JasonHilimire.com

Things have really started to mesh well the last few weeks. Been getting some good ride time in on the bike & all the snow is starting to melt. The sun is even shining!

Few days last week I managed some early morning road rides along the lakefront. Something quite serene & peaceful about it. Everything is still & it’s nice to have the solitude. Unfortunately so early in the am causes some unawakened legs also, but just takes some getting used to.

This weekend was great. The sun was out & got to race my bike on Saturday & get in a good ride again on Sunday. More importantly spent loads of time with Lake! Bridget is in NYC for a few days so we’ve been hanging out. Went for a bike ride, played some snow soccer & played some indoor hockey (don’t tell Bridget!) & all the fun stuff that little dudes do. He’s way too much fun, gotta keep it coming in doses though!

Thus week should be another killer week. Fitness is rapidly climbing & another giro again this weekend. Might skip Sunday & go climbing the hills of Naples for a big ride. Gonna be gorgeous! Maybe I’ll even get some pics up on thus thing & blog more than once a month!

Yes, I sat in the office doing work all day while it was 65+ and sunshine out. Headed home to grab the road bike for some 3 minute madness. Got through the first set, and the winds picked up all kinds of nasty. Sun hid behind the clouds, temps dropped down into the upper 40’s and I was expecting a full on downpour.

Luckily it never came, but I nixed the intervals and railed it home just in case! Gotta love spring in NY.

Forgot my waterbottles today, haven’t done that in a long time

The other day the weather was finally nice enough and managed to get Lake out on his tow behind bike. After a bit of complaining, he enjoyed himself and had a blast!

Squeezed in a nice lunch time ride today. While short, it was quite fruitful…

Spring time temps are here, and the sun is trying to make it way through the clouds!

Seeing the above deer had me pondering: Do you let your environment shape you? Or do you choose your own settings that suit the environment you’re currently in? That is, do you do intervals that suit your racing style and race courses or are you just doing intervals in the hopes of getting faster?

I’ve been utilizing what I call “race simulation” intervals for my xc based athletes for a bit and I think they have some superb fitting for mountain bike racers. Basically, after looking at power files from xc races for a bit, we’ve kinda drawn out exactly what happens at the start of a race. Sprint>Vo2>Threshold>Upper Sweet Spot. Basically, this interval replicates the first 15-20 minutes of an xc event(or even the endurance races that are starting fast nowadays).

I did the below interval on the road bike, but can be performed off-road and should be as you get closer to your A race. In fact, if you can recon your course a few weeks ahead of time it’s a perfect workout to do on the course. Start out and sprint off the line, then hold at vo2 max wattage for 2-3 minutes, into threshold for 5-8 minutes, then Upper Sweet Spot for 8-20 minutes. This is a pretty advanced workout and I’d typically only prescribe 1 of these intervals as a workout. Start at the lower time periods and work your way up!

As you can see, I actually felt really great and a other than a little power drop after the initial 2 and 5 minute efforts, I actually reworked it and was able to raise my power up during the interval, letting me know I had paced myself very well.

Basically, find the demands of your races and train for them!

Had a chance to get out for a decent ride today. Weather wasn’t horrid nor was it perfect. The kind where it’s easy to get out the door, but you grumble a bit every know and then about how it could be just a bit better. There was a constant North-Northwesterly wind at about 15-20 mph. Pretty rough for around here, but I found it to be suprisingly mild as compared to the steady 30 mph winds with 50+ gusts that I got used to in Colorado. It’s also crazy because there are these long tall thin things on the side of the road that sometimes block them (I was told they are called “Trees”)

I decided to head south to Naples to hit up my favorite climb, West Gannet. It’s pale by Colorado standards, but still a good climb. 10k and averages about 5%, but it has a good kicker at the start, and a few small bumps near the end that make it tough. Having a brutal headwind all the way up the climb didn’t help today, but it wasn’t all bad.

Was a nice fast ride down with the tailwind. I felt really good going up the climb and throttled myself waaay back on the start so as not to push too hard. I gave it some gas when needed, but really struggled to keep the power up when the climb fell flat (something I’ve always struggled with), but managed a nice solid effort up the climb fully. Took me 28:10 (PR is 23:30), I’m pretty sure the wind killed me and my power while super high and PB for the season was great, I really never ’suffered’ and held plenty in reserve. I felt really great heading up the climb and definitely this thing called ‘air’ helps one to breathe when going uphill.

After the climb it was pretty much, man vs headwind the final miles home. I finished strong and felt really great. An awesome day of training, so inspiring that I signed up for an actual road race. We’ll see if my Cat 2 license still holds true

Tomorrow, I’ll go play in the dirt on my road bike and pretend I’m chasing some fools down around the Arenberg Forest, then watch it for real on Versus.

Oh, found the results from Ouachita Challenge, 15th place. 36 finishers out of 100, not too bad. Pull the 30 off for the flat debacle and I’m easy 7th overall, some racing and maybe coulda cracked the top 5??? So I’m pretty happy with that.

Bear with me if this report is brief or not fully expanded with pretty pictures, pie charts or videos. I just spent the last 1300 miles in my car to get home with the family and would at this point, happily spend time with them. I can always elaborate later.

I got to Arkansas on Thursday and spent the evening hanging out with the Chainwheel Gang, chilling at the the shop, then later with some mexican, beers, Halo 3 and Rock Band till the wee hours of the morning. The next day we hit some local trails “camp” as they were known, on the local military base, a good shakedown of the bike and the legs after being in the car for 2 days and Lizzy was happy cause she got to run for the first time in a bit also.

Friday afternoon, I headed out to the “Henne Compound”, where I was staying for the weekend. I made my way over to the course and managed to squeeze in a pre-ride of the first section with the Ergon Crew for a bit and get a nice preview of the opening climb and the first section of singletrack. The legs were good and I was happy. After being treated to a nice homecooked meal by the Henne’s and Sarah, I was ready to go. (BTW, hugest thanks to the Henne’s for putting me up for the weekend, and you should all thank Todd as the 80 is his baby!!)

Sunday was go time, it was a bit chilly at the start and would stay mostly cool and quite windy all day for the race. At the start as usual the front runners massed up and got ready for the charge into the singletrack. I saved a little bit on the dirt road climb, but picked my way back through to the front and could see the top 5 or so just ahead. Rolled it into the singletrack and carnage right away. Flat!!. Stans wouldn’t seal the hole, so I pulled the rear as I was ready for a fast change, but it wasn’t meant to be. The nut on the valve stem for my tubeless was fastened a bit too tight. Spent very near 30 minutes on the side of the trail (27 I believe to be exact) bashing at the valve stem trying to break it with my multi-tool or just beating something cause I was super frustrated!! Every single rider in the race passed me. Though the sweepers never got me, they must have been sleeping!

Just as I was about to give up and covered in mud, stans and blood cause I gouged the hell out of my fingers with the knife and screwdrivers, it popped loose like it was free the whole time. I got the tube in, inflated and took off. I gave a frantic chase for the next 40 miles to aid station #2. But there was sooo much lap traffic on the trail and it was all singletrack that it became nearly impossible to pass people. Surge like hell the wait the 30 secs or so to find a spot to pass. Thankfully most were on the 60 and that was over with at the first aid station. I rolled in to the first and second aid stations 30 minutes down, which was pretty much my time on the side of the trail in the beginning and probably was riding a bit faster than leaders as I was picking my way through the riders, and not losing any time from that. But it wasn’t meant to be. The tough singletrack and my frantic pace, brought me to my knees between aid station 2 and 3. I realized, I was never going to close a 30 minute gap, and I was definitely not drinking enough (5.5 bottles over 8.5 hours!). I rolled it back a bit and returned to a good pace and finished out the ride/sufferfest that was to be had.

I was pretty happy with the ride (8:01 of ride time, and most of the loss coming early in the lapped riders and a bit of a slow when I realized I wasn’t going to catch anymore). I think the leaders were somewhere around 7:40ish?? someone correct me?

All in all a solid first race and I felt good and ready, so who know what the next one will bring!

So I backed out of the Mohican 100, hopefully I’ll get my entry fee or at least part of it refunded. I’m looking to save the legs for Plattekill and the Hardcore 24.

Tuesday night was the final wrap-up of the Farmall Series. I finished 3rd overall, and 2nd in my age category for the series. Congrats to Corey Knowles on taking the series win! I felt really great racing and the power numbers were pretty good for the event. While short course racing isn’t my forte anymore, I actually felt great and worked the course to the best I could. I had it handed to me fair and square.

Memorial day weekend was a great time to get loads of training in. Saturday was a little short due to Lake’s birthday party, but I snuck out on the road and got some time in the sun.

Sunday was an awesome day. Jim Hogan joined me down at Bristol to kick off a nice killer ride. We climbed up Stid hill and then dropped the tower drop. We both managed to make the final chute (straight drop!) and headed over to OCP. At the Ontario County Park, we ripped up the new trails. With some time those trails are going to be great and can’t wait till a race is hosted on them. We crushed the Orange trail descent and headed over to Cutler. There’s still a few trees down there, but hopefully they’ll be gone come race day for the Hardcore.

Jim ventured on with me into Naples, where I made the mistake of not picking up any water or taking any of his. As he headed back to the car and I pointed towards Parish, he offered me water, but I was sure the store in Italy Valley would be open, right? Climbing Parish was fun, but not nearly as fun as dropping the jump-off/hanglider trail into the valley.

From there I climbed up Burke and that was a good suffer-fest, and started to get really low on water. I was rationing it out as much as I could. I blazed it down past the outback inn and up to Brink/Basset, where I managed to run completely out of water. Still having to charge on through Hi-tor and then down the DEC, I finally made it into Naples 40 minutes after running out of water and nearly 2 hours after rationing. Needless to say, I was a bit dehydrated. I grab some refreshments and got an immediate “ice-cream headache” from the gatorade it was so cold.

After fueling up and re-hydrating I turned and climbed Griesa-to Gannett and back to OCP. Descended off that and headed towards the backside of Bristol. I really love that climb and I was flying up it and putting out awesome power considering I was nearly 7.5 hours into my ride at this point. I wrapped up the ride with a killer descent down the face of Bristol. 8 hours/135k, somewhere around 10-11,000′ft of climbing. 8 major climbs……

Monday was a tempo day on the roadbike, plan was to ride around Seneca Lake. After 60k of fighting a massive headwind I decided to turn around, only for the wind to pull a 180, 20k later and give me another headwind the whole way home, ugh!

No mohican= time for another epic this weekend.

I leave you this pic that sums up our society: Amar-Ricaaaa

I’d like to drive some traffic over to the 29er Crew website so you can read all about my riding and training for the most part over there. For the list of my entries go here ,I’ll most likely double up my posts for a while. I’ll keep adding little tidbits here on this site and maybe start blogging about other things besides just bikes and racing.

Back to the main event…

This has been a tough week. 18.5 hours and a TSS score of 964! Whoa. Needless to say, monday, I’m sitting here wiped out. I pretty much want to do nothing but sleep and eat food. I’m famished. I spent the middle days of the week doing some hill work and intervals and managed to get out for some big time riding this weekend.

Saturday, I had to get the car fixed in Victor again. I headed south into Naples, for some good hill climbing. Hit up West Gannett, Griesa, Egypt and the climb out of Bristol. It was a good day, 5+ hours in the saddle and I felt great.

the paragon takes a rest at the top of W. Gannett

As far as sunday goes; the post from the 29er crew and write-up is available here , But I’ll throw in some pics for your viewing pleasure.

Rolling along the lakefront

Quiet Sunshine day

Suzanne enjoys the lakeshore

Stayin warm in the early am (20 degrees)

Mark attacks the rollers

The Champ tells it like it is

Climbing up Winding Stairs

Still climbing

Mark Flats

Sunday afternoon traffic

Work has been incredibly boring these past few days. When you are a software tester; waiting around for the developer to deliver you an application can take some time. I’ve filled my days by continually hitting refresh on various blog websites and trying not to drool on my keyboard while I sleep.

I do ask for work, believe me I’d rather be doing something. Yesterday managed to be a nice day, so I decided to leave a little bit early and head out for a ride in the wind and warmer temps.

On monday, I had swung into the Geneva Bicycle Center and picked up a new Giro Atmos (full flash site). So yesterday was a nice day to put it to the test.

Testing out the atmos

It’s quite the helmet, very light and breathable. I could hardly tell it was on me noggin at all. A nice secondary aspect is my sunglasses fight quite nice when you put them up in the helmet.

The ride itself was great. Super windy day though, gusts in the 30-40 mph range, and constant around 20-25mph. Somehow I managed to ride mostly cross/headwind most of the ride and stay out of it directly. I felt really good and hit up a few hills for extra bike practice.

no need for shoe covers

It’s starting to get to the point where I’m feeling good and strong and almost ready to race (less than a month!). I pushed it hard for the 3 hours I was out on the roads and came home feeling strong. It helped that I had a massive tailwind the whole way home. Even though I am running road gearing (12-27) on the paragon, I was running out of gear at 44×12 with the wind whipping so hard. I barely had to give it gas to keep flying forward.

It’s looking nice out there again, better get back to work so I can squeeze in another one (I actually have work today!)

Currently playing in iTunes: Stars in Concert 10-22-2007 by NPR

Finally hit the dirt this past weekend. Been quite a while. Yesterday, headed over to MPH. Casey, Val, Mark, Suzanne, Jim, c-dog and lizzy along with myself put in a few miles before the trails thawed. Since the paragon has been pulling double duties, a quick wheel swap was required in the am and I was out the door.

It was nice to be on the dirt and the sugary snow that was left in a few hidden areas. I think the last time I was off-road was at the hollow a few weeks ago! Been that long, damn. Alas, my mind hadn’t forgotten how to handle the bike, but some subtle nuances were missing. I wasn’t out of my element, but definitely wasn’t on top of my A-game. I felt really good climbing the hills and making the transitions, that you get in mt. biking but miss out on on the road. It was nice to be in the woods and get the stillness and quietness of nature. It wasn’t very quiet though when you hit the crunchy snow; with a gaggle of riders, you could barely hear yourself think it was so ungodly loud.

The day ended a little bit early for myself and lizzy as she had taken off early for her usual exit. She returned, a little bloody, and tired. She hobbled on as long as she could, but I ended up having to walk her out of the woods as she could barely move. She hasn’t opened her eyes up since she’s been home.

Hopefully all the snow will be gone soon everywhere and the trails will open up.

Most likely not gonna happen, but one can wish right? Oh well, there’s always the California singletrack to look forward to in a few weeks right?

Friday and Saturday where the usual road excursions. Friday was almost cut short, but a quick pit stop in the GBC helped bring some bloodflow back to my fingers, and I managed to make it home for the nice 40 minute hot shower to continue the thawing process. Saturday was nice sun-shinny 4 hour day and dealing with the wind.

Feeling really good on the bike right now, but taking today off to do some cleaning and bike maintenance and get some stuff up on ebay.

I’ll edit this draft and post some pictures; I’ve got some, but have been slacking as the cable is at work and camera is always at home…..

I’m Spinning in the rain, just spinning in the rain…Well, the weather here in Upstate NY is at it’s usual finest. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the snow is gone. But, ma nature isn’t being extremely kind.

Yesterday it was in the mid 40’s and wet, gusty and rainy. I had to head out of town the past 2 days for work related business, so I decided to loosen the legs up after work this evening. Having come off a nice epic ride this past weekend I definitely needed to get the blood flowing.

I hemmed and hawed at whether or not to go, why not just skip it? It’s just a short ride to loosen up the legs. Well it took one glance at my bracelet, and my mantra for the current season:

Harden the f@ck up!

That was enough to light a fire and keep me warm for the entire ride.

Hopefully the weather cooperates and can get out the next few days. I’ve refused to ride the trainer for this season and regardless, get all my miles in on the road/trails (and I’ve been pretty good at it too!).

Considering my days left till race season was just cut in half as I’m heading out to Sea Otter next month, every day get’s extremely important!

How does one know they are chomping at the bit? When the phone calls for Easter dinner come in, and you are running in your head how you can fit in a 6+ hour ride and still make it home in time for the food to be warm!

Woohoo Happy Spring!!!