When the Monkeys Started Washing the Potatoes in the River

Norm

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
First Jake bowed out. Then stb222. But against all odds (and sense), I continue on. The Clif bars are done, the biscotti eaten (actually, not a single biscotti). And now, 12 more weeks of the race season stand before me.

Today was the first day of the last 12 weeks. I met up with Freddie and we did a nice relaxed ride just for fun at CR:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8757322

No structure, no intervals, no nothing aside from just riding around and shooting the shit. Originally I was planning on doing a 4+ hour ride. But Fred texted me last night and convinced me to meet him at CR.

I rode the SS again, and we took it easy and averaged 8.2 mph. It was nice to get back in the rocks. The last time I took gears there, I averaged 7.5 mph, which was April 30th. I wasn't hammering that day but I wasn't taking it easy. That was quite a while ago though, so a bit of fitness has come around since then.

I'll try to post a pic every day/ride. Today is the Freddie special, trying to figure out what the hell all those knobs do:

6340_1178317814091_1112505435_569342_5278018_n.jpg
 
There it is Norm. You got what you have been asking for!

I there is three knobs on that fork. I know what they say, but can not figure out what they all do. but its a pretty sweet fork tho.
 
ArmyOfNone said:
There it is Norm. You got what you have been asking for!
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It has nothing to do with food though. Not that I've tried to eat Kev, so I don't know. Anyway, he should feel honored to be in the company of Clif bars and biscotti.

Words to live by:

No, f that. This is the positive reinforcement bs you tell kids to make them feel good. I knew a kid once that he failed at f'ing everything and always said "at least i tried". No kid, you were wide open on that f'ing pass and you couldn't catch the ball if it was covered in tar and you were a feather.

If you tried and failed, you failed, however if it doesn't kill you, it can only make you stronger.

Oh yeah, Go Norm!
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i am flattered norm :eek:.

Your winter thread went the distance, biscotti worked the body, now your going for the knock-out punch. Go get 'em Norm.
 
since fred does not have 100% matchy-matchy on, this would not be a sanctioned hood- sliding event.
 
Well the KVSP results are in, and I was 2.5 minutes behind Leo. Bill had said 1.5-2 minutes, so I assumed it was at least 2. It's my observation that people don't necessarily judge time that well and on occasion they want to make you feel like you were closer than you were. :)

I was actually 2:32 behind, which is 51 seconds a lap. That's a fair margin, but not an impossible gap to close. I was a bit shy of 6 minutes up on Bill who took 3rd place and almost 9 minutes up on Cima in 4th. We had some spread there for sure, which is saying something because last year the gaps were particularly narrow from 1 through 8.

At some point I will lay out the next 12 weeks in a rough plan, of sorts. For now, enjoy riding a bit, get some big miles in, go down to Baltimore for a long weekend this Sunday, then start to turn the screws a little bit.
 
Norm said:
we did a nice relaxed ride just for fun at CR...I rode the SS again.
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So you rode CR on the Saguaros, right? How did you do on the steep climbs on the orange trails? (going up from the guardrail & going up from the dam)
I can usually clean them with no issues...until I installed the Saguaros.
 
woody said:
So you rode CR on the Saguaros, right? How did you do on the steep climbs on the orange trails? (going up from the guardrail & going up from the dam)
I can usually clean them with no issues...until I installed the Saguaros.
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I didn't actually do either of those climbs today. My tires are usually geared at going faster, not necessarily getting the best traction on all conditions. They seemed good enough on the yellow climb. Just as good as the Python which I normally run.
 
Norm said:
I didn't actually do either of those climbs today. My tires are usually geared at going faster, not necessarily getting the best traction on all conditions. They seemed good enough on the yellow climb. Just as good as the Python which I normally run.
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What?! YOU spent 4 hours in CR and didn't do every trail in both directions?
 
That climb on the orange trail is loose as hell lately. I make it up but with gears.
We call that "Marble Alley".
 
I'm not used to looking for the title of this thread yet. My eyes went directly to Biscotti Madness.

I'm back in the city today, no riding. This should be the last day here until next Friday, if not the following week. I threw together the rest of the year, which shakes out like this:

7/13: free form
7/20: vacation, Glouster
7/27:
8/3: on-call week
8/10: Darkhorse 40
8/17: 24 Hours of Allamuchy
8/24:
8/31:
9/7: Blue Mountain
9/14:
9/21: Jungle Habitat
9/28: Ringwood

I think this will break down into 2 cycles, the first 6 and the last 6. The first 6 is more about volume and getting out there and having as much fun as I can. The last 6 will be less volume, a little less "play", and more structured stuff involving increasing interval sets and the like. Neither is clearly defined yet but here's a rough idea.

First Six

The first six will more or less be a block of 6 weeks, building volume. I'm not going to forgo the higher end stuff. But I'm going to make weight loss and volume more of the focus, with some race course pre-rides thrown in there. Hoping to do the Glouster race as an expert enxt weekend, then pump out a ton of volume on week 4 when I'm on call. The DH40 and Allamuchy are 2 big events which will add a bunch of trainign stress that coincides with the end of the 6 week period.

I will likely not put a rest week in there. I have a vacaiton planned from this Sunday through Wednesday. While I will ride Sunday early I will probably be off for 3 days, which renders this 6 week block a 1 week block, followed by 3 days off and then a 4 week and 4 day block. I'm already fairly rested at this point.

Next Six

Still TBD, but it would likely fall into a pair of 3 week cycles. In theory I would take maybe 2 days off after the 24 hour race, then really start hitting the higher end and letting a lot of the distance rides go. That would be a 2 week block of hard workouts that leads into the Blue Mountain race. I still plan on doing that as a cat 2 racer. After that I will do the same - an extra day off, then try to peak myself into the Jungle Habitat and Ringwood races, hopefully as a cat 1 racer.

Of course, all of this is subject to change. Leo sticking in the series makes it a different ballgame. I'm not going to jump to cat 1 early if I can't even win the series. Both he and Guillome would need to race the last 3 races and beat me in each for either of them to win the series. So if they were to both DNS at Blue that would give me the series and then I would move up to cat 1 for the last 2. I may or may not formalize this more as the season goes on.

Here is my picture of the day. The trails are getting overgrown everywhere these days. Pricker bushes left their mark from wrist to shoulder on each arm yesterday. I look like I was in a fight with a cat:

3722901815_5cdd10a34e_o.jpg
 
Norm said:
No no, just 2:40. The plan was to do 4 on the road, but I bagged that to hang with Fred instead.
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He likes me!!!:D

Glancing Aft said:
Fred, When did you get a Selma (I think that's what I'm seeing there)? How is she?
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I have been meaning to get to a review of my new ride with pictures and stuff. I feel that it really is not a fair comparison to the Mary. The Mary was a great bike, but the Selma is unreal. It loves to have power put to the pedals. Ill do a full review in the next day or so.
 
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