Kush's semi-training thread
- Thread starter kush
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1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Yeah, nice work! Eight out of 25 in that field is badass. Those guys know how to move!
I was out there with you. Did SS Enduro and got four laps in (quite a bit more than) 7 hours. Actually 7:40, but part of that is because my last lap was a mountainbike tour. I had stopped twice during the race -- once to help a guy who needed to fix a tire, and once to see if there was anything I could do to fix my bottom bracket when it suddenly started to loosen up. (In actuality, on that second one I knew there was nothing I could before I stopped -- I just wanted an excuse to stop moving for a while! 😀) But I knew I still had a chance at 4 laps even with the stops, so once I came through the start/finish in around 5:35 or so, I decided to just enjoy the last go-round. I had just started up the road toward my feed zone when Jeff Schalk came by like his ass was on fire. I don't think he's human. Then about six or so minutes later, Brandon came by riding like a machine. After that, I spent the rest of the race getting out of the elite riders' way. But I totally didn't care. I was just happy to have made the right decisions all day -- right gear (20T), right pace early (slower than I wanted but I was still feeling good at the end) and I ate and drank correctly (this wasn't the case last week at Granogue!) Good enough for sixth in the SS class. I'll take that any day at French Creek!
I was out there with you. Did SS Enduro and got four laps in (quite a bit more than) 7 hours. Actually 7:40, but part of that is because my last lap was a mountainbike tour. I had stopped twice during the race -- once to help a guy who needed to fix a tire, and once to see if there was anything I could do to fix my bottom bracket when it suddenly started to loosen up. (In actuality, on that second one I knew there was nothing I could before I stopped -- I just wanted an excuse to stop moving for a while! 😀) But I knew I still had a chance at 4 laps even with the stops, so once I came through the start/finish in around 5:35 or so, I decided to just enjoy the last go-round. I had just started up the road toward my feed zone when Jeff Schalk came by like his ass was on fire. I don't think he's human. Then about six or so minutes later, Brandon came by riding like a machine. After that, I spent the rest of the race getting out of the elite riders' way. But I totally didn't care. I was just happy to have made the right decisions all day -- right gear (20T), right pace early (slower than I wanted but I was still feeling good at the end) and I ate and drank correctly (this wasn't the case last week at Granogue!) Good enough for sixth in the SS class. I'll take that any day at French Creek!
THATmanMANNY
Well-Known Member
Ilyaness! Where are these trails exactly? More gnar than sourlands :hmmm: Pics of terrain?
A full susser will help with the bone jarring oldness ya know 😀
A full susser will help with the bone jarring oldness ya know 😀
kush
Active Member
There were a ton of carbon full suspension fatbikes. GF 100s everywhere. Bling city. It would have been nice. But I'm just not that into it right now.
There were a lot of hikers or whatever they were. But absolutely no hot girls. I think shortly thereafter I started hallucinating. These are random memories.
1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
French Creek would never allow any race to completely shut down the trails from other users -- the park itself is marketed as a "family fun" place. They have a public pool and a lake access (in fact that area is where the race used to start and finish.) We passed by the lake itself about 8 or 9 miles into the lap.
I had no problems with any of the people I encountered, though there were a lot of them. Apparently, there was some kind of a geocache thing going on out there Saturday. One thing I did think of later, though -- I passed a whole lot of hikers all together at one point on my last lap. They were pretty far out in the woods and it started to cloud up about a half hour after I finished. I wonder if they got caught in that rain. :hmmm:
kush
Active Member
Oh shit moment of the week.
Tue:
Me: I don't feel like riding fatbikes. I went out and just spun easy for an hour, and that was kind of meh. I had Sprints planned, but I bailed on that plan.
WIFE: Why aren't you taking a rest week this week??
Me: Huh. Let me look. Oh ok, last 3 weeks: 11hrs, 12hrs, and 15hrs capped with FC with TSS of 500. DOH.
That stuff creeps up on you! I was finishing up one 8 week stage, and starting another, with a short travel week in between, so I didn't have the last 2 weeks planned at all. On the travel week I managed to do 12 hours...
Tue:
Me: I don't feel like riding fatbikes. I went out and just spun easy for an hour, and that was kind of meh. I had Sprints planned, but I bailed on that plan.
WIFE: Why aren't you taking a rest week this week??
Me: Huh. Let me look. Oh ok, last 3 weeks: 11hrs, 12hrs, and 15hrs capped with FC with TSS of 500. DOH.
That stuff creeps up on you! I was finishing up one 8 week stage, and starting another, with a short travel week in between, so I didn't have the last 2 weeks planned at all. On the travel week I managed to do 12 hours...
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kush
Active Member
I feel compelled to update.
My race season has been hit and miss since SSAP and Battenkill. Mostly miss. Not as depressing as Norm's return to his office-spacedness, but still depressing.
Let's see
- May; French Creek 50 Open Endurance - 7 hour marathon, 8th place out of 30 or something. Not bad, just painful.
- May; Oxford Road Race, Cat 3/4, 53 hilly miles. 33rd/58 starters. Not bad, but got dropped towards the end.
- June; Watermelon Crit in Pway, Cat 4: Crashed into people who crashed in front of me, DNF. Raced 35+ after that, back of pack finish.
- June; Hills of Hunterdon; 35+ stacked incl Aspholm, Maurice, Goret. Dropped on 3rd lap of 4. Not sure of the finish, they screwed up the results.
- June; Riverton Crit; Cat 4; Crashed really hard going 29mph at a 90degree left-hander. Lost lots of skin, broke carbon fatbike. Got newer carbon fatbike as silver lining.
- July; Fair Hill Classic; Endurance Men; 50 miles, 2 laps. Blew up derailleur at mile 40. Walked the rest of the way with shortcuts. Was in 14th place at the time with a 2:24 first lap. Was somehow still marked as finishing in 37th/80 even though I asked for DNF at the finish.
- July 17th: KVSP. My CTL is 92, and it doesn't go above 95; so I have no aspirations, this was a regular training week, and this is a C-priority training race.
I see Ted H at the Rwanda booth, chat for a while. We figure out even more stuff we have in common.
Warmup with team homies, Utah and Kirt are looking super smooth, they know the place, give me lots of advice about avoiding sharp rocks and stuff.
We go off, and as usual, I push hard at the beginning, like hang in at 5th place for first lap, and some of 2nd. Speed in first lap is 12.1mph. Second lap 11.2mph. Starting to slow down, but I'm still in 8th place by mid-3rd lap. Feeling good enough, handling the fatbike really well (for me); just fading a bit.
Then, Iggy passed me flying around mile 5 on 3rd lap. I can't hang with that as I'm a bit tired, so I just cruise towards the finish. One more passes me.
Mile 6.5, I get a flat, but a bit of air left where it isn't on the rim completely. I won't stop as I figure I can make it to the finish. Bad idea as I should've just given it some C02: 3 guys pass me in that last mile, including 2 right at the finish line cause I can't sprint full out.
Whatever, 13th place, call it really 10th. At least I finished this one 🙄
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/99907333.
Right after KVSP I rush home as I promised to take kids to 6 mile on the CX fatbike. Disaster.
First, I flat and I never bring a tube to kids rides, just C02, which wasnt' good enough. So we crawl back at 3mph.
Then, Nick, the older one, decides to lollygag and hits a tree, fall right on his handlebar end. He's wailing, and say he can't breathe.
I'm freaking out, take off his helmet, unzip jersey, he's got a bruise on his ribcage. I'm hoping its not a broken rib or something. Slowly he comes around. He walks a while, then jumps on his fatbike, and he's fine. Holy crap.
My race season has been hit and miss since SSAP and Battenkill. Mostly miss. Not as depressing as Norm's return to his office-spacedness, but still depressing.
Let's see
- May; French Creek 50 Open Endurance - 7 hour marathon, 8th place out of 30 or something. Not bad, just painful.
- May; Oxford Road Race, Cat 3/4, 53 hilly miles. 33rd/58 starters. Not bad, but got dropped towards the end.
- June; Watermelon Crit in Pway, Cat 4: Crashed into people who crashed in front of me, DNF. Raced 35+ after that, back of pack finish.
- June; Hills of Hunterdon; 35+ stacked incl Aspholm, Maurice, Goret. Dropped on 3rd lap of 4. Not sure of the finish, they screwed up the results.
- June; Riverton Crit; Cat 4; Crashed really hard going 29mph at a 90degree left-hander. Lost lots of skin, broke carbon fatbike. Got newer carbon fatbike as silver lining.
- July; Fair Hill Classic; Endurance Men; 50 miles, 2 laps. Blew up derailleur at mile 40. Walked the rest of the way with shortcuts. Was in 14th place at the time with a 2:24 first lap. Was somehow still marked as finishing in 37th/80 even though I asked for DNF at the finish.
- July 17th: KVSP. My CTL is 92, and it doesn't go above 95; so I have no aspirations, this was a regular training week, and this is a C-priority training race.
I see Ted H at the Rwanda booth, chat for a while. We figure out even more stuff we have in common.
Warmup with team homies, Utah and Kirt are looking super smooth, they know the place, give me lots of advice about avoiding sharp rocks and stuff.
We go off, and as usual, I push hard at the beginning, like hang in at 5th place for first lap, and some of 2nd. Speed in first lap is 12.1mph. Second lap 11.2mph. Starting to slow down, but I'm still in 8th place by mid-3rd lap. Feeling good enough, handling the fatbike really well (for me); just fading a bit.
Then, Iggy passed me flying around mile 5 on 3rd lap. I can't hang with that as I'm a bit tired, so I just cruise towards the finish. One more passes me.
Mile 6.5, I get a flat, but a bit of air left where it isn't on the rim completely. I won't stop as I figure I can make it to the finish. Bad idea as I should've just given it some C02: 3 guys pass me in that last mile, including 2 right at the finish line cause I can't sprint full out.
Whatever, 13th place, call it really 10th. At least I finished this one 🙄
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/99907333.
Right after KVSP I rush home as I promised to take kids to 6 mile on the CX fatbike. Disaster.
First, I flat and I never bring a tube to kids rides, just C02, which wasnt' good enough. So we crawl back at 3mph.
Then, Nick, the older one, decides to lollygag and hits a tree, fall right on his handlebar end. He's wailing, and say he can't breathe.
I'm freaking out, take off his helmet, unzip jersey, he's got a bruise on his ribcage. I'm hoping its not a broken rib or something. Slowly he comes around. He walks a while, then jumps on his fatbike, and he's fine. Holy crap.
It's tough getting to that next level in cycling. I'm in the same boat as you, did well in Cat 2 but getting a podium in Cat 1 is waaaaaayyyy harder. I guess the same can be said for Cat 4/5's going to Cat 3...the competition is exponentially greater. For me these days its small victories, like finishing closer to John Kuhn.
I say do the races you enjoy doing, this way a midpack finish is still fun.
And hey there is always another race to get you to forget about the last one.
Finally forget about the miss and remember the ones that were a hit.
I say fuck it and let's open up a tiki torch bar in Key West.
I'd say normal ups and downs. The crash recap made me cringe again. I think you're bound to have some flat-lining based on your volume. Get some serious rest in there, but keep at it, and I think you'll creep up slowly but surely.
I'd say normal ups and downs. The crash recap made me cringe again. I think you're bound to have some flat-lining based on your volume. Get some serious rest in there, but keep at it, and I think you'll creep up slowly but surely.
oh, i see. you REALLY want to torture yourself b/c riding a fatbike isn't enough. got it. go ahead, open that tiki bar. in key west.
and i feel your pain kush. although not in the i keep destroying myself in races type way, but in the i still can't get my fat foot into a shoe comfortably after nearly six months kinda way.
wah.
I just googled Tour of Catskills...wow that's big.
That looks like a great peak event.
It looks tuff having the DH40 the week before, I'd think you'd want a nice taper before ToC.
In anycase it would be a blast to do this with you one day. What Cat you in? Did you do ToC last yr.
That looks like a great peak event.
It looks tuff having the DH40 the week before, I'd think you'd want a nice taper before ToC.
In anycase it would be a blast to do this with you one day. What Cat you in? Did you do ToC last yr.
That was a really fast lap 1 dude. I tried that pace (12.1) and exploded massively. I know that Dave and Jason (1st and 3rd place) are REALLY fast guys and they usually make up the 1 to 2 min headstart I get in 20-30min....then blow by me at mach 10. Sux about the tire, but nice job otherwise on a stupid hot day.
kush
Active Member
I like Tiki torches and I like alcohol. So that works.
I haven't done the ToC, or any stage race. Doing Cat 4. I did similar taper into bkill and ssap, and that was fine i think. I need to beg, borrow or steal a TT fatbike and pointy helmet now.
Utah, sorry about the implosion.
So now I'm itching to race on the road with my carbon fatbike. So since I'm WFH today I'm going to hit the Cycles 54 crit in Lakewood. I think I'll just go from the bell and see if I can hold out for 45 mins. TWNWD.
I haven't done the ToC, or any stage race. Doing Cat 4. I did similar taper into bkill and ssap, and that was fine i think. I need to beg, borrow or steal a TT fatbike and pointy helmet now.
Utah, sorry about the implosion.
So now I'm itching to race on the road with my carbon fatbike. So since I'm WFH today I'm going to hit the Cycles 54 crit in Lakewood. I think I'll just go from the bell and see if I can hold out for 45 mins. TWNWD.
There was a guy in C3 that lit up a 35min lap. We collectively shook our heads in the registration area.
RNG1
Well-Known Member
There are a few Tenafly guys doing this and they have been egging me on to join them. I would definitely not do the whole thing but I have had thoughts of just doing the Sunday race. My understanding is that it is strongly recommended to use a compact crank for the Saturday race. The last time I heard that was for Bkill which I wouldn't make that mistake again.