The Official Guide to the World between the Wheels

Iceman 2009

Made the trip this past weekend with Bob Myers to Traverse City MI for the 20th Iceman race. Weather turned out in the mid-fifties and the course was dry and fast. They added a few miles to the course between the start and some single track mid way. I actually like the change to the start and always welcome single track. However i did wish for some snow! I think i've raced the Iceman like 5 times and never has it been anything more than cold.

With warm temps and dry ground this race turns out to be fast and favors the roadies. Its a game of cat and mouse the entire way as you try to stick with the group or catch up to the one that dropped you. 17MPH average is a bit high for a mountain bike race in book. Anyway it was enjoyable as always and i really have to thank all the Fisher/Bontrager/Trek folks for their hospitality and support. Especially Bob who drove up with me and then took care of getting me to the race and picking me up. I really appreciate everything he does for me. THANKS BOB.

The race went off and lining up with more than a dozen top Pros has a very humbling feeling. Just who am I to think i can run with these guys...but hey anybody can win if its their day. We took off up the pavement and made the first turn at which time the real guys started to jockey for their placement. I slapped Sam Schultz (Fisher Subaru) on the shoulder and explained that i was going to take his rear wheel for a ride to the finish line. he politely said ok as long as i allowed no one in between! We'll that lasted about 300 yards before he pulled away.

I settled into a pace following another rider but quickly realized that several others were pedaling past and i needed to get around this guy. A quick move and I jumped into a group moving up through the pack before hitting the first bottle neck of singletrack.

From here on out it was a struggle to stay on top of the heart rate and breathing due to the wicked pace by everyone there trying to attack. At least twice i felt my lungs tighten and breathing became very shallow. Lucky for me the pace dropped back and i recovered before having to pull over and deploy the rescue inhaler to ward off a full asthma attack.

the groups thinned out the further we went until i was riding alone for the last mile or so. Finally another in the books! Iceman and a season behind me.

Its been a great year and having wonderful coaches from Eatough Coaching has really helped along with all the support i get from my local Shops and the guys at Fisher. I've won a few really tough races and had several other top finishes so it feels good to end the season with a great race like Iceman and all the fun that comes with it.

stork

Carbon Wheels

So i got my hands on a set of the Bontrager Carbon 29er Wheels. You know the ones you never see and when you ask someone why they don't have them they all say "they'll never stand up to the rocks and roots here in the East"  So i've been rocking these out for a couple months and i must say "I'm saving up for a second pair"

They are for one thing extremely sexy looking but more importantly one must understand that they are a small weight savings over the other wheels but a huge increase in stiffness. Ok maybe not huge but noticeable to me.

Over the long haul of a race the weight saving in a part that is moving will more than likely play a larger factor in your performance than a part that is stationary like a water bottle cage stem seatpost etc.

Well enough, you either understand it or don't. So i've ridden these wheels at a few races already. Chequmegon in WI, Seven Springs 24 hour race in Champion PA and Dillion State Park in Ohio. What i noticed immediatly was the tracking and path my wheels took trough the rough stuff. A normal wheel deflects slightly as it rolls into, over and around rocks or obsticles but the Carbon Wheels did less of this. Almost making it easier it push through something rough on the trail.

Never yet have ihad any problems with the wheels and again like all Bontrager wheels the Tubeless system was actually easier to set up than putting a tube in a wheel. I've been using the wheels continually around my area in the local Parks and still wonder why more guys haven't made the switch.

Stork

A good friend

Here's a picture of me in Philly a few weeks back with Jesse Kelly. He's the guy responsible for my blogsite. Ok maybe not this exact site but Jesse is the guy who set up my original site and then walked me through building and maintaining a site on my own. Thanks Jesse.

october at a glance

Seems like Halloween is one of the biggest holidays with most of my friends. Not really sure why but hey it's fun and it doesn't require driving to six different relatives homes and buying gifts or cards so I suppose i like it myself.

This weekend I have a housewarming partys at a friends and there is another AllyCat race that i'll attend for fun beforehand.

So what have i been doing....well the trek Demo rolled into town last week and we tested out some of the new stuff. If you missed it thats to bad. Been riding but still trying to remove the demons camping out in my sinuses.

A couple of week until Iceman and my season will officially be over. I'm still trying to maintain fitness and speed for it but with each day its getting harder and harder to want to train instead of going out and goofing off with friends on the trail. Thanks to Eatough Coaching otherwise i think i would be doing just that. 

Getting Around

So i've been fighting some sort of sickness for almost 2 weeks weeks now. Riding has been limited but i've been enjoying myself.

Carving pumpkins, city riding and some goofing off on the trails. LAst weekend i went to the bike swap in Trexlertown at the velodrome. It was cool and then i drove into philly to meet up with jesse Kelly (long time friend) where he took Anna-Lena and i into the city by bikepaths. Anaa-Lena and i then rode around town and across the Ben Franklin bridge to New Jersey so we could visit the aquarium. What a fun time! Bikes are awesome and i would have never seen the details or places from a car!

stork

Sept..

I've been doing a few things outside of racing over the past couple of weeks. Labor day weekend found me hitting the 24 hour race at Seven Springs on the Trek of PGH corporate team. I had to pedal out two laps and my second lap was a really fun joy ride with an old friend. What a relaxing time with little pressure. I really enjoyed it. Afterwards I headed to Rockwell and then pedaled 30 miles on the Rails trails to Ohiopyle for an overnighter. It was a new experiance for me camping and hauling all my gear in a trailer. Anna-Lena and i had a really fun time riding there goofing off, cooking and setting up camp. We even tried cooking bacon over a fire on a stick!

Last weekend i made the trek to WI for the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40. Holy CRAP! was it F-A-S-T! 40 miles in just over 2 hours on a mountain bike!!! I finished 25th and around 10mins off of 1st place which is awesome and i'm very pleased with it. I owe two great coaches (Eatough Coaching) for preparing me and getting me into the top 1.5 percent of the finishers! you can find me in the right hand side lower corner (#117- just behind the quad)

I've been playing with some new wheels...the Bontrager XXXlite 29er Carbons to be exact. These things have a lot to offer and so far i'm so pleased that i've been switching up tires on them to use tham as much as possible. They are straight shooters and very noticable in the rock as they're less apt to be pushed around from rim flex like a normal wheelset.

stork

Yeah yeah i'm still here..

last weekend was Dillion Fest in Ohio and i managed to crawl out of bed...make the race and pedal to a victory...somehow. Anyway the course was awesome as i had expected. Timmy Lyons went along but had some navigational problems.

This weekend I'm packing up to camp out at the 24 hour race with a friend while i do duty of 2 laps on a Corporate team before her & I ride to Ohiopyle to camp for sunday night. Kind of a relaxing weekend.

On the bike front...I'm already working on 2 other Presidios for friends....soon all of pittsburgh will be riding the black steel frame and Gary Fisher will have domination over the the urban streets!!!

stork

Rattling Creek Marathon

With all of my training & coaching i was encouraged to do a few longer races this year (i do not particularly like these). So this past weekend had me driving out to Carsonville PA for one of Mike Kuhns classic events. Lets begin by saying his stuff is extremely well run! Pre-reg was easy, packet pick up and drop bags..easy. Food ready when the leaders finished rather than 2 hours later when the last people roll in and some have waited hours to eat. Well marked and great water stop support. This all does not go unnoticed! Great job Mike and all the volunteers!

The Race
So we lined up on an overcast morning and as i prepared for the 50 miles ahead i looked around and saw Chris Beck, Ray Adams, & Brandon Draugelis. All heavy hitters capable of turning some serious screws at an event like this. I've been riding with Brandon and seeing his previous results this year i knew he was on top of his game this year. Adding to that Chris Beck had just finished pulling off a couple of wins over Brandon! Ray...well Ray has always been a threat!

3,2,1 go! Ray pulls out ahead immediately and i follow with Brandon on my wheel. A short distance up the first climb and Brandon passes so i take his wheel. 2 miles into the climb and its clearly Ray, Brandon, Me & Chris. Thats when things changed. We hit a really nasty steep gravel road with 180 degree switchbacks. Brandon took over I followed awhile Chris trailed behind for a little. Ray had dropped off and as Brandon started to pull away Chris came around me giving me a little shove for motivation. I had nothing and watched as he and Brandon pedaled away up the climb and out of sight. Damn, I thought, only 5 miles in and i'm dropped! Steady goes it and i continued to the top.
The course changed almost immediately to single track (very tight in scrub brush). The rocks came out of nowhere and i found a nice groove with the help of the House DJ remixes playing on my mp3. two or three turns into the single track and i came up on Brandon & Chris! Yes thats what i needed!

The next 20 some miles was a change up of "follow the leader" while we all talked a little. The tempo was fast and I was so stoked to be tire for tire with these two guys as we railed through the forest.
Somewhere close to the half way point Chris trails off behind a little...i was thinking he's struggling in the rocks only to find out later it was a flat. Brandon & i continued but i needed to stop at the halfway point for water because i had missed my bottles at the first rest stop! Which clearly was going to destroy me and i knew it. Brandon eased up a little and i reeled him back into sight after my stop. But I was never able to get his tire again. several more miles and it hit....the leg cramps everywhere! Not enough water and now its too late! As i was one leg pedaling a section of road because of the cramps Chris came rolling by looking extremely strong! I then knew i had better do something so i pedaled out the cramps..which continued to return for the rest of the race making it a struggle to simply finish.

Now figuring that the two leaders where putting 10 to 15 mins on me I started to feel like i had better ride my own erace and simply finish with out destroying myself into oblivion. Soon after these thoughts i had the leg cramps under control (not gone-but under control) so i started to get back into a tempo and told muyself i didn't just hammer out 35 miles of racing with two of the top Pros to give it away. Sure i probably couldn't beat them at this moment but i could keep the gap to a respectable amount if i buckle down and get to the finish.

This proved to be true because shortly after i was getting word from the crowd that i was narowing the gap to Brandon & at this time it was close to 30 seconds. Wow i thought but surely i won't manitain that for another 12 miles to the finish. Well somehow i did and rolling across the line 40 some seconds behind Brandon and 2 mins behind Chris was the best race i've had so far!

To top it off these two top notch Pros came over and immediately congratulated me! I owe both them a big thanks for accepting me into there lead group and showing me the kindness of great sportsmanship. Hell 10 mins later Brandon was inviting me out to Blue Knob again to ride (is this so he can leave me up on the mountain??? I'm concerned!)

Anyway it was a really good race from a personal standpoint. I really owe my great coaching from Eatough Coaching for having me so prepared for these events. Sure I cramped up bad but i worked through it and at times had power that i never knew existed in my legs. All smiles...i'm outta here!

*stork

Side Bar

Well I've been busy lately helping with this little bike build. I scored a frame & fork Presidio and  matched up some 10 speed parts i had laying around to it. Then I had Scooter lace up some super sweet wheels and weave some bar tape on the steering. Its finished and ready for a bike camping trip that is soon to happen! 

• Here are some details

49cm Steel Presidio Frame w/carbon fork
105 10 speed drivetrain & shifters
Bontrager Cross Race Cranks 46/39
Thompson Seatpost & Stem
Velocity Deep V rims w/Shimano 105 hubs
Chris King Headset
King Cage Ti water bottle cages
Avid Shorty Canty brakes

The Weave>>>>>>>>>>

Anna-Lena seeing the new bike finished for the first time.

Big bear Ultra 50

Still riding and training....but last week i finished up with the Big Bear Ultra 50 in West Virginia then made my way to Madison Wis. for this years Trek World. There they announce and showcase all the new product and changes coming out for 2010! Theres some real exciting stuff especially with Tires!! I can't wait to tell everyone once they start trickling out!

As for the Big bear...well i fared pretty well. Not being a 50 miler style racer i was looking to just hang in and enjoy the top end training that can only come from racing. There were all the local guys and a few other pretty good technical riders which meant that it was going to be a hard race. Off with the start and Gunnar started yelling at me that the pace was to slow and just as he went to go around me the other guys up front turned a screw and we were off pulling a small gap on the field. Straight into the technical singletrack! I managed to stay up front and rode with one of the best technical rider in West Virginia (Benji Klimas). Eventually we hit a few climbs and Benji need to run them since he was spinning a single speed. I pedaled around and out of sight. In my mind i kept thinking of everything Eatough Coaching had taught me over the past weeks. Steady spinning, steady pace. I tryed to maintain a constant speed and after the first 20 some miles i had a 9.4 something average speed. Looking at this i figured i needed to maintain that for the second half if possible. Forcing myself to go steady and not to over do it and risk bonking or taking a spill from fatigue. Rolling past the 40 mile mark and seeing my average up to over 10 mph i decided to turn it up a little..especially since y legs still felt like they had something. I naiuled the remaining 8 miles and did cause myself to cramp up in the legs a bit. So for a short few hundred yards i had to work out the legs cramps but with success was able to hammer back into it. I rolled across the finish somewhere around 4:18 and in first! How exciting.

I have to say thanks to my Coaching staff who had me tuned in a prepared for something like this. Good coaching is hard to find and i made a great choice in Eatough Coaching for sure!!!!

stork