Kona 1 - Tree 0

There was a time...

Hockey took the place of biking......now we do both and all is good!

Life Goes On, On or Off a Bike

I happened along the blog of the fiercest competitor I know in Jonny Bold and was shocked to learn he has hopped off the bike for the immediate future. Of course I can relate to his terribly mixed emotions. But something triggered an alarm in him to say stop. It may have been the crash, or it may have been the crash as an excuse. Either way, the motivation has stopped and the quest for it begins anew. It may not return.
His rhetorical question "...who gives a shit?" is what I can best relate to. Why was I spending hours alone on the road training, driving to races, and racing? For a sponsor? For my ego? For a mid-life crisis? For fun?
All I know is, I was acting extremely selfishly and was NOT racing for my family who didn't attend 1 race my best and final season of my career. So, I'm done, for now. But I admire, respect and applaud all those who are able to find the proper lifestyle balance and are riding and racing for fun. Please enjoy it, in part for me, and I hope to join you again, for fun.
In the meantime, my energy and wallet is focused on these 2. If nothing else, the ridiculous amount of driving throughout New England to races prepared me well for the same ridiculous amounts of driving to hockey games. Damn the cycling gods must be angry for handing me 2 goalies!

Typical Day of KHS MTB Team Training!

Bike Commute Stage 1

My evolution from racer to rider has begun. Summer racing is being replaced with 1-way bike commuting. It's a 15 mile jaunt from ice rink to lake house that takes less than an hour. It is complete with 1 stoplight and a ton of elevation change. The 2007 Major Jake is my bike of choice. I drive in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays mornings due to a 7am ice rental and home Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, but ride in the others. It's certainly nothing to brag about. But a roll in the right direction to at least get some riding in once a day and save some gas as well.
So happy summer everyone and enjoy your time on the bike no matter what the situation!

Something's Gotta Give

This picture is going to cost us approximately $2575 and at least $320/month in gas alone October-March.

The equivalent of a typical race season for me I estimate.

Can't do both.

Reality check time.

Had a Big Wheel as a kid...

Now I have big wheels as an old kid!

It's 29" for 2010 for me thanks to Kona.
I guess I better start training!

When in Maine...

...go ice fishing and such!

When in Maine...

... go sledding!

I hope everyone had a great holiday and New Year!

Nothing to Say, Nothing to Post

I am currently residing in the cold, dark post race season cave. So deep, I wonder if I'll race at all next season. I've been spurred by Rick to write. But I am uninspired. I stopped riding altogether the day before Thanksgiving and am simply bored with my life off the bike. Why would I bore anyone else who might read this?
I highly recommend you check out the following links instead to help brighten your day:
Jonny Bold Wins Natz
Any bike-related movies. These are funny as hell!
Other NE cyclocross blogs
See you on the flip-side of winter.
Maybe.

Calling it a Season

The finish came quicker than I thought so I just coasted across the line.

I had every intention of closing out the CX season by attending the final 2 doubles. But the real world got the better of me and I finally put the priority list in proper order:

1. Family

2. Work

3. Racing

All season #1 and 3 were inverted. It was time to do the right thing by being a dad and husband and spend the weekend with the family at a hockey tournament instead.

It was close though! I actually had the bikes loaded on Tuesday as the plan was to have Thanksgiving on the Cape then Friday and Saturday nights at a hotel in Exeter, NH a mere 90 minutes away from Sterling.

My dad was slated to come up and take the fam to the Saturday games while I raced. Then we would all go to the Sunday event hoping the team didn't make the finals. That was just stupid thinking!

Instead, I hung the bikes for the winter, ate and drank like a starving cyclist all weekend and had a blast! Of course I missed the opportunity to race. But my biggest regret was not actually the riding the bike thing, but missing out on earning points for the overall series. More stupid thinking! Big picture reality is no one really cares where I end up so where's the motivation?

It was fun while it lasted though and I'll be watching the results for all the cool guys still racing out the season.

Looks like a major restructuring of my goals and race plans for next season is in order.

Holy Hockey Weekend!

If this past weekend is any indication , the finish to my cycling season is a sprint away.

I spent more hours in a rink with my boys this weekend than I did on the bike all week.

Observe:

Friday: Drake's game

Saturday: KHS exhibition game sadnwiched between a Fenix double header plus the UMaine vs BC game in Orono!

Sunday: Drake's game

Add the fact I worked at the rink half-day Saturday and all day Sunday, I am semi-frozen.

Hopefully I can get to Sterling this weekend but it conflicts with, what else, a hockey tourney in NH.

The season, she is a changing!

KHS Bike Polo 2009

What do you do with a mountain bike team when the season is over and it's snowing? Play bike polo of course! 1 kid actually broke his leg later. This ain't no Sunday group ride!

Sunday's Epic Cycle-Smart Cyclocross 2009 Pro Men Crash

Here is the wreck I avoided. It's a blink of the eye after I pass with the Boo guy and it's a crash fest! I can't imagine the impact some of those guys had to endure. It ends with poor Adam Craig looking slightly out of sorts.

Verge NECCS #10 Cycle-Smart International Race Report

Elite
Saturday 20th/52

So what was left today? After a night spent in Cambridge where I reloaded calories and took an ice bath, it was back to the scene of the crime. It’s hard to say whether I was actually fatigued or whether I was just trying to convince myself I was; a perfect alibi for a lackluster performance. Fact is I was not superpsyched to race. But the weather was phenomenal and course conditions were as pristine as the day before so at the very least, I told myself it’s a great day for a ride!
I spun a few laps again. The course had a similar feel but the sand trap and off-camber climb were significant fixtures this time. We rode the entire length of the sand and it was difficult not to get bogged down by the end. The climb was totally rideable. But a cleverly placed s-turn just ahead of it limited your ability to get good speed heading into it. I planned to drop to the middle ring. The legs felt OK, but my warmup was lackadaisical aiding me in my plan to use fatigue as an excuse.
The big question was, what was the start going to be like? To my surprise, it was set up exactly the same as yesterday. I joked with Adam Craig at the line (he was a row behind me, again!) how he missed the previous day’s wreck. He said he wanted to talk with everyone before the start and stress to chill out. Well, before he really got the chance, an announcement was made there was a $200 preme for the first lap leader! So much for rational thinking. Throw money at some starving pros and it’s a dog eat dog world. Thankfully I was not wearing my milkbone kit!
Sure enough, the whistle blew and it was a gongshow. I was 2nd row in the middle with my hands in the drops ready for powerful braking. I had some room and just worked my way through the gears. I heard some commotion but never laid eyes on what occurred. Colin has the video from the crash. Everything must have went down right behind me because as I rounded the first turn desperately trying to hold on the Sexual Camel’s wheel, there weren’t too many blokes behind me. I couldn’t believe my fortune! In fact, I was so elated I forgot there was a race going on and I was missing out on the train ahead of me. Crap those guys are fast! I was quickly the caboose and gaps formed out of every turn. Whether it was lack of legs, cardio, or bike handling, I was going nowhere but backwards. I think I was actually telling myself to go into conservative mode rather than capitalize on my start and bury myself for a few laps.
Either way, despite the encouragement from Nathaniel Ward to “close that gap,” I was soon in no-man’s land for the first couple of complete laps. At some point I connected with Wayne Bray and I rode behind him but never close enough to benefit from a draft. This was really dumb riding on my part. Then I started noticing a colorful trio in the turns. John Burns (unlucky DNF the day before : read fresh legs!), Dave Wilcox and Colin were working to reel us in. apparently we all ride the same speed because the names were all the usual suspects from the day before! I checked their time gap for a couple of laps and realized they were closing. Wayne must have sensed this before I as he virtually sat up and let me by. At this point I made a commitment to go hard and see if I could at least maintain my distance solo. At my time check in the upper section they were even closer so I knew the gig was up. I wouldn’t say I let them bridge up, but I will say I couldn’t go any faster. So I hopped on the train. Burns did his share of work but it looked like Wayne was really the strongest of the group. After the climb with a few to go, Burns Wayne and I put a bit of distance on Colin and Dave somehow. I spurred the boys on but it was not meant to be. Colin and Dave were right back on. We rode around as a pretty fluid unit for the remaining laps and minds started shifting to how the final lap would play out. I felt pretty confident I would have something if it came down to a sprint finish as the group riding was a bit easier than my solo efforts. The monkey wrench in my plans was the sand pit. I lost touch with the guys every lap. I consistently entered it way too slowly and exited barely turning the pedals over. Colin I knew was killing it! My only hope for earning a gap to the finish was for some kind of entanglement to occur that didn’t include me. Thus, my plan was to run the pit the final time. I dismounted right at the entrance and to my delight watched Wayne go head over heels! He righted himself quickly and was still out of the pit ahead of me, but had bike issues and I got by. Unfortunately, my plan was slow and the trio got ahead of me eliminating me from a sprint possibility. Colin capitalized on his advantage out of the sand and went on to finish first in our group followed by Wilcox who rode Burns’ wheel until the last second. I was content to have won my “sprint” out of the sand by beating Wayne by one spot for the 2nd day in a row.
I was thrilled to have made the top-20. I felt a little regret for not having delivered a better finish to coincide with a good start. But once the results are in, who knows how it came about and who cares?! I’ll take the points and $ and run, err, ride!
Got a couple of weeks off, then I hope I can squeeze the Sterling races in around Drake’s hockey tournament. Until then, I’m enjoying the nice fall riding, but really starting to hate the training!

Verge NECCS #9 Cycle-Smart International Race Report

Elite
Saturday 25th/53

Whew. That weekend took a lot out of me! It has been a challenge getting back into the work and ride routine. Spending time blogging was bottom of the priority barrel. After a day off and 2 recovery rides, the motivation is returning and I’m beginning to feel whole again. Best part is I didn’t have to dedicate any time to cleaning the bikes. Weather and course conditions were that pristine!
So the racing was both memorable and forgettable. Start line crashes are certainly at the front of the memory bank as well as the course in general. But a lot of the actual middle part of the racing was not dramatic enough to highlight. In fact, I am having a hard time remembering much about day 1. Really makes you want to read on, eh? Well, here goes.
Saturday
I drove down solo per usual straight to the gorgeous venue that is Look Memorial Park in Northampton, MA. Sun and dry temps in the 50’s made for primo conditions. I got a few recon laps in on the course. It dizzyingly wound its way on the lower flat grass section where fast cornering was the norm, then after a loose dirt run up, looped about a wooded section where avoiding the roots was the focus. Fun bonus sections included jumping over train tracks a few times. The start section was what warranted the closest scrutiny. It began as a 10-wide road section with metal barriers on either side. The barriers eventually tunneled to like 5-wide in an attempt to get us over a curb at 90 degrees and onto the grass. The assumption was racers would realize this was a hazardous section and hopefully chill a bit as the race would most certainly not be won here but easily lost. The carnage that was the first lap of the 2nd Downeast race should have clued people in! Well that assumption made an ass out of whoever thought it.
I had a sweet 2nd row call up. I’d been practicing my starts and was pretty confident I’d get through in good position. The rest of the course had me a bit concerned as there were a lot of power opportunities and I wasn’t too sure where I stacked up there. Fortunately, there were no super long stretches and I was optimistic I could escape with a top-25 if paired with a good start. Of note, Adam Craig lined up behind me. Apparently his UCI points had not been tabulated yet. I really wanted to just get out of his way! We took off and I was in the swarm of killer bikers. From what I remember, we made it to the grass but that’s where bikes and bodies started flying. Apparently front rower Josh Dillon’s chain broke on the pavement and that started some of the calamity. I managed to get to the grass but was brought to an abrupt halt as Michael Broderick turned into a barrier in front of me. I managed to hop off the bike in constant fear of getting run over from behind by the likes of Craig. Somehow my handlebar was caught in
Here's a video of the calamity. I'm all the way across along the course tape in white.
Broderick’s front wheel holding me up further, but I got it untangled and got underway again.
Funny thing was before the race Broderick was joking how it takes a bit of magic to have a good race. Looks like he got tapped by the black magic wand. There were a few others guys around me but we were way back. We hit the sand and encountered another traffic jam. I hopped off and ran then totally botched the remount relegating me to absolute DFL. I immediately went into decision-mode: pull-out and save some strength for tomorrow or push on and take what I can get. I gave myself a lap to decide. I got into a decent rhythm, was picking off riders and was pretty much having fun and enjoying the course despite the major effort I was putting out. So the remainder of the race was using riders ahead of me as goals to pass. It seemed to work pretty well. If I remember correctly, with a few laps to go I encountered folks like Colin Reuter, Christian Favata, Wayne Bray, and Dave Wilcox. The way I remember it is Wilcox was on a late-race resurgent ride and drove the pace. I got into the middle of the group and was trying to stay on Favata’s wheel who would kill it on the flats but slooow in the turns. I found myself leading after the upper section but didn’t want to pull everyone on the flats since I had worked hard enough alone coming up through the field. I slowed before the barriers and let folks pass (pro logic). I ended up botching the remount and they all got a gap (amateur execution). So instead of working within the group, I now had to bury myself again just to catch it. Thankfully I made it back. From there I really don’t remember what happened. The pace was spicy thanks to Wilcox as he sensed the urgency of not getting lapped and I lost contact with him and Favata after the final sand pit. Colin had dropped off after he and Favata tangled on a turn. Wayne was upping the ante behind me forcing me to give ‘er to hold whatever my position was. Glad I did, because I nipped the final points and $ place. I would have been pretty bent if I expelled all that energy and had nothing to show for it.
In summary, I survived a major wreck and for once was able to salvage a decent finish despite the adversity. The big question was, what did I have left for tomorrow?

NoHo: Run over Broderick in crash @ start. Eat grass after sand pit remounting. DFL. Ride rear wheel after barriers. Don't get lapped by Powers. Finish in $$!

Swine!

This past Saturday was the championship race for the Maine High School Mountain Bike Series.
I wish we went! The H1N1 virus arrived on the Kents Hill School campus last week and the athletic department decided to cancel all contests in an effort to minimize the spread to others.
This was a fitting cap to a wacky season that saw 2 races washed out. Pretty much sums up the whole XC race scene this summer. Oh well, good thing 'cross stops for nothing or no swine!

Verge NECCS #8 Downeast Day 2 Report

Elite
14th/43




Don't worry, these results are not going to my head! Although the weather conditions were dramatically improved to a warm sunny day, the course was in my opinion uglier than the day before. Gone were the big wet puddles and rain showers to wash the liquid mud off the bike. In its place was the hateful drying, sticky mud that hung on to your bike and body like crabs to a crotch. The shit just kept multiplying! The wooded sections were barely rideable up or down and the open fields were saturated leaving you no break from keeping power to the pedals.


I took a 15 minute pre-ride on my pit bike, bagged half the lap, scraped the mud off the bike and dropped it off in the pits hoping I would never have to see it. I gained no course knowledge and didn't even have an idea how the start was going. I returned to warm up alongside John Burns and I had nothing but disdain for the course and my thoughts on how I thought the race would go. "Suck" was my best descriptor. JB tried to motivate me be letting me know how cool it was that I beat MTB pro Mike Broderick the day before. That was cool, for a second, then I realized the pressure was on to have another solid performance again today, in this swine of course.


An oddity I noticed was folks like Myerson, Lindine and Ward weren't even spinning on trainers. What did they know that I didn't? Was this race going to be such a shit show it didn't even matter if you were warmed up?!


No matter, I was going to get through this and be happy with a finish, period. I did my best to recover the night before with a sushi, pizza meal, followed by an ice bath, a restless night's sleep, then blueberry pancakes in the morning. The legs felt decent, probably given the fact they weren't taxed too heavily on Saturday.


Today I got a 2nd row callup! WTF is happening?!

That's Manny Goguen behind me. I was hoping we would be riding together again today but he had a stellar outing and finshed about a minute ahead.

I have never been so close to Timmerman's ass before! It's shapely. I was deep in the doubting-my-ability-cave when the whistle blew and I ride off blindly following the wheels of the front row guys. I'm pretty sure I lost a handful of positions en route to the first wooded descent where all hell broke loose in front of me. Turns out these guys up front are pretty committed to either winning or losing a race on the first lap no matter the conditions as Colin and I surmised after the race. A little give and take early on could go a long way towards having a solid finish.




Guys were criss-crossing and banging into and yelling at each other all over the place forcing many of us behind to hop off our bikes. Funniest thing was Colin riding through laughing and yelling "Yeah, bike racing! You guys are doing it all wrong!" The melee put me in a long run up a normally rideable climb and relegated out of the top-20. So much for a good start and having a good day I thought. From there, it was survival mode riding slippery sections in a group. On the pre-ride there was a stone wall that I thought was un-rideable and I dismounted in preparation for it. When I came upon it someone had done some altering and it was now rideable, which was nice, but not for this lap. I stayed on the gas where I could and began the long and slow process of picking up positions over the next couple of laps. At one point I was the cream in the middle of the Colin and Kevin cookie battle for supremacy and got to hear some of the heckling those guys have to endure!


I soon deduced I was going to have to race the course and let the result come as it may. Second lap I bridged up to Burns and Rubijono. I cut JB off a bit on a quick run, then got my just desserts as Rubi stumbled and I had to dismount as well. What I wanted was to essentially mountain bike race: get alone and find my own line through the crap. There were a few stealth lines on the trail edges, including a nice piece of singletrack through the trees that I found a couple times. The bike was performing really well save for a couple of skips in the gears. For the record, I didn't use my pit bike all weekend. I dragged that race bike from start to finish with half the course on it.


Long story short, cheers from fans (sorry I couldn't thank you all out there, I was in the pain asylum and not allowed to acknowledge visitors!) and Freye plain old yelling at me to ride harder kept me going. LaFlamme's encouragement saying I had "only 4 laps to go" was tough to swallow though! I was happy to hear my placing at the end. My time wasn't exactly stellar and I no doubt advanced spots thanks to some of the leaders taking each other out, but I feel OK about backing up Saturday's result with this one.


Major equipment advantage today was my Shimano/Hutchinson tubeless wheelset. The traction and mud-shedding ability of this combo really helped get me through.


On a personal note, I relished the support from folks like my OA/CycleMania teammates, friends like Freye and Hattie, the McEwans, Stephanie Chase, even fellow competitor Tom Gosselin on Saturday and anyone else I missed. It's the motivation gleaned from the likes of their encouragement that make racing fun an good finishes rewarding.
THANK YOU HATTIE FOR THE AWESOME PICS!



But the downside to my selfish ego-boosting is that just yesterday I missed my youngest score his soccer team's only goal in a 1-1 dramatic final game of the season to remain undefeated. To make matters worse, I didn't see any of his games all season and my wife was the coach!


I also missed the whole family participating in a 1 mile Halloween run that my oldest son won outright beating everyone with a time of 7.33.


The icing on the cake is the fact that the family hasn't seen one of my races all season, that's going all the way back to March. That's simply totally fucked up. What was once a family affair has turned into my own selfish pursuit. I guess that's why there aren't too many 40+ pros with a wife who hasn't divorced him yet and kids who still recognize him. I'm afraid the writing is on the wall and next season will see a much more limited but no less rewarding schedule.

OK. I had to get that off my chest. In the meantime, it's ALL IN this season and I'm looking for ward to NoHo! Bring on the power!

Verge NECCS #7 Downeast Cyclocross Report

Elite
12th/43

Not a typo! I guess the stars were aligned for me today resulting in my best CX finish evah. A fan best summed it up by saying mid way through “You’re having the race of your life.” And from there, the Dirty Dancing song lyrics rang through my head spurring me on to the finish.
As much of a pleasant surprise the result was, I think it’s pretty cut and dry how it came about. Conditions were deplorable as a cold rain fell all day long relegating this new course into a muddly mess. I rode 1 lap on my pit bike and it took like 15 minutes as the going was slow. When I was done I had no recollection of what I rode and prepared myself to go into the race blind. The layout was typical for this venue: pasture, dirt path in the woods, several elevation changes. I would not call this a typical CX course, but then again what is? The week before I was riding on a sidewalk along the ocean! So my mindset was transformed to the knowledge everyone else was in the same boat (no pun intended!) and I simply needed to stay positive and just ride.

Photos by real man Paul Weiss braving the elements as well!

I was the first called up on the 3rd row and I picked a sweet outside line. After the whistle we sprinted up the short pavement and onto a long dirt section.

It sounded like there was a bit of congestion behind and to my right. I motored on sucking the mud and water flung up by the Sexual Camel in front of me. Given the conditions of the rest of the course, I opted to start in my small ring and avoid the possibility of a miss-shift once things got hairy on the trail. It seemed to work as we soon strung into a single file and I was amazed that I was holding my own and not getting dropped or passed. It’s hard to remember much from there as the remainder of the race turned into a focused individual effort of riding a smooth line and staying mentally tough. Manny Goguen and I swopped spots back and forth for a while. Unfortunately he was underdressed for the conditions and ended up dropping out. I was very glad to be rocking the old-school Kona skinsuit with thermal undershirt, leggings and storm gloves.

My finish I think is fairly easy to justify and explain. I had a great start and was in mountain bike-mode using the years of mud riding experience to my advantage. The course conditions also eliminated the power riders’ (read: roadies) ability to crush any open sections and I happily spun around in my 36/25. I was still hating the course, but the prospect of having a great finish on the day kept me motivated and on the gas. Plus, the fans’ cheering in miserable conditions were huge ego boosts and I was grateful for that.
Equipment-wise, the top mount brakes were a huge advantage. What the hell do people have against them?!

And every mountain bike racer knows s/he should have this in their toolbox:

So I got to post-race spin alongside my bovine friends and relish the moment.

As one of the Pete's from Embrocation Cycling demonstrates. This is no joke. Since it was pissing rain, many of us set up trainers in the cow barn. It freakin' stunk!

But the moment was fleeting as my thoughts soon turned to tomorrow’s race. The course was simply going to be run in reverse meaning conditions would be similar and I would have to back up today’s finish with another strong run. So much for celebrating.