.Chasing Something.

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis

2011-03-31T18:45:00.000-04:00

We all could be great, but we have to open our mind to the way in which we could.
- Kenny Florian

Ὁ βίος βραχύς

ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή

ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὀξύς

ἡ δὲ πεῖρα σφαλερή

ἡ δὲ κρίσις χαλεπή

- Hippocrates

"Life is short" - so begins the Greek quotation by Hippocrates at the start of this post. I came upon this quotation in it's latin which begins: "Ars longa, vita bervis ...". Digging around for it's meaning led me to an idiomatic translation of the Greek goes like this:

Life is [too] short
And the task is huge
The right time is like a razor blade
The road to experience is fraught with hazards
To continuously accept reality and critical thought over hope and prejudice is taxing

Since then I've been thinking a lot, almost obsessively, about this quote. I don't think any athlete needs me to explain why.

Coincidentally, at the same time Malcolm Gladwell's "10,000 hour rule" popped up in two different texts I was reading: Sam Sheridan's "A Fighter's Mind" and "How to become a programmer in 10 years" by Peter Norvig (the source of the "Ars Longa" quote). I haven't read Gladwell's book but the rough idea is that if you want to be great at something you need 10,000 hours of practice - everything else will follow.

For reference, that's about 3 hours a day, everyday, for 10 years.

I could write pages and pages about this idea, but in the interest of actually finishing a post let me say this; I'm 26. I'm not an old man but the clock is ticking and I do, very much, want to master something athletic in my lifetime.

But, life is short; we move, we burn out, we get injured. And the task is huge; we become complacent, plans change, goals change, needs change. The right time is like a razor blade; we invest too little, or too much. The road to experience is fraught with hazards; we get frustrated with ourselves, the culture, or the group. To continuously accept reality and critical thought over hope and prejudice is taxing; we have our expectations, and everyone else's expectations.

So yeah, I'm thinking a lot about this.

Jiujitsu As Art

2011-03-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

“A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they're capable of understanding.”
Steve Prefontaine

I always love it when someone creates something that captures the spirit of a sport. I'm pretty hooked on jiujitsu right now and this teaser for a DVD of the 2008 world championships captures the sport as I see it: complex, elegant, and dynamic. Enjoy!

March Training Update

2011-03-24T14:20:00.000-04:00

This is a long overdue update on my 2011 cycling training and where I think my season is going. Before I start, I want to say that in general I'm having a good year and I'm in a positive mood. Cycling, on the other hand, is not going well.

I started training a little late because I had a goal of competing in Brazilian Jiujitsu in early winter. I consciously decided to follow through with that goal even though it meant pushing back the start of my season a few weeks.

But once things got rolling in mid-January, well, they never really got rolling. I had knee issues that got pretty bad before I was through my 2nd week of training. It was very touch-and-go and it took a few weeks for me to narrow down my symptoms and figure out the causes. Yoga, Ibuprofen, stretching, research, cleat and position adjustments, ice; I was trying everything. In the end I required some professional attention to my fit from Gehling to (mostly) address the problem.

But just as I was starting to get back into the swing of training again I tried to address some of the mechanical issues I was having on my road bike. As I investigated I realized something was seriously wrong. I took it in to my local bike shop and found out that I had cracked a lock ring on my bottom bracket. It was a Specialized brand part that needed to be shipped in from California.

Between me trying to figure out the problem, taking it to the shop, them figuring out the problem, sending for the part, it arriving, installing it, and me driving down to North Carolina for my annual spring training camp I had lost another 2 weeks of training.

Coming off that (abbreviated) trip I've taken stock of where things stand.

It's almost the end of March. Road racing has already started last weekend. I've had about 4 good weeks of training all winter with no workouts. My knee is ridable but still only feels 80-90% on longer rides. I'm far from the shape I need to be in to finish, let alone be competitive, in Cat3 races. I would guess that I would not be in shape to race on the road till early June and the season ends in late July.

In short, I'm honestly not motivated right now.

My season thus far has zapped a lot of my enthusiasm. Instead of putting energy into things like gut-busting workouts and tuning up my bikes, I've just been trying to ride for a week without interruption while everyone around me is getting stronger. While riding is still fun, putting it in the context of training to race has just been a source of frustration this year.

Racing, especially on the road, is unforgivingly competitive. More than any other racing discipline I've done, including all other forms of running, triathlons, and other kinds of bike racing, road riding is all-or-nothing. There are no finishers' medals, there are no T-shirts. You put you money down and if you're not with the winners they will pull you off the course.

So for me personally, I think I'm reaching a critical point of diminishing returns on my 2011 road season. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. But, unlike years past, this hasn't made me a crabby bitch and I can at least say I'm happy with that.

More later.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

2011-02-10T14:38:00.000-05:00

If you spend enough time on the internet and computers you've probably come across a phrase that starts out like this:

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet ..."

It's a standard placeholder used in documents and webpages as dummy text. It turns out the text was lifted from a work by Cicero written in 45 BC. Oddly, enough the text is pretty relevant:

"But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?"

So yeah, I'm basically blogging about the same stuff 2,000 years later. Funny.

Canadian Snow Bikes

2011-02-03T22:58:00.001-05:00

Every now and then I see something that makes me stop and go " ... maybe I'm doing it wrong."

Bikes for life.

(via Geocycle)

Copa NoVa White Belt Middleweight

2011-01-12T12:26:00.000-05:00

This was my 2nd match of the day. There were an odd number of guys in my bracket so by luck of the draw I got a by out of the first round. If I won my first match I would have had been in the top 4 with 2 more matches and a shot at a metal.

Unfortunately, I lost the match. I'm pretty sure I failed to even score an advantage, meaning I had 0 points for the entire tournament. But, as far as losses go, I was OK with this one. I stuck to my game so now I know what I need to improve. Below is the match video with comments. I'm in all white, he's in blue. The guy you can hear yelling on camera is directing my opponent. My teammate in gray right in front of the camera is doing the same to me. You can't hear him in the video, but I could during the match.

0:00 - I work my standing guard break but I fail to transition into as pass.
0:20 - Repeat.
0:40 - He takes my back in the scramble and tries to choke me with the collar of my gi.
1:15 - There's a lot of foot fighting going on here. I'm trying to hook his feet away from my legs and body so I can twist around to face him again. He's still trying to choke me.
1:50 - Get my guard back but I can't sit up ("posture up"). I was thinking "this is bad".
2:10 - He lands a triangle choke. I try to stand up to stack him and break the choke but he pulls my leg out from under me. I eventually tap.

Like I said, my guard break and my defense when he took my back were both pretty good. I've been practicing transitioning from my guard break to my pass this week and I think that's going to lead to some very different matches this weekend.

Copa NoVa No-Gi Middleweight Beginner

2011-01-10T15:51:00.001-05:00

This was my 1st BJJ match ever. Given 5 months of training I was happy enough with it. I didn't do anything too stupid and tried the stuff I hoped to try. I came away with somethings to work on.

In short my opponent got a take down on me (2 points) and then played a conservative game, mostly just using arm strength to lock me down in my guard. I tried to play some armbars and kimuras but I couldn't quite set anything up. I tried to hit a hip-bump sweep a couple of times but his base was too good. In opening up my guard for these sub/sweep attempts I opened up some passing opportunities. At once point he was able to scramble into side control which got him 2 more points though I was able to get my guard back. In the end he won 4-0.

Here is a video of the end of the match. I'm in the black tights with the white "Wisconsin" lettering on the side. I've provided some narration below for those who have no idea what's going on:

0:00 to 0:05 - He has side control and I shrimp out and get to my knees
0:05 to 0:20 - I try to land a guillotine choke but I didn't get my legs around him and he defended with his chin. He used my lack of a closed guard to try to jump to side control.
0:20 to 0:30 - I get him in something like turtle (on your hands and knees with you head tucked) and try to spin around to attack his back but he grabs my leg and we end up falling into my guard.
0:30 to end - He clamps down in my guard. I try to work his arms out for a triangle or and arm bar but I can't get my body off-center enough to pull it off. I pull faux rubber guard because I run out of things to try.

In watching the video I noticed that I tend to hold on to guillotine chokes long after they've been neutralized as a way of controlling the head and body and chilling out for a second when really I should just move on to something else. I have plenty to work on but really enjoying myself!

Preview: My First BJJ Tournament

2011-01-07T16:27:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow I'm going to get up before the sun and drive out past DC to Western NoVa. There I'll weigh in and be assigned a weight class. I'll spending a couple of boring hours eating PB&J's, reading a book, and listening to some music. Eventually, I'll go into the locker room and slip on a groin protector and a thick white judo gi (uniform). I'll tie a white belt around my waist and slip in my mouth guard. After a last-minute word of encouragement from a teammate who will be cornering me I'll walk on to the mat and shake hands with a stranger.

Then, we'll try to beat the crap out of each other.

Well, I'm exaggerating a bit but "grapple the crap out of each other" just doesn't have the same ring to it. It's unlikely anyone will get hurt because there is no striking in Brazilian Jiujitsu and many of the more dangerous moves (neck cranks, knee bars, heel hooks) are illegal.

But there are still plenty of brutal things we can do to impose our will on the other peson.

For starters we are going to try and throw each other to the ground by grabbing each other's uniform to drag the other person around for a huge judo throw or by diving at each other's legs for a wrestling take down. Once on the ground we'll scramble for a variety of dominant positions like knee on belly, side control, or full mount; all of which use your full body weight to pin your opponent to the ground. And while you can't hit each other there is a lot you can do to hold onto, or get out of, a dominant position. You can grind their face with your hand, forearm, or shoulder. You can kneel on them. You can squeeze their abdomen with your legs like an anaconda. You can smother them.

Once one of us has a dominant position we'll go for a submission. A submission can be an air or blood choke done with your arms, legs, forearms, or even their own uniform. Or it can be a done by threatening to hyperextend any of their joints except for their fingers or toes. With some restrictions you can evan attck their knees, ankles, and neck. Again, this can be done with any number pretzel-like manipulations of your arms and legs. Once a person feels the pressure of a submission being applied it is their responsibility to "tap out" for their own safety, signaling that they submit and thereby allowing their opponent to release the submission.

At the end of 5 minutes if no one was submitted the winner will be decided on points awarded for establishing and escaping dominant positions. If I win I'll move up the bracket and fight again in a few minutes. One way or another I'll repeat the whole thing in a few hours in the no-gi division where you wear whatever athletic clothes you like and it's illegal to use the other person's clothes to grip and choke.

So that's how my first BJJ tournament will go (I think).

As much as my brown belt test in aikido in early December, this is one of the capstones of my "fighting" half of 2010. It will be the first time I've ever competed head-to-head against another person like this and the first time I've ever had the chance to "test" my proficiency in a martial art.

Since I made it through tryouts in November, I've been practicing with the competition team at my gym to get ready for this. For the first time in my life I've been doing conditioning (pushups, situps, medicine ball and drills) 2 or 3 times a week for about 6 months. In the last month I've found that I'm finally competitive with the other white belts, landing multiple types of submissions and generally holding my opponents to 1 submission (In practice, unlike a tournament, we just start over if you are submitted so you can get multiple submissions in a round). I'm about as ready as a new white belt can be.

Thinking about tomorrow, I guess I should be excited or nervous; but mostly I'm just happy. I've wanted this for a while and now I'm actually doing it.

I am becoming who I want to be.

Winter Trail Running Video

2011-01-06T22:25:00.001-05:00

Even though I'm not much of a runner anymore (I have no running races planned this year for the first time since 1999) I do still love running. Of all the types of training I used to do trail running was my favorite. And the best time to run on the trail was in the winter after a snowfall. I got this video from Alyssa's blog (where you can see her own parody). I think it's just gorgeous full of shots of Colorado mountain running in the snow - so I had to reshare.

[I originally embedded the video but the embedding triggers an auto-play and it was messing with the rest of the site. Follow the link here. ]

Can't want to get out there myself on the MTB in a few weeks!

My 1st Degree Brown Belt Test in Aikido

2011-01-06T15:12:00.000-05:00

In early December I tested for my 1st degree brown belt (also called 3rd kyu or sankyu) in the Japanese martial art of Aikido. This test was one of my big goals during my 6-month break from cycling. You can watch the test below (it picks up after the first 3 minutes). Below the video I copied an email I sent to my friends who were coming to watch the test that explained what was going on.

So what's this test?

I've been practicing aikido for 2.5 years now. This test will be for a 1st degree brown belt (my first non-white belt rank). It is the 4th test out of the 7 needed to get a black belt.

What's on the test?

The test will consist of demonstrating techniques chosen from a predetermined list against a variety of attacks. However, each test will always contain some "surprise" techniques from higher level test to push the student. These can include ground techniques, knife and weapon techniques or multiple attackers.

How do you know when you are ready test?

Testing is really just the culmination of a process a couple of months long involving training time requirements, a formal mentorship by a senior student, a practice test and the approval of the senior dojo members. Because of all these requirements the "test" you are seeing is really more of a showcase of the training level the student has already demonstrated.

How will we know if you are doing well?

When aikido is done right it is easy to appreciate. It looks very flowing and natural. I should look relaxed and comfortable; even if I fumble a technique and need to recover I should visibly be in control of both myself and my attacker at all times.

Some of this stuff looks ... weird

The techniques on the test are called kihon-waza, classical techniques. They make up the testing curriculum for historical reasons and some of them look far removed from what you would see in a real fight. Really, Kihon-waza is not all we do in aikido nor is it the ultimate demonstration of aikido. But to paraphrase one my sensei's "these are 'just dumb exercises' but we can still learn a lot from them if we do them right.".

Kihon-waza is better thought of as a set of tools we use to study and develop aikido. To that end it's helpful to think of aikido as less of a set of fighting techniques (3 different kicks, 4 different punches, etc.) and more of a way of fighting (calm, composed, flowing and spontaneous).

"So do you both always know the attack and defense beforehand?"

This is a question Jen asked me at my test last year and I've been thinking about it since then. The short answer I gave her was "yes". Now I don't know what was going through Jen's head but it got me thinking about how I could convince people that this isn't just a dance recital.

Here is my answer a year later:

I've heard a quote that goes "great music shouldn't predictable but it should be inevitable.". I think the same thing is true of great aikido.

Everything should be an inevitable sequence of events you set up. Their attack should come because you've left an opening for them to attack. All the techniques that occur should be the result of your redirecting their attacks into an inevitable result. So while in general they might know what's coming (there are lots of variations within one technique so you can always mix things up) the person executing the technique should still be in control at all times. This control is can not be faked.

It's a hard effect to pull off, it's not an easy way to train, and it can easily degenerate into a dance recital.

But when it's done right it's both real and powerful.

More Writing in 2011

2011-01-06T14:44:00.004-05:00

For the past few years I've taken a step back in the beginning of the new year to kind of "clean house" around this blog. Mostly, I work on the design and layout but I also stop and think about the content of the site. I've gone in a lot of different directions in the past and I'm particularly excited about what I'm thinking for 2011.

When I first started this blog as an injury-plagued 21-year-old college student and runner about to undergo surgery I was focused on "logging". I logged miles and workouts and tucked in little observations and notes about the day. While this works for some people, I found it monotonous and had trouble keeping up the consistency.

Eventually, I found other ways to log my training (Dailymile) and, aside from monthly training updates, I moved on to "sharing". I posted media: movies, music, pictures, and news articles until I created something like a (very) poor mans cross between Bikesnob, PezCycling and Pitchfork. It was fun and worked on some levels but in the end it was too scatterbrained and not a good fit for Blogger's interface.

Once this ran it's course I started doing a lot of "reporting". I had always written race/training reports as a central part of this blog's content but this really took off in 2010 when I had 17 races and 6 months of training to write about. I had a lot of fun writing these since I had lot of good results and stories to share. But, by the end they were mostly page-long variations on "I sat in the pack, weaker people got dropped, I moved up on the last lap, I sprinted hard, got a top 10, I'm happy". While this the part of my blog I've been most consistently happy with I think in 2011 I can condense and continue to improve my race reports with more pictures and less filler.

But, that brings me to my goal for 2011 in this blog: more "writing". I want to start writing more about my ideas, goals, thoughts and experiences as they manifest themselves in sports. I don't want to go all "LiveJournal" on you guys and get all weepy and weird but I do want to start putting more of my thoughts on here beyond just "Today's race was, like, really hard".

Part of doing this is condensing. When I have an idea I can go to town and write for pages. That's great for journaling or drafting but not for a blog post. This year, when I have an idea, I want to express it as simply as possible till I run out of steam, attach a picture, and then share it on here.

Like this.

The Lifestyle: My Winter Biking Clothing Guide

2011-01-05T12:55:00.001-05:00

For those of you who don't know I'm pretty active on the social training website Dailymile (founded by a fellow UW Triathlon and Cycling Team alumnus). It's a great way to keep track of your training and stay motivated. I would recommend giving it a try to stick to your 2011 goals.

The website also has a blog and today's post is one I wrote called "A Crash Course in Winter Cycling". It's basically a how-to guide to dress for winter riding. You can check it out here.

Thanks to Geo for consulting and letting me use his crazy picture..

Got My Creative Commons License!

2011-01-05T12:42:00.000-05:00

If you scroll to the bottom of your site you'll notice I now have a neat little badge for my Creative Commons license. This little guy basically serves as a copywrite on my blog. Not that anyone would want to steal the gibberish I toss up here but it does give the place a nice professional touch.

Plus, it's kinda fun to say I have one.

For those who don't know Creative Commons is a nonprofit that helps people license their work in the public domain. Rather than registering my blog with them, or anything formal like that, Creative Commons instead provides a general set of guidelines for different levels of using your work. You pick the one you want and then link to the document as an explicit guideline.

If you want to do this for your own blog head over to the creative commons site and fill out a simple anonymous form. It takes about 2 min.

The Lifestlye: 2011 Cyclocross Nationals

2011-01-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

The USAC 2012* Cyclocross Nationals will be held in Madison, WI, my alma mater's hometown. I still have tons of friends in Madison, almost all of who race bikes. I love to visit there and I love a good adventure so this 2011 goal was minted as soon as I heard about the venue even though I've only done 1 XC race.

But, in order to better fit the international cyclocross schedule (and those american riders hoping to compete at worlds) USAC as move the US championships from the 2nd week in December (2011) to ... the 1st weekend in January (2012). I don't know if you've ever been to Madison in January but the average high ... is 26 degrees.

Damn.

Not to mention I'll have to peak while traveling to Chicago over Christmas and New Years (definitely no champagne at midnight).

But then I look at this picture of my buddy B-foz doing a little winter CX racing in Madison last winter and I get equal parts scared and excited.

Well, I've got a year. Let's see what happens.

*Technically there will be no 2011 US CX Championships because the championships after the 2010 edition will be held in 2012 because of the change in date.

Odds and Ends: The 2011 Face of .CS.

2011-01-04T15:03:00.001-05:00

Every year around this time I give my blog a little face lift. I mix up the color palate, swap the images and dump/add some sidebar gadgets. This year Blogger has rolled out some pretty sweet features that make it easy to customize things the site is looking pretty slick already.

It's still under construction but it already feels like a breath of fresh air and it's got me excited to start posting again. That's right, it's 2011 kids and I'm back on the blogsphere! I've got some pretty sweet adventures lined up for this year so stay tuned for anther year of great posts.

Just to give you some teasers:

My first Brazilian Jiujitsu tournaments
My 4th training trip to the mountains of N.C.
My first race in a Cat3 field
My first road race(s) against pros
Races in DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC, VA
Maybe some travel races as far as Chicago, WI, and Boston.
More MTB races
More XC races?
New Bikes?
Race wheels?
A national championship race?

Oh man, it's going to be a great year!

The Lifestyle: Cyclocross World Cup Kalmthout 2010

2010-12-20T12:46:00.001-05:00

Found this video of the last 2 laps of a UCI Cyclocross world cup race in Kalmthout. I mean, this is so sick.

So, while I'm thinking about goals for next year, USAC CX Nationals are in Madison, WI in 13 months. Just sayin' ...

2010 Cycling Results

2010-12-17T16:51:00.000-05:00

It's not quite time for my annual winter return to the blogsphere but I was writing up my race results for my team for my annual race reimbursement (big thanks to our sponsors) and wanted to share.

Here are the results for my 2010 cycling season. I listed race name, type, category and result. Top 10s are highlighted.

Sugar Hill XC - MTB - Beginner - 1st
Michaux Mash - MTB - Men's Open - 16th
SoYoCo Circuit Race - Road - Cat4/5 - 16th
Carl Dolan Circuit Race - Road - Cat3/4 - 27th
Farmersville RR - Road - Cat4 - 19th
Turkey Hill RR - Road - Cat4/5 - 1st
Bunny Hop Crit - Road - Cat 4 - 76th
Bike Jam - Road - Cat4 - 19th
Fulton RR - Road - Cat4 - 1st
Mt. Nebo - Road - Cat4 - DNF
Cargas Criterium - Road - Cat4/5 - 7th
Brownstown RR - Road - Cat4 - 3rd
Long Pine Classic - MTB - Single Speed Sport - 6th
MD Crit Championships - Road - Cat4 - 10th
Ronde Van Mullica - Road - Cat4/5 - 3rd
Grandview Grand Prix - Road - Cat3/4 - DNF
Rockburn CX - Cyclocross - Cat4 - 42nd

Upgrades:

Road: Cat4 --> Cat3

MTB: Beginner --> Sport

That's 17 races across 3 different cycling disciplines with 8 top 10s including 3 wins and only 2 DNFs. Between the value of the merchandise I won, as well as the cash and team race reimbursements I'm look around $500 of cash and prizes this year. This was my best season, by any measurement, in any sport, ever.

Looking through my training log I can see where it came from: 260+ hours and 3,700+ miles of riding over 29 weeks including 25 interval sessions and an 8 day period averaging 3 hrs a day. My highest volume week was nearly 19 hours of riding.

What about 2011?

Well it's time to use the holidays to stop and reflect and think about what I want to accomplish is 2011. I've got a lot of options and a lot of exciting new opportunities. But that's for another post.

Happy Holidays,

Race Report: Cargas Cat4/5 Crit

2010-07-08T14:04:00.001-04:00

Sunday, June 21st, 3:40 PM

Race #11

Cargas Criterium cat 4/5 crit (20M)

7th

___

Historically I haven't done well in criteriums, not really having the tactical and technical knowledge necessary to win the fight for position before the sprinting even starts. But I came to the Cargas Crit in the middle of the my best season of racing with a mind to change that. I had high hopes because of an 11th place finish at this race in 2007 which had actually been one of the few high points of a season otherwise full of DNFs and disappointments.

In the end I might have had the strength to finish higher but given the way the race played out I was happy with the results.

The Cargas criterium course is shaped like a capital letter "D" with the start/finish coming just past a ~200m hill on the straightaway. This year father's day was blazing hot with temps over 90 degrees on a fun and fast but shadeless course.

The 4/5 race had about 50 starting riders with 4 of my teammates in the mix. I did not start the race out very smart. Taking long pulls in the wind to come around the sides of the race, etc. After about 5 laps I felt terrible. The heat was killing me, I felt zapped of energy and nauseous. I got into the middle of the peloton and stayed there for about 8 laps.

Still feeling the heat but riding more economically I got myself back into the 1st 10 wheels with about 6 to go.

As I said I'm normally not a very good crit rider. My sprint is pretty good for my cat but I have tendency to end up on the front too early and get swarmed on the last lap. So I tried to stay heads-up and jumped into every move that came by me for the next few laps.

In classic cat4/5 fashion the entire field sat up with 3 laps to go to rest up for the finish or whatever. So I got hung out to dry a bit and ended up leading the field for 2 full laps going into the bell lap. It's not the best way to race but that's how we do it so I played the game. I just rode tempo pace and waited to jump on the the attacks when they came.

We came out of the 1st corner of the last lap riding 5 or 6 abreast. Yes, I realize how ridiculous that is. I was on the right edge of the pack and looking across the peloton I saw a train of riders coming up the left. I yelled for the field to jump on them as the lead out for the sprint started.

Of the guys who were awake on the front the left side jumped first, the middle followed and the right side (including me) got in behind maybe 10 wheels back. We were going single file at this point but I saw that the lead guys had opened up some gaps so I come around the riders in front of me to chase back up. Coming into the last corner I was sitting in the top 10 but gapped off the top 5.

Going through the last corner (a left-hander) I checked my 3 o'clock to see a train of guys coming around the outside 2 or 3 wide and starting to come even with me.

*Uh-oh*

And then I got the horrible feeling in my stomach that I usually get in the last corner of a cat4/5 race when riders try to rail a corner 5 mph faster than they have all day (see BikeJam).

Sure enough they took the corner too hot and went into the right gutter. I was fortunately about 3m off to the side as one guy came unclipped and teetered for what seemed like an impossibly long time with his body off to the side of his bike and one leg straight-out across his saddle at 90 degrees to the ground. Somehow everyone stayed up but as you can imagine there was a bit of braking, shouting and bumping.

With that disaster averted and the lead guys close but not close enough to draft off I fired up for a long (250m) uphill sprint into the wind. I kept the leaders close and maybe closed the gap a little. Only one other guy cleared the field as well and he passed me about 20m from the line as I was fading from the long effort.

I crossed the line somewhat wobbly and cross-eyed but in 7th, one spot outside of the upgrade points but in the last money spot for $30.

The heat definitely took it's toll and despite racing for less than hour I was a shuffling zombie for the next few hours.

But, now I know I can race a crit.

Posted via email from alcovia's posterous

Race Report: Tour of Mt. Nebo

2010-07-08T13:56:00.001-04:00

Saturday, June 12th

Race #10

Tour of Mt. Nebo Cat 4/5 Road Race

27M

DNF

___

After a nice 2 week break from racing I kitted up again in mid-June to take on the Tour of Mt. Nebo. I had heard stories, rumors, about how this race was supposed to be "pretty hilly". Ha!

Tour of Mt. Nebo was by far the hardest road cycling race I had ever done.

IT didn't help that the night before the race I had rare bout of insomnia and rolled out to race on 2 hours of sleep. While I was feeling awake enough I was not set up for a great race.

The race itself was a meager 27M, 3 times around a 9M loop. But the course contained 600 ft of climbing per lap including a 100m section at 18% grade. It was over 90 degrees. And while 70 of the 84 starters finished nothing could give a more deceiving impression of what this race was like.

I have never seen a race hemorrhage riders like this before. The race is just a long series of climbs and descents leaving the "peloton" a long splintered line of riders. At the 1/2 way point I was one of maybe 25 remaining riders.

We had dropped over 50 riders 14M.

At was at the 1/2 point we came into a small descent and I knew I was in the red and breathing as hard as I could. We finished the descent and I was still panting. We then started climbing the 18% grade section.

Not good.

So for the first time this year I watched the peloton roll away from me as I cracked, slowed to a crawl and got dropped.

But cracked or not I was on an 18% grade and whether or not I was hyperventilating I had to keep going to finish the lap - even if it was just to get home. So I slowly, slowly, agonizingly turned the cranks. For the 1st time in my life, even including my first horribly unprepared cycling trip I took to the mountains of North Carolina, I wanted to walk up a hill. I wanted to stop and walk more than anything. But if I stopped I didn't think I would be able to start riding on this grade again and more importantly I wasn't going to walk. I looked down at my computer.

I was going 3 mph.

And I was passing people.

Finally I inched over the top of the climb and proceeded to ride as slow as possible until my heart rate came back down. I felt much better now that I could breath and was able to pick things up to a moderate pace. I met up with another rider I knew and we were working our way up a small climb when we heard a crash behind us.

I turn around to see a bike, riderless, skidding though a T intersection. The rider was a few meters behind it in full slip'n'slide mode - on his back, feet first, arms over his head and bounce/sliding over the pavement.

We were maybe in the top 40 at this point and strung out with no one around us. The guy I was riding with and I looked at each other and shook our heads.

"Morons"

I finally limped my way to the top of the final climb of the 2nd lap with encouragement of the spectators. I pulled over at the start finish and watched the long ragged line of riders limp in.

All the races had started in waves within 15 min of each other and had shared similarly devastating fates as ours. At this point it was impossible to tell who was in what race as everything was pretty much one continuous 9M line of suffering riders with 3 small bunches of leaders in their respective races.

The phrase "death march" leaped immediately to mind.

I decided I didn't need this. There were no upgrade points at the race and I was way outside of any money there was to win. I had accomplished enough this season that I didn't need to finish this race to prove anything to myself. Lastly, I was completely exhausted and any further riding was just going to wipe me out for the rest of the week and keep me from getting quality workouts in.

So I rolled by the start/finish line and made the "cut me off" motion to the race director.

"You done?"

"Oh yeah"

I rolled to the car and sat down.

And it felt fantastic.

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Race Report: Fulton Cat4/5 Road Race

2010-07-06T18:24:00.002-04:00

Saturday, May 29th
Race #9

Fulton Cat 4/5 Road Race

___

The Fulton road race was the end of my May training cycling. And after not being able to get my nose in the sprint in my last two crits I was looking forward to a long hilly road race with an uphill finish to help sort things out and end the month on a good note.

I was not disappointed.

The race itself wasn't too eventful. We went up hills. We went down hills. Repeat. There was a bit of organization from some teams during some of the attacks/chases but in typical cat4/5 fashion the brakes mostly came back on their own. On the last lap I was expecting an attack on the hills. We rode them aggressively but no one jumped off so things were set up for a field sprint.

Coming into the last 1k there was maybe 1/2 of the 71 starters still together. Having lost a little position on the last climb I was sitting about 15th-20th and boxed in by the yellow line. I was still in this position and chomping at the bit with 300m to go when the road opened up for the uphill finish and there was already a rider off the front going for the early sprint. The field was giving chase along the right side of the road but hadn't started sprinting yet. I worked my way up and 200m to go and the line in sight I knew it was time for me to go. I got all the way on the left of the road, took the safety off, and fired.

I must have caught the pelaton napping or covering each other because I didn't see anyone respond and I was able to jump clear. The rider who had gone early was running out of steam fast and I passed him about 20m from the line. I crossed the line in disbelief but in 1st place for the 3rd time this year.

Since it wasn't a USA Cycling sanctioned race I got no upgrade points (otherwise I would have gotten 10 and gotten my upgrade) but I did take home $80 in cash.

Seems like things are really rolling now and my goal of getting my Cat3 upgrade is within reach! Big thanks to Dr. K and Tank for tons of coaching, racing advice and general encouragement this year.

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Race Report: BikeJam Cat4 Crit

2010-07-06T18:14:00.001-04:00

Sunday, May 23rd

4:00 pm

Race #8

BikeJam Crit Cat 4

___

For the last 3 years BikeJam has been the single most important athletic event on my calendar. More important than the fact it is our team's home race is the fact that is also the only race every year that my friends come out en masse to watch.

It's a tactically tough race, almost every field is decided by positioning coming into the final corner. Over the last 3 years I've slowly gotten the hang of it.

In 2008 I crashed going through the chicane and though I got back on the bike with only a few scratches I was pretty badly shaken. I eventually got dropped and pulled. I was not a happy camper. I was actually a pretty bitchy camper.

In 2009 I was in better shape and racing differently. I was learning how to stay in the pack a little better and corner a little tighter. While I was one of the less than 50% of the field to finish this race I got mobbed in the sprint and finished almost last. I was slightly less bitchy camper this time.

In 2010 I returned again as a different racer. Having hit my stride both physically and tactically I already had 2 wins under my belt that year and was looking for nothing less than a 3rd W. I spent about 18 of the 20 laps in the first 10 wheels. Doing my best to be a major factor in the race I was taking pulls, keeping the pace high and hitting the corners fast.

On the 2nd prime a guy I know from another team jumped too early to try and take it. He towed me to the line and jumped around to snatch it up right in front of my friends. Definately a top 5 cycling memory for me.

With 6 laps to go one of my teammates jumped off the front. Another teammate yelled at me to follow but I knew better. My sprint was solid but I was just going to slow him down if I got in a break. We put 3 guys on the front and managed to hold back the field and give him the W in front of a home crowd by about 10s.

With about 2 laps to go it was clear out rider was going to get away so I started to position myself for the sprint. Something happened on the last lap though; I just didn't respond. I saw the moves I needed to be in and I just didn't respond. Somehow I just wasn't there.

Going into the last chicane I braced for the inevitable cat4 crash and sure enough someone takes the corner wide and fast. Breaking and crashing ensues around me but fortunately I was OK. Come out of the last corner a ways back but still in the pack. I pulled whatever sprint I could out and came through in 23rd out of 80 starters and 42 finishers.

I rolled through for a lap and then came back to my friends.

I was not a happy camper.

I slowly rolled past them, shook my head and said something along the lines of "I don't know why I bother with this shit"

I glumly rolled about 20m away and realized I was being a little bitch. I turned around and went back my friends and told them how awesome it was to have them there and thanked them for their support. I explained I was just upset that I had 19 perfect laps and then blew it in the last mile. They understood. They're great friends.

It took a few days for me to calm down about it but at least I kept things under control when it mattered.

Looking back on it while I raced better than I ever have at the race I think I am most happy that I was able to get over myself, deal with my disappointment and focus on what was important; in this case telling my friends how much I appreciated their support.

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Race Report: Bunny Hop Crit

2010-05-27T16:19:00.001-04:00

Bunny Hop Criterium

Race #8

Sunday, May 2nd

76th of 92 pre-reg'ed

The Bunny Hop Cat4 criterium in Suiteland, MD, just outside of DC, was my 8th race this season. It was my 6th race in 4 weeks and the end of a 3 week training block. Coming the day after my win at Turkey Hill and starting late in the afternoon on a hot and humid mid-Atlantic Sunday day -- it was not a race I was super enthused about. But the money was already paid so I showed up.

The race wasn't really that eventful. It was a 1k 3 corner crit so we had to so a billion laps for our 60 min race. I took probably some of the harderst corners I've taken in a race this year (on hard case tires) but I've made huge stides in my bike handleing so it wasn't as big deal as it would have been a year ago.

I was still riding a bit of a high after Saturday's win in a field sprint so I made a big bridge when a group went up the road early in the rce. It felt fantastic to let out some speed like that but the brake was pulled in after a few laps and I spent about 1/2 the race after that sitting on the back trying not to puke or drop out. Fortunately, the pace was steady and moderate due to the wide open corners so it was safe to hang out back there.

With 10 or 15 laps to go I worked my way back up to the front. Took a lot of wind but felt fine and was back in contention with 5 to go.

At some point after that I got boxed in a little and made the disasterous decision to go back through the pack to get out the side to move back up as soon as possible. This was moronic and ruined my position.

With only a few laps to go I saw the writing on the wall.

It was hot, my legs felt good but I was worn down and mentally checked out. I eased up and just rolled in with the pack. Made a joking show with a couple of other riders of sprinting for 69th place or whatever it was. Hung around after and met some more local riders.

Was just glad to get home and unwind at the end of the day.

In some respects it was my worst race of the year but fortunately I just let it go. There's still a lot of season left to race and for the first time things seem to be on the right track.

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The Lifestyle: Some Hard Questions

2010-05-22T14:26:00.001-04:00

"An unexamined life is not worth living"

- Socrates

"Just because you're hungry doesn't mean that you're lean"

- LCD Soundsystem

[I wrote this a few weeks ago in the middle of the night. I sat on it for a little while to make sure it wasn't too melodramatic.]

Last week I trained less then I have all year: 2 hours and 10 minutes. Less than during the blizzards. Granted I was out of town but now this week has gotten off to a slow start with cool and rainy temps and I just feel ... out of sorts. Training makes me feel good but not training has also made me feel BAD. My sleep, eating and energy patterns are all out of whack. My schedule is disorganized. I ended up having to take a day off today because of thunderstorms. I tried to get a little extra sleep because I felt I was fighting off a cold and now I'm wide awake at midnight.

As good a time as any for a little introspection so I started thinking about why I train.

Sure, racing is fun. Being in shape is good for you. Spending time outside and with your friends is all well and good. But these are things you can get from being a weekend warrior. And the similarities between that and what I (and most of my friends do) stops there.

I own enough bikes and equipment to ride or race over any terrain in any conditions and repair anything that might happen along the way. I train everyday. Everyday. Snow, rain, heat, cold, mornings, afternoons, evenings. I train through holidays, happy hours, big football/baseball/etc games, BBQs and parties. I think about training when I make plans to eat, travel, have guests and go out. I still do all these other things but they work around my training schedule. It's embarrassing for me to admit this since I am not nearly as good a cyclist as I feel my lifestyle would imply -- but these are the facts.

So returning to the question: why do I train? Concepts like "motivated" and "focused" seem to oversimplify things while "obsessive" seems too damning. The answer is more complicated and not one I fully grasp.

In kicking this around I came to some hard questions about my training. I have no real "answers" - these are things to continue to think about. One of those "personal growth" type things. These questions apply to the range of sports I've dedicated myself to going all the way back to soccer in middle school through to my aspirations of studying Brazilian Jujitsu in the fall.

Here they are:

Training makes me feel good but do I NEED to train to feel good about myself?
Do I know how to feel good, and good about myself, without training?
When in the last 6 months have I felt good about myself in a way that was not directly a result of training or racing?
Training takes up most of my time but do I enjoy the shelter of that familiar routine where no decisions need to be made about social and other commitments and the perceived implications of those commitments (read: when the last time I went to happy hour, a vacation w/friends or a date)?
If I train for self-improvement what does that say about me if I am uncomfortable NOT training? Do I train because I'm perpetually not happy with myself as I am?
Is the need to train something I'll grow out of? Do I need to?
Do I use training to distract myself from the rest of life and avoid dealing more directly with other areas of my life such as relationships or my career - maybe areas where progress is less measurable?
Do I make any progress towards other goals in my life outside of training?
Do I have an identity outside of cycling/sports. Am I comfortable with this identity?

I don't want to sound melodramatic but I think these are legitimate concerns. I mean it's only mid-May and I've already spent almost 200 hours and 2,500+ miles training this year so I think it's worthwhile to spend a little time thinking about why.

In the end, who knows? I can't pick apart every nuance of why I do anything I do but it's healthy to think about it a little bit.

What do you think?

Thanks for reading,

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Race Report: Turkey Hill Country Classic Cat4/5 Road Race

2010-05-22T14:20:00.001-04:00

Race #7

Turkey Hill Country Classic Cat4/5 Road Race

Saturday, May 1st

1st / 75 pre-reg'ed

_____

"One minute was enough, Tyler said, a person had to work hard for it, but a minute of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection."

~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

The Cat4/5 Turkey Hill Country Classic was my 7th race this year. It was my 1st ever win in a road race and the first time I had even finished in the top 10 since taking 3rd in a cat5 race at a Great Dane crit in Madison, WI back in 2007. Since it was a 75 person field I earned 10 points toward my cat 3 upgrade.

More significantly, I feel like this was my first real "win" in any sport. I had won races before, going all the way back to Jr. High, but they were always because I outclassed a small field. This was the first race where I got to go head to head against a strong field and come up first.

It was a great feeling.

The course is one of the nicer PA races in my opinion. Each 10k loop has only about 400m of single lane (yellow line) riding. The rest of the course was full-road with 3 rolling climbs leaning into a 1M drag up to the finish. We raced 40k - 25M. I had 3 teammates in the field. 2 dropped out with mechanicals and the 3rd rolled in with the field.

The first lap was uneventful. I sat on the front a little to chat with a friend from another team and one guy went off the front from the gun but came back about 3M later without needing much of a chase.

Coming over a little hill in the first few miles I passed Dr. K and some of my LSV teammates on the side of the road doing a cool down from their brutal 120k race that just ended. I was still on the front at this point and Jamie leaned in a yelled:

"Come on Viana. VENGA VENGA VENGA VENGA VENGA"

There are plenty of other times I would have yelled a joke back but I just kept my eyes on the road and kept rolling.

"I'm here for business not pleasure today"

Yeah, I actually think shit like that.

The 2nd lap was harder with guys from DC Velo and Squadra Coppi pushing the pace on the climbs to shell some of the weaker guys. At this point I regretted doing back-to-back workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday but hung in with the pack. I had a scary moment when a parking cone on the yellow-line section got knocked into the road and skidded right in front of my bike but I just missed it.

The 3rd lap was quite on the front as well. Pace was moderate and more guys got shelled off the back on the climbs. Had another scary moment when a rider in front of me almost went down. Mostly I spent the last 3 laps memorizing the course so I wouldn't make the same bone-head mistake as the week before where I started my sprint late because I didn't know where we were on the course.

On the 4th lap things picked up. I stayed on the front and took some pulls. I wanted us coming into the line fast and strung out. Some other people took pulls as well but DCVelo had a lot of guys in the field still and they were content to get everyone to the line in a bunch sprint and take their chances based on sheer numbers.

The last few climbs were hard but I knew I was going to finish. I ha been watching other riders all race and marking the top guys. There was a rider from BBC that had won Carl Dolan a few weeks ago and a DCVelo rider who had already applied for his cat3 upgrade. I was staying close to those guys and knew I was in good position and I might finally get "a result".

Then I got really scared.

I suddenly felt a ton of pressure. I was nervous. I didn't want to be there. There was too much on the line. I didn't want to fail. While I know this might sound silly since it is "just bike racing" but when you're flying at the line in a tight bumping pack going 25+ mph and slipping ever deeper into oxygen debt - perspective is hard to come by.

I took a deep breath. I'm an American through and through but I get my strength from my roots.I actually thought about clips from that video for a split second. Again, I don't know what to say, I actually think stuff like this.

Now calmed down, I breathed out and faced my fear.

It was a long drag to the line. A BBC rider decided he didn't have it that day for the sprint and decided to lead the field out to the line. Unfortunately, no one wanted to come around him and the pace didn't pick up much after he reached his top speed. I was yelling for the next guy to pull but no one was willing.

The tip of the field was 3 riders long. I was sitting just behind 3rd wheel and off to the right. I knew the rider in the same position off to the left was waiting to hear back about his cat3. As we approached the line I saw him start to move up. I was already getting antsy and decided it was time to go. I remember thinking:

Well at least you'll do OK today since you're IN the sprint for once.

I popped off the front about the same time as 3 other guys. The guy who had gone off the front on the first lap came up the left, I came down the middle and there was a wheel off behind my to my right.

I was a long sprint - maybe 200m. I can't say I could really see/process very much at this point. The rider to my left quick dropped out of my vision (I think he got 3rd) and I just focused on losing the wheel in the right edge of my peripheral vision.

As that wheel slipped out of view as well I remember thinking "I can't believe this is happening"

Finally the line was near enough even I could see it. I furiously let out the last bits of energy I had left and I remember thinking in the last few seconds:

"OH MAN MAN MAN MAN DO NOT BLOW THIS"

The sight of the line coming at me at 30 mph with no one in front of me and spectators on both sides screaming is one I'll never forget.

I crossed the line in disbelief.

I covered my face. I threw my hands in the air. I crossed myself. I covered my face again.

As the other riders regrouped people started to congratulate me as we rolled past the line and I had to ask them to move over.

Hey, let me out *gasp* let me out *gasp* I'm gonna puke.

I got to the side of the road and collapsed in a ditch. The urge to puke passed and after about 30 sec and I got back up.

Then the best part of my day. I look back up the road and Jamie is running at me with both hands in the air (that's about an 8 ft wingspan) grinning like an idiot. I think he was more excited than I was. He came over and gave me a big hug.

I just shook my head.

I can't believe it. That was the best moment of my life. I just can't believe it.

I'll never forget that race.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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The Lifestyle: Only In Europe

2010-05-21T14:01:00.001-04:00

Love America as I do, if you tried that shit here, everyone would die. Happy bike to work day.

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News (Loosely Speaking): LDS Fixter Elders

2010-05-20T13:19:00.001-04:00

Jan Jose Morman missionaries have taken to fixies.

All together now:

What. The. Fuck?

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The Lifestyle: Never

2010-05-20T10:17:00.001-04:00

Not ever.

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News (Loosely Speaking): WTF Sasquatch @ SSCXWC

2010-05-13T13:02:00.002-04:00

Just look at this fucking ad.

I mean. Just. Fucking. Look at it.

What the shit balls is going on?

From looking at it I have no idea what this an ad for other than maybe a Hipster (see PBR sponsor) LARP (the thing where nerds play dress up and fight medieval "battles"). I would expect to see PBR tall-boys, beards similar to the one in the advert and probably a smattering of hippies. Hell, maybe some LTBG groups, environmentalists, Bigfoot believers, Phisheads, and maybe someone from the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling team.

Turns out I'm correct on all counts.

Unless you have a sleeve-tattoo or day-drink Whiskey you might not know that Seattle, Washington will host the 2010 edition of the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC). This is their promo.

And apparently the Jerry Garcia/Sasquatch/CareBare animal thing is their mascot.

Awesome.

It kicks the pant off the weird green anthropomorphic Japananimation Liger thing they picked for the 2010 World Cup (of soccer) mascot.

Also, the flyer implies there will be candy, so I'm in.

Crack-a-Lack,

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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SOTW: The Wild Hunt - The Tallest Man On Earth

2010-05-10T17:40:00.001-04:00

[The SOTW can be streamed from Grooveshark widget in the sidebar. As always I encourage you to visit the artist's website and support them.]

I left my heart to the wild hunt a-comin'

I live until they call

And I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone

Yes I'll be leavin' in the fall

It's Back!

The SOTW has been a less that regular feature this year. In part I've had other things to blog about (lots of race reports mostly) but I was also having a hard time finding anything I wanted to throw up on the playlist.

But, I've found a string of good stuff to share. The first of which is this week's selection: The Wild Hunt by Swedish folk artist Kristian Matsson under the moniker The Tallest Man On Earth. It is the title track of his April 2010 release which is the best new album I've heard this year. The title, I think, refers to the European legend of the Wild Hunt. You can read into the possible illusion as much as you like.

I was shocked to discover that Matsson is Swedish because there something immediately Dylan-esque about Matsson's cougar-call of a voice and his wandering lyrics. There is nothing Swedish about this album though - this is pure American folk. It might take a couple of listens but once you get used to his voice I think this is a great track and a noteworthy record.

I hope you enjoy.

I plan to have lots of posts this week and string of SOTW's to come so check back!

Have a great week,

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The Word On The Street: Blood, Babes, Nuts and Safety

2010-04-30T11:37:00.002-04:00

It's Friday. It's been a good week. A funny week. Here are some highlights:

"Yo, was that safe? Because that was mad fun."

- Sterling, after I motor-paced him from JHU to Dr. K's house.

Define "safe".

"Now that you've made a blood sacrifice maybe the cycling gods are satisfied."

- Sterling, on Tank's nasty crash last weekend and general cycling mishaps this last month

Hopefully.

"Are [road bikes] ... good for [mountain biking]?"

"I wouldn't recommend it"

- Dr. K to a weekend warrior on the Loch Raven trails as we went MTBing on our carbon road bikes -- because we could.

This was the best ride of my life. What stared out as me going to take a piss on the trail turned into a 3M shortcut through the woods, passing stunned MTBers as we took on roots, rocks, mud, streams and drops on skinny road tires and stiff carbon frames. Dr. K did some insane trials riding (trials not trails) to clean some rocks on a stream crossing.

"Leipheimer leaves DZNuts dangling for Gila stage one win"

- Headline from Tour of Gile coverage.

Wow.

Hilarious. But I was confused at first because I didn't know that was a team. I wasn't aware of the UCI rule that prevented ProTour teams from participating in continental (non-ProTour) races but I found out this is the reason you have pro riders racing under ad hoc teams like Lance's Mellow Johnny's team (named after his Austin, TX bike shop) and of course ... Levi Leipheimer w/DZNuts.

In my amusement I clicked over to the DZNuts website and came across their "feed zone babe" T-shirt. OK, OK, it's a little 1950's in that "a woman's place is in the feedzone" way but I still thought it was funny. Then I started thinking:

Man, I wouldn't mind one of those ...

A feed zone babe, not the shirt. But then I start thinking:

Well ... I'm not sure if I could fit her in my car w/my bike and my gear. I mean I could put my gear on top of my bike but ... no. No, I can't ...

And I kinda like singing and rocking out on my own on my way to races ...

And my races are too short for a feed zone so I really don't need a girl there ...

And a girl just puts more pressure on placing well ...

*sigh*

These are my actual thoughts. I know they're not GOOD ideas but this is what naturally pops into my head. Slowly but surely "29 and single" is starting to look less and less like a mountain biker's rallying cry around big wheels and one gearing - and more like my destiny. Which brings me to my last quote:

"Please, show a little respect. For I am Costanza, lord of the idiots."
- Seinfeld

If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at :)

Lots of races this weekend and gorgeous weather. Get out there and enjoy it!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Race Report: Farmersville Cat4 Road Race

2010-04-30T09:40:00.001-04:00

Race #6

Farmersville Road Race

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

Cat4

34M in 1'12" (21mph)

19th in 51 (63 pre-reg'ed)
sunny, windy, cool

____

The cat4 Famersville Road Race was my 3rd race on the roads (as in not a mountain bike race) and my 1st "road race" (as in not a crit or a circuit) this season. The course was not nearly as hilly as advertised and was overall a very easy course. I had 2 strong teammates in the race and the 3 of us helped the race take shape.

We raced 5 laps around a 6.7M loop. The first 4 laps were pretty uneventful. I stayed mostly the the front part of the race and nothing serious really developed in the way of breaks. It seems everyone was content to hang out for the sprint. It reeked of horse shit. The yellow line rule was making it real hard to move around the peloton -- your typical PA race.

So let's talk about the last lap. That's where the excitement happened.

Somehow I ended up on the back of the peloton. Not sure what happened but I ended up there. Getting back up required equal parts patience and pain. The road only allowed maybe 3 abreast (yellow line rule in effect) so I had to wait for windy sections or a rolling hills to open up gaps and then attack the shit out of them. Occasionally something happening off the front would string things out and I again would have to attack. I really put myself in the red but finally made it to the front.

Now both my teammates (Eric and Brian) and I are all sitting in the first 15 wheels and we all took advantage of it in different ways.

Eric, who had solo'ed for a win at SoYoCo 2 weeks earlier, tried to go off the front on a hilly section but got brought back in. Brian put in a huge set of pulls to drag back a guy who did get off the front. I took another series of pulls in the last few miles to try and get everyone strung out before the finish (didn't work). I found out later that because of our attacks and pulls we had 2 teams marking us coming into the finish.

I have to say it's pretty cool to finally be "marked" in a race -- unfortunately they did a good job of it.

Then with 1M to go my two teammates and I were sitting 1,2,3 on the front of the race. Unfortunately 1,2,3 w/a mile to go is not where you want to be in a bike race (in general). 1M is still a long way out. Too long for 2 guys to bring a 3rd across the line. You need one guy in the last 400m to be the leadout man for your sprinter. That leaves a 1,200m pull for your 3rd guy -- that's a real long pull at the kinds of speeds you'll finish a race at. It's also a real nice long break for your competition to sit on your wheel.

So we got swarmed at the end.

My dumb ass thought we still had another turn to go so I came around the last corner maybe 20th wheel thinking:

Hey, why is everyone sprinting at ... oh shit ... that's the finish. I'm an idiot.

I threw it in gear as best I could and come away 19th with teammates in 13th and 7th.

And I have to say I'm at the point in my riding where that's not good enough anymore. In my last 2 seasons finishing was considered a good day but that's behind me. With 3 guys feeling as strong as we were we should have gotten a guy in the points/money even with 2 teams marking us. Also, I needed to be more heads up coming into the sprint. I was ready to start working from a few miles out but I need to focus on the last 200m. This is the 3rd race in a row I've blown it at the end.

But I'm learning and I can feel myself getting stronger in my workouts. I went MTBing for the first time in a few weeks yesterday and the bike felt 5 lbs lighter. Just need to bring it all together.

Two more chances this weekend.

Posted via email from alcovia's posterous

Race Report: Carl Dolan Circuit Race Cat3/4

2010-04-27T14:46:00.003-04:00

Sunday, April 18th, 1PM

Race #5

Cat 3/4
27/52 in cat4 (75 started, 125 total starters)

25.2M - 1:00:00

Partly sunny, windy, cool

_____

The Carl Dolan Circuit Race was my 2nd road race of my 2010 season. It was was only my 2nd time racing in a cat 3/4 field and the first time I've finished a 3/4 race - making it the highest category race I've ever finished. With 125 riders it was also the largest field I had ever raced against.

Held in Columbia, MD the course was in a commercial park and as the 25+ mph average suggests it was FAST. There was only 1 real corner which lead right into the only real course feature - ~400m 2% hill. The course was 2 (sometimes 3) lanes wide and was pretty windy on the back stretch. The accordion effect was yanking the field around like I had never seen before.

I could not have been less prepared for this race in terms of rest and nutrition. My roommates' had a birthday party/BBQ the night before and my plan to "only have a few drinks" failed both miserably and gloriously.

Good times were had.

While I (somehow) did not have a hangover I was exhausted, starving, and dehydrated when I woke up. The next 3 hours were a race against time to get enough water, coffee and food in me to roll up to the line a semi-functional human being. After a large latte w/an espresso shot from Koba Cafe - my awesome local coffee shop, 2 IBProfin, a few liters of water, and a constant supply of leftover pasta salad I somehow managed this.

And so off we went.

The dynamics of the race from the gun were dominated by having so many riders on such an easy and windy course. For most of the course the field was in a tight bunch. But when we hit the corner everyone would sprint out of it and up the hill to the start finish. The result was that every lap the field would get strung out to literally 200m long before regrouping on the back stretch. Despite this the attrition wasn't too high; 52 of the 75 registered cat4s and 37 of the 50 registered cat3s finished.

I had a lot of fun in this race. Riding with 3s and confident 4s was so much more fun than riding in a 4 or 4/5 field. The pace was faster but smoother. There was less breaking into the corners. There was more communication and less yelling. People was ask for "just an inch Kelly" or just put their hand on my side to let me know they were there. For the first time I had a rider try to move into me and I had to elbow him out. No one panicked and he moved out.

It was just so much more fun. Fast, elegant, smooth - it was what road racing should be and I'm glad I finally had the bike skills to enjoy it.

There were a few scary moments, a near crash on a prime lap and a crash at the finish. I heard some people call the race a shit show, but I thought the level of riding was higher than what I was used to -- in a good way.

I am definitely going to try for more 3/4 races in the future.

As for the race itself nothing really exciting happened. I had 4 teammates in the field and while most of us spent some time at the front no one really tried anything. In the last lap 2 laps I lost position and couldn't recover to position myself for the sprint. While I'm bummed I missed the finish it was good to check the progress on my fitness and my handling.

All-in-all a good day but still looking to find the positioning to get it done at the line.

[Photo Credit Jim Wilson: http://images.jamesrwilson.com ]

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Race Report: SoYoCo Cat4/5 Circuit Race

2010-04-23T22:54:00.001-04:00

Saturday, April 17th, 8:00am

Race #4

Cat 4/5

10 x 2.5M laps (25M)

1:12:37

Heart Rate: 154 avg / 178 max

16th/32 (55 pre-registered)

Sunny/cool/windy

The SoYoCo Circuit Race was my first road race of the season and my first since July of 2009. It was my first race on H8TR, my new Specialized S-Works Tarmac. Last year I woke up late and missed the start of the 4/5 race and had to do the 3/4 race. I went off the back and made it one lap from the end of the race before I was finally pulled and had to DNF - it was my only DNF of my 2009 season.

The course is a 2.5M loop that goes right into a downhill that as Dr. K put it "will make your chamois wet". That because it goes right into a 90 degree turn at the bottom on a less-than-perfect rural PA road with some dips and gravel thrown in for fun. The rest of the course is mostly rolling or false flat and ends on a steep kicking climb back into the finish.

Even though I finished out of the money and the points this was a great race for me. My fitness was noticeably improved from 2009. But more importantly my confidence on descents, corners and riding in the pack was on a whole different level than in the past. Last year I was very scared of the first corner, lost pack position on the descent in anticipation of the corner, and then had to chase back onto the back of the field. Not surprisingly after a while of that I got dropped.

But this year I was confident, fit and helped control the race. My max speed was 38 mph this year which shows how conformable I was fighting for pack position on the descent.

The 4/5 field had to do 10 laps. Here's how it went down:

There is no good way to get to a 8am race by yourself that's 80min away. Even though I was there by 7am, I had found a slow leak in my rear wheel (on race day of course) and the line for pre-reg'ed riders was about 20 guys long (no wait for day-of registration of course). Once I was reg'ed, bathroomed, pinned, bathroomed, changed, fixed the flat and locked up my car I had just enough time to make to the back of the start line and catch the tail-end of the official's instructions before we rolled out.

There was no warmup incase you missed that.

The race itself was uneventful. I took me about 5 laps to warm up. My teammate Eric, in his first race as a 4, jumped on what looked like a very shaky break w/3 other guys that managed to stick. It stuck, because Eric did most of the work, dropped two of the guys and dragged the other guy around for 6+ laps before dropping him on the last hill to take the W (and $100) for our team.

Back in the pack I did my best to sit on the front and block for Eric but he pulled out of sight early and the peloton was not looking to organize or chase so my job was pretty easy. With about 5 to go I started to feel warmed up and chased down some short lived fliers off the front.

The hill up to the start/finish was actually really hard for me the first few laps when I was trying to spin up it. Around 1/2 way through I just pushed up in bigger gear and found this was much easier to do at race pace. After that I was marching up the hill with the rest of the leaders in the peloton and helped keep our attrition rate high (almost 1/2 the race dropped out).

Eventually the last lap came along and I was pretty excited to finally have a shot and some money/points.

But it was not to be.

With about 800m to go a rider that had been popping off the front all race went on a flier. I burned my last match to get on his wheel because I figured this was the race right there. Right there. We were going to throw down.

But about 15s later the other rider decided that no, this was not to his liking, and sat up. I should have counter-attacked but I would have just pulled the peloton up to the finish and gotten eaten up. With no one else from my team in the group there was no reason to do that. At any rate the peloton was right on my wheel, happy to have me pull the flier in, and everyone sat up for about 300m.

With 300m to go the real attack to the finish started and everyone went passed me like a bad dream. I managed to catch a few guys going up the hill who were completely gassed and took 14th in the field sprint, 16th overall.

I was pissed. I wanted to pull over and sit down. I had blown it.

But after a few minutes I got over myself. You take a chance, some times it's the right one, sometimes it's not. You learn from your mistakes but a lot of it is just luck sometimes.

And finally, since I had started racing like I had a pair -- I could actually say it was all fun anyway.

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Race Report: Michaux Masher

2010-04-16T00:14:00.002-04:00

Race #3 - 04/10/10

Michaux Masher (Open Men)

Division: 16th/24

Overall: 33rd/60

Distance: 28M

Time: 3:47:16

Lap Splits: 1:20/1:15/1:11

_____

The 4hr Michaux Masher MTB race was the most exhausting race I have ever done. Considering a bare-bones MTB and only a few months of MTB experience I was happy with my finish. I consider this race the capstone of my base training and I'm happy with how far I've come this year. Most of all, it's great to go into my road season knowing I can push myself to very edge of my abilities.

Before I start my long-winded narrative I need to drop some thank you's!

Mel M. for letting me borrow her CamelBack
Geo, Gehling, Claire C., and Karl for general MTB advice and encouragement
Ryan for reminding me DBAP
Alyssa for long-distance racing advice
Tank and Dr. K for general training and cycling tips and encouragement.

I found it really hard to write this report. I found I couldn't quite describe the experience. I have worked harder, been more uncomfortable, more scared, more tired and more dead in other races and in training. I never wanted to quit, slow down or walk. I had a great time. But somehow this race was just ... harder. More exhausting. It demanded more of me than any other race or workout I've ever done.

This is how it went down.

After waking up a little late I used up ALL my kamric driving points hauling ass the ~120M to the race for the 9am start. As I got close to the park I saw the hills looming the distance and I began to get an idea of what I had gotten myself into. Michaux State Park is infamous as some of the hardest trails in the mid atlantic - I had heard stories but this has to be ridden to be believed. It makes Patapsco look like a velodrome.

Once there I reg'ed, changed, attached the most inappropriate number plate ever, mixed some Cera Sport (team sponsor), packed my food and dropped off my stuff at the feed zone. I didn't have time for any warmup. Chatting to some of the other riders as we were getting our final instructions I looked around and didn't see many single speeds or any rigid frames at all (in the end I think there were about 6 single speeders and only 1 other rigid SS bike).

"hmmm"

After a freezing rollout down a dirt road to the start line we had the most anti-climactic start to a bike race ever:

"Uhhh, I think everyone's here so lets go."

And then we rolled.

The course started with a 5 min section of rolling uphill dirt road that spread things out before we got the main course feature. Canada Hollow. Canada Hollow took me 10 minutes to climb. As I walked my bike over the top I had already been riding uphill on my heavy-ass scromoly frame with temps in the 40s without a warm up in for 15 min.

Needless to say I was already wondering if I could actaully do this for 4 hours as we started some very technical single track.

At this point I should mention that Michoux State Park is rocky as all hell. Even in the middle of the trail there were softball sized rocks (baby heads) to bounce over, a few bigger ones (tombstones) to swerve around and tiny little ones (death cookies) to make sure it felt like you were sitting on a jackhammer. [Thanks to Dr. K for the new slang.]

The trail itself was punctuated by downed trees. I would say about 15 per lap of varying size and angles to the trail that needed to be jumped.

And to call what we rode on a trail might be a bit of an exaggeration. A few times every lap I would run into a bush, look around and realize that I had lost the trail, squint a little bit and then finally find the faint dirt smudge of the trail and resume riding.

I'm absorbing all these things 20 min into the race as I realize I'm working pretty hard and not really rolling through any sections.

And then I realize it's because we're still slowly going up hill.

Finally, after over 40 min I break onto a dirt road that marks the top of the first (entirely uphill) section. Then I'm treated to a freezing dirt road decent followed by a long false flat. This is the first time I can take my hands off the handlebars to drink some water from my Camelback and start to dig around to find some bars.

About a mile later I see some riders ahead of me approaching a corner guard on the road and then turn left into the woods on to a trail. As they disappear into the woods I see their bikes drop down at a 60 degree angle before they disappear.

Great, this must be the downhill.

It was then I learned that the downhill sections at Michaux are just a slow the uphills. Again, they are littered with rocks, in some sections there is no dirt, just rocks. There are more fallen trees over an equally illusive trail that is sometime just barely wider than my handlebars.

Here I start to discover all kinds of new riding considerations. Suddenly I'm wondering if my bottom bracket will clear rocks, I put my bash guards into a few logs as I was rolling over them, my cranks and shoes start to hit rocks as I pedal.

Then we start to go uphill again (somehow).

Here we are treated to a 50m long uphill rock garden I have to run up, followed by a 20m section of just pure rocks. It sounded like an avalanche to ride over. Then after picking through more narrow single track I finally start the last descent.

And it was nasty. Just 5 min of squeezing the brakes to navigate greasy hairpin turns, weaving between trees and over more of the afore mentioned rocks -- tombstones big enough to chuck you over your handlebars.

Finally we drop back down onto the road we started on. It's now well past an hour into the race and I still haven't had the chance to eat. I quickly drink some more water and use some carefully cultivated bike skills to keep riding while I take off my camelback, take off my vest and then put my camelback back on. I munch on a Nature Valley bar and then roll through the finish line to complete my first lap.

9 miles in 1'20". That's 7 mph. That means I was biking 8:30 min miles. I might have been able to run the course faster. Not really, but still.

I drop my vest at the feed zone and head up Canada Hollow again. This time I'm feeling strong though. I'm warmed up, the temps have come up a bit and with fewer riders around me I can see all the lines. This time I make it all the way to the top before needed to clip out on the last meter to get over some rocks.

The next gradual uphill still sucks but now that I know the course I regulate my pace much better and have an easier time with the obstacles. I hit the road section and take the time to eat another nature Valley Bar but I'm starting to get worried that I'm playing catch up as I'm already now just under 2 hours into the race.

At this point I begin to see the technological shortcomings of bike. Ironically on the climbs I'm OK. I am strong enough to push out the climb in my one gear. But on the road sections people were flying by me as I spun out. Also suspension was key. Without any shocks I frequently felt like I wa sitting on a jackhammer. My rigid fork was bouncing me all over the place as I tried to keep the bike under control and on a line.

Everything on the course was still hard but I was starting to get the hang of the terrain and I put in my 2nd lap in 1:15, 5 min faster than my first.

Now I had been trading places back and forth with a few guys I had caught during my 2nd climb up Canada Hollow. Up till this point I had been doing the race as a hard training ride but my competitive nature got the better of me and I decided that I was NOT going to let them catch me this lap and I was going to finish ahead of them.

I dropped my my now empty CamelBack and picked up a Cera Sport Bottle and headed off onto my last lap.

Canada hollow was now noticeably harder. I was starting to drift off lines a bit and some of the steep kickers really slowed me down but I made it to the top without walking, reached the last rocky meter and swung wide and managed to hit it with enough speed to get over!

Now I was feeling good and grinning as I hit the single track.

But things were staring to get harder still. My arms were starting to get tired from pulling my wheel up over logs. My legs were getting tired of lifting my butt up every few seconds to avoid a rough bump. I noticed I was taking poorer and poorer lines, bumping into more rocks.

I realized I was gradually loosing control of the bike.

I came onto the dirt descent and took down about 2 gels in one big gulp. Exactly what I needed. By the time I got off the road I felt perky again with a ruch of new energy. No one had caught up to the dirt road and I was looking to keep them off.

But as I hit the next section of single track with less than an hour to go I knew I was fading. I was not feeling perked up and I realized I was not bonking - food had nothing to do with this. I was falling apart from every angle.

And here is where my race report really beings. This is where Michaux, both as race and a location, really began to take shape for me.

Everything was hard now.

Everything.

Either I was going up hill or going over rocks, or losing the trail, or striking rocks with my pedals. I start bumping into trees. I veered off the trail. I would have to put a foot down and then immediately get thrown the other way hitting a rock as I tried to start up again. I would try again and veer into a bush.

Nothing was coming easy. I just wanted to be able to RIDE - to make it hurt. But it was much more complicated then that - which I guess is the piont.

And all this while I'm frantically trying to keep the pace high. I'm actually going faster than before but with less control. I was hurdling myself over rocks and logs as fast as I could with a rapidly deteriorating ability to control myself just to duke it out for what at this point I figured were probably the last 5 places.

Well, that's racing.

Going into the last half hour I start panting continuously. With about 20 min to go I started making little whining and grunting noises with every effort. I sounded like death but I didn't care; I was hell bent on getting to the line as fast as possible.

Finally on the last long technical downhill I started to crack. My legs were shaking from standing as I descended. My arms were shaking from pushing my body back as I gripped the brakes. My brakes started to slip from my 3rd knuckles to my 2nd knuckles as I bounced over rocks and roots at 20 mph.

As my exhausted brain was trying to push me through lines as fast as possible and then I started making a new sound. It was kinda of like a low humming.

I realized I was trying not to scream.

I wasn't in pain, I wasn't scared, I wasn't frustrated but I was near the edge of what I could endure as I litterally clung to the bike for the last bits of the race.

My brakes slipped to my finger tips and I realized I no longer had the power to bring the bike to complete stop as I picked along the hair pin turns. Everything was tired. Everything was shaking.

Then the I'm-trying-not-to-scream sound stopped and my vision blurred. Something I had never, ever, expected was happening.

I had started to cry.

I didn't "tear up" - my breath came in gasps and my chest was heaving.

I was full-out crying.

After about 30 sec of this I reached the end of the descent and pulled it together by the time I passed the corned gaurd back onto the same dirt road we started on and I gassed it with everything I had left.

No one caught me.

Lap 3 was my fastest lap in 1'11". I came through in 3'47" -- plenty of time to start a 4th lap which would have got me a few more places. And I'm pretty proud of myself that I even considered continuing. But even my ego couldn't convince me to start another lap. I knew I had barely made it out of this one.

As I hung over my bike coughing and weezing myself back together one of the volunteers came over.

Holy shit, you did that on a rigid single speed?

Yeah.

How was it?

It was ... it was tough.

I bet.

The funny thing is that after a few minutes I was fine. I rode a cool down, ate some food and drove home. The next day I was back on my bike. I guess while I didn't destroy myself I reached the absolute limit of what I could do that day.

And that's it.

Thanks for reading.

a

[Most image taken by: http://singlespeeder.smugmug.com/]

The Lifestlye: Why We Do This

2010-04-14T00:07:00.001-04:00

Tank and I were finishing up our ride last night when we were stopped at a red light in East Baltimore in the Pigtown/Union Station neighborhood. A man waiting to cross the street started talking to us and asked us the usual questions about how far we were going and all that and then he asked us something that caught me off guard.

"What's the goal?"

I blanked for a moment as I tried to come up with a concise statement of why we spend most of our free time clad in spandex, bustin' our asses, risking bones and skin on overly expensive bikes trying to win races that most people don't even know exist. But while I hesitated Tank took the conversation in a different direction:

"The Harbor. We're heading back to the Harbor."

Before I could figure out what the man really meant by his question the light changed so we said goodbye and rolled on. A few blocks later we passed a building with some words carved in stone along the top. Without turning around Tank pointed at one. There it was in 2 foot high letters:

Growth

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The Lifestyle: I've Done Something Horrible

2010-04-09T10:03:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow I am racing my longest race ever and my 2nd MTB race ever: the 4 hr Michoux Mash. It's a low-key race and part of the race is that you get to pick and design your own race number.

For my number I picked 1004 - a vanity number based on my 10:04 high school 2 mile PR. For the design I consulted with Mel, Alyssa and Jen since they're all creative types who are good at this kind of thing. They had great suggestions involving the O's, Baltimore, Crabs, Old Bay and other Baltimore icons. But then the race got rescheduled and I kinda forgot about it for a while.

Then this morning I made this; I think it might be the most inappropriate thing I've ever done.

I'm afraid I've set mountain biking back 10 years.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Odds And Ends: The Cyclist's Cigarette

2010-04-09T08:38:00.002-04:00

Just a few nights ago my roommates and I were watching TV and discussing how rampant and blatant product placement had become in TV shows. Then yesterday a coworker sent me this ad from back in the days when cyclists thought smoking helped "open up the lungs" -- a clear illustration of how long advertising has been pervasive in american media.

And hilarious.

Also, though it's a little hard to tell, the rider who is finishing 3rd in the upper right-hand panel in the green jersey is Dr. K. And lest he complain that I make fun of his age too much I should point out he was only racing as a junior at this point (hence the full head of hair).

I'm pretty sure this comic is also from the same era when they used cocaine as a performance enhancing drug. Now professional cyclists just use it for fun. Or to paraphrase one local rider

"Tom Boonen is my pick for the Flanders [Spring Classic]. There are white lines on the course. He'll find 'em"

Boonen bashing aside, I was intrigued about the rider in the ad and was able to find a little info on him at this 6-day racing history site. If you're not familiar with 6 day races (historically, they were exactly what the name implies) here is a little background.

William Cecil Yates was born in Erath County, Texas in May 8, 1912. He moved with his family to the Southside of Chicago and got interested in sports as a teenager. He played varsity football at his high school and quickly got enamored in bicycle racing and the six-day racing scene. He showed great promise and was selected to go to New York City for their six-day bicycle race partnered with Mike Rodak in 1932. Cecil was 19 years old. He won his first six-day race in Vancouver, British Columbia in October 1934, partnered with the Californian racer Eddie Testa.

Cecil was known as a speedster. He could turn on the jets during a jam and have the field chasing him around the track. He was a crowd pleaser for the sporting fans. When Cecil Yates was racing the patrons knew that there would be lots of action on the track.

Cecil was a regular six-day racer in the sports most lucrative venues; Chicago (13 races), New York City (11 races) and San Francisco (4 races). In total Cecil Yates raced in 17 North American cities. He raced in Canada five times and won 3 six-day races. Cecil had two favorite partners both from the Chicago area, the transplanted Canadian Jules Audy and the stalwart Jerry Rodman. Cecil raced with Rodman and Audy 8 times each. In total Cecil raced with 28 six-day racing partners.

In the Historical Classification of Six-Day Racers (Jacq van Reijendam, 2007, Breda NL), Cecil Yates sits in 58th place out of over 4000 six-day racers in the past 108 years. Cecil won 16 six-day races and had an amazing podium placing average of 55%. His professional six-day racing career covered 17 years from 1932-1949. He raced in 56 six-day races. Cecil died in 1987 at the age of 74 years old in Buckeye, Maricopa County, Arizona. He is survived by daughter Geneil Yates Smith.

Arnold Devlin

Thunder Bay Cycling Club

Just a little Friday fun. O's opening day is today so I'll be heading to that in a bit. I'm racing MTB tomorrow morning and a few people are racing Cherry Blossom in DC on Sunday. Good luck to all.

Peace,

Posted via email from alcovia's posterous

My Training: March Training Report

2010-04-08T14:04:00.004-04:00

[2010 weekly biking milage via DailyMile]

March was another good month of training for me. This was my last month of base and I intended it to be my biggest month of training for this year. I did that and it gave me a nice high volume to slowly work down from for the rest of the year as I continue to add more high intensity workouts and need more rest.

Here's how it went:

Training:

Biking: 879M / 60'00"
Running: 8M / 1'01"
Total: 887M/ 61'02"

I'm real excited about those numbers. That's over 2 hours a day of training, by far my highest monthly volume ever. This was no doubt largely due to achieving my goal of holding an 3/hr per day average over the 8 days of my spring break training trip down to North Carolina to meet up with the UW Cycling team.

I also got 4 sets of 2x20s in as well as a 60 min tempo and the grab bag of hard efforts I put in over spring break. I'm happy about that because that's all the LT work I'm going to have to carry me through my early season races.

Most importantly I'm having fun and feel fresh - physically and mentally.

Racing:

I only had one race in March, the AFC Sugar Hill XC on the 20th. It was my first MTB race ever and I picked up my first win on two wheels there. You can read the full race report here.

Looking Ahead:

Training:

Right now I am strong but not fit -- which is where I want to be at this point in my season. I've put in big miles (over 1,500M this year) as well as some endurance and LT workouts. I can ride for long periods of time and have worked on developing and holding hard efforts for 20 - 60 min.

Now it's time to get fit.

More so than running or triathlons road cycling is about racing - not time trialing but racing. I've made the mistake in the past of thinking a balanced steady effort can bring you success in cycling like it did for me in running and tris.

But cycling is about attacking - frequently and hard.

Now is the time of the year I need to work on developing busts of power for 10 min or less to break away from the poleoton, chase down or bridge a break away, bang out a long climb or surge over a short one, give a 1k leadout or sprint for the W.

These are aspects to my riding I've never really focused on developing before so I'm pretty excited. I'm doing my research and asking the faster guys for advice -- it should be a fun experiment.

Racing:

One of my goals this year is to gain experience and as a result I'm going to be racing a lot early in the season. This should also allow me to see where I stand against other guys in my category over a wide variety of races. Based on what happens this month I'll pick my focus of the rest of the season.

Coming up this month in racing:
04/10: Michaux Mash (rescheduled, 4hr MTB)
04/17: SoYoCo (Road Race)
04/18: Carl Dolan (Road Race)
04/24: Farmersville (Road Race)
05/01: Turkey Hill (Road Race)
05/02: Bunny Hop (Crit)

March was a great month of training with a surprise race win, 8 awesome days in North Carolina, quality workouts and lots of riding in general. With a full race schedule and harder/faster workouts April is looking to be even better!

Hope everyone else it having a great year as well. Best of luck to all!

Thanks for reading!

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Race Report: AFC Sugar Hill XC

2010-04-08T10:08:00.003-04:00

[I've been sitting on this race report far too long trying to add pictures. I finally said screw it. I'll upload the pics in a separate post.]

Race #2

AFC Sugar Hill XC

Beginner Category

1st / 30 (23M/7F)

43:46

The Adventures For a Cure Sugar Hill XC race was my first biking race of the year and my first MTB race ever. It was my first race win (of any kind) since 2003 when I won a heat of the indoor 2-mile on the track my senior year of high school.

I had bought a MTB from Sterling on the JHU team in October and hadn't started riding it on the trails till January. The first MTB bike ride I did in January with a bunch of Kelly Benefit Strategies/LSV guys was the scariest thing I had done in recent memory. I was honestly terrified and wanted to stop and walk most of the time. My head was filled with negative thoughts about how I was a coward and how awkward I was on the bike.

That as only 3 months ago.

Tangible self improvement -- one of the best parts of sports.

Lots of good things happened at this race. I put in a lot of "bike practice" to improve my bike handling and it paid off. I took the time to ride the course multiple times which also paid off. I came into the race with a strategy, stuck to it, and in the end it was a good one.

That's really the long and short of it. For a more detailed narrative keep reading.

_____

I was pretty excited the night before the race and was up long before my alarm for once. Made it to the race uneventfully, got my number and started warming up.

There are a few things you should know about my bike. I was riding a single speed, meaning there was only one gearing. Because I was riding a single speed bike I needed a specific plan for the hills. Certain hills I needed to run up. Others I could only ride over if I came into them with enough speed. Often times this meant hitting a series of turns and features before the base of the hill to come into it fast enough.

Also, I was riding a "rigid" frame - meaning no suspension. A bike with suspension will glide over rocks and roots, absorbing impacts for a smother ride, but most importantly keeping the bike in contact with the ground and rolling forward thus maintaining your speed. On a rigid frame if you hit a root or rock too hard or at the wrong angle the whole bike will jerk around and/or pop into the air. This makes handling harder but also slows you down as your speed is being disrupted by all the bouncing.

All this makes my bike affordable and (in my opinion) fun to ride -- but it wasn't going to do me any favors in terms of being competitive.

But I got to the line and I started to feel like I had a chance to be competitive. Most of the other riders looked like "enthusies". The only riders who looked semi-serious were about 5 15 year olds and a guy in FULL DH gear. Still, this was a MTB race and I didn't know what to expect. But I had planed, practiced and now I was finally going to test myself on the bike for the first time in about 8 months.

The whistle blew, and away we went.

I figured I was going to get dropped on the road section because of the gearing on my single speed which was set for climbing not for flats. But I was able to tuck in at 3rd place for the ~300m we were on the road. Once we hit the dirt for the Big Climb I struck out in front and found my own lines fully expecting to be passed as I grinded it out in one gear.

I had practiced this climb and decided my race strategy was going to be to get into the red and get position early. The climb was slippery and rocky but I slowly worked my way up it. It's about 400m long and takes a couple minutes to do. Near the top in the last 50m it kicks up again and gets real rooty and rocky and just like I practiced I jumped off the bike at this part and ran it up.

The course martials were cheering as I crested the top, slapped my non-drive-side pedal down and did a nice little cyclo-cross style jump back on the bike.

*Click* *Click*

I was in and ready to roll. I headed out onto Rockburn Branch 1 and glanced over my shoulder down the hill to see what the field was doing.

*whoops*

There. was. no. one. there.

I was blowing the field out of the water at the top of the first hill on a single speed.

"Uhhh ... I may be in the wrong category."

But it didn't matter - I still had the whole race ahead of me. I hit the chicanes of Rockburn 1 and before I was a minute out of the climb I crashed.

*whoops*

IDK what happened. I was toying with my brakes before the race and I think I ended up setting them unevenly or something. It doesn't help my heart rate was still in the red and I was pretty amped up. At anyrate I just got a few srcathes and scrambled back on my bike and kept going.

Still, no riders in sight.

I got hot on a few other corners and almost crashed again and finally told myself:

"DUDE you need to CALM the FUCK down -- you're winning. By a lot. Just don't crash into anything you SPAZ"

This little pep talk calmed me down a bit. Getting my heart rate back under control I came out of Rockburn 2, held my speed through the corner and managed to make it up the hill onto Morning Choice like I had been practicing. Climbing the gradual uphill on Morning Choice at a more moderate pace I made it to the clearing and a had to clear a few runners off the trails (the course was not closed).

"RIDER BACK! Thanks, there's a race coming. 30 guys behind me."

"Thanks ... does that mean you're winning?"

"Yeah ... I guess so. Weird."

Coming out of the clearing I hit a curving drop into onto a equally steep hill and managed to find the line up it for the first time. Then there was a long down hill where you had to hop a log and agradual climb to a road. 100m of road (I almost overshot the turn) and then you pick up Cascade Falls.

Here things get tricky. Cascade Falls had mud sections, a couple of stream crossings and severally very rocky sections. I picked my way along without crashing into the rocks. I had to get off and run over a particularly tricky section but I was erring on the side of caution since I had a time buffer.

Coming off of Cascade I came onto Ridgeline Trail, a trail I had run dozens of times as well as biked every time I had come to Patapsco this last winter. Coming over the first climb I saw another rider in my race creeping up on me for the first time.

Oh. hell. no.

I was not going to blow this lead on my "home turf". I dropped the hammer and talking to 2nd place later he told me he closed in on me but once I saw him I was gone. Felt good about that.

And that was basically it. I flew through the last section of trail, bombed the descent back down the Big Hill and brought it in for the first place finish I had been hoping to get this year. Zipped up my jersey and pointed to our title sponsor Kelly Benefit Strategies.

There was some congratulations from teammates and competitors and some good-natured teasing about sandbagging the division which I deflected by telling them it was my first race. I got some cool swag in the process including banana beard and a sweet backpack.

All-in-all a very promising start to the season and definitely not my last MTB race.

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The Lifestyle: Cherahola Descent Pics (feat. Dr. K)

2010-04-07T13:43:00.001-04:00

Found two pics online of Dr. K and I flying down a the back Cherahola Skyway - a roughly 10M descent where we averaged 45 mph. We were crushing it -- or as Dr. K chose to call it "tandem bombing it".

I don't know if it's my fit or what but it's good to know that despite 1,500M of riding this year and sickest bike I could assemble I still look like a total nerd on my bike.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Baltimore Ranked 48th Most "Bike Friendly" City

2010-04-07T12:22:00.001-04:00

Bicycling Magazine has released it's list of the top 50 most "bike friendly" cities in the US with a population over 100,000. My very own Bmore just made the cut at 48.

Hey, it's a start.

The week I moved here in May of 2007 I read an article in the Urbanite saying there were (seriously) 6 MILES of bike lanes in the entire city. This is compared to cities like the No. 4 ranked Seattle that has a master plan to add 450 miles of bike lanes.The worst part was that number was a bit of an over estimate because if a block had bike path on both sides of the street it would be counted as 2 blocks of bike path. This makes some sense but it definitely changes the meaning of "6 miles".

But at any rate things are noticeably better now; there are more bike lanes and bike racks going up every month. In my opinion though the crux of the Baltimore biking problem is center city. Many of the neighborhoods in the city are easily navigable by bike but if you have to cross through the city center it becomes a free-for-all. Anyone who has tried to navigate the maze of one-way streets to get from Fells Point, around the harbor and into Fed Hill by bike without riding on the sidewalk knows what I'm talking about.

One of the things I think is interesting is that while Baltimore city is not very "bike friendly" the surrounding area is tremendously rich in cycling opportunities for more fitness-minded looking to get a workout in on the roads or trails. There is a long list of state parks and country roads that are great for training. So much so that while my alma mater UW may be in No. 7th ranked Madison, WI -- they have nothing on our rolling roads and mtb trails.

But regardless of our ranking the mid-atlanic spring is in full swing with temperatures in the 70s and trees in full blossom. It's a simply perfect outside.

Get out there and ride!

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The Lifestyle: Experience vs Possessions

2010-04-06T11:52:00.003-04:00

I came across a blog post on the Unclutter Blog (read the original post here) about a Cornell study (original study here) showing that experiences brings greater happiness and satisfaction than buying or owning possessions.

It should be obvious to anyone who reads this blog that this idea is central to my lifestyle and the topics I blog about.

I could write a thesis about this idea. I have a lot to say about how this connects to an athletic lifestyle, traveling, minimalism, risk perception, career decisions, time management, my generation's values, why I own so many damn bikes, etc. But I'm crunched for time so I'll just summarize and say I'm glad, but not surprised, that science is showing what I've been saying for years:

Life is for having adventures.

More and more as I get older and find myself unsure about a decision I ask myself "What will make a better story?". I once had a friend who told me she thought this was a terrible idea -- why should I live my life based on doing things for the sake of having a story people will want to hear? I told her she was missing the point -- I want my life to be a story I want to hear.

This might not be the best advice in all situations but it's given me fewer hangovers, cuts, bruises, empty wallets and ruined relationships than you might think. And now there is a study showing that maybe making memories worth remembering is the way to a happy life.

Makes sense to me.

Party on kids,

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The Lifestyle: Spring Break Day -1

2010-03-25T23:23:00.001-04:00

T minus 15 hours. I haven't packed shit and I'm still at work but Tank and I did just buy $60 worth of beer. Here is the list of things I need to pack and/or buy tomorrow morning minus about 10 items I forgot.

My favorite items:

Toofbrush
Whiskey
Flannel
Knife
Rope
Flask
Matches

Git 'er done!

Man, it's going to be a great week.

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The Lifestyle: KBS Pro Cycling Cribs

2010-03-25T09:44:00.004-04:00

This is a fun little video from the Pro Team with the same title sponsor as my amateur team (Kelly Benefit Stratagies). I don't know Reid personally but he got his Ph.D. in physics across the street from where I work at Hopkins and a couple of my coworkers are friends with him.

Here is a blurb from the team website:

Reid Mumford, a.k.a. Madness, is an original team member from KBS' 2007 launch, and has been a key part of the team's success since day one. He started out racing mountain bikes in Park City, Utah in the early 90's and got hooked after coming in fifth in a downhill time trial. He transitioned into road racing, competing on the John Hopkins University collegiate team (where he recieved his PhD in High Energy Particle Physics), earning the attention of KBS owner and local cycling patron John Kelly, who signed "Madness" to his amateur team in Baltimore, and the rest is history. Reid had his best season yet in '09, winning a stage in Uruguay and finishing fourth in the USPRO time trial. If not on his bike, Reid can be found in his sweet mobile home, which he uses to travel to and from American races with his wife Jenny and son Magnus "Mini Madness" Mumford in tow.

On the topic of random connections, a new guy showed up to a group ride last night and after a few minutes of conversation we realized we probably ran against each other in high school. Small world as they say.

That's all for now. I have a million things to do at work, on the bike and around the house to get ready to leave for spring break tomorrow. I'll try and write up some more posts on the drive and should be able to post from down in N.C.

Keep it real,

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SOTW: I Don't Wanna Grow Up - Hayes Carll

2010-03-22T14:36:00.002-04:00

[The Song Of The Week can be streamed from the the Grooveshark Widget on the the sidebar. As always I encourage you to support the artist and visit their website.]

After a bit of a dry spell I finally stumbled on something I liked for the S.O.T.W. I've been on a bit of an alt-country kick as of late and it shows in this week's choice: Hayes Carll's cover of Tom Waite's I Don't Wanna Grow Up. You can find this track on Carll's 2008 release Trouble in Mind. All this twang is probably related to my newfound appreciation for whiskey. Just this weekend I watched my friends choke down a cup of Gentleman Jack we were passing around and drown it with Miller Lite at Ben's going away party. Meanwhile, I sipped it and chased it with my glass of Jack on the rocks.

The rest of the evening is fuzzy.

Our drinking exploits aside, this is an appropriate track pick this week though as Tank, Dr. K and I are heading out this weekend to spend a week in the North Carolina mountains with the UW Cycling Team. Actually, there are always a number of alumni on this trip - at least 3 of them over 30. It seems none of us want to grow up.

Or maybe we've just found the best way to do it.

Have a great week!

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The Lifestyle: Slurpee Sunday!

2010-03-21T21:09:00.002-04:00

This was a great week of riding. In addition to 2 workouts and a race I put in just under 16 hours of riding making this my highest volume week of riding (except for spring break last year). Best of all, Tank, Dr. K and I had our first Slupee Sunday of the year today at the end of 4+ hr 67M ride.

A Slurpee Sunday, shaved legs and a race -- today really is the first day of spring!

Tomorrow is our annual team kickoff meeting for LSV and we get our new kits for the season. I'll post some pics of the new gear as well as a race report from this weekend soon.

Have a great week!

a

[Update 03/21/10 22:25 EST -- So something amazing happened on our ride today. We were bombing down a descent -- probably going 40 mph. Tank on the front, Jamie right in his draft and me about 10m back. Right at the bottom Jamie looks back at me with a big shit-eating grin on his face and flashes me a Sneaky Rhino in Tanks direction (if you don't know don't ask).

I almost fell off the bike laughing,

Later Tank was lallygagging on a climb so Jamie and I ducked off the road behind some pine trees and let Tank pass and then starting riding about 200m back from him. As were riding up on him Jamie turns to me and says:

"You know ... this really would be the sneakiest rhino.

The Sneaky Rhino -- Elf's gift to the world.]

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My Training: Sugar Hill XC Course Pics

2010-03-19T23:31:00.002-04:00

Here are some pics from the ride-through's I did on Thursday and Friday of Saturday's AFC Sugar Hill XC in Patapsco State Park just outside Baltimore. I didn't take a lot of pics yet (hopefully more tomorrow) but there is a fantastic selection of terrains, single and double track, up and downhill rock gardens, a BRUTAL opening climb, bridges, stream crossings, mud, flying downhills, etc.

This is a 'B' race for me, meaning that I backed off a bit the last few days but I haven't tapered for it. By Friday I had ridden 10 hours with 2 interval workouts but my legs feel great.

I'm excited, staring to get nervous, but ready to go.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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The Lifestyle: Tony Kornheiser Makes My Hate List

2010-03-18T10:23:00.005-04:00

I hate incompetent cyclists more than anyone else. Seriously, I do. Every time someone does something dumb on a bike in front of a car or gets into a stupid argument with a driver it means that person is going to have less patience with me and my friends when they come up on us riding single-file and sharing the road.

That being said Tony Kornheiser is a fucking asshole to suggest on ESPN radio that people should give cyclists "a little tap" so they "take a spill" since they are "daring us to run them over". I would love to get up is his face with some anger about this but instead I'm going to file a complaint here. You can hear the broadcast on ESPN radio yourself here. Go to Part 1 of the March 11th broadcast at about the 33 min mark.

I got hip to this bullshit via Lance Armstrong's twitter feed. Here's a related article.

Though this is somewhat besides the point, he rants about cyclists "stupid shiny tights" or something like that. Um, what about football assclown? No beef with them giving you "the angle" in "shiny tights"? And I would like to think I look waaay better in spandex than a 300 pound linebacker. Then again this is the guy who served a 2 week suspension for making comments about a female sport anchor's outfit - so fuck 'em.

Here is the letter I sent into ESPN via the above link. If you are too busy to write your own you may copy and send it in as your own:

I'm sure you've received several letters about this situation already but I have to add my disgusted reaction to Tony Kornheiser's March 11th radio show where he promoted violence against cyclists in response to newly announced DC bike lanes.

Hopefully I don't have to explain to you how the actions he repeatedly and casually advocated ("tapping" cyclists with a car) are dangerous if not deadly and completely illegal.

I "get" that Mr. Kornheiser is "joking" and that his "style" so-to-speak is supposed to be inflammatory and I have enjoyed his show prior to this incident.

However, Mr. Kornheiser is clearly not a cyclist himself so he does not comprehend the reality of what is coming out of his mouth. ESPN, if not Mr. Kornheiser himself, must understand that he is dealing with REAL issues with REAL consequences.

Vehicular violence against cyclists is something that my friends and I have all directly or indirectly experienced and always with palpable fear.

As I'm writing this one of my friends is immobilized on his couch recovering from his 2nd surgery to repair damage sustained when a negligent motorist pulled out in front of him almost 9 months ago.

Mr. Kornheiser gleefully exploits tensions between angry motorists and cycists. Such specific and detailed advocacy for violence goes well beyond the realm of hypothetical.

Mr. Kornheiser served a 2 week suspension for harshly criticizing a female anchor's outfit earlier this year. I trust that ESPN will again reprimand Mr. Kornheiser at least as harshly given the content of his statements.

[UPDATE 13:42 EST: I want to add a minor point of clarification here based on a major misunderstanding I'm seeing in op-ed pieces I read on this subject during lunch.

If Mr. Kornheiser (or anyone else for that matter) says they hate cyclists, I would rather they didn't feel that way, but there is no real problem with that. Cyclists aren't whining because Mr. Kornheiser isn't going to invite us to his birthday party.

That's not the problem here.

Some have pointed out that Mr. Kornheiser is just blowing hot air as he's infamous for doing. I agree, and do not for a second think he would actually run a cyclist over with his car. If he though that was a good idea he would have already done it.

That's not the problem here.

The problem is that if someone says they hate figure skating and think it's a good idea to run a figure skater out of the rink with a zambonie, that's an innocuous statement regardless of whether or not they mean it. That's because it's never going to happen.

This is not that same thing.

When cyclists ride on the roads they literally put their lives in the hands of hundreds of motorists an hour who pass them as they ride. Disgruntled motorists. People who have had bad days. People in a hurry. People with a temper.

Mr. Kornheiser's comments play into those people's frustrations. They tempt listeners to "punish" cyclists and even glorify doing so. This is real. This happens daily around the world.

That's the problem here.]

[UPDATE 03/23/10 23:25: LA went on TK's show the next day and they discussed his comments. LA got to speak his piece and TK apologized for his comments. Some people may disagree but I find this to be a sufficient resolution. LA put it best "bikes and cars are both here to stay" -- what we need is a mutual understanding. And in a media circus like this what happened on the show is as good as we're going to get.

Back to training and racing.]

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Odds And Ends: Zoom Into Carbon

2010-03-16T14:57:00.001-04:00

Zoom into a Carbon Fiber Uploaded by Weird_Weird_Science. - Discover more science and tech videos.

Wow, very cool. Grabbed this from Bernard's DailyMile page. Helps me trust carbon a little more!

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Odds And Ends: Sprung!

2010-03-15T18:10:00.001-04:00

It's been 40s and raining for 4 days now. I was caught out in the rain on Friday and again this morning during my 2x20s (which I tanked). But the piper has been paid. After hours of riding the trainer, riding in blizzards, riding in the cold and now riding in the rain the most wonderful day of the year finally arrived and we have sprung ahead for daylight savings. And now look at that forecast! I declare the mid-atlantic spring has begun!

Now where are those razors ...

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Race Report: RRCA Team 10M Challange

2010-03-14T15:00:00.000-04:00

1:07:30 (6:45/mile)

107th / 557

The Maryland Road Runners Club of America Team 10 Mile Challange was my first race of 2010 but one I did not expect to run. Eventually a combination of factors I still don't fully understand convinced me it would be a good idea to get up at the ass-crack of dawn and race 150% of my weekly milage.

I decided to prepare by laying down a hilly 80M ride with Tank and Dr. K the saturday before the race.

Yes, I'm a genius.

My day started as all races do, with my alarm blasting and me staggering around my room in disbelief at 5am. I did my best to stuff all the things I vaguely remember being necessary for a running race into my backpack. I thought about bringing my racing flats and laughed out loud. Ha!

I had resigned myself to a personal worst at this race weeks ago.

I had been doing lots of biking but only running about 7M a week this year. My last running race was a 5k on the track at the Ryan McGrath "Memorial" in the fall of 2009. Prior to that I don't think I'd thrown down on the roads since the Kelly 5k in March of 2008. This I had only run 2 10 milers before but I had gone 1:03 in 2004 and a 1:00:30 in 2008. Good times for me and nowhere near what I thought I could run for this race. I knew I wasn't even going to run under 1:05. You can say what you want about foolish pride but I knew if I actually tried and couldn't cross the line under 1:10 I would DNF myself.

With the top 12 males scoring and something like 15 guys on our squad predicted to go under an hour I knew I wasn't even going to score.

The sum total of all this is that I had nothing to run for.

Nothing. No time goal. No place goal. No team scoring. No training goal. In fact every serious step I took at the race would beat me up, keep me from doing intervals and hurt my cycling training.

We were walking to the line before I finally figured out what to do.

Ryan had suggested that the slower guys "do the team thing" and pace the faster women as much as they could. This I decided was something I could do. I would run as long as I could at their pace and count it as LT work. Once I fell off the pace I would just jog it in and spare myself the full punishment of 10m at full on race pace.

So I sheepishly lined up next to Mel and said "Hey ... I'm going to try and run the first few miles with you". "OK" she cheerily replied. The gun went off and just like that - I was running a race again.

After almost 2 years away from even a semi-serious race I was mesmerized.

Thousands of footfalls all around me seemed deafening. The riot of thrashing colors around me was hypnotizing. All around me were people I knew. I was hypnotized for the fist 100m. I realized that this was the first time in my life I had ever, ever, run a race where I wasn't competing.

I turns out running is pretty cool when you're not obsessed with your own performance and the weight of your own expectations.

The race itself was uneventful. I paced Mel, Diane and Eileen through 6.5M to top-5 finishes in the 1:03 range. I just "jogged" it after that to cross somewhere way back in the standings with a 1:07:30 for 107th out of 557. Good enough for me.

My favorite part of the race was pacing Mel. She's such a tough little bitch and a good friend so it was great to help her out. She runs with amazing aggression; where most people just hold the effort on a hilly course like this one she holds the pace which means we surged up every hill. It's a badass way to run and it's not surprising she took 2nd female.

Overall, Team That's What She Said running under the auspices of the Falls Road Running Store cleaned house so completely and thoroughly that we might not be invited back next year. Almost no one stayed for the award ceremony to watch us receive the awards for first individual male and female as well as first pace male, female and coed team. We only brought a team of maybe 40 to the race and all of them are people who have trained with us at one time or another.

We of course spent the remainder of the the day drinking in celebration.

Lastly, big props to Ryan, the Godfather of the Baltimore legit running scene for organizing our team. He spends the entire first 2 months of the year getting in touch with people, getting uniforms and getting us signed up. Sweeping the awards at this race has been a dream of his for a while and he definitely deserves credit for this win as much as any who ran.

This was actually a nice break from riding ... but the real work and real tests are just beyond the horizon.

Odds And Ends: Nice Job Google

2010-03-12T10:14:00.001-05:00

Nice Job Google. I pretty happy with you for finally pushing out biking directions for Google Maps but this little gem made my Friday morning.

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The Lifestlye: One Of Those days

2010-03-12T07:38:00.004-05:00

Today was just one of those days. Long, frustrating, too many problems - just couldn't get on top of things today. By the time I got to Dr. K's, without being prompted he was ready with a PBR for each of us. A good friend, a PBR, some warm weather, an easy spin around the

neighborhood and a chance to talk things out. What more could you want?

"Sometimes life's OK"

- Modest Mouse

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[Update: I posted the above toasting pic on DailyMile -- the social training site I use. The exchange that followed was so perfect I had to include it here.]

The Lifestyle: Sugar Hill XC Course Preview

2010-03-11T15:12:00.001-05:00

So yesterday I was finally able to get on the trails in Patapsco for the first time in 33 days since the first of our two big blizzards this winter. Overall there were a fair number of downed trees to pick around but almost no snow to speak of and the ground was pretty dry.

This morning I checked out the course map for the Sugar Hill XC race on the 20th. The map is above. Here are the turn-by-turn directions.

One lap is ~7M long.

Starting at the flag go up the Big Hill (blue).
At the top of the Big Hill you will make a left onto Rockburn Branch 1 (red).
Continue from Rockburn Branch 1 (red) onto Rockburn Branch 2 (purple).
Make a left onto Morning Choice (yellow).
Make a right onto Cascade Falls (blue).
Make a right onto Ridge Trail (orange).
If this is your last lap make a left to go down the Big Hill (blue) and into the finish. Otherwise, make a right at the end of Ridge Trail, make an immediate left onto Rockburn Branch 1 and continue through another loop.

I've been on all of these trails at one time or another and I would say I'm familiar with about 1/2 of the course. But looking at the map now I'm definitely concerned about the start. I did that "Big Hill" climb yesterday and it was tough. Now seeing that it's the start of the race I'm definitely going to have to go into it with a plan. With 100 guys starting on a 7M course positioning at the top of that climb is going to be a huge factor for how the rest of the race plays out. Especially since I am racing in the most novice category where passing is not going to be "smooth".

Since I have a single speed I really only have 2 options on a big hill like that: grind or run. I'm going to change my gearing up from a 32X19 to a 32x20 which should help a little but I'm going to have to practice that climb to find the best bike/run combo to get up it. I crawled up this climb yesterday and eventually had to bike hike it up when my heart rate hit my LT and I had to reign it in since it was an easy day. While running may be a "strength" of mine since I've been doing it for 10 years I'm not going to outrun someone up a hill who is spinning a granny gear while I'm pushing my giant steel 29er.

But, when it comes down to it the hill will be steep for everyone. So I'll plan and prepare but come race day you just gotta get out there and have fun (and crush souls if you can).

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My Training: Skyline Century

2010-03-10T13:12:00.001-05:00

What you are looking at is a map of the 96M length of Skyline Drive through Shenandoah State Park. As the topology indicates this would be a damn hilly ride. This is something I've been kicking around in the back of my head for a while. I looked into the details a little bit and now I defiantly want to give it a go some time early this summer. Car details would be tricky since it's a point-to-point ride but I think it could be worked out.

Whose's in?

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Geek Out: New MTB Shoes

2010-03-10T10:38:00.001-05:00

The shoe on the right is the new MTB shoe I bought last week for the now rescheduled Michaux Mash. The shoe on the left is the "MTB" shoe I've been using the last 4 months. If you can't tell it's a 10 year old road shoe that came free with Golden Boy when I bought him in 2004. It fit me like a sock and had all the traction of a ski. How I ran up the muddy and snowy hills of Patapsco while pushing my bike in those shoes this winter I'll never know.

I bring this up because I have an odd habit of holding out on buying nice equipment as long as possible. I did this with arm warmers, booties, carbon bikes, race wheels/tires, vests, and now proper MTB shoes.

Mostly I do it because it's cheeper but it also helps me appreciate and understand the function of nice equipment a bit more once I do give in. That way I know I'm getting something I really want and need based on my preferences.

What about you? Do you go right in for the nice stuff or do you hold out a little?

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The Lifestyle: Alyssa's World

2010-03-09T15:05:00.002-05:00

So this is the focus of Alyssa's life (ultras) in a context I can understand (data/plots). Elevation is on the left. Distance is on the bottom. If you squint you can see the Boston Marathon waaay at the bottom. I'm certainly impressed.

I'll have to post some elevation maps from the rides in N.C. at the end of the month. Props to Kelly for the link.

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The Lifestyle: Stickin' To My Roots

2010-03-09T13:55:00.001-05:00

Me at the finish of the RRCA 10M Team Challenge doing my best to rep' Falls Road Running. Hopefully I'll get to strike this pose on the bike this season.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Odds and Ends: Buzz Is OK

2010-03-09T08:42:00.001-05:00

Google's Buzz is an unsightly conglomeration of social networking platforms with a user interface that looks like an alpha release from the 90s. Their decision to automatically connect you to your top 40 contacts was a fiasco and the company's first big blunder. Nonetheless connecting everyone to their contacts did produce instant social networks which can have awesome results. I was about to turn Buzz off when the following conversation happened which bought it a couple more months of use. We're all such bad people.

Feb 26 AV: Just convinced a girl I'm going to mars because I'm astronomer. I feel like Barney Stinson. #HIMYM

Feb 26 CB: I convinced a girl (erin where are you?) on my kickball team after our first game that I was the drummer for the plain white tees. (I chose that band because our uni's were white)

Feb 26 MM: Dating myself a bit but I convinced girls in college I was a stunt/body double for Eminem and was in most of his videos. Bleach blond hair and blue eyes made it pretty easy. The cups of Natty ICE in the girls' hands helped too.

Feb 26 AV: You had bleach blonde hair?
Feb 26 JK: My sister convinced some fools in college she was Osama bin Laden's daughter and she was in the USA hiding.

Feb 26 AV: That's TERRIBLE. While we're on the subject I once convinced a girl you can tell an orange is ripe by rolling it. I didn't tell her what to look for, just that you should roll it. She would do this in public. I also convinced a different girl that the chinese invented the question mark.

Feb 26 CB: Invented the question mark? Are you Dr. Evil's father?!
Feb 26 AV: I'll admit it's not original but it still worked. It was better because we were in the Asian wing of the Art Institute in Chicago.

Feb 26 MM: You can tell if an egg is hard boiled by spinning it.
Feb 26 EA: i'm michael jackson.

Feb 26 JH: You can tell if an egg is hard boiled by throwing it at a wall.
Feb 27 MM: Throw anything at a wall. If it sticks, it's done.

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Odds And Ends: My Favorite Tweets

2010-03-09T08:25:00.001-05:00

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The Lifestyle: So Long Bike Cave!

2010-03-08T23:44:00.000-05:00

Well it was a great winter of riding with Ryan, Alyssa, Pat and the occasional visit from Cheese. I owe the residents of Fleet St. a huge debt for allowing me to keep my bike and my trainer there this winter as well as letting me come over and ride whenever I wanted. The results show in my milage - most of my 1,000 miles of biking to date this year were done down in the Bike Cave. I think all of us whoe put in these winter hours are going to see some nice benefits come summer!

Hi Spring!

2010-03-08T16:14:00.001-05:00

Kinda bummed you showed up on my rest week. But still, I wouldn't kick you out of my bed.

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2nd Annual Bryan Fosler Spring Break Facial Hair Contest

2010-03-08T12:34:00.001-05:00

Just send this out the UW Team. Can't wait.

_____

Hi --

I think the subject line says it all.

Here are the rules based on last year's contest (and pending Fosler's approval):

Facial hair must cut into whatever form it will take before the start of the Chirahalla ride on Friday April 2nd. It may not be modified through the ride, through dinner, and until judging. This is the minimum amount of time for your facial hair. Longer use is encouraged and should be reflected in the judging.
Costumes, hair styling, props, skits, power point presentations, etc are encouraged and should be reflected in the judging.
Fake facial hair is acceptable though the same minimum use requirements apply. Women are encouraged to compete under this category. Women competing with natural facial hair will be subject to random drug tests for performance enhancing substances.
If anyone can find the mustache Reistad used in his "Mannshaft" interview -- the one that looks like he cut it off a muppet -- that would make me very happy.
Judging will be performed in some arbitrary manner. Probably something like a committee will choose some finalists and them the winner will be selected by mob rule ("democracy").
Small, meaningless prizes may be presented. Most likely from the dollar store or stolen off peoples bikes while everyone is voting.
I just realized I forgot to sent Waite my 2nd spring break payment
If these rules seem vague or arbitrary that's probably because it's a facial hair contest we're going to judge while we're drunk.

Put down that razor. You have 25 days.

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My Training: February Training Report

2010-03-08T07:45:00.001-05:00

Here's my training for the month of February. I've added some screenshots from a social training site I've been using this year called dailymile.com. Great site founded by a UW Cycling Team and Tri Team alumnus. Definitely suggest you check it out and look me up.

By the numbers:

Cycling: 500M - 38:06:00

Running: 28M - 3:13:00

Total: 528M - 41:19:00

So in terms of mileage things are good! I'm in a base phase and I averaged 1.5 hours of cardio a day in Feb. I'm also increasing my load;I ran 8 more miles and road almost 150 more mile than in January. Looking at my 2009 training I have 20 more hours of this year then at the same time last year. I was concerned that I wasn't getting as many long rides in as compared to last year but looking at my log I still think I'm getting enough long rides in while staying more consistent in my training.

But I added more than just mileage this month:

Periodization

This year I knew I needed to be more specific in my training. I consciously decided NOT to do this in 2009 because frankly I still felt like I needed to figure out what road cycling was all about before I started parsing my training too finely. For better or worse I understand my racing needs better now and am training to meet them. I've drawn up a 30 week training plan but I didn't do it alone ...
Advice

Now while they would claim they "didn't do anything" I do have to give a tip of my cycling cap to Dr. K & Tank. Their modesty aside it's great to have a Cat1 and Cat2 to advise me on my training and racing. Tank has been helping me on my cornering and suggesting workouts. Dr K lent me the Cyclist's Training Bible, and sent me some coaching materials he used when he was at U of I. I used that and my running experience to cook up and plan and we've iterated on it. Mostly we just kick around ideas but even that is helpful -- and fun.
Intervals

I've started doing 2x20 min intervals at my lactic threshold. Starting these this early in the season (which is when you should start doing them) is going to pay off in the spring. Finally getting my HR monitor back out to know where my LT is really producing some quality training sessions.
Easy/Hard

I've bee working on keeping my easy days easy and my hard days hard. It's difficult because in high school we were raised on the mentality that someone, somehwhere, was working out and you had to work harder then that person today to beat them. We even had shirts to that effect. But you can't train that way. I now organize my weeks to make sure I'm rested and ready to destroy my intervals and long rides. I let my body rest when it needs to. Or at least I'm trying.
Core Strength

The beginning of Lent and the pushup contest over at the Fleet street house inspired me to take up core strenght training again in the form of alternating days of upped body (chin ups, pull ups and various types of pushups) and abs/back. While all this has training benefits the part I most enjoy is that since none of this affects my legs I can hit these workouts as hard as I want whenever I need the satisfaction of a killer workout.

Races:

I ran the RRCA 10M challenge on the last day of the month. As expected it was my slowest 10M ever but I was fine with it. I gave out girls team some helpful and much appreciated pacing through 6M and most importantly our team swept all the awards. Couldn't be prouder -- race report to follow (I promise).

Looking Ahead:

March is going to be a BIG month for me. I've got my first 2 cycling races of the year which also happen to be my first 2 MTB races EVER. The first will be the 4hr endurance Michaux Mash on the 14th (I know how to ease into it right?) and then the Sugar Hill XC race in Patapsco on the 20th. On the 26th I leave for spring break for 9 days in the mountains of N.C. with the UW Cycling team. Wouldn't be surprised to put in well over 350M down there.

Across the country race results should start coming in this month. UW Cycling has started it's road season. Bren is looking to drop a very fast 1/2 Mary at the National Half Marathon while Alyssa looks to continue her Ultra running dominance in a Missuri running stage race. Dr. K and the LSV elite team will also open up their road season at the end of March.

Hope everyone had a good Feb of training followed by a great March.

The Lifestyle: The Week In Pictures

2010-03-07T23:20:00.005-05:00

Well it was a good week.

With Michaux coming up next week I bought some new toys

We went out pretty hard with Rez@ in town on Friday night.

Dr. K even got his Falva Flave on.

Saturday during the day, Tank, Dr. K, Zero and myself helped put on skills clinic for the JHU team. Zero, ever true to his triathlon roots showed up on his slick new Cannondale ... with the biggest pie plate I've ever seen:

Saturday night we had a 40th birthday party at the dojo for one of the instructors

Sunday Tank and I got out and rode 75M. We stopped for some sandwiches.

Because we're fat kids.

And we stopped at Brighton Dam

Which is still icy

As are the shady paths in Patapsco. Which means Michaux should be pretty rad. Lastly, loading photos via Blogger sucks. I've got to find a better way of doing this.

The Lifestyle: Barefoot Running

2010-03-02T11:15:00.002-05:00

[Still playing with posting via posterous and decifing if I like it]

This is an interesting video explaining some of the science behind the resurgence in barefoot running. I found it on Vibram Five Finger webite, a company that makes, well, uh they make ... I guess you could call them foot - gloves for running? They look like this:

I've seen them around and didn't know what to make of them. After watching the video and thinking about it I'm not sold but I also don't think it's bullshit. It seems from a physiological point of view the idea seems to be that running barefoot promotes better form. However, running barefoot is not the only way to achieve better form, though it might be the most "natural" way especially compared to endless form drills.

So VFF products have the potential to be a training tool for those who want to change their form. But this is not a new idea. Back in 2004 Nike came out with their Free running shoe with a segmented sole to simulate barefoot running. While some people were converted most people thought it was just a fad or a neat toy at best. Even earlier at the turn of the millennium there were sprinters at my high school, fast ones even, who would do a few barefoot strides at the end of their workouts to strengthen their feet.

But as a cautionary tale let me tell you what happened to me in college. In the spring of 2004, my freshman year, I decided that I was going to "strengthen" my feet ... because ... I don't know I was in college. Anyway, I walked around campus barefoot for a few weeks (I wore shoes inside). The result was ... *drumroll* ... I had plantar fasciitis the entire summer including for my first trialthlon.

The moral of the story is that running barefoot is how your feet were designed to be used ... unless your feet, like mine, weren't really very well designed for running. Enter the running shoe.

What do you think? Share a barefoot running story if you have it!

Thanks for reading.
a

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News (Loosely Speaking): Cervelo TestTeam Rockin' Ninja Kits

2010-03-01T16:38:00.001-05:00

[Sorry if my post are looking a little weird this week. I'm experimenting with a new blogging engine called Posterous to quickly post images which will hopefully make it easier to post photos from my iPhone.]

I was flipping through the coverage of the 63rd edition of semi-classic

Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (pronounced by gurgling a mouthful of water) on CyclingNews today. This race is the second half of the Belgian opening weekend of road cycling. Conditions looked miserable as riders were slogging it out for nearly 5 hours in the middle of storm system Xynthia which produced rain and 130 kph winds. True Belgian riding conditions! More than half the field didn't finish.

Still I thought Thor Hushovd and the rest of Cervelo TestTeam were rocking a pretty sick in their minimalist black kits. No, they didn't win but the design is still slick and reminiscent of of the all-black UW Cycling "ninja kits" we wore when we took the 2006 and 2007 conference titles.

Makes me very excited to get our new team kits in a few weeks.

Thanks for reading.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Photo Blog: Why Am I So Tired At Aikido

2010-02-27T20:32:00.002-05:00

Probably because this picture was taken at 2am and class starts at 9am. Yeah that's a stripper pole. No comment on who the dancer is.

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Odds And Ends: Conan Has A Big Head Tube

2010-02-26T16:12:00.001-05:00

Is that a Serotta or a Seven? One way or another that's a HUGE Bike. Look at that head tube! It's like 13"! His armpit is well above the top of the car!

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Odds And Ends: Why I Twitter

2010-02-26T13:27:00.001-05:00

I feel like I accomplished something today.

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The Lifestyle: B-Foz Gets Rad In Snow Cross

2010-02-23T13:58:00.007-05:00

Fellow UW Cycling alumni and blogger B-Foz was out representing the Madison TREK shop team when he got what he called "a big serving of h8ter" coming over the barriers at the annual Cyclo-Frost CX race during the Madison Winter Festival last weekend. Sadly, Fozzy reported that the famous Cyclo-Frost whiskey handup (a flask of whiskey passed around among the racers during the race) was absent this year.

I was at the Winter Festival last year and it was a great time. They put down a layer of snow around the capitol and between that and lake Menona 200m away they have XC skiing, CX biking, speed skating, snow boarding and I think they managed to work a 5k in there somewhere.

Between the olympics and the blizzards we got earlier this month I definitely would have loved to check it out again this year.

Check out Fozzy's blog for more bike racing antics and thanks for reading.

SOTW: Despite What You've Been Told - Two Gallants

2010-02-22T09:50:00.004-05:00

[The Song Of The Week can be streamed from the Grooveshark player on the sidebar. As always I encourage you to visit the band's website.]

Sorry for the brief posting hiatus the last few weeks. Snow and work sidetracked me. However, I've been actively searching for a new SOTW and Pandora eventually tipped me of to the San Francisco based alt-country duo Two Gallants. From their 2007 eponymous 3rd album here is Despite What You've Been Told.

Adam Stephens' slightly strained vocals reminds me of a downtempo Langhorne Slim or a smoother Deertick. Tyson Vogel's driving beats, alternating between country and rock, complete their sound.

And lyrically, man what a track! This is real honest music about two lovers who are not in love, at least not with each other.

You are just a substitute
For the one I hold dear
You know you could be anyone
God forgive my tasteless tongue

Hardly anyone writes about this stuff, and not in such a scathingly honest way. If you're everbeen in this situation I would dare say this is dead. fucking. on.

Yes, I guess I made this bed
But I'll take the sidewalk instead.

Have a great week. Thanks for reading.

My Training: January Training

2010-02-03T14:43:00.007-05:00

Cycling

Week 1: 49M / 4'40"
Week 2: 110M / 7'27"
Week 3: 154M / 10'32"
Week 4: 41M / 4'05"

Total: 354M / 25'44"

Running

Week 1: 14M / 1'33"
Week 2: 6M / 0'42"
Week 3: 0M / 0'00"
Week 4: 0M / 0'00"

Total: 20M / 2'15"
Things are off to a decent start this year. T
he big story from my first month of cycling training is mounting biking. I finally starting hitting the trails on my rigid single speed GT Peace-29er I bought off Ster. It's the most fun I've had on a bike. I've ridden in snow, muck, cold and it's been great. Every time I get out see improvement in my technical skills.

My first time out I was scared shitless for the entire first hour. Absolutely terrified. But I got through it and by the end I was having a great time. That sense of improvement, of changing who you are, is one of the joys of sports.

Other things need to change as well in the coming months. In contrast with last year my milage is a lot lower in January. But last year I was a lot more worried about being prepared for my spring break trip to North Carolina with the University of Wisconsin Cycling Team. I put a lot of big rides but didn't do any intervals aside from tempo riding. I could ride long milage and I could ride at a fast tempo for an hour. Basically I was in great shape to go for a week of long rides in the mountains (50 - 100M) with long hard efforts on the climbs. Over the course of 12M climbs I could drop Cat3s off my wheel.

(Yes, I'm drinking a PBR at the top of a climb.)

But when I got back I couldn't handle attacks from other Cat4 riders in 30M races. I starting trying intervals but was behind the game and basically petered out in the summer. Overall it was still my best season -- I finished 9 out of 10 races meaning I both started and finished more races than in my 2 previous cycling seasons. I usually finished just inside the top 3rd of each race. I made noticeable improvements in my bike handling.

But I was still clearly missing elements in my cycling game.

I think I am still learning not to train or race like a runner. You can go into a running race with no workouts and just a huge base and do pretty well. In a running race consistency is the most important thing. You find the bleeding edge of your lactate threshold and hold it -- dipping into the red at the very end.

Cycling isn't like that.

In cycling you'll spend long periods mostly jockeying for position and maneuvering the course all while comfortably in your aerobic zone. Then there will be accelerations, breaks, chases or hills that will put you DEEP in the red in the middle of the race. This is where you NEVER want to be in the middle of a running race but you will have to do it repeatedly in cycling.

Surge. Recover. Repeat.

If you can't handle a surge you'll be spit out the back of the peloton and then it's game over. The wheel and drafting are great equalizers. Hard accelerations are the only way to break things up. This season my training is going to focus on preparing for that so I can stop riding along with the peloton and start racing.

Thanks for reading.

SOTW: Jerk It - Thunderheist

2010-02-02T14:37:00.005-05:00

[Sorry the song of the week is a day late this week as a result of raging birthday festivities. The song can be streamed from the sidebar. As always I encourage you to check out the artist's website.]

I'm on day 7 of a 12-day bender right now to mark my 25th birthday and this is my song.

With Geo and J-Dizzle in town, Tank (who turned 31 yesterday), Dr. K and I have been setting Bmore on fire. We've hit all out favorite bars and downed plenty of our favorite beverages. What was supposed to be a weekend turned into 4 days. Then 6. At some point I looked at the guys and said:

"this is no longer a bender ... this has become an alcoholic spirit quest"

But I've still trained 5 of the last 7 days. I plan to start working intervals and high volume into my training today. Then this weekend Rez@ andGnar are flying down from Boston for a few more big nights of partying.

Meanwhile the rest of TWSS ripped through every bar in Miami and then placed several runners in the top 50 at the Miami half-marathon despite some serious hangovers.

That's how we do things here.

Enter our song of the week: Jerk It by Canadian duo Thunderheist.

Boom, right away you can feel the muscular fuzzed-out synth hook and the pulsing 4-on-the-floor bass kick. My head is already bobbing by the time Isis comes in rapping. Before she's even spit a couple of verses Grahm Zilla starts putting more layers on the track. Next thing I know I'm in the middle of a packed and raging club scene.

Big, bold and memorable this is definitely the song for this week.

Everybody watchin'

That don't mean we stoppin'

Let them know you worth it

Dust it off and jerk it

Let's get after it this week.

Thanks for reading.

Geek Out: Supersonic Divorce Machine

2010-01-26T10:00:00.002-05:00

I was poking around on one of the inter-tubes and came cross XTERRA pro triathlete conrad stoltz's website and --- holy balls, WTF is THAT?

Ho. ly. shit. What ... what IS that? Is that a CARBON tandem bike? On SRAM S80 wheels?

Why is there no front gear -- what the fuck they put a SHAFT DRIVE on this thing? I didn't even know those existed on bikes. How much production value did they put into this thing?

Are you kidding - SRAM Red with disk breaks? Maybe my tandem which weighs 8x as much shouldn't rely on a coaster brake ...

[Update: I completely forgot to mention this before. What orangutan are they going to find to ride stoker on that thing? I mean look at the saddle to handlebar drop! did they design this for humans? Or did they intend the stoker's nose is going to be jammed in the pilot's ass for aerodynamic reasons?]

SOTW: Skinny Love - Bon Iver

2010-01-25T14:36:00.004-05:00

[The SOTW playlist on the sidebar provides free and legal streaming of songs via Grooveshark.com However, artists and labels can request that their material be removed from the site. The result is that songs can disappear from the playlist after I have selected them. This seems to affect newer and more popular songs more often older more obscure material. The upshot is that tracks may "mysteriously" disappear and reappear as they are removed and I replace them. Bear with me and I'll keep an eye on it. As always you can check out this week's artist on their website.]

I think I said most of what I wanted to say about Bon Iver on last Friday's well-received post on minimalism and experience vs possessions. After I posted it I was surprised to discover that I have actually never posted a SOTW by Bon Iver. Thinking back on it, when I first heard his music in 2009 I remember thinking that his layered-falsetto was too much of an acquired taste to post.

I've since changed my mind.

Bon Iver post out a nice little EP called Blood Bank in 2009 with a cool track called Woods which I almost picked in order to bring you his "latest" stuff. But instead I'm going with one of my personal favorites, Skinny Love, off his 2008 debut For Emma, Forever Ago. The record made several "best of 2008" lists and recent reappeared on many "best of the decade" lists. Though I never did get around to writing a part II of my favorite albums of the decade, this album would be an honorable mention at worst.

Thanks for reading --- have a great week.

The Lifestyle: The Weight

2010-01-22T02:45:00.001-05:00

[It's been a while since I put up any original content on here. Sorry for the delay. I have lot of ideas to share but I tend to sit on them too long. Here's the latest I've been kicking around in my head -- enjoy!]

One of the things that I like about endurance sports is that it reminds people to place experience above possessions. For many of us sunny days training with your friends quickly eclipse nice cars and fancy watches. Sure, as my friend Kelley put it, most of us have a "fetish for nice equipment" but it's just that - equipment. Tools for training.

I was thinking about this as I was listening to one of my favorite records of 2008 (and one of the best breakup albums ever), Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago and I remembered reading that Justin Vernon had recorded the album in the woods or something (his website is here). I looked into it and it turns out that he recorded the entire album while living alone for a winter in a cabin in northern Wisconsin. This was also the inspiration for his recording name Bon Iver which is play on the French bon hiver - good winter.

This got me thinking about running away for a few months -- maybe it would be good for me. I started thinking about what I might learn about myself but then I quickly realized I couldn't do it. I have a lease. And even if I find a subletter I have a car loan to pay off. And even if I sell off the car and use my savings to pay off the remainder of the loan I have student loans to pay. But maybe if I pay the minimum on my student loans I could do it.

Maybe.

And then I remembered the speech that George Clooney's character makes in the recent film Up In The Air. Note that I'm cutting out a pretty significant part of the monologue in the context of the movie but I want to focus on just his first point.

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life... you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV... the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home... I want you to stuff it all into that backpack ... The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living.

I agree.

Our lives have weight to them. Weight can be good or bad. Weight can keep us grounded, shelter us and give us a home. But sometimes it's important to be able to move, sometimes we need to have the freedom, sometimes we need change.

Everyone has a different level of weight they like to carry. I like to stay light. I never feel more alive then when I'm traveling. Or when I'm biking solo between DC and Bmore. I feel good about throwing things away - uncluttering in my room. I like that I own no furniture larger then a dresser and no TV. It just makes my life seem ... manageable.

I know that we've moved past the "New Year's Resolutions" part of January (and I changed me banner and quotes on this blog to reflect this) but one thing I want to try and do in 2010 is lighten my life a little more. Even though I don't own much I could easily throw out a few boxes of just ... stuff ... crap, things I have no need for. I want to strip my life down to the essentials.

Who knows with time maybe I could just move into one of these:

Yup. That exists. Or maybe I'll just buy a 100 square-foot house:

Kinda neat eh? Yeah it's a yuppy/midlife-crises trailer home but get past that and it's pretty cool. Like a treehouse for grownups. Upside: no mortgage. Downside: the house still costs $45,000. You can check out other models on their website.

My favorite part of this video is how he overtly mentions that the bed can sleep two. Kinda odd. Then in the last few seconds you hear the camera person talk to him and --- would you look at that it's a women! You ODB you just drive around the country and seduce women with your novelty house! Not a bad idea actually!

Anyway, what do all of you think? Is there a correlation between sports and appreciating experience over possessions? How about sports and a minimalism lifestyle? Do possessions feel like "weight" to you or are they comforting? Do you think I'm destined to live in a glorified trailer and become a creepy old man?

Thanks for reading.

SOTW: Holiday - Vampire Weekend

2010-01-22T02:45:00.000-05:00

[Just a reminder that the SOTW can now be streamed via the widget on the sidebar]

The preppy New England afro-pop aficionados Vampire Weekend dropped their sophomore album Contra a day early today. Their eponymous debut album was one of my favorite albums of 2008/2009 as well as the perfect soundtrack to my memorable Martha's Vineyard vacation with my friend Evan last summer. I featured the single Oxford Comma off that album as a previous SOTW.

Contra is a more varied offering than VW with lots to enjoy. Despite this those who thought VW was an over-hyped airy rip off of afropop will find little to like on the new disk. But if you liked VW's bright clean arrangements and deceptively simple lyrics you will find some surprising gems on Contra.

While I enjoy the evolution in their sound I'm adding the track Holiday to the SOTW playlist, a track that is most closely resembles their debut material. I picked it because when I hear this song I feel summer. Feel it. I'm back at the Vineyard with Evan driving with the windows down to the beach or the bars. I can see the sun, the sky, the ocean, the girls. I think the TWSS crew going to Miami in 3 weeks to wreck every bar and race in the area knows what I'm talking about.

The year is just starting and while the "Happy New Year" part of January is fading fast I'm still taking aim. I'm setting my sights for the middle of the summer. I'm launching myself into this year. I'm not optimistic or even particularly happy right now (I think the current banner clearly reflects this) but I can imagine a time a time in a few months when I'm fit, tan, warm and happy. Racing bikes, hangin' outside and drinking in life.

Maybe.

But if I wait for a Holiday

Could it stop my fear?

To go away on a summer's day

Never seemed so clear

Thanks for reading.

SOTW: Little Secrets - Passion Pit

2010-01-18T18:01:00.005-05:00

[Just a reminder that the SOTW can now be streamed via the widget on the sidebar. You can find more about this band and buy their music here.]

So I'm going to break with SOTW tradition and repeat an artist. Actually I'm going to repeat an artist only a few weeks after first posting them. Little Secrets by Passion Pit.

I love this band. I love this album. I love this song.

I'm calling that this song will be my MGMT's Time To Pretend for 2010. Both positive and decadent with a HUGE sampled and synth-drenched sound.

Have you ever felt so goddamn strong?

Hell yes. This is the song I needed to hear this year. And then the children come in shouting:

Let this be our little secret

no one needs to know were feeling

higher and higher and higher

Let's all be ballers in 2010.

The lifestyle: Listen to Your Voices

2010-01-06T03:44:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine from aikido recently started working freelance as a "lifecoach" for lack of a better word. Normally I would raise an eyebrow at this but he really has a natural ability to connect with people so I think is a great move for him. The other day he was telling me a little bit about what he does and he made what I think is a very interesting point that applies to readers of this blog.

Currently my friend works almost exclusively with senior management types -- people who are very successful in their careers. These people are very driven and focused. In short they know how to get things done and as a result they have an unique dilemma. Because they are so talented they can accomplish almost anything they set their mind to. So how do they pick? With so many options and so much pressure to be successful how do you find what will make you happy? And then how to you convince yourself to go for it once you decide?

Thinking about it I think this is an issue many readers of this blog face. Most everyone I know who reads this blog fits the bill of my friend's clients. You really can't train and compete at the level many of us do otherwise. Especially now as many people are beginning their training cycles for 2010 I started to thinking about how we pick our goals. But this just led me to thinking about a question I feel we rarely ask ourselves:

What is the little voice in our head telling us to do?

Most of us have been doing the sports we do now for years; we have lifetime goals, we know exactly how to train and we have grudges to settle with other runners or with certain races. It's hard to walk away from that. But what if we pursued those little thoughts we disregard as fantasies?

I'll use myself as an example. Looking back on it, it seems obvious that my whole life I have wanted to fight. Every training scene in any martial arts movies fascinated me. I never had any doubt that I wanted to be the main character who pushed themselves harder than anyone else and became a great fighter. Except of course, I had every doubt in the world.

I was (and still am) skinny. I'm not particularly quick or coordinated. I'm not particularly aggressive and other than a few months of wresting I had in gym class in high school I haven't been in anything even resembling a fight (thankfully).

But in the fall of 2008 a variety of things came together and I gave it a go. I was determined but oddly embarrassed. I didn't even tell my my gf at the time till after about a week and told no one else for about a month. I knew no one at the dojo and I was the youngest one there. I took me a few weeks just to figure out how to tie the obi (belt) on my gi (uniform). It was a month before I could stop greeting every new training partner with "Hi, I'm new, I have no idea how to do this technique."

But it worked out. Doing aikido has made my life better. I realize now that it's something I've always wanted but was too embarrassed/scared/uncertain to try.

I just wanted to put that idea out there; getting over you hesitations and trying something completely new to make your life better.

Are any of you trying anything new in 2010?

Or, are the sports you're training for now the result of listening to that little persistent voice? How many years did you wait till you tried that first triathlon, marathon, Ironman, etc?

Thanks for reading!

Odds and Ends: YOU can stream the SOTW AT WORK!

2010-01-04T14:35:00.002-05:00

So, I'm real excited about this update to my blog layout. There are some people who really dig the SOTW but most people read this blog at work and can't watch the YouTube videos I post.

Problem solved kids.

I added a widget on the sidebar that allows you to stream the Song Of The Week via the sidebar from a website I use called Grooveshark. Let me know if this is still blocked at your work but I think I'm going to stick with this since it's much easier than find/formatting a YouTube video each week.

I threw some tracks up there from Pheonix's acclaimed 2009 release Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix as a test to kick off the year.

Thanks for Reading

Odds and Ends: More Blog Updates

2010-01-02T12:33:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. Welcome to 2010. I'm continuing to keep this blog nice and pretty by updating the look periodically to reflect what's going on with me and my friends. I made 3 changes to the blog today:

Updated the header banner
Updated the "welcome" text (aka quotes below the banner)
I added links on the sidebar where you can see a gallery of previous banners and a webpage with the previous quotes

It's just a little change but I think goes a long way to keep things fresh and set the tone of the blog. I've been having tons of fun creating all the new content and I've gotten positive feedback from everyone.

Thanks for reading.

Odds and Ends: This Actally Exists

2009-12-30T10:00:00.001-05:00

So this might not be the most appropriate forum for posting this but I hope all my readers have the pop culture background to appreciate how bizzare and insane this is. From Wikipedia:

Tinted Windows is the eponymous debut album of the American upergroup, Tinted Windows. Tinted Windows was formed in New York and consists of guitarist James Iha, previously of The Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle, singer Taylor Hanson of Hanson, bassist Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Ivy, and Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos.

What?

It's like the feeling you get when you found out that the Traveling Wilburys existed ... but underwhelming.

Anyway, I've gotten lots of good feedback about the new blog look and I'm having fun tinkering with it. Thanks to Dr. K for the current banner pic.

Overall my readership is slowly but steadily growing. I currently have 13 people who subscribe to the RSS feed (see link at top right). Also, the blog shout outs seem to popular: The post about Fozzy bear's blog got 69 hits!

Thanks for reading!

Odds and Ends: My Favorite Albums Of The Decade (Part I)

2009-12-27T17:11:00.007-05:00

These are not the best albums of the decade. They are not the most significant or the most popular. They don't have the best singles. These are my favorite albums.

These are the albums that I loved. These are the albums I would put on repeat at school or at work. There are slbums where I still know every word. These albums are the soundtrack to the last decade of my life. There are glaring oversights and omissions in terms of the pop music catalog of the last 10 years but I make no apologies. These are the albums I love.

The only rules are that each artist can appear only once and the album must have been released between 2000 and 2009. Calling this Part I is perhaps a little ambitious but I think at worst I can follow with a post listing the runner's up. Here are my 1st 4 chosen simply because I felt like writing about them:

Is This It – The Strokes (2001)

My freshman year of college I had my head buried in Led Zepplin and The Clash. I can't say I was hip to anything beyond “Hey Ya”. The Strokes brought me back. Weaving simple melodies into tight garage rock structures I was drawn in by the familiar sound. As I was running around drinking cheap beer and chasing girls their lyrics about NYC night life and the ridiculousness of 20-something romance became the soundtrack to my freshman year of college. "Last Nite" is still the only song in the world that can make me head bang.

A Grand Don't Come For Free – The Streets (2004)

From the first horn blasts of A Grand Don't Come For Free I knew I had found something important. For the rest of college I listened to it incessantly. None of my friends could stand it but I didn't care. Here, finally, was someone rapping about things I cared about – being lonely, awkward dates, drunken nights as a nobody in mediocre clubs, getting dumped. I was addicted to Mike Skinner's London confessional. When I visited London in 2008 I put this album on as soon as I got on the the Tube and I knew exactly where I was.

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards Disc II (Bawlers) – Tom Waits (2006)

If I could make any type of music I would make music with a huge vibrant electronic sound like MGMT, LCD Soundsystem or Passion Pit. But realistically any music I will every try to make will sound like a poor imitation of this album. Tender and slow, dark and rootsy, these ballads uniformly eschew both hopefulness and self-pity in favor of resignation to the mercy of life's hardships. Sometimes I sing along, usually I drink a few beers. I put these songs on when I'm feeling lonely but Waits hits the mood so dead on I never feel alone.

Feed The Animals – GirlTalk (2008)

The first time I heard these tracks my jaw dropped. Steams of the tightest flows in rap history over waves of dense samples from a pop music hit parade of the last 40 years were coming at me faster then I could sort them out. This was a frankenstein of pop music on crack played back at warp speed. It was 54 minutes of non-stop hooks. Within an hour I had bought the album online as well as a physical copy. I don't think I listened to another album for 3 months.

Blog Roll Update: Fozzy Bear

2009-12-26T11:37:00.006-05:00

So as I mentioned in last night's post I've gotten a little behind in the upkeep of my blog. As part of an effort to clean things up a little bit I'm making some long overdue additions to my blogroll. These are all very cool bloggers (and people) and I hope you enjoy the additional content.

B Fosler - Brian Fosler (aka B Foz or Fozzy Bear) was a resident on the floor below me when I was an RA in college. Some of my Baltimore friends might know his RA -- my friend Scott from DC. Brook's ex who came to Festivus in a onesie and to a toga party in what I think was a shower curtain. Fozzy has been racing bikes since he was a junior. He raced with me at Wisco just capped off 2009 CX season by winning the Wisconsins Men's Cat3 Championships. Most importantly Fozzy is always down for joining me in some shenanigans, drinking, streaking, a facial hair contest or judging the shit out of people.

Shout me out if you know someone else's blog I should add. In the weeks to come I'll shout out Bitches, Gelhing, Wisco Claire, and Mel's food blog.

Odds and Ends: New Blog Look

2009-12-26T01:05:00.003-05:00

This blog was starting to look like a memorial site for Geocities ; the recently defunct stronghold of garish web design and broken links. So I got a new template, tooled around with the CSS a little, fixed the annoying twitter password prompt, and got rid of some clutter on the sidebar. I also updated the header image and will hopefully do that every now and again - a la Google.

Anyway, here is my new look for 2010. Hoping to bring you lots of good stuff in year to come!

Happy Holidays,

Odds and Ends: Typical Pre-Ride Conversation

2009-12-17T13:59:00.002-05:00

I know a lot of runners read this blog and I just want to clarify something - this is exactly what cycling is like. I have personally overheard or said every part of this conversation.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season. Thanks for reading.

SOTW: Better Things - Passion PIt

2009-12-14T16:28:00.002-05:00

I heard this band in a cell phone commercial about a month ago that uses their track "sleepyhead". Along with Matt and Kim in a Bicardi commercial and The Sounds in a Geico commercial this is the 3rd band I've learned about via commercial.

I've also bought none of the products in these commercials.

Anyway, bounce your head to this track. Happy Holidays!

Odds and Ends: Hipsters discussing Cyclocross

2009-12-10T17:04:00.000-05:00

News (Loosely Speaking): Exercise and Stress Reduction

2009-11-20T12:48:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone. Things have been busy on my end. I'm at the dojo about 15 hours a week now getting ready for my 3rd belt test in my first 15 months. A lot of people have been working really hard to get me ready and I want to make sure their hard work pays off but it hasn't left me much time to blog.

So here's a quick article from the NYT forwarded to me by my college roommate Burke. This is a nice bit of research for those of us who stay active -- hopefully an uplifting read for a Friday afternoon.

Just a quick shout out to Zero and Ryan doing IM AZ this weekend as well as Ben, Claire and Alyssa doing the JFK 50M. Go own that shit guys.

I've got a great SOTW lined up for next week as well as a few more posts. Have a great weekend and safe travels to those heading out for Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading,
a

_____

Phys Ed: Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Joubert/Photo Researchers, Inc A neuron in the brain.

Researchers at Princeton University recently made a remarkable discovery about the brains of rats that exercise. Some of their neurons respond differently to stress than the neurons of slothful rats. Scientists have known for some time that exercise stimulates the creation of new brain cells (neurons) but not how, precisely, these neurons might be functionally different from other brain cells.

In the experiment, preliminary results of which were presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, scientists allowed one group of rats to run. Another set of rodents was not allowed to exercise. Then all of the rats swam in cold water, which they don’t like to do. Afterward, the scientists examined the animals’ brains. They found that the stress of the swimming activated neurons in all of the brains. (The researchers could tell which neurons were activated because the cells expressed specific genes in response to the stress.) But the youngest brain cells in the running rats, the cells that the scientists assumed were created by running, were less likely to express the genes. They generally remained quiet. The “cells born from running,” the researchers concluded, appeared to have been “specifically buffered from exposure to a stressful experience.” The rats had created, through running, a brain that seemed biochemically, molecularly, calm.

For years, both in popular imagination and in scientific circles, it has been a given that exercise enhances mood. But how exercise, a physiological activity, might directly affect mood and anxiety — psychological states — was unclear. Now, thanks in no small part to improved research techniques and a growing understanding of the biochemistry and the genetics of thought itself, scientists are beginning to tease out how exercise remodels the brain, making it more resistant to stress. In work undertaken at the University of Colorado, Boulder, for instance, scientists have examined the role of serotonin, a neurotransmitter often considered to be the “happy” brain chemical. That simplistic view of serotonin has been undermined by other researchers, and the University of Colorado work further dilutes the idea. In those experiments, rats taught to feel helpless and anxious, by being exposed to a laboratory stressor, showed increased serotonin activity in their brains. But rats that had run for several weeks before being stressed showed less serotonin activity and were less anxious and helpless despite the stress.

Other researchers have looked at how exercise alters the activity of dopamine, another neurotransmitter in the brain, while still others have concentrated on the antioxidant powers of moderate exercise. Anxiety in rodents and people has been linked with excessive oxidative stress, which can lead to cell death, including in the brain. Moderate exercise, though, appears to dampen the effects of oxidative stress. In an experiment led by researchers at the University of Houston and reported at the Society for Neuroscience meeting, rats whose oxidative-stress levels had been artificially increased with injections of certain chemicals were extremely anxious when faced with unfamiliar terrain during laboratory testing. But rats that had exercised, even if they had received the oxidizing chemical, were relatively nonchalant under stress. When placed in the unfamiliar space, they didn’t run for dark corners and hide, like the unexercised rats. They insouciantly explored.

“It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms,” says Michael Hopkins, a graduate student affiliated with the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Laboratory at Dartmouth, who has been studying how exercise differently affects thinking and emotion. “It’s pretty amazing, really, that you can get this translation from the realm of purely physical stresses to the realm of psychological stressors.”

The stress-reducing changes wrought by exercise on the brain don’t happen overnight, however, as virtually every researcher agrees. In the University of Colorado experiments, for instance, rats that ran for only three weeks did not show much reduction in stress-induced anxiety, but those that ran for at least six weeks did. “Something happened between three and six weeks,” says Benjamin Greenwood, a research associate in the Department of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado, who helped conduct the experiments. Dr. Greenwood added that it was “not clear how that translates” into an exercise prescription for humans. We may require more weeks of working out, or maybe less. And no one has yet studied how intense the exercise needs to be. But the lesson, Dr. Greenwood says, is “don’t quit.” Keep running or cycling or swimming. (Animal experiments have focused exclusively on aerobic, endurance-type activities.) You may not feel a magical reduction of stress after your first jog, if you haven’t been exercising. But the molecular biochemical changes will begin, Dr. Greenwood says. And eventually, he says, they become “profound.”

SOTW: Justin Townes Earle - The Ghost of Virginia

2009-11-16T16:14:00.003-05:00

It's been a long year and I'm tired. It feels like this year has seen more than it's fair share of changes. People have come and gone and it seems like there have been more ups and downs than usual for my friends and I - but that's how it always seems.

All-in-all things are good but just the same we're coming up on the part of the year that just seems made for looking back over the 12 months and taking stock. A beer or two can go a long way in helping with that and over the last few weeks I've gotten into the habit of heading down the Backstretch (one of our stops on HOF5) with Dr. K on Sunday nights for a few dirt-cheap ice-cold rounds.

This week's SOTW for me is perfect for doing just that - sitting back and reflecting. The melody is present but not distracting, the lyrics are serious but not depressing. And the singer/songwriter, Justin Townes Earl, is the son of Grammy-award-winning folk musician Steve Earl. While most you probably aren't familiar with Steve Earl's music (nor am I) you might know him from his acting career where he played Walon on The Wire.

Anyway, here's a track of Justin's called The Ghost of Virgina. Put it on, go grab a beer, enjoy the holidays.

Cheers!

Odds and Ends: Fall Foliage

2009-11-11T14:14:00.003-05:00

On Monday I went for a walk to grab some lunch in the Homewood neighborhood. Right behind my office there is a stream that is the same stream that parallels University Parkway along the trail we warm up on during Tuesday night track. There's a nice little stretch of woods back there and I stopped to snap a few pictures. They came out pretty well considering that I was using my iPhone.

That's all.

Nothing about training, racing, fighting drinking or anything else. Just enjoying the change of the seasons and wanted to share.

My Training: Aikido Nerves

2009-11-10T10:22:00.006-05:00

I figured it's about time I posted some original content on here again. Tonight I have practice test belt test in aikido and I'm nervous.

I wrote about a page of stuff about all the techniques I'll have to know, how hard I've been training and how the testing process works but I deleted it. In the end it doesn't really matter. Either I'll pass the practice test and take the belt test in 3 weeks or I'll have to wait until cycling season is over and try again. Either way I'll pass the test eventually and really that won't really change anything because it's just rank.

So what does matter?

Tonight is just another is series of tests to see if I can remain calm under attack. With 20 other people watching me can I remain focused on one person attacking me? Can I make mistakes and not lose my composure? Can I even do something as simple as just taking deep breaths throughout my test?

My evaluators aren't my teachers but myself. If I can learn to go calmly through vicious attacks and by extension through the ups and downs of life, if I can get a little closer to achieving an imperturbable mind., then I'll be a little closer to being the person I want to be.

There's lots of things I want out of aikido and lots of reasons why I do it but tonight I just want to be calm.

.Chasing Something.

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis

Jiujitsu As Art

March Training Update

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Canadian Snow Bikes

Copa NoVa White Belt Middleweight

Copa NoVa No-Gi Middleweight Beginner

Preview: My First BJJ Tournament

Winter Trail Running Video

My 1st Degree Brown Belt Test in Aikido

More Writing in 2011

The Lifestyle: My Winter Biking Clothing Guide

Got My Creative Commons License!

The Lifestlye: 2011 Cyclocross Nationals

Odds and Ends: The 2011 Face of .CS.

The Lifestyle: Cyclocross World Cup Kalmthout 2010

2010 Cycling Results

Race Report: Cargas Cat4/5 Crit

Race Report: Tour of Mt. Nebo

Race Report: Fulton Cat4/5 Road Race

Race Report: BikeJam Cat4 Crit

Race Report: Bunny Hop Crit

The Lifestyle: Some Hard Questions

Race Report: Turkey Hill Country Classic Cat4/5 Road Race

The Lifestyle: Only In Europe

News (Loosely Speaking): LDS Fixter Elders

The Lifestyle: Never

News (Loosely Speaking): WTF Sasquatch @ SSCXWC

SOTW: The Wild Hunt - The Tallest Man On Earth

The Word On The Street: Blood, Babes, Nuts and Safety

Race Report: Farmersville Cat4 Road Race

Race Report: Carl Dolan Circuit Race Cat3/4

Race Report: SoYoCo Cat4/5 Circuit Race

Race Report: Michaux Masher

The Lifestlye: Why We Do This

The Lifestyle: I've Done Something Horrible

Odds And Ends: The Cyclist's Cigarette

Blogroll Update!

My Training: March Training Report

Race Report: AFC Sugar Hill XC

The Lifestyle: Cherahola Descent Pics (feat. Dr. K)

Baltimore Ranked 48th Most "Bike Friendly" City

The Lifestyle: Experience vs Possessions

The Lifestyle: Spring Break Day -1

The Lifestyle: KBS Pro Cycling Cribs

SOTW: I Don't Wanna Grow Up - Hayes Carll

The Lifestyle: Slurpee Sunday!

My Training: Sugar Hill XC Course Pics

The Lifestyle: Tony Kornheiser Makes My Hate List

Odds And Ends: Zoom Into Carbon

Odds And Ends: Sprung!

Race Report: RRCA Team 10M Challange

Odds And Ends: Nice Job Google

The Lifestlye: One Of Those days

The Lifestyle: Sugar Hill XC Course Preview

My Training: Skyline Century

Geek Out: New MTB Shoes

The Lifestyle: Alyssa's World

The Lifestyle: Stickin' To My Roots

Odds and Ends: Buzz Is OK

Odds And Ends: My Favorite Tweets

The Lifestyle: So Long Bike Cave!

Hi Spring!

2nd Annual Bryan Fosler Spring Break Facial Hair Contest

My Training: February Training Report

The Lifestyle: The Week In Pictures

The Lifestyle: Barefoot Running

News (Loosely Speaking): Cervelo TestTeam Rockin' Ninja Kits

Photo Blog: Why Am I So Tired At Aikido

Odds And Ends: Conan Has A Big Head Tube

Odds And Ends: Why I Twitter

The Lifestyle: B-Foz Gets Rad In Snow Cross

SOTW: Despite What You've Been Told - Two Gallants

My Training: January Training

SOTW: Jerk It - Thunderheist

Geek Out: Supersonic Divorce Machine

SOTW: Skinny Love - Bon Iver

The Lifestyle: The Weight

SOTW: Holiday - Vampire Weekend