Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Pavement Single

A quality Pavement Single for you all . . . .

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Granogue and Wissahickon Weekend

My goal for the weekend was not too get lapped and failure is a feeling I am familar with, even before this weekend. Thats right racing B's was tough going.

Granogue: My focus for this race was to be smooth and try to crank the pace when I could. I am a roadie so I consider this course fairly technical. My start was "ok" considering I was in the rear and I was fairly smooth the first two laps. However, once I got tired and everything begins to hurt, my abilities to sink like a rock. I had slipped back a little too much and was trying to catch a group of 3 infront of me. I was about 10 bikes lengths behind them when two of them just quit. They rode into the pits and never came back. The 3rd quit about half lap later. Well, I aint quiting so I finished up the race.

Wissahickon: This race was just painful. Too hot. Too fast. I felt like puking at 2 laps into the race. There is nowhere to rest and recover during the race. You constantly need to be pushing it. My bro and sister came out to the race. I told them didn't need to cheer for me when I was in last place, cause no one likes cheering for a loser. (just ask an Eagle's fan) The highlight of this race was someone in the second row of the start rolled a tubular 5 feet into the race. Huge pile up that everyone had to ride around. I saw some guy running with a completely taco'd tire.

Chilling with the team during the other races was fun. and in conclusion Pro's are very fast. You can read cyclingnews if you want read about Johnson and Powers beating up on the Elite Mens field.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

MAC Cyclocross Begins!

Thats right kids, time for some real cross racing.

Granogue and then Wissahickon. I'm kinda pumped. Not as fit as I was hoping, but things have been busy. I'm a little scared of Granogue, cause last year that race kicked my ass.

I was faced with the decision of having to choose between racing the B category or racing the C category. I decided it was time to step up and 'B' a man, besides who likes racing early in the morning anyway.

My goal for the races are nice and simple. Don't get lapped. I have no delusions of grandeur, but I do want to keep things respectable.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Bucks County Covered Bridge Ride

Sunday morning, Dr. J and I went to the Bucks County Covered Bridge Ride. It was an hour drive to middle of nowhere Bucks County PA. We get out of the car at 8 am, and it occurs to me. It is 36 degrees outside. It was COLD, but the high today was supposed to be 69 in Philadelphia.

I took stock of what I had to wear. I had leg warmers, arm warmers, polypropolene layer, and a wind jacket. For some reason, I didn't think that was enough. We sign up and I grab a cup of coffee. I'm still freezing. I tell Dr. J that I am hanging in the car until it warms up. At 8:30 I decide to stop being a wus and get on my bike and ride wearing every piece of clothing I had.

I have not done a lot of these organized group rides. I go on group rides but with other cyclists that race or ride a ton. The average rec cyclist is not someone I ride next to everyday. There were certainly a few times when I was concerned about people riding a bit goofy. The other thing that amazed me was that no one called out cars. No one called out turns. No one talked about change of pace. I took it upon myself to call out cars and turns when near crowds. I would say "Hi" to people as I passed them. It felt like the right thing to do.

The ride itself was 63 hilly miles of fun. Lots of great scenery. 6 covered bridges and rest stops along the way. I never ate so much during a ride in my life. All in all the ride was GREAT!

Here is a little link to the Bucks County Covered Bridge Ride.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Racing Commuter Style

I would like to coin a new cycling term called racing commuter style.

Commuter Style would refer to riding your race bike to the race. Doing the race on the bike you rode there and riding back home, hence commuter style. I'm not talking about racing on a commuter bike, but a legitmate road bike. Don't get me confused with those crazies in London.



So last weekend I rode to my first cyclocross race of the season did the race and yes I did it commuter style. It was a 30+ mile ride to the race and it was alot of fun. I got but kicked in the race, but I ended up getting 70+ miles by the end of the day.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Recycle your running shoes

If you are anything like me, you have plenty of reasons to drink. But this post has nothing to do with that.

If you are anything like me, you may have the running shoe build up. I currently have 7 pairs of running shoes in my closet. Some over 2+ years old. Yes those boxes have running shoes in them.



You can recycle running shoes!!! http://www.runtheplanet.com/shoes/selection/recycle.asp
Nike seems to have a good program, but I am certain you can have any running store recycle them for you.

So go recycle those shoes when you are done running in them. They will turn in them into a basketball court.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

What would David Lee Roth Do?

When you are lost in indecision, I suggest you ask yourself one simple question.

What would David Lee Roth do?

You will have your answer.



Yes, The Van Halen in Philadelphia was awesome.