Putting the brakes on bike thieves

Technology being developed at the University of Leeds could put the brakes on bicycle thieves and may also be useful in flagging suspicious events in public places, say researchers at the University of Leeds.

SWEET

new blog check it

I started a new one. Check it for some snow photos...http://joelcahalan.blogspot.com/

ready for a new year!

Got thru my aa phase of weights and did my first transition workout and it felt good. I love having next year looming in my mind it definatly makes the training easier lol. I know this winter is going to be my most coordinated training yet and lets see if it pays off.

What are the rest of you guys doen this winter for training? Me and clayton are gonna try to continue shakenbake and hit the ywca togethor.

i think we need to have some spin nights folks. There has been chatter of doing them at minnehaha. We already have a tv there i think its a vcr tv i could bring my dvd player by so we can watch some good stuff.

i would be down with once a week for now and 2-3 in febuary.

Be humble my friends

1 down 2 to go

gotta win more. make that 3 to go.

planning ahead

This is a good starting point for a cross rhythm section for next year, throw in a berm!!!

Team shots -- BOOM Island

Scene: Boom Island CX, October 14th, 2007. Paul -- 2nd B2, 5th overall (on a SS) -- takes a breather following the race.

Joel clears a set of doubles. Mpls skyline in the background beyond the Mighty Mississippi.

Joel motors past the Hollywood camp on his way to first A2, 13th overall in A race.

Fleck shows a little CX spirit. Being on the DL isn't so bad, but rumor has it he'll be glad to race again ... we think.

cross lessons

this is really weird, but somehow this video has vaulted to #67 most viewed sports video today ?! I was watching the counter go up last night and this morning after I posted it. Weird. Now it's sort of stabilized around 3400 views. must be some hot babe out there called redbarn or something like that.... later,

where's the league ?

ok jeremy, you've got the jump start.. where else can you race twice a weekend for 2 months ? If you want to race bike, then 'cross is the way to go dudes.

Powderhorn Cx

"B" race dirt mound action

keep praying, it's only tuesday

there is a tennis court rebuilding / expansion project going on over at powderhorn, and without giving away too much, let's just say "big piles of rain soaked dirt all in a line, more or less equally spaced , about 100 feet long, maybe 15 - 20 piles, ranging from 4 to 6 feet high" (insert smiley *here* ) . park dude says "if they're still there on sunday , do whatever you want."

'nuff said.

powderhorn flyer

http://www.mcf.net/misc/2007/powdern.pdf

so what are the odds?

can we do THIS at powderhorn???

race flier here: http://www.mcf.net/misc/2007/powdern.pdf

hudson

Hudson is turning out to be an "epic weather" cyclocross venue. This year's A race was called with 3 laps to go, on account of lightning. I'm glad they blew the wistle.. lightning is probably my least favorite weather phenomena to be outside observing. Joel and I both 'podiumed' in the A2 cat. Too bad we didn't get on the "fire hose podium" for a picture like this one, from the B1 race two years ago (did I mention epic weather?)




so here we are showing off the loot from this year's A2 race:
Joel: 1st place A2 cat, 5th overall A race
Paul: 3rd place A2 cat, 13th overall A race



'nuff said.

Crossed up

Orono this Sunday. Forecast is for real CX conditions -- rain Saturday and Sunday. Should be memorable. Last season (the second half anyway) was totally dry, hardpack courses. No rain, no snow and a little boring. Barring any unforeseen incidents (crashing hard and/or breaking something on my bike) I'm going to shoot for top 10. I just moved up to B this season and was 21st (16th B1) last week in St Cloud with minimal warm-up and a pretty decent hangover. Hey, it's 'cross season -- time to have fun!!

Broke the seat clamp on my bike in St Cloud. Trying to get the position re-dialed and also breaking in some new shoes. Gotta love Time cleats; they're not nearly as finicky as SPDs when you're trying to set them up.

Oh yeah, I can smell the mud. I think Hub kit is gonna look pretty good caked in it.

Fleck

Unclear on the concept

I found this car to be humorous for several reasons. Yes the bumper sticker says Bush's Last day, and also Earth Water Air. Maybe the owner forgets that in order to produce their Hummer, we have to destroy copious amounts of Earth Water Air, all before they get a chance to drive it. We are in the middle of a war for Oil, and bush passed on tax breaks for people to buy these monstrosities (for "business" purposes). Then again it was funny to see the hypocrisies and think about the Toyota prius Joel and I saw with a 'Bush 04 sticker' on it. We spotted that one on 35w on our way out to Buck Hill. Something combs to mind that something is Dumb and Ass.

Hiya

Chequamegon 40, aka roadies off road adventure

This years Hubsters who rocked the course.
Joel 'shake 'n bake' Cahalan
Sean O
The Fleckster
Paul O'grady
Clayton 'cod liver oil'

My race day began at 4 am, thats when I woke up to cook my breakfast , get dressed and be ready for Paul to show up. I stepped outside to a slap in the face of cold air. I ate a big bowl of yogurt and prepared a huge bowl of Oatmeal to eat on the road. It was probably the ugliest bowl of oatmeal you could imagine, I added some Green Superfood and Wheat grass powder from Amazing Grass, some Udo's Oil and a heaping teaspoon of Nordic Naturals lemon Arctic Cod Liver oil. A little maple syrup and butter, dumped it into a container for the road. I then double checked my gear to make sure I had enough cold weather gear to choose from for the day. I was cursing the fact that I didn't have any coffee in the house and didn't feel like I making green tea either. Not a good way to start the day, without caffeine.
On the way into Hayward i get a couple calls from Joel and Sean telling us to get our asses in to town quick, due to people grabbing decent start positions as early as 5am. We get into town, grab some coffee, meet up with Joel , Sean and John. We run our bikes over to the staging area. 2hours before the race and we will be starting in or around 4ooth place. Did I mention it was only 30 degrees out. On the drive out I noticed a little scratch in the back of my throat while drinking my astragalus tea. While setting up our bikes in the staging area my bowels wanted to release themselves urgently, which got me a little worried, my fear is that I was coming down with a cold. Not a good worry to have before a race. I quickly got dressed , and went with gear that may not be the warmest to stand around in, but easily removed while riding. Joel Had toe warmer packets which made a huge difference just sitting at the start line.
Sean, Paul, Fleck and Myself started out on the right side of the road, Joel had a preferred start at the front. The race started with a "neutral" roll out. The road had a few narrowing sections in the first mile, which created a nice accordion effect, Sean and myself worked our way through the crowds ahead of us. In the first 2 miles there was a pile up on the road which took out about 5 or six people. I was intent on staying close to Sean so we could work together through the masses. As we hit the grass we were easily minutes behind the leaders, and my shifting showed that it still sux. I went from my big ring to my small ring (I was aiming for the middle ring) on the first little power climb and almost ate it. I recovered, got it into the middle ring and charged back upto Sean. Sean was on a tear, he would sit on a wheel for about 15 to 30 seconds and then pass about 2-3 people. So as soon as I got on his wheel, he would shoot ahead. At the first water station Sean and I passed the same guy on a little climb, me on the right, sean on the left. Sean was so totally in the zone, he sees me and says something which gets me charged up to rock this course. I rip off my sunglasses at the first opportunity, since they are just a hindrance to seeing details on the trail. I follow Seans lead as we pass literally hundreds of people. I think to myself, why the hell do these slow assholes line up at the front of the pack. At some point I put in a small dig, and pass Cory from Penn cycle, he cheers me on, a minute later he passes me. I then give it a long dig grab some fast wheels. Passing people left and right. I didn't look back at this point, I didn't know if sean was with me or not, I'm intent on riding fast and hard.
Wait did that sign say 26 miles, was that to go or completed? It feels like 26 down. I'm with a small group of people at the first check point, I've already pulled off my vest, my sunglasses and my arm warmers, and I am way too warm. Next thing to come off is my skull cap, I pull it off through the back of my helmet on a gravel road with a ton of people cheering us on. Oh look 23 miles to go. Hmm okay, my stomach feels queasy, gatorade tastes gross and my hammergel is more like a charleston chew. Why didn't I have a water bottle with just water in it?
This course is fast, but boring. Go straight pedal hard, ohh a puddle lets go around it. Lets go around that rock. Bounce my bike down the baby head rock trails. I'm riding with 45 psi in the rear, for two reasons
1)I have no way to put air in a tube if I puncture, so i bumped it up a bunch.
2) Sean suggested it, saying it's a hard smooth course over the last 10 miles.
But thats a bit harder psi than I would normally ride, 50% harder, which made for a bouncy, bouncy ride. But no flat tires. Next year I am doing this race with a tubeless system, run a low tire pressure like Joel, and roll over all that bumpy baby headed boulder crap. I also plan on getting a preferred start. Why mess around passing slowbodies when I can see how long it will take for the super stars to drop me instead. Then again I also plan on training all summer and not having a drive train that will chain suck if I stand up to climb a hill. The joys of going over your handle bars when your chain sticks to your chainring, oh it is a pleasure, and it builds confidence in your machine. Thanks Race Face, I only thought my seat bolt broke once on the trail, my gears ghost shifted and I dropped the chain once on a climb. Thanks! Maybe I should just single speed
After the firetower climb I was riding with larry sauber of Larsen Cycles, we hit the silver section and he says "I hate this section"which means rolling hills. This is where I lose some ground, my legs were on the verge of cramping, so i was in spin mode, and losing ground to the small group I was with, this has been a problem for me all year, cramping late in a race, under heavy loads. I think this means I need to do a lot more interval training, at least more than none. So I'm riding kind of solo, hanging off the back of a group of 4 guys, trying not to lose ground, and not get passed, ticking off the mile post signs. I get caught by a Dr who I had dropped earlier, but he kept coming back and then disappearing. So I drafted him for a while, then put in a pull, and drafted. We spoke for a bit, about vioxx and fish oil, pain and how close are we to the finish line. We catch 2 more guys, take a sharp turn into the the final 2'ish miles of woods. We hit a climb, while The Dr and Andy Kruse try to power climb their way through it, Instincts kick in, I spin my way between them up and over the hill, shifting gears and powering my way over the crest giving it the last bit of hell I have in me. I drop those two and inch my way back up to Larry Sauber. I see the 1 mile to go marker. I'm hurting but i keep pounding it, I come into a clearing, I can see the finish line at the bottom of a hill. I ride the hill at warp speed, slowing for a off camber right turn, when some jackass thinks he's gonna take me. I spin it up for the sprint, I hear some spectator say "...last climb", neck and neck for the line, then cramps in each hamstring stops my legs as I lose one spot, my time 2:31:31. I am ecstatic. My goals for the day, Sub 3hr, hoping for 2:30, Top 100 and to beat sean, if only by a bike length. 2 out of three aint bad. I got 143rd, I must have passed 500 people, it was insane. I see Timmer at the finish area. He got taken out at the first section of grass with a nasty crash.

Joel rolled in at 2:20:25 , 8 minutes faster than last year. 40th place 38th in his group. He crashed in the last couple of miles, when his wheel overlapped the guy in front of him. He finished 7 minutes up on Doug Swanson. He aslo beat Ben Moore, and was within two minutes of Sam Oftedahl.








Sean Wasn't that far behind me 2:33:32, 161st
. He road a smart, fast race, lots of drafting and very little towing. NO donut holes for this guy as he races.











Paul showed his might on a SS with a blown fork seal at 2:40:01 ,260th












Fleck Rocked the Karate Monkey in his 2nd MTB race ever, 2:59:45 628th. Mustache bars with road levers, a single speed demon ,this is his future.

We all kicked some serious ass. All sub 3hrs, 4/5 of us beat Greg Lemond. What a wonderful weekend.

Dakota Five-O

Clayton, Lona, Kim, Sean and myself made the trip to Spearfish for the five-0. We stopped at our friends farm for Thursday night and spent a lot of Friday driving across South Dakota. On the way back from the movies late Friday night we ran into Mr. Fleck just arriving with a van of QBP and 1on1 peeps. We made plans to recon the course Saturday and went back to sleep at our camp at the city campground. Saturday we had a lazy morning and then piled into a van with 10 other people. After entirely too much driving, we piled out and rode the last 10-15 miles of the course. We started with a steep climb that brought us to the famed Tinton downhill course. It definitly woke me up after the long van ride with super steep inclines, very loose pea gravel, massive crevases and some big rock drops thrown in. After nearly loosing it several times I stopped at the bottom and watched Sean fall over in one of the ditches. The rest of the pre-ride was a blast: super fast and mostly downhill.
view from the back of the van

Saturday night ended with the pre-registration event. I received race number 71 and considered it a good omen as it corrosponded with the year I was born. A large spaghetti dinner topped things off back at the camp and Sean and Clayton downed some steak. I preped my bike and fuel bottles and hit the sack around 10:30pm.
Up at 5am , we downed some oatmeal and prepared to ride
.It was actually a bit cold warming up as you can see from what we are wearing in this photo.

The race went like this: The first three miles were on paved and gravel roads with a couple rollers in town and then a steady climb out of the valley to the trailhead. We started at a decent clip and accelerated up each hill. At the top of one of the first hills I found myself at the front with some guy on a Bianchi with worldcup colors. I could tell he was one to watch(found out later he was some hotshot snow boarder who ended up getting 2nd). After a couple miles I found myself being shelled out the back of the front group of about 15 or so people. I looked behind and didn't see anyone close behind. I knew it was a long race and that the roadies would have advantage on this section so I paced myself up the hill eventually catching a couple guys. We worked together until the singletrack was in sight. At this point I thought I was possibly in the top 20. I passed a couple people in the first single track including a Grandstay guy(roadie) who went down in the tight twisty stuff. After a bit we had a group of five and I got a bit of recovery time. Eventually we drifting apart. At some point I started catching people. Most of the passing was on some really steep climbs some of which I had to hike-a-bike. My pedal stopped working properly so that every time I unclipped my right foot in order to get back in I would have to stop and orient the pedal just right with my hand so that I could clip back in. The pain was building but I wanted to test my limits on this ride.
The single track in the five-o is unbelievably awe inspiring. At one point when I must have been near the top I looked to my right and peered down into a deep canyon with beautiful cliffs and lush forest.
I kept hydrated and fueled at regular intervals and let the pain levels build. I think I was at the second checkpoint when I asked a spectator what position I was in. Not hearing what she said I yelled back "thirteenth?" and she responded :"no , 3rd". Hearing that gave me some extra motivation and I pushed on. From about mile 25 to mile 35 I though I had seriously misjudged how hard I could push myself and had serious doubts about finishing the race. Somehow I pushed on. I had been riding alone for quite a while when I started to hear someone catching me. There was a ripping downhill section on doubletrack when he caught me. I could tell he knew the trail so I let him lead the way. We had some friendly words and rode a couple miles together until we hit the climb to Hobo Camp. He slowly pulled away up the climb as I felt like my legs might fall off. At Hobo camp I declined the offer of beer and then could not wait to see the downhill that I described in the pre-ride. That last part of the climb was the most brutal experience of my racing career. When I reached the top I knew I could finish the race. The last 15 miles was riding as fast as possible without crashing, mostly downhill with only a few shorter climbs to break it up. After cruising down into town the last little hill brought out the serious leg cramp. Thankfully there was noone in sight to catch me in my molasses pace. The final 500 meters were nice and flat and I spun in for 4th overall and 3rd in the 39andunder category, with a time of 4:02. Sean and Clayton rolled in at about 21st and 25th respectively.Fleck rolled in sometime later...
Ice cold river water cools my cooked legs

Team bratwurst! and the 24 of afton

Team bratwurst!

Where to begin? First and foremost this couldn’t have happened with my support team. There is so much to do and all the time saved really helped keep me at the top. Damn you guys rule shout outs go to my sister! Ben and kara or aka ken and bara, and al on the wrenchn. They were awesome and I was a bear to deal with at some points! Sorry guys I wasn’t trying to be a dick at those points I was just being a focused robot which I found is what you have to do to win one of these. It’s weird when you get in a zone like this. You only deal in simple short strings of communication, and thought. Anything else is pushed aside.

The day began with me and al setting up camp. Stacy arrived next and then ben and kara. Joel dropped by from on a solo ride and stayed for at least the start. We were there for so long that I kinda didn’t realize it was like 20 muinets to go and I had only gotten my clothing on. So after getting my food and ipod strung up I went to the start line having no warm up and being out the night before way to late and drinken far too much. This made me a little worried about my first lap and overall staying power.

They did there usual lemans start and we all ran up a short hill. I had a good run and got back with the first group of about 15 or so. I intended to take all my laps at an easy pace with a little more kick on the first two but I seemed to be in xc race mode since I put in a 46 min lap for the first and im not sure on the sec. I honestly felt I didn’t go at max output, but the course was almost the same as last year and I think my fastest lap was like 54 min or so. Sheesh.

I had a set food plan of 24 oz of water with two scoops of perpetuam and electrolyte mix for every lap excluding the first two which would be just water and goo. Well I came around on my sec lap and I had a water bottle with perpetuam waiting. Oops. Not too big of a woop it just saved some goo packets. I also brought oatmeal and mashed p for hot real food. Oh and my secret weapon the mighty bratwurst which I will share all further on in this missive.

By the 4^th lap I was feeling a little need for a break so I switched bikes and rested for 15 min. this was the next big mistake of the race. Note do not ride a fully rigid single speed mountain bike with way top much gearing (36-21) as you alternate bike! Note2 exp if you have had a serious hand injury 3 weeks ago. Holy shit that lap sucked I mean in the manageable hills it kicked ass like a ss does but anything serious was a bloody bear and I had to walk it. ARG well lesson learned I suppose. I let my team know at the halfway point that the redline was being decommissioned for the rest o the race and we were going to just have to make the dual suspension happen.

The night time:

That was fun up until I woke up J The moon was large but it didn’t nearly cast as much light as past years so I wasn’t able to turn of my lights completely on the up hills. I did however make one handlebar light at half illumination and 2 headlights work for the whole night. I just turned of my headlight as much as possible and I was able too do 2 laps easy with one unit. By my 10^th lap I was told I was up by a full lap so I waited till about 1 am I think to cal it sleep time. The team was ready for me to dock and I went right into bed after a hot meal. 45 min later I hear my sister ask if I am up I realize I am and somehow dressing myself. Heheh very funky time but I snapped right up when my cell alarm went of and got right to work.

I read a little bit about how much this point in a 24 hr race can realllllllly suck. Yes it does. I totally concur! On lap 11 I started out slow it took me a bit to get my legs back which at this point just felt a little stiff not sore, also the focused mindset I was in before going to sleep. I really started to pick up steam and had an ok lap and most importantly felt like I was back into the groove I was on before I went to sleep. Then came bloody lap 12 this was my purgatory. This is the lap where I had a total body bonk I mean it was everything I started to get the twitches and I felt like I was crawling. I then proceeded to go thru my bike competing life as a whole and pick every point where I had failed to decide to stop. I also tried to decide which injury to use to break it to the team was the clincher in not going on. Hmm the hand well that would be the expected one? The legs, they just haven’t got anything left. I just kept imagining sleeping.

But as with anything there’s always a point where you go thru and can come out the other side total different. I sat there on the first large climb and I thought ok I can either stay in this and take half hour break and eat some real food, or I can pretty much take myself out of the race and sleep for two hours get up and either ride a few more laps or sit on my 12 done. Either way I decided id be totally satisfied with what I had accomplished at this point which was currently being in first since the second lap.

By the end of the climb I had decided it. It was on. Nothing was going to stop me from going on and I was going finish the race and I was going to win it. Im not saying I knew I had it at this point only I was determined to do everything I could to hold on to first and win.

I got sepulturas “kowanais” (--- prob spelled wrong) on my ipod thought of my mom and grandpa my crew helping me and I got a big bloody smile on my face and finished that lap.

Bratwurst salvation:

I had asked to have a brautwurst ready for me and that Id take a ½ hour off after this lap when I saw ben and kara at the half way point. Everything was there for me I wolfed a full braut and some mashed p and slept for 25 min in my lawn chair wrapped in a sleeping bag. Got up warmed up by the fire gave my sister a hug cuz I had been suck a bear to her up to this point in the race and blasted out of there. That braut somehow helped me post a 46 min lap 13 laps into the race and right after my bonk lap. Damn! Hence the team name as coined by kara. Team bratwurst!!

After this I simply grinned and bore the pain which was climbing every lap. The right knee was not happy my wrists were exploding on the down hills. My hand was still trouble but manageable and the muscle above the inside of the knee was screaming. If I hadn’t had a steady dose of aleve and ibuprofen id have been way worse off.

My crew monitored second place and if he took a half hour rest between laps then I did. Everything was going swell how nice of him to take these breaks, and then he had to go and take a 5 min break. Jerkface!! So on lap 18 I had to just get right out there. My only mechanical came on that lap and it was my left cleat coming loose. Luckily it clipped out without staying in the pedal. I tightened her up and was on my way.

Other than that it seemed we could not get my front shifting on from 10 or 11 on. It was weird. So shifting kinda sucked and I had to have al change my chain on one stop cuz id locked the chain up so many times in the front derailleur. Im surprised I didn’t break that chain.

I finished 18 at about 2:45 and was ready to go if I had to. The team let me know he was in plain cloths and sandals and no one else was even close. Hell ya I had done it I bloody won 24 hours of afton. I had to sit there and wait and see if anyone snuck back in but by 4 it was official.

I heard last year a guy who is a sponsored 24 hour solo rider did 20 laps. I could have done 2 more. It was cool to realize that. I didn’t care to worry about matching that I mean this was now and I didn’t need anymore laps to win but shit my first solo 24 and I could have been competitive with a big gun. Just an added bonus to the whole fo the event.

What I learned from this whole shebang that at the end of the day its more mental than anything. Which was my goal for the year was to work on my mental side of racing the most. It payed of for me!

During the race I got lots of complements and queries as to if I was that guy leading the solo group. Wow ive never experienced that and it was so rad to hear people telling me to keep going and cheering me on. That helps so much.

Day after:

The muscles around my knees are on fire. I feel like I have permanent light prickly sensation in both hands fingertips, and I think I have some pretty good bruising to the palms of both hands . Seems they got the worst punishing.

So there ya have it. And if anyone ever tells ya that bratwursts cant save the day tell em sean ‘o’ says they are a liar!

Over and out

well thats about a wrap for the sean 0

Well i have to say it was a bloody awesome erics series for the whole team! i wish i could finish it! But the hand is ending up being more of a set back than i thought. i still cant shift with my thumb much less stress it holding a grip. im still hoping afton wont be a wash but even if i wasnt racing afton next weekend this up coming race is too soon for the ol hand.

I think i can say with confidence i would have had 2nd or 3rd had i not injured the hand. so from what i was able to accomplish last year and then do this season well even though im not able to finish it out im bloody happy with my performance.

ya im pissed after all this was a simple fall at lebenon that screwed my bloody season dont get me wrong but it isnt keepen me up at night lol.

Well theres plenty of fun events left with afton, chuem, and dakota 50 to rock out to and i guess ill just have to turn it up in cyclo cross this season hehe.

Well i guess this is in the whole agony of defeat folder :(

ok, I know there's been rumors, and I can't go on like this, living in denial, so here's the dope:





4th place at the campus crit, 40 yrs +
1st place, birchwood road race, masters cat 4-5

ok, and now with no apologies, here is the long race report:

the campus crit was fun, a bit wet at the start of the race, so folks were riding cautiously. about 5 gp riders were sitting in, and I was trying to stay near the front. One of them got to the front and then wanted me to pull through. I wiped my nose. He turned around again and said 'come on, you've got to take a turn' .. I had this dang runny nose though, and just wiped it again. Then he started weaving all over the road, and looking back trying to get me to pass him. It was sort of annoying, and I was on my way to a corner. So I took the short line into the corner, and too bad for him he was between me and the curb. sorry dude. anyhow, there was some bad language from him at that point, but that was the last I saw him, because on the next lap I jumped out and was joined by 3 guys, including two strong riders from gp, and we kept the gap for the next 8 laps or so, to the finish. one of the guys was a time trial horse, and couldn't corner, and when I pulled I'd drop them all in the corners, but basically I was barely hanging on at the end, and was glad to get the 4th place out of our group. The field was a couple of blocks back. Lots of fun.


at the birchwood race I decided on the 3 lap race, even though I was tempted to race 5 laps with the 3s. But I figured, it's hot and windy, and technically I'm a cat 4/5 masters.. so race that one, and try and get a decent result so that later, after I upgrade to 3s, and I'm getting dropped, I'll have some memories of riding at the front. So on the first lap me and that German guy Markus (silver cycling) tried to get something going and got a little gap, but no one was interested in bridging up to us, so before we started up the hill we sat up and waited for the group. I told myself not to get suckered into that again, and promised myself to keep at least 5 riders in front of me. There were lots of Loons and some cat 6ers, let them do the work. So I sat in back, and drank water. I even had two water bottle cages on the bike! .. the bwoods had neutral water hand ups, and so for the race I drank 7 bottles, including two with clayton's powder, and some hammer gel from Fleck.. thanks guys... also, I had decided to go with my low gear setup to avoid cramping, and had spent a couple of weeks trying to learn how to shift. (all that single speed riding can have its down side) .. and so as a result, I was spinning up the hill, and even went as low as 36 x 25, while all around me guys were out of the saddle and fighting cramps. As we approached Nason Hill for the third time, the cat 3 field was in sight. The race officials drove by our group slowly, and said if we got much closer , they'd pull the 3's over and let us pass. That would have been really sweet ! (they started about 10 minutes before us).. anyhow, that didn't happen, but on the last climb, one of the loons started pulling away about halfway up Nason hill. I had little trouble grabbing his wheel and followed him over the top. As we started down the slight downhill, he turned and said "hey, it's a long way to the finish".. at that, I looked back, and said "dude! we have a gap!" , "no shit" or something like that was his reply, I was amazed we had pulled away so cleanly, and said "yeah! let's do it.. " and we traded off for the next km or so, trying to build that gap. I pulled around him as we started up the next hill - the one I'd been saving myself for - and said "stick with me" .. I was still worried the pack might catch us on the slight downhill before the finish, and having two riders would make it easier. but when I looked back a minute later, he was way off my wheel, and the pack was starting the climb.. I wasn't waiting around for him, and took off, I figured I had a couple of km to go .. I did my best imitation of a time trialist, and 'hammered' away on 50x12. ok, maybe it was 50x14, but hey! don't laugh, there was a headwind ! anyhow, the sweetest sound was when I heard the official's car pull around him, and get behind me, about 300 meters from the finish. Just before the line there was a slight uphill and I was running out of gas. I turned and saw him out of the saddle, but it was too late, I beat him by 50 meters or so.

24 hours of 9 mile

Sean resting up after 5 brutal laps

Paul resting up after 1 brutal lap

REFLECTORS!!!!! ???

4 flat tires
1 bent chain
2 missing teeth on a dérailleur pulley
1 wheel bolt coming loose (pro mechanics my ass)
24 hours
2ND PLACE BABY.

MTB Century

Well we did it. It took a while but I had a blast. Sean experienced a little taste of what awaits him when he does 24 hr of Afton solo. Clayton and I pondered who had won todays Tour stage as we plowed along and I came closest picking Rasmusen and Valverde to do something. I forgot my camera so no pictures of our dirty selves after 7 1/2 hours on the bikes. Here are the numbers and map if anyone wants to check it.

Also last Sunday I did the Bluff Riders Charge on my rigid ss 29er. It was a good choice and a lot of fun. Check out the elevation profile on the gps data for an idea of how my legs felt up the last climb with my 36/21 gear.

nice day for a parade (bike)

my first solo 24 hour

Well its on friends. i am attempting my first 24 hour solo. i should have my sister and father and 2 close friends there all doing my race support. i aim to place in the top 5 and i feel with my endurance i should be able to if i set the correct pace and feed myself correctly. if anyone want to camp there and enjoy my pain or try your first 24 hour solo please join me. oh its gonna hurt lol!!

old school claim to fame

here I am on my first mtb. It was a red Cannondale. I used it for a tour from Washington D.C. to New Orleans after graduating high school. Soon after that it became my work bike when I couriered in Baltimore. This magazine cover is from The League of American Wheelmen(they changed the last word to Bicyclists a little later). My boss at the time wasn't happy with the one-way sign in the backround showing I'm breaking traffic laws....

mount du lac extravaganza

Well we decided to leave early and camp the night before this was a good idea not only for easy pre race prep but more importantly we got to night ride. Damn that was fun too bad my second light joel borrowed lost its juice on one lap or we could have done a second lap.
Riding at night spawned an idea of mine to put on a race either wors or mnscs that is totally at night. i suspect a weekend night fri or sat would work and it would involve camping/party afterwards. but enough on that for now on to the race.

Du lac started us out right up a hill half the distance of manhandler and then right into a long extended up hill which wasnt so shabby itself. 8 of us blew out front and stayed there for the most of the race. me and clayton hooked up maybe less than a quarter into the first lap and pretty much stayed together for the rest of the race.

again we had a guy show up for one race who was pretty strong who lead all of the race. the first lap was a battle between me and pat and andy who are both penn cycle riders. there was 2 peace coffee guys also in front and a jr rider from flanders.

the guy from peace coffee who beat me last week faded during the first lap. andy dropped back also. the remaining peace coffee rider burped air during me and claytons steady pulling up to the lead group of him the flanders kid and pat.

so by the third lap me and clayton started picking it up and clayton pulled maybe 5 bike links in front of me and i wasnt able to catch back up to him for most of the lap. we past the flanders kid a 3rd into the 4th lap and were able to see pat maybe 1/2 way into the last lap.

coming into the final twisting sweltering single track i kept yelling at clayton to "pull from the well" cuz i thought he actual had the speed to catch pat. i turned it up also but wasnt sure i could catch him.

well i did pick it up i guess, cuz coming out of the trees into the first part of the final uphill i saw clayton and pat. Well i just put the hammer down and kept it in secound as long as i could and started to gain on them. i passed clayton on the first 1/4 of the hill and pat just a bit after.

pat picked it up and came back at me on the last 1/4 and i matched him almost to the crest and he had just a touch more and he got to the top first. so going into the final switchback dh i didnt fight him for position he earned that spot in front of me.

so we had a steller day! i got 2nd in age and 3rd overall. it was so fulfilling! i felt great physically!



there was only one good biff which was during the tree down hill on the 3rd lap clayton washed out his front tire and went down i came up fast in a blaze but was giving him distance so i could react if he fell. lucky id did cuz i nearly hit him as he stood up. in the flury he moved up trail as i went up trail to go around him. luckily i only caught a smidgen of his tire and didnt catch his fingers in my spokes. he said he had felt his fingers lightly brush them god that would have fucken sucked if we would have had a team mate taken out a team mate!

new toys at Buck Hill this week

After being frustrated with my cycle computer conking out for the third time in 3 months I got rid of the wires and bought a garmin gps unit. It measures heartrate, elevation, speed, lap time, distance, some other stuff and maps where you go. Check out the data I collected from Buck Hill if you are so inclined on mb.
Also we all ran kenda karma 2.o tires on Thursday and they worked great in the loose and muddy stuff we had to contend with. They added some old trail back in the past couple weeks and it had a lot of the loose stuff. The course was just a little soggy from the rain earlier in the day. We didn't get any rain while racing, but after preriding half the course on my small block eights and hearing thunder while at the top of the hill I rushed back and changed tires. Got to the startline a little late and had to muscle my way into a third row start position. Race went pretty well although we had to run up the first steep climb due to logjam. Here's a bonus photo from Afton:


Stay tuned for some spy photo's of an anonymous birchwood rider showing how they win so many races..

PAINsville triathlon

on saturday i raced the paynesville triathlon. we decided to make a weekend of it so my family and a group of friends loaded up the van and headed out of town. we camped at a campground on the same lake where the race was held so we could be closer and not have to get up so early on race day. sounds good in theory but didnt work so well in practice. we stayed up later than expected and when i finally got to bed at nearly midnight i got a call from some other people who were camping with us but drove separatly. they were lost. i climbed out of the tent to consult the map and give them directions and awaited their arrival so i could direct them to their site. after many glances at the time i finally got to bed at 1:00. i still somehow managed to wake up a few minutes before my alarm at 5:30. great! i usually try to get at least 8 hours of sleep before a race and i got about half that. we made breakfast and headed off to check in and get body marking at 7:30. i got a great transition spot and surprisingly wasnt tired. i spent the next hour hydrating and warming up and after my 5th trip to pee the race was about to start. i decided to take a different tactic than usual at the start of the race and not go all out on the swim. i still made my way to the front of the pack but didnt have the goal of being the first out of the water. i settled into a descent rhythm and was the 7th person out of the water. i looked behind me and had a nice gap to the next person. i was happy with that. i took off on the bike and in the first mile i passed the guy ahead of me. i was feelin great. a few miles into the bike i finally started feeling tired. every mile started to feel like an accomplishment. the hilly course was really taking its toll on me and i kept glancing back and could see a rider making ground on me. i really had to will my legs to keep turning and resist the urge to stop and take a nap. he passed me right before mile 10 where the sign read "welcome to pain hill". i had to really dig deep up the aptly named beast so i wouldnt loose too much ground and by the end of the bike he was less than a minute ahead of me. i had a fast transition into the run and had no idea what to expect for the run course. i ran 100 yards and turned the corner right into a steep hill. my legs felt like lead. i felt like i was going incredibly slowly. i got passed by two guys before the water station at the half way point and i felt like crap. i was really pushing myself for the last mile since another guy was about 50 yards behind me and i wasnt going to let him pass me too. i held him off and finished 10th overall; second in the 30-35 division. i suddenly felt fantastic.

An interesting new study on the effects of sleep and athletic performance.

"Although much research has established the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive function, mood and performance, relatively little research has investigated the effects of extra sleep over multiple nights on these variables, and even less on the specific relationship between extra sleep and athletic performance. This study illuminated this latter relationship and showed that obtaining extra sleep was associated with improvements in indicators of athletic performance and mood among members of the men's basketball team."

I think this explains the uphill crash at cottage grove a while back. And Me forgetting to set my lock out to off at afton.
I'm going back to bed!

It's my birthday

So i raced buck hill.
I even had a real awesome start.
then we hit the sandy soft silty dirt and sand and I was sliding all over the place.
I held my own until i crashed in some soft stuff on the first lap. Got passed by almost 10 riders.
But I recovered my groove, and 5 minutes later same exact thing, over the handlebars.

So after the third time I was a lot more timid with the front brakes.
So I reeled in about 4 or 5 riders in the ensuing madness (laps),
and finished somewhere mid pack.

I think I may have ridden over a small bird that didn't get out of the way when I was coming in before I hit the down hill into the finishing area. what a way to end the evening. It made me sad thinking how dumb that was for me to hurt an innocent animal just so I can have fun. I looked for it after the race but couldn't remember where it was that it had happened. The song conscience of a cannibal by drop dead would not leave my head. What a weird thing to have happen that close to the end of a race. I could blame the bird for not getting out of my way like a smart bird would, but I was on it's turf doing something pointless and unnecessary. I hope i missed it.

So yeah , happy birthday to me.
Rushed home to have dinner with some friends at French Meadows, flat bread pizza, vegan entree of curry and brown rice with a "killer" chocolate torte. Talk about the perfect recovery meal, and no dead little birds.

weird


So now I am 20-11 or 31 officially. I seemed to have recovered from Sundays effort nicely. Lets see How I recover from the cold press coffee i had for breakfast. I am still feeling amped at this hour. Yikes
Thanks to all who showed up, sorry to the my fellow hublings, I am bad at organizing things like that.

Putting up with pain

A little late reporting on the Afton Avalanche.

Afton is a weird race for me. Riding there I seem to have no serious problems keeping a high tempo, come race day it's another story.

So what I did wrong
1) Lack of sleep, maybe 6 hours.
2) Poor breakfast choice (not enough for sure).
3) inadequate fluid intake and electrolytes prior to the race.
4) leaving my Fox fork locked out during the entire warm up and first lap.
5) riding lebanon hills the day prior to the race.

those are the major mistakes i made prior to the race.

All in all I felt really flat the whole race, I was never really able to lay down some power and just blast up any hill. The start was good as usual, i was in 4th place leading into the single track with two flanders guys ( both who have in races finished ahead of me at least once). I was able to hold with them and this guy in a funky yellowish orange jersey who I have never seen before. The first serious climb near southern switchbacks the guy in yellow takes off past team flanders. If you read Sean's post you'll see he was gone for good, never saw him after that climb. Once into the single track i get right on Peter O's wheel (this kid is gonna be in expert class in the next year or two) and today he seems to be hating it right. I'm not having any fun either, my breathing is labored and my traction is horrible, scaring myself through every corner. All I can wonder is do my new tires suck this horribly? Well after riding behind peter for a bit and watching his teamate pull ahead I let him know we are coming by. Sean and myself that is. We catch his teamate in the 1st of 2 rocky sections, not because we are seriously fast, but because he is frantically trying to get his chain from between his spokes and his cassette. I still am hating the traction on these tires and am barely able to hold a line, it's hot, high 80's hot and i am bumming. Manhandler didn't seem so bad , but then again I wasn't really pushing it, so Mr peace Coffee rolls by, i stay on him until the downhill, and Sean ask's if i want him to pull and chase the peace guy (he's maybe 15 yards up the trail).I say yes take a swig of water, and watch them ride away from me. about 5 minutes later I look down at my fork and notice that I am locked out, FUCK ME i think, so I unlock it and ride a much better second lap. I save my energy for the third lap. All the while Sean Has a Minute on me and peace coffee guy has a slight gap on Sean. At the End of the second lap I have a a penn cycle guy near me, I take a water hand up and a dousing from the water station. I then feel the first of what is going to be 40 minutes of cramping. Every pedal stroke begins to hurt, little twitches of muscle spasms with every upstroke and down stroke of my leg. Not a good sign for the last lap. Penn guy passes me like I am standing still, I am now spinning in my granny gear the entire race, is it me or is afton 80-90% uphill? Not that I normally ride uphill, but this sucks when it's hot, your cramping and the water you were handed is hot gatorade. Damn now I can't cool myself off at all. I get passed halfway through the lap, with 2 guys about 30 seconds in arrears of me. I get to manhandler, and just spin, and cramp, spin and cramp, I am going 3.1 mph, so I hop off the bike and push the bike, I am going 3.1 mph, and cramping in different muscles, ah relief is different pain. I hop on my bike, look back and see the guy behind me is to close for comfort, and there is a struggling expert rider in front of me, I ignore the pain as my legs want nothing to do but lock up on this last little climb, and blaze down hill for the glory of 4th place (for the 3rd time) in my age group, and 6th overall. Thats up from 8th the week before. I think I am going to treat myself to a massage this week. Next is Mont du Lac, supposed to be fun and no way can it be as hot as afton. Is that a podium place I see?

race week, phase two

so I got myself out to the first of the summit series at dakota tech this evening.. there were about 25 riders in the masters 3,4,5 race. I recognized a couple of riders, including Joe Hamlin from silver cycling.. big strong guy who can sprint .. it was a ten lap race with two primes.. enough wind to discourage breaks. nonetheless, I had to chase down a couple of guys (including Hamlin) early. There were a few teams well represented including spbrc, loon state, silver.. anyhow, one silver guy out front on the first prime lap, I bridged up, and no one followed.. weird. I drafted the dude until the last corner, and easily took the prime. He tried to get me to keep going, but I was pulling my water bottle out of my back pocket for some hydration. It was 90 degrees.. so then I'm back in the back for the next couple of laps until a couple guys try to get away again. I bridged up. We dropped one , and so another hollywood rider was dragging me to the finish line again. I'm starting to like these guys ! .. anyhow, he was more ready than his team mate and held me off at the line for the second prime. I'm back in back, and finishing my water.. about 4 laps left.. pace is up and down, with most of the pack still in the race. two laps to go and a little jump. I get on Hamlins wheel and won't let anyone take it away. 1 lap to go and another hollywood dude drifts off the front. I jump and again nobody answers. So hollywood #3 is again leading me out. I look behind and we have about 100 yards.. might be enough. with a couple corners left he's still cranking away , and I'm watching behind.. starting to hear the wheels of the group, but with the corners coming up, I'm sitting pretty. around the last corner I swing wide, and I see the front of the group on the inside. I think I have a chance at passing my lead out dude , but he's just ahead of me and I'm not gaining after I get to about his saddle.. at the line Hamlin catches me and takes second place by about 1/2 wheel.. the judges have a hard time scoring anything lower than 4th place because we first 3 were so tight.. great race ! next week, we should all get out there, it's a really fun place to race. I brought home 10 bucks too ! ... so that's a first place last thursday (buck hill) .. 2nd place sunday (afton) third place tonight.. I'm really on a downward track. Speaking of track, race week concludes with thursday (if it doesn't rain) and saturday evenings at the ncs. SERIOUSLY it would be a great place to ride as a team out at dakota tech. check the calendar.. we could all do the cat 3,4,5 race.. late,r

Wow that felt great!

well first and formost it was incredibly satisfying to end up in 4th overall after such a hellish race!! i know it may not have been as hot as last year but it was enough for me and three laps.
I made sure this race to get out front and put it down for the first lap. it started right out with me and clayton following three cats. clayton pulled for the first half of the first lap. i took over and i think clayton dropped somewhere before the nasty climb before manhandler.
We passed one of the 3 and the other flatted. During all this a peace coffee guy which i think i took by like 4 places last week moved onto our tail. he moved in front of us while clayton was pulling and i even told clayton to not worry about him he will fade. um no he didnt lol.
The lead guy was long gone and nowhere to be found. so it seemed a battle for 2nd and 3rd. During the secound lap he pulled in front of me and i let him have it why not draft i thought. well that was my big mistake of the race. i let him decide the tempo i stayed behind him all the way to man handler even though he even offered to let me pass well before then. if i had i woud have rode my race and made him adjust his tempo to catch me. bummer im not sure how it would have ended up but i suspect things could have changed.
during our constant battle a nature valley 19-29 rider just plain blew past us on the big hill neer the 24 hour of afton start/finish area. he kinda turned it up a notch somewheres behind us and damn we didnt have a chance.
So there ya have it. afton alps continues to be the hardest race all year hot and nasty, and All i know was riding thru the pain and discomfort of that awful race got me the spot it did.
pa pow.

avalanche

Joel rode in the 'expert' , Sean and Clayton rode in the 'comp', I rode in the Single Speed cat, which was in the 'sport' race. It was hot... and very hot for the later races.. here's a quick report from my race, and some photos.

wow, that was tough.. I went out in the first wave of the Sports, which included single speed riders and some younger age group, like 29-35 or something...anyhow, at the start I blasted up to the top of the first hill and into the lead just for grins, then let some mtb racers through so I could see how to do this stuff... fell, got up, then got stuck behind a guy that 8 minutes into the race was hitting the wall. I was all "hup, hup, hup" behind the dude while the top 3 ro 4 riders were building a little gap..this was just at the end of the first section ( the bridge loop) .. I passed him and got the leaders back within sight, .... continued that way for the first loop, then beginning the second loop I passed one of the ss riders who had a flat. I thought he was out of the race.. turns out he fixed his wheel, and got back in... anyhow, at that point I figured there were just two guys ahead of me, the leader (who was riding ss, and was way out front) and the geared bike dude that had been riding with the guy who flatted. I thought I had an outside chance of catching that guy, but didn't want to overdo it trying to move up on him. I could see some folks behind me on the switchbacks, but I felt pretty good, and didn't worry about them too much. I had walked a few of the hills on the first lap to conserve energy, and give myself time to actually drink the energy mix I'd carted up to the top.. then, when the hills weren't as steep, I felt strong, and could really hammer. That strategy worked well on the second lap when I heard the guy coming up behind me.. I knew he must be working hard, and was watching me walk.. he probably figured I was fried.. Just as he closed the gap though, I finished my water, and hopped back on, and blasted up the last hill. I figured if he could hang with me on that hill, I'd pull over and pat him on his back on his way past. Well, that didn't happen. I finished about a minute ahead of him...When I checked the results I was surprised to see that I was 4th overall..... dang, thought I got third ? well, dont forget the waves,and the elapsed time that determines the results.. so I got 'edged' out (by about a minute) by a 14 year old riding for hollywood .. dang. but that kid will probably be one heck of a bike racer in 20 years! .. The scoring on the race is by age group.. even for the ss riders. So there's no separate ss category, and I'll have to check if either of the two guys who finished in front of me were actually in my age group.. In my mind though, I got third place out the group I went out with, which included three of the four fastest riders in all the sport categories ..

I (heart) mtn bike racing

well, I did it again. I notched a post in the win column.
Here's a pic of one of my awesome bikes: and now I'm going to have another beer while you drool over the fastest bike in the recreation race, Buck Hill, June 7, 2007.

Maplelag or How to crash 3 times in the last 2 miles of a race

Well I finally did it, I posted a notch in the win column.

The race started out great for me, I was in the lead going into the first section of single track, and managed to bungle it all up in the first corner loosing 2 spots. I was then passed by another rider on some fast fire trails who immidiately went into the lead.

Approaching the split where the expert/semi pro/ pro riders do the lakeside drop I had 2 riders in front of me , joel cheering me on and telling me they had 12 seconds on me. I slowly worked my way up to the rider in front of me, at about mile 3, on a fast descent with narrow path he crashed in front of me and I thought about riding over him, but decided not to. at this point we are just before the base of suicide hill, the long steep climb on the course. I hammer up the hill passing my compatriot. All goes well the rest of the lap and I am slowly catching the leader. At the feedzone I am all but 8 seconds back according to joel.

I catch the rider in front of me on suicide hill and tear past him into the single track. Everything seems to be going well for me, I have a decent lead and bam, I catch sight of the guy behind me. So I loose my cool, crash 3 seperate times, and let him get right up on me. with 1.5 miles to go it's mostly wide open trails with 1 section of single track left, i hammer as hard as I can, which no longer feels very fast, get to the feedzone, look back and I am completely alone. I zip up my jersey and score my first victory. It was truly sweet.
Turns out the guy I beat was a local rider celebrating his birthday. Happy Birthday Steve!!! He should feel satisfied in knowing that I puked my guts up 2 after the race, I gave it my all and my body rejected all substanance. That made for a painfully fun 230 mile drive home. mmmm vomit.