Igor the Esoteric

Save the Dol.....Sharks?

2012-02-10T11:28:00.004-05:00

Fin Free Short Film from Maja Zonjic on Vimeo.

There's always a "Save the Something" campaign going on. Always. Throw in "support the random tragically impacted people" campaigns and we are probably exposed to a give us something for something important and sad platform every day. Don't get me wrong, I'm for giving back to your local causes and helping those around you. I think it's sad that whales are hunted for idiotic purposes (I respect it when its justified by groups like the traditional peoples way up north), but I'm not running away to join in on whale wars. Often or not causes make marginal change. Change comes from individual choices that affect a difference in normal actions. You help a senior get their groceries because you see them struggle, their neighbor helps them take them inside for the same reason, and so make change. They say it up there, feel free to think globally but acting locally is what does it. Don't go to McDonalds for coffee, make it at home- they'll have to close a few chain stores and then we'll have one in carlisle instead of 8 or 10.

We are dicking ourselves over with the choices we make. I think we have gotten desensitized to these "tragedies" that go on since we see so many. I'm not thinking about them as tragedies that go on anymore, but rather as the consequences to really bad decisions that humans have made. There's plenty more to come. The Mayans may have just run out of room to carve more days into their wheel, but you have to admit we aren't far from something catastrophic occurring. You think that a little recession is bad? The US spent plenty of time in recession around the turn of the last century. There were panics all throughout the turn of the century with mild to a little worse depressions. 100 years ago we were in world war one. 10 years later we were in one of the worst situations we've seen. Good things like FDR, the civilian conservation core, and other little projects came out of the upswing, but the great depression was hard core. Everyone thinks about the financial problems of the gerat depression, but there was more to it than that. It's usually seperated into two segments in history books, but the Dust Bowl (not a football game) was just as rough and was going on simultaneously. The rush of homesteaders out to the midwest and great plains had tilled up so much grassland in 50 years that the soil composition was destroyed and without the root structure, all the topsoil blew away causing those huge dust storms by wicked winds. Bad planning, poor choices, and financial ruin. Mother nature did some cleansing to the ill-prepared.

That was 100 years ago. What we're doing now is exponentially worse. Wtf do you think is going to happen? We're killing everything off, pissing off each other, making the dollar worthless, and mother nature will cleanse the earth of the ill-prepared or otherwise pre-disposed. Thirty+ degree temperature swings. Erratic weather. It's nothing new. Go nature, clean the chalkboard.

Soapbox rant done.

Out of Habit

2012-02-07T21:16:00.002-05:00

Not like " I do that because of of my habits", but a bit more like "Man I'm not in my normal habit." I think I came to a conclusion on why I stopped blogging. (Blogging being the habit that I've fallen astray of).

It's been a few pivotal years of my life in hindsight. Things known and unknown. If you're my senior, I suppose you can say "no shit." You all know what those years were like when you had to grow up, so I suppose I don't need to go into all of that. The pressure of everything kind of gets to me sometimes. Okay well....the pressures of everything REALLY got to me for awhile. I don't dare say things are smoother these days, but they are certainly more level keeled. Of that I'd like to hope is true. I'm certainly glad I got through that teenage/college-age depression kick without loosing all my marbles. I guess it all came down to not being able to write about things when you aren't sure where you stand. Being overwhelmed is a gnarly writers block: with so many things to say, but no words to say them.

Running away out west has played a large part in trying to find what parts of me I could embrace and enjoy. I've used the term before, but "Rubber Tramping" did it for me. Endless highway through big country is like medication for me. The solitude was humbling out there. But the funny thing was that I did not want to share it, which was news to me....I tried a trip with someone, but it just wasn't the same and was a bad experience because I was expecting my normal transference.

I've got a lot going on right now, but life is cleaner. Enough so that I had to layout a spreadsheet with must-get-dones in certain categories and large events scheduled out. I'm sure the 90 hour weeks will come, but as of now I'm able to get away with working a few days a week on the promotional stuff. Thats been allowing me to work for a friend at a wetland restoration company a couple days a week. It's been a nice change of pace, and has certainly aided in the drive to keep me moving day to day. There's nothing like cutting your time short to keep you productive. For me to get a lot done, I've noticed that I need to feel urgency or even slightly behind.

John and Andrew are heading to Texas for the Mellow Johnnies Classic and I expect to join them for what I thought was the US Cup opener, but I guess it's not. Either way it will be a cool race I'm told. I was expecting to fly down, but I think I've talked Joe into taking a little vacation with me. That means a 9-day road trip through the southern states. I've never spent much time down south and I think it will be a major change of pace. I'd like to see the smokies on the way home.

With two week-long trips coming up (that and Mike Kuhns super awesome South Carolina Training Camp) I'm pretty stoked about getting some good training in. Although I hope I don't start the year off too hot. By the time I get home from that, I'll have to hit the ground running fast with a lot of events in a two month span. Not to mention launching a training race series and a youth league. AND setting up the rest of the year somehow in there. And getting a larger more elaborate garden planted this year. That may serve as my escape for awhile. I'm stressed : so I'll weed the garden.

But hopefully I'll have some more things figured out and start blogging again. It's easy to neglect nowadays.

Download Day

2012-01-19T14:49:00.002-05:00

This afternoon I downloaded my garmin after a month of trying to ease back into riding. What I found was around 24ish hours of riding in the last month. Okay, that's not terrible, considering its a lot of weekend riding and not much on the weeks still (not to mention weather I haven't been stoked about). The last three weeks leading up to now were 9 hours, 6 hours, and 8 hours. I was trying to do 6, 8, and 10 hours. Somewhere along the line I screwed that one up. So much for structure in this build. But that was my goal, was just to start ramping up time again after such a long time off the bike with simple goals.

It feels like I'm hardly riding at all. I know what I used to do, and I know what I'm doing now, and it just doesn't make me feel good about how I'm progressing. But I've got to say I'm stoked to be riding again. I'd love weather consistently in the 50's but other than that its nice. I feel a lot stronger than I did 3 weeks ago for sure. Most of the mountain biking has been on the singlespeed which was a plague the first week or two. This past weekend was really cold, which struck up a knee issue. My left knee is acting up in a new way that I don't like. But hey, thats riding. Everything seems to be tight and sore at this point in time. Which means its time to start up some yoga. This fat bastard needs some stretching!

I'm thinking that a few weeks down south would be nice. Somewhere that it's warm to ride....

Chuck it

2012-01-16T14:13:00.002-05:00

I almost did it today. I actually did do it today. I'm picking a camelback bladder out of the trash can asking myself why the hell I threw it in there.....I could only come up with habit. The reason was that my drinking tube is a pure blackness of mold. BUT it goes a little deeper than that. I'm a product of a disposable society. We throw shit away and get a new one. Not sure who used that water bottle last? Chuck it. Don't want to do dishes tonight? Use paper plates and chuck it. We didn't have trash service at the new house for a month or two as we moved in. You don't realize how much trash you accumulate until it piles up outside your backdoor with nowhere to go. We actually don't live very far from a landfill, conveniently disguised as a grass hill. But it's a big hill now. Filled with things we chucked. What the hell are we doing throwing so much away?

Most people might recycle cans and bottles, but there's way more that is recyclable that we throw away. I figured that out when I had to sort trash in Wyoming at those huge public recycling dumpsters they have. Who recycles their cardboard? We do now.

It's still a lot of trash, especially when things are double and tripple wrapped, then stuffed in boxes. But we cut down a lot. Most of the newspapers we get are now fire starter, but cardboards and containers, bottles and cans, jugs and cups all go to that green box outside. All the organic stuff goes to the compost pile in our yard, mostly coffee grounds actually. And all the little wrappers and whatnot goes in the chuck-it can. But I'm still wondering why there's a chuck-it can.

I cleaned the camelback bladder.

A Year Anon

2012-01-08T20:11:00.010-05:00

January springs eternal: as does an annual recapitulation. Three hundred sixty-five days of tomfoolery, shenanigans, and lunacy. I've evaded bloggerdom for most of the year. Thirty two entries are supposed to have shown a light into my life this year, not all that much more than thirty-nine posts in 2010, however thats not even as many combined as in 2009 at 98 posts. I've been trailing off drastically the last several years. And now I have not posted up in the last 3 and a half months. Perhaps I've been too busy? Perhaps I've been a shade dis-enlightened? In all reality its a combination of both those things combined to keep me off the blog. I will say that facebook is making blogging a shade....I don't know, out-dated. Hard to think of anything online being outdated, but its true. Facebook is the lazy way out. Near constant status updates and an endless newsreel keeps you up to date and keeps your friends privy to your every idiotic thought. But blogs are an everymans magazine- with often well written articles composed by your favorite English Major grads that do nothing at all with their wonderful, enjoyable degree but write their inner-most feelings for you on a webpage- all only a hyperlink away. But enough of that, it's been one hell of a year.

Chronological flow is for Styx. So you won't begetting that this time. Themes and events it shall be. Of course that shall be broken up with all sorts of pictures and hopefully some video as well.

Perhaps the biggest part of my year has been traveling out west. I've been out a lot, and I have yet to tire of it. I made three separate trips out to the Rockies this year. The Rocky Mountains absolutely captivate me. I'm not moving out there yet, although it was unknown whether I'd return this summer. I'm not sure what it is, but being a solo rubber tramp in perhaps the best place in the US is just one of those times in your life that you will never forget.

The first was in January to hang out and see what the winter was like out there. It was great. We XC skied, skate skied, snowshoed, and tried to go camping. I got to see my first moose out there in January. I've been looking for a few years, so that was a major moment to finally catch a glimpse of something not so uncommon, but that has been eluding me. It was absolutely splendid to see the enormous herds of elk, Rocky Mountain Sheep, and all the other critters that came down out of the mountains to the National Elk Refuge in Jackson. I also talked Joe into adopting Bella the German Shepard from the same shelter I got Lona from while we were out there. A great trip, despite crashing on route 80 outside of Laramie on the way home.

The second trip out was a tour from Jackson up through Idaho, into Montana, and back across North Dakota. I started based out of Jackson but shortly hit the road for good. So much happened in the month I was out that it's injustice to sum up such a pithy travel, picking out but a few special events. This trip reminded me how stressful rubber tramping can be, but its a double edge sword, revealing just how priceless it can be as well. A few of my favorite memories are drinking glacial run-off from a cliff, the fourth of July fireworks on Flathead Lake, the drive through Swan Valley, and descending down the Going to the Sun Highway weaving through tourists at 40+mph on my mtb. Some of the most "epic" may be busting trail through snow and flooding creeks to try and find the trail up to Pyramid Pass up in Montana in running shorts and driving through a wicked thunder-buster in North Dakota that I could see for a few hours traveling across the plain. I honed my day long drives, car sleeping skills, tailgate cooking, and all those other wonderful traveling skills to new levels- mostly out of necessity.

My final trip of the year was a whirlwind week based out of Colorado Springs to take on the Pierre's Hole 100. (for the records I rode one lap, and have more than one excuse) I'm not sure what happened on this trip, but my newly honed skills evaded me. I was a wreck the entire week. I was pretty miserable indeed. I got sick on the way out, during the second morning and spent a good part of the day throwing up. I was lucky that Steph just kept a trucking so that we got there at all! The driving was pretty rough, not my usual well oiled machine. I think I'm just used to traveling alone. I even broke down and got a hotel room for the first time since that Tornado Jake and I hit in 2009- through 5 cross country trips. And the trip home was a cultural experience for sure.... I rode the Greyhound home. I found a lot of druggies, guys on probation or getting released from jail, uptight people, and just a ridiculous amount of ridiculousness. I wouldn't do it again. It was a good trip though- with being a tourist on Pikes Peak, swimming in a new river I've passed by a half dozen times, shredding it in a rental car, meeting legend Allison Dunlap (and perhaps mooching a place to crash/take care of bikes/make plans of attack---she's an amazing person), riding bikes down a concrete highway to the airport, and getting to know someone a lot better.

Another (and pretty negative) part of my year was spending 5 long months trying to diagnose out a bullshit side-effect symptom of an anti-biotic that side-lined me all year in the bike game. We've all got those year's that our bodies don't perform well enough to keep doing our regular activities, and this was one of those years. I suppose I was due for one, but it took a hold of my life for sure. The short of it is that I got a chest infection in March, got prescribed a heavy anti-biotic, it killed the infection along with all my intestinal flora, and I could no longer absorb nutrients from my food. Kind of a problem when you need to rapidly do that to keep up blood glucose levels for exercise. Basically when I'd run out of stored glycogen (not very much), everything shuts down tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif an exertion level low enough to use fat as the primary fuel. I rarely got in a ride longer than an hour and a half (just riding, not even racing). I tried to race all year, and just ended up completely burning myself out. It felt reminiscent of trying to race with mono(my 2006). I'm lucky it wasn't something serious, and I got back on the bike with an immediate change after a short stint on probiotics. With one training block in, I broke my hand again. The X-ray showed the break right next to the calcified scar tissue of last years break healed up. What's one year of racing down the drain when I'm 21? The mental drain is lasting a bit longer than I'd hoped for, but all shall pass in due time. At least it wasn't the Clap.

Despite managing a few fairly laughable (directed inwardly and certainly not towards competitors or the races) podiums this year, I did not race a ton. Maybe 10ish races....an all time low in 8 years of racing. I did more than that in my first few months of racing as an all time slow chunky kid. BUT with all this excess time, I was able to work on a different goal I had for 2011: becoming more self-sufficient/sustainable. I moved in small steps with husbandry/homesteading practices, but I feel like I made a large gain this year. The idea was to take steps by starting to fish, planting a garden, gathering, and hunting in the fall. Recently we got to add an additional step of heating the house with a woodstove. I grew up working in the garden, hunting, and raising/training our beagles, rabbits, and the neighbors horses, but that was a long time ago- losing much to the years. I wasn't yet cognizant the years that my dad was full on into the garden, the fruit trees, and all that- only towards the end do I remember. I was lucky enough to get a good foundation started, making these years easier to kick start. It's not easy...this stuff is a lot of work and often the learning curve means few successes. Fishing went terrible this year. I spent a good bit of time trying for trout in the spring to no avail...at all. (mostly because I've been trying to do it with a fly rod) I got a few sunnies in the summer, but fishing was a total bust. Gathering was an improvement, harvesting blackberries, rasberries, and walnuts. But unfortunately I missed the blueberry crop while in Colorado. The garden was slightly better. I posted a decent bit about the garden this year. It kept us in produce most of the year, but I have a lot to learn about rotating planting schedules and partner planting. The next step is growing enough to have produce over the winter months. Hunting went quite well though. Deer season was slow but productive, putting enough meat in the freezer for probably the next 10 months. Duck season has been so-so. And turkey season proved me to be the real turkey, getting skunked. All the time hunting this fall reminded me of how much I enjoyed just being in the woods observing whats going on as a kid. I got to see a handful of foxes and a bob-cat this fall, which is always cool. I have more ambitious plans for the garden in 2012, hoping to put away enough food for the winter. Raising chickens are in the plans once it warms up a bit. So, it should be a good, hard, but cheap year.

Top 5 places to Swim/Bath in 2011:
1. Moose Lake, MT
2. Platte River, WY
3. Manistee River, MI
4. Lion Lake, MT
5. Juniata River, PA

Top 5 Adventures:
1. 9 miles Trail run up a frozen Alpine Pass in MT
2. 3 day float trip down Juniata River in summer heat wave
3. Extreme freestyle Snowshoeing down Teton Pass
4. Lumberjack 100 w/ Steph
5. Buying a 520cc motorcycle

Top 5 Best "Gettin' Stuck" Moments in the Ranger:
1. Perched Across a stream Crossing in Potter County
2. Sliding across Tuscarora Mnt and down Blue Mnt on ice
3. Sliding sideways and backwards into the woods at new frontiers in the mud
4. Backwards on Route 80, stuck on a Gaurdrail
5. Slipping sideways into a ditch at NF on slick mud

Let me explain- no, there is no time. Let me sum up. I'm sure ya'll are getting bored by now, so let's get on with the wrap up. I'm excited about the new year. I've made some changes to allow more time where I need to put it. I'm stoked about struggling to get fast again. I'm looking forward to a bunch more adventures. I started the year out right with a New Years Eve Ride through midnight in Michaux, then doubling up to drive down to White Clay in DE to party hardy with Anne Rock and her crew. It was a good time. I've spent most of this weekend running a chainsaw. It's a good year so far. One full week in and 51 to GO! Let get it on.

Time Train

2011-09-26T09:28:00.003-04:00

Last week was a LOOONG week. I had to get away this past weekend. Out of town, just to be away from it: some tangible break from the madness. Holy Shit.

Saturday- Almost T-boned a Cop when he cut a dirt road corner sharp when we were leaving a party (I assume thats where he was headed....probably because of the fireworks)
Sunday- Rode the Iron Cross 50k course solo, and broke my hand. Then went to a dinner party.
Monday-Lecture Exam in Anatomy (likely failed) and a sociology quiz
Tuesday- Confirmation from the doctor that my hand is indeed broken(hamate again, but instead of a cast I opted for a splint this time instead). I came home and went for a ride.
Wednesday- Exercise Physiology Exam, sociology quiz
Thursday- Anatomy Lab Practical Exam (actually felt good about this one), then a meeting with DCNR
Friday- sociology quiz, and an hour and a half long interview (yes, I went and interviewed for a REAL job with REAL hours and REAL money.....not sure how I feel about that)

So needless to say, I took the chance to get away this weekend. I turned off my phone and hid out at the farm. We shot a lot of bow, went four wheeling, ate some ice cream, swam in the creek, the dogs ran a LOT, and worked on menial farm maintenance junk. Oh and ate lots of ice cream. BUT I really did not want to get up this morning. I laid there until I knew I would be late and then ran out the door to ride to school.

Peace out school kids. Start getting amped up for Iron Cross, and I'll start getting nervous about it. Its about that time: only 2 weeks away.

For anyone interested in such topics....

2011-09-22T22:57:00.002-04:00

Calculated VO2 in Graded Maximal Aerobic Power Test

I. Introduction.

Technology has served many advances in the last century, including exercise physiology testing such as lactate threshold testing, VO2 max testing, muscle fiber biopsy, and accurate body fat analysis using advanced machines with high repeatability and accuracy. We understand more about our bodies and how they function during exercise, but we still have to collect data to “hear” what our bodies are saying. Most of these testing protocols are either moderately to majorly invasive to subjects, or very time consuming to administer. Learning metabolic calculations that have been developed is a useful tool to cut back on aggressiveness, time consumption, and cost for subjects and scientists alike. In this lab, methods are shown for calculating Maximal Aerobic Power using a sub-threshold testing protocol using metabolic calculations.

II. Methods.

In this experiment, the goal was to establish data using a 3 level testing protocol for a subject to calculate maximal aerobic power. This protocol was to be carried out on a Monarch ergometer with three accumulative levels of resistance at 2kp, 2.5kp, and 3kp at a constant cadence of 75 revolutions per minute. Heart rate data was recorded 15 seconds before each change in intensity using a Polar heart rate monitor, and resting heart rate was recorded prior to testing. The subject warmed up using 1kp of resistance for 10 minutes prior to initiating the test. Next the subject would spend 3 minutes successively at each level of resistance for a total of 9 minutes of effort, with the resistance being increased by .5kp increments manually at 3 and 6 minutes by proctor. After the test was complete the subject warmed down at 1kp of resistance for 5 minutes before stopping. Data was recorded with pencil and paper. Time was recorded with a stopwatch.

III. Results.

During this experiment, it was discovered that the subject scored heart rates of 122bpm, 158 bpm, and 174bpm at workloads of 2kp, 2.5kp, and 3kp respectively. After using metabolic calculations, it was found that during stage 1 the subject had a VO2 of 2050.6ml/min, which was 61.94% of max Vo2, and an energy expenditure of 10.25kcal/min. During stage 2 the subject had a VO2 of 2500.6ml/min, which was 75.53% of max Vo2, and an energy expenditure of 12.51kcal/min. During stage 3 the subject had a VO2 of 2950.6ml/min, which was 89.13% of max Vo2, and an energy expenditure of 14.75kcal/min. The subject, it should be noted had a calculated VO2 Max of 3310.6ml/min with an energy expenditure of 16.55kcal/min. A trend line, as seen in figure 2, shows the relationship between heart rate, workload, and estimates Max VO2. This is gathered from the raw data, shown in figure 1.

Raw Data Collected
Time(minutes) HR (BPM) Workload (kp)
Resting 68
Stage 1 0-3 122 2
Stage 2 3-6 158 2.5
Stage 3 6-9 174 3
Max 199

(Figure 2 Missing, damn blogger)

IV. Discussion

Upon review of the results, my conclusion is that while metabolic calculations, in this case VO2, is all well and good, and although it may serve a purpose in general application, will and cannot replace accurate testing through proper protocol. While I find good method in this study, proper and repeatable procedure, and quality results, I can not be satisfied with these answers. There are too many parameters in effect while trying to calculate such a thing as Maximal Aerobic power in a given subject. For example, if the subject were an elite athlete, it would be important to know such details as the subjects training protocol, what energy systems are efficient at certain workloads, and the nature of the activity they engage in. Parameters of this nature could critically effect the results of such metabolic calculations with a similar test. For example if an elite cyclist were to complete a test like this, they would naturally do better on the Monarch ergometer than they would on a treadmill apparatus, simply by muscle recruitment. Likewise, there would be potential change from testing on the Monarch ergometer to the subject using their personal equipment with a proper fit that they are used to training on regularly. Also, length of warm up could negatively affect performance. If said subject were trained as a match sprinter versus a 10k time trialist, there would be a substantial shift in their efficiency in oxidation reduction reactions versus efficiency is glycolosis. Those are only examples of dependent variables in an exercise like this. If the clinical situation called for accuracy, I would opt for a proper VO2 test and not to calculate it with metabolic equations, however for standard application in a non-exact environment or in cases where maximal testing is not an option I would opt to use the faster, less invasion option of metabolic calculation with a sub maximal testing protocol.

Check out this Stage Race Preview

2011-09-22T16:51:00.001-04:00

Testing and Proto-Blah-blah-blah

2011-09-14T12:56:00.002-04:00

It's always interesting doing testing on the ergo meters in labs for school. Why can't the school just buy freakin power meters? It's old technology now and is still leagues ahead of what we've got. But hey, what good old engineering can't we do with flywheels? Hell if we can read power in watts off a screen, what the hell to we need exercise physiologists for to convert kp into an actual measurable and relevant metric.

Anyways, lab for today was supposed to help predict our VO2 max. (after a bunch of laborious formulas and graphs for conversion of course) So we set up on the bike ergometers they have. Not a ton of instruction. But I try to ignore how people set up their bikes as far as seat height and whatnot. You get on, maybe warm up a few minutes (I mean shit, I need 30-45 minutes of warm up to start feeling good anyways, so whats the point of any warm up for this?), set the resistance, and record your HR as you progress through 3, 3 minute rounds that bump resistance by .5kp. Whats kp? It's an arbitrary measurement of the monarch. This gives you data, you plug that data in to some equations, and then you graph it, and Whalah! You then have a max VO2 calculation. It's not exact, as normative equations never are, but supposedly it will get pretty darn close.

Anyways, it's interesting to get a look at your own metrics like weight, hr, and perceived exertion at different prescriptions in a controlled study. How we think we feel in reflection of our regular riding/training doesn't always translate into a clinical setting. For example I was sweating my ass off at 3 kp with ~ a 172bpm heart rate. Not something I would expect at what I feel like being sub-LT pace. Well, maybe LT pace.

I can't wait to get my new power meter. I haven't trained with power for over a year, and I miss it. It's time to get some science back in there and see what overload truly is- then see how effective recovery can be.

Advanced Comeback

2011-09-12T01:50:00.002-04:00

The time always seems to stretch out between posts. I never get up what I want. Cue the old, "Not enough time in the day" line. I only find time now because I've been laying in bed for 3 hours and can't sleep. But let me fill you in.

Since last time, I've been doing a decent bit of harvesting tomatoes with the garden. My carrots are finally growing after planting them in June (I believe), and cantaloupes are taking off! My fall crop of lettuce, carrots, and other randoms have been popping up through the ground, despite mother natures best attempts to flood the little buggers out. My watermelon and pumpkin plants are thriving with this wet weather though, and with any luck I'll have two new producing squash/zucchini plants within the next 3 weeks. It seems to me that any given crop I plant gets a good month of slow steady production before the bugs start to annihilate the plant. I don't spray or dust, or use anything. I know there's organic alternatives, but I really like the thought of pure, unadulterated food from the ground. Next year I may look into buffer species of flowers to attract predators for these bugs that like my garden. Thinking grand thoughts for a 2012 garden, plus I think we are moving soon.

As a side note, I picked a puffball mushroom (the first find of the year) and ate it the other night. I saw a bunch along the road in yards today, so they should be in full "bloom" soon and ready for the eating. Also, in regards to the hunting/gathering project, this past week has been a triumph of eating mostly what we've grown, gathered, or hunted. I got a couple geese, and a bag of doves last monday after the season opened.

Phase two of my canoe restoration is complete. I finished patching it up during the rain last week, and painted it on saturday. I think it looks good so far, but I need to finish up my pattern on the sides. Then I can wrap the gunwhales in rubber, and I'll be good to go. I think I'll take it up to Long Pine and do a test run tomorrow after class. I ended up getting more of the poly aluminum repair sticks, sealing up the length and then using an epoxy I had (used previously for shower bottom repair) for some extra insurance on the seams. I filled her up with water, and it was bone dry. No Leaks!

I went in to the doctors on thursday for a follow up (and my last follow up). I'm officially good to go now! Long story short, in April I was given anti-biotics. They fucked everything in my stomach and killed it(flora). So my body wasn't able to absorb and process macro-nutrients (food), leaving my body to run off of stored glycogen while riding/racing/etc. If you don't know, your body can't do that for very long, because you actually have very little glycogen stored in your blood, liver, etc. I got a probiotic, and within two days I felt like my old self again. Amazing. Frustrating. I'm glad this is over. Now I feel way weak, but at least I can push and my body responds appropriately, the way it should.

In the last month I've ridden ~22 hours.....11 of them have been in the last 7 days (yes with all this rain) and not including my daily commute of 6 miles round trip. Last weekend Stefan was nice enough to let us meet up and ride with him at raystown, where we proceeded to shred both sides of the park. A month ago, I wouldn't have lasted 20 minutes at the pace they were riding. Today I raced a 20k TT out in Pine Grove. I don't have race legs. I don't have race lungs. Albeit I was off second place by a few seconds, which were wasted while I was passed by over a dozen Harleys at the turn around. I wasn't where I know I was, or where I should be. I was hurting with the pace I tried to set (keep in mind I do know how to TT, and didn't blow my wad on the first hill). BUT it was a good hurt. Now I have some work to do. My power tap is ordered.

Iron Cross is rapidly approaching. I cancelled the training camp for next weekend though. I'm looking forward to getting through this year. It's a lot of extra stress while I'm trying to focus on school (and trying to start training to boot). It's pretty hard to live up to someones legacy. Mark Laser left some big shoes to fill, and somehow I don't think I can fill them the same way they were meant to be worn. DO YOU KNOW THAT WE HAVE A 50K OPTION AT IRON CROSS THIS YEAR??? Well, we do. It's not as gnarly as the big one, but you get all the same perks. Also, there's a 50k run the day before. I like putting on running races because trail runners (like mountain bikers) are some really good people, but I struggle with breaking into a new scene.

My new KHS cross bike has been awesome. I'm currently using it as a road bike and a cross bike, and I have to say I really like it. There are a few gliches with the current set-up, but thats just because I'm a little anal about my bikes. It track stands like a billy goat and accelerates like a rabbit. Good frame stiffness where you need it, and solid handling rounds the bike out. It's been feeling great on fire road climbs and single track. I want to get another, so if you want to buy my remaining BLUE CX 6.5, I'd gladly sell it to you so I can pick up my second bike.

I ordered belt buckles last week for the stage race- which I'm super excited for. What would you prefer: a hoodie or a sweet, trendy baseball hat? I think that after my loop on Tuesday, I'll start transporting (stealing) lumbar from my dad's warehouse to build up the trials stage of the Bad Mother- which is the last event friday night. That's not a fair statement, I actually have a decent bit of my own lumbar there.....not that I won't take a bunch of theirs anyway. I mean come on, I NEED to build sweet obstacles. NEED to. Like I NEED cake.

I've been reading and have almost finished a book called "the Last American Man". I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out (as a quality piece of reading). It has been a nice break from Walden (which is a loathsome book to persevere through (albeit a great piece of literature to have read, digested, and understood) and I have been pleasantly surprised. They go for $2 used on amazon. Get yourself a copy and read it, it's certainly worth 2 bucks. The gist is that its a great work of biography, but the author is taking advantage of the subjects story to illustrate and purvey her message about young (and old) men in america's lack of role models and lack of any "rights of passage". Which I find absolutely interesting because of my interest in peoples search for identity, how people search (or don't) for self realization, and just the overall theme of how we're fucking up as a society. Which generally speaking we are. Anyways, I thought I'd share that tid bit.

For my anatomy lab, I'm thinking about getting child safe markers and drawing all of my terms on my body. For example, drawing all 27 bones in my hand and wrist on my hand and wrist. I think that would help me remember all the terms faster and with a better retention rate. Although, I think I'll get some rather strange looks as I'm walking around sporting my Anatomy themed fashion statement. Good idea?

Producer

2011-08-23T15:06:00.005-04:00

It's time for fall planting. I'm still harvesting some odds and ends of my spring planting: beans, cucumbers, and a shit ton of tomatoes.

I have 10 tomatoe plants chocked full of tomatoes, 4 red pepper plants, a row of carrots, 3 little cantaloupes, a giant pumpkin plant with no pumpkin, a bunch of little pumpkin plants started, a hand full of little watermelon plants started, 3 bean plants that are slowly producing, a row of cucumbers, and a few new squash plants started. Oh and I transplanted some pea plants that I started inside, but they didn't take too well, and look rather ill.

Today I planted three rows of lettuce, three rows of carrots, five rows of spinach, and a row of beans. I'm also thinking about sewing a path of rye. I've had absolutely no luck with spinach taking this year, but I got some advice and seed from an old lady I do some handy work for. So we'll see if it works this time.

I've also been working on refurbishing a canoe for duck season. It's currently in stage 1: fixing all the leaks. I bought it off a guy from linglestown for $150 right before we took a 3 day float rip down the juniata river, and ended up having to bail out water every 15-20 minutes or be in water up to our ankles. First we stripped all the caulking off the joints, then I got a poly compound to melt into the joints and seal them up with a torch.

This involved building sawhorses, since I don't have any at my house. Next i put the canoe on top, braced it, and filled it up with water. That shows where the leaks are. I marked them with sharpie, emptied the canoe, and filled the holes with the poly compound.....after bella knocked the whole contraption down while I had the torch in my hand. It helped a lot, but we had it out for a few hours last night and it needed bailed at the end. It still leaks in one or two spots and I'm out of the compound.

Phase two is a base coat of paint in a marsh green color, then stenciling on a wetlands grass pattern. Phase three includes updates such as rubberizing the gunwales for noise reduction, and a cup holder for my coffee in the back. I'd better get cracking on it, or else duck season will be here and I won't have a canoe!

This weekend we are heading up to northern PA for a weekend getaway with a group of people. Classes start next monday, and then goose season comes in on September 1st! I'm planning on starting to hunt again this fall, and hopefully that goes better than fishing has this year. (Aside from 2 bluegills and a bite from a largemouth bass last night, I've gotten absolutely no action this year, and thus would have gone hungry)

On another note, I finished building up my new cross bike from KHS last night. It's pretty much their stock build right now, except for having thrown on a Stans No-tubes wheelset: Stans 340's laced to DT Swiss 350's! Kinda funny that both are so closely named. I topped those off with Kenda Small Block 8's, and am excited about it. This should be pretty well suited for iron cross. I'll have to do a review on it. I'm still looking to sell my two Blue race bikes, which are race ready. Also for sale are my tubular race wheelsets.

Speaking of Iron Cross, spread the word that I'm putting on an iron cross camp on September 16-18! It'll be a fun weekend on the Iron Cross Trails/roadways. It will cover around 10 miles friday night and around 30-35 miles both saturday and sunday. Reg is at

Hard Sell

2011-08-19T18:35:00.002-04:00

There are at least 14 shades of green in the color wheel at Lowes when you order paint. There's a few too many decisions for getting just that right color of sage or meadow green. The nice thing about money is that everyone's money is the same color of green.

Everyone's money is green but I don't think I'd feel right selling my bikes to the guy who came to check them out tonight. I have my cross bikes built up to my exact specifications- every single part. They are 90% identical and exactly what I want. They aren't built up with the newest, most expensive bling, but rather carefully selected components.

Maybe this is me being slightly elitist, but I don't want to sell them to someone who won't appreciate them. The guy that came to see them wants a bike to ride on the road, rail trail, and maybe a little off road. That IS what a cross bike is for.....but not to a true crosser. To a true crosser, our bikes are carefully designed tools for riding circles around race courses very fast, nimble, and intense. While there's nothing wrong with relaxed rides on the bike path, my carefully honed cross bikes aren't made for that, and honestly wouldn't be very comfortable to do that on.

I just want them to go to a good home that will race them with passion, intensity, and vigor.

Up for Grabs

2011-08-17T17:25:00.003-04:00

Up for sale on Ebay currently, are my 2010 race bikes:

Blue Competition Cycles CXC

Blue Competition Cycles CX 6.5

Happy Bidding.

Long Road

2011-08-16T01:10:00.004-04:00

It's been a long summer in most terms, but depth of time is in a blink of an eye when you spend that time doing things you enjoy. Part of my summer ritual for the past three years has been to trip out to the Rockies with a few races in mind and no particular plan. It serves a young man well. However, as I drove across the country for the third time this year, I couldn't help but feel a little odd about it. Many of you may say, get it over with and move already. But it's not a voyage when you are at home.

I've been pretty sparse on blogging in general this year. It's been pretty turbulent for me, in ways different than the past. And honestly, it's been a struggle to tell what to share and what not to. I probably have no reader base anymore from lack of content, but that's where I started at, so I'm no worse off than before.

We went to the beach this weekend and did absolutely nothing. It's not the kind of nothing you do at home on the couch, but still it was a variation of nothing: sleeping in late, morning movies, standing in the waves for hours hoping for a half decent one to actually come in and body surf, and just loafing in general. It was the first time I've been to a beach in the summer for some 11 years. My kind of beach is the rocky New England shore line on the way home from a cross race in November....but this was okay too- not that I'll be adding it to my list of recreational activities. I arrived home Wednesday morning from Colorado, and we left Thursday evening- thats about my speed of things.

I sat down last night and put together a crude training log of my year from week to week for my doctor- adding in little notes like," Dropped out after 1 lap, DNF'd after 3 hours, After an hour and a half that ride felt unbearable, super stressed, finals put me over the edge that week, chest infection." Things of that nature. There hasn't been a single positive entry since the April relay race at Marysville. Training logs are a pretty valuable tool- and I'm very bad at keeping up with mine. I make sure my athletes do them, and I put forth a pretty sporadic effort to try and keep my own. This time, we were able to look at my year in 1 week increments, showing larger changes in routine/response/etc. What was uncovered was the Doxycycline I was on in April: which set off a trend of DNF's I haven't been able to break since. Doxycycline is a pretty strong antibiotic if you aren't familiar with it- oddly enough used a lot to control Acne. So my current path is a Lyme's test and some probiotics in the meanwhile.

Taking a step back---- I've been having a lot of physical issues this year. I think I've only finished two races all year and have a hard enough time getting through a one and a half hour training ride mid-week. I've controlled just about everything I can control on my end to no avail, and had a big battery of tests done before I headed out west. I took 3 or so weeks off completely, with little benefit. I headed out west and tried to forget about it, but ignoring problems doesn't fix them. So I'm back in the doctors office again, trying to get this fixed. Meanwhile, I'm pulling the plug on racing. No more trying to race this year. No cross. The ineffectualness of racing/riding/training is starting to take its toll, and produce the seeds of burn out. I don't want that, so I'm taking a sabbatical. I'll ride when I feel like it, and already have some cool riding trips planned out. I'll spend the fall filling the freezer and going to class. It's been pretty hard to bring myself to write about it, and worse to try and be at races.

Summer is all but over, and it's time to get back to business. Classes start in a few weeks, and it is likely to be a brutal semester with ex phys classes and anatomy. I've got quite a few events going on including Iron Cross, a 50k Trail run, a Bicycle Stage Race, Christmas Cross, and a soon to be released Top Secret Event. I've covered over 10,000 miles this summer and seen some amazing things. Just check out my photo albums on facebook, or scan the last several posts. Some pretty insane things happened out there, and I'd like to think I grew up a little bit. All in all a normal summer for the most part.

I've got all kinds of bikes and parts for sale. Especially Cross stuff, so if you think I might have something you want, holler. Cross Bikes, Race wheels, Tubies, 26" bikes, 29" bikes, a TT bike, tons of Hammer Product, and a couple boxes of random parts.

PS- check out the latest issue of the Hammer Nutrition Magazine if you get it. I got a tiny little post in there!

On the Road Again

2011-07-06T12:50:00.004-04:00

I've taken to the highway again, and rolled out of town last saturday. Since then it's been a whirl wind of happenings. Generally the biggest decision I have to make each day is where the hell I'm going to sleep, and whether that perfect spot is just around the corner a little further down the line. Then its a question of whether or not I'll make it through the night undisturbed.

Two nights ago, I got a visit from a dcnr ranger. I thought I was going to have to get out of my snug little tent, pack up, and leave. I wasn't very pleased at that thought. Luckily, the nice fellow was just checking to make sure I had all my food locked up. They get pretty paranoid about bears here, but I haven't seen any yet. (and I've even driven by dumpsters in the evening!) That night I happened to find the almost "perfect" spot.

Good spots that I've found the last couple nights:
Sunday Night- Flathead Lake. I think I was at the Elmo fishing access. (not legal if you want to know). I pulled in late and got to watch a LOT of private fireworks (decent mortars, double/triple/and even 5 breaks) while cooking up a late dinner of rice and beans. Lake was gorgeous in the morning. Low Bug count, got to sleep with the windows open!
Monday Night- Outside of West glacier I went up a dead end dirt road (ryan road) and found a nice spot in an old log clearing with a fire ring (where the dcnr officer stopped in). i got to set up my tent and sleep laying down for once. No fly on the tent, and a fair amount of bugs, but luckily none in the tent. Read Walden with a picturesque backdrop of mountains just behind me. What a site to fall asleep to.

Last night wasn't ideal, but it was close to a really nice spot at Lion Lake. There were way too many people there last night, but Monday night it was perfect. Water is warm, and there are only a few black flies and no mosquitos.

If you haven't noticed a trend, the mosquitos are pretty bad most places. It seems like there was record snowfall everywhere here, with a lot of roads still closed. Road to the Sun in Glacier wasn't open, the road I took to Moose lake was questionable(I barely made it up), and I see road closed signs in different spots.

Yesterdays experience tells me I need a vehicle that's a little more rugged. I'm never goign to stop going places I shouldn't be going. That's just not me. I would fair a lot better with a vehicle that is up to the task. I like to spots that where there aren't people, and that requires getting away from the low hanging fruit.

Speaking of....I finally got another flat driving the dirt roads. It was a very toasty spot to stop and fix a flat tire on an incline with a heavily loaded vehicle. SPeaking of, I could have brought out a third of what I did. I've only sold a tiny bit of the product I brought along, and I haven't used more that 3 or 4 outfits of clothes. (I basically emptied my room into my truck bed.)

Anyway, I've seen a LOT of Montana Country in the last 4 or so days. I have some maintenance to do today(starting now with breakfast, good coffe, and internet in a cafe) including getting a new tire, oil change, washing the truck, and maybe cleaning things up a bit. Hell i think I might feel better with a shower. I've been itching for a shower and a bed, but resisting the urge. I got super tired yesterday afternoon, and resting isn't resting when you have no where comfortable to go. So I went back to the now-crowded with white trash lake (pot calling the kettle black I'm sure), and tried to sleep on the beach relaxing in the sun. Didn't really work.

It's the small comforts that warm your soul up, and I've found that an tall ice filled fountain soda (I think the ice and flavor are what does it) and truck stop breakfasts are the things that perk me up on the road.

I think I'll make my way up to CANADA this evening. I'm here, lets do it. (I was trying to google search my way up to alaska, but thats a little absurd.) I think my destination will be Banff. Why not?

Full pics are up on Facebook if ya'll are interested.

Might as well Talk about a bike ride

2011-07-01T13:36:00.006-04:00

Two weeks I've been away from home. Two weeks, I've been....relaxing. (for the most part) I've been back on the bike, riding most days. That's pretty big, considering I've been on the bike more in the last week than the last month and a half. My online class is in the dust, where I left it. I came to the realization that I'm bad with online classes. Very Bad with online classes. It was kind of a train wreck.

Wednesdays ride was pretty insane. Took me back to that, why am I on a bike out here feeling. But damn, it was good in hind sight. I left around 11ish with a destination in mind. I wanted to ride up to Jackson Lake in the Park. I wasn't too sure how far away it was, but I've been there before and thought it would be an awesome half-way spot to rest, soak my legs, and then head back. I made it out to the park entrance, some 34ish miles away in under an hour and a half. Yeah, I thought it was pretty good too. Mostly flat with a couple larger rollers. I even stopped for a Buffalo heard to cross the road 20 feet away from me. We don't have Buffalo in or even close to PA. Buffalo are cool. We've got elk and we've even got "rumors" of mountain lions, but we don't have anything like buffalo....unless you count that time we snuck right up to a bull in the dark up north, that had seemingly been wild for a few years.

I had a heated little conversation, with that cool lady I met up in Michigan and went hiking with during the race, about national parks and my feelings on them. Basically it boils down to me feeling like they are a crock of shit to actually use. I have very few intentions of ever actually spending more than a drive through most of them. I don't want to write a thesis on the subject but my main problems are 1)all the people, 2)no dogs on the trails, 3)how unwild they are, talking specifically about backcountry permits/trips that completely take the wilderness out of wilderness backpacking, and 4)how much my poor little ass has to pay just to have access to my PUBLIC LAND. (Point number four could be a thesis in itself). Now don't jump on my back about this, I think they serve such a great purpose (from preservation to research) and respect the shit out of the national parks. But having to pay twelve bucks to ride in to Teton National Park on my BICYCLE on a ride, is pretty much enough to piss me off. Needless to say, I turned around and rode home. I don't spend more time in the parks than I need to, just not my bag.

Ultimately that was PROBABLY to my benefit, since not long after I turned around I was smacked with 20 mph winds with periodic cold showers that left me high and dry with 10 miles to go. Don't you love sitting on the side of the road, totally empty, but still having to get home? That trip back took 3 hours of ride time and ran a bit longer than that.
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Last night we rode over the pass to Victor for Music on Main, a cool little public concert thing, then took the bus back over. That was actually my first descent down a rocky mountain pass on a road bike. Cool experience, but I'd rather be on dirt, with rocks, and trees, and birds, and things. Road bike descending kind of sketches me out.

So after all that, I'm planning part of my trip up to Glacier National Park today. I realize my hypocritical actions here. But I like the parks for what they represent, and I'll pay my $20 to drive through once. Plus I hear good things about Glacier. I'm planning on stopping to backpack on the way in the Bitter-roots. The length of that trip depends on how bad the mosquitoes are. Kind of a wimpy thing to say, but they get bad out here and its pure suffering when they are in full force.

So, HERES a link to my planned montana excursion. I think it'll work. Right around 1,300 miles. There are 2,020 miles for me to get home. That's (here we go with math) 3,320 miles to be driven. At 21 mpg, that's 159 gallons roughly. At $3.65 per gallon(which was the highest I paid after I left PA/Ohio), that's $580.35 in gas. I have about $1,100 left for the trip. So that means I spent about $400 on gas during my trip out, which would bring practicality to those numbers. If all goes according to plan, lets say that leaves me with $600 (factoring in that money magically disappears). I'll need two oil changes, so there goes $100. I'm down to $500. Okay. I'm still good. Let's do this thing. If I have money left after the trip, I'm going to build my own Teepee.

Short term move

2011-06-22T21:56:00.007-04:00

I'd like to think I'm living here for the next two months. Actually, my thought as I drove up the pass from eastern wyoming today was that of," Why would I ever want to live anywhere else? This is it. And furthermore, why am I not permanently here?"

It's actually been a long week so far. Today was the summation of a 6 day 3400 mile journey. It started with a trip up to Michigan to watch and support at the Lumberjack. I drove all but about 30 minutes of passed out confusion in that trip. And the last three days have been from Shippensburg PA to Jackson Wyoming. I had actually done some planning with the trip this year, which consisted of ride stops in Bloomington, Illinois and North Platte Wyoming. But I stayed flexible as usual and blew straight through the nebraska stop in an effort to get out HERE!

Michigan was a fun trip up to mainland MiChIgAn with the one and only Stephanie Surch. If you don't know her, ya might want to. I had a good time, and couldn't help but scope out some awesome land for homesteading. I believe it was the Nez Perce and Hurons that settled up there, and I could see why with deer abundant and a ton of Birch trees in the Manistee National Forest. Although, I will say that was the worst mosquitoes I've had the displeasure of being in since the Wind River Range last summer. When taking refuge in a sweaty sleeping bag was not enough, I took the pillow case off my pillow and proceeded to try and crawl inside it, smothering my face into the floor panel of the vehicle I was sleeping in: all in an effort to abate those viscous little bastards. I saw a bunch of really awesome people there including (but not limited to) Vicki Freakin Barclay, Strauber, Matt F, Garth "life of the party" Prosser, Rock Doc himself, and the ever likable Amanda Carey. Anyone else? Not that immediately come to mind. Oh yeah, fellow spectator James Taylor and company. I got to meet this cool lady who was supporting her SS boyfriend. Our dogs met and decided we were all going on a fun little hike. Michigan was cool. Even their cops were cool. I got pulled over for going a little too fast on the way home. I was going a hair too fast, and a passing cop whipped a U-turn and pulled me over. I didn't know they had their scanners on when they drive. He was exceptionally nice, perhaps the nicest cop to EVER pull me over: not just because I got NO ticket and NO warning, but that he was just being a sweet guy showing concern. "Now Zach, keep an eye on your speed. There's a lot of deer out here tonight."

Those were the hardest two days of driving.

I left monday morning after packing and hitting the bank. And I've been going ever since. I've done this drive about 4 times now, and this was by far the best experience yet. I split it up into three "12 hour days". The first was twelve, then I stopped in Illinois- having missed the group ride I wanted to attend at the Evergreen lake in the Comlara County park. Cool little IMBA trail network with lots of little log and ramp obstacle options. Fast and flowy on the single speed, despite being super slick in the corners that morning. I rode early in the morning after an interesting night. And then checked out some windmills on the way out in the AM. Even with a ride and packing up camp, I was on the road by 9:30AM. I was feeling great when I hit North Platte, NE (my second planned stop), so I grabbed some burritos and kept on chilling. There were some amazing radio stations on and I had an imaginary day dream rolling about moving to WY and winning the lottery to entertain my whim. I pulled into a parking area in WY about 2AM wed. morning and sacked up int he front seat until the sun came out- upon which I awoke to antelope outside my window. Some good days are worth the rest of the not so good ones. AFter playing in the snow, I arrived here in Jackson around 4pm today, and it's been stellar so far. Perfect weather and very relaxing.

I'm not coming home. Sorry Mom. Can you blame me?

Too bad my camera is having a hard time downloading to my compy, I have a lot of pics fromt he last week or so.

It's been several days since I wrote this up. Fixed the camera problem with a cf card reader. My Laptop almost died on me. And I've been riding a decent bit. I descended for about a half hour last night on pretty fun trail. Awesome.

I did a BAAAAAD Thing.....

2011-06-14T13:10:00.002-04:00

I've been off the bike a lot in the last 10 months. Cross season faded out with me racing on a broken hand for over a month. Then the next two months was a spattering of doctors visits, and slapdash rides with a cast on. Managed to get in some endurance snow sports when I went out west, then got the cast off. I got 1 really good training block in and started another before not seriously riding for about a month while swamped with finals and two larger events. I got really run down and never bounced back despite giving it time to recover. After a month of trying to race, I pulled the plug and haven't ridden in the month since.

I got out for a 2 hour ride last night. It's hard to not be paranoid on the bike considering the last few months, but I felt "normal-ish", just tired from not training.

Today I signed up for a 100 miler on impulse. I've been wanting to do one for a long time, but just haven't. I always said I'd do wilderness, but on a SS.

Pierre Hole 100, here I come. It's a 25 mile loop that you do 4 times. Not a good format for me. If it was one big loop, I'd have to finish to get home. But you have 3 chances to bail!!! Each lap has 4100 feet of vert, so you end up riding around 16,400 feet of climbing during the race. I hear it's mostly single-track with some double track and one paved section. Cool....but not necessarily fast. The catch is that I'm doing it to get the belt buckle....which you have to finish under 9 and a half hours to get. Looking at the results from last years race, there weren't many that would have gotten it. The race was also tiny last year. But there's one guy who raced it SS in the 50 and turned almost whats needed to get the 9.5 mark, and he's pretty damn fast. Having won TSEpic SS solo last year. The ticket for the buckle is to maintain faster than a 10.5mph average. That sounds easy enough right? Don't forget about the over 16 THOUSAND feet of climbing in this race. So, basically ask yourself if you can climb faster than 5mph off-road for probably over 50 miles.

I better start training.

Pierre Hole 100

Blah

2011-05-19T13:17:00.003-04:00

Quite a bit has been happening. And I've got mixed feelings about a lot of it. Probably the most relevant bit of news is that I'm not going to be racing for at least a month. I've made the decision to not race a bike until after my running race in June. What does that mean? That means that nationals won't be a serious competition for me, and that I won't be doing any of the early season qualifiers/point races.

I've raced the last 5 or so weekends, and I have only finished one of those races. Things aren't working right in my body, and while I work on diagnosing the problems, I need to stop wasting money and rest up. It's been quite a frustrating year, but when your wheels are spinning you need to stop before you bury yourself up to the axle.

That being said, I had am interesting trip up to new york for the Tymor Park Race. The rainy weather made for a stunning view of the Hudson River. It's always nice to travel.

Turtle Turtle

2011-05-04T17:38:00.000-04:00

I saved him! Then hugged a tree.....

playin in the dirt

2011-05-03T15:03:00.002-04:00

Now I Don't make planting a garden quick that glamorous, but there's a nice feeling of accomplishment when you look over a heap of dirt that has been meticulously crafted into orderly rows: planted with well placed seeds.

My spring onions are up and almost ready for harvest. My tomato seedlings are a few weeks away from being transplanted. The creeks weren't rewarding me with fish this morning, so I finished up planting instead. Today I planted spinach, lettuce, spring mix, garlic was already in, zucchini, squash, okra, cucumbers, peas, greenbeans, and pumpkins. I still have some potatoes and carrots to put in, but those are for another day. Dill, rosemary, and basil will be planted inside tonight for germination.....I might keep those in my planter.

I haven't planted a garden for awhile, but I'm looking forward to renewable vegetables every week. I tried to pick my crops to maximize renewable yields. Meaning that the lettuce, peas, etc, will keep growing after you pick them, whereas potatoes and onions are once and done. The only problem is that I most likely won't be around for most of the harvesting, since I'll be out west.

Woke to a flat tire on the Truck

2011-05-02T16:27:00.004-04:00

Two races, two choices. Michaux or Granogue? Two classics. It's like picking between Breakfast at Tiffany's or My Fair Lady: raw captivating action or all the frills of a musical. I ended up going with the musical. Granogue.

After my little high powered antibiotic endeavor last month, I'm still not feeling great (much better, but not great). I think the drugs did as much damage as the infection. So not being quite up for a high-octane XC race (and needing quality training to boot) I opted for the 4 hour enduro. On my Single Speed.

The quick skinny on the race:
-the starting road was a big spinner. But luckily we turned onto a steeper gradient quickly, so that I could get into good position. Something I couldn't do while spinning 120rpm.
-Stayed up front, watching Jebbaggers sweet lines.
-We hit the wall of doom and rode it with no frills. "If I can ride this on a cross bike, I can ride it on this."
-Realized I had my feed's set up on the starting straight and not on the finishing straight (we'd never go past it during the race)
-Andy, Dan, and I tried to seperate ourselves from the field
-I spent a lap out front on my own
-I got caught and passed by Andy and Dan when I started to chill out and taper for the remaining time left in the race.
-Cramping started getting worse at lap 3-4
-Endurolytes saved my legs
-Then, there was no saving my legs. Each Vastus Medialis and Sartorius muscle was locked up as tight as possible and not relaxing. My last lap I walked every climb on the course, in a very haggered hobbling fashion.
-The Skinny Chicken caught me at the base of the final climb on our fifth lap. My legs happened to be locking up at the time.
-With 15 minutes to go, I decided to run out the clock and watch to see how many people came past me. Waiting to see if I needed to go out on another lap or not. For the record, I did not want to.
-I finished in 2nd place with 3:45 and 5 laps (~35 miles) thats around 9.3 mph average with a lot of walking
- Lap times 39, 40, 40, 47, and 53

Today, I'm contemplating why we do this to our bodies. I think I wrote a past post on homeostasis, and this is just another case study in the experiment my life has become. It's not the legs. My legs hurt but they are fine. It's everything else: the race gut, the cross lung, the light headedness, the disorientation. Weird things happen when we push our bodies to the limit. Every couple months, I feel good enough at a race to truly push my limits. You may equate it to the gas tank analogy if you want. These races are the ones where you are able to completely empty the gas tank by the end of the race with nothing else left to offer up. Normally, after a race, I can at least get a cool down loop in. Sunday I tried to to a cool down, but only made a half mile before it was overwhelmingly obvious that it was not going to work.

After the race, I couldn't make the drive home. Joe had to take over the wheel soon after we hit the PA turnpike. I was passing out, no choice.

Today, I feel awkward. Hungry, but not. Thirsty but not. Tingling in my stomach. Disorientation. Light-headedness. And basically just an overall feeling of discomfort.

So here are the questions posed:
-How many times a year (season) can we have those types of race efforts?
-What effect does that have on your training?
-What effect does that have on your racing?
-Are there actual physiological effects or is it psychological?
-What, if any, long or short term damage results from this?

Thank you hammer, for making those magic little pills called endurolytes. Thank you Marc, Lauri, and Tom for another top notch year at granogue. Thank you for Driving home Joe, and not letting us go into a guardrail or telephone pole.

Three months of project work results in:

2011-04-26T11:00:00.005-04:00

A KINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE STANDING HIGH JUMP TECHNIQUE

by Zach Pfautz, Zach Adams, and Vanessa Elphick

Submitted to the faculty of the Exercise Science Department
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course ESC 244 Mechanical Analysis of Sports Skills
Shippensburg University of PA College of Education&
Human Services April 2011

INTRODUCTION
In the standing high jump (SHJ) technique, athletes must clear a bar by jumping from a standing starting position, with no run-up allowed. Figure 1 shows a typical SHJ sequence (preparatory, counter movement, launch, flight, and landing phases). For a brief period of time (1900 to 1912), the SHJ was included as an event in the Olympic Games (Zemper, 2008). Although much is known about the Fosbury flop technique used in the conventional high jump event performed by athletes at track and field meets, less is known about the kinematics of the standing high jump. The purpose of this investigation is to establish baseline data for the SHJ technique, in particular: launch velocity, launch angle, and peak height reached by the jumper.

METHODS
Six female undergraduate students (height = 1.70 ± 0.06 m; mass = 63.2 ± 7.0 kg; age = 21 ± 1 yrs) participated in the study. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Shippensburg University Committee on Research with Human Subjects. Informed consent was obtained from participants before the study began. At the time of the study all participants were healthy, with no complaints of musculoskeletal injuries. Participants performed two trials, with the goal of achieving maximum height and a successful bar clearance. Participants performed each jump from a springboard (height = 0.20 m). Each trial was recorded with a Casio Exilim EX-F1 camera at a sampling rate of 30 frames per second. For each participant, the best jump (based on largest measured height) was used for further analysis. Twenty-one body landmarks were digitized from the video files using Logger Pro software. The landmarks were used to define a 14-segment model of the human body. The inertial parameters of the segments were taken from de Leva (1996) and used to compute the whole-body center of mass (c.m.) location. The launch velocity (horizontal, vertical, and resultant), launch angle, and peak height of the c.m. were computed using standard linear kinematics techniques.

RESULTS
Table 1. Data for Individual Participants The results of this study are shown in Table 1. Participants in the study cleared a bar set at 1.37 m. The subjects’ launch angles varied in the range from 52 degrees to 60 degrees. Launch velocities ranged from 2.02 m/s to 2.99 m/s. Figure 2 shows the relationship between peak height and launch angle; the greatest peak heights were achieved by the participants who used a launch angle closer to 50 degrees. Figure 3 shows the relationship between vertical velocity and peak height. Participants with the largest vertical velocities generally jumped the highest.

CONCLUSION
Participants used launch angles between 52 and 60 degrees during their attempts. With the limited sample size and lack of obvious trend, it is difficult to draw conclusions with respect to the relationship between the participants’ launch angles and the peak height of their center of mass. However, our results do reveal that larger values for launch velocity produced the highest peak heights, as expected. As most of the participants were not accustomed to performing standing high jumps from the ground, a springboard was used for the data collection. Our results may reflect the uncertainty that the participants had with the SHJ technique. (All of the participants were familiar with the standard high jump approach run, but less familiar with starting from a stationary, standing position). Based on the relative uniformity of the participants’ physical characteristics, it is not unexpected that we saw such similar results. In summary, athletes who wish to achieve large jump heights using the SHJ technique should try to maximize launch velocity and use a launch angle between 52 and 60 degrees. Athletes also need to ensure that they possess sufficient horizontal velocity at launch in order to travel the distance necessary to clear the bar without bumping it off with their body segments.

REFERENCES Zemper, E. D. (2008, July). The evolution of track and field rules during the last century. Presented at the 2008 USA Olympic Team Trials for Track and Field, Eugene, OR.

Analogy

2011-04-25T23:57:00.003-04:00

Clicking away the miles in silence (albeit weaving through dense traffic), concrete humming away in my ear atop a cacophony masquerading as silence. I've made the lengthy drive to Harrisburg and back twice this week. In fact, I've been running around a lot the past week. Hues of blues and green; burgundy and silver. Sometimes they read five digits, sometimes four. And theres always the slippery scale of cost. But it's hard to find the right one.

With all this noise in my head, it dons on me. Not one of those slowly creeping forewarnings, but a nice loud elephant staring you in the face. Shopping for a used car is like looking for a girlfriend. You look all over the place, comparing one to another: hoping to find that perfect one- the balance between everything you want and what you actually need.

After an earlier inspection this week, I came up with an ultimatum this morning. I was narrowed down to two choices. Depending on what happened at one, I'd make a decision concerning the other. The first stop on the schedule today did nothing to impress me, so I went in search of my top pick.

I smelled a sweet odor upon my first trip. I told the guy to fix the leak and we'd talk. He fixed the water pump before I returned today, and things were looking up. But I wanted one last spin before I walked the walk. I got out in it on my own, found a parking lot and gave it a good ride. I threw her into all four to see what happened. Unfortunately that amounted to nothing. This lemon was building up a laundry list of problems upon my second inspection: knock in the tranny, useless 4 wheel drive, AC that bellowed like a dragons belly. I kept my cash in my pocket, handed the keys back, and walked away.

It's that wonderful time in the story to realize my tragic flaw. I can't walk away. I didn't like it the first time I saw it. Well....I really liked it, but I knew it wouldn't be a good choice- not worth the time, not worth the money, not worth the struggle. I thought I had put it out of my mind, but it got the best of me- I mean, can you blame me? Look at it! I gave in and revisited it- to buy it.

I have a pretty keen nose for trouble- but I can't walk away from her. Can you blame me?

Flying by

2011-04-14T11:06:00.002-04:00

I searched for the cheapest flight to Texas today. (the next pxct race in in Dripping Springs) I am definitely not the most savvy flyer around, in fact I've only ever flown twice. I've never flown with a bike. The cheapest flight I could find was for around $320. Lower than my last flight but, still not great. Plus any extra charge for a bike box. I'm looking at a minimum trip cost of $400, probably closer to $500. One of my main concerns is that my bike will get lost and I won't even be able to race. (we will conveniently forget the fact that I don't have an extra $450 laying around to use on a goose chase for points)

If I want a decent shot of any kind of nomination to race with the national team, I need my pro upgrade (yes I'm a slacker and haven't raced enough usac races to get it), then I need to race the pro XCT races to have comparative data against other top u23's. If all goes well, I will only need three usac races before I get my upgrade. BUT thats optimistic. I haven't been able to get quality time on the bike for over a month now.

So for the folks at home:

Pros- possibly gain important points and comparative data, go to a place I've never been before, hang out with cool people, race my bike, it'll be warm, and I'll gain experience flying to race.

Cons- Not quality training previous to event, descent chance I won't be in points at all (making no desired gain whatsoever), spend money I don't have

My question is: Is that $450 worth the calculated risk of racing in Texas?

Thoughts?

Don't need no stinking water.

2011-04-12T11:02:00.005-04:00

I haven't been able to write very much on here for awhile. It's unsettling for me. I love to write, and don't take it personally because I'm not writing much anywhere right now. There's this whole time continuum I'm working on narrowing down, hopefully with a side effect of being able to write more. I haven't written anything in my LSM column for quite a while either(last published in January).

A lot of drama has gone down in the last couple months, and lets just say I'm not a fan drama. At all. So there's been a lot of angst to run away. Over my college years, an odd phenomena has occurred, a little bit of my fight has been replaced with flight. The only problem with that is that running away from problems doesn't solve them or resolve them. My solution normally consists of figuring out what I can change vs what I can't, then setting to work on it in steps. I'm a list maker. And I might have filled up an entire notebook in the last month, just with lists.

I don't really want to get too deep into the whole Michaux races incident, but it's worth noting for anyone involved who reads. Things are heavily changing in the forest right now. It was not a situation that was under my control. I did my best to make sure there was at least one race still left to attend that weekend. There was some pretty negative feedback from some people, some neutral feedback from a lot of people, but it was the good stuff from the racers that made that weekend.

Honestly I was ready to throw in the towel, cancel every event I have and write it off as rule #2. With the MACDC camp the weekend before and all the problems I had with the race weekend, it was a bit too much going on. Luckily I had spring break during the first week it happened, so I was able to buckle down and get moving on the changes. When school resumed I was getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night and working non stop from when I woke to when I went to sleep. I hardly rode my bike for the entire month of March. A day before the race, I was convinced I was going to shut everything down and get the hell out of dodge.

It's a strange thing to write about. Some of you may understand, but some may not. At the root of all of this needs to be some unwavering motivation to do the things we do. Some force we have no control of, that shapes what we strive to accomplish. Should I call it the love of the game? Should I call it the gusto of the community? I haven't been able to put a name to it, but it is something that happens on race day. When all the work is done, and you see the true bike racers shine. The people that love being on their bike racing, no matter what is in front of them. The people that appreciate it. The people that need an outlet to let this urge free. Seeing and being a part of that is why I continue to do this.

I want to thank you for that, but it's a double edge sword. If I'd just stop doing this, then you'd find another race and maybe I'd be better off. But I'm a glutton for punishment and that just wouldn't be enjoyable. None of our actions or thoughts are truly unique. If I didn't have a race, there would be another one. I'd be racing at it. So there. Where are we at now?

I didn't meant to write that much.

I got to race my bike the last two weekends! First up was the Marysville relay. (my third weekend in a row of putting on bike races) Luckily I was just a slave to the kuhndog for this one, and had no excessive stress involved. My goal was to rip off a fast first lap, shooting for a top five spot. Almost got it. I think I was sixth across the line the first lap with 14 minutes flat. Thats 1:23 faster than my hot lap on friday. I will say that the competition there was pretty stacked. With Aaron Snyder, Wes Schempf, and Seamus Powell up in front it was a national level front end of the field. My lap times reflected my effort level, tacking on an extra minute every lap I did. I wasn't shooting for a new fastest lap every time, just something pretty quick while I had some fun racing with Anne Rock and the Jail birds. Overall a really fun day on the farm. And it should be, a lot of effort goes into these events.

Another notable, is that we had a surprise 50th birthday party for my dad the next day. I got to see a lot of family that I normally don't for one reason or another. Overall, it was just nice to be able to share that. Awwe. My mom said she'd never forgive us if we threw one for her. Hah.

This past saturday I got to ride with some very young clients at french creek state park. It's always energizing to watch 10 year olds lay down some rubber on the mud, but "why do we have to climb?"

Next up was the fairhill xc. Lots of new faces in the Elite field, and we had an early start. I have mixed feelings about that, but can't decide whether I like it or not. I stuck around all day anyhow. I ended up dropping out after a lap and a half. I wasn't doing myself any good. I'm content with that, but I probably should have restrained myself from racing in the first place. I didn't listen to the doctor when she said I wouldn't feel right on antibiotics. (yeah, I got pretty sick) It was quite an interesting experience that I'll probably do some research on soon. I was going through bonk cycles every three minutes. I'd feel fine, then I'd bonk. I'd feel fine, then I'd bonk. It's not an excuse, its just another day that didn't work out. I decided not to race tour de tykes either, since I'll still be on the antibiotics.

One more notable, Marc's new puppy Potter is absolutely adorable. He and Lona played all night saturday. BTW- thanks for the crash pad Marc "Master Couch Picker" Vettori.

I'm moving in the next couple days. Hopefully the rain will stop long enough to load the trailer and drive down the road a mile.

Does anyone want to carpool out to texas in a few weeks for the pro XCT? It'll be cheeper than flying.....

A-Ha - Take On Me (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

2011-03-29T09:13:00.000-04:00

SO I've been listening to the cure a lot. And I bumped into this song by A-ha again today. Whatever happened to creative music videos like this?

Three Sentences about the Camp

2011-03-21T22:09:00.004-04:00

Bike camp was fun: I really liked hanging out with my old team and getting to know a few of the other repeat campers better this year.

I'm exhausted from everything it took to make this thing happen another year, but the actual event and the people that attend always make it worth it.

I was a bit disappointed that the projector did not display my analysis software well, but I thought that a few people got a lot out of my mechanical analysis presentation.

Keeping the Faith

2011-03-17T01:56:00.002-04:00

Tonight I'm pretty exhausted. I'm still up at 2am (rediculous for an elite racer) working on MACDC stuff for the weekend. To say stress has welled up inside me is an avid understatement. I have a pretty heavy class load (along with two presentations due in the morning) on top of this. Managing course content for 18 individual classes is not exactly an easy task. The thing is, I'm enjoying doing it (not all at once mind you). I know its the idle complaints of an attention whore, but shit. The camp this weekend is at a 30% decrease in participation since three years ago in 2009. "What does that make me feel?" says the red couch.

I've had this rediculous permit trouble. It seems up and up to me, but there's just a faint fragrance of herring to it....or maybe its mackerel. I feel like I fell off the side of someones desk, but you never can tell. Protocol is not being followed and I feel like I'm getting the shaft on what is supposed to be public access land. FDR would roll in his grave to know public land is not actually public, referring as much to the whole state gameland issue as this particular trauma. I have another event in June that I handed in my paperwork for 3 weeks ago (count it, over 3 months ahead of time). I'm already catching bullshit on that permit. Maybe some stuff should not be public knowledge, but I feel the cold latex of an airport holding room if you catch my drift.

Part of my not writing so much on here anymore, is that most of my decisions and thoughts are filled with confusion. By the time I get things figured out enough to write about them, I'm lost in another swirl of the next situation. Every project and deadline seems to appear much faster than anticipated. I'm afraid that I'm wasting my youth.

This all really makes me consider my career choice. That isn't at all aided when I have more than a few free-spirited friends regaling me with tales of adventure and simple truth. With not much more than a vagabond status, all their belonging fit within a vehicle or backpack. It's a refreshing thought, but not exactly feasible. Who knows maybe I'll flunk out of college and be so lucky as to become a bum. In a perfect world problems would disappear when you walk away from them. But aren't we glad it's not a perfect world?

Tonight (this morning rather) I need a good ride, but it ain't in the cards.

Race Cancellations and Changes

2011-03-08T22:08:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

I’m sorry to inform you all that our forestry permit was cancelled on Tuesday afternoon. I’ve made the decision to cancel the Long Pine Classic Event until further notice. The good news is that I was able to turn up an alternate venue on such short notice. The race will continue at the new venue with all previous plans remaining intact. It also continues as the opening endurance race of the Mid Atlantic Super Series.

The new location for the MASH is in Carlisle Pennsylvania at the New Frontiers YMCA Day Camp. Directions can be found here, as well as on the updated websites. It’s no Michaux, but it’s a really fun place to ride a mountain bike.

Registration is closed for the Long Pine Classic but remains open for the MASH at bikereg.com.
I am going to refund everyone pre-registered for the Long Pine Classic within the coming weeks. If everything goes as planned (if ever that was a statement where I don’t eat my words) the refund will be credited directly back online. If not, then I have a lot of checks to write and mail out, which will take much longer.

If you no longer wish to attend the MASH, I fully understand. I stand by the fact that it will be a great day on the bike, but I do understand and will issue refunds in the upcoming week and a half. However, after March 20th, I will not be doing refunds. (I’ll be busy putting on a quality event)

If you have any comments, questions, or would like a refund please email me directly at fastforwardracingproductions@gmail.com.

Thank you all for your understanding. I apologize if this creates any inconvenience for plans you have already made. I don’t think anyone is more upset over this than I am at the moment, so I feel your pain.

--

Happier Trails,
Zachary Adams

|Fast Forward Racing Productions|
|Backyard Bikes|
|IroncrossRace.com|

214 High Street
Shippensburg, PA 17257
fastforwardracingproductions@gmail.com
717.448.3228

"I will prepare, and someday my time will come." -Abraham Lincoln

I really can't keep up.

2011-02-21T22:22:00.002-05:00

Seems like three weeks non stop.

Classes are piling on the work/projects.
Trig is hard.
Females are a love/hate thing for me right now.
The race for the roses was a minu-mental success (minimal + monumental).
Finally completed the coffee house loop.
Got through the first hard training cycle of the year.
Massages started again.
Truck is leaking oil.
Lost a Kick-started in the woods.
Started rock climbing again.
Raystown camp was a success.
Crashed very hard sunday, catching a chunk of clay pipe in my abdomen.
Crashed very hard today, hurting my neck pretty good.
Shattered my very expensive gps today.
My pedal exploded halfway through the shed ride today.
Wrote a paper on my phone during the ride home with just enough time to print it off on the way to class and hand it in.
Taxes due tomorrow.

Now that I got that out of the way. I guess I have a few appointments to schedule and a few loose ends to arrange. I am well over-due for a relaxing week/weekend. There is a week and a half before spring break. Maybe I'll go fly-fish somewhere. I hope the snow melts soon.

Yadda Yadda. Yadda Ya.

Thanks for the invite this morning fellas, definitely a good memory/experience.

One of my favourite shows

2011-02-03T18:03:00.000-05:00

mid day ramblin'

2011-01-27T11:41:00.002-05:00

Sitting here waiting on lunch, on a floor clean swept, a laptop is sitting on my lap.

Waiting. Wanting. Needing. Food in my belly. A warm shower.

Yum. Spicy peanut thai noodles.

During mechanical analysis today, my prof broke out some trig on my ass. I have never had trig. I have never had calc. I have never had pre-calc. I know nothing about greek letters. Every capacity for mental clarity I had shut down the instant he started drawing crop circles on the board.

Check out this website: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/ready.html

Was das fickt?

2011-01-19T22:12:00.005-05:00

I had cats for about a week. I'm not a cat person. I'm not mean to cats, nor do I dislike cats. I'm just not a big cat person. I love dogs, they embody everything I value in a companion. Cat's don't do it for me. But none the less I had two cats lodging at my abode for about a week or so. (that makes the feline count at my house up to four, with two strays that live under my porch) There's a reason I bring up the cats.

A friend that I've had for a very long time, did a very radical thing recently. After freshly graduating temple university, she sold off/gave away everything she had and dropped her lease on a very pimp apartment on south street in philly. She packed up a backpack, and bought a plane ticket that departed 1/11/11. People still do that? It's frickin winter, and you wanna be a vagabond across europe? And not the warm part of europe.

These stories intertwine. She had to give up her cats to move across the pond for an undetermined amount of time. She has a plan but her return is questionable. Brody and the other cat (okay I forgot its name) found a home for a little while, so I was saved the hassle of a daily antihistamine.

You can't help but envy that. I've always been the kind of person who has wanted to settle down early in life, but I am jealous of her vagabond-ness and freedom of life. I can totally respect it and in some respect wish that I could have joined her. Right now at 20 years of age, I'm tied down. It's an odd feeling and I'm not sure I like it. I have over ten events local to this area a year, and am involved in many more. Some of these events have been going on for 4 years now. I have a dog that I wouldn't give up for anything in my life. And I have control of a home for the next year and a half. Not to mention that I have at least another four semesters left before I can graduate. All stuff that is hard to throw away. Although the idea certainly does tempt me.

I love the rockies and my inner vagabond wants to get a bigger chainsaw and a new maul, go out west, and scratch a living cutting firewood.

Anyways, go check out Megan's blog for some good reading at: www.givemechaos.com I can't guarantee it's kosher content for younger viewers, but most of you will really enjoy it, get a smile, or relate in some way.

Wrapping It Up

2011-01-18T20:30:00.007-05:00

Let me start by saying:

I WANNA go back!!!!
I WANNA go back!!!!
I WANNA go back!!!!
I WANNA go back!!!!
I WANNA go back!!!!!!

After breaking Lona in on the ski's, we decided to switch sports and snowshoe up the mountain in the morning. There wasn't much snowshoeing about it since there were steps(in the snow) the whole way up the pass from backcountry skiers/snowboarders. About halfway up Lona's paws got way too iced up and we opted to shoot back down the mountain. I was feeling some extreme snow free-stepping. Don't know what that is? Don't feel bad, neither did I until I just started doing it. Large steps in waist deep snow through the powder, over logs and between rogue trees.

We took an afternoon xc ski jaunt without lona, up game creek. A place I rode 8 miles out from on a flat tire after a double/triple flat last summer. It was a long trip up and 6 miles felt like forever. I was dead by the time we got out.

And after that, we took off on our back country camping trip. I'll tell you right now that we bailed. Neither of us felt like we wanted to get that miserable. Our bags were rated to zero...well Joe's wasn't and we were questioning the intelligence of our situation. We hiked up in and ditched the packs to explore a bit. I was looking for moose first, and a camping spot second. After a handful of hopefuls we settled on a nice spot between some pines and aspen right on a knoll. I love woodcraft. I always have. As a young lad I would head off into the woods, make things, and build shelters: once I even built a 10x10 log cabin. Anyways, we grabbed our packs, navigated our way back using our snowshoes and set about building our camp. It was awesome. Check out the facebook photo album for more pics on it. We bailed around midnight, just catching the grocery store before it closed. (with three minutes to spare!)

Finally a rest day where Joe searched for a dog to adopt!

After that we decided to learn how to skate ski. It's something I've always heard talked about but never really knew anything about. With a crash course on the local groomed track, we headed up into cache creek and got my ass kicked climbing up the canyon. I took to skate skiing pretty fast and enjoy it way more than xc skiing. I think it has to do with the fact that it's a technique sport much the same as swimming. Now I'm not the worlds best swimmer, but after my aquatics fundamentals class out at the rock with the hungarian perfectionist professor that taught it, I dialed it in and gained a ton more body awareness in the process. I had my technique down after a few passes of the track and felt strong enough to enjoy myself. I wish we had groomed tracks around here so that I could pick up this new sport. But I will say that it may have been the most grueling sport I have ever done in my life. I was humbled and had to keep taking breaks on the way up cache creek. It kicked my ass. It is always nice to get my ass kicked and feel that new thrill.

And that was the trip. It was amazing and I want to go back asap. Unfortunately I think the winters are too long for me to enjoy living there at this point in my life, but it is definitely on my list of places to settle down at. Plus I have some awesome ideas for events around there. After a long ass drive home, and some stunning scenery it hit me. I miss it. Really bad.

Hope you enjoyed.

If I was a Betting Man

2011-01-10T11:02:00.005-05:00

With a few good graces we made it out here (Jackson, WY). It feels like home, but it was a hell of a trip to get here. I've gotten pretty good at this thing called endurance driving. After having made the trip out here last year solo, it felt like vacation this time. I didn't hate it until the last 3 hours. However the lake effect snow in Indiana while going around Lake Michigan was almost classifiable as homicide. I resumed a familiar position of being glued to tractor trailer taillights, hoping like hell they stayed on the road. I wish I had four wheel drive in my little toy truck. Somehow a truck just isn't a truck without 4-wheel drive. Brett would say a truck isn't a truck without locking differentials, so I've got a ways to go until I have a "real" truck. Some how Joe drew the short end of the deal, by taking the night shift, but I made up for it by doing two shifts of the 3 shifts: 13 hours and 15 hours.

We rolled into Jackson around 9pm on Saturday night, after dodging a couple mule deer on the way in. In fact, there was no shortage of wildlife on the way out. There was no way to count and keep tally, but I'll lay out a short list here(in the trip and out here):

-one field with ~300 wild turkeys (I've never seen this many turkeys in one place in my life)
-Thousands of antelope
-2 large bull elk
-over a hundred thousand geese (I'm not kidding, flocks of 5-600 at a time. fields of thousands)
-whitetail out east on the way out....blah blah blah
-road kill elk(I almost stopped and checked to see if I could salvage a quarter)
-Rocky Mountain Sheep
-1 Bald Eagle
-Mule deer
-Snow geese
-Doesn't really count but thousands of elk at the nat'll elk refuge

Yesterday, we went into town to get joe some xc ski boots. Also I wanted to give him a feel for the town and understand the layout of the area. So we drove around for a little bit, a tour I normally like to do by bike, but we left our bikes at home!!! We took a little trip through the Nat'll Elk Refuge. That was novel, but pretty awesome at the same time. Tons of elk and Sheep. When I say a ton of elk, I'm talking about thousands and thousands. We say about 4 distinct herds, which varied in size, but I'd estimate each had between 600-1200 elk in them. Some larger than others.

We also took Lona out on a brief xc ski, to introduce her to it. She knocked me on my ass a couple times, but eventually got used to it....I understand, its scary. You'd freak out at first too.

In the evening we wrapped up a great day with great people for some great homemade pizza and sterling conversation. Does that sound pompous and asinine? We had great conversation. Such a foreign concept. It was very nice, shut up.

Todays exploits include a snowshoe venture up the pass, an xc ski expidition into game creek, and a stop in at the animal shelter to say hi. We'll be planning our overnight tonight with Molly's neighbor. The plan is to head out into the lowlands somewhere to find moose while we camp tuesday into wednesday.

Catch ya'll soon.

A non cycling Post! (Kinda...)

2011-01-06T13:17:00.005-05:00

If you happen to be a friend on facebook, get ready to have your news feed clogged by constant updates for the next 10 days. What does that mean? That means that it is road trip time. In fact it is kind of a monumental one.

My friend Joe and I are headed to Jackson Wyoming. We are not headed to Jackson Hole (that would specifically mean that we are going to the ski resort that is actually 10 minutes outside of town), but rather to the small town of Jackson. I'm guessing that their entire economy relies on tourism, so it wont be any less busy than when I was there this past summer. See, I kind of fell in love with Jackson. It was not meant to be, but it happened anyway.

This will be the third time I have driven across the country. The first time I took along a train full of juniors and a full production, renting a large house and spending a lot of money I did not have. The next trip was alone, spending a month going from couch to couch supplemented with truck bed accommodations and spending more than a few nights spent at the good ole tiltin' hilton. That trip managed to come in under $600, minus an expensive vehicle repair. This trip should role in under $350 per person and will last for 10 days.

The kicker is that in all those trips, plus some halfway across the country trips, I've never road tripped for a non-cycling reason. In fact I haven't been on a non-cycling vacation since I was 8 or 9 years old when we went to the beach in a trip I only half remember. I'm not taking a bike along, and it feels kind of good. Normally I take advantage of the cycling trips to do non cycling things, but my motivation is always rooted in racing.

Our plan is to leave around 6am tomorrow morning, drive straight through in shifts to Wyoming,then sleep a little, and begin the adventures. ADventures include a day of downhill skiing, xc skiing, snowshoeing, and an overnight trip into the tetons/yellowstone. One of my main objectives is my eternal search for moose. I am awestruck that I have not seen one yet, and really want to.

Also, Lona will get to return to her roots for a weekend. If you don't know, Lona is the puppy I picked up on my travels last year from a shelter in Jackson.

Anyways the time is a wasting and I still have a lot of packing/prep to get done. Au revoir.

come play bikes

2010-12-19T01:41:00.001-05:00

Hey bike fiends,

There's gonna be a little get together in the woods of PA next weekend. It's been planned for over a month, but I've only talked about it a little bit on that dreaded facebook thing. There's going to be starts. There's going to be finishes. There's going to be competition.

There's going to be single track. There's going to be stakes and tape. There's going to be barriers. Lots of them.

There's going to be run-ups. There's going to be some food there. There's going to be beer (if you bring it along for yourself). There's going to be a fire. There's going to be a lot of fun.

There is not going to be USAC. There is not going to be UCI. There is not going to be upgrade points up for grabs. There is not going to be any bitching or whining. No fancy licenses. No groomed fairways. No pavement. No problems.

You might see some turkeys. You might see me burn myself on the fire. You might see some state college dudes in dresses. You might see some ice skating. But not if you are watching sports in your house.

I'm not saying this is something special. I'm not saying you'll regret not coming. I'm saying there's some of us punks in the woods trying to beat each other silly on skinny tires with treads the day after christmas.

Christmas Cross in Central PA

1 hour 30 minutes from DC/Reston,VA
1 hour 30 minutes from Baltimore
1 hour 30 minutes from the lehigh velodrome
2 hours from philly....even if you live in center city (once it was only 1 hour 15 minutes away.....)
1 hour 45 minutes from Newark (aka the center of the universe)

Fill a car with people and come play bikes, you only need one (I'm not making a pit).

Register HERE for $15
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?EventID=11956

Other unconsequential details at the ffrp site linked to the right.

There's decomposed leaves on the path.

2010-12-11T18:06:00.003-05:00

I went out for a ride today. First ride since the uci races in NC before thanksgiving, and the first ride with a cast on. It wasn't as easy to ride as I thought it would be. Riding with a cast on sucks. First of all, it hurts. Second of all, I can't grab the bars. I thought I'd be able to but I can't. We've got some snow on the ground, not much but its there, and the weather was amazing today....at least the forties, felt like 50's. I took the chance to get out and test things out. I'm not sure how much I'll be riding til I get this thing off. Maybe I'll be able to rig up a bar end on the mountain bike and do some fire road rides, but right now trails are out of the question. Maybe I'll take up running. Saw Brandon and Jocelyn riding on the path today. That was nice to see those young pups out for a spin together. Jealous much?

This past week, commercials started for the new version of "True Grit". It's an old john wayne movie. It stars Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. As someone who grew up watching the originals and somewhat idolizing the cowboy or even john wayne, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm sure I'll go see it.

New Version

Classic

A few trips, trails, and trials of the year

2010-12-08T00:13:00.010-05:00

It's been a long year, but it's finally wrapping up to a close. As usual I like to wrap things up in a nice and tidy bow, recapping and recapitulating the years addendum. I haven't been too keen on blogging this year, and my annual tallies show it. This may have been the least I have written in the last four or so years. I can only explain by saying, I just don't feel like sharing most things. Although that's not the total truth: in many instances it just falls off of my to-do list when it super saturates with tasks to complete. These years are important in "growing up". I guess I've just been a little self-absorbed in my search for identity. Nevertheless, to quote Inigo Montoya from one of my favorite movies:
"Allow me to fill you in.... No- there is no time. Let me sum up for you."
And in such a fashion, I'll use facebook mobile pics and photos that people have tagged me in throughout the year to illustrate my story in...well, illustrations.

Kickin' off the New Year

Road Ride during one of the first large snowfalls

Sneaking a glam shot with Monkey at the Prom

"You got a broken face- uh huh"

I call it head aches and icy water

Mass Relay

Cold water on a Rattling Creek Trip

Scoutin out Allegrippis for the first time

5 gallons of chili for the MASH!

Pole steeple with my best friend

TSE

Cuttin Trees to reopen Marysville

Mass 12 Hour

Chillin in the pond

Start of the XC at nationals

A new puppy! - MY new puppy -

One of my favorite scenes, a diner. Probably somewhere in Idaho or Wyoming.

Lona spectating at the first cross race of the year

Charm City stairs

one of my favorite moments of the fall

more charm

pre-hustle

post-hustle

The Hustle, the hill billy hustle that is

Best weather of the fall. Lona, Jo, and I at laurel lake after IC

A pleasant Surprise

Eatin shit at Granogue

Pumpkins

More Pumpkins

Kutztown Cross

Why I got a new tire

Rowland

My Christmas Present

2010-12-01T19:21:00.000-05:00

Down and Yonder

2010-11-27T15:59:00.002-05:00

I've been terrible with my blogging this year, but I'll bounce back. I always do. Cross season is over for me. It ended last weekend with a uci double down south. It was a mixed bag. It was a good little road trip I made with Mr. Concorto down to dixie land.

Day One- Thursday
I drove up to my parents to leave Lona with them and attend my Mom's birthday dinner. I was soon back down in Shippensburg waiting for Chris to arrive though. After the infamous shakeweight episode of south park, we tried to sack out for an hour or two....which didn't happen for a couple different reasons, one of which was a car crash down the road. My take on it is that some drunkard slammed a telephone pole in front of bthe bar.....but what do i know. I tossed and turned, then finally gave up and started loading the truck up after starting up a pot of coffee. We left shortly after 1am, shortly after I chugged 16oz of coffe and refilled my thermos.

Day two- Friday
After some sprightly and colorful gas station exchanges with local folk, we were not far from boone, and it was chris's turn to drive since we finally got into the tight and twisties that would characterize our new driving regimin. After 8 hours behind the wheel, and far too much coffee, I finally sacked out as we searched for a diner to eat breakfast. A few minutes of sleep, a bathroom stop, and food in my belly.....I was feeling much better. After chow, we headed up to the Lees McCrae Athletic complex to find the cycling coach, Luke Winger, and track down a place to stay. We sacked up at someones sweet little home and ended up getting out for a ride with the team. That was a fun experience. I just wanted to go out for an hour and a half with some openers....we were out for two and a half hours and miles upon mmiles of winding country roads. The ride was awesome, but more than I wanted. We did stop at a sweet little coffee shop for a mid ride cap-o-chi-no. Too bad I had no money. The roads were amazing....I've never descended like that in my life. And that was an easy ride. Took a little while to get comfortable riding in a group too. I am FAR from a roadie. After some chinese food and a trip to the top of grandfather mountain, we were back at a different house, and I was passed out within a few minutes. I slept for like 12 hours.

Day Three- Saturday
UCI Race #1. They ran out of pins. Great job guys. We started at 1:30pm, which was a change from the normal. Not sure how I feel about the earlier start. For me.....I got trashed in the start and rode the back of the field for the start of the race, just having a bad race all around. My hand hurt, my head was fried, and my body said SUCK. Headed down to Greenville afterwards for the night.

Day Four- Sunday
UCI race #2. My head was not in it, and I was planning on dropping out after a lap. Then I figured I'd just get a little ride in. Then I got a got starting spot, and figured I'd go balls out until I blew up. Turns out that I got my best uci start all season and was making a move that would put me in the top 10 when i found a racer stopped in an apex. Needless to say, I ate shit hard. I rolled the bike off the course, following with my body. I sat there and watched the world ride away. After a while, I got my breathing under control from the rush, put my helmet back on, and straightened my shifter out. I rolled through the pit for the second time and dropped out, headed straight back to the truck. That was a rush.....I never planned for my day to go like that. I'll take it though. I wanted to see what I could do with that start, but never got the chance. Oh well. A glimmer of hope at the end of a long season.

We headed back down to Greenville, packed up some of Chris's junk like the Clampitts, and headed back up to Lees McCrea for a Party.

Day Five- Monday
After a little more sleep, we packed up and took the scenic route home. Chris showed me a road descent worthy of a mountain bikers approval. Then we hit up an old general store (Tourist attraction) and wandered back up through eastern tennesse. It was a long drive home with one of the biggest Arby's sandwhiches I've ever eaten.

A good trip. I had an appointment with the orthopedist on wednesday morning in regards to some hand pain I've been having for awhile. Turns out that I broke my hand in October. I know when it happened, and what caused it but I was hoping it would just heal on it's own. It was just a stupid slow crash on a warm up lap, and now I've been racing on a broken bone for a month. I have a CT scan scheduled for Thursday and I'll be getting it casted next monday. I can't cast it now because of the position it needs to be in for the ct scan. Oh well. My season is over anyway. I was supposed to be racing states today, but I have no reason to. I now would be knowingly making my hand worse, and I have enough points to win the PA Bar champs without it.

I'm ready for mtb season already with some decent ambition. I have a couple training camps up for reg on bikereg.com and details can also be foudn on my website at www.fastforwardracingproductions.com. Don't forget about my christmas cross race on december 26th, the day after christmas.

Happy Trails ya'll.

2010-11-16T23:10:00.002-05:00

I went for a bike ride tonight,foggy mist and rain aside.
At one point my body took flight, a pain in which to confide.
Familiar and estranged-
it makes me wonder if I am the one thats deranged,
plagued to play a silly, pointless game.

Guess What I'm Trying to Do

2010-10-25T22:47:00.001-04:00

1. Name: Zach Adams

2. Porn Name: Pud Fuzzynuts

3. Hometown: Carlisle, PA

4. What bike you gonna ride?: This is a bike race? Shit...I guess I'll have to find one.

5. Why does it rule? (100 words or less): Are you serious? Find me a bike that doesn't.

6. Best day ever on your bike? (100 words or less):

I think it's a toss-up between two rides. One was a fall epic, winding along forest roads to hit all the best trails in Michaux: crunching leaves, and railing single track. A bagel, apple, and six hours later I was still in bliss. The other would have be a wilderness 101 camp that my mentor Mike Kuhn and I ran a few years ago. We spent the camp racing each other up every major climb and pushing even harder to beat each other down the other side. When you finally overtake your mentor, it's a good day in anyone’s book.
7. Your favorite bumper sticker slogan? "I <3 Crack Whores"

8. Who's gonna play you in the Breck Epic movie? (I love this question): Chuck Norris.

9. Favorite quote/words to live by?: Rule Number 2: Fuck It.

10. 100 words (or less!) about you. Feel free to lie.: I love cycling. Everything about me is pretty much cycling. I promote races, I coach, and I race with the fast guys. I eat humble pie most weekends, but I have a blast doing it. I'm bored and want to suffer, but I'm broke. I think that's how this all got started. I've been writing since I started racing, and do a pretty descent job with it.

11. Quien es mas macho, Rich Dillen o Selene Yeager? (Insert two ridiculous opponents, choose the winner, then defend your position about why your victor would dominate. 100 words or less.) I don't have the pleasure of saying I've never met Rich Dillen. I'm not sure who would win...but it would probably be Selene. her biceps make that squirrelly little man quiver, and I'm pretty sure she can drink him under the table. I mean seriously, the guy weighs as much as a 15 year old girl....and not one of the ones from Too fat for 15. It would be a pretty epic fight though....and it would sure be entertaining to watch.

Go on, you deserve to have some fun....register today.

2010-10-14T01:43:00.001-04:00

Abbreviated Version:

Rockville Bridge Cross Festival
KICK ASS CROSS RACING ALL FRIGGIN WEEKEND
OCTOBER 22-24,2010
Register HERE: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=10446

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Uncut Version

You may be asking yourself what you are doing the weekend after Granogue. You may have not even thought about it yet. And chances are you haven't registered for any races yet. If you haven't thought about it or haven't registered for the weekend yet, there is still hope. You can still make it out to Perry County. Where the f*@% is Perry County? Right smack dab in the middle of pennsyltuckey, not 5 minutes away from the state capitol. An hour and thirty minutes away from Baltimore. Two Hours from DC. An hour and forty five minutes from Philadelphia. Two and a half hours away from Pittsburgh. An Hour away from State College! It's in the middle of everything.

Back before I even started racing my bike, this race was in the MAC series. God Willing, it will be again. Help me help us all, and make it the weekend it should be. With the line-up I've got in store, it certainly has the potential. Here's what I've got on tap:

Friday Night: ITT (One lap as fast as you can)
Saturday: PACX Race #3
Saturday Night: Rockville Bridge Concert Feat. Austin Criswell
Sunday AM: Rockville Bridge 5k Run
Sunday: PACX Race #4 (different course from saturday)

(Not to mention camping all weekend with indoor bathrooms and heated outdoor showers)

I spent about 3 hours today hand picking prizes that I think you will all appreciate. Not to mention that if you race all 3 cx events, you can win cash and a special prize (local cycling paintings) for the GC! All in all, theres about $3300 up for grabs during the weekend. The course's are different both days, and we got lots of really good comments on the course last year (jumping to the top of quite a few peoples favorites list).

Don't like to camp? Stay overnight in the PA capital, 5 minutes away from the race start.

Have a puppy? Bring em along.

Have a wife and kids? Bring em along- there's a lil belgians race both days and a 5k. Did I mention the state capital is 5 minutes away?

So why not come? Maybe you don't like fun. Maybe you don't like kick ass shwag. Maybe your tired of racing cross. Perhaps you want to miss one of the best courses you'll race all season- a true crosser's dream. Maybe you can't stand to watch me bunnyhop the barriers cause I'm dead tired and am just having fun racing my bike. Maybe you don't like good music. Maybe you don't want a hand painted piece of art. Maybe you don't like getting 4 pumpkins in one weekend. Maybe it'll rain and you'll have too much fun. Maybe you hate the PA Cross Series. Maybe you don't like racing your bike. Don't like beer gardens. Maybe you don't like having an awesome weekend camping and racing with byour friends. Maybe you think fatmarc will beat you in the masters race again.

I'm just saying, there are very few reasons keeping you from signing up and having an awesome time. It's a good decision.

--
Happy Trails,

Zachary Adams

|Fast Forward Racing Productions|
|Backyard Bikes|
|IroncrossRace.com|

214 High Street
Shippensburg, PA 17257
fastforwardracingproductions@gmail.com
717.448.3228

What a nice weekend

2010-09-30T20:44:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I had a little extra time on my hands. There was only one race for the first time in a month, so I found myself with saturday to kill. Instead of wasting a beautiful day laying on the couch "recovering" for sundays race, I woke up at 5am to pick up Elizabeth on campus and head up over the mountain with a couple kayaks strapped to the roof. Bright and early is the policy. We had hatched the plan early the previous night: a sunrise paddle, steak and eggs, and a roll lesson. And thus we went, over the mountain to the Long Pine Run reservoir.

What a perfect set-up to race on sunday. With a front row start, I was primed for a good day. I felt good about my race, but I won't bore you with a play by play. I fought into good position, found the first chase group and raced smart the whole race. I tried to discipline myself into sitting on the group and not racing off to catch my tail lingering in no mans land behind the swiss train before blowing up. I just sat a wheel, raced smooth, and tried to set up for my finish. At a lap and a half to go, the chase group was weeded down to Dave Weaver and myself, and the games began. He was tired of pulling me around, and I wanted to win our little battle, having been patient all race. He finally attacked into the barriers on the last lap, and we hit them going about 24mph. I barely got through them and lost a little ground on the sharp 180 corner. He managed to get just enough on me to take the finish and 5th place.

This weekend I'm headed out to New Jersey for the Hill Billy Hustle and some racin/campin fun. Should be a nice wet weekend.

You'll Be Okay (Original) - Austin Criswell

2010-09-21T22:13:00.000-04:00

Come Around (Cover) - Rhett Miller

2010-09-21T21:55:00.000-04:00

Mario Kart Love Song (Cover) - Sam Hart

2010-09-21T21:50:00.000-04:00

I'll Never Stop Loving You (Original) - Austin Criswell

2010-09-21T21:06:00.000-04:00

Needed a little Charm

2010-09-21T20:49:00.003-04:00

I wish I had something a little better to share, but alas, this shall be a short post for sure. This past weekend was the Charm City Double Uci Race Weekend in Baltimore, Md. Another weekend of racing in the books- and more lessons from the ropes. I'll tell you right now, it was a rough weekend. Being on the hosting team, its hard. You are expected to work your ass off and still race with the hometown pride and perform. I dropped the ball by missing pre-reg, and that pretty much colored my weekend.

Saturday was harsh. With a sick dog that had surgery on tuesday, I was already heading into the weekend with less than perfect set-up. Only getting 3 hours of sleep on friday night was definitly a bad scenerio. With the 4am wake-up to set up the course on saturday and doing registration for 6 hours, I was a bit fried before my race. I got to the line (the last line) and tried to move up as fast as possible. I was getting jammed in every corner and making no headway for my effort. After several laps and with 6 or so to go, I was heading to the yonder side of hell. My stomach gave way and soon after my legs followed. I was already drained, but started getting cramps. It was pretty rough....I got pulled going into my last lap. That was pretty horrible. I felt like shit afterwards: shelled and shattered. I laid down behind my truck and just replayed everything. First, what all went wrong. Then what was the cause of each. Finally, what did I have control over? I made my plan, laying right there in the dirt of a very dirty Baltimore Park.

Sunday Afternoon, I sat on my top tube, head draped across my handlebars, once again standing on the last row with a count down to go. I felt even more tired than the day before, and I was getting mentally worn down. Every so often (every couple years) I experience a situation where I truly don't want to be racing. None of us are bullet-proof, and I was pretty upset standing there at the start line waiting to be sent off. I coasted and soft pedaled most of the first lap....there wasn't much else I could do. I had made the opposite mistake the day before. Things were looking as I expected from DFL. But I started to get around a few people with well placed corners. I started to get a little hungry for more. And then I started to get a little angry- angry at myself, pissed off at how I was racing. And then I started to reel in more people. And then a few more. With six to go I was a little unsure if I could keep it up, but I did what I could. I came unglued towards the end, with one to go and really had to lay it out there. Every dismount at that point felt so slow and miserable. Rolled in at 23rd for sunday, 3rd U23 rider. It's going to get better, I promise.

I got a lot of good press with cyclingnews.com this weekend, with like 5 or so pics on the website. Next up is Whirly Bird on sunday.

I'm also proud to announce that Austin Criswell is headlining the concert at the rockville bridge cx Festival weekend! I'll post a couple of video performances of his after I post this. He is a very talented musician, and everyone should come see what the buzz is about. ALSO, register for the weekend soon- it makes my life much easier and takes a load off of your mind. If you don't know about it yet, the cross race I put on in Marysville last year(in the snow) is returning this year as a festival weekend at an earlier date. Expect great courses, chip timing, weekend camping, the concert, and a 5k running race. You can bring out the whole family and everyone will have something to do. It is going to be a great time, so plan on coming out.

Ain't no Fairy Tale Life

2010-09-16T23:40:00.002-04:00

Eyes that aren't quite shut or open, are staring blankly at the dog crate in the corner trying to ignore the building frustration and irritation welling up from inside. I don't have much faith left in my generation, its true- and nights like this only add to my disgust. It's the eve of the first UCI cross race of the season/country/world, and I'm laying in bed waiting for the sleeping pills to kick in so that I don't have to listen to drunken screams any more tonight.

Awaking is always pleasant through open windows....sunshine and that unmistakable morning cool are there waving salutations into a new day. (One of my favorite feelings) I mean there's not much choice since I don't have air conditioning or even know if my heater works, so I just wake up to the sun every morning....afterall, it's been worse. But this morning things are going well and I'm all set to leave- on my way to my escape, a race. I walk out the door to put something in the truck....but shit. You're not kidding me are you? Theres a solid layer of dew on the windshield- I know its not a morning drop off. No, that car has been parked squarely in front of my driveway for sometime now. The cops don't want to hear about it- they hand me off to some other station claiming a change of jurisdiction. Three blocks is too far from the police station to respond to a call these days. I'm sitting on my porch waiting on the cops to show up and tow the car away from my driveway- the only thing keeping me from getting out of here for the weekend. It hits me a little bit- this ain't no fairy tale life.

The racing went well though, easier than expected from a "do I have the legs to truly be in this" standpoint. I was worried, considering my lack of racing this year, yet confident from what I have done. But I took a solid 19th on saturday, and I raced home in third on sunday after 8 laps of solo bliss, haze, and suffering alone on a tacky flowing course. I was proud of how I raced this weekend and have the scars to show for it. My hands were totally shredded from open blisters on saturday, and today (thursday) was the first day with limited pain so far this week. I broke even for the weekend- always a necessity anymore. But you know what? In between the grimmaces on sunday, I was all smiles. I love cross. I'll see you all at charm city this weekend, it should be a great blast.

Food Bites

2010-09-07T23:33:00.004-04:00

Nutrition is one of my weak spots. I'm kind of a binge eater, and I don't always eat the best food. Actually, what I eat is pretty limited: limited by budget. So naturally I think I eat pretty well for what I have to work with. Mostly my diet consists of pasta, potatoes, hot dogs, ramen, yogurt, and ice cream pretty regularly.

Today I kept track for shits and giggles. I am not a nutrition expert. I know the macro nutrients and the role they play in your body as fuel, but thats about as much as I know. I know how much protein I need as an athlete, but everything else is a little hazy. So here's what I had today:

Food Calories/ Fat(g)/ Carbs(g)/ Protein(g)
(Breakfast)
Bagel 260/ 1.5/ 53/ 9
Peanut Butter 190/ 16/ 7/ 7
Yogurt 130/ 0/ 26/ 7
(Lunch)
Ramen 230/ 1/ 75/ 3
Soy Nut Snack Mix 300/ 16/ 26/ 14
(Dinner)
Mashed Taters 320/ 0/ 34/ 4
Bratwurst 283/ 24.8/ 2.4/ 11.7
Frozen Yogurt 280/ 5/ 50/ 8

Total = 1993/ 64.3/ 273.4/ 63.7

So here's the break down- It would have been a good day if I hadn't eaten the bratwurst. My total calorie consumption was actually surprisingly low for what I thought I consumed- still under 2000 calories for the whole day! My carbs/protein/fat ratio was half descent. My protein intake is where I need it to be without supplementation, but unfortunately my fat intake was way higher than I would like to see. I blame my fat consumption today on the bratwurst for dinner- holding over a third of my days fat at 24.8 grams. Even at 40g I feel like thats high. I'd really like to be down around 20 grams. Why 20 grams? I have no clue. Maybe I absorbed some wierd .66/.22/12 trifection ratio of carbs/protein/fat. I'm not sure. Can't wait for my nutrition class to get some low down, nitty-gritty details. Another surprise was how hollow the instant mashed potatoes turned out to be. So as long as I don't binge on the rest of that frozen yogurt before bed, I should be in the calorie deficit for today. I ate a good bit of food, and feel like it was fairly nutritious. I definitely feel like I could eat more though. Thats part of my problem though- I always feel like I can eat more.

I've been on an undercover boss kick lately. I like seeing the behind the scenes stuff from the ground levels up in a large corporation. Comcast on demand has back logged shows for a ton of tv shows, and I'm totally diggin on it.

Broke a spoke at cross practice tonight. Lame. I may not have rolled a tubie, but it's gotta come off anyway now to replace the damn spoke. Gotta love it. That wheelset has been nothing but problems. Never buy hand me downs from pros.

I have to admit something to the world. Shaving my legs has turned into a guilty pleasure. Is that wrong?

I've had a couple articles up in Liberty Sports Mag lately, so check them out if you get the chance. Made the time to write so i could get some new content up. It's harder to find the time than I expected. http://www.libertysportsmag.com/?cat=290

Let me Summarize

2010-09-06T14:54:00.003-04:00

I have no intention of finishing my trip log for you. So lets stream a video and give you a link to my race report.

Cross season starts off next weekend. I'm stoked and I feel super under-prepared.

I still have a lot of stuff for sale:

-FSA K-Force Light Mtb Crank (BB30 model)Used for a season, no chainrings, 175mm$395
-2 K-Edge Ring Gaurds44T, Brand New, 110BCD 5 Bolt pattern, white$25 each
-2 Kenda Small Block 8 MTB Tires29er, Brand New, Never installed$35 for the pair
-TruVativ Stylo Aluminum Mtb BarsFlat w/ sweep, Brand New, never ridden$35
-Easton Ec70 Carbon Mtb BarsBrand New in Box, Flat$50
-San Marco Ponza SaddleRidden$15
-Ritchey WCS Carbon Fork1 1/8" w/ race bearing, Ridden but in great shape$250
-Salsa In-line Cross Brake Levers Ridden $25 for the pair

I'll also take the best offer on things, so don't be affraid to send me any offers.

Go Ride a Bike.

2010-07-29T22:17:00.004-04:00

Scrap of paper: rough directions outlined in chicken scratch amongst old faded text now cluttered with fresh black ink. In Rivermore, don't turn off the highway. It's not much of a town, but it is a town. Go past it. Right turn. CR-80. Dirt Road. Drop over hill and past two farm ponds: one on each side of the road. Turn right at stone pillar gateway. Two cattle guards. Tan stucko building at top of hill. And after 4 hours in the truck, construction, blinding rain storms, canyons with no end, and bald eagle sightings, I was there. I had missed my contact in Loveland, with no way to contact him. Deciding to forge on, I tracked down his estate to lay in waiting. I wasn't positive who I was waiting on: only vaguely remembering an obscure picture of my dad and a younger version of the man I'd meet.

After the big bad racing was over, I had trotted on up through Rocky Mountain National Park to meet one of my dad's old hunting buddies in Fort Collins. Soon after I arrived we got in the car and headed for Arco, Idaho. You haven't heard of Arco? Fancy that.

Apparently some small armory (not much more that a machine shop with a couple additional offices) in Arco is responsible for some of the most famous competition and combat sniper rifles the nation has ever seen. But that is neither here nor there. He was headed there for a funeral (of an old fashioned horseman, famous in these parts and apparently the country). I took the opportunity to climb a rock faced ridge with the dated year in large white numerals of every graduating class since 1927. That was pretty cool, a small group of falcons accompanied me on my summit.

From the small little conglomerate of homes and stores that maintained the name of Arco, we migrated northward until we met the Salmon river and followed it due east from Challis and South from Salmon. I think we spent about 1000 miles in the car over the course of about 48 hours. We were beat by the time we returned.

With a day to recover before our next adventure, I headed into Fort Collins to shop at a camping supply store. Target: Flyrod.

Soon I found myself in the back seat of a big ole ford truck with trailer and 4-wheelers in tow, headed for a couple of fourteeners, mountain goats in our sights. Yes. Goats. Goats. I did say goats. I couldn't believe how shaggy they were. It was an interesting weekend, but I'll spare you some details. Some highlights:
-1000 people day hiking up a fourteener.....what a consumer joke
-a hotel so shitty in idaho springs that I slept outside in my hammock
-blowing up a fourwheeler
-a sweet freaking campsite
-lots of goats

After a long weekend...I was once again driving northbound along the Rockies.

Up and Hinder

2010-07-14T15:51:00.007-04:00

Towering amongst the flat irons that break the manotony of the great plains just west of denver are large rocks towering to the sky. I don't want to read the sign. I don't. I just want to climb, desperately. I can track a line to the pinnacle...not an easy one, but one I would attempt sans rope. I dream. I pine. And furthermore, I just want it. The sign on the wall says don't climb the rocks: minimum fine of $999 or 180 days in Jail. Damn Signs.

Last night I headed out to the red rock ampitheater. The Original Legend turned me on to this place. He told me that he always regretted not seeing a show there and that I must go there while I was here. And I'm glad he relayed that little bit of information to me. The show was great and the venue was literally stunning. I opted for a Film at the Rocks instead of a full on show....mostly because of ticket price. This may have been one of the best deals I've had in a long while. For the $10 ticket, I got two really good bands, a stand up comic, a bugs bunny short, and a movie (Superbad). A sold out show at the Rocks is something to be a part of. There had to have been over 3000 people there. I haven't seen that many people at one single activity in a long time. It was impressive. I'm glad I got there early to grab a good seat because it was literally sold out and there were people everywhere. It was the pleasure of a drive in movie, the laughing and smart ass comments, but from 3000 people all at once.

I actually had a date for the show. But as Ed said, it was such a "shock" that I got stood up. It wasn't, I saw it coming all day, but there wasn't a chance I was going to miss the show. Her loss and someone elses gain. It was someone elses gain, because another cute young lady standing at the box office got a free ticket for the evening. Hope she enjoyed it.

On another note, it turns out that the transmission problem wasn't a transmission problem, but a faulty cam sensor. Apparently cam sensors are expensive. This little issue is $300 down the drain. This whole time a car payment is starting to look more attractive to me than getting nickle and dimed constantly on a used vehicle. My gas fund is looking a little slim for the trip home: good thing my credit card is cleared right now.

The calm before the storm is an eerie time. I'm just resting up for nationals this weekend, and its always an anxiety filled block of time no matter what. This is where the mental game is important. Lets get this over with and get on with the trip.

Another suggestion from the legend was to climb up flagstaff. It was a brutal hot day, and I felt like shit. Thats pretty blunt. I literally faught nasty boughts of nausea the entire way up. There were far to many switchbacks to count, too many riders to count, and got wicked nasty steep up top. The descent was super sketchy due to workers reopening drainage ditches on each side of the road, coating it with a layer of fine sediment. I don't trust my road bike enough....and I didn't give the descent the shredding it deserved. Thats a climb I wouldn't mind hitting up time and time again. I loved the switchbacks. It was a good solid 40 minutes of pain and suffering.

Out and Yonder

2010-07-12T12:12:00.007-04:00

This weekend is what makes up the life of a traveling bike bum.

My race sucked. Absolutely sucked. I sucked. The race was as good as it was last year, same bat time, same bat channel. My memory of the course was wrong and I burnt a match way too early on the first climb. Which was fine, I was still in it. But when I let it hang out on a decent, I flatted: very early. I find it very hard to come back from a flat with fields as fast and aggressive as they are today. I never came back and rode way too conservatively the rest of the day. I got in a good hard day of racing and climbing, but it wasn't really the race I was hoping for. BUT it is good to get this out of the way now. This was a point to point race, so we wound up about 5 miles from the start. Which is cool, its a unique format and I like it. As we were sitting at the finish line, I notice some dark clouds and looked a little closer. Yeah....we wouldn't make it back in time. We could start back now, but I knew we were all f*cked, a dark cacophony of mysterious storm clouds looming on the horizon. Lesson number 1 about the rocky mountains: you can bank on them being unpredictable and unforgivable. I was almost hypothermic by the time I got back to the car. My body temp was way down and I looked worse than the guys I was riding back with. I love sitting naked in the front seat of my vehicle fumbling with the air vents, covered only by a towel.....not able to feel fingers or toes. Been there a few times.

After regaining feeling in all appendages, I scavenged some cheese from a wine and cheese festival going on before taking a nap in the room where we all waited for awards. A half hour nap later, awards came and went. With no solid plan and no solid place to sleep, I grabbed an over priced burger from a food stand, my book, and settled down in front of a folk rock band that was playing live. An hour later, I was wandering around again wondering what to do. So i figured that I would wander down into winter park to shop around a bit. To my luck, there was another show playing in their little park in the center of town, so I picked up a sub, walked through a few shops and settled down in front of the show to enjoy some grub and a good ole country music show. It wasn't bad, and I don't think anyone can complain about live music with the base thumping through your chest.

But as always, all things come to pass and I was wondering where to go again. My plan was to sleep at altitude, and I had a location in mind. So.....I decided not to dodder anymore and go do it. I headed up County Highway 80 to Rollins Pass (my end destination from my continental divide hike last year). On the way, I was flagged by a lady who had lost her dog and wanted me to post a flyer at the top of the mountain, spouting rumors of skiers on the mountain. Of course, why not. In a little under an hour I was there at the pass in time for one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen in my life. It was brutal cold with high winds and I was trying to scout of my camping spot. With about 15 cars parked off the side of a mountain edge road...I had a hunch of where I'd be camping. I caught one of the guys at the edge of the road when I came back through, and got the scoop. These were the skiers that I had been hearing rumors about. Only then did I notice the tracks up and down the snow field perched on the side of a mountain peak. I never noticed it, because it seemed impossible to me: but thats why I'm not a skier.

Turns out that this is a small and tiny little underground ski race thats been going on for 45 or 50 years. This was a sterling find of the trip and I knew it while it was going on. I just hiked on down the slope and started talking to people with fires....I'm not prejudiced against people without a fire but, fires are just warm, and that was essential up there: it was freezing. First, I stopped at an isolated camp further up the hill....that was a family. There was a reason they were up there. This "weekend" wasn't exactly a family affair a few years ago. To me, it seems like it has mellowed out a lot. It was a good time, don't get me wrong, but everyone kept it in check and it wasn't the "wild raver" they made it out to be. It was nice, just right.

I rolled over in the morning to a fogged window, but the sky was most definitely light. I was hoping to get out for the sunrise, but at 5am, I realized I was on the wrong side of the mountain for it. Needless to say, an extra 4 hours of sleep won out. And four hours later, my tailgate dropped with a pretty loud thud, as I climbed out and pulled on my boots. In my slumber I had been parked in and there were now 15-20 more cars all around the stretch of rutted, rocky dirt road. My first thought was to keep rolling and head on down the mountain for breakfast and a pre-ride for the nationals course. I almost got in the truck and rolled away right then. Instead, I filled up my water bottle and had some grub (two cookies and a hand full of dried mango that would last me until about 3 in the afternoon). I kept thinking about that cute young lady I met the night before and all those crazy skiers that were about to take on the slope. I knew I would never be there again, or have that opportunity again, so I stayed. I stayed and we walked up onto the snowfield to take pictures all day. And it was the right decision then, and it was still the right decision when a hail storm rolled in over the slope. And even when I didn't get to pre-ride because of a bad storm rolling in as I was ready to leave the parking lot onto trail, it was still the right decision. That was one of the coolest little events I have ever been to.

That's the stuff that traveling is made of. Living out of your vehicle and seeing the country....if I had gone to colorado springs for the pro xct, I would have never had those experiences. Yeah I had a shitty race, but thats racing, it happens. Maybe my choice to not race the usac race will be taht one race In the end, you have to roll with the punches and go where the road takes you. You never know what and who you are going to find out there. Go discover.

Long way Away

2010-07-08T18:51:00.000-04:00

It's been a very long time since I've posted anything up....but needless to say its been hectic. I moved to a new house that needed a LOT of work in May(I hadn't actually moved until june, but had to fix it up first). With a part time job and a month and a half packed with events vying for my time, I was working over 90 hours a week. It came at a good time, needing distractions from a disastrous life, but there are very few times in my life I want to work that much. A typical day was wake up, eat, do any errands I needed to do, work on the house until 11 or 12pm, return to my apartment, and work on paperwork until 2 or 3am, then repeat. Knowing that sooner or later I'd get a break was a vague and distant solace. BUT the good news is that my house is mostly finished and I actually miss it right now. Why do I miss it? Because I'm on the road for about a month or so.

A big thanks to everyone who bought my aluminum water bottles at Marysville to help get me out here. I've been keeping updates on facebook if anyone has followed along or anything.

I came out alone, all plans of travel partners falling through. It was a pretty trecherous drive out. I planned to take two days to come out. I left Shippensburg PA around 9:30am on tuesday and arrived in Boulder CO around 6pm on Wednesday. After stopping is at Probikes in Pittsburgh (very awesome shop and employees) and having an alladdin falaffell pita roll with Meg, I was on my way again. The drive wasn't horrible to start out with. My mind was busy thinking about all kinds of things and all was well. Until about 4 or 5 pm. There was a rough patch before I stopped for the second tank of gas, at which point I grabbed a rockstar out of the cooler which was a nice cure to the problem...although not tasting very good.

I wanted to make it into kansas on tuesday night, but it didn't happen and I had to settle for a gas station/taco bell parking lot in missouri. After about three muggy hours of sleep I was woken up by mosquitos....not cool. I was bitten on the arm, on the leg, on the neck, and right on the chin. As if I wasn't uncomfortable enough. So I decided to keep going at 4am, but I was hungry....and not for anything I brought. The problem was it was 4am and Missouri. I couldn't find anything hot. That was disheartening and not a good way to start the day. Endurance driving is much like planning for a 24 hour race. You have to drive at a consistent and steady pace, cruise control set at 72mph or below. You have to have a plan. You have to adapt when your plan fails. You need to have adequete nutrition with you to get all your essential nutritional values in, yet you need the comfort foods to keep you going. And above all you have to keep your mental prowess up, allowing yourself simple pleasures along the way to keep the demons at bay. As soon as, your spirits start to decline, its a pitfall and your world collapses. The only thing that saves you is that you have so much time, that you cycle out of it, forced to because you can't stop and quit....thats not an option.

I stopped at the nicest McDonalds I've ever been to about 6am for a morning "pit stop" and breakfast. Sausage Mcmuffin, hashbrown, and small coffee off the dollar menu. That was a nice lift of the spirits, but it didn't sit the best in my stomach. I'll take the morale boost. I was pretty good most of the day, but I had to stop twice and nap to keep it safe. I've gotten pretty good at realizing my breaking point and stopping before I hit the wall. All that driving while at slippery rock had to be good for something. It was rough driving through the latter part of kansas....I wanted to be done and was getting exhausted. Just to throw a monkey wrench into my plans, my transmission was acting up. With no warning, about 2oo miles left to go in kansas, my tranmission started skipping, unable to find a gear, anytime I got close to 3500 rpms. I stopped for about an hour and let everything cool down at a rest stop while I built up some training in a gazebo. (mobile internet is good for something, and I was lucky enough to find a power outlet). The big cool down didn't help though, so I drove the rest of the way going 65mph to keep the rpm's low on the rolling hills. Subsequently my gas mileage drastically incresed, but I was going under the speed limit and it took way longer to finish the trip. 10 mph is a huge diffrence when you are talking about 500 miles. Luckily, the excitement of the first glimpse of the rockies kept me awake on the last leg of the trip. Every rise felt like the time I'd see the mountains. I never did see the mountains. A storm was in the making and the clouds covered up the skyline. With heavy traffic and steady rain storms, getting around Denver sucked. It just sucked. So close but so far away.

For as tired as I was when I getting there, I was wired when I arrived. It always works like that. We pandered around for about an hour or so deciding if we wanted to ride or not. Well we rode and the weather broke in perfect time. Sam, Drew, and myself wandered around campus, the boulder bike path, and headed up 4 mile Canyon(a sweet little climb). After I concluded that it wasn't the aforementioned recovery ride, I wanted to do a little effort on the climb. I stood up when one car went by and just went. It felt amazing after two days in a car. After a lot of sleep that night, another day dawned.

Thursday wasn't quite as nice. A crank issue (installation error on my part) was acting up and midway up the first climb, we decided I needed to return to the house and fix it. There goes my ride. Well, I got lost on the way back. Sam and I met up again, and headed out to flagstaff(another sweet climb). I got about halfway to the base and turned around. I was feeling a little down and lost, and it just wasn't a good decision in my mind. I came back, showered, ate a little bit, answered some emails, and napped. (There is still alot going on after the wreck that was long pines timing, and at times its overwhelming, I'm sure John is absolutely loving me right now. He's been great and has helped me a lot in dealing with the aftermath. I've struggled with timing a lot this year. The timing company I used this spring lost my results for the mash after the first preliminary results posting, making awards virtually impossible. And I couldn't justify the enormous expense of hiring another time company for long pine, being unsure if I'd even have more than the meager turn out I had last year. You just never know with a holiday weekend. Live and learn, adapt and improve. I think I was more embarrased than anyone was actually upset. My weekend was a train wreck, but I think that aside from the results issue, things ran pretty smoothly for everyone who was there, which is the important part.) Also, I realized that my bearings were trashed in my BB30 bottom bracket after my user error, which needd replaced asap. Unfortunately, my afternoon was a little bit of a downer. I was upset after the ride, and feeling pretty alone out here. Sad little pitty party right? I'm out west: htfu and stop bitching is what I say. Cleaned out my truck (train wreck) and check all the fluids.....and the concensus is that I need to find a garage today. Hopefully the transmission is merely a fluid problem...needing flushed and replaced is the best choice I could have right now. I'm a little less than half way through my budget, so lets hope its cheap.

This morning is a lot better. After 10 hours of sleep I feel pretty good....I was pretty groggy when I woke up, but My spirits are high. I registered for both national races and the valley point to point. It's about time to go food shopping and find a ford garage for my truck.

It helps that this morning I awoke to the first registrant of the mid-atlantic Cyclocross Development Camp. We are hosting the camp from August 27-29 in Marysville, PA at the osterling farm. It will be the same campign set-up as the festival with showers, nice camping spots, a pond to swim in, and a fire each night. Saturday will be at the farm, and sunday will be a pre-view of the courses for the 2010 Rockville Bridge CX Classic in Marysville on October 22-24. You can check it out at http://www.fastforwardracingproductions.com/2010/06/mid-atlantic-cyclocross-camp.html. Also, check out the Mountain Bike Marathon and Running race we have going on in Rattling creek, it is a great place to ride in central PA and is a really good race. Visit HERE and HERE.

There is still an open invitation going for my return trip. If anyone wants to fly out and meet me around July 27th, I'll pick you up in montana somewhere and you can see the badlands, northern america, and possibly Canada on the way back for about a week. If you want to hike in the Wind River range, let me know before hand and we can talk.

Why do you ride?

2010-05-20T22:49:00.004-04:00

Some days you find something that just sums it up and reinvigorates your desire to race bikes: makes you want to hop on the bike that instant. Sometimes its just someone saying the right thing, sometimes its something someone does, or maybe its just who its coming from. It's easy to get bogged down in this sport and sometimes you lose track of yourself in the mix, a slave to the daily drone. I really liked this, and wanted to share this insight with everyone who reads this blog.

"
WHY I RACE:
I've been thinking about this question a lot while on my bike this past week. I haven't been racing for long, but was wondering what drew me to the competitive side of cycling. I think I'll start by answering why I ride. I ride because I love the feeling of powering and directing my bike where ever I want to go. I love the freedom of rolling out my driveway with the mindset of being ready to suffer, and rolling up to the trailhead ready to grin from ear to ear. I live for the satisfaction of killing a climb or clearing a rock garden I've never rode before. I've never been to into team sports, but I'm very determined and love to push myself. I originally decided to start racing to "try it out", but became hooked before my first lap ended. I loved pushing myself to my personal limit, and at the same time fighting against other riders with the same intention. My mom calls my racing my "drug of choice" which is an accurate description that I think all cyclists can relate to. In the future, I hope to be an elite level cross racer while giving back to the sport.
-by some 16 year old kid
"

Blah Blah Blah

2010-05-14T00:32:00.002-04:00

That's what I hear in my mind: churning over and over like a scratchy cd, unutterable and tormenting. My mind has been rather full lately, of a lot of things. Here and there. Now and then. Gone and gone. No wonder I haven't been getting great sleep lately, with that static droning on. But the only difference is that there's been some good stuff going on in there lately. Not that anything comes of good thought, but it's a step in the name of progress. Maybe its the red headed step child of progress: getting bitch slapped into submission if it develops too well.

I can only try to not go into too much boring detail. Things are going okay. Heard enough of that yet? Whats so bad in life anyway?

In the middle of last two weeks I've breezed through a last straw bitch of a relationship, been to the pine barrens, done 5 crits, learned to lead climb (and succesfully scaled the ceiling twice), dug 6 concrete blocks out of the ground, officially launched a half marathon set in June, free climbed a rock face, picked a kid up from the police station, finished off a dead end series, and still managed to get in 20 hours on the bike last week. There was quite a few other big things I'm not throwing in there, but the point is that I was exhausted after this weekend.

Jeff wants to know if I still ride my bike. Yeah buddy....I haven't fallen off the train.

I was stoked about racing the rain date of the twice rescheduled kings gap hill climb tonight. I cranked out a time a tiny bit faster than the time I got two-ish years ago with josh b. Maybe only 20 seconds faster. The difference is that I didn't feel on my game tonight: after 3 and a half hours of riding last night and 6 hours of digging fence posts and concrete out of the ground today, I'm not shocked. I was kinda flat the entire ride over, and guess what? Yep, I was flat up the climb. It's 12 minutes and my legs aren't super weery this week, so I can fake it for that long. But I still felt flat in a lot of places and couldn't push it as hard as I would have liked to. Normally I don't like to talk about my riding performance or numbers too much...I think it's boring to be honest, but I've been feeling pretty insecure about my riding this year. This is the first year that I haven't trained heavy through the early part of the year OR had a major peak before june. It got to me a little bit. It's not why I've been racing less, but it sure hasn't made me miss it any more.

I'm very excited for transylvania. It's still open, so if you have any inclination to do ti, pelase register ASAP. It's a showcase of the BEST that PA has to offer in trails. It's going to be an amazing week of mtb stage racing and there will be plenty of big hitters from the nationals endurance scene. I'm so ready.

Plus I just launched a half marathon trail run in Michaux State Forest. Spread the word because its's going to be killer. I'm kind of excited about promoting a running race and expanding my horizons. I've done a few races, and have done my fair share of running so I feel like I can run a damn good event and throw my own twist on a half marathon. You can sign up on active.com or just find it on my website at www.fastforwardracingproductions.com.

Thats about it. For now.

2010-04-26T22:26:00.003-04:00

I'm stoked. I wasn't sandbagging. In fact: I was the slowest finisher in my category! So there's two things to add to that: 1) I was the second fastest of the combined Cat 1 19-29 classes and 2) My lap times were less than stellar. My synopsis of my performance is that my heart wasn't burning that day. I opted to ride a little bit different of a race after meeting up with someone out on the course. One of my golden rules for during XC races that really matter is to never ever sit on a wheel. When you sit on a wheel, you fake exhaustion. It's true. You trick yourself into taking on a slower pace while your mind continues the same feeling of exhaustion. Normally, you can always push harder. To rip fast laps on that course, you always have to be on the gas and chasing people down. Compared to last year, I am definitly not in the same race shape. My late race performance shows it. I'm not okay with that, but I'm forcing myself to be so that I benefit from it down the road. Honestly, I was hoping to leave this weekend on a high note considering performance. I was hoping to not only win, but go out with a win. See, I don't plan on racing for the next month and a half. Tragic I know, but we'll see how that pans out.

For your chuckling pleasure, here are a few pics from my first Greenbrier Challenge in 2004 during my first season racing or even riding for that matter. I could never imagine riding those climbs back then....and now I thrive on them. The times they are a changing.

The last race in the Pennsylvania Scholastic Cycling League will be this weekend. Series awards and all. You may want to come to it, as it may be the last one I do for a long time. Unfortunately, this is something that I am going to have to cut. i simply can't keep doing it. I'll more than likely go into detail about it later, but that's the gist of it.

This Sunday will be a ride at the allegrippis trails at Lake Raystown for anyone who wants to join me: 10am start from the susquehannock camp area. Let me know if you plan to show.

repeats

2010-04-21T23:17:00.003-04:00

A question came into my mind tonight...am I sand bagging? Only if I win anything right?
I thought that was how we measured it. Here is the situation: I'm racing an event that I won last year in the same category I won it in, which isn't the highest field I can race. It was Cat 1 Men 19-24 at Greenbrier. Last year I won despite flatting in the second to last lap....and pretty convincingly at that. If there wasn't another faster field to race, I'd be fine with it, but there is. I'm in a weird place. Chances are that this year I won't win it...I haven't put in nearly as much time as I had at this point last year. I'm feeling alright with where I'm at with my plan...so I'm not bummed about what shape I'm in or anything. Honestly, I don't want to race pro mountain bike races quite yet. I'm really glad that the Mikes talked me out of putting in for my upgrade at 18. That was one of the smartest decisions I could have made for the mountain bike. In cross, not getting lapped and cracking the top 20 is a damn good race when I do the big races. Shouldn't we all have some sort of success to justify what we do?

I may just sound like I'm bitching or whining, but this is something important in my mind. Had I put in for my upgrade at 18 when I wanted to, I would have gotten it. My times at nationals in 2008 that put me in 6th in the elite junior XC field and would have put me in 10th in the semi-pro field. My lap times at greenbrier would have put me in the top 10 of the pro field. Looking back, that may have been one of the worst things for me.

Having to salvage a race in your mind gets old. Having to tell yourself, "at least I'm racing in the pro's" gets old fast. Saying things like," Well, I had enough left to pick off a few guys on the last lap" or "I felt really strong the entire time and managed to ride well off of a solid start to keep good position" get OLD. So I don't feel bad about hanging around in the cat 1's right now. This weekend just feels a bit shady. There's a lot of fast guys at national level cat 1 fields....kinda, but not really around here.

Whatever I suppose. I just hope it goes smoothly. I beat the hell out of a derailleur hanger tonight....so lets hope thats not a bad omen. It will be my last cross country race for awhile, so I'd like to go out on a solid race with no major issues.

Round Trip

2010-04-19T22:51:00.002-04:00

Big weekend, no pics to show for it right now.

Friday night I hit up the drive ins for the first time in quite a while. Despite thunderstorms, and getting caught in it during a recovery ride, the rain wained enough for a pleasurable movie viewing experience. Up early to run the first of the PASCL races with a whopping 5 participants. It was two of their first mtb races ever, that was cool and what keeps me doing this in some form. After that I helped the landlord clean out a ratpacked and very very cluttered garage behind my apartment. That was rough. Got a quick spin in, ate, and got to sleep for the evening. Woke up early again to drive on up to Danville for the MASS race. Managed to scrounge out a 10th place there, and lost a spot on the last descent after my front end buckled on one of those corners. I must have partially rolled my tire off the rim because when I rolled down to the road to get in a little more riding, my front tire exploded, buckling the bike underneath my body sending me skating across the pavement on my spikes and cleats. I can't believe I stayed on my feet. It was probably halarious to observe. Anyways, after that kuhn (congrats on the win buddy) and I jetted across central PA to Millhiem for a top secret transylvania volunteers meeting. Well, it wasn't top secret, but it was in a pretty cool old refurbished barn. Hit the meeting up, and on the way stopped in state college to see someone. Rolled into home around 2:30AM after finishing a dog tired drive that I've done many a time back from the rock in the same circumstances, drag ass tiredness. Woke up mid-day and took a trailer load of garage junk to the landfill. It was my first time there and quite an experience....I drove to the top of a mountain of garbage and threw all the shit off my trailer before getting run over by the monstrous bulldozers with spiked metal wheels.(straight outta mad max or some shit)

Every ride needs to have a purpose. Whether you decide that purpose is to have fun or to do a recovery ride under a certain wattage or to be social or complete a climb over a certain wattage every ride needs to have that purpose and a goal to meet, a goal to accomplish. Some days I hate that. Saturday was a good example. For quite a few reasons I was pissed off when I left on my ride. I was upset all day and that culminated in being inexplicably and ridiculously pissed the *&^$ off. When I rolled through town, traffic wasn't helping matters. I almost got flattened under a Hyundai cause some ass clown was pulling around someone making a turn at a green light into the on-coming lane instead of waiting 3 seconds. Not happy. I had a hard time turning it off when I had to. All i wanted to do was crank the pedals for a few hours as hard as I could. I needed to let it all out. I got through with a set of openers and wasn't turning it off, and that little diddy flashed before my eyes: "every ride has a purpose, and this is NOT your purpose". Not a great ride. I went home and was still really pissed off. I promised myself to save it for sunday and unleash it on the course: don't even look at who I'm racing, just punish those climbs until I let it all out, make it hurt. I went to bed mad. But this only goes to support one of my other beliefs: that you can't race pissed off. Anger isn't enough to fuel a race. Cycling isn't one of those sports you can fake your way through at the upper levels. You have to race for you and only you. It's so brutal and there is so much suffering that you have to be 100% committed to it deep down inside to be able to push yourself to such extremes. I was pissed off and upset all morning leading up to the race. I was standing on the line listening to my i-pod and I was pretty pissed off. I was getting zoned in and ready to put that anger into something constructive (maybe destructive for my legs). It didn't last long. After the first climb, descend, and repeat pattern it was fading. I wasn't racing off of anger, I was racing off of the same thing I always race off of. In the end I was only left upset...I think I may have preferred pissed though. Don't get me wrong, I've raced well pissed off before. in fact, my best result to date was a race where I was racing off of anger. But when push comes to shove, anger won't take you to those extremes. Anger burns off pretty quickly. Anger gets resolved and there's got to be something more in the tank then that.

2010-04-16T17:30:00.000-04:00

She asked me what my favorite song was the other week. I didn't know. This is my favorite song though. Call it what you will, I don't really give a shit. I'm a TBS fan and I love this song.

Thursday Lull

2010-04-15T22:08:00.002-04:00

There isn't too much to report on today....I didn't ride my bike. Funny how that abstract motivations dissolves when my pedals don't turn. It was kind of a bittersweet day. I made some money with the first day of what should hopefully be some pretty steady part time work. Handyman kind of stuff....things I'm good at. This morning I removed a koi pond for them. Spiders (large ones), rocks, and shoveling dirt. It's good for ya...except the spiders. I also found out that I have my first ever cavity! Generally I brush my teeth twice every day. BUT I don't floss....and thats the kicker. SOB. I managed to find Walden (not waldo) at the used book store today. I've been meaning to get in there all winter but today was the first I've actually managed to do so-and I found it on the first try. Total Score.

I think I might try writing a book over the course of this year....about cross. I've got an idea in my head....it may be cool, and it may be totally vain, lame, and stupid. I'll risk it if I can find the time, but I definitely won't be revealing it until I'm done or almost done.

On a separate note- I've been geeking out on star wars the last few days....score.

2010-04-14T22:38:00.003-04:00

Today on our ride i look up from the pace line, almost back to the cars. i catch this dudes head shaking, mouth moving but i can't hear him, just a low grumble of something. I'm about to say something pretty derogatory without too much pause. I hear," something something cell phone. cell phone! cell phone?" Turns out the dude ran out of gas and his truck was sitting along side of zion rd. He was an older fellow....60 something, maybe later 50's. No phone, no gas. I roll back around and let him use my phone. As I'm about to leave he says," you're a decent person." Do you get that? " You're a decent person." Thats what he says. That sticks. That really sticks. It sticks enough that I'm sitting here thinking about it now.

It got me thinking. How does that make me a decent person? What does this guy know? That I helped him out when he needed it instead of passing him by? Anyone in our group would have done that...it happens that I was first. I could kick puppies and shake babies to get a kick for all this guy knows. But he has a point. I thought initially about the time I broke my ankle back in the woods and had to drag myself out. I got out of the woods and was passed by maybe 20+ cars in the time it took me to get across the road to my vehicle from the trail head. No one even slowed down. It was very obvious that I was NOT alright, I mean: my ankle was splinted with sticks and shoe laces for Christs sake. That qualifies as not alright. It also got me thinking about the fella from the golf course that threw a half a pot of coffee on for me yesterday when I could barely work my fingers enough to open the creamer packets. I could tell they were already cleaned up for the day, and just chillin out until the one guy out on the course left. Does that make that guy a decent person for helping me out? Why is it so rare for someone to help someone else out when they are in need? Most people will generally just pass right by without a second thought about it. What is wrong with us?

2010-04-14T01:40:00.002-04:00

The wheels are spinning.
Eyes set ablaze and fervent.
Just a masked routine.

Today, once again, I bit off more than I could chew. Ended up getting picked up in caledonia: cold, wet, bonked, and shut down. I think my body is still mending from the weekend/last week. All nighters are bad for your mojo. It always hurts to have to phone in a ride home, but it was definitely the safe and smart decision.

Tomorrow is a big day with a lot to do.....mostly trailwork. I have to fit in all my prep work, marking, and new trail building at new frontiers to get ready for PASCL#1 on Saturday. I feel a larger post coming on, but for now I should get some sleep.

Trials from the Hurt Locker

2010-04-12T13:55:00.002-04:00

The 30 days of blogging was a stupid idea, like many ideas I have. So I'm aborting it. There ya have it.

Fairhill was sunday....we all know because there was some 600+ of us there. The elite field was pretty stiff, but I had a great start and was feeling good. I did a few starts on the starting climb during my warm up and was shelled everytime. I never felt like I got the pace up it dialed in. Anyways we are standing on the line ready to go, and Jeff and I are on the front row. Jeff was in a place where he was bound to get pushed into a fence, and I was in the perfect position to block and let him in. I finally got the pace right up that climb and found myself in 6th at the top, on the front group. My legs still felt good and I was on yozells wheel. I felt like I didn't over-do my start and I had a superb wheel to follow. I think we were doing about 20 through the woods...it was pretty fast, just skimming over anything in the trail and railing every corner like it was the last. Not the first time I've felt that speed on a mtb in a race before, so I felt pretty comfy there. After a little while I lost yozell's wheel. I'm not sure when, but that wasn't a good thing. I dwindled a few more spots and realize that wall was coming up and the doors and windows were boarded up. There was no way I was breaking through that. The last week was catching up to me, and the tank was on empty. Lets face it, I didn't want to wake up that morning. It was over. I started to feel my right hip tighten up just enough to pull my knee towards the outside just a little bit (afterwards that would lock up so hard I couldn't sit on it). I got passed by a few lines of people, I felt a slight rythm during that second lap, but never got a second wind. My last lap I rode all the stunts that were along the trail and just talked myself out of bailing. Maybe I should have. I knew what place I was in and once the chance of that last money spot went, so did any ambition to bury myself. Lame, but its true. So in the end, pulling an all-nighter on friday and promoting a race saturday drains the tank enough that I probably shouldn't have wasted my $30. BUT I did get to see everyone again, and a LOT more people than I got to see at the relay. We had a pretty awesome meal at homegrown afterwards....Newark is nice, I should move there. (if only they had rocks and climbing....)

Today I went on a recovery ride around town. It fails to amaze me that there are still places in carlisle I've never been or noticed. Today I rode some new stuff I never knew existed. Some new parks, and a lot of new housing was in the ride loop. It was a pretty sweet little recovery ride....a nice morning to be on a bike. But today is the proverbial calm after the storm. It's hard to fight through the low times after the good (or at least busy) times. I think I'm canceling a few items on the schedule, which sucks.

Post #4

2010-04-07T21:57:00.002-04:00

Burnt brim bridging star to star, clear and frosty sky so far, pedals turn over soft and sweet in a simple yet delightful treat. Melodies sooth the ear, nothing possible to fear, a beam of light cutting through a crisp yet warm spring night. Nothing heard, no beast or bird, but a raspy voice that sang. Arms went out, without a doubt, flying through the night. Air surrounds, and only found: that perfect ride.

I logged some 5 hours in the chamois today. A decent enough part of that was social time, but it never gets old. I left early to get a loop in on my way to meet the whiskey springs junior devo team for one of their weeknight rides. That's always a treat: there is such a ride range of abilities in the group that rides, and it never gets old. I see kids that were just like me when I started, and I can only hope things go just as well for them. I really do enjoy getting to see the changes in riders from year to year....one of those simple pleasures of riding with a group of kids. I cross biked it up, a strategy that has worked out very well in the past. I used to do the same thing in high school when I dated the ride leaders daughter. Yes we still get along(me and the father). What never fails to amaze me is the lack of respect in a good handful of kids today. I get to work with a lot of different kids, in different environments, and it seems to be getting a lot worse with each generation. I was brought up to respect people, regardless of who they are. That respect should be there. I just can't see how its not addressed as the kid is growing up. One of the kids started talking shit on me this afternoon while socializing, getting ready to ride. I let it go, and when he kept it up I address it very plainly to him. Not only will they talk shit, but they'll never take responsibility for it, or what ensues with it. It's a kid I know, and it's not irregular for him. He's a good kid, he just talks shit and doesn't respect people when he gets going. Don't get me wrong, talking jive is mighty entertaining and fun, but there are limits and lines. He crosses them without any thought or consideration to it. And you know its funny, I followed one of the father/son duo's home this evening to check out a kayak they wanted to sell, and the son picks up on it. Later, as I'm leaving and the father and I are shooting the shit, he brings it up. The son mentioned it to him. He couldn't believe what was going on and that I let him show that much disrespect(coming from another kid). A conversation ensued about how kids are getting worse today and the issues surrounding it. We decided it comes down a lot to the parents and how the kids are brought up. Their kid is top notch, as quite a few kids are. I don't think it's JUST that. It is getting progressively worse. What do we do about it? Turn a shoulder like I did at the start of the evening? How far does that get us? Who's place is it to step-in? Nobody is at their best behavior/courtesies/game all the time and I'm very far from that myself, but I'm not wrong when I point out that things are getting worse as generations progress.

Ever tried motor pacing? You should try it- it is a blast, and shocks people what for. Tonight was beautiful, and all is well...for now. MASH registration ends soon- better get on and grab those last remaining spots. Thanks for listening.

Post #3

2010-04-07T00:41:00.005-04:00

I get nervous for new experiences, we all get nervous. That first day of a new class, I'm the one sitting off to the side trying to blend in with the wall. But really, what I think we all have to remember is that we are all just ordinary people. Yes- we are all strange and wierd and unique, but we are still all the same ordinary people- just like each other. No reason to be nervous.

I set off on an adventure the other day. And sitting there in that solitary parking lot, surrounded by abandoned shale, I wasn't sure the adventure would pan out well. On the onset of every voyage, there's some shade of doubt- theres always shades of gray. I wandered my way through the depths of the rattling creek single track once again- cleaning lines and trying familiar troubles again. I was worried....there are some perilous lines out there. But as the warm breeze of evening swept in over a swept back ridgeline, I couldn't help but feel that things would work out. And as the adventure went on- it did go well. Things are never what you expect them to be. Things rarely pan out the way you see them- I planned on climbing on this trip, but instead I tried a new line in a familiar course. And you know what it was great. People are just people, and sometimes a new adventure is exactly what you need. A great philosopher once said, there's a river in everyone's path, but its up to each person to decide how you cross it- if you decide to stand in your own way, thats a shame. Go on an adventure tomorrow.

Post #2

2010-04-07T00:23:00.002-04:00

Wow...this posting thing has worked sooo well already. Not. Day 4 already and only one post to show. So here is Day 2's post.

It's rediculous. It really is. I was looking through the results for the marysville relay, and there were some pretty good friends there that I didn't even get to see. Some days, it seems like you don't get to see everyone you want to. I'm not sure where I'm going with this. This post sucks. ;-)

30 Days of Blogging

2010-04-04T23:07:00.004-04:00

I haven't been able to enjoy blogging in the last year or so. I'm not sure why, but my enjoyment of blogging dwindled. The topics for discussion still rattled in my head, but they never made it to text: lost in transmission. I don't like that, because I feel like I have some pretty good thoughts every once in awhile, and I really do enjoy being able to construct a decent entry. One of the perils, as with any form of journalism I suppose, is that once your thoughts hit text, they are no longer yours. Those thoughts are out there for everyone and anyone to see.

So here is what I'm intending upon, and thus the title of todays blog: a 30 day stream of posts. Going into this I can foresee some difficulty in finding topics to indulge in every day. I'm not sure that there should be a word cap on these entries....how long is a good post? 500 words? 1000 words? 90 words? Let's just write what feels right for the story, and what it is, it is. Today will be the first day and ends May 3rd.

Today will have to settle for the norm. That blustering, rambling of what has happened in who knows how long: since I don't frequent the update. When was the last update.....February 21st....Over a month ago. Pretty on par with my last spattering of entries- none of quality. March appears in my date book as a flurry of ink upon gridlined page. PASCL Meetings in two locations, team training camps, a lot of scurrying with a date change for the MASH race, rides, workouts, climbing parties to belay, plenty of plans that fell through, the Development camp, and class scheduling for the fall to cap it all off.

Since we are on the subject, lets talk a little bit about college education. Everyone is encouraged to go to college in today's society, it's everymans education. The days of old are yorn, no longer do most people just enjoy the skills they develop, but instead are shipped off to college for no more concern than "It's what I'm supposed to do". Who's to blame for this switch? Who really cares? Nowadays its becoming impossible to get any job without that tiny little line of words on your resume that says you have your college diploma. Now you may say thats because of escalation in the job market, everyone trying to get "one-up" on anyone else applying for the same job. Thats probably a good part of it- and a fammiliar trend that shows in people you talk to. Personally I don't really agree with this....partly my beef with college (yes I have a beef with college) That being said, the university experience is pretty beneficial. But while talking with someone today, I kind of realized what I don't like about the whole 'Major' ideology. We sign up for classes based on what is required to graduate, plain and simple. There are very few instances that we 100% pick our classes on the preface that we just want to sit in that class and learn everything about something. You are taking something, a career path, that has many different shades of gray, and turning it black and white during preparation. Something that makes sense to me in idea form (and hopefully something we see in the future) is a "Build your Degree" program. Most likely some universities already offer something along these lines: but the idea is simple- that you create your own "major" by combining a unique entourage of course.

Let's use me as an example. If I was starting as a freshman in a "Build your own Degree" program- I may pick out the major courses to fulfill said degree. Say a traditional Major consisted of roughly 50-60 courses (the rest of a degree being accompanied by general education courses and elective credits) Lets also say the average class weight is 3 credits per course...thats about 16-20 different courses that make up a major.
For me, off the top of my head I would pick(not that these are actually courses offered anywhere in specific, but are classes that could be offered somewhere):
1. Human Anatomy
2. Physiology
3. Biomechanical Analysis
4. Sports Nutrition
5. Exercise prescription
6. Athletic Injury prevention and care
7. Sports Psychology
8. Childhood psychology
9. resource management
10. land management
11. architectural design
12. drafting
13. land development
14. literature history
15. professional drafting writing and editing
16. print journalism
17. sports journalism
18. Personnel Management
19. Accounting
20. Marketing

Kind of a four point plan of attack: exercise science, business management, land and resource management, and english/journalism. Kind of flows along nicely. Not sure what you'd call it...maybe the Sport Center Management Degree?? Good in theory, but most likely impractical. A lot of fluff and build up for nothing huh?

So in the meanwhile, I've been trying to kayak while the water was high, I've been trying to get good at rock climbing again, and I've been trying to workout in the gym more. So my ride time isn't that high right now, but I feel like this will ultimately be of greater benefit in the long run. Race season is starting (raced last minute at marysville last weekend) and I'm getting excited about it. There are a lot of fast people around and this year is surely stacking up to be a very challenging season indeed.

So....It's late....and I ran out of momentum for tonight. So shall that do for the first post? There's no revision here, so it had better be. Until tomorrow, I bid thee adieu.

Slackin in the bloggershpere

2010-02-21T23:06:00.004-05:00

I've dropped the proverbial ball. I haven't posted anything worthwhile in a very long time. Lets sum up my posts since cross season: I'm sad that cross is over, jeff went to europe and I'm jealous, I got a date for once, my car ate the proverbial shit, I'm sad? Thats a pretty damn pathetic blogreel. I apologize to the three followers I have, I'm not living up to the hype. Maybe I just took someone saying that all I write about is my pathetic downer life issues to heart....maybe I don't want to write about the same old ride with the same old people...oh wait, I haven't been doing that either. Well- we can scratch that then. Where does the time go? It feels like just yesterday I was eating shit and watching Tim Johnson Power past me in a stunning display of pwn-age (pronounced pone-age, but not spelled that way) and now I'm sitting in my apartment trying to grasp the concept of the feet of snow standing between me and an event less than a month away. Feels like a lifetime has passed....but doesn't it always? Every day can drag on and on and nights can never end, but when we look back it was all in the blink of an eye. Maybe thats what we all need to remember. Blink your eyes. Maybe if I never open them the world will stop turning and things will cease to be.

Damn, it didn't work. So its February somethingth-or-other.....what has happend, what has happened....
-punched a nice size hole in my leg, and showed it off after realizing it hadn't started bleeding yet. (after pulling the stick out of course)
-not being able to get it to stop bleeding for 12 hours
-a LOT of shoveling
-not a lot of riding
-my first xc ski lesson/run (run? what the hell do you call it? a trip? i didn't go anywhere...circles don't count)
-My first snowboard lesson (following a truck with a bungee and a snow covered road)
-another race gone and past
-a new vehicle(10 grand more and I would have had what I wanted. I hate shopping in my price range. Maybe realizing what your price range really is actually the worse of the two)
- another proverbial truck struck and lingering.
- redecorated
- gained some weight
-started climbing again
- joined a gym
- ran for a change
- found a new favorite hammer gel flavor
- putting in steady days behind the desk
- haven't had the mountain bike out in a coons (or kuhn's age)
- shoveled off a roof
- I'm getting really tired of feeding myself everyday (thats when the spoons of peanut butter appear)
- too much ponderous thought with no revelations
- got my PA Bar champ skinsuit (PIMP)

The last two weeks have been the most consistent and arduous physical activity I've had since cross season ended. I finally got in a really good solid training ride. I found some time for a solo jaunt into adams county on saturday morning/afternoon before heading in to the rock mines for a birthday belay gig. A couple rides a week, some running, some gym time, and as of recently a newly found passtime of cross country skiing. What a silly idea. I'm looking forward to getting good at climbing again. My felxibility is horrible right now and my futile efforts at climbing are pitiful. It really depresses me in reality. I watch people doing things that stun me, when I could do those things less than two years ago. I feel like I've been letting myself slip the last few years. I'm faster now, but I feel like I was in much better shape my senior year....between climbing, working, racing, and working out, I was in pretty damn good shape. Maybe I'll have to quit everything I do and focus on my own personal training....HAH.

I was driving down over the mountain the one day and felt that epic sensation you get from catching a glimpse of the rockies. And I was in Pennsylvania. This place truly is a honey hole for us outdoor minded folks. It hides a lot, but if you pay attention this is one of the most beautiful states I've had the pleasure of being in.

I'll throw in a handful of pics from my phone to pass the time.
Just poles.

Some packing for an adventure.

No there is NOT a car under that pile of snow.

New (used) wheels

My clothes are starting to fall off my body...I think its time for a few new threads.

Ouch....

Mountains much?

Prize to the first person who knows what kind of track that is.

2010-01-27T04:51:00.000-05:00

This isn't the post I wrote. Go read fat marcs blog, its happy.

Thats not quite how I saw today panning out....

2010-01-14T17:12:00.002-05:00

I'm reminded of this lesson a lot....it happens a lot. It happens a lot to all of us.

I was on the fence about heading up to the MAC Prom this past weekend. I didn't really have the money to spare for the tickets, and dinner is always expensive with the drink tab thrown in...not to mention gas and tolls. Whatever, right? I wanted to go hangout with everyone. Aside from Marc's annual party, and the ever amazing post-nats party, its the best non race event we have each year. This year I wasn't all that enthralled in it. Given, I was late, and missed most of it but still. Dinner is the real deal though, and thats what its about. After the banquet everyone disperses into downtown Manayunk for dinner with their teams. It's the shit. Needless to say it is always a good time, and a lot of people look forward to it.

I had a special date, that I was stoked to share my circle with and to show all my friends. I had to work from 11-1:30, gotta do it. I picked her up and blasted back to my apartment to shower and change in a flurry. Threw everything in the car and we were off. By my calculations, we were in perfect time, and would have arrived with 2 minutes to spare before the awards actually happend (4:28pm) Turned onto the exit for Belmont ave, and nothing. Nothing. No power brakes.....no POWER from the engine. Dead. Caput. Finito. Dead in the water. Pulled off to the left on the exit ramp. with plenty of room to spare. We can still be on time with a short walk. So we do. That was a mistake, but thats neither here nor there. Made it...missed it. My buddy started it early. Sweet. Whatever...I didn't want to stand on an empty podium when I didn't make the top tep, but I did want to be there when the team got called up, and I did want to see everyone else's. So we go to dinner. Spend ALL the cash in our pockets. Get dropped back off at the car after its over, and ITS GONE. Sweet. The rest of the evening was a mix of standing in the cold and getting driven around by the oh so nice Colin Bonnington. Not a good evening, especially when you are all dresses up and your date is in a dress and heels. And its freezing cold. So after staying at Kim's, we headed out again in teh morning, not sure where the car was, and tried to track it down. Long Long LONG story short, we found it around 2pm Sunday afternoon, and paid a shit ton of money to get it out of an impound, loaded on a truck and towed home to my garage, all the while missing two meetings I was supposed to be at. Monday morning she's headed back to school (yes, that was our last 48 hours together for I'm not quite sure how long) and I'm sitting in my mechanics office looking at a note with my car scribbled down and the words, "JUNK" scribed out next to it, haphazardly. Sweet. At least I can get a truck now. At least I don't have to worry about spending all that pesky extra money I didn't have.

In all reality, I'm not all that upset about the car. That shit happens. It happens to all of us, and we have to deal with it. So many worse things could have happened. And the experience was a good one to share and learn from, no matter how shitty and unenjoyable it was. So yeah....things don't always go how we plan them. It's a common trend.

The weather is great, so go ride a bike, boulder, kayak, hike, or do somethings outside!

Day Dreaming

2009-12-25T00:27:00.002-05:00

I sit here on my couch, dreaming. Dreaming of romping along the hills somewhere in northern Europe....the Netherlands maybe. Maybe Czechoslovakia. There's actually a small little program going on this very minute with a group of really fast american racers doing just that....on cross bikes. Oh god how I wish I was there. Luckily, one of my buddies is there. Yes I'm really jealous, but more than I'm jealous, I'm proud of him and so so SO happy that he is there right now.

I think a lot of you know who I'm talking about. He's an outstanding young man from Newark, Deleware riding for Van Dessel-Thule. Check out the a website thats up for him and seriously try to help the brother out, this kid deserves it. Check it out HERE.

Popcorn post

2009-12-21T00:18:00.007-05:00

Yes, you knew it was coming- this is the post you skip over because it takes about a week to read. It's the yearly wrap up. I've had about 8 hours of sleep in the last three or so days, have had a wonderful day, and am feeling rather sentimental right now...perfect time for this.

The passage of time is a wierd and relative thing I suppose. It feels like ages since this time last year.....truly. It doesn't feel like yesterday at all. A LOT has happened. I won't do it justice but I'll give it a shot.

i started this and its just too much to bite off, so this is turning to a list....with some pictures to suppliment:

-Winter trial at Cadence
-a week in west chester of parties, awards, and meetings
-slippery rock
-my first ride on a modern train and my first real big city experience.
-new sponsors for the year, great prospects shaping up with the camps and events, and I was all business.
-the closer I got to the end of the semester the better and then the worse things got
-Made some really good friends before I left (and made a big mistake before I left. I know she's not reading so I'm allowed to say it....even the lessons learned were shitty ones that do as much harm as good still)
-Classes droned on, I finalized my transfer and tried to shape up the place i'd live for the fall semester(ended up being home).
-lots of long long long rides.
-Lots of falling when I first got back on the mtb over the winter.

-A -5 degree ride.
-Trained for a 24 solo race.
-Thrashed the cat 1 field at greenbrier after standing on the start line in the back with my tire spinning around the sealent so it wouldn't go flat.
-Finished my last day at slippery rock.
-Went white water kayaking with a friend up in lehigh,
-bought a white water kayak
-got my first roll in white water
-almost dislocated my shoulder doing it, and got the largest rush off the bike in a looooong time.
-Living in Philadelphia for 3 and a half months. (thanks adam!)
-Burn was my 24 hour race.
-Burn was a lesson. Despite how well we may train for something and how much we devote to something, our reactions to how things unfold still mean everything.

It feels like there is just too much to have happened.

-One of the best weekends of all time at big bear being a support/slacker/massage bitch for a handful of adult teams (maybe the most fun I've ever had at a bike race)
-An awesome week of training, riding, and coaching with Kuhn and a group of awesome athletes in state college
-A horrible shity weekend in slippery rock, and the last time I'll ever go there. also another good lesson learned.
- kuhns awesome stage race, training, and philly
- Long Pine Classic was a first year Mass race this year. Had a low attendance but had one hell of an event
-ran myself into the ground with that and then driving straight to colorado with the team
-My first podium at a US National Championship (short track)
-the two weeks we spent in colorado may never be forgotten by any of us that went
-neshaminy may have taken the cake on rough patches for the year.
-Cross season was shaping up already with a mudfest at friday night lights at spectacross durign teh new jersey state fair. not bad to start off the year by working through an entire field to take 4th....I really enjoy racing in the evening, especially under lights in front of a crowd....I love that dynamic. That was an awesome trip with gunnar, what a great young man.
- My last week of so in philly was the best week by far. Kelley, kristin, and the others really made me feel like I had great friends there. Hanging out with colin and michelle out of the center was a blast too.
-Reconnected with a long lost interest
-Making friends with Mike Festa
-My first full pro cross season was a long season of learning lessons, taking my lumps, and it was awesome. Looking back over the season I'm pretty happy with it. Fatmarc takes the cake with the most meaningful quote of the season(to me). It went something along the lines of the following," Zach, you are and elite f'g U23 athlete, it doesn't matters who is here. You are fast, no go and race like you belong up there." Without that first kick in the ass, I don't think I would have done so well in all the little races and the PA series. My goals at the beginning of the season were pretty ambitious: win MAC series in U23, Earn 1 uci point, and race well enough to warrant the thought of going to europe. Once again that last one eluded me. As a matter of fact, all those things eluded me. There was some really amazing talent racing around here this year, and I'm not ashamed that I didn't achieve my goals, I accomplished some pretty good things. I raced my heart out in the races I raced, won two elite races in the PA series, took the 2009 Elite Mens series championship for the PA Cyclocross series, and found my bottom. Bottom happened to come in the form of a race I did great at last year, highland park cx. The mud found me begging to get lapped faster than i did. Whitmores found me on an off weekend, fighting with everything i had just to get one more lap in before Tim Johnson picked me off. I am actually really glad I got to become friends with chris consorto this cross season....I've seen him around at a few races for a long time now and never made friends, this cross season it happened. Thats a highlight for sure. Racing for Auer and C3 is something I look forward to all year long. It's the bestest. Cross is boss. But pro sucks.
- My cross race was a success despite its horribly low turnout. I was proud of that, and found the motsie to pull a pretty damn good ride out of my ass....I was happy with that. It was a perfect race for me. it was a crosser's race.
-a weekend spent in Northern california with some great people learning about the high school leagues
-waking up underneath mount Tamipika(speling) and overlooking a fog blanketed east bay
-Moving out of the house
-Getting Marc's couch and doing it proud.

Worst moments of the year:
1. that night in slippery rock
2. that afternoon in neshaminy before the race

Best moments/rewards of the year:
1. Backpacking in Colorado
2. Working with the kids of the Fast Forward Junior Development Team
3. Coaching athletes to; multiple wins, series podiums in XC, endurance, and CX, podiums in xc, cx, marathon, and 24 solo races, and seeing them all make the advancements that they made.

Thanks everyone for a great year and a few more weeks left to go. Special thanks to everyone who helped me over the course of the year, serving as friends, supporters, role models, ass kickers, teachers, and furniture: Brett and Donna Weiser, Don Pagano, Jake Davidson, Marc Vettorri, Sam, Sammie, kuhn, yozell, adam szcepanskie, Kelly Cline, Kris Auer, Weston Schempf, Bad Fuckin Andy Wulfkuhle, Mike Hebe, Kara Tustin, Mark Laser, Steve Kuhn, Gunnar Bergey, Matt Fritzinger, Tom McDaniel, Bradey Gibney, Colin Sandberg, Randy Bergey, that really cute chick from DC who traded prosciutto for a massage, Super fast jeffrey Bahnson, his mom lauri(for alot of things), Brian B (for the coffee cup full of triple strength espresso ;-)), that dude that gave me a CO2 that one time, ALL the sponsors, my parents, anybody who fed me when I was hungry, anybody who gave me a place to sleep when I needed it, and the cycling community for making this sport what keeps me moving all day and waking up in the morning.

Mixed Bag of Tricks

2009-11-29T19:21:00.002-05:00

So....We do what we can do in this game. We do what we have to, and we play the lines and boundaries. Cycling and life are one for some of us....I feel like cycling and life are synonymous for me least ways. When one strikes the balance hard, the other is jerked into left field-hard sometimes. The dreaded left field...oh how I loathe that dump. Lets just say left field is a pretty bad place. I'm reminded of this fact a lot, and don't give much thought to it...until I'm unpleasantly reminded that is. It's not a totally negative trade though, good life can transfer into an aura on the bike as well. Normally I think we neglect that thought. We all know those rides....world and peace are one dooode, as the emphatic Californian would say.

Well....this weekend was a pretty mixed bag for me. Lets rephrase that, the last MONTH has been a pretty mixed bag for me. The best thing about this past Saturday(PA States) for me was a toss up between my cool down ride in awesomely warm and comforting leg warmers and I-pod on the roads around the parkway...and getting to soak in that changing of times with the ole kuhndog and yozell. Those two guys are pretty great, and getting to see those two as fathers to kids the same age-who will no doubt grow up together and be close friends- (you can see it I swear) it's just phenomenal. My race was pretty embarrassing honestly. And today was a mixed bag, but good for sure. My favorite part was bunny hopping the barriers every lap but the first. May not have been faster, but it was damn fun for sure.
Props to the very talented Anthony Skorochod for cathcing my almost endo at the barriers
I'm going to make the call and say my season is officially over. I'm pulling the plug on a somewhat high note.....today was pretty good in the end, and I'm happy with that. I am still going to the next two races...Rockville for obvious reasons, where I'll just race to finish and I'll catch a ride down to the MASS finals at Reston to work the pits and heckle all the people I will miss drastically over the next few months and longer for some. Now when to fold folks....know when to fold.

I wanted to mention something else, but I'm not quite sure how to put it in there better than just tacking it on at the end....I guess it can recall the mixed bag thing as well. It's the blog man...this pseudo-culture of bloggerdom. It's pretty phenomenal when you think about it. I don't recall who it was this weekend, a similar situation occurred last weekend as well, but I'm starting to get recognized and as stated a few posts ago called out just for having the blog. For better or worse, I think thats pretty cool. Way to live in a digital era, being recognized by your blog and texting to communicate with clients....I can dig.

Go register for the LAST PACX race of the series in Marysville, PA(central PA) coming up this saturday december 5th. It's going to be a really fun event, and thats what we want this time of year isn't it? Not just another race to go to, but a fun EVENT. Feels like we haven't had one in awhile.

Colorado was amazing.

2009-11-27T16:38:00.001-05:00

Now THIS is worth talking about

2009-11-19T12:23:00.002-05:00

What am I going to talk about?

My race of course! I just spent the morning out at the lions club.....let me just say there is a treat in store for everyone who makes the trip out....thats right marc, just for you. I haven't raced there(and there hasn't been a race there) since 2005- you may remember the pa state champs and the unofficially official state champs. I remember the course was pretty dope with a home grown set of stairs. I remember resetting the course and tearing down.....but I only have a vague outline of what it did in my mind. So with that in mind, I went out and threw together my take of a cross course at Marysville. I think it went better than it probably did.....I'm reeling right now to be honest. I used a good bit of the same course kuhn did, but I am pretty confident that I made it different enough to be my own. Well.....I don't know, it could be exactly the same.....but that wouldn't be a bad thing, it was an awesome course before. Yes, I'm jabbering and rambling now....I'm that excited.

So anyways, here's the scoop, on tap I have a few key attractions. The first one is what I called the "run-up of sunshine and rainbows" on my website. The name is a trick. It is rideable.....but barely. Which brings in the question, "To try, or not to try?". You will have to dismount at some point, because it goes straight into a staircase for shits and giggles! Had to put it in....it's a staircase just sitting there looking all alone...you get the point. The second attraction is what I'm going to lovingly dub the G spot, just to show ken how its done. For those of you who attended specta-cross this summer, you know what i'm referring to. If not- I guess I can let you in on it. The "g" spot was the center of a large wet- spiral. You'll know mine when you see it....I don't hide it ;-) Was that necessary? I don't think so, but it will be fun for the announcer all day long.

The course is fast. Bloody fast...in some parts. But its also slow and technical in others. Expect a lot of good flow, with a off cambers, two loose corners, some tight descending, wooded sections, field sections, two huge power sections and a few really steep ride-ups, steps, dismounts, remounts, unruly ragamuffins, amazing shicanes, a ton of transitions, and a really fun course. I haven't decided yet if i am going to put in a set of true barriers yet....but expect them anyways.

There are two people reg'd....so lets get some peeps on there! Get me amp'd up and it shows in the energy of the event. Come on people, lets race cross!!

Oh and there is indoor reg, bathrooms, kids selling coffee and foooood, and a band! Plus a guest appearance on the microphonothinger! And my race music is trance....

go HERE!

2009-11-16T20:05:00.002-05:00

obviously i didn't write my angry post. good thing.

The weather has been phenominal....florida weather is starting to look good in the winter now....

I had the desire to make a killer blog post....but lost it again.

I passed a car descending on my road bike yesterday...

I'm excited for something I just ordered today...been needing another for awhile. (and its not another hole in the head)It's good to have things to look forward to....

Sometimes, its not worth it to write how you feel about some things.

Time for an angry post

2009-11-12T16:12:00.003-05:00

I thought better of actually posting what I wrote. I won't be at the usgp this weekend.

Sweet Nothings

2009-11-10T02:15:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-04T00:24:00.001-05:00

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?

2009-10-27T12:18:00.005-04:00

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.

2009-10-13T19:00:00.007-04:00

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.

2009-10-06T12:16:00.001-04:00