AcuraMatt

Updates...

2010-08-05T20:25:00.002-04:00

I was told I should either delete the blog or update it, your blog sucks, update and I'll tell how to suck less at racing xc. So here we are, a rough 3 months between posts - it's really easy to neglect the blog when you've already missed a month. I've not really been doing any "training", I have been riding my bike sometimes, although not enough to do well.

I started riding/racing my singlespeed, which has been going ok at someplaces (marsh creek) and not so ok at others (fair hill & bear creek). A lot of this "may" be attributed to me going out to hard on the start.

On a non bike but blog related, apparently while not blogging you get a lot of spam comments from people with chinese writing. Also Blogger must have done some sort of update where the preview function actually works. I'll have to try that out.

Up next is the Guy's Racing - Neshaminy on the singlespeed for hopefully a better race than Bear Creek. Good thing I updated the blog so I can get some professional advice from The Experience.

-matt

Pre-race prep?

2010-05-01T15:36:00.000-04:00

What's your pre-race prep? Do you do an "opener" workout the day before a race? What's your warm-up like the day of a race, whether it be an xc race, cx race, road race, or endurance race? What other pre-race rituals do you have, ie: food day before and day off?

This morning I did an opener workout on the rollers - 10 minutes warmup, 1 min max, 1 min rest, 1 min max, 2 min rest, 2 min max, 2min rest, 2 min max, 4 min cool-down. Tomorrow I'm going to try to do a good warmup before the Granogue race, as I didn't ret a good warmup at Greenbrier and felt it instantly on the first climb.

Post a comment with your routines. Thanks!

Tough mudder?

2010-04-28T18:34:00.001-04:00

Last night I did some hill repeats, a chill pace loop, and a race pace loop at Bear Creek. During the chill loop I noticed some of the stuff they have set up for the Tough Mudder competition this weekend.

Somehow they kept some snow around for these guys/gals to run through.

They also put in this pond, which they are supposedly gonna throw a bunch of ice in, that they will have to swim through??

I always forget how fun this place is to ride. The second lap was at race pace, just to see where I'm at compared to last year. My fastest lap in the race was 53 minutes last year, and yesterday I did a 49:47 but I also added about a half mile to the loop. I was pretty happy with how I felt, considering I didn't feel too good at Greenbrier. Though, I really need to work on consistency between laps - as my lap times last year at Bear Creek were 53, 57, 1:06.

See you at Granogue!

159..

2010-04-27T13:52:00.000-04:00

As of 1:40 pm today only 159 of you have registered for Granogue. Go register now! This weekend looks to be some great racing weather, unlike last years mudfest. This course is cool mix of everything cool about mountain biking.

The many groups of people that go into making this race possible are awesome. The vibe at this event is always great with XC and endurance races going on. They also have a huge bike gear raffle benefiting HERA Women's Cancer Foundation. You only get the chance to ride here a few times a year, they have a cyclocross race and mountain bike races there.

See you Sunday!

Last minute race..

2010-04-26T18:24:00.005-04:00

I rode Friday with Yozell and Thorpe, a really chill pace road ride with a stupid climb up Deysher Rd just outside of Fleetwood. I was feeling pretty tired the whole ride.

The weather was looking to be shitty leading up to Greenbrier, so I planned to just chill at home. At the last minute, ie. 10pm on Saturday night, I decided to race the Greenbrier Challenge. VeganRob and Matteo roped me into taking the drive with them - fortunately I got to sit back and relax in the back of the Daniels Landscaping Dakota.

We rolled into the park around 12:15, registered and kitted up for a short pre-ride. We only got about 1/3 of the way through the course and had to head back for the start. I probably should've warmed up on the road and gotten some efforts in to prepare for the start - fail.

The start went off quite fast up the gravel then double track climb - and I was feeling the pace already. I settled in behind the 4th rider up the next climb, but these guys were pulling away from me. I was about a minute down from the leaders on the first lap, and rode the 2nd lap pretty much by myself in sitting in 4th place. On the third lap I wasn't really feeling it, 2 guys got by me and I couldn't stay with them on the climbs.

I finished out DFL - 6th place, 15 minutes off the winning time of Josh West from Bikeman.com. I really feel the climbing of this course is where I lost most of that time. There was 3300 feet of elevation gain in 4 laps.

Intervals?!?!

2010-04-20T22:11:00.006-04:00

Tonight I got outta work a little early from work, and decided to meet up with VeganRob and do some hill repeats, I mean nearly puke induced intervals. We ended up doing 6 - 5 min hill repeats at Lehigh with a few Lungbuster repeats, one up the Witch, and one up Superman.

This workout hurt quite a bit, but I guess its supposed to. It is however, the first bit of structure I've done this season. I was thinking about holding off on doing any intervals and just race on Sundays and suffer. I guess it's probably better to be a "little" prepared.

Helmet-less riding...

2010-04-19T18:24:00.003-04:00

I got all my gear together to do a nice easy recovery ride, only thing I forgot was my helmet. As opposed to skipping the ride I rode helmet-less. No, I'm not trying to be this guy , I just wanted to get out and ride since I had some time outta work and had everything else.

It was kinda nice having the airflow without the helmet, although a little weird feeling at times. I friend of mine hit a pothole at like 40mph several months ago and broke his shoulder and the helmet he was fortunately wearing. So I was a little sketched out without one, but everything was all good.

I guess I just need better planning in the morning when getting gear together. My helmet was in the other car from the weekend trip. Enough babbling about a helmet.

This weekend is the Greenbrier Challenge in Boonsboro, MD near Frederick in Greenbrier State Park. Its a great venue, with a 4 hr enduro starting @ 9:30am and XC distance races starting at 10am through 2pm for the expert/pro race. This race is part of the KendaCup series, which also includes Bear Creek AMBC PA State Championships on Aug.1, Massanutten Hoo Ha in Virginia on June 20, and The Bulldog Rump H2H AMBC Nj State Championships on July 11.

LBD minus 5 hours...

2010-04-18T21:51:00.003-04:00

The 4th annual Leesburg Bakers Dozen 13 hour race was this weekend. I took another shot at this event, having done a duo two years ago with a decent finish, last year a solo bailing at 8 hours and 70 miles.

This year I have been getting some longer rides before the event, and went into it pretty well rested. I thought I had nutrition figured out, I planned on using Infinit Nutrition as my primary fuel, with some gels and solid food here and there.

Looking back I probably should've eaten more solid foods throughout the morning and afternoon. I had a much better start than last year, and ran some pretty consistent lap times for 4 laps before stopping to switch bottles. Maybe pitting every two laps for a little food would've been better. More knowledge for the next longer race I guess.

I hit the wall at around 8 hours, I figured having already done 15 more miles than last year in the same time, I pulled the plug before I started riding stupid. That was on the 11th lap, I had no power and a really low heart rate and just wasn't feeling right.

8 hours is a long time on the bike, congrats to the folks who did the full 13. At least I got a few hours of partying in after my ride. Next up is probably Greenbriar or Granogue - go register NOW for this race, it's one of the best races in the MASS put on by Fatmarc - one of the most positive guys in the sport. Not sure if it'll be XC or enduro - fortunately the enduro at both are only 4 hours.

Public Service Announcement..

2010-03-18T18:17:00.006-04:00

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

When fixing a broken chain make sure you go around this little pin on the chain dangler. Otherwise it'll make a racket - but it'll work till you get out, or so I'm told a few 100 mile races.

Another great night of mountain biking at Sals, although I broke a chain at the most fun downhill just before the Three Bitches climbs. Fortunately I had a quick link with me un-like when I once broke a chain while riding with Bowman and I didn't have one - he give me a spare link (now I'm cursed by him)

Another thing I'd like to point out, POISON IVY. I've forgotten all about this since its been winter, and I attempted to do a little trail maintenance on Tuesday night. We grabbed some broken trees outta the trail that had some poison ivy vines attached, however I don't recall grabbing any of them. Though I must have, since I have some poison ivy on my face and an area I'd like to not have it. LESSON: Don't attempt to move anything NEAR poison ivy, then touch your face, then take a leak.

Hoping to get to the doctor's for a steroid shot to get rid of this poison, and get a few hours on at Lehigh and Sals tomorrow.

UPDATE: Got a prednisone shot, and 40 prednisone pills to take. Hope to be poison free in a few days.

Sabotage..

2010-03-17T12:15:00.004-04:00

I actually got out on some dirt last night! The trails at Salisbury have dried up quite well, the conditions are nearly perfect. Traction is amazing, even though I kinda forget how to ride a mountain bike. I also seem to forget how to dress for this time of year, it always takes a few days of warmer weather to figure it out again.

End result of the ride was a broken Garmin 705 due to trail sabotage. There's a electrical?? wire down near St Lukes coming from Dodson, its been there for a long time - however some asshat strung it up in some trees across the trail. Unfortunately I didn't see it, the wire hooked my Garmin off the stem, turned my light on and threw me over the bars.

Capped off the ride with some food and beers at the Bethlehem Brewworks, which was pretty busy for a Tuesday night. Now some night ridin' on tap for tonight after work.

Slackville...

2010-03-05T22:02:00.006-05:00

While others have been visiting trainerville or actually riding there bikes outside, I've been trying some other off season methods of fitness. I picked up some snow shoes & cross country skis, both of which are a decent work out. I also tried some indoor rock climbing, another good workout that helps the non-cyclist muscles (upper body).

I actually got some saddle time this week: A nice 2 hour night spin up to Hawk Mtn road & some dirt roads for some climbing, a quick solo Vera Cruz lunch ride on Thursday, and 62 miles of some dirt roads and some good climbing in the sun today w/ Jay DeJesus, Craig Lander, and Dave Harms.

Some horse traffic on Keim Road.

Dave and Lander patiently waiting for Jay to check his phone that had been blowing up all day - all the hype of the Ti EWR must have the press talking.

One of Berks County's covered bridges, any ideas where? No prizes, just for fun.

Looks like the weather is gonna be great for the first of the March Training Series this Sunday. I'm going to attempt the Derby and 2 crit Sunday, so we'll see how that plays out.

I may actually update sooner than my last post. We'll see about that too.

Xmas eve riding..

2009-12-25T11:07:00.002-05:00

VeganRob, Matt Miller and I headed for a long road ride from his place in Nazareth towards Raubsville to pick up Jay DeJesus. We paralleled the Delaware on the PA and NJ side for awhile. Only one near abduction incident for Matteo and a van (and a big time bonk), one near crash into a pothole with no hands for me, a bunch of time pulling the group for Robbie, and an uneventful day for Jay.

I nearly bonked at the end of the 4.5 hours rolling back into Nazareth 82 miles later, kind of a fast pace for a winter ride?? Time to start building that endurance for next year, I've got two 4.5 hour rides under my belt so far this winter. I know - child's play for some of you out there.

Oh Swaitek was gonna post, before he found out Jay was coming as he didn't want to make Rob jealous of all the Matt's on the ride.

Merry Christmas!

Winter time..

2009-12-09T12:49:00.002-05:00

Well winter is finally here, we've been really lucky this so far with some really warm days in November and December. This past Sunday a bunch of us rode Jim Thorpe in about 2-3 inches of fresh snow. It was VeganRob's dogs (Dakota) birthday ride, where last year at Salisbury there were about 25 people - this year only 7 of us for the snowy thorpe ride.

I made it out twice on lunch this week, with Monday's ride being a bit of failure on gear choice. I probably could've used some ear coverage and some shoe covers. It was in the high 30's, so my feet, and ears were quite cold - gotta remember all the gear choices for the different conditions.

Belgium Night at FSX is fast approaching, along with a 40th birthday party for the Flahute of Flanders. It seems a lot of people are already sick for Friday, it's gonna be one of those nights.

Home sweet home..

2009-11-30T17:38:00.003-05:00

This year's edition of Thanksgiving Leftover Afternoon FSX took place yesterday. And unlike the previous events of this season, FSX returned home to it's truely cool location. Unlike the "new formerly coolest cross race ever" location, this course as those who've raced the old course will tell you is more of a mountain bike'ish course.

The family vibe continued this year with the kid's race starting out the day, followed by the standard 20 min + 1 lap, race for people who don't race, team race, goat field miss & out, and an individual time trial.

It was a fun-filled day of racing in unseasonably mild November temps, with a bunch of socialzing thrown in. It was great to see everyone out there, old and new fsx'rs. Thanks to the Strickland's for opening their doors to us yet again! Now its back to the new venue for the remainder of the season.

Next up Irish Night, Belgium Night and Merry Crossmas, oh and 24 hours of FSX is supposed to be a go. See ya all there.

Double crossed...

2009-10-21T22:42:00.005-04:00

Saturday:

First up for the double UCI cyclocross weekend was Granogue. The DCCoD have an in with the Dupont's, and put on one hell of a cool race on their grounds just outside of Wilmington, DE. I raced the "B" race at noon, with a huge field of 120 or so racers. We were called up in order of registration, putting me around the 7th or 8th row. It was like one big slip and slide, but I rode a smooth race with only one crash. There were 2 runup sections which is where I seem to lose the most time.

Apparently they shortened up our race, removing a section that included some barriers. I don't think anyone was sorry about that. I finished up 48th out at 120'ish, I felt ok with that considering the conditions and my weak running.

After my race, I got to pit for Yozell and that was a pretty interesting view of a race. With a much mud there, he was pitting every 1/2 lap. He was running 3 bikes, so that helped keep things running smoothly. Bill Elliston helped get me started, and there was a few guys Mike knew that were helping as well. Mike finished 2nd place, amond a pack of very talented pack of racers.

Sunday:

Day 2 of the weekend, Wissahickon. This race isn't actually held at Wissahickon in Philly, but just outside Pottstown in Ludwigs Corner at a horse show area. The conditions were looking better than yesterday, as least I thought so. It was windier than Saturday, with minimal rain yet still pretty muddy.

I got a better starting position, around 4th or 5th row but on the outside in the gravel. I probably should've tried getting more towards the middle of the road. There was a crash right behind me that took down quite a few riders, and apparently one guy got trampled a bit - with a few broken ribs and a collarbone.

There were probably another almost 120 guys in this race, I finished 42nd. Its crazy how many people show up to these races, both to race and spectate. The vibe at a cross race is COMPLETELY different than a mtn bike race.

I'm not sure why I'm lifting the bike so high over the barriers, and I really need to work on technique for run-ups and barriers. Watching Yozell fly over the barriers is crazy. He has it timed perfectly, I feel like I have to jump over them - whereas he just strides over them.

Epic conditions...

2009-10-16T13:25:00.005-04:00

Last night was the 2nd FSX of the year. It was true cross conditions - 30's and rainy, with a very large turn-out for Sausage Night. It was decided in order to prevent hypothermia between the races, we would only do one 33 minute plus a lap race format.

The shortcut involved downing 1/2 a raw hot dog before leaving on the shortcut loop. I took the shortcut loop every lap, remaining in the top 5 or 6 the whole race. I was riding behind flask most of the race, but lost contact after a slip & slide after the fence area near the barriers. I kept trying to get back onto the group but was about 10-15 seconds back for the remainder.

Thanks to SMC and Robi for sponsoring this night, and the after party at Robi & Susan's house. What a sausage fest it was back at their house, with hot dogs, white sausages, potatoes and lots of beer.

Looks like more epic cross conditions to follow for the weekend. I just finished getting all the grass/mud off my bike only to do it all over again on Saturday @ Granogue, and Wissahickon on Sunday. This will probably be my first and only double race weekend for the year, as I'm still on vacation. See you all out there in the mud!

-matt

Two in a row...

2009-09-27T23:46:00.003-04:00

Today's weather proved to be challenging, looking for a break in the rain to get out for a few hours. The radar showed nothing and the hourly forecast looked good from 11 - 4, however it was raining most of the time.

I had to make a parts run to SMC for a preload cap for some XT cranks for my Niner One9 singlespeed project. I also had to return a headset removal tool that I borrowed to strip the Jet9 for the recall process. I kitted up with knee warmers, a hat, and a vest which I quickly removed even though it was still raining.

I felt surprisingly fresh on the bike, after yesterday's cross race. It seems that wouldn't last all that long. I got to SMC with about 10 minutes before closing, enjoyed a quick latte and an Emmaus Bakery donut, (very tasty). I grabbed my part and headed to Yozell's to pick up a tool to fix the lousy water bottle cage bolts on my Cannondale 29'er.

A quick bottle refill and I was off, starting to feel the previous days effort and the almost 30 miles of riding. It was a mostly uneventful ride home with what seemed like every road went uphill. There was an interesting thing that happened, I was riding up the road and there was a kid maybe 12 or 13 years old walking a fairly large black lab. I didn't feel like being chased, and wasn't sure if I should announce myself and be chased or just try to sneak by safely undetected. I chose the latter option, so I shifted into the big ring before approaching the dog & kid. As I passed them the dog tried to chase and must have had the leash wrapped around the kid, and down he went on the slippery road. I probably looked funny, but sucked for the kid (and I did feel kinda bad) but I'm sure it was the smarter choice for me having not to be chased on a slick wet road.

I hit up some dirt/gravel roads on the way home, and some slick climbs so steep I almost couldn't keep traction. I definitely was pretty cooked by this point, so it was kinda hard to recover from. Well this concludes my weekend off from work, and it was really nice having two days off in a row. Back to work tomorrow, and I hope to be able to figure out my schedule in order to ride FSX, we shall see.

'night.

Cross...

2009-09-26T20:58:00.004-04:00

Mandatory monthly update prompted by VeganRob and Bill Strickland. Rob's ready to stop visiting, and Bill only uses me for my links :)

First cross race of my season was today - Whirlybird Cross at ByrnAthyn college near Philly. The weather couldn't be more perfect, 60's partly cloudy with a breeze. I rolled up to the event around 9:30 to get prepared for the 11am "B" race.

I got to cheer on some peeps in the C race, while warming up trying to figure out tire pressures for my recently acquired tubular wheelset. I settled on somewhere around 30'ish on my floor pump gauge, this would prove to be a little high in the front and low in the rear. I kept feeling like the rear tire was flat and rolling a bit too much.

I got to the start line with about 10 minutes to spare, hooked up with Matt Allyn and Ryan of Flanders and Jamie Harris. We were admiring the FU pit bike that Ryan was racing while waiting for call ups. Ryan and Kremer got a callup, leaving the rest of us to fight it out for some prime start line real estate.

Matt Allyn, PropaneJamie, Gunnar, and I all had some pretty good position near the front. I commented on Gunnar getting ready to trackstand until the whistle and crashing the field, well he didn't crash the field by somebody did - Plunkett unfortunately got slowed up in this crash. Apparently someone broke their ankle at the start, and someone else broke their femur on the C race.

I had a decent start probably top 20ish, though losing some places quickly. I chased Matt Allyn most of the race catching up to him in the corners, and getting dropped on the flats - man that dude has some power. I also tried staying with PropaneJamie when he passed me, no such luck there either. Matt had about a 20-30 second gap, which I tried very hard to close put couldn't get anywhere, until he rolled a tubie and grabbed a pit wheel. We rode the last half lap together and he crashed in the gravel, lost his chain and I passed him.

I finished 31st of 60 or so riders, with Matt right behind me - though he was riding REALLY strong and would've probably placed top 20 with no mechanical issues. It was a very fun race, great course, great people and perfect conditions. I stayed to cheer/heckle all my friends, Erica took the W in the elite womens race, X2 killed it in her first elite cross race!

Yozell won the elite mens race (damn that family is fast) Stephan got 2nd just ahead of Bahnson. The elite races were a lot of fun to watch, how fast and smooth these guys are. They seem to gain speed when it comes to the barriers.

I should have some pics to share from Anthony @ Cyclingcaptured.com soon. I hope to get some more cross racin' next weekend at the Hillbilly Hustle.

Bear Creek and running...

2009-08-27T00:22:00.002-04:00

Running?? Monday night after work I got this crazy thought to take Jane (our Shepherd / Rottweiler mix) for a run around the development. One lap is .5 mile, I did 2 with her with the second won a little slower as she was lagging behind. I dropped her off back at the house and went out for another 2 laps, 1 lap all running and another run / walk lap. Roughly 20 minutes of running - and I'm pretty sore.

Tuesday night I met up with VeganRob for some laps of the race course at Bear Creek. Trail conditions were great, with only a little mud on the trails. There were a few other riders out there which was good to see, also a group of trail runners were out there. We did two laps before running outta light, the xc race is 3 laps - so my upcoming plans are to try to bust out 3-4 laps at least a few times before the race.

Tonight, another run on tap. Jane came along again, and was able to hang for 3 laps this time. I'm trying to not only build my running endurance, but hers too. Another 2 miles and 20 minutes. I feel like 10 minute miles are pretty slow - and I'm still sore! I may try a parkway or trail run soon too, just to see what the difference is between trail / street.

I don't really see myself getting too wrapped up in running, but I figured it was a good way to get a quick workout in. Also, with cross season coming up around the corner, I would like to be more prepared this year than last. I hope to start hitting some intervals / hills in the next few weeks. I think there's a race only 3 or so weeks away.

Time for some sleep, 'night!

-matt

It's been awhile..

2009-08-23T20:42:00.002-04:00

Well not a lot's gone on since my last update, since I'm a slacker and don't update. I haven't been really training too much, just riding. I was sick for about a solid month, killing my thoughts of 2,5,10 and the Wilderness 101.

I raced French Creek last Sunday, had a great first lap, a not so great 2nd lap, but finished 3rd outta 5 or 6 guys. I really need to step up some training for a good result at Bear Creek, the last race in the MASS. I may try to hit up another H2H race or 2 after Bear Creek, then it's cross time. I really think I will enjoy the cooler temps in the cross season, the damn heat and humidity is killing me during xc efforts.

Friday, I did a road ride from my house out to Kutztown for coffee and a cookie. I planned on going for 3 or 4 hours, though my plan was cut short by some crazy storms. This was the worst rain I've been out in, including some torrential downpours I've ridden through on the motorcycle a few years ago. The difference is on the motorcycle you have a bit more protective gear on, and on the road bike the rain hurts like crazy.

After SMC happy hour a bunch of us went to Grumpy's BBQ in Whitehall. They have some damn good food, and they had Dogfish Head Ale 60 minute on tap. They also had a blues/rock band playing that really kicked ass. If you have a chance check these guys out - Eddie Bluestone.

Sunday - no racing! Just hit up Lehigh with Mike Melnick for a few hours. I gave him the whole tour, we hit mostly every trail and some forwards and backwards. It was a pretty killer loop, about 19 miles with quite a bit of climbing. Conditions were perfect, after the previous rain fall we had on Friday and Saturday night.

Back to work tomorrow- and thankfully Cash For Clunkers is OVER! It brought in quite a few customers, but most of them were very VERY frugal and its a ton of bullshit paperwork. Now let's see if the government actually pays us, the dealership has about $800k outstanding from the program.

I'm all updated out, maybe I'll post back quicker than my last 2 month old post. Not that any of this is really interesting. Later

-matt

Visit PA MTB Festival...

2009-06-28T21:39:00.005-04:00

This weekend was the Visit PA MTB festival weekend. Since I had some time off earlier in the month for a family visit, I was unable to get some extra time off to suffer the 9 hr endurance race with my friends.

I did however get to spend some time at the farm on Friday night for the Night Time Trial. This event is really cool, with the Visit PA team riders starting at 9pm and everyone else going out at 1 minute intervals. I had a chance to pre-ride the course with VeganRob, DanK, Pete, Scott Alden while it was still light (or almost). We finished up at just before 9pm, without lights and it was pretty dark in some of the sections. Our pre-ride data showed 6.37 miles and a kinda easy pace of 48 minutes.

Since I had determined late I was gonna race, I had the 2nd to last start time of 10:38pm. I had heard some times of the fast guys A-ron of 34'ish minutes. I felt really good out on the course, passing about 7 or 8 people that started before me. I finished in 38:23 - 6th place in the solo field, I'm happy with my ride there.

I returned back to the farm on Saturday night to do some partying with everyone, who suffered out there all day. They had great weather for the endurance race, though not as great as the weather in my comfortable office with fast internet :)

Sunday's events were some slow downhill race, kid's race, bike toss, and short track xc. Seems a lot of people didn't stay around for the Sunday festivities. Because of the attendence, Kuhn did just 3 STXC races, with no A, B categories. We started at 12:30 for our 30 minutes on the course. The leaders did 13 laps, and I did 12 laps - ending up in 12th place. The speeds were really fast, 7.5 miles in 30:22.

After cleaning up and sticking around for some raffle drawings- I won a Feedback Sport Alpine digital scale. I hope to get out to either the Lewis Morris Challenge (where I won in Sport last year) or Long Pine Classic (michaux state forest). It might also be time to start getting ready for the W101?? I've been considering this race this year for a few weeks, we'll see how that works out. The 2-5-10 century is coming up and I'm gonna try to get that Monday off of work to do it.

Time for some sleep. Later

-matt

Vacation rides...

2009-06-14T21:32:00.004-04:00

______________________ Friday ______________________

Friday I hit up the Rodale lunch ride - which ended up doing Sauerkraut long. After a small altercation between Bill and some angry construction worker shouting for us to single up, X2 and I split off and went of for some more miles. We took a right turn up towards tower road (ouch!) We ended up with 33 miles for the day and just over 2 hours.

Then there was some happy hour fun, followed by a 100 lap Madison at the VPCC aka velodrome. I had my family in town from SC, and they had never seen track cycling, what better race for them to attend. I chilled out with my family till around 1am. I had to crash to get up early for a Saturday morning mtn ride.

______________________ Saturday ______________________

Yozell, Boman and I met up for a Salsbury ride from Emmaus. It was nice to actually warm up before a ride. However, I wasn't really fellin' it. I was really warm, high HR and legs feeling really heavy. The trails were a combination of completely ridable and super slick. We did a 30 mph paceline back on Emmaus Ave, which also had my HR cranked. 20 miles just under 2 hours.

______________________ Sunday ______________________

Six of us headed out from Emmaus to hit the Pagoda ride. The were a few scheduled stops along the way, Oley grocery store on the way out & Oley Diner/Creamery/Petting Zoo. This is my longest road ride of the year, and 3rd day in a row on the bike - vacation is nice! 75 miles 4.5 hours and quite a few feet of climbing. We had a quick apple fritter and coke stop at the Oley shopping center followed by some climbing. After we hit the Pagoda (one hell of a view) and some really sweet decents we stopped at the Oley Creamery for some ice cream and a little zoo tour.

A great day on the bike with some lunch at Armetta's and some dinner at the Strickland's. This has probably been my biggest (8.5 hrs) few days on the bike and I feel great! A few more days of vacation before reality begins again.

Next racing stop - Neshaminy. See ya there.

-matt

Iron Hill Enduro...

2009-06-01T23:31:00.002-04:00

I had originally planned on doing the Expert XC race at Iron Hill in Newark, DE. However, with a 2pm start time I thought it would be a better idea to do the 4hr enduro race. Weather leading up to the day was looking great, so I mounted up a new Stan's Raven (which is almost a slick with some side knobs).

As it turns out - maybe not the best choice as the only bit of rain on the east coast happened to be in Newark for about 2 hours before our race. This really caused some sloppy conditions, thankfully not nearly as bad as Granogue. The big benefit of this type of tire, is that it doesn't hold mud, but every little slimy rise was difficult.

I started the race 3 minutes late after going back to the car to remove a base layer, since the rain stopped and while riding around I figured I be hot. I had to move my way through many of the beginner racers, and caught up to Fernando about 2/3 through the first lap and we rode together for a bit. I caught up to Pete on the 2nd lap feeling pretty good I passed him up one of the climbs. I knew it wouldn't stick, because I always start too fast, and fade as time goes on. I stayed away for about a lap and half then Pete caught up to me and we rode together for the next 2 laps or so, going back and forth.

On the 5th or 6th lap I started to cramp up a bit, so I tried to just take it easy and spin a little easier. They subsided pretty quickly. Pete made a pass on one of the shorter steep climbs and got around some of the Sport traffic, I couldn't keep up with the pace so I backed off just a bit. I thought he was gone for the day, but apparently he crashed and cramped up finishing on his 6th lap.

I rolled through the clocks with about 19 minutes left, so I went out for my 7th lap. No more cramps and felt pretty good. The last two laps were about 2 - 3 minutes slower.

4:19 total race time, 35 miles and 7th place out of 28. After the race Pete, Chuck and I headed over to Iron Hill Brewery for some food and beer. That was good call, but I was definitely pretty tired by this point. Pics to follow soon.

Next up maybe the Highbridge XC race in NYC.

-matt

Slingin' mud...

2009-05-04T20:48:00.005-04:00

A bunch of crazy soles showed up in Montchanin, DE for the Escape from Granogue MASS race. I can say I definitely wanted to escape, as the course conditions were less than ideal.

I showed up around 9:30am, with ample time to pick up my race number and timing chip (this idea I really like). I talked with a few friends while waiting for the 11am race start. I chose to sit in the car instead of a warm up, as I figured I would get warmed up on the first lap.

We showed up to the staging area with about a dozen guys in my class. I don't know any of these guys, therefore I don't really know who to pace with. Marc set us off for our 3 laps of mud, with a firm warning of the wet bridges and roots. The start went up the road pretty chill paced, and I was sitting mid to back of the pack into the turn, then moving quickly to 2nd or 3rd up the muddy climb to the tower. Around the tower and down the first descent I moved around to lead for a bit, probably almost 1/3 of the first lap.

I'm looking forward to a race where you actually ride your bike, rather than taking it for a hike around the muddy woods. Though it doesn't look good for this week weather wise for this week. Unfortunately I have to work on Saturday for French Creek, or maybe fortunately cause it's probably gonna be a repeat of Sunday.

-matt

Greenbrier...

2009-04-29T12:39:00.004-04:00

This past Sunday was the Greenbrier XC race in Boonsboro, MD. This race is a national qualifier race, not that I was intending on going or qualifying for that matter. The temps were in the high 80's - low 90's at our 2:00 pm start, with 4 laps on the just over 5 mile course. I've come to actually know this course after racing there 3 years in a row - just about the time it takes me to remember a course.

There were about 13 guys in the Expert 35-39 field, and clearly 12 faster than me. I talked with Josh West from the Bikeman.com team a little bit before the start. Checking some stats from last year, he did some really fast lap times but DNF'd last year - not sure why. But I knew he was one to chase. I tried to keep him in site, with a decent climb off the start I felt OK around mid pack. But that changed quickly as the next climb I saw the pack pulling away up the climd, and I couldn't hang on that pace for the climbs.

I never really got into a groove in this race, I think the heat was really getting to me. I came through on my first lap at 30 minutes flat - about 3-4 minutes faster than my previous years lap. However, on the 2nd lap the climbs were making me suffer even more and I really slowed down - 36 min lap time. At that point the heat was really getting to me and I was really nauseas, so I DNF'd myself and jumped in the lake to cool down. Yup, that's right I quit! Kinda like I did at Leesburg Bakers Dozen.

______________________________________________________________

Moving on to a less sucky subject, I rode my bike twice yesterday. I got a quick hour climbing workout in at Hawk Mtn (to help with the first part of my post) and I did a fast paced ride at Salisbury with Vegan Rob. I think I broke my previous times by a few minutes, probably has something to do with having Rob following me around. But I actually felt good on the bike for the first time in a few weeks, so thats a good sign.

I'm thinking maybe I was just still a little tired from Leesburg, possibly under hydrated (causing the cramping at Leesburg) and heat issues at Greenbrier. Or it could be I just plain old suck, we'll see how things go this weekend at Granogue. GO REGISTER !! here.

-matt

Leesburg Bakers Dozen..

2009-04-21T18:42:00.002-04:00

Friday a bunch of us headed down to Leesburg, VA for the third annual Bakers Dozen 13 hr mountain bike race. The vibe at this race is very cool, and was a great time last year. This year I did this race solo instead of the 2 person team I did last year.

My plan was to ride roughly 40 min laps and go steady all day. Well all plans change, at the start a few guys got a little too excited and were sprinting off the start like an XC race. Unfortunately they crashed into each other, then crashing into me - twisting my stem/bars and seat. I had to run over to my pit area and straighten everything out. Now I was out on my first lap behind the train of people, most of them walking the rock up. Just about now I noticed my knee is cut up and hurtin' and there was a golf ball like knot in my calf - from the crash at the start.

I pulled in on my first lap and went right back out for another lap, probably putting down a little quicker time than I should have. That wasn't really in keeping with my plan of steady. The next lap I switched over to my Jet9 full suspension, as I was already noticing some lower back issues from either effort or the rutted access road between the two loops. This was a great decision as I could immediately feel a difference, until my fork started giving me some issues. It was bottomed out on travel, so I locked it for the remainder of that lap.

Next lap I jumped on the Cannondale 29'er, and asked Josh from Saucon Valley Bikes if he could switch out the fork from my SS bike I brought for Dan K. as a back up. He worked on it, getting everything switched over, so when I came back through I switched back. Great work Josh!

So the day started with the crash, some fork mechanical issue, and then I started to cramp. My legs were cramping, and stomach was starting to feel kinda knotted. I was taking some time off the bike between laps trying to get the cramps to subside. The cramps kept on coming, so I decided to just chill for a bit and see how things would go after some more time. Dan K, Pete, and I went out for another lap - I think number 10 for Dan and I, and like 12 for Pete. At the end of the lap I was done - I figured I got 71 miles in, not quite what I wanted. But no biggie, since I got to hang with some good friends and ride my bike for quite a few hours.

Now my legs are still a bit sore, probably from the cramps I guess. I had some off site training for work today, and was able to get out for a nice hour spin after the training. It was an amazing day, until right around now (7ish) when its starting to get a bit ugly out.

We'll see what's next on the schedule, probably Michaux or Granogue. See ya soon!

-matt

Baker's Dozen...

2009-04-16T14:35:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow a bunch of us are heading down to Leesburg, VA for the Baker's Dozen - a 13 hour lap race. I unfortunately have to work today (It's damn nice out) and still haven't ridden all week. Good thing I'll be good and rested to take Pete's $5.

The weather is looking perfect for the weekend. Fit Chick, Mr. Fit Chick, Pete, DanK, Straus, Bowman, VeganRob, Liz, and Josh are making the trip from the local area. What a crew, it's gonna be a fun weekend!

Race report to follow.

-matt

Roller suffering...

2009-04-07T23:22:00.004-04:00

I picked up a training program from LW Coaching. She has pre-built plans for various disciplines of racing, ranging from beginner/sport/expert xc plans to 100 mile prep plans. I picked the expert build/peak/race plan - which is a 12 week plan. Tonight was my first interval workout on the program, and it was definitely a tough workout. Here's a screenshot from WKO+ with a gridline at my FTP 277 watts.

The workout was max effort 3 x 3 min on 3 min off, 3 x 2 min on 2 min off, 3 x 1 min on 2 min off. With the warm up, intervals, and cool down this was my longest roller session. After the workout I did some work with The Stick, and used the foam roller on my IT band, quads and hamstrings. Feeling pretty good now - but certainly tired.

_________________________________________

I've been looking for a light, fast, decent cornering tire for the 29'er. I found a Bontrager XR 29x2.25 that weighed only 560 grams, mounted right up tubeless on the Stan's 355. It seems to have sealed up with minimal work. Hopefully it hooks up well, looks like a decent cornering tire.

-matt

ouch!!

2009-04-07T10:55:00.002-04:00

Sunday was my first expert xc race, and first xc race of '09. This is a whole new level of hurt from last year. The race was the AFC Sugar Hill Patapsco XC race, to raise money for Extreme Weekend Children's Diabetes Camp and Kupenda For the Children. These guys run a non-profit organization to raise awareness for Diabetes, to show those diagnosed with Diabetes and their families how leading a healthy and active lifestyle can move you beyond your perceived limits, and to raise funds for Diabetes research. Several of these guys have comeplete RAAM (Race Across America). I think they even did it on fixed gear bikes one year.

The race was held at Patapsco Valley State Park in Elkridge, MD. Its about 2.5 hours from the Lehigh Valley area. They have many miles of multi-use trails, mostly fast and flowing with one longer climb and few short steep climbs. The course was well laid out, marked well, and well supported.

There were only 14 people in my class, of which 1 or 2 were pro's. Chris Beck (Gary Fisher) started the race at a pretty fast pace - sprinting the first climb. I guess he went out and kept the lead the whole race. He ended up winning with a time 9 minutes faster than 2nd place - he finished in 1:26. I finished in 7th place at 1:45, 19 minutes behind Beck, I'll take that for my first expert race.

I know some things I really need to work on, climbing, pacing, and that extra lap is very challenging. Time to up the training a bit and stop just riding around with no goals. I've always heard of that time called "junk miles" not sure I agree with the term, but understand the concept now.

Next up Baker's Dozen, 13 hours solo - this will be my longest race so far. I did this race last year as duo team with Mike Carter, and we placed 7th which I felt was pretty respectable. I'm hoping for a top 10 finish, but this should really test my pacing abilities (or lack of abilities) as last year I could go out hard and bust out faster lap times as I had some recovery opportunities. Regardless of placing this is gonna be a lot of fun! Lots of people from the area are making the trip to VA for this race.

-matt

French Creek group ride...

2009-03-22T17:50:00.003-04:00

This morning I headed over to French Creek to meet up with BP, Kim, Dan K, Scott Alden, and a guy I never met Bob (fast rider from Beans). I was warned this wouldn't be a race, although Bob set a pretty quick pace. I was doing my best not to push the pace, and keep my effort in check.

This place it fun, with some nice quick singletrack with some rocks thrown in. I don't really know the loops over there, so I recorded the ride for future rides. We did a loop from the new Shed Rd parking area, and it was just about an hour and half back to the car where BP and Kim headed home. The other Bob and I headed out to the White/Red loop, Dan and Scott were gonna do the same. They decided to hang back a bit, thinking our pace would be a little quicker than they wanted.

They were somewhat right, until I got a rear flat down a rocky decent. So I took quite a while to change the flat - I really need to get quicker at these trail side repairs. By this time I was kinda slowing up a bit, and Bob seemed to still have a ton of energy. That changed really quick, as he kinda hit the wall and I hit a second wind. We climbed back outta the woods to the car, I was getting changed and saw a buddy Jose from the Bikesport team. We caught up for a few minutes checking out what everyone is up to, his wife is having a baby really soon - so he's trying to get as much riding as possible right now.

As much as I kept my effort in check, I'm still pretty damn tired. I crashed for about an hour and a half, now we're gonna grab some Chinese food.

I closed out the week with just under 10 hours of riding, with some of that being actual structure - kind of. I gotta start ramping up the actual workouts rather than just riding, if I want to be competitive in the expert class. The first XC race is gonna be a real eye opener!

-matt

First day of spring ride...

2009-03-22T17:30:00.003-04:00

Friday was the first official day of spring, yet there were flurries when I started my ride. My plan was to hit up Sals then ride over to Lehigh for a loop. I started at Dodson and busted out my fastest lap at Sals (unintentionally though). I didn't want to kill it so early in the ride as I was gonna be out for awhile.

Down through Lehigh campus area was interesting, as all the kids are running around and driving their parents expensive cars. I haven't seen so many BMWs, Mercedes Benz, Lexus cars in one area - mostly outta state tags.

I pretty much a full loop at Lehigh, and only stopped for a quick pic at the Witch trail. This is a pretty rocky section which I still have only cleaned a handful of times. I was pretty tired by this time so I only tried it twice, that's the last thing I need is to get jacked up in a pile of rocks 2 hours into my ride.

Finished up the loop with just over 3 hours, 23 miles and 4000 ft of climb. A pretty solid effort, so I enjoyed some food/beer at SMC. Everyone was getting back from Laroo's birthday booze cruise.

Bowman and TJ were heading out to South Mountain Emmaus for a loop, which I decided to join them on. I know its not the same doing all three places back to back while riding between them. Another just under 8 miles and 1500 ft of climb, made for a big day.

-matt

Spring has sprung? and climbing...

2009-03-17T22:32:00.003-04:00

It was sooo nice out today, that when I raced outta work at 5pm, I headed over to Lehigh for some climbing. My plan was to do repeats of Deer Path and the Jeep road and back down. I was gonna try to do 4 repeats, however there were other plans by Vegan Rob & Dakota.

Rides with Rob will come to an end soon, as he is starting to ramp up his intensity (which means normal humans can't keep up). Fortunately he was riding a 43 lb. Cannondale Perp which helps me keep up a little bit.

I thought I would get a little warm up ride in, nah - just start climbing up to the water tower over to the jeep road. Oh great I get to ride down Snake on my 29'er hardtale playing chase to Rob on a DH bike. I guess it wouldn't matter if he was on his 29'er, it would've probably played out exactly the same.

We hit 3 good climbs, while I was trying to keep my heart rate right around my LT hr. First climb was about 10 minutes, second 16 minutes, and the third big climb 23 minutes. The total ride was only 11 miles but with 2200 feet of climbing. I'm really trying to train my weaknesses. But the cool thing about this loop, was that along with the challenging climbs, there were some cool rippin' downhills and a few technical sections mixed in.

Time for some sleep, yes I'm actually gonna go to bed tonight as opposed to falling asleep on the couch. Waking up at 3:30am on the couch with the TV on really sucks, especially when ya can't fall back to sleep.

'night

-matt

Mash...

2009-03-16T19:52:00.005-04:00

Not this Mash... But the Michaux Mash 4 hour lap enduro race, at Michaux State Forest near Shippensburg was held yesterday. This race was put on by Zach Adams aka. Fast Forward Racing Productions.

For those that haven't ridden this area - you are definitely missing out. I entered the Masters 35+ category, with my only goals being - complete 4 laps, be consistent on my lap times, and not bonk. I would say I pretty much completed my goals, I guess the times could've been better :)

The loop was approx. 9 miles of some fire roads, really sweet singletrack, a killer downhill, and a b*tch of a doubletrack climb - total elevation gain of about 1200 ft. per lap. The race brought some Pro's to the area - Trek team members Chris Eatough and Chris Beck locked up 1st and 2nd in the Men's open, both completing 5 laps in just over 4 hours!

I completed my 4 laps in 4:51 - securing a 16th place finish of 41 racers in the masters category. I wasted about 8 minutes of my 4th lap with a flat that unfortunately wouldn't seal with Stan's. There was a cut in the tread on a brand new Crossmark, which I hopefully can salvage. After the race they had some good food and beer (oh they gave a pint glass too).

Guess it's time to really start working on climbing, as there were quite a few people I had no problems walking away from on the flats and downhill, that proceeded to climb right past me on the long climb. But, this was some good training for Leesburg Baker's Dozen in April - with trying to pace myself and eat / drink more frequently on longer rides.

They should have some pics from the race up soon, that I'll post a link to.

-matt

Daylight savings!

2009-03-10T21:55:00.003-04:00

This was my first DST ride. I got outta work at 5pm, and shot over to Gold's Gym for a quick back/biceps workout. My ride plans were to be on the bike by 6:45 while it was still light, I was out the door at 7:03pm - still light!

I was gonna just hit up the Schuylkill River trail, but as I was riding by the Hamburg watershed I decided to head up to the Pinnacle. I hit up some of the double track stuff that Jay DeJesus showed me on the New Year's Day ride, down into Eckville. Then I hit up the road for about 35 minutes back home.

It was a good ride, with some climbing, some dirt and some road. I need to get some more time on the bike, other than on Friday and Sunday. I gotta get back to at least 4-5 days on the bike, and in keeping with that plan I'm gonna try to hit sack soon and get up early tomorrow and hit the rollers for some high cadence drills. 'night all

-matt

Cooked by Crits...

2009-03-08T16:22:00.003-04:00

I tried to make it out the Derby, but thankfully I was running late with a rear flat. Apparently there were two crashes and a pretty good pace. So I decided instead to head to SMC grab a couple of tubes, fix my flat and head over to the March Training Crits.

I got there early enough to get registered, and like a total noob I put my number on wrong. Not just once, not twice, but three times. So after screwing around with number pinning, I caught up with Flask, Swiatek, Kuklis, and Bobby. They had all done the Derby and were doing the B race, since I didn't do the Derby, I chose to register for the B and A races. Later I would find this to be a mistake.

The first race started pretty hard, and seemed to accordion back and forth a ton. This was my first crit after upgrading outta Cat5. Quite a difference, but there still was a crash on the 3rd lap - looked like about 4 people were involved. Apparently there were two crashes in the Derby as well, must be everyone just excited about some decent weather? I got lapped (a few times) because I only completed 22 of the 25 laps.

I rolled around and cooled down a bit and contemplated whether I was doing the A race. Since I already paid for it, I figured I would go out there for a bit and see how long I could kinda hang. The start was a little more tame, with much more a pack of riders rolling together. I only made it 16 of the 35 laps, when I decided to just bag it for the day.

That is some serious intensity for early March. Not sure if I should just keep riding or throw some intervals in, to handle the pace requirements of this kinda racing.

Food and sleep should make it all better! Oh and don't forget about this Friday the 13th and the roller races.

-matt

Overcooked!

2009-03-06T21:15:00.002-05:00

The weather forecast was looking great for the Camp Hilbert enduro near Richmond, VA. Unfortunately they got 5-7" of snow still on the trail, and with the concern for a bunch of racers on a muddy course - the promoter postponed the race until early April. Bummer!

Today I met up with a bunch of people in Emmaus for our long ride Friday. The plan was for 3-4 hours out to Lake Ontelaunee. As usual I was a few minutes late and was told by Bill "that bike is not nice enough for this ride" Apparently the Bicycling magazine editors are testing a bunch of new bikes - some pretty pimpy stuff compared to my Cadd9.

So after being late I had to run into the shop for a gel and Clif Bar, gathered up Laroo to play chase to the group. They headed out towards Sauerkraut and it to till the Emmau High School for us to catch them. Apparently this would set the pace for the ride. F A S T

A few flats (not mine) later we rolled back to SMC for some after ride refreshments. 3 hours 50 minutes total time 68.75 miles. So it was in fact a pretty quick ride. I'm definitely pretty tired, but had some good chinese food as a reward for the hard ride - though I probably consumed more calories than expended. Oh well, there's always Sunday. I hope to hit up Jim Thorpe for a few hours.

-matt

B.E.L.S minus B...

2009-03-02T12:16:00.002-05:00

B.E.L.S is a ride that a few guys have down, which includes riding from Emmaus to Bear Creek for an XC loop, back to Emmaus for that loop, over to Lehigh for a loop, to Salisbury for that loop and finally back to Emmaus. That's a pretty ambitious day of riding!

Sunday I was all set to ride the Emmaus, Lehigh, Salisbury portion. I met Vegan Rob at SMC and we rode over to Alpine St to meet Bowman for the Emmaus tour. There was quite a bit more trails than I recall over there - I think we ended up with about 10.5 miles of just Emmaus.

We headed over towards Lehigh, stopping at a convenience store for some water. We started at the top and decended down to Stinger, out through Crazy Bones and up Ono and Superman - where Rob split off to ride back home to Nazareth. Once we got back to the top we headed down through campus out towards St Lukes for our Salisbury lap.

We kinda cut this one short and Mark and I were both kinda tired by this point. We cruised out Constitution towards Allentown, and picked up the parkway back to Emmaus. Pretty fun ride with only one issue - I tried to roll over a rock/boulder that I probably shouldn't have tried to roll, and I faceplanted into a pile of rocks at Emmaus only about an hour into the ride.

Stats for the ride:

5.5 hours, 38 miles, almost 5000 ft of vertical gain. I think if you do the full B.E.L.S. loop its around 70 miles. Though I don't know if I'm in for the whole loop, we'll see.

-matt

The wall...

2009-02-27T22:37:00.009-05:00

Well today I woke up a little late, I was supposed to leave the house at 8:20ish for a Lehigh ride with Vegan Rob & Dakota. I didn't even wake up till 8:20, so as usual I was running late.

I got there at 9:15 to see Rob with his feet up and Dakota chillin' in the parking lot. Moral of the story for this ride is two-fold - don't wake up late for a ride with anyone else, and don't skip breakfast when you're late for that ride with somebody.

I really hit the wall today, about an hour and a half in I totally bonked. I definitely don't want to experience that again. I guess I should have also tried to eat while I was riding, but failed at that too.

After my bonk, Rob and Dakota continued on to finish up a loop. I limped back to the car with just 10 miles and 2 hours of ride time. The other issue with the day was my lack of bike maintenance, apparently my middle ring and chain on the f29 were shot. I made the call to SMC for a Talum order, picked up some grub and headed to SMC to replace my ring / chain.

___________________________________________________________________

The Allentown Brew Works is holding some roller races on the 2nd floor on 2/27, 3/13, & 3/20. Last night was the first one - and this is a fun night. Olympic cyclist Bobby Lea busted out the fastest time trial of the night, beating his competition by approximately 9 seconds in a mile.

I didn't stay to see the finish but I've gotta guess that Bobby took the win for the night. Geronimo was another one that just seemed to toy with his competition, just as someone would catch him - he would put a 1/4 lap lead on them.

The bar has pitcher specials and good food, so come check it out! I think Flask is gonna do some racin' next time too. Rumor has it we should do a blood alcohol test on the racers and deduct 10 seconds for each .01 blood alcohol level - should give Flask a distinct advantage.

-matt

Snowy lehigh...

2009-02-22T21:34:00.002-05:00

The plan was to try to head down to Philly for some Wiss/Belmont riding. Unfortunately mother nature had different plans - as usual. It was supposed to rain/snow there, so that place would be wrecked from what I'm told.

John Eurio and I headed out for 2:45 at Lehigh, and hit every hill we could find there. It was definitely a challenging ride, with a steady effort the whole time. I was really working on recovering on the downhills, and keeping my effort in check.

The conditions were quite good, even considering the falling snow and rain at points. I'm really ready for some good weather, ie: not putting on soo many layers in order to just ride. We need some dry dirt to ride on really soon.

I'm gonna try to hit up the Camp Hilbert 5 hour Enduro in Richmond, VA if anyone wants to hitch a ride down and split some costs. It's on March 8th, and is about a 5 hour drive from the Lehigh Valley. So hit me up if your in.

-matt

double header

2009-02-17T16:01:00.002-05:00

Sunday's plan was to meet up with Jay and ride with Dank and a few guys at Lehigh. Fortunately I wasn't the late one to the ride today, it was actually Dan showing up about 15 minutes late.

After the customary ball busting took place we were off for some Lehigh trail fun. Only a few minutes later there was a flat, and this would set the pace for the ride. Jay and I peeled off down the deer path and rode out the loop. Our plan was to hit a Lehigh loop, cruise down through campus and meet up with Talotta for a Sals loop.

After blasting through campus, which I've never actually rode through there (kinda cool). We showed up to St. Lukes just on time, expecting Chris to ready to ride. Apparently he thought we were meeting at Dodson, so he rode down and we rode in to meet him. Fun loop at Sals, though I was a bit tired.

I flatted late in the ride, just before the 3 bitches climbs. We cruised the rest of the lap, with Talotta riding up to the cars with us, and he hitched a ride back to his car with me. That was a pretty good loop which is just shy of 3 hours ride time. Bowman's did BELS (Bear Creek / Emmaus / Lehigh / Sals) all in the same day, which is damn ambitious. I think I'd be dead by Lehigh. Though I plan to at least try it soon.

Unfortunately I'm "working" today and not enjoying the sunshine and decent temps we have here today. I hope a lot of you got out for some miles today.

-matt

School is in session..

2009-02-16T11:59:00.002-05:00

Friday morning I was set to ride Lehigh with Vegan Rob, and as usual I was running late. Unfortunately when I got there I realized even Jay DeJesus beat me to the ride, which he in the past is always the late one. After gearing up and heading into the woods, it would seem that the race was on.

My legs weren't really feeling fresh going into the ride, which is odd as I'd had a few days off the bike. So I focused on trying to mirror the two really talented riders ahead of me, when I could get close enough. Every time I get to ride with these guys I learn or relearn something that I need to keep practicing in order to get faster.

Today the key I would have to say - is trying to flow better on the downhills in order to recover for the uphills. I've been working on a lot of cornering skills / techniques while following better riders. I just wish I could make these things more of a second nature kinda thing, it seems I always forget to put to use the skills I pick up.

Just about 2 hours on the mountain and a really good workout, and we were back at the car. I was contemplating doing a road ride just to spin my legs out, and I was told that doing a group ride wouldn't really work. I didn't take that advice and headed over to the Rodale lunch ride.

Another just over an hour of a spirited group ride was probably not exactly what I needed, but it sure was a good ride! On to a quality nap, and race over to Double Click to pick up our failed iMac hard drive, which are supposed to be trouble free?? A trip over to SMC for happy hour, followed by some beer and food at Liberty St, and that concluded a great Friday.

-matt

Derby..

2009-02-09T14:58:00.003-05:00

Apparently the Derby went kinda quick yesterday. Swope called me looking for Brad Ford's phone number to let him know to not wait for her, after getting dropped on the way out. I guess it was windy and if you fall a little off, you're done.

Even Vegan Rob, who attempted to chase the group after starting only 6 minutes late, couldn't chase 'em down. So now he's taken to racing horse and buggies.

-matt

Weekend updates (2of2)...

2009-02-09T11:14:00.002-05:00

A bunch of people were going out for a long Saturday ride, unfortunately I work Saturday's and can never get out on this ride. We were kinda busy at work for a change, and I didn't get outta there till almost 6:30pm.

Cush was having a birthday/1 year in PA bash at his place Saturday night. Beer, food, live band, and friends. How can you go wrong? The party was ridiculous, a keg of Fosters in the snow, the Elkie in the driveway which I thought the band was gonna play in the back??

This long night wouldn't work out too well for doing the Derby from SMC at 9am Sunday morning. So I chose to hook with Bill, JK, Taylor, John, Dkill, Ray, Plunkett, and Christine for a 3-4 hour winter paced road ride - notice Cush wasn't there, so it was in fact a winter paced ride! Most of the ride consisted of really cool back roads, riding through rivers of melting snow, HILLS, and some dirt roads that made you feel as though you had a double flat.

On the way back we stopped at Cush's for a much needed Red Bull boost. Recharged a few of the riders and off we headed back to Emmaus. Great ride, about 40 miles with just about 4000 feet of climb. A few of us capped the ride with some grub from the Superior, and some beers at Keith & Christine's. Fortunately I didn't have to go out and ride again, like Christine had to. She's testing some really killer Specialized women's free-ride bikes.

Back to the long work week, hoping for some great weather like we had yesterday!

-matt

Weekend updates (1of2)...

2009-02-09T10:58:00.006-05:00

This weekend had some good riding, along with some good partying as well. Friday's ride consisted of a fast 63 mile road ride out to Lk Ontalaunee. The Animal and Bobby Lea led us out for quite a bit of the ride (so this set the pace). By the time we got to the lake after making a wrong turn at my suggestion, we had put down about an 18 mph average even with a few stops and Bobby's flat.

We turned around to head home in order to get Beth back in time to pick up Nat from school. So the pace was once again fast to ensure our arrival in Emmaus by 3pm. We succeeded with time to spare, rolling in at 2:45. Pearson treated the bunch to some Old Milwaukee pounders (recovery beverage?) Tom and Hans rolled it a bit after 3pm after hitting the wall around Mertztown. Tom bought another round of Bass, for being the last one back from the ride (Beth's new rule).

Christine worked some overtime, since Wachovia is occasionally looking for OT. So, since she was working I headed back to SMC for some happy hour fun, with the excuse that I had to get a heater to Cush for his birthday/1 year in PA bash.

-matt

Brrr....

2009-02-05T17:48:00.002-05:00

Another cold ride was on tap for the Rodale lunch ride. Pearson, Brad Ford, Matt Allyn and I left the north street building just after 12pm. Well after Beth got a few pics of Pearson's new bike and his homemade assflap fender (I think it was made out of a tupperware lid)

Apparently Flask attempted to guilt Pearson into the whole Lehigh Valley Fender Movement. But Pearson didn't give in and unhooked his tupperware lid for the ride.

We were headed out on the Vera Cruz loop when Matt Allyn decided it was TOO cold for the him and he bailed at Pennsylvania St. The 3 of us continued on, and it really wasn't too bad out. The roads were decent with only a few patches of snow/ice in the shady areas.

I felt great until the turn near the school where we caught a wicked head wind. Otherwise the ride was great, and we saw one other crazy cyclist out. Looks like nice long ride tomorrow and possibly the Derby for Sunday. Nice weather on tap for the weekend, so I hope everyone gets out and enjoys it!

-matt

Mercury falling..

2009-01-16T23:08:00.005-05:00

A high of 12.2* and an average temp of 8.1*

It was definitely a cold morning today, almost cold enough to keep me in the house this morning. I called Beth to see if she/anyone was going out on the lunch ride, she told me that she was still shopping therefore not riding, but Pearson was.

As usual I was running a few minutes late getting all my stuff together. When I say all my stuff - I mean ALL of my riding gear, in order to not absolutely freeze. I got to the North St Rodale building finding a few other brave souls - Bill, Brad, Pearson, Christine, & Steak. It was definitely a short ride - just under an hour. But we were out there, and it felt great!

As we rolled back into Emmaus, we saw Selene, Jason and Cush heading out for a 2.5 hour ride. At least another group of locals braved the temps. Hope some of you other crazies got out there and rode today.

-matt

TNT or Tuesday Night Towpath...

2009-01-14T18:52:00.003-05:00

Tuesday night towpath adventure has again taken place this week. Last week it turned ICY and a few of us hit the deck - me included. I decided I would roll the fixie for last weeks towpath ride, big mistake. There were some ruts and the 23c 100psi tires and rough terrain didn't mix well.

This week I thought it was a good idea to bring the cross bike, another mistake. I was breaking through the top layer and getting shot all over the place. Therefore, I decided to bail on the balance of the ride once we got to Freemansburg and do some road riding. Night road riding is a lot more fun in Bethlehem and Allentown than it is in Lenhartsville and Hamburg. There are people around, cars surprisingly giving me lots of room with the Planet Bike Super Flash tail light, and houses/buildings to block some of the wind. It's kinda fun racing cars stoplight to stoplight on Easton Ave.

I even got to cruise by a friends' house I hadn't seen in awhile. His daughter is just about a year old and she can scooch around the house ridiculously fast! Yeah I know kinda off-topic non bike stuff. I guess it's time to start ramping up the volume or just ramp up the jawn.

-matt

Amazing weather...

2008-12-28T20:00:00.002-05:00

We just had some amazing weather here for the end of 2008. It was probably almost 60*, with some mist coming off the roads, overcast then sunny and overcast again.

Taylor, Beth, Ray and I got out for about 3 hours out towards Green Lane. I was surprised to see so much traffic on some of the road we were on. I guess you just have to take full advantage of days like this in December as we won't have too many more of these.

After the ride I chilled at SMC, enjoying some Roxy Rolles from Magic Hat and a really good stromboli from Armetta's.

Enjoy the balance of '08 and see you in '09.

-matt

Merry Christmas...

2008-12-25T21:11:00.002-05:00

I would like to wish you all a safe and happy holiday! Hopefully everyone got out for a ride today as it was pretty nice out. I was able to sneak out for a road ride from my grandmothers house in Easton, to the in-laws in Pen Argyl. Roughly an hour and fifteen minutes later, and very minimal traffic later I arrived at the in-laws for a FEAST!

After a plate full of food, and another plate of dessert later I feel about 20 lbs heavier. Guess I should ride some more, huh? I hope to hook up with Cali-Pete for a ride at Lehigh tomorrow afternoon.

Enjoy your time with your families!

-matt

'Cross...

2008-11-24T20:31:00.004-05:00

Well the cyclocross scene is almost over in this area, and I'm just starting to really enjoy it. Yesterday a few of us went to the Spring Mountain cross race just outside of Green Lane. The race was supposed to be at Spring Mountain, however when the temp reaches a certain level the snow machines automatically turn on, blowing snow all over the already staked and taped course.

The guys at Philadelphia Cyclismo and Cadence Cycles did a great job on such short notice at moving the venue to the Upper Salford Park just outside of Schwenksville. They put together a very fast flat course with tons of turns, mud bug, a steep ridable hill followed by an off camber switchback, and a set of barriers.

I decided to pre-register for both the B and C races. The C race started at 10:15ish with about 40 racers. At the start we were informed that there would be a preme for the first person to the barriers (Jamie Bockes). Jamie went out pretty hard and kept battling back and forth with 2nd place - ending up in first! I chased Plunkett the whole time, and he had put some time on me throughout the race, but I caught up to him by the end but couldn't sprint him for 3rd place. So I ended up in 4th place - my best cyclocross finish yet.

I was contemplating not doing the B race, however after Vegan Rob showed up - after riding from Nazareth to the venue. I figured I might as well do the B race since it was Rob's first cross race. I got to the line after finishing the first race with about 30 seconds to spare, but with no Rob in sight. The whistle blew and we were off, still no Rob - I yelled to Topher to let Rob know he's missing his race. About 30 seconds later I see him motoring along catching up to us.

There were definitely a few times throughout my race I contemplated dropping out, however I had such a cheering/heckling section I just couldn't do it. I finished the race in 14th place, just behing Rob. The pace was very quick in both races, just longer in the B race. This was my first day of doing both races.

Next up for me is Phillipsburg cross on Sunday Dec 7th. Then I think that is it for the season then? Hope everyone has good Thanksgiving!

-matt

Mercer Cup Mudfest 2008..

2008-11-19T11:36:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was the Mercer Cup USGP Cyclocross race in Trenton, NJ. I attended only the Sunday mudfest, although a few friends were slinging mud on Saturday as well.

Our race started about 30 minutes late as there was a course re-route from the previous days racing. The called us up by the order of registration which I thought would have went well for me but I guess I reg'd later that I thought. Bill Strickland ended up with a front row spot! I was somewhere in the last 3rd or so, with Mark Taylor about a half mile back chillin' on the dock.

I tried to ride as much as possible but that still proved to be a lot of running/walking. Though I swear I've seen the old people in the mall speed-walking faster than we were trudging through peanut butter like mud. Here's a pic of me trying to ride right through some of the other "runners". It probably helped that I had Bowman yelling at me to ride it out, not sure which was faster.

I ended up riding pretty well, and place 27th out of 79 riders, with Taylor coming in 29th after starting further back than I. Damn he's fast on that SS Indy Fab.

The rest of the day was spent drinking, eating, and some cheering/heckling. Pete was gonna get into a fight with Ryan "Rusty Trumbone" Trebon, but Rusty backed down, guess he saw the mullet and got scared.

Next week is the Spring Mount race near Philly, I hope to make that race. See you all there.

-matt

wow...

2008-11-02T20:15:00.003-05:00

I managed to skip an entire month of blogging. I haven't really had anything to talk about, been riding some, working a lot, and eating even more.

My wife and I have been going through a troublesome time, our 6 year old yellow lab Duke, passed away on Saturday from cancer. He was having issues on Tuesday of last week keeping food and water down, so we took him into the vet where they kept him overnight. After some x-rays, blood tests and $600 later, we were told that he was anemic (sp?) and had a lot of mast cells in his blood (cancer indicator)

We were told to take him to Dr. Ann Jeglum in Chalfant, PA for a bone marrow biopsy, which turned out OK, with low count of the mast cells that were found in his blood. After speaking with Dr. Jeglum, she informed us that his spleen was very enlarged and would require an ultrasound to determine what was going on, as well as a blood transfusion to get his red blood cell count up. There was a potential to have to remove his spleen.

Fast forward to Thursday morning, Dr. Jeglum called my cell and told me that Duke had to have his spleen removed right away or he would die, because there was a 6 cm mass (a little smaller than a tennis ball) had ruptured and was bleeding into his stomach. So we made the decision to have this $2500 required surgery with the hopes that the mast cell hadn't spread and/or caused any more tumors.

Friday morning we went and picked him up from the surgery center to transfer him to Dr. Jeglum's office in West Chester, he was moving really slow and not really perking up the way they wanted him to. He was however happy to see us, which was nice to see some resemblance of our Duke. We had a really difficult time getting him into the car, and an even harder time getting him out of the car. We got a stretcher and loaded him onto it to get him into the office, after he was checked out by Dr. Jeglum, she met with us to give us an update. If he gets through the recovery of the splenectomy, we would attempt to treat the cancer with steroids and possibly chemotherapy.

Saturday morning I called off from work and headed down to visit him at the vet. We got to the office and hung out in the waiting room for the doctor to take us back. A few minutes later we heard a pretty loud howl, hoping it wasn't Duke. The doctor came out to bring us back and as soon as we got to him he was arresting. That was a terrible site, as well as seeing the brain reaction causing his head to move while we were standing over him.

I know this probably wasn't the post anyone wanted to read and I certainly didn't want to write about it. But I figured if you see me out and about, and didn't quite understand why I might not be myself, you'd at least know why. Sorry for long sad story. Thank you to all my friends and family for their support during this trying time.

Trying to keep my mind off things, I got to ride two days in a row at Salisbury. Saturday late afternoon I did a loop on the SS 29'er, and about a minute into the ride I was kinda spacing out and ran my front tire right into a stump just of the trail sending me about 15 feet down the trail face first. I got up and brushed myself off with no "real" injuries, and headed back out to ride awhile. I realize a few minutes later that I had dropped my water bottle in the crash, so I had to right back up to get it. At that point I almost just rode back to the car and headed home, however I grabbed my bottle and went back out to do the normal loop.

I was out there for awhile before I even saw another rider, as I went up the switchback climb I caught up to John Eoiro (sp?) a local MASS racer that I had met once or twice before. We finished the ride together and grabbed some good mexican food at La Lupina in Bethlehem, near Lehigh. I was cool to just chill and shoot the breeze about riding and racing with someone else who shares our love for racing, and it kept my mind off emotions.

Sunday I headed back out to Sals and did a double loop at Sals. I put in about 4 hours total with probably a bit over 3 hours ride time. Lots of riders out there, and lots of flats. Turns out Dan K. had 4 flats throughout the day, I was able to escape with only one. However, that one did ruin a brand new Maxxis Crossmark tire, at least for tubeless use - with about an inch long gash in the tread. By the end of the ride my right knee was starting to hurt again from a crash 2 weeks ago on the new rocky switchback downhill at Sals.

I'll try to keep posting a little more regularly moving forward. See you all on the trails!

-matt

It's finally over...

2008-09-21T20:22:00.003-04:00

The 2008 XC season has finally come to a close. After 26 races I can say I'm happy to just ride some cool rides with some good friends. This season has been great, both results and friendships & cool rides.

The Bear Creek finals were today, and it seems like there was a great showing of all the teams out today. I think the intent with the double points was to increase attendance of this race, which some have regarded very technical. I think Chuck and the guys at Bear Creek did a great job on the trails, and organizing this event.

The race started with a short prologue lap to the start/finish area. Sport had 2 laps to complete at 7 miles a lap, while Expert/Elite had to do 3 laps. I can't imagine doing another lap, especially not at the pace those guys ride. My plan for the day was to ride smooth and stay with the leaders and try to make my move later in the race. That kinda worked, as I kept an eye on Nick Capriotti from Loweriders (season champion) I just didn't have it to make the move later on, and I finished a minute off the lead.

With the 2nd place today that was my 7th race for points and the double points allowed me to drop a 9th place at the first Fair Hill race. I was sitting 3rd in points and todays race bumped me to 2nd place Sport Senior II. And today was also my last sport race, there I said it. Look for me at the back of the Expert Vet 1 pack next year.

I'd like to give some props to the recently upgraded to sport from beginner rider (Dave I think) He rode a really strong race and was hanging with Nick, just ahead of me until he bobbled in one of the rock gardens. I later found out he then sliced a front tire in two spots, with no tube he dnf'd. That sucks for your first sport race, but great job on the upgrade!

Congratulations to all the riders/teams out there on the podium today. Hope to see you all out on the trails in the off-season.

Pics to follow tomorrow or the next day.

-matt

Seasons...

2008-09-20T10:14:00.007-04:00

Well, the XC season is just about over, and a lot of people are already racing cross. From what I know and have seen about cross, I'm not sure its for me since running just seems to defeat the purpose of riding :) But I'm sure I'll race it anyway just to stay fit, otherwise I'll take a big exhale and lose the "fitness" I've worked towards this season.

I need to continue preparing for next year, more distance and faster pace. I'm just about at my limit of time in a sport race, at least at race pace. Therefore I really need to work on my endurance this off-season.

Yesterday a friend and I went for what was supposed to be a short ride to grab some breakfast. We rode about 5 miles, grabbed some grub and headed back out on the road. After we crossed over rt 61 (where they are doing some construction) we couldn't get back to the road I wanted. So we went over Hawk Mountain, something I really didn't want to do. But, I really tried to pace myself of the climb - which I don't usually pace myself well.

Here is the elevation profile for the climb, I really thought it was longer than that. I need to find some local long steady climbs, so send me your recommendations of longer climbs.

Hope everyone is having fun at Nittany Cross today, seems like perfect racing weather this morning. And I'll see you all at Bear Creek tomorrow.

-matt

Cross season..

2008-09-06T13:50:00.004-04:00

Well it seems cross season is upon us, funny that XC isn't even over yet. I have a weeks vacation from work, so I actually had a Saturday off. This morning Mike Yozell put on a cross clinic for about 8 people at a park near SMC.

This was a really helpful session, with a lot of dismount, mount and bike lifting drills. I had some issues with my dismount before these exercises, and after it was a much smoother, more fluid movement. I'm still having some issues with the remount, doing a stutter step on my left side and kinda hopping on the bike. Mike showed us that it's more swinging your right leg onto the saddle mid-thigh while running rather than jumping/springing onto the saddle.

There is a cross race at Bear Creek put on by Ray Ignosh next weekend the 13th and 14th. Should be a fun event, and just a week before the MASS season finale. I've seen a lot of people out pre-riding Bear Creek and the conditions are amazing and the crew there has done a lot of work on the trails, great job!!

Hope to see everyone out the in 2 weeks to battle it out for the series.

-matt

Vandals...

2008-08-11T20:44:00.004-04:00

While I was out riding Bear Creek with some of the Bikesport crew, my Element was attacked by a zip tie vandal. The plan was to put in 3 hours, however after 2 laps of the race course that was only an hour and a half or so, so I road over to SMC for some coffee and a slice from Armetta's - make sure you order the well done crust, it's the best.

On the way back up Mountain Rd the rain started - fortunately it wasn't coming down too hard yet! I got back to my car to find this

This is only one of the quick pics, there were zip ties all over the rack, making if very difficult in the lightning and pouring rain to rack the bike. They were on the windshield wipers, rendering them near useless from the skipping, the mirrors were all jacked up and the fuel door was open.

All I can say to the responsible party is that payback's a bitch!

Let the games begin.

-matt

Blog name change??

2008-08-04T16:22:00.002-04:00

Maybe I should re-name the blog "Slackura Matt" as I've been really slacking on the updates. Not much to update with no races going on, other than Bear Creek short track which was last Tuesday.

I won the "B" race and came in 4th in the "A" race. I have been trying to ride there a fair bit, preparing for the MASS finale at Bear Creek. Chuck's got some nice things planned for the XC loop.

Yesterday Chuck, Mike Melnick and I road some laps of the proposed XC course (some stuff may change). The weather was great and conditions were superb!! After the ride, Chuck and I road over to SMC for some coffee and snacks, I was trying to put in a bit over 3 hours. We got back to Bear Creek a little of the prescribed 3 hours and I can definately say that I was pretty tired after this ride.

The 29'er has to get torn down and needs a little love, it's creaking from everywhere. The new Lefty cartridge should be here tomorrow as I lost my lock out at the Tuesday short track, then lost some oil in the fork on Sunday (contaminating my pads and rotor) That's always nice to have to relace $25-$30 pads because your fork pisses oil out the bottom. Oh well, at lease they are sending the (revised) replacement parts.

That's it for now - I'll try to keep things a little more up to date for those that check in.

-matt

Fair Hill...

2008-07-13T20:14:00.002-04:00

Today was the 2nd race at Fair Hill, with this one being the Fair Hill Classic. This is the longest race in the MASS but very fast, my average speed 11mph. They pushed back our start time 15 minutes to 11am, I guess they wanted to give the Experts a little more time so they didn't have to pass us.

The race started just a bit after 11:00, and it was definitely hot though not as hot as last year. The pace off the line was quite fast, with Nick and Bill from Loweriders setting the fast pace. I tried my best to stay with them but fell back a little and was sitting in 4th place for awhile. It was really nice that they had some water stops along the course, definitely helpful with keeping the temps down by splashing water on my neck and back.

After one of those water stops I got passed by 2 riders and I tried to jump on and hang but couldn't pick up the pace. Through "Crack Head Bob" a really twisty section I was riding pretty smooth but didn't seen anyone (the trail weaves back and forth soo much and there is no sight line, so it feels as though you are out there alone). Once out of the the twisty stuff there was a bit of climbing and I spotted a few riders and picked up the pace to try to finish somewhat strong.

Down the last bit of singletrack I spotted the 4th and 5th place rider and sprinted to catch and pass them (the one guy was cramping pretty bad). So I ended in 4th place, but apparently the 1st place rider felt he cut the course as he was 6 or 7 minutes in front of Nick from Loweriders. He did the right thing and reported the accidental course cut to the timing people, and they DNF'd him moving Nick into 1st place and me up to third. I was 2 minutes 44 seconds behind Nick which seems about right as he won the first Fair Hill race earlier in the year but about the same margin.

I got a cool pint glass for third, a metal, and a trip the prize table. I grabbed a shock pump which I was just telling Mike and Lisa that I needed a new one earlier in the day. Now I've got almost 2 months off before Bear Creek, where I need to do really well to secure some double points to make up for missing Granogue, Sewell, and Neshaminy.

-matt

Tandemonium...

2008-07-11T23:57:00.003-04:00

Tonight was one of the few Friday nights at the Velodrome - oh whoops the Valley Preferred Cycling Center which is there new name. It was tandemonium night, which is very cool to see tandems battling it out on the track.

Ray Ignosh and Andy Kuklis the local Emmaus contingent were battling it out for a podium spot and I think they succeeded with a 3rd place overall. Kuklis looks soo unhappy as the stoker, well he always looks unhappy when racing at the track.

I rode the brunch with some Nodales and lunch with the Rodale/Nodale crew. Nodales = non Rodale employees on the lunch ride. Brad Ford chose the route for the day as it was his birthday (I won't give away his age as it suprised me - and I'll let you all wish him a happy belated and ask him for yourselves). The route choice was Mill loop, with the plan for the day being to sit in not to "try" for any sprints or kom's. Not that this is difficult as I can't possbily hang with these guy's in a sprint anyway.

I am getting fired up for Fair Hill since it's my last MASS race until Bear Creek. I might throw an H2H race or two in the mix just to stay fresh and to experiment with pacing options. I'm gonna try sitting in a little bit rather than just going out too hard and blowing up and slowing down my 2nd lap.

See you Sunday!

-matt

Official training time..

2008-07-09T16:44:00.004-04:00

So I guess it's time to get re-motivated to train again. I did some 20 minute sub-lt intervals yesterday recording HR and using my newly acquired Powertap wheel I recorded power as well. I know it's a bit much as far as gadgets go, but sometimes the numbers really help me stay focused.

Here is a graph from SportTracks without the power, as I don't have the correct download cable yet.

I hope to actually do a 20 minute threshold power test to see where I'm at now, and to compare for future tests. Its pretty amazing how much stuff affects wattage on the road. I tried holding a constant 200-220 range and keeping it steady is very difficult. I guess after using the PT for awhile I'll get it more figured out.

Hope to the weather holds out for Fair Hill and see you all there.

-matt

Visit PA Stage Racing...

2008-07-07T16:17:00.002-04:00

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! The weekend Stage race and mountain bike festival at Marysville was a total blast. However, today I'm pretty tired from all the racing.

The weekend started out with packing the car on Friday morning in the rain and heading to Marysville to setup camp. Fortunately it was dry when we got there and we were able to get everything unpacked and setup before the rain returned. After chilling out for a while, drinking some Mad Hatter IPA and shooting the breeze with some fellow racers, it was time for the night time trial.

The night tt is probably one of the coolest events of the weekend, with riders going out every 30 seconds starting around 9pm and riding a roughly 4 mile course. Most of the course winds between through the XC race course, though sometimes in different directions. I was able to do the loop in 23.5 minutes securing 5th in Sport "A" and 1st in my age group.

Saturday morning was really different for me as I didn't have to wake up really early and "race" to the race. I was already there and didn't start until 12:30, so this was a welcome change to the normal race day prep for me. Beginners went off around 9am which was cool as they went right by our campsite. Our race started right on time and I was sitting in 4th place for a bit and was able to pick off one racer moving me into 3rd where I would end up for the race. I definately need to work on some core stuff and endurance as I was really tired by the 2nd lap.

Later that night they did some awards from the XC races and swag toss. The Spokes team had some great results at this race, although we would've liked more to come and enjoy this cool weekend of racing. There was a trials demo by Topher, Austin Carter and a few other - it was really cool to see what some of these guys can do on a bike.

Sunday morning began with some bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Not sure if this was the best breakfast choice with the hill climb and short track still to come, but it sure tasted good!! I hadn't done the hill climb last year so I had no idea what to expect. It was 2.5 mile climb out of the farm on some dirt, some gravel and some road. My plan was to just keep Travis and Gunnar in sight and I knew I would do well in Sport "A". The worked well as I chased those guys up the hill and got 7th overall and 1st again in my age group.

After some much needed chill time, short track was next. Sport "A" racers were set for 20 minutes of pain. This was a really cool loop about .50 mile and we did 10 laps in just a bit over 20 minutes. I was very happy with how this race turned out as well, I think I got 7th overall and 1st in my age group as well.

I should have secured myself the 1st place points for the Stage races towards an extra XC race. This is something I really need as I won't be able to get to Iron Hill and missed Granogue, Sewell, and Neshaminy. After next week's Fair Hill race, I'll be done racing until Bear Creek so this is a dangerous time for me. Last year during this break from racing I kinda stopped riding all together - so I'm gonna try really hard to stay motivated and get ready for Bear Creek as that counts for 2 XC races as well.

Hope to see everyone at Fair Hill where I hope to not get smoked on the drag strip by all the big ring mashers. See you Sunday.

Pictures from the week should be up by tomorrow.

-matt

Updates...

2008-07-02T16:33:00.010-04:00

I did some hill hunting on the road bike, trying to find some good hill repeat intervals. I found the backside of Hawk Mtn from rt 143 to be a decent steady climb about 2.5 miles total climb. I was running a bit short on time so I just road there from home and did a 10 minute climb and back to the house. Here's a pic of the scenery on the way.

This weekend is the Stage race at Marysville! I just received word there are a few more events for Saturday. The events are Bike Polo, a trials event with course design by Topher Inc., and a dual slalom trike race. Go here for the most up to the minute updates.

All in all this sounds like it's gonna be a great weekend with a bunch of good friends and fun races. Hurry up and pre-register as it closes tomorrow at noon. See you all in Marysville.

-matt

Short track...

2008-06-25T22:25:00.003-04:00

Tuesday night was the 3rd month of the Bear Creek short track Xc series put on by SMC. I figured since I was off work and testing out how the ribs were feeling, I would check it out.

The ribs felt ok, and everything went well in the first race. I was able to go out front and stay there for all 3 laps. Gunnar was on my wheel for awhile until he bobbled in one of the rock gardens and a few guys got by him. Then it was Evan chasing me the whole rest of the race, another bobble and Evan was gone, leaving me in first, Dave Joachim in 2nd, and Evan in 3rd.

The second race was a whole different story! I was chasing Yozell, Lath, Vegan Rob and Topher - damn these guys can ride. I obviously have no chance of hanging with these guys, I'm just using that race as a learning experience and a little longer workout. These guys ride soo smooth and fast that its ridiculous.

The first 3 laps went fine and I was sitting mid-pack, then on the 4th lap I flatted in one of the rocky areas after the start/finish area. I probably had about 10 seconds on John Eurio at this point and he got by me while I was trying to get the Stan's to seal the cut - not happening.

I walked back to the finish area to fix my flat to do the 3rd (fun) race. This month was a miss and out in the gravel parking lot. This was an issue for me as apparently I can't corner for shit, I crashed 2 or 3 times, with one of them grinding my right bicep into Dan's rear wheel while trying to pass him.

So while trying to heal my ribs, it was probably a bad idea to take chances after riding clean up till then. Yeah well, at least I have a little time until Marysville. Head on over to Bikereg.com to register for this cool event. I'm really looking forward to a full weekend of camping, drinking, and even racing.

See you all there!

-matt

No XC for me...

2008-06-23T12:41:00.003-04:00

I was contemplating doing the XC race at Neshaminy on Sunday, but with the way my ribs were feeling I through that idea out the window. In lieu of racing, I called Dan to see if he was up for a chill road ride.

Dan was doing some family stuff, then called Cody to arrange a 12:30 meet at the Velodrome. We left from the parking lot around 12:45 for a leasure paced ride towards Kutztown. The pace started to pick up as I was testing out the ribs while sprinting every hill on the way out. We stopped that the Bagel House in Kutztown for some iced coffee.

Instead of just heading back east the same way, I convinced them into heading northeast a bit for some hills and a little more distance. We weaved our way through some backroads in Berks county, needing some water we all stopped at a gas station for bottle refills. It seems that helped Dan and Cody to make it back to the cars.

At first when I saw this pic I thought Dan was throwing gang signs.

Once back at the Velodrome, Cody headed home and I told Dan I would ride home with him since I made the ride a little longer and faster than planned. So by the end of the day I had a little over 50 miles and a total time of 3.5 hours with a fair amount of stopped time.

When I got back to the Velodrome I saw Taylor going out for a ride on a borrowed Wilier which is one sweet bike. I headed home to go to dinner with my wife and in-laws. A couple Sam Adams lager's and a filet later I was feeling pretty good! I even forgot my ribs hurt, until I tried sleeping - that's a real challenge right now.

-matt

Friday's bruised ribs & mullets...

2008-06-23T11:06:00.003-04:00

Dan, Mike and I went to Rattling Creek on Friday morning for what is supposed to be the best singletrack in PA. We did a little over 20 miles of almost all the singletrack there, most of which reminded me of the Stoopid 50.

On the way to the ride I stopped at a little gas station at the bottom of the mountain, and saw this amazing site --->

That is probably the craziest mullet I've seen, so much so that we had to play stealthy paparazzi and grab a pic.

The riding there is very cool, with some of the most flowing singletrack around. There were a bunch of mountain laurel plants along the trail and room for one bike on the trail with very little sight-line to rail the corners.

After Mike put a bounty on the next rock garden of 2 gel packs for cleaning it (Fawns Ridge), I got a little cocky and my front wheel got caught up on a rock so I tried to trackstand it for a sec and then hop the front end over it. Well I didn't succeed, I went down like a ton of bricks and jacked my ribs and hip up.

Here are a few pics from the day.

Now my ribs really hurt, guess that should be like another 4-6 weeks of pain.

-matt

Stoopid 50 - err Stoopid 40 for me...

2008-06-17T12:28:00.002-04:00

This Sunday was the 2nd annual Stoopid 50 in State College, PA. I did this race last year and finished in 6 hours 59 minutes. I really wanted to beat my time last year by at least an hour, I figured that was feasible with better fitness and some longer rides than last year.

I arrived Saturday night around 8pm, set up camp, grab some spaghetti dinner, and watch a movie at the pavillion. Sunday morning started with packing up the tent, then enjoying some pancakes and coffee. The race started promptly at 9am with about 3 miles of road/gravel road then entered some sweet singletrack. There was quite a bit of bottle-necking early on with a few mud bogs and muddy bridges.

When the traffic cleared it was a blast, until at about 7 miles I heard my rear tire hissing - hopefully the Stan's would fix it, not a chance. I pulled off the side of the trail and there was about a 1/4" slice in the tread, so in goes a tube and there goes 25-30 riders right by me. Now of course I'm in chase mode (read: time to blow up)

I passed right the through the first aid station and up the gravel road towards the hike-a-bike. Boy was that fun, it felt like we were walking forever. Finally at the top, you have a nice break from climbing for a bit, some sweet decents on some really cool singletrack. I made a turn onto the road exiting the singletrack and caught up to Mike Carter who also had a flat. We was climbing really strong and pulled away from me up the next long (2 mile) steady climb. That was the last I saw Mike until the end.

At about mile 30 my stomach started feeling pretty bad and my legs were cramping pretty badly. I felt as though I was drinking and eating enough - I guess not though. I pulled in the aid station around mile 33 and those people were great! They filled my camelback with water, my bottles with Heed, gave me a sandwich and a cup of Coke. I grabbed my drop bag, downed some sportlegs and E-caps and headed out. The next couple of miles were really cool sweeping rollercoaster like singletrack, with a few climbs thrown in.

Now the rocks were starting again, usually I'm pretty good on the rocks but by this point I was riding pretty sloppy. I rolled up to area where the guy was taking pictures through the one rock garden, and I was walking! After walking the rock slabs, I jumped back on the bike and cruised down to the next road crossing around mile 40, this is the point where I was really done. There was a guy hanging out at his truck and offered to give me a ride back to the start/finish area. I unfortunately took him up on the offer - my first DNF. While we were driving back to the finish I saw Mike Carter riding strong to a 5:47 finish!!

I rolled though the timing table and told them I DNF'd, went to the car and cleaned up. After getting some food I started to feel a little better, but also glad I didn't do the last 9 miles. So the Stoopid 50 ended up being the Stoopid 40 for me. They had a really cool pint glass for the riders - fortunately not just the finishers.

I hung out and talked with a few friends and then headed out on the 2 hour drive home. I guess if I really want to do these longs rides I should start riding a bit more. Seems to me that I'm a bit more suited towards the 2 hours and under events.

Hopefully the weather will hold out for the Neshaminy XC race this weekend. Look like some rain is headed our way for a few days. This is a day of registration only, since it doesn't drain all that well I guess. See you all there.

-matt

Racers wanted:

2008-06-10T11:51:00.002-04:00

One of the coolest mountain bike weekends is rapidly approaching, the 2008 Visit PA Mountain Bike Stage Race and Festival Weekend. For those who have not attended this event, you have really missed out on some fun, so make sure you go here to pre-register for the event.

The event is held at the Oesterling Farm (map) in Marysville, PA near Harrisburg. There is a night time trial, XC race, endurance race, short track race, and a hill climb. For those who can't make all the XC races in the MASS series, you can earn the equivilant of 1 xc race by doing the short track, night time trial, and the hill climb.

Kyle Hammaker's family handle a lot of the food concessions, and they do a great job! Mike Kuhn's family & friends handle pretty much everything else - and these folks know how to promote a race and party!! Hopefully the band from US Open MTB Relay return, because those guys rocked!

Hope to see you all there, and bring the whole family as there are a lot of things for the rest of the family to do.

-matt

Danville = hurt!

2008-06-09T12:27:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was the Tour De Tykes XC race, the 5th race in the M.A.S.S. The temps were in the mid 90's, which made for a very challenging day for any course. However, Danville boasts that they have the most climbing per mile of other races.

It would seem that they didn't lie, as this was the most difficult XC race I've down yet. I'm sure the temps had something to do with that, as I saw quite a few people DNF due to heat issues.

They did something different this year, a mass start of the whole sport class and your time started when you crossed the timing mat. Theoretically this would allow all the traffic to spread out on the climb before entering the singletrack, not sure if I like this method as you can't really rely on chasing the top guys or you don't know if you are in the lead.

My result was a good one - with a 3rd place finish. That was however, 8 minutes off the leader - damn that's a long time back. The rest of the Spokes team had a very good day as well! Seems like its time for chilling in the A/C since today its gonna be 95* as well, and almost 100* heat index.

-matt

Bike friday..

2008-06-07T16:47:00.006-04:00

My Friday day off program dealt me some nice weather, and I got a chance to ride with Aaron on some of his favorite trails. It's a good thing for me he had an easy day planne. We met at 9am and rode for a few hours, I'm sure he felt like he was being interviewed with all the questions I was asking him. I'm trying to see what the REALLY fast people do for training, and get some insight into my own riding.

I recently had an issue with my Garmin 305, to which the company hooked my up with some great customer service and helped me with an upgrade from the defective unit to the 705. This is an actual mapping GPS with all the features of the 305 and some power meter options as well. I got to test out the unit and recorded our ride for future rides at the same place.

The next great customer service story I have for the day is regarding Stan's No Tubes. I had recently got some 29'er 355 wheels from them, however the rear wheel was creaking and had some weird tensions. Maybe that was too light of a wheel for my riding, but they rebuilt the wheel to an Arch - supposedly approximately 20% stronger rim.

I sent the wheel to them on Tuesday afternoon, with them only being in New York it was there on Wednesday. They rebuilt the wheel late Wednesday and shipped it back to me Thursday, I received it Friday afternoon. Now that is some crazy FAST turnaround - Thanks to Mike @ Stan's. These guys have been a really great sponsor.

Next on the schedule, Danville (in the 95* heat) followed by Stoopid 50 in State College on the 15th. Last year I did this race in 6:59 - this year I'd really like to do sub 6 hours. That may not be much of a goal for a lot of others - since that would still be like 50th place in last years results.

-matt

Lewis Morris Challenge..

2008-06-01T18:00:00.002-04:00

I made the last minute call this morning to take the trip to Morristown, NJ for the Marty's Reliable Cycles Lewis Morris Challenge. This is part of the Campmor H2H series, a NY and NJ series.

We were set to do 3 laps of a 7 mile fast, few roots, couple rocks and a fair bit of climbing. They sent the SS class out first, followed by the 19-29 a minute later, then us 30-39 a minute later. That was 2 classes 30-34 and 35-39 starting together but being timed apart.

The trails were perfect! Fast, flowing non technical singletrack, with a gravel climb at the start of each lap. I took the wholeshot and didn't let up, however one guy in my class got by me up a climb that I tried to power up but it was a little longer than I though. However, he broke a chain shortly after that, putting me back in the lead. About 3/4 of the way through the 1st lap one of the 35-39 guys caught me and we rode the rest of the race together. I figured he would take the overall 30-39 win, but he started pulling back a little (cramping). Nearing the finish I threw it in the big ring, locked the fork and sprinted as fast as I could as I saw a few guys just behind me coming on fast. Turns out it wasn't anybody in my class, a few younger and 2 older guys.

So I took the overall 30-39 win, although this wasn't confirmed by results, podium, or medals. Apparently they had some timing difficulties, after waiting about an hour for results we found out they probably wouldn't have it figured out today.

After my race I saw Aaron and Matt (the fast guys) getting ready to warm up for their 5 laps of Pro/SemiPro racing. I feel as though 3 laps is enough, so I'm not looking forward to doing any more laps next year.

While waiting around I got see the really fast guys take off, and saw Aaron come through for a 25ish minute first lap! That is smoking fast! I didn't hit the lap button on the Garmin but checked as I passed through, 1st lap 31 ish, 2nd lap 33 ish, and 3rd 33ish for a 1:37. Right where I wanted to be from checking previous years results.

Time for some sleep!

-matt

Slacker updates...

2008-05-30T08:54:00.003-04:00

Well it seems I've been slacking on updating the blog. Busy work schedule and beautiful weather has been to blame.

This is the view I get to enjoy during road rides near my house. It would seem that I should stay local more than I do, however I prefer riding with other people vs. riding alone. I forgot my camera so the iPhone was up for the job, the only thing that sucks is the aspect ratio it takes pics.

Tuesday night was the 2nd SMC Bear Creek Short Track Series for the season. I was able to rush out of work and get there in time to warm up on the new course. This loop was a little longer than last month, a little less technical, but with more climing in my opinion.

I rode the first race and came in 2nd place, chasing Gunnar Bergey the whole time, last month was the exact opposite. That kid is FAST!! If he keeps it up this kid is gonna kick some ass in the jr expert class real soon. Keep it up!

Here are a few pics my wife took from the Short Track race. In all the blurry pics you'll notice that I'm chasing the really fast guys. The pictures of me alone are either of chasing Gunnar or the "A" race guys.

Sunday I hope to race the Marty's Reliable Cycles Lewis Morris Challenge. Now I'm off the head to SMC to meet up for the Rodale lunch ride.

-matt

Passing the torch...

2008-05-23T21:42:00.002-04:00

Apparently I've passed the torch to Duane as the FME (Fastest Man in Emmaus) This is a title that Bill Strickland came up with. You'll have to ask him the true meaning - I can only assume it is only partially true and partially a joke?? On to some actual riding info.

I got to enjoy some road miles with the Rodale/Nodale brunch/lunch ride crew. This is a really fun road group - although I don't love road riding, I would much rather be on dirt. I have done more road training this year than previous, seems a lot easier on the body. On any give ride you could find a few local pros road racers, a national champion expert racer, some really fast track racers, and some folks like myself (mere mortals).

We did a total of 40 miles with 3300 feet of climbing in about 2hrs 40min. This was my first ride of the week and was quite challenging. I like how these folks push the pace on the climbs, although most times I can't hold the pace.

After some coffee, a slice of pizza, and some post ride conversation, I headed home to feed the puppies and head out for the Spokes Bike Shop shop ride. We ride Blue Marsh from Old Church Rd and do roughly 13 miles. It takes a little over 2 hours, for some riding, regrouping, and just messing around.

I figured I had to make up for not riding all week, weather sucking and lack of motivation. I want wish all the Granogue riders good luck and it looks like they should have some great weather. I wish I could be out there with them, but unfortunately work has to be a priority sometimes.

Enjoy your holiday weekend with some great weather and good rides.

-matt

Interesting read...

2008-05-21T11:10:00.002-04:00

I was checking out Bill Strickland's blog and stumbled upon a really interesting article he wrote for Mountain Bike magazine in '99. I figured I would pass along the link for everyone who hasn't read it to enjoy.

How true are these statements in your life?

-matt

5/18 Lehigh Ride..

2008-05-18T20:18:00.004-04:00

Today was gonna be a tour of Lehigh and Salisbury for some folks that haven't ridden around here, and it turned out to be a couple locals having a good time before the rain hit.

The plan was to meet Keith, Christine, & Dan at SMC to carpool over to Lehigh for a couple hours of fun before the impending rain. When I arrived at SMC, Dan was already there and Keith & Christine were getting their gear and bikes all together - only to find a flat rear tire on Christine's bike. She figures she'll change it at Lehigh, so we all jump in our cars and head to the trail.

We met Frank at the parking area, only to find another mechanical issue (this one a little more severe), he cracked the face plate on his Thompson stem, leaving the bike out of commission. He returned home to grab another bike while the flat was being fixed, then we headed in for some great trails.

After as much rain as we had for the past couple days I had expected some areas to be more muddy, but was very happy to see that the trails dried up well. It was almost the perfect mix of dirt/mud for traction. I led the group through Crazy Bones, I got to race a deer down the powerline, then we climbed up Ono (lungbuster) out to the Goat (a tough rock garden) to meet up with Frank on his super pimpy Superfly.

Here's a blurry pic of Frank flying through the Goat, he's going so fast I can barely capture it on film. Gotta love those 29" wheels.

It seems that the 29'ers claimed the rock gardens for the day as Frank, Keith and I went through the Goat like it was paved.

Some more climbing was still in order as we went up Superman, a 12 or 13 turn very tough switchback climb which is fairly technical at points with a few short recovery points. At the top we saw the SVB crew out on their normal Sunday Loop. This group can be as few as 2 and I've seen as many as over a dozen riders on this ride. As the saying goes, what goes up must come down, we descended for a bit (thankfully) as I think everyone was tired of climbing (except for maybe Frank).

We finished out the day with the Channel 39 loop, some rim trail, a quick downhill through Deer path, and a wet rocky Wayne's World crossing. Only 9.5 miles of trail were ridden in about 2 hours and 25 minutes, but we finished just in time for the rain to start (perfect timing). As we were all tired and ready for coffee, we headed back to Emmaus for some SMC coffee.

I'm glad those who showed up did and sad those that couldn't make it didn't. I hope the people that couldn't make it get to come out and enjoy what amazing trails we are lucky enough to have in our area. Some of what Lehigh has to offer makes a lot of other areas seem like paved bike paths.

Good luck to all the lucky ones who will be racing Granogue next week, I have to work and will regretfully miss this great race which Marc organizes in honor of Andrew Mein. There is also a raffle to benefit HERA Womens Cancer Foundation, so buy some tickets - you don't even need to be present to win!!

-matt

Reward...

2008-05-13T14:16:00.004-04:00

At French Creek, they gave out some nice pint glasses to the top 3 in each sport/expert/beginner class. So this is what I filled it with, some Mad Hatter IPA from Shangy's in Emmaus, PA. They also give a medal for top 3 as well.

-matt

French Creek..

2008-05-10T22:34:00.004-04:00

The weather held out for the French Creek M.A.S.S. race. They pushed back the start times 1 hour for each class and dropped the Endurance down to 5 hours. The park rangers were diverting parking from the upper fields where everyone parked last year, down to the surrounding parking lots, most of which are about a mile away from the start.

The race started the same as last year up to the cabins, however instead of going left down the washout, we turned right and climbed for awhile. The was a group of about 5 of us leading up the gravel climb, then a few dropped off and it was just Nick Capriotti and I up the washed out climb. We caught a couple of the senior 1 guys, fortunately they were cool about moving aside.

I had no idea what was coming next, fortunately Nick knew the course and I was content just following him for awhile to pace myself. Up the short section of road we picked off a couple more senior 1's to put some places between us and the rest of the group. Then came a nice rocky downhill, Nick was taking it a little easier than I wanted to go, so I passed him. I really starting picking up the pace and rockin' this downhill to put a gap on him. I thought I flatted going down this section, I must've hit the rim quite a few times.

Through the next few climbs and singletrack I couldn't see anyone chasing my down so I thought I was in the clear. A few minutes later I saw one of the Loweriders crew (I thought it was Nick) back a little way. I tried kicking up my pace just a bit more and was holding my lead, then came the beginning of the end - CRASH, hard. I smacked a pedal on the last downhill switchback and got shot off the bike, smashing my forearm into a rock - instant lump. I jumped up all flustered and about 150 feet later same damn thing happened, now I gotta calm myself down a bit. After the downhill you shoot out onto the road and you're supposed to make a left back into the trail towards the finish. I say supposed to because I noticed the flags for the turn a little late and grabbed some brake and the bike washed right out from under me and I slid for about 20 feet on my left side. There goes first place, the Lowerider's guy got by me, I jump back on the bike and attack with as much as I got. 3.5 seconds back - I got my best XC finish yet 2nd place and at a place like French Creek with all the rocks and a good amount of climbing (not my strong point)

So 3 crashes later, a little clean up, some recovery drink and an excellent burger from the Nudy family - apparently they were running the concessions there. Their sons are some really fast expert racers in the MASS.

The Spokes Bike Shop team had a great day! Mike got 6th in expert, John - 1st in beginner, Lance - 2nd in Sport master 1, Lisa - 6th in beginner, Stanley - 12 in beginner.

The Emmaus crew were all camping at the park, and I was invited to chill with them for a bit. These folks really know how to camp and party - they were cooking some great food. We had some killer nachos, some steak, and a really good pasta dish with grilled salmon. Hoping to not be in too much trouble for being out all day I headed home to chill with Christine.

I think we're gonna go to the Rodale crit race tomorrow morning, my first road race. Its only 12 laps (1 mile laps) so I'm hoping to do well and ask?? for an upgrade to Cat 4. Bill gave me some pointers, so I'm thankful for that.

-matt

Big wheel vs. little wheels..

2008-05-07T17:39:00.003-04:00

Today I woke up early to ride Sals before work with Weldon, after getting only 2.5 hours of sleep. For some reason I couldn't sleep last night, so I cleaned the Caffiene and did some maintentance on my little wheel bike (Rush). I found that the seatpost was cracked right where the binder bolt is - damn carbon posts, or damn me for probably tightening it too much.

So I'm considering taking the Rush to French Creek this weekend, wondering if the suspension is a better choice than the hardtail there. So to make sure everything is all good with the bike I rode Sals, I could definately feel the difference IMMEDIATELY in the wheel size. I felt a lot closer to the ground and the bike just felt twitchy, I guess I just got used to the slower steering 29'er. I still really like the 29'er just want a little suspension.

The bike definately didn't flow the same through rock gardens, but I was appreciating the rear suspension all over again. I find myself getting fatigued on longer rides, mainly lower back area on the hardtail. So now this has me thinking of selling the Rush and maybe the Caffiene and picking up a Niner Jet9, I'm just having a hard time with the retail only pricing. I hate paying retail.

Now I'm really tired though, 2.5 hours of sleep, 1.5 hour Sals ride at 6:15am and work (well sit here) from 9am-9pm. Makes for a long day!

Thats all for now, I'll update if the bikes are getting sold and a FS 29'er is in the works.

-matt

Michaux Maximus...

2008-05-05T20:15:00.004-04:00

Saturday night I got my bike all ready to race on Sunday morning. Although I wasn't sure where I was gonna race, it was either Michaux 25 mile rocky race or 2 laps of Wawayanda (another national qualifier). I was gonna make the call Sunday morning based on weather.

I decided to take the closer drive to Gettysburg area for the Michaux Maximus 25 mile - which turned out to be the right decision weather wise. It couldn't have been nicer weather for the actual race, chilly at the start with the sun coming out shortly and warming up nicely with just enough cooling breeze.

I first did this race as a beginner XC race 2 years ago and had a blast - the promoter puts on a hell of a race. This year was no different, apparently last year though they got rid of the XC and went to just an endurance series with a 10/25/50 mile option.

Right from the start we got to race in some fresh singletrack which was cool but kinda sucked at the same time. It really seems that once it is all ridden in, that will be some really sweet singletrack. Mud and water holes were the next thing thrown at us and all I could think about was where are all the rocks I remember. I guess they had the same idea when planning the course, because before I knew it there were the rocks I was looking for.

The lead group was 3 guys and myself, with Lath Carlson and Mike Yozell passing us quickly (after starting 2 and 4 minutes later respectively). We then dropped the 4th place guy and kept on moving, next thing about 10 miles in the lead guy flats I get by him and I'm sitting in 2nd in SR. and according to the people at the course crossings I was 8th overall at probably mid-way.

A little later on the guy with the flat passed me somewhere on one of the climbs, only to catch him at Grave's Ridge (I think that's what the locals called it) where he apparently took a bad line and crashed in the rocks. That was a pretty nasty section, but also pretty fun at the same time. As it turns out that area claimed a few injuries. I really starting bombing down the next section trying to put some time between me and that guy.

After the last bit of singletrack the course turned up a dirt road to the finish which seemed to go on forever. I crossed the finish line in 2 hours 46 minutes in 3rd place in the SR class and 10th overall. Somehow the guy that crashed at Grave's Ridge, who never got by me after his crash ended up 5 minutes ahead of me and in 1st place. After talking with the promoter about it the guy admitted to never passing me, so the decision was that he must have "accidentally" cut the course and to move everyone else up a place and he gets a DNF. We all agreed and I went about our post race clean up, eat, and drinking. I was talking to Harlan and Aaron, and a few cars away I hear some yelling and swearing. I look over to see the DNF guy talking to the girl he was with, and she is flipping out about how he can't take DNF (as if there is some negotiation). He must have gone back to the promoter and said he couldn't take a DNF and now he remembers always seeing arrows wherever he was going. What nobody can figure out is how someone can win by 4-5 minutes and never pass me after their crash??

Oh well 3rd place is a great effort, what really sucks is the guy that got 2nd place should've really gotten 1st place. He wasn't around for the whole dispute out the placing. I went up for my pick of the prize table and scored a nice set of carbon flat bars.

The local contingent had a great day, Lath secured 1st in the SS class and took the overall win, Mike Yozell was 2nd in Vet and 3rd overall, Selene took 2nd in the womens class, Kim Dubeck finished her first race pace big mile event - 10th place and ahead of quite a few people, way to go Kim. She's gonna rock it at French Creek - I think she was toying with the competition.

The 50 mile race had the big guns out for some cash payouts. Here's the run down of the top guys - Chris Eatough, Jeff Schalk, TJ Platt, Jon Gwodik, Harlan Price, and Aaron Snyder. Those guys were flying with Chris in just under 4 hours for 50 miles! Topher took 1st in the SS class and 11th overall (on a freaking SS)

French Creek here we come! Apparently they made this course super hard, with about 17oo feet of climbing per lap. Boy I feel sorry for the people doing the marathon - 6 hours of rocks.

Night all.

-matt

long day...

2008-05-02T20:10:00.002-04:00

I had to drop off my wife's new car for its first service at Becker Subaru this morning. Instead of waiting for it, I brought my road bike along to pass the time. I met Brian Wacik for a ride over to the Yozell's house and pick up Erica for a ride before the Rodale lunch ride. We weaved our way through Emmaus, and headed out towards Mertztown and back to SMC to meet for the lunch ride.

14 riders showed up at the North St building for the Walker loop. I still don't know all their loops and when the sprints are and the KOM's (king of the mountains) These guys/gals are really fast, and when the sprints go - it is really on!

Back at the shop, most of the riders went back to work, Brian, Tom, and I met Christina for another ride. We did the Huffs Church loop, "rolling hill's" I was told - but after the 50 miles I had in already the "rolling hills" felt like serious climbs. We looped back to Emmaus to drop off Christina and Tom, then I rode with Brian back to his house and back to Subaru to pick up the car.

First oil change was free - now that is exciting. 80 miles later, and now I'm really tired. That was probably a little too much of a ride if I'm contemplating racing on Sunday. We'll see how tomorrow goes before I make that call.

I hope all the Lehigh Valley people find everything they are looking for at the Spring Velo Swap on Saturday. I of course have to work all day - again.

-matt

Bear Creek short track xc...

2008-04-29T23:42:00.002-04:00

South Mountain Cycles put on the first of their short track series tonight. This was my first short track race, and it hurts.

I got outta work just after 5pm and blasted over to Bear Creek to check it out, a few people were there already. I spoke with Dan on the way and he had just left work at around 5:20 and he said he was bringing the new SS 29'er. I saw Bowman at the reg table and signed up for both the sport "B" race and the expert "A" race.

I went out and pre-rode the course, about 45 seconds in following Joe Luby, I overshot a turn due to minimal brakes after Sunday's mudfest. A short time later I went into the rock garden after the bridge a little hot and went over the bars - yeah even on a 29'er it happens. I rolled back to the reg table to possibly bail out on the "A" race and just do the "B" race - I figured with my lack of brakes and I would probably be tired enough after the first race, but I'll make the call after the first race.

Chuck had us roll down to the bottom of the one road for staging. On "1" we go, and we sprint up the hill, a right turn into the singletrack for a little climbing to the log ride/balance beam. The lead group was Gunnar, Joe Luby and me, and Gunnar was rocking the course. I ended up getting by them and grabbing the lead for the next 4 or 5 laps. I averaged about 3 1/2 minute laps for 7 laps.

As I'm riding around cooling down, and hacking up a lung, Topher, Matt Miller, Matty B, Keith R, Mike Yozell, the Nudy brothers, Matty K and another guy I didn't know were getting ready to head down to the start area with Chuck, so I decided to suck it up and do the "A" race after all. Again we go on "1" and sprint was on with Mike Yozell, Topher, Matt Miller and a few others were off fast. I was feeling a little tired from the first race, but kept on moving. Matty B, Keith, Dj and I were battling it out most of the race, with the fast guys probably 15-20 seconds up ahead. I got around Keith on one of the road climbs (he was on a SS 29'er) and I had gears, and I was chasing Matty B. A lap or two later - the final lap, I catch Matty B in the rock garden - apparently he bobbled because someone was off the bike in front of him, so I got by him and sprinted up the road hill AGAIN. Chasing Dj this time, I was on his wheel and he stands up to sprint, I shift down and stand as well giving it everything, just not enough as he got me by a wheel for 4th place. The fast guys obviously stayed out front but thankfully didn't lap us - placing - Mike Yozell, Matt Miller, Topher, Dj Nudy, Me. I didn't see how the rest of that race panned out but I'm guessing Matty B came in right behind me.

After everyone cooled down, Bowman lined us up for a missing out race. There was some handicapping setup, so we spread out in the designating (by Bowman) areas. This was the first time I've done this kind of race as well, short story - I took the win after about 15 laps. There was actually a $20 prize for the missing out win - cool I've never won cash at a race, so I get my race fee back + $10.

Bowman, Chuck and I headed down to the bar and had a few beers and wings. Time to race home and hang out with Christine around a fire and eat some burnt marshmellows. Take a shower, clean out the car, take out the trash - time to sleep. Night.

-matt

how to be a man...

2008-04-29T16:26:00.003-04:00

Now this guy manned up, singlespeed cross bike at Greenbrier. I saw him come through on his 3rd lap and he was moving pretty good. I'm sure it was hell on the rocky muddy downhill - probably just ran it. He's a better man than me, I don't think SS rigid drop bars would've been too fun.

-matt

Perseverance or stupidity...

2008-04-28T12:41:00.010-04:00

Sunday morning I packed up the car and my wife, niece's and I headed to Boonsboro, MD for the AMBC Greenbrier Challenge. This race is a blast, and attracts the big dogs as it's a USA Cycling national qualifier. They had about two inches of rain just days before the race, so it was bound to be a muddy mess.

When we were close to the race I was checking the fields for standing water to get an idea of how wet were gonna get, and it didn't look too bad. I got to go out for a pre-ride with Travis and one of his teammates, and realized just how muddy we would get. However a quote for the day "mud don't stick to wet" - only a few might get that (inside joke) We rushed back to the start with minutes to spare before the start.

They sent off the 19-29 class, then my class 1 minute later. I was starting at the back of the pack, after getting there almost late. I was able to work my way up on the first climb and picked up some places. Down the next fun rocky downhill and a nice doubletrack slight downhill through some puddles (lakes) and make right turn through a deep stream crossing, up a bit of a hill I'm now 1st or 2nd, and I stupidly down shift in the back (forgetting I was in big ring up front) my X0 rear derailleur cage explodes! I jump off the bike and run up the rest of the hill and around the log at the top to pull off and assess the damage - diagnosis = not trail repairable.

I walk/run/coast out back to the start and leave my bike with The Bike Lane guys, and run to my car to get a spare cage I thought was in my tool box - which I found that I had left at home on the workbench. Damn, now what - I see Liz packing up her stuff after finishing 4th in her race, I convinced her to lend me here X9 rear derailleur. After unbolting her derailleur I run down to The Bike Lane ez-up and bolt the derailleur on and off I go to RESTART my race.

Great, I get to climb the start 3 more times. But, I have yet to DNF a race and I didn't really feel like starting now. So there I got passing everyone I can to hopefully not DFL the race, but I'm 47 minutes back at this point. I love this course though, the rocky/rooty stream downhill near the end is a blast. I think I felt a 100% better this year than last year, so my fitness must be better than this time last year.

I finished the race dead last, but I finished! My times with out the mechanical should have secured me at least a top 3 if not the win - based on how I was feeling pre-mechanical and subsequent lap times. On a more exciting note, Travis got 2nd only seconds behing the lead, his wife one her class, Mike Carter got 15th in expert 40-49, Liz took 4th place, and Aaron Snyder got 4th place in PRO! with the fastest lop time of the day.

My first DFL and hopefully my last, now I gotta order a rear derailleur and some pads from my newest sponsor Magura USA. I'm not sure what's next on the schedule, supposed to be rainy this weekend and the Campmor series starts Sunday with Wawayanda - we'll see.

-matt

bike Friday (day off)

2008-04-25T19:50:00.003-04:00

I woke up early on my day off and met Frank, Weldon, and Geoff for a Jordan ride. We busted out a 10 mile loop in about 1 hour 11 minutes - I was on the SIR9 SS. I definitely need an 18 tooth rear cog for Jordan, although I don't know if it would great for Salisbury.

After the ride, I had a doctor's appointment then headed to the chiropractor for a quick work-over. I shot back over to Emmaus to meet Brian for my 2nd ride - the brunch ride. We did Hemp Hill backwards 17ish miles in 58 minutes, just in time to stop at SMC for a post/pre ride espresso.

When we got to the shop there were a few people getting ready for the Rodale lunch ride - round 3 for me. We downed our coffee and did the Vera Cruz with Spring hill loop - 20 miles in an hour fifteen minutes. Now I'm starting to get a bit tired. Well all enjoyed some post ride coffee, while Ryan grabbed a 40 of Corona (in a paper bag) and a few of us drank on the stoop of Armetta's - what a great afternoon!

I had to head to Spokes to pick up my bike after the new internals for my Lefty SL were installed - ahhh, now you can actually lock it out. Chip also spent some time on my rear wheel which was pretty far outta true. Looks like I might need to use a beefier rim soon.

That's it for my bike Friday, although I probably should've taken it a little easier today with Greenbrier this Sunday. My wife and I went to Texas Roadhouse for diner and then ice cream afterwards - I guess that was the perfect recovery food, although I'm not sure I burned as many calories as I took in. Yeah well, now I'm gonna just chill and prolly hit the sack early.

-matt

Leesburg Bakers Dozen...

2008-04-21T14:36:00.003-04:00

Last year a few friends did the 1st Leesburg Bakers Dozen - 13 hour endurance mountain bike race, and they raved about the venue. Mike Carter and I were talking about doing it Solo, but later decided with Greenbrier next weekend, we would do a 2 person team.

My wife and I had planned on leaving around 3ish on Friday to head down to Virginia for the 2nd annual Bakers Dozen. As with all my other trips, I was running late. Strauser showed up at my while I was still getting my back up bike together - well building it actually :) Then I had to wash my main bike and get that all ready, pack the car and head out. We probably left the house by 4:30 - and encountered traffice on rt 83 which really slowed us down.

We arrived at the race around 8:00pm and found the Spokes Bike Shop banner, where the Carter's were parked - saving us a spot. We set up camp and hung out with everyone for awhile then went to sleep.

The next morning I awoke to Lisa cooking pancakes and sausage in their camper. That was really nice to have some real food before a race like this. Mike and I had our game plan set - I would start the first lap, since I usually go out pretty hard to start, and he has the steady endurance to go all day. Then we switched to 2 on 2 off laps, with Mike busting out a 3rd in his rotation. Another rotation of 2 on 2 off, then we switched to 1 on 1 off laps for the duration. Our transitions went off without a hitch (except for one) Mike came in from his last lap at 11:46pm, so I rolled through for my last lap, number 24 for us. I felt pretty slow and every log crossing seemed about 3 inches higher than the earlier laps.

I finished our 24th lap at 12:25. We ended up in 7th place, 1 lap off the leaders and 50 seconds off 6th place. I'm very stoked for where we ended up. After it was said and done - I'm not sure how fresh I'll be for Greenbrier now :)

Mike Belefonti rocked out 14 laps for 11th place solo - exactly one year after his 1st chemotherapy session and it was also his & his wife's wedding anniversary. For those who know Mike - give him some props next time you see him. Vance from our team did a 2 person team with a friend of his Donnie and ended up with 21 laps for 15th place - a very solid ride. And Brian Strauser from the Dirt Devils busted out 10 laps for his first ever endurance event, and he was on a fully rigid singlespeed Kona Unit 2-9.

So it was a great event with a great showing by the local crew! Unfortunately there was one injury that I know of, and the race director's personal Moots-x YBB was stolen. Hopefully the injured rider recovers fast and the bike is recovered.

I hope I didn't leave anything out, and I will post pictures soon.

-matt

strength vs. weakness...

2008-04-16T12:26:00.003-04:00

I was reading some of Joe Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible, and there was some info about listing your strengths and weaknesses. I'm sitting here trying to come up with at least one strength, cause I can easily list some weaknesses. I guess I'm not great the finding my positives in cycling - great another weakness :)

So yesterday and today have been some climbing to work on that weakness. I did a lap of 2,5,10 with Dan on a borrowed (sweet) Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel. After the road, I threw my pedals back on the 29'er and did a lap up at South Mountain Emmaus - and I got a little lost. I don't know that network of trails too well, but in keeping with the weakness theme I did some climbing!

This morning we had to show up to work at 6:30 AM!! to attend a Employee of the Quarter breakfast. I usually have to show up at 9am - so after the meeting I jumped on my road bike and busted out another 2,5,10 lap in around 45 minutes. After my ride I got to have a coffee at SMC with Dan, Bill Strickland, and Mark Bowman. Bill just got back from Belgium, enjoying some classic cycling for 2.5 weeks (I'm sure we're all envious) Apparently he got to have lunch with a legend of cycling - read about it here.

For those that don't know what 2,5,10 is, it's 2nd, 5th and 10th streets in Emmaus, PA. It is a little over 10 miles and about 1500 ft of climb. 2nd is long and sustained, 5th is shorter with one steep turn, and 10th is a bear something like 21-22% grade I believe.

Now I gotta work till 9pm - and I'm tired, more so from just being here at 6:30 and not so much the riding. The weather was looking great for the Leesburg Bakers Dozen this weekend, however now they are calling for some showers on Saturday there. I'm hoping everything holds weather wise - cause 13 hours on wet trails might suck.

-matt

Bike Line Fair Hill xc...

2008-04-13T17:44:00.003-04:00

Well the first XC race is on the books. After all the ball bustin' from Dan about sandbagging, I guess it's a good thing I didn't upgrade to expert. Guess I'm gonna save that for later in the season.

I finished 7th out of 31 finishers, pretty tired after the first lap but was doing OK at that point. The second lap was a different story, I can never be consistent on my lap times and this time was no different, adding 2.5 minutes to my 1st lap time. So now I need to work on some distance and intensity I guess.

Any input on how to not drop off that much between laps, I was sitting 2nd or 3rd after the first lap - but then drop off pretty hard from there. I've done some longer rides, some fast rides and some slow rides. Any help would be great.

It was great to see everyone out there, and Bike Line put on a great venue. Next up Leesburg Baker's Dozen.

-matt

Fair Hill XC!!!

2008-04-12T21:30:00.003-04:00

Well the rain we were supposed to get bypassed us!! Fair Hill is on for tomorrow morning. The car is packed, sandwiches are made, bottles are mixed and I'm gonna get some rest.

Good luck to all Fair Hill racers.

-matt

Fair Hill not so Fair???

2008-04-10T00:26:00.003-04:00

So the kick off XC race to the Mid Atlantic Super Series doesn't look to be shaping up to Fair. Hopefully this weather will blow through here quickly without too much rainfall and they keep this race for this Sunday.

Apparently this is one of the shine only events, so no pre-registration on BikeReg for me. Let's all hope for the best on this one.

-matt

Team relay representin'...

2008-04-06T18:52:00.003-04:00

Today was the M.A.S.S. Season opener - The Team Relay at Marysville.

The Spoke's Bike Shop team was in full force with a full 2 teams representing the shop. We had Team A - Mike, Vance, Mike B. and myself and Team B - Aaron, Tom, Lisa and Stanley. Our "B" team was full of beginner racers with a ton of heart, and they did great. Our "A" team was kicking it in gear - going back and forth with some of the Bean's team.

Mike Carter led off our team with the Le Mans start (he hates running) We made the tag without a hitch - or the running tag that some teams were doing later in the day. We went through the rotation a full 3 times and Mike B. got back in just enough time for Mike C. to head out for his 4th and final lap for the team.

It seems as if everyone had a blast with very little incidents of crashing, at least during the race (we had a few casualties on the pre-ride). After we were all gathered at the team pit ez up, we grilled some burgers and dogs and ate some great greasy recovery food.

This was definitely a kick ass venue - thanks to Mike Kuhn, the Oesterling's, and the rest of the VisitPA team! It was great to see all the people I've met throughout the past two years of racing. Happy 33rd birthday to Kim Dubeck who was partying it up typical Bean's style - and she had her own band on site - well her brother's and and they rocked! Since I was fried at the end of the race I didn't catch their name so if someone could let me know the name, I'd appreciate that.

Now I'm tired & somewhat sick, I think I've got some sort of cold brewing. Should be a full blown cold by Fair Hill. Night all.

-matt

Blue Marsh & Team Ride...

2008-03-30T19:21:00.002-04:00

This morning I was planning on heading to Fair Hill for a pre-ride of the race loop, only its about 2 hours away and I woke up just in time to be late :) So instead of rushing around I hooked up with Mike for a loop at Blue Marsh - well Mike will tell you I was still rushing around since I'm always late, but only 3 minutes this time.

Conditions were excellent with only a few trees down to go over/around. After the ride we headed up to the Hamburg water reservoir to meet a few of the team members for a little climb up the Pinnacle. A hiker was kind enough to take our picture after watching me fumble around with the self-timer and how to setup the shot.

Spokes Bike Shop Team - (most of them) from left to right. Stanley - beginner, Austin (Mike's son and support staff), John - beginner, Aaron - beginner, Mike - expert & me - sport.

Time for me to take some time off the bike for a few days since I'm still feeling kinda tired, before the Team Relay.

-matt

Duck season, wabbit season??

2008-03-29T19:52:00.003-04:00

Actually today was the first day of fishing season. This is one thing I never really understood, the only fun part seems to be drinking at 7am. I got outta the house early before work and did an hour ride at Jordan creek.

As I rounded the corner near the gardening area at Jordan, I could've sworn there was some sort of cult meeting going on. There were tents, campfires, and a bunch of camouflage clad fisherman. As I've never been a fisherman - what the heck are they hiding from?

Today would've been a perfect day for a bell, which is something I've never had on a bike. I got really tired of having to ask people to move please, plus most of them looked at me with the same confused look I had when seeing them out there by the hundreds.

Tomorrow I might end up going out to pre-ride Fair Hill or stay local and do a lap at Blue Marsh. I hope everyone enjoys the nice weather we're supposed to have tomorrow.

-matt

tired legs..

2008-03-26T14:53:00.002-04:00

I went for a road ride on Tuesday morning - 21.8 miles 1:22 ride time with only a 132 avg hr. I was feeling really sluggish and couldn't really get my HR up. Guess I needed to either do a recovery ride after Sunday or what?? I felt like I was working hard but just didn't have the legs for it.

I hope as the weather starts to warm up I start feeling more like getting out there on a more frequent basis. Although I'm sure everyone around is waiting for that day!

-matt

X-rays...

2008-03-24T13:37:00.002-04:00

I went to get x-rays for my rib this morning since I had trouble even sleeping and breathing deeply. Turns out I don't have broken rib - just a pulled/torn muscle between two ribs. Still takes awhile to heal though, and the MASS Team relay is just 2 short weeks away. Then Leesburg, followed by Greenbrier, this should prove to be a pain in the *ss injury.

-matt

Fit results...

2008-03-23T20:56:00.003-04:00

I woke up this morning with a very sore rib that I had hurt last week then re-aggravated Thursday night. I planned on riding the Derby in Trexlertown, but was really considering bailing with it being 29* and being sore. I figured I had to get out and try the new insoles and bike fit to review the changes.

I met Steve S. at SMC, we were supposed to meet Bill Strickland there, but he didn't come out to play in the wind. We rolled out of the parking lot at 9:15 and I could almost instantly feel the difference in my pedaling with the Aline's. What I also noticed was how much easier it was to reach the hoods & drops.

After the ride I got back to the Velodrome and shot the breeze with Vegan Rob before he was heading out to the Sunday Bike Line crits. I headed back to SMC solo and felt pretty good.

Details - 52.7 miles 3:01 total time, 17.3 average. With a 20.2 average just on the Derby loop 32.7 miles, 1:36 ride time.

I think once my legs are fresh and a non-injured rib I will be able to determine the differences in the fit. But feeling the rib while standing and sometimes while breathing had to slow me down some - and this was about the fastest time I've done on this loop.

More details to come on the differences in the 29'er fit.

-matt

Bike fitting...

2008-03-23T20:33:00.004-04:00

Friday night after the Lehigh/Sals ride I went to Easton, PA for a bike fit at the recommendation of Matt Miller. John Strom / Cycle Fitters, recently started a business doing bike fits, and A-Line insoles. I set an appointment to have both my road bike and 29'er fitted.

Once I finally found John's place, after making a wrong turn due to the GPS thinking a rode went through an area it doesn't, I was greeted by John from his garage/fitting studio. He's got a pretty cool setup going on his shop, very clean and professional atmosphere. John offered my a bottle of water and asked a bunch of questions, took some body measurements, and some range of motion tests.

Once all that is completed he checked for the need of the A-Line insoles but measuring arch drop from a seated to standing position. They have a really cool fitting stand for the insoles that shines a laser up your leg without the use of the insoles to demonstrate how far out of alignment you are. When you stand on the correct insoles the lasers are then shined again to show the correct alignment - what a difference.

After we were all setup with the insoles we moved on to the bikes. We loaded the road bike on the trainer, and John took some measurements of the bike for a before/after comparison. First thing checked was seating position - then all other settings are derived from the correct seat location. John then installed a really cool "Size-o-matic" stem which adjusts to every length and rise angles to get the correct position on the bike. So we shortened the stem by 10mm and flipped it from -5* to +5* rise, rolled the bars back a little and moved the levers back up to compensate for the bar angle. This really helped with getting in the drops and riding on the hoods much more comfortable, hopefully eliminating some neck/shoulder pain I've been having. Now the after measurement are recorded for future reference.

Next up, 29'er - we used a spare wheel with a road tire on it so the bike would fit on the trainer. More measurements, lowered the seat a bit and again shortened the stem 10mm as well. That should take care of some lower back issues which I thought were maybe caused by riding a hardtail.

When finished John showed me how to replicate these setting onto other bikes, which is really helpful. I was also told that if I have any issues for I believe a year that there wouldn't be any charge for corrections, another great benefit.

Check out John's website for more info and contact information. I think he is running a special right now!

-matt

double the fun...

2008-03-23T20:21:00.005-04:00

Mike Carter and I decided to go out Friday morning and give him a tour of Lehigh. When we were starting is was still pretty damn cold - however, there was another guy there just starting out in shorts and a t-shirt?? We were all bundled up, winter gloves and hats. The conditions were amazing after the rain we had the day or two before, but Lehigh is always the best place to ride after rain (a lot of rocks) It seems like Mike really liked Superman (long switch back technical climb) and he made it through with only 2 dabs!

Then we planned on riding over to Sals for a loop. It was still a bit cold in the late morning, early afternoon so we drove over to Sals. On the way we stopped for some much needed fuel at WaWa. This loop was a little faster than the Lehigh loop, a little more flow here. After the switchbacks we went through the Boulder trail, Mike had a few dabs and I cleaned the whole thing, probably only the 2nd time I've cleaned it!

We only got in 18 miles in 3.5 hours with around 4000 feet of climbing. We both felt about as tired as a few weeks ago at Camp Hilbert.

-matt

Testing 1,2,3..

2008-03-18T21:38:00.004-04:00

I saw this on someone else's blog then it turned up on the Dirt Devils list. I thought it was really cool, and I'm sure a lot of you have already seen it but what the hell.

These two are from another chapter in my life - which I have put on hold since cycling. With my hours at work it's very difficult to devote time to more than one two wheeled addiction in my life.

Both motorcyclists and bicyclists are invisible to the average person - lets fight back!

-matt

Hills..

2008-03-18T11:38:00.004-04:00

Today is an important day! I finally woke up early and started my riding before work routine that I was fairly gung ho about last year.

Dan and I did some hill hunting around Emmaus at about 6:30 this morning. I felt really strong on some fairly long steady hills, some quite steep. I'm glad Dan posted a ride for the AM as it's supposed to rain late afternoon through tomorrow.

Ride details: 15.28 miles, 2240 total ascent, 1:19 ride time

-matt

Sals in lieu of French Creek..

2008-03-16T22:14:00.002-04:00

The weather man was calling for rain last night into this morning and they were right for a change. The plan was to do 2 laps of the French Creek race loop - plan was canceled due to weather.

Fortunately Dan posted up a Sals ride for 2pm, after the rain and let it warm up a bit. The ride started out at Dodson with 5 or 6 of us, Ian was lagging off the back after a long winter of not riding. We sent him out the road before the switchbacks, now the group is really starting to break up as Luby Jr broke his freehub - another one bites the dust.

Somewhere between the Boulder Trail and the Three Bitches we picked up a really strong SS Redline rider - this guy was rocking the climbs! Finishing the loop back at Dodson for a refuel and lap 2, unfortunately the others had to head off to other Sunday things. Dan, SS'er, and I headed back toward St. Lukes at a fast pace, dropping off the SS'er for his commute home. We then went out to finish the 2nd loop at a very brisk pace.

Earlier in the ride was saw some assclowns riding dirt bikes and ATV's at Constitution, as we rolled through again the police were there questioning/arresting? the ATV'ers. Dan was running on empty both time and legs, so we boogied the Spanky bypass and took the road up from there back to the cars.

Just as I was driving home it started raining, what great timing! I got in just under 3 hours for the day and was really digging the new bike, while trying out some lower tire pressures with the Stan's wheelset.

Bed time now.

-matt

New job?

2008-03-14T22:19:00.006-04:00

I think I'm gonna start looking for a job as a weather man. Its probably the only career where you're able to be wrong a majority of time and still get paid.

Today I love the weather men for being wrong this afternoon - what do they know anyway?? It was supposed to rain from the afternoon on, wrong. Thankfully they were wrong, as I got out for about two and half spectacular hours on the road. The weather was amazing - almost shorts and short sleeve jersey.

After the ride, I got a well deserved massage (no, not the happy ending kind) after the long race and week at work. I'm feeling great now, got some good chinese take out and some chocolate.

Kim mentioned chocolate covered coconut eggs, and coincidentally my wife had just brought some home from one of her co-workers. Boy are these things good, she also got some peanut butter ones too!

-matt