Philadelphia Amature TT

(I'm in the money)

After waking up at 3am I still managed to get 1st place Cat. 3 and 5th place overall. It was a beautiful day and a great venue. Super smooth blacktop and completely closed to traffic. The only part of the course that kind of sucked was the expansion joints in the road 1/2 mile into the course and then again 1/2 mile to the finish. There were 3 of them and they were huge. Enough to make me loose my bottle. Not that it mattered on a course this short or at this particular temp but still. This was the most professional amature TT I've ever seen. The timing system was great and they had a spotter calling the upcoming riders # ahead to the finish so they had your time and finish place on the clock as you were approaching. This would have been great except that I didn't get to see mine because I ended up passing my 1 1/2 minute man in the finishing chute so his time was up on the clock and I never did get to see mine. The weather couldn't have been any better, sunny and 70 degrees at race time with very little wind. It was a really nice race but driving 2.5 hours at 3am to race 8.6 miles is crazy.

Resting is over, now back to work

I had a relatively easy week last week which was only planned because between the weather and travel I didn't have much time.

Anyway, today I was doing 1omin TT intervals with 10min rest in between. 10 minutes isn't all that long but sure can be painful if done correctly. Good times, hopefully this will all pay off.

I'll try to post some pictures eventually because I realize this blog really sucks if all you have to look at is what I write. A new Camera battery is on the way.

"Happy Birthday Bruce" Ride!

Happy Birthday Bruce! I realize it's a bit late but I was just at the party today so it seems appropriate. We did a 2-3 hour MTB ride and it was my first chance to get out on my new 29er that I just picked up from Probikes on Saturday. It was a fun ride with perfect weather. I was amazed at how the big wheels just seemed to roll over things easier than the 26ers. This was also my first ride on a hard tail which made things interesting. I'll do a better review once I get some more miles in. I did manage one spectacular crash on a flat and easy section to cut both of my knees open.

Yellow Breeches "Ironmasters" TT tonight

I'm doing the Yellow Breeches Racing Ironmasters TT tonight for the first time. It'll be a good TT so use as a fitness gauge because it's only 5 miles from the house I'm buying. I'm not sure of the distance or what kind of terrain is covered but from what I have seen of the results it should take around 23-25 minutes and at that amount of time it should be really painful if done correctly, I'm looking forward to it. Results and pictures to come later tonight or tomorrow.

Here are the Results!

new helmet decals

After a lengthy wait it's finally done.

Road bike out of commission

Well, now my road bike is out of commission for the the foreseeable future. I was planning on buying a new one anyway but I was gonna keep this one so I could have two. I've come to the conclusion that you should always have two road bikes just in case something like this happens. Unfortunately my new bike is not here yet so I'm left without a ride. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise because I'll be getting a lot more time on my TT bike since it's my only choice.

Thanks to the friendly folks at Probikes I also have a new Cannondale F29er 1 waiting for me in Pittsburgh. I might be able to get down there to pick it up this weekend and get a ride in if everything goes right.

10 miles from home and walking

I was just out for what I thought what was going to be a 60 mile ride and that all changed in a heartbeat. I was accelerating away from a stop light when I heard a snap and then my rear wheel locked up. I came to a sudden stop and made my way to the side of the road and looked down. What I saw was a horror. My derailleur was twisted in my spokes and my chain was still intact but one link had one half snapped off. At first I thought my derailleur hanger had snapped and unleashed the carnage that I was looking at but it appears to still be intact, rather it looks like the derailleur was ripped straight out of it, removing all of the threading. So now what? I have my super multi-tool that I thought could end this kind of madness. I can use it to fix any problem my bike could possibly have. It may not be the best fix but at least I can make it home. That's not the case when you can't even get the rear wheel to turn because it's tangled with a derailleur and chain. Oh well, 10 miles from home and walking. About an hour and 4 miles later some guy out cutting his grass saw me and offered me a ride home which I gladly accepted. I now have blood blisters on both of my feet and I'm tired, too tired to even look at my bike and try to figure out what I need to do next. What a mess!

Windy day and dead birds

The two things really have nothing to do with each other. Yesterday when I was riding and noticed that birds in South Central PA must be the dumbest birds in the world. There are more dead birds laying along the road than I have ever seen in my life. I was just doing my normal ride and watched a bird sitting on the road take flight as a Ford Explorer approached. Instead of flying out of the way it just flew straight in the same direction as the road and got smacked. Dead bird.

Then today came the windy part. The wind was just completely crazy. My attempt at an easy ride was ruined. It was all I could do to stay upright and it ever seemed to get any easier.

Shippensburg Tuesday night race

It may not be a "real" race but it sure is fun. It's a road race so, of course, I get dropped. I can stay in about half way and then I just die. Maybe if I stick with it someday I won't get dropped. It sure does hurt so it must be making me stronger:)

Weekend off

Saturday was my first easy day in quite some time. I did an easy ride from my apartment in Mechanicsburg to Shippensburg. Then I did a TT on the South Mountain Hill Climb course. It took 1 min longer than when I did it with the group but I was 30 watts stronger than after having done a 40k in the morning. Then I rode back to Mechanicsburg with the wind at my back the whole way:). It was a nice easy 82 miles with 7 tough miles right in the middle.

Sunday I went to Rocky Ridge County Park near York, PA for a Trek bike demo. Now I wouldn't dare buy a Trek since our wonderful bike shop sponsor (Pittsburgh Pro Bikes) sells Cannondale, Specialized, Giant, Seven, Independent Fabrications and Delta 7. So, you may ask, what was my reason for being there? I wanted to test some new full suspension designs and finally try some big wheels. First I rode the GF Superfly and I got to see what all of the fuss about 29 inch wheels is all about. It just seemed to roll over roots, rocks, or anything else that may get in my way. Coming from me that is a major revelation since I'm hardly what you would call a good mt. biker. Next I rode another GF 29er but this time it was a full suspension model. In my opinion it was complete overkill. It was a nice bike but felt kind of like riding a down hill bike on a cross country corse. Between the big wheels and the 4 inches of rear travel it was just too much. Finally, my last ride of the day was on a Trek TopFuel 9.8. The Trek rep had told me that it was the bike that he thought I would appreciate the most coming from a road background and was he ever right. It was really a rocket ship. It felt like riding a road bike over double track and then made rocks and roots disappear while staying grounded enough to allow me to continue pedaling at full speed while never loosing traction. One of their big selling points for this bike was something called BB90. It's sort of like a copy cat of Cannondale's BB30 design but without all of the benefits. It does narrow the Q-factor but doesn't enlarge the spindle size to stiffen things up. The narrow Q-factor felt really good on a MTB and I can't wait to try a Cannondale with a BB30 crank. Now I just need to try and decide if I want a new Scalpel or F29er 1. Decisions, decisions............life can be so difficult.

Sorry that there aren't any pics from this weekend but my camera battery was dead and I didn't find out until I was already on my ride Saturday.

Also one last thing. One of the largest dfferences I noticed with all of the MTBs today was that the forks were so much less stiff than the Lefty. Since Cannondale was my first and only "real" MTB I had never experienced this before but the forks on the Trek and GFs felt like they wanted to wash out on every corner, thankfully it never happened but a bad sensation all the same.

Long rides and time to recharge

After quite a bit of traveling for the last 2 months this weekend I'll be doing some long rides around home and recharging my batteries for a push towards the PA state championship TT. This weekend the weekend should be nice and since my mother is in FL I won't be able to see her on Mother's day anyway.

Pedal Efficiency study

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to take part in a VO2 max study and Pedal Efficiency study. What I learned is that I'm moderately fit and I don't fit into any real model as far as pedal efficiency. Turns out that the trainer rides I do all winter long have my body equally efficient(or inefficient) while riding at a wide range of pedal rates.

New TT PR

Sunday was the Carlisle 40k ITT. Nice warm day with a head wind on the first 20k and a really nice tail wind on the trip home. I set a new PR of 0:52:37 almost 2 minutes better than my previous best. It was good enough for 1st place in Cat 3 and 3rd place overall. I only lost to 2 cat 1-2 guys so I can't be too upset but winning is always more fun.
Second race of the day was a 7 mile uphill time trial that was started as a mass start. The first two miles were flat and at a fairly easy pace. That let me hide my legs that were still fried from the morning 40k. As soon as the race headed uphill someone jumped. He had fresh legs since this guy wasn't at the 40k. One other guy jumped on his wheel and I followed. There were only 3 of us and I thought I may have more left than I thought. This feeling didn't last long because as soon as I sat down after my acceleration I knew I was dead in the water. From there on out I went at my own pace and struggled but ended up finishing 10th place. My time in the morning race was enough that it would have given me the win if this had been scored as a stage race.

Tuesday racing in Shippensburg

Today I did the Tuesday training race in Shippensburg. It was painful as all of my experiences with road racing seem to be and my legs were still tired from Sunday. It was a good workout and now I just have to take it easy until Saturday's race in Virginia.

On a side note, I went to Pittsburgh Probikes on Saturday with Rich. That is one awsome store and I was highly impressed to say the least. As you can see above, I had a chance to sport my new Probikes shirt at the race on Sunday.

My extended weekend of riding and racing

Friday was 75* and sunny and I was headed for the hills along the border between VA and WV. I was riding to Reddish Knob, which is a 8-10 mile climb that dead ends at the top in a parking lot. Great way to spend a day.
Saturday was the running of the First Annual Bridgewater, VA to Love, VA Century(Made up by me, for me). This ride may happen more or less than yearly but since it's my ride that's what I'm calling it for now. This happened to be the coolest day of the weekend with intermittent mist and barely any sun.
This is my version of taking Ag3r to new heights:)

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. Other than Easter it also happened to be the running of Paris-Roubaix and therefore in Harrisonburg, VA it means Harris-Roubaix. Harris-Roubaix is 3 laps of a 16 mile course, 12 miles of which is gravel roads. My race started out well with me following the first attack of the race and then making my own attack leading up to and starting the first climb. After a split in the race, I got caught on the wrong side of, I was charging hard with one other guy trying to catch the lead group. All seemed to be going well until we crested the second hill on a gravel section and I flatted. I stopped to fix my tire and then started again and got my second flat less than 1/2 mile later. At this point I threw in the towel and rode slowly to the to the finish line and the post race pot luck dinner. Then when I was getting ready to go back to my car someone pointed out that my handlebar was snapped. It must have happened when I dropped my bike to the ground at the finish line. Upon removing my handlebar tape I found that all that trainer time this winter led to a large salt build up which was weakening aluminum. Luckily it didn't snap during a ride:-)

In short it was a great extended weekend of riding in western VA.

New Ag3r flophouse

After May 15 it will be official but I bought a new house. It's less than 5 miles from the start line for IronCross and less than 5 miles from the start line for the Carlisle tt series course. Just let me know if your going to be in the area and need a place to stay. Great riding, both road and mtb, right out my front door.