C-130 Hercules Time Trial

 Riding out of a C-130 Hercules sounds cool.  It should be easy enough, right?  Well it is certain that the rear ramps on these cargo planes were not designed for bicycles.  Every rider who entered the airplane while I was waiting in line said exactly the same thing, "is this thing safe for bicycle wheels?" 


 The ramp started descending at a nice grade and then around the midpoint the angle became really sharp and caused most of the riders to have visions of taco'd wheels.  The Officials were giving instructions to all of the riders to just take one pedal stroke off of the airplane and then coast until you are completely on the ground.

 The first 7/10ths of a mile was a very technical and only about 6 feet wide.  Add to that the tail/cross wind leading from the Air Force museum to the highway and it was a very sketchy start @ 30mph.
  As soon as I got to the highway I turned into the headwind.  The course was all head/cross wind from there until the turnaround.  It was all completely flat so shifting was at a minimum.  It was kinda like a trainer ride with turns added. 
  After the turnaround it was super fast.  I managed to hit 35.5mph at one point with the gusty tailwind.  I was keeping a pretty good pace and starting to make my last ditch effort to the finish when all of a sudden the finish tent came into view(0.8 miles too early). 
  I must say I really enjoyed the 22mile TT format.  The last 3 miles of a 40K TT are just too much, IMHO, so I think we should just stick with this;)

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 After the race we hit the museum while waiting for the results.  As you can see here Team Ag3r was realy "flying" on this day.

 Finally came news that results were going to be awhile and medals for all but the juniors did not arrive on time.  With this news in hand we decided to head home and await for finishing news via email.  I ended up winning the Cat 3 race by over 2 minutes and took the lead in the Mid Atlantic Time Trial Series (MATTS).

  Pictures of the finishing medal will follow when it arrives.

2011 Dismal Dash #1

Unlike any of the past years' races this year the Dismal Dash was warm, sunny, and lacking any significant amount of wind.  This was my first race of 2011 and this year I decided to change up my warm-up routine a little bit so I lengthened it to 30 minutes and made it a little harder than before.  My hope was that this would better prepare my legs for the destruction that they were about to experience.
I started the race easier than normal to try to ease my way into it.  All seemed to be going well with a slight head/cross wind for the first 4 miles.  That was great because it meant that the last 4 miles was a tail wind and at that point I was dieing and was readily accepting any help available.
The nicer weather(and possibly me being a bit stronger this year) allowed me to cut 3 minutes off of my time from last year and finish in 3rd place in the Cat1/2/3 and 3rd Overall.

(I was number 278, 2 additional times were added to this list bumping me into third place)

Not all sunshine and happiness

So I'm in FL again visiting my parents and avoiding winter.  I've been enjoying my time away and the weather has been really nice.  Until today.  Today was unseasonably cold and wet.  Today I rode for two and a half hours in 58 degrees and rain.  The Weather Channel said it was going to get nice it just never did.  Oh well, at least I was able to get outside for a couple of hours.  The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny for the rest of my trip so one day of cool and wet isn't so bad.  Only 30 days until my first TT on 2011, I can't wait!

It's been a trying few days and no chance to ride my bike:(

It is now Thursday evening and I haven't ridden my bike since Tuesday.  No big deal except it that riding my bike is my major mechanism for relieving stress and I've had plenty of it in the past two days.
On Tuesday night I stayed at my brother's house because Wednesday morning I was supposed to take him to the oral surgeon to have 6 teeth removed.  His appointment was canceled because there was a major ice storm and the office didn't have electricity.  I came home and was making the most of a mostly wasted day.  I went to get a shower so I could get ready and go out to eat when I heard a pounding at the door.  I ignored it and a few seconds later there it was again.  I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel and that is when I heard the yelling, "Mt. Holly Springs Police! Come to the door!"  I heard the yelling as I exited the bathroom to the sight of a policeman standing at the bottom of the steps with a tazer pointed at my face. 
He asked me(half naked and surprised) for my ID and told me that someone had called the police because they saw my door hanging open and hadn't noticed anyone around for the previous couple days.  So...........long story short I got it straightened out and I was headed back to the shower. 
I get back into the shower and turn the nob, no water.  I get out and try the sink, no water there either.  At this point I panic because I know that there is water running somewhere and I don't yet know where that is.  Turns out that a fitting in the basement had blown off and water was being pumped directly in from the well into my basement.  After looking for a shutoff valve for several minutes, while the basement flooded further, I flipped the breaker switch to turn off the pump in the well.  I stopped the water but the basement was a disaster. 
Let the clean up begin!  Lots of wet/dry vacuuming, a dehumidifier and a couple fans will do the trick. 
Thursday morning I called Roto Rooter at 8am to see how long it would take to get someone out to my house.  They made the appointment from 1-3pm and told me there was no way I could make an appointment for later in the day.  I was there waiting at 1pm and I was still waiting at 3pm.  At 3:15 I called told the Roto Rooter Dispatcher that I hadn't even heard from anyone yet and she told me she'd get right on it and my house would be next on the list and that she would personally call me and let me know when that was going be and who would be coming.  An hour later she called back and told me they were a 30 minutes away.  An hour after that the guy finally showed up and was here for about 3 minutes before he told me he didn't have the parts and had to run to Home Depot to get them.  When he arrived back it took a whole 15 minutes to do the repair and allow the glue to dry and I now have running water again!  Hooray!
$420 and 25 hours later and other than some slightly damp carpet and a disaster of a house things are back to normal:(
BTW, if anyone needs to borrow a nice new wet/dry vac just let me know.
*(none of my bikes were injured or in any way harmed by the aforementioned events)

Pond Skating

I got to go ice skating and play some pond hockey today after work.  Cross training can be exciting:)  Still can't wait for warm weather and racing!

Flat tires in Florida

I don't want to make it sound like I'm complaining, because I'm not trying to, but the roads in FL have so much garbage lying alongside of them.  It's crazy!  I've gotten 3 flat tires in the 10 days that I've been here.  One of them was from a finishing nail straight through my tire.  The other two were just from random crap poking holes in my tires.  I only got one flat tire on the road all of 2010. 

I've taken action and now I have Continental Gatorskin tires on the way and I'll be replacing the tire liners also just to be safe.  We'll see in February if any of these new safeguards work.

Tour de Cape 5k

 Although I'm not a runner by any means I was really disappointed in my effort at the Carlisle YMCA 5k TurkeyTrot on Thanksgiving so i made it a goal to do this race to atone for my effort.
The morning temperature was cool but sunny, about 48 degrees when my sister, Lisa, and I left for the run.  The temperature did go up very much before it was time to run so it was still a bit chilly when we started.  The first mile felt like it went by quickly but it ended up taking 6:58 because of all of the start of the race pack I had to struggle to get though.  As we continued on the course we had another half mile to the turn around and then it was back along the same route plus another 0.2 miles to the finish.  Once I made the turn around I realized that the wind had been at my back and was now smacking me squarely in the face.  The sun was also in my face now which made no difference in my time but was really annoying.  I ended up passing a few people on the return trip and I didn't get passed by anyone.  I was sprinting with one other kid at the end but after I had used him for pacing for the last mile I decided it would be bad form to pass him on the line so I let him go.  Probably meant more to him anyway.

Lisa ended up finishing 2nd in the 20-24 year age group!

I ended up 1st place 25-29(age group), 13th place overall and didn't get beat by any girls.  I was kinda disappointed in my time(21:28) but I've only been running once a week since Thanksgiving so it wasn't too bad.
Race Splits:
Mile 1: 6:58
Mile 2: 7:00(13.38)
Mile 3.2: 7:50(21:28)
Placing at turnaround: 18th place
Finish place: 13th place

New Year's Day 2011!

It was a nice day to get out for the first ride of 2011 with temps in the mid 40s, sun and not much wind.  It was also my first ride outside in over 7 weeks.  It was just nice to get out and go for a ride with my dad who has been here for a month freezing.  Luckily during this ride he was kept warm by sporting my shiny, new Ag3r team winter jacket. 

Restart and Rebuild

So I just finished a ride on the trainer and went to input my ride data into an online training log that I've been using for years.  On a whim I decided to click on the link that displays the entire months ride data on a calendar.  Much to my horror I was confronted with the fact that today(the 23rd of December) was only my 8th ride this month.  Following this I selected the link to display the previous months information and saw that I only rode 11 time the entire month on November.  On the positive side of things I have been running so at least I've been staying active but with riding this little I am having a real identity crisis.  I pride myself on riding long and often but life and holidays and cold weather have been getting in the way.  I guess it's time to start rebuilding now.  Oh what fun it is to ride.......................

What a year!

2010 has been quite a year for biking.  I've done a ton or racing but my blogging about the races and bike maintenance have really suffered.  I started racing in January because I was trying to get in a race every month.  Everything was going according to plan until I managed to wreck my car off of the road while traveling to the December race and my goal was cut short.  I work the rest of the weekends this month so I won't be making it to any unless a miracle occurs.  It has been a really good year.  Thanks to all who have helped it happen.

Murrysville CX

What a great weekend!  Not only did I get to do an awesome CX race but I also got to help build the course the day before and most importantly; I got to spend the weekend with the Maher family and go to Casey's 13th birthday party.  It was a great weekend that ended too soon.  It was great to be racing in western PA and see all of my old friends.

Cincy UCI#3 Friday

It was a beautiful day out.  Hot and dry!  It also happened to be my worst day in a race EVER.  I went into the race already knowing that I was out of my league.  It was a Cat 2/3 race and the only reason I was even a Cat3 was because I upgraded specifically for this weekend so I could have a better race time. It would allow me to be cleaned up and rested when the PRO race kicked off.  Then the race started; I had repeated asthma attacks the entire race.  I think it was breathing all of the dust that threw my lungs for a loop.  I ended up getting pulled just before I got lapped by the leader.  It was still a really good time and I enjoyed it.  Racing again tomorrow and Sunday.  Weather is looking like hotter than today and sunny.  Hopefully my lungs hold out.

Another early end to my season?

20 minutes into a relatively easy CX practice I decided to (try to) bunny hop a curb and ended up flipping over my handle bars.  At first it appeared nothing was wrong but that appearance soon ended when I remounted my bike and found I couldn't even hold my right shift lever without excruciating pain.  End of CX practice.
I packed up (with one hand) and drove home.  I immediately iced my hand and took some Motrin to try and control the swelling.  What really scared me was that the last time my hand felt like this was after I crashed in February and it continued to hurt until June:(  I talked with my Mom and she convinced me to go to the hospital to get checked out.  I was there and got and X-ray in no time at all. After some waiting for the doctor to read the X-ray I got the good(?) news, not broken.  I had no fractures but it was still killing me.  I was splinted and told to consult an orthopedic doctor if it didn't stop hurting in 5 days. 
My hand felt good in the splint because it was unable to make any of the movements that caused it pain.  It wasn't until hours later when I took the splint off to readjust it that I realized that my hand pain still hadn't gone down. 
This morning I took the splint off to check the swelling and readjust it again and was pleased to find the swelling had gone down quite a bit, most of the pain was gone except when grasping things and my range of motion had returned to normal. 
Hopefully after a week of resting it and using the splint I'll be ready to race next Sunday but only time will tell.

Nittany Lion 'Cross

120 people in a Cat4 CX race?  That's crazy!  I started 1/3 of the way back the pack so there really was no sprint from the line.  More like a steady roll out.  For the first 2 laps I was steadily picking off riders and improving my placing.  For the next 3 laps I pretty much held my position without passing or being passed.  In the middle of the final lap(in 15th place) I hit a large hole and my right shifter slid down the handlebar pulling my rear brake tight and making my bike unridable.  I ran almost half of the course to get to the pit and then grabbed my other bike and sprinted to the finish.  While running I fell from 15th to 33rd.  'CrossFail

Notice anything wrong with this picture?  NO GLOVES!  Ask Zach how that worked out for him?

Devil's Backbone 2010

It was an awesome event.  67 miles and 6700ft elevation gain on a mix of pavement dirt and gravel.  It was a lot of fun and the ice cream afterwords made it all worth it. Here are the results(if you care)