JasonHilimire.com

Last night was the grand finale of the RV&E Farmall Series. Things looked to be a little hairy on the weather radar as it was downpouring here in Waterloo/Seneca Falls area, but apparently never or barely rained on the race course. I had laced up a Bontrager ACX to my spare rear wheel just in case I’d need a mud tire, but ended up not needing it and was able to use the XR1 Team issue again as the course was super dry and super fast. I was super determined to break the course record of 1:03:30 and had broken down the lap times in my head over the past several days. Only thing to account for was lap traffic and/or a mechanical. Last season I took things for granted and had my ass handed to me a few times at Farmall, this year I was super determined not to let it happen again.

I felt really strong and comfortable off the start and got into the woods with a small gap on the Pilato Brothers. I was feeling good, but not quite as painful as the prior week and ended up the first lap 12 seconds faster than I was the week prior. Perfect, I was right on track and feeling good!

2nd lap was some more of the same. The Pilato brothers were still chasing me hard and in the chicane grass section, I started yelling at them to encourage a little brotherly ego race. After the second lap I had turned another 10 sec faster lap than the prior week and was still feeling really good and working the course well without really suffering (well I was suffering, but not nearly as much as last week). This set me up nicely and I realized that I really could push for the course record (even though the new course is slightly longer). My 3rd and 4th laps stayed constant and consistent, lap traffic was there, but never really became an issue as I was able to get around everyone.

After the race Lake asked me how I went down this hill so fast

On the 5th lap in the woods on one of the fast whup-de do’s somehow I was on the rear of my saddle and I heard a loud ‘pop’ and the saddle had kicked nearly upright on the rails. I stayed calm, carried my speed up to the top of the next climb and was able to hammer it down with my hand into a position I could at least sit on the nose of the saddle. I lost probably 15 seconds or so on that lap, but wasn’t scared. I stayed calm and focused and worked on making the time up. The next time around on one of the climbs, I dropped my chain and thought it had jammed into my spokes, but realized it had just jumped down the cassette, I was able to run out the climb and get the bike back into gear, losing only a few seconds in the process.

By the time the final lap hit, I realized I was still on pace even after a few mishaps and was pumped. I pushed it pretty hard and made up a few extra seconds and crossed the line right around 1:03:10. Super pumped to have a really solid race and feel great. My form and fitness are right on track and I have a few more days of really good training left before it’s time to rest up for the Suicide Six and Shenandoah 100. Hopefully everything falls in line and I have some great luck.

If you’re looking for pictures of Farmall Series you can go here

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.

WTF, I just typed this all out on my iphone and saved it, and now it can’t be found. These is going to be a bit briefer……

Since I dropped out of the Hardcore 24 last weekend, I was still fairly fresh and decided to hit up the GROC Fest XC at Dryer Rd. Ripping around on my old stomping grounds where I’ve put on plenty of miles was going to be fun. Though it was going to be a tough course with all the twisties and narrow trails, it was gonna be plenty of hurt.

I took the holeshot off the start and around the fields, heading into the woods. Up the steep gravel climb, I was pulled in and settled into 2nd. Heading into the woods was comfortably on the wheel and then right down the wrong trail a few of us followed. After realizing it, I ran back up the hill and jumped back on the trails. I was now in 6th or 7th place behind a long line of riders in some super tight trails unable to pass. When and where I could, I clawed my way past riders into 2nd place. Coming out of the woods and onto the perimeter I jumped off the front and rolled into the next lap in 1st.

I relinquished the lead up the gravel climb and took 2nd heading into the woods again. I was able to overtake the lead though, heading into Owl’s maze and hold it. I was putting the gaps into 2nd on the perimeter (he was on a SingleSpeed). The 3rd lap, heading into the woods with a comfortable lead, but 2nd and 3rd were hot on my heels. I knew that they wouldn’t make a pass in the woods and would have to make it on the perimeter before the final downhill. But I had opened up a huge gap each time once I hit the perimeter and the final time was no exception. I floored it and headed into the final descent with a comfortable lead of a solid 10 seconds or so. Crossed the line and finally got the coveted “W”. Legs felt great during the race and was super happy with the performance.

Sunday after feeling good on Saturday, I decided to head down to Ellicottville for the 6 Hours of Power. From the half mile LeMans start into the 1 mile opening climb, I knew I didn’t have much after racing so hard Saturday. Oddly, as soon as I hit the woods my front brake lever was flopping all over the place, causing it to be a little hard to shred on the super fun singletrack. I managed to zip tie it up for the 2nd lap, but that lap was just as tough as I broke 2 spokes. After figuring out how to wrap em up and get rolling again, the fun factor was dwindling. I decided to ride a 3rd lap for fun and fitness then head home and spend the day playing with Lake. It was a wise decision.

In the end, I was quite happy with Saturday’s race. However, I keep breaking bike parts! WTF, I’m just a poor amateur…. it’s getting ridiculous the amount of stuff broken this season and it’s all been without actually crashing. Maybe I need to hire a competent mechanic? (I do my own wrenching, and the breaking has all been total failures, not mechanical) Quite odd, but that’s what happens when you ride and ride hard.

Thankfully, I’m in the middle of a full on mid-season break. Will give me plenty of muster so I can rocket come September/October. There’s not much going on in August as I’m taking it low key and will get some training done.

On a side note, more training, means a less hectic schedule and that means more time to blog and have fun. I promise the pictures and videos and many more entries are coming over these next few weeks! Until then..

This past Tuesday, Farmall #2 went off without a hitch. I felt soo much better than I did over the weekend. Race as always is brutal, conditions though were perfect overall. I managed to tick just shy of 3 minutes time off last week’s ride for a 1:05:01. I’m pretty happy with that, and I believe is a personal best for myself. Though, I don’t think I’ll come anywhere close to the course record of 1:03:23 set buy Duncan last year, that’s blazingly fast. If I ran all my laps at my fastest lap of this past Tuesday (8:59), there’s a slim chance but damn, that was a blazing ride by him last year. Though if Jeff Walker keeps up his riding (on a full rigid SS) I may be chasing someone else around the course, dude rips it up on that bike!

MPH

Yesterday, was one of the perfect seasonal days. Made it perfect to go for a bike ride, 86 degrees and sunshine in Mid-May, I’ll take it.

Headed over to MPH to ride some trails and then headed out from their via some old-moto trails and hooked up on the Erie Canal and rode over towards Newark/Palmyra area.

Here’s a quick video of us ripping it at the MPH!

MPH from Jason Hilimire on Vimeo.

Was a fun day on the bike, got some miles in and some great sunshine. Weather is looking good for this weekend. Hoping to get in some good epic rides this weekend (and I’ll be sure to get some pics)

Last Night kicked off Farmall #1 for the season. Ended up with a nice W!!

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!

Last night was the series finale at Farmall, put on by RV & E Bike and Skate. Surprisingly there was a small turnout for the X field, but a pretty decent turnout overall. Usual course, usual format, by now I can ride the course with my eyes closed.

My legs really felt like crap, not that they hurt or didn’t work. It was weird, they didn’t hurt. But I also just couldn’t push them to my max, like I was kinda stuck in 3rd gear. No matter how hard I tried the engines only fired at 75%. It was still a good solid hard effort.

My guess is I’m still paying for Saturday’s effort and the fact that I’m in a big final push for the Shenandoah 100. MY CTL is ramped up high and so is my ATL, but my TSB isn’t super low. Usually if my TSB is in the low negatives, my legs feel like dog poo.

At least my lap times were consistent, almost exactly the same every lap and I did manage to bring home some more hardware. Guess it’s been a good week!

In the meantime I want one of these, badly!!

Also, here’s a few cool pics from my easy ride on Saturday

Rolling along the sunflowers

The way my legs felt, I should just went swimming in the lake!

My Suicide Six entry can be found over at the Fisher 29er Crew Site

Finger Lakes Times Online – Sports: “Plenty of pain and plenty of gain”

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.)

The Hardcore 24 was this past weekend. I raced the solo category for my 4th SOLO 24 hour event. I finished 2nd overall at the even 2 years ago with 16 laps and last year had turned in 9 laps before the race was called. My goal this time out was to turn in 20 laps and keep consistent.

The first few laps, my energy was good and strong. Even with the poor weather and amounts of rain, I was still motivated and ready to race. I ran consistent and actually geared down on the climbs so I wouldn’t exert a tremendous amount of energy early. I kept myself in check even though, I really did want to race like it was a 6 hour event. I turned a good first lap, and was the first solo to cross the line and one of the top 5? riders. I grabbed my first feed and kept on moving. I banged out the next few laps and early on was hesitating to take a feed at the midway point of the course. I was using sustained energy and my bottle still had plenty, but after a few laps I wasn’t making it to the end of the lap and started grabbing feeds swinging through the pits.

Turning and Burning

After I finished my 6th lap, I came into the pits for a short break. I ate a delicious turkey and mayo sandwich, grabbed some advil, got the drivetrain cleaned and headed out after a few minutes of my feet and the saddle. It was somewhere around this point that 2nd place had closed the gap on me. I saw him in a few spots and pushed it in the singletrack, but eventually he managed to get a gap and get away from me. After running a few solid night laps, I had pulled him back in and eventually passed him. My plan at 10 laps in (10:30pm) was to take a solid rest, change into some dry clothing and give the bike a good overhaul. The muddy conditions were taking it’s toll on the bike and a fresh set of clothes and the iPod were what I was looking forward to. I managed to break my front brake lever when I hit a tree a few laps prior. It was functioning, but needed a few zip ties to hold it together properly. A cleaning of the bike made a huge difference in the shifting and dry clothes never felt better. Another turkey and mayo sandwich and I was back out on the the course.

Grabbing a feed at the midway point

I was feeling great, I swapped to coke and water for my feeds. Was eating gels and clif bloks and my energy levels were up. I buried myself for a bit as I had been overtaken during my long break. I ran a bunch of consistent laps and held strong all through the night. I pulled back into 1st and was keeping tabs on my time checks. Sometime around 4am, I pulled into the pits to take a quick 5 min break, get the bike cleaned and eat another turkey sandwich. I emerged feeling great and still had a decent gap on 2nd.

Dawn brought newfound energy and resilience. I was motivated and hungry at this point. I still was feeling great and working hard. I was getting consistent time checks at the midway and end of each laps. I was putting almost 10 minutes per lap into 2nd. My pace was holding up and I wasn’t losing time. Adrenaline was flowing and I was feeling great. Around 10am, I was up somewhere around the 40 minute range and disaster struck. Horrible pains in the tendons behind my left knee. Top of my calf and lower quad, were burning. I was babying my left leg and having trouble putting power down on the climbs. I gritted my teeth, pushing my bike up each steep climb and trying to make the time up on the descents.

Consistency is key, while hr was dropping each lap, my power levels pretty much remained the same. I averaged 1:07 per lap!

Hoping my time gap would stick and I could grind it out till the end. I crossed the line and headed out for my 19th lap, knowing I could finish it, but could I finish a 20th and could I ‘race’ for position? My gap was still in the mid 40’s at the start of the lap. Suzanne actually caught and passed me, knowing I was in pain, hoping it wasn’t going to be a “24 Solo” incident. I focused everything I had on finishing that 19th lap, and when I came through the halfway point, 2nd placed had conceded and was no longer on course. Man, was I exalted at that point. I lagged up the long climb and walked a few portions of the trail to ease the pain in my leg, but slammed it on the descent and back to the finish line. I checked to make sure I didn’t need to go out for another and headed to the pits, only had to wait an hour and I could cross the line 1 final time for victory!!!

Victory!! My eyes are closed because I had been sleeping the last 30 min

Post race chatting it up with 2nd (white on the right)

Ma works the zoom a little too much on the podium

I had an excellent pit crew to help me out. My mother was there for every need for all 24 hours, at every lap and midway point when we swung through the pits. Jeremy (camp manager) took care of setting up the camp on Friday and taking care of my bike along with Dave the mother-f’in man. Special thanks also to Wendy, Val, Doyle and everyone else that was there and helped out.

Ma hands off another feed as I ready for another lap

Also a Huge thanks to my sponsors! Gary Fisher for making the best and fastest bike ever, the Superfly. Who says you can’t race a hardtail at a 24 hour race? The Geneva Bicycle Center, taking care of my bike maintenance and accessory needs. EJ at Crankskins.com for pimping me some fat 29er Crew Custom Crankskins. Jeff at Ergon Grips for Keeping my hands comfy the whole race. Also thanks to Ay-Up Lighting for making some bright and lightweight lights, making it easy to see at night and not having to worry about carrying any extra weight. And a big thanks to Park Ave Bikes for putting on the race!

Huge Congrats also to Mark and Suzanne Hartman of the 29er Crew for not only taking the mixed doubles win, but the doubles overall!!! Also Congrats to Casey Conte and Matt Hanggi for taking the doubles win and 2nd doubles overall!!

Hosed after the Race

I won a nice 29er rigid Singlespeed!!!

Rained from start till about 2am

19 laps, 154 miles, 27,000ft of climbing, 2 broken brake levers, 1st place SOLO Overall.

Full Writeup and pics sometime today when I have a little bit of energy