Strongland and Weaklegged

It's the week after Labor Day so that means it's time for the Tour De Strongland. Finally a race that's only 20 miles from my house yippee. But for some reason I have to get up just as early as a race that's 150 miles from my house bummer. The short trip turned out to be my highlight of the day. This was one of the first races I ever did, way back in the day. I liked it then and still, do the course has changed allot since then for the better. I was feeling a little under the weather and even considered not going. But figured I already registered so I might as well go. I managed to get a great start and was the first into the single track but that didn't last to long. After about 5 minutes I felt really bad and was going to quit but figured I should at least finish because quitting sucks. This was one of the few races I did that I didn't even bother to look at the results or where I placed. Guess I'll file this race under a "Bad Day" and move on. Sunday was the Tour De Strongland road race. I pre registered for it to but felt really bad on Sunday morning so I opted to stay home glued to the couch. I hope it pays off.

J

Not Much

Funny thing about the Shenedoah 100 this year for is I did it did OK and don't have much to say about it. But here it goes anyhow. Ruth and me got to Stokesville Campground much later than we planned on Friday night it was close to 9:30. After driving around through the woods and finding several deadends we picked a spot out and setup camp. Then Saturday morning after some walking around in the daylight and some long and hard consideration we decided to pack up and move camp to a better location. After that we planned on going for about a 2 hour ride, then get a shower and head to Snowshoe for JR and Gina's wedding. But as it turned out that plan would soon change. Thinking that the wedding started at either 4:00 or 5:30 and it was about a 2 hour drive we have to leave around 2:00. We forgot the invitation at home and was calling some friends to confirm the time and guess what? We found out it started at 2:00 and it was already 12:30. We deicided to cut our ride short and get there as early as we could. I think we got there around 4:00 just in time to see everyone leaving the church and heading over to the reception. We had a good time at the reception and was very suprised by how nice JR looked all cleaned up. Unfortantly we planned on racing at the SMT 100 so that ment no beer for me or very little. But it still was allot of fun and our group which constied of the Shogrens, Chrissy McGill, and Ruth decided to leave around 7.

The trip back to Stokesville took a little longer back thanks to Hank. We got back and after talking to several people I decided to change my gear from a 32x19 to a 34x20 this turned out be almost a very smart decision. Going to bed I knew my biggest challenge of the day was going to be getting up and being ready for the 6:30 start. This goes back to my reasoning that it's not healthy to get up this early. This is confirmed by the fact that humans dont have good nightime vision. So we should be left sleeping until the sun comes out. But enough about that with about 7 minutes to go Ruth thought her front tire was low on air so when pumping it up the vavle broke and we hurried up and put in a new tube with 3 minutes to spare.

Wow we I rode up to the start I couldn't believe just how big of a pack 500 plus racers make. I found the best stop I could and squezed in. Then we were off and it was a pretty skechty start but I managed to stay out of trouble. Everything seemed to be going OK I felt pretty fresh and the bike felt OK too. I did this race once before in 2006 but for some reason couldn't rememeber to much of it. But just like in the Wilderness 101 there was plenty of back and fourth. I'd catch the same people in spots only to dropped or pass them only to regroup later. Finally when I the end was near I had some bike issues and ran in the last 2 miles or so. I was happy with a 5th place SS and 36 overall placing with a time of 8:32. That's all I got.

J

Back to Back

(See attached file: Templeton.bmp)

Last weekend I think maybe I reached a milestone. But either way I did something that I've never done before. I really don't like bragging about feats or accomplishments but I this one was a pretty cool and seemed note worthy. Are you ready? OK here it is back to back centuries. Saturday's was a trip on the road bike to Foxburg and back 5:20 ride time and about 5:50 total time and yes it was hot and humid. Sunday was an action packed fun day on "The Red Sled". We rode along the Allegheny river up to Templeton and back on the Armstrong Trail. We wanted to go a little further but was unsure if the trail ended or what the deal was. There were no trespassing sign up and bikes hanging from trees and that's when we decided to turn around. But it was nice to finally get a full century in on the Red Sled because we've been close several other time. About 7:00 or ride time and out for a little over 8 hours which included a little picnic like lunch from Gray Avenue Market in Templeton. Plus we got lucky because Sunday was just as hot and humid as Saturday.

J

Count em

(See attached file: ring.bmp)
OK it's hard to count them but it does have 34 teeth. Plus it's custom made by yours truly. I really wanted to switch my single speed over to a 34 tooth ring in the front it seems to make more sense. But I have a really nice pair of XTR 960 cranks that I have to put to use. Good thing that Shimano made them with a bolt pattern different from everyone else thanks you corporate assholes. This is just another reason I hate Shimano I think there quality is great but all the stupid none compatible bullshit pisses me off. So after searching long and hard for a 34 tooth ring for the 960 cranks with no luck. I decided to take advantage of working in a machine shop and make my own. I would rather had the option of just spending $50 and not spending more time at work but I had no choice and had to do it. SO SCREW YOU SHIMANO.


J

Big Bear Ultra

We headed down to Bear Big on Friday to avoid having to get up super early on Saturday for the Big Bear Ultra. Friday night we just hanging out and got to see an awesome fireworks show compliments of the WV Nightclub. No matter what I do morning always comes to early for me. But after struggling to get up and trying to get ready I finally was ready to go with 5 minutes to spare. That's when I seen lots of people that still weren't ready and I also found out that the start was getting pushed back until 8:30. I wasn't sure if this was good or bad but I did like the extra 30 minutes of down time. Either way it gave me some extra time to think about what I was getting myself into. I love the trails and terrain at BB but they're pretty relentless and unforgiving.

At the start I was getting nervous first because I was getting worried that I my gimp arm wasn't going to hold up. Then I seen Gerry Pflug was there and after reading the rumors on the internet about him being a bad ass on a bike and eating people I was pretty scared. I know Gerry pretty well and I can confirm he's bad ass on the bike, but I've never seen him eat anyone. But if your the owner of a buffet you should be worried if you see Gerry coming. I been racing a single speed lately because they're fun, seem better in the rocks and make you work a little harder sometimes. After some instructions from Mark about how the course was marked it was on. I figured it would be best just to ride my own race and not worry to much about my placement. It was pretty tight and congested in the beginning but I felt really good and was able to stay with the lead group. After about an hour or so of racing I was riding with Rob Spreng and found out that we were 2nd and 3rd. It was nice riding with him because I knew if I could stick with him that my pace was OK and it was nice having someone to chat with because I figured it was going to be a long day. Close to hour 2 is when nature called and I couldn't wait any longer and that's when I lost contact with Rob. Shortly after that is when the trail wasn't being as kind to me as before.

Finally I made it back to the start and this was about halfway though. I stopped and grabbed a water bottle, a red bull and a few fig newtons. Not soon after I left is when I was starting to get a little worried. I felt really good except for the gimp arm and knew that the trail was going to get a little rougher. I've ridden at BB allot but with all the new trails and the way the course was routed I was pretty confused on where I was. Finally I knew where I was and how much farther I had to go then on a downhill Steve Hill came flying down and I let him by. I rode with him for a little until he was out of sight. Soon I was on the last descent with the finish in sight. 44 miles and a little over 4-1/2 hours I finished fourth overall and first Single Speed I was really happy. Then I heard some even better news that at the halfway point Ruth was in second and not far behind Betsy. At the end Ruth was able to hold onto second. I wonder if the new bike has something to do with her improved performance lately?

I just want to say thanks to Mark, his crew and all the volunteers that made some awesome trails.


Justin

Long Time

I like to commute to work by bike and used to do it allot more. But there's several of reasons why I don't as often as I would like too. First I hate getting up early, second I hate getting up early, third and the biggest reason is I hate getting up early. I know I've been slacking on my commuting. So this morning I sucked it up and got up at 6:45 and rode to work. Some people don't this that's early but they're wrong. So I decided to see when the last time was that I commuted to work by bike. 9/17/2008 HOLY SHIT I can't believe it was that long ago. There was lots of other days between then and now that I commuted but I did it the lazy way and drove halfway. So I'm going to set the bar pretty low and try to commute at least once a week from now on.


J

W101

OK I was thinking this was the year that the Wilderness 101 was going to be kind to me. I've been doing lots of long rides and felt pretty confident this year. Also I was going to race a Single Speed, I figured I'm pretty slow on the downhills now so I didn't think it would be to bad. I also had a three goals first was getting top 5 in the SS class, have a better finish time than last year, and not have any major meltdowns. One of the biggest debates after I decided to race on a SS was what gear should I use? I had only three choices 32 x 20, 32 x 19, or 32 x18 after talking to some other SSers and remembering how hard some of the climbs were even with gears I chose a 32 x 19.


We got to Coburn on Friday around 7:30 and got our tent setup up had dinner and was just hanging out and went to bed. Before long I heard that old familiar sound of the gong which only means one thing get your lazy up and start to getting ready for today's big adventure. For me this is one of the hardest parts of the day. Getting up before the sun comes out just is really hard on me, plus trying to eat this early is a little troublesome too. After rushing around getting ready it was time to go. I was able to get lined up in a good spot and down the road we went. Then we made a left turn and the race started up the first long climb. The pace this year up the first climb was allot slower than last year. Then after about 1/4 mile I'm like WTF my fork decided to squat down and not work. I tried locking it out but still luck, I figured OK this won't be that bad. I keep the lead group in sight until we hit some flat sections and a few short downhills so I was feeling pretty good. Then before I knew it I was riding all alone then a group caught up to me and I stuck with them for a little until I fell off. At this point I was wishing that I had went with a 32 x 18 instead. But in the back of my head I thought it will be OK, this gear will be good when I get to the big climbs in the middle and end.


I was just cruising along by myself when I was caught by another group. I hung with them and we were rolling into check point #1. I never stop here because it's so early on. But there's a big climb leaving this check point and I felt good and passed allot of people up the climb. Then a long descent and some road then we hit the first piece of single track. It's only about 3 mile long but it seemed very slippery from the rain. At this point I was feeling pretty good both mentally and physically. I started up the next big gravel climb and seen allot of people ahead of me on the road. So this gave me a little motivation to try and catch them. I was very surprised that one of the first people I caught was Gunnar and he said that now I was now in 5th SS. We rode together for a little and Roger Masse soon caught us. Then when the road made the hard left I figured it's time to go and I bridged up to the next group and was able to get past them. Finally when we reached the top I was feeling good but that didn't last to long. The trail started heading downhill and so did I. About halfway down everyone that just I just worked hard to pass went railing past me. By the time I reached the bottom everyone was out of site. Once I was on the road I was spinning like crazy hoping I could catch a glimpse of someone but no such luck. At this point I was like it's OK and I was regretting the gear choice again that's when another group caught me and I tried to stick with them but was just spinning out and couldn't hang. Alone again I was thinking about quitting. Because I was getting frustrated about the fork and knew how much harder the trails were going to get. My arm already felt numb, cramping and was tried. So finally I rolled into checkpoint #2 and got some supplies and debated about quitting but figured WTF I might as while get my money's worth.


I left #2 and was pretty frustrated because I knew no matter how strong I rode the climbs it wasn't going to be enough. Because I was going so slow on the downhills. Going up the climb I didn't really care about getting to the top to quickly because I knew the downhill was pretty nasty and wasn't looking forward to it. But finally I reached the top and turned into the single track and to my surprise the trail was in the best shape I've ever seen it in. Usually this trail is very narrow only about 12" wide but this year is cut back and you see. What sucked is that I was going slower than ever down it. Then I had another WTF happen my rear brake seems to start squealing which I can deal with but it also causes the entire bike to vibrate. I'm not sure what the problem is but it's very annoying and to the point where I was riding using the front brake only. Finally I reach the bottom and get back on some gravel road and everything is OK for a little bit. Then I start thinking I'm only like 3-1/2 hours into this and my arm feels like crap, I'm walking on the rocky downhills, my fork's not working and my brakes just started acting up and I'm not even halfway. Finally I made it to checkpoint #3 and was sitting there and was really thinking about quitting. Funny thing is I've done this race before and never thought of quitting this early, but my legs also never felt this good at this point in the race. So I decided to press on and told myself relax and don't worry about placing just finish because DNF sucks. So after about 10 minutes of sitting around I left and started up the single track climb.

OK now things took a turn for the better, usually the climb out of #3 kicks my ass but this year I felt great and passed a few people. The single track at the top was well groomed I walked some sections but I still felt good. The only sections that worried me now was the climb out of #4 and the descent going into #5. But before I knew it I was at check point #4 refueled and headed up the climb. I was pleasantly surprised because I felt great on the climb. Finally made it through the climbing and hit the descent. I was really nervous because this descent has taken it's toll on me every year. But I just took it easy and walked a little and before I knew it was over onto some blacktop and then checkpoint #5 was in site. I left #5 feeling fine and knew that it was almost over. I hit the rail trail and spun as fast as I could then it was up over the last big climb. I finally hit the Fisherman's Trail and walked through that and was onto the road back to the park.

It was a long day but not crazy long 8:55 10th SS 48th overall. I know that usually I'm completely wrecked after this race but I felt pretty good at the end but I'm not sure why? Not sure if it was because I raced a SS and got more recovery or what but I was happy not to wreck like usual.

I was hoping Ruth was having a good race it was the first race on the new bike. She finished in 11:05 which was about an hour better than her best time but sadly her placing was her worst ever. I guess everyone must be getting faster.

J