Winter Setup

Posting this for people who were asking about the strap on my bike and the Barmitts.  These are just things that winter riders need to know!!!!  If you are training outside in the winter here are 2 awesome things that will make your training even more fun!

The guys at Backcountry Research have some awesome stuff going on!  It is so awesome that I can now strap a handpump to my road and mountain bikes so that I don't have to waste CO2 on training rides.  Seriously... you gotta get one of these things!

If you don't believe that a 'little strap' could hold all of that stuff without things falling out then check out this video:

 

My Barmitts enable me to ride in the coldest temps that MD has to offer without ever getting my hands cold.  I wear 2 pair of gloves and then the Barmitts and I have NEVER had an issue with cold hands.  The Hub in Catonsville is now selling them... seriously get a pair..

CX Bike used for Road Training with attached Barmitts and the Mutherload strap to hold a hand pump, tube, multitool, and tire levers.

Single Speed Superfly with the Race II strap to hold hand pump, tube, and tire levers

Base Training!

I am into my second week of Base training and things are going well.  I am using Joe Friel's The Cyclists Training Bible + my own knowledge of how my body responds to training to create my schedule.  I am using the 800 hour track of Joe Friel.

800 hours in 1 year is a decent jump for me compared to last year, however I think I should be able to handle it given my previous years of training for Race Across America and other super long distances.

Adam and Lance are on the same schedule as me.  Without their help riding 20+ hr weeks during base would be completely impossible.  Long rides on Saturday mornings starting at 4am would be miserable but instead it is an epic adventure when you have 2 other guys to ride with... so much fun!  I feel much stronger this year doing my base miles compared to last year.

Keys to doing 20+ hour weeks:

1. Nutrition: When riding over 4hrs.  Probars and Cerasport keep me going and Barmitts keep my hands from falling off in the cold weather.
2. Commuting: I don't think it would be possible to fit in that many hours if I was not also commuting to work on most days per week.
3. Training partners: Joe Friel says it is best to train alone, at your own pace, but mentally that is impossible.  Luckily Adam, Lance, and I are all about the same speed or at least it is close enough.   

Base is fun but I can't wait to be over with it and back to racing again!  Racing is what it is all about.  The first race next year is Monster Cross, that will be a C level race for me.  I am looking forward to seeing the 2013 NUE schedule to find out when my real races are.

Iron Cross... swwwweeeeeettttt!

Had a super fun ride at Iron Cross yesterday.  My teammates Adam Driscoll and Lance Byrd drove with me to the race.  Greg Rittler and Justin Taylor met us there.

The race started at a nice pace.  Adam and I were with the leaders into the first technical section (Lippencote).  I was feeling great and super comfortable with where I was.  About 1/2 way through Lippencote I flatted.  It took me way to long to fix the flat and there went my race.  After fixing the flat I regrouped and started racing hard again.  Even though I had no chance at a good placement I could still ride hard!  It was a super fun course and I had great legs, I will get em next time :)

Adam also fell off the pace in Lippencote with a leak in one of his tires.  His Stans sealed it up but it cost him precious minutes and he lost the front group.

Lance rode a near perfect race!  Nice work man!

Super 8 Race #2 Winchester Apple Cross

Oh man that was fun!  I still don't have my speed back yet but it is coming around.  By November I hope to be back to full cyclocross speed .... For me that is still kinda slow but it will have to do :)

Tom Schreck took these great pics of my race!  Thanks Tom

Up the Belgium Wall

So many fun turns!!!

Chasing Nick Taylor through the woods section

Nick outsprinting me to the finish line.. 10th and 11th

Charm City Cross!!! Men's UCI Day 1 and Day 2

I have lots of endurance from the 100s but my top end is lacking!  Charm City was a little slower for me this year than last, but coming off the NUE races I had expected that to be the case.  I am confident that I will be able to turn it around and have a very strong November :)

You gotta check out the Charm City Day 1 race video from In The CrossHairs!

 

Killer Cross Cake

This is a modified popcorn cake recipe to make an awesome and somewhat healthy treat for post cross racing!  

Melt in a pot on stove over low heat

1. 4 cups small marshmallows

2. 1/4 stick butter

3. 2 overly ripe bananas

4. 1 pack Truvia (or Splenda)

In a mixing bowl:

1. 3 bags microwave popcorn

2. California Trail Mix

3. a lil extra salt

4. 2 scoops vanilla Whey Protein 

- melt the ingredients of the pot

- once melted mix it into the bowl

- pour contents of bowl into a brownie pan

- put in fridge to harden

- cut + serve

BCA Cyclocorss... First Race Of The Season!

Oh man!  I was really worried that all of the 100mi MTB races that I have been doing lately would seriously delude my top end speed needed for cross racing.  That being said, I was not at my best but I also was not too bad at today's BCA Cyclocross race.

This was my first race riding Stan's No Tubes tubeless rims with Vittoria TNT tires.  It was awesome!  I had 100% control.  I felt just as good as I have on any of the best tubulars.  There is no going back now.

Pre race food was a turkey sandwich and 1 PROBAR Nutty Banana Boom (awesome flavor!!!).  Always eat a ton 2hrs before the race.  Any close to the race than 2hrs and the food does not have enough time to digest.  2hrs gives just enough time to get the food ready to be used, in my experience.

This was the 1st of the Sportif Cross Cup Series of races.  I am a Cat 1 and they don't have a series for us, but they still let us race against the Cat 2s and 3s and we get scored against them... we just don't count towards any series.  

At the gun I found myself in a decent position and I saw Nick Taylor get a 5 second gap immediately!  Whew!  I worked my way into 2nd position with a ton on guys right on my tail and with Nick slowly adding the seconds to his growing lead.

I chased hard but Nick kept growing his lead and I was starting to fade...  at about 1/2 way through the race Greg Capelle caught up with me and I worked with him for about 1 lap.  This gave me time to recover/relax...  With about 3 laps to go I attacked Greg and went to bridge the 24 second gap to Nick.

On the last lap I caught Nick and then I attacked him.  Unfortunately for me Nick was not out of gas and he matched my attack.  Then on a technical downhill section my chain dropped for a few seconds... it was just enough for him to get a little gap.  

attacking after catching Nick

I could not close that gap before the finish.  

2nd place was not too bad.  It was certainly wayyy more than I expected.

left to right: Sunny, me, Nick Taylor, Eric Krauss, Greg Capelle

Can't wait for Charm City next weekend!!!

Fool's Gold 100... so fun but a long day.

Strava Data

Watch more video of 2012 Fool's Gold 100 NUE Series Final on thom.cyclingdirt.org

The Fool's Gold 100 is the last race in the National Ultra Endurance (NUE) MTB race series.  It was my 4th race in the series in the Single Speed category which is the minumum required to place in the series.  If I had gotten 1st I would have finished in 2nd overall in the series.

The race started with a 10mile uphill!!  Awesome!  Gerry Pflug, Dwyane Goscinski, and I were the 3 Single Speeders with the group of top geared racers (including Jeremiah Bishop, Christian Tanguay, and the rest).  Once the road turned downhill/flat most of the geared guys got away.

Gerry put in a few hard efforts and he eventually gapped me at about mile 20 or so.  I learned my lesson at New Hampshire... never go to deep to early or pay for it later... if Gerry was that strong then I would have to let him get away and hopefully catch him later.  100miles is a longgg race.  Dwyane was only a bit behind me in 3rd.

For the rest of the race I was pretty much riding by myself.  That was okay because this course was AWESOME!!!  It was either epic climbing or totally rad single track. 

Somewhere near the end of the course I somehow got lost... Oh man!  Getting lost added 10-15 extra miles and about 1 extra hour to my ride... Ouch!  I went from 2nd place to 4th place in the Single Speed category.  Finishing 4th put me in 4th overall in the series instead of 3rd.  Thats okay.  It was a great day and a ton of fun.  Can't wait to race this one again next year, it was definitely one of the best courses.

Shenandoah Mountain 100... What An Adventure!!!

Strava Data 

Results/Report - Cyclingnews.com

Watch more video of 2012 Shenandoah Mountain 100 NUE on thom.cyclingdirt.org

The forecast called for a 50% chance of showers and that is exactly what happened.  It rained on and off all day long.  Sunny to torrential down pour and back again.  The puddles were deep and the rocks were slick.

I woke up at 12:30am and I drove to the race from my house at 1:30am with my dad!  He and I had an awesome adventure together.  It is fun driving down the morning of, racing, then driving back.  While I raced, he worked as a race volunteer and took a hike in the woods.  It was a great day for both of us!

All of the single speeders started together.  Quickly after the start I was with Matt Ferrari, Justin Pokrivka, Gerry Pflug (read his Race Report), Ron Harding, and Lance Byrd.  Soon after that Ron, Gerry, and I were able to get a small gap on the others and we got into a group with a few geared riders.

The course consists of 6 major climbs and lots of technical single track.  The second climb was mostly walking/running.  I got a small gap on Gerry and Ron but they easily caught me on the following descent.  The 3rd climb (mi 35-40) was a brutal one!  Ron and I got away from Gerry and we didn't see him again.  After the race I found out that Gerry DNF'd shortly after that climb.  He is the leader of the series and the championship is next weekend.  If Ron won at SM100 the tie breaker would be between him and Gerry next Saturday at Fool's Gold.  Gerry was smart to call it a day and save his energy to be fresh for the showdown at Fool's Gold, if Ron were to beat me for the win.

After that it was Ron and I battling for 1st.  On the 4th climb Ron made a move.  I promised myself that I would not let Ron take me outside of my pace like he did to me at the last race.  There are only 2 things that you have 100% control of in these races: pace and nutrition.  I was going to make sure that I did both of those perfectly.  If I lost after that then so be it.

To keep pace I never allowed myself to go above a Zone 4 heart rate on any climbs until the last 15miles when the race really starts and you can let it all out.

My nutrition plan was to eat extra (healthy) food at every meal the day before the race.  The morning of the race I at 2x normal breakfast and a PROBAR 2hrs before the start.  During the race I ate 1 PROBAR every hour for the first 5hours and then GU and HammerGel for the 3hrs after that.  The reason for this strategy is that PROBARs take longer to digest but they give you sustained energy... eat them in the beginning.  The GU and HEED get into your system fast so eat them towards the end.  I drank 3 bottles of water and 3 bottles of CeraSport... no bonking.. no cramping.

After Ron got away from me, we entered the most epic/longest/hardest climb of the day... It was a 20mile climb with the last 10 being totally ridiculous, especially with the wet conditions.  As I caught geared racers going up the climb I always asked them how far ahead Ron was.  At the start they told me 5 minutes!  Towards the end someone told me 2 minutes!!  I was hesitant to believe I was catching him, but I just held my pace and with only 1 or 2 miles before the top I caught him.  I passed him going extra fast and trying to make it look like I was not tired.. hehe.. I was hoping to dash his spirits so that he would not want to chase after me.  I was able to get a gap on him but he rallied and never gave up... that's for sure.

Passing him gave me a huge boost of energy!  I was < 20miles for the finish so I could let go of my pace and really go as hard as possible... ha... well at mile 80 of 100miles 'as hard as possible' was about the same pace as I was keeping all day, I could not go any faster.

I thought the major climbing was over after the 20mile climb but I was wrong, there was a significant 5ish mile climb right before the finish!  This was actually kind of good for me because I was feeling good.  I passed 3 more geared riders on this last climb.

With just 1.5miles left on the final descent I cut the sidewall of my back tire on a rock!!!!  I could not believe it... after all of this!  I was going to loose because of a flat tire.  NO!  I would ride the flat to the finish, surely destroying my wheel in the process, but it would be worth it to win.  Fortunately the Stan's Sealant did its job and after only 30 aggonizing seconds of listening to the air hiss out of my tire it stopped!!  Magic!!!  Wow!  I lost < 5psi and I was rolling again.  I <3 you Stan.

I crossed the finish line as 1st place Single Speed and 12th place overall with a time of about 8hrs and 8minutes.

Ron finished just 3minutes behind me... that guy is freggin tough.

Teammate Lance Byrd finished his 1st 100miler, he was also on a SS.  He was 8th placed in our category!  Congrats Lance!

Recap of Hampshire 100

Strava Data
Results/Recap (MTB Race News)
Results/Recap (Cycling News)

Watch more video of Hampshire 100 NUE Series Race #9 on thom.cyclingdirt.org

I learned a valuable lesson today.  Never go into the red zone (zone 5 heart rate / effort level) in a 100 mi mountain bike race unless you only have 10 or 20 miles left and u know u will make it to the finish!

So... this race starts out with 15-20 of almost completely flat riding.  Spinny Spin!  All the SS are together except for AJ.  No one knows where he is (after the race he told me he just felt horrible in the beginning and but was able to turn it on at the end).  Ferrari, Pflug, Harding, and a few others that I didn't know where in the group.  After a few rollers it is down to Ferrari, Pflug, Harding and myself.

We hit a massive hill that would have been rideable except it was super sandy/loose.  Harding and I run while Pflug (king of the SS!!  Super human!) inspires us all by riding it!!  He rides it as fast as Harding and I run it so we reach the top together.  Down the hill.  Then the POWER LINES climb!  Epic.  Everyone dismounts.  Harding and I run, Pflug walks, we gap him.  I gap Harding by just 20seconds or so.

With a 20sec gap Harding and I hit the 1st aid station, he takes a siesta (haha) and I go past it.  I get a minute or so on him.  In about 10minutes he is back up with me... he is not messing around!!

2nd aid station.  Harding and I hit it together.  He takes a siesta and I keep going.  I get a sizeable gap.  I catch my hero Troy Barry (Open men started 1 minute in front of us).  Troy is a diesel engine.  Same effort all day long.  Picks people off and always finishes near/in top 10 of Open category.  I knew that sticking with him would mean a good day.  He tells me he is in 15th or so in the Open.  I tell him that I am in 1st SS but that Ron will be here soo... haha...  a few minutes later and Ron is back just as I knew he would be.

I tell Ron that all we have to do is stick with Troy and no other SS'ers will ever catch us.  But somehow instead of doing that Ron and I hit the hills HARD and Troy ends up yoyoing off of us.  We drop him on the hills (cause he is doing smart pacing) and he catches back up on the flats.

The efforts are starting to take a toll on me by mile 50, but Ron is still strong.

At mile 62 we are back at the start finish aid station to go back out for the 2nd (shorter) lap.  I try to wait for Troy and Ron because I know there is 10-15miles of flat coming up and I don't want to spin that by myself... but they take forever... so I have to go alone.

They catch me about 15-20minutes later.  I spent a lot of energy spinning by myself.

At mile 70 we hit the first hill after the mile 62 aid station.  I can't get into Zone 3 Heart Rate!!  What is happening?  I am cracking.  I am having an out of body experience!!  Ron looks back, and Ron knows I am beat.  He goes up the hill like a rocket.  Troy looks back.. I can read his mind "Pat is done".  Troy goes after Ron.  I am all alone.

I decide I just have to finish this race.  30miles.  I can do it.  No problem.  Just finish.

Riders pass me but I am just waiting for Gerry to get me.  At about mile 85 Gerry passes me.  I tell him he is crushing it and he is... he flys past me.  He has no chance to catch Ron (who is also flying) but u never know, maybe Ron will crack too (he didn't).

At mile 98?  98.5? Someone catches me from behind.  I turn around and say "You better not be a SS racer!"  He mumbles something that I can't understand.  He asks me to move so he can get around, I happily ablige him because I am barely pedaling and I have no energy at all.  He flys past me... it is AJ!  Back from the dead!  Congrats to him on his 3rd place.

Mile 99.5... I have to... um 'go #2'!  I have to soooooo bad that I am shivering.  I can hear the finish line.  I know that just past the finish there is a port-a-potty.. I can't make it!!  What!!  Def can't make it!  I run into the woods and take care of it before something horrible happens.  Luckily no one else passes me.  While I am in the woods I can hear the cheers from the finish line (that is how close I was).  I finish, I go to the port-a-john, I rest, I eat, I drive home with my buddy Roger Masse (who finished 2nd in the 50+ category!  What a stud) .

(left to right: me, Gerry Pflug, Ron Harding, A.J. Linnell)

I finished 4th in the SS category.  SO much fun!  Even though I was destroyed.  I can't wait for the next race!

Next up is the Shenandoah Mountain 100 in 2 weeks.  I need to remember to ride at my pace if I want to do well!  100mile racing is all about pacing and nutrition, messing up on either of those is a recipe for disaster!

Highway To Heaven (Ilchester Time Trial)

Strava Race Data

I do this race every year.  I race up this hill every single Wednesday evening from early March until mid-August as part of the Westside Worlds (WsW) weekly ride.  During that ride this hill is a 'KOM' point so we really really go all out.  That being said... there is something special about the Highway To Heaven (HtH) race.  During WsW we hit the hill after 18 miles of nearly all out effort.  At the HtH we are attacking the hill with a perfect morning warmup, fresh legs, and probably a couple days of prep/rest.  HtH only comes once per year and then you have to live with your time until the next year... so you better be ready!!  Oh man does it hurt.  It hurt so bad.  I am not lying but as I type this I am more tired from racing up that one little .9 mile hill than I was after my last 100mi mountain bike race.  Well... instead of eating 6 Probars I only needed 2 after this race, but still... I ate a ton of food even after a few little 4minute efforts!

There is just something soul crushing about going as hard as you possibly can for 4minutes.  Maybe my body was just not geared to go all out over such a short distance, or maybe everyone else hurts as badly as I do right now... Regardless... I can't wait until next year!!

Trying to save my energy on the tandem.  It was the 1st race of the day

(Tandem race with Padam vs Lannie)

On the tandem bike Adam and I won against our good friends Lance and Annie Byrd.  The Byrds were incredibly fast!  My wife and I ride tandem bikes but we could never match what I saw them do on that bike today.  I was so impressed.

I tied my Personal Record (PR) from last year in the Cat 3 (geared) division with a time of 3:40.  That was good enough for 1st place in that division but there were 4 other guys who had faster times than me on the day: my teammate Adam Driscoll: 3:37, Brian Sacawa 3:34, Jameson Ribbens 3:33, and Nic Bax 3:26!

On my fixed geared bike I was able to squeak in just under 4:00 with a time of 3:58.  Good enough for 2nd place to Dave Weaver.

Registered for Hampshire 100

Okay... so maybe I am becoming addicted to 100 mile MTB races...  They are just so epic!!!  Like you don't know what might happen next.  I feel like after the race I could write a novel with all of the adventures that I had and people that I met along the way!

I just registered for the Hampshire 100.  If anyone has any recommendations as to a gear ratio for a Single Speed for this race I would love to hear it.  In reading a few reports from last year it sounds like there is a good amount of flat, especially in the beginning, but then when it does turn uphill it gets super steep... I rode a 32x18 at Wilderness and I feel like a 32x17 would have been better for me at that race (next year..).  Not sure what I will run for Hampshire 100 though.

Wilderness 101 2012

Strava GPS Data

Gearing up for these 100mile races I try to eat a huge breakfast the morning before.  I take the advice of Gerry Pflug's Endurance Race Preparation blog post.  Gerry has done about a million of these races and seems to win most of them so I figured he knows what he is talking about.  He is right.  Eating a huge breakfast 2hrs before the race is the only way to survive!  If you do it you will have a huge base of extra calories to dip into throughout the day.  I had 2 huge bowls of Bob's Red Mill oatmeal, 1 Probar, and 1/4 of a Jewish Apple cake.. whew... and I felt great!

I loveeeee oatmeal!  Bob's Red Mill is the only way to go!  They are huge cycling supporters and their oatmeal is better.

I ate about 6 of these in my race.  You have no idea how good they are.

During the race I ate Probars, GUs, and lots and lots of CeraLyte/CeraSport.  CeraLyte has a ridiculous amount of electrolytes and it goes down smooth... never upsets my stomach and eliminates any chance of cramping.

CeraLyte and CeraSport

The race started very slow for the first 20miles.  The lead group was about 50riders deep.  It was not until after the 1st aid station that things started to get a little faster.  There was a steep climb out of that aid station and the leaders set a decent pace with Justin Lindine (my cyclocross hero) leading the charge up the hill.  I was so happy to be racing right next to him (well at least until the first major downhill when the leaders got away).

After that first hill, it was myself and Gerry Pflug who were leading the Single Speeders.  I didn't see any of the other guys but I figured they were not far behind.  I just kinda followed Gerry's lead and I tried to never go above threshold pace since I knew it would be a very long day and I didn't want to burn any matches until the very end, and only if I had to.

On the 2nd hill I was able to get a small gap on Gerry but he closed it back down on the following flat/downhill.  It was not until after aid station 2 and the 3rd hill (bigger than the first 2) that I was able to get away and stay away from him.  After the race he told me that he flatted 2x soon after that hill... that sealed the deal.

I rode by myself for much of the day.  I had a few riders who I worked with but mostly I was by myself.  This made it really hard on the flat sections, having a geared rider to draft on on the flats is a HUGEEE help but I did the best I could and spun my single speed as fast as I could when the road was flat.

The last hill was the most fun one of the day!  I let it all out and went above threshold for the first time.  I had 2 geared riders breathing down my neck and I figured I could beat them on the hill for sure and that if the finish line was close enough after the hill that I could win.  I did get a sizeable gap on Garth Prosser and Simonson on that hill but afterwards there was about 5miles of flat and they caught and passed me with about 400meters left in the race.  I lost my top 10 overall placement at that point but still 11th was good enough and beating the other Single Speeders was just great!

2nd Gerry Pflug, 3rd Matt Ferrari, 4th JPock, 5th Hal

Newly Converted Superfly Single Speed!

Kevin Luckeroth, mechanic superstar, converted my Superfly into a Single Speed using the Eno Hub.  So excited to race Wilderness 101 on this bike!

I took it for a test ride on the roads this morning (trails are too wet to ride).  It rides perfectly!  So far so good!  Hopefully the trails will dry out a bit so I can really test it this week.

Check it out:

Race Report: 2XRip Olympic Duathlon!

Race Results

The 2nd annual 2XRip Olympic Duathalon was a total blast!  Dan and Suzy Serpico have started something incredible with this race!  It is TOP KNOTCH 100%!  This race has helped our charity in so many ways.  We really appreciate all the super hard work that they put into it.  

Adam Driscoll (1st), Lance Byrd (5th), Dan Miranda (11th), me (4th)

I try to run about 1x every 2 weeks or so and when I do it is on a 'recovery day' and I run very slowly.  I had no aspirations on doing well at this race but I knew I would go as hard as I could and just have a good time!  I was so happy to finish 4th in the Elite division with a time of 1hr 46minutes.  If only I could have ran 30 seconds faster I could have snook 3rd place :)  Maybe next time.

After the 1st run I was in about 8th place or so (not a runner).  But luckily one of my best friends/team mates/training partners Lance Byrd was right in front of me.  We left the 1st transition together!  There is a no drafting rule in duathlons but you can be 3 bike lengths behind the closest bike.  I was able to work with him and get an advantage by drafting even being 3 bike lengths back you still get a slight draft.  It was super fun racing with Lance.  We quickly moved up into 3rd/4th positions.  There was no hope of catching Adam or the guy in 2nd but if we beat everyone on the bike leg by enough time then maybe they would not catch us on the last 4mile run!!

Lance and I left the last transition together to start the run.  At the 1 mile mark we saw that we were being walked down by the eventual 3rd place finisher... he was just a really fast runner...  At mile 2 I was able to get a gap on Lance.  At mile 3 I was caught by the 3rd place finisher but at the turn around I saw that no one else was gaining any time on me, actually I was solidifying my 4th place!  I dug deep to try to get 3rd and he didn't get further away from me, but I could not close down the gap.  

I was so happy to get 4th!  It was fun and a great workout for cross and mountain bike.  Can't wait until next year!  (note: I do not plan on increasing my running training at all...)

Post Ride Food Intake!!

Grilled chicken, spinach, local cucumbers, local tomatoes, and mustard / mayo (on both sides) all on toasted wheat bread

Eccentric ENO Hub!!!?

For my first few mountain bike seasons I rode exclusively on a single speed mountain bike.  It was great!  Low maintenance and low cost.  This year I upgraded to a geared bike and although it is a little faster the cost and hassle that comes with it is just not worth it.  I just crash too much and break too many things to have a nice geared mountain bike.

Eccentric ENO

I LOVE my Superfly frame so I am going to go with an Eno Hub to convert it to a SS!!  Kevin Luckeroth, bike mechanic extraordinaire, agreed to help me with this new setup.  If I race Wilderness 101 it will be on a SS... If I am lucky I might even have it up and running by this weekend!

2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler

Raced the 2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler today.  Whew I could not get into the race mentally.  I was just out of it.  I finished but I was way near the back.  I loved the course, super fun!  Unfortunately it was not 'my course'.  I could not get a good speed going with all of the twists and turns, fun but not fast for me.

Photo courtesy of  Jack Anderson

AFC member, Brian Sawickey, scored a 1st place in the Men's Cat 3 race!!  Nice work Brian!!  Time to upgrade!!

Tandem Ride With Lauren!!

Lauren and I rode the tandem today and Lance and Annie were on their tandem too!  We biked alongside Adam and Dan Miranda as they raced the Arbutus 10k, placing 5th and 6th respectively... AWESOME!

Dan, me, Lauren, Adam, Lance, Annie

me, Lauren, Annie, Lance

The Morning Ride

TheMorningRide (TMR) is an awesome group of cyclists who bike mountain and/or road pretty much every single day of the week.  The have a great email list and a great outlook on life!  The also keep an honest pace.

(TMR starts at 6am SHARP from Child Time in Ellicott City)

I joined up with them this morning and put in some hard hill efforts in the process.  Good times!

Check them out and join them for a ride:

http://www.themorningride.com/

http://app.strava.com/clubs/themorningride

https://groups.google.com/group/themorningride/about

2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler

I am hoping to race the 2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler that is part of the Mid Atlantic Super Series this coming weekend!  The race is super close to my house.  I hope they allow water bottle handups because mannnn it is going to be hot on Saturday.

Raced a 5k! What!?

At the last minute I decided to race the Ellicott City 5k, hosted by Rip It Events.  I didn't have any bike races this weekend and the EC5k donates so much to Adventures For the Cure that I figured I might as well go out and do it!  I have run about 3x in the past 5 weeks or so... not too bad.  I did a 1hr 20mile threshold ride the morning before the race and a 50mile road ride the day before, I am not about to let up too much on my bike training just to rest for a 5k!

Adam and Dan Miranda had a super close battle for 1st place!  Dan was able to edge Adam out buy mear seconds at the line to take the win.  they ran in just under 17minutes (16:50 or so).  For that superrrr hilly course that is pretty fast!  Both of those guys are saving some juice for the Arbutus 10k this Wednesday.

Matt Cooper, myself, and Adam

I finished in 4th place with a time of about 18:30... I kept a strong/consistent pace the entire race.  It was actually kind of fun to run "fast" again.

Westside Worlds is just so fun!

Wednesday is the best night of the week.  We had another great Westside World's last night.  Adam was late in showing up because he was giving a Team Type 1 talk and Lance had trouble with the gears on his bike.  Without those guys I decided to just get to the front of the group and hold a steady Zone 5 or 5+ (on sprint and KOM points) pace.

I have been feeling 'not so fast lately' and I was happy that I could pretty much keep that HR for the entire ride, but I was not as fast as I would have liked to be.  I need to buckle down these next few weeks.

Check it out on the stravas: http://app.strava.com/activities/11908317

I am not 100% sure whether I will be doing Wilderness 101 yet, but I do hope to do quite a few XC MTB races coming up!  I just hope these heart palps go away... So far I have not had any since the day after Hilly Billy... lets keep it that way.

Hilly Billy Roubaix

Well Hilly Billy Roubaix didn't go so well for me.  I was having a very hard time holding onto the leaders, they dropped me, then the chase group dropped me.  This all happened before mile 10.  Then at mile 10 I was flying down a gravel hill and I hit a huge ditch in the road.  I went over my handle bars, crashing hard.  I got back up and I thought I could keep racing until I noticed that my knee was very swollen.  I could not move it.  Luckily JR (race promoter) was right around the corner in a truck, he gave me some ice and I called it a day.

Since then I have recovered with no problems.  I just have a huge bruise on my knee.

I am not sure why I was dropped so easily at the beginning of the race, I should have been able to hang onto the leaders.  I have been having some pre-race heart palpitations on nights before races recently.  I think it is due to being nervous or anxious about the coming race.  Those heart palps make me feel weak.  I am working on resolving this issue so that I can continue to race and enjoy it!

Thom Parsons of cyclingdirt was nice enough to interview me post race.. even though I was a DNFers.

http://bigbikesmedia.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/249501-Hilly-Billy-Roubaix/video/643981-Patrick-Blair-Taken-out-by-a-pot-hole

Just For Fun

I was inspired to create because my buddy Lance Byrd made a super awesome blog that I know is going to be super awesome because he has tons of crazy in depth analysis abilities when it comes to cycling!  Check it out: lancefun.blogspot.com.  This blog's purpose is for me to have a place to write any random thoughts or ideas that I have about cycling... good times!!!