Holiday Hangover

Well the holidays are almost over. New Years Eve is almost here. I had the chance to catch up with a lot of family and friends over the past few weeks and as usual I’ve eaten and drank my fair share as well. Why do we all let our diets go to the wayside during the holidays? I got on my road bike Friday and hit some of the country roads up near my parent’s house. I only managed about an hour though since it was 28 degrees outside. Then it was 60 degrees today on the ride home on Sunday..grrr!

Anyways, that’s neither here nor there. Over the next couple days I need to make a few key things happen. I need to pick up a trainer, write a training plan, and spend some time pedaling and reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the New Year

PUNK BIKE- Camera Batteries Died

I survived my first Punk Bike Enduro. We had great weather. Allthough there was three inches of snow on the ground, the temperature was in the mid 40s. Which of course means no frozen ground, which means sloppy muddy conditions, which resulted in my drivetrain going from "dialed in" before the ride, to "barely shifting" by the end of this thing.

Experiencing this event first hand has blown away any expectations I had. As I've said previously, the Punk Bike Enduro, is more of a group ride/festival with a little bit of "not so serious racing" involved at different stages of the ride. There were about 200 riders there this year, the largest punk bike ever. Standing in the fire hall parking lot I thought it was a lot of people, but it really hit me when everyone took off down the road towards the first stage. We commanded a standard lane of traffic and our peloton spanned a quarter mile.

As I anticipated, approximately 10% of people race, and the rest just ride the sections as a group between beer stops. There is no vehicle support allowed on this little adventure, the Dirt Rag staff kindly humps all three little pony kegs along on a cargo bike and coordinates three organized beer stops. I actually got to the first two stops late and the pony kegs had kicked just minutes before my arrival (a lot of people!). I got my share at the third beer stop, they had Troegs Brewery's Trogenator, a tasty double bock. Matt K. and I had packed in (and packed out) a few cans each of Dale's Pale Ale, and Shannon, another Dirt Rag Staffer was kind enough to pass around his flask of whiskey just as things were getting cold while waiting for others to arrive at the church.

Matt K. (my friend and Dirt Rag's Graphic Designer) and I actually marshaled one stage. After everyone went by me with hoots and hollers, my job was done. So I got on my bike and proceeded down the hill to find the group. I came to this one nasty, steep but little downhill and saw Matt K. As soon as I looked up from what I was doing, I lost traction, fell, and slid down the remaining six feet of hill in the mud. Good thing I brought two pairs of gloves!

Punk Bike is also about costumes and mud. I'm sure that you're aware by now, my camera batteries died so I only have limited pictures. For what it's worth I lent a guy a tool who was dressed head to toe in a pink bear costume. I saw a few girls dressed as witches, a few guys dressed as witches too, and a girl with a stuffed horse affixed to her bicycle, making it appear as if she were riding a horse. There was even a guy dressed as Freddy Mercury. Trek offered up a pretty nice bike as a prize for winning the costume contest. That ones in the history books, we took off before the winner was announced.

Here's a shot of a small portion of the group gathered for the Derby:
Who's this guy?



That's me shaving my new fu manchu on Friday night, technically punk bike had not began yet. Let's get a side shot:


Here's a shot of Matt K. hunched over his brake caliper at the magazine doing some pre-ride maintenance:

Did I mention that Dirt Rag's Magazine headquarters is a house, and their basement is awesome? It's chock full of merchandise, tools, bike, wheels, trail building tools, and beer!

All told, I had a great time at the Punk Bike. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to race next weekend.. Haven't spent a lot of time training.. But that's going to change soon as January arrives :)

BS

Chewbacca revisited?

So I stopped shaving around the second week in November and grew the beard you’ve seen above. I decided that I wanted a mustache for the punk bike, but lets face it; unless you're in uniform, or a plumber with red (or green) overalls, a mustache looks pretty--let's just say--inappropriate. But that's precisely why it would be funny.

So I grew the full beard out instead figuring that I can always trim it into something more interesting. Although for a guy who never has facial hair, the full Abe Lincoln look is pretty interesting as well.

I was trying to get a poll on here to decide what to shape it into. Since I can’t find a poll application I think I’m going to go with some big mutton chops with a mustache.



After doing some research, I found that mutton chops, when connected with a mustache, are actually called friendly mutton chops.



I assume "friendly" because the chops appear to be holding hands?

BS

Back from Buffalo

Thanksgiving has come and gone, the Bills lost on Sunday and I am one tired cat.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. My mashed potatoes came out really well, as did the turkey TJ prepared. And!... I went on two Mountain Bike rides! I woke up at 6:45am for a 7:30am shop ride at Laurel Hill. This is probably the coldest I’ve ever been on my mountain bike. I could hear the frozen dirt crunching under my tires. The day warmed up though and I headed out to Difficult Run with my roommate. He ended up crashing in a slick stream crossing so we cut the ride short to get him home. We were hammering right along before that.

I rode to work on Friday and left at three to squeeze in a trail ride before heading into the shop to cover the evening hours on Black Friday. The next day I would be leaving for Buffalo.

Buffalo was an awesome time. The tailgate was great. The Demler’s cooked some great food, everyone who came down had plenty to eat and drink, and our fire was rockin. Even though Buffalo lost, it was good to see some old friends and spend time with my cousins. I just got back and I’m cashed out. Time for bed.

BS

What a Great Time

Yesterday was the big MORE Ride out to Catherine's Furnace. All total there were 34 riders; a pretty awesome turnout. It's always tough to keep groups together when you have more the 10 riders, but Scud did an excellent job waiting at landmarks for everyone to catch up.

Here's a nice group shot at the overlook.

I rode in the back with Phil most of the time who was suffering up the five mile climb.

It turned out to be a pretty awesome day. It was about 45 degrees and sunny. I even took my jacket off while climbing. Sorry Phil's got that on his camera.

As we gained elevation, you could see snow that had accumulated on the ground and on my tire.

I'm pretty satisfied with the amount of tough riding I got in this weekend. Between the road ride and yesterday's epic, my legs are toast. I think I'll rest today and tonight and try to nab a night ride tomorrow night before my thanksgiving ride. That should carry me nicely through the weekend of debauchery that's ahead. Hopefully I can resume a steady riding schedule on Monday when I get back from Buffalo.

BS

Ya know those rides?.. the ones that show you exactly how unfit you are? Today I attended my shop's Saturday morning road ride. It's supposed to be a 28 mile loop. I'm embarrassed to say that thanks to a handy bail out point along the way, My ride was about 20 miles. I was SLOW!!! At least I was warm though; my jacket, while not as insulated as I had hoped, is a total wind barrier. My tights, plus leg warmers both did their job as well. My toes were cold though, so I'll be duct taping my shoes to stop wind for tomorrow's ride.

I suffered a good bit today, on what for these guys, is a casual ride. I have a special respect in my heart for the road bike. There is no hiding on a road bike, there is no granny gear. The difference I'm talking about, that makes "roadie fit" more real than "mountain bike fit", is that on the road you almost always pedal. Terrain does not limit your speed like on a mountain bike. In most cases, the only limiter on a road bike, is your body screaming for you to stop.

To make things worse:

This afternoon I swung by the shop to buy a few things and add air to my front wheel (mtn bike) which happened to be in my back seat. I just switched to tubeless, which uses a sealant in the tire to fill the little pores in the rubber instead of an inner tube. I added too much air and about 30 seconds after I removed the air chuck from the valve stem, while holding the wheel at arm’s length, the tire blew right off the rim! This scared the hell out of everyone in the shop and Jackson Pollock’d the whole left mechanics area, myself, and Hassan. I stood there, hand throbbing, ears ringing, wondering what the hell just happened. The explosion carried so much force that it blew the wheel out of true. I built these wheels by hand last summer and have not had to true them once since I built them, till today of course. Grrr!

Planned for tomorrow? A big, long, epic ride out at Catherine’s Furnace in the Shenandoah Mountains. Catherine's Furnace is all that remains of an old coal fired metal foundry that was built in 1846. This furnace made more than its share of Civil War cannon balls. Lets hope I don't blow up any wheels! But hey, I packed the camera!

Also my last post was rife with misspellings…I apologize.. I’m working on that. But I'm going to continue to join sentences with dot, dot, dot.

BS

Chewbacca?

I say, it's been cold out! I'm really hoping our order from PI comes in before Saturday. I'm looking forward to two group rides this weekend. The weather is looking dry but cold. Hopefully my Octane jacket (plus a few other heavily discounted goodies) will come in soon.

I've got a pretty busy couple of weeks leading into the holidays this year.

November 27 - 30
The holiday season officially begins on Thanksgiving. I'm staying down here in VA and planning on a traditional dinner with some friends. Instead of wine, probably some nice craft beer. I am making snowy mashed potatoes, a typical dish that reminds me of home. Im going to try to squeeze a ride in that morning too. Then it's off to Buffalo for the Bills/Niners game. Our tailgate crew has grown to about 20 people; should be a good time.

December 14
Punk Bike Enduro!!! For those of you unfamiliar, this is a big group ride in Pittsburgh that Dirtrag Magazine holds every December. They call it a stage race, but from what I've gathered it is just a group ride in the woods till you get to a parking lot or a hill, Once you get to an oppurtune place you race a "stage" which can include anything from a derby to a race up or down a hill. I'm not really sure what a derby will be like. The first seven in each stage get tickets redeamable for prizes and beer. Did I mention that everyone is drinking at all of the stops along the way?..Some prefer whisky and hot chocolate in a thermos. Moderation of course kids..We've all got to ride the full loop!

December 21
Xmas Maddness Race in Schenctady, NY's central park (weather pending). I know, white christmas and all, but I hope this one doesn't get snowed out. I hear that anymore than 6 inches and they cancel it. I read about this in a bike magazine, The course is 4 miles long and you race for 2 hours. The person with the most laps wins. It own't be me but it's a good excuse to get 2 hours of ride time in.

I'm hoping to get home on Dec 20 to race this but I still need to get final approval from work. I'm planning to be in NY the whole week mixing telocommuting and vacation time. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and relaxing with some HBO on demand. I even miss their new cat Grazy.

I call her Chewbacca because she is so humongous and furry. Had she been brown I would have gotten her a little ammo belt or whatever the hell the real Chewbacca used to don in Star Wars. In the picture she's actually wrapped up in a little cat shirt because she needed a lion cut to keep her fur in check. I don't know about you, butIf i were a cat I'd rather have an ammo belt.. right?

BS

Rain again!

I had planned to go for a night ride with Hassan from the shop, but mothernature brought the rain a day earlier than I expected it. I was hoping to get on the bike tonight and loosen up my legs which feel really tight after my "run" on Saturday. Yeah, i know..Since both the trail and road would be no fun at all on Saturday in 50 degree rain, I strapped on my sneaks and found a mix of paved and multi-use trails behind my house... 20 minutes later I returned to my house with a broken spirit and a blister on my foot! I despise running but I'm going to try to keep it up at least one day a week.

Buffalo plays tonight so I guess it's a good night to spend inside. I ordered some cold weather gear yesterday from Pearl Izumi's pro-deal site. I'm psyched for that to get here. I've got one more necessary purchase coming up and that's a trainer. I figure having a trainer I can put my road bike on is really the only shot I have at getting a solid base in this winter.

Bad Ideas

For the life of me, I could not think of a creative title for my first post. I sat here for ten minutes and began thinking that this whole blog may have been a bad idea. 2009 is going to be full of bad ideas though. Riding my mountain bike in the Shenandoah Mountain 100 is probably a bad idea and racing solo at 12 hours of Lodi Farm is surely, a bad idea. Each of those events and the preparation for them will be a sufferfest and I'm not really sure why I've decided on this journey. We all know that acting on a bad idea can lead to regret (and sometimes handcuffs) but not acting on a bad idea may lead to the very same thing, less the handcuffs.

So why am I writing this right now? Well mostly, I need to log training and I think I'll hold myself more accountable for riding if I am writing for an audience*. I mean, who wants to read about me sitting on the couch all winter drinking beer and watching movies on USA. Nevertheless, you'll see a lot of posts and pictures about my rides, my life, and my races.

So here I sit, tapping this out with a Dale's pale ale, and I cannot think of one last thing to say except perhaps a toast.

Here's to bad ideas.

-BS

*Yes even if the only one reading this thing is my mom.