Coming soon

Hey there..

Boyne was this weekend. It was a blast! I'm pooped.

I'm working on a proper race report, but I've bot a little case of writer's block, so please check back soon!

pooped soup...

On the Mend!

Both me and my bike.

I love Cycletherapy, but I still like to all my bike work myself. Unfortunately, I'm running out of time before Boyne, so I dropped my poor, ailing baby off at the shop this morning. Hopefully they'll be able to rebuild the wheel and restore it to a somewhat "new like" condition.. =]

They're also going to install a borrowed suspension fork. (Thanks, Andy!) I figure i'll need it to give my poor wrist a break.

And speaking of my wrist, it's feeling sooooooo much better today.. It still hurts a little, and I'm still sure it's a form of tendinitis that will probably require weeks of rest to fully recover, but it's too the point where I know I can ride this weekend. And if it gets worse during the race, I'll just stop riding, run support and drink my sorrows away!! :D

Looking forward to a fun-as-hell weekend. Hope to see many of you (err.. I mean the three of you that read this thing... ) up there!

And please keep Alden in your thoughts. Hopefully they'll figure out what's going on in there and fix him up good! We'll miss ya, bud..

soup

Ghosts of Addison

I finally got out for a ride on the dirt today! Real dirt! Not just the kind suspended in water!

After all the work I did on the bike, I had to get a shake down ride in to make sure that everything was working. I also had to see how my still sore wrist was going to handle the riding again. I'm pretty sure it's tendinitis brought on by riding the rigid.

Met up with Erin, Andy, Paula, Limey, and Frank at ILRA at 9pm. Erin wanted to get some night laps in as a warm up to Boyne this weekend. Sounded good to me!

So we start out on yellow. It felt GREAT to get back out on the trails. Erin led for a good piece up to the road. When we got there we stopped for a moment. She asked if anyone else wanted to lead. All I cared was that it was someone other than her. Man, if that was her 'taper for Boyne' speed, I feel bad for the other 4 woman teams out there!

Just after the railroad crossing, as I was climbing back up after the short downhill, I dropped my chain. Not incredibly surprising since it's the same beat up chain I rode at Addison. The crazy part was when I looked down I saw something that looked like M.C. Escher would have drawn. I turned the damn thing inside-out!! I couldn't figure out how to get the damn thing straight again. It was like a Jacob's Ladder. Eventually I managed to get it back in line, and off we went again.

Just past the blue-yellow split, as we started our yellow loop, It seemed that my brake levers were suddenly at a different angle. Hmmm, that's odd. Then, they were suddenly pointing straight in front of me, and my riser bar wasn't rising anymore. I was riding a low rider single speed!! No biggie, a few quick turns of the allen and we're off again.. for all of about 20 feet! WTF!!! My front wheel COMPLETELY LOCKED UP!!!! And it ain't the brakes. The hub is frozen solid! Dear God, will I ever leave Addison behind?

So, yet another piece of the bike bites the dust due to the nightmare that was Addison.

So, the ride (or should I say walk) served it's purpose. The bearings are on their way. Hopefully there's no damage to the hub body.

Oh, and the wrist hurts like a bitch!

Body Count

One 34t Chainring.

One 17t freewheel.

One Surly New Front Disc hub.

These are the casualties of the 12 Hours of Addison. The ring and freewheel are done. Trash. Kaput! The hub might be salvagable. I hope so. I don't want to have to rebuild my wheel before Boyne. Ernie at Cycletherapy said he might have a wheel that I could borrow for boyne just in case. I can see how Cycletherapy was voted Best Bike Shop in Oakland County (honest, I'm looking for the link... Oakland Press, last week of April 2006)

So for now, it's bike triage. Next week should be dry enough to go back to riding. Do I still have to taper if I never started training again?? :D

Ride on!

soup

Where to begin?

Get a cup of coffee, this is a long one.

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words.. So, feast your eyes on the 12 Hours of Addison..



Rain for 3 days prior to the race lead to what could only be described as "challenging" race conditions.

Prior to the start of the race, I had a goal of 20+ laps. After my first lap, I just hoped each time to be able to get back on my bike.

The mud was unbelievable. it was 6-8 inches deep in some spots. It caked onto every surface until it felt like you were trying to pedal a steamroller! I swear you could get off your bike and it would stand upright on it's own.

The trail was constantly littered with racers who had stopped to dip their bike in a lake, or scrape off pounds of mud because their wheels simply wouldn't turn any more.

And you know what?

It was a BLAST!! I loved every minute of it (yeah, well, almost every minute.. ;)

I can't lie. It was a battle just to get myself to get back on the trail after each lap. But, when taken on the whole, I had a great time. It was cold, wet, and the trail was pretty much un-rideable in some sections, and not a whole lot of fun in the rest.

But each time I managed to throw my leg over that bastard, and started to pedal down the shoot, just hearing all the other fantastic folks out there suffering through the same wonderful day made it all worthwhile. =]

After my first two laps with a 36x17 gearing, I decided I'd never make it in that high a gear with the mud. So I swapped bikes for a lap while Jay put my 34t Surly ring on my Hooligan. So I started my 4th lap on my Hooligan with the 34t mounted about a mile and a half in, I did this to my "bullet proof" Surly ring... :eyes rolling:

After walking back out, I had to put the 36t back on, and struggle through another lap. Luckily my dad who came by to support had his bike, which just happened to have a 34t Salsa middle ring. Sweeeet. So another pit stop and I was on my way.

I managed another couple laps without issue. Lap 7 started much like the rest.. Then, again, about a mile and half in, I attempted to start from one my my frequent dismounts :blush: and, "swoosh".. I push the pedal, but the wheel doesn't turn. I look down and all is in place, but I now seem to have a two way free wheel. =[

I was ready to call it a night. So I walked out about 4 miles.. Took 45 minutes. But the lap counted!! But when I found out I was sitting 4th with still about 4 hours of racing left, I decided I could use an insurance lap or two. Andy B to the rescue. I borrowed Andy's rear wheel, and managed another 3 laps!! It was good enough to move me up to 3rd!

I'll update more about how the rest of the Cycletherapy guys did in my next post. Now it's late, I'm tired, and I'm sure you stopped reading 10 minutes ago..

I luv mud!

soup

never say never!

Last season, I was in awe of folks that would ride Poto on a single speed. I thought there was no way I could ever do something like that.

So if you told me that I was going to ride Poto on a rigid single speed, I woulda said you were nuts. If you told me I'd do my first double Poto on a singlespeed, I woulda said you're crazy.

If you said that this year, on my first Poto ride of the season, also my first attempt at single speeding Poto, I'd do three whole laps, Id'a said you're out of your f'in mind.

Never say never.

Paula and I set out Saturday morning with the goal of 2, and maybe 3 laps. We rode at a moderate pace, turning the first lap in 1:42. Certainly not breaking any land speed records. I felt really good after the first lap. I made all the climbs, never dismounting or dabbing. I alternated bottles of hammergel/gatorade mixed with water, and straight water. We rested for about 10 minutes in between, then set out for the second lap. My legs stiffined during the rest, so I bailed near the top of the first climb. From then on out I was able to make all but the three-routed sandy climb, as I tried to change routes at the last second, and washed out the front. We turned lap 2 in 1:45. On a sidenote, I tried Perpetuem for the first time on my second lap... Ugghh... man that stuff is hard to choke down. Think I'll try Sustained Energy next, and take Hammer's recommendation and mix it thick! There wasn't even a moments hesitation about doing the third lap. We both felt great. A little fatigued, and beat up by the rocks and roots on the rigid ss's, but great otherwise. We took this lap a little slower, and stopped to chat with the various hikers we passed going in the opposite direction as they were all amazed to see the same pair pass for a 3rd time! I still made the majority of the climbs, with the only one I recall missing being that same 3-routed sand climb. We turned the last lap in 1:49!

So, while we certainly didn't go out and blow anyone away with our speed (we were never passed, and passed quite a few gearies) I'm still pretty happy with the fact that we made three laps all around 1:45 and both felt great doing it! Bring on Addison!

Today, I decided to stay home and get some work done (uhh, yeah, that's why I'm at the computer.. =S). Things have been piling up due to spending so much time on the bike in the last several weeks, and it's time to be responsible. I told myself at the beginning of this season that when I began to feel that I HAD to ride to train, to the detriment of the rest of my life, that it would be time to stop racing. So today I'm taking for me.

Get out and ride!

soup

Team Ride!

Well, the kits came in this week, so some of the guys got together for our first team ride out at PLRA!

The weather was beautiful, so I snapped a few pics to get out on the various boards and our site, www.cycletherapyracing.com.

Check us out!

Hammered!

And I don't mean riding hard...

Tuesday May 2nd was my 32nd birthday!! I celebrated with friends up at the Rochester Mill's Beer Co, where I am a member of the Mug Club. As a member, I drink free on my birthday. Free beer isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Before the night was over, I figure I consumed close to a gallon of beer. Roughly 6-7 20oz. mugs of 6.5% IPA.

I was lit!

But I had a great time, and I want to thank all my friends that showed up and helped me celebrate! (Sorry, George, I'll be happy to wash your car any day... =] )

This week has been a great week for riding. Following my 55 mile mini east side epic, I went to PLRA on monday with Andy, and learned lines that I never knew existed. I'm so gonna drop more time now!!

Rainy as it was on Tuesday, I got in a good hard 45 minutes on the road bike at Stoney Creek. I was soaked to the bone, and loved every minute of it. Reminded me of the days when we went out to ride BECAUSE it was raining and not in spite of it.. =]

Yesterday was my PCT 'recovery' ride with my Pop.. we got 25 miles in from rochester to lake orion, plus a little bit of the 4 corners. It was nice to spend time with the old man, and get him out on the bike. Later in the day I met some of the Tree Farmers, et al at the Mayburry wednesday night ride. I had a good time chasing Jon around the trails. He's a worth adversary.. =]. Eventually I had to let him go as my legs were smoked.. I capped the day at the Bonfire. (Thanks for the beer, Monica.. ;) )

Tonight, the Cycletherapy Racing team ride at PLRA. I'm still a little wiped from yesterday, so I'll be playing team photog. Hope to have the pics up soon!!

gettin' there..

It's about time I started training for Addison.

Yesterday I got out for a planned 60 mile, 4 hour ride. I came in at 55 miles and 3.5 hours. So close.

I started at the Clinton River Trailhead parking lot off Opdyke road. Took that into Rochester, then north on the Paint Creek Trail.. took that to Lk Orion, and did the 4 courners loop. Back down the PCT into Bloomer for a couple miles, then back out to Pontiac.

I fueled with Water mixed with Hammer Gel and Gatorade. Seemed to work pretty good, but I don't think I brought enough with me. Only one waterbottle, and then a flask of Gel that I couldn't get enough of b/c it's so nasty plain...

I started to really feel the hunger effects toward the end, so I decided not to keep riding just to hit 60 miles. Next week, though, I plan to eat better, and shoot for 70 miles. Fingers crossed.

I'll probably get some more long-ish rides in this week to stay loose.. legs are tapped today. I'll try a short spin out today, just to keep them happy..