2016 Austin Rattler

It's been a while since I've blogged or posted a race report so lets see how this goes...

Around December a buddy of mine invited me to go to the Austin Texas area for a few days with some like minded dudes to do some riding as well as race the Austin Rattler (part of the Leadville Series).  I'll be honest, on paper it didn't look like a race I'd enjoy with so many dirt road miles and almost no technical challenges but it's hard to argue with 5 days of riding in 70-80 degree weather when it's likely 40 back home so I said ok. 

We arrived a couple of days early and I was a good little boy and didn't totally bury myself pre-race (like I did at Circumburke last year but you wouldn't know that since I never did a write-up...) with a solid ride on Thursday and then an easy pre-ride of the course on Friday.  It turns out that they changed the course a bit from years past and added way more single track and cut out some of the later dirt road sections.  (yay me!)  Sure, you still needed to suffer through 7-ish miles of dirt road but they were almost all flat or slightly downhill so the mental punishment would be minimized. 

Race day, we show up and get our shit together (for once, I did almost all prep the night before so I didn't forget ANYTHING.  weird).  with about an hour before race time, we notice that a lot of people are lining up already.  shit!  guess it's good I had my stuff together so Warren and I hopped in line and waited, and waited...somewhere in the 100-150 riders back range.  I wished I was closer to the front but knew that I could make up lots of places in the opening road sections.

Thats a lot of dudes

When the gun fired we were off!  well almost, the front guys were OFF! but further back in the pack, things were a bit slower with me officially entering the race 17 seconds later.  The first 5 minutes of the race saw me making all sorts of aggressive moves for passes (which isn't easy when everybody is riding 5-wide).  When things finally sorted out, I was absolutely amped up and ready to do some serious damage!  At this point, I'd estimate that I was somewhere in the 40's but there was a group of about 10 dangling ahead of us a tantalizing 20 seconds up.  I'm wicked smaht and amped at this point so I proceeded to pull my whole group of maybe thirty dudes for about 10 minutes with only occasional help but I was racing and it was April and I kind of forgot how to do this smartly...

Eventually, we hit the more singley track and me and a couple of other guys who had shelled the rest of the group (I think?  we were going too fast to look back) caught the group ahead of us in the miles of twisties.  I couldn't open things up in here but it did at least allow my heart rate to drop below redline which is good since I still had about 3.5 hours to race. 

At the start of lap 2, I felt my first quad cramps ramping up (sweet!  only 40 miles to go!  this shouldn't hurt a bit!) so I wisely found a group and sat in for most of the road miles so that when we hit the single track again, I was fresher, had clean trail in front of me and was able to make good time. 

Rolling around to start lap 3 (what?  that's it for lap 2?  yes, little drama and lap 3 is more interesting), I shot my last gel and (mercifully!) grabbed a gel hand-up at the start/finish because I could feel myself imploding.  Fast.  For me, at this point, the race was now about maintaining my position as much as possible.  I felt like I was gonna pop at any moment (why did I go so fast on lap one?  oh yeah, bike racing is fun!  until you're le'tired) and my quads were about ready to pack their bags and leave.  Thank goodness for me, I found a dude with massive WATTS who was more than happy to pull my sad group of 4 along the dirt roads at what felt like Plaid Speed but was probably more in the 20 mph range.  Things were merry until we finally hit the trails where drafting didn't work and I had to let the group go.  My legs were poo and I was feeling the impending cramps of doom descending upon me. 

the watts monster

Finally, on a small rise, when I stood to climb, both quads completely seized on me.  I looked down and it looked like my left quad in particular had completely migrated from my knee area to my fun zone.  I very briefly thought about walking it off but figured I'd just end up a heap of quivering nothing on the side of the trail if I did so I simply dialed it back a bit more and spun as if my life depended on it. 

nearing the end

the next hour was pure and utter hell but I worked my way through the pain with lots of positive self talk, drinking and looking back to make sure nobody was going to pass me.  Thankfully, it all worked out with me crossing the line in 4:17 which was almost exactly my pre-race best case scenario goal and 24th place overall (in a registered field of 850) and 8th in the massive 40-49 age group.  Good enough to qualify for Leadville by a good margin. 

 done.  beer in hand.

 texas dirt in mouth

 qualifiers coin

Overall, it was a fantastic race.  Well run, good course and lots of cool folks around.  I'll be back again next year but (hopefully) with a slightly smarter game plan and a better starting position.  

Bond Brook Tread Fest 2014

The Tread Fest is a race I've wanted to do for the last couple of years but haven't been able to for various reasons.  This year, though, I wasn't going to miss out.  I've fallen in love with riding there so racing there is a must.  The race format was pretty straight forward, the expert/pro class would do three laps plus a prologue loop through the parking area to spread things out a bit.  I lined up on the front row and got a really good start sitting third wheel until we hit the first corner of the prologue and the guys in front of me missed the first turn and about 10 guys got by.  Then, at the very next turn the guy next to me overshoots the corner forcing me to stop yet again or get into a crash letting more people past.  Thankfully, that was the end of the corners and I had about 200 yards of gravel to sprint past everybody and slot in behind Tony Giguere who I knew would be one of the strong men on the day.

We entered the trails 1 & 2 and were shortly joined by Dereck Treadwell (Tread from this point on.  look him up and be scared).  Tread quickly dispatched me and got on Tony's wheel.  The two of them slowly built a lead on me going up the Insulator climb but I latched back on at the end of long Split Rock descent.  Sadly, the xc ski trails that led to the next section of single track had some climbing so those skinny little bastards (both about 40 lbs lighter than me) pulled away again.

I kept Tread (sorta) and Tony in sight for the rest of the lap but just couldn't hang on the climbs.  My only hope was that the technical sections would wear them down more than me (not sure how that would happen since they were both on full suspension and I was on a hardtail).

Tread heading down Wannabe

Me a few minutes behind

Forrest tearing shit up on his Carver fat bike

Halfway through the second lap.  Shit is gonna get real soon.

The first lap was marked by an extreme lack of excitement in the strategery department.  It was clear that the standing weren't going to change unless something interesting happened.  Foreshadow, foreshadow.

A little over halfway into the second lap, after the 6 Back climb, is a tricky little section.  you enter at speed and then have an off camber chundery corner with a hole and then a quick, almost 360 degree, offcamber hairpin to negotiate.  In pre-rides, I was always sure to warn my fellow riders to be careful of this corner so I, of course, endo'd nicely there on my second lap.  There was no bodily damage and I didn't think the bike was affected either so I quickly got up and got to making up lost time.

one of the many switchbacks (I'm guessing 6) on the 6 back climb

I sprinted as much as you can down the Quarry trail and then disaster hit.  I was entering a quick, high speed juke section when my front tire folded over on the first juke (I guess I burped it a bit in my endo up top).  I grabbed fistfulls of brakes hoping to avoid crashing into the trees ahead.  It sorta worked but I still slammed one tree head on in a semi endo move jamming my groin/inner thigh into my stem and bashing my right hand on the tree.  ouch.

A quick assessment proved that all of my body parts were still (mostly) working but the tire definitely needed to be taken care of so I gave it a full blast from a Big Air! canister.  At this point  an overinflated tire was far better than another crash.

At this point I figured I was out of the running for 1st or 2nd but I still hadn't been passed so I hoped I still had enough of a cushion to hold onto 3rd place overall.  But, but, but, just minutes down the trail I came across Tony trying to diagnose a shifting problem.  As much as I hate to take advantage of someone else's misfortune, I knew I had to try to get a gap on Tony in case he got rolling again quickly so I made a mad dash through The Works section of trails.  Unfortunately, it wasn't long before I realized that my front tire was going soft again and I was feeling a little sideways roll in the rear as well.  Frick! I had used my one and only CO2 but I did have a hand pump as well for safety's sake but I didn't want to risk getting passed at that moment so I took a calculated risk and decided to keep rolling at a slightly more conservative pace in the tech sections and drill it as hard as I could on the open climbs.

At the very top of the course, before the descent to the start finish, I caught a glimpse of Tread where the trail passes by closely so I knew that he had about 5 minutes on me at that point.  Enough of a gap that wouldn't likely allow me to catch him at my slightly handicapped pace.

about to go up the Insulator Climb for the 3rd time

As I rolled through the start finish to begin my last lap, I heard someone yell my name so I glanced over and someone yelled something and held up one (or was it two?) finger.  I wasn't sure what that meant.  Maybe he was telling me I had one lap to go or that I was in second place?  I didn't know so I decided to not think about it.

Since I assumed that Tread still had a good lead on me, I went into defense mode.  I had seen my buddy Wheels a while back and knew that he was slowly reeling me in so my goal for the last lap was to be conservative where I needed to and go as hard as I could where I could to hold onto second.

What I didn't know was that Tread had flatted at the end of lap two and had gone to his car to fix it as he lapped through and was now on a tear trying to catch me.

Tread blasting through the mid lap point

Luckily, I had enough of a gap (started at around 2 minutes I've heard) that I held Tread off and rolled into the finish in 1st but thinking I was in 2nd.  Right after the finish, I saw Chris Riley, the race promoter, and he congratulated me.  For what? I asked.  Just then, I saw Tread finish up about 45seconds after me.  Damn that was a close one! 

The "podium".  Tread, me and Wheels

and my winning prize. a pair of 2015 Scott Premium MTB shoes! Swank

Sometimes I race and sometimes I blog.

Over the last few years, the blog has pretty much died.  It just became too difficult to come up with something interesting to write about on a nearly daily basis and it became even more difficult to find ways to grammatically bludgeon the english language.  to add to the dearth of interesting stuff to write about, Strava came along and made me not care about racing as much.  I've always had a competitive itch and, for the longest time, racing is what temporarily satiated me.  But, with the invent of Strava, nearly every ride has become a race of sorts and I can quickly see how I compare to other folks.  Is it the same as lining up toe to toe with a pack of shaved leg, 140lb wunderkids?  No, but based on the lack racing in the past couple of years, it must be just enough to keep me satisfied. 

That's not to say that I don't ever race.  I do, just not as frequently.

I already blogged about race numero uno (just read below) but I never did for race number 2, The Carrabassett Backcountry Cycle Challenge And Other Various Things.  It's been a long time so I'm going to do the cliff's notes version.

Lined up with the pro/expert class and got a good start for once riding with the elites for the first 5-6 miles of technical singletrack and xc ski trail riding.  I was digging a bit hard for so early in the race but it was fun to hang with the actual fast guys for a while.  Eventually, though, my senses returned to me and I let them slip away.  It was at this point that team manager Big Al caught me and we started a multi hour ride together.

Things were going swimmingly until I had a couple of mechanical issues with my bike and I had to watch Al ride off into the sunset, I assumed never to be seen again.  thankfully though, near the mid-point of the 60+ mile race, I saw him ahead on one of the races longest climbs so I dug in a bit to close the gap.  Again, it felt like I was going a bit hard for such a long race but I figured having a drafting/riding partner would pay dividends later in the race.

At this point, Al and I were the top two experts overall and looking like we'd have a pretty good finish (foreshadow! foreshadow!).  things get a bit blurry from here on out but I do remember at some point on one of the hut to hut trails that Al started to pull away from me and I didn't have the gas to pull him back. Crap.  In the back of my head I hoped I'd see him again but knew it wouldn't happen.

Shortly after losing Al, I noticed Tyler ( read here:   carrabassett 50 part duh ) and a single speeder catching up to me.  Ruh roh.  When they got to me, I literally had nothing left to give and had to sadly watch my 2nd and 3rd place finish disappear right in front of me.  Luckily though, that was the last of the passing and I was able to slowly plod my way to the finish as the 4th non-elite.  Not bad but not quite what I was hoping for. If you are interested, you can see the rest of the results here:  results 

As always, thanks to Team Bikeman and Bikeman.com for helping make this nonsense happen. 

Bradbury 12 hour recap to follow shortly. 

Maine Sport Mayhem!

Well, it had to happen sometime.  I knew that despite my believed lack of fitness or technical skill I'd eventually need to toe the start line at an XC race if I hoped to ever jump start my "season".  my first real, and logistically easy, chance was this past Saturday at the Maine Sport Mayhem!  (their exclamation point, not mine).  As usually happens for this race, the weeks leading up to the start had primo conditions which meant that things were dry and fast but, on race day, things changed.  In the form of rain.  lots of it in fact.  This quickly turned a pretty nice course into a quagmire that was barely rideable in lots of areas.

There was a small but strong turnout for the race and a missed clip in saw me enter the woods 5th wheel with my main competition, Tony, getting the hole shot.  By the mid way point of lap one I had passed all but Tony but he already had a comfortable 45+ second lead on me and with the conditions quickly worsening, I didn't have the mental fortitude to drill it to attempt to catch him.  Guess I need to work on my mental game!

Anyway, after two of four planned laps, the race promoter asked Tony and I if we wanted to shorten the race to 3 laps which we were both happy to do because we could hear our bikes being ground into submission.  In the end I finished 3-ish minutes back (i'm too lazy to see if results are posted) but felt good to get the season going and finally have a burning desire to race! 

It's Almost Go Time

It seems like forever but my first race of 2013 is just around the corner, The Carrabassett Backcountry Cycle Challenge (aka - the longest name in the world).  I had other, earlier, races slated but some I skipped because I just didn't have the speed or skills back yet and others like the Maine Mayhem! got cancelled because of torrential rain. Pushing my race start back probably wasn't a bad thing since it gave me more time to feel like an actual bike rider but having my first race after smashing my hip to bits be a 100k mtb affair might not be so wise. 

Fortunately for me (and you if you bother to check back in a couple of weeks to read the report) I am not always prudent and lets face it, a total meltdown during the race is much more interesting to read and write about than something that goes smoothly.

According to my Strava account, in the last few weeks I've gone from averaging 3-4 hours a week to almost 8 so things are shaping up but how much real endurance will be in my legs by next weekend is the real question.  I crumbled on a 3+ hour road ride over the weekend and my best case scenario at the CBCC is 5 hours.  Egad!
To help prepare for the post race keg, I've been training my liver and dancing legs. Proof.

Marcy and I renewing our vows at Pop the Cork:

sealing the deal

and then party all night

I don't know about you but I'll be ready.

Riding With the Crissman

It has been AGES since I last posted.  Why?  Well a number of reasons really.  I haven't raced yet so it didn't feel like there was much of interest to write about.  I've also been super busy on the work and home fronts so there has been no time to squander.  At least not on the semi-regular basis required to keep a blog going.

My "training" continues to improve and I feel I'm this close (if you could see me, you'd see me holding my fingers this close together. Damn-it!  you can't see that either...) to being in good shape again and my hip has been feeling really good.  Some days I have a bit of nagging achyness, usually after a long run, but otherwise it feels good so who's to complain?  Me, that's who because that's what I do. 

The video above?  That's a poorly edited (ie - not) video of Mr. Crissman and myself tearing up my home turf on Sunday.  Still not faster than him but he has Enve rims and luscious chest hair so I don't expect to be. 

Words cannot express just how awesome this v-day card from my daughter is.  It makes me smile every time I look at it.

Slowly but Shirley

(and don't call me shirley)

Hip progress continues to be made.  For a while there, I foolishly thought that after a couple of months of activity, I'd be back to close to normal but that definitely isn't the case (ah, duh!).  You'd think I would have known that it would take a long time to get back after several months of complete atrophy.  I'm sure that part of me knew but I was hoping that it would come back quicker.  Thankfully, though, there's still several months before the real season starts so plenty of time to get my sorry excuse for legs going again.

thule 917xtr t2 + fat bike = semi success

The road bike is out for two reasons right now.  1, I'm much too stretched out on it with my current hip impingement issues and 2, I can't risk going down on a gravely/icy/slick corner and re-injuring the hip.  Lucky for me though, it's winter and I've got a snow bike clad with studded tires (thanks to Marcy for both of those things) and a somewhat upright position so I'm still able to get some decent riding in.   Snowmobile trails are my playground and when the conditions are right (like they have been recently) singletrack can be had as well (once it's somewhat packed down). 

snowmobile trails in Damariscotta

Brynna Needs Friends

How do you know when a kid needs friends?  When she starts making her own.  In this case, she used a rolled up yoga mat and a foam roller.  At least these friends don't eat much and you don't have to worry about them coloring on the walls.

Not at all creepy.  I just hope I don't wake up one morning to these bastards sitting next to the bed.

Speaking of coloring, I just came across this book that B made me for christmas. 

Notice the "bike race" shirt I'm sporting.  not sure why I'm wearing a toupee...

and a surprisingly good drawing of our living room as I fly her like a plane. 

Laters.

DOG Is My Co-Pilot 

I rarely take Autumn riding with me these days.  Mostly because she has too much hound in her and I lack the training ability to keep her close without having my eye on her every second.  If I don't pay attention for 10 seconds and she gets on a scent, she'll be gone for 10-20 minutes.  When I take her running, I can keep a closer eye on her and call her back in a much more timely manner but that's hard to do on the bike.  But since I can't run right now I've been taking her out with some (minimal) success.  At least where we live, there is minimal chance of her getting into any trouble since we have hundreds of wooded acres behind the house and all of the neighbors are on the opposite side of the road.   She may not be the best trained dog around but at least she's not getting fat...

This weekend, I made it out on the Mukluk 3 days in a row.  Each time for less than 1.5 hours but damn it felt good.  I'm starting to feel some semblance of fitness coming back ever so slowly and my hip flexibility is steadily (and very slowly) improving as well. 

 Out With The Old

For how many years I can't remember, I've bee using a pair of trusty Gaerne winter riding shoes on both my mountain bikes and road bike to keep my toechies warm and snugly during winter riding.  They served me well but after what must be ten years of considerable use (if you are a reader of this blog, you know that my typical riding volume only slightly decreases over the winter) they have finally shit the bed.  First, the outers got cut which allowed snow and water to enter the inner sanctum so a pair of Pearl Izumi shoe covers were added.  As we all know, shoe covers for winter mountain bike riding are about as durable as Lindsay Lohan's nose in a coke house.  First, the toes ripped out from walking in the snow so much (as one is required to do a fair amount of in the winter) so duct tape was added, multiple times.  Then, the arches ripped out so yet more duct tape was added.  Then, the zippers shit the bed so velcro straps were put to work.  And, all this time, the shoes seemed to be losing their magical feet keeping warm ability as the inner liners disintegrated.

 when they were young'uns

oh, the memories

The Gaerne's were expensive but well worth it when you spread the cost out on a per ride basis.  I'm guessing that they might have run me 20c a ride.  Probably less actually.  A very worth investment for winter comfort, but, time marches on and given my current mobility issues (I have extreme difficulty reaching the right side of my right foot) making these shoes/covers hard to put on and the general shitty state of the shoes, I decided it was high time for something new.

Sooooo, in walk my new Lake MXZ303's.   These bad boys sport a rugged (and soft) Vibram sole so the winter trudges should be more enjoyable, a Boa lace system that is super easy for me to operate given my flexibility issue and a wealth of impressive sounding words about how they keep your feet warm.   

"water-repellent PITTARDS"? Is it getting hot in here?  "OUTLAST liner"  you know all the right things to say.  "water-repellent AIRPRENE shaft"  my shaft is getting more water-repellent by the second.  "toe box with THINSULATE insulation"  Holy Shit!  "THERMASOL insole interrupts the cold bridge between pedal/cleat" Ahh, that was nice.

Time will tell how these new togs treat me but their maiden voyage was sweet so I've got nothing but high hopes (and soiled underwear). 

 Operation: Pack 'Em!

If you follow me on Strava! you probably noticed that I've spent a bit of time out on the snowshoes packing down the loop at the house.  I had over a foot of powder to work with so it wasn't easy - powdery, mealy snow is tough to ride in.

Operation: Pack Em's! official mascot.

 obligatory self portrait

 a very tired (and cold) pooch afterwards.  

B is taking care of her...

The plan payed off though with a (mostly) successful, albeit slow, snow bike ride yesterday and then, when I went out again to pack this morning, things had firmed up nicely.  Rejoice!  At least until the next frickin snow hits us.

Happy Brew Year 

Ha! See what I did there? Super clever huh?  I slay me...

My brother and I have taken the plunge  and started down the popular road of brewing our own beer.  We brewed our first batch a couple of months ago.  Things went pretty smoothly except the brewing instructions blew (at least for actual noobs) and we ended up with a bit of a stuck fermentation.  After thinking we'd have to dump the batch, we salvaged it and had a successful bottling.

bottle, bottle, bottle

On Christmas day, we tried our first bottle.  Because of the stuck fermentation and a slightly low FG, we were afraid we'd be spitting the beer on the floor after the first sip but, thankfully, it wasn't horrid (no worse than Bud) but it wasn't exactly revolutionary.  

proper testing glasses

hmmm, it looks like good beer and smells like good beer 

but tastes like mediocre beer

Darren was happy enough.  The cat? 

Not so much.

Next step?  We've got a brew scheduled in a couple of weeks with a guy who actually knows what he's doing followed by an IPA brew of our own with astounding success (it pays to be upbeat).

 When Good Parties Go Bad

My company holds on to a good tradition; a Christmas party that is actually fun.  I've heard that back in the old days things could get pretty wild but things have changed a bit.  Everybody is a teensy-weensy bit more PC and we have clients at the party so you can't let it all hang out BUT good times can still be had.  For a few years fun was had by all because of the copious amounts of jello-shots available and everybody has fun when jello-shots are around.

Case in point.  The party from a few years ago ended up with me in my coworkers dress when we went to an after party down the street.  Dudes were buying me shots all night at the bar.  I should do it more often.

Do I look drunk?  Didn't think so.

 Anyway, jello-shots were outlawed a couple of years ago because the staff got tired of cleaning up the mess (party poopers) and the last two parties were lame so I took it upon myself to create a covert jello-shot station that provide good times to at least the inner circle of fun folks.

 my contribution.  a fifth of vodka is in those cups.  yikes

Beers were drunk, shots were had and dancing ensued...

ummm, yeah.

and pants were rolled.  (it's something I'm trying to get to catch on.  for some reason, it isn't working...)

Bit by Bit

(editor's note: as I completed today's entry I realized it is almost an exact rehash of last week's post with a few more nuggets thrown in, but it's written so here it is)

It's still slow going on the recovery but, every once in a while, I seem to make a big improvement.  Three or four weeks ago, I got the go-ahead to walk unassisted again and to do whatever I felt comfortable with.  At the time, I didn't think it would be all that much.  Fast forward a few weeks and I find myself able to trail run (close to three miles on Sunday) AND I did my first mountain bike ride since the injury.  A full 4 1/2 months later.  When I first hurt myself, I thought that I'd have to wait til mid February (if I was lucky) to get really active again so I'll definitely take it.  I still have to be REALLY careful since the hip isn't healed and a bad fall could mess my shit up but I'll take what I can get. 

I also think that there is a blessing in disguise in this whole situation.  I'm not the one trick pony that a lot of cyclists are since I do a lot of running, snowshoeing, lift some weights and do core work but I was still heavily weighted on the riding side and other parts of my body suffered as a result.  Since I am now forced off of the bike most of the time, I've had to come up with new ways to torture myself and relieve the copious amounts of stress in my life (I didn't realize just how much cycling did that for me until I couldn't do it anymore).  First it was swimming because it was all I could physically do (albeit really really poorly) with a bit of elliptical mixed in.  I quickly bored of the elliptical but was able to introduce spin class.  Spin class isn't bad and I'll do it as much as possible but it still wasn't quite doing it for me.  As a result, I've starting doing a High Interval Training (HIT) class; essentially a class that has you do multiple exercises in a very short period of time.  On paper the workouts look easy but actually completing them is complete torture made all the more painful since you're surrounded by women while the "real men" pump iron and have no clue that they're working a fraction as hard as us women folk.

It seems to me that come spring my riding legs might not quite be there but the rest of my body is going to be primed to explode.  At least I hope so because, as I sit here, I can barely lift my arms enough to work the keyboard.  I sure hope this is worth it!

So Nice of You To Care 

Three weeks ago, I got the OK from the doc to resume life again.  The hip isn't totally healed yet but the x-rays finally showed signs of healing AND I was able to walk without pain (but with a limp) so I was given the green light to do anything that I was comfortable with.  At first, I just started walking without my cane, doing the elliptical at the gym and upping my swimming but with everybody nagging me to get off my ass  

I had to do something so I've started spin classes, riding the trainer on occasion and doing some full body workout classes at the gym.  Those HIT (High Intensity Training) classes will be kicking my ass this winter.  As I type, my only fully functioning muscles are in my fingers while everything else refuses to move/threatens to cramp.  For somebody who revels in pushing himself to the pain threshold, this is a very good thing.  If you happen to be one of my VERY LUCKY Strava followers, you can see that the activity level has been turned all the way up to 11.

 

Hopefully, with all of this training (over two hours at the gym yesterday), I won't be a total waste when I finally get to hit some of this in my backyard. 

When will it be?  I'm not sure yet but I prepped all of the bikes this past weekend so that as soon as the tower gives the OK I can hit it (really slowly).

Cheers.