Snow

After a week of cold weather and snow, it finally cleared and today ended up being very sunny. The forcast said 35 degrees as a high, but it was 28 when we drove to the mountain. It's usually 5 degrees colder in the forest. Anyway, it was good because it wasn't windy and we were able to stay on trails - nothing too fast. Here's some pictures.Gasline that goes through the forest - recently made wider for another pipe
3 Bridges trail

Plans for 09, and probably 10

I really don't wanna stay at home for these, especially since I missed last years and these next two years would be my last at USA Cycling juniors. But my dad and I have decided that since the elevation for nationals is 7,000 something, it would be way too unfair and I shouldn't race. That elevation really takes energy out of you, and there is a reason why Harlan and Eatough said they stayed away from the marathon nationals in Breckenridge. I doubt I'd find a healthy solution that is good enough to race with, but if I do, I still may consider. As of now though, next year's nationals and possibly the year after's are definitely races I won't go to, even though I wanna race them without the elevation handycap. It makes no sense to beat myself up way too much, racing with 10 - 15% of my energy not there. If I traveled that far to race, I'd wanna have some fast results, and right now we don't think that can happen with the elevation.

New Suprize

On Saturday, we went into the Bicycle Shop to get my dad's wheel trued. I didn't know that he had been planning on getting me a Cannondale F29 for Christmas, and I didn't know why a size medium had been rolled out of the warehouse. And then I realized it wasn't one of my dad's new toys. He told me that it was left over from 08 (which is great because they stopped making them in the raw aluminum) and that he didn't want to wait until Christmas because I wouldn't get to ride it much. We took it down to the basement where we swapped the wheels for a pair of my dad's extra Stan's Arches with a King hub, swapped the bar for a FSA carbon (I think another of my dad's extras), and got everything set up. It has X9 with the SL fork, and weighs about 24.3 lbs with those wheels. We got it at a really good price, because you see the SL forks on ebay for just a few hundred less. I rode it around the driveway and it felt a lot different than hopping on my dad's. Snappy and fast. Today I went for a ride with the owner of our shop and some others. That bike climbs like a rocket on the fireroads. If you try to power up short climbs, the wheels just won't turn though. Staying in a smart gear is important. It felt really smooth in the rocks when I had momentum, but if I hit a pedal or something, it was hard to get going again. Turns better than I thought. I think I'll race it next year. Possibly Granogue and the summer Fair Hill. Probably more. The ride went really well, considering I'm just getting over the flu and how bad I felt last Sunday. At one point I got a little dizzy, but that was only after racing Erik Scott up a climb. It's not a good idea to do that because he needs to be the first to the top of every climb. At the end of the ride, we saw a porcupine climbing a tree. My dad commented on how good of a climber it was. Erik immediatly claimed he was a better climber and tried to race the porcupine up the tree. He just really likes to climb.Erik the Porcupine

Wanted to, But Didn't

Today we were supposed to go down to Michaux and ride the Maximus 25 mile course. With some exceptions like riding Fender both ways. Anyway, I fell at the end of a night ride on Friday and bruised my hand. It swelled up really big; it's still swollen but I could've ridden today. The real reason why I'm not riding is because last night, I got really sick. All of the sudden the only thing I could do was lie down. Even walking made me more sick. I barely got any sleep last night and threw up a total of 13 times in 10 hours. It was so bad that when I went to the bathroom for water, I threw that up 30 seconds later. I don't know what I have or how I got it. If no one at school is sick, I probably got it from my Camelbak. We were going to stop by Mountainside Ski and Sports on the way back to get new bindings for my skis. I DNF almost every race last year because I ejected out of junior bindings. Chris from Mountainside watched me race and he said that I skied too agressivly for the junior bindings. May go back and try to ride in a week or two.

Crazy Riot

Penn State riot the other night after beating Ohio State. It's sad that this happens when we win a big game.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izj8TGFZE6U

IMBA R3 Epic

R3 stands for Rothrock 3 Loops. A 32 mile course that was set up 9 or 10 years ago. First loop takes you to the top of Bald Knob, rides across it and descends into Shingletown. Climbs back out and you ride towards Croyle. Down Croyle and up one of the longest climbs, going from a little above the lowest point in the forest to the top of one of the highest mountains. Then down a jeep trail to Long Mountain, where there is an extremely steep hike-a-bike to the top. 3 years ago, there was a sign of a hiker, which marked a designated hiking route. Someone spraypainted a bike on it, and drew an arrow to this trail. It isn't there anymore. Anyway, the trail is so steep that the first time I did it (back in 2005 on my 24inch Specialized Hotrock), my dad had to carry my bike up as I crawled up the trail. Down the never ridden Long Mountain descent and up a long road to Upper and Lower Longberger. I'm apologizing to myself for accidentally deleting all the video and pictures I took for this ride. Wow. How could I have done that?

The Watershed

So all 3 times we've made it down to Gambrill State Park to ride, we haven't ever gotten to the Watershed due to time constraints and other stuff like that. But today my dad, Fernando Torres, his friend Rob, and I met at one of the trailheads and I got to ride the area for the first time. It was a good ride; about 18 miles and 2:20. Started off with a nice descent, then around a lake. At the lake there was a nice jump into a steep pitch, which was really fun. I just kept falling and falling, but the landing was very soft. It's a natural jump off a rock, but it is perfect. Then rode a short technical trail down to some road, down that and on to what Fernando called the Death March climb. From there we turned right and on to a really fun downhill. At the bottom, you go through these huge boulders, some being close to 20 feet above you in places. Then onto the road. We did some more fun stuff like that, got on the Blue trail at some point, and eventually worked back to the car. It was one of those days where everything worked perfectly -- the bike did everything I wanted it to, and I was having a great day both physically and technically. Numerous times during the ride, we'd pass these really nice looking rocks. Of course I never really noticed how nice they were, just tried to figure out if I could ride them. Chances are that if it's a big rock and it's on the side of the trail, ride up it and you'll find some interesting way back down. At one point in the ride, we passed this big metal box, which used to be someone's trash. Everyone tried to figure out what the thing was. I saw it as someone's junk that shouldn't be in a forest, but since it was there I might as well try to ride it. It was built up, so I gave it a shot. This was my mental state the entire ride and it turned out to be really fun. Can't wait to go back. Pictures should be coming soon.

Grizvitational

Rob Ginieczki used to live here in State College. He has written many mountain biking guide books. His book of our own Rothrock State Forest helped my dad and I find a lot of the trails here. Every year, there is a big group ride for him, and he usually shows up. He lives out in Colorado now, and didn't make it to this year's ride. The ride started at Penn Roosevelt State Park, the same place as the Stoopid 50. We climbed to the top of Thickhead mountain, and descended the steeper side. 31 mph without pedaling on a jeep trail. Then we turned onto the John Wert Path, a trail known for it's technical rock gardens, and is a must-do for anyone visiting the area. Then up to Upper and Lower Longberger. Upper and lower are completely different trails; lower is one of the only beginner trails in the area, and upper is a 1 mile rock garden. Turned on to 3 Bridges trail and up Laurel Run road to Charcoal Flats trail. Starts off fast, then stops descending and turns into a 3 mile string of rock gardens. Steep, technical descent into Shingletown Gap, with lots of big rocks and ledges. Then a rocky climb back out to the road. We turned back into 3 Bridges and took it down to Bear Meadows road, and climbed that to Kettle trail. Kettle is a short, but steep and washed out climb up to Tussey Ridge. I've only cleared it once, and my dad is the only other person I know that has done it. Tussey Mountain trail isn't as rocky as John Wert or Charcoal flats, but it's still technical. Rode it passed the forest fire that burned the whole ridge 2 years ago and across the gasline to Tussey Extension. The extension finishes the ridge, then descends, but goes back uphill to the gasline, and descends the gasline down to Treaster Kettle road. The climb up Thickhead from that side is really hard when you're only 1 hour into the ride. We started around 11 and the sun was beginning to set while we climbed. The only race that this side of Thickhead has been in was the Singlespeed World Championships in 2005. My dad climbed it that night and all he saw were footprints. By the time I got to the top, it was almost dark. We descended the other side with just enough daylight to see the bumps on the way down.

A Week of Fun Riding

On Sunday, my dad and I woke up early and left from the house for a ride. It was really foggy when we left, but as we started climbing, we went right through the clouds. By the time we got back down, the sun had burned off most of it though. Rode a rockey trail down and almost out of the forest, then turned around and took a different one back up. Climbed a steep and loose trail to the top of the mountain, which is one of the big ones you can see from my house. The mountain is called Bald Knob, because of the large boulders at the top, where there aren't any trees. Ride passed that and you come to that steep, technical descent that I talked about earlier. Did it in the daylight, and it was much more fun. Down the road, up a trail, and back another rocky ridge to the house. Ride time was about 3 hours, and we had to get back to help get ready for a party that we were having for the local mountain bike club.

On Tuesday was the Bicycle Shop group ride, and it also turned out to be really fun. Up a climb, then down a really fun 20 minute singletrack descent. Usually at this point, you take a fire road through a gap, and connect to a rocky trail that goes through a really dense hollow. Instead, we took the gasline up and over that ridge to the trail. Up an encredibly steep wall, then down the other side. By the time we got to this difficult trail, my dad had already snapped a chain, but we got that fixed pretty fast. While we rode off the gasline, another mechanical occured, and a derraileur got snapped. Threw a singulator on it and singlespeeded out. At that point, it was night. The John Wert path is a difficult trail in the day; riding it at night was completely different. Big rock gardens, and low trees and other plants that try to grab ahold of your light. I'm 2 for 3 this year on the "Sea of Rocks" rock garden. It's one of the hardest ones around, and when I did it the first time I thought I would never be able to do it again.

Today was my birthday, and I got mostly riding gear. Which I'd actually rather have than anything else. Some new gloves (I tore mine when I broke my collarbone and they started giving me blisters), a waterproof jacket and baggy shorts (I was borrowing my mom's jacket because mine leaks through). I also got a helmet cam. It's the same one that Gunnar used to record his Bear Creek videos, I'm looking forward to learning how it works. On Sunday we'll go out to R.B. Winter and do a fun group ride out there. It's hard to believe that it's only 45 minutes from my house and I've never been there. Can't wait.

Way, Way Off

Based on the calculations for lactate threshold heart rate and max heart rate, I was able to redo my zones. They were way off. It makes a little more sense that I didn't recover until I didn't ride outside for a month. When I was doing "recovery" rides in "zone 1," I was really in high zone 2 and in zone 3. It wasn't really any kind of recovery. My perceived effort was screwed up because I got into a rhythm of hammering. The rides felt easy because they were easier, not because I was recovering.

Yesterday was my first real night ride of the year. My dad and I started off in the day, as soon as I got back from school. We rode many of the trails from the Stoopid 50 (from the first fun downhill almost to the first aid station, then picked it up again towards the end). We're kinda spoiled since we can ride from our house, so we hadn't really ridden on that side of the forest many times this year. The trails aren't as rocky but are just as fun. The one part that we did get to ride at night was the last 5 or 6 miles. It's the part of the Stoopid after the rocky ridge, where you cross the road and continue along the ridge, through some nicely built piles of rocks and some clearings. It was really fun at night. When I was riding that trail, I noticed that a few trees had a reflective dot on them. Not even ones that were close to the trail. It looked perfectly round and was probably a big nail, but I don't know why they were there.

9/29/08

Today I re-did my heart rate test to figure out my zones, and found out that I had been running the generic 220-age max heart rate since I got the Garmin. Which was wrong. My lactate heartrate was off, and that threw off the hr zones. Did 20 minute timetrial up the Laurel Run road (it's the climb after the 3 Bridges trail in the W101). I ran out of room so I continued up to the very top by taking another road to the fire tower. Almost made it there, about 1/4 mile left. Rode back down and joined my dad and several others for the Bicycle Shop Tuesday group ride. We descended into this rockey hollow, climbed to the ridge on the other side, and descended an extremely steep, technical trail into the darkness. Really would have liked the Rush on that one. Big 2 foot drops on an already steep and rocky trail made the Taurine feel like such a steeply designed bike. The 70 degree headtube angle is fine and turns fast, but the front wheel is almost directly under the frame. 69 degrees for the Rush and full suspension would have made the trail much safer. It still was fun and I'm looking forward to riding the trail again. This time with the Rush and some kind of daylight.

Bear Creek Final

I'll just start off by saying that the XC race was probably my best preformance all year, and that the Super D was super fun. On Saturday, we got to the mountain just in time for me to get registered and go and pre-ride the Super D course. While I was riding up the course, I could tell that it would end up being a good race. I got to the top and went a moderatly fast speed back down because it's easier to find the best lines that way. A quick adjustment of the pedals and I rode back up to the top. Watched racers start for about an hour until it was time for me to go. I was the second to last person on course. Some spots got better but others just got torn up. The race started off with a kinda rocky section. Not too bad but it really beat some people up. Then onto a loose access road and off a jump into some twisty singletrack. Across another road and more twists to a big steep chute. Gradual uphill to a switchback, under a tree, and a sharp but fast turn into some more rocks. Jump across a bridge and some more tight turns until it opened up for the finish. I made the mistake of trying to shift out of my big chainring, and double shifted making my chain skim off the rings. Despite that problem, my run went really smooth. I finished 12th overall with a time of 6:06. About a minute behind Harlan and 20 seconds behind Brandon.vThe next day was the XC final and it went great. Cameron and Caleb had a big lead through the back of the resort and up to the singletrack. On that first steep climb, I passed Caleb and closed the gap on Cameron. I stayed behind him up the first climb, and passed when we got to the rocks. I felt that it was a good attempt to get away, because I couldn't hear him or see him at the turns. But while trying to pass around a turn, I went too far to the outside and my front tire found a small shrub. Straight over the bars and onto my face. Cameron passed but I caught up to him soon enough. I followed Cameron all the way until the first climb on the second lap, where he gradually got out of my sight. I'd still see him at the end of some rocks, but he wasn't close enough to get back to him. He finished with a high 1:33.40something and I finished with a 1:35.0something. My best preformance all year. I did beat him at Granogue but I felt like I raced better today. Gunnar came in about 9 minutes back. He had pink eye or something and he wasn't feeling too good. It was a really fun weekend and a great way to end the season.

A lot of people kept telling me that I would come back much stronger from my injury. When I was in the sling, I didn't really believe them. Laurel Classic was a good race but I didn't know exactly if I was stronger than before. I knew something was wrong at Teaberry because, looking at the results now, I realize that it was a very bad race. This weekend, I can now see that what everyone said was true. I was able to respond to almost every attack that Cameron tried, and although I wasn't able to, I know how to beat him. Simple race strategy that I won't tell anyone over the internet.

Go Ahead Dearie...It will Make You go Faster

Last Sunday was the Terror of Teaberry. Most of you who weren't there would probably think it couldn't top last year's crazy event. Most of you that weren't afraid to come back would agree that the course killed last years. What it lacked in distance (yes, it actually was 25), it made up for in some of the hardest conditions I've ever raced in. Rain the day before, 90 degree heat, loamy and wet trails, and fresh cut disasters made it incredibly long. Last year it took me 4:08 to complete the 33 mile course, in perfect conditions. This year's time was 3:50.

the back of the t-shirt

After the race, Harlan let my dad borrow one of his sets of Industry-9 wheels. He'll get to ride Harlan's "heavy" set, which were the ones that won Teaberry, until Bear Creek. Thanks Harlan.

I fell while trying to pass Cameron in the beginning of the race, but soon caught him again. I stayed with him for about 15 miles, but couldn't close any kind of a gap. Cameron has been training specifically for this event, getting in lots of 30 mile rides. I have not, and my endurance is way way down since the injury. No biggy though. 2nd place. I came through the 12 mile loop a little over 1:10, which was a pretty solid time. The back 13 took me 2:40, and I was still passing people. If you can remember the 3 Stooges trail from last year (the technical, steep downhill), you'd remember that it was wet on a dry day. This year was crazy. Roots criss crossed the trail as well as huge slippery boulders. Possibly the most technical trail+conditions I've ever raced on. Not to bad, I actually thought it was more fun like this, but it was a little to technical for most. The 3 others that I was with were walking down it. I rode that last 8-9 miles without water, and a stupid mistake. At the aid station with 6 more to go, I drank some water, but completely ignored the nice, orange, water cooler. I was suffering from dehydration, feeling dizzy and sick at the end, AND COULDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO DRINK THE ICY COLD WATER.
Next race is the Bear Creek Super-D and XC race. Should be a fun close to the season of racing

Because of this thing where no company can order any spare parts/bikes (Gunner knows what I'm talking about), we had 2 pairs of shoes that can't get fixed. The one pair were the red S-works Specialized shoes that my dad gave me. I wore them at the end of last year and this spring until I broke the boa a week before the relay. $10 gets you a replacement kit, but since Specialized can't get any, we're getting store credit. Same with my dad's other S-works shoes. He switched over to Sidi so we got more store credit. With my dad's shoes, we were able to trade them for a pair of new S-works in a 43. And today I got to try them out. They fit your foot like a slipper, and I found some old Shimano insoles to put in them cause I have weird feet. Hopefully they hold up nicely and don't break. Specialized puts all their money into weight savings, while companies like Sidi offer every replacement part you could think of, including spare treads for when you wear out yours. They're heavier, but unless you rip them, they will last a lifetime. There's a really slippery bridge when you're entering the forest, and on our way back to the house, we passed a car that had flipped over. There's been a lot of accidents on this bridge, but I'd never seen any of them. The car slipped off the road and drove up onto a bank, where it flipped over sideways back onto the road. The driver was alright, thankfully.

The Dog

So my mind was pretty set on just riding the beginner course at Laurel with my mom. Until last night at 8:00 when I figured that I was healthy enough to race. We drove up and I got ready as usual, but when I was about to start warming up, my dad rode by and told me that Gunnar had just pulled into the parking lot. Big suprize. So it ended up being Gunnar, Julian, and me at the start.

At the last second, I kinda dozed off and the gun sounded, catching me by suprize. Before I knew it, everyone was around the turn and I was weaving in and out of riders to catch up. I rode with Gunnar and Julian until the first steep uphill section, where I pulled away. 29ers go fast on fireroads, so I wanted to give myself a little advantage. It worked out pretty good and I had a big lead on both of them, until it started getting flat again. Every flat spot, Julian got closer, until he finally passed me. The same with Gunnar, and I got behind his wheel going into the singletrack. It continued very steep uphill for a while, where I rode behind Gunnar and got a little rest. Once we got to the top, I shifted first into the middle, then worked through the cassete until I was in the biggest chainring. I didn't look back, thinking I would be dissapointed with what I would see. "The Dog" is the name given to the big chainring by Craig Gordon, the 2006 24 hour solo world champion. I ended up using that ring a lot of the race. So anyway, I was flying on this gradual downhill section and before I knew it, the trail dropped off the side of the mountain onto the Stinger trail. It's so steep that once you start down it, you're not slowing down. I started down it too fast and ended up passing 3 people. At the bottom, you flew out onto a fire road, and I looked back. Still no Gunnar, but Julian was just ahead. Seriously, this is the exact same thing that happened to me last year with Gunnar. I rode hard, but Julian just rode faster and had dropped me by the time we got to the Dear trail, the second technical descent. Bombed down that and across the road.

After the road, there is a little ditch where a spring crosses the trail. I don't know how big it is, but it's deep and not many people try to jump across it. By the time I saw it, it was too late and I knew that I had to try and clear it. As I was in the air, I looked down and saw this awful knob on the other side. I was just hoping to clear it, and I did. Barely. Through a few streams and you're off to the 3rd big climb of the race. Again, I had closed the gap on Julian, but couldn't catch him. Just kept pulling away from me. On the last downhill, my Garmin registered at 31.2 mph. It's fast, but only if you're really pinning it. I crossed the finish 2nd overall, less than a minute behind Julian. Julian got a time of 1:52, I had a 1:53, and I'm not sure what Gunnar's time was but I'm sure that he broke 2 hours. It was a fun race, and I like the course conditions - slippery and foggy and wet and muddy.

Oh and I also have my first week of school behind me...

btw Gunnar, that Hammer gel flask that you saw without the top, it was mine. we figured that out when all I had left in my pocket was the cap ;-p

Bear Creek Pre-Ride

Last weekend, my dad and I drove down to Bear Creek to pre ride the course. We did 2 laps Saturday night and 3 laps on Sunday. The hotel is really nice and so is the course. I got most of the lines down and I felt that each lap was smoother and more flowing than the last. Should be a fun race.

Now for Some Rocks...

A few days ago, we decided that I was probably ready to ride some rocks. I had been doing the 3 Bridges trail (walking the minefield cause everyone thought it was best) the direction that the 101 did it for the past week, and my shoulder wasn't hurting. On Thursday, although my mom didn't agree with our decision, I rode down one of the steeper downhills in the forest. It's washed out with some steep pitches. It ended up being pretty easy and I rode down it and up over a few big logs without noticing any problems. Next day we went out for a spin, and did a fairly rocky trail. Much like the rocks at French Creek's rockyest part. No problem. Then today I did 20 minutes of all-out effort, followed by a nice, long, cool-down. On the way back home we rode another trail that was kinda rocky, but a different kind of rocks. More big, rock garden type rocks than Friday. Lifted over some big logs without any difficulty. My forearms ached after a downhill section, but nothing in the shoulder and the strength will come back soon. Still no problem with the shoes so the new soles should work out good for me.

2 Mysteries Solved

Yesterday we figured out 2 riding problems. The one with my dad's bike and the other having to do with my shoes. At Iron Hill, my dad's crank wouldn't turn with 2 miles left in the race. We thought they were bearings in the BB30 that went bad. When we took it into the bike shop, the real problem was quickly found. One of the small chainring bolts had backed out of the small chainring, and was scraping against the bottom bracket shell. Lucky for us, they aren't all carbon, but are coated in aluminum. The damage wasn't bad. For some time now, my feet have been bothering me. I came to the conclusion that it was just my feet swelling up inside the shoe. I decided that I probably needed a wider shoe. I went to the bike shop yesterday to look at Shimano shoes, because they are wider than any other major shoe brand. The manager had the idea of putting the in-soles from my Louis Garnaeu road shoes into my Specialized mountain shoes. I did not have the problem in the road shoes, and he thought it may be the "ergonomic" shape of the Specialized in-soles. The middle of the sole is raised for the meditarsal button. It helps produce more power for some people, but it was just making me angry. Rode the LG shoe on the road, then switched in-soles and went for a mountain ride. Nothing. I'm pretty sure that problem is solved.

Physical Therapy

Today started my physical therapy. It went pretty good, and it should really help my tendons and muscles heal. During one of the excersizes, I pinched a nerve and passed out, but that's kinda normal because of the different position of my collar bone. I found out that I have a grade 1 seperation of my AC joint, but only half the bone is displaced, so it's not too bad. I'm still supposed to take it easy for a while, so no racing Laurel Classic for me. Instead, I've decided to ride behind my mom on the beginner course and give her tips and help her and stuff like that. Yesterday's ride went much better than I expected. We left from the house and rode near the 3 Bridges part of the W101. I thought we were just going to stay on fire roads, but when we got up there my dad thought it was okay for me to ride an easy trail. Went up it, then back down it. It's not too rocky but has a few washed out sections. Those weren't a problem and my shoulder didn't hurt at all. Tonight I'm going for a ride with my mom on some fire roads. Spinning.

Finally

Today I got my shoulder x-rayed and it turned out pretty good. I'm mostly healed, and the only things I have to deal with are a swelled AC joint and my muscles being very weak. I start physical therapy tomorrow morning, so it should be good. The doctor said to take I should be good to ride, but I should really take it easy for 4-6 weeks. That brought up a whole new option for what I should be doing this fall. I'm undecided about whether to ride the Laurel Classic with my mom, on the 10 mile course, or race it with Gunnar or whoever else shows up. It's 3 1/2 weeks away, so I should still be taking it kinda easy. And if I do injure my shoulder again, I'm taking the ski season off and not skiing this winter. My Rush is back from the shop, as it had been there for 4 weeks with a broken fork. I popped the saddle rail through the back of the saddle in the crash, so it had a new saddle put on. I may or may not go for a ride tonight, but if I do, it'll be on fire roads with my fork unlocked. I can't wait to at least get on a bike, that I really don't care about what I ride.

Almost There

Next Tuesday (not this one but next one) I am going back to the doctors to x-ray my shoulder again. Hopefully I'll have the green light to ride a few days afterward. After a much needed break and some structured workouts, my legs feel strong again. I don't know how they are compared to everyone else's, but they feel like they did around the time of Greenbrier and French Creek. I can finally raise my arm passed 90 degrees without any pain, and all of the cuts that the pavement gave me have healed. I still have a decent sized tear in Zach's Camp Jersey though, but I'm glad I wore it because it had a full zip. Much easier to get off than the base layer I was wearing.

Michaux Maximus 2006

an old photo of the damaging conditions that day

Update

>Tonight i can start taking my sling off to sleep

>I still have 2 more weeks until I go back to the doctor and don't have to wear the sling anymore

>I have a lot of movement back in my arm and I can do some things with both hands

>I'm still riding the trainer and my legs feel like they did in the spring

>Bad thing is that it's only been 2 weeks and I'm going crazy from not riding

:-(

so today starts off my trainer-bike workouts. it'll give me something to do, but everything is so boring. the days feel like they're in slow motion, and i'm not even waking up until 10. we're thinking full physical recovery for the fall races, and i'm sure confidence will be back. i don't know how long it's gonna be till i feel comfortable drafting behind other riders again. oh and now i have an excuse for not doing the w101 besides "my dad won't let me."

dark hollow

since i couldn't race, i spent the day walking around the course and taking pictures. i was really dissapointed at myself because cameron dodge was there. i rarely have any compitition at the michaux races, and they are my style of course. good news is that he'll be at the teaberry race in the fall. terror of teaberry's course is perfect; rocks, roots, tight singletrack, and climbing all in 25 miles. should be good. i'm feeling so much better now and i'll be able to do 4 more races before the season ends -- laurel classic, terror of teaberry, bear creek, and the iron cross.

Fair Hill

I think the gods of the Mid-Atlantic races decided that I've had too much fun, and that my good luck had to stop. Today was an awsome day. I was both physically and mentally ready to finally win one of these things. I got hydrated and decided that since it was a fast course and not too technical, I would try drinking from water bottles. It was a good idea. I definitly felt the difference. Last night, while looking over my bike, I noticed that the saddle height was an inch too low, and it would have stolen some of my energy the next day. So I fixed that and went on to do other things, when I accidentally squeezed the brake lever while the weel was not attatched to the frame. I called up my "mechanic" to ask him to walk me through the process of resetting the break pads. He's not really my mechanic; I'm not lucky enough to have one, he's just one of the shop employees and my friend who likes to tune up my bike when I take it in. I had some experience with mechanical breaks, so I sort of knew how everything fit together. They're actually really simple and you don't need any tools other than a pair of needle-nosed plyers.

The race started off with me and Cameron immediatly pulling away from the rest of the field. I wasn't starting too fast, because I knew there would be 22 miles to catch him and I could see that he was struggling already. I'd let him go on the climbs (saving my energy) and catch him on the downhills. I planned to do this until he got tired, then I would make my move. However, I got stuck behind others, and while I tried to pass, I had a bad fall that twisted my handlebars. I was now a minute back. I pushed really hard to catch him, and I knew my legs were finally back. I finally caught sight of him for about 10 seconds. I was coming on him fast, and with 13 miles left I knew I would win. At the rate I was closing on him, I would have passed him at mach 3, hopefully destroying his confidence. And I should have, but the gods of MASS didn't want me to. Shortly afterward, I heard a CRACK, almost like a whip, and my chain skimmed my leg as it slingshotted off into the forest. It pulled the X-O derraileur with it, stripping the threads and bending the hanger. But it was still attatched to the cable, and I fought hard to rip it off. Finally it was done, but I had dropped back to fourth. I ran 3 miles to the next aid station, "gravitying it" on the downhills, pumping the trail as much as I could to generate speed. As I was running, my dad passed me and told me to DNF. DNF, SCREW THAT.I hate DNFing, so I ran until I found Jacob's dad on the side of the road, waiting to be taken back to the finish. He fell and bent his front wheel. Lucky for me, his bike was unrideable and he offered up his chain. I pulled a few links out and singlespeeded it back to the finish. I would have one, and should have one that day, but I ended up coming in last; 8th out of 8 juniors. Stuff like that happens. I lost over 40 minutes trying to get my bike to pedal, but I finished. And grabbed some points, even if it was only 10 of them.

New Jerseys

So our MBR team has decided that our old jerseys were too "busy" with all of the stripes. One of the employees at the local bike shop helped design the last one, so we contacted him again to see if we could do another one. The jersey is pretty much the same (it still has MBR's M logo and such) but with less stripes and different colors. We encorporated more black into this one, and although Lois Garnaeu's "Canada Blue" is the main color, black is dominant. We switched up the font for MBR to make it like a "retro" but not really. It's more like a fast retro. And we got shorts and a long sleeve jersey this time to go with it. So it looks like I'll be pulling up to the Fair Hill start line rocking new colors. Too bad my socks don't match anymore, and I figured out my dad's master plan of buying blue bikes even though he doesn't really like blue bikes.

This morning I decided to celebrate by cutting the sleeves off of one of my old jerseys. It had two big holes in the back and one smaller one under the sleeve. It was getting old so I took a knife to it.

The Curse of Dark Hollow

Is coming up. I can't wait. The Michaux races are the ones that I look forward to by far the most and it's where racing started for me. The courses are what all race courses should be like. Mountain biking should be about mountain biking. Sure, I know that not many places in PA can hold such a race, but it's still nice to dream about the possibilities. Last year's Terror of Teaberry and this year's Michaux Maximus were in my opinion the definition of a perfect course: starts off not too technical (so that you can get passed everyone without being held up in the rocks) and the trails keep getting better and better until the end. Unfortunatly, Teaberry was very different from what was advertised; 10 turned to 13, 25 turned to 32, and 50 turned to 46. Like I've said, I just can't wait and I'm counting down the days until one of the best weekends so far; Friday Mount Snow, then Dark Hollow on Sunday. I hear that Mount Snow is pretty technical, so it should be a good day. I really enjoy courses that seem to be as much about bike handling as leg strength (and I don't mean tight turns, but lots of big, oddly shaped rocks and roots), and feel that it should be a good weekend as far as performance goes. It'd be good for me to pull all of it together at Fair Hill to give me one last confidence boost for Nationals. Should be good...

Stoopid 50 Pictures

took me a while to find them but here they are...

15 mph moto paced start


Chicken Peter Trail (the first time)
mile 7ish


Again on Chicken Peter (still the first time)


Pigpile Trail - mile 30 or 35

Beautiful Trail - mile 42ish

Marysville

The Marysville festival / weekend / race / thing was great. Although I felt really strong going into the weekend, I made some bad mistakes that probably kept me from winning. But no excuses because the best person won, and mountain biking is a hard sport. I've found out that it's not about having good luck, but about not having any bad luck.

It all started off great. I had absolutly no confidence going into this, because my last good race was Granogue, which was a month ago (the Stoopid doesn't count cause no one else was there). But the Night TT went really well. Not really, cause I had 3 falls that took a while to recover from. Falling at night is hard cause it takes you a while to realize where you are. My legs felt great, and was red-lining 200 bpm the whole race, maxing out at 212. I probably should have had more practice at night riding; this was the second time I had ever ridden at night, and the first time this year. It was a really fun course, and definitly a race that I will do again next year. I didn't really race the whole thing, just started kinda fast and rode the rest as a warm up for tomorrow. After I fell twice I didn't really feel like pinning it anymore, so I just let Gunnar go instead of chasing him. But it was really fun.

I didn't have the best of sleep last night; I had put my bag inside my tent and elevated my feet up on it so that I could remove any lactate from my legs (although I didn't feel any, it was probably there). But in the bag was my water for tomorows XC race. Somehow it leaked out, spilling water over all of my racing clothes. I got up in the middle of the night to find a puddle of water all over my side of the tent. But it was in a tent, so in my opinion, it was better than my own bed (I have no idea why I am so twisted to believe that, but I am).

On Saturday, I made the biggest and possibly the most stupid mistake I had ever made in a race since I was 10. Today was another nutrition mistake. We got up at 7:30 to pack up our stuff and carry it back to the car. I had a good race breakfast of pancakes and was ready to go. But the problem was that I didn't have any water that morning and didn't have anything to eat since then. MISTAKE. I was really dehydrated going into the race, and athough my legs felt great, I didn't have it in me to race as intensly as I needed to. I bonked really bad about half way through the first lap.

The race started off great. I didn't feel bad at the start, and tried a slightly different race strategy (sorry, I can't say what it is cause I'm not sure who's reading this). I don't know if it would have worked because I bonked so bad, but I felt good. Gunnar was leading mostly the whole race, and I tried to stay on his wheel, which was hard because of having to pass so many people. There were a few times where I should have jumped on him and taken the lead, but I don't know why I didn't. I got stuck behind a train of people on some singletrack that you couldn't pass on, and lost Gunnar. I was getting splits from some of the racers' parents telling me that I was about a minute back. But then, I forgot I was on my hardtail. There was one particularly big log crossing that I bombed into, and it sent me flying into the thornbushes. I went to get back on the bike, doing that thing where you run along side the bike and jump on the seat, but missed and landed one the top tube. OUCH. I kept seeing riders in black helmets, orange and black bikes, and BikeSport jerseys, thinking they were Gunnar. So I gave it my all to catch them, it wasted my energy. Then I bonked. On the second lap, I passed one of my riding partners (who was pre-riding). I asked him if he had any goo, and it worked out perfectly, because he rode back to his car, and met me at the only road intersection. I got a handoff of cola flavored goo (normally I wouldn't touch it, but I was so hungry that it didn't matter). It was enough to get me to the finish, but not enough to get me 2nd. Gunner was 1st, Jacob 2nd, and I was 3rd. I know that Jacob is a really good 13 year old, but the fact that he beat me is messing with my head.

7/2/08

The Iron Cross is still months away, but I'm already excited at it's possibilities. Today, while in the garage, we found these old 26x1.25 slicks. They have flat protection and the sidewalls look pretty good. The idea for the Iron cross this year was that I would just pump up my tires to 50 or 60 psi, and ride the Taurine, since I do not have a crossbike. But after finding these, I'm just gonna run them tubeless on my Stans wheels. They're gonna be fast on the pavement, and if it's dry, shouldn't be too bad on the trails. Both mountain bikes are in the shop, cause I'm switching the spider on the Taurine for a 4-bolt triple. Then I'm switching the cranksets so that the aluminum one is on the Rush and the carbon one is on the Taurine. The carbon one is heavier, but I'm doing it because the aluminum will hold up to rocks better. It's too hard to go easy on the road, so I didn't ride today. Instead I took my dogs up for a hike with my mom on some of the trails by the parking lot. I brought a small packsaw and was able to cut back some branches as well as build up log ramps on a fallen log, making it rideable. Tomorrow I'm going night riding for the first this year. I'd better get a ride in before the night tt. Gonna ride with my mom on the "beginner ride," save the ride as a course on my Garmin, and ride it again at night, hopefully without getting lost.

Took it Easy Yesterday...

...and it was wierd. Now I realize what I have been doing the last month or so. The heart rate moniter definitly helped, I was able to keep my heart rate at a reasonable recovery rate; max heart rate was 167 and averaged 132. Something I never would have done without it. I had been so focused on setting a pace that wouldn't "hold anyone up" before, that what was really happening was that I was dropping everyone. Not good, especially with racing that weekend. But now it's all sorted out, so I'll be able to get back on track. It's a nice change, riding at a slow pace most of a ride. You really get a different perspective on things. I'll be doing that for the next 10 days instead of really training. Above is an example of some of the things you can do with the Garmin (using the different software).

Over Trained

The previous post on this was very negative, so I decided to edit it out and just rewrite the whole thing once I had a little time to clear my mind.

The Guy's MASS race (more widely known as a word that starts with an N that I can't pronounce or spell correctly) was a great race. The course was very flowing, and although not too technical, there was one downhill that sent a few to the EMTs. I'll have to check my dad's Garmin, but the switchbacks had the potential to be over 45%. I raced my new Taurine (the owner almost gave it away, at a price that was extremely good. Like I could ride it hard for 2 or 3 years and still sell it for a lot more than I had origionally bought it for (yes, our bike shop likes us)), which felt great on the course, but was a bad idea. It was build on Friday and pretty much as soon as it was finished, we rode them (my dad got one too) that night, trying to beat the daylight and get as much of a ride in as possible. If you combine that hard ride with the Stoopid 50 and 2 weeks of overtraining, racing on Sunday was a suprize. And with the new crankset, a 29 44, found myself always wanting to be in the 44, and waysting energy. But a triple is on the way from Cannondale...

Where I live, a huge thunderstorm passed through the night before, and I thought that the trails were going to be very wet; much like the way Greenbrier was. But the storm moved north of the race and everything was dry and dusty. There were some showers in the morning, so I decided to race without glasses incase a storm did come through. Bad idea. It was so dusty that I was constantly getting dust in my eyes. From the start, I felt as if I was having a good day. Until we finished the prologue. Went back into the forest for our first real lap and I felt sluggish. All that training had built up and left me with no energy. Gunnar flew by me and I was in 3rd, and it stayed that way the whole race. At one point, Zach rode up behind me. He was pre-riding the course, and kept encouraging me. It really helped (THANKS ZACH) because the second lap felt much better. Cameron Dodge ended up winning (1:26) and Gunnar in second (1:29). I came in 3rd with a 1:30. I definitly learn a lot more from these races than from the ones that I do well in, so looking back on it now, it was a lesson that I had to learn sometime. Better now than at Mount Snow.

Stoopid 50

This year, the Stoopid 50 fell on Fathers Day. I rode it with my dad, as part of my w101 training. It was a good race, and a lot of people where there. Some 200 people showed up, including Brandon D., Rob L., Michelle Stopper, and other elite riders. I raced the Men Open category, but two other juniors raced it too. Like God (Jeff Bahnson) and Forrest Conrad.

The race started with a 15 mph moto paced start on a long dirt road with some paves sections. Then a turn, and up a steep (but short) climb to the Brush Ridge Trail. Interesting it's named Brush Ridge, as it never gets anywhere close to the ridge, always staying in the valley. Across some skinny bridges (a 25 footer, then a 100 footer). After Brush was a wall out of the valley, then the Lingle Valley trail; a roller coaster descent with some steep drop-offs and a sketchy drop into the valley. Bear Gap (crested the top, then first flat) took you back up to a road, then switchbacked back onto the Chicken Peter trail. From there was a sweet descent on Shitalka trail and a fire-road climb to the first Aid Station.

I fueled up at the station and then got ready to walk my bike up the Upper Sassafras trail. This is one of the best technical downhills on that side of the forest. Up on the ridge and down to a gradual uphill road, where we descended the Telephone trail, then Wallace trail. At the beginning of Wallace, I launched off a drop-off into a rock garden, and got my second flat. Many people have come to the conclusion that I ride wayyy too agressively for my race wheels, so I have decided not to race them this year. My rock wheels are much stronger. At the bottom, we turned onto a road, and climbed a very steep snomobile trail back to the bottom of Telephone. Continued on the snowmobile trail back down to the road, switchbacked, and climbed Lower Sassafras; a steep climb through mountain laurel and crossing a pipeline. At the top we crossed a road and continued uphill on Pigpile trail, then downhill on Pigpile through some fast turns and boulder drops. The technical lines were easily ridden around, but for some of the locals who wanted to have fun with the trail, the drops and jumps were really fun. A short but super fast downhill road sent chills through you, as the wind was very cold. The long jeep trail, named Flat road (if you ever ride it, know that it is not flat at all) took you back to the bottom of Upper Sassafras (the hike-a-bike) and then the course sent you on Sassex-X; another extension of Sassafras that lead to the second Aid Station.

After a twisty trail, then back up the road to ride another portion of Shitalka trail, you climbed Long Cut and Dear Tick. Once the climbing part of Dear Tick was behind you, it was a fairly easy ride back, but 3 rocky trails still stood between you and the finish. The top part of Dear Tick had a few rocks; same with Chicken Peter and Brush Ridge. After finishing up the Brush Ridge trail, it was a long and boring gradual climb on a paved road, then a turn, uphill, then downhill, then the last uphill to the finish. Then you ring the gong, and go to a shaded area to fall over.

It was a really fun race and I am going to do it next year and every year after that for as long as I can. If you're not doing anything, and aren't too far away, you should think about coming up. Forrest sayed that the trails were possibly the best he has ever ridden, and if anyone wants to come up and ride with me this summer, let me know.

Tour de Yikes

Today was the Tour de Tykes mountain bike race in Danville, PA. It was kinda wierd because of all of the life-flight helis that were flying in and out...I hope no one was in them. I got their pretty early (like 3 and a half hours early) because my mom wanted to race the beginner race, so we went down to help her out with stuff before the race. It got much hotter as it came time to start our race, but at least we were in the shade most of the time. The start went pretty good, and I was feeling strong in the beginning of the race. Gunnar and I were some of the first few people up the first climb and into the singletrack. When we hit the singletrack, I was ahead of Gunnar and was feeling really good. Until I heard a pop. I had slashed the sidewall of my tire on something and it was going flat really fast. So I got out my cO2 and filled it up again, thinking the stans would hold it. I had no idea how big that gash in my sidewall really was, and within 100 feet, it went flat again. This time, I was out of cO2 and had to borrow a pump from someone else. I must have been in dead last by the time I got the tire off, because absolutly no one was passing me. I got to cheer on Caleb and Jacob and some other juniors, but the struggle with that tire proved to be a hard one. I finally got the flat fixed, but when I started off again, I was shivering because of the fast start and the sudden stop. It must have been a really old tire, because about a mile later, I flatted again. I had just passed the person I had borrowed the pump from, and I gave the pump back, so I had nothing to inflate the tire. Thanks to another kind person, I was able to continue again. Until I heard screams coming from the valley below. Someone fell really bad, and by the sound of it, it was really really bad. It sounded like the person fell behind me, so I flew down to the bottom of the climb, but didn't see anyone. I continued on the course, and finally found the person. She had a compound fracture on her left arm (when the bone sticks out of the skin) and blood was everywhere. When some other people came down and stayed with her, I rode to the next aid station AS FAST AS I COULD to make sure medical got there as quickly as possible. By that time I was out of all of my energy, and had no motivation to continue. I was impossible for me to win, and a very small chance of getting top 3, and no one was depending on me to ride fast anymore (except for my friends, at least the ones who believe that I race mountain bikes). It was a constant battle against my mental self; I never wanted to DNF a race, but there wasn't any reason for me to continue. I finished anyway though, passing a few other juniors along the way, and making it into 4th place. Looking back on it, I'm actually kinda glad that I had bad luck, because Jacob was able to make the podium. He had always been 4th or 5th; so close but never top 3 in any of the Sport MASS races I've raced this year. I really wanted to win here, because I was born here, and it's the first time I've been back in my life. Gunnar was 1st, Julian Hinkleman was 2nd (I raced him at the Cat Classic), and Jacob was 3rd. I was about 20 minutes from 3rd, but everyone gave it their best. Oh and I hit a tree and can't type that well right now, but I have to type an essay anyway, so I guess I'll learn to type faster.

Tour de Cure, But No

So I was all signed up and everything to participate in the diabetes fund-raiser, the Tour de Cure. Everything was ready for me to get up and all, but when my alarm went off in the morning, I found my dad standing at the foot of my bed. He told me about this huge storm that was moving through the Boiling Springs area, and told me to go back to bed cause we weren't going down.....
That didn't go so well, and I was pretty angry until I checked out the radar on the internet. Mostly reds, oranges, and yellows, which ment thunder. I don't know how the storm was down there, but when I finally got up at 2 or so to go swimming, the sky was bluebird clear without a single cloud in the sky. What happened to the storm????? It was the only event that weather has stopped me from going to, and hopefully it will be the last, because doing frontflip variations off diving boards for 3 hours gets boring, riding never does. The good thing about it was that I was able to practice tricks for skiing...but that's not for a while.

Wilderness 101 Pre-ride #2

Okay so today we rode the seggy of the 101 from about mile 35 to 62. It went pretty well, our average speed being somewhere around 11 through those hilly 27 miles. The ride was much like a race; we had only one stop the whole ride and I was constantly trying to keep up with one of the riders on the long, steep fireroad climbs. One of the bigger climbs of the W101 "Greenly" kept me asking myself why I was riding...
WOW THIS REALLY SUCKS
MOUNTAIN BIKING IS A STUPID SPORT
WHY AM I DOING THIS???
...but I quickly found the answer at the top of the climb when we desended the sweet singletrack "Croyle," which was about 2 miles long ;-p (oh and I almost killed a bird going down that, but luckly it flew right passed my head)

Wilderness 101 Pre-ride

Today, me and a few other members of our MBR team pre-rode the first 15, then last 25 miles of the Wilderness 101. It was an early start - getting up at 5:00 and driving to first highway intersection of the course to meet at 6:30. My dad and I drove to our team-mate Bill Gardner's house to pick him up along the way. At the pull-off beside the highway we met the other team-mate planning on racing the W101, Stu Hess. After a short climb up and over the ridge, we rode the Sand Mountain road to where the course meets it at the end of Stillhouse Hollow road. From there it was a short climb up to the Sand Mountain parking lot, where we started along the Sand Mountain trail, a loose ATV trail that was very steep in sections, reaching 18-20% in most climbs. After that trail, we rode on a road for a while, then finding the trails got difficult. We were riding in an area that sees very little bicycle use until the time of the 101, and following the obscure trails presented a challenge. We finally made our way to another road, and it was a long, chilly downhill to an old railroad bed, where we crossed a narrow bridge over a river and then rode through a long, dark tunnel. It was still a gradual downhill when we got to the other side. After the railroad bed, we continued on one of the bigger climbs of the W101 - Old Mingle. After riding down the other side of the mountain, the infamous "Fisherman's Path" lied ahead of us. This trail is extremely technical, with rocky and rooty drop-offs then hairpin turns on the edge of a cliff. When Chris Eatough raced the W101 a few years ago, his only goal was to ride this section of trail without putting a foot down or walking. He rode it successfully, and although the trail is at about mile 90, it is a trail that few people can ride even fresh into a ride. With the help of a few trees, I was barely able to make it; I almost fell into the river once or twice. From there it was a long railroad bed back to Coburn, where the finish is. Then we went on to ride the first climb. The climb was definetly fooling us. It was 5 miles where it kept looking like we were at the top, then went around a turn and kept climbing. The descent was rewarding, reaching speeds of close to 40mph at times. After that, it was a long, half paved and half not road back to the highway. Overall it was a pretty good day; we had a ride time of about 3 and a half hours, and got back to the car around 10:15, which was just before it started to get hot.

75 Miles of Montour

http://web.mac.com/earthscapes66/75_miles_/Movie.htmlThis one was quite the suprize. With over 7,000 ft. of climbing in 76 miles, this was one of the most epic road rides I have ever done. Coming through the town about a mile from the start, the police held the stoplights and the peloton was stretching as far as I could see. The first climb was a wall, and split the race into 3 groups - the leaders, a smaller group that we were in, and an even smaller one behind us. My dad and I encouraged the other riders in the group to catch the leaders, and we got within 50 feet at one time. I could see that our group was drifting back, and that there was a dirt road ahead. Most of the leaders where not able to keep a very fast pace through this section, and my dad and I used our mountain biking skills to bridge the gap. We rode together for about 30 more miles until 2nd big climb. Somehow, I used my momentum to get slingshoted up passed other riders to the front of the group. At the top of the climb, our group was somewhat structured, dropping 40 people or so, and I was riding with the elite 20 people of the race. Which wasn't a very good idea. I was expecting on stopping at an aid station, but the group I was with just cruised right through. With about 25 miles to go, I got dropped, and struggled to keep my pace up as a killer headwind was blowing against me. It seemed as if the climbs were easier that the wide open, flat fields, because of the lack of wind. I finally finished with a time of 4 hours and 17 minutes, about 8 minutes ahead of my dad. I had not expected to do this well, because it was the first time I had ridden my road bike in 2 years, and because my bike was 4-5 lbs heavier than the bikes that most other people where riding.

Escape From Granogue 2008

Escape From Granogue was held on the DuPont estate grounds in Delaware. The course provided some great views of the area and at times came very close to the mansion. For the sport, expert, and enduro classes, the course was around a 7 mile lap. The lap was done 2x for sport, and 3x for expert. The weather was great, and it wasn't too hot at the sport's 8:00 am. start time. Many of the other juniors that I like to race against were there, including Gunnar, Jacob, Josh, and Caleb. The course was very fast and fun. I didn't do the race last year, but I heard that it wasn't going to be very technically difficult. Although it still didn't have quite as many obstacles as I would have liked, the race was more technical that I thought it would be, and had a mix of terrain such as bridges, tunnels, railroad crossings, steep drops and climbs, and fast twisty sections. I woke up that morning and felt like I had gotten the flu, but on my way out of our hotel, I grabbed some hot tea and drank that all morning. At the start, I felt much better. Although I never heared or saw them since I passed them going into the singletrack, I looked back about 2 miles later and Gunnar and Caleb were right on my wheel. I knew that I needed to make a move fast, so I quickly passed a few people and picked up my pace. When I looked back and saw that Gunnar wasn't there, I slowed down so that I could recover well enough to race the 2nd lap with enough energy. I finished first with a total time of 1:29:12.25. Gunnar was about 4 minutes back and ended up getting 3rd. 2nd Place went to Cameron Dodge, who I had never raced against and did not know.