half a pro

from the Latin, 'semi' means 'half', so i'm now half a pro, sounds about right. i'm half as fast as guys like Harlan, half the time i'm working a desk in downtown Boston, the other half the time i'm on my bike - and the other half of the time i'm with jenn (and Seneca). doesn't leave much time for sitting around doing nothing, but there's more than enough folks in this country doing just that, so i figure they're doing my share of doing nothing!

Dear Jeffrey Whittingham,
The following request to change your NORBA category has been approved and processed by USA Cycling:
whittij - 2006-09-12 18:47
Member: Jeffrey Whittingham
License: Cross Country Racer
Request to change category from Expert to Semipro

time to get in the "way-way-back machine"... why? 'cause by the end of all this rambling, i'm gonna thank a bunch of people.

april 3rd, 2003, just turned 28, enjoy bike commuting and hitting the woods once/wk w/friends, plenty of safety breaks. after a quiet winter, felt like life was flying-by and i was in the back doing the dishes. my racing experience consisted of a single 24hr team race in the fall of '01, watching the winner crawl onto the podium after riding 160miles was inspiring and told myself that someday i was going to do a solo 24... but hadn't done jack shit to reach that goal. then in the spring of 2003 decided it was time.

next 3wks it rained every single day - cold, miserable, spring rain, but i loved it. i loved training for something. 3miles into my first race i was cooked, thought about quitting, but kept it going and by the end was smiling ear-to-ear, 100% hooked. finished 11th in sport class that first race. and 11th in the second race. and 11th in the third race, but was having a blast and riding my little 60min training loops like a man possessed. met some new people to ride with - Rob Follansbee, Nathan Smith, Jason Morris, Roz Puleo, the list goes on...

on the drive to my 4th race got a strange call - a fellow i could barely understand said something about knowing Jamie (the owner of my local bike shop) and to look for him... as i pulled into the parking lot at the Pinnacle, it didn't take long to spot Brad Beveridge, a total lunatic. had my first breakthrough that day - taking 3rd in Sport class on one of the toughest courses on the circuit. my confidence was through the roof, if i can make strides like this, maybe i can win a sport race someday!?

started meeting-up with Brad for rides and soon met his buddy Andy, then Justin, then Daren. they'd wait-up for me at every trailhead, super-good guys - and the #1 reason i can ride a bike. rollin' with far superior riders is the only way to get better - they taught me not only how to pick good lines, but how to fix a broken chain... they are the shit.

by the end of that first season i won a sport class race, was so stoked! in early '04 tackled a solo 24 and snagged an unexpected 3rd, bumped into guys who i'd later come to know as staples in the sport - Bob Anderson, Eddie O'Dea... had the confidence now, self-promoted to Expert at my favorite venue, The Pinnacle, and began seeing a new side to the sport - different faces, new goals... between the xc's, the 24 team events, and the enduro's, i found myself drawn to certain riders, the mellow outlook was the only way to roll.

in the winter of 2005 i trained my ass off. picked a guy i knew would be at every race to chase - a guy i admired - thom parsons. he was fast as hell and if i could hold his wheel... the first race of 2005 was a killer. the course was under water, pissing rain, i loved it and snagged my first expert podium. had some good ones in '05 - 2nd at Dalton solo 24, but also some big learning lessons - like 100% blowing-up at Jay by trying to ride with the big boys, finishing a dissapointing 30th. by the end of '05 it was clear i needed to find some new folks to race with, loved racing my hardtail and was drawn to Independent Fabrication because of Thom, their localness - and the fact that they build the most kick-ass hardtails on the planet!!

2006, well, it's been a super effin' year! do i need to summarize? sure, why not, this blogging thing is a narcissit's playground. 2 top-10 finishes in 2 100milers. 3rd at the Jay MTB. 4th at the Vermont 50. finally won an xc. was on the box more than off. time to put Expert class behind me, you don't get faster watching the fast guys ride, you get faster riding with 'em.

can't wait for 2007, it's gonna be killa'. at 32 yrs young i'm just getting into a groove. ain't life the balls!?

thanks to Jenn, the love of my life, for letting me ride and ride and ride and ride and ride when i should be doing chores, to Independent Fabrication for building me the most kick-ass steel hardtail on the planet, to Thom for believing in me and convincing Bruno to let me aboard, to Andy 1000 times over for being the man, to Jamie and the boyz at Western Cycle, to the Blog world, to Dave Alden for starting me off, to Rob for his advice those first cpl yrs - and to every person who's had words of encouragement vs words of doubt.

I LOVE THIS SPORT! I love this life.

The Vermont 50 - A Race Report

Saturday started on a sour note w/Andy calling early to say he had to bail on the 50, work obligations. Was seriously bummed and for a split second thought about bailing myself. Was dragging my mom, Jenn and baby Seneca along with me, a lot to ask, and had to ask myself, is it really worth it?... but i'd ramped-up the training, riding the day my daughter was born and late at night on the indoor to be ready, I had to go-on w/o my friend - he wouldn't want me to bail!

cruised-up to Ascutney with the fam saturday afternoon, rained all morning, was expecting a wet course and more rains to come, found myself getting fired-up for it, always ride better when the weather turns ugly.

after my mom sprung for a great dinner saturday night, Seneca blessed the race by sleeping as well as she ever has. 435a, up later than optimal for digesting breakfast before a 615a start, choked-down a bagel, then some cold oatmeal using a tire lever. had to scramble out of the motel, but Seneca hadn't gotten her fill of breakfast and cried on the 25m ride to the start, was the saddest morning, felt like the worst dad ever... completely lost focus on what was happening and ended-up standing on the start line full of doubt and misgivings on the whole trip.

with the light barely breaking through the heavy morning clouds, the first wave of riders were off. started in the 2nd row and hung-out in the draft, doing practically no work, occasionally swinging outside the draft to assess the situation. as we rolled down dark country roads, we'd hit thick patches of warm moist air, then a minute later, descend into cooler air, glasses fogging and unfogging every few minutes. the rains had held-off and at 55-60 degrees, was the warmest start to the 50 most folks could remember.

the legs felt heavy, hadn't ridden in two days nor arrived on-site with time to warm-up, so swung left and lightly sprinted up the first climb for 30secs to get an effort in, try to get the legs to open-up a tad. a small gap opened w/my mini-effort and someone says, "here we go". crap! i didn't want to go, but it was too late, as soon as i shut it down a swarm of riders surged past, going much faster than my legs were ready for. it was disconcerting as i didn't want to let the lead group go, but my legs were dead and with breakfast still sitting in the guts, couldn't respond. watching those 8-10 riders pull away was horrible, felt a bit like quitting - my legs were dead, had no idea if they'd open-up, i'd dragged my 3wk old daughter up here, what in the hell was i doing!? had zero focus and needed some if this race was going to go my way.

45mins later i could still see the lead group 2-3mins up the road, occasionally someone would fall back, then surge back up, i focused on my pace and avoided the temptation to bridge-up, this race wasn't about the first 25miles, but about the second 25. my plan for the race from the onset was to ride the last 25miles harder than the first - chase from behind, so in a way things were actually working-out as planned...

The infamous Brian Lyster passed me at this point pushing a 2-1 ratio on his singlespeed. hooked-on like a boat anchor, wasn't thinking about much, just going w/the flow. he stopped at aid station 3 (mile 12-15), so i stopped too, grabbed a banana, cpl dixie cups of HEED, and as i rolled-out realized the stomach had settled and the legs were feeling pretty good... one of my goals for this year's 50 was to eat more, to avoid the bonk at all costs - and if guys like Lyster stopped for 10secs to eat...

soon we were heading up Gavin's Hill (mile 20), one of the nastier climbs in the race and home to the nicest view. through the red and orange leaves sprinkled aross the trail i spotted a small red salamander, creatures i've been fond of since childhood. they represent health in an ecosystem and for some reason i view seeing them as a sign of luck. later, i thought of this salamander with sadness, as its chance to survive the fury of 1000 wheels on 500 bikes was slim... but, for some reason, possibly the salamander omen?, this was the real turning point in my race. Lyster had been slipping away a bit and i couldn't shed a cpl other guys, then suddenly i was alone on top of Gavin's Hill, the view obscured in heavy clouds whose misty tendrils trailed down to touch the open fields. i rode past the aid station, blaring Jimmy Buffet as it does every year, Lyster filling a btl, then down screaming doubletrack alone with little regard to safety, it was on!

within a few minutes i saw another familiar jersey - Brett Racine's, another guy i have nothing but respect for, rides like a tornado, always passes with friendly words. his season took a turn for the worse at the Jay "60" when his knee took a nasty shot, but was back after 2months of recuperation (aka, not riding). he slipped back after we chatted for a minute and any resting i may have done quickly ended as Lyster sped by. Playing the part of boat anchor once again, we rode and chatted here and there, occasionally passing other riders originally in the front group.

By aid station 7 (mile 35), we were on a 4hr 20min finishing pace, 10mins ahead of my expectation, stopped for some old-school electrolytes (aka, a handful of salt) as my legs were twitching a bit. It was awesome to see Jenn holding Seneca, my mom holding a btl out for me... soon after Brian stepped it up a notch and dropped me as the course turned up some grinding climbs, i really wanted to save my legs for the final 5miles, which climbs the backside of Ascutney - and hoped to see him again.

the final 15miles of the course contains the best singletrack, but being as wet as it was really slowed-down the pace, had to take the tight 180 degree turns through the first section of narrow singletrack with the utmost care, wet off-camber roots everywhere, a desperate desire to hammer quickly quelled by a solid crash. eased-up a tad too much and with 10miles to go Racine stormed by while i lubed my chain, firing on a massive second wind. i latch-on thankfull for the pacing.

the next 5miles fly-by and are the most fun of the day, great singletrack, muddy, but can ride it harder than the previous section, Racine setting a great pace, then WHAM! wail my rear tire into a sharp rock and within 60secs it's down to 20psi, but feels like the Stans is holding some air. pull-over to add air, seems to be holding, should i put a tube in it!? no. on the chase now, but within 60secs, feel the rear tire flattening, but fuck it, if i pull-over and slap a tube in, i'll lose 2mins and all hope of catching Racine or Lyster, but if the Stans can keep the pressure at 20psi, i still have a chance...

at the final aid station w/3miles to go i pull-up as Racine and Lyster pull-out, i'm off the bike, add air w/final CO2 and hope for the best. racine's lack of riding the past cpl months rears its head and he offers words of encouragement as i go by (he had one of the gutsiest rides i've ever seen yesterday), but soon i'm down to practically no air, take a turn too hard, burp air out and have to get-off and use the last little bits of my CO2 to get rolling, am now taking it insanely easy, constantly looking back versus forward, crawling along the final cpl miles, legs want to go, been saving them for this hill all day!! final 3miles are agonizing, finally head across the ski hill on a now 100% flat tire and down the slope, rear wheel sliding all over and across the line 4th overall. finished in the same time as last yr (4:42), which was really surprising considering our pace at mile 35, those final muddy 15miles of singletrack were amazingly slow with the rains the night before... winner across 4 1/2 minutes before me, so was definitely bummed about getting the flat, but at the same time it would have taken miracle legs to catch him... Thom P across in his best 50 time, 2nd SingleSpeed! but that's his tale to tell.

Results

Seneca sporting the newest in baby-bike-wear style, Jennifer's design.

sun, lobsters, beer and a beat-down

what a perfect late summer wknd. jenn and i said goodbye to her mom saturday morning, which was a sad goodbye. having an extra set of hands w/an infant in the house sure was nice, plus the company for jenn... but as mary was leaving, jenn, seneca and i headed to andy's where he threw-down on a monster lobster bake, not a bad way to conquer our grief. after more than a cpl beers (first time i've had more than 2 in well over a month), a few of us found ourselves camped-out by the lobster "wok" throwing-down bug after bug.

now that's an old fashioned lobsta bake!

jenn and seneca enjoying the day.

b-dog.

sat night the Gators took-on Tennesee in the bad guy's backyard. i love college ball. so much more intense, one mistake could be the end of the season for these kids, battling it out in front of 105,000 screaming, booing, freaked-out fans. too bad my lame ass fell asleep at halftime, but the Gators pulled it off w/o my help, 21-20.

sunday morning was our first major walk as a new family. another perfect day, hit the Fells, seneca in the sling, bronte fetching. got home, ate a giant liverwurst sandwich, why, why, WHY!? before heading-out on a planned hammerfest with andy. "warmed-up" for all of 10mins before andy threw it into high gear - throughout the 70m sufferfest it wasn't unusual to look-down and see speeds of 24-26mph. little race simulation ride to get the sticks firing for next wk's 50. nice. liverwurst sandwich before hard ride? not so nice. andy and i have no idea how to work on the road, nor do we really care. he'll hammer on the front for 5-15', get his tempo piece in, then i'll take over and get my effort in. in the end, having someone else who's at the exact same place fitness-wise do a hard ride with is really sweet, as there's no way you can punish yourself the same way you can w/two.

"My body is fucked and brain is damaged... 2 signs of a hard ride yesterday." - andy sanidas

the 50

super stoked about this year's 50. i love this race, thank you mike silverman. to get one of the coveted 650 entry spots you have to be on the ball - or crazy-lucky. this yr i was lucky.

started the season with the sea otter, a 38m xc, but felt a hell of a lot more like an enduro. now finishing the season off with an enduro that i'd label an xc - minus the laps. for a lot of folks in this fall classic, it's something to shoot for, a great way to end a season. the aid stations are friendly and plentiful, the views grand, the roads kind and the singletrack smooth. mostly. this is new england after all.

man, this is a great race! wake-up at 5a, choke-down coffee/oatmeal, pray it's warmer than you'll know it'll be, glide-out of your lodging, mist everywhere, freezing. arrive on-site, hundreds milling about, check-in under headlamps, so damp and cool, but dressed light, for the sun. chat with old friends, stars shining down, is it growing brighter? horizon begins to glow? check watch for 10th time, when does this race start!? always wrong. time to go, jockey for a spot in the front cpl lines, not a lot of room, who are all these tough guys? end-up in a ditch, same as yr before, damn it's cold. time to roll.

then the ride. won't even think about that. that was last yr or the yr before. this is this yr. but, man is it a great ride, no matter what. once you've done the 50, you're hooked.

crash!

took a hard fall this morning, worst of the season. was i riding in the woods? in traffic? nope, was in the mellowest, safest place possible, down the bike path along Boston's Esplanade, a usual route to work. a jogger w/an iPod running in the right lane decided to cut in front of me at the exact moment i was passing her on the left. no time to brake, do anything but collide - was a blur. she took most of the impact, i shot over the bars and into the bushes while she lay on the pavement, totally zonked. a cpl thoughtful passerbys got on their cell phones and called an ambulance... one of them said the crash looked horrible, something about if it was on video, it'd go National or something equally as bizzare. i wasn't really listening...

she was shook-up pretty bad, minor cut on the chin, some scrapes, the impact was hard enough to eject her earings, while i broke the crown off a previously broken front tooth, took a nasty shot in the quad - it's super tight, already working the ice and vitamin I - but nothing needing medical care - she was waiting for an ambulance. hopefully she's ok, feel sorry for her (a junior at BU), never like to see someone in pain, but am also upset - not in a mad at her way, but in a "now i have to pay the dentist a bunch of money i don't have to fix my tooth way". plus, i just noticed that my watch/HRM fell-off in the collision. crap. but, that stuff doesn't really matter... i feel bad for her, seeing her laying there. hope she's alright, no internal damage.

she admitted to me, then the police when they arrived, that it was her bad. the officer then said no charges would be filed against me, which was a shocking statement, even with the word "no" placed in front of "charges". since i was riding, i guess there could be charges filed against me? but since she was on foot, there can't be charges filed against her? interesting how that works...

was supposed to work from home today but decided to get some things done in the office, so headed into town - guess i should have stayed home...

cross

my new-to-me planet cross is a beaut of a frame, but needed a little this and that - most especially things that go round - wheels, tires, cassette. JRA hooked me w/a set of low-end a-class wheels for a benjamin, price was way right, but they weigh more than the frame. whatevah. the '06 cross season, my first evah, isn't gonna be about winning anything, more about trying to hold a line and not slam the boys on the top tube while rollin' on a 3 beer buzz.

ordered a set of michelin mud 2's, is it just me or are these comp s lights (the shittiest mtbike tires ever made) reincarnated as what folks tell me are the greatest cross tires ever made? 9sp sram 12-27 cassette and chain en route, only thing left to do is replace the cables and brake pads. was thinking about going to a single ring in front vs the 39-53 on there, but that'd cost some cash and after getting reamed on the eBay sale of my Ellsworth, feeling anything but flush. what's the point of all this? i'm gonna have one super-spanking-kick-ass cross bike by the end of the wknd (w/a wheelset akin to a dumptruck). don't know how to ride it, get off it, on it, or carry it - but it'll sure look cool. sweet.

sent usa cycling a love note last night to upgrade my beer-swilling butt to semi-pro. keep-on, keeping-on...

Root 66 Landmine XC Race Report

With everything going swimmingly with Seneca, jenn gave me the green light to race this wknd's XC in Hingham's Wompatuk State Park, 40mins from home. Thom and I cruised-down pretty early, got our pre-ride on and kicked it w/the some of the usual faces, including new IFab SS'er Mike Ramponi. That dude rips!

Pro class first, then Experts with SS'ers going-off in the middle. Thom showed his skillz by getting into a track-stand for the start, a guy next to me asks, "is he a friend of yours?" why? freaked? you should be.

after the mishap a few wks before w/the regular tires on ust rims, i'm back to ust tires for now. as i mounted them up at 10pm, totally zonked from being a new dad, Stans blasted from a tear in one of the kick-ass Hutchinson Piranha's. instead of being bummed i got fired-up to race w/an old friend on the front - a 1.95 IRC Serac - super burly aggressive tire, but man does it give confidence in the corners.

started 3rd wheel, had never ridden Wompatuk trails before, couldn't see anything, so decided to make a move and get clear early. kicked the tempo into "traffic light just turned red" pace and opened a small gap. my legs burned bad from the effort and on the first climb was worried that i'd made a serious mistake, lactic acid wasn't clearing as it had a few wks before. but, the gap held and over the course of the first 9.5m lap picked-off riders in the classes that started earlier constantly scanning for Thom's jersey. at mile 4 or so saw an IF jersey, but it was Mike Ramponi who's water-bottle cage had fallen-loose on his brand-spanking new fully-rigid SS Steel Deluxe and he'd stopped to fix... he later mentioned that going-by him at mac-speed on the fireroad, not slowing to allow an ss'er to grab a geared wheel was un-cool and he's right, sorry mike.

within a mile or two of the second lap I found Thom and when we hit the fireroad he grabbed the wheel and away we went, ripping an inspired 42 minute lap. only thing that could have been more fun (as i was smiling like a fool, jumping-off and over obstacles, just having a blast) is if i'd have thought to slow for mike ramponi and it was the 3 of us versus just Thom and I. as we ripped along my goal for the race changed from winning my class, to posting the fastest Expert time for the day, which kept the tempo high minus a few breaks in pace to stretch a sore back and eat some gels.

On the 3rd and final lap Thom showed me what tough is by taking some pulls on the ss-unfriendly fireroads. that dude is tough-as. plus, it was great to ride with someone looking-out fer ya - for example, as i jumped over a muddy obstacle and slammed the rear tire hard he reminded me i had a race to win and to stop playing-around (but it was tough as i was having way too much fun!).

with 3m to go i uncorked it and sped to the finish, thom, then mike ramponi cruising across right after (1-2 in SS). For me, the race destroyed a key mental barrier, end-up posting the fastest expert time and was 5mins back from the fastest overall time of the day in the open class. this was by no means a stacked field, but there were enough folks there to feel confident that the win was legit and that moving into the semi-pro ranks is warranted, especially considering how little sleep or riding i've done recently...

One more mtbike race to go - the VT50 in 2wks - and am feeling more and more confident i can hold some wheels i never thought i'd be able to touch. sweet.

Finally on top step, damn monkey is off my back.

Thom on the top step as usual, with Ramponi a cool 2nd.

riding. as a first-time dad.

everyone told me to hang-up my chamois, being a new dad is too much to handle and ride. i guess these same fire and brimstone folks aren't married to my amazing wife. sleep? well, as mike jordan told me, it's over-rated. jenn's doing the hard work, staying-up all night feeding seneca, my role around here is to cook meals and do chores, while jenn's mom handles clean-up and general assistance. after less than 48hrs home, we're running a damn smooth operation here. since this is a riding blog, here's how a new father's rides went-down this wk:

Monday: awaken at 330a to jenn's contractions. 9a, hit the trails for a 2hr mtb. 11:58p, our beautiful perfect baby daughter is born.

Tuesday: at hospital all day, learning how to hold our daughter, enjoying our time as a new family.

Wednesday: I head home at 9p, jenn stays at hospital w/Seneca, pick-up our dog, on indoor trainer at 10:30p, ride untill 12:30a or so.

Thursday: Coming home day! busy, busy, get onto the indoor trainer at 830p, dog-tired but force myself to ride till 10p.

Friday: over breakfast i'm given the green light to race Root66 race this wknd, decide to take a rest day.

Saturday (tomorrow): plan to spin for a bit, get legs warmed-up for Sunday. haven't ridden more than 10hrs/wk since Jay 60 wknd (july 29th), need to get legs back in gear for planned hard wk next wk for VT50 prep. sunday's xc will be perfect way to kick-off hard wk.

Sunday: Root66 XC.

i love our daughter so much... it's a love only a father (or mother) can have. if seneca were to get sick or jenn have complications, i wouldn't even think about riding, but since everyone's healthy and happy i can sit here and brag about how i get to do it all. except sleep.

Baby Seneca

We are ... in awe. and in love.

Check-out the scoop here.

still waiting

been on a mission to get stuff done the past cpl wks. some call it nesting, i think it's more taking the mind off the waiting game. got ambitious at work and decided to do some server and workstation upgrades, managed to erase a good portion of my hard drive while testing. anything not backed-up is gone, which is most of my personal stuff. has me really bummed out for some reason. mostly pictures, letters and the like - why didn't i back more of this stuff up?

most of the east coast militia is rolling to the shenandoah 100 this wknd. good times to be had there. andy's looking lean and mean, hope he has a good one along w/thom, skip, kerry and the PA/VA crew. i think all Harlan needs to do is finish this race to take inaugrual ultra mtb series, so he might as well enjoy it, fill his camelback with gin and tonics or something. wish i was there to congratulate him in person, next yr. and while they pedal and pedal, jenn and i hope to be welcoming a our new human to the world - really hoping the little fella rolls this wknd!

been thinking about commuter-racing a bit this past wk while cruising the bike path and decided it's not that i'm frustrated w/folks getting their competitive spirit on, it's my inability to control my pace when challenged. when one can ignore outside influences and ride for one's-self only, that's getting your Buddha on, but at the same time, the burning desire to finish one place higher in the overall, to pass one more person, that's something i'd never want to give-up... and thus yet another duplicity of character is uncovered while pedaling, lightly examined, and hopefully now ignored.