Iraq Pictures

So I've neglected this blog since I left for Europe two months ago. I haven't really been riding, just working a lot. The end of the year is usually a busy time for HR professionals. I find myself to be a traveling man for about thirty days over in Iraq for work (obviouslly not pleasure). Here ares some shots of the palace complex on camp Victory:

Sorry, the car was moving on this one:

And this one too

That's better. There are tons of these little lake houses surrounding the palace. A lot of higher ranking officers use them as housing, some are used as offices.

A shot from the morning on the way to work, today started off hazy but was the nicest day yet.. about 70ish degrees.

Just like in Florida? I think they get taller over there.

Guess what this is? It's a bat house. It has a bunch of little holes in it for bats to live. I saw some bats when we were driving around after work tonight.

Handsome guy, diry mirror.

A couple more of the out buildings. Saddam had some nice shit!

Race Report- 24 Hours of Seven Spring

I arrived at Seven Springs Ski resort on Friday night around 10:00pm after toughing it out through some serious traffic. The camping area was essentially at the top of the ski mountain in a giant field. The timing tent and transition area were up the hill about a tenth of a mile from our camp. The nice thing was that there is a ski lodge up top with bathrooms and charging stations for lights. After a few beers with old friends it was time for bed. I set up my tent and left the rain fly off. It was a bit cloudy but I could still see a few stars and the full moon.

Jerry led off the following day, which is great because the start involved a 1/4 mile run to your bike (as we all know, I hate running). Shannon went out after that and then Matt K. I went fouth at about 4:30pm. I pulled off a 1:33 which is a bit better than I was expecting.

Our sponsorship by Central Ave Massage & Spa reduced our entry fee to 40 bucks each and Jerry also got us 12 race burritos as well. I grabbed a burrito after my first lap and hung out around the pit and the timing tent till around 10:00pm when it was time to go out again. Here's a picture of Shannon and Adrian prior to Shanon's sunset lap.


Roman their Weimaraner is actually below them in that picture. Here he is playing with another dog that he made friends with:


Here's the sun actually setting while Shannon was out on his night lap:


My first night lap was OK I actually felt better on the second one because I was passing a few more people. I got back around 12:00am and tried to get some sleep. I don't know if I actually got any, I pretty much froze my ass off inside my sleeping bag in my tent. I think the temperature dropped into the forty's.

My second night lap began around 4:30am which was kickstarted by Mary making coffee which was fantatsic boost to get out of my tent. Mary provided such great support for us through the night, we owe her a big thanks! The sun began coming up as I came around so it was getting lighter and lighter as I went which was a really awesome experience. When I got back to the timing tent Jerry was ready to head out. Here's a shot taken from the same area as the shot of the sun setting above, It's actually the moon setting. The sun was coming up behind me.

It's about 6am here and I crawled into my tent right after this and got about an hour and a half of sleep. The pit area was coming back to life at that point and someone had a generator running.

I set out at 11:00am on our last lap. We were two laps off the podium and in fifth place out of the five team expert field. So really no pressure to turn a fast lap. This was my slowest lap, and every bit of it hurt. We had a beer after I finished and some cake that Mary and Adrienne ordered from the bakery at the base camp lodge. They rode the chairlift down on Saturday and ordered it.

Since we were sponsored by Center Ave Massage & Spa (our team name), we had this joke that we'd call ourselves "The Happy Endings". Mary and Adrien bought us a choclate cake and asked the lady running the bakery to write "The Happy Ending" on the cake in white frosting. She also asked her to put "drops of sweat" (in white frosting) all over the cake. She even put some down the side. They weren't really sure if the baker picked up on the hidden meaning here. One thing is for sure though, this cake was damn good when paired with a Pumking Ale from Southern Teir Brewing Company.

We packed up camp after that and headed out. I made the half hour drive to the PA turnpike and headed east for about half an hour on that before stopping for coffee and pizza. First I had two slices of Pizza, then I got in line at Starbucks. I asked them to dump a shot of espresso in my venti iced coffee, and then set back out on the ride home. Not gonna lie, I was tired! But I made it home safely. I put my seat in the strait up position and played songs on the I-pod that I could sing along too. I got home, took a shower, ate a snack, and went to bed. I think I slept for 12 hours.

Looking forward to my recovery ride tomorrow night. Here's a couple more pictures from the race:

Matt K, rocking the Dirtrag T.


Shannon's (left) and one of Jerry's (right) bikes:


My Squeaky/Creaky Bike:
Our tean numer was 275. The race organizers did a great job of having race marshalls in four spots around the course to check on riders coming around. If you didn't make a check point in a reasonable amount of time it gave them some warning that something was wrong. They asked that we shout out our number when we approached them. Two-Seven-Five allowed me to make a few rhymes up, I at least found them entertaining.

"Two-Seven-Five, Glad to be alive!"

"Two-Seven-Five, Feels like I'm gonna die!" (I only used this once and thought it might send the wrong message.)

"Two-Seven-Five, Thank you Guys!"- always thank a marshall, they usually volunteer to drag themselves out in the woods and be bored.

"Two-Seven-Five, My last Ride!"- perfect for the last lap.

Here's a self portrait after lap three. I didn't have a mirror and wanted to see how haggard I looked:


Here's a shot of the pit:


This was a tough course but there were fun parts on it and brutal climbs and rocks too. Definitely a race I would do again next year.

BS

Countdown to 24 Hours of Seven Spring

Took the hardtail out tonight and practiced some cyclocross moves that I learned on Youtube. I know... who learns a new skill on Youtube? In between making a fool of myself I rode the 5 mile challeneging section of D-run out and back. I was going to sign up for the Charm city Cross race in Baltimore but just saw that it was closed for cat 4, maybe I can sneak into the 2/3 race? I'll have to try one of these from MABRA

TBL is actually putting on a cyclocross clinic for beginners tomorrow at 5:30. I thought it was tonight until I checked my e-mail again today. I already made plans for a road ride tomorrow so I'm going to skip the cross clinic. I'll have to learn the things that Adam and company could teach me on the race course. One thing I realized today though is that I'm going to have to start running (yuk)

It will be nice to get a good road ride in tomorrow before leaving for PA on Friday. Thursday night will be devoted to bike maintenance and packing the car. I'm hoping to leave work a bit early Friday and get to the campsite just before dark.

If I get any service on my blackberry I'll be putting updates up on twitter. For those of you not on Facebook (mom), you can see them here. The chances of getting reliable service are slim. However, Pratik did tell me I could send all the e-mail and tweets that I want while I'm in Germany and Belgium. I just can't text or call anybody.

I know maybe one of you 4 or 5 loyal readers is wondering what Cyclocross is?

Wiley Coyote Legs

Legs felt good tonight. Lungs felt better. Two laps at D-run, moving fast.



I'm riding in the morning and then resting tomorrow night and Friday. I'll start with another Small block of training on Saturday, Hit it hard on Sunday and Monday. Then I'll recover Tuesday and sprinkle a few high intensity but short rides in on Wednesday and Thursday. I'll Be in OK shape by the 24. Again, that means surviving.

BS

Riding into the ground

Allright, I'm feeling the effects of Saturday's debauchery. First time I had a sake bomb though.. well worth it. I think i may have a new favorite party drink!

Felt like butter on the bike today though. I'm definitely going to pack the i-pod and my lights tomorrow and ride solo for like 4 hours after work. I really need to shock the system back on track. It doesn't take me long to adapt though, so I should be able to survive the 24 on labor day. However, I won't be setting any course records.

BS

slow ride

I missed a full week to get ready for this thing because work was busy. I'm trying to get in a bunch of riding before I head out of town this weekend. Keeping my head down and focused.

Matt

Another 24 Hour Race

Kasprzyck e-mailed me this week, He and a few dirtrag freinds and employees needed a fourth for 24 Hours of Seven Springs so I'm heading out there on September 4, for that. This is the same weekend (Labor Day) as the Shenandoah Mountain 100 so I won't be doing that this year. I just realized I should probably update that about me part of the blog, where i mentioned participating in the two races that I did not actually do as intended, or skipped altogether.

That said, I need to focus and spend some time on the bike. The healthy diet begins today. I am not allowing myself any Chipotle until after the race. I'll probably stop at Chipotle on Monday afternoon as I'm arriving back into town.

I rode Fountainhead today and could definitley feel the beer that I consumed this week, when McComrack, Bill, and Ben came down mid week on there roadtrip. I took Thursday off to catch the O's game. It's always good times with those guys.

We've been brewing beer every Sunday or Monday night now. We'll be brewing a Russian Imperial Stout tomorrow night. We'll also be bottling our IPA, and we'll be moving our apricot ale from primary fermentation to secondary. This will be the first time we'll have three major activities going on at once.

BS

Chipped paint

My ride was derailed today. I opened the shed to a flat tire on my road bike, I found a thorn pulled it out and changed the flat. Then as I'm heading off I hear a creaking noise on my bike. I looked at my fork and saw some paint chipped off. Chipped paint on carbon is a red flag. So I rode over to The Bike Lane to have L-Dawg take a look. He says it's fine, I'm still nervous about it. I finished my ride after that. I did see the cute customer who I sold a road bike to last week, told her about the shop ride Saturday.

BS

Woot Woot

got a nice ride in this afternoon on D-run with Nate. Solid ride on Friday night, swept the shop ride on Saturday. I took Sunday off. My legs felt strong today. A couple hard blasts today but mainly casual pace. Prolly won't ride tomorrow but will shoot for a good long ride on Wednesday. I might try to solo that one with the i-pod. I tend to ride further with that thing.

BS

Been riding a lot

The holiday weekend was just what I needed.

Friday: We were off in observance of the Fourth, so I got mid-morning ride in with my co-worker Lurana. We went out and tried out Fountainhead park which was new to us. I've been in NoVA for almost two years and that was my first time there.. haha. The main loop is ten miles with a lot of ups, and downs. The climbs are long enough to get into a rhythm and the trail has some nice flow.

I spent the rest of the evening grilling out on the deck with friends. We grilled up a few jalapenos and they made TJ and I almost cry. It was like that scene from Dumb and Dumber when they eat the hot peppers and start squeezing ketchup and mustard bottles into there mouths to deal with the heat. We didn't have those so we tried potato salad, tuna steaks, and bread. I know what you're thinking- "Man up they are only jalapenos". These are the hottest I've ever had, I'm convinced they are at the top of the heat range for jalapenos. They're awesome!

Saturday: I headed up to Patapsco State park in Maryland with Tony and Garrett. We got in about a 20 mile ride. I love riding up there, you can ride 30 miles of singletrack and not hit the same thing twice. We grabbed lunch up in Fed Hill after before heading back down to VA. That night I went out with TJ and company and caught the fireworks show in DC.

Sunday: Worked at The Bike Lane today. After work we headed over to D-run for a ride. I threw some flat pedals on the scale and picked up TJ. This was his first time on a bike since he got his license. He didn't crash once. After the ride we headed to Chipotle for a post ride beer and burrito.

Tonight: My roommate and I headed over to Wakefield and met Tony, Bill, and Russell from the shop. This ride turned into a hammerfest. 10ish miles and I was spent. I rode the scale today. It was wierd going back to a 26 inch hardtail. I think I'm going to bring both bikes down next time and conduct a back to back expiriment. There are aspects that I like about each bike, but there are also things that I dislike about each.

Mom/Dad, I promise I'll call you guys tomorrow.

BS

I like my bike again

I went out on mountain bike ride today after work. The trails are finally starting to get into good shape after the rain. Matt and I avoided the permawet second half. It was a pretty good blast.

I rode my mountain bike solo Monday night for the full D-run loop and by the second half I wanted to sell it and become a full fledged roadie. Bugs and spiders were everywhere, and the mud!! ahhhh! The mud I've decided, smells worse at night. Or maybe it has taken on that new excrement scent recently. I'm going to avoid that whole second half from now on.

I'm planning to talk Luke into a night ride tomorrow night. he has this new theory that he will go to bed by 9:30pm each night and get up at 6am to ride for an hour. That doesn't jive with me, considering I hate mornings. I'll keep you posted.

Also I picked four fresh jalapeno's tonight from my container garden. Two of them were smokin' hot and made my chicken tacos so good!

BS

forcast is looking up baby

After a bit of a rainy spell the ten day is looking pretty sunny. It's time to start the official training kick for the SM 100. I'm going to see how well I can do over the next few weeks and then make a decision to enter.

Heading out to the bookstore and to return my tuxedo. Woot!

Sunny today...

Time to get a ride in. With each rainy day that passes it's getting less and less likely that I'll be finishing the SM100. I've got to sit down and hash out a solid training plan now, before it's august and I'm still riding sporadically.

I signed up for twitter which allows me to post tweets on twitter, status updates on facebook, and display them on the blog simultaneously. I can post on Twitter from my Blackberry so you'll see much more frequent posts on the twitter account than on the blog.

BS

Sunday night already...

Pratik and I bought tickets to Munich last week. Here's to Octoberfest and Belgium! I'm really stoked for Belgium. I had a chance to run by Barnes and Nobles yesterday and chill out for a while. I read a Pro-Cycling news article on the one day classic, Ghent to Wevelgem. It's a 203 kilometer one day race in Belgium that starts just outside Ghent, heading toward the coast and back over to Wevelgem, which is near the French border. I am quickly becoming obsessed with Belgium, and I'm already scheming as to how I can take Pratik (and TJ if he goes with) to a cyclocross race while we're in Belgium. Beligian's love Bicycles and so do I!

My roommate Matt (who owns the house) is becoming increasingly animus with the racoon's kits that were left behind in our wall afeter successfully trapping "Mama Rac". He had people over on Friday to jam- we have what equates to a small music studio in the room adjacent to their hideout. I thought he was trying to kill them with London Calling. Today he had the outisde wall appart with the trap out on the deck. He and Brenda banged on walls and turned the shopvac (on blow- versus suck) to drive them down from their fort, to no availe.

Matt, (I'm sure you'll eventually read this), don't let them get you down brother. Don't let them break you. Don't get the dynamite just yet!

BS

Raccoon's in the attic!

Well I haven't been riding too much since my killer week because of rain, work, and social obligations (use that term loosely). Racing six hours of Patapsco this weekend if it is not canceled.

We had a raccoon in the attic. We think he got in there about two weeks ago when we took an outside wall apart to fix a broken pipe. We sealed it back up with him- and possibly a few extra creatures inside. yes we think there might be some more up there. Here's a picture of him before we re-introduced him into the wild:


My Jalapeno plant is starting to produce some fruit and the tomato plant has a few more unripe tomatoes on it! -woot!

BS

That wasn't what I was expecting at all..

Andrew's party today/night. Going to try and ride tomorrow at some point. Gotta hit it hard on Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, then taper into the Six Hours of Patapsco next week.

BS

Un-F'n-Titled

Did I even mention that I got a quick ride in yesterday? well I did

After one last recon trip to Baltimore and blasting some tunes on the way back, Andrew's bachelor party is set and ready to go.

Now I'm watching the Giro again.

I canceled cable and my only fear is no Versus- no beloved Tour De France- low and behold, Universal Sorts! I never new the channel existed but thanks be to god it does!



Rock

Nevermind (post two)

Lance flied and died for the stage win- Menchov will probably hold onto the General Classification (GC).

The Giro

I'm just chillin watching the Giro... God I Need twitter for this... I am going to look into it.

I'm having a long Hammer IPA and watching Lance jam up the clim on stage 17. He's chasing a Liquigas rider. If he catches his wheel it's his stage to win!!

I want to work overseas in Belgium or Italy!! so I can get some of these awesome rides in. I want to walk into an Itallian bike shop someday, and then of course go get some food and wine (yes I'm a fat kid at heart).

BS

Goodbye Sun- Hello Storms

Woh, we had a lot of nice weather this week. I rode a LOT!

Monday- 16 miles quick after work on the road bike- My legs felt good, better than I expected after the previous week of rain relegated me to a week off the bike

Tuesday- 20 miles at night on the new mountain bike with Luke- this was fast. The only problem with night rides with Luke is that we are usually not back till midnight because we take off after his kids are in bed. On top of that I was so pumped up from a good trail ride when I got home that I couldn't sleep till like 2am.

Wednesday- rest- Instead of riding, I cooked stuffed peppers using yellow bell peppers stuffed with chorizo goat cheese, rice, some breadcrumbs and some fresh Cilantro- oh and some fresh jalapeno to add some heat as well. Washed it down with some red wine- good night!

Thursday- 24 miles at night with Luke on mountain bikes- this was faster than our Tuesday night ride. Our route is pretty cool- we leave from Luke's in Oakton and ride the trails up through Reston and do the loop toward great falls but loop back down to the WOD and take singletrack or roads back.

Friday- 25ish miles with Tony and Tim from The Bike Lane- and Garret for some of it too. We finished up in the dark, partly because Tim, our new shop grommet thought we ent right and barrelled down a hill, so we had to chase him down there. I went to the shop after and had a beer with the guys who were there late building bikes. I got a parking ticket for parking in front of the store. It's a fire lane. My excuse- none of the garages in the area accommodate a car over seven feet high. Not exactly roof rack friendly when you're loaded up.

Saturday- 18ish miles, I'm guessing. I was riding sweep with another experienced rider (Alan) and three beginner females (two of whom were my neighbors). When you are sweep that means you ride with or behind the slowest group and make sure they don't miss any turns. Adam came back from the front and joined us as well.

We were heading down a road with rolling hills, Alan was leading with one rider in between him and I, and the rest behind us. I'm not sure how it happened, but he went down hard on the other side of the roller- hard enough to break a carbon fiber handlebar. He had the wind knocked out of him, some cuts and scrapes, and a pretty serious concussion. Adam kept him from losing consciousness while I called 911. Adam rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital and I waited with our bikes while my neighbor took my keys and brought my car back a little while later.

That was definitely the scariest crash I have ever seen and I was shook from it. It sounds Like Alan will be OK, but it was pretty scary for a little while there. I spent the rest of the day choosing plants at Home Depot and planting a container garden. I grilled on the back deck with TJ that night and had some drinks.

Sunday- 11 miles on the mountain bikes with Tony prior to opening the shop. I worked in the shop till close and had a beer because it was Patty's last day. She's moving to San Diego with her husband- I won't get into it, but I ate an exorbidant amount of food this day beginning with breakfast and culminating in two dinners and a pint of ice cream.

Today- No Riding. My legs felt a little sluggish on Sunday, so I think it's time enough to rest for a little while and just chill out. I need to clean the house, and do some other chores. Hopefully get some reading in too. Looks like Storms this afternoon.

BS

enough is enough

Looks like the rain has about rolled out for the week. I'm planning a big week on the bike. starting with a road ride tomorrow and a night ride on Tuesday.

It seems everytime i get two good training weeks i get distracted by work (or play) and waste the week prior. I'm excited for this week; a new mountain bike and some cockpit adjustments to the roady- it should be good.

time to prep both bikes for a week of riding.

BS

Heading up to Baltimore today- Looking at bachelor party venues for dinner before the Orioles game. Need to get on bike later though.

I'm anxious to try the 90mm by 7 degree stem that I put on the road bike.

-BS

Why does it always rain on me?

Pouring rain right now. Since I got the Hifi two weeks ago I've ridden it on one day for a total of 28 miles and nine of which were in the rain.

I did waste two good road days this weekend by being lazy, but at this point the road is all I will see in the next month.

I'm going to Europe with some friends in the fall. Woot Woot! It's time to get some stamps on the passport.

took the hifi tubeless

...and re-wrapped the bar on the road bike. For some reason I could not get the motivation to go ride even thought it was the first day without rain in a week. going to gte out tomorow on the roadie though.


One love

sorry- I really suck at posting often.

Lodi has come and gone- I didn't even take one picture down there. I was pretty exhausted the whole time. 1200 feet of climbing per lap- Luke an I managed 3 laps each before it started raining. I went out on the rain lap and cam back covered in mud. We drank beer and tequila under the tent. Had we gone out and each done one more lap we would have had a shot at 3rd place.

We aren't there to win em.

it's here!

Hifi Pro 29er baby. I built it tonight at the shop after close with Bill. It's in the shape of a bike right now. I'll probably do all the minor adjustments tomorrow after Scot faces and chases my bottom bracket.

Pics to follow at some point soon! Another Red Bike for the stable.

I now ride the same bike as both Matt and Mary. Hifi Crew Unite!

I just ate three humongous fajitas and I'm not sure I'll have room for Ice cream now. I rode a lot this weekend. And I thnk my bike comes on Monday or Tuesday!

Woot

Baker's Dozen

Well Baker's has come and gone. We're still waiting on results but we're thinking ThreeGuysNamedMatt finished somewhere around mid pack out of 43 teams. Of course this is a guess because Briggs went out without the chip so that lap didn't count. We spoke to the timing crew and since it did not put us into contention for anything, they'll credit us a lap. All total we did 17 seven mile laps.

I did seven total, six of those with an average heart rate of close to 180 beats per minute at above and below 40 minutes each. my night lap was a little more relaxed and I kept the heartrate in the 160's. Should be some great training though, I know once I recover I'll have gained some fitness from the day.

This is what I looked like after a 39 minute lap:

The scary fast guys pulled out 27 minute laps. Insane!

In a moment of weakness I (reluctantly I might add) told Luke (who shot the pic in the new blog banner) that we would ride Lodi as a duo instead of two solo riders. Some of the solo riders I passed out on the course had 15 laps under their belts and Rob Lichtenwalner, the guy who won Solo Male category, completed 22 laps, more than our team. I think 12 Hours of Crankey Monkey in July might be the next solo attempt.

Here's a couple shots from the race:

Above: Kasper flying down the trail
Below: Blasting the Log roll

Below: Briggs either just after passing that guy:


After the race we drank some good beer and hung out by the bonfire. Camped out for the night and packed up the next morning.

Recovering from the race has been weird. I felt the best on Sunday right after the race. not much soreness in my legs but my butt was a bit sore from all the saddle time. the Today My triceps began to hurt and my legs were a bit more sore. This afternoon my hands started to hurt. My hands took a beating so I'll probably be ordering some Ergon Grips and maybe one of these pretty soon.

Ramblings

I bought a big ham and some potatoes, gonna make an Easter feast tomorrow. I'm pretty psyched that I'll get to have left over ham all week. I still spent about sixty bucks at the store tonight but I bought laundry detergent and foil too. SO that doesn't count :) Surprisingly I have a lot of fun money left in my fun money checking account this week.

What is Fun money? Fun money is the money that I can spend on burritos, coffee, beer, fun, and food each pay period. Now I just have to figure out how to keep it there till Friday, when it is supplemented with new fun money. Than I'm going to whip whatever is left up to savings!

I've been relaxing and reading all weekend, It's been nice being off the radar. Chillin out right now drinking some wine called Cycles Gladiator Merlot that my parents gave me with my birthday gift . The image on the bottle and the name of the wine is taken from a vintage advertising art nouveau poster for bicycles in Paris, France, circa 1895. It is entitled, "Gladiator Cycles" and features a beautiful nude redheaded French woman soaring through the sky with her Gladiator bicycle...

Matt and some neighbor's have a Mtn bike ride planned for tomorrow. I'm thinking it's way too wet but will prolly go anyways. I don't usually get the chance to ride with these guys too often so I'm gonna head out. If it's shitty, I'm turning around for my road bike. Either way I want to hammer the legs a bit tomorrow with a nice long ride.

Then I'll stuff myself with ham and potatoes.

ThreeGuysNamedMatt

I went to my cousin Jim's wedding in NJ this weekend after working through the weekend prior and hard into the week to finish a project by April 1. I got the project done but have been busy and away since, so I'm finally running back around to training after the knee issues and the work issues... i know, I have excuse issues.

Anyway I checked my e-mail and low and behold I received an e-mail from the Leesburg Bakers Dozen Race Director, Rob. This 13 hour endurance race is on April 18th and is capped at 400 racers. Registration opened up on January 23 and when I went to register on January 25 I saw that it had filled up.

I e-mailed Rob at that moment, so he could add us to the wait list. Well wait we did, there were no quickly corrected errors allowing us access, so I moved on and signed up for Lodi, solo.

The plan all along was to race LBD as a team and then tackle Lodi, solo. That plan is back on now, because another team has decided not to race, so Rob set me up to coordinate with her to pay her for her team's race fees and register mine in it's place.

The Team:

Matt M. (that's me)
Matt B. (that's my roommate)
Matt K. (that's my buddy from DR)

The Name:

ThreeGuysNamedMatt

Get ready to Rock!

-BS

Slackenblog

This is starting to become that forgotten blog that someone starts and never updates. My apologies. A couple updates.

My cousin got married. I went out to Pittsburgh for his wedding. They did a small close family only affair. When i was younger I used to go and spend a week each summer down at my cousin's house in PA. Chris, Andrew, and Kevin-- oldest to youngest. So I count as close family and those guys are like brothers to me. Pictures forthcoming.

That day turned out to be quite a food frenzy for me and I think I gained a pound or two. It started with a freshly baked raspberry muffin before the ride with a nice tall cup of coffee. I rode Mtn. bikes with my buddy Matt K, Andrew (from DirtRag) and his Wife Margy. Then I went to lunch for Thai food with Matt K. They had the best spring rolls ever. Over to the wedding--nice cermony--and then awesome appetizers. Cap those with a strip steak and some wedding cake. Fast forward, It's 9:00 at night, Matt k and I are out at Brillobox. We have some tasty brews in honner of St Patricks day and walk back down the hill, we order a pizza and eat almost all of it.

Update 2:

My knee hurts. I started riding a lot up to the wedding and in the week following and developed some IT band stress (I'm no doctor, but I sell road bikes part time). I made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor tomorrow. I really hope he is a cyclist too. I also really hope that he can just give me some stretches and I'll be able to get on the bike pain free. I'll update soon.

BS

Move your clocks!

Finally got some warm weather this weekend. I actually got a jersey tan on Saturday. No picture of it yet but I'll take one when it starts getting really bad. Time to start using sunscreen again. A jersey tan is like a farmer's tan but worse because most jersey's have little arm gripper material at the cuff of each sleeve to keep it in place. This results in a perfect start and stop line, like glass half full of chocolate milk.

Cyclists can be identified while in regular street clothes during the summer by looking at there hands. Many cyclists will have a great tan down their arms (below the sleeves, of course) and then you'll notice the Micky Mouse glove on when you look at their hands. Cyclists who wear a short finger glove, have the Hobo Mickey Mouse glove tan, white hands till half way up the digits and tan finger tips. Or if you gloves have any particular cut out designed for airflow, you may end up with something like this.

I can't wait for summer.

BS

This weekend

I snuck in an extra post in below in order to catch up. The rest of the week, since Tuesday, has been equally as busy. We had our shop party courtesy of Todd and Anne at Shenandoah Brewing on Thursday which was very cool and they did a good job guiding us though the brewing process.

Check out some pics:

Some ingredients..the finished product is in the pint glasses

Scud adding some Hops to our Mt. Beast Ale

Todd crushing Juniper berries for flavoring in the Celebration Ales.

Loren, Skee, Derrick, and Tony Standning around waiting for their boil while Adam check out the directions for the next step.
Thanks to Todd and Anne for being so generous to us employees! we had a ton of fun!

BS

Last weekend

Wow, I've really let myself go...a long time without posting. It's been a busy past few weeks at work. I think i worked 120 hours this pay period not including travel time to Georgia. Here's what i wrote on the plane on Tuesday:

Well I thought I’d write this now since I’m stuck in an airport for the next hour. The last 48 hours have been pretty wild.

Hold on. I made the shop ride on Saturday morning before getting ready to head down to GA. It was fast. I spent most of the ride in zone 4 but rode at that level for an hour and a half. I only got dropped once but managed to catch back on. Top Speed, 33.5 miles per hour. There you have it, the only cycling content in this entry.

The rest of Saturday was spent preparing for the work trip down to GA. Here’s the timeline of the weekend.

Saturday:

1200 Receive a lift back to my house from Tony.. no I wasn’t to lazy to ride, but I was getting short for time.

1230 finish up a shower and head to the office.

1430 finished at the office…do I have everything I need? Yep.

1515 all packed up time to head out… Do I have everything? Nope

1518 turned around and got my cell phone charger.

1700 board flight

2100 boots on the ground in GA, a colleague meets me in the parking lot

2130 arrive at hotel and head to Fridays (on foot) for a much delayed dinner

2134 Fridays is packed

2139 Arrive at chili’s

2230 Back to the hotel…smoking room is nice but smelly, the south baby. Check e-mail and head to bed.

Sunday:

0530 WAKE UPPPPP CALLLL

0600 On station

1000 Complete the majority of the reason for my trip down there. Spend the rest of the day following colleagues learning about what they do

1230 Scored some sweet maps of foreign countries!

1830 arrive back at hotel

1700 arrive at supermarket on foot for some food and to try and sample a local microbrew.

1710… I’m told by the cashier that Georgia does not allow alcohol sales on Sunday. This explains why the lights were off in that section of the cooler.

1711 Buy a vitamin water

1714 stopped at a sweet pizza place while walking back to the hotel dejected (until now), and have the best calzone since as far back as I can remember. Seriously if you’re ever in the south check out www.johnnyspizza.com.

1800 I order a slice to go. Hey I gotta have something for breakfast. Something tells me that being on station by 0530 won’t allow for a stop tomorrow morning.

2200 Catchin Z’s


Monday:

0430 Up at O-Dark-Thirty

0455 Cold pizza and Vitamin Water

0530 fighting the urge to fall asleep despite a cup of Dunkin Doughnuts Coffee

0700 the sun is up now, I’m not as sleepy

0900 back by the compound, I check e-mail and call a the home office

1230 lunch at the chow hall- Breaded veal, mashed potatoes and gravy, and some noodles (also with gravy).. pretty good actually. The DFAC (pronounced Dee-Fack) reminds me of the old dining hall in college.

1300 some down time. I wait for some sosi guys to arrive back at the compound. We’ll head to the range to fire some weapons before I head back to VA.

1500 arrive at the range, fire the Glock 9mm pistol. I fired approximately 8 clips…Sweet!


1530 This M-4, was equipped with optics, and a combat grip and also very sweet, and way louder than the Glock.

1545 I’m handed an AK47 and told “Just point that thing down range and pull the trigger as fast as possible. It’s impossible to aim that F’n thing”

1600 Gotta hop to the airport

1638 I hear “Sir please step aside for a search” Oh no.. I must smell like a firing range… needless to say I received a very intimate pat down, but managed to keep out of the private room, than goodness.

1710 flight one, wheels up

1800 wheels down, time to scrounge some food

1925 While writing this in an airport restaurant, Outkast’s Roza Parks comes on the radio, Atlanta ain’t so bad… keepin it oldschool.

1927 What kind of restaurant plays regular radio?

2055 cruising at 30,000.00 ft over North Carolina listening to Into Thin Air audio book on IPOD.

2058 I’m exhausted, going to take the liberty of rolling into the office tomorrow around 11am. I think I might grab breakfast first. A job well done and some fun as well.

BS

Tour of CA is heating up!

I got 50 miles in yesterday on the road bike in just under 4 hours. Not a very fast ride but I could feel it in my legs. The Garmin battery died exactly half way out.

I spent a lot of time today reading Matt Cazalas' blog about the six months he spent bike touring around the States. There is something about the notion of riding around the U.S. self supported, staying the nights in tents and cheap motels, stopping at laundry mats and supermarkets that has a certain romance to it, however masochistic it may be. I think I'll put that on the bucket list. Maybe I'll do a Tour of Virginia next summer.

I headed over to The Bike Lane today to pick up some tubes and some on-the-bike snacks for training. Our employee party was postponed till the Thursday following this one, the 26th. For those of you I didn't tell in my excitement, we're going to Shenandoah Brewing, to brew our own beer, and sample a few of the craft beers on draft while doing it. Psyched!

I've been DVRing the Tour of California. Saw the prologue on Saturday night and the first stage yesterday. Francisco Mancebo held an impressive breakaway for most of the race. He was caught by two other riders but out-sprinted them at the end which was pretty cool. It was raining and miserable, and every time the camera cut to his face you could see that he was in the pain cave. He earned it.

BS

Double posting

Sorry about that...looks like I wrote about the same thing twice down there.

Happy Valentine's day. I did my valentines thing last night, so I thought I'd e-mail Luke and get a night ride planned. We're supposed to go at 8, and it's 7:20. I need a 2 hour ride today and since I lost some of the morning and spent six hours at work I figured going with the night ride is the way to get it.

I planning on a 4 hour W&OD ride tomorrow on the roadie. I'll probably have about an hour or two of work and then I'm going to spend the rest of the day in fornt of the TV relaxing.

Looks like I'll be heading to Georgia next Sunday night till Tuesday for work. Nice thing that Monday is planned rest.

BS

New Toys!!

Haven't checked in for a while. I'm sure it has been tough for those of you following these chronicles, patiently awaiting the news of my decision, solving the dilemma in my last post. I bought a Garmin Edge 305, and a training plan from Lynda.

I started the plan Monday night with some core training, and I did a heart rate test on the W&OD on Tuesday night. From the heart rate test, you use a mathematical formula establish heart rate zones 1-5 and spend time in specific zones for training depending on the workout.

Tonight I had pedaling drills and core work on the menu, but I got out of work late, after a rough day so I switched tonight and tomorrow's workout. Tonight I did Zone 3 intervals. I felt pretty good out there and really enjoyed the warm weather. It must have been 65 degrees out there tonight!

I'm going to do my pedal drills tomorrow, and take Friday off and prepare for some tough riding this weekend. Woot!!

BS

P.S. I registered for Lodi today. 12 Hour Solo here I come!

Twelve weeks till Lodi

Lodi is twelve weeks away and I am about to start a serious block of training leading into the race. I bought one of Lynda's 12 week plans and a Garmin Edge 305 GPS/heart rate monitor.

The plan has me on the bike five days a week, with Mondays and Fridays off. The off-days will allow for recovery from previous mini block of riding. I'll be doing higher intensity work during the week( T - Th) and longer duration endurance work on Saturday/Sunday. By week 12 I should be a beast, ready to scare the townspeople at Lodi, or at least finish mid pack (hopefully).

I got out for a road ride yesterday and I worked at The Bike Lane today, we had a steady flow of customers and it felt great to be selling bikes again. I probably won't be back there "on the regular" until April though, which is fine by me. I think Saturdays there will be pretty conveinient for training as the longer of the two weekend rides is Sunday.

Later!

BS

12.5 weeks till Lodi!!

It just so happens that Lodi is 13 weeks away. I decided to take this week (Sunday through Friday) as a rest week because I felt myself getting sick this weekend, probably from a lack of sleep. Since this weekend I'll officially have twelve weeks till Lodi, I need to determine a specific training plan to lead me up to and through the whole race. 12 hours on my bike is a long time and I'm not ready for it, not yet.

I'm contemplating purchasing a training plan form LW coaching, but I'm not sure I want to pony up that cash for the plan and for a heart rate monitor. The nice thing about the 12 week plan is that I can use it for my 12 hour, then take a month and half and do intensity work (increase power and lactate threshold) and start the plan again 12 weeks out from the SM 100. but the same money I could spend on her plan I could use on new riding shoes that are literally molded to your feet.

Ahhh decisions!!

Oh yeah, I forgot to include this picture below. This was taken right before our race this weekend. Me and Matt K:
BS

Time Warp

Well this past weekend was snotcycle, and our preparation (or lack thereof) began on Thursday night when Matt K and Jessie arrived just after 12:30am.

The following day I ran into work for a quick meeting and took the rest of Friday off. We headed over to The Bike Lane to do some work on Jessie's bikes:
Then we saw a fat squirrel:
Then it was off to preride the race course. We were some of the first few riders through so there was still a lot of fresh snow on the trail which slowed things down a bit. By the next morning everything was packed and smooth. Our prerides usually take 2-3 times the amount of time it take to actually ride a lap. We stop and ride fun features a few times and never miss a photo op:

Race day began in the next morning, when we found out Jessie was not feeling very good so she was gonna sit this one out. Jessie was nice enough to let us take her car, so Matt packed most of the items in my car into hers and we loaded all our bikes onto the roof and rolled out.

Here's Lurana right after she registered and I installed a bottle cage on her bike. It was about 22 degrees at that point:
Here's Matt K when I told him he forgot grabbed everything but the water bottles out of my car:
The race itself:

Matt and I waited for the race to start outside the timing tent next to a fire, trying to stay warm. Once Race Director, Rob picked up his bull horn we headed over and grabbed a spot in the back and took off with the group. The race started a little slowere than most XC races because of the ice in the field.

Lap one:

Matt and I rode the first two miles together. I got hung up on a technical section and had to let the group we were riding in go by. That was the last time I saw Matt K. till after the race. The first lap was real smooth hard packed snow and I managed to pass a few guys. I was feeling pretty good at this point despite not having any water. 7.6 miles down.

Lap Two:

Soon after coming through the transition area, I passed a guy on a green Niner. My new nemesis stayed with me about half way around the course. Now I'm really starting to miss water. I did not bring any food to eat during the race either, so I knew I had to be careful and not burn too many matches to early or I'd have nothing left. Normally I would have had a gel coming through the transition area.

By the second lap, the amount of riders that had come through pushed quite a bit of snow out of the corners, leaving some bare ice. Midway through the lap on a descent I hit a patch of ice and did a complete 180 but managed to stay upright. So here I am facing up the hill I just came down and Green Niner comes right by. I gathered myself up and followed through the rest of the course. I was OK but that close call was a match burnt, I may have well as crashed. In the spin I tensed up all my muscles, lost all momentum, and a bit of confidence. The rest of the lap went OK. 15.2 miles down.

Lap 3:

By my third time around, I knew I was probably going to hit the wall. By this time in the morning the fields were pretty muddy. Coming through the transition area I chased down Green Niner. He stayed with me in the woods, until I saw him dab on a technical section. If I've learned anything yet, this means attack. I grabbed a handful of gears and dropped the hammer. I looked back a mile later and he wasn't in site. I dropped him, there goes another match.

By the second half of the lap I was in rough shape, My legs were on the verge of cramping and my throat was dry. I was slowly slipping into the pain cave. I know the course pretty well and I knew I had about two miles left when I came up on Vince riding his single speed. This part of the course winds through the trees allowing you to catch a glimpse of the field of riders behind you, I saw green pants, and I was close to empty, I rode the course out with Vince (from TBL) and 100 yards before the transition area I here a bike behind me. There goes Green Niner right past me. I shifted and stood on the pedals... ahh cramps in the legs...nothing left to sprint...let him have it.

And that my friends is the difference between 38th place and 39th. I had a good time though, If I had food and water I think I could have snagged a few places down, but what can ya do. The field was about 60 riders (not all of em finished though).

We got some snow

I struggled to stay focused at work all day, got home, charged my light and headed over to my usual loop to go play in the snow. It was 29 degrees and snowing when I left at 8pm.

I took the I-pod along and listened to some Matthew Good while I was slowly making my way around. It was peaceful in the woods tonight.


On a sad note, our team, HereForTheSwag, did not get into the 2009 Leesburg Bakers Dozen. The registration opened Friday Night and closed on Sunday. This was HereForTheSwag's innaugural race last year, and probbaly the most fun. I think I'm getting over it though. I'm psyched for 12 Hours of Lodi Farm which is just two weeks later, and I'm hoping I can squueze in the marathon race at Greenbiar in April. Time will tell though.

I need some rest.

BS

Weekend Update

The beers got the best of me Friday night and then work got the best of me for most of the day Saturday, But I got a nice three hour ride in today. I found a new trail today too! I don't know who keeps putting these side trails in off of the main loop but they are doing a great job. This one has a lot of up hill log crossings, nice technical challenges to keep me loose for SnotCycle next weekend.

I did get a flat right as I was starting my second loop though, I had enough air left to ride out and change the tube in the rear. I think I'll try again to get the tubeless working back there. I brought some green tea down in a thermos and drank hot tea while changing my flat and jersey. A nice way to take the chill off.

Quite an exceptional weekend!

One cold night last night!

Yesterday I asked Luke if he wanted to go for a night ride. "Yeah let's do it he said". Fast forward... it's 9:06pm and Luke hasn't called to confirm. I'm glad about this, as it is much colder than I anticipated and my front derailleur is frozen in one position from my prior weekend riding. Just as I am going to settle into the season premier of Lost my phone rings, "Hey dude, I'm in the car"...well now I can't bail...arggh.

I'm glad I rode but it was cold. We rode the standard loop and since I couldn't shift out of my middle ring into my granny gear (easiest and smallest front chainring) I had no choice but to kill this hill that has been my nemesis on my last few rides. So that felt good.

As we loaded up the bikes we talked about how neither of us would have been out riding if it wasn't for each other. It's some kind of maschositic codependence. I think I first learned this principle on my highschool crew team. If you skipped a 5:30am practice you let down seven other people (plus a coxswain).

Oh and Matt K started a Here For The Swag Team Blog, back in April that I forgot about. He is averaging one post a year, but maybe we can increase that this year? What do you say Matt?

I'm off the bike tonight, my legs were kind of tired after last night. I'm gonna try to squeeze in a night time W&OD ride tomorrow since it will be 52 degrees.

BS

A trip down Memory Lane

I lived in Buffalo for five and a half years before moving down to NoVa over a year and a half ago. I just read an article in Bicycling Magazine, featuring tips from a blind bicycle mechanic at Shickluna Bikes and Darts in Buffalo, NY. The article reminded me of a pretty funny story after leaving the shop, and since I was compelled to e-mail them I thought I'd share the story with you as well...

I was never a regular customer at Shickluna, but in Summer 2006 after I bought my first ever pair of clipless pedals off of my roommate, I needed both shoes and a pedal install, so I went to Shickluna. I brought my bike and pedals and Ken Bukowski installed the new pedals for me. I watched him throw the bike in the stand and begin both pedaling the bike with one hand and working the pedal wrench with the other as if he were a silent steam engine. Watching him, I thought it was strange how he didn't seem to look directly at what he was doing. Less than five minutes later he was done, and I was on my way, pedals installed on the bike, cleats installed on the shoes, bike back on the roof, and to the trail I went. While driving to the trailhead I began to think about how remarkable it was to have witnessed a blind bike mechanic dispatch my pedals so quickly.

I arrived at the Hunter's Creek trailhead around 6:15 that evening. On go the riding clothes, on go the new riding shoes, off the roof comes the bike, Pop goes the trunk..wait a second what's missing?.. My front wheel. Thoughts of where it could be begin to flash through my mind. "Oh. Ohhhh, you idiot". In my mind I can see my wheel leaning against the rack in front of the shop, right next to the curb where I parked my car. "Ok, so how can I make this work?" I ask myself. "I know... borrow a wheel".

Me: "Does anyone have an extra front wheel?"

Marky: "Matty, What the hell are you talking about, that's not like asking for a chain link"

Me: "yes I know, but I seem to have left my front wheel at Shickluna, back on Hertel".

Marky and Chris together: "That Sucks dude!!!"

Me: "Yep! I'm going back for it. Have a good ride, I'll see some of you back at the house."

Off go the new shoes, on go some jeans over my shorts, off I go, back to Shickluna. Slightly dejected, I drive back to Buffalo, the shop had closed and the bike rack had vanished. I ran to the window. "YES!! my wheel is there and I can come back for it tomorrow. I called the next morning and thanked the sales guy for saving my wheel and I walked in. I asked a Sales Guy for my wheel and he asked Ken where it was. Ken pointed and the Sales Guy came back with my wheel.

I was pumped that my wheel was intact and I was pumped to have had a stellar mechanic to have worked on my bike. The sad truth is I still tend to forget my wheel, In fact last time was as recently as last month. Some things will never change.

Cheers to the crew at Shickluna!

BS

Big Winter Riding Apparel

I did a huge ride on the mountain bike today. I completed one normal loop, then decided to head back to the house and put more air in my rear tire. Let me just say that I love Reston, and I love living three miles from a really fun mountain bike trail, and two miles from the W & OD. Since I got cold while I stopped and fiddled with my broken mini pump, I decided a quick jersey/base layer change was in order.

Tangent...


Above, you'll see how much gear I wear when it is 25 to 39 degrees. What are we looking at here? Let me explain, starting on the left:

Base Layer: This consists of a moisture wicking long-sleeve shirt, a pair of cycling shorts, and a pair of socks.

Mid Layer: Here you'll see a long-sleeve jersey, a pair of insulated cycling tights, and another pair of socks (I put these on over the base layer socks, but overlapping the tights).

Outer Layer: Top right, you'll see my very reflective cycling jacket, a pair of baggies, and mixed into the bottom row- a pair of leg warmers and a pair of heavy gloves with liners. Note, the leg warmers go over sock pair number two.

The jacket really helps because it is both wind and water proof. After a little while riding, the base and mid layers (top only) are soaked in sweat (gross), a recipe for hypothermia casserole if I break something and get stranded. The jacket is key, and as long as I keep moving, I don't get cold. I usually carry a camelback packed with, among other things, an extra long sleeve base layer just in case I ever have to spend the night in the woods.

Anyways, I rode three hours yesterday, and five hours today, so my legs are toast and tomorrow will be a much needed, and well deserved, rest day. probably 26, and 34 miles respectively, I had that half hour layover while back at the house. Today was great though. The ground was frozen, a little snow fell for part of the ride, and I felt like an animal on the bike. It was also the longest ride I've done in a while, which is good, something I need to continue through the winter.

I was surprised at how much energy I was able to end the ride with. I started experimenting with fuel on the trail. This weekends menu: Clif Gels, Clif electrolyte drinks, green tea, two kinds of pretzels, and pop tarts. All seem to agree with each other and me, but the fresh brewed green tea got cold in ten minutes.

I felt great when I got back tonight. My toes were numb, my legs were hurting, but I was in a great mood! I stretched, showered, and rode (in a car) over to Primo Pasta with the roomies for some linguini with clam sauce and a side of meat balls.

Looking forward to tomorrow's rest, and next weekend's big winter ride!

BS

Weekend Update

The weekend began Thursday at The Bike Lane. Phil called me and said he was building up his downhill bike and bringing beer. I'm there! Lauren built most of it with Phil serving as apprentice. I sat with Tony and drank beer, commentated, and snapped pictures.

Just so we're clear on who's doing the work here

Here's a cool shot:
Hit it with a Hammer!!


I took a video too!

I spent an hour on the trainer yesterday since it was still in the teens. But today it was about 38 degrees. I suited up and went on a 25 mile mountain bike ride. I felt OK, the legs did not really have much power but I had a blast actually riding my mountain bike. The trail was frozen solid, although you can tell a lot of people were on them when that were wet- Not Cool.

Since tomorrow is MLK I'm going to get out again tomorrow, though, it is supposed to be a little colder than today.

BS

A Lesson on Bike Fit

I went into The Bike Lane on Tuesday and had Tony take a look at my fit on the road bike. It turns out that I had a pretty jacked setup. My handlebars were off center, my saddle was angled up, and I had the saddle set a little too high. I brought in some Smutty's to show my appreciation!

The lesson here: let a professional take a look at your road bike fit. I'm still a novice when it comes to fitting road bikes. I can handle a floor fit, which involves getting someone on the correct frame size and swapping a stem if necessary but that's really just the allegro in what becomes a fantastic symphony of "bike fit".

After determining the correct frame size, any good shop will throw the bike in the trainer and do a quick fit session with you. They'll look at you on the bike and determine your ideal stem length, ideal saddle height, and the fore/aft positioning of the saddle. The tools of the trade include levels, lasers, and a few other gadgets. The Bike Lane will do this for free when you buy the bike. Seriously, any good shop should, get to another shop immediately if they don't offer it with the purchase of a bike.

Why is fit so important on a road bike? On a road bike you often remain in the same position for several hours at a time, if your not in the right position, meaning your bike doesn't fit, then you will experience pain in any number of places on your body. People riding hybrid bikes are in a less aggressive position yes, but they often don't ride them for nearly as long. On a mountain bike you spend more time changing positions and standing because of the terrain changes. That's not so say being on the right size bike is not important, because it is. However the minute details are in most cases, less critical in these cycling disciplines.

Sorry, the fit lesson got a little long, now you know though, and knowing is half the battle. Update on training: I spent an hour and a half on the trainer tonight and Sunday night. Both workouts were steady state, but I kept the intensity pretty high. Went for a night ride on Monday with Luke, mountain bikes on the W&OD. It was 31 degrees F. Only my toes were cold though.

I should probably disclose that I work part time at The Bike Lane during the spring/summer/fall, so I'll be plugging them every chance I get.

BS

Weekend Re-cap

Friday night- Went out for some beers with Pratik and company, met up with TJ and company for some late night bowling and more beers.

Saturday- Spent most of the day just hanging around. Did not do anything worth writing about (no one wants to read about me on the couch!).

Sunday- I spent an hour at work, then a little while at the book store while waiting for everyone to go ice skating in the Town Center as part of my roommate's birthday celebration. I haven't been ice skating since I was six years old. You know that saying; "it's like riding a bike, you never forget". Well I did OK, I managed a solid 45 minutes of skating without falling. But there were definitely some six-year-olds turning laps on me. We went out to eat after, then I swung by The Bike Lane and hung with Tony, then back home for an hour and half trainer session followed by a core workout.

So Sunday makes up for Saturday's inactivity. And yes you read correctly, I broke down and bought a trainer. It is a bit louder than I thought it would be, so I'm still going to try and use it sparingly, by substituting night rides with Luke, and getting out on the weekends more.

BS