Well cross hasn't started yet... at least for me. Went out on a 2 hour easy ride on the cross bike a few weeks back before a cross clinic I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately I tweeked my left knee pretty good. I think it was a combination of commuting a fixed gear for a few days, and the q-factor being off on the cross bike. Seriously people, check to make sure you're not an idiot like me and that you don't have a 113 BB in there... piece of junk. Been hitting the ice and advil like it's my job for the last few weeks... and finally today I went out for my first real easy road ride that didn't want to make my cry when I got home. Schwell.
Other goings on... finally got a list set for grad schools I'll be applying for. Somewhat in order of preference: RPI, Cornell, PennState, Virginia Tech, UConn, UCF, Case Western, UDelaware. That's a whole lot of application fees. I'm also saving up for a PowerTap SL. Also throwing down for an extra receiver for the TT bike, so no matter where I go, I'll be dishing out the power. In a months time or so expect to see an influx in the number of graphs that correspond to my base training on this site.
Other than that, normal last semester at school. Trying to land an internship of some sort that will keep me in State College and as a full time student. Trying to find a paid one, but one without money is cool too... keep me insured and racing my bike.
One final item: party at 1105 West Beaver Ave on Saturday. Come on down. Keg of yuenling, some imports, some domestics, and some high school chicks. Rockin'
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
My first MTB race... or was it a cross race?
I skipped out on the XC course this past Saturday, saving the demo bike from further damage. Instead of racing I slept in and iced my knee which was bugging the heck out of me. I was relieved to see a bunch of bruises surface on it though, confirming that it was likely just inflammation that was causing the pain and not anything more serious in the joint. I felt a lot better by Sunday and decided to do the Short Track Cross Country race (STXC).
Now I haven't even raced my cross bike in a cross race yet. I haven't even really taken many turns at speed or done much technical riding at all on it. So this was quite an intro to handling a bike at speed offroad. One turn was about 160 degrees, and thankfully somebody had worn out a New Jersey style jughandle to make the turn easier to take (not necessarily faster). The other dangerous turn was a pretty fast turn covered in gravel. I fell in both of those spots once on the course, and possibly twice at the sharp turn, I don't remember. I made up a lot of ground on the smoother sections of course on the parking lot and along the top of the course though. I felt bad about crashing in front of people, especially Matlin who I would pass a few times and get passed back due to my being on the ground. It all ended up well and dandy though, with Chris Ruhl taking off by himself and lapping almost the whole field, some UMass kid getting 2nd, and myself taking 3rd. Matlin was not far behind in 5th. Good start to my cross season. I think I'll consider this race a cross race without any barriers.
Looking forward to this weekend which should feature my first real cross training. Ry Leech and some other fast dudes are putting on a cross clinic, and I intend to soak up as much cross knowledge as possible.
Now I haven't even raced my cross bike in a cross race yet. I haven't even really taken many turns at speed or done much technical riding at all on it. So this was quite an intro to handling a bike at speed offroad. One turn was about 160 degrees, and thankfully somebody had worn out a New Jersey style jughandle to make the turn easier to take (not necessarily faster). The other dangerous turn was a pretty fast turn covered in gravel. I fell in both of those spots once on the course, and possibly twice at the sharp turn, I don't remember. I made up a lot of ground on the smoother sections of course on the parking lot and along the top of the course though. I felt bad about crashing in front of people, especially Matlin who I would pass a few times and get passed back due to my being on the ground. It all ended up well and dandy though, with Chris Ruhl taking off by himself and lapping almost the whole field, some UMass kid getting 2nd, and myself taking 3rd. Matlin was not far behind in 5th. Good start to my cross season. I think I'll consider this race a cross race without any barriers.
Looking forward to this weekend which should feature my first real cross training. Ry Leech and some other fast dudes are putting on a cross clinic, and I intend to soak up as much cross knowledge as possible.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Mountain Biking is hard.
I went out to Rothrock to test out the XC course today after class on the shop's Epic demo. Full suspension means I'll go fast right? Goddamn mountain biking is hard. First thing I noticed right off is that you need a lot more arm strength than road riding. Pushing and pulling that front end around is a lot more effort than even wacking my bars around in a sprint on the road. I progressively took better lines through obstacles while doing the technical loop on the course. I got to a point where I figured if I were lucky I'd probably be able to ride all the level rock gardens during the race. I handled the steep rocky downhill section a lot better than I thought I would. I just placed my nuts all the way behind the saddle and tried to touch the brakes only when I really needed to, which was most of the time. I did sucessfully hold a front wheelie for what seemed like 10 feet, but I'm sure was closer to 2 feet, over one of the steeper sections. Endoing on that descent would fucking hurt.
Speaking of endoing....I was riding the smooth back section of the course and being a bit lazy taking my lines through things when I pulled my front wheel up onto a large rock thinking I'd just ride over it. Well it was steep as shit on the other side and I quickly found myself flying over my bike. Fucking a. Bust up both of my knees and must have landed oddly on my left hand because it's sore as hell. I noticed later on that my right knee is swollen pretty bad, pretty near to my surgical site... not a good memory. I'm not sure if I'll race tomorrow at this point, I'm sure it'd be fun, but I don't want to push myself if I'm swollen for a race that ultimately doesn't mean much to me.... props to mountain bikers, that shit is hard. I had fun when I took good lines through the gardens, but I really don't see myself consistently going out to Rothrock with the desire to beat the shit out of myself.
Speaking of endoing....I was riding the smooth back section of the course and being a bit lazy taking my lines through things when I pulled my front wheel up onto a large rock thinking I'd just ride over it. Well it was steep as shit on the other side and I quickly found myself flying over my bike. Fucking a. Bust up both of my knees and must have landed oddly on my left hand because it's sore as hell. I noticed later on that my right knee is swollen pretty bad, pretty near to my surgical site... not a good memory. I'm not sure if I'll race tomorrow at this point, I'm sure it'd be fun, but I don't want to push myself if I'm swollen for a race that ultimately doesn't mean much to me.... props to mountain bikers, that shit is hard. I had fun when I took good lines through the gardens, but I really don't see myself consistently going out to Rothrock with the desire to beat the shit out of myself.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Last Bikereg Transaction until March
Andy Munas (notice which way he is eating the bananna), Ben Smith, a WVU rider Geoff Moy and I descended on Waitsfield, VT for the Green Mountain Stage Race.
The first stage was a hillclimb up past our humble abode of a ski lodge, to the top of "App Gap". The 3 race featured such exciting features as a nasty wreck in the fast "neutral" section and yours truly getting dropped from the leaders relatively quickly to end up in 78th. Geoff notched the biggest gain by getting 6th, while Munas was up there in the points as well. Ben featured pretty well in the 4s, somewheres in the teens. The juniors were fast as fuck, and the triathlete chicks who were climbing up the climb were hot.
Second day was a rolling circuit race. I got dropped right off the back on the feedzone climb on the first lap. I worked up into the field after a few miles thanks to the help from my brother's buddy Kyle from ECV. Each sucessive lap I got dropped less than the previous, so I was able to catch back on after the climb on the last lap relatively easily. When I got up to the front, there was a group off the front who was looking to soak up the 100pt finish bouns from the field, and my bitch Andy. So I worked with the guys in the front as much as I could. Did a few turns and the group came back somewhat. On another little riser before the finish I had trouble staying in the group, and it was all I could do to finish with the group at that point. Andy snagged a 10th place for the ever important 1 bonus point to go with the 100 finish points that stemmed from that group getting caught riiiight on the line. Geoff got dropped, as the 70 or so miles seemed to take their toll, but Ben finished up in the points again to keep his spot on GC in his race.
Third day was a nightmarish road race, on a good day. On a bad day it was freeking fun, but painful. We started in 50 degrees and pouring rain. The course featured three climbs, with the last being an absolute beast with pitches up to 24%. I thought I flatted on the flat sections before the first climb, so I stopped and got a front 404. Really I just wanted to be like Munas though, as he had broken a spoke the day before and sported the Zipp then. Motorpacing back to the group is fun, and highly reccomended. So of course on the first climb I got dropped, but descended like a son-of-a-bitch and made it back to the albeit slow moving field before the real fireworks went off. I managed to get up to Munas and Geoff and made sure they didn't need anything. Once again I got dropped on the first hints of uphillness leading up to the final two climbs. I was impressed with my effort anyway though, as I paced myself up the whole last part of the course, slowing picking off everyone I got within sight, and was only passed on the climb by some 40+ finishers who were duking out the finish.
I think I picked up a bug from somewhere on that rainy day though, as I was in absolutely no condition to race the next morning. I literatlly was running to the bathroom every 10 minutes in the morning. So I packed up my stuff and went up to the big city to watch the boys crit race. Ben was feeling allright in his race, but got caught in a crash and possibly fucked up his carbon stays. Geoff had some trouble from the getgo with a bad start and apparent lack of motivation in crits, while Munas stuck it in the group to finish off the day.
Then we drove a quarter way down the eastern seaboard to go to classes. I'm looking forward to collegiate season again...
The first stage was a hillclimb up past our humble abode of a ski lodge, to the top of "App Gap". The 3 race featured such exciting features as a nasty wreck in the fast "neutral" section and yours truly getting dropped from the leaders relatively quickly to end up in 78th. Geoff notched the biggest gain by getting 6th, while Munas was up there in the points as well. Ben featured pretty well in the 4s, somewheres in the teens. The juniors were fast as fuck, and the triathlete chicks who were climbing up the climb were hot.
Second day was a rolling circuit race. I got dropped right off the back on the feedzone climb on the first lap. I worked up into the field after a few miles thanks to the help from my brother's buddy Kyle from ECV. Each sucessive lap I got dropped less than the previous, so I was able to catch back on after the climb on the last lap relatively easily. When I got up to the front, there was a group off the front who was looking to soak up the 100pt finish bouns from the field, and my bitch Andy. So I worked with the guys in the front as much as I could. Did a few turns and the group came back somewhat. On another little riser before the finish I had trouble staying in the group, and it was all I could do to finish with the group at that point. Andy snagged a 10th place for the ever important 1 bonus point to go with the 100 finish points that stemmed from that group getting caught riiiight on the line. Geoff got dropped, as the 70 or so miles seemed to take their toll, but Ben finished up in the points again to keep his spot on GC in his race.
Third day was a nightmarish road race, on a good day. On a bad day it was freeking fun, but painful. We started in 50 degrees and pouring rain. The course featured three climbs, with the last being an absolute beast with pitches up to 24%. I thought I flatted on the flat sections before the first climb, so I stopped and got a front 404. Really I just wanted to be like Munas though, as he had broken a spoke the day before and sported the Zipp then. Motorpacing back to the group is fun, and highly reccomended. So of course on the first climb I got dropped, but descended like a son-of-a-bitch and made it back to the albeit slow moving field before the real fireworks went off. I managed to get up to Munas and Geoff and made sure they didn't need anything. Once again I got dropped on the first hints of uphillness leading up to the final two climbs. I was impressed with my effort anyway though, as I paced myself up the whole last part of the course, slowing picking off everyone I got within sight, and was only passed on the climb by some 40+ finishers who were duking out the finish.
I think I picked up a bug from somewhere on that rainy day though, as I was in absolutely no condition to race the next morning. I literatlly was running to the bathroom every 10 minutes in the morning. So I packed up my stuff and went up to the big city to watch the boys crit race. Ben was feeling allright in his race, but got caught in a crash and possibly fucked up his carbon stays. Geoff had some trouble from the getgo with a bad start and apparent lack of motivation in crits, while Munas stuck it in the group to finish off the day.
Then we drove a quarter way down the eastern seaboard to go to classes. I'm looking forward to collegiate season again...
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