when good legs go bad

Just got home from a ride on the north shore with andy. nothing intense, just a cruiser... minus the fast-moving monster lightning storm. wicked. then some chow. nice way to spend an evening - chilling-out with the leslie and andy. home now, top of the 8th in the sox game, we're leading 3-1... jenn's in exeter, visiting old friends - and it seemed a good time to write in the blog... but am beat-down tired. should just go to sleep, but jenn is en route home, would rather see her than be asleep... i just don't sit still very well...fingers are easy to move... bottom of the 8th. little better game than last night's injury-laden slug-fest it seems.

Last week was great. Huge legs! Not just for a day or two, but for 7 straight days (if i include sunday morning's rides at PP24) I didn't feel great on Saturday when doing laps, but sure felt good Sunday, so can count that one.

couple guys on base for the bad guys now, top of the 9th, here comes curt shilling...

as usual, I just kept beating on the legs each time i threw a leg over and felt good. all last week, 7 straight days, hard efforts throughout, or hard in the morning, medium in the afternoon. felt damn good. period. felt good to be fast. rode CRAZY lines up climbs in the fells the day after riding crazy climbs with andy and a freeride dude - josh - on the north shore. Durtion was down in rides all week, but it still somehow added-up to 15 or 16 hours. When the legs feel good, it's like i can't do enough, then i realize how much i've done. Then yesterday. Nothing. No power.

...shilling needs one more out to close this one out for the sox...

Been trying to take it easy this week while doing maintenance rides, but might not be enough break. Tomorrow must be a rest day. I hate rest days. I honestly love to train. But, I also love an epic race and this weekend's course is the best i've done yet - really want to have a good one and was hoping for the miracle legs. The solid gold. But as of today, things ae looking... i don't want to say anything negative here as that's not the way to get ready. i know better than that. for over a week i've been telling myself how pysched i am for it, as i am! it's going to be, rain. sun. speed. mud. pain. good.

Sox won.

Time for bed.

7 Big Ones

Lance is the man. No doubt. We all need heros and he's one of the greatest of this generation. Makes me wonder who'll be next...

It's getting late ... for a guy like me. 10pm on a Sunday is like 2am for a college kid (good to keep things in persepective as i slide slowly into the abyss of age - aka, my 30's - hard to fucking believe - but at least advertising firms are still focusing on my segment, when you're past that, it's over - you might as well just pull-on a pair of yellow pants, some polished white sneakers and hit the 4pm Early-Bird Special). Anyway, this endurance racing thing sure keeps the gut off. Barely. Too many tasty beers at the end of hard efforts.

This weekend was a good one. Got to see some old friends (finally saw Darrel and Jen in Newport), some new friends - and most importantly, work on the house. So many projects, too many races - leaves a lot of shit undone. Anyway, we made-up for it this weekend...

Jenn and I have both been keeping the Jay Marathon and MTB in the front of our minds as we trained, worked and lived the past couple weeks. We've done everything right, feel strong, but of course, there's also some pre-race issues. Jenn's knee has been clicking and talking to her the past week or so. We think it's from the extra biking she's been doing... but the extra biking was also part of a very successful over-reaching phase. I think the knee will mellow-out this week as she does maintenance runs... I'm more than pysched for her - not for what she'll do, or can do, or should do, but has done. No matter what happens in the next 10mins/day/week, Jenn has been dedicated and focused on this race for over 8 months. Through a snowy winter, rainy spring, and now a hot-as summer, she's done it up 5-6 days/week. From the first 3-4 mile runs to 3-4 HOUR runs, it's hard to believe this is the same woman. I feel for her this week as i know what it's like to train hard, almost obsessively, then finally be faced with the point of all the hard work. So many questions, possible loose ends to be tied up... Anyway, I can't wait for Saturday and the start of her race. it'll be such a relief - almost as much as being done that night.

Pat's Peak 24 Race Report

I really enjoy bike commuting after a hard race the weekend before - passing hundreds of cars sitting in endless lines at stoplight after stoplight. It's just such a different type of riding after doing something as intense as racing... It happens everday, but this morning some guy was trying to bolt through traffic and I was going by at same time - and I could hear him over the wind in my ears screaming at me in frustration that he couldn't get out into traffic due to me - and my bike. He was kind enough to wave at me with one finger thrust in the air. What's funny is that there were no cars behind me - so he simply had to wait an extra 2-3 seconds for me to go by - and for that he got so riled-up. People in this town are just wound-up too damn tight. Which makes me think of my boy Nathan moving to Seattle. Right-on!

And talking about Nathan, it was a pleasure to race with him one last time as teammates at the Pat's Peak 24. We have a nice head-to-head in the upcoming Jay MTB (i.e., i'll see him at the start, then watch as his postierior gets smaller and smaller as he climbs up Jay Peak), but more about that in a later post. Back to PP24: the course was a short one, about 5miles long with 700' of climbing. Temps and humidity brought the heat index close to 100, but the short course made staying cool and hydrated easier. Early in the race, Nathan and Jason's legs built a small lead over the only other team capable of putting-up a fight - a 5-person NAV team - which is Nathan and Harry's sponsor team. Nice. I was pacing my laps at around 32mins with a goal to finish the race with the exact same splits that i began the race with. Jason Achlich was busting his splits on a geared bike as he left the fully rigid single-speed at home for this one (that dude likes to bring the pain!), while Harry Precourt held his own and rode smart, consistent laps from start to finish. For a guy fresh out of High School, he's one strong, mentally tough dude.

Then the mechanicals hit. I broke a chain, Harry flatted and Jason's fork separated. We lost the lead, but quickly made some time back-up with a 28min lap from Nathan - and then ground them down with consistent laps all night long. At 8p, i thought they'd grind us down since they had 5 and we 4 people, but they couldn't stay consistent enough - and that's the toughest part of a 24 - team or solo - staying consistent from start to finish. In the morning, we switched the rotation of riders back to our night-time rotation of 1-2-1-2-3-4-3-4 so that jason and nathan didn't have to warm-up/cool-down over and over, leaving Harry and i to finish-up the race from 10:15 till noon. I decided that instead of riding 1 lap, cooling down, then riding another, i'd just get them out of the way and do a double lap - in the now un-relenting heat. I managed to roll-in at 65mins for 2 laps and that consistency made me a lot happier than the total shit we received for winning the race. Worse than the set of tires shitty. So bad shitty that i can't even bring myself to type it. Come-on people!

BUT, that none of those things were the highlight of the race. Watching Andy destroy the 12 hour category was awesome. That brother had a great game plan of slow and steady riding, fuel intake and minimal rest. Brad started way fast, then settled into a rhythm in his 12hour effort - also impressive - but had to settle for 2nd to his close friend. The last climb found Brad walking without any shoes as he had ridden w/o socks and gotten some fierce blisters. Andy comes into the pits and we ask if he's seen Brad. Andy replies, "yeah, he's in the singletrack squishing mud between his blistered toes." Just wacky, but that's Brad, the strongest, wackiest rider i've met. If we could just reign him in... Impressive showing for both those dudes - and i look forward to riding with them and another real solid human, Darren Morneau, at the GG24 in 4 weeks. Team "Ride it Like You Stole It" returns! Hopefully the 6 3/4" of rain we endured 2 years ago doesn't return as well.

Gold, baby, solid gold

The magic has returned. After feeling pretty flat, i'd reduced this week's saddle hours down to about 10, sticking to the road bike and a mix of non-standing intervals and easy riding to get some life breathed-back into my legs. But i couldn't take the road anymore! The sizzling-hot asphalt, lack of freedom and flow - and the endless angry Boston drivers honking at me for no reason other to express their dismay at being trapped "against their will" in traffic thick as molasses - was killing me on the inside. With every senseless honk it's like they're yelling-out for help, for freedom! Viva la empty highway!

Point is, I had to get into some quiet greenery and yesterday went for a mtbike ride with Mike Jordan... and BAM! There they were again - the CRAZY legs! You know what i'm talking about. Insane power while scrambling. We didn't hammer-through anything, it was more of a converstion pace as I hadn't chatted with that brother in a long time - but when we'd get to a technical climb or whatnot, the legs just felt terrific. What's impressive was how well Mike rode considering he'd ridden 78miles the day before and just got back into cycling 6-8 weeks ago after a mult-year hiatus. His skills are really solid too, as he led me down a couple of descents that had me let-out an involuntary yelp...

Tomorrow, Nathan, Harry, Jason and I head to a small 24hr race - Pat's Peak 24 - for some team riding. It looks like our major competition will come from Nathan and Harry's NAV teammates on a 5-person team. Nice! I like those odds. I'm really hoping, though, that the race has grown a bit and we get a few teams in the Expert category to go up against - as a race isn't a race if you're just cruising in the lead - then it becomes "training." And we all train plenty enough.

Ahhh, in other news, i contacted an old xc runner teammate from college - Ian Torrence - who's a real force on the ultra running scene - to ask for advice on fueling as my stomach turned on me at Dalton. He had some great tips - and pointed me away from using protein/carb rich drinks (Perpetum) to the same stuff i started using originally - sugar - with a mix of good solid foods. Interesting... Anyway, he took 13th in the Hardrock 100 last weekend - an ultra regarded as one of the toughest in the world. That guy is a fucking animal. I don't know how many ultra's he's done - but it's got to be near 100. He finished in 34hrs, with 30,000ft of elevation gain under his belt - and a top elevation of 14,000 feet! I don't even want to think about the suffering. I love it! There's a guy who followed his heart after college and it's done him right.

Ebbers cries like a child when sent to the big house

"Bernie Ebbers wept in court as he was told he faced 25 years in chokey for orchestrating the world's biggest securities fraud at WorldCom."

It is not enough. He'll serve way less than 10 - he can afford the type of lawyers that'll spring him. It's a country-club jail... He doesn't even have to report immediately, he's being given until October to get his affairs in order! Send him to Federal Prison at the very least! How about he serves a year in Federal Prison for every person at WorldCom that lost their 401K, job, future? That wouldn't re-pay his dept to society, though... lives were destroyed by this man and he serves a few years at a country club? At the very least let every person who held WorldCom stock get 10mins with the man. Alone.

Karl Rove - finally caught in his lies...

Why yes, we may actually be free of Karl Rove sooner than 2008. Of course, i'm not fool enough to think we'll actually be free of this right-wing lunatic, but if he's found guilty of committing an actual crime versus a perceived crime, i don't see how the Republicans can keep Karl's fat arse on the payroll. Ever since he attacked McCain in the 2000 Primary, I have been an opponent of Karl's Republican Party - as he is the evil genius in the corner, gloating.

Here are some good quotes of Karl and the President denying Karl's involvement in the leaking of a CIA operative's name: This Modern World blog

So, not only did Karl leak her name, he lied to the FBI and the Justice Department and the Bush administration stays tight-lipped... he has to be fired. there is no other option for the man Bush calls "the Architect" - build me some more lies Karl.

nothing too exciting today

Can't complain today. My golden legs had faded by the end of the last week and i crawled into fri and sat a lot weaker than i would have thought possible after feeling so good at the start of the week. The spill i took on thursday didn't help things feel good on fri/sat either, but I must have done one too many medium duration, high intensity days. I was trying to go into a build phase week, hoping to set-up the legs for another small peak at the end of July, but just pushed one day too many...

Today, the sun is shining, legs feel good, hip bruise is fading fast and all looks good for Pat's Peak. Will be fun to do after facing-down a solo 24 three weeks ago - and now that the pain has faded fully from Dalton, i'm feeling hungry for another this year. Looking at 24hrs of the Adirondacks, as it is a small local race on a great course for soloists, or maybe splurging and heading to Utah for the 24hrs of Moab in October... see how it goes - and how i feel after taking the week after labor day "mostly" off of the bike for a backpacking trip.

stupid spill // pat's peak 24 team lined-up

My 'miracle' legs have been beaten-down by a couple hard days of various interval work. It's odd, if the legs feel great, i feel a great need to beat them until they are heavy and sore... then i feel good about training - if the legs feel like gold, then i'm paranoid i haven't been doing enough. Crazy-nuerotic.

After getting home yesterday, i jumped on the Litespeed and cruised over to the Fells for a short, easy ride to polish-off the day's efforts. At the house i didn't really feel like doing another session, but i had my gear-on from the ride home and had planned on 180 total daily mins, so away i went under heavy clouds and cooler than normal temps. a couple miles into the Fells i still felt sluggish and was just cruising along, thinking about everything except riding - and bam! i was on the ground. hard. usually when i fall, i'm attempting to ride a tough line and am ready to be ejected, but this one took me by surprise, making it worse. left hip and knee took a good shot - bad enough that last night it woke me up everytime i rolled onto it while sleeping. this morning i can ride from the saddle, but standing is not comfortable. it's just bruised - as was my ego yesterday! just glad i got one of my yearly "spaced-out" falls out of the way in training versus at a major race (like last year's 24hr world's). As the thai-food cook says in the 5th element, "ahhh, see good in bad, nice philosphy..."

We also just got our 4-man team lined-up for the Pat's Peak 24 in 8 days. Nathan, Harry, Jason and myself. I've written a bit about Nathan and Harry on the blog, but not Jason - he's a wicked-fast single-speed rider with a penchant for pain - as his totally rigid ss xc bike attests to! Andy will be riding the 12hour solo and Brad is thinking about busting-out a solo 24! Nice. Should be a good time and a GREAT tune-up for Jay in 23 days as the PP24 course is steep - making for great climbing and descending.

big ring

Yesterday we drove back from New Brunswick, got back by 530p or so - giving me plenty of time to hit the fells for a short ride before dinner. i got the litespeed in order and headed-out for an mtb around 630. by 645 it is was apparent my legs have undergone some sort of metamorphasis - they're crazy huge right now. i wish i had a race tomorrow as it'd surely be a breakthrough. the question, is, how in the hell do i keep them feeling this good for the rest of the summer? how do i keep pushing huge gears with this little effort? i guess i'll just keep the same training cycles and see how it goes, but right now, i'm really, really psyched... and a little freaked-out as i want to keep my legs feeling this way forever, but i know it'll only last a couple days. i just have to be smart about how to tap into this power for the other "A" races of the season. I see the patterns in my training and the results... now to test them out.

i wasn't planning on riding Moody Park as i'd like to help my brother-in-law and sister-in-law get some renovations done on their business... but i also don't want to "waste" such great legs... have to see how the weekend pans-out... but with a 4-man team potentially coming together for Pat's Peak the weekend after this one, do i really need to race this weekend? i want to make sure i'm challenging my legs and keeping-on them to improve and strengthen throughout the season, but am also wary of mental burn-out. right now, i'm not hungry to race. i want to train and to ride, but i'm not chomping at the bit to race. if i skip this weekend's race, i'll be thinking about it all day sunday and by next weekend will be super fired-up to race pat's peak.

Big props to Nathan for 'almost' riding circles around the flat-landers!:
http://adena.dyndns.org/blog/default/2005/07/05/Win_2.html

Of course, Nathan also just posted that he hit 54mph - making it even worse that i pulled-up at 49.9mph on sunday. 49.9, 49.9, 49.9. AHHHHH!!!!!

I still have images of sparcely populated New Brunswick in my mind. After passing through the small village of St Martin's on the Bay of Fundy, the road turned-up and followed along the ocean - and this ocean-side road wasn't crowded with vacation homes, but modest ocean-front family farms. Amazing. Cows were literally grazing right down to the seashore, or to the line of tree cover between the farm and the ocean... that's how you know it's legit - folks leaving trees between themselves and the water to protect against the winter storms... here we'd cut down all the trees and build a giant sea-wall... Anyway, can't wait to go back and ride what the New Brunswick locals call their "Rockies" sometime soon...

New Brunswick, 49.9, and plenty of sun to go around

I wish I had a digital camera with me the past couple days... New Brunswick is an amazing place, with rolling hills, quiet countryside and friendly folks at every turn. On my first ride here, starting from my mother-in-law's house on a small lake outside Sussex, I stopped to look at a map tucked in a jersey pocket. Most everything around me was farmland, but i'd just happened to stop near someone's house... Within moments, a weathered man came out of a modest, but well-kept farmhouse and hollered,

"You know where you're going?"

I was startled, but immediately replied, "of course." Pause. We look at each other. Pause. He knows I want to know where I'm going, but don't want to ask and is waiting for me to speak-up... finally I say,

"St Martin's?"

He waits long enough for me to finally have to ask, "do you know which way?"

Pause...

"Yeah."

Another long pause. Suddenly we're both laughing under the clearest blue sky and he points down the road while turning for the door, his back still heaving with amusement... a sun drenched sky will do strange things to a man. Like make him laugh for no reason... but being friendly? That's just what being from around these parts is about - and I have too many examples from just a couple days here to type in this entry... and this blog is about riding anyway, right?

49.9 mph!!! I'm such a wimp. The roads from Cassidy Lake to the Bay of Fundy are HILLY. Not just a hill here and there hilly, but if the road isn't going up, it's going down. In a 3 hour ride, I averaged less than 16mph over 50 miles! In a second, more up-tempo ride, I averaged 16mph over 35miles. Crazy slow, but it was hard work the whole way. Of course, 90% of that work has been negated by the lemon pie and piles of food and beer I've consumed the past couple days (any weight I dropped last weekend at the two-four, is back!), but nonetheless, I've been riding my ass off in a place ripe for it. The farmland stretches to the horizon, everyone's willing to share the road (of course, in a 3 hour ride, you may only see 10 cars, so it's not like they're stressed- out about traffic) and all you need to focus-on is pedaling. In New Brunswick, folks know the score. If you get a chance to be outside, do it. Winter is just too long to be grouchy about anything come summer - even a skinny, sun-baked, lycra-wearing 30-year old hogging the road and pulling-up from a tuck on a massive descent right before hitting the magic 50mph. 49.9. 49.9. 49.9. That will haunt me for a while as i'm not much of a roadie and am pretty cautious with speed within the I495 belt of Boston... I guess I'll just have to wait till next year to break 50... but i'll tell ya - 49.9 had me laughing and smiling like a little kid at the bottom... 50 is just a number. Seeing a Bald Eagle pull a fish from the water right in front of you after your ride ... is ...