So it has been awhile. Much has been going on, not necessarily in the biking realm, but plenty elsewhere. New house? Check. New job? Check. Also coaching Fallball again. Ethan is a little prodigy. Three run shot in the last game. And his fielding is spot on. Loving it.

Been riding here and there. Motivation hasn't been quite as high as of late, but the cooler weather is giving me the bug. Two more races this season, and I think that'll be all. DT and I climbed a big one in the rain yesterday. 2600'. Good stuff.

Coming up on two years in this place. Seems the only constant thus far has been change, but it's been nothing but good.

http://www.runriderace.com/camp-hilbert-race-series-point/

On a singlespeed? Of course.

Battle @ Burke

Pseudo local race in Culpeper today. It boiled down to another battle between me and the old man, for a short while at least. I led out strong and put some time between us on the beginner loop. Through the scorching hot fields I picked up some more time, then into the expert section things got nuts. First, I burped all the air out of my front tire. I grabbed a CO2 catridge out of the saddle bag and did my best to get the tire to reseat. I wasn't having much luck, but eventually it bit. In hindsight, I should have threaded another cartridge in to get the pressure up a bit more, but instead I rolled out with pretty low pressure, unsure if the tire was seated all that well. The old man caught up after this episode (probably two+ minutes or so) and followed me for a bit. Soon after, I picked up something in my drivetrain that took me to a standstill. WTF? I look down, and a tube has lodged itself around my rear cog. I unwind the damn thing, cursing the slacker that left a tube on the trail that magically found its way into my cog. Back in action, I chase the old man and we both dismount to hike a climb. As I dismount...psssssss. Seal blows in the front tire. So I decide to put in a tube. Reach for the saddle bag...low and behold, it is wide open and empty. After I inflated the first time, I never closed it. Damn. So yeah...that was my tube that was lodged in my drivetrain awhile back. Go ahead...laugh it up. I yell to the old man for a tube, but he is gone. An oncomer heard my distress call and passed me a tube as he rode by. THANK YOU! I spent a few minutes fighting the 26" tube and the slimy 29er tire and eventually get it set, only to realize that the second CO2 cartdige is back there on the trail somewhere. DAMN! So I hook up the pump, but before I give it any air, a female rides up and asks if I need CO2. She whips out a threaded CO2 cartridge and saves my ass. THANK YOU! With that, I was off.

After the expert loop, it was back through the hot, hot fields to the beginner loop. ~1/2 way through I caught another singlespeeder that I must have missed as he went past (while I was working the flats). I knew the old man was long gone, so I settled in for the second place finish. Tough day for everybody, it seemed. It was pretty hot, especially in the fields. The HR hit 194bpm at one point, and was in the 180s a lot, if not most of the race. I did get to hit my first teeter totter out there today. Rolled it smooth...that was pretty cool.

Thoughts for today...I need to get some suspension. If I was suspended, I would have had 30 to 32lbs in that tire and I would not have flatted. I should have had 30 in there anyway. Also...check your saddle bag zipper after a pit stop...duh. On the positive, I was able to get back out there after the race and retrieve my CrankBros multitool and the shredded tube. The 2nd air cartridge, tire lever and two zip ties were donated to the trail.

That course is awesome. I want revenege.

Hilbert 3.

What a day. Going in, I knew that I could win the series if the cards fell into place. They did, but it took a lot of work.

I went out in typical k29er fashion...first into the woods, despite being on a SS in 32x19. Held a decent pace for lap one...maybe too fast, but I didn't over do it too much. Lap two went much the same, except Shawn told me to back it off, and so I did. End of that lap, Old Man Kelnberger and Burris caught me. Burris rolled to his pit, and that was the last I saw of him till we were done with the race. From there on, it was just me and the Old Man. I think I pulled him through lap 3, he passed me at the end, then led me through 4. We had negotiated taking it back a notch for 5, and I didn’t see him for much of it, just a glimmer in some switchbacks. From there on, it was mostly a mind game, wondering when he was going to attack. I tried to stay steady, fighting off some cramps through the later laps. At the start of lap 9 at 4 hours, 30 minutes into the race, I was informed that he was 45 seconds back. So I jumped. And it hurt. Things started locking up all over my legs. I was trying to massage them in places while I rode, manipulating my pedal stroke and doing whatever I could to keep the legs from hitting a bad spot that would spell doom. Shawn met me at the bottom of a short steep climb and raced me on foot up to the top and let me know I was up by a minute. I tried not to dial it back much, as I knew what the Old Man was capable of. Towards the end, Shawn met me again and let me know I had picked up another 20 seconds. From there, it was smooth sailing. Turns out the Old Man stopped to pee at one point (let the old man bladder jokes fly). I needed to pee for about 2.5 hours but held onto it. That may have been the difference. 1^st Place Mens Enduro. Double series points at the last race, which should make me the overall winner. Madness.

Special thank to Shawn, Dave and the entire Bike Factory crew. The support was top notch. They kept me fueled and motivated and I would have been screwed without them. To Ted Gayle, thanks for the loaner Rig. While my intent was to spend equal time on both bikes, it was readily apparent to me that I was faster on yours. 8 laps for the Suspended Mocha Rig, 1 lap on the Rigid.

For the record, many of the elite weren’t able to participate. That may have made it easier overall for Kelnberger and I, but we did everything in our power to ensure that it wasn’t a cakewalk. It was a hard day. And it felt good to win.

01June Ride

Solid 52 mile ride today. I picked up 5 ticks, saw two turtles, two turkeys, few deer, crapton of rabbits, and my first bear! Little guy was up a leaning tree along the fireroad. I freaked him out, and he started scooting down backwards, clawing and scratching his way down. I think he jumped for it at about 8ft, and made a ton of noise as he disappeared into the brush. Awesome. Motionbased is crapped out, but everytrail says this was a 7500ft of climbing. I doubt that, but it was a big day.

Weekend Update

First off, the big guy went 4 for 4 at the plate @ Saturdays game. At least 2 were legit up the middle shots. Good stuff.

Then there was the Dirty DU on Sunday. I had high hopes and left mildly disappointed. I should be pretty happy with my performance, considering I've been running less that once/week, and I turned in a 5 mile trail run @ a ~7:10 pace. My two bike laps were solid, but the effects of the 5 miler were ripping through my legs. Right calf cramped up about 1/2 way through the 1st lap. I downed some Clif Bloks and got through it. It flared up again in the 2nd lap, and I knew I would be in trouble when I got off the bike. And I was. I beat the guy who was on my tail out of the pit, but he caught me and was gone. Then DK came up and passed me. I gave chase, then died. I gave chase again @ the last 100m mark, but again, that lasted all of about 4 seconds before my legs revolted. He beat me by 20 seconds and moved another few points up in the VORS. Darn it.

One thought that keeps haunting me...what if I had done the right thing and popped two endurolytes before the start? Maybe two more @ transition 1? I think that may have been the difference, but I could be wrong. Its done. Time to move on.

Lastly...if you are ever out at Camp Hilbert and see my Garmin Forerunner on the side of the trail, hook me up...I miss my data. Yeah, that's right...I lost another one. Lost the Edge on June 7, 2007. The Forerunner didn't make it a year. So much for the ultra secure quick release retention mechanism. I'm bitter.

This is pretty cool:

http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/about_ergon/news_template.html?id=363

Ergons do rock. I have em on 2 of 3 bikes and need that third pair.

Morning ride

3000+ft of elevation gain and two cups of coffee gets you jacked in the morning! I think this may need to be a regular thing for me. Good data:

Redemption @ Hilbert

What a difference a week makes. I played the game just right on Saturday in the Enduro race at Hilbert #2. I didn't go out too hard, but hard enough to keep the 3rd place guy at bay. When the time came (around the 4 hour mark) I turned it up a bit. I amped up the chase for the VW Jersey (Shawn) and caught him around the last mile of lap 8. We rolled lap 9 together and crossed the line together at just a few seconds past 5 hours. Perfection. 9 laps. 50 miles. About 5000ft of elevation gain. Oh, and I did it on a rigid singlespeed, of course. My first win (co-win) of the season. Feels good. Nay...it feels great.

Some notes, for the record: I ate well on the bike. Killed 6 bottles of Clif Shot, roughly 3 packs of some sort of energy gel, a banana, and pack of Clif Bloks. Stopped for endurolytes once, maybe twice, along with some Advil. Threw down some Fig Newtons after two or three as well. In short, I ingested plenty. Support was key too. Being handed bottles and food is key. Special thanks to Dave, Jason, and Rick. And the Bike Factory Racing cheering section was awesome. Nice little pick-me-up every ~33 minutes. Needed to urinate for the last three hours or so, but I held it off till I was done...no time for that. Only 1 minute, 33 second between my fastest and slowest laps. Lap 8 was the strongest. Perhaps consistency is key:

Lap 1 32:30
Lap 2 32:37
Lap 3 33:27
Lap 4 33:34
Lap 5 34:02
Lap 6 34:03
Lap 7 33:56
Lap 8 32:22
Lap 9 33:34

It felt good to run Shawn down. Maybe one of the few times in my memory where I turned on the chase switch and got a reward for it. Its a good feeling. Putting 14 minutes on 3rd place was pretty awesome too. Lets do it again.

No exciting story here. I went out too hard, and at 8:30AM, I couldn't stomach the thought of another lap. I yielded 2nd to my teammate Ted Gayle and I sat down. And I didn't get back up. 8 laps got me 4th. One more lap may have gotten me 3rd, but I was toast. The tank was empty. Wrists and triceps were gone. And that is the story of Lodi, 2008.

Disappointed? Yes. Gotta heal up and get back in the saddle.

Mud was the name of the Twisted Tire Spring Cup game this year. How well can you and your gear tolerate several inches of mud and water? I never would have thought that the ability to stop my bike would have been the difference between me getting sixth or second. In the end, I decided to err on the side of caution, safety, etc. and not go out for a sixth lap…the lap that would have locked in 2^nd place.

During/after the first lap, the brakes faded badly. I can’t tell you how much life the pads had left in them to start the race, but it went away fast. I tweaked the barrel adjusters and rolled through holding 2^nd after lap 1. After lap two, the brakes were done. I pitted and we replaced both sets of pads (and I sold a pair of handlebars). The pads were bare. Thank goodness Michelle had some pads…one new pair and we robbed another set from her bike (BIG thanks to Jason for getting me back on the trail as quickly as possible). The bad news was that these new pads went just as quickly as my first two sets. (special note: this is where I lost the race…if I had brought the backup bike, the Rig could have been dialed back in the pit while I held onto Shawn and Konrad (who later blew up his freewheel)).

The next three laps were about surviving with less and less braking power (and not mowing down beginners). For the last three miles or so of lap 5, I had literally zero brakes. If I squeezed the front brake, not only did it do nothing, but the caliper wouldn’t disengage (turns out that the outboard brake pad was gone), so I was opening it with my foot any time that I accidentally squeezed it out of habit. I later discovered that the rear was down to metal on metal.

The good news is that I had the juice in the legs for another lap. Maybe even two. Oh, and did I mention that it rained for the majority of the race?

So was it fun? Yeah, I think it was. If my brakes would have been at 75% for the entirety of the event, it would have been a blast. Laps one and two were definitely fun. I felt bad for destroying the trails…hopefully they bounce back. We’ll find out in the fall.

Big apologies to the Endorphin Enduro guy that I mowed down in lap 1. Sorry bout that wheel. Just for everyone’s edification, he hit something in the bottom of a mud hole and got thrown sideways as he was about to head up between two trees. I was close behind and did all I could to not injure him. His rear wheel paid the price.

"Weather "looks like rain", at least it will be warm. High of 68. We are blessed that Poor Farm drains very well! Bring your knobbies, we are racing. The race schedule is very packed this year in central VA, we will go rain or shine. posted 4/19/08 11:17pm"

I feel like this is a test. Problem is, I don't know if going to this race or staying home will get me a passing score. I'll leave you with this:

"Today: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. High near 70. South wind between 6 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between one and two inches possible."

Lets race.

My team rocks. Simple as that. Oh, and FREDEvents rocks and so does the VORS series. Bike Factory Racing took 1st (ShawnT), 2nd (me), and 3rd (DaveT) and the Fredericksburg Off-road Duath this weekend. And 1st (Denelle) and 3rd (Christy) in Female too. The run was tough...I can't lie. I haven't been running nearly enough, primarily because of a mild rib injury and some nasty shin splints. I'll fix that for next time. The ride was great though. Fun little rolling course there at the Quarry with more log hops than you'd expect. I loved it. I'll be returning...

Data:
Run1:17:46
Bike: 52:26
Run2: 16:54

Transition times were 0:36 and 0:59. I can do better. HR Max: 192. HR Avg: 179. Wowzers.

Respect the form...

Super Bowl Ride '08

A fine way to spend Super Bowl Sunday...


















Not too cold. Good gearing. Me and 3 others (way to rock it Ted) pretty much arrived at the top first, well ahead of everybody else, after departing well behind most everybody. Sure, it wasn't a race, but that doesn't mean it didn't feel good to rock it...

Data @ MotionBased

Everytrail seems to have a bit more realistic data on the elevation gain. Sure do miss my Edge 305 w/ Barometric altimeter.