Sweet Nothings

I was just thinking to myself, "holy shit, is it still freakin monday?" Then I realized it wasn't anymore.

Being awake at 2 in the morning is soooo good for recovery.

Somebody pointed out to me that my posts are pretty hard to get through. That I tend to write more about my angst, frustrations, and whatever all that shit is. Trends in my life I suppose. Yeah....okay, I understand. Two-shay. I'm probably not worth the time. If only I wrote that somewhere..... Anyways, race reports are pretty damn boring. Hearing about the whatever time I've seen 1300 watts on my power meter and how that still means I suck is pretty damn boring. Hearing about me getting my ass kicked every weekend is pretty damn boring. Hopefully hearing about me sleeping in my car, scratching race entries in the parking lot before I can register, sleeping in weird places, brushing my teeth in parking lots, and struggling to live may be a bit more interesting?

Yeah, its one of those nights. Why else would I be up at 2am? I sure as hell don't party.

That was pretty cynical.

Cool shit going on?
-I won a sprint(I suck at sprinting)
-I got the first call up at an elite race(yeah it was small...pipe dreams bitches.)
-The last race of the PA Cross Series just went live on bikereg a few days ago. December 5th. Check it out and go register awhile. It's gonna be sweet...you all know you missed out at Long Pine....ask anyone who went. You missed it because you didn't go. Don't let that happen again.

For race reports and strictly bike shit, go check out my other websites....cause this one ain't changin'.

http://fastforwarddevoteam.blogspot.com
http://www.fastforwardracingproductions.com

I'd say good night, but I suppose Buenos dias is more in style? It's not like I'm going to sleep anyway.

Bucket list for the rest of the year:
-pass a few classes
-go to one race with uncle don.....
-start rock climbing again
-actually get out in the kayak a second time this year
-take that trip down to the smokies we are planning


The beginning of the week always sucks. I think I have an operant conditioning ws due in a few hours....I should get on that.

hmm hmm hmm hmm

I'm ready for this semester to be over.

I'm kind of in a lull right now....despite the fact that so much is going on in my life right now.

I've been pretty energized to get some paperwork done lately.

Racing hasn't been going great. I get it, taking my lumps. I got it. Thanks.

November is a busy ass month for racing. I don't have a free weekend until Nationals. Yes I'm not going to nationals...and i think I'm going to cut my season that first weekend in december. What would I do with a free weekend anyways? I'd be bored....probably go to a race or something. 12 down-10 to go. that will make ....a lot for the season. Something like....over 40 races this year. Doesn't feel like I've raced all that much though. I can hardly remember the winter though....seems like a lifetime ago.

I'm thinking a paddling trip down south where its pretty warm.....

My advice to all those young (and old) men out there," stay away from the fairer sex". Seriously. I just don't want to mess with them. Like a little kid that got the shit kicked out of him for sticking his fingers in the cookie jar.

My realization of how overall weak I am is pretty pathetic. We've been doing some testing in one of my kinesiology classes.....my forearms are bigger than my biceps. Today I played raquetball for an hour and a half with the experience.....let me say wow- props to him for putting up with my lame ass. Ever seen a puppy tripping over his feet trying to play fetch?? I need to do some non-specific exercise(by non-specific I mean NOT cycling) like.....rock climbing, kayaking, more raquetball, hiking, rollerblading, cow tipping.....you get the idea.


Uhm......sleep time. Oh so important.

Coast to Coast: Bays, Bridges, Moose, and ..... Mud?

What can I say about all of this? I constantly think of good things to write about in my blog.....but hence, those ideas never make it onto here anymore. I get so side tracked and bogged down that el bloggo takes the back seat....after all its only a blog. "Let me fill you in....no, there is no time. Let me Summarize." Anyone know the quote? Here's a clue, my name in Inigo Montoya.

This recent adventure began a few weeks ago, when I made the decision to skip a week or so of school and adventure off on some career building excursions. Maybe we should consider it 2 weeks worth of time....its not but it sure feels like it. I took a lead on working a camp with peaks coaching group (taking a week off of school to do so) and thats where this really became an expedition. Shall we take a step back?

Iron Cross.
Epic Fall Ride.
Cold shitty weather came in. Felt like it was straight out of a Decemberist song.
Friday October 16th:
I stand in line at the Airport not quite sure of what I was abotu to go through in the dreaded "security aisle." It wasn't THAT bad...small airport etc. Hopped on a 2 prop plane and jet set towards the west coast. A few flights, transfers, trains and conversations later, I was sitting on a concrete pillar outside a train station waiting for a man named Matthew Fritzinger to come pick me up. Matt was definitly more than I expected....honestly I'm not sure what I expected. With a familiar aire, we rattled off stories and backgrounds all through the drive to his place and then the walk to and from a little mexican joint. Cheap ass burritos are the best. Anyways, they hooked me up way good out there and I learned a ton. Really good to see it from their perspective(the side I'm used to broadcast in a different way) as well as from the "coaches" side. I should fill you in on a little detail I guess. I flew out to san francisco to attend the NorCal Mountain Bike Leagues "Leadership Summit". It is bascially an educational conference for people interested in being part of the NorCal league. I talked with a ton of people, made a bunch of good connections, and really enjoyed the weekend.







A million hours later I awoke to my name being called over the loudspeaker at the airport in Chicago. LAST CALL FOR BOARDING. ZACHARY ADAMS PLEASE REPORT TO BOARDING NOW. LAST CALL! As I awoke and grabbed my bags I sprinted out the door and onto the steps of our small jet one last time. Damn that was close. It was somewhere around 6-7am and I had been in an airport since 7pm the night before. After a slight delay I exited the airport in PA with a tight schedule to make it to the camp before they departed on their first ride! Another close call!

I love working training camps. The people are always great and I think that it is one of the best environments to have an impact on the athletes that you work with. Also, Hunter Allen was the head coach....you may have heard of him? He literally wrote the book on training with power. Not even kidding. Awesome stuff. Very talented with interpreting qualitative data in how it relates to an athlete. Impressive. It really was a great group of people and a great way to spend a week, even though I had no time whatsoever to get anything done for myself.

Friday evening I was pulling into a driveway with a Bass shaped mailbox. I should have known it was your driveway with the fish....why not? It's 6:30pm and we have an 8 hour drive ahead of us that would stretch out to 9 and a half hours due to rediculous amounts of rain. oh yeah....why not? What a travel partner I had found. "They" took charge of the shotgun spot: adjusting the temperature, calling out dunkin doughnuts', deciphering tolls, and singing in duet to all those catchy songs on our ipods (even sang out of tune to make me feel that much better about my own pitch predicament ;-D). Indeed it was a good time. After a midnight stop and sleep in the never ending Connecticut(and a DD stop in the morning), we were on our way to the rainy lands of maine. I knew it was gonna be a muddy day. It was COLD, holy crap was it ever COLD. And sloppy muddy as well. There was Mud everywhere! With large mudholes concealing hidden treasure in the woods sections....slimy climbs, shoulder seperating descents, and all the power sections you can handle. My elite U23 punk ass gets by on racing guile and technique. I am by no stretch of the imagination the strongest guy out there....or even in that realm. I was outclassed from the start....whatever I made up in handling I was losing in the power sections. I don't have endless power believe it or not. I was hoping to snag soem uci points, but instead I didn't even crack the top 20.....22nd to be specific, 4th u23(1st won the whole race). I wasn't getting lapped, even on an unstellar day....that I am happy about. I didn't warm up until 3 to go, and I learned some very valuable lessons....and was left with mud in my eye. How do you keep your feet warm on days like that???? It's impossible. My travel buddy was treated to the post mud/cold fest race routine of the strip and sit.....where you cross the line, go to your car, turn it on, strip buck naked(bar the towel) and wash the cakes of mud off as fast as you can and then go sit in the front seat and scream while your body warms up and reminds you that it hates your guts for being such a fool. I like that maneuver.....not. Anyways.....it was an awesome time and I was smiling like a fool my last 2 laps despite the manure soaked sawdust I got in my eye going into the barriers. The rest of the evening was spent checking in to the B and B, eating at the Thai Dish in Auburn, and trashing a laundromat with my still mud caked race clothes and assorted goodies. Fun Fun. I woke up in a pretty decent mood the next morning but quickly figured out just how lathargic and uninvigorated I truly was. It was a fight from there. Lets skip the next 6 hours. We left the venue, and quickly searched the exits for what we were looking for. soon we found it and stopped at the Old Orchard Beach for a nice relaxing walk. The sand was pretty warm(btw sunday was gorgeous weather) but the water was FREEZING! Found some wet dogs playing surf monkey, seashells, and some cool looking driftwood.....and hit the road one last time. The surf was really aggressive while we were though and it was pretty awesome to watch. I managed to drive the whole way back without getting too awful tired until the last hour and a half or so, thats why company makes the difference. Made it from maine to PA on one tank of gas....not to whole trip but that stretch mind you....I'm very happy about that. No lobster. No Moose. Bad performance on my part. But a great trip nonetheless.....thats what its about anyways right? Maine is pretty cool, and that was my first time in the state.



I should now take the time to tought the B and B we stayed at. It was awesome and the hosts were GREAT! We weren't very timely, or convienient to host, but they were great and very very personable. I would surely go back. Good breakfast, great house, and best of all it was priced very affordable(If i can afford it, anyone can!) That would be the Chandler House B and B in new Gloucester ME, check them out at www.chandlerhouse-bedandbreakfast.com Al and Sharron are great hosts!

I'll add a few pics, but I'll try and keep it short.

Grab a bowl of popcorn kiddos.

This might as well cover a few days, and it might as well say a few things, and it might as well go on a ways.

Iron cross was last weekend...what an event. i really look up to mark and the other fella's for breeding such a stellar event, it truly is awesome. I love both of these races this weekend, home grown and good fun.

I showed up to surprisingly no work to do on the course on friday afternoon after a few exams. Thats a shocker, it got done so quick this year. Props go out to the good help from the World Cup guys for that. i rode a few laps and got in some openers real quick as aaron headed to the orchards for some fruits. He had perfect timing and pulled in as I was getting in my car to pull out. We headed on up to bretts for some good food and a lovely fire(despite the rain), and amazing company per usual. Always a good time. Back to the camp for some pillow talk and a morning that came way too soon.

I woke my ass up nice and early to lead 8 people around the course for a Pre-race skills clinic. I thought it went pretty well. Then I got some breakfast and shot a bunch of pics during the C race for don. Spent the rest of the day doing a number of things, including my favorite, the lil belgians race. Good times.

I got ready to do my thing in our race....not sure of who would be there, nervous, anxious, calm, and ready all in one. Lets go do it. the time before the race was quite anti-climactic, with there only being 5 of us rumored to be racing the elite field. We lined up and headed up the line. I told everyone we would take it easy the first lap so we wouldn't have to race the entire 60 minutes.....hah, like that ever works. I believe I might have taken the hole shot, only to relinquish it in the sand pit like a turd....got my front wheel off my line. Anyways, I got really into it, as we all do. We were clipping along nice and smooth, picking up the pace the entire time. A group of 3, hebe, aaron, and i, established a solid break by the end of the first lap, with hebe and I switching pulls everywhere we decided to. I'll be honest....I was trying to throw down some accelerations and be sneaky, but it wasn't working and they were always glued to my wheel. I was worried about Aaron and trying to drop him early. I knew I wouldn't be able to win a sprint against either of them....I am so not a sprinter, and in all honesty they are probably faster than I am. I made a move on the long gravel road climb somewhere in the middle of the race. I was on hebe's wheel and slipped to the other side of the road, aaron quickly got onto hebe's wheel.....I didn't like just sitting off to the side so I decided to stand up and put something down. I saw a hesitation and I threw a little more punch into it. As we got onto the grass, Gunnar yells, "Zach! You dropped the old guy!" I'm thinking, "shit....not the one i wanted to drop....now what?" Aaron was dangling between us.....So I went again. I layed it down through some corners and punched it out of them through the sand pit and up another climb. I got a nice little gap. After going through the spiral of death and teh finish line I saw "5 to go". Okay, Shit.....that sucks. I wasn't meaning to attack really, and now that I had I was out. Alone. In the front. With half the race to go still. Whatever. Spent a few laps going hard, backed it off a lap and a half and then went hard the last 2 laps. I just tried to focus on throwing down power through my transitions, up the climbs, and being really smooth everywhere else...and pedaling. Always pedaling. Never stopping. Never. Except that one time.... Don told be today there was an electricity in my win....he could feel it. Well i could too. It's a special win. I fully understand it was 5 of us. I know it was a joke win. Thats not really why...its where I was and who I was racing for.
At the risk of being redundant, all of my mentors were there: All the guys that stuck with me and really helped get me to where and who I am right now. Laser, Pagano, Hebe, Kuhn, and Wiser, all were there. My mom and my grandparents were there: despite my disappointing performance last year. Hell there was even my 6th grade school nurse, when I was really sick and overweight. YBR was my first club, I've always gone to IC lite....i haven't missed it yet. There was something special about being that first elite across the line....like saying, "This is why you guys stuck it out with me. This is the day you get to see what you've made." Had jeremiah raced.....it wouldn't have been the same...but it is what it is.
Anyays.....enough about that.....

Today was AMAZING. This was what I've been needing for a long time. After yesterdays veg session(I slept all day long....didn't do a damn thing) I was in need of motivation today. i had a ride planned for today, but everyone bailed...and I'm really glad they did. Don and I decided to ride together at like midnight last night....good choice. I don't get the one on one time with him I'd like to anymore. Today was good. in our classic fashion, we met, rode, finished, he'd go home, and I'd ride more. He has work, I don't....I'm the lucky one. We rode an hour and a half together before he had to leave. i rode another 5.25 hours after that. Yeah, a solid 6:45 on the bike. In the middle of cross season none the less. The weather was perfect, I felt good, and it gave me some much much much needed zen time on the bike. Those long solo rides are a god-send. SOOOO instead of giving a fully detailed ride analysis with detailed instructions for the best ride ever, we shall play a little game instead. I like to call this game: "Recognize the trail" I'll start at the beginning of my ride and finish at the same place. Ready? Here we go.








Did I find a southern belle? I'm quite intrigued in this.

Not enough words.

Same week, same routine, new races

It really seems....well hell, its not the least bit surprising of a thought, but my life is really revolving around racing right now. On the up and up, its awesome, makes the week fly by, and helps pull everything together. On the slant, its not a fulfilling endeavor in the other 3% of life's essential needs.

On a tangent from this past weekend, the area around frederick and hagerstown MD is absolutely beautiful. As I wound through the back roads to sundays race, i couldn't help think how much I would enjoy living there. Gorgeous. Centralized.

On another tangent from this weekend, I feel like a bus backed over me and a gnome pounced on the muscles encasing my shoulder blade. FML.

Mondays suck for two reasons:
1) the pain from the weekend truly settles in, and
2) you can't stop eating!

Accumulative results from the weekend score a 9th and a disappointing 12th. It was disappointing because I had clawed my way into 5th place at one point only to crash back to 7th and again back to 9th only to loose hope and 2 spots in the last lap. I always fight to the end, but I just didn't have it in the end. Both days were very hard courses......as always. Here's a secret, they are ALL hard.

This weekend marks the seventh annual iron cross and iron cross light, of which i am involved. I'll be racing saturday and am stoked. It will mark my last local race for 3 weeks and my 8th cross race of the season already.

Cross is boss. Long live cross.

Taking the long way home

Things are so much better than last year....primarily due to the driving situation. It's nice to be less than 2 hours away from where you live on a sunday evening, especially when you are beat to hell, only wanting to sleep. In fact it's amazing that I still really enjoy traveling after that drowning pool of driving.

The last two weekends I've taken the long way home from the races. Last sunday, after shooting northward home on I-83, I popped off in york, opting to drive the two-lane, back country highway home. It was dark, so the scenery was null however it was nice to take the long way and feel no pressure about it. Last night after riveting up rt 15 home from ed sanders, I opted for the orchard tour along rt 94. Large rolling hills spackled with orchards the whole way, breaking way for the back side of michaux to shine in all of its splendor.

This weekend was pretty damn cool. Even though I didn't make it in time to see all of gunnars race, I still got to see the boys shredding it up and start pitting for the masters. I got ready to go after watching several laps from inside the pits, and caught the warm up after their race. One lap behind hebe, nice and easy....almost anyways. Good preview, sweet course. Yes it was wide open. Yes there were alot of straights, BUT I totally dig it. There was alot of really good stuff about that course. All the steep pitches were pretty cool, requiring good technique to not explode your legs by the end of 60 minutes. Very high speed chicane sections where you can really curve corners are one of my most favorite things to have to ride. Throw in a small circle of death, super fast barriers and a ripping fast woods descent and you have yourself a kick ass day on a bike. I'll streamline my likes and dislikes:

Likes
1. The course
2. Making Consorto freak out about how excited I was to be racing my bike....he thought I had snorted something before our warm-up. If you have ever been around me at the start line of enough races, you know what I'm talking about.
3. Running over consorto after he plowed through Kahlenberg resulting in a large pile up
4. Racing competitively with my mentors
5. Taking a top 5(4th) in an elite race. I totally understand that its a small little local race, but there were plenty of fast guys there, and I'm just stoked about it. I didn't get many top 5's last year....It's very nice for a change.
6. My wheelset.
7. Cash payout

Dislikes
1. Running over consorto after he plowed through Kahlenberg resulting in a large pile up. Weak.
2. .........

After a trip down to stay with marc in fairhill, yes I'm refering to it as fairhill, thats the closest palce around, I was getting a little wierded out about sunday. When I got out of the car I was having some issues walking without a limp. Limp-waddling through the grocery store and spending most of my winnings was awkward. Anyways, we went out to get burritos/tacos/whatever at some place in Newark on the drag. I forget the name now....at least for the moment. It wasn't el jefe's(sp?). Marc's house is one of the places that I truly feel comfortable at night. I totally don't know what it is about that place.....maybe deep down inside its a sense of future familiarity??? Getting woken up in the morning by the dogs seals the deal. I was asleep by 10 with the alarm going off at 7 and the dogs at 6ish. Count it up, thats a little over 9 hours of sleep with how much i laid around after the alarm. Layla was snuggling very contently with her head ont he pillow until she got the urge to start rolling around....that told me it was time to get up.
"Layla, thats enough of that, lets go, get down."
"DOGS COME ON!" [from downstairs]
Good times.

Thanks to Anthony of cyclingcaptured.com for the photo's.

After a rainy ass drive, and a super too close for comfort driving maneuver...we were at the venue, and I was running for the closest tree. Wow...that was a long one. [not the drive] So there were a LOT of fast people there on sunday at ed sanders....alot of FAST people that did NOT race on saturday. It was kinda muddy too, with two sections I decided to run and one I decided to mash through most laps. After having raced there four times now....I finally did the dirty. I went swimmin' during my race. Gag me with a spoon Dick Tracey[a DIRECT quote from one of my professors that I just had to fit in there somewhere]. Got in the wrong rut and wasn't able to save it. I had one of the worst bonks in a long time after that race, having exploded with 3 to go, barely hanging in there; losing 3 spots in 3 laps. I barely made it back up to my car...crawling the last 15 feet to open my door and chug gu from the jug....laying on my back watching the sky spin for 15 mintues until I could walk again. Inside fucking out. To be honest, I still feel really wierd, and it will take a few days for my body to straighten itself out again. My stomach got f'd up son. Anyways, highlights and stage frights:
Likes:
1. Having joe jeffeson announcing the back half of the course, with a bunch of raggamuffins and beer feeds...now thats CROSS.
2. NCVC putting together an awesome EVENT for the following three sub-reasons:
i. Cash payout
ii. Smooth registration and results
iii. Very cute(unfortunately a tad bit young)girl handing out the prizes(more beer[get the pattern of cross?]).
3. Signing waivers for young kids like I used to beg people to do. The circle is nearing completion. I love that.

Dislikes:
1. not taking a backup gu with me during the race. Maybe have pulled off a 6th or 7th if I had...and might not have swam. Would, could, should....won't be doing it again.
2. that bad ass bonk.
3. having work to do on sunday nights.

This should be an interesting enough week...
to do list??:
-paperwork for mtb season
-paperwork for my decemeber 5th race!
-bike polo round 2
-homemade salsa?
-some kick ass mountain biking in the woods of colour
-getting ready for next weekend(my bikes are already washed!!! :-D)

Still looking to sell my 56cm FORT cross bike. Complete bike, $300.

Now more homework and 3 hours of classes..... :-\