The Road to Somewhere

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Thank goodness my toddler has gotten back to sleeping like normal the past 2 nights. We put a night light and a sound machine in her room and so far so good. Maybe she was just afraid of the dark?

1A29E5DF-6C04-4B94-8610-CDD9F891711C.jpeg
So I’m on day 59 of consecutive riding and still going. I picked up a new road bike and I had my second ride on it tonight. I’m looking forward to a 2+ hour ride tomorrow. So far it’s light, agile, rock solid and super responsive when you put the power down. I also picked up a set of actual road shoes and the Garmin Vector pedals. I haven’t had a set of road shoes in forever so it takes a little getting used to but so far I’m liking it.

I need to get a few more good rides in because soon enough I’ll be back to teaching. I’m looking forward to going back but I have a couple more adventures to take care of before I do. .
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
I made it to day 73 and pulled the plug. 124 hours, 1670 miles, 103,000 feet of climbing. I ended it with the Rocky Point 50 race which I didn’t feel was horrible but I was DFL in my category. Lets just say I wasn't as snappy and energetic as I could have been after 72 days of consecutive riding. It was a good run but time to recover relax and refocus.

It’s been 4 glorious rainy days off the bike and I feel good but am ready to get back on the bike and start thinking about cross. I will be racing next weekend and I want to do some specific drills to help me get ready it really this will be a fun cross season. I will want to do well but I have no high expectations other than to have fun in the mud. First thing to do is setup the cross rigs. They have been doing gravel/road duty and time to get them into CX form. The weight is high, fitness is ok, but the fitness I have has no top end so there’s that. I’m hoping by mid season I may be feeling ok out there but my season is only the NJ CX Cup series and that’s it.

Most of my time lately has been consumed with getting back to work after a summer of not teaching, being a new daddy again, and also getting this new Cyclocross race off the ground. Lucky Charm Cross will be an amazing event but it takes a lot of work to get these things going. In the past I’ve helped out with my previous teams races and it’s been great but now I’m the ringleader and it’s definitely a lot to take on. I’ve got 15 days left til the event and I hope it goes smoothly and people show up!

If you want to check out what I've been working on it’s here: www.bikereg.com/39513
And sign up!
 
Last edited:

thegock

Well-Known Member
How many miles? 24?

Always liked more than 10, but less than 18 for a commute. My 18 is probably your 24. Deserted roads early always a plus.

Edit: also the baby wipe showers were always great.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
How many miles? 24?

Always liked more than 10, but less than 18 for a commute. My 18 is probably your 24. Deserted roads early always a plus.

Edit: also the baby wipe showers were always great.

Yea 24 miles. It took me 1:42 to get in. Not too bad going home I can make a little quicker or longer as it’s less climby.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
In case you’ve been wondering where I went to I’ve been inundated with the Lucky Charm Cyclocross details and putting on this event. It’s been 18 months of planning to pull this off and while I know there were a few things to address I think the overall consensus was that it was a fun event. We wanted to make it stand out and I think we got that across. It was hard. Our team is mostly mountain bikers and that came out in our course design. It’s not supposed to be easy but it was never more evident than racing it myself.

I did some preride laps after setup Friday and it seemed good but in the race day Saturday it really came to life. The slick conditions made it a blast but a lot harder. I know I was fighting “promoter legs”, but damn that was hard, and I wouldn’t change a thing! I’ll be looking forward to doing this again next year with a few tweaks to make this a blast.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Just in case you were curious all of the cobwebs we’re cleared out of Stephens last night by 11 PM. I think I ingested half of them and the rest are still stuck to my kit somewhere. Out of the gate things were not good from the start as my hanger must’ve been bent and it threw my chain immediately into my wheel and got stuck behind my cassette. Thanks to whoever stopped and asked if we were OK, but I eventually got it out and was able to ride. The trails are in great shape I was good to get back at the dirt!
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Its now early November and I'm getting itchy to pull the plug on racing for the year. It's been a long year and although it hasn't been very productive as far as cycling goals, it has been extremely productive on the family side. I've been getting better and better with my priorities and riding just has to lose sometimes. It doesn't help that the cross season has been a mud pit for every event. I've been heading into each one hoping my bike survives with no real prep and hopefully a ride or two beforehand to clear out the legs for race time. I think my strategy has been to see how well I can do with the least amount of effort put in. So far it been decent. I get annoyed knowing I can do so much better but at the same time I have to realize I'm not putting the effort in. I'm more happy with eating(probably a bit too much), drinking good beers, spending quality family time, and working on house projects and having a better life balance. I think back to 2013 which was probably my best season, all I had was cycling in my life. That's great but that's not what it's all about.

I've been sad and upset the past few days as it's the 1st anniversary of losing my great friend. I was talking with my 2 year old daughter and telling her that she keeps me happy even though I may be sad. Then she replied with I love you dude! That made everything instantly better. It's amazing how kids can be insanely annoying sometimes and then absolutely precious the next minute. The good far outweighs the bad.

Anyway as my son is now 5 months and my wife is back to work I'm going to try to work in a more regular riding schedule as things get back to a routine that I haven't has since last year. I'm also not coaching skiing this winter so that should help free up some time to get out and ride and get some fitness for 2019. I've gotta start focusing on food again and cutting some weight for 2019. I know I can it's just a big commitment and sometimes on those rough days it feels good to stuff some crap in my pie hole. But I want to keep my eyes on the races for next year. I'm already thinking I'll probably do the Fat 50 as a nice long training day, then some short track races and then the H2H races. I'd like to do some endurance races as well but that will depend on the fitness. I'm not doing any of the 100's without some big fitness gains. It's just not worth it. I'm also debating if I'll take some time off from racing next summer and focus on cx or maybe race the mtb deeper into the season and forget about cx. I'm not sure. It'll all depend on how the early season goes really.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Yesterday was one of the worst races for me this season. Maybe ever. I had zero motivation and energy out there. Couple that with a course that is all horsepower and no technical it wasn't for me. It didn't help that I've been doing pretty physical work the past few days leading into it, a 4 hour hilly road ride on Thursday and mourning the 1 year anniversary of my good friend made me not want to even get out of bed that day, let alone ride my bike. I was exhausted just getting up and trying to get out the door. The only thing that kept me in it was the fact that I registered, and am still hanging in for the series points, and my buddy that passed would have never given up after he started. I kept that going through my head as I wanted to walk off the course on lap 1 and 2. With that being said I stuck it out and just rode my bike. There was no race in my body that day. I picked up the pace a little just to get the two small climbs over with but that was it. 6 laps of misery. DFL by a mile.

After this I realized that I really need to get my shit in gear. If I want to have a decent 2019 then it starts today. It starts by stopping the excuses and trying to get a better training, life, work, and diet schedule going. Things would have been totally different if I had all this stress and fatigue and was a lot lighter. So I'm going to give this another go and try to get some fitness back. I just wish I wouldn't like to eat so much. I've been teetering on the edge of just saying F it and give up racing to be a dad, get my home projects done, and just ride for fun but that's not me. I'm way too competitive for that and it's a choice that I can't make at this point. I still love to ride, race, and travel and if I backed out then I really wouldn't be happy. Maybe I need to mix things up a bit and try something different. I haven't been happy on the bike but I've been content at home. I just need to be more efficient at being happy with both somehow.

Any way with all the work I got done I did get some projects completed like this chair. My dad was a woodworker and made probably thousands of these over his lifetime. Here's one of my firsts which I need to make some more of to complete a set for my firepit. Nothing is like sitting in these with a nice cold beer and a roaring fire.

adchair.jpg
 

choop

Well-Known Member
Dude it was a ton of fun racing with you this season. Any time you are looking for a pedal, pedal, pedal ride at Allaire, let me know.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Dude it was a ton of fun racing with you this season. Any time you are looking for a pedal, pedal, pedal ride at Allaire, let me know.

Agreed I've had fun chasing you! I'll hopefully be back again next year - hopefully with an earlier timeslot. It's really hard being away from home and my 2 young kids for a bunch of hours to race 45 minutes. That's the tough part.

I will definitely let you know if I'm in the area for an Allaire ride that would be great!
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Since my shitshow at Sussex CX I have been trying a new schedule with the family to help the riding side of things. It's hopefully going to help my motivation and having to ride less at night or on the trainer. Motivation has been spotty this season for one reason or another and it doesn't help when I know I have to go out on a cold night or ride the trainer. I HATE the trainer. I would rather ride outside 120% of the time but with the family that just doesn't happen. Plus the fact that when it's cold it takes damn near 30 minutes to get dressed and undressed on a cold ride, that's just extra time away from all the other things I need to be doing. So sometimes the trainer is the smart choice - although I would rather not. The new schedule didn't really pay off this past week as the snow storm kinda blew the plans but it happens. I ended up doing shoveling intervals and had to shorten rides for one reason or another. The good part is that I'm not stressing about racing any more. I may race a couple more times this season and maybe not. I'll see how I feel and see how the weather is. I have enough races to hopefully land on the CX podium for this season. That's kinda crazy given how crappy I felt for some of the races but it really helps when there is only 5 guys racing each weekend so there's that. I've just been enjoying getting out on the mtb again. This past Sunday I got out with some of the guys from my team and all of the state of NJ at Allaire and we had a blast. It beat the 6+ inches of snow and slop still hanging around my neck of the woods.

Hopefully my next few weeks/months will be good as I just got through the worst part of the year for me. Nov 9th and 19th are the worst days of the year for me. The anniversaries of the passing of my close buddy(1yr) and my father(7yrs) make this a really hard time of the year but I'm past that and feeling better. Couple that with starting to eat smartly again sucks but I'm trying to think ahead to next season and drop some unwanted tons and feel like myself on the bike again. I know I won't have the fitness of 2011-2013 but I would like to be lighter and more energetic. It's been a week so far and I'm seeing some gains in the weight department but not in the power department. I feel like I have no juice on the bike and I know it's partially because my body is in shock of all the lack of food I'm giving it. Don't get my wrong I haven't turned anorexic, but I have been much less yet super clean calories. Empty is the new full - right?

Thinking ahead to next season, I'm not sure as to what I want to do. I'm missing the traveling and destination races. So I'm looking to do a couple and the wife is on board. I'm thinking about the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek in NC, or maybe the Stoopid 50 in VA for an early season race, followed by the Mohican 100 and the Wilderness 101 if I can get my act together. It's gonna take a lot of work to get back to where I'd feel comfortable racing these, but if the past is any indicator, if I want it bad enough I'm going to make it happen. The one thing I want to make sure I don't do it to race just to race. I've done enough at this point that if I know I don't feel well or can't give it a good effort then I'm going to back out. I don't have anything to prove and I still want to have fun on my bike. Beyond that the H2H will be on the radar in either the XC or the Endurance form. Or maybe a combination of both. I don't want to lock myself into a series if I'm not going to fully commit to it and I think I get sucked into it to easily.

Short track is definitely on the list as well. Like I said earlier I gave up coaching ski racing this season so hopefully that will pay off in my riding. That should give me a nice block of time to get my shit in gear for racing in 2019. I really don't like being mediocre at racing. I'm hoping that this offseason can be a good one and get some fitness and happiness back for next season. We'll see.

And here's a pic of more woodworking therapy I did this past weekend. The firepit finally has all the furniture complete. Now I have to debate if I want to start making and selling some of these. I've had requests already.
0377515F-7724-4E78-A1AC-D60B006D6749.jpeg
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
I'm getting the idea that in order to lose weight you have to prep ahead of time, and if not, make choices that involve no taste - that's the hard part. Well that's not entirely true, but I'm trying to like vegetables more - especially as snacks. One hurdle I'm trying to get over is vegetables for lunch time. I've never had an issue with veggies, but I eat them at dinner. My biggest problem is that I eat lunch at 1 pm and dinner at 7pm typically. That leaves room for a whole meal inside that time window - which when I am not eating well, I take full advantage of. Lately I've been using some of my wife's tricks(who eats like a bird). It's helping but I can't help but feel bad for her. It seems like she never really enjoys anything she eats. But I guess she eats with a purpose rather than for enjoyment. That sucks but I get it. For me it's just trying to be consistent that is key. I can be REALLY strict, and then boom I'm back to eating fast food the next day. It's annoying as I really enjoy food but it's getting me to a bad place that I need to dig out of. Baby steps.
 

thegock

Well-Known Member
I'm getting the idea that in order to lose weight you have to prep ahead of time, and if not, make choices that involve no taste - that's the hard part. boom I'm back to eating fast food the next day. .


This makes me want to go to Taco Bell to supplement the sauteed tacos scallops in the lunchroom.

Noticed the Taco Bell has already won the "Fast food war of 2021" in my mind.
 
Last edited:

xc62701

Well-Known Member
This makes me want to go to Taco Bell to supplement the sauteed tacos in the lunchroom.

Nice! I'd like to as well. I haven't had fast food in 11 days and I need my fill of crap with a side of pizza. I'm sure I'll have some here or there but I was having it probably every other day. That's not good for the waistline...
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
It’s been 15 days now and I’m still doing well eating. I want to eat badly but I’m eating with a purpose at the moment. Thanksgiving wasn’t bad but a trip to Boston let me enjoying a couple of nice meals that I wouldn’t have enjoyed otherwise. The workouts are still going well and I felt really good. The weight is coming off little by little but I’m hoping to keep progressing as the 2019 season will be here sooner rather than later.

As I was up in Boston, I did get to check out some new trails. On the way up I rode Vietnam trails and while I was in Boston I rode Landlocked Forest. Vietnam was fun and super rocky. The rock options/rollers were great and I’d love to go back with more time and my full suspension. Landlocked was more flowy and fun and it was needed as I tweaked my derailleur at Vietnam and didn’t want to stress the hanger more on some really rocky stuff. Good trails all over!
64F29FC6-A68F-4F0E-9508-8219C4A6EC87.jpeg

Vietnam
 
Last edited:

xc62701

Well-Known Member
I have a "slight" urge to try and race this Sunday at the Westwood race in Wawayanda but once again the forecast has me saying no. I know the course will still be fun and I know some of my teammates will be going there to race but I have raced a bunch this season and I don't know if I want to pin a number on just one more time for the hell of it. It's probably going to be muddy, and it may still be raining. Warm rain, but still raining. I'm thinking of opting for a longer more enjoyable day on the road bike actually. That's sounds like a much better plan then wasting half a day for a 45 minute ride. I really wish this Seattle weather would back off a bit so the trails could get more use, but at this rate it might be middle to end of next week before I can get back in the woods.

Either way I am planning an early season ski trip to Killington next weekend. I usually go up with the ski team from the high school as I have coached the past 6 seasons. This year I've backed away from coaching but I still want to go to Killington. It's usually a blast. So I'm going to go and be a helper and then break away off the mountain and go explore. I am actually considering bringing my MTB up with me to hit some trails on the way back if that's a possibility. Since I went to Boston last weekend I'd like to explore some more MA trails on the western side as well. So I will see if that can work.

Just a touch over 5 weeks until the Fat 50. I'm still not sure if I will do that event or not. As much as I like it I don't see spending $65 on trails I can ride anyway since it's not a race. I really wish they would bring this back in a race format. Then I'd be in for sure.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
The healthy eating thing has been working. 19 days with no pizza, burgers, soda, etc... I've been resisting cravings and so far so good. I'm having more healthy snacks and really trying to eat only when I'm hungry. This has worked for me in the past and it just takes commitment and willpower - and no M&M's in the house... I do have some kind of sweet treat most nights as it helps give a nice reward for being good the rest of the day but it's something small like an italian ice or piece of dark chocolate. At this point it's gotten me from 199 to 187. The goal is to get back to 170 which I rode well at two years ago. Hell I raced at 157 back in 2011-2013 but I don't think I'll ever see that again as I just don't have the life I had back then where I had no responsibilities and could train a lot. For now it's some progress. I'm hoping to keep this up as I'm starting to feel better on the bike as well, that is when I can get outside and out of my basement.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Of course after this weekend, which I didn't eat badly at all - I just had more calories then I usually do I went back to 192. That's so irritating. So I got back on the clean regiment and I'm back down to 189 today. That's just so irritating to me as I didn't even come close to consuming 5 pounds of food this weekend. I think your body grabs onto some food and just won't let it go sometimes. Especially when I'm eating super clean. That or my body is mentally trying to tell me to give up and go get a hamburger and a coke.

At this point it is 22 days in and I'm not craving the bad stuff like I thought I would. Seltzer is keeping my soda urge at bay and the big helper is snacking after work so I don't grab a full meal after work. I feel like I have to consciously do this each day but I am seeing results. I usually grab a Larabar or some carrots to much on after work and it fills that need to chew and gives me something for my stomach to digest without it being 1000 calories.

On the riding side things have been good but my wife has been out of town a lot on business which leaves me taking care of the kids before and after work. While I love it, it's exhausting and it's really hard for me to get in a good workout or any at all on those days. I've been trying to workout right after work and before I get the kids to help get it over with before I'm too exhausted. Case in point, my 2 year old decided to start screaming for no reason at 12:30 last night which of course woke up my 6 month old and I was up til after 2 trying to settle them down and get them back to sleep. At which then I couldn't get to sleep so I started to buy stuff on amazon. At least now I'll have a quality ear cover and nice base layer as a result of my kids being a total pain in the ass...
 
Top Bottom