Dirt and Road

Dirt
Last weekend I did my first SS ride at fountainhead. I will say I am defiantly faster on a geared bike, but the SS was an interesting experience there. I was riding a 32x20 29er with 2.55 tires and that was too tall a gear for me, after two laps I was cooked! I am hoping that Lodi is easier on the climbing, going to run a 21 or 22 there. It was fun to ride with my teammates for the race, Alex a new DCMTB member from Boise Idaho, and Erik who I have known for years. We are going to race SS so I am not going to say how well we will do since this is my first ever SS race. It was also good to ride with Kevin and Vinnie who are racing together down at Lodi. We should have the DCMTB tent up so say hi.
Road
I did the classic Blue Ridger Ride, but backwards. The ride is better this way cause you get the climbs done with then the nice rest stop, before the rollers to Marshal. The ride started pretty fast, with some wind on the way out to Naked Mountian. I did a ok pull that brought us to the base of Naked Mountain. Once on the climb, Jonathan took off something fierce and I was in a 34x 28 on my crossbike wondering how I do this climb in my 36x26 usually. Once I got to the top, I was thinking,"I still have mt. Weather!" and another 2+ hours of riding. I ended up doing Mt. weather solo, behind the front group and in front of Rudi who was spent from riding on Sat. After the rest stop the group was pretty chill content to stay together to paceline. At some point myself and 3 others went off the front, I was just looking for the railroad tracks which signals that Marshall is near. I ended the ride strong, but I wasn't feeling right. Felt very fatigued, and wasn't better until I had a good amount of food in me at home. So a good HOT weekend of riding.

-Update
Well I should of not ridden on Monday and Tuesday morning, that was the 5th,6th day in a row of riding, and I am on the brink of another sinus infection. I have read some medical studies about endurance atheletes having a supressed immume system 2-24 hours after hard efforts. I should of not ridden Monday and Tuesday and just chilled to be ready for Lodi this weekend. Now I am not sure how much of that race I will riding. :-/

Bakers Dozen 2009

Fastest Lap 33:45
Slowest Lap 55 :-(

This was my third bakers dozen and 2nd year anniversary riding for the DCMTB crew.

The team we had was Michael Klasmeier and Michael Santacroce, Mike S. was riding SS Mike K. was rocking the 650b wheels. I was on the Hi-Fi 29er.

For the Bakers race I like to do some kind of facial hair and this year I was Pierre, which was better then last year when I looked like Freddy Mecury. I also like to sport some fun socks, and this year I got some rainbow tie die ones. The socks kinda went with the Family Bikes jersey that I have until our new DCMTB jerseys come in.

1^st lap

I got to the start with little time to wait around. I was toward the front, near Matt Parse and Kent, I knew I wasn't going to be going balls out like I did last year so I just kicked it into gear once we got going. We were in the woods, and I couldn't keep up with Tom V's. wheel but was still in a good rhythm. I eventually got behind this guy where I needed to pass him but was having a hard time seeing with my glasses was not great being it was a brown lens and the brown pine needles. So I go to pass on the right and the trail turns left! So I was off trail and like 15 people passed me there. I did a pretty good first lap, and did the big rock Mike K. said you could just go right up. The second lap I didn't feel as good, I was thinking that maybe this wasn't going to be that nice of a day. Raul came and caught me, and I was able to stay with him for about a mile, but after that I had to let him go. I got into camp alright but Sara was not there yet, but more importantly my ride and chicken wasn't.

The bad patch..
For my second set of laps they started a little early cause Mike S. had bent a chainring on his singlespeed. I went out and did his loop, I ended up pulling Steve from the Bike Lane for about 3 miles, but after the big rock I had to let him go in front of me. The next lap I felt terrible everyone and their mother was passing me, and I just had no power. This is when I knew I needed to have that food. I also started cramping in my quads which would be one of the stories of the day.
The Good
Sara heated up my food and I had some :-D
The last two laps we did singles and I was to do the twilight lap. I hate riding the early night lap where you kinda need lights, I would rather it be dark or light out. So I was waiting for Mike S. to come in, since I didn't want to put on lights. I went out and it was a little cooler, and I was able to just rock it out there on the course. I was railling the turns pretty good, and just felt more alive. I ended up with a lap only 30 seconds slower then my first so that was pretty sweet!
The last lap wasn't that big of a deal we were pretty solid in our 12th spot. My muscles did totally lock up when I got out of my chair for the exchange, so that I forgot the ankle chip. I had to back track in the woods to get it.
Take away
The race was a good time, Sara gets some points for supporting me. This was my slowest bakers, but was a good 4:40 of high intensity riding. Last year I did this race with Mike and Kent and we got 2nd place, this year was another story. I went into the race wanting a top ten, with the terriable form I had and that I hadn't ridden a bike in about a 1.5 weeks before the race. We would have gotten the top ten if you took away the big mechanical, and my chip forgetfulness. Lodi is coming up and I will be doing my first SS race.


From the Joe Foley Artomatic project:

Cherry Blossom Ride

Did this ride last week, and it was the damn ride that put me over the edge and got me sick. The day started off with a 17 mile ride to work in winter gear! Then that afternoon we did a short ride from dupont to a neighborhood that has a allot of Cherry blossoms. The weather was still drab, and grey, the the flowering trees were pretty as usual. On the chainbridge hill Rudi killed me as I tried to keep pace with him. After that climb I had take it down a notch on the rest of the hills. I haven't riden since so hopefully I don't suck total ass for the Bakers Dozen race.


More pics can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lovedabikes/CherryBlossomBikeRide#

2007 DC-CX Masters Video

Update 2
I Now have this video up on Facebook since Stage 6(divx) went under, and UTube doesn't allow videos over 10minutes long. The race is the full masters race, with cuts and text commentary. I like this format much more then the cyclocross montage videos that don't actually cover the race aspect.









If you can't see the Video it is because your work, or security settings are blocking facebook

Rosy on a nice day

Last Sunday I was able to get a ride in the afternoon, after Sara's Cherry Blossom race. I went to Rosy to ride the SS around. I was to meet 2 others, but they didn't show. I had a good time going on my own, the first lap felt pretty good, and I did a decent time considering I had done 80miles the day before, and I was riding the SS. The second lap was nicer then the first cause I just rode and didn't think about time. While I was there I got to see the new bypass they made so that the bikers don't bother the horses as much.

Big Boy Ride-Edingburg Gap

This was the first road ride where the combined weight of the riders equaled to 200lbs per rider.

Now Sid is 6'4" and Rudi is 6'2", I am 6'. The ride was 80 miles, with some crazy wind that didn't get us that bad. I needed the miles in my legs, Sid just needed miles and Rudi was there for emotional support. Rudi gets the MVP for the ride, he must have pulled like 5omiles of the ride. We had the wind at our backs for the long roller section after the Gap which was nice. I learned that my cross bike does't handle as well as my road bike(frame cracked!!!! will post a pic later). We rode for 4:30 minutes with a avg in the 17's. I hope to get out to Ft. Royal in the future to Sky-Mass.