The Road to Somewhere

[Patrick]

Cool!

I think you are dead-on about going back to Cat 1. Getting in that mix where you aren't off-the-front
would feed those competitive juices - probably in-race, and when training. posting a hard fought
top 10, then top 5....then..

keep rippin'

 

[xc62701]

Saturday was a fun race day, then family time on Sunday for Easter. Thinking back after the race and looking at some times I'm pretty happy with my race time for Saturday. I didn't think I was going that well but looking at times and pr's on segments I should be happy I rode that well on the fatty in the slop. I know I would have been a lot faster on the xc bike. So even though not all things are coming out as planned I'm still riding pretty well. There's always room for improvement but I will take away what I can to help motivate me for more. I'm thinking that I'll do a few more H2H xc races and then get into the endurance category. I have the Mohican 100 and Wilderness 101 looming in the distance and if I don't get my ass in gear soon those will be really painful. At this point I'm not looking for world domination but to have fun on the bike and to put down a respectable time/finish.

I went back to work yesterday after a week off for spring break, and was exhausted. I had plans on getting a recovery ride in and it was more like a recovery ride the couch. With a couple of days off, I feel much better today. I'm planning on hitting the road in the sunshine after work today, then I have a top secret meeting Wednesday followed by a Stephens/Mooch ride, then hopefully a night ride on Thursday with the boys. Friday will be an off day to get some stuff done, then a warmup Saturday and then line up to race on Sunday. I always love mooch and then mooch course so this should be a blast. Bring on the rocks!

 

[xc62701]

Yesterday's ride was pretty good. I went and rode into Flanders and did part of my usual loop. One good sign is that the River Road climb was decent as I kept it consistent and I looked back at my strava times and remember a day where I was trying to go fast up it and was only a couple of seconds faster than yesterdays effort. So some fitness is building. If I did an effort relative to that I should have been much faster on that climb. Then I rolled a bit and tried a new climb to me. The Four Bridges road to climb back to the top of the ridge. Holy balls that road is steep. I saw 25% for a portion of it that I crawled up. It was hard enough to just crawl up it. I can imagine that climb being fun if you know that the hill is there. It's short but steep and I'll get back to there if I need some steep hill repeats.

Today I'm going to roll over to the scout camp to get a prerace lap in of the mooch course. Since it's the same as last year I know it but it's always good to see how much I actually remember. It's fun regardless, but should be extra fun on race day. Moreover I want to see if my fatbike still works after the wet thrashing that I gave it this past weekend. Who knows what I wrecked but it seems to be working ok. The laughable part is that I forgot about my dirty bike clothes in my car since Sunday...lol. The smell tipped me off after the nice warm day yesterday. I had to do a lot of prerinsing but I think I got my kit all clean.

The mooch ride is of course after my super secret meeting beforehand. Not that anyone is interested - well I'm hoping some will be - but I'm looking to bring a MTB race to the area this summer. I won't give out any details since zero has been confirmed yet but the region needs more endurance races and I'm looking to put one out there. I have a lot in the air right now and will post more when I actually have details to give out. It's not going to be an easy event and those that come out will hopefully like rocks.

 

[xc62701]

Wednesday's preride of the mooch course was good. I love that course and thought I knew every rock until the whole course is leaf blown and then you realize how many rocks are there that you never really see. Anyway good stuff! I got a few good effort in and am feeling psyched for the race this weekend. And of course it's supposed to rain on Sunday which will make it more challenging but I love some slippery rocks. So bring it on. I'm off to the bike shop today to get my rig worked out. I need a new chain and a derailleur alignment but outside of that I should be good. I smashed a rock that I saw and thought I would cruise past but no, I smashed the rear derailleur and bent the crap out of the hanger. The doodler seems to be fine as it still shifts ok after I bent it a bit but having a broken chain earlier in the day doesn't settle well with me so I'll get that replaced.

I was planning on doing a night ride last night but my buddy bailed and as I went outside it started to rain so I said f that. Rest is better since I did a couple of hard rides. So I went into the basement and did a nice easy 30 min zwift spin to shake out the legs for the weekend. I'll do a warmup ride on Saturday but then it's all systems go for Sunday.

As for my top secret race meeting, I'll start releasing some details. I can't give too much away yet but if you love north jersey rocks and like riding your bike all day you're going to love this race I have coming up. I need a few more details checked off before I can start actively promoting but August 17th clear your calendars. There will be milder and more brutal options but something long and rocky is coming to North Jersey. Go and race the H2H race this weekend to get a nice snippet of what is to come.

 

[Norm]

August 17th

Oh I see now, the game has changed.

 

[xc62701]

Bike is cleaned, derailleur aligned and ready to rip. Now I know it will pour tomorrow. Let’s hope it all goes well!!!

 

[xc62701]

Gotta love it when you’ve done a bunch of prerace prep and then the night before your race the kids find every excuse in the book to start screaming through the night. Ahhh being a parent. Sorry I have nothing better to do right now than vent and hope to sleep at some point.

Here’s a pic from the good part of today when my daughter was riding unassisted for the first time!

 

[xc62701]

And exactly where I broke the chain Wednesday on the preride is where I broke the chain today. I was sitting in first with a 3 minute lead and boom chain snapped. I struggled with it for 10+ minutes only to chase back on but it was too late. Ara beat me by 3:14. I knew it was worn and hoped it would last but my lack of planning cost me the win today. Live and learn. I still had a blast!

 

[xc62701]

So it seems that these allergies I've been fighting were actually a cold. I know since I woke up this morning coughing my head off and coughing up some nice lung cookies. So I'm going to see how it goes today and tomorrow and actually go to the dr early and try and get this worked out. I don't want to mess around with an important block of racing coming up. I've got Stewart, Keystone, and Mohican all within the next month and I need to be healthy or it'll force me into retirement.

Here's some more pics from the Mooch race. It feels like the camera added an extra 100 pounds, oh no that's just the baby weight that my wife didn't get and I did. I'm still on a misson to work some of that off.

Thanks to Capers for the shots.

 

[xc62701]

I got out for a nice spin in LM today and ran into half the area NICA teams practicing for the weekend. Man there are some good young rippers out there! It was a blast and it’s in great shape. Tomorrow will be a low key ride with the high school club and then Thursday will be a hill repeat day, off day Friday, then some good volume this weekend figuring out the course for our endurance race coming up. More details should be released Monday.

 

[xc62701]

I have been feeling either allergies or a cold so I decided to take some NyQuil last night and get some good sleep. Boy did I. I fell asleep last night so fast I never set my alarm and overslept. I got ready for work in record time and still somehow made it in time. I hate being rushed in the morning. So with that it feels like I already had a workout with the blood pumping. Now I’m in the NyQuil fog and trying to get out of it. It doesn’t help that we have standardized testing this week... ?

I’m hoping to get out and do some hill repeats today. It may be in the rain and I’m prepping for that anyway. I want to get it some just to see how the body is responding. Sunday I’m preparing for more of the same. That should be 3+ hours of rolling in the rain though.

 

[JimN]

I have been feeling either allergies or a cold

I’m hoping to get out and do some hill repeats today. It may be in the rain

 

[xc62701]

Hahaha true. But I’m assuming it’s allergies as it’s just annoying and not worrying me yet. If it does I’ll be smarter. I’ll base it on how I feel. If o do the first couple and it’s not feeling right, I won’t complete the workout. It’ll be my first intervals of the year so I want to at least give it a shot.

 

[xc62701]

I did it. I didn’t go super deep but I had 4 solid climbs. These are all 1/2 mile from my place so it’s good training. Plus the bike wasn’t shifting well so I have to get that checked out. All in all not bad though.

 

[xc62701]

Today I'm debating either going to the shop to get my bikes fixed or to go for a ride. I don't have time for both and I don't know when I'll be able to get to the shop next week so I probably should go today but the urge to ride is too strong. I have another loop I'd like to try in splitrock and that may win in the decision.

 

[rottin']

Today I'm debating either going to the shop to get my bikes fixed or to go for a ride. I don't have time for both and I don't know when I'll be able to get to the shop next week so I probably should go today but the urge to ride is too strong. I have another loop I'd like to try in splitrock and that may win in the decision.

I know what @JimN would say

 

[JimN]

I know what @JimN would say

That's because you've heard the noises that my bike makes

Between riding and not riding, I'd go with riding yo.

 

[MadisonDan]

Today I'm debating either going to the shop to get my bikes fixed or to go for a ride. I don't have time for both and I don't know when I'll be able to get to the shop next week so I probably should go today but the urge to ride is too strong. I have another loop I'd like to try in splitrock and that may win in the decision.

Ride to/from the shop.

 

[xc62701]

Ride to/from the shop.

But that means the bike has to make it to shop - which is questionable and I need to bring two bikes so I strap one on my back?

 

[xc62701]

I think I've worked in when I can go to the shop next week so it looks like today is a ride day! New loop in Wildcat is a go unless the shit hits the fan somewhere.