You've heard of the Dark Horse

Well, based on my total lack of training in any form, I am predicting the following at Iceman this year. I am the horse at mile 20.

Why I will not be fast at Iceman...

So, I am known to be a little over dramatic. Maybe exaggerate a little at times.  I've been venting quite a bit lately about all of the work I've been doing around the new house. However, if you stop over, you'd probably think it's all talk since little has been accomplished since we officially moved in, in late July. The new house fits the old onion analogy pretty well. Each time I start a job and peel back a layer, it exposes a new challenge or heatbreak. Let's take window painting for example. I crack open one open, well more like violently pry and suprise! Oh, don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks. It's actually worse. So my little painting job becomes a day of chiseling, measuring, sawing, nailing, sanding and caulking. 8 hours or so later, I am back on track.

So, Iceman is basically 5 weeks out. I had every intention of starting training today. I have not done any consistent training since July. Today I was greeted by blue paint all over the carpet and a broken furnace. Luckily, my dad teaches furnace repair and talked me through getting it going over the phone.

Guess Iceman training starts tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Ronde Van Stony

I had the pleasure of participating in the first and what I hope will be annual Ronde Van Stony race. Put on by my long time friend Mike Franko.
Pre-Race:
Things have been pretty busy for me lately and training in any way, shape or form has been pretty low on the priority list. So, I went into today's race with intention of having fun over everything else. Tom Sterling from the team and I met up at 6:45am at my new place and headed out the race together. Clearly we were on the team schedule because we ended up directly behind team manager, Brian Brown on the way out. To make things a little more interesting, we Trevor Terry, official honorary EMU Alumn and Ironman as soon as we exited it on Rochester road. We arrived at the race at about the same time as many other teammates on PrecisionMTB. Tom Payn, Jim Senska. Paul Mann and John Gonway rounded out the team. Melissa Mabry and Jimmie Colfesh showed up shortly after Tom, Trevor, Brian and I picked up our numbers. It was good to see everyone again. I haven't seen much of my cycling buddies lately so, my spirits were pretty high. High enough I didn't even curse when I dropped my Garmin on the ground and broke the display pinning on my number. I had it safely tucked in my jersey pocket. Clearly not safe enough. The sky was overcast and temperature was supposedly 50 degrees. But, it felt colder to me. We all made our clothing choices and began circling the parking lot to attempt to keep warm. The race was a mass, rolling start so, warming up turned out to be a pretty social and cool looking activity. The entire field was basically circling the parking lot with an occasional group breaking off to ride the finish. The other cool thing was it gave me the opportunity to ride with pretty much everyone on the team.
Race:
As mentioned, the race was mass, rolling start. I lined up with the Experts and tried to warm my already numb fingers by stuffing them under my armpits. Unfortunately, there was not enough time for me to gain feeling in my fingers before we were off. The start was pretty interesting. It felt very easy to me and I was pretty reluctant to put myself anywhere near the front. Mostly due to my concerns with my level of fitness but, also due to the fact the group was yo-yoing at little and I had to lock up the brakes a few times. At the start, Mike announced we'd head out about 1 1/2 miles before the race was one. The funny thing was, I didn't notice any change of pace so, I didn't know the race was on until we made the left into the two track trail. At that point, I figure out the race was on and was not happy with the position my tentativeness had put me in. I went right to work passing as many people as possible. Up off the saddle and mashing the entire time. Everyone I passed on a CX or MTB was seated and I was wondering if they were pondering how quick they would see the numskull burning himself up at the start again. The two track was pretty treacherous. There were ruts from trucks that would sneak up on you if you left the gravel two track. I had a couple of pretty good scares passing people but, avoided most of the wrecks the ruts and loose sand caused. I wasn't sure how much farther we had to go on the trail and could see a good sized group just ahead and decided that was where I needed to be and dropped the hammer to catch up. I was concerned if a group that size hit the dirt road and I was off the back, I'd surely never catch them. Soon after, a guy on a MTB that had either crashed or had mechanical issues attempted to mount his bike on the side of the trail. In doing so, literally road across the trail nearly blocking it. I called out an locked up the brakes and luckily avoided him. Unfortunately, it was only meters from the dirt road and I had really hammered to catch the group. There was a short but, steep incline just as we exited the trail onto the dirt road and I tried to put in a sprint. Unfortunately, there was nothing left in the legs at the moment. And I was all alone. Determined, I kept at it. Trying to convince myself if I kept at it, I'd catch them. However, the relentless, never ending hills had started and the wind wasn't helping. I kept pursuing the group but, they continued to gain. Eventually, I caught someone on a MTB and shouted to him to get on my wheel and I'd pull him along. Mostly because I was was hurting and hoped we could work together. He did take a couple of pulls for me but, mostly just for a short time when he caught me a the crest of a hill. Some where in the middle, I could see a PrecisonMTB jersey that had dropped off the back of the pack that I assumed was Tom. In my head I was thinking that if I did whatever it took to catch him that I'd be in good shape. The race was turning into a road race with drafting being a major factor and I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew I was in a pack of two and doing most of the work, it was hard and not idea. My pack of two fruitlessly continued to attack to catch Tom. Unfortunately, soon after, I noticed that more riders had dropped off the group ahead of Tom and they were forming their own, decent sized attack pack. My pack of two continued to give chase but, Tom's group was gapping us and I was tiring quickly. At that point we must have been 8 or 10 miles. That's when another group of 6 to 8 MTB and CX riders caught my pitiful, faltering pack. A couple of guys went past like I was standing still. I stood up to try and keep up but, I could almost hear the screaming in my legs. I spent the next couple of miles jocking for position with the unorganized group that had past me. Strangely, the hills that were completely zapping my legs were where I was able to make up any distance that group put on me. We rode that way for awhile until the group shrunk to about three CX bike and two MTB's. From there it was pretty much a routine of MTB riders from the Wolverine team and I taking pulls on the front. Occasionally, we'd drop to the rear and demand the other riders take a turn. At some point we picked up another MTB rider from the Wolverine team and lost the other MTB rider in the group. We movd along at a decent pace. But, the hills never ended. At some point, someone in the group made the comment that he couldn't wait until we stopped climbing because the downhill was going to be amazing. Clearly, he was not from area. Because the hills, choppy, bumpy roads never let up. Nor did the wind. Which always seems to be coming directly at you. When we hit the gravel two track towards the end of the race, our group literally fell apart. The Wolverine MTBer and I gapped the whole group almost immediately. I noticed right away the 700X35cm tire on my CX bike were nowhere near a anchored in the gravel as what I would have expected an MTB to be. I called out to the MTBer of go for it and that he didn't need our group any more. He reluctantly surged ahead. He started to gap me as I slowed in the corners after a couple of two wheel drifts gave me more surges of adrenaline and made me decide not to dare crashing anymore. The hills saved me from getting left but, one of the guys on a CX bike from our group passed both MTBer and I on the trail. He was older but, clearly more daring than I. After the loose, steep hill on the trail my legs were toast. I was proud I rode it and the MTBer and person ahead of him walked it. I passed the MTBer I was rider with when he had some mechanical issue but, he came screaming past me soon after. I ended up passing him when he slowed to ride with another Wolverine ride on a CX bike we caught. At that point, I was still rather close to the other rider on a CX bike from our group that had passed us. We exiting the two track I was happy to get on the hard packed roads again. That was until I realized the my tank was basically empty. My legs were finished. I dropped a few gears with hopes that my legs would recover but, the hills were back and made sure that my plan was thwarted. The CX rider from my group steadily pulled away from me. We rode up the road always and made a right turn. At that point the CX rider still looked catchable when a long, fast downhill started. I shifted to my tallest gear and was mesmerized with my speed of 30+ mph. So much so, when I finally looked up enough to see if I had gained any ground, the other rider was completely gone out of sight. I saw "Finish" painted on the ground and Mike standing at the end of the straight away waving me into the turn. I made the right hand turn and struggled through the long grass to the finish. I must have looked like I was out for a leisure ride as I crested the hill to the finish. I was toast. I definitely left it all out there.

Based on the results, looks like I pulled out 1:49 for 35th out of about 135 riders. Not bad for just showing up to participate. My Giant TCX performed flawlessly. To be honest, I am suprise I didn't bend a rim or cause some other form of damage hitting pot holes at 25+ mph.

Results

Garmin Data
The course was great. The weather was a little cold and the wind didn't help. I can't think of a better adjective than "relentless" to describe the hills. Which made for a challenging and rewarding day. However, I am getting a little PO'd I broke my Garmin.

It was also great to see Mike's family and Joel Gaff out on the course. I wasn't able to stay too long after the race and everyone was busy tallying results and breaking the course down so, I didn't get a chance to talk to them too much.

Lee Shaw reminded me that Iceman is only 6 weeks away. I have a ton of work to do if I want to come anywhere near my time last year. Especially, considering I am planning on riding the SS.

Been Busy

Well, more than two months have came and went since I last posted anything on my blog. A ton have things have happened since then with even more life events materializing.

Besides work being busy as all get out, here's the best summary I have time for.

Lumberjack was almost a complete success. Besides the fact my new bike has been out of comission since due to a horrific creak that developed during the race, I crossed the line 10th in the Single Speed class in just under 8 hours. A whole hour faster than I could have ever hoped for. Besides the great finish, the weekend was a real blast, hanging out in Lee's camper with Tom and Bryan

Lumberjack Results

Lumberjack Garmin Data -- Apparently, I didn't have enough finger strength to stop my Garmin at the end of the race. I hit the stop but, I was too happy to be done and too tired to care enough at the finish to ensure it was stopped.

Lumberjack Basecamp

From Been Busy

Post race. Dirty, Tired and Very Happy to be finished.

From Been Busy

So, this is where things got rough and haven't let up since. The next 4 weekends were pack, pack, move & move again. With major help from my mom, dad and a cast of family character, we moved into my grandpa'shouse (now ours) and then the following weekend, moved my grandpa into his new place. Our new house needs a ton of work. Other than a new roof, you name it, it needs it. Best of all, it's got leaks in the basement. Something I was hoping to leave behind at our last house. However, it's got a lot of "potenial." Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

At our old house during the first trip. It was over 80 degrees both of the weekends we moved. I am not sure how the grass looks green in these pictures. It was fried.

From Been Busy

Thank goodness for my dad's 26ft enclosed trailer and 3/4 ton, diesel Chevy. I think we took 6 loads in all over 3 days. Not sure. At some point, I became delirious. Could have been more.

From Been Busy

Picture of the new place. Just looking at how many trees need to get cut down and bushes need to be trimmed makes me wince but, it's a pretty sharp looking place.

From Been Busy

New house is complete with Pink Kitchen and pretty much else.

From Been Busy

Not to mention a Safari Bathroom.

From Been Busy

The next weekend, it was time for the single greatest running weekend ever, the GLR. As the volunteered captain this year and with the major help of the Chad Wines, we cobbled together an EMU & Pickney Pirate Alumni team with the addition of a super fast, recent Michigan State graduate, young lady. Party, Camp, Run & Fun was the theme of the weekend. Matt, Nick, Chad, Paul, Steve, Joey, Ace, Scott, Sarah and I pulled out an impressive performance mixing it up with pretty much all but, the top two teams throughout the weekend and pulled off a 6th place team overall finish. We all may still be recovering from post GLR depression. Can't wait until next year. I have lots of pics but, they are all loaded up in my facebook profile. So, you are out of luck unless you are a facebook addict.

GLR Results

The following weekend brought another EMU tradition, the Tigertown5000. After a late night on the town in Liberty Center, OH, I pulled off a pitiful 12th place finish. Unable to catch the lead woman. Still a great weekend seeing some of my EMU alumni friends. There links to pictures of the race on the Tigertown website. I look better than I felt that day.

I didn't take any pics other than the following this weekend. To give you an idea of how rural Liberty Center is, this is a snapshot I took of pets kept right in the front yard.

From Been Busy

The next weekend, I tried to tackle the first of the end list list of projects at the new house. Sanding a few rusty spots on the garage doors exposed an unbelievable amount of rust hiding just under the surface. The weekend project ran into the week, late nights and even resulted in a dead car battery on one occasion. To date, I think I have over 30 hours into the doors and just one coat of paint on the outside of them. I think I snuck a BTT Epic ride in that weekend. However, it's hard to remember.

A pic to give you an idea of how much rust was uncovered. At this point, I had covered it with Rustoleum Heavy Rust Primer. The inside was much worse. Nice basketball net huh?

From Been Busy

I ended up painting most of the garage in the dark during the week and barely finished for our trip out of town.

From Been Busy

Next up was a week in Montreal with the in-laws, extended family and friends. Topped off with a weekend in Gatineau, hanging out around the pool.  Driving, driving, driving and socializing were the themes of the week but, definitely a great time. Maybe the best trip yet. I really need a vacation from the vacation. I am beat.

This weekend is what will hopefully be a relaxing one at the lake and camping in Lewiston at my grandfather's cottage. Unfortunately, more driving.

The last two months have left me run down and ragged. In fact, I think I am getting sick. Especially, after hill repeats on Hines Dr. with Meliss and Jim last night. I am hoping to emerge from all of this insanity in September. It's been great spending time with my family but, I don't think I can keep up for much longer and simply have too much to do on the new house before winter. So, it has to. Plus, I'd really like to do some riding again. My riding & running has been extremely hit and miss since early June.

One dirty girl

On somewhat of a whim, after what I can only imagine was 6 inches of rain last night and slight drizzle this morning, Tom S., Melissa M., Jimmie C. and I decided to hit IRLA. One blue and one yellow was all we could stand. What much of the trail was in ok shape. All of the usual spots were still holding water and muddy. We did what we could to avoid the bad spots but, still ended up pretty muddy.
 
The new bike road fantastic. Still a little dialing in to do. The wide bars gotta go.

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The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.

My Precious!

After a two week wait in my basement collecting dust while we worked to sell our house, the new MTB is finally built up and ready. Welcome the latest addition to the family. It's a 2010 Specialized Stumpjumper 29er SS. And yes, the reflectors are staying. At least for its debut. Check out that profile. That's one sexy lady.

Inevitable customization has already begun. You may have already spotted that Thomson seat post in the previous picture. Check out the red KMC BMX chain wrapped around the stock 32 tooth chainring on the 180mm Stylo cranks. This was originally intended for the Motobecane's single speed conversion but, wouldn't work with the tensioner I bought. It's a nice addition to the red highlights already present on the bike.

Out back, the stock 20 tooth gear has been dumped for a 17 tooth Surly and mounted up on the stock DT Swiss 240s hub. Making the gearing just under 2:1 and hopefully just right for all that climbing on June 19th at the Lumberjack. The tubes have been pulled and after a failed attempt with the stock tape job, tapped with genuine Stans NoTubes tape, filled with sealant, inflated and are now holding air just fine.

This thing is sex on wheels. She's tipping the scales at 19.4 lbs as she sits. That's basically 4.5lbs lighter than the Motobecane sans gears. More updates are certainly in her future. Likely some Ergon grips and cutting down the extra wide bars.

Many thanks to Jimmie Colflesh for the help putting the finishing touches on it and the team sponsor KLM.

LJ two weeks away

Well, it's basically here. Two weeks away. Just like last year, I haven't done the amount of training that I wanted to put in, in preparation for the race. I also haven't rode a single century. I wanted at least two under my belt by this time. To top it all off, I don't have a working MTB bike and my knee has been acting up more than ever.

So, I'll be scurrying to get my new bike rolling this weekend. Hopefully, riding it a ton too between now and the LJ. I also need to figure out what I'll be eating a drinking throughout the race. Last year's plan of pop tarts and Gu did not work out that well.

Most importantly, I am 90% sure I'll be rolling with one gear at LJ. I am not sure what I am thinking but, I've still got it stuck in my head.