Back to bike racing:

After the 24 hour, decided to don my Minerva Design kit and head over and hit up the GVCC Crit.  Legs were still a bit cooked, but managed to jump in and stay in the main break for 30 minutes or so out of 40.  Pack pulled us back in, was able to work my way to the front and challenge for the sprint.  Coming up the hill, had a solid jump, 2nd place was starting to move up.  Dropped another gear and still had some in the tank, and then ‘schlecked’ it as the chain jumped on the cassette.  Sat up as I saw Zito had 2nd wrapped up, then realized I still had a bit to go and raced to the line for 3rd, but was nipped and will settle for 4th.  Been a while since I earned some GVCC points but was super fun to race.

This past weekend went out and did a pretty good size ride from home around Canadaigua Lake.

Great View around that lake for sure. I slogged and suffered like hell on the ride as I didn’t get much sleep the night before, but still managed a pretty solid ride.

Farmall XC Summer Series #1

Farmall Summer series kicked off this past tuesday night.  Good to get back in the flow and get back to some hard racing again.  Managed to botch my start and mis my pedal and dropped into 4th, gasp!  I pushed my way up to 3rd and then followed Staffo into the woods in 2nd place.  He was ripping it up the climbs, but I fought the good fight, and even though he got a slight gap out of the woods, I managed to pull him back in before the end of the lap.  A hard charging Tim Pilato was hot on my heels and we managed to both get past Staffo around the start of the 3rd lap.  Got some separation from Tim after a few laps and held a steady gap to the line for the W!

But enough about the racing!  It’s about the post-ride I did with Lake!

Right after this, we were ripping down the grass, and at high speed, just before the 180 turn, it gets a bit choppy. Well, he grapped a wee bit too much front brake and did a massive high speed endo. Hit the ground face first, and the bike slammed him hard in the back of the head. I think if he did have any teeth he would have lost em in this crash! After a few minutes of tears (I think I would have cried had I crashed that hard), he was back on the bike and ripping it

Up this weekend is Sprague Brook: Singletrack Stampede! Looking forward to this one, gonna be a ton of fun!

Jump on over to the 29er crew site and read all about it!

http://29ercrew.com

Highland Hex 6 hour up this weekend!! Super psyched and ready to rock and roll!

The name of the game today was climbing, lots of climbing. The descents and the singletrack were jaw-dropping.

The heat was also on the rise today, 75+ and full on sunshine, def could feel the ‘burn’ on the climbs for sure

Trails were bone dry and dusty. Lots of drifting and sliding out through the corners.

Views were outstanding, and there were loads of riders, hikers, horseback riders and even a few llamas on the trails.

More climbing, Carnizzle has a nice little picture of the area captured from his GPS, pretty sweet.

Chasing Kerkove on the way out.

Carney approves of the gnar!

All the pics from today on flickr

Huge week of training is now over, 1050 TSS for the week, and the CTL popped up over 100! Time to lay low for Moab next weekend and keep the legs super ready for Ouachita Challenge in a few weeks.

I’m really psyched for this off-season. Much more so than the past few years. Last year was quite abnormal and I really didn’t get the engine going until February/March. I even skipped the gym last year! This year though, I’m back in the gym and utilizing the tried and true FasCat program. I think 09 will be a great year. My CTL is at 60 to kick off the season, whereas last year it was at 9! That’s equivalent to a good 10-12 weeks of hard training. It also means my base fitness is quite higher this time around than last season. I was off the bike nearly 2 solid months last Fall, but not so this time around, I haven’t had this much desire or drive to excel in a few years, so I’m going to harness all that energy and focus on a few larger season goals. Racing kicks off again (well road) in only a few months!

Today kicked off the “adaptation” phase. I headed over to 24hour Fitness and joined up and dug my heels in for 10 weeks of weights. Sitting here I can feel that I was there as my legs are a little tired, hamstrings especially. After the gym, I headed home and pulled out the singlespeed. I put in about 2 hours of night riding as I headed over to Green Mt. The legs were a little sluggish, mostly from the weights earlier in the day, but I was getting a great force workout from climbing. I was going to head up box-o-rocks, but the 12 little beady eyes that reflected off my headlight, had me turning around and heading back home. Besides, the ss grind was catching and I’m sure I woulda been hosed (moreso than I currently am) after climbing that sufferfest.

My race calendar is slowly falling into place; Ouachita Challenge, Sea Otter, Mountain State Cup XC’s, Select NUE Series Races, 24hr of Summer Solstice and a few others, hell I may even race the road bike for fun a few times!

Should be in for a great season and super excited to be back on the Gary Fisher 29er Crew for 2009 again!! I love riding a 29er and not quite sure If I’d be able to even ride a kids bike again….

Currently playing in iTunes: Joy Ride by The Killers from Day & Age

Resting up today, then back to the grinder tomorrow

I was lucky enough to get my recent win at the Hardcore 24 written up in the local paper. I thought I’d share the article.

(Via Finger Lakes Times.)

Last night, I headed for another go with Matt Hanggi down in Naples.

Yup, we climbed up to the top of that overlook and we are heading down into that valley!

The plan was to get down, do a few sections, grab the lights and do a little bit more. I’ve been doing a ton of riding lately and getting a little dis-satisfied with the constant intake of gels, liquid supplements, bars, etc. Last night I decided to go a whole different route:

The dawn of a new age in riding nutrition

We managed to pull of a nice little ride. Stats: 3:15, 52k, 1350m of climbing.

First 10k was a nice little road climb to the trail head

Right of the bat we hit a nice little 10k climb. I noticed I was feeling quite good and decided to test myself a little bit. I climbed about as well as I could. I wasn’t ever really suffering and I toiled along on the flats not pushing it as hard as I could’ve. After a bit I realized I was on pace to set a new PR, so I started grinding away the last 2-3k to set a better time. I managed to climb it in 29:30, a good record, the usual ‘decent’ time to climb the hill is around 40 minutes. A far cry from my PR on the road (23:30), but I’ll take it for sure.

At the top we dove into OCP where Hanggi has been spending plenty of time, marking manicuring and ensuring the existence of the trail network. Got to ride a few new sections. It seems every time I head to Naples, I’m treated with a new trail. Kinda like Edmund’s turkish delight heading down there. Can’t ever seem to get enough.

Superfly is rocking and rolling as usual

After the awesomely fun OCP descent, we headed over to Cutler to ride the Orange Trail. It’s a main staple on the Hardcore 24 course coming up next weekend. I’ve ridden and raced the trail numerous times and it never disappoints. Besides I’ll need to know it inside and out as I’ll be half asleep riding it here in a few weeks. We were greeted by the Wednesday night Crew at the parking lot for Cutler. 20 or so fellas, out escaping from the wives, riding and sharing a few brews. We chatted and hung for a bit, but the lights were at the car and dusk was approaching fast. It’s nice to see a large group of riders like that out and having fun.

After a brief pit stop at the car to mount the lights, we headed up the Parish road Carriage Trail climb. I was still feeling pretty good so I was able to gave it a little bit of gas there as well. At the top we jumped into the Hi-Tor section and had fun negotiating the slick roots and rocks from the short and light rain that we had just ridden through. It’s always fun to work on the tech skills, even more fun at night!

Luckily we emerged from Hi-Tor unscathed and were ready for the finale, the DEC descent. Blasting down the descent at night is a little hairy. High speeds, singletrack on the edge of a ravine, shale rock gardens and some good drops keep you on your edge. The first section, I might as well have closed my eyes. Hitting the shale river bed, my light was bouncing around and creating all kinds of funky tricks on the eyes. I just pointed the Superfly straight and kept moving forward. Ate up the trail with ease.

I’m feeling great and ready for this weekend’s Plattekill 6 hour race. round #2 of the NYSERS.

Currently playing in iTunes: Step Right Up by Black Lips

Own your own pulse jet-powered bicycle for just $650 – Boing Boing Gadgets

Looks both scary as hell and crazy fun at the same time

(Via Boing Boing.)

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – A suburban Chicago man has reclaimed the Guinness world record for time spent on a stationary bicycle.

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George Hood’s time isn’t official yet, but organizers say he spent about 177 hours over eight days riding a spinning bike at a suburban YMCA.

He rode the equivalent of 2,016 miles, burned more than 46,000 calories and never slept for more than 12 minutes at a time.

The retired Drug Enforcement Agency investigator from Aurora began his ride on May 5 and finished early Monday. He was taken to an area hospital as a precaution.

He had held the record until last summer after spending 111 hours, 11 minutes and 11 seconds on a bike. That record was broken by another cyclist from Tasmania.

Friggin ouch

Hmm, guess all our fancy gels and gizmo’s are no real match for these guys.

Quotes from the Article:

I sometimes run for two or three days with my cattle, and I have to protect them from lions.

I miss meat and blood very much. Not vegetables because they are food for a woman. There is milk here but blood is better because it gives energy.

Guess next time you are out riding, give up on the Phil and Paul commentary that the peloton is chasing you dow, and imagine it as a pack of lions!

(Via Guardian.)