JasonHilimire.com

No idea why I used a french title, maybe too much watching the tour last month?  Anyways loads going on around here.  The biggest news is I got a new article published in the CycleOps Power newsletter!  If you’re subscribed to the newsletter you probably seen my mug in your email inbox (subscribe here).  If not, go read my article on Using Intensity Factor to Train in the Right Zones here!

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!

Quick report & full post coming later.

Was suppose to be 4man, but changed to duo due to fears of a weather repeat if last years monsoons. Casey & I manned up & got ready to rip.

Raced my ass off & won the first lap. Gave everything I had and won the 2 up sprint. Will do a full power/lap review later.

After that settled in. Rain & fog & night came. Took a break & so did everyone else. Got up early ripped out some laps. Had a huge lead and were able to stop by 9:30 when the next round of rain came.

I put some good miles on the road bike this weekend.  More so than I have in quite a bit.  Two back to back days of some good ol fashioned endurance riding.  Saturday, I rode down to Ithaca and back.  Lil bit boring route, mostly flat, some good views of the lake, but nothing spectacular.  Rolled it back and the skies opened up.  Nothing like riding home in the rain for 2+ hours with legs that feel like lead.  It was actually quite miserable.  I almost contemplated calling in the broom wagon for a pickup.  But I figured, I got myself into the ride, I better get myself out.  Besides, if you’ve seen my twitter posts, you all know that Bridget really doesn’t answer her phone.  I’d have been home by the time she answered anyways.

Sunday though was the Naples Throwdown.  If you’ve been with me down to Naples for a mountain bike or road ride, you know my evil ways.  I pretty much picked a doozy.  77 miles, 6k+ of climbing, with majority of the climbs averaging well over 10%.

Good group of GVCC’ers were brave enough to show up and throwdown for the event.  Though I mighta scared a few of em off with the dirt road descents

But Hey, there were some great views.  Though my eyes were crossed at the top of Bopple Hill (27% will do that to you)

Even though Housler partied it up the night before, never did manage to get him to puke.  Ah well, believe me there was plenty of suffering to go around.

Nothing like a massive climbing day where the average cadence is 75 rpm.  After Flint Hill, I looked down and it said my average was 53rpm, that was 3+ hours into the ride!!

Tonight:  Park Ave XC finale at Camp Arrowhead.  Booyeah.  Feeling good and looking forward to ripping it up!!

Weekend:  Thinking a massive 85-100+ mile day on the mountain bike, then taking it easy Sunday and hitting up the boat.  Gonna head with Bridget and Lake to camp in the Adirondacks the 5th & 6th and not gonna do any training so a mondo weekend is in order!!

Went big on this past Saturday.  Decided to head down to Bristol/Naples area, get in a 6 hour ride on the mtb with some heavy climbing and some singletrack ripping.  The plan was to start at Bristol mountain, ride over to Stid Hill for a bit of a warmup.  Climb Stid Hill all the way up and come down the Tower Drop (Tscheske’s favorite descent!), climb up West Gannet Road, rip around OCP & Cutler, then head down the old closed road into Naples.  Refuel, head up East Hill, rip down the DEC trail, climb up Gannet back to OCP for some more Orange trail action and then up and over Bristol mountain.

Lake’s Birthday

Saturday was Lake’s official Birthday, but we held his party on Sunday.  What else to get my boy than a bike!!  A super sweet Giant TCX!!  I think I’m actually quite jealous of his bike.  He’s already mastered the handbrakes and is still getting acclimated to the gears.  He only wants to put “in 7″ as he says so he can go as fast as possible.  Thus, we’ve been doing some extra bike riding as he wants to ride, rolling around the block pretending he’s Lance and doing his best Phil Ligget impressions!!

Farmall #2 tonight!!  Looking forward to it!

Hopefully by this evening or sometime tomorrow I can get my race report up from the Handlebars Spring MTB Classic at Sprague Brook park in Buffalo that went down this past sunday.  Ended up 3rd, down 12 secs on Nathan Chown and Dan Staffo (who were on cross bikes).  Yeah, yeah, if you can ride the course on cross bike it’s not a real mtb course…. blah blah.  Truth is it was a tough course and I held my own, those guys were just a bit faster.

In the meantime though, here’s some Pictures of this past weekend.  Saturday was a gorgeous day, so I headed down to Bristol/Naples area to put some time on some technical trails and do some climbing.  Haven’t had too much time on the mountain bike nor tons of time climbing.  Figured I’d knock out both with one swoop.

Rode Still Hill over to the tower drop, then climbed up to OCP, did some loops there.  Over to Cutler for a loop and then some road to the backside of Bristol mt.  Climbed up that and headed down Radar’s top secret trail (where I preceded to have my second flat and had to ride the final 2 miles home on the road with a flat…)

Pictures, cause we all know mtbers can’t read!

Hit the greatest race in New York state up this past weekend. The Prattsburgh Rambler. 30+ mile dirt road race with some intense descents, few bits of singletrack and some ferocious clims that top out well over 20%.

The past 2 editions saw warm temps and dry & dusty race course. It was only fair that this year was 50 and rain. Turning many of the long dirt road climbs into quicksand. It certainly felt like the brakes were on while climbing for sure.

The race started off with a new section this year, that I was totally unprepared for. Right off the bat we climbed rt 53 and Ramone gunned it hard. It drew out the pack and I was quickly gapped (need a better warmup) but we hit a new fun and muddy descent that I was able to use to my advantage to bring the front back to me.

Once we rolled back through town a 2nd time and started the first climb we were a small group of 6. Staffo, Ramone, Duncan, Andy August, Jonah D and myself. Staffo and Ramone turned up the heat and slowly our group split. First Jonah, then me then Andy & then Duncan. Duncan managed to rebridge & the 3 rode the rest if the race together.

I started off in pursuit of Andy & Jonah soon bridged up to me. I dropped my chain in my spokes going up the next steep climb and he slipped through my fingers and ended my chase of Andy.

For the next forever miles, I chased Jonah. Up and over Canen hill, down Ridge road descent and up Hungry Hollow climb. The whole time Rob Dietrick was chasing me just as fiercely as I was chasing Jonah. I managed to finally catch Jonah on Hungry Hollow just before the steep pitch at the end. For a moment it looked like we were a group of 3 as we were diamounted and running up the super steep and loose climb. But I managed to get a good gap and hold em off. At least until after the descent and passing by the onion fields. Jonah rebridgend and we hit the singletrack together. I led, and managed to have a great cartoon esque faceplant on the descent, but still kept my lead. I got out front at the exit of the singletrack with a small gap and less than a mile to go. But the forever tenacious Jonah continued to pull me back in setting us up for a Mano e Mano sprint showdown. It all came downtown the last 50 meters where I narrowly edged him out by about a tire width for 5th place!!

All in all it was a killer race! Conditions were truly epic and hopefully I’ll have some pics from the moto crew soon to post.

Officially kicked off my race season this past weekend. First time in a couple of years starting with a road race, heck first time I duo’d it up with a mtb race too!

Headed east on Friday with the Minerva Design crew for Battenkill-Roubaix. Got there nice and early and plenty of time to chill in the hotel with Brendan. For first time in a long time I slept like a log when away from home for a race. It was unprecedented, but def worthwhile. Brendan, Drew & Jeff were all in the cat 3 race, while I got lucky and got do an extra 20 miles in the 2 race. Things started great and I had really good position thru the bridge and onto the dirt without issue. Bottles flying everywhere, but managed to sit comfortable at the front. There was a nasty steep dirt climb that nearly cracked me, but I held tight. …. Till the next time we climbed it as we looped back onto the course again. The wind was blowing like crazy and I was just off the back off the much smaller main field. Gave chase for a bit, but the wind had other plans. Decided to just roll it back to the car and tend to my wounded ego. But, Brendan put on big show in the cat 3 race and took home a huge Win in a 3 up sprint. Soon enough I’ll be working for him in the 1/2 races if he keeps up the win streak.

Sunday was the GVCC’s first ever mountain bike race. It was nice to see something that Todd and I had chatted about really come to fruition. The weather was gorgeous and I had laid out a really kick as 2+ mile loop course. Had a few tough climbs, some good single track and some fast field sections. Lake even kicked off his race season in the kids race. He was a little outgunned by the big kids and their bigger bikes, but nonetheless he did his 2 laps around the soccer field and was super pumped all day just to be out at the races. Plus he got to go play on the playground most of the day too! No kid will argue against that!

We had some huge numbers for the race & nearly filled out the expert class with 47 racers! The short prologue field helped thin things out before we hit the single track and opening climb. I made it into the woods in 2nd place and held it till we came out of the elevator climb. Dan Staffo (on a cx bike) attacked hard in the upper field, but I couldn’t close the gap. Spent the next 3 laps reeling him in on the single track only to lose him on the climbs and in the fields where he could fly. On the last lap, Doug Rusho had been breathing down my neck and passed me on the way up A-train. I kept him close and was ready to attack up the moon valley climb, but washed out on the corner before hand and was never able to recover and close the gap.

This let the 5th place rider (Rob Pilato) close the gap to me. He hunted me down and off the final descent into the field he used his momentum to swing past me and try to drop me in the grass heading to the finish line. Little did he know i was fully prepped for his move. I simply sat in on his slipstream, let him pull me to the line and jumped him in the final 100 meters to keep 4th place! 1st place was way off the front but 2-5 were only separated by 15 seconds! That’s some great xc racing! I had a ton of fun and hope everyone else did too!

Huge thanks to the GVCC & Full Moon Vista for the setup & support! Hopefully this event continues to grow over the next few years.

This weekend is the Bloomfield road race, then my personal favorite The Prattsburgh Rambler!

Here’s some Pics from the weekend….

Been a gorgeous few days here in upstate ny! No complaints here, seen upwards of 88 degrees on friday and Saturday! Was able to put some good time on the road bike the past few days, but I think I literally overcooked myself in the heat (ask Todd, as he dragged my ragged butt home from Naples yesterday).

But with bad sometimes comes great! I got my new iPad (doing this post on it!) and today for Easter took Lake out on his very first trail ride! Needless to say he was super pumped to ride!

Little dude dug it big time. He was excited to go cause he got himself a new helmet for Easter today. He really did t have too much of an issue on the trail other than his bike is to heavy to lift over the big logs. He cleared some tough root sections, negotiated the corners with ease. Made it through the mud and over some rideable log piles without any issues! Kinda was scared at how fearless he really was! I’ve been on bike rides with some fit dudes who had more issues than he did. If he couldn’t ride it! He simply got off his bike and ran it, without missing a beat.

Might have me a new training partner pretty soon (for those that think I might be pushing him to this, I’ve never asked him to ride, he has always asked me or took it up on his own).

Bonus today was that it was also our younger pup Lulu’s first trail day. Good thing Lizzy was there to show here the ropes! She did good but is a little skittish and scares easily. Had t get off and walk her down and comfort her a few times. She doesn’t like sticks; when they snap or you pick them up off the trail, she will run!

All in all a great weekend and still more to go!

Enjoy the pics (can’t put them inline through this)

Last Nights workout, I did pretty much exactly the same workout a year ago when I was living in Boulder. It was a rest week as it is this time around and I was prepping for my first Off Road race of the season: Oauchita Challenge in Arkansas. It was also my last week in Boulder, so it’s been pretty much almost a year since I made my way back home to New York!

I can’t really complain. I quite enjoy it back here. Plus the road riding is just as good if not better!

Onto the workout; some 5 x 1 minute intervals, not all that hard, but not all that easy. But, big changes! 40 watts over last years workout, ya ya altitude counts (but when I came back I saw about 5-7% improvement). But a few other things weighing in, I’m nearly 5kg lighter than last year and my CTL is -35 from compared to where it was then! That’s a fairly stout improvement!

Enough of the geek speak, time for the pretty pictures…..

I’ve still got lots of work to do before racing really kicks in, but so far pretty happy with how things are progressing. This weekend is the last weekend of Giros’, then a big weekend of training and time for both my road and mountain bike season to kick off!! Battenkill and then Dryer Rd Mountain bike race. It’s gonna be a busy month in April!!

So was suppose to write this last week, but just got super busy with loads of other things as usual. Last week was one of those rare awesome weeks of training. The sunshine was everyday and it actually felt like I was back in Boulder with blue skies, warmth and exposed skin!!

I managed to get in some great training and more importantly just have some fun on the bike!

The fun even carried into this past weekend. I went and did both Giro Training races on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was doing pretty well hanging with the bunch, but the extra lap and mis-fire on my shifter had me coming off the back on the hill before the finish line about the 4th lap. Seems like the 5th lap was pretty tame though, as I sat up and was really only rolling behind the pack for most of the remainder.

Sunday, even with the tired legs decided to go race. I was berated by my teammate “Big House” (who had just won the Philly race the day before with utter dominance) to come out and ride. So I did. We had a bit of a smaller group and played around a bit with some attacks and had some fun, but it was destined down to a field sprint. Even made it over the hill and was able to sprint in the bunch for 5th, while Big House took the W. Been a while since I’ve been in a big ol’ group sprint, but don’t think that I’ve really lost too much of my edge A few more and I’ll be nice and sharp. Next weekend is the last weekend of the Giro’s, who knows what’ll happen then but I’ll at least be there saturday to mix it up again. Maybe even sunday too….