bike Friday (day off)

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...

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...

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...

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!!!

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???

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'...

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