feeling better and really cranking along. Enough so that when Marcy did catch me I sent her on home and finished my ride. 2.5 hours and 49 miles later I was at the car feeling surprisingly good.

Tonight I meet up with my buddy Kevin at Bradbury State Park to do a bit of course recon for this weekends enduro race. The course is close to 30 miles so we won’t hit it all but I hope to hit a bunch and get back into the mtb groove for the weekend. The Dos is still at the doctor's office so I'll be rolling on the Moto Rapido SS. Its really weird to be rolling little wheels again. It should be fun regardless because Bradbury has some really sweet, buff, rolling trails.

Finally, some good press.

I had this article in the Portland Press Herald pointed out to me by Kevin today. Its about time land managers realize that having mountain bikes on your property can actually be profitable. The rangers at the park work year round on new trails and improving existing trails and now on any given day there seems to be more mountain bikers on the trails than hikers. Here is the article.


Bradbury welcomes mountain bikers, so they help the park

BRADBURY RACE
WHAT: Bradbury Mountain Enduro
WHEN: July 30
WHERE: Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal
COST: $35 for the race; $20 for the touring class
MORE: Race or tour around a single 30-mile loop. All proceeds go to Bradbury Mountain State Park and local bicycle charities. Call 773-1700 for details.

Bradbury Mountain State Park is between Portland and Lewiston. But despite the nearby urban locations, for many years it didn't draw as many visitors as coastal parks such as Camden Hills or Reid State Park in Georgetown, locals say.
"Bradbury Mountain did pretty well during the fall. Other than that, it was one of the state parks that was kind of dead. Now, it is a Maine mountain-biking mecca," said Jamie Wright, owner of Gorham Bike and Ski in Portland. "The park works really hard to make these trails so mountain bikers can come feed off each other."
The park now attracts 30,000 visitors a year, many of them mountain bikers, said park manager Mick Rogers. That number has doubled in the last eight years, since the cyclists were welcomed in, said Rogers.
"It gives the park good exposure," he said.
It helps the park in other ways as well.
Gorham Bike and Ski sponsors an annual mountain-bike race at the park that donates proceeds to help the park accomplish different goals. For example, the Portland bike shop paid the Pownal Land Trust's legal fees when it wanted to donate land to the state park.
Next weekend, the eighth annual mountain-bike race,the longest yet, will take place at the park. The Bradbury Mountain Enduro race will cover a 30-mile loop.
The race, along with the park, has grown.
In the past eight years, the race has gone from an 8-miler to the more than 20, and now 30. In that time, the park has grown from 600 acres to 1,000.
There is a direct relationship between the two, Rogers said.
The park has allowed mountain bikers to use its trails since 1997, Rogers said. At first, bikers came to the park without going through the gate, and they didn't pay the $3 fee.
"There were hundreds of them that did that," Rogers said. "Now, it doesn't happen much. They really support the park. They do damage on rainy days, they come back (to fix it). We'll get 100 mountain-bike volunteers."
The relationship between the park and its biking patrons is productive for both.
The bikers are happy to help develop a place they can ride, Wright said.
"The problem with the state, there are very few legal places to ride," Wright said. "A lot of (trails) are considered poached. Bradbury is nice. It's legal. It's one of the few."
The riders' interest in the mountain park also makes it unique, Rogers said.
"There are not many that allow mountain bikes. Mount Blue and Camden. But Mount Blue has nowhere near (the number of riders)," Rogers said.
It was Rogers who approached Tim Corcoran, the manager at Gorham Bike and Ski, to suggest the mountain-bike race eight years ago. Since then, the Portland bike shop has worked to change the race each year and make it more appealing.
This year, the race not only will feature a single loop, it will offer a "touring" class, for those who are not riding for time or place but want to cover the long woodland route.
With the help of park rangers, local riders have crafted a course that is one large loop over single and double track.
This race is about stump jumping, holding tight, leaning back and maybe falling off.
Outdoor types who enjoy extreme activities where adrenaline mixes with fresh air crave this type of backwoods fun, where winning is second to the thrill.
"Mountain-bike racing numbers have been down for a number of years. But numbers are up for more adventurous types of racing, such as triathlon," Wright said.
The race is modeled after the Vermont 50 in Brownsville, Vt., that is capped at 650 mountain bikers each fall and has to turn many away.
But, the scenic Vermont race is through farmland, and at least a portion of it is over logging roads.
Wright wanted Maine's enduro race to be a true rugged mountain-bike experience.
Early last week, there were about 100 preregistered for the Bradbury Mountain Enduro, and, most were from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, Wright said.
The hope is to add a 50-mile loop next year, Corcoran said.
But even if the enduro race's growth slows, the mountain-biking scene at Bradbury is certain to climb, bikers say.
"Before, you'd see the occasional person. Now, you go up there any evening, the parking lot is busy. It's good," Corcoran said.
Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

First flat

Mother nature gave me the ole high hard one this morning.  I had planned to take Brynna in the trailer behind my bike to daycare today.  Unfortunately, when I got up this a.m. it was overcast and drizzly and by the time I got into the office it was an f’in downpour.  Damn-it.  I thought it would be a fun way to get B-Girl to daycare, take the load off of Marcy for the day and get a bit of riding in to boot.  Alas, no such luck.  Maybe I’ll try again on Monday.

On Wednesday, I got up at 4:15 to get in a couple of quality hours on the road before heading to the plant.  It was a beautiful morning and the fist this year that I didn’t need to ride most of with my jacket on.  I’m really looking forward to the days when I can get up, throw on my kit and head out the door instead of spending precious minutes in an internal debate with myself on whether or not to wear the jacket or arm warmers and knee warmers, one or the other….?  I guess that is one of the problems with riding so early.  65 degrees at 4 am feels totally different than at 10 am.  I probably wouldn’t consider a jacket if its 65 at 10 but almost always do if its 65 at 4, the air just seems a bit cooler despite the temps.  Anyway, the a.m. ride went smoothly and was uneventful.  I threw in a bunch of intervals as well as some hill work and was feeling great by the time I got to the office.  The way home, on the other hand, was another story.  My legs felt like lead for the first ½ hr which, to be honest, isn’t unexpected after a longish morning ride.  When the legs finally opened up I started to push the pace a bit more and that’s when things got really shitty.  While crossing a bridge on rt 1, I was forced by traffic to stay on the shoulder which is where the dreaded drainage grates are.  I don’t know who designed them or who specified that this type should be used in an area that sees a lot of loaded touring traffic, but they totally suck.  I hit the first one pretty hard and knew that if I did the same with the rest (probably another 10-12) that I was sure to get a pinch flat on the rear so I started to bunny hop each one.  Unfortunately for me, they were so closely spaced that at 20 mph it was hard to time the jumps perfectly and I ended up nailing a couple of them resulting in my first flat of the year on my road bike since installing the Panaracer Extreme Duro’s.  I’ve gotta say, these tires have been great, shrugging off just about everything I throw at them.  Surprisingly, when I got home and checked the tire and tube it turns out it wasn’t even a typical pinch or puncture that caused the flat, it was a sharp edge on one of the grates that managed to cut a small slice in the side wall of the tire.  Its not enough of a cut to warrant replacing the tire but just enough that the tube got a tiny pin prick hole.  You really can’t blame the tire for that one and at about 1000 miles only having one flat is pretty sweet.  

This weekend, we’re heading down to B-Town to visit my brother and his wife.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get a nice ride in at the Fells.  Hopefully we do because I haven’t been there in quite some time.  And Rus, if you’re reading this, TiVo the TT on Saturday so we can watch it Sat p.m. will ya?  I’m jonesin to see some tour coverage beyond the 2 secs they show each morning on SportsCenter.

A must see.

Check THIS out. That is some funny and horrifying shit.

Soul searching

Well, after having a few days to relive the happenings in Sunday’s race, I’ve decided to not be such a crybaby and instead learn a few things from the experience.  For starters, I think I handled the initial mechanical fairly well, I took my time to properly pound on the wheel to straighten it out instead of hurrying which is important.  Whenever I hurry trying to do something during a race I always screw it up so patience is key.  Second, while the wheel debacle was obviously an issue it really shouldn’t have taken me out of the race the way it did.  Unfortunately, by the time I finished my first lap I had mentally checked out and was only really concerned with finishing and therefore didn’t push myself hard enough.  I think now that if I had pushed just a bit harder I may have been able to pick up second place.  Who knows really, all that I do know is that I didn’t leave it all out on the trail and that pisses me off.  Thirdly, I know now (but had suspected) that my climbing isn’t where it usually is for this time of year.  Climbing has always been my strong suit but this years it’s a bit sub-par.  For the next few weeks, I’m going to try to focus a bit more on my climbing.  Fourthly (I think I just made that up), I had a pant-load of asparagus last night and now my pee smells funny.

Weebles wobble

Here is a pic of me coming through in the feed zone going into my second lap. If you open the pic you can easily notice the f'ed up front wheel. A couple of minutes of pounding on the ground and it still slightly rubbed the fork in one spot. Fun stuff.











Thanks Marcy for the pic. I'm not exactly sure how she took this pic and then gave me a bottle seconds later. Her multi-tasking skills have improved since having the baby I guess. There is something about holding the baby while folding laundry while cooking dinner while vacuuming that seems to hone those multi-tasking skills.

race recap, abbreviated version

Quick race recap here, more to follow this evening.

Race started off well, for about 5 minutes that is, then someone endoed onto my front wheel and tacoed it. After a couple of minutes of beating it on the ground I got it round enough to ride. Wheel was sketchy on the downhills so I took it easy, not pushing too hard. Wanted to quit the race many times but I need the points for the series so soldiered on. Suprisingly, rolled across 3rd in expert senior II but 7th or 8th overall. Not as good as I hoped but good enough considering. The bike will be in the shop this week for a wheel rebuild and a front derailleur installation (more on that later). Gotta run.

Another view from the top of the mountain. Its pretty nice actually assuming you can still see straight when you get up there. 

yet another camden pre-ride

The build up for the Camden race this weekend continued last night. After a 12 1/2 hour work day that included over 4 hours of standing around outside in the sun talking about this and that, I headed over to Camden to get in a couple of laps on the race course. I had confirmed from the race promoter that the course was finally finished and marked so I was looking forward to seeing what the rest of the climb was going to be like and how the ensuing downhill would treat me. Unfortunately, because of the long work day I was unable to ride with Mr. Wheels as we had planned. Hopefully he was still able to get a couple of laps in.

My ride turned out pretty well. The very first part of the course is the climb that takes you to the top of the mountain before rewarding you with any and I do mean any downhill. 25 minutes (20 min at race pace) of suffering. Its still a tough climb but now that people are coming out the ride it some its at least getting packed down a bit. Hopefully more people will check it out over the next couple of days so we'll be in good shape come Sunday. On thing is for certain, after Sunday it will be primo. From the top of the mountain (where you have views out over lakes and Penobscot Bay) there are some very nice single track descents criss-crossing the ski trails as you make your way down. About half way down though the descent turns into a severe ass pucker section. There are a couple of spots that I'm not sure I'll ride during the race. I'll probably still be cross eyed from the climb at this point so I suspect running it will be safer and faster in the long run especially because I think the race will be won or lost on the climb of the last lap. From there, the trail dumps out onto the old course (shortened somewhat since the climb has been added in) where I'm much more comfortable because of the dozens upon dozens of times I've ridden there.

I ended up getting in two laps in about 1:40 which means that four laps on race day could easily take 2.5-3 hours, factor in the near 90 deg heat and it should be tough, fun and painful. I'm betting on a war of attrition so my goal will be to take it somewhat easy for the first couple of laps and see how it goes from there. When I won here two years ago I was sitting in 7th or 8th after the first lap or two and came on strong at the end so hopefully that tactic will work this weekend. We'll see.

I saw today that Skip Brown is doing a 100 miler this weekend so won't be here to contest this which is sort of a bummer. I really wanted to see how he did with his 36x16 gearing on the climb. I'm sure he'd still be able to ride all of it. Dirty bastard.

Tried to post this the other day but blogger was being a beeyatch. This was the pick of bike, trailer and Brynna after our ride on Saturday. I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing for us.

 

Good Morning

This morning got off to a good start. I rolled out of bed at 3:45, threw on my kit, grabbed the light and the dog and headed out for some early morning single track action. Recently I have begun occasionally taking the pooch with me riding again and he has been doing surprisingly well considering how much of a dud he’d been earlier in the year. Yesterday I ran out of time to do a post about how great he’s been riding recently and I’m glad I did because this morning he went back to his old ways, immediately taking off within the first few minutes. Instead of sticking around and trying to find him I decided to go on with my ride and he’d either catch up or meet me back at the car afterwards. (He ended up catching me soon after I turned around to head back to the car)

The ride turned out to be a bit sub-par from a lack of energy. Apparently it wasn’t a good idea to head out with no food in my stomach. Go figure. Next time I’ll at least have a bottle of Heed with me instead of plain water. Regardless, it was nice to finally get out in the morning again and get the ole metabolism fired up before sitting my ass in an office chair and slinging design all day. I hope to do the same tomorrow only on the road so that I can get in a more consistent workout since the trails behind my house are just not ridden enough right now to keep the weeds beat back so you can keep a good pace. Earlier in the year before everything started to grow it was pretty good but not so much now. Its still nice to have them back there though so I’m not complaining. OK, maybe a little bit.

A view from the top of the Bowl.

Thursday I’ll be hitting up the Camden Snow Bowl trails again with this guy. Hopefully they’ll have the course marked out so that we can get a good feel for it. If not, I’ll make my best guess and do a few laps just to get re-acquainted with my old turf. As of now, this weekend is looking like its going to be a muggy mess so getting up that climb will be key. If you mess up on one of the switchbacks you may end up walking for a while so I want to have those dialed.

Catching up.

Sorry I’ve been getting behind in posts lately but considering nobody really cares if I post or not, I figure it really doesn’t matter anyway. Still, I keep plugging away. Maybe one of these days I’ll be discovered and I’ll have one of them there blog thingies that people actually read and stuff. Yeah, probably not but here goes anyway.

The past week I’ve been trying to focus my energy on getting ready for the upcoming race at the Camden Snow Bowl coming up this Sunday. This year’s course is a bit different from years past because historically a good portion of the race course was on trails that local riders built without permission so this year, the organizers (Mad Mike) decided to keep the race solely on town property until an agreement can be worked out with the land trust that now owns most of the other land surrounding the mountain. As a result of the lost land, the course is now forced to go all the way to the top of the mountain (really just a good sized hill but very steep in areas) and then basically come screaming down to start over again. From what I can tell (the course is not marked yet but I know which trails are on town property) there are going to be essentially no flat areas on the course aside from a couple of traverses across the mountain. It should be a pretty tough race. The opening climb which will most likely take between 20-30 minutes is a total nut buster with about a bizzillion switchbacks. The bleeding from the ears climb will be quickly followed by an ass-behind-the-seat descent that truly scared the crap out of me. Its always nice to be seeing cross eyed when you start a scary descent. From there I believe the course dumps back onto some well used trails from the previous course. It should be a good time and guys who like Mt. Snow (ahem-matt) should check it out. Much nicer trails than Mt. Snow.

Whoo, I digressed a bit there. Long story short, I’m trying to ride at the Snow Bowl at least once a week so that I’ll have the course dialed in.

Saturday A.M. I loaded B-Girl into the Chariot trailer and did a nice and easy road ride. She played happily for a bit and then drifted off to sleep. I rolled into the driveway after an hour and was pretty psyched to finally had a successful trailer ride. This opens up all sorts of possibilities now family rides, long slow grinders, kick ass seated hill workouts etc.

checking in

Phew, sorry for the delay, this past week has been a real nutbuster with work, house and family stuff but things are sort of starting to clear up. Over the long holiday weekend (I took Monday off to make it four days) I finally got my arse in gear and started crackin on the bathroom remodel. For some reason Marcy was getting a bit torqued off since its been happening off and on for (she says) nine months. Women, they're never happy! Kidding babe, kidding. Anyway, I got my ass in gear and busted out some serious work on the bathroom, staining and installing the concrete countertop, installing a bunch of trim, pulled out the old counter and sink and did some plumbing (egad!) work. Lots more to do but at least things are rolling now. Hopefully I’ll get another chunk done this weekend, maybe the tile work and the rest of the trim. On a riding note, Marcy was so happy to see me slaving away for hours on end that she practically kicked me out the door a few times over the weekend to get a ride in. If I had known that pulling my weight around here would actually lead to more riding time I would have stepped up a long time ago! ;)

Concrete counter.

One of my rides from this past weekend involved riding from Marcy’s parent’s place on a lake inland to our place. I’ve done the ride tons of times before and wanted to try a new route so I had the gazetteer (maine atlas) spread out on the blanket where I was watching B-Girl during a brief stint out of the water. Apparently Brynna didn’t care for my route choice because she crawled onto the map and proceeded to take a piss all over the page. Thanks sweetie, I love you too. Despite the setback, it turned out to be a great ride with some very nice climbs on some really hot roads. One thing that I was not considering with my training this year is that I do almost no mid-day rides anymore, which means that my body doesn’t seem ready for the heat yet. As a result, I have decided to try to get some more in so that the first hot race doesn’t kick me in the junk. Never want that.

More later because this is seriously cutting into my porn surfing time.

work smurk

This damn work thing is getting in the way of my blogging yet again! Damn them all to hell. I promise that my post tomorrow will be so insightful and hilarious that I’ll never need to post again.

quick post

Time is short and I have a client coming in a few hours so I leave you with this. Is it supposed to be fireworks or a penis. You be the judge!