Cooked.

We haven't had much sun so far this spring/summer in VT. Last weekend while everyone else was racing, I went on a gap ride with a friend and forgot what the sun can do. I remember now.

In other super exciting news, I signed up for the VT 50, and Canada is getting closer and closer. Hopefully my arms are no longer neon red for that race.

Flower Power

Greeting from the Great Soggy North. Time here has been short as the weather lately resembles Bangladesh during monsoon season rather than Vermont in the spring. Record flooding of Lake Champlain and biblical rains kept us off the trails and made it hard to muster any motivation to do anything outside. We got a week and a half of sun and excellent trail drying weather leading right up to the first local race of the year. Lucky for us, the weather turned from sunny and 60 to 50s and steady rain for the 24 hours preceding the race.

The start was rather mellow, with a lot of people choosing to stay inside and couch surf rather than brave the rain, mud and freshly cut grass. Most of the Catamount Outdoor center trails are still drying out so the race was held on the hillside, where they hold the 'cross races in the fall. The course mixed in a good sampling of singletrack including trails like "the gullywhomper" although the majority of the race was wide open field. I felt like dog vomit the first lap, after trying to hang with the three leaders for about 30 seconds. I knew that wasn't going to happen, so I hung back and warmed up, and started to feel okay.

I kept the lead three in sight (sort of, since the course was mostly in open field it wasn't like they could hide) and just kept plugging along. Halfway through the second lap, I caught one of the leaders (the one who is 16 and blinded by the fog on his glasses) and passed him. Yup, no mercy, even for blind teens who, I found out after the race, waited for me so he would have someone to finish the last lap with. I am AWESOME! We rode the rest of the lap together, and I thought he was going to take me in the sprint finish (I am looking back to see where he is in the pic below)

I guess he really was tired though, because I finished two seconds in front of him. I think he just feels bad for me because I am fat and old. And I drive him to cool riding spots sometimes. I am sure that he will kick my ass many times this summer, so I have to enjoy this victory while I can.

Rainy Daze

The end of vacation is approaching rapidly. It has been great so far, but it has gone too quickly. Rainy weather kills any motivation to ride, but hopefully we will have good weather next week and we can do more riding.

Sh*t show.

That is the only way to describe it. The night before we were planning to head down to NY for the season opening "Singlespeedapalooza" my ride told me he had to work Saturday instead of driving down........Unless I wanted to hang out until 6 in the evening and then drive 5 hours down to the race with him. After being sick for three weeks and not really caring if I miss the race, or about a long drive through a storm that covered most of the East coast, I said, "Sure, that sounds like a great idea!" We had friends already in NY for the race with a hotel room we could crash at, and I didn't want Marco to miss the race, so I spent Saturday with Wifey and watched her be sick, and sleep, because that is what she does when she is sick. After doing all that exciting stuff, I decided to go for a quick ride at four, thinking Marco wouldn't be back until six. I got done with my ride and he called me to tell me he was 15 minutes from my house. I rushed home, tried to pack everything, and ending forgetting race food, my toothbrush and my knee warmers, but I remember all the essentials.

Still no bridge between VT and NY. The free ferry was fun though.

Single speeders get up early. Also, note the bending trees. It was windy.

The drive was rather uneventful (I slept for about two hours) and we met up with our friends and got a good night's sleep at the hotel. After breakfast and coffee, we got to the race venue at what we thought was a good and early hour, but we still had to park a bit away from the start. Marco and I got dressed and had heard from those that pre-rode the course that it was wet. Standing water up to your hubs wet. From people who ride 29ers. Awesome.

Why is Marco touching me? At least we are happy.

After. I look like I just snorted an ounce of baker's chocolate. Marco looks likes he's pooping.

Good times.

The race started off fast. It was easy to tell who was running a big gear on the 3 mile prolog, because they took off. I stayed towards the front for a bit, and then decided not to explode my legs before we even got to the single track. Once we did hit the single track, there were people everywhere, stop and go, people cutting through the woods to jump ahead, and people falling left and right. I managed to stay up through the prolog singletrack and had a pretty good position. I stayed with a group of four or five guys who were actually in shape through the first section of single track, but then they easily gapped me on the lengthy road section. I managed to keep them in sight through the road sections, and caught them one by one and passed them through the last single track section. One of them stayed behind me for most of the next lap, and it was nice to have someone to talk to. Until he got sick of me when we hit the road section again, and he dropped my like a diaper full of baby diarrhea. Hot, steamy, baby diarrhea. I felt a bit dejected, but kept telling myself that the faster I pedaled, the sooner I would be done. It was getting cold. The copious and deep puddles would nicely clean the bike of all the peanut butter mud that caked on through the first half of the course, but they also constantly doused water all over the riders. 3/4 through the last lap I got off to walk up one climb, and my knees didn't want to bend. I hobbled up and hopped back on the bike, forcing the legs to bend and hoping to make it in before getting caught by too many people. I tried to eat one of the clif bars I bought at a gas station, but those things are awful when you are trying to breathe and don't have access to lots of water. I spit most of it out and just limped towards the finish, getting passed by two guys towards the end. I gave it my all to stick with them through the last section of single track, and then was amused that they kept looking back at me on the long road section before the finish. They thought I might try and sneak up on them, but I was lucky just to keep them in sight. I ended up finishing 14th overall, which I was very happy with. The best part of the race was the Terrapin ale at the after race BBQ. Good stuff from Georgia. Marco and I hung out for a bit, talking to a lot of bike people we don't see during the winter, and then we convinced our friend Andrea to drive home, after she placed third in her race.

Overall, another fun trip to NY.

The plague

uuughh.......I felt pretty good until the last two weeks. I had been riding alot, getting out daily and feeling strong, then it hit me like a Micky Ward left hook (while I was sick and holding down the couch I watched a few movies) Awesome fever, plugged nose, ears and eyes (yup, even my eyes felt stuffed) Everytime I would get a little better, I would hop on the bike and try to ride, and dig myself deeper into the respiratory hell that this virus is. Finally went to the doctor last Sunday, got some pink horse pill antibiotics and I am starting feel a bit better. Just in time for the drive down to SS-apalooza. My ride got called into work today, so now we are leaving VT until 5. We should get to NY around 11, and sleep in the car. I guess it really doesn't matter, seeing as this will be a participation ride, rather than race. Hopefully I don't vomit on myself, or anyone else, but I am not going to rule it out.

I will let you know how it goes.

Let the sun shine.

Took a trip down to Massachusetts this weekend for a work related conference. Lucky for me, there is a rather substantial trail network nearby. My friend Marc called me as I was leaving work ( about 45 minutes after I wanted to leave) and he said he wanted to tag along. So, I met him on my way South and about 3 hours later we were checked into the hotel and I was off to my first meeting. After the meeting, we drove to the "alleged" trail head (I had never been to this area before, but a couple of friends told me the street to park on and where to look) We got the bikes out of the car, road down an access road, and right into a foot of snow cover. We cut the ride short and went home and watched Man v. Wild.

Next day, more meetings, then riding in the afternoon. We decided to try and get to the trails from a higher point, because we could see how dry the ridge was and it looked like good terrain for biking. About 2 minutes into the ride, my front brake felt really squishy, and I looked down and noticed my brake pads were popping out of the caliper. The little bolt/C-clip combo that holds the pads in on the Elixirs decided to disappear, and I had to ride DJ style. Not much of a hardship, as we couldn't find any good, bike friendly trails, and we ended up riding roads/bike paths and some walking trails.

The last day of the meetings, I was done at noon, and only had time for a quick ride. We decided to try the main trailhead again. We parked next to a former VT local, a current Framingham local, whose GF is an Amherst local, so we knew we were in the right spot. We found dry trails, lots of rocks, and had a good ride, but anything is better than pavement at this point of the year. check out the vid here: http://www.vimeo.com/21254441

Spring is un-sprung

Rode outside yesterday again. Lots of melting snow and temps in the 40s made for a tolerable ride outside. The forecast today is for more rain, turning to snow, with snowfall amounts in the 8-16" range. Maybe a little vaca on Monday and some more of this......

Timber likes it, you should too.