Jshort’s bike thread
- Thread starter jShort
- Start date
I was reading your post on the laptop, and the urge struck. Who am I to argue?
Question: Thoughts on the correlation above?
Question: Are you racing Ringwood?
Yes. And maybe even that mooch race if I have enough time
StayHydrated
Swedish Chef
I love that webpage. My favorite is the cheese consumption/death by bedsheets one.
That one is legit though.
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
Was the course decent?
No Q and A this week. Work is piling up and if i want to keep buying unnecessary and expensive bike parts, I need to get on it
After Hop Brook I was cooked. Didn’t sleep well because i never sleep well after a race. Started the week off on the wrong foot and kind of snowballed from there. I did some easy recovery rides on Tuesday and then Thursday was the CR ride. Like I posted, Iggy dished out a ton of pain and I was holding on for dear life 45 minutes into the ride.
Side Note - I may rename that thread to Thursday night podium making. We can’t take credit for @Kirt, but we can take the credit for @pooriggy and I think we'll also take credit for Mancuso successfully shaking out his new FS bike which he used to win the endurance category with. He is a beast so I don’t think the ride had the same effect on him as it did everyone else, but he definitely tested the bikes limits on the rocks.
Back to my story, on Saturday I woke up and went for a quick 80 minutes ride to shake out my legs. They felt like concrete mixed with lead. Even at the end of the ride i didn’t feel any better. I was really worried something was going on because of how bad i felt.
The rest of the day was nonstop action including lacrosse practice, a trip to Lehigh valley zoo which was diverted to the Crayola factory, and then a birthday party at my house for my now 4 year old. I had to drag out the deck furniture and hose it off in an hour. Cutting it close. Once my chores were done i treated myself to pizza, chicken parm, and 2 all day IPAs…spread out over a couple of hours. Not the best nutritionally, but i wasn’t about to starve myself like last week because i think that’s why i ran out of energy.
On the positive side, i solved the creaks on my bike. The culprit was a couple of over torqued pivot bolts which after a quick removal, cleaning, grease and drop of Loctite on the threads totally fixed the issue. 100% silence which is music to my ears. The cool part was calling Turner, speaking to Dave Turner, and having him diagnose my issues which i worked on the bike. Pretty unreal tech support.
Onto the race -
I got my pre-race ritual nailed with some super top secret supplements and a snickers bar. Ken special right there...
Got dressed in my car looking at the temp of 39 degrees. WTF. Cold and Windy.
Not much of a warm up because what’s the point. At the line I asked @Santa if he wanted to cuddle and he was actually pretty opened minded about it.
Thanks @Kaleidopete for the start line pic.
Once we start the fire road was a bit of cluster fuck. I was worried someone's pedal was going to end up in spokes. We got through with no issues though. I was in the front group and we stuck together for a pretty long time. I tend to stay near the back of the group and let them jockey for position. Nobody as running away so I didn’t see the point of wasting any energy.
After we got done with the white trail (which is an awesome trail, but i would have been good if I was in front because there was nowhere to pass and i definitely being held up), then we hit the techy climbs. I kept a little distance between me and the guy in front of me because I expect people to fuck up and start walking. Sure enough, I’m in the 5th position and riding behind 4 guys walking their bikes. I probably should have been a little assertive here and yelled at them to get out of the way. Not that they would have, but if any did I may have been able to open a little gap that is until the next fire road climb.
Instead i sat in and watched them gap me on the fireroad climb. I would catch back up in any tech or downhill and then repeat the whole thing again. The entire time @BrianGT3 is a stone’s throw in my rear view mirror waiting for me to crack and pass me by.
At the end of the 1st lap I was sitting in 5th, in a group with 3 and 4. Brian is 10 seconds behind. We stayed together for the most part until the climbs where I started lagging, and then catching up on the downhills. Sounds familiar.
Somewhere around the white trail we picked up @David Taylor and he was mixing it up with the group. He actually got in front on one of the fire road climbs, but then lost his spots somewhere not long after and ended up in front of me. We all passed one other rider somewhere on tech of skyline. 2nd and 3rd were in front of DT, and then me and Brian. I rode DT's wheel for a while and when he bobbled, he begrudgingly let me pass. 2nd and 3rd were out of site for the most part and i had wide open trail in front of me. Unfortunately i was pretty shot. I tried to ride clean and use whatever strength i had left in the 3/4 mile of singletrack. The rocks seemed like they got bigger on the second lap and my arms were wearing out.
I came to a point where i had a comfortable gap and was not catching anyone in front so I just put it in cruise control for the last 2 minutes.
Once i pulled through, DT and Brain rolled right up. And then @pooriggy and @Kirt were right there too. I wasn’t really sure where I finished. All the mentions of positions during the recap were with hindsight knowledge. In the race i really only had guesses of what position I was in. So i asked Kirt to send me a pic of the results because I was bailing... way too cold for hanging out afterwards.
MTBNJ was representing really well. Brian and I need to step up our game and not let the old men dominate the podium pics.
After Hop Brook I was cooked. Didn’t sleep well because i never sleep well after a race. Started the week off on the wrong foot and kind of snowballed from there. I did some easy recovery rides on Tuesday and then Thursday was the CR ride. Like I posted, Iggy dished out a ton of pain and I was holding on for dear life 45 minutes into the ride.
Side Note - I may rename that thread to Thursday night podium making. We can’t take credit for @Kirt, but we can take the credit for @pooriggy and I think we'll also take credit for Mancuso successfully shaking out his new FS bike which he used to win the endurance category with. He is a beast so I don’t think the ride had the same effect on him as it did everyone else, but he definitely tested the bikes limits on the rocks.
Back to my story, on Saturday I woke up and went for a quick 80 minutes ride to shake out my legs. They felt like concrete mixed with lead. Even at the end of the ride i didn’t feel any better. I was really worried something was going on because of how bad i felt.
The rest of the day was nonstop action including lacrosse practice, a trip to Lehigh valley zoo which was diverted to the Crayola factory, and then a birthday party at my house for my now 4 year old. I had to drag out the deck furniture and hose it off in an hour. Cutting it close. Once my chores were done i treated myself to pizza, chicken parm, and 2 all day IPAs…spread out over a couple of hours. Not the best nutritionally, but i wasn’t about to starve myself like last week because i think that’s why i ran out of energy.
On the positive side, i solved the creaks on my bike. The culprit was a couple of over torqued pivot bolts which after a quick removal, cleaning, grease and drop of Loctite on the threads totally fixed the issue. 100% silence which is music to my ears. The cool part was calling Turner, speaking to Dave Turner, and having him diagnose my issues which i worked on the bike. Pretty unreal tech support.
Onto the race -
I got my pre-race ritual nailed with some super top secret supplements and a snickers bar. Ken special right there...
Got dressed in my car looking at the temp of 39 degrees. WTF. Cold and Windy.
Not much of a warm up because what’s the point. At the line I asked @Santa if he wanted to cuddle and he was actually pretty opened minded about it.
Thanks @Kaleidopete for the start line pic.
Once we start the fire road was a bit of cluster fuck. I was worried someone's pedal was going to end up in spokes. We got through with no issues though. I was in the front group and we stuck together for a pretty long time. I tend to stay near the back of the group and let them jockey for position. Nobody as running away so I didn’t see the point of wasting any energy.
After we got done with the white trail (which is an awesome trail, but i would have been good if I was in front because there was nowhere to pass and i definitely being held up), then we hit the techy climbs. I kept a little distance between me and the guy in front of me because I expect people to fuck up and start walking. Sure enough, I’m in the 5th position and riding behind 4 guys walking their bikes. I probably should have been a little assertive here and yelled at them to get out of the way. Not that they would have, but if any did I may have been able to open a little gap that is until the next fire road climb.
Instead i sat in and watched them gap me on the fireroad climb. I would catch back up in any tech or downhill and then repeat the whole thing again. The entire time @BrianGT3 is a stone’s throw in my rear view mirror waiting for me to crack and pass me by.
At the end of the 1st lap I was sitting in 5th, in a group with 3 and 4. Brian is 10 seconds behind. We stayed together for the most part until the climbs where I started lagging, and then catching up on the downhills. Sounds familiar.
Somewhere around the white trail we picked up @David Taylor and he was mixing it up with the group. He actually got in front on one of the fire road climbs, but then lost his spots somewhere not long after and ended up in front of me. We all passed one other rider somewhere on tech of skyline. 2nd and 3rd were in front of DT, and then me and Brian. I rode DT's wheel for a while and when he bobbled, he begrudgingly let me pass. 2nd and 3rd were out of site for the most part and i had wide open trail in front of me. Unfortunately i was pretty shot. I tried to ride clean and use whatever strength i had left in the 3/4 mile of singletrack. The rocks seemed like they got bigger on the second lap and my arms were wearing out.
I came to a point where i had a comfortable gap and was not catching anyone in front so I just put it in cruise control for the last 2 minutes.
Once i pulled through, DT and Brain rolled right up. And then @pooriggy and @Kirt were right there too. I wasn’t really sure where I finished. All the mentions of positions during the recap were with hindsight knowledge. In the race i really only had guesses of what position I was in. So i asked Kirt to send me a pic of the results because I was bailing... way too cold for hanging out afterwards.
MTBNJ was representing really well. Brian and I need to step up our game and not let the old men dominate the podium pics.
Lol, ya. Piotr has been around for a while, but the rest are new. 2nd place guy was at Hop Brook last week.
Plus remember now this category is 15-45....
The google says that the winner was a NICA-racin' Freshman last year...unless his dad has the same name. Possible proof that NICA will save USAC MTB racing?
Look at Jonah Vasquez killing it in pro. He'll be in Lando territory in a couple of years if not less.
I think he probably completely bypass NICA though.
Scooby Snax?
Good raisin. Will be cheering for you at Mooch. I'm recalling 2 years ago when you floated away from me on the climbs.
Pearl
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
ken special = red bull and snickers? I remember that one time @soulchild was hopped up on it and took the holeshot at nittany but then took a dirt nap in the second corner? its a dangerous recipe in the hand of amateurs
YOU HAVE TO RACE WITH 15 YEAR OLDS WTF
FTFY
Honestly though, I dont mind at all. I like the bigger groups. I don't care what age they are.
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
Having been slapped around by a bunch of cat 1 teenagers the last two years, I’ve learned they NEVER will let an old man beat them... And anyone over 25 is considered OLD AF to them... Iggy is ancient
On a positive note... Its great to see them upgrade to Open and dominate... Joe - who won Open yeaterday slapped me around real good last year. At least I got slapped around by a kid that can win in Open... thats how I licked my wounds and be ok with it
On a positive note... Its great to see them upgrade to Open and dominate... Joe - who won Open yeaterday slapped me around real good last year. At least I got slapped around by a kid that can win in Open... thats how I licked my wounds and be ok with it
Haha...I'll never tell. Caffeine is a given though. It's the only supplement that is scientifically proven.
Does it prevent post-race headaches. PM plz.