tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54264706400607176572024-03-13T17:29:01.602-04:00I' D RATHER BE MOUNTAIN BIKING!Some days flow better than others!Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-28386260404229322582019-06-20T13:19:00.001-04:002019-06-20T13:19:41.263-04:002014 Rocky Woods Lung Challenger, Root 66 Mountain Bike Series, Single Speed, Cat 1 Open....No intention to race SS. Been talking about it for a while but it has been just that, all talk. Then I broke my derailleur two days before the race. Since I had all the parts to convert to SS, and this was my only option, I converted. 32x19 is all I had. Never raced the course or even knew what to expect. <br />
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Showed up and the class wasn't very deep. I think there was 5 of us on the start line. I stuck to the front on the first lap and was leading by the end of it as the two guys in front had dabbed on some rocks. I got passed pretty strongly by one guy as we starting our 2nd lap and was not expecting to him again. He was however walking the first climb and passed him again. I got stuck in a mud puddle and was passed by the guy I was following at the beginning of the race. <br /><br />Never finished this race report but it looks like I ended up w/ the W!... for once....<br />
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Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-44016744204150470892014-05-27T12:08:00.000-04:002014-05-28T14:11:05.862-04:002014 King of Burlingame: Mountain bike vs Kayak.I had pre ridden the course several times this year, and had the previous week posted my PR on the lap, with a time of 45.05. We had given up trying to ride the course backwards because the rumor that persisted from year to year, was just not going to happen. <br />
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The weather forecast had been for rain initially on Saturday, but as the weekend approached, it was moved to Saturday night into Sunday morning. Lying in bed on Saturday night, I could hear the rain engulf the house. It sounded pretty bad. Upon getting ready for the race, the emergency alert on my phone went off:<br />
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This was going to be an interesting season opener! The drive itself was quite harrowing and included a couple of pond crossing where there used to be a road. One of them was quite a surprise on the highway, when all visibility disappeared for 3 seconds. It took everything I had to not touch the brakes.</div>
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Of course when I got there I found out that the race direction had been reversed. There wasn't much time for a warm up but I got to ride about 1 mile into the race course, and it was...well...very very wet. Over the tire deep water. That was just the first mile. The pictures below are of the actual race course and there isn't much more that needs to be said. In some sections the water was hub deep w/ no way of seeing the rocks and roots under it. It even got to the point where the water was high enough that the wooden bridges, meant to safely bring you over the wet areas, were now floating and
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The trail went through the red covered bridge pictured below which had standing water to just below the benches seating area. The water was so high that there was no way to see the trail leading to this. I ran through it as this seemed the prudent thing to do, but Tim H. was able to ride the whole thing. </div>
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The racing itself wasn't really going well for me as I was too tentative and not committed enough to riding the unseen under all that water. I was putting my foot down a lot and then needed to try to make up for it. I did know the course well enough to know where all the climbing was and to try to plan my efforts accordingly. However, about 2/3 of the way through, a new section I had never been on had been added. After a semi climb up a fire road, I was expecting a right turn down a quick descent and some recovery. Instead I found the trail continuing on to not only climb for a mile, but to climb up a trail which was now a real creek. I totally blew up on that climb, and just could not recover afterwards. My tentativeness increased after I attempted a creek crossing where my front wheel suddenly disappeared and I went over the bars, into the creek. I heard behind me the next rider have the exact same experience. The saving grace in all of this was that it was fairly warm so being soaked through was not unbearable. Tim weighted his wet clothes after the race and came up with 12 lbs. I ended up finishing 6th of 12, with a time of 1hour 3 mins. Not great, but since I am getting old, I'd rather be safer and slightly slower than miss the whole season because of an</div>
injury. Tim did quite well and finished 3rd.<br />
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Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-71466555981139254392013-06-04T14:45:00.001-04:002013-06-04T14:45:02.573-04:00A Musical Interlude...<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Lv-ye2JwO5M" width="459"></iframe>Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-46177922720628062282013-06-04T14:43:00.002-04:002013-06-04T14:43:35.805-04:002013 Battle of BurlingameI forgot to mention in my last post that I now ride w/ <a href="http://nbxbikes.com/" target="_blank">NBX</a>. Kit was not quite ready for this race but I should have it for the next one. Pretty exited about it as there are a lot of really good people on the team, and by good I mean cool people, not just fast riders. I'll still continue to ride with Providence Velo Club, but will race under the NBX banner. So here are the links for the team sponsors:<br />
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<a href="http://nbxbikes.com/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: yellow; color: purple;">NBX bike</span></a><span style="background-color: white;"> / </span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><a href="http://www.narragansettbeer.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">Narragansett Beer</span></a> </span><span style="background-color: white;"> / </span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: purple;"><a href="http://www.apextechgroup.com/" target="_blank">Apex Technologies</a></span> </div>
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Give them a click to support them! Thanks.<br />
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Back to racing... and a great pic by Meg:<br />
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Race course was super fast with a couple of sections to keep it a Mountain bike race. <a href="http://wheninspirationhitsliz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Liz</a>, <a href="http://www.teambums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1941&p=14951#p14951" target="_blank">John</a>, and I pre rode the lap right before the start of our race to warm up, and it still amaze me to this day how different a course is when just riding it vs racing it. Even the techy ledge section on the pre ride was very manageable (coming down it in the above pic), yet it totally stumped me for the first four laps of the race. I finally got the rhythm of it on the fifth and last lap.<br />
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Anyways, since I only have one minute to write this report, the skinny of it is that I finished 5th...<br />
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Here are some other cool shots by some local riders who took the time to shoot these:<br />
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Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com6Burlingame, Charlestown, RI 02813, USA41.375262814874915 -71.702613830566441.351428814874915 -71.7429543305664 41.399096814874916 -71.6622733305664tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-69729251982021996152013-05-06T19:05:00.001-04:002013-05-06T19:05:33.053-04:002013 Winding Trails / Fat Tire ClassicI supposedly mostly gave up racing, so I had no intention of attending this race. The compromise I had with my lovely wife was that I would only do the very local races. The very reasonable agreement was that anything over 45 min of traveling would just be too much. For this season that meant only racing in RI, maybe a couple of MA races, and perhaps if I got a couple of long rides in, the NH 100 as a special occasions kind of a thing!<br />
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On Friday morning, after my wife found out that the Massasoit Lung Challenge in Taunton, MA was cancelled, she suggested I race the Fat Tire instead. At first I thought she was teasing me, but after several: "you're not f'ing w/ me?", and "you really won't mind at ALL?", I was getting my bike race ready and went for a quick leg testing ride. I of course broke several spokes on that ride, but was able to drop the bike off at Caster's on 4th, and had Freddie taking care of me! Picked up the bike on Saturday, cleaned and ready to go! Fred's the man! <br />
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Every year, I write the same sh*t about the Fat Tire Classic, so here is the copied and pasted part of my <a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/04/winding-trails-of-mud.html" target="_blank">2012 entry</a>:<br />
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<i>"<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I know many Mtb riders/racers who complain about the Winding Trails (WT) race. "Not techy enough", or "you can ride w/ a cross bike", and "it's a roadie course & all the roadies show up". All of these are true, but despite that, I have always liked WT. After most winters, my tech skills are barely out of hibernation and still need lots of stretching, so it's a nice way to start out the season as I can concentrate on just fitness (or lack thereof!). And it is a fitness course! A fast course that you need to pedal all the way around w/ no recovery whatsoever They have over the years worked hard to address some of the above complaints and have done as well as can be given the terrain that is there.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">" </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">T</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">his year though they tried to add some small new sections, it was still a rehash of the same course we have been on for the past 10+ years. Time to race it backwards to mix things up a bit! I made the suggestion on the Rt66 Fb page, and someone responded that they are looking into it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The weather was perfect: sunny and crisp. The crowd was larger than <a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/04/winding-trails-of-mud.html" target="_blank">last year</a> (then the weather kept folks at home), and I estimated about 30 lined up. It was the usual start on the sandy fire road that required a careful line to not either go over the edge off the road or get stuck in the soft sand. Somehow and unintentionally I found myself towards the front of the line up. When we went off, I was in the top 10 and was able to clear the lines w/ out traffic interference. Being off the front allowed me to single file it into the off camber single track on the side of the hill w/out having to navigate the traffic jam that happens when more than 1/2 of the field vies for the same line. As we hit the fire road, I got passed by a few of guys who had gotten stuck and was able to grab a wheel. I could see all the front runners and keep them in sight. The pace was really fast but somehow I was holding on...for the time being. We blew through the first lap at a crazy pace and I also blew through all my matches! Now, I was fried w/ three laps to go! Uh oh...</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the second lap, I had to significantly slow it down and even started to wonder if I was going to be able to finish the race. I was so fried, I was contemplating a DNF. Maybe pull over and fake a mechanical. A few riders passed me and I had nothing in the tank to pursue. When a few more went by, I decided I just had to chase and was able to settle in a more sustainable pace. I was able to stay on for most of the second and third lap. Since it was really a roady style course, I attempted to give back and take a pull but quickly blew up, and had to settle in my own pace. I stayed in no man's land for a while with the main goal being to just finish. Pj passed me 1/3 into the last lap and I stayed w/ him for most of the lap, which helped wrap this damn thing up. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;">As I was waiting for results, someone told me I finished 7th. I was quite shocked and needed to verify for myself. The number on the results sheet were faded and it was easy to miss that there was a "1" in front of that seven! So it was 17th out of 29. Not great but better than a DNF!</span>Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-24732151422736097862013-03-26T16:09:00.001-04:002013-03-26T16:10:13.333-04:00DAS CX Race<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My training has significantly decreased since the summer. I cut back time on my bike to have more available at home w/ the people that mattered. Now I think I average two or three rides a week, down from five or six, for a total of four hours of riding/week, down from nine. With that I have of course been expecting my fitness and speed to drop significantly. As I no longer ride w/ a computer (Polar Hr broke once again! To their credit they send me a new one for free even though the warranty had expired ), it's hard to track the actual decline and loss. Maybe it's a good thing I cannot quantify it!<br />
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One thing I have picked up though is Yoga. Something my wife has been trying to convince me for years how good it is, but of course have never given any credence to. Well I finally tried it. I have been going about once a week and have greatly enjoyed. It is really an efficient workout for me as I get to workout and stretch at the same time. But more on that later in a later post.<br />
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This was my third Cross race this season. I posted worse results than previous years in the first two. I finished 19th at the Prov Cx race and at the NBX CX came in 30th. At both of these races this year I started all the way back so it was hard to get to the front and not be slowed down by the massive pile ups that happen around the first lap. I don't usually care how I finish, as I do these strictly for fun and to bring my hr up. I don't own a Cx bike and have no plans on buying one. Cx is fun for sure, but it just can't compete against a great mtb course.<br />
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So with no expectations and waning fitness, I decided at the last minute to do the DAS Cx race (cancellation of a NYC trip freed up my weekend). Even on Saturday I was not sure I was going to race and so went for a hard road ride in that shitty cold rainy weather. On Saturday night I decided to race it, after Liz, who had designed the course for this race, told me the course would "not be a grass crit". <br />
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I got to the race venue on time even withtou speeding. It seemed low key though the lot was starting to pack up with cars. I was able to get two laps in for a warm up. The course was really fun with a gravel section, barriers (who were too close to each other to efficiently bunny hop), four (!) sand pit crossings, and longish gradual climb, a fast decent on a fire road, a covered bridge crossing, a couple of tight turns w/ a climb up to some log crossings (which were easily rideable), another fast decent, a section on a running track, a very steep unrideable climb (though I tried each lap), some twisty stuff on grass which brought you back to the start/finish area. It was a real nice mix of terrain and very creative use of the what the park had to offer. I think Liz used everything she could and with that kept the lap very entertaining and fun. And I am not saying this because it Liz, but this and Eco farm are now my favorite Cx courses.<br />
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We lined up at the start and to my chagrin could only find a spot in the back behind John, who for hell of it showed up in his speedo! I did not try to find out why. Being behind him at the start though, gave me great motivation to pass him as quickly as I could. Especially on the gravel section. That could have gone so wrong! I started somewhat at the back but after the sand pit crossing, being on the mtb, found myself getting to the front quickly. As we started the gradual climb, there were two guys who had separated from the pack and were half way up distancing themselves rapidly. For the hell of it, I decided to give everything I had and to try to grab their wheel. As we crested the top I was on their wheel. I was gassed but as we started the decent, they were hitting the brakes, and again being on the mtb, I could rail the corners much faster so I decided to pass and see if how much distance I could put on them. I knew for sure that I would pay dearly for this, but I was out here just for fun so decided to give it a shot. I was expecting to get passed on the flat section of running track, but they were not catching up. I went through lap one in the leading position though was not creating a big gap to the guy in second position. Again I was sure I would get caught pretty quickly. Yet I seemed to distance myself with each lap. Slowly I started to believe that I could actually win this but was in slight disbelief when I finished the race in first place w/ some time to spare. Absolutely no complaints though, since it had been quite a while since I had won anything. <br />
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It was really a fun course and can't wait to race it again next year! Nice job <a href="http://wheninspirationhitsliz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Liz</a>!<br />
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PS: I just realized I never hit "publish" on this post, so here it is quite late....<br />
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<br />Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-38237287183883396302013-03-25T19:13:00.001-04:002013-03-26T12:31:38.672-04:002013 Burlingame MTB TT <br />
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This TT is great. It has really become a RI "spring classic" for me (and I bet a lot of others). The time to test your fitness not just against others, but see if you can keep your HR in the 190ies for 45 mins w/out throwing up after a winter of...well what ever it was that you did over that period. The course is fun and challenging enough to pack a punch if you don't plan your efforts carefully, especially in the beginning three miles. </div>
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I always get a little over exited when the race season is starting, which the B-game TT is the start of. I love my wife and kids dearly and wouldn't want a thing different. My work is good too and have nothing to complain about. But riding is really the icing on my great cake of life, and racing is that damn cherry on top (i actually hate cherries). Racing is riding on steroids! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rich killing it at the TT </td></tr>
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The race was great. Very well planned by the usual crew of great guys, w/ a new timing chip attached right to the number plate. If someone beat you this year by 1/2 second, you know it was going to be real, not a human judgement. Very fancy stuff! Everything was flawlessly implemented. I had the three guys I wanted starting in front of me, w/ Rich (who I knew I would never catch- he's gotten way too fast), SteveO starting one minute before me, then Freddie at 30 seconds. Both very tasty locally grown organic carrots! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SteveO coming through!</td></tr>
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Freddie called me the P-word at the start for debating about getting my feet wet right away at the first mud puddle (he was right-I am). But I had him caught and passed during the first climb of the new section, and was able to return the name for having lost so much ground so quickly. I was able to tackle the new section fairly intelligently, by keeping my pace high but without blowing up on the steep little short climbs. I decided to just run up the two hard ones to make sure I wouldn't loose time trying to ride it unsuccessfully at race pace.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freddie working it!</td></tr>
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Coming out of the new section and turning left onto the fire road section I put Steve in my sights, but then on the fast decent trying to catch up, drifted into a wet rocky rut and went down. The fall wasn't bad but my front wheel twisted and it took a couple of seconds to figure out which way to turn the bars. By the time I was back on the bike, Steve was gone. A mile down, I started to catch back up on the fire road climb and he let me pass him before the road section.<br />
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The rest of the race went w/out a problem. I did dab once on the log/puddle/rock climb, but after that it was mostly fire roads and the bridges. The bridges were dry so everything was easily rideable. My finishing time was 45:18. L<a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/03/2012-king-of-burlingame.html" target="_blank">ast year's time was 44:27</a>, but many racers thought this year's course was a little slower. I think we were maybe all a little slower because it has been a colder and longer winter. At any rate, I felt a lot better this year, and even though the time doesn't reflect it, this year's race felt a lot more fluid. I finished 8th out of 26, and I hate to be so shallow, but really it's all about beating Freddie and Steve...that be my icing on the cherry!<br />
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Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-28910848677547729102013-01-16T16:04:00.003-05:002013-01-17T16:43:08.995-05:00Lance...Let me take me take a dead rotten horse corpse and beat it some more...<br />
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This topic is beyond thinking or writing about, but I just can't help myself, and felt like putting down some thoughts in black and white. Heck this is my blog after all, and it's really my style to write about something that has been said a thousand times and whose topic has been completely exhausted. I've come to accept that I am mostly a day late and a dollar short...<br />
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I have always maintained Lance doped. Even when it really wasn't popular saying so. Being French didn't help when saying so. It wasn't an emotional opinion. In no way did I hate the guy. And I never condemned him for doing so either. It was to me what was just an obvious conclusion. It was how things were being done and how results were attained. He raced against people who doped so he needed to dope as well, and of course vice versa! <br />
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The simple fact was that there was no way he could be so much stronger of a cyclist while being clean compared to racers who doped. It seemed physically impossible to be able to drop the competition so dramatically when they were chemically enhanced, especially on those long climbs after several tough stages. He had to be enhanced himself.<br />
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I even had my conspiracy theory about Lance. We all know there is just too much money involved in sports at the professional level (wish some of that would trickle over to mtb!). Way to much. Cycling was not getting a big enough slice of that cash cow, especially here in the United States, and was loosing ground. It was following the route of Tennis. The sport needed a Cinderella story that the world could fall head over heels over. Cycling needed a story of overcoming based on America's favorite recipe: a story of the come- back kid, who picked himself up from the bootstraps after so many hurdles, and becomes the best. Inject that story in the world of cycling, and the cash will start pouring in. I know I am going over the deep end here by saying this, but I would not be totally surprised if, in 2033 Oprah does a follow up w/ Lance, where he come clean about never having had any cancer at all. As someones else said (and I am paraphrasing here), "you have to be totally out of your mind to mess w/ performance enhancing drug if you have just recovered from Cancer". I am not saying he faked it, but am saying I wouldn't be totally shocked either.<br />
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But this isn't about me saying I told you so.<br />
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I love the excitement Lance brought to the TDF and his no prisoner attacks (though he at odd times let others take the win). I have all the DVD's from 1999 to 2006 and they are so great to watch on the trainer. I can watch them over and over again and they get me pumped up every time I watch them.<br />
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But what I love most about Lance is what he did for Cycling in the USA. Europeans have mostly always respected cyclists and you can feel safe there sharing with traffic a narrow road. My first serious ride there was outside of <a href="https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.991841,1.692924&spn=0.18985,0.308647&t=h&z=12" target="_blank">Foix in France</a> at the base the of the Pyranees mountains. I was riding a small hilly and twisty but busy road, and cars were really pilling up behind me. I tried to hug the wall as close as I could to give them space to pass, but no one tried. No one honked. No yelled for me to get on the sidewalk. Once the road was straight, which took a little while to get to, then people passed me, all giving me ample space. No one swore at me, threw empty beer cans, flipped me off, or tried to use the fenders of their pick up truck to push me into the ditch. Most smiled as I thanked them.<br />
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Here in the US, even though we don't even have narrow roads, the mix of spandex and bicycles meant some people would willingly go out of their way to make sure the road felt very very narrow. Lance to a large degree changed that. The media picked up on his remarkable accomplishments (and the accomplishment are remarkable even with dope!) and he showed America how hardcore cycling was as a sport. It changed the perception of cycling as froufrou activity, to one of the most demanding and challenging of all the sports; that cycling was not about wearing pretty pink spandex and molding your junk to the world, but that it took dedication, discipline and incredible amount of hard work! Lance started to become accepted as a highly respectable sports figure even in the back roads redneck bars. Those who only had appreciation for football players, were now having to admit that riding your guts out for 20 straight days, five or more hours everyday, over mountain ranges was actually pretty damn hardcore.<br />
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Now of course there is a certain low IQ quotient which still refuses to sees that the road doesn't solely belong to them and that swerving out of the way is in fact not a huge burden (they probably also bitch about having to pay taxes for those roads), but the point is that in my personal experience (I haven't actually looked to see if there is data available out there - I am sure there is), I feel that many drivers are now more willing to give me a little extra space on the road. And I firmly believe Lance is to be thanked for that little extra space and respect I get on the road! <br />
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But this isn't a love Lance fest either.<br />
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Sadly in his, and other cyclist's doping accusation process, what Lance ultimately showed about himself, of the man behind the accomplishments, is that he is a giant Asshole. There is really no need to detail any of it as that has really been beaten to death, and there are plenty of great articles out there that detail how he was someone whose ego got too big and too comfortable w/ how large it had become. So I am torn about Lance. There is so much I appreciate he has done, but it's really being overshadowed by how much of dick he is. And I am someone who cares more about "how" someone is than "what" they have done.<br />
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So when he is on Oprah, what I hope he gets, what I hope he apologizes for, and attempts to make amends for, is not that he took, like all his fellow competitors, some performance enhancing drugs, but rather that he acted like a giant douche bag. I think most of the cycling community has forgiven (or never cared to begin with) about the drugs. It's the man I want to like. I love the accomplishments already, but now just want to like the guy too. And I am willing to do that if he is just willing to be sorry for being such a dick about it! Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-25195130662285533652012-12-19T14:41:00.000-05:002013-01-11T08:55:30.417-05:00Lynskey Review Number Deux<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've had more time on the bike and thought I should post a follow up. I very much love the bike, and could really not be happier w/ it! <br />
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The only complaint I have with it, which I mentioned previously, is that while standing and climbing steep sections, I do have to shift my weight back just a bit so that the rear tire doesn't skip and bounce. I've replaced my rear tire to a new 2.25 Schwable RR, that I run at 20 psi tubeless and it still skips around when standing up. But that is really the only complaint I have now.<br />
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I've also continued to experience one other problem, but I don't think it's the bike fault. I've replaced the old crank, a Shimano XT from circa 1200 BC, w/ a XT 770, but continue to have problems w/ dropping the chain and occasional chain suck. Not sure why this happening, but hopefully it should not not be an issue soon as I am going single speed!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A0r5in7KLsg/UNiVo-oouPI/AAAAAAAAInI/kF5lGrOB1b8/s1600/Lynskey+0+(7).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A0r5in7KLsg/UNiVo-oouPI/AAAAAAAAInI/kF5lGrOB1b8/s640/Lynskey+0+(7).JPG" width="640" /></a>I just remembered another issue I had. I broke my pricey Ritchey Superlogic post. The fairly new post snapped right at the post clamp. Clean brake. I should point out I only weight 145 lbs, and I know for a fact I did not have that clamp overtightened! I was not happy. Lesson learned though. 27.2 is a little too skinny to buy carbon. I will be ordering a Thompson Masterpiece to replace it.<br />
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My likes of the bike in the previous review have been reinforced. My two favorite thing about the bike is how comfortable the bike is. And not just for a hard tail! The ti is really comfortable and truly absorbs the harsh hit from the ground. I almost always ride the fork locked out and am contemplating buying a rigid fork at some point for it. And that is for a guy who has ridden full susp. bikes all his life and has low tolerance for things that are not comfortable! I have found no flex in the bike when pedaling and am glad I went w/ the Ridgeline as I think the Pro model for me would have been overkill since I cannot bend this frame.<br />
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The best feature though is how quick handling it is. I know we are in era of slack head tubes for 29ers, but the Lynskey has what to me is the right HA at 70.5. This really helps to get this bike around the corners quickly and with out issues. Tight and twisty trails are a real pleasure and the bike flies through it! I used to have a hard time keeping up w/ this very good rider I ride w/ (you know, one of those motorcycle guys who know how to push two wheels through a corner), especially on the Scott. On the Lynskey though, I find I have to slow down to not run into him at the exit of the turns! The bike is fast and maneuverable. <br />
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I have also gotten comfortable throwing the bike over stumps, around techy terrain, and off jumps. Unlike my Scott 29er, this bike is really easy to get off the ground, both front and rear. It kinda reminds of riding a 26er, but w/ the 29er and ti features: it's fast, throwable, but never squirrely or unstable, and quite comfortable, w/out flexing.<br />
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The Titanium is nice beyond the ride characteristics. I have crashed a couple of times, and it's nice not having to worry about any carbon cracking, meaning I get to try to save my body instead of the bike. I used to have three carbon worries: 1) I might crash and the bike would go flying and land sideways on some sharp rock which would crack the frame. 2) I might drop off a rock which would catch the bb area and crack the frame. 3) I could pick up a stick w/ the rear wheel which would snap the derailleur hanger and swing the derailleur around to the seat stays, which would... It's nice to not have any of those worries anymore. I think it does allow me to enter technical sections with more confidence and momentum. Another great thing about Ti is that it cleans up very quickly and easily, and once clean, the bike looks like it just role off the showroom floor!<br />
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My hope at this time is that I can get another. One will be set up single speed, and the other for the days I need a couple of gears.<br />
<br />Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-89009315125577335672012-10-12T16:04:00.003-04:002013-05-02T13:54:53.468-04:00Lynskey Ridgeline 29er ImpressionsI've had some more time on the Lynskey, and I can say that it's been very good. Of course it's never exactly perfect. And in this time of polarization, it's important to acknowledge that nothing is perfect!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XZ0vmG0c23k/UHAiH68m8vI/AAAAAAAAIfw/ITdZpsy4X4w/s1600/IMG_3999.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XZ0vmG0c23k/UHAiH68m8vI/AAAAAAAAIfw/ITdZpsy4X4w/s640/IMG_3999.JPG" width="640" /></a>So before getting to the good, lets get the couple of "not so good" out of the way. There are really two complaints I have with the frame, with a third that's more a component issue. The first gripe is the tall head tube. I have the stem all the way down and it's still a little tall. I am playing w/ the idea of flipping the stem and run it w/ a neg rise. It not a huge issue though. <br />
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The second problem is the balance of the bike when out of the saddle. When seated the bike is actually really well balanced. It steers quickly and can be railed around tight corners w/ confidence. It climbs well when seated and only needs minor weight adjustment when attacking real steeps. Standing up however, tends to un-weight the rear wheel just a tad too much. Climbing over choppy terrain then results in the rear loosing some traction and bouncing a little. In all fairness to the bike, much of this has been emphasized by my rear tire having worn through the sidewalls and no longer being tubeless. I am therefor running it w/ a tube at 30 psi vs my normal 22 (the sidewalls are actually so bad I have several patches of gorilla tape keeping the tube from bulging out. Time perhaps for a new rear tire.) My Scott Scale 29er is a slightly better climber as I can just mash when standing and it will climb w/out issues. With the Scale I actually have to make sure I un-weight the rear!<br />
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The geometry difference between the bikes is interesting here. I often see posted online that the numbers do NOT tell the story but they do here. The wheelbase for both bikes is the exact same length. However the chainstays of the Scott are just slightly shorter (440mm for the Scott vs 445mm for the Lynskey). The seat tube for both is slightly different as well (73 for the Lynskey vs 72.5 for the Scott), and the BB of the Lynskey is .5 inches higher (51mm drop vs 60mm on the Scott). And then there is the head angle: 69.5 vs 70.5 (w/ a 100 mm fork - I have mine set up to 80 mm so it's even a little steeper than that). The differences aren't huge, are fairly self explanatory, but can be felt: the BB of the Lynskey is slightly more forwards and higher, which becomes apparent when standing up by unweighting the rear wheel a bit; but the slacker seat angle means that when seated the weight of the rider is moved backwards again. The loss of traction when standing is not huge though and a rare issue that happens only if I am not paying attention. Honestly I prefer having a bike that is faster handling (70.5 degree head angle for the Lynskey vs 69.5 for the Scott), but that I have to manage a little more closely when I climb steep choppy terrain. In twisty New England singletrack, I steer way more than I climb really steep hills. More on this below.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I need to verify these figures!</td></tr>
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The third issue is that I have been experiencing chain suck. I know this is not a frame issue but rather due to me being a cheap bastard and running, for now, a XT square tapered crank from the 90ies! Hey, it looked like it was in good condition! (follow up on this: I have a new XT crank and have no chainsuck issues at all anymore)<br />
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Onto the goodness: I can confirm that the bike is a lot less harsh than my Scott Scale, which is really saying a lot, since the Scale had supposedly 5mm of travel build into the carbon seat stays. Having gone from a full squish Specialized Sworks Epic to a hardtail, I never was really able to appreciate that 5mm of "travel". But coming from the Scale to the Lynskey, I do greatly appreciate the Ti "absorbency" as a lot of the harsh impact of the trail are noticeably softened (and the Stan's Crest wheels also add to this). Even jumps/drops of a foot or two are softened by the Titanium frame.<br />
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What saves my ass and back too is that 27.2 post. Even w/ a Race Face Aluminium post, it still has enough give to let me keep my butt on saddle over rough trail chatter (there is a Ritchey Superlogic in there). My back would not tolerate that on the Scott (see my race report on landmine linked below). I really don't get that 34.9 post size on the Scott. On full squish bikes maybe, but not on a hardtail (unless you're a pro pushing 600 watts)! Had I been able to race this bike at my last mtb race at <a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/09/landmine-classic-or-dont-loose-your.html" target="_blank">Landmine</a>, I think it would have not been such a disaster from getting so beat up on the course. So I can't wait to race it next year! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, that is an original rug from the 50ies!</td></tr>
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Since I am on a race note, I did get to race the Lynskey at the Providence Cx Fest Race last Sunday (don't own a cx bike), and it was a lot of fun. The bike really corners so well, and I was able to pass a huge amount of competitors in the tight twisty turns (started in 78th position to finish 19th out of 78).<br />
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And that is where I appreciate this bike. I don't know what the trails in Tennessee are like, but it handles New England terrain really well! As mentioned, it turns really well and without needing dramatic input to do so. Unlike the Scott, the front end does not push out during the corners. Turn the bars, or lean the bike, and it just turns. I've actually eaten dirt a couple of times because the bike has caught me off guard by turning too tightly.<br />
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This bike is really nimble and that translate into it being really good in technical terrain. It's stable over loose and bumpy terrain (for a hardtail!) and also really easy to manoeuvre over larger obstacles. The front end comes up easily and the rear follows w/ out too much input. It's easy to hop and jump over fallen trees or large rocks, and will go up large obstacles w/ finesse instead of brute force. I took the bike out on a fairly technical ride several weeks back and was really surprised by how much I was actually clearing, and would have most likely not made w/ the Scott. <br />
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Well, just in case it wasn't obvious, I can say that so far I am really happy w/ the Lynskey!<br />
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I have a long term review the Lynskey <a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/12/lynskey-review-number-deux.html" target="_blank">review here</a>!<br />
<br />Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-12271734146937170452012-09-12T13:18:00.000-04:002012-10-13T07:40:25.575-04:00Landmine Classic (and don't loose your fillings)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This race was already in the shitter before it even started!<br />
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I remembered this course as being quite "bumpy". I had a specific memory of racing it last year and towards the end of the race starting to catch people who were on hardtails and thinking to myself how glad I was I was on a full squish and how much of an advantage it was. Not owning a full squish anymore, I was really looking forward to racing my new Lynskey on this course. The Lynskey is a lot more comfortable than my Scott , thanks to the wonderful properties of Ti and to that 27.2 mm post diameter(more on that in the next post comparing the two bikes). But as luck would have it, I ripped the derailleur hanger off the bike Thursday night (jra I swear!). Bob from bikerbob.com was super cool when I texted him that night (after I finally ran out of the woods), and he had a new derailleur hanger in the mail for overnight delivery. He was even willing to take it off his own bike!!!! Sadly, when it arrived Saturday afternoon, it was the wrong one (Lynskey has two, and it was the other one!) No derailleur, no Lynskey for the race...<br />
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The other problem was my rear tire's (Racing Ralph) side walls were too worn through to be able to be run tubeless. I had a somewhat new Rocket Ron, but it was a 2.25 and would rub the left chainstay of the Scott if I ran that (still waiting for my warranty replacement from Scott!). This left me having to the run the Ralph w/ a tube in it, and since I knew the terrain was rocky and rooty, I needed to run it a 30 psi vs the 22 I normally use when tubeless.<br />
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I did make one good decision that weekend. I was really toying w/ racing the 50 mile marathon race but since the Lynskey was out, I didn't think my old my back could handle that distance on the Scott and therefor went with the 25 mile race. <br />
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On the way up to the race, I realized that I did not remember which exit off the highway the venue was. Amazing, I saw <a href="http://wheninspirationhitsliz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Liz</a> right next to me in her little Mini, and just followed her to the race venue. After had I registered and was about to go warm up, the race organizers announced the last call for cat 1 racers! It seemed way early, but being compliant, I dutifully lined up without a warm up. Of course we stood around for quite a while and I could easily have gotten a 15 min warm up before our age group went off. <br />
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The race started and I let everyone go. I knew it was a long race and would have plenty of distance to try to make up the slow start. It had rained the night before and though the ground had dried a little, the roots were slick. And there many of them! I went down pretty early on when my front tire didn't clear an angled root. A quick reminder that I needed to really unweight the front and needed to be light on the bike. About 20 min into the race, I had locked onto a small gruppetto of the 50+ fast racers who had caught me, and at that pace we soon caught a passed a few racers in my age group. Yet my back was taking a beating going over all those roots and rocks and I could not hold on and had to slow my pace. I believe at this point I had passed about four guys in my category. <br />
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As I was back to riding by myself, I had some time to contemplate how great this race course was, how much fun I was actually having, and how much I had missed racing. My last race had been the Windham World Cup back in the end of June (which didn't go so well). Yet shortly thereafter I started to notice how tired my legs were, not only from pedaling, but also from having to constantly support my weight off the saddle to clear those roots and rocks. If I sat, my back was taking a pounding from the terrain.<br />
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About 3/4 of the way through, I my pace had slowed down drastically and though my hr was low, my legs and back had not much more to give. I was going to have to grind it out and hope that my pace was just fast enough to keep those I had passed off my wheel. I was now contemplating how freaking old I was, that I was not having that much fun, and how I did not actually miss racing at all!<br />
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I was nearing the end as I could hear the PA system, but was getting caught and passed by riders, one of which was in my age group, and was struggling to find anything to give. I also had had some chain issues earlier on, having dropped it, and when I tried to power up the last short hill, one mile from the finish, my chain snapped! By the time I gathered the chain, figured out how many bend links I had to take out, find my extra link I had stuck at the back of my saddle back, and fumbled around putting the whole think back together, everyone in my class had passed me. I rolled through the finish knowing I was DFL. <br />
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Liz, reminded me after the race when I shared my disappointment with being so slow, that "well what (the hell) do you expect when the last time you raced was in June!" It's a good point, but it still feels pretty demoralizing when it takes so much work and time to build your fitness, but so goddamn little to loose so much of it.<br />
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Quote of the day was from fellow racer, Craig, who commented after the race that he felt like a human pinball!Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-30581818835152764272012-08-31T15:48:00.003-04:002012-10-13T07:39:45.726-04:00New Ride: Lynskey Ridgeline 29er<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I finally got my Lynskey. I ordered it back in January and it arrived at the end of July. Took me a while to build it up, but I have a couple of rides on it now. Some of these pics were from before the bike was actually rideable.<br />
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I ordered the frame, the fork (a SID XX), and XT brakes from Bob at <a href="http://bikerbob.com/">bikerbob.com</a>. His service was really fantastic and his prices were completely unbeatable anywhere else. He is great to communicate w/ through email and will find you anything you need at the best online prices anywhere. Send him an email. You wont' regret it!</div>
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The rest of parts were things I had lying around. An old old XT square taper crank and bb that still work great, XTR 970 shifters and rr derailleur from my 09 Specialized Sworks, Stans Crest wheels (I had ordered from Bob a while ago), an old WTB Rocket V ti railed saddle, a Race Face post I took off of my son's bike (I haven't told him yet; he now has the very short Titec one seen in one of the pics), Syntace F109 stem from the Sworks, and I have to finish adding the Easton Ec70 bars to it. I will also be adding a white carbon water bottle cage from Blackburn, white Esi Chunky grips, a Ritchey WCS carbon post, and finally replacing the saddle w/ my white Specialized seat. I haven't weight it yet since I am not done with it. For the coming year, I am not quite sure what I am going to do w/ the drive train yet. I might go w/ XO, possibly the new XX1 if it's not a bank breaker (yeah right!), or just go w/ a used 970 tripple xtr crank to complete what I have now.</div>
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If I have learned anything from my transition from my 26' Specialized Swork Epic to the 29' Scott Scale, is to not be quick to judge a bike, and to let myself settle into the bike before I form any lasting opinions.<br />
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I did have some first impressions though. Three things were apparent right away with the bike. The steeper head angle meant the bike steered significantly faster, and the front end was also easier to lift over obstacles. The bottom bracket was higher (12.5 vs what I think is 11 on the Scale), evidence by not hitting as many rocks w/ my pedals anymore! But w/ the higher bb, I did not feel like I was perched too high on the bike. I could however tell that it would be much easier to go OTB w/ the Lynskey compared to my Scale. I thankfully have not yet tested this. Another impression I had riding the bike was that it seemed heavier to launch and get up to speed or up the hills than the Scott was. I know the bike was heavier but probably not by a huge amount (maybe two lbs). It didn't seem like it was the weight itself that made it feel "heavy" but rather the frame angles and perhaps the material (my first time w/ Ti). I felt like I needed to ride one gear higher than the Scott. I'll keep on monitoring this as I get the bike fully changed to it's new parts, which should bring closer to the weight of my Scale (@22lbs). A good call on the the bike design is the 27.2 post. Even though I had an aluminum post in there (a set back post), I could feel it flex a bit to absorb the hits the bike was taking through rocks gardens. This really made the bike much more comfortable when keeping my butt planted on the seat when I was getting tired (which happens way too fast lately).<br />
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On a component note, the hype around the Shimano XT brakes is well deserved! Great one finger action brakes with lots of stopping power and not a squeak. I was also nicely impressed w/ the Rockshox SID XX. It's lockout is much more "serious" than that of the Reba. It actually fully locks out the fork, unlike the Reba which always has about an inch of movement in it when locked out. I have to experiment w/ the blow off valve more as it is a little too harsh for me right now fully locked out (I always ride my Reba locked out). The SID is also soo much smother in it's travel than the Reba is. Last component note: I had forgotten how comfortable those damn Wtb saddles were!<br />
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The tell tale sign of any "racer bike" of course is how fast it goes around the woods. I happen to be in area that hosts a great weekly low key mountain bike time trial. It's a really a good course w/ a nice mixture of terrain, starting out w/ some fun swoopy and tight turns through loamy single track, then transitioning into more technical terrain with some good rock gardens. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to pit the Lynskey against the Scott. I races the Lynskey two weeks ago which was my first official mountain bike ride on on it, and raced the Scott the following week. The times were very very close. The Scott ended up being 20 seconds faster (41 min 15 secs vs. 40 min 55 secs) Now I know a number of things other than the bike can explain that 20 seconds. The course conditions were very similar. For example, as I mentioned, it was the first time I ever really rode the bike on dirt (I had a short ride on the road the day before to make sure everything worked). Also obviously, the legs will perform sightly differently from week to week. I'll keep on alternating between the bikes and see if a trend develops though.<br />
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Follow up post on the Lynskey is <a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/10/lynskey-ridgeline-29er-impressions.html" target="_blank">here</a>.Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-79195695713984455332012-08-01T15:57:00.001-04:002013-05-08T15:08:24.005-04:00Riding in France, part deux!<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5426470640060717657#editor/target=post;postID=9198539442139335486;onPublishedMenu=overviewstats;onClosedMenu=overviewstats;postNum=10;src=postname" target="_blank">(Part one is here)</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><u>Ride 4: 53 miles and 16000!!!! feet of climbing</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Col D'Aubisque, Col du Soulor, and Col du Tourmalet. Pretty crazy day of riding and most epic ride I have ever done. We drove to the base of the Aubisque from Biarritz, which took about an hour and 1/2 or so. We started at the base of the Aubisque and the goal was to follow the TDF route, which was coming through soon, to the top of the Tourmalet. We were riding this the day before the "etape du tour" was riding all five cols. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The <b>Aubisque </b>is a gorgeous ride to the top and was easier than I expected. There is quite a bit of climbing and at times it does get steep, but the climb itself is undulating, so 10% grades are followed by quick 4% grades. This allowed for some quick recovery. The scenery is also so amazing that I spend a lot of the time taking it in and being distracted from the "work" of climbing. It's a much "prettier" climb than the Tourmalet. More on that later. The Aubisque also rewarded us an amazing descent. It was fast, it was twisty, it was on ledges, and we were flying past cars going in the same directions. At one point we entered a tunnel that was not lit and turned into complete darkness. You couldn't see the road or the walls or your handle bars. The ceiling was dripping lots of water, so you knew the road was wet, though could not see it. The pitch black lasted only a second,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and then the end of the tunnel became visible and brought in some light. That decent was really a total bike orgasm (or death if you miss a turn)!!! My jaw hurt from smiling too hard.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">We had forgotten about the <b>Col du Soulor</b> but it was not a very difficult climb. Again the descent to the base and the town of <b>Argeles Gazost</b> was a screaming blast. I almost ran into a camper van when cutting a blind hair pin turn. I had to go wider than planned as a result and came very close to edge and ledge of the road. Definitely a HR rising moment! We stopped in Argeles and had a quick lunch w/ my Dad, who was following us by car for support. Then it was time for some real pain! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The <b>Tourmalet</b> is one mean mofo mountain. First we had to climb out of the valley, which isn't very steep but is a steady climb all the way to <b>Luz Saint Sauver</b> and gains easily over a 1000 feet. Once you leave the village of Luz Saint Sauver, the climbing starts in earnest. And I mean earnest! It starts at 7% with 18K to go to the top of the Tourmalet. This is the least steep it gets for many miles. There are no undulating, less steep sections. Quite the contrary because it quickly goes from 7% to 9%. Every Kilometer has a maker that indicates what you are in for, and ticks off the mileage for you (kilometer really). These would take more and more time to show up as the climb went on. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Thankfully, 1/2 way up the climb is 1/2 mile at 5% and this the only respite there is (one I needed desperately), as after that, it goes right back up to 7, 8, 9 % all the way to the top. The last kilometer is a nice 10 %. That is after 18K of non stop climbing! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Going up the Tourmalet was not what I would call fun. The weather had turned really hot and the climb was in the blazing sun all the way to the top. Whereas I had enough energy to really enjoy and take in the scenery on the Aubisque, here I quickly ended up w/ my head down concentrating on the short strip of pavement in front of my tire, praying for the next mile marker to arrive quickly - with them taking longer and longer to arrive of course. W/in the first mile of the climb I was already trying to shift into a higher gear, which sadly I did not have. I had brought a compact on the front, but the smallest I had in rear was a 26. I would have sold my soul to have had one more gear. I did finally get to the top, but it required in the last few miles a lot of screaming and swearing. Onee there, I came very close to throwing the bike over a cliff! I never wanted to see a bike in my life again! I quickly got over my whining when buying a drink at the bar on the top of the col and looking at an original tdf single speed bike a rider used in 1910 to climb the Tourmalet and SEVEN other cols on a 326+ k etape (see pic below). Of course, now I can't wait to do it again!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ride started here and looking up at the climb to come</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">And the climbing starts...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">My brother about 1/2 way up</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Getting Higher; find the water fall!</span></td></tr>
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Markings for the Etape du Tour</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yeah, it's pretty!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not there yet, maybe around the corner?</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nope, more to go...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">NYC reprsenting!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Almost there!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Greeting party at the top of the Aubisque</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aubisque completed, now for a 30km descent! </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Down we go</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Starting the Col du Soulor climb</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">View of the above picture from a Helicopter: don't miss that turn!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><u>Now, THE TOURMALET!</u></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Reads: 18km to go and 7% incline</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Over the 1/2 way point!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Done! and best attempt at smiling!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Actual bike ridden in the TDF and up the Tourmalet!</span></td></tr>
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<b><u> Ride 5: Recovery Ride to the Pas de Roland</u></b><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland" target="_blank">Here is the history around Roland</a>. Great ride again. First rode to the little town of Soulaide and then to Espelette. Espelette is know for it's Spicy Peppers which are dried by hanging on the side of the town's white washed houses. Once we got past the "Pas de Roland", we took what we thought would be a short climb around. This however ended up being far from an easy climb, and ended up being a Cat 2 climb, with some sections at more than 20%. So much for an easy recovery ride. In the reverse direction though, it would have been a 1+ mile climb w/ an avg slope of 24%!!!! My rims were starting to heat up and my brakes to fade by the time we got to the bottom. Next time, maybe I'll try to climb that! This would be the last ride in France for the summer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pas the Roland starts behind the church.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Roland was here!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">And the Climbing starts....</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">We only rode the bottom right of the hill. Next time to the top (an HC I am sure!)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yeah, it got steep!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Going up.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">View of the Valley below and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/07/riding-in-france-part-un-of-deux.html" style="background-color: yellow;" target="_blank">Part 1 is here!</a></div>
Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com3Col du Tourmalet, Pyrénées National Park, 65120 Barèges, France42.9081915 0.1450002000000267842.8151575 -0.016361299999973211 43.001225500000004 0.30636170000002677tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-91985394421393354862012-07-31T11:16:00.002-04:002013-05-08T15:09:55.180-04:00Riding in France, Part un of deux!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bro & I in the rolling hills on the way to the Pyrenees</td></tr>
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I know I still have to post several race reports, especially the Windham World Cup, but sadly my life is such that my time is spend elsewhere (that and my windham performance is nothing to write about!) I will post it eventually though... most likely right about the time when really it's just a distant non important memory (shame the UCI has not renewed their contract for 2013!). <br />
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What I didn't want to let pass is my experience riding in the Pyrenees w/ my brother this summer. It is the best cycling I have ever done. EVER! And that was even though it was on a freaking road bike. The rides there were just absolutely amazing. Someone said that the difference between driving through and riding through an area is that in the first one, you are just a mere observer, while when on the bike, you are part of what you are ridding through. This was so true! <br />
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We were located in Biarritz, a southern French resort town on the Atlantic coast in the Basque region. We would need to pedal out of the city but quickly entered small rural roads that would wind through the countryside and over rolling hills. We headed south each time, because the Pyrenees were in that direction. Every turn and hilltop would show how quickly we were coming to the mountains, and often required a stop to fully absorb the amazing scenery and to try to capture it on our phones. This post will be mostly about those pictures, since pics ...1000 words... Also, though I have posted many on FB, I wanted to have them all together in one post.<br />
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<b><u>Ride 1</u></b><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://app.strava.com/runs/12629779/embed/24ff298ddc3310a401aeeba5f75c2a2135e7f850" width="590"></iframe><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This was a short warm up . No major climbs and just getting the legs used to being on the road bike again. We rode to the base of the Pyrenees but did not go into them. Scenery nothing to scoff at:</span><br />
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<b><u>Ride 2</u></b><br />
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This was quite scenic. We rode into Spain and stopped at a village called Zugarramurdi. They had the Spanish witch trials there. Village was very cute with an old church. Again not much climbing and skirting around the taller climbs. Lots and lots of Spanish riders of every age out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the way to Zugarramurdi. Pyrenees still in the clouds. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous view of the red rooftops and Atlantic Pyrenees.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gui taking in the view w/ Zugarramurdi in the background</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When we got back to Biarritz, had to stop for an xpress and take in the Atlantic Ocean!</td></tr>
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<b><u>Ride 3</u></b><br />
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This is one of my favorite downhills in the whole wide freaking world. You ride up this crappy road to the top of a col on the French side (quite long!), and the moment you cross the border into Spain, the pavement is smooth as glass. The road dips quickly and snakes all the way back down. You can see through most of the hairpin turns so you can really lay off the brakes. Sadly the road was still wet from previous rain w/ some green slime on it. So it was not a full out balls to the wall descent like two years ago when we rode it, but still amazingly fun. At the bottom you find the little sleepy town of Etxalar, which is really postcard quaint. Then you have to climb back out and down the French side, which turns into a pretty hairy experience w/ many blind turns and loose broken pavement.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That is what remains of the French/Spanish border!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7h_ddI-dQEY/UBFvc_bamnI/AAAAAAAAIPg/nm66QOW1H4w/s1600/IMG_3167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="482" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7h_ddI-dQEY/UBFvc_bamnI/AAAAAAAAIPg/nm66QOW1H4w/s640/IMG_3167.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A look into Spain at the top of the Col</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8DE6hgCAYbY/UBFvhOkIUrI/AAAAAAAAIP0/pIFx4CgeayE/s1600/IMG_3169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="492" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8DE6hgCAYbY/UBFvhOkIUrI/AAAAAAAAIP0/pIFx4CgeayE/s640/IMG_3169.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coming into Etxalar</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7SN_Uxgt_-M/UBFvlNDcobI/AAAAAAAAIP8/CwJT-MNdTg0/s1600/IMG_3170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="492" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7SN_Uxgt_-M/UBFvlNDcobI/AAAAAAAAIP8/CwJT-MNdTg0/s640/IMG_3170.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Etxalar church</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2PZjp5RHYRU/UBFvl9l3zdI/AAAAAAAAIQE/76M_mJVDTNQ/s1600/IMG_3171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="482" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2PZjp5RHYRU/UBFvl9l3zdI/AAAAAAAAIQE/76M_mJVDTNQ/s640/IMG_3171.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful village of Etxalar<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><u style="background-color: yellow;"><a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/08/riding-in-france-part-deux.html" target="_blank">Part deux, which includes the Tourmalet, i</a>s here...</u></b></span></div>
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Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-66550073610229199272012-06-15T11:01:00.001-04:002012-06-15T11:21:33.261-04:00Scott Scale Follow up...almost done!Still working on working out the kinks out of the handling of this bike. Part of that is that I am not the greatest handler out there, so in fairness to the bike, it means I am also trying to work out the kinks out of myself. I did definitely have very good connection w/ my 2009 Sworks Epic, where I felt very connected w/ the bike and it felt like an extension of myself. The bike was part of me and I never had to think about the bike itself! This has yet to happen w/ the Scott. Though I have written about how it has some great qualities as a hardtail (feels like a softail, forgiving when screwing up, and damn light), it has never felt like I was in charge of it and quite the opposite actually. Again, this might be due to coming from a life time of riding 26er full susps bikes. My struggles w/ the bike are specifically w/ being able to lift the front end high, "J hop" tall objects, and "railing" the bike through corners. This has forced me to slow down on log crossing or very techy terrain. It has also meant that through turns I have needed to brake much more than I really want. When chasing someone's wheel, a gap always forms coming out of the turn and then I need to make that up.<br />
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So I have been giving those two areas more thought lately! Especially now that racing season has started (and not going so well!) It is obviously important for me to really not waste my momentum and to not have to work the race course twice as hard because I am constantly riding the damn brakes before and through a turn. Then recently I had a conversation w/ a dedicated single speeder, who commented that I should really be riding a single speed in the off season. On a singles speed you cannot afford to waste any forward momentum when you ride that single gear, so it forces you to learn how to push the bike as much as it can take. I doubt my knee would tolerate a single gear all the time, but it certainly got me thinking; and since I have been chasing a couple of single speeders lately, I decided to pay attention to their riding style. The first thing that I noticed, was that (this particular single speeder), rarely sat down. This is of course in stark contrast to my full susp style, which had my ass planted on the saddle all the damn time. So I decided to try emulate the single speed riding style, and whadda you know...<br />
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First thing is that it hurt! Legs were burning burning from pedaling and supporting the weight at the same for extended periods. Even coasting while standing hurt. Yet something else was happening! With the weight shifted towards the front, the bike wasn't looking to go extra wide through the turns and didn't feel vague in the front. The front tire was actually gripping the trail and steering the rest of the bike tightly through. I was riding behind someone who would usually create on a gap on me in the tight turns, yet if I rode standing up, I stayed right on his wheel and felt comfortable and in control through the turns. He even washed out a couple of time, while I was very comfortable in the turns and never touching the brakes. Was it really this simple? Was this the adjustment I needed to make? <br />
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The answer is a simple yes. I have continued to ride like this and now will stand up to weight on the front to get through the turns quickly. This works great when out JRA-ing. The main problem though, is it's very difficult to do during a very twisty race course (Weeping Willow, EFTA comes to mind), as it becomes really tiring and difficult to stay standing up throughout the whole race, as your legs cannot relax and take a quick break.<br />
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I wonder if the front "vagueness" is a 29er trait or due to the slack angle of the Scott headtube (69.5 %). I have a Lynskey Ridgeline on order that should arrive towards the end of July. The HT is a full degree steeper, so I will be really curious to see how different the handling is going to be, and if this remains an issue for me.<br />
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All this being said, I do have to mention that Scott front end has saved my ass more than a couple of times. I have blindly ridden over stuff to discover drops w/ rocks on the other side that I would have eaten a mouthful of dirt if I had been on the my Sworks. The Scott has each time easily cleared the obstacles and kept me out of trouble. <br />
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One thing to mention about this bike as well is that the carbon drop outs are misaligned. This has caused some PIA problems w/ the rear wheel consistently rubbing against the non drive side chainstay. I have had two different wheel sets trued by my lbs and each time I put the rear wheel back, there is less than 2 mm of room on the non drive side chainstay, vs 1 cm on the drive side. This means that if I lean through a turn or if I power the bike up, the wheel will rub that chainstay. When going fast enough through a turn, it will should like a table saw cutting through a 2x4. Pretty unsettling to hear that! I have tried various tapes to try to protect the chainstay w/ out success. I now resort to applying a layer of epoxy where it rubs every week to try to prevent the wheel from cutting all the way through. <br />
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Scott has recently agreed to warranty the frame. It took quite a while and having to send many pictures and my lbs advocating for me to get this done. Of course they are out of replacement frames, so the warranty is mostly "theoretical" at this time. They aren't quite sure when they'll have a replacement frame available.Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-77675587979988048002012-06-11T19:24:00.002-04:002012-06-13T09:39:13.989-04:00Pat's Peak, Root 66 MTB Race SeriesNever had raced Pat's Peak. Some races have always been too far me for a one day drive. Usually anything over a two hour drive each way in one day, is out of my tolerance. Also, I am afraid that a mind numbing two plus hour drive home after a really hard race is going to lead me to just passing out at the wheel. And on the way home from Pat's Peak, there was as little of that: at one point I had the air conditioning blasting, the Killers blaring, and sticking my head out the window! Not cause I was tired but mostly out of boredom!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dxIxx8TrGfQ/T9ZbSYGhGYI/AAAAAAAAINI/8N3lkKzxqDw/s1600/2012+pats+peak+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dxIxx8TrGfQ/T9ZbSYGhGYI/AAAAAAAAINI/8N3lkKzxqDw/s640/2012+pats+peak+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">contemplating life before the start...</td></tr>
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I was initially going to race the 6 hours on Saturday but after taking a little OTB on Thursday, my body signaled it would be a really bad idea to be on the bike for that long. Made the mature decision to listen to it and just race the XC race on Sunday instead. In hind sight, I am glad I did!<br />
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Someone had described the course to me as serious climbing but not very technical. Well 1/2 of that description was right. When I arrived I heard they had added some new sections, and someone who had just finished the cat 2 race described it as a "real mountain bikers course". <br />
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Mike, who had missed his start time had decided to race the cat 1 w/ me. We lined up and it was hot! They changed the course lap requirements from four to three. "Tough course with long lap times" was the reason given. How tough could it be? That unanswered question is why I hate going into races blind!<br />
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The course started right away with a fire road climb (kinda like Mt Snow used to have); went around a pond (like Mt Snow used to have though granted in a different location); crossed the mountain over some slick rooty and rocky tricky single track (kinda like Mt. Snow); dropped back towards the base of the mountain on a crazy fast choppy fire road (Mt Snow...), and then started the climb to the top in earnest (hmmm...Mt. Snow anyone?). There was even a hike a bike section as it got too steep and slick to ride (Mount sn....). The climb was long and twisty and at times technical, and just when you thought it was done, it would go again. It also was quite muddy and slick in certain areas from the water running down the mountain. And the 1/2 of the course description that was missing, was really missing! It was quite technical in some spots. Most of it ride-able, but needing some careful line choosing. Once at the top, there was some fun twisty single track, a couple of fun features, and then it bombed down to the base (just like...). Did I mention the course really reminded me of the old Mt Snow course? And yes...it was tough!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcWCQ81K6t8/T9ZyZBLu-uI/AAAAAAAAINc/trNKbibsv3c/s1600/2012+pats+peak+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcWCQ81K6t8/T9ZyZBLu-uI/AAAAAAAAINc/trNKbibsv3c/s640/2012+pats+peak+3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike on his little wheels before getting lost</td></tr>
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On the first lap, due to the heat, I elected to start somewhat slower than usual. I realized quickly this was a good move as the climbing was going on for much longer than anticipated. I was also a little worried about my shoulder and since I wanted to make sure I did not crash, I elected to walk some of the techy parts of the course on the first lap. My legs also felt pretty heavy during the first lap and I did not feel like I had my normal climbing power. So I didn't push too hard and played it safe for the second lap as well. My goal was to keep my legs fresh-ish for the last lap and then go for it. I had a couple of guys in front I kept w/in reaching distance (though lost some ground when I missed a turn), but did not try to catch up to them. Since I was playing it safe on the downhill, I did again loose significant ground on them once the second lap was done.<br />
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I brought up the pace and intensity on the third lap and soon could see "those" guys in front again and that I was gaining on them. By the time we had reached the top, I had passed two of them w/ a certain "authority" (you know, like when you pass someone in such a way to let them know there is no way they are going to be able to keep your pace or catch back up, so please don't try!) Since I did not want to get caught, I rode all the tricky sections and just let it rip on the downhill section. I knew I had not pushed it hard enough on the climbs as I was still feeling pretty snappy and fresh on the way down. This however did allow to pass two more guys. One guy did manage to pass me back right at the bottom but I was able to pass him again (w/ "authority") on the last little climb before the finish area.<br />
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My placement ended up being pretty dismal (but I had a sh*t load of fun racing it!). I realize in looking at the results that I was racing in last place for the first two laps and am glad I passed three people in my group on that last lap (to finish 8 out of 11, + 3 dnf's). Mike ended up not finishing the race because on his second lap he got off course and ended up in VT somewhere (slight exaggeration!) Since I had no idea how well my legs were going to hold over the three laps, I played it way to safe on the second lap. I ended up not being that tired after the race and today, post race day, I am not even really sore. I think part of my need to play it safe was motivated by having hit the wall way too early and hard at the Weeping Willow race three weeks ago. So I really overcompensated here, and played it way to safe. I do need to need keep on working on developing a good sense of what my overall sustainable maximum effort is. I think I have it down for flat courses but not for hilly courses. And I only have two weeks to figure that out since we line up for the world cup then...<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CkoOrH4vJ0Y/T9ZbpI_URTI/AAAAAAAAINQ/a7VQnE5B_kM/s1600/2012+pats+peak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CkoOrH4vJ0Y/T9ZbpI_URTI/AAAAAAAAINQ/a7VQnE5B_kM/s640/2012+pats+peak.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-6877444816358732102012-05-14T18:47:00.000-04:002012-05-15T12:28:48.305-04:00The Battle at Burlingame, XC MTB Race<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Battle at Burlingame, put on by NBX! New venue and a great one!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--3mUe6NqwDk/T6gKevJHfPI/AAAAAAAAIA0/o3wgfjoAPBs/s1600/photo+(6).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--3mUe6NqwDk/T6gKevJHfPI/AAAAAAAAIA0/o3wgfjoAPBs/s640/photo+(6).JPG" width="640" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It's great to have some mountain bike races in my backyard. Even though it was a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">n hour drive, comparatively speaking to the ones in western Conn, NH, or VT, it felt next door. Anything in RI, as a RI resident, is my backyard. It's one of my favorite thing about RI, anything and everything in the state is less than one hour away. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The other nice thing about a local race is that you get to race guys you normally ride w/ but who don't race because usually the races are just too far. And against those guys</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, this race was also an opportunity to redeem myself from my terrible </span><a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/03/2012-king-of-burlingame.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">King of Burlingame</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Time Trial showing. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qTHhkfv-29Q/T6l9g8wvbqI/AAAAAAAAICg/FrjJuK7Q9ZE/s1600/2012+burlingame+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qTHhkfv-29Q/T6l9g8wvbqI/AAAAAAAAICg/FrjJuK7Q9ZE/s320/2012+burlingame+05.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rich</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d-QoETb4-9k/T6l9hJEbWMI/AAAAAAAAICk/DITOAV6gCvE/s1600/2012+burlingame+060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d-QoETb4-9k/T6l9hJEbWMI/AAAAAAAAICk/DITOAV6gCvE/s320/2012+burlingame+060.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freddie</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Pre-rode the course the day before the race w/ Stacey, which turned out to be a slight mess. It took more than 11 miles to ride the one 5 mile lap, and that included missing 2 miles of the course, which turned out to be the most important/ best section.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Got to the race late... (back to my normal timing!), and got in maybe 10 mins of warm up. It was great to be at the starting line w/ some of the familiar race faces and some of my ridding buddies (i.e: Freddie, Steve, and Rich). I also felt pretty damn fast lining up in the sharp new kits! I wasn't initially sure I was going to try a fast start again, like I had at the </span><a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/massasoit-lung-challenge-race.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Massasoit race</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> last week, but since I did not get to see that experiment through, I decided to go for it. Well, somewhat hard, since I still needed to warm up a bit. The aim was to try to keep Rich in my sight. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wYPSTzBrqs8/T6lRyxvziDI/AAAAAAAAIBk/SiddOBvz8Ts/s1600/2012+burlingame+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wYPSTzBrqs8/T6lRyxvziDI/AAAAAAAAIBk/SiddOBvz8Ts/s640/2012+burlingame+02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan, setting the pace!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The beginning of the course was this odd cut through various open and empty camp sites, around trees, and over a couple of roads. It really required finding the arrows ahead to make sure you did not miss a turn. The course then turned into the bridges section. This was a series of ten or so small wooden bridges w/ ramps up and down, connected by sections of crisscrossing roots. Some of them were wet and muddy and there was one particularly nasty right turn on the roots that got me every time. Unlike the pre ride, when the bridges were wet and slick as hell, they were dry and ridding them was not an issue...unless perhaps you were one of the pro riders who tried to pass a slower rider while on the bridges and ended up in the marsh instead. He said the marsh was surprisingly deep! There was one other section which required careful navigation and aptly and descriptively called the ridge line. It had some larger rocks to go over and some off camber sections that were getting looser w/ each lap. Nothing too difficult though, and easily manageable if you didn't try to force your way through. The trickiest part of this section was that the course then looped back around below the ridge line, tempting you to look at where your competitors were instead of the trail ahead. T</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">he rest of the course was a super fast and really smooth single track that wound its way through the park. The turn were swoopy and bermed and rarely required any touch of the brakes. You just leaned over and railed them. Some courses that lack technical features can get boring but this was fun all the way through all 5 laps.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iXCyL-CppgA/T6lR21WkJVI/AAAAAAAAIBs/JNH_3QmY1zY/s1600/2012+burlingame+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iXCyL-CppgA/T6lR21WkJVI/AAAAAAAAIBs/JNH_3QmY1zY/s320/2012+burlingame+03.jpg" width="211" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cDjQFVJU7RQ/T6lR3clXgwI/AAAAAAAAIB0/fm_Vr_-_F0k/s1600/2012+burlingame+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cDjQFVJU7RQ/T6lR3clXgwI/AAAAAAAAIB0/fm_Vr_-_F0k/s320/2012+burlingame+04.jpg" width="212" /></a> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">First lap went smoothly and I tried to keep my pace pretty high. I did not know if I would be able to keep that pace for the next four laps, but I wanted to make sure I was not turning into carrot for anyone behind me. The second also went well, but I got caught by a rider in my group and he stayed on my wheel for the next lap. We caught and stayed w/ couple of riders from a different age group (Dan and John for example), but eventually passed them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As we started lap 3 and came to the bridge section, I spotted Rich just ahead. Maybe 30 seconds! As we cleared the bridges, I tried to bring up the pace on the double track and going up the first climb, but my rear tire was starting to really rub against the chainstay. "Not again" I thought, "not a repeat of last weeks race!" Even the guy behind me made a comment that something was rubbing pretty badly. I pulled over to remove and reinsert the wheel. I tried to bring it over a bit to the right before tightening the skewer and that worked for the next three miles, but then started getting bad again. Every time I stood up or if I leaned through a turn too much, that tire would sound like a saw cutting through a log, or in this case, my nice thin carbon chainstay. I had to pull over again to re-center the wheel. This held for a while again, and I was able to ride w/out too much rubbing as long as I kept my pedal stroke smooth. I was able to catch back up to the guy who had been trailing me since lap two and passed him on that little climb after the bridge section. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I was not too pleased as I knew there was no way I would be able to catch Rich now (not that I would have had before, but now there was NO chance what so ever!). I had to stop again, but was now getting pretty quick at releasing the skewer, pulling the wheel over the right, and re-tightening. On the ridgeline, I heard Rich yell at me as he was going by below and knew it would take me at least one minute to get to where he was. In questioning if I could catch up to him, I suddenly realized I had no idea what lap I was on. Was this four or was this five?!? Was this my last lap or did I have one more to go?? Since I was riding by myself, there was no one to ask. As I came to the last mile of the lap, I ate two gels, just in case I needed to somehow do another lap. I was very thankful when at the finish line they told me I was done! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I never caught Rich and came 1 min 30 seconds after him. Still finished in third place finish and got a free t-shirt out of it. Hope they repeat this race next year as it was quite fun! And who knows, maybe I'll have a functional bike by then... </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4P9aW4kt2j8/T6lR3u4N3SI/AAAAAAAAIB8/z_H1llSXtLg/s1600/2012+burlingame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4P9aW4kt2j8/T6lR3u4N3SI/AAAAAAAAIB8/z_H1llSXtLg/s640/2012+burlingame.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span></div>Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-32105700742996745162012-05-07T13:18:00.005-04:002012-05-07T14:07:18.597-04:00Massasoit Lung Challenge RaceI dnf'ed! Fhack! What else is there to say. Well I guess I should point out that it was due to a mechanical, not due to lack of legs or lungs. Though that could have happened too eventually but since I only made it around once, was not able to find out. <br />
<br />
I was actually doing well on that first lap and had decided to go out from the start at a higher pace than usual and try to see if I could hang in. I did. I was w/ guys I normally loose at the start and even passing many of them. I was feeling pretty good to. I was a crazy fast pace (comp said I avg 13.4 mph for that 1 lap). But right as the lap was about to get to the start/finish area, my rear wheel spun up a stick that somehow knocked off my Polar cadence sensor (did not realize that until I was home and my cadence sensor was not working anymore. And those damn things are expensive to replace!), and somehow bend my rear wheel so much, it would no longer spin through the chainstays. I took the wheel off and tried to hit it back into a functionally straight wheel but it was still rubbing too much. I finished the end of the lap on foot. Went home quickly, swapped the rear wheel for a straight one, and went for a hill repeat ride. Better than nothing!<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20height='405'%20width='590'%20frameborder='0'%20allowtransparency='true'%20scrolling='no'%20src='http://app.strava.com/runs/7592444/embed/64aaf5ef297e002b5ad5864bdac958bbf3b30233'%3E%3C/iframe" target="_blank"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://app.strava.com/runs/7592444/embed/64aaf5ef297e002b5ad5864bdac958bbf3b30233" width="590">&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/iframe&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Better than nothing I guess! &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;It quite hurt actually!&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;</iframe></a>Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-71622781053044612162012-04-25T12:45:00.001-04:002012-04-25T22:02:36.628-04:00Winding Trails of Mud...I know many Mtb riders/racers who complain about the Winding Trails (WT) race. "Not techy enough", or "you can ride w/ a cross bike", and "it's a roadie course & all the roadies show up". All of these are true, but despite that, I have always liked WT. After most winters, my tech skills are barely out of hibernation and still need lots of stretching, so it's a nice way to start out the season as I can concentrate on just fitness (or lack thereof!). And it is a fitness course! A fast course that you need to pedal all the way around w/ no recovery what so ever. They have over the years worked hard to address some of the above complaints and have done as well as can be, given the terrain that is there. This year was no different. My biggest complaint of WT is that after racing it for ten years, it was getting too repetitive. The race course had basically the same year in year out. So I was glad this year they mixed it up a bit more w/ some 'still new' sections.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-alCr3orOBA8/T5f-hAbLoFI/AAAAAAAAH7o/jLjNfo_rHGE/s1600/2012+wt+stacey+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-alCr3orOBA8/T5f-hAbLoFI/AAAAAAAAH7o/jLjNfo_rHGE/s640/2012+wt+stacey+02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the rain is coming down!</td></tr>
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The real news this year for the Cat 1 race was of course the rain. Hoped for by many, including me, as racing in a sandy dust bowl would just sucks ass! But there is a difference between a little rain and a lot. It started right when we were getting close to the venue, and was drizzling steadily during warm up. Before the race started I decided to take a peek at the weather radar on my phone and it did not look good. So I decided to keep my long sleeve jersey on and my vest for the race since I thought it would be easier to remove it if I overheated, rather than having to put it back on once it started to really rain. Glad I did! I lined up next to racers in their summer bibs/jersey, and thought they were nuts. First lap was indeed a little warmish, but once the rain started to come down in earnest, it became very cold out! I have to give <a href="http://www.vermarc-custom.com.au/tags/vermarc-clothing-belgium/" target="_blank">VERMAC</a> some props here for making a great freaking vest that kept me toasty throughout the race!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VqiupJIHzIE/T5f-ivyJ4sI/AAAAAAAAH7w/pHNd5wqMot8/s1600/2012+WT+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VqiupJIHzIE/T5f-ivyJ4sI/AAAAAAAAH7w/pHNd5wqMot8/s640/2012+WT+me.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Start of lap two...still clean</td></tr>
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I tried to stay out of the rain as long as possible at the start but at some point you have to line up. The worse two times for a race in the rain are: lining up and waiting for the race to start, and at the finish when you have to peal the layers of muddy wet clothes off when it's still pouring and cold out. A little bit more on that later...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-10PyVUU2neU/T5bGEHRvoQI/AAAAAAAAH7A/syFiFHp6C_M/s1600/2012+wt+stacey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-10PyVUU2neU/T5bGEHRvoQI/AAAAAAAAH7A/syFiFHp6C_M/s400/2012+wt+stacey.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacey showing the mud who's boss!</td></tr>
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I lined up at the back cause I am a slow starter and also had not shown great form this year. The race started up a very sandy fire road and it was immediately a mess. A guy almost went down in front of me which seemed like it slowed 1/2 field down but I went wide around them. I did not dare turn around as I didn't want to go down, but again, could have sworn I was mid pack when I took the turn onto the off camber single track. Tires were still rubbing so I could not confirm this. The course was very fast and I focused on trying to stay attached to the two guys in front of me. I got passed by two guys on the next long section of the fire road but positions seemed to settle down once we entered the longer section of single track w/ the stretched climb. <br />
<br />
I had realized on Friday that my saddle had slid ALL the way back in the seatpost rails and that I had been riding it like that for a while. A full 2 1/2 inches back, which also made it 1 inch too high from the BB. It certainly explains why I have been feeling so stretched out on this bike! I moved the seat back to it's original position but it was feeling way too low. To make up for it, I tried to climb by pushing a slow heavy gear while standing and found my legs were willing to give the power I was asking for (WT isn't that steep!), and motored right along holding pace. A gap seemed to have formed w/ riders behind. The first lap was over very quickly, timed at under 26 min, as the course was nice and tacky. <br />
<br />
On lap two, I was still with the same two guys but decided to pass, but could not find the effort to create a significant gap. So I dangled out there as a carrot for the remainder of the lap. Things were starting to get sloppy and I knew I was riding the slick stuff way to conservatively. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4a4P02YTKfA/T5Xi5MQNB2I/AAAAAAAAH6Q/nqPlclV571U/s1600/538819_10150755317247235_738177234_9493070_1064344507_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4a4P02YTKfA/T5Xi5MQNB2I/AAAAAAAAH6Q/nqPlclV571U/s400/538819_10150755317247235_738177234_9493070_1064344507_n.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacey post race: Freezing and tired !</td></tr>
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On the thirds lap, <a href="http://charlieridesabike.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Charlie</a> came by and I grabbed his wheel as long as I could. It certainly made me less cautious and helped me to finally brake the string to the guy who was chasing me. I had created a big enough gap that I could no longer see him. WT is one of those mtb courses where you can actually draft. It's painful though to draft in the mud. At one point it took me a couple of minutes before I could open my left eye again after a big clump went flying in from the wheel I was chasing. I finished lap three riding by myself. Conditions were as soupy as they get by then. The newly cut and soft single track had turned into really slick mud. <br />
<br />
At the beginning of lap 4 Pj caught up and I let him pass. I stayed w/ him as long as I could, but he was too fast. I did catch back up w/ him after he hit the deck pretty hard slipping out on a mud section on the fast fire road. He got up and was fine, but it pointed out how slippery things had gotten. As Pj got away, I did spot someone in distance ahead. This gave me a little boost and finally caught him right 3/4 through the lap, after the paved section. He was someone from my class! I made sure I passed him "authority" to let him know I mean to keep him back. About 1/2 mile from the finish, I caught a wide grin growing on my face. I was smiling ear to ear because I was coming to realization that I was almost done; that this mud fest was almost over, that this pain would soon stop, that I had not wrapped myself around a tree and still had all my teeth (well at least the same amount I started w/)!<br />
<br />
<br />
I never really got a good reading on where I had been in the pack at the start but thought I should place towards the end of the middle of pack. I thought I had defended my position well and had raced smartly by going hard on the fire roads, and riding the slick singletrack safely, and as recovery. I also felt that the legs had been willing to give more than what they had during the previous races this year. Perhaps even a top 10! Sadly, I again sucked big monkey butt and finished beyond the mid pack... Post race data analysis showed my hr pretty high for lap 1 but then dropping off for the rest of the laps. Guess I played it too safe. I need to somehow figure out where the sustainable maximum suffer point is.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VJnJi28G_fA/T5XjD8Mc26I/AAAAAAAAH6Y/J11r7HIAwUc/s1600/575352_10150755438907235_738177234_9493815_545893172_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VJnJi28G_fA/T5XjD8Mc26I/AAAAAAAAH6Y/J11r7HIAwUc/s400/575352_10150755438907235_738177234_9493815_545893172_n.jpg" width="298" /></a>After the race I realized how drenched I was and listening to how cold people had gotten, was glad I played it safe by keeping on my vest. The pictures show how muddy we had all gotten. Changing was going suck!<br />
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As I started to change, I was trying to not drag all that mud into the van so decided to sit on the rear bumper w/ the back open to protect me from the rain. I had gotten almost everything off but was working on peeling off my bib leggings which had clogged zippers at my ankles. I had put on a towel for privacy/modesty while I was fighting w/ the zippers. Suddenly my calf completely cramped up. I sat on the bumper for 5 seconds panicking on what to do but the muscle was tightening so much and the pain was getting intense enough that I knew I had to move to stretch out the calf. Not an easy thing to do w/ your bibs tied around your ankles, mud all around, and a small towel between you and indecent exposure. As I stood up, I, of course tripped on the bibs, making me drop the towel. Also at that point the pain was so intense that the only thing I really cared about was to just stretch my calf muscle. Yup, I was in that parking lot, butt naked, hopping around, screaming, with my bibs around the ankles! Thankfully, a little voice told me to just jump into the van, which I did, and sitting my muddy naked ass on the seat, to stretch my leg. Thankfully again, the heavy rains had kept people from being out in the lot! But just in case: If you see pictures online or my mug shot on the six o clock news, you now know the "real story"!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OdgLr2a8mwg/T5gptZ6kmsI/AAAAAAAAH8A/803JPrYfotE/s1600/2012+wt+mike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OdgLr2a8mwg/T5gptZ6kmsI/AAAAAAAAH8A/803JPrYfotE/s640/2012+wt+mike.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike racing in dry weather!</td></tr>
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<br />Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-12815065919788294372012-04-04T15:52:00.001-04:002012-04-04T15:52:10.419-04:00Junky Legs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AcnN_3XeNKo/T3ylVcvGNLI/AAAAAAAAH1Q/SLR72A2SsAE/s1600/beaujolais.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AcnN_3XeNKo/T3ylVcvGNLI/AAAAAAAAH1Q/SLR72A2SsAE/s1600/beaujolais.jpg" /></a></div>
Plagued by a head/ chest cold, rivers of snot, and junky legs for the past two weeks, I have decided this on/ off riding/training is not working. Well...I have not just decided that, since my riding and racing results have slapped me in the face with it! Trying to ride hard the moment I felt better (about once a week) to then only feel like crap again the next day is just not sustainable. The only "mature" thing (just typing that word hurts) to do, is to scratch everything and start fresh. And the start of a start is of course with a full rest week to try to get better and give the legs a clean slate to start from (I guess there are many "starts" in a start!) Though my training does not call for it, and therefor set me back a little bit in the here and now, it does seem like the logical/mature thing to do and what will benefit me in the long term. So I am going to go home and drink a full bottle of Beaujolais Villages to celebrate yet another "rest week". My Hopbrook race report should be posted soon!Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-83786774043499163652012-04-03T16:06:00.000-04:002012-04-10T12:24:31.602-04:002012 Root 66 Race #1: Hopbrook DamThere are a bunch of rules most good racers follow to prepare for a race. Since I am such a "class act", the only two I can think of right now are: don't change components or mess w/ your bike the day before a race, and have an excuse ready to go if the race doesn't go well. The excuse is not just to give to others, but to justify it to myself if I need to! And I needed a good one after my less than stellar performance at King of Burlingame. <br />
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I did of course mess w/ the bike the night before the race, so really I ended up w/ the last rule, the excuse. My sorry tale was that I had started to feel sick on Thursday and it had progressively gotten worse. By Saturday night, I was feeling like shit! Since it was the first race of the Root 66 series, and I had pre registered already, there was no way I was going to miss it. And as my co-pilot to the race stated: the race should help sweat that right out. But since I am writing about excuses, it's pretty clear where this is going!</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l8tdCdVSSmI/T3tQH_1UHgI/AAAAAAAAH0k/w1rRzmv8CMg/s1600/2012+hopbrook+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l8tdCdVSSmI/T3tQH_1UHgI/AAAAAAAAH0k/w1rRzmv8CMg/s640/2012+hopbrook+02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I need to point out here that we got to the race on time. This should be the only time this year I write that!<br />
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Race was really well attended and though the forecast had been less than stellar, it was dry and not too cold. We lined up at the start and it looked to be close to 30 deep in my age group. Very well attended indeed. I guess there were not a lot of road races, and since the NY series had not started yet, there were lots of NYC SIDs racers, including my brother!</div>
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Here is a good video of the course: <a href="http://www.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/248638-Root-66-1-Hop-Brook-Dam/video/626739-RACE-Hop-Brook-Dam-Root-66-1-2012" target="_blank">click!</a></div>
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I do like the Hopbrook course. It’s not too technical; which is always a
good way to start the season when skills are still a little rusty; but
challenging enough to keep you engaged and paying attention. The main feature was a climb that was punchy
at the start, went on for a little while, and concluded w/ a little kicker to really make you feel it. By itself it was not that bad, but the course also has a couple of other little climbs that put together started to add up! Do four laps, and it started to hurt! There was also a fast and furious 'don’t touch the
brakes fly down the fire road' descend that had some loose rocks which would take your tire out you if
you hit them. This year another descend had been covered w/ large loose
gravel and required some careful navigation.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mvBk_PV0dfk/T3tP2U11leI/AAAAAAAAH0c/M9LRcDhsFdo/s1600/2012+hopbrook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mvBk_PV0dfk/T3tP2U11leI/AAAAAAAAH0c/M9LRcDhsFdo/s640/2012+hopbrook.jpg" width="640" /></a>The start had always been a mess, since the single track arrives
very quickly, and it was no different this year.
Since I was feeling slightly under the weather, and knew I was going to
need a slower warm up, I did not try to fight for position. I hit the single track pretty close to last
place w/ my brother right behind me and since everyone in front tried to pile into a single file, we practically came to stand still waiting for the line to sort itself out. <br />
<br />
I
knew from the warm up that I was going to have a KOB repeat since my legs felt sore, and indeed the
first little hills on the race course proved to be more painful than they should have been. On the big climb, though it hurt, I did
manage to pass a couple of guys, but knew
my pace was pretty damn slow. <br />
<br />
Towards the end of the first lap, Bo and Sean caught up on their single speed and I hung w/ them for a bit. I tried to give them a lead out on the asphalt
and through the start/finish area, but let them pass once we got back into the
single track; then struggled to hang on.
W/ hindsight, I would have done better to just try to stick to their
wheel as long as I could right from the moment they caught me. The second
and third lap went by in a blur and was spend mostly riding by myself. A few single speeders caught and passed me
but I did not see anyone from my class.
No push from the back or no carrot in front! Not that that would have made a difference in
my speed anyways. By the time I hit
the fourth lap, I had no idea how many laps I had completed and it took a while
before another singlespeeder passed and confirmed this was indeed, and
thankfully, the last lap. I just rode the lap out since again there no push/pull for position. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MRc7thL-c1o/T3tQO_tWzTI/AAAAAAAAH0s/aESyjo_IT1s/s1600/2012+hopbrook+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MRc7thL-c1o/T3tQO_tWzTI/AAAAAAAAH0s/aESyjo_IT1s/s640/2012+hopbrook+01.jpg" width="640" /></a>Throughout the race, I never felt great (as in being able to
dig in deep) and my legs again felt weak on the climbs. My legs were once
again my limiting factor. I never felt my flue symptoms throughout the race but knew they were there. This was my second race (kob doesn't really count) on a HT and though it's not been an issue jra-ing, my aging back was screaming bloody murder by 3rd lap, and was missing that squish in the back. Hopefully just growing pains though...<br />
<br />
My placement was of course pretty terrible at 21 out of 30, w/ a time of
1 hour 59 mins. Soon after the race my cold came back on w/ a vengeance, and was fighting it for days to come. Special "thanks" to Adam from Coppola photography for taking the posted pictures here and other fantastic pictures of all the racers! You can see the rest of them here: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/coppolaphotography">https://www.facebook.com/coppolaphotography</a>. Also it was great to pick up Stacey and have a companion in the car. Makes those 2 hrs up and back to the race so much more pleasant (hopefully the feeling was mutual!)<br />
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Onto Farmington...</div>
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</div>Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-22686274637392501672012-03-26T19:05:00.000-04:002012-03-27T09:09:03.860-04:002012 King of Burlingame<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Not a King, just a Serf!</b></div>
<br />
What a freaking way to start the season! Wow did I suck! <br />
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I had pre-ridden the course enough to know what to expect and felt I had a good racing strategy. The new section of the race extended the course by 1 mile and added some demanding punchy climbs and I knew not to go through all my 'matches' right away. Like everyone else, I was a little (a lot!) worried about how the rain had affected the long and multiple wood bridges. During one wet pre ride, I set foot on one, and immediately wiped out. Those things were damn slippery when wet! During the warm up ride, things looked remarkably dry though, and the bridges ended being just fine. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tIuWT010rUg/T3Dzh1AnjJI/AAAAAAAAHu4/8TxZ0cjH6Oc/s1600/kob+2012+charlie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tIuWT010rUg/T3Dzh1AnjJI/AAAAAAAAHu4/8TxZ0cjH6Oc/s640/kob+2012+charlie.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie before passing me.</td></tr>
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There was a little pressure at the start, since Charlie (beat him by 14 secs last year), Steve, and Freddie were staring in that order right behind me. It was my goal to keep them at 30+ seconds behind, and if things went really well, perhaps even take off a couple of seconds off the time split of Rich who was starting 30 seconds ahead of me. <br />
Within the first mile I knew was in big trouble. I could not get my head into it, and was not ridding clean. I was clearing things but it was not smooth, nor effortless. I was banging into things instead of floating over them. Worse was that every time the trail pointed up, even slightly, my legs would feel sore. Normally it's my lungs and heart rate that dictate my pace, but here my legs were just refusing to get going. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HYRUMFV018U/T3Dzsk7xpmI/AAAAAAAAHvA/v-W7_WzqcOA/s1600/kob+2012+steve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HYRUMFV018U/T3Dzsk7xpmI/AAAAAAAAHvA/v-W7_WzqcOA/s640/kob+2012+steve.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve before passing me!</td></tr>
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About a 1/4 mile into the new section, the bike was also not feeling right, and soon enough, on a steep little climb, my drive train completely locked up. I thought I had dropped my chain and that it was stuck. But the chain line looked okay. Even looked under chain rings but things looked fine there too. At this time, Charlie went by! Maybe a stick in the spokes? But nothing there too! Tried to pedal again, but still the bike was locked. It took me a little bit to realize that my rear wheel had fallen about 1/2 inch out of the drop outs. <br />
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(I should point out here that Friday night I brought my bike to Caster's and Freddie was kind enough to work me right in and fix a couple of things. He was the one that put my rear wheel back in at the shop, and was racing a couple of positions behind me...hmm...coincidence? In actuality, he had put the wheel back on and I had asked him to loosen the skewer a bit as it was way to tight for me! Stoopid me!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d-rx9Q1X-Ho/T3Dz1kqYmnI/AAAAAAAAHvI/VFHqUdcKzP8/s1600/kob+2012+fred.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d-rx9Q1X-Ho/T3Dz1kqYmnI/AAAAAAAAHvI/VFHqUdcKzP8/s640/kob+2012+fred.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freddie passed me too!</td></tr>
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I got the wheel back on and double checked the tightness. As I came to the little punchy climbs, my legs had not magically regained their power like I had hoped for and was struggling to make it up any of them. Soon Steve O was behind me and let him pass. I tried to keep his wheel but was just not smooth enough. My hope was to catch back up to him on the fire road climb, but instead just struggled to climb that very easy grade. As I crested the top, Freddie had now about caught up to me. He soon passed me and started to create a gap. As we hit the road section, he was about 100 yards in front so I sprinted to grab his wheel. I expected to blow up doing so, but instead was suddenly feeling good. I passed him and told him to grab my wheel. As we got back onto the trail, I was suddenly felling good. Did I say that already? My legs were complying and my handling skills was back. It felt like I had just come out of dense fog. Since I knew my race was over, I was going to try to give Freddie a wheel but after the first climb, when I turned around he was no longer there. And since my legs were finally feeling like they opened up, I decided to go for it and try to save what ever I could. I cleaned everything w/ out too much problem and felt good until the end. Going up the final straight to the finish line, I even caught a glimpse of Steve before he crossed it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k5ZG3k7_mHg/T3D0AiAi8mI/AAAAAAAAHvQ/XVvbFEe99gs/s1600/kob+2012+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k5ZG3k7_mHg/T3D0AiAi8mI/AAAAAAAAHvQ/XVvbFEe99gs/s640/kob+2012+3.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">on my way to suck ville!</td></tr>
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I have no idea why I struggled so much at the start. The most obvious answer is that I really did not sleep much the night before. Yet I have had some races where I couldn't shut my mind up, and still did okay. My recovery was fine too. Last hard ride was on Tuesday, with easy rides on Thursday and Saturday. The previous weeks could have been the culprit perhaps, as one was spend off the bike being sick, and the next week mostly off again, since we needed to prepare for an open house. Maybe it was also too short of a warm up. I'll have to make sure next year I fart around the parking a lot less before the race and get some nice road miles in right before the start w/ some leg openers. Post race look at my hr showed that my avg was only 185. That is really low for me. Two weeks before I had done a hot lap of this course and my hr avg for the lap had been 192. I can clearly pinpoint my legs being the culprit in this, but I need to figure out why so that I can avoid doing it next week at the Hopbrook race!<br />
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Btw, I have not mentioned my placement or time - cause i don't wanna freaking talk about it!!!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PwkRwFF-ijQ/T3G71KPL68I/AAAAAAAAHvk/tvjhCNOgFnM/s1600/kob+2012+rich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PwkRwFF-ijQ/T3G71KPL68I/AAAAAAAAHvk/tvjhCNOgFnM/s1600/kob+2012+rich.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rich...my rabbit for next year!</td></tr>
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</div>Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-37729871905492555412012-02-16T16:28:00.003-05:002012-02-17T18:20:07.547-05:00Goddamn Bike Path...<br />
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.2541142483241856"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I love that goddamn bike path. I am on it 1000 x a year and I never get tired of it! I love where I live because I have such easy access to it. I am always surprised every time I am on it, how much I like the stupid thing! It’s just a bike path after all, but I can no longer live without it! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yesterday, a mid-February day, called for intervals on the trainer but it was light and warm enough that I got to actually ride outside and go do my usual bike path loop. Not a lot people there this time of year, so I had it mostly to myself. As I turned off for a little mtb dirt detour in Warren, I got passed by a roady on a Cervelo who looked the roady par. When I got back onto the path I could see him in the distance as he was crossing the Bristol line and decided to chase him down. I was gaining on him but very slowly. He entered Cold State Park and rode through it, and I almost caught him, but just then he turned into this private Mansion/residence area off of Coggeshall farm. I had to let him go, since I don't make enough $ to be allowed in that area (the 1%!). He did turn around to assess how much I had gained on him. I was definitely in the red zone chasing him down with my 2.25 big knobbies tires and got a great workout out of it. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t see a lot of true roadies on the bike path that can give me a run for my money, as normally it gets too crowded to be able to ride at high speed. On the mtb, I can always take wide bypass on the grass, which ensures I don't run over little kids and dogs that can suddenly dart out, so it works. On the way back, I d</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">id my little hill repeats and that kicked my ass thoroughly in a good way.</span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If there are no roadies to chase there is always something else going on on that path. One day I ran over a squirrel who got caught in my front wheel. The rotation of the wheel shot him right onto my shoulder, where we exchanged a "wtf" glance for a second before he jumped off. Most of the time though, the scenery around the path is enough to keep me in awe of our world. Riding along the Narragansett Bay and being right on the water just doesn't’ get any better. Not only do I get the scenery, I also get no cars! And I really dislike riding in traffic! Other than it being dangerous, loud, and obnoxious, it also stinks! On the path, on a 30 mile loop, I'll maybe have to deal with traffic for a couple of miles only. I love not having to worry about getting taken down by an SUV who's driver is too busy texting to realize roads are shared by things smaller than their Escalade. I do bare some of the responsibility of that risk though, since I have a tendency to force my way into traffic. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">And did I mention the scenery? Some evenings after work, I'll hop on the bike and try to get a good loop in while racing the sun set. It always beats me, but that's because I let it! There is something so soothing when you pic up your head for just one second in the middle of an interval while barreling through Cold State Park, and take in the sun setting over the bay. For that second, every problem in the world disappears, as you take in the colors, beauty, complexity, and interconnection of the world. And I love the "moodyness" of the water in the Bay. Some days it's grey and angry, some days calm and reflecting the colors of the sky! And always so impenetrable!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yesterdays ride got me thinking a little bit! A very wise and insightful man (yes... me!) once said: The meaning of life is in its narrative! I came to this very “deep and wise” conclusion when I was reading my Narrative Psychotherapy treatment book when I was at Lesley U. The book made it obvious that we are constantly and actively constructing our narratives during our day and that every decision we make forces a direction to our stories. It wasn't a far stretch to realize that if our story define us, it also defines our meaning(s). As we grow older, our story expands and so therefor does our meaning. As we develop families, our story expands through our significant others and children and our meaning once again expands to include things beyond ourselves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So there I am on my bike, pedaling like a maniac, digging in deep since I am cat 1 wanna be mountain biker, trying to catch up to and stick it to a roady! (Lots of self defining meaning in that narrative!) And then it dawns on me how much that bike path adds to my personal narrative. For one, it's a place where I can entertain odd reflections like this. But also, as mentioned above, it's peaceful, calming (even when working hard) and centering; it teaches me to take in the subtleties that can be so easily overlooked and </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">to appreciate the beauty of what is around me</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The slight changes in water in the bay, for example, emphasizes so much the changes in the colors of what surrounds it, which is constantly changing based on the time of the year, time of day, the weather, or even wind direction. It gives me an appreciation and reminder of how much beauty there is in Life. It even helps w/ my definition of humanity in that the people on the path are most often happy to be out and taking in the fresh air, and if you smile at them, 95% will smile back at you, even if you are flying past them. This reinforces my need to believe that most humans, if put in the right environment, are good and kind. So the bike path i</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">s a place that tells me that life is safe and good, and I can include that in my meaning! </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So that goddamn narrow paved straight line, running along side the Narragansett Bay has become an integral part of my life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before I got to go for my ride though, I had to drive my wife to Charlston Memorial Hospital in Fall River for a routine medical procedure. I took the wrong exit and ended up having to drive through various parts of the not so lovely Fall River. Watching some of the residents there started this whole thought on "meaning". Some seemed homeless, while others were just hanging at street corners drinking already and smoking. There was a grayness to them. Their clothing was grey, their skin was grey, the smoke coming off their cigarettes was grey, and their "being" seemed grey. It pointed out how much we are divided, and how different our narratives and our "meanings" can be. I couldn't help but contemplate not just meaning but also value in our narratives, and whether or not I could say that my narrative had more value that someone who had no real family and was just busy trying to survive everyday. Is there such a thing as an objective value? But is that one just a product of our culture? Since I have been talking above about color, maybe the value is in how much color you bring to the world? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, just a random thought... I have to try to spin out my legs...Sadly no outdoor ride tonight due to the impending rain! I have to finish proof reading this but that will need to wait...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-46646618473938468672011-12-27T15:20:00.000-05:002012-01-12T13:52:20.794-05:00Ride x(3+4/3y) = Make up your damn mind alreadyDamn, my mind leans which ever way the wind is blowing... and my opinions change as quickly as the new england weather!<br />
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Took the Scott Scale 29er out yesterday for a little two hour jaunt in Arcadia w/ Freddie and a buddy of his. Pace was easy, very easy! Got to ride the 666 time trial course in the "right" direction at a fair pace though. I think I prefer the "wrong" counter clock wise direction. Arcadia in general is fairly rocky and rooty and the 666 course can get quite technical. Some sections are completely unrideable to me, but I know some of "those guys" can clear it. Impressive really...<br />
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Somehow, I felt really good and at home on Scott. The bike floated easily over rocks and was a pleasure to handle and throw around on the trails. The climbing grip is really amazing. I did endo once but that was my fault.<br />
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So what was so different from the last time I rode the bike and hated it???? <br />
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I think it all boils down to being able to take it easy. If I am not trying to push the bike too hard, I have the time to unweight the front and then the rear, and can then roll through the techy stuff while remaining in control. This would be in contrast to me trying to slam through it at race pace and being bounced all over the place, and eventually off the trail. So the lesson I have to take from this is that my skills on a hardtail need to really increase and the way for me to do that, is to go out and ride technical trails at an easy pace. <br />
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I know that sounds stupid (since it is!) and should be easy to do, but since I tend to ride w/ guys that set a slamming pace and whose tech skills are much more advanced than mine, it is actually very difficult to "take it easy". If I do take it easy, I end up being that guy every one has to stop and wait for. I thought I was done being that guy and don't want to turn back into him! This is also why I am having such a hard time letting go of my full squishy bike. My rear suspension has allowed to me slam ineptly through stuff to keep up.<br />
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So to transition to a hardtail, I need to be able to develop my riding skills, and for that to happen I need to slow down. Guess that is what the off season is for... Maybe I'll have to start riding w/ the slower group... Sitting behind a desk writing this, it's actually doesn't sound like a bad idea for me to go w/ the slower group during the off season. If I can plan it well, I can do the hard rides the day before on my own and then use the group rides rides as my recovery/ skill development rides. Of course, knowing myself, when I show up on at the group rides, my ego is going to push me to go w/ the faster group. We'll see...<br />
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What was also nice about this Monday Am ride, other than riding on Mondays and the perfect sunny 45 degree crisp light and air, was ridding behind Freddie. He rides the same bike (a little nicer version:<a href="http://www.scott-sports.com/us_en/product/11258/63853/221721"> the Scott Pro</a>) and has some good techy skills. He would pic lines I would not have thought of trying on my own but watching him clear it, would motivate me to try as well. <br />
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So for now, I am back to riding the 29er....<br />
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Since it's important to have a picture of some sort, I'll post my new dreamy bike:<br />
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<br />Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426470640060717657.post-84542069579665828472011-12-07T12:13:00.001-05:002012-06-15T11:03:13.439-04:00Ride x+1Some obvious thoughts about the 29er vs 26er:<br />
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I was riding w/ my brother in Cape Cod at the Otis Airforce base. I know the area fairly well. Lots of crisscrossing trails which can be somewhat confusing but they mostly have the same feel: sweepy turns w/ punchy climbs in a well drained pine forest. I was again somewhat struggling w/ my Scott, especially in the turns and in the one rock garden that is present there. Just could not get the center of gravity for the bike quite right. Then, just for fun, I switched bikes w/ my brother who rides a Niner Air 9. We set the bikes up right and took a 3 mile spin. I was and felt noticeably faster on the Niner, and had my brother dropped pretty quickly. The steering was much more crisp and fast and the bike did not feel like the front end wanted to wash and wonder off. Even in the punchy climbs the bike felt like it had more grip and needed to be weighted down less. After the ride, my brother also commented he felt the front end of the Scott felt vague and that the bike had "truck" like feel to it. So my struggles w/ getting used to a 29er might not, obviously in hindsight, be w/ the 29er per say, but rather w/ the slack angle of the Scott at 69% and how the bike is balanced out. I have wondered why Nino Schurter was not racing the scott scale 29er but that is most likely the reason why. It's just not a racy bike!</div>
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I also took my Specialized Epic 26er out for a night ride. It took a couple of miles to get back into the handling of it but it came back pretty quickly. Specialized really nailed the suspension w/ their development of the "brain". It is such a fun bike and I was quickly trying to find the lines over everything instead of around, like I have been on the 29er. I struggled a little w/ the real narrow bars I have on the bike and did wish for some slightly wider bars even at the end of the ride. Also I could certainly feel the loss of traction on the steep uphills and spun out once where I normally make it up w/ the 29er. But overall, the bike felt much more right than the Scott.</div>
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This leaves me w/ a Scott Scale I really want to like, but sadly just don't. So I will have to most likely ebay it! I have been looking at the Air 9 but since my shop doesn't carry it, I 'll have to shell out full retail for it, which is going to hurt! Also I would need to make sure I scoop up a Scandium frame before they are gone: A nice Vana white frame w/ a red Chris King headset and red seat colar, a white Sid XX and white AM xc wheelset...full X.O drive train, white & red marta sl brakes, and ec 70/90 post/stem/handle bars... yum....<br />
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Addendum: This post seems to be the most read post on my Scott Scale experience, so I wanted to post the link to the follow up on the bike:<br />
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<a href="http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/06/scott-scale-follow-upalmost-done.html">http://anothermtbguy.blogspot.com/2012/06/scott-scale-follow-upalmost-done.html</a>
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<br /></div>Sylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08420126828791520368noreply@blogger.com1