Back to school

I stayed at my parents in Ohio Friday night as my aunt was visiting them from Arizona and I hadn't seen her in a couple of years. She is an amazing lady, travelling all over the world to help with various ministry projects. What makes it even more remarkable is that she had polio at an early age and has used crutches and a wheelchair most of her life.

Of course I brought a bike with me, I have shared some of my rides in Ohio on this blog before. This time I decided to ride down to Kent where I had gotten my college degree. The adjacent town of Stow is where we had lived before we moved to Michigan so I rode through there as well.

The area has continued to add rail trails; most of them intersect and you can find your way to Cleveland or Akron almost without getting on the roads. The trails I was on in the Kent/Stow area were about 100% paved but the recent wet weather kept the speeds in check due to the slippery leaves covering the path, particularly in the corners.

Riding around the Kent State campus I was reminiscing about my time there and enjoying the fall colors when I realized it seemed like a ghost town. As I rode near the student union I passed a couple of coeds and I asked them if it was always so dead on a Saturday. The replied that it was too early for most students to be up, after all, it was only abut 11:00 am. I guess I had forgotten how late we slept in.

The Cuyahoga river runs through downtown Kent.



The Kent State University front campus.



The business school building where I spent a lot of time

The local bike trails

Certainly can't go fast. Heavy rains had caused the river to flood; time to find a different route.

Slow as molassess in January

Well maybe not January but I was certainly slow on yesterday's ride. I had done a hard ride on Wednesday on what was my rigid SS, but I had converted it to a 1x9 to see how the lighter weight would affect my set test route time. Even with tired legs the rigid was a little faster. It may be the bike I use for Iceman, I don't think I need all the weight of the full suspension. If I get to use the Cannondale demo 29'er I've heard that in stock form it is pretty heavy also but the bigger wheels may help make up for it.

Yesterday my legs actually felt pretty good but I did not seem to be able to make the bike go fast without more effort than usual. I was down 2-4 MPH for the same HR. The back roads were kind of soft but I had the same power loss on the drier rail trail as well. I stopped to spin the wheels to see if they were OK and the brakes were dragging a little but not enough to cause the way I was feeling. I figured I must have been more fatigued than I had thought so I ended the ride early.

Once back at the house I checked the tire pressure and found that the tires were in their low 20's. Being tubeless I hadn't really noticed when leaving the house that they were running low but I remember thinking how smooth the ride was. I thought it was because I was on a fully rigid bike the day before and now I was riding a full suspension. I guess I hadn't used that wheelset for a while. Maybe the tire pressure would have been OK for sand or snow but not on the roads. I'm glad to know that the cause of feeling slower on the bike was not all me, I just got in more of a resistance ride than I had intended.

Better weather

It was great to get nicer weather for a weekend ride. I didn't ride Saturday, instead I spent most of the day doing yard work. About half or better of the leaves are down so we got those raked and bagged as well as clearing the mess the utility company made the other day when they worked on restoring power. A lot of limbs were cut and thrown on our property so we had to cut, bundle, and tie them for trash pick up.

Today I waited for it to warm up a little before heading out to do a hard ride, basically the first half of my hill loop at steady pace. This week I did it on the Scalpel, probably the bike I will use for Iceman. I managed to better my fastest time but was tuckered out at the end. I was able to keep up a pretty good speed on the flats and downhills but I think I may have been a little slower when climbing than on the SS. The Scalpel is heavier and the suspension costs a little in efficiency when climbing.

I may try to turn the SS into a 1x9 and compare times next week. The SS is completely rigid but the Iceman race isn't that rough of a race. The which bike to ride decision may be a moot point anyway as there is a chance I may get to race on a demo Cannondale 29'er. In stock form it's kind of heavy but the 29 inch wheels should help in the sand. I hope to build a new bike next year using the 29 frame as a starting point.

Auntie Em , Auntie Em!

Dang, the wind was strong today. At least it wasn't snowing like yesterday. The wind had partially dried most of the dirt roads to the consistency of velcro mud, you can see it's kind of wet and hear your tires sticking to it as you roll over it. Not much splatters up, it just slows you down.

There were several places on the roads where branches had fallen on the road and it made me kind of nervous. I was expecting to be riding along and get hit by falling debris. Later in the ride it started to rain/sleet a little but not too bad. The wind at times would catch me and try to push me over. Heading back into it gave me interval training while just trying to keep moving.

I hope to get in a longer ride Sunday when the weather finally breaks.

Iceman in October

Wow! In the 70's on Sunday and 34 this afternoon! The snow started up this morning and combined with the howling wind, it made for almost white out conditions. At our place it stuck to the ground and I heard that the farther north you went the more there was on the ground.

We were fortunate that we didn't lose power during the day, we had lost it last night around 11:00 when the transformer on our back property line blew. My wife and son saw and heard it but I was asleep and didn't know the power had gone out. I found out about 2:00 am when I woke up to what I thought was really loud snoring but in fact was the chain saws of the utility crew clearing away some limbs around the transformer. The power was restored around 5:00 am, right around when I normally wake up so it worked out fine.

I figured the weather was perfect for preparing for the Iceman race next month so I dug out my cold weather gear and headed out the door after work. The wind and snow made it very difficult to even see and the snow hurt because it was the harder corn snow. I rode over on the park road since the back roads were a mess and super muddy. The park road is paved and has little traffic but I had to be careful in spots because of the wet leaves making the corners slippery. About the time I was close to being done the sun came out and then it was just cold and windy.

It took a while to get acclimated to the cold, my face and fingers were the coldest. I forgot how much faster you tire out when riding in frigid temperatures, the workout seemed harder than normal. The nice part about riding in these conditions is how good it feels when you are back home and can take a shower to warm up. Once you sit down after that you are very relaxed in the heat of the house and it's very easy to just doze offffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

Doughnut ride

As this morning's heavy fog started to burn off, the warmth of the sun caused the trees to slowly start to release their leaves. I sat watching them and thought about the yardwork to come raking them up and the winter that was not too far away. We have quite a few large trees in our yard and since there is no leaf pickup it means bagging them up for collection. We will normally have 80-100 bags each year.

My legs were tired from yesterday's ride but the temperatures were supposed to get up in to the 70's later in the day so I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and enjoy the colors while they were still on the trees. Before I went riding I thought I had better take care of some winterizing around the house. After caulking and prepping window trim for painting I was ready to ride.

I headed into Bald Mountain and the back roads. My ultimate destination was the Paint Creek cider mill located next to the Paint Creek trail. I had ridden past it so many times this fall without stopping that I thought today would be the day for those sugared doughnuts and some cider. No need for hot cider today though.

At the mill I spotted newlyweds Bernie and Niki who had ridden up from Rochester. They were heading to another nearby cider mill because the Paint Creek mill was super crowded. It always is on the weekends, many people come out to enjoy a ride on the trail and get their cider and doughnuts. The mill also used to host a great restaurant but it closed and the owner turned the whole property over to the township. Thankfully the cider mill continues to operate in the fall.

I followed Bernie and Niki up to the other mill where there was still a line but not a long one. They bought a jug of cider and a half dozen doughnuts which we shared while listening to a couple of musicians. Thanks Bernie and Niki. This mill happens to serve unpasteurized cider. Seems funny to mention that when I was eating sugar doughnuts anyway.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another nice one before the rain and colder weather comes in. it is appropriate that this Friday is the 13th and they are saying a chance of snow. What a difference a week makes.

Some pictures from Bald Mountain




Paint Creek Cider Mill


Bernie and Niki

Musicians at Goodison Cider Mill

It hurt so good

Five riders showed up at my house early this morning to take advantage of another beautiful but chilly fall morning. They were to be introduced to my hill route, or as much as they had time for. For even more suffering we were all riding single speeds. I don't ride mine much over the summer but I have been using it quite a bit in the last two weeks and found that with the proper gearing it is making a great training bike for building strength.

I prefer to run bigger gearing so that I can make up time on the flats and gentler hills, but some of the steeper hills on the route had me struggling to turn the pedals. I have never been a high cadence rider and the 180mm cranks on the SS make it a little tougher to do so.

Some in our group had to leave at different times throughout the ride so by the time we reached the half way point it was just Chris and myself. He left shortly after and I went on to complete the loop by myself. Near the end of the ride there were a few hills that had me contemplating getting off and walking but I managed to get up them. Comparing today to the last time I did the complete loop, I did the second half faster today on the SS than on the geared bike previously. I need to carry over the SS mentality to the geared bike. I ended up with 76 miles on the day and look forward to more of the same while the weather is nice.

Fall Riding

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year to ride. The cooler weather and changing leaves make the back roads even better. Chris Werth and I headed out to do half of my hill route and got in about 50 miles. We waited until mid morning so the roads would have a chance to dry some after yesterday's all day rain. I'm glad we decided on a road ride, I know the trails were muddy and the woods were full of hunters.

I decided to take along the camera today since we had beautiful blue skies and I wanted to get a few shots along the route. I've written about this route before, it is never far from my house but covers a wide variety of terrain and neighborhoods, from upscale subdivisions with houses well above $750,000 to roads through state land and out past farms and fields. It also uses part of a rail trail that goes past a cider mill where the smell of fresh doughnuts is hard to resist.

At the half way point we headed into Oxford where Chris lives and got a look at the new bridge on the Polly Ann trail being constructed over busy Lapeer Rd. Until the bridge is done users of the trail have to try and cross four lanes of traffic with no help from crosswalks or stoplights.

It was a great ride and I plan on doing more of them as long as the weather allows.

Chris on his Rig



Me, courtesy of Chris



Summer cottage




One of the local horse barns



The new bridge being built in Oxford over Lapeer Rd.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

I went against my better judgement and went out ridng when I got home from work, in spite of the weather forecast. The weather radar didn't show any rain but they were calling for thunderstorms.

Part way though my set of intervals I looked back in the direction of my house and saw that it was getting really black. It didn't take long for the raindrops to start to fall and it quickly became a downpour, the kind that hurts because it is raining so hard. And lightning was dancing around me to top it off. The back roads that I was on had muddy running water down them, and also on me. I had trouble seeing as the spray coming off my tires was covering my glasses.

Just as I got home the rain stopped and the sun was peeking from behind the clouds. I used the garden hose to rinse off both the bike and myself. The mud washed right off and I was planning on replacing the chain after this ride anyway so it wasn't too bad. I think this was the first time this year I was really caught in the rain on a training ride. And I think it's the muddiest my Rush has been since I built it this spring.

Addison Oaks recap

Rain overnight was not heavy and the wind picked up to at least give hope to decent trail conditions for today's race at Addison Oaks. I am fortunate that the race is only about 15 minutes away by car so I could sit home for a while instead of driving a few hours to get to the race. It also meant I had a good idea of the weather and how it had affected the trail.

I arrived while the Elites and Experts were out on the course and they didn't look particularly muddy coming around on each lap. Talking to a couple of them afterward though got mixed opinions, from tacky to slick and some said each lap was getting worse. I changed and did a little preride to check it out for myself. It seemed dry to me, at least the part I rode.

Staging at the start line I surveyed the number of guys in my group and counted nine. That meant to win the MMBA CPS series all I had to do was finish, no matter who won. I had enough spares back in my car to make sure I could almost rebuild the entire bike if I had to to make sure I would cross the finish line. My strategy went from winning to not doing anything stupid.

Three of went off the front together at the start, not really pushing the pace and actually joking with each other as to who would take the lead out. I ended up in the front up the hill into the singletrack with the other two right behind me. After about a half a lap I slowed a little and let the other two go by, no sense pushing it. Later in the lap I passed the second place guy and it stayed that way for the rest of the race. I ended up about 50 seconds behind first and about a minute in front of third. That stopped my consecutive CPS wins at seven. I was also about a minute and a half slower per lap this year than last.

The racing age groups puts those 50+ in a hard situation. The current structure has Experts at 40+ and most of above 50 do not want to race against someone 10 year or more younger than ourselves. Plus we no longer want to dedicate the time required to be competitive with the longer distance of the Experts. The Sport group becomes the resting place for a lot of older racers that may have been Experts when younger. This in turn causes some frustration for other racers moving out of Beginner into Sport or the older Sport racers who find it difficult to race against former Experts.

A couple of weeks ago I approached the CPS committee about adding a 50+ Expert class but at a reduced distance. Many other race series reduce the distance for the older age groups. In fact, at the World Master's Championship the time for those 50+ is only about one hour. I checked with those on the starting line today and a lot of them thought the idea was a good one. I also talked to the CPS committee chairman today and the committee seems to think it makes sense and will be discussing it further. Maybe next year I will be racing earlier in the day.

Addison mud part deux?

Tomorrow is the final CPS race of the season and it is going to be at Addison Oaks, site of the infamous 12 hour mud race earlier this year. A lot of work was put into repairing the trails after that race and they are in prime shape once again. The rain this weekend may cause them to get soft again and probably see more traffic on them than at the 12 hour.

I rode the trails both yesterday and today and after having rain on both days the trail was still in great shape, only a few mud spots. In fact, semislick tires would not have been out of the question for the race. Most of the trail was hard and fast.

It started raining a while ago though and more is predicted tonight so I doubt the trail will be as good as it was today. Unless it is a steady rain overnight I don't think the trails will turn into the quagmire it was this spring. It will be greasy though and could be dicey in some of the corners. I've got different tires mounted depending on what it looks like tomorrow. I'm even taking the SS just in case.

I looked out the front window this afternoon and thought at first a piece of branch had fallen but looked again and it was a large turtle. I don't know where it came from or where it was going but the closest wetland is some distance from our house. If it is still around tomorrow we may try to move it to the woods.

Update: The turtle moved onto our driveway and then back into the yard. My wife decided we should take it to one of the nearby wetlands so along with my son we set about getting it into a cardboard box. Did I say I thought the turtle was a snapper? Sure enough, as my son put the box down in front of it while I was prodding it, the turtle snapped at the box, extending its neck to the limit with its mouth wide open. It startled all of us, I wish we could have caught that moment on tape.

We managed to get it in the box, hissing at us like crazy, and took it to a swamp. Once out of the box it moved fairly quickly into the weeds. I hope its not a homing turtle.

Weekend

I rode Saturday and Sunday at Addison Oaks to both check out the trail and to see how my knee would react to some harder riding. After an easy lap I pushed the pace a little, not all out race speed but harder than I've been riding in the past two weeks. I could feel my knee start to ache near the end of the lap so I didn't ride much more other than back to my van. I had forgotten to wear a brace on the knee and think that may be why it started to bother me. I iced it most of the evening.

Sunday I met with Pauly and a few others to do a few laps with him, he designed most of the trails at Addison and was going to show us his lines through the course. I was glad to find out that 99% of the lines I was already using were the same as his. I did pick up a few tips. I wore a strap above my knee and I didn't have any pain. I managed to crash in one gravel corner and fell on my bad knee plus bang my thumb so that I had problems holding onto the bars and shifting. The new pains may have masked the old pain but my knee hasn't bothered me the rest of the day.

The great weather really brough out the bikers in the area. I have never seen so many at Addison on a non race day. There were lots of other riders I saw on the back roads near Addison as well. The proximity to Bald Mountain trails and the Paint Creek trail brings quite a few riders out to the area.

This week will be final prep work for the Addison race and then a big question on what to do next. It looks like I'll be racing Iceman so I will keep training and maybe add in another race or two until then to stay in shape.

Knee update

I was out on the road yesterday and the trainer today. Both days have been relatively pain free on the knee but I haven't really pushed the intensity. The brace I'm wearing is causing more discomfort than the knee. I plan on riding progressively harder as the week goes on unless it starts to bother me. I think it should be Ok for next weekend's race at Addison Oaks.

Back on the bike

I got out this morning for an easy ride to test the knee. I figured I would ride over to Stony Creek to check out the XC race. Normally it is about a half hour ride but I was going so slow I was using the granny gear to climb the few hills, those for which I am normally in the big ring. I could feel a few twinges on the knee but not too bad.

I hung around and talked with some of the people I know before heading back. It didn't take too long on the return trip before the knee started feeling worse. Not as bad as up at Drummond but enough that it was bothering me. I got home and iced it and hopefully it will improve. I wore a knee brace I picked up and will continue to wear every day to give my knee some support.

All wrapped up and no place to go

My leg has been bothering me since the Drummond Island race, it has been painful to walk and I was afraid it was my iliotibial band. Damage to this is not uncommon in cyclists and runners.

What is the iliotibial band?
Iliotibial band syndrome is due to inflammation of the iliotibial band, a thick band of fibrous tissue that runs down the outside of the leg. The iliotibial band begins at the hip and extends to the outer side of the shin bone (tibia) just below the knee joint. The band functions in coordination with several of the thigh muscles to provide stability to the outside of the knee joint.

What is iliotibial band syndrome?
Iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) occurs when there is irritation to this band of fibrous tissue. The irritation usually occurs over the outside of the knee joint, at the lateral epicondyle--the end of the femur (thigh) bone. The iliotibial band crosses bone and muscle at this point; between these structures is a bursa which should facilitate a smooth gliding motion. However, when inflamed, the iliotibial band does not glide easily, and pain associated with movement is the result.

I made it in to the doctor today and he confirmed the problem. He worked on it a bit to try and loosen it up and then wrapped it. I will continue to ice it and take it easy for the next few days. He said I can try riding on it this Sunday. With the Addison race only two weeks away I don't want to stay off the bike for very long. Hopefully it will heal quickly.

Drummond Island 24 Hour Race Summary

I'm sitting here typing this with an ice bag on my knee, the result of old age and much saddle time in one sitting (literally). Several of us went up to Drummond Island for the 24 hour race put on by Fun Promotions, held at the Drummond Island Resort. The race takes about 6 hours to drive to for those of us in the Detroit area and includes a drive across the Mackinac Bridge and a ferry ride to the island. The turnout, while not big, was at slightly larger than last year which was only a 12 hour race. Many of the racers arrived Saturday morning, including Shari's sister Kallee who was flown in special by their father. No wonder she has the nickname "Princess".

We arrived Friday afternoon and after checking in had a chance to preride the course which was the same from last year. While just slightly over 6 miles in length it had a few sections filled with rocks and roots to slow you down. Or made you come to a complete stop and fall over, as I found during our Friday lap. We also rode across the driving range which presented its own problems, from flying golf balls to sprinklers at night. It was also very soft and thick turf and made it feel like you were riding on Velcro.

I was determined to keep my heart rate under control to avoid burning out early but I wanted to get through the first section of technical singletrack immediately after the start to avoid getting stuck. Fortunately it was only about 200 feet from the start to the opening in the woods so not much sprinting was required. I entered the singletrack in fourth and cruised behind those up front for a while until I passed two of them on the second lap. My heart rate was down but it seemed the power was as well. The effort seemed more than I felt it should.

As the race went on I found that I had moved into first overall, thanks in a large part to my pit crew of Robin Scurr. He had things ready for me to go whenever I made my bottle and Camelback changes. I use a three hour bottle to minimize pit stops. Later in the evening I would stop to change clothes or once to get a bowl of hot soup. The soup was the only solid food I consumed the entire race, the rest of the time was either Hammer Perpetuem or Sustained Energy. As the night went on I was able to stretch my lead as the others were either running slower laps or taking more time off the bike.

Somewhere around 1:00 in the morning my left knee began to bother me, getting progressively worse to where I could hardly walk or put much pedal pressure on it. It may have been caused by switching shoes fairly early in the race. I think I may have moved the cleats on them a while back but haven't had any really long rides on them since. Plenty of ice, Hammer Tissue Rejuvenator and Compex use have it feeling better this afternoon.

By 8:30 in the morning I was able to quit riding as I had built up my lead to nine laps and the next closest rider would not be able to complete enough laps in the remaining time to catch me. I ended up with 32 laps or about 204 miles in 19.5 hours of actual riding. That is only about a total of one hour off the bike during my time spent racing. The Rush ate up most of the rocks and roots and never had a problem the entire race.

The next race will be the Addison Oaks XC race, the last race in the CPS series. There is another endurance race the week before but I want to do well at Addison and I know it takes me a while to recover so I'll skip the 12 hour.

Again thanks to Robin for running support at all the endurance races this year, it made a big difference. And to Shari for getting out there to the races and hanging in there despite the bumps, bruises and asthma attacks. For the record she finished first in the women solo 24 hour, and should take the series win as well.

Showing off our first place awards of custom hydration packs and fleece blankets. I'm sleeping while standing.


Blue skies leading to the UP and the Mackinac Bridge

I think our ferry was playing chicken with this freighter


The rock and roots in the more technical sections.

22,000 feet of climbing in 100 miles

My son Jason completed the Park City Endurance 100 on Saturday. The race is part of the national endurance series and probably the toughest of the races in the series. It certainly has the most climbing. I think I would have a hard time on a geared bike but Jason did the race on his singlespeed. And he finished 6th. Excellent performance!

He said he wants to do the race again next year and wants me to come out as well. I'm thinking about it but it's way too early to have next year figured out yet. It's hard to believe that this year's racing is almost over and it will be time to start planning for next year.

I think next year I will do more of the longer races and less of the local XC races, but the travel may be an issue. There are so many great 100 mile races around the country now that it is hard to choose.

Racing and trail work

Yesterday I did my first regular XC race since May. The race was held at Maybury park and put on by the Southeast chapter of the MMBA and was part of the CPS series. In spite of all the worries and rants people had been having about holding a race at this venue, plus being run by the chapter instead of a regular promoter, the race went off well and had a good turnout. Most of our team was able to make it and we finally got a group shot. We probably have one of the biggest kid's programs going as well.


My race went well, I managed to be the first one going up the old sledding hill and first into the singeltrack. I was afraid that there would not be many opportunities to pass so I wanted to get out in front so I could put people in between me and the next guys as easily as possible. It turns out that passing was never really a problem and I was able to maintain and slowly extend my lead on each lap to finish first. My legs were really hurting near the end, the 12 hour races seem so much easier by comparison.

Today was a trail maintenance day at Addison Oaks. About 15 of us showed up despite the rain to put in a new section of trail that will extend the length by about a mile or so and will add some more climbs to the course. We were able to pretty much finish it and it will be fun to ride. The new section takes us back into a section of the park we haven't used before and offers a view of the lake. It may be done in time for the race at the end of September but will need a lot of riding on it to set the trail. Right now it's all fresh and fairly soft dirt.

Next weekend is the Drummond Island 24 hour race, my first 24 hour this year. Last year this event was a 12 hour and I tool 1st overall but the race was not well attended. I don't harbor any illusions of winning this year, it is more of a personal test to see how long I can ride.

Birthday wishes and wedding congratulations!

First, Happy Birthday to my lovely wife Sandy who turned 50 on Saturday. She beat me to that age as I turn 50 later this year. I just love older women. We will have been married for 28 years this year so we have been together for over half of our lives. It seems like a long time when you say it but the time has flown by. I think our love continues to grow stronger as time goes on.

Speaking of love, a team member got married Saturday morning at Addison Oaks. We joked about showing up in our team uniforms and riding our bikes into the ceremony but we thought better of it. Unfortunately it rained all morning and the outdoor ceremony had to be held inside. Addison Oaks has a beautiful old building where they hold these and the grounds around the building are tailor made for weddings. It was still a nice ceremony, complete with a string quartet to provide the music. We didn't stay for the reception as we had other plans for my wife's birthday. I think she was trying to leave before we got all the guests to sing Happy Birthday to her. Congratulations to Bernie and Niki Wendel, I hope you are as happy in your new life together as my wife and I are in ours.



This afternoon my wife and I took a walk through some of the area trails and discovered several patches of blackberries. We came back after dinner to pick some and ended up with close to two gallons in less than two hours time. There are plenty more ready to pick and yet to ripen. We plan on going back several more times over the next week or two.



This past week on the bike has more or less been getting ready for the Maybury XC race next week. I've been trying to do more intensity since the last time I did a short XC race was back in May! I don't know if I'm ready to suffer like that. I think the 24 hours of Drummond Island the following weekend will seem easier.

A week later

I seemed to have spent most of this week fighting some kind of stomach and intestinal problem, starting on Tuesday. I would be fine and then start to cramp, causing me to hurry to the bathroom. It was bad enough that I took a day and a half off from work. I thought I was pretty much over it by Thursday but when I attempted some intervals on the bike it was definitely a mistake and I had to stop. It seems to pretty much have gone now thank goodness. i don't know what caused it but training has suffered as a result.

Saturday I set up a Hammer display in Sylvania, Ohio during the registration for Elite Endeavor's triathlon. Hammer sponsors the races and I had met the promoter at Iceman last year and he asked if I could get to one of his races. They get about 650 racers for this race and with packet pickup only open for 3.5 hours I figured there would probably be a lot of people showing up in a short time period. I enlisted the help of my friend Chris Werth to hlep me out in the tent. Chris is a confirmed Hammer user and did a superb job handling the crowd and answering questions. I think together we made a pretty good team and hopefully we can do it again.

Since Sylvania is next to Toledo there was only one place to go for dinner, Tony Packo's. I've been there before but Chris had never gone. Those who are familiar with the MASH TV show may remember that the restaurant was mentioned several times on the show by Jamie Faar who played Klinger. Jamie is from Toledo and still comes back to host his golf tournament. In addtion to the great Hungarian food there are about 1500 hot dog buns on the wall, each autographed by a celebrity. I figured the fried pickels, chili, and chili dog would either make my stomach problem worse or cure it. So far there seem to have been no after effects, but I wonder why my wife was sleeping in the other room?

This morning I went over to Maybury to get in a few laps and practice for the race that will be held there in a few weeks. I did three laps of a fairly moderate effort and then two more at a much easier pace. Interestingly the easier laps weren't all that much slower than the harder effort laps. I think it's because the course is so tight that going slower and not using the brakes much is about as effective as racing into each corner only to have to brake and accelerate hard again.

Weekend rides

Did a couple of rides with team members over the weekend. On Saturday Bernie came out to my house and we did parts of Bald Mountain N & S and also a loop of Addison Oaks. The Bald Mountain trail starts .6 miles from my house so we can ride a lot of trail without much road. Bernie's getting married at Addison in two weeks so I'm sure he'll look at the trail (and everything else) in a new light a month from now, assuming he's still allowed to ride. Actually he got his fiance to do an adventure race with him a few months ago, pretty cool.

Today I met Robin and Shari along with John Burt at Maybury to do some laps and so John could show us where the race start and trail would be for the MMBA XC race coming up in a few weeks. It seems that we will be riding up an old sledding hill every lap, I can't wait. There was a big group of riders getting ready to ride when we were at Maybury so we got out in front of them and then after one lap decided to ride over to Island Lake and do a partial lap there and ride back. I think that this was a better choice than doing multiple laps of Maybury. It is a very tight course with little room for passing, I'll save that frustration for race day.

Perfect morning for riding

I had the day off today and after not riding for the last three days due to the heat or rain it was great to finally get out in cooler weather. I wanted to do my complete 75 mile route I have done parts of, the route includes most of the bigger hills within 15 miles of my house. It is an out and back loop so you are doing some of the hills twice.

With all the rain we had yesterday I was afraid that the back roads would be really muddy but most were dry but one or two. It seemed that today was the day for grading the roads though as several of them were freshly graded which meant I had to ride on a much softer surface. I would have preferred a bumpier but solid road. I ran up on graders in two different spots, one of them waited on an uphill for me to pass before continuing. He didn't move very slowly though so I had to ride hard to stay ahead of him.

My route ended up being almost the exact length I had calculated it to be, a little over 75 miles. The total elevation gain was a little less though, just over 4100 feet. For flat SE michigan that isn't too bad, considering I was never more than 15 miles from my house. Doing some of the longer hills as repeats would get me the same elevation in fewer miles but wouldn't be as enjoyable. I'll save that for another time.

Free food

I came home from work all set to go out and ride for a while in the 100+ degree heat but my wife had other ideas. She didn't think it was such a great idea and kiddingly (I think) told my son to shut off the cell phones and take the house phone off the hook because she wasn't going to get me if I bonked. I got her point and she suggested we go to the grocery store instead.

She does most of her meat and "good for you" food shopping at Whole Foods and I don't really mind going since they usually have some free samples of food throughout the store plus I like browsing the beer and wine selections. Today I was able to snack quite nicely on chips and salsa, tuna with duck or soy sauce (I tried both), potato chips, cheese snacks and low fat ginger snaps. They also had samples of carbonated cranberry juice to wash it down. On some days the spread is even better and includes shrimp and different cheeses, especially when you get closer to the holidays. I think maybe we should start looking at spending one evening a week there to get our dinner for free. That should free up some money for gas to get to the races.

Triple digits

Coming home from work today the overhead console said the temperature outside was 100 degrees. I don't think I've ever seen that on the car thermometer before. Shortly after it read 101. I don't think the thermometer is extremely accurate but it sure is hot. Driving down the tree covered roads the temperature dropped all the way to a cool 89 degrees.

I went out for a short ride and it didn't seem too bad. My bumps and bruises were causing more pain than any leg fatigue. I am sort of used to the heat now, having trained and raced in it for the better part of a month or so. Not that I don't suffer some from it but the Hammer products and nutrition advice have really made a difference. Being out in the sun still causes me problems even with sunscreen, part of my Swedish heritage I guess.

Ithaca 12 hour report

Getting ready to do battle and trying to stay in the shade as long as possible.

Yesterday's 12 Hours of Ithaca was pretty much as I imagined, lot of laps and lots of heat. The temperatures were in the 90's and the heat index was over 100. Fortunately I had been preparing for the heat with the Hammer products and fine tuning my nutrition plan so while I still suffered, I didn't have to take any real time off the bike. This is also due to the great pit crew work done by Robin Scurr to have everything ready for me when I needed it. As a result I finished 2nd in my class and third overall among solo riders. The top three overall did the same number of laps, 25, but the finishing time determined the final order.

The course is a very tight 4.7 miles with little climbing and also few areas for passing. At the start we must have had about 15 of us in a single line for the better part of the lap due to the inability to pass. Ithaca is noted for its thorns if you stray off the center of the trail and no one really wanted to risk a flat. Fortunately the trail is almost 100% in the woods which helped reduce the heat factor a little. I think everyone was still glad to see the sun go down.

Night riding in such a tight area brings its own set of challenges and I think I made up for my relatively crash free year and probably am now ahead for next year based on the number of crashes I had. To be fair I did manage to tag a few trees in the daytime too and one time managed to bend my bars slightly. I didn't favor either shoulder as both of them got hit at different times. I also tested my helmet a few times and once when riding at a pretty good clip I didn't move far enough over to clear a tree that leans into the trail. I made sure on the following laps to move way over in that corner. It's kind of funny to crash at night and when you get up the helmet and handlebar lights are pointing off in strange directions.

I also managed to crash on both the Scalpel and the Rush so I can't blame it on either bike. I rode the Scalpel for the first 6 hours because it does better in the tight stuff than the Rush. When I did the switch to the Rush it helped to alleviate some of the aches I was developing due to it's different seating position and the additional travel. I went back top the Scalpel later so the Rush could have the lights added while out on the trail and I felt faster but not as comfortable. Both bikes are good at what their intended purpose is and either can be used for the other's job. It's nice to be able to have both of them in the arsenal.

About the only physical problem I had was with my feet. After a few hours my feet were really getting sore. Fortunately I bring different pairs of shoes or I would have been in trouble. I've noticed that this same pair is great for about 2-3 hours and then I start to have problems. I'm not sure if it is cleat placement or what but it is definitely painful. The other sore area is my triceps from all the bike handling required for 12 hours.

Our team had a good day at the race as Pete took first in his class in the 6 hour race and Shari Scurr just kept going around and around to finish with 18 laps and 1st in the Women's class in the 12 hour and I believe moving into first place for the series. A special mention should be made of Shari's sister Kallee who came out to do the 6 hour race and finished 3rd. She kept going the whole time and I understand that this was the farthest she had ever ridden a bike, road or mtb.

Looking at the race calendar I don't see any more on the horizon until the Maybury XC at the end of August. I will have to change my training to include more intensity because this race has a lot of the shorter power hills that will wear you down. Plus at only 1.5-2 hours long it will be a much higher pace that I have been used to lately.

I was going to ride over to Stony Metropark to catch the Tailwind TT action but after getting home this morning and unloading the van I thought better of it. Between the heat and the severe thunderstorm watch in place it didn't seem like such a good idea. Especially while sitting in the air conditioning after being out in the heat yesterday.

Hot weekend ahead

This weekend looks to be a hot one, both in terms of temperatures and racing. While I'll be racing the 12 hours of Ithaca locally several Michigan riders will be competing in the 24 hour national event up in Wisconsin. I don't think the weather will be much cooler there, but good luck to Danielle and Mark Hendershot. I'm not sure who else is soing from our area but there will be a lot of nationally ranked riders there including Chris Eatough. Chris will even have a live webcam that will be focused on his pits during the race. You can see it here.

The forecast is calling for temperatures in the 90's but the heat index closer to 100 so I have been making sure to hydrate over the last few days as well as supplementing with Hammer Nutrition products to help cope with the heart. The Ithaca course is mostly wooded but they are calling for a chance of thunderstorms and the course is known to get slick when wet. I rode locally the other day in the rain to get a feel for what it may be like.

My legs are feeling pretty good right now as I haven't done a whole lot of riding this week, partly by design and partly because of the rains we have been having in the afternoon. I was a little tired after the long ride last week but now seem to be ready to go. The course has almost zero climbing but is mostly singletrack so you don't get much rest since you are always seem to be accelerating or braking. The concentration starts to wear on your upper body as well.

Not much chance of a series win this year so I may not do the other races in the series, at least not the 24 hour race since it is a fair drive and will require a couple of days to attend. I'm still keeping my options open though and looking at a some alternate races to do instead.

I won!

I hadn't been playing the Trek Tourmania game everyday but since today was the last day I figured I would try one more time. I was shocked to see the scratch off cards reveal that I had won a special edition laptop computer! At first I wasn't sure since the scratch off said Livestrong Notebook and I thought maybe it was a paper notebook. Nope, its a special HP laptop. I'm not sure if it's exactly the same as the one that CompUSA is selling but it may be.
Now I just have to send in the paperwork and wait for it to show up, and of course later pay taxes on it. Not a ride with Lance or a new Trek bike but it is something I can use all the time.

Adventure on the west side

West of me anyway. I was scheduled to help Hammer out by setting up a tent and representing them at an adventure race registration and riders' meeting yesterday. Since it would be taking place between Ann Arbor and Brighton I took the opportunity to ride the Poto trail earlier in the morning. I had ridden it about a month ago but the trail had become overgrown in spots, allowing me to earn the Poto badges of courage, the scratches that are received from riding through the brush. There were also at least six places where trees were down forcing dismounts. They will have their work cut out for them on the trail maintenance day that is today. I met one of the trail coordinators at the adventure race sign in to give him a bag of some Hammer products to distribute to the trail workers.

The adventure race registration was a chance to introduce some of the racers to Hammer products and answer questions. Quite a few of the racers already use Hammer products and were obvious supporters of the product. Hammer was one of the sponsors of the race and the promoters were trying to set up a sponsor expo. Since I have done some of these expos for Hammer in the past they asked if I would attend this one. Being a sponsored rider I am always happy to help them when I can. It's easy to promote a product when you can talk about the effect it has had on your own success.

The race is today and is expected to take about 12 hours to complete and included biking, swimming, orienteering, canoeing as well as other special tests. Adventure racing seems to be growing in popularity and they have some for beginners that aren't as long. I'm trying to convince my wife to try one with me but it's a hard sell.

I abandoned my own tour!

My ride of choice today. Lake Huron in the background along with a freighter if you look closely.

I set out this morning on my mtb to do a double century, figuring the weather would be nice. I planned on heading over to Port Huron and up the coast before heading inland and back. Things were going well at first but the route was almost 100% in the sun and I started to feel the effects so I ended up cutting my ride short. I only did 177 miles in just under 10.5 hours. The first hundred I was able to complete in just over 5.5 hours but then the sun effect started kicking in plus the return was into the wind (naturally). I think if I had been on a road bike I might have been able to complete it before feeling so bad. Maybe I'll try again when the weather cools off.

Vacation Week 1

The first vacation week of two has passed by quickly in spite of not seeming to have really done too much. I only rode a little, letting my legs recover for the races to come. That will change this week though as I will get out on some longer and higher intensity rides. To continue my wildlife sightings while riding a red fox ran in front of me between subdivisions.

I played in a golf outing last week courtesy of Chris Werth who had an extra ticket from work. I used to play in these quite a bit but it's been a long time. We always tried to be competetive in the past but this time it was just for fun. Good thing too, we weren't in any danger of taking home the top prize. We played a scramble format which is nice because everyone on the team has a chance to contribute, no matter what type of game you have. We all hit good and bad shots and Chris was just missing the hole on a lot of long puts. On one of the holes for the longest drive I was able to put mine about 10-20 yards past the previous hitters but someone got me in the end. I have a hard time in scramble formats compared to playing my own ball in a normal round. I walked 18 holes the next day with my son and overall played a lot better, just missing an eagle putt and birdying two holes in a row. Of course the bogies were there as well.

We rented the movie End Game yesterday, a movie that was filmed in a large part in Spokane last year. It stars among others Cuba Gooding Jr. and Angie Harmon. My son Jason had gotten a few parts as a extra in the film and had called to say it was finally out and that he had made a few scenes. Sure enough, in the first nine minutes of the film he is in it three times. Twice in the crowd and once as a secret service agent in the hospital. You have to look quick to catch him. Later in the movie he appears once more as a secret service agent in the background and you can see him for several seconds. We played one of the early scenes frame by frame since he went by so fast. The president had just been shot and the crowd is running in panic. Too fast in regular viewing but in the slow motion Jason has a big grin on his face. Somehow I don't think that is quite the reaction they were looking for but they left it in since you can't really see it.

One of the nice things about vacation these two weeks means that I can see the Tour de France live on TV. My wife has been watching it with me at night as well and has been enjoying it and been discussing the various stages and riders. Sometimes when I come home she has the rebroadcasts on earlier in the day so she already knows what happens if I missed the live telecast. She has stayed up to watch the finishes after I have fallen asleep. Maybe some year we can get over there to see a few stages.

Boyne MTB Marathon

Yesterday was the Boyne MTB Marathon but compared to the last few races I've done it was more of a sprint race. I think I was one of the few racers who was disappointd when we found out that the course had been shortened from 14 to eleven miles due to construction on the trails. I know Alex, Robert and Jim were disappointed as well.

I was concerned going into the race that my legs weren't 100% and that the shorter distance would mean higher speeds and higher efforts. Boyne has the most climbing per lap of any of the lower Michigan courses and this races had about 1,100 feet per 10.6 mile loop. I think that mile for mile the Boyne course is tougher than Lumberjack.

When my class started one of the guys took off a lot faster than I wanted to and I wasn't sure if I could go that speed anyway. We started with another class as well so for a while a fairly good size group stayed together at a moderate pace. Once we got to the hills the gaps started opening up and while my legs were protesting every uphill I managed to move up until only the lead rider was somewhere in front of me. I caught site of him every now and then but didn't get close until the second lap where I got his wheel and later moved past and he stuck to mine.

I made a mistake and he passed me back and I couldn't close back up until the start of the third lap where I saw him again and could see I was gaining. I eventually passed him shortly thereafter and tried to open a gap to discourage him coming after me. It seemed to work as I managed to hold him off and take the win but I was definitely looking over my shoulder on every uphill. The Rush was able to handle the bumps and downhills so well that I was gaining a lot of time in those areas. I even managed to bottom out the 4.5 inches of travel a few times on some of the downhills and compression dips.

Our team, Cannondale Midwest Racing, did well as most everyone finished and several had placings in the top five. For me one of the things that helps when going to Boyne is staying at the Scurr's cottage at Higgins's Lake the night before the race. It cuts down on the travel the next morning as well as being a totally relaxing place to hang out before or after a race. The picture at the top was taken at their place. A big thank you to Chris Werth and his wife Jackie for opening up their hotel room to me after the race so I could take a shower. Jackie hung in there during the race to finish 5th despite having a few mechanical problems including wearing through her braking surface on the rear wheel.

No more races on the schedule for a few weeks, I think I need to take it easy for a while and get the legs recharged. I'm taking some vacation time so I will have other things to do around the house.

It's official

The decision has been made to not contest the rest of the US National Endurance Mountain Bike Series. Robert Herriman, Alex Dolpp and myself had been debating all week whether the three of us would go to Colorado for next week's race but in the end it was a mutual decision not to go. It would be a lot of money plus vacation time, especially if you did not already have the time off reserved.

Part of me is disappointed since I currently sit in second place in the Master's 50+ class after the first two races and am fairly confident that I could probably finish in the top 3 overall, the other part of me says it is for the best, too much money just to race. I can say I withdrew to give the others a chance :-) I don't know if my legs would have been up to it anyway.

The concept of the national series is a good one but it will be interesting to see how many racers actually do the required number to qualify for year end awards. I think you will see a lot doing one or two that may be local but not the whole series. There may be some classes where the top five may be decided by those who can make the races, not necessarily the fastest. But that is true in a lot of series, if you just show up you have a chance at the overall win. I will admit that my overall win in the local series last year was due in some parts to going to more of the races than those who were faster than me. In this case the cost to play in the national series is too steep. I will say the guy leading my class has won the first two and is a top notch racer, he will probably win the series and deservingly so.

I hope next year the series will expand to include more races to choose from and the rules changed to allow more racers to have a chance at the overall awards. If so I plan on contesting the series. If not, I will still do some of them as I found that I really like the format.

So now I will focus on the local endurance series again, at least most of them are close and I will have some team members racing in them as well. I don't have much of a chance for a series awards so they will just become personal tests or just to have some fun.

Since I had the next two weeks off in case I was heading west I guess I can do a lot of riding instead. My younger son is still on his vacation next week and I may play some golf with him. I'm making him a new set of clubs (one of my former hobbies) and it will be interesting to see how they work for him. Plus there are a lot of things I probably should be doing around the house. But if the weather is nice it will be hard to resist riding. Hmm, I wonder if I could get in 1000 miles in a week?

Urban wildlife

I kept mainly on the paved roads today as I was doing some short intervals and the heavy rain we had early in the morning meant the back roads and trails were wet. During the course of my 1.5 hour ride I spotted (pun intended) four fawns, two of them were with their mother. Also on the ride while coming down a hill I saw a peacock cross the road in front of me, complete with the extra long plummage dragging behind it. Later while riding though an industrial park a coyote ran in front of me. That makes the third one I've seen this year but one was in Ohio. I saw lots of other animals that weren't so lucky and never made it across the road. How long can you hold your breath while doing intervals?

Long weekend, Lefty Terralogic

Two days into a four day weekend and I've been able to get in two longer rides plus take care of some things around the house and catch a little of the first two days of the tour. The weather and schedule have cooperated so far, our community's fireworks are tonight and hopefully the rain will hold off.

During yesterday's ride I caught the start of the Stony marathon race and it's one of the few times I've spectated and not felt like I wanted to get out there and race. I've ridden Stony enough and did the race last year as well. It's just not that exciting plus with the past races I've done lately and another long race next week I didn't want the extra effort. The blue skies and warm temperatures took its toll on the racers judging by the final results.

Today's ride was out on the back roads north of me and included a fair bit of climbing. I ended up joing two other riders mid way through and their route took us past a farm that had two camels in the pasture. That's not something you see everyday!


I now have a few rides on my Lefty Fox Terralogic fork and it is amazing. I was worried that I would miss the lockout, especially when doing my training rides on the roads or going up the longer hills on the trails. This fork has an internal valving that automatically adjusts between firm when not hitting bumps to full open when the going is rougher. You can adjust the sensitivity for how big a bump you want to activate the fork. Basically whenever I stand and pedal the fork barely moves if at all yet if I hit a bump while pedalling like that it will react and compress. As soon as the trail or road smoothes out it is stiff again after two or three pedal strokes. This is actually better than a lockout since I don't have to remember to unlock it plus it it instantly switches so that I have the most efficiency when pedalling. If it weren't for the price and long wait to get them I would retrofit my other bike with one.