I’ve written a new training tip on getting fit for going long! You can check out the article and the intricate details over on Singletrack.com.
Some good power based info on how to help you better prepare yourself for Endurance racing (and really any type of racing)
Also, Here’s some links to a few other articles I’ve written:
Day 2 was all about checking out power meters…
I’m waay too tired right now to type so enjoy the pictures. More tomorrow
Saturday, rolled down to Naples with Todd Scheske. Since he’s going to be my teammate for El Reto next month, I figured I better make sure he can ride a mountain bike 
. So nothing to do but take him on some of the toughest descents around….
The mountaineer/highlander was also going on down in Bristol so it was quite a busy biking weekend in the area. We decided to meet away from all the hustle and bustle and just get right to it on Stid Hill. A nice fun singletrack climb up Still Hill and Todd hung just fine, climbed up the 4 wheeler trail an then we hit the tower drop. Drops 900 feet in less than a mile, super steep and with it so dry was hard to keep traction on the descent. I decided to give Todd a break halfway down as my tire was leaking air. Stopped to fill it up and in the process, burned the hell out of my arm on my rotor and now have a nice tattoo of my rear disc. We finished off the death wall descent (literally the last 50 meters are straight down, kinda like HELLTRACK from RAD, but steeper and filled with rocks and roots and trees)
We got off Stid and hit the pavement up to OCP via Gannet hill, where Todd rightly showed me what he does best and that’s drop fellas on the road. Up and over OCP, we skipped Cutler due to time, down the road and up and over the Backside of Bristol Mtn for another long loose climb. Then down the snowmobile descent. To be fair the snowmobile descent gets super sketchy at the end, and the whole thing was mostly washed out making for a hairy descent. Todd hung tight all weekend and next saturday I’ll throw some more stuff at him. Rather than super steep, I’ll hit him with some super tech and very fast descents. Todd, how do you do riding Singletrack with 400ft drop offs??
Chad and I hit up some killer trails more on the East side of Naples and the descents were ripping. I was completely Hosed by the end for sure
A nice crusher of a long climb off the bat up Parish Hill and over to the Hanglider drop got the blood flowing nicely this morning.
The Hanglider drop was in primo condition as compared to early spring and we ripped it up heading down the descent.
The brakes were screaming for a rest by the end and you could smell the pads burning and feel the heat coming from the rotors. I made sure not to touch them today!!
We charged up Italy Hill which is a great solid tempo climb all the way to the top and then turned around and railed it to the bottom. Braaap, Braaap, nothing like a 50kph singletrack descent!!
After Italy we climbed up the road, hit some Hi-Tor tech and then blasted down the DEC descent. Another great ride wrapped up and another solid weekend of riding.
Will do some cross practice this tuesday, then probably head back to Naples for some more climbing wednesday night and then back again for the weekend to throw down some big miles at the GROC fest. Then a few weeks of cross and shortly after will be off to Guatemala. So much for the season winding down!!
Last Night was Farmall Hill Challenge #2. I’d missed the first week as I was traveling. I had some heavy motivation to get out there and shred the trails. I’ve not raced in a bit and I’m in full on prep mode for the Shenandoah 100. Here in Seneca Falls, we’ve had massive thunderstorms early this week, but didn’t seem to happen over in Rochester. Course was in Primo shape, and there was a new re-route section that added about 10 seconds per lap.
I felt really good warming up, I was slightly concerned as I had to buy some new shoes, which meant new cleats also and I’d come unclipped on one of the descents and almost ended badly. My sidi’s blew-out and apparently all 4500 pairs that were being imported were stolen of the docks. I ended up with a pair of Louis Garneau Montana XT’s, quite comfy (I don’t like carbon soled shoes), but much wider shoe (and a much grippier sole). Will probably rock them until I can get a pair of Sidi’s. Also new was a pair of Bontrager XR1 Team Issue tires. I wanted to see how they would hold up in race conditions as they rocked out over the weekend (see link for my post on their performance ).
Race went on as planned, got to the front off the start, established my gap on the first 2 laps and then slowly slipped away continuing to build up my lead. Felt good and I turned about a sub 1:05 total time (link has my time listed wrong as of now). Pretty solid and def the fastest I’ve turned on that course and I think I would have been sub 1:04 and on the old course before the re-route. So things are lining up good for the SM 100!
In other news, this weekend was a boatload of riding. Put in some big miles on the Superfly down in Naples doing some prep work and getting in loads of climbing. Sunday was nothing more than a death slog in the rain as I was hosed from Saturday.
Starting it off on Parish Hill
Headed down with Hanggi for some Dawn Patrol. Climbed up Parish Hill, descended Wood Hill then back up Bassett and into Hi-Tor and down the DEC descent. Here’s the video below
DEC Descent Naples, NY 8-8-09 from Jason Hilimire on Vimeo.
After dispatching Hanggi, I hit up Wolfganger and down Sunnyside, over to Griesa and up into OCP for a loop on the Hardcore course, descended down the Orange Trail and up and into Cutler for some more singletrack shredding. Took the old road down into Naples, then climbed up East hill, descended Basset Rd, climbed up Wood Hill and back through Hi-Tor and the DEC descent to finish things off. I didn’t have my power-tap on for the day, but somewhere around 70 ish miles in 5:45-6 hours of riding with 7 major climbs! I was whooped and def payed for it on Sunday as I could barely turn the pedals!
The man with the magic fingers, Mark Hartman, rebuilt my powertap hub up to a new set of Stan’s 355’s. So looking forward to a repeat of this past weekend’s workout again, but his time with some power numbers to chase around on the climbs!
This lil’ guy below has been putting in more miles than I have. He tells me his bike coach make him do all this training. When Bridget asked him who his bike coach was, he couldn’t tell her because Lake and I are supposedly in ‘competition’. Frank, did you pick him up without me knowing?
He has me yell “Lake is the winner” every few times he rides up and down the sidewalk. Cracks me up, also when he says, “I’m dancing on the pedals” and proceeds to stand up and pedal…somebody watched waay too much Tour de France this July.
Riding to the GBC group ride had me more tired than the group ride itself. 30 minutes of 95% of FTP to make it on time is some tough work.
Felt good on the ride, odd as this was my 6th day in a row of riding. Glad to be taking today of and resting hard.
Debating racing the Highland Forest Classic this weekend. Probably not going to go, I’m tired of breaking things on my mt. bike and I could use a good weekend of training.
Shenandoah 100 is the only thing on my mind right now
Saturday looks to be a nice day. It’s raining (as it always does) means a long road ride in the hills of Naples most likely, will add some dirt roads to keep things interesting…
Things are slowly starting to fall back in place fitness wise. I’ve had a solid block of training these past few days and the fatigue is starting to catch up.
Monday, I headed out and met the GBC Crew for some Monday Mountains and short and fun mtb ride. I’m waiting on a new rear rim for the powertap wheel, but I felt quite good on the bike.
Yesterday I laid down some Sweet Spot Intervals. 3×15 min on 10 min off. Headed south along Cayuga Lake front into the wind. Legs felt solid and put out some decent numbers for the efforts. Not personal bests, but happy to get out some solid efforts and seeing the fitness move forward is all I’m looking for.
First 2 efforts were into the wind and I was flying home with a tailwind on the way home.
Today, headed out for an early am ride. Some low key zone 2 work. I felt a bit tired and just a lil bit off from the accumulation of fatigue from the past 5 days. Good news is I’ve got some time to rest up and get out and have a good weekend of riding. Hoping the rain stays away, but that’s probably not likely!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I gots me a new road bike. I’ve been spending a bit of time on her lately. Tuesday was all about dialing the bike in and making sure everything worked smoothly and she fit properly,
Yesterday though, was time to get back at it. Finally a non-race week to focus on some training. With the upcoming Lumberjack 100, the calendar called for some heavy Sweet Spot work. 3 x 20 minute efforts to be exact. Man felt like it had been a long time since I went out and did some real intervals!
It took me a few minutes to settle into the groove, but once I got there it was nice and comfy. Can actually see that the last few minutes of each effort, I was really giving her, even pushing past threshold into zone 5 territory near the end. All together, I felt really great on the bike and was very happy to get a solid workout in.
Today, I headed out with no set plan in order. Originally was going to hit up the shop group ride, but with the rain, I knew no one would be around.
By chance that someone might be riding, I hit the route in reverse to catch up. No dice though, and then the rain came…
At first I was a little bit frustrated, but then I simply got comfortable with the rain and just settled into riding some tempo for the duration of my ride. It was plenty warm out and the rain was nice and soothing. It was amazing how quiet it was out though!
The one thing that got me though; is on my route I cross a steel deck bridge. Steel + water + road tires = not good. Took me a few minutes to walk across that one. I’d rather walk it than ‘man-up’ and lose a knee-cap if I fell over!
Tomorrow will be a nice relaxing day in anticipation of a massive weekend of riding. Mid 70’s and sun; should be perfect for a few epics!!
(posted also over at the 29erCrew Site)
Finally the dust has settled after the Mohican 100. Glad to have that first hundy of the season in the bag. Course was phenomenal and the Superfly rocked out as always. Amazing the number of Superflys out on the course, also was really cool to meet a few of the other 29er Crew members
I arrived Friday afternoon, got in quick spin over to registration and picked up my race packet, then did some ‘openers’ on the way back and was feeling really great and solid after the workout. A nice little pasta dinner with Todd and Sarah at the restaurant across from the hotel and I was all set and ready to rock.
5am alarm goes off and try to force some food down my throat, not really going well. I managed to get only a few mouhtfuls of brekkie in and decided to just deal with it.
Race started right in downtown Loudonville, with a $200 prime for the first one out of town. I had no expectations, just wanted to hold the front group out of town. Announcer tells us that it’s go time and the truck with a handful of photographers, hits the gas and then the brakes as the police car never went. Everyone in the truck hits the deck, guess they didn’t get any pictures at the start! I got a pretty good chuckle from that, and after a few hundred off us dodge the truck it was go time up the hill. The legs didn’t want anything to do with the fast pace with no warm up.
I pulled back the throttle and let the front group go and settled in for a decent position heading into the singletrack. I felt really great in the singletrack and the trails were just ripppingly fast. Lots of fun tearing up the trails. I was happy with where I was at and was doing well pace wise. I was feeling really good and strong, but was having trouble taking any food in during the first 25 miles with all the killer singletrack
I forced some calories in but it wasn’t happening. As much as I tried over the next 75 miles, my stomach was churning and burning. I couldn’t get any solid food in. I never fell into a good rhythm and just backed off the pace and rode my own race. I managed to finish and definitely happy with that.
The course was awesome, the Superfly rocked. I got to hang with some cool people, meet new people and have some fun. What more can you ask for!
Looking forward to racing in Central Park in NYC this coming weekend!
Alright, so I’ve been a bit behind the past few days but I’ve got some just cause. Here’s my recaps of the last few days, all in one sweet post for your reading
On this past Sunday, I headed down to Naples to put in some big dirt miles with Chad. Definitely did not disappoint
We climbed up Gannett Hill, hit some of the new stuff in Ontario County Park, and some of the new singletrack that will be a part of the Hardcore 24. After that we rolled over to Cutler and did the ‘Humbler’ route, heading up the carriage road and backwards a bit on the old hardcore 24 course till we caught up on the orange trails. Trails were in mint condition, nice and ripe and ready for shredding
Once out of Cutler, we descended the old road into Naples, refueled at the car and decided to climb up the gorge trail. I’d never ridden it and probably won’t ever do it again. It was more hiking than riding uphill, but it had some cool views of the gorge. I frankly didn’t even know the gorge was really as big as it was, so that was cool to see.
After Hi-tor and ripped it over the top to the Hanglider descent. As soon as we hit the top, I heard some nasty noises and felt some bad juju vibes. Apparently, the carbon cage on my XO had shredded itself up a bit and was widened away from the pulleys. Chad had some magic and found a bolt that fit the pulley wheel, but also had a big flange to push the carbon cage back together. It worked great down the Hanglider, and then down and up Italy Hill.
We climbed up Wood Hill, because it was there and would be better than a road climb. Though 20% + grade on a mile long + climb gets awfully hard near the end of the ride. Somehow or another the legs finally came together on this climb and was able to push out some good power.
After Wood Hill, we hit some more of Hi-Tor heading over to the final DEC descent. My derailleur started acting up in Hi-Tor and before long she just plain ripped herself right off the bike. In doing that it took a big chunk of hanger. I’d forgotten to pack my hanger and we were left with a few miles of descending and 30 minutes before Chad had to be back to make it home in time. We couldn’t singlespeed it cause the wheel sat cocked with the hanger missing so much. Decided to just send him to the car, and call the wifey and I’d do what I could do.
I took my trusty 0×0 and rocked it down the ski trail till I ran out of momemntum, then ran the blue trail for about a mile to where it connects with the DEC. From the top of the DEC, I got to play probably the funnest game I’ve played in a bit. Could I make it to the bottom without pedaling? Mind you, this is a super tech trail, and I didn’t even have a chain to help supply pressure for lifting over logs, rocks, and no ability to gain any momentum into or out of corners or tech. I decided I’d just let the bike do what it needed to do. Just held on tight rode the lines clean and smart and was able to roll all the way to the bottom with no problems! Once at the bottom, I scootered my way the last half mile of flat trail along the creek on my way out. Chad had just gotten back to the car about 5 minutes earlier, was on the phone to tell the wife he was gonna be late, and had to re-tract. I didn’t really do anything special to go faster, just plain ol rolled it down the trail.
It was a good weekend though. Combined with the Ithaca Ride, I managed a solid 10+ hours on the bike!
Not much to write-up about here. Did some fun but short lunch time rides. Tuesday, the legs were still sore and tight from the weekend, but I gave er’ for about 5 minutes up a slight climb and even with sore and hurting legs somehow managed to put out my best 1 and 5 minute power numbers of the season, so I’ll take that as making some progression! Wednesday rolled some Sweet Spot 30 minute intervals, legs were still wicked from the weekend, but managed to stay where I needed to be.
I visited my mother Tuesday night, and my brother was over there. A basketball game broke out. A lil one on one action. There was loads of airballs, bricked shots, tripping over each other and a few argumentative calls. But that’s what playground bball is all about right? I managed to win 11-9, though only cause my brother missed a 2 that would have won him the game. I also managed to make my ankle quite sore in the process and still hurts like hell at this point. I’m now retiring from basketball at this point, going out with a win!
Farmall Spring Series kicks up this next week!! Looking forward to that. This weekend, I’ll put on some good road miles on saturday and a fun chill ride on the dirt on sunday possibly as I just got word the XO showed up today.
Today decided to head south and Roll alongside Cayuga Lake heading south to Ithaca. Home of Ithaca College, Cornell College and of course a Dunder-Mifflin Satellite Branch
On tap for the day was to just peg it the whole ride at Tempo/Sweet Spot pace for the full duration. Checking out the graph below, I’d say I did a pretty solid job of sticking to the plan. It was a pretty solid ride and I burned the kj’s. TSS was a whopping 274.1, with a normalized power of 246 watts. That’s all in a 4 hour ride!
Just about a mile north of Taughannock Falls, I was day dreaming and slammed into a pothole. The rear was flat immediately, then a second later hear the front hiss out the air. Damn, I only got 1 tube, 1 co2 and no patch kit. WTF am I gonna do? I stood on the side of the road for a minute debating my options. I was about 9 miles from Ithaca and 40 minutes by car for Bridget to come rescue me. Hoping to hitch a ride to Ithaca and to a shop for some tubes, I stuck the thumb out hoping to get a ride. Just so happened after about 20 minutes of people passing by wondering if the skinny dude in tights would murder them if they picked him up, dude across the street asks if I need help. Not thinking much of it, I tell him I need a tube. He says come on over, I got one. He pops open the garage and has a 5k tri bike. Hands me a tube and floor pump so I can get on my way. Tells me he has a tri race on Sunday and he’s an indoor cycling instructor. It was pretty cool to have a member of the family (even if it’s the tri branch) give some help. So thanks Rob!! much appreciated! I’ll be sure to pay it forward to the next person in need of help!
Spring has sprung in Upstate NY, the waterfalls were everywhere and really cool to see. Soo much green, I’m still not used to it yet.
Tomorrow Kayser and I are heading to Naples to rip up 7 hours of Naples Singletrack. Really looking forward to heavy climging, singletrack laden ride. Plus I finally have the powertap mtb wheel back, with a nice new internals, freehub body, axle etc!! Hoping for a 4500+ kj, 400 TSS day!
