Allied Milk Cycling Team

Wow.

2010-02-04T17:41:00.002-05:00

Time flies when your team is falling apart. Haha! Due to the current economic situation the Allied Milk Cycling Team has folded. It was something a few months in the making even if the sponsors hadn't pulled out. Several key riders/friends were moving on and it wouldn't have been the same with out them.

Anyone looking for a 30 something cat.1 MTB'er?

Blue Marsh Recap

2009-10-12T21:34:00.002-04:00

Ok so this is a picture of Staci tearing it up in Sonoma Valley and not one of the Blue Marsh Race. What of it?!?!

Sunday was about as perfect of a day to race as you could ask for. Sunny, slight breeze, and highs in the low 60's. The course was beautiful (with the exception of a spot here and there that was a complete mud hole).

James rode in the Sport race. I was there in time to see him finish his first lap. He was in a group of three about 4 minutes back of the leaders and only seconds behind the lead chase. I told him to get on it or he was off the team. He did. Coming around to the finish he had moved up. 5th overall and 3rd in his class. Not too shabby old man.

Next was my race. It was a small turn out but that doesn't really make it any easier. Especially when you have guys like Ryan DeWald (Battely Harley-Davidson) and the Alesio twins (Fuji Bikes) at the start line with you.

The start felt pretty slow and I jumped into 4th in the paceline. The Alesio's were 1 and 2. DeWald 3rd. No one behind me. "Huh?" I thought to myself. I was fully expecting the group to be on my wheel but they weren't. We hammered on. I hung with them until we hit the big climbs. They never slowed down. I'm not really sure what happened but I just couldn't get into a good climbing rhythm all day. Over the second big climb a rider from Gretna Bikes caught up to me. He was climbing really well but I was faster on the flats and descents. I took a spill. ***My excuse is that my contacts dried out and I didn't see the huge slop hole I ran into. I'm not that big of an idiot.*** Gretna guy gets around me. "Crap!" (This may or may not have been the actual word used.) We were still on the first lap.

Gretna guy gaps me pretty good. Finally I relied on experience. I put my head down, focused, and got into a nice threshold zone. The second lap was uneventful.

On the third time around I could see I was gaining on the Gretna guy but I was still climbing like crap. It was a yo-yo for most of the third lap until we got over the second big climb on the course. On the descent I stuck on his wheel. When we hit the short steep climb I punched it. I put a gap on him and took it to the line. 4th place in 1:48 which I felt could've been faster had I been able to climb.

DeWald smoked the course in 1:24. That's over 14mph.

Going to Blue Marsh with an achin' in my Heart

2009-10-09T21:47:00.002-04:00

So James and I will be making the journey to the Blue Marsh Lake for some good old fashioned fall mountain biking. Pre-Reg for the race was a bit light probably because of Iron Cross (Americas longest 'cross race at 62 miles). A lot of heavy hitters will also be saving themselves for MAC #3, Granogue next weekend. Past and current National Champions will be in attendance...

Back to Blue Marsh...Last year some really good riders showed up the day of so there may be some tough competition that hasn't signed up yet but as it stands now I'm the only Expert/Pro signed up. James has a few more riders to worry about but I think that he will do just fine.

Pet a Luma

2009-09-12T11:45:00.002-04:00

Well, Staci and I are back from California. Wow, what a great time...We were in San Francisco, Yosemite, and Sonoma/Napa Valley region. Back to the grind. Pics will pop up soon.

My Blue/Green Eyed Friend

2009-08-31T21:45:00.002-04:00

For those of you that do not know, this is Grand Paw. He got his name for two reasons. The first being that when he was brought to the Humane League he was accidentally aged at something ridiculous like 20 years old. He had been starved and left to die (we still aren't sure if it was intentional or not). The second reason is his floppy feet. The were like a diver's flippers. They made some very interesting noises while walking.

Grand Paw also had some crazy eyes. One was blue, the other green. When he was happy he looked at you with his blue eye. Upset him and well, the green eye was what you got.

Like I said before, Grand Paw arrived at our house nearly starved to death. He weighed 3.5 lbs. This probably caused his irreversible kidney and liver problems. We decided that he could live here for the rest of his days (which by best estimates was a couple weeks) and officially adopted him. We were assured he wasn't in any pain and that eventually he would slip into a coma when his time had come.

Grand Paw went to sleep last night and never woke up. He survived over a year and was a great friend the whole time. We will never forget the tiny ball he could tuck himself into, his never ending quest to be warm (and we do not have A/C), his cackle of a meow, and his ability to climb ladders. We love you GP.

The Spaceman

2009-08-30T11:59:00.004-04:00

Shawn is officially in Boston. The Northeast Extension of the Allied Milk Cycling Team if you will. To the best of my knowledge he will be back to visit family and if there happens to be a race that weekend we'll probably see him.

Shawn filled his role as a teammate (we were on two teams together) over the years perfectly. He was a great motivator when I was feeling lazy. Getting me to those training rides when I really didn't want to go. He also drove me to just about every race since this team started two seasons ago. That has easily added up to thousands of miles. He was a great training partner. We were both at the same level but we both had separate strengths that helped us push each other. The thing I will miss the most though is my friend. I know he is still just a phone call away but it's not the same.

I wish him (Katie, Lilly, Sergio, and Filipe) the best while they are in Boston and wherever they go from there. I hope that someday our paths cross again.

YUM! With a capital YUM!

2009-08-14T21:10:00.001-04:00

The new Gin and Trombones. Please allow the drooling to begin.

The Dog Days.

2009-08-08T08:35:00.002-04:00

So here we are in August. Chris is a cat. 2. I am stalled halfway to my 3. Shawn is moving to Boston by the end of the month if not sooner. The economy has some of us choosing work over riding (can you blame them?). The mountain team is doing well despite the total lack of flow to the series. Two race postponements really disrupts things. We press on.

Shawn raced the Tour of Lancaster and had some bad luck in the form of a broken fork. I've finally gotten back on the bike after about 3 weeks of intestinal infects and overtime. There are two possible races tomorrow but I'm still undecided if I am really ready for the intensity. I've had a solid week but before that I was hurting.

The Dream Weaver did a downhill race and here's his side of the story...

Link to website of Series;
http://www.verticalearthpa.com/blue_mountain_cup

I
drove up to Blue Mountain friday night. I met up Todd and some others
friday evening. They had practiced friday. I worked. Sat
morning at the breakfast table they were filling my in on the Saturdays Super-D
course; same as last time, and also the totally different DH course for
Sunday. The DH course sounded gnarly,lots of chutes spilling into
rockgardens which would become "yard-sales"(bike parts strewn about from bicycle
dismemberment), drops, jumps, step-downs, rocky-rooty-offcamber, typical east
coast terrain we have all grown fond of, or, at least accustom too. I did
two practice runs on the Super-D course, good enough for me. This time I
left my hardtail at home and brought the full-suspension for the Super-D
race. The previous Super-D race, May 30, I rode my On-One 456 hard
tail. It is a 1X9 with a 34tooth Chainring, and a 160mm fork up
front. The course was very difficult to get up to speed. All the
rocks were pointy, and are aimed at the riders with intentions of
inflicting cruel and unusual punishment. There are only one climb, and it
was a doozy of a steep, loose fire road, but other than, that one could use
a DH bike for the course if they were willing to run their bike to the top
of that hill. Many actually did just that. Like I
said earlier, I brought the dually, I took a minute fifteen off of my
May run. The rain came in hard and heavy early sunday morning. We
awoke to pouring rain. Packed our gear to leave the motel and set off to
the mountain to do what we seem to have been doing all season in DH this
year; ride in the rain and muck. Hey, whatever, beggars can't be choosers,
I ride in the rain all the time anyways, just that this time, there is a
stopwatch running. The ride up the chairlift was a wet one, I forgot
my rain jacket, and I don't wear goggles. About 300feet from the top of
the lift, lightning started. The lift sped up to warp factor 9 to get us
off the lift. We did a practice run, surprisingly awesome conditions,
better than the day before. At the bottom we took note that the lift
was shut down due to the lightning. We went back to our EZ-UP to
wait. An hour past and lift was running again. We were able to
squeeze in one more practice run, it was my best run of the weekend! I was
pinning every corner, skipping ever so lightly across the rocks, and roots,
floating the off-camber-ness(it's not a word, I know) and drifting
magnificently(in my minds eye) through the loamy corners. Too bad it
wasn't my race run. At the top we were informed the that there
were a lot of "DNS"'s(Did Not Show). Competition was going to be tight,
Everyone there, were the serious, of serious regional racers. The official
began my count down, I sprinted out of the gate into the darkness of the
course. For some reason I was making stupid mistakes with my lines.
That's DH racing though, you only have a few minutes to make your best run
count, and each "little" mistake adds up to be a lot of seconds. I made it
to the finish line, stayed upright the whole time, and had a blast!

Ben will be racing a 5k downhill at the end of August in Wilmington, NY.

Grandview/D&Q Summer Sizzler

2009-07-24T19:24:00.002-04:00

The Milkmen will be stretched thin this weekend with two races on Saturday. One is a crit in Lancaster and the other is a super fast mountain race in Dirty Jersey set up by some good friends of ours, the D&Q team.

James and Tom will probably be our only riders at the Summer Sizzler since Joel will be working, Shawn is still undecided, and I took the easy way out and stayed close to home. The Sizzler is a great course. I can only describe it as very fast with very little climbing. A big ringer all the way. My kind of race too but I have a busy weekend and just couldn't commit the time.

The Grandview Crit is located in, you guessed it, Grandview. It a very hairy course. The start is straight and fast with turn one being a 120 degree lefthander. The backstretch is about a 2-3% "climb" that probably totals 1/2 mile of the one mile course. Throw in four 90 degree turns (left-right-right-left) for good measure. Then a tricky (only because of the way people take it) sweeping left to get you back on the front straight. Oh and watch out for the potholes.

The Batteries Were Dead

2009-07-12T16:57:00.002-04:00

This was a busy weekend for a couple of us Milkmen. Saturday there were two road races, Mt. Nebo and Iron Hill Twilight Crit. Sunday was the Trailspinners Fair Hill race.

Shawn and I did Mt. Nebo. Chris did the Twilight. None of us did too well. Shawn took 23rd, me 29th on a course that had over 1000 ft of climbing per lap. Chris got bumped out of the peleton, lost the draft, and couldn't hang on to the blistering pace.

Fair Hill was a disaster for me. My legs felt ok but the engine just couldn't find the gear I guess. I DNF'd. Chris was in the Elite/Pro race. It was stacked with a lot of pros and I didn't see where he came in. The rider formally known as Fort James took 15th in his group.

There are no pictures because the batteries were dead upon arrival.

Millersville Recap

2009-06-29T19:01:00.002-04:00

The Millersville road race course was awesome. It was full of twisty downhills, power climbs, longish climbs, and some really nice flats. I really did love the course. In time I think more people will race it. All those twists though lead to a lot of braking if you were stuck in the middle of the pack. It seemed that every time I started to make my way up, I would be squeezed out by someone cutting across the road to gain one or two spots. In the end I did make it to the front but by the time I did my legs felt like rubber so I put in a big pull for Joel and Shawn. Hoping they would be catapulted on the final climb. Turns out, they weren't feeling all that great either. Go figure. All the on and off tempo killed them as well. I don't think any of us even checked the results.

Maybe next weekend...

Cheyney, Camp, Phoenixville...etc.

2009-06-23T19:48:00.003-04:00

So I finally managed to get some pictures (thank you Staci for the Skellington picture). Woohoo!

Let's start things off with a Cheyney Road Race wrap-up. The race itself was actually boring and frustrating. It had two fairly long climbs but they never seemed to split the pack due to a long recovery zone (and some super slow riding by those at the front of the peleton). Why didn't Shawn or I move up to the front you may ask? Well, all the roads were too narrow and no one was willing to give up even one inch. Can't say I blame them. I put this race in the "Probably never again" category not only for the reasons listed above but also because the final 400 meters were supposed to be closed on the last lap. Those sprinting found themselves dodging at least two cars at 35-40 mph. Fun.

Let's go to mountain bike camp. This is always fun. Even though we had a very wet week, the campers made the best of it. We watched videos on freeriding, downhilling, and trials. This week the weather has been better but most of the trails are still a mess. So far they don't seem to mind riding the same loops over and over (which is good since that is all we can ride). We are trying to teach them not only how to mountain bike but to be good trail stewards as well. Up top is a picture of Kate. She is great. Actually, she is one of the other instructors.

Last Saturday was the Phoenixville Crit. This race was almost identical to Race Ave. only the slopes were a little steeper. I did the 4 and Consorto did the 1/2/3. The 4's did 30 laps in the pouring rain. It was pretty uneventful until 13 to go when there was a crash in turn 3 right in front of me. I swerved left to miss it only to find the course marshal running to the crash. I swerved to miss him almost at a dead stop by this time. I looked up to see the peleton exiting turn 4 and I just knew that was my race. Now I'm not sure on the rule but I may have been able to take a free lap but since I wasn't technically in that crash I didn't take one. I still ended up 13th. Chris took 5th in the big boy race.

This Sunday is the Millersville Road Race. Drop me a line if you want directions and start times.

Race Ave Update. Next the Cheyney Road Race

2009-06-12T17:51:00.002-04:00

Since I bailed on the Tour De Tykes I decided to double up the day before at the Race Ave. Crit. It's a simple 4 corner 1 km loop with a false flat for the final 250 meters (roughly).

The 4/5 race started with a bang and by that I mean a crash on the start line. This is why I try to stay away from 4/5 races. Two laps into the 20 lap race there were two more crashes. I decided to leave the "safety" of the peleton and go on my own. It was really a false attack. I just wanted to pick up the pace and drop the squirrels. It worked for the most part (only one more crash the rest of the race). With 12 to go I was back in the pack and another rider took off. We let him go. The next lap another rider shot out of the group. We let him go too figuring the group would catch them. When the bell lap came it was pretty obvious we were not going to catch the lead riders. On the back stretch of the final lap a Spinners rider took off. Being only 500-600 meters from the finish I hopped on his wheel. Around turn 3 he peeled off leaving me in front. Not a great place to be about 400 meters from the finish. I told myself that if I gained a gap going into turn 4, I was going for it on the previously mentioned false flat. I stayed seated and put a few good pedal strokes down. I was trying to hide my attack as best I could. I felt a gap open up behind me and I went for it. Out of turn 4 I stood up and got a 10 meter or so lead. About 20 meters from the finish my legs were burning but I was so close I pushed through it. I took 3rd! Beating the peleton to the line. Average speed was 25mph.

Chris, Shawn, and I then did the 30 lap 3/4 race. I knew I was going to be hurting but tried to help out Chris as much as I could. It wasn't much as I just barely held onto the peleton. I finished in 31st. Shawn 24th. Chris was just out of the points in 12th (his worst finish this year). Average speed for this one was about 27.5mph.

Sunday Shawn and I will be at the Cheyney road race. We are taking it a little easier this weekend and only doing the 4 instead of the 3/4. It's roughly 15 miles shorter.

Iron Hill Report/Race Ave Crit

2009-06-03T18:44:00.003-04:00

Iron Hill was very polarized in how the Milkmen finished/DNF'd. Joel, Seth and Shawn both took DNFs due to feeling sick and throwing up. Yum. Now for the good news. James took 4th in the Sport Vet I field. Tom, me, and Steve took 11th, 5th, and 4th in the Expert Senior I field. This brings us to Chris. The day before he rode the Fulton Road race and won in a bunch sprint in the 3/4. The race was something like 60 miles so we didn't expect too much from him. From the gun he was on my wheel. I had a good start but I could feel my legs were not where I needed them to be to actually win this race with power alone. It always helps to have a bobble or two just to ensure that you are working harder than you need to as well. Anyway, my second bobble and Chris, Gunnar (Cyclesport), and Jamie (Cycle Works) were gone. Hal (D&Q) and another rider came up on me on the second lap and I had nothing to hold them off with. At some point I bent my big ring and was forced to run in my 34 for the rest of the race. This killed my closing speed but kept me fresher on the 4th lap. I picked off two riders as Steve went flying past me on his way to 4th.

All in all it was a great weekend for the Milkmen. Two podiums (thank you Chris) and our teams first road win ever (again thank you Chris).

Saturday is the Race Ave. Crit in Lancaster. I signed up for double duty in the 4/5 and the 3/4. Chris and Shawn should also be there. It's an awesome spectator course and I think it takes 2:30 to 3 minutes to go around. Lots of action.

Iron Hill

2009-05-28T18:00:00.002-04:00

This Sunday is the race at Iron Hill in Delaware. This race features the "Mega-Dip". As Fatmarc puts it "...it's like nature's half pipe." Check out his blog for a video of the thing.

Last year I was taken out by an edurance rider. To her defense she was trying to get out of my way. But busted spokes are busted spokes regardless of intentions. This year I will attempt to finish.

Can't wait until the SRAM XX group is available.

Massanutten DH Yee-Ha 5-8/9

2009-05-25T20:05:00.002-04:00

Thursday evening after work I set out for Mcgaheysville, VA. The
forecast for this weekend was supposed to be rain all weekend. It was nice
that it had rained everyday that week too. Might as well keep the riders
on the toes while skipping accross horrendous root infested off-camber corners,
and slippery rocks at the tops of all chutes. The Honda Element was loaded
with gear, tools, replacement parts, a backup bike, and my "support/fan club",
my wife Rachael. At Massanutten Resort we met up with Todd Nicolas of
Gretna Bikes, his girl friend, Krisha, and Chris Scotten. Saturday we
awoke to a beautiful morning. After breakfast we geared up and made our
way to the "worlds slowest" chairlift! I made the comment that they should
install cycle trainers on the lifts so we could spin for the long commute to the
top. Other racers agreed. I have never been to a DH event in which I
witnessed so many flats! There are always flats at a DH event, but this
course is head and shoulders more technical overall than most. Last
practice run of friday I went out of control in a chute, that resulted in me and
bike somersaulting, flipping, tallywhacking through the air. I believe I
cracked a rib. Later that evening, Todd, Chris, and I walked the
course and discussed line possibilities. Saturday, race day!
Hardtail riders went first, there were 2, so all podiumed! They looked
thoroughly spent when crossing the finishing line. Finally, 1:37pm and I
am off! That chute I careened out of control on the day before had a
suprise for me. I made the tight left corner with great speed and
confidence to nail this section, and then,...there was a turtle on the
trail! Exactley where I needed to be. Well, he was there first, so I
bunny-hopped him and I planned to "dance" through chunder. Turns out the
guy after me hit him, found out later after the race. I finished in
4:41secs, placed 8th in Sport Class, Masters category. The overall best
time down the course was 3:23secs! Great weekend and a wicked fun
trail!

--Mr. Ben "Dream" Weaver

Click here for the pictures.

Conestoga Report

2009-05-17T19:53:00.003-04:00

Three of us, Shawn, Chris, and I, made the journey to Conestoga for what I believe to be the hardest road race I have ever raced. Of the 40 starts only 15 finished. I knew going into it that it would be hard but I really wasn't ready for the hard pace on the first lap of the 50 mile race. I was dropped on the second climb (second climb that hit grades of 20% that is). I found some guys and we clawed our way back to the peleton. I tried to get a hold of my heart rate and settle into a groove. On the second lap, the same thing happened. Only this time I had just one other person to work with the try and climb back on. We failed.

I am happy to report that all Milkmen finished. Shawn, 14th in his first 3/4 race. Me, 12th. Chris, out sprinted a Squarda Coppi rider for 5th.

I raced today with my PowerTap and after downloading my numbers I can see why I was dropped. In the first 1 hour and 10 minutes of the race I had spent 76% of the time at or above my HR threshold. Yikes! Once I was dropped and fending for myself I settled into a rhythm (all-be-it a slower one but hey, whatever) and kept my numbers under control. 25 miles with the peleton, 1:10. 25 miles of solo, 1:20. Like I said, it was a tough course. I think climbing Mt. Penn 9 times is easier.

Next weekend, I get married. 5-31 is Iron Hill. I hope to be recovered by then. Haha!

Smoketown and Conestoga

2009-05-15T17:52:00.002-04:00

Sheesh. What a slacker I have been. It's been too long in between entries. In that time French Creek was postponed, Shawn took 6th in his final road race as a 5 (congrats on the upgrade my man), Chris and I tried to make some things happen with the Rock Star Jeff Bahnson in the 3/4 race, working too much (ok so it's only 40 hours but still the French have a 32 hour work week), and trying to tie up loose ends for the wedding. Oh and don't forget about training.

Last weekend was a bit of cluster. French Creek was cancelled so Shawn and I decided to race the Unionville Road Race. When we got there we saw that Chris and Steve McQueen...errr...McCann also decided to race. The course was at the lower end of being tough. Most of the climbs were right after a nice fast section and none of them were terribly steep. Long story short...Grouppo Compacto for most of the race. About 40 miles (10 miles to go) in a group of 4 got away. I sat back to see who would react. 43 miles in, still no reaction. I decided it was time to move up and pull them in. I contacted Chris and we were off. I was hoping we could connect with the breakaway and give them a little more firepower. When we caught up to them, they quit. This left me in a bad spot. I was redlined and when Chris hammered up the last big climb I couldn't hang with him. Chris and Jeff went for the glory but came up about 400 meters short.

Shawn and Steve faired much better in the 4/5 race. Shawn took 6th in the sprint finish. Then later in the week his steerer tube spit in half while doing a track stand.

This weekend the Milkmen will be aiming for some podiums at the Smoketown Crit on Saturday and the Conestoga Road Race on Sunday. Smoketown is on part of a runway from what I understand so I think it is safe to assume that this will be a flat one. Conestoga is a different animal. Other than the first 3 miles of the 12.5 mile lap I don't think there is one flat section of road at all. A lot of climbing, some (two) hitting grades of 20%. The finish will be fast (if there is even a group finish) with a super fast downhill screaming to a pancake flat finish line. Speeds will probably be hitting 40+mph.

Granogue Sunday

2009-05-02T11:02:00.002-04:00

Here we are, once again, at one of my most feared races, Granogue. If you have been reading this blog since last year then you may remember me describing this as grueling and that's because it is. Fair Hill is super fast. French Creek is rocks on top of rocks. I can't put my finger on why Granogue is so hard. Maybe it's the grass fields that kill your momentum. Maybe it's the climb to the finish line. I don't know. What I do know is that every time I race this race I question why I race. Why I don't retire?

Fair Hill XC

2009-04-24T17:40:00.004-04:00

Ok, so I've been slacking on the update from the Fair Hill race on Sunday. In my defense I have been working 12 hours a day for the last 10 or so days (did not work Sunday for obvious reasons).

Fair Hill was great. I think the picture says it all but if you need the details...
It was about 8:30 when Shawn and I took off to that lovely place called Fair Hill. Our goal was to get down there with time to set up and watch most of the Sport race. Check. We saw James flying past out of the start. A few minutes later, in the Single Speed category, Seth went whizzing past. It was looking like a good day for the Milkmen. Now the details for their race is still a little fuzzy but mainly James said he "went out too fast" but "was picking off people in the singletrack" and for Seth, it sounded like a lack of fitness is what got to him. His excuse would be that he is working and going to school full-time. I think we can let him off the hook. James ended up 15th our of over 40 racers and Seth well, like I said he has an excuse...32nd of 32 finishers. Believe it or not but that is something to be proud of.

The Expert/Elites were set to go off at 12:30. The skies were blue. The air warm with a slight breeze in the open fields. Joel was in the Elite field running with the big boys. Tom, Steve, and I were the sandbaggers (not really) in the Expert Senior I field. Shawn was pretty sick but decided to give it a shot in the Single Speed category.

The race from my point of view...

The Elites take off...the Trek and Scott boys were in full force...flying as usual. Two minutes later our horn sounds. The start was super fast on a utility trail (lots of gravel but fairly smooth and wide enough for a truck). I was sitting 4th wheel on the right side and noticed two riders moving up the left so I hopped in behind them. As I did this, they went to the right leaving me with a wide open road. Now I've been working on my 5, 10, and 20 minute intervals so I put the hammer down figuring this was my chance at glory. I few past everyone (even Steve who was in the lead at the time) put my head down and pedalled. When I looked back I was about 100 yards off the front just about the hit the singletrack. I never saw them again.

Results...Joel ended up in the money with a very respectable 19th in the Elite race. Shawn DNF'd due to his illness. Tom 8th, Steve 5th, and me, if you didn't notice the picture, 1st. My first win on a geared MTB in about 5 years. Woo! Woo! Not too shabby for the Fast Forward team either as they took 2nd and 3rd. Great job guys.

Rouch!

2009-04-17T17:44:00.006-04:00

Do not try this at home. Chris is a trained professional. He is actually trying to see if a train is coming. Is one coming Chris? Just kidding.

So it's Friday and the Allied Milk Cycling Team will be officially starting the mountain bike season in Fair Hill MD on Sunday. We will have 7 riders in various categories. I sense some team points coming our way. If you want to come and do the spectating thing go here for more info. Our guys will be setting off at 10:30 and 12:30.

On a less selfish note...the folks at Isaac's have teamed up with the Central PA Food Bank in an attempt to Bag Hunger. Basically, for every dollar they receive it turns into $15 of food for hungry families. Isaac's is also donating $1 for every cup, $2 for every quart, and $4 for every gallon of soup they sell. Really you don't even need to donate money to help out. Just eat the soup!

Fun in the Crud

2009-04-05T08:51:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was not the US Open Relay in Marysville (Mr. Kuhn does not want to be sued) and it was a blast. Going in I felt like I had a bad week of training, a general lack of power and fitness but, it turns out I'm not too far off of where I want to be.

Let's start at the beginning.

It was a downright windy day with temps in the 40's in the morning. A wee bit chilly. The course was just as I predicted. Singletrack, great. Grass fields, a wreck. Some of these fields were underwater, like 2 or 3 inches of water, and by the end of the day (4 hours and about 70 teams of 4 later) were just a soupy, sludgy mess. If you've ever seen swamp buggy competitions (like mud bogs only in swamps) that's the best I can describe it. Yum! Throw in a few brand new sections and you have yourself a nice little relay course.

Our team was made up of two Bike Line riders (Erick and Todd) and two Milkmen (Steve and I). To start the day I was either still sleeping or maybe Steve and Todd really do look alike but I was calling Todd Steve (seeing as Todd's kid called Steve "dad" at one point last year. Can you say vindication?)

Anyway...Erick was first in our order and lucky him got to do the ever-so-fun running start. He did well and was 7th or so to get to the bike. He's also a pretty fast rider so I knew we would be in good position when his lap was over. Erick set a good pace for our team with a 15 minute lap. Steve was the next to go. Another 15 minute lap. Long story short everyone on the team was pulling 15 minute laps. Each of us riding 4 laps on the course. None of us stuck around to see the final results since the pro's were turning 13.5 to 14.5 minute laps and one team had 8.5 lap handicap. We figured our chances of taking home the coveted Cup were very low.

A blast.

To Infinity and Beyond.

2009-04-03T22:29:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is the visitPA.com International Intergalactic Global Open Mountain Bike Team Relay Championship of the Universe Including the Anti-Matter One. (There, That Should About Cover It.) race. Due to some scheduling conflicts there will not be a complete Allied Milk team racing. Instead we will be racing with two riders from the Bike Line team making us Milk Line. Allied Line didn't sound right.

Anyway, tomorrow should be a mudfest since it seems like we got about 6 inches of rain today. I'm sure the singletrack will be in good shape but those grass fields are going to hurt a bit.

The course is a very short 3 or 4 miles which should be covered in about 15 minutes (if I remember correctly from last year). 4 person teams will rotate for 4 hours. Most points wins. Sport and beginner riders will receive a handicap to even up the field.

All week my power seemed lacking but hopefully I will be able to pull something out for my 4 or 5 laps.

Shawn will be racing Fawn Grove on Sunday. This is a road race that apparently has short punchy climbs with 7 sections of dirt/gravel road mixed in. Something like 13.5 mile laps. I hope they have a sweeper for the riders with flats. Good luck.

Props Where Props are Due

2009-03-21T19:31:00.005-04:00

This entry as been a long time coming. It's one that I always want to write but always seem to put off. Well not this time. After all the team would not exist if it weren't for our sponsors. Please support them, as they support grassroots cycling.

First up, we'll talk about the bike people. Our team has, in my opinion, the best of the best. We have rockin' Van Dessel frames. Anything from the super light Rivet to the ever so versatile Ramble Tamble (this can be run as a single speed, full X.O grouppo, or with a Ruhloff). Not to mention the awesomeness in between.

Honey Stinger is also back again. These guys are just super easy to work with and their products are like honey. Yum! They do have a new item out this year, the organic energy chews. They are delish. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a little boost on a long ride. Easier on the stomach than gel (I think so anyway). Also, HS does not outsource the production of their peanut butter from the company that was involved in the Salmonella outbreak. ++.

Crank Bros will once again be under our feet. These pedals have always been a personal favorite for a few reasons...First they are super easy to use. No spring tension to set. Second, they shed mud on nasty days. Clip in and forget about it. Third, they are super easy to rebuild. Let's face it, if you ride as much as we do bearings wear out. CB got your back with complete rebuild kits and easy to follow instructions.

AMC will also be on Stan's No Tubes wheels again. These are cutting edge when it comes to light weight, tubeless wheels. Good people. What else could you ask for?

New to this year will be Tifosi, Schwalbe, Nuun, SRAM, and Magura.

Tifosi has been really cool to deal with. They hooked our team up with some of the nicest glasses I've ever had on my face. Lightwieght, three sets of lenses (with great optics), and a nice rubber nose piece. The model is the Tyrant. Check them out.

Schwalbe Tires gave us a deal we couldn't turn down. We feel that their tires are about as good as you can get on the road, mountain, or 'cross. Maybe the only ones better would be the ones still handmade...maybe. With Schwalbe we have a huge selection to choose from and I was like a kid in a candy store. I will say this though, I showed some restraint when I opted to not get the 295 gram Furious Fred. I did however get the 425 gram tubeless version. Ha! Look out suckers.

Nuun is a hydration company that has really just recently popped their head this way. Unless of course I just wasn't paying attention. They offer us an electrolyte tablet for our water bottles that should keep the Milk(wo)men from cramping up this summer. Again, look out suckers.

SRAM hooked us up with road grouppos on the cheap. SRAM is always at the cutting edge of technology and is the parent company of Avid and Rock Shox but...

We have Magura for brakes and forks which are awesome. They are the parent company of Syntace and Mawri. Can I get a what what?

Next we can cover the money people. Arro, Isaac's Deli, and of course Allied Milk Producers' Cooperative. Without their continued support there would not be a team at all. This milk's for you...

Farmersville

2009-03-15T11:43:00.002-04:00

My goal at Farmersville was to keep the pace high and drop the weaker riders at the start line so at the gun I jumped into the pace line. The early races are always good for a stupid crash. I'd say 4 or 5 of us were working together pretty well. Each taking short pulls and rotating back. There were a few that just wanted to hang out in the front and we let them burn up. Then back to short pulls. I did this for the first 3 or 4 laps and then drifted back to see what was left of the group. I estimated we were down to about 40 of the 60+ starters. Not bad.

I worked my way back to the front for some more work. I was feeling strong. My power was there. My heart rate was managed. The course was easy. A little too easy but it is a long season so I will take an easy one every now and then.

I'd say on lap 6 (of 8) my heart rate started screaming. I'm not really sure why but I slowly drifted back in the pack trying to get it to calm down. I slipped behind Shawn. I let him know that I thought I was about to pop. I got all the way back to the back and it finally calmed down. I'm not really sure what happened but I recovered in time to move back up to the front half of the group.

The finish was a bit interesting. There was a 10-12% hill (very short) and a hard 90 degree turn into the finishing straight (probably a 2-3% uphill). Coming into the final turn I was in a fairly good position so I thought I might go for the sprint but as we were rounding the final turn the guys in front of me slammed the brakes. I was forced to scrub all my speed. I knew that my chances were over so I just rode the slipstreams to the finish line. Shawn and I both finished (guessing) top 20. I do know that we crossed the line at 31 or 32 mph and we weren't even sprinting. It was a fast race at over 24 mph.

I was pleased with the race since my goal was to not get caught in a stupid crash and to make the others hurt a little.

Here's to small steps.

Here We Go Again

2009-03-13T21:55:00.002-04:00

Saturday March 14th (tomorrow) is the start of the road season in Brownstown. I know that most of the team will not be racing but Shawn and I will be there. He talked me into it. Honestly I was having fun with my training this year and hope to hit the mountain season prepared. Last year I had to race myself into shape and that was rough. My sinus infection didn't help either.

All I can say about the race tomorrow is that at least it's not going to be windy. These early season races can go either way for me. I prefer May.

Number 100

2009-02-25T10:50:00.004-05:00

Yes, it's hard to believe but this is post number 100. If you've been reading since the beginning you should probably find something to do. Seriously.

So the team meeting has come and gone. The fine folks at Isaac's always come through for us. They opened an hour early and let us hog up about 5 tables and a booth. They really are a class act.

If you live in the Central PA/Delaware region you may see some snazzy new Allied Milk uniforms zipping around. Do not be alarmed. We really are going that slow.

Pre-season orders and Uniforms

2009-02-11T11:41:00.003-05:00

Temps are rising, pre-season orders are coming in, and with the arrival of the team uniforms today it really feels like racing season. It is, for us cyclists, a time of great anticipation. We've frozen our fingers, toes, and faces for months now. We crossed semi-frozen streams hoping to not get our feet or legs wet. Hiked down icy trails so we wouldn't die. We've found articles of clothing on the trail, were so cold we wore it hoping Karma would stay on our good side. We've battled frozen water bottles/three hour rides in 5 degrees with at best a slushy to quench our thirst. We've dealt with 2 or 3 inches of standing water (on the roads!) when the snow started to melt. This caused us to eat our fair share of horse poo. Now is our time (well, soon anyway).

Coming soon...Spring 2009.

Rockin' the Snotcycle

2009-01-31T13:59:00.002-05:00

A new race took place today in Leesburg VA. It was the Snotcycle. The rider formerly known as Fort James was there competing in the under 39 Sport group. James is a new addition to the Allied Milk Cycling team this year and he didn't disappoint.

Now, I'm still waiting for the full race report (and hopefully some pictures) but from what he said it was sloppy. He compared it to a messy 'cross race. Sliding into and out of turns. Virginia never had the deep freeze that we had here so the trails were a mess. Yum.

All said and done James took 3rd in his category of about 60 or so riders. Nice. A month into 2009 and a podium already. I knew I had a good feeling about the team this year.

Just around the Corner

2009-01-07T15:04:00.003-05:00

'09 schedules are starting to take shape and BikeReg.com has some road and mountain races posted already. Our uniforms are in production. Pre-season orders are being filled. Of course the January weather is not cooperating to get some good base miles in so it looks like it's officially cross-training and trainer season.

Shawn is finally back on the bike after a detached ligament in his thumb. Yum. He was on the Sunday ride with us and was hanging pretty well (even pulled me back to the group when I started to fall out). Not bad seeing as he hasn't been able to ride for 4-5 weeks.

The MASS team leader/race promoter meeting is this Sunday and that means the season is almost here.

2009

2009-01-01T18:56:00.002-05:00

2009 will see a few changes for the Allied Milk Cycling team. We have new sponsors; Schwalbe tires, SRAM, nuun, Tifosi, and Magura. These companies gave us some really good deals and we are super excited to have them on board. Many new riders have joined the team as well. I can't name them just yet because a few have not talked to their former teams. This is something they want their former teams to hear from them rather than through the grapevine. Totally respectable.

Other new things: Facebook. We officially launched a facebook page and our website is under construction. These two things are all thanks to a new rider named Joe. He has devoted a metric ton of time to this team already. I can't wait for the start of the season.

Dreams of Summer

2008-12-15T18:01:00.005-05:00

At Marysville this summer some friends of ours showed up to film the race. They are starting a production company and just wanted to add to their experiece filming live events. This was just a (very) short clip (since it takes forever to upload) that they shot. Take note that I am not busting out of my skinsuit mid summer. Cold weather is crappy.

Did anyone notice who took the CX Elite National Title? Mr. Ryan Trebon, no surprise there. Tim Johnson ended up 5th behind his teammate James Driscoll, Jonathan Page (Planet Bike), and Never Trust a Man with Two First Names Jesse Anthony (Jamis). Powers ended up 19th about 5 minutes off the pace. Wes Schempf had a very respectable 22nd (of 74 finishers). Molly Cameron 28th about 7 minutes back.

Bad Andy was a DNF along with about 20-25 others. I will have to talk to him about that.

On the women's side...Katie Compton took her 5th National Title in a row. She's been kicking some butt over in Europe so that was no surprise either. Georgia Gould gave her a run for her money but in the end fell 45 seconds short. Laura Van Gilder (C3) took 4th.

'Cross Nationals

2008-12-13T19:18:00.003-05:00

I was checking the updates at cyclingnews.com and saw that our Temporary Milkman Jake took 38th and Zach (C3/Slippery Rock) finished 28th in the under-23 category. Not too shabby considering the field these guys were up against. Wes Schempf of C3 took 3rd in the Masters 30-34 group and another C3 rider Kris Auer grabbed 8th in the 35-39 field. All of these races had over 50 racers at the start line. Rob Lea won his age group which I think was 60-69 but I'm unable to find the results right now. Awesome ride guys.

The best result so far for any Mid-Atlantic rider would have to be Jeff Bahnson (Van Dessel/Henry's). He took his second consecutive National title in the 15-16 age group. The kid is simply amazing. His margin of victory was 40+ seconds. That is an eternity in a 'cross race.

The Elite Men and Women are set to go tomorrow. I'm pulling for Bad Andy, Wes, Molly Cameron, and Jeremy Powers. Of those guys Jeremy has the best shot but I think it will come down to Powers' teammate Tim Johnson and Kona rider Ryan Trebon.

Johnson won last year after Trebon was taken out by a head on collision with another rider. Ouch!

In team news...

I'm pretty excited about the 2009 season because we have some new sponsors that will be revealed very shortly, uniforms are being slightly altered, and a flood of new riders. The road team has been given a big boost with the pick up of 3 new riders (two of which will race 'cross also).

The mountain team still has one opening left. If you are interested just leave a comment with your email address or phone number(I won't publish it) and I'll get back to you.

States

2008-11-30T19:59:00.010-05:00

Yesterday was PA States. Seeing as it was just my second 'cross race of the season I figured I would be fairly fresh. Another good day to bust out of my skinsuit. I started warming up on the course and noticed that there was only one barrier section and no run-ups. It was pretty twisty though so I knew that blazing speed was not necessary.

Now let's go back to last week. In that course there were two sets of barriers, two run-ups, and a sand pit (this year it was rideable but last year the sand killed your brakes if you rode it). During the four dismounts per lap (I think I did 7 laps) I must have aggravated my "special" muscle. It was really a discomfort thing not a big deal.

Fast forward to Wednesday. I was walking my dog Skellington. Sometimes he likes to run so I run with him. I felt a little tweak in the special spot. I hoped it would be better by Saturday.

Now back to Saturday. During my warm-ups I like to hit the barriers with some speed to get a feel for what they will be like in the race. I did just that. I felt a "pop" in said "special" area. I raced anyway. Hey, I'm not some pansy football player or something.

From the start I was chasing. I missed my pedal and was stuck in the back. These things happen. Now not to give away my training secrets (like anyone reads this anyway) but I've been working on 8 minute and 20 minute TT drills so I felt confident that I could chase down most of the riders in front of me. Some of the others I knew would have too big of a lead by the time I got up to them. I picked my way though traffic. Passing little groups of riders here and there. Every time I hit the barriers though my special area hated me. With about three to go I heard the announcer talking about Vegan Rob being in 5th. I could see him and knew how many people were in between. I was sitting in 11th. I put in another big effort and got within 10 yards of Rob's group of four riders. Just as I was about to make contact the whole group took off. That move demoralized me. I had just put in a huge effort just to get close and had nothing left to respond with. One rider that I had passed earlier managed to get around me. I was just hanging on. When I crossed the finish line I felt pleased but also disappointed. I know that I raced well but if I had a better start I could've been in the top 5. Overall 10th. I don't think anyone could beat Zach (C3). He doubled up with the Collegiate and B's State Championship.

Big ups to my man Bad Andy (C3) too. He took the Elite field for (at least) his second PA State Elite title.

2008-11-25T21:14:00.002-05:00

I have some exciting news about the Wonderland race...I finished 6th! (out of 7 finishers).

Looking ahead, this Saturday is the PA State CX Championship. I made the wise decision to drop back into the B race which is set to go off at 11am. I checked the weather forecast and it looks like another wonderful day for a 'cross race. I think the high was 35.

To get there...

Google Maps – 1401 Lehnert Road, Allentown, PA 18052

My only hope is that everyone else gorges on their T-day feasts and are all still bloated. I'm not feeling very fast.

Please Dewald Don't Hurt'em

2008-11-23T20:01:00.003-05:00

I made a little trek across the city to Wonderland 'Cross yesterday. It was a beautiful day for a 'cross race. The wind was gusty, temps hovered around freezing, and there was even a little snow falling. Perfect weather to bust out (of) the skinsuit.

Let me just say that even though I haven't been racing, I have been training. Also, let it be known that I had no delusions of being anywhere near the front at the end of the race. Hey, I was racing A's. My goal was to not get lapped.

At the start line there were only 8 of us but they included guys like Ryan Dewald, Kyle Wamsley, and Jed Schober. I knew it would be a long day. As with any race that has a low attendance the start was uneventful. Actually, the gun when off and we all sat there for about a second or two looking at each other. When we finally took off I took up last place behind Kyle. I figured I'd be there anyway so why ruin someones race. To my surprise Kyle was moving slow so I passed him and a guy from Engin on the barriers. I flew over those barriers faster than I ever had before. I felt like Sven Nys, Neils Albert, or Lars Boom (soon to be Jeff Bahnson, no pressure Jeff). Pick your favorite. I was in the pace line with the front of the race in 5th! For about 2 seconds. I let a gap form while we were riding into a headwind and I just couldn't put the power down to keep up. I redlined. Kyle and the guy from Engin showed no mercy when they passed me. I was alone. I decided the best thing to do was to not get lapped, which I managed to do very well until two laps to go when Ryan came up on me. He'd be the only guy to get around me though. I'd have to say for my first A race I was pretty pleased with my performance. I had a good race and I had a lot of fun trying to hang with those guys. The best part was that I wasn't even last. Seventh out of eight. I just wish I had raced the B's race too. I love the Wonderland course.

Little Chad gets a Tattoo

2008-11-23T19:43:00.002-05:00

For a few years now I have been throwing around the idea of getting a tattoo, but as we all know it is some thing that after its on you you can't change it. I never got one due to me not knowing what I wanted or even where to put it. I am a big dreamer, and most of the times I listen to my dreams. Well 3 months ago I had a dream, a dream about a tattoo, I knew where I wanted it and what I wanted. With in a week I had it drawn up and getting it done. When I went into the shop, I showed him my dream. It is a bike, but if you are not a cyclist you may not realize it right away. So I went in not expecting to get much from the artist, I mean came in with shaved legs, wanting a bike on my ankle. But as soon as I showed it to him, he was so excited! He said that he has always wanted to do a bike, and proceeded to ask me what Cat. I was and what bike I rode. All of the sudden I felt all my fear disappear. I knew he had that same passion as I did. I knew he would do his best. I told him I wanted it on my ankle because that way I can show it off but also cover it up if I ever make it to the higher ranks. As I was laying there while he was tattooing (which feels like lactic acid build up) me we talked about him racing in Colorado, and having about 4 bikes, what cleats he likes, and so much more. It felt like I was in a bike shop. After it was done I asked him what I needed to do to take care of it, and he said with a laugh..."For once I can tell a customer to take care of it like road rash and they understand what i am talking about."

After a month I was due for a touch up. After he was done, he said "Hold on, I have some thing for you." He goes in the back and brings out a small Cannondale bike model. He said "Here you go. I found this at a store and thought about you so I got it for you." I am all ready thinking about my next tattoo. As for me, who went in not thinking they would understand, turns out they understand more about me than I do. I have a feeling this friendship will be a lasting one.

The beat goes on...

2008-11-17T21:47:00.002-05:00

The Allied Milk Cycling team has realized the dreams of yet another fine young rider. The rider formerly known as Fort James has inked a deal placing him in the center of the finest mountain bike team in the nation.

So apparently this is what sleep deprivation does to me.

Seriously though...James is a fine rider, person, and ambassador of the sport of cycling. He is heavily involved with the Delaware Special Olympics TT and is a regular volunteer at any MASS event. Dairy King James plans on competing for a podium in the MASS Sport Single Speed overall.

'Cross season is still going. Jake has a full schedule for the next 4-5 weeks and I will be finally getting out there at the Wonderland 'Cross in good old Lancaster on the 22nd. If you want to see me get my butt handed to me go here...

Directions: From Rte. 30 and Rte. 340 (Old Philadelphia Pike), proceed east on Route 340 for 0.5 miles to 2nd traffic light and turn right onto Oakview Road.Go 0.5 miles and turn left onto Hobson Road (before Rte. 30 intersection).Continue for 1.1 miles on Hobson Road (straight through stop sign at HarvestRoad) to East Lampeter Community Park entrance on right. If traveling from points east on Rte. 30, turn right at 2nd traffic after Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park onto Harvest Road, turn right at stop sign, and go 0.8 miles to Park entrance. Please park in designated parking spaces only.Google Maps or Mapquest: 2320 Hobson Road, Lancaster, PA 17602 .

I will be racing in the A group which is set to go off at 12:45. 60 minutes that will probably feel like 600 minutes.

Shawn had to have surgery on his thumb but is healing up nicely. He should be back to training at the end of December.

While I've been slacking...

2008-11-10T20:34:00.004-05:00

Jake has been hitting his first 'cross season hard. He started in the C's but has already moved up to B's.

Check out his very own blog here: http://chicksdiggeologyjake.blogspot.com/

In other news...

It looks like Shawn will be working the pits for the rest of the season. At the very least he dislocated his thumb and has bone chips. Most likely he stretched or tore tendons though. Good thing that there is only about 3 weeks of racing left.

Also, I just got a call from Ronne saying that Jeremiah had to leave work in a hurry. His wife Kim, who is also a rider but had to sit out the season, is pregnant and was due 11-7. You figure it out. My guess is that he will be a daddy very soon. Jeremiah plans to start his little boy on a strict training regimen so he can race for the Allied Milk Cycling Team very soon.

A bicycle built for two...

2008-11-05T12:32:00.002-05:00

I've taken the last few weeks off from racing and honestly, it's been nice. I've had weekends to actually do other stuff and/or relax. I've still been riding because there are a few races that I want to do yet but I think everyone on the team is about where I am right now...tired. If you think about the thousands of miles we ride all season while balancing our families and jobs it really is a large chunk of our time. I'm not complaining because if I didn't love it, I wouldn't do it.

As for the team...It looks like we will be changing some of our sponsors (we got some pretty good offers). As I mentioned before the money sponsors are all back which makes us super proud. For me it makes all the sweat, blood, and trashed parts worth it, knowing that we have their support for another season (especially with these crazy economic times).

We are still searching for new riders. If anyone wants to race for Allied Milk Cycling next season feel free to contact me by posting a message in the comments. I promise I will not post your e-mail address. Stupid spammers!

The picture is of Staci and I riding our tandem. It's a blast riding with her so I asked her to marry me. She said "I guess." Hey, I'll take it.

In the "Better Late than Never" Category...

2008-10-22T08:23:00.003-04:00

Chad did some two wheel burnin'. It seems as though things turned out pretty well too...

Two weekends ago I had my last race of the season. It was in Clearfield PA, a 5 mile up hill TT that saw over 1000ft of elevation gain. This was was like any other TT, riders were sent off every 30 sec. There isn't any grand tactics in a race like this. You just get to your lactic threshold, stay there, and suffer for the 5 miles. That's what I did. One of our new team mates was there for encouragement, and rode beside me feeding me bottles (Thanks Mike!), I was able to keep my pace up. At the awards I found out that I came in 3rd place. Not to bad for a last race. I was 2 min. behind the defending champion Jeff Miller who has was this race 6 or 7 years in a row. Now it is down time for me, with some fun riding. I will start training come Jan. for my first race to be in March.

Chad

All I have to say is, next year you better win Mr. X(tra)S(mall).

Seriously though, it's been a pretty successful first season and Chad has been a big part of that. After a broken $900 wheel on the first race (5 miles in) to a string of podiums to finish the season. Great job Chad!

Click Here.

2008-10-19T22:13:00.003-04:00

Ahhh. Dirt Rag. I was reading my e-newsletter when I spotted a picture of Shawn (right) and I think it's Joel (left) in the background. Way to go Shawn! You hold the record for Milkmen in the Dirt Rag archives, 2. Joel only wishes he had two! But that's just how you roll.

Shawn has also been racing 'cross (which I will probably start next weekend). I will pry some results from him next time I talk to him. He also has to help me get my screen door (Thank you Mr. Skellington) from Ace hardware. That probably doesn't mean much to you.

The Race

2008-10-12T20:15:00.008-04:00

It turns out that the race at Blue Marsh was a USACycling race. That means you need a license to ride. Who knew it would be worth points?!?!? Had I known I may have left my gears on to race in my age group but being the end of the season it doesn't really matter anyway. Qualifiers are over. Nationals is over too so at this point, points don't really mean anything (unless you want to upgrade to Pro, me, not really).

It was a beautiful day just to be outside. Mid-70's, a slight breeze, and sunny. Wow! It was nice just being there, let alone doing what I love to do. I showed up early, about 9:45, for a 12:30 start. I wanted to see how they laid the course out and when I pre-rode the course I was a little shocked. They ran us backwards from the normal race loop. This actually makes the course easier in my humble opinion. When I got back I watched the Sport riders finishing up. They we truckin' pretty good. The winner came in at something like an hour 10 on the 14 mile course. Not bad. I looked around to see if any more Expert/Pro riders showed up. I noticed a few, my arch nemesis Erick Marklund of Bike Line, the Alieso twins, one Ryan Dewald, and the super fast Harlan Price. This guy won everything at Marysville back in July and he rides the 100 mile NUE races like they are walks in the park. Brother!

I started out ok. I'd say I was about mid-pack just trying to hold on as the start was a negative false flat of 1-2%. Not the greatest for a single speed. Harlan, Erick, Ryan, and the twins took off. I spun. Once we hit the singletrack I started reeling in a few riders here and there. The first climb was about 3 miles in. I was still behind some guys and I couldn't turn my cranks slow enough as they were spinning up the climb. I started walking. Another single speeder caught me and passed me as we walked together. I asked him what gear he was running. He said "a 32x15". On a 29'er! Holy Cow! That's 62 gear inches to my 55. I thought I was running a tall gear! I let him go since he was obviously moving faster. I spun just trying to keep him in sight which I did. About half way on the second lap we hit a climb. He got off and walked so I attacked him. I put a huge gap on him and just keep pushing until when I looked back he was out of sight. I know from personal experience that keeping the rabbit in front of you is huge psychologically. I was hoping he was human and I broke him. I never saw him again. On the third lap I caught up to Erick. We talked a little. He was hurting. I offered him some Honey Stinger and water (in the name of good sportsmanship). Then I rode away from him. I put a nice gap on him and held it to the finish. I ended up 6th or 7th overall (not bad seeing as there were at least 4 Pro's) and 1st in the single speed class. Finally.

Blue Marsh

2008-10-11T00:04:00.005-04:00

One more last time for the mountain bike season. I decided to take the gears off and race at Blue Marsh Lake on Sunday. That's right, single speed baby! Back to my roots. Only this time instead of using my usual 34x17 gearing I'll be mashing a 42x20. There are two reasons for this. The first is the added speed (I will probably (definitely) have a hard time on the climbs). It's a taller gear so on the flats I should be able to motor about 1-2mph faster than someone with a more traditional 34x17, 32x16. I figure this more than makes up for the slow grind up hills I will have. The second reason is that it is a magical gear. No chain tensioner required. It just has a super clean look to it. Cross your fingers.

Now I've been testing this gear for oh, two days and so far so good. My overall times are close to riding with gears. That's a good thing.

10-12 Blue Marsh Lake 12:30 at the ski slope (eep, 42x20 up a ski slope am I crazy?)

MASS Finale

2008-09-30T17:42:00.002-04:00

September 21st was the last Mass race of the season and it was worth double points. I decided it was worth taking a day off to try and get on the overall podium. We had all four of us in the Expert field and we all had a chance to move up in the standings.

Bear Creek is a tough course. It's one of those courses where you go up faster than you descent and I was starting with a head cold looming. The gun went off. I took the hole shot and was feeling pretty good. I love the uphill starts. They suit me well. About halfway up the first climb I looked back and saw Joel about 40-50 yards back in second. "Did I start off too fast?" I thought to myself. I was still feeling good but I decided to back off a hair. Joel, TJ, and Shawn quickly caught up to me in the singletrack. I've been having lots of problems in singletrack this year. I've been picking bad lines, pressing too hard, or just losing focus at the wrong times. Bear Creek was no exception. I bobbled and Joel got around. I quickly got on his wheel and we flew up the hill trying to break TJ (US National Expert Champion). It was not to be as I bobble in a technical rocky section and Joel, TJ, and Shawn hammered on. I put it in full pursuit mode trying to keep in contact with them only to see them getting farther and farther away. I backed off as I felt my lungs starting to get a burning, wheezy feeling. Tim Collins caught me on a climb. He's a super rider and does really well at solo endurance races.

After he passed me I was completely out of it. My lungs were fried. My head was out of it and my butt was, well, raw. I told you Bear Creek was rough. I pulled out after one lap and spent the remaining laps handing water bottle to those guys and tripping the other riders (just kidding).

Final results...1st TJ (duh) 2nd one Mr. Tim Collins and 3rd (drum roll please) Tom Fenush of Allied Milk Cycling. His previous best finish of the season was 10th. Nice ride Tom. Joel 5th, and Shawn 6th.

That put Tom in 7th (9 points from 6th), Me in 5th (99 points from 4th), Shawn in 4th (15 points from 3rd) and Joel in 3rd (21 points from 2nd) for the season in the Senior I Expert field. The team was 7th overall (223 points away from 6th) but not too bad since we only have 6 riders on the MASS roster and one did 3 races while the other did one.

Our sponsors will be back for next season and we are looking for a few more riders. The mountain team will max out at 10 riders so e-mail me if you are interested. The road team is looking for 3 or 4 riders as well (prefer cat. 3 or 4's so we can race in the same field). If you can do both mountain and road, cha-ching.

Next...'Cross is boss...

Back to the Races...

2008-09-30T17:38:00.002-04:00

Chad had a road race a few weeks ago but since I was inside a 36" pipe I didn't have time to post it. Now I have all the time in the world. Here's what he had to say...

Saturday was my local bike race (Milton Bike Race). It is a 28 mile race with 3 climbs in it. Within the first 2 miles, there's a grade up to 21% that is over a mile long and one with less then a mile to go that has a grade at the top of about 22%. Over these 3 climbs the field will dwindle to about 10 to 20 riders. The last half mile is through the streets of Milton with 4 turns right be for the finish. I was not hoping for that good of a finish, just because it is flat at the end and I wrecked in a training ride on Tuesday which I was still sore from. I did not ride since that day to tried and recover. As I was waiting at the start line, I am informed that there are 2 or 3 pros that are doing this race this year. But that's not all -- they are wearing different jerseys and they all help each other. Not that promising for a Cat 3 racer. At the start, one pro attacks within the first half mile and stays until about mile 13. After we go over the mile climb, I am sitting in 3rd place with a buddy of mine and a good rider. There are a few other riders and of course the 3 pros. As we are riding, they do all the pulling. Hey, if you have 3 pros in a citizens race that are all on the same team, you are going to make them do all the work. So we all did. Since my buddy and I were the strongest in the group other then the pros and we wanted to try and win this, we worked together and took turns covering the attacks that the pros threw at us. We formed a breakaway of about 15 riders, a little bigger than what we were hoping for. Up the last climb, the strongest riders took off to narrow down the field. As we were going through the corners, I was trying to move up but I could not since the corners are so close together. As we were getting ready for the spring, the pros pushed the sprint and led each other out. The pros got 1st and 2nd and my buddy got 3rd with me coming in at 5th. Not bad for what we went through. After the race, I looked at our average speed and it was an amazing 25mph. Next weekend I'll be heading to Smethport for a 53 mile race.

Good job Mr. Chad.

Tick Tock

2008-09-30T09:55:00.006-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I last updated. Hey, I've been busy as these photos show. Working an outage at a nuclear power plant can be fun...annoying...frustrating...and fun again. There are several reasons for the range of emotions that you go through.

First the annoying. There are many different personalities you come across in an outage. You have your "I don't care" people, your "What are we waiting for?" people, your "find any excuse I can not to work people" and people like me the "please don't make me sick" type. Which ultimately happens anyway. To be honest I fall in all of the other categories too.

Next is frustrating. It seems that everyday there is mass confusion for everyone. It seems when you are ready to go, the plant stops you for one reason or another. When they want you to get something done, you want to take a lunch break. Or when you are dressed out (anti-contamination clothing) with all your safety gear on it many times seems unsafe. Your anti-c's are way too big (so they come off easier) and then you top it off with an air sampler, a safety harness, gloves that are the equivalent of boxing gloves and so on. You get the idea. Safety to the utmost. Not to mention the 7 days a week, 12 hours a day part.

Then there is the fun. There a ton of different things to do in a nuke. There is ISI which basically we remove paint (this can also be frustrating/annoying) from pipe and welds so they can ultrasound the pipe to get an accurate pipe wall thickness. Pretty easy stuff. Then there is the super technical pipefitting. This year we did 3" schedule 160 (.499" wall thickness) and a 36" weld repair inside the pipe. This is what the pictures are from. I hope you enjoy as I cut this short since this is suppose to be about Allied Milk Cycling.

2nd, 2nd, 2nd...

2008-09-08T11:45:00.003-04:00

Chad's been racing hard in the last 5 or 6 weeks of the season. Here's what he did this weekend.

Last week I headed up to Meadville for Tour de Tamarack for a 30 mile road race. This was 3 loop race with 3 climbing primes. For those who don't know what primes are, it means who ever goes across the line first at the top of the climb gets $10. Same thing as KOM. Anyway this race had an uphill finish which is great for me. The peloton stayed together for the most part, and with the first KOM coming up I attacked. With only one person to hanging on my wheel. Unlike Kinzua I made sure that I attacked again so I would go across the line first. After the line I just spun out waiting for the group to catch up. There is no way I was going to stay away for another 20 miles by myself. As we approached the 2nd climb (1 mile with an average grade of close to 20%) I thought I would attack again and see who could keep up this time, to my surprise no one could. Two down one to go. For the next 4-5 miles I road my pace and the peloton was not catching up to me. I lost track of laps and I thought maybe I can win this. Silly me, there was still one more lap to go. As we approached the start/finish line the group caught back up. My legs felt shot. I was not even thinking about winning the last KOM which was a quarter of a mile away. As we climbed I just did my pace. When I looked behind me, no one was there. I got all 3 KOM. This last climb destroyed the main field and it came down to 6 riders in a break away. I was not looking to win to be honest because I just won $30 and my legs where shot. We stayed away all the way to the finish, and as we started climbing too the finish someone attacked with only me and another rider able to counter attack. As we go across the finish I was able to hold on to 2nd place by 4 sec. The season is starting to slow down, but I still have 3 major races and one fun one. Next week will be my home town Milton Bike Race that is 28 miles, with the weekend after that a 53 mile race in Smethport PA, and the 2nd week in October a 7 mile uphill TT in Clearfield called King of the Mountain.

If you hadn't noticed...

2008-09-07T09:14:00.002-04:00

Blog entries are slowing down. That's because races are getting fewer and farther in between. What was left of the road series is over and only one MASS XC at Bear Creek on the 21st remains. There's still a few good races but the energy behind them is fading. Promoters, spectators, and riders are getting worn down. I'm fine with that because 'cross season is flying towards us.

There will only be a few of us racing CX but I think we will do well. Check out the Mid-Atlantic 'Cross site for a relatively complete calender of the '08 season. This weekend will be the first in the PACX series and on the 21st Van Dessel will be putting on the Hole Shot race. Last year they gave away a brand new Van Dessel Hole Shot frame to the rider who took the hole shot (leader at the start of the race) in the C race. I believe this year will be the same. Unfortunately for us we are not C's and we will be at Bear Creek trying to hang on to our overall placements in MASS anyway.

Race Ave.

2008-08-25T10:41:00.002-04:00

Saturday Shawn and I took the long trek (maybe a mile) to the Race Ave Crit. It was a very standard 4 corner, .7 mile rectangle course. Basically, you went 2 blocks, turned right for one block, turned right...

Shawn did pretty well in his race. He finished in the top 10 (6th if I counted correctly). He looked strong too. Getting late in the season that can be hard to do.

As for me, it was a struggle to hang on to the group. My legs just never felt powerful. I knew a sprint finish was a bad thing for me so with about three to go I put in the most feeble attempt at a breakaway (like I said I had no power). I made it to the front only to be immediately caught and spit out the back. I tried to hang on but I couldn't close the 10 feet of gap in front of me. Eventually I was all alone so I nailed it for the last two laps just trying to not get lapped. I even caught up to some other riders that fell off the back after me. The end result was still not very good. I didn't stick around to see the official results but I'm guessing between 15th-20th. It was hard to tell because so many riders were dropped earlier and I don't know how many were in the peloton when I fell out.

Ben was there lending support. He also snapped a few shots. Here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21124578@N08/.

Next weekend there are two races I'd like to do but there probably won't happen.

There's the Laurel Mountain Classic in Wellsboro and a new road race called the Cheyney Challenge in the West Chester area.

The grand finale for MASS is coming up. 9-21 at Bear Creek a double points XC race (they also hand out season awards which a few Allied Milk riders should get). This course is probably the hardest of any race in the series. One year it was a 4.5 miles lap that took about 40-50 minutes to go around (do that three times). Compare that with something like Sewell where we went 22 miles in about 1:30-1:45. I've heard they changed the course this year to take some of the abuse out of it but the singletrack there is about the hardest I've ever ridden. Should be fun...

Chad's version of events

2008-08-15T22:23:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday was Sunbury bike race. It is a 26 mile races with all hills. Dan drove up from Lancaster to support me. The weather for the day was not bad at all, not in the 90's how it is every other year, but in the 80's. Dan and I decided to try and have me win this race, since the race is all hills and i am peaking for this race. The gun went off and Dan took the lead with me on his wheel, his plain was for the first 1 mile climb to weed out most of the weaker riders, which he did a great job of doing. We were climbing the hill at about 15-17 mph with no letting up any time soon. towards the top of the hill a rider from VisitPA flew past us. I grabbed his wheel and followed him. Dan I found out later blew a tire with in the 5 mile marker. Through the whole race we kept the pace high, dwindling down the field till we had a break away. With only one last climb to do, (a one mile climb with a ave. 18% grade and top at 20%) this is where the race is decided, It was down to me and Ray Adams (VisitPA) We worked together on the decent down to the finish, with one rider catching up to us to help build our lead. With the finish line in sight Adams started sprinting and i was right on his wheel. I started coming around him but did not have enough time to pass him be for the line. With the results in I got 2nd with less then a second between me and Adams. I was disappointed that i did not get first until Dan informed me that he is semi-pro in mountain and Cat. 2 in road. After the race i packed up to head to Kinzua for another race, this one was a 30 mile with lots of hills and a 1 mile up hill finish. The race started as any one does, staying in the front in the best place to be, so you can cover attacks and stay out of trouble. With us starting the climb to the finish we had a group of 5-6 riders. We were keeping the pace high, until we had a quarter mile to go. At that time i attacked with with no one responding except for one rider. I tried to shake him off my wheel, but he was glued to it. I knew at that time that he was saving all his energy and it would be very hard to beat him at the line. As I predicted he got me at the line. Another 2nd place in the same weekend with over 55 miles of racing. Next race for me is this weekend in Lewisburg. It is a Triathlon that i am only doing the biking for a 3 person relay (I don't do running or swimming) This will be the first time i will be using my TT bike, and hoping to be the best time. Pictures coming soon.

2008-08-15T17:43:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday Chad and I were in Sunbury racing in the YMCA fundraiser. It's not a USACycling event but it still draws a good crowd like cat.2 (I think) roadie Ray Adams (he also happens to be a semi-pro mountain biker on VisitPA.com).

It was an interesting day for me since I had no bike but was still racing. I had a mishap with my Rivet so I had to get my 'cross bike into somewhat road gearing. I only run a single ring (instead of the double on a road bike) and it is normally a 42. I had a 46 laying around so I put that on but then I thought "those climbs are going to kill if I only have a 46" so I put a 27 on the rear. This gave me almost as low a gear as a 39x25 but my top end was way short. About 19 gear inches to be exact. I figured I'd pull Chad as long as I could keep up.

Just as we were about to start Chad's brother pulled in with his bike. A 52cm (50 is about my limit) but it had a big ring! Woo woo! I quickly put on my wheels, adjusted the seat and lined up.

Being an open category race I took the lead out of the blocks to weed out the pretenders. It worked pretty well since the first three miles were up hill. I pulled the whole way until about 3/4's of the way up when Ray took off. I guess I was going too slow for him. I saw Chad hang on his wheel so I dug deep to stick with them. Just as we were about to crest the first climb I heard a "hiss". Another flat for me. The wheel support was way back and it took them about 3-4 minutes to get to me so I just called it a day. There was no chance of getting back on now. I got a lift back to the start line and waited.

While I was waiting I checked my computer. Three miles, just over 10 minutes, and 1000 feet of elevation gain. Seems fast to me.

Tomorrow is Iron Hill MTB. It's #9 in MASS. Tom, Joel, Shawn, and I should be there. I haven't heard if Brooke will be there or not.

Next for the road is Race Ave. Crit on the 23rd in Lancaster city. It should be a blast.

The season is starting to wind down but 'cross is right around the corner. 'Cross is always fun, even if it's not.

Well, well, well...

2008-08-06T09:26:00.002-04:00

If anyone had been paying attention to the Saturday Lancaster New Era they would've noticed Shawn and Joel on the front page of the sports section along with an article about Shawn and his Nationals experience. Unfortunately I'm not really sure how to (or if I can legally) put this on the blog but if you missed it and would like to see it, I can e-mail it to you.

Things have slowed down a little with the race series' winding down but Chad managed a 4th place at the Hammer Creek Road Race. He said he was going to do a report but it never came. Haha.

Anyway...it looks like this weekend it will be Chad and I (Joel is still undecided) up in Danville for a race that apparently has a one mile climb with grades up to 20%. That's pretty steep and it sounds painful but oh well.

8-16 is the Iron Hill mountain bike race. It's a short (4-5 mile) loop that is pretty fast. I believe we will be doing 4 laps. It's usually hot and muggy. Duh, it is mid-August but really it's hotter and muggier there.

Grandview (plus or minus 13 laps)

2008-07-27T16:35:00.006-04:00

Since I took last weekend off completely I decided that this weekend I should hit a race somewhere. That race would be Grandview. A 25 lap/mile crit. Things were going fine for me at the start. I was about halfway in the pack and feeling ok.

Crits are a lot like cyclocross (to me anyway). I like to go hard, recover, and blast again. It's pretty violent on your legs. Fun right?

So at lap 5 or so two guys went out and were away. I decided that without teammates my best friends would be breakaway buddies. I quickly moved to the front. On lap 7 I was sitting third wheel and noticed that we put enough of a gap on the peloton that we could bridge without pulling the gang along with us. I jumped from my spot to the front and pulled. I was bridging the gap to second. I figured the four of us would chase down the solo rider in front and make a group of five. I also figured that if we worked together we could hold off the peloton.

When I got across to second I looked back. The other two hadn't come along with me. "Oh boy." I thought to myself. "This is going to be hard work." The two of us worked together nicely until I noticed his pulls were getting slower and shorter. We were no longer gaining on the solo leader and the peloton was coming hard. I decided to sit up and wait for the pack. When they zoomed past, I'd hitch a ride I thought. It just wasn't to be I guess, as the group flew past I couldn't hang on a wheel to save my life. I was toast. Burnt to a crisp.

I looked down at my computer and saw an average speed of over 25mph. I knew I wasn't going to catch back on the back so I bailed. I was ok with it though since I blew up going for it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Next weekend is the Hammer Creek road race. It's a 4.25 mile loop so there should be lots of action. I have 10 laps. Yum! Check it out at: http://www.richruoff.com/.

UAPM is selling the lovely re-usable grocery bags you see pictured. They are $3 each. UAPM does a lot of good work so help them out if you can. Check out their link on the right side of blog.

Yowza!

2008-07-20T21:21:00.002-04:00

Semi-Pro Wes Schempf won the XC at Mt. Snow. That makes him the Semi-Pro National Champion! Way to go Wes. We are happy not only that one of our own won but that it was you. You truly deserve it. Is a Pro License in your future?

The Milkmen sent two to Nationals to compete in the Expert field. Tom held his own with a very respectable 14th. Shawn was in the Allied Milk slot of 4th. We've been in 4th so many times this season it's getting a bit annoying. Either way though, we are proud of both riders efforts. I'll be trying to finagle a race report out of them (probably to no avail though).

The next mountain race isn't until 8-9 and that would be God's Country. It's a 50 mile point to point style race. I think only Tom will be doing that one though. Most of us will be supporting Chad at the Sunbury Road Race. It too will be on 8-9.

If you are in the Lancaster area (7-26) or just like to watch super fast bike racing, check out the Grandview Grand Prix. It's a criterium, which means it has super short laps. Pro 1/2/3 race is 35 miles (roughly) which is 35 laps. I'll be doing the 3/4 which is 25 laps. It goes off at 2:20.

Check it out.

Mt. Snow

2008-07-18T17:26:00.002-04:00

Here we are, it's Friday. Tom and Shawn are heading up to Mt. Snow VT to compete for the old Stars & Stripes jersey. Nationals...you remember the Greenbriar race in April, yeah, that's how they got in (and I didn't...stupid brakes). Shawn and Tom will be starting bright and early tomorrow...8am! I haven't seen a start time that early in a few years. Haha! Best of luck guys.

The rest of the team is off this weekend which is a bit weird but nice. I went back to training mode, over 240 miles this week. Time for some rest.

2008-07-14T18:51:00.002-04:00

My plans for this weekend were to head down to Lancaster to do a race then head up to Clearfield for another race on Sunday. The Lancaster race did not happen due to a whole bunch of/lack of communication on the race organizer and myself part, hey it happens. So I had Sat. off and started to get myself prepared for Tour de Susquehanna. Since the race is north west of us it has plenty of hills, just what I love. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. and headed to Clearfield since the race started at 8:00. The race started as it all ways does, fast, with only 1 mile in you have to climb a 1 mile hill, this is when you have to be in the front because there is always a gap and most of the time the group can stay away. I was feeling great by the time we got to the top and i realized that we had a 5 man break. Half way through the race a guy from Ski and Spokes attacks to get rid of any weak riders in our group. After the attack it was down to 3 riders including myself. We knew we could stay away if we all took short even pulls. With only 1 mile to go to the finish I was sitting in 3rd, (the best place for a sprint since you can cover attacks) The rider in the front attacked, and the guy from Ski and Spokes tried to cover it but I had to sprint around him and try to catch up to the attacker. I was gaining on him, but unfortunately the finish came up 15 feet less then what I needed. With it all said and done I came in 2nd place overall, and about 1 min. ahead of the chasers. I recommend this race to any one, it is always a blast! My next race is in the air, I am not sure what my next race is even going to be (my manager may have a few ideas) But I can say that in August we are going to have a strong team showing up my way. Out.

Awesome job to Chad, Joel, Shawn, and Brooke (we didn't even see you at Fair Hill but you still managed second). Just so you guys know, I am so jealous of your pilsner glasses that actually say "5th" and "3rd" on them. Nice shorts too!

Oh and Marc...I wish I would've jumped in the pool. I lost 6th place to that guy anyway. I thought I could hold him off though. Oh well, maybe next time.

5 Races in 9 Days

2008-07-13T19:16:00.002-04:00

Saturday I did the Peiffer Hill Road Race. It's a pretty cool course. It goes down, down, down and then the final 3k or so is mostly up (with some rollers) to the finish. Of all the road races left I felt that this would be my best chance at a win/top 5.

The pace was gruellingly slow even though Kelly Benefit Strategies had 10 riders in the field. They never attempted to control the race at all. It was a bit weird. I was expecting a move like at Brownstown. On the third of six laps I saw an opening at the base of the climb. I figured with the pace as slow as it was I might get lucky. I shot through the hole and made my escape. After my attack I looked back, I was getting away but no one came with me. Now if I was a pro, didn't have a mountain race the next day, and was just plain crazy I would've attempted to hold them off for the final 30k. This would've been next to impossible but worth a try with the way they were(n't) working together. Me being me however, knew my chances were slim and that I would really suffer the next day at Fair Hill eased off the throttle. I did however make sure I crossed the line ahead of the peloton. I figured I at least earned that. Lap 4 I sat back and rested. I was still thinking Kelly were going to make their move on lap 5. I wanted to be ready. Lap 5 came and went with nothing at all. Lap 6 was the final lap, surely they would move here. Again, nothing. I positioned myself for the final climb. I was three back, a great spot to launch a final attack. I was going to go at the same spot too but when the time came I somehow was completely boxed in. I weaved in desperation to get through as the attacks started. By the time I got past all the other riders I could tell it was pretty much over for me. One rider was away, and the peloton was in full throttle. Not being a sprinter by any stretch of the imagination, I got out of the way and let them do their thing. My final result my not be that great but it was a good race. I felt good and I had a chance all the way to the end. Sometimes things just don't work out though.

Today was Fair Hill. A 27 mile point to point style mountain bike race. These trails are maintained by the Delaware Trailspinners. They do a great job.

The start is a Jeep trail (two dirt tire lines with grass everywhere else). It is fast and furious. Everyone fighting for position before the singletrack. I got off to a bad start because the guy next to me missed his pedal and cut me off in the process. I know he didn't try it but it still stinks with a start that is that fast. I was in the back so I pedaled as fast as I could to make up as much ground as possible. I did ok too. I was probably in about 15th or so. I was riding with Tom and we could see Joel and Shawn up ahead. This was a pace line race for the first 12-15 miles. It was crazy fast. We started picking off riders that couldn't hold the pace. Tom then dropped back. Then me. I spent the next 5 miles or so with a rider on my wheel. I'd kill him on the climbs and he'd catch back up on the descents. It was a lot of fun. I then had a minor mishap with a course marking (aka I didn't read it) and took the Sport loop. Oops! Luckily the guy I'd been battling yelled so I didn't get too far but that was all she wrote for my legs. That zapped them. I did manage to catch up to the rider but like I said, I had nothing left. I went into conservation mode. I knew I was riding well and wanted to make sure I didn't crack and lose my position (whatever it was). Turns out I was 7th. Tom 10th. As for Joel and Shawn, we never did see them again. Seems they were sipping martinis for a few minutes before I crossed the line. Joel 5th. Shawn 3rd. The first Allied Milk male to podium in a solo event. Allied Milk riders will be moving up the leader board now.

Next week Tom and Shawn will be at Mt. Snow competing at Nationals. For me, a much needed break. 5 days of racing in 9 days (plus working full-time) equals not much down time.

A little MooJo

2008-07-07T19:24:00.007-04:00

I wasn't having the best of luck this weekend so I added some "moojo" to my bike. That didn't help either. Joel was the only one of us that cracked the top 20 (18th) in the rain soaked night TT of Friday. It was slick and I was just too cautious I guess.

Saturday was the XC. I had a great start, leading into the singletrack. I know I'm not as fast as many of the guys in our category so I wanted to be in front in the tight twisty stuff. That way I could keep everyone in check and race my race. All was going to plan and when I went to shift to the middle ring and it didn't drop down I recovered quick enough to still be sitting in 6 or 7th place. I was still in the pace line. We were moving pretty good when I hit a huge muddy/standing water soup of a mess. I got on the throttle a little too early and washed the back end out. Down I went. There was some horrible creaking noise. I tried to get back into the race but my handlebars were askew. Heh. That's what that horrible creaking noise was. After a quick fix I was back on. I had lost some time but I felt pretty good so I went to catch back up. I hit the redline and pushed beyond it. I did manage to make contact with the group only to completely explode when I did. I was fried. The rest of the race was for pride. 13th. I guess it could've been worse. Joel had his first DNF ever (I believe).

His race was a bit different though. He was in the same pace line I was in and when I went down he kept motorin'. When I got rolling again I passed him. His chain broke and he was fixing it. Unfortunately, his chain tool was broken as well so he ran. He ran so far away. Oh but wait. Somewhere along the way there was a snake involved. It almost bit him or something.

Thomas the Tank cracked the top 10. Mr. Consistent rode his race (as always). I think it's impossible for him to make mistakes. He was on a new bike (third ride) and it didn't even phase him.

But Shawn was the star on Saturday. Seven minutes back of the winner (TJ Mosher) in 4th. One of these races we will get to actually step on the podium. The competition this season is incredible. No one is really faster than the other. It comes down to who is having the cleanest race.

Sunday was the Hill Climb and Short Track. I was 20th overall in both (that includes the pro/semi-pro guys). I was pleased but if I would've had a cleaner race the day before I would've had more energy on Sunday. Joel was 15th (if I remember correctly) in the short track. He said that was because he DNF'd the XC and had more energy. Haha. Good strategy Joel.

The podium didn't have too many people flying their team colors. I attribute this to stench. It was a weekend festival and jerseys and shorts were pretty nasty by the time awards were handed out. Sorry sponsors.

I've been Slacking

2008-07-03T18:25:00.009-04:00

Many of you may have noticed that I have no idea how to get the pictures to go where I want them. So if captions don't line up with the picture I am sorry but you will have to deal with it. Kenny is an apprentice. He is the one in the white shirt. He is one of the few that didn't make a rude gesture when I took his picture (I'm trying to keep this blog PG). Tommy is the guy smiling over the edge. I have to deal with him for 10 hours a day (aka he is my partner). The pictures are from the 9th floor of the new Lancaster Convention Center/Marriott. We will be moving up to the 10th floor Monday. I'm not really sure if my boss cares that I waste his time with these shots but I don't really care either (just kidding Justin). We keep the slacking to a minimum I swear. The little gray guy is Baby J. We are fostering him until he gets big enough to go up for adoption. That day is soon. Go to the Humane League and get a friend.

Finally...

2008-07-02T22:25:00.005-04:00

With me coming of an injury from last wed. when i crashed during a training ride, i was not looking to do too well because i was still very sore. Dan and i decided to just wing it and chances are have to lead him out for the finish. The course for Brownstown was a 5. something loop with a little hill at the the finish. The race started at a nice speed and with in the first 2 laps there was a break away 7. With a kelly-benefit rider in the group the whole team moved to the front to slow down the peloton. Dan and i realized this and knew that if one of us did not get in the breakaway then we would have no chance of a top 10 finish. Since the yellow line rule is in affect except for the last 1km we decided to attack there so we could use the whole road. I went first with Dan right on my wheel, after going across the start/finish line i knew that i would catch them. After Dan realized that i was in the break he slowed down and drop back into the peloton knowing his job was done for the day.

With the break away 8 riders strong we knew we had a good chance of staying away since the course is very windy and it will slow the peloton down. We all made even pulls for the last 5 laps of the race. On lap 5 it started raining, an advantage for us because this would slow the peloton down even more. With only one lap to go i went across the start/finish line and realized that i was cramping up in my thighs, even for a climber like myself this will cause a problem on the climb at the finish. I tried to conserve energy but it was no use, at the finish i just sat up, knowing i had nothing left and knowing that i still got 8th place. After the race was over i realized that Dan flatted with only 2 laps to go, and the peloton came in around 1 min. behind us. I will survive to race another day, and so will Dan.

Chad.

The only thing that I think was wrong was that I led you to the break my friend. Otherwise I would have made it too.

Check out Marysville. It's a festival so even if the racing is boring there will still be some food, games, and/or bands. http://www.masuperseries.com/ for me details.

I've Been Everywhere Man

2008-06-28T22:14:00.003-04:00

So I finished up another week of mountain bike camp. These were hands down the best kids I've ever had. They listened, for the most part. They are kids after all. They rocked the trails too. We covered 70 miles this week. 50 of that was by Wednesday! The final two days we decided to slow them down out of fear that they were too tired and would make mistakes. Really though, these kids got it. I'm not saying we had any Geoff Kabush's, Harlan Price's or any local Joe racers for that matter but we did turn out 12 fine mountain bikers. That the whole point of the program. Chip (trail crew guy) took pictures throughout the week. He then compiled these pictures (and some film) to make all the kids a 3-4 minute dvd of themselves hurtling though the woods. Things like that are what hooks kids into sports like these. It keeps them coming back on their own too.

On to Brownstown...It was another hot day. Temps were close to 90 and the humidity was something like 93% this morning. Yum! At the start line everyone was complaining about the heat so I decided to do a 'cross style start. 100% out of the blocks. This caught a few by surprise but the strong hung tough. After about 3 miles of attacks and backing off I decided I had weeded out the pretenders. As I was catching my breath after a long turn in front, two from Kelly Benefits (along with 4 others) went clear of the group. They put a nice gap on us too seeing as their teammates were sitting on the front blocking the peloton from catching them. Good team tactics. When the road opened up a bit I made an attempt to bridge but I only seceded in pulling another rider within 30 yards of the break before I was spent. I backed off and waited for the peloton to catch back up to me. I drifted to the back of the peloton and rested a bit. On lap three Chad, a rider on Vortex, and I decided that this was the lap to catch the break or it was over. Kelly was playing the race perfect. We waited for the road to open up again and all three of us went. The Vortex rider leading out. He faded, I was on his wheel and pulled through. I started to fade and Chad was launched into the break. A sigh of relief came as I quickly tried to catch my breath again as the peloton caught up to me. I hung on but my job was done, Chad was in the break. I sat in the peloton the rest of the race. The rain was pouring down on us but I didn't care, Chad was in the break. I eventually got a flat and had to bail but I didn't care, Chad was in the break. Haha! Chad is writing up a race report so you will soon have his side of the story.

Next week is Marysville. This is a three day stage race. Night TT, STXC, Hill Climb, and an XC race that is always harder than it looks. We will have five riders and potentially a film crew. It's a fun time.

Mountain Bike Camp

2008-06-25T19:55:00.004-04:00

My job at White Clay has to be one of the coolest in the world. I get to work with great people and ride my bike with some pretty amazing kids. I take the weeks off from work (without vacation pay) because I believe in this program that much. I'd do it for free.

This week we have the level II kids. Most of them are 13-14 years old but some are as young as 11. That is a pretty big age gap. Today is Wednesday and we have over 50 miles in for the week already. 20 of that was today. These guys are lucky this week because the trail crew has donated the time of two of their full-time trail builders to ride with us. This is cool on several levels. First, they built the trails. They know all the new ones, secret ones, and future ones. Second, they know what it takes to build them. We really stress trail stewardship in this program. Things like being a courteous trail user, volunteering, and maintenance. Not every ride has to be a race. Good stuff to know. The trail crew guys can really enlighten the kids more than the rest of us because they know how long it took to build something. They know what riding on soft soil does to the trails and so on.

On Tuesday we sat the kids down and had a chat about all of these things. We asked them if they knew how long it takes to make a trail. Obviously, none of them really knew. We rode 10 miles at that point in the day so I said to Adam (one trail crew person) "How long does it take?" He said (which is pretty amazing) "10 feet and hour if cut by hand." (a lot of it has to be)

10 feet and hour!

I asked the kids if anyone knew how many feet were in a mile. We came up with about 5000. Close enough right? So I asked them how many hours it took to make the 10 miles of trail we just rode. They scratched their heads and realized it was 5000 hours. I think it hit home with them. Adam and Chip did some quick thinking and said that it actually took them about to 3000 hours to build those trails but still a long time.

Tomorrow is another day to teach them something else.

Saturday Chad, Jeremiah, and I will be in Brownstown racing for 55km. It will be hot and possibly wet since they are calling for T-storms.

One more thing...If you haven't been to Downtown Isaac's lately, GO! They really went the extra mile on the outside dining. Big planters, fancy plates, and linen! No more paper napkins. And from what I understand they buy their veggies local when possible. Care to comment on that Mr. Jacobs?

Go now.

Neshaminy

2008-06-23T21:57:00.003-04:00

What can you say about Neshaminy? It's a fun course. It has lots of flow. There is a super cool switchback off-camber 60% (probably steeper) grade downhill. They used the EMT's like 5 or 6 times steep. I thought it was awesome. I had no idea I was riding in 5th when I had a mechanical. I decided to pull out (instead of fixing it) and missed a chance for some good points.

I did manage to take some pics of the guys coming through though. Not a complete waste of a Sunday. Everybody did awesome. Brooke took third in her class. Tom 9th. Shawn 7th. Rocketman Joel with another 4th.

Marysville is next for the mountain team. It starts 7-4 and goes until 7-6. It is a great time.

The road team has Brownstown on the 28th but we are still undecided on how we want to handle all that has happened. First they canceled all the races. Then they re-open two or three. There is all kinds of gossip going around about it and we think it may be best to step back and let it settle. I don't want us to get caught up in the emotion of it all.

2008-06-16T21:24:00.002-04:00

Today was my first day back at White Clay. The mountain bike camp is a blast. I have a great time teaching the kids how to ride trails. It's awesome when you see them "get it". Like when you show them how to apex a turn or go over a log. It's just really cool. Today we probably put in about 7-8 miles. Not bad for a bunch of little legs on the first day.

If anyone is paying attention they would see that our team is moving up in the standings. Tom is 10th. Shawn sits in 8th after a 4th at Danville. Joel is in 6th and about 200 points up on 7th. I moved into 3rd about 30 points up on 4th.

This weekend is Neshaminy. It's a cool course and reminds me of Granogue. My favorite section is in the beginning in the twisty, fast, wooded section. We should do well here.

We are still working on getting the road team reorganized.

Finally...

2008-06-10T20:40:00.004-04:00

I finally replaced my broken camera. It's about time. The blog was pretty boring with me just typing away. Here are the pictures I promised from a few entries ago.

The green dome is the copper clock tower on the Lancaster courthouse. The crane/steeple picture is of the parking garage being built for the convention center (that I took the picture from). It was taken from the 6th floor. I will be leaving for a few weeks to teach the rug rats at White Clay to ride mountain bikes. That takes us to the rug rat picture. I was guest of honor at a daycare. They were learning about bikes so I was requested to answer their questions. They knew all the basics like shifters, brakes, and tires. What they didn't know was, "Do you like hockey?" " Do you like to fish?" Hey, they are pre-schoolers (and that is why they are all holding papers in front of their faces).

Next week I will be at White Clay. No racing. Shawn, Joel, and Tom will be at the Stoopid. Chad will be at the Strawberry Festival Road Race.

Keep the rubber side down.

It's the Simple Things.

2008-06-08T19:10:00.002-04:00

I've never been so happy to pee. Here we are 7:15pm or so and it's the first time since before the race at 10:30am. It might not seem that long but when you consider what I drank in that time, it's pretty amazing. Here's the list: 2-32oz Gatorades. 2-16oz bottled water. 4-21oz water bottles. 1-16oz Naked. 2-pilsner glasses of water (16oz I believe). 228oz of fluids to one urination. That's a heck of a ratio.

Let's just say today was HOT! It was 95+ with a humidity level that was up there. I don't know if it was the weather or what but I never really felt right out there. Danville is a good course for me with lots of climbing. 4500 feet (I've never granny geared so much) in 18.5 miles. Compare that to Sewell with about 1000 feet (Big ring all day) in 22 miles. Shawn and I knew that we had to pace ourselves and gauge our efforts closely. It was just too hot to hammer every climb. So we did just that and we paced ourselves into a 4th (Shawn) and a 5th (me). Now I know when someone checks the results they will see only 7 finishers. This is true but today was a day of hanging on. There were very few who managed to ride at their best. Plus, 4th and 5th are the same points whether you have 7 riders or 50. Points are points right?

Next weekend the team will be at the Stoopid 50 (www.masuperseries.com) for a 50 mile day in the park. Lucky for me, I have to go to a wedding. Shucks.

Chad's two cents.

2008-06-07T09:26:00.003-04:00

Another Astana?

As you read in the most current blog, we have no more licensed road races. After reading the e-mail from Butterworth, I just could not believe it. With me and Jeremiah being 100% road and a few team members 50% and our team covering every part of cycling Cross, Mount., and Road this is a huge set back. With my hopes now destroyed of not being able to do the race that our team wanted to do well in, and me trying to get the points to upgrade to Cat. 3 I am in a frantic mode. I feel some what like Astana did at the beginning when they could not do the races they planned on, or having to train differently to peak for other races, (not to mention the Giro at the last minute) and luckily their sponsors stood behind them. I am now looking all around for races, even in different states, because this just does not affect just me, but also Team Allied Milk. My next month and a half is now open to any thing. If any one knows of any USACycling races please let me know. Who knows, maybe this will turn out like it did with Contador, wanted to do the Tour but won the Giro instead. Only time will tell. Out.

Chad

Updated MASS standings show the team currently in 7th place. Not too bad. We are about 400pts away from Mountainside Racing and have a slight margin of 130pts on Human Zoom/PBR (yes, that is Pabst Blue Ribbon).

What is a team to do?

2008-06-04T21:18:00.002-04:00

So part of our deal with our sponsors was a road team. We've (really Chad has) had some good results lately. The best part is that we haven't hit the races that were to be our primary races. Those being the ones coming up like Peiffer Hill and Mt. Penn. These were to be big races for us. Notice I said "were to be". Yeah, the whole series has been canceled. RedRoseRaces.com as of 6-7 will officially cease to exist. Turns out the guy running has some money issues and is liquidating all his assets. This leaves the riders without races. Here's a copy of the e-mail that probably about 600-700 racers received:

Effective June 1, 2008 the business of Red Rose Races.com, Inc. has been suspended indefinitely and Rich has resigned. As a behind-the-scenes investor in this enterprise I will attempt to liquidate whatever assets Rich turns over (trailer, equipment, etc.) and make restitution to everyone owed money in some proportionate and fair way, but this will take time and Rich’s cooperation. Rich has been a friend and great cycling enthusiast and it’s terribly unfortunate that things snowballed out of control to the point that past debts and current spending overwhelmed the business operations and things simply could not continue. Beginning with the Rapho Road Race™ on Saturday, June 7 all of the 2008 events have been canceled. I am in discussion with Pennsylvania Cycling Association and USA Cycling representatives to find potential answers to the crisis this situation represents for bicycle racing in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Sincerely,
David S. Butterworth
CEO
Red Rose Races.com, Inc.

How's that for crappy?

On the mountain side of things, the team is currently in 9th place. 7 points away from 8th. Not bad considering we are racing in a 10 rider and under category with only 6 registered racers. Four of us have raced all season, one is just starting her season, and one is really on the downhill team. Many of the teams ahead of us have 8-10 riders so we are holding our own.

In the individual standings, Brooke is currently in a three way tie for third. Not bad seeing as she only has two races under her belt so far. Shawn slipped in the standings due to missing Granogue for a wedding and then Sewell to support his wife in her marathon. He currently stands in 14th with 492pts. Thomas the Tank also missed Granogue so he too slipped in the overall. He is a solid 9th with 675pts. Next is me. I'm sitting in 6th with 954pts. Wildman Joel is in 5th with 966pts. Joel is only 81pts out of 4th and 138 behind 3rd. Second place is held by one speedy high school who also happens to be a National Champ in cyclocross. That would be Jeb with 1197pts. First is Kerry. He will be racing in Europe later this summer. We can then breath a sigh of relief when that happens. He has 1380 runaway points.

Next race is Tour de Tykes in Danville. It's a benefit for the Children's Miracle Network. Check it out at www.MASuperSeries.com.

It's official...

2008-06-01T19:22:00.002-04:00

I am an idiot. All those pictures of Lancaster that I was talking about in the last post, gone. Turns out, I didn't leave my camera at work but in the pocket of my coveralls. They were washed Saturday. Oh, and dried too. Washer and dryer 1. Camera, 0. I tried to let it "dry out" but it looks like I'm in the market for new one. I'm sure the memory card is destroyed as well.

Oh yeah, the races...

Chad was all alone at Millport yesterday. Even without support he managed his best result of the season, 11th. Our peak races start in late June and run until early August. It looks like he is on track.

The mountain team had a good turn out at Sewell NJ. The expert race finished up just as the thunder clouds rolled in. Perfect timing for Brooke's race. It poured on her and she was forced to DNF due to a mechanical.

Terrible Thomas finished in 14th which was pretty good considering he had two flats. Jolly Joel took 9th while puking his guts out. You could say he left it all on the course. Me well, 6th again. I think I was as high as 4th on the second lap but then I took myself out trying to rail a corner that was just too soft. I then had problems getting unclipped from my pedal when I was trying to get back up. When I finally got that taken care of, my chain was stuck on the outside of my derailleur. I forced it back where it needed to be and was off. It took about 30 seconds for all that to happen. I lost three places and only recovered two.

Here's a link to the results: http://www.prologsoftware.com/proracingtiming/results/r05_31_08Final.htm

The Pickle Bar

2008-05-29T16:15:00.002-04:00

If you haven't noticed, the downtown Isaac's is closed. This is due to remodeling for "The Pickle Bar". That's right, downtown Isaac's will now serve frothy beverages. I believe they are set to be back open by June 2nd. Go check it out. The food is delish.

Team news: It looks like we will be everywhere this weekend. Chad will be racing the Millport Road Race. Tom wanted to go to Massanutten VA, for the National race. Joel and I will be in Sewell NJ for another MASS race. Sewell and Millport are on the 31st. Massanutten is the 1st. Shawn will be in California supporting his wife Katie as she runs her first marathon.

I'm working on the Marriot Hotel that is being build. It's an 18 story building smack in the middle of the city. This will be the tallest building around. I think the tallest now is 13 stories. Right now I'm on the 6th floor and you can see pretty far. The 18th should let you see everything.

Links to the races:

Millport: http://redroseraces.com/index.php?option=com_races&task=listRace&id=63&Itemid=42

Sewell: http://www.nocentsracing.org/

Massanutten: http://www.mountainbikevirginia.com/Hooha.htm (some info on their site is from last year)

Closer

2008-05-25T19:34:00.006-04:00

Oh Granogue. Sigh. It was a beautiful day to be on a bike. The sun was shining and it was (gasp) warm. We (Joel and I) decided to arrive early enough to support our newest rider, Brooke. She was in the Sport race which set out at 9am.

Like clockwork they were off. We waited for her to come back around to give her a few more cheers before getting ready for our race. At registration we were given these Allied Milk Cycling bracelets. Well, that is what we told ourselves. Really they were to determine who had actually paid and who was poaching the course. MASS uses the same number plates all season to reduce waste and to speed up registration. Last year some people used this to their advantage by not paying to race.

At 11am we were all ready to go. The start of Granogue is a fast and furious paved road to a hard right into the woods. The hole shot is pretty important. If you can hit the technical stuff first you can dictate the pace of the race. I hit about 8th spot which I was ok with. Joel was about 6th with Eric Marklund between us. He's been riding very good this season and Joel and I had the plan to keep in sight.

We marked him for about the first three or four miles. All of us switching positions. Back and forth we went. When we hit a false flat grass section we both attacked Eric. We could see he wasn't feeling the best and we hurt him. Joel was riding strong and I felt really good as well. When we got ready to hit another section of singletrack I noticed Joel was no longer with me. I'd later find out he had some bad luck and flatted.

I came through to finish my first lap, not too far off the pace of the leaders. I went to switch out my water bottle when I noticed both bottles were empty. Both tops were also removed. It was like someone used them to dump on themselves. I was thinking "The third lap is going to hurt, a lot." Luckily I saw an angel...his name was Jerrod. I yelled to him to get me a bottle for the next lap and sure enough he did. It was a life saver too as my calves were tightening up with every revolution.

I went into "hang on to your position" mode. Every switchback I was looking over my shoulder. Every climb felt like I was in the Alps (well, as I imagine it anyway). Finally I was in the last section on singletrack when a guy came blazing out of no where. It was Steve Schwartz (Titus factory rider). I really had nothing at that time to respond to his power. I let him go figuring I'd catch up and get him on the climb to the finish. Turns out, I misjudged how close to the finish I actually was. As soon as he got around me, we popped out of the singletrack and were climbing the gravel/paved climb to the finish. He was gone. I took one more look over my shoulder to make sure no one was coming from behind and cruised up the hill at an easy pace. I even talked to Vegan Rob on the way up. He was doing the Enduro race so we just chatted to the finish. Overall 6th. Not too bad but I was one spot away from getting the Granogue Plaque. I have one from when I raced Sport several years ago. I did want another.

After the race I was talking to one Mr. FatMarc and he said he was hoping I was top 5. Well, me too. HAHA! He gave me a special 6th place prize, two Twin 6 t-shirts. I told you this guy does it right.

Even with a flat tire Joel still managed 18th. One spot back on a rider I was trying to get on our team before the season started. Marc gave Joel a pair of socks for his bad luck.

The best part of the race though was Brooke. Her first race on the Allied Milk Cycling team and she nails a 2nd place. The first AMC rider to podium in a solo event. We'll stick that one in our memory banks in case it ever comes up on Jeopardy.

Awesome job Brooke!

It was a great event all-around. The Dupont Estate was amazing. The race promoters were smooth and efficient. The course was beautiful and the competition, on point. I am falling in love with this sport all over again.

A little from Chad on Mon-Tour

2008-05-22T18:16:00.009-04:00

The day started at 6:00, with the temp. being in the 40's and wet roads. By start time at 8:30 the temp. rose to the high 50s. I felt good about this race considering there is 5940 of climbing in it. I was not planning on wining it because I am not in my peak yet, but merely to use it as a gaging ride for my future peak races. The race every year changes in miles slightly because of roads changing, dirt, road work ext. This year was no different with true miles being at 77. The race started slower then last year with the first hill being easy. Through the race I stayed no farther back then 4th place, knowing that I needed to stay in the front for the climbs. With the biggest climb we had that day I was 2nd over the top and down the other side, but the problem was that we were supposed to turn at the top and follow the ridge. (turns marked with arrows on road not enough man power for all turns) After me and 2 other riders descended down the other side we discovered there was no marks on the road and no riders behind us. We went 1 mile off course, so we turned around and climbed back to the top. With this being at mile 50 or so we 3 decided to do even pulls and try to catch back up to the lead group. We found out from a racers wife that we were about 10 min. back, not very promising for a 3 group chasing after a 20-25 rider group. We where pulling off 30 to 35 mph and at this phase I knew if we did catch back up that I would not be able to contend for the over all, but I had to try. With in 5-6 miles we caught up to the lead group. I was still feeling strong and as more climbs came and past the group dwindled to 12 riders. I was still feeling good, but with 3 climbs to go and about 6-8 miles left I hit the wall. My climbing speed dropped from 12 mph down to 5 mph. There was nothing for me to do but to try and find a rhythm. When I came across the finish line I got 12th place. O yes and since the course changes every year the true elevation was at 6473 feet. Out!

Chad finished in 4 hours and 6 minutes. Not too bad for going off course for a few miles.

Granogue is this weekend. They have a cool setup with food, music, and a raffle to benefit HERA Women's Cancer Foundation. Be sure to buy some tickets if you stop by. Our team will be competing in the Sport (9am) and Expert (11am) races. Here's the address:

2900 Montchanin Road, Wilmington, DE 19807

Also today I went to a pre-school class to teach the little rug rats about bikes. It was a blast. Turns out they knew just about everything already. Pics will be posted soon (I think).

White Clay Creek is looking for another MTB camp instructor for one week. It is the 4th week in June (23rd-27th). If you are interested call the Nature Center at (302) 368-6560 and ask for Angel. You can also email her at: Angel.Burns@state.de.us. It's an awesome time.

***Photo by: Josh Everitt*** http://www.printroom.com/studio_homepage.asp?domain_name=joshephoto

Three do 75 miles...

2008-05-18T10:43:00.002-04:00

I knew Chad was doing 75 miles of Mon-Tour but I didn't know that Shawn and Tom were doing the Rocktober Marathon MTB race which was also about 75 miles. Now I haven't gotten all the details from the riders yet but I'm sure Chad's day in the saddle was a lot shorter than Tom and Shawn's.

From what Chad told me (he is giving a report in the next few days) there was a wrong turn involved and his ride was closer to 80 miles. He still managed 12th.

Shawn and Tom on the other hand, made no wrong turns but were in the saddle for 8 and 8 1/2 hours respectively. Ouch! This is why Joel and I decided not to do that ride. Hopefully these two idiots give me an update as well.

For me, it was a weekend off (from racing). My brother from NY was in town and I spent some time with him. Shucks.

Another Muddy Race

2008-05-11T08:24:00.005-04:00

French Creek was another sloppy race. Personally, I don't agree with having muddy races due to trail damage. The whole car ride there Shawn and I were debating on whether or not to race. Is it worth the parts we will have to replace (i.e. brake pads, tires and so on)? When we got there it actually looked to be in good condition considering they had about 1.5 inches of rain the night before. We registered.

At the start line all four of us (Shawn, Joel, Tom and I) had good starting positions. We were either in the first or second row. The start was designed to thin us out quick. Uphill for a long time. The blurby noise sounded and we were off. I felt like the pace was a bit slow so I jumped to the front, leading...but not for long. Kerry Werner of Shirk's was right on my wheel. He too was feeling good and the race was on. I made a tactical decision to let him lead. French Creek is his backyard and he knows the trails. For me it is easier to follow someone who is cruising than to be followed by someone who is on my wheel (if you follow me).

While on Kerry's wheel I spun my back wheel going over a waterbar. That would be the last I'd see of him. I was still having a great lap and feeling good over all the rocks and up the climbs. Right after going through the start/finish line Joel caught me. He was riding strong. I stopped for about 3-4 seconds to change out my water bottle (aka I dropped my new one) and caught back up to Joel. We were riding together up the first climb when we came upon a fresh group of beginners starting their race. We were weaving in and out of them like they were standing still (and some were). ***Sidebar*** Now I remember being a beginner and I teach mountain biking to kids (9-14) at a summer camp at White Clay Creek so I know their struggles. I ask the promoters...Why would you start them while the Expert/Elite riders are coming through on the final lap? ***End Side bar*** Most of them were pretty good about getting out of the way but there were a few that thought they were Geoff Kabush or something. These were the ones that were walking in the good line. Forcing us to pick bad lines through a rock garden or up a technical climb. It was bad. Nothing against beginners because we were all there at one point and it wasn't their fault they were starting at that time. After all, they paid to race too. It's just a shame when races are decided by who puts the most beginners at risk by passing in a bad spot.

Long story short, the team did pretty well. Tom took 12th, Shawn 9th, I was 8th, and the crazy man Joel was 4th. Here is a link to the results: http://prologsoftware.com/proracingtiming/results/r05_10_08Final.htm.

Next week (5-17) Chad is at the 75 miles of Mon-Tour. Shawn will be competing in the Union Grove road race (so he says). On the 24th the mountain team will be in full swing again. This time at the Dupont Estate in Delaware. The course isn't overy hard but just unrelenting. FatMarc is in charge and he always puts on a good race. A new secret racer will be revealed at Granogue as well!!!

Mon-Tour is: http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1459310

Union Grove is: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=5050

Granogue is: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6087

Later Suckers.

T-Hill

2008-05-04T08:47:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the Turkey Hill road race. Shawn and I did the 4/5. Shawn wanted to see what road racing was all about and I was there for support. Everything was going great and on lap two there was a move. Wes Schempf (Semi-Pro MTB'er) rode off the front. I knew he was strong enough to go so I went too. Wes and I rotated a few times when Shawn and two others joined us. We had a gap. I took my turn and rotated to the back. The two riders that joined us decided not to work and the break was quickly swallowed up by the peloton. Shawn was looking good. He was staying in the right spots, spinning smooth, and paying attention. The third lap was still groupo compacto well, so I thought. Being short you sometimes miss things and I missed another move by Wes. He rode off solo with about 8 miles to go. See, Wes is a cat 5 only because he never did a road race before. USACycling requires a 10 race minimum before you can upgrade to a 4. He races cat 1 in cyclo-cross. He's pretty good and is the only person around here (that's a cat 5) that could ride off the front like that. Blah, blah. That said, lap 4 was terrible for me. The first turn on lap 4 someone took it super wide, forcing me into the gravel. I was caught out of the pack in a headwind and no one letting me in. I slowly drifted to the back and then lost the wheel of pack. I was trying to catch back up the whole lap until the final 1.5km when I finally decided I wasn't going to close the gap. The pack was in sprint mode and a solo rider just isn't going to catch them. Long story short. Wes is the winner.

Jeremiah raced in the 3/4. Turns out they added to his already long race and make in an even 100km. 62 miles. They climbed the Gamber Wall 3 times instead of 2. He did really well, finishing in the second group. He said the wall wasn't the hard part because everybody was suffering. It was the guys that recovered from it the fastest that put the hurt on everyone.

Hopefully, Chad nailed his SAT's.

Next week is French Creek (5-10). This a terribly rocky 11.5 mile loop. Sport do one lap, Expert/Elite two. The promoters say it will take about 3 hours for experts. That should tell you something about the average speed. 7.7mph is a far cry from the 15mph at the Bakers Dozen. There's lots of climbing and oh yeah rocks. Important info here: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6134

Chad's next race the Mon-Tour race. I may or may not go. He's what the promoter has to say:

On Saturday, May 17th, you can participate in The 75 Miles of Mon-Tour(ure).
This road bike race will challenge even the most seasoned rider!
With over 5900 feet of vertical climbing, riders come from all over the
northeast to dig deep as they tour the beautiful rural scenery of Montour
County. This fully supported race begins and ends at the Danville Soccer
Park in Danville, PA at 8:30 am - registration will open at 7:00 am.
Free t-shirts to the first 100 participants and an awards ceremony to
follow the race. See www.rivertownrace.com for more details
or to register.

Still not sure...(but now we are)

2008-04-29T16:30:00.006-04:00

Shawn said he would like to try a road race. I told him that if he wanted to do Turkey Hill I would ride it with him. With only a few days and a few slots left in the 4/5 race we still are undecided. The weather looks gloomy. Cool and rainy, not the most pleasant of conditions. The 40k race is an interesting one though. There are a lot of little steep climbs, fast descents with some sharp turns. Rain could really make those turns rough. The finish is mostly uphill. After the final right hander you climb for about a mile, most of which is about a 4-6% grade. Then a slight down before a leg popper. It is short and steep (guessing 10-12%). After all that, you hit a dead flat straight run to the finish that is about 1k. It is fast. I putted around it today with an average of over 20mph. That was by myself in scouting mode and of course obeying all posted traffic signs (aka stopping at stop signs). The coolest part about this race is that they do a rolling closure. That means you can use the whole road all race long. Usually the center line is as far as they let you go. Go over it and you are pulled from the race (or run over by a car speeding at you). I guess I better talk to Shawn tonight.

The picture is from Sunday. It's Johanna Kraus. She's pro and you can see why. She ran her bike several times during the race and still finished 3rd. About 8 1/2 minutes back of first. Maybe I should learn something from that. ***Correction*** Katie is correct. I thought the number plate was #71. After careful review it is #271, Deidre York. She was in the Female Junior X 15-18. No wonder she could run so much. She's just a baby. ***

***UPDATE***

Turns out there will be three of us at Turkey Hill after all. Shawn and I will be doing the 4/5 with one Wes Schempf of VisitPA.com fame. Jeremiah is sticking with the original plan and going for the 3/4. A 92km (roughly 55 miles) race that climbs the Gamber Wall twice. I know Chad wanted to do this race so badly but I had to talk him out of it. He has his SAT's that day. Don't be stupid Chad. Haha! Anyway, come on out for some ice cream and a blazing fast race. It's free (don't quote me on the ice cream being free).

Two Qualify For Nationals

2008-04-28T15:46:00.007-04:00

Here are your two Allied Milk riders that qualified for Nationals. Shawn (bottom left) and Sir Thomas the Tank (middle right). Shawn took 11th in the Expert 19-29 group while Tom (8th)and I (DNF) were riding in the 30-39 age group. Both guys put in great efforts after a brutal weekend at the Bakers Dozen. For me it was a mechanical. I was sitting in sixth very comfy when I just lost all my braking power. I decided not to be dumb and get hurt. Some courses you can fake it, not this one. You really needed to have good brakes. My mistake was running organic brake pads on a wet (I mean standing water wet) course. Live and learn, right?

Top center is Chris Eatough (#1) and Kyle Hammaker(#15). Chris is one of the best in the sport. Kyle could be. He's only 21.

A few things...

2008-04-24T21:52:00.007-04:00

First off, sorry if my last post did not show the proper respect to Joel's amazing 28:18 lap. He truly is an incredible rider. I'd say he's improved the most out of all of us this off season. Not only that but a great teammate as well.

Secondly, we are pulling out of the Tour De Ephrata and probably downgrading the Turkey Hill race. This is purely strategic for later races in the season.

Last but not least...The pictures are my brothers (bottom picture on the left is Chad, top picture on the right is Sam). Sam is in Kuwait right now awaiting his trip into Baghdad. He will be over there for about a year.

My other brother Chad is heading over soon. He's in the 10th Mountain. He will be about protecting the "Green Zone" which is where Sam will be.

Whether you agree or not with this war, these are the people over there. They mean the world to their families and friends. Let's never forget that they are the people willing to do whatever their country feels necessary. Right or wrong.

I love you guys. Come home safe. There are far too many bad jokes to tell the two of you.

The Fastest Milkman was...

2008-04-22T20:40:00.002-04:00

Well, after careful review of the results, it actually was Joel at 28:18. Word. My fastest lap was actually a minute slower but I had the most consistant laps of all of our riders. Plus, I did the most. 13 laps for a total of 100.1 miles. Tom and Joel ended up in 6th. One minute and two seconds back of 5th place.

Average Lap Times (Thanks to Thomas the Tank):
Tom 34:13.55
Joel 32:49.2
Dan 31:54.37
Shawn 32:21.45

Here's a link to the results: http://www.runnc.com/Assets/Young+and+Associates/docs/vamtb+teams+21.txt

It looks like Chad with be competing in the Tour De Ephrata this weekend. It's a two day, three stage race. There is a road race, ITT, and a crit. Crits are a blast to watch since the course is so short. The riders will go zipping past you a lot. Here's the hubbub: http://redroseraces.com/. Click on "Tour De Ephrata" at the top of the screen.

The reason I won't be there is because I'm heading with the mountain team to Greenbrier. We are looking to secure some spots at Nationals this years. The race this weekend is an automatic qualifier for those who finish high enough in their class. Fun stuff. http://potomacvelo.com/events/gc/GreenbrierChallenge.htm $8000 in cash on the line too.

13.25 hours later.

2008-04-20T17:46:00.003-04:00

This weekend we sent two duo teams to Leesburg VA for the Bakers Dozen. A 13 hour enduro event. Before the race Shawn and I discussed our strategy. We decided to run single laps to keep ourselves fresh for the end and that I would take the first lap. The 7.7 mile course was fast, flat, and very choppy with a few log overs thrown in. Nothing too complicated but with the speed that you can run on this course, you could very easily burn yourself up quick.

Looking around at the start line it seemed to be about 120-140 riders on the line. I knew hitting the singletrack in the top 15 was key with that many starts. Let's face it, 40 riders would be a lot to all be hitting singletrack at the same time. The gun went off and I was eating dust. I kept my focus and picked off riders when I could. I hit the singletrack somewhere between 15-20th and as riders made mistakes picked them off. When we hit the double track I pushed hard to get around as many as I could. I knew our competition was tough. One team consisted of the reigning Semi-Pro Short Track National Champion and his partner is the reigning Junior Cyclocross National Champion. That's a lot of fast on one team. About 4 miles into the lap I picked off Jeff ('Cross Champ). He flatted. I made sure he was ok before motoring on. I went into 100% mode knowing that he was down. I wanted to get as much time on him as possible. I pulled into the transition area and sent Shawn on his way. A 29 minute lap. I refueled and waited for Shawn to come back around. This was the story for about 10 hours.

We were winning! Tom and Joel were right behind us too! First and second... When the night fell the fatigue set in. Our lap times which were steady 28-31 minutes started to slip to 35 minutes. At this point Tom and Joel had fallen to 4th or 5th. Shawn took a spill and Wes (Short Track Champ) and the third place team went past. Even if Shawn hadn't gone down, those two teams were coming up on us fast. I doubt I would've held them off. I was spent. We ended up third with 25 laps about 10 minutes back on first. 192.5 miles with an average speed of 14.5 mph for the day. That's a tough pace for 13 hours. Tom and Joel had 24 laps and finished in 5th or 6th.

Not a bad day.

Being on the podium we knew we were getting cash. Woo Woo! 80 whole dollars to split. You can see we do not do this for the money. They had various other awards too. One was for fastest lap. We knew it would be Wes or Jeff. After all they are National Champions right?

"With a time of 28:14. Allied Milk." went across the PA. The four of us looked at each other. "But who?" we asked. "The first rider on the team that podiumed." Shawn and I looked at each other. He said "That was you." I am still in disbelief. $50 for that effort. Of all the things I've done riding/life, it ranks in the top 5 of my proudest moments.

Bakers Dozen

2008-04-17T22:11:00.003-04:00

This a slow week for the local racing scene so the mountain team is heading to VA for the Bakers Dozen. We are going to have two teams of two for this 13 hour event. Tom and Joel did this race last year and took 2nd. They will remain a team. While Shawn and I will be paired up for our first trip down. It's about a 2-2 1/2 hour drive from Lancaster if anyone is interested in going. You can find all the info here: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=5576.

Ups and Downs

2008-04-15T20:17:00.004-04:00

So my week was pretty crappy. I had a killer tooth ache that I went to the dentist for. He took x-rays and found nothing. Then he heard me sniffle a little. He asked "Have you been sick?" "Yes. " I responded. Long conversation short, I had a sinus infection and now I'm on meds. So not much training with two races this weekend. Oh boy, how do you think I did? Not so great. The first race was Mt. Joy road race. Chad and I had discussed earlier in the week about attacking early since we didn't feel we really had a shot at being on the top step of the podium any other way. Turns out he was sick all week too and here's his race story...

My day on Saturday started at 7:00 a.m. when I had to head to Mount Joy for a road race. The weather looked good, in the 60's with a slight wind. Nothing big compared to what I rode in two weeks ago in Kirkwood. I was not sure how I would do at this race since i was fighting a head and chest cold the week before. I only got in about 45-50 miles in that week. I thought I would work for Dan, but to my chagrin he had a sinus infection the same week. We both decided to "wing" it and see what happens. When I got down to Mount Joy I felt really good, not much of a cold left, and the first time this season for a race I was able to ride with short jersey and shorts! The race started off fast with me about mid pack, not a big deal since there are 2-3 climbs each loop, 5 loops of a total of 29 miles. I could see Dan was at the front. After the first loop I see Dan drop way back, he looked like crap. After the first lap it slowed down slightly and I stayed mid pack to the last lap. With 4-5 miles left there was an attack with a break away of 5-6 riders, not good this close to the finish. We picked up the pace and tried to make sure they did not make it. With less then 9/10 of a mile left we picked up 3-4 riders with 3 riders that we could not pick up get 1-3rd place finish. From this point I have felt great and had the legs for the best sprint a climber like myself could do. With it all said and done I came in 12th place. It of course would have been nicer for a top 10 but maybe next time. This placement was for the team since we have not had the best week or two of good news. This all so gives me the motivation to keep training hard and to know that i am on a good pace for peaking when I want to later in the season. O yes and Dan, I find out after the race he only did one lap and pulled out. He felt so much like crap that he did not even wait for me to get done. He headed home to try and recover for a Mt. Race the next day. Out.

I ended up DNF'ing after the first lap. I was hanging on but just barely and with a race the next day I thought it would be wise to admit defeat in this one. That brings with to Sunday. Fairhill Cross Country mountain bike race. I have to say, I was a bit tired of mountain biking last year but this season is all new energy. Ben, Tom, Joel, Shawn, and I all made the trip (plus a very supportive pit crew) ready to rock and roll. Ben did the beginner race (hey, he's the downhiller). He reported back to us that the trails were fast, flat, and almost like riding on the road. Normally I'd love a course like this. Fast is what I do best. Technical stuff is best left to Tom, Shawn, or Joel. They are like butter. This day though, I knew would be a challenge. You know, with the whole not being able to breathe.

Lined up waiting for the gun I had a great position. Second row, about 3 in from the end. It was a perfect spot to take the first turn as if it were straight. At the gun it was fast but I was hanging in there, sitting about 10th. There was a nice pace line for the first lap as no one really was able to get too far away. The second lap was my fastest and I felt great. I used the big ring the whole way. I was breathing (marginally important). The third lap was great until I got an empty feeling in my stomach. I realized I didn't eat enough but by this time it was too late. I bonked hard. My legs went numb. All you can do is spin out of the woods. People passed me. One racer threw me a GU (I owe him a beer or something). I just needed calories. My last lap was 5 minutes slower. That 5 minutes took me out of the top ten all the way to 19th. Tom took 10th. Shawn 8th and Joel 6th. So those guys did their part.

In other news...We have a new teammate. Her name is Brooke. Her first race will be sometime in May (she's busy at work until then so back off!). She plans on doing some of the Ultra Endurance 100 mile races and a 24 hour race. A real go getter. I forgot to get a picture though so you will have to wait to see her.

SmugMug to the rescue

2008-04-10T22:44:00.005-04:00

There was a person who was paying attention on Sunday. He took many photos and these are just a sample. Joel has on his Popeye face or maybe he just got poked in the eye by a stick. Tom just email me and said to put that picture of him on because "...I can see I'm not nearly as lean as last season..." Shawn is in a classic MTB magazine cover pose. I think he tried it. The shot of me is cool because it's me...just kidding. Really it was because you can clearly see the tree tunnel we where riding through. Check out the rest of the pictures at: www.MLKImages.com. There are probably 500 pictures from this race alone.

A picture...

2008-04-07T22:10:00.003-04:00

is worth 1000 words. Well, what if you forget to take said picture?

The night before the US Open Relay I got everything ready. Clothes. Check. Helmet. Check. Bike, water, food, tent, banners, squeeky horn, and camera. Check, check, check. Too bad the camera never made it out. I'm just not usually on the resting end of the camera I guess.

We did pretty well overall. 15 laps. The winning team, that consisted of 2 semi-pro and 2 pro riders, had 17 laps. It really wasn't that bad though seeing as they came in right before the cut-off and we were just a bit after the cut-off. Let's face it, they still crushed us, but they should. They did have the semi-pro National Short Track Champ on their team. As for our final placement, I'm not really sure due to the complex handicap scoring (mainly to help out the beginners).

Next weekend I'll be pulling double duty. The Mt. Joy road race is on 4-12. You can find the important info here: http://www.redroseraces.com/index.php?option=com_races&task=listRace&id=61&Itemid=42. Chad and I will be going off at 11:30. Sunday will be another mountain race. This one is at Fairhill. Important info here: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6071. This will be the first ever lap race at Fairhill. They are usually a point to point race. Shawn and I are already signed up but I believe Tom, Joel, Ben, and maybe Chris will be there.

In sad news...I found out today that the Tom Bamford Classic will not be run this year but should be back next year. This was a race I know almost everyone on the team was going to be in. Hopefully, things work out next year.

***UPDATE***
The final tallies are in...With the handicap added (of which we received 0 extra points), we were 31st of 67 teams. Without the handicap 6th overall. A keen eye would have noticed that the winning team did not have 18 laps like the original post stated but rather 17. So we were really only one lap down until they came across the line just before the cut-off. That is pretty good.

MLK took some really nice pictures of the race. Check them out here:http://www.mlkimages.com/2008%20Sports/444765.

2008-04-03T19:30:00.002-04:00

The team relay in Marysville is almost here (4-6) and I know that the four of us that are going are ready. Well, early season ready that is. I was checking out the other teams at http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6044 and there are some good ones. One includes the 24 hour National Points Series winner Rob Lichtenwalner and another has the current semi-pro Short Track National Champion Wes Schempf. Plus the other teams with their various semi-pro/pro or expert riders. This should be fun right? Heh.

This early race will decide whether we focus on the MASS or other races. If we find ourselves too far back in the team points category we will likely cherry pick MASS races and focus on the endurance series (like the NUE). Sunday will reveal a lot for our season.

It should be a fun one to watch. If you can make it out, do so. We will have our nice blue EZ-Up with a few sponsors banners blazing. Just please do not feed the cyclists. Doing so could result in missing digits.

Blessings in Disguise...

2008-04-03T19:28:00.000-04:00

On February 25th, I was super excited about the upcoming racing season and being on Allied Milk, my first ever bike team. I was on track to being in pretty decent biking shape, and all set to sign up for the Kirkwood race at the end of March. On February 26th, I broke my foot playing basketball and was bummed about not being able to ride my bike or run for about 6-8 weeks. On February 27th, Jeremiah and I found out that we're going to have a baby in November! My fitness and racing plans for spring and summer all changed within a matter of 48 hours. As with any disappointments or unmet expectations, it's necessary to look for the positive side, because it's easy to get caught up in self-wallowing despair.
So, instead of training alongside of Jeremiah, I now can become part of his (and the rest of the team's) fan club...the guys will probably need it for the first year:) I will be better able to encourage and support our team! My broken foot allowed me to realize that I take things like 'walking' for granted and how much I miss riding even my single speed to work. And parenthood? Wow, scary but totally exciting at the same time! So, bring on the racing season, I'm ready to cheer!
Kim

What in the world?!?!?

2008-03-31T18:02:00.005-04:00

Oh the things you miss when you race road and can not join your friends on a long mountain ride at Weiser State Park. It sure looks like they made the best of it without me anyway. Tom is holding Shawn in his hand. The funny thing is, Tom rides a 26" bike and Shawn giddy up's on a 29'er. Looks to me like Tom should be on a 36'er and Shawn, well, a big wheel. Good stuff.

The Results are in...

2008-03-30T14:15:00.003-04:00

It was another windy, cold day for racing in Kirkwood but at least the rain past the night before. Waiting for the start is horrible in those conditions. Your teeth grind down to half their size from chattering so much. When the gun finally went off (at 10:50am) it was a go. The pace was fast but not like the first lap at Strasburg. The peloton held together in the wind pretty well too. No crashes even. We made it about 4 miles into the first lap and the pace slowed to a crawl. I decided to use this slow speed to move up to the upper third of the pack (the safest place to be). I was moving up nicely too. Then we made a right turn into a direct headwind of 20-25mph. I was caught with no one in front of me and no one letting my slip in. I drifted all the way to the back of the peloton. No big deal I thought. I was with Chad so I knew we would be able to move up at a better time. Chad and I were hanging back to stay out of the wind when a gap formed. The riders in front of us were letting the draft get away. In a headwind as strong as it was yesterday losing your wheel is a major no no. If you are hurting you suck it up until you are out of the wind and can recover. I didn't want a repeat of Strasburg so I jumped up to close the gap. The guys that couldn't hang on earlier amazing hung on and then refused to pull through when I wanted to peal off. I knew if I put a big pull in we would catch the peloton but did I want to use all that energy that early in the race? I had to. Chad was sitting about third wheel and couldn't pull through and those in front of him were content to let the race get away so I put the hammer down and big ringed it back to the tail end of the peloton. When I went to rotate behind I was too far in the red to hang on. I was in no man's land again but I got Chad back to the peloton where Jeremiah was sitting comfortably. I used the rest of the race as training miles. When I finished (40th) I saw Jeremiah and Chad waiting for me. They finish with the group and Jeremiah was close to actually being in the top 5 until he was run off the road in the sprint. Long story short 25th for JW, 26th for Chad, and a 40th for me.

Unfortunetly our women's team is done for the season. Mel accepted an offer to ride for a pro feeder team. She later found out she will be out all season due to a hip injury. Then Kim broke her foot. She is supposedly going to write an entry for us.

You say it's your birthday.

2008-03-26T19:45:00.003-04:00

So Happy 30th to me. It hit me when I registered for Greenbrier (4-27) and I was in the 30-34 age group. Time marches on I guess. Anyway...

Kirkwood is next on our list of races (3-29). All the important info can be found here: http://redroseraces.com/. Click on Kirkwood at the top of the screen. Our race is at 10:30am. It will be Chad, Jeremiah, and I in this one. Hopefully we can pull out better than 50th this time around. It's looking like it will be dreary out there. Upper 40's with a chance of rain (aka do not ride your expensive wheels). Kirkwood is a lot like Strasburg and will most likely come down to a sprint. My personal best in a sprint finish was 7th so our chances of winning are probably not that good unless we make a break for it. We would probably need about 8 riders to make it work and keep the peloton at bay. This is very much a play it by ear race because of the rolling terrian so we shall see. If something like last week happens, all bets are off.

Our mountian team will kick off the season on 4-6 in Marysville on the Oesterling Farm. This is a 4 hour 4 person relay event. Pretty simple, one goes, three wait...It's a pretty good spectator event for a MTB race. Short laps and fairly visible. Worth the drive.

We came. We saw. We (well I) finished 50th.

2008-03-16T20:46:00.003-04:00

So obviously the big news of the weekend was the race. The first in team history. The start to a season of...well, I hope better things...From the gun it was GO! Our first lap of 5.5 miles rolling in at 12 minutes. That roughly 27mph. It was tough but we were hanging on. Right after the start/finish line I hear someone yell "CRASH!" Glancing through the bodies I pick out where I need to be to avoid it. As I'm passing the wreck I see the familiar blue and white of the Allied Milk uniform in the fray. It was Chad. He was standing and appeared to be ok so I kept moving, figuring he would catch up. Meanwhile a gap had formed. Those in front of the wreck had pulled away ever so slightly. Five of us went into full chase mode to try and catch the group off the front knowing that if we didn't get them now we never would due to the high head wind on the back side of the course. We rotated through pretty nicely. I was doing 1-2 minute pulls at around 28mph. Doing everything I could to get to the back of the lead group. It wasn't to be. I saw the gap growing at every corner and realized that the five of us just were not as strong as the 30 (of so I thought)ahead of us. All of us eased off knowing our race was over and the season is a long one. I rolled in with an average speed of 22mph with and hour and 18 minutes as my time. Not too bad for the first race and not wanting to peak just yet. The winner finished in 1:11 though. That just shows you how important positioning is. Chad, I later found out was finished after the first lap. See someone decided to try and win the race on the first lap. They made a stupid move, brushed against someone. That person lost control, folded his front wheel in half, fell into Chad and destroyed his rear wheel in the process. One person cost two people their race and about $2000 worth of wheels. If you click on the right photo you can clearly see where the nipple pulled straight out of the carbon rim. To Ritchey's wheelbuilders credit, the wheel still spins straight. Chad is fine so he and I will be back on the 29th at Kirkwood.

In other news, our team photos are here. I will be giving out a copy to each of our $$$ponsors. The day is was taken it was about 12 degrees (well it felt like it) but you would never know by looking at Tom, Joel, Ben, and JW in their short sleeve jerseys. So those $$$ people can be on the look out for it soon.

Sammi was adopted today. Woo Woo! She went to a family that has no kids or other pets. Just what she needed. I'm sure that her new family turns the heat up past 64 degrees too. Hopefully, their bed is as comfy for her as ours was.

Out.

Strasburg

2008-03-13T21:04:00.002-04:00

Strasburg is just 2 days away. I've logged some good miles this week and I'm feeling pretty good. Chad will be coming down and it looks like it will be just the two of us for this early season race. The weather report looks good, 55 degrees 20% chance of rain. I like our odds. This being an early season race, our goal isn't to win it. If we do we'll take it though but honestly this one will most likely come down to a sprint, and we aren't sprinters. We have two races in mind that we will be gunning for, both of which are mid-summer. Either way though we will certainly make the most of the miles for those races.

Samantha

2008-03-09T14:27:00.005-04:00

This is Sammi. She is a foster cat that we've been taking care of because she was afraid of being in the Humane League. Too many people I guess. Her favorite things to do are...sleep, get a rub down, sleep, more rubbin' (especially the belly), and sleep under the covers with her head on a pillow just like a little person. She is about 8 years old and came to us at a whopping 19lbs! Yes, that is hefty. We put her on a diet and she is now around 16lbs. She should probably be around 12-13lbs (she is a pretty big cat). If anyone would like to meet her contact Lori at the http://www.humaneleague.com/. Sammi is super nice and just needs a quiet place to call home.

Springin' Ahead

2008-03-09T10:19:00.002-04:00

Strasburg is next Saturday. The first race of the season. It's also our teams first official race. If you'd like to check it out go here: http://www.redroseraces.com/index.php?option=com_races&task=listRace&id=59&Itemid=42. It's about 20 minutes from Lancaster city and since we are all in the cat 4 race we will be starting at 11:30. I'd like to get us riding in the 3/4 races by the end of the season. It's still early and we don't need to wear ourselves out yet. Hopefully our tent will be here by then too. That would make us easier to spot (with the 3'x8' banner from ARRO standing out like the North Star). It looks like the temps will be in the 50's so not too bad.

On a personal note, it looks like the bus company is going to pay me off (the damages that is). That's cool with me though. I never really wanted to go any further than that anyway. Cross our fingers and hope the check cashes...I still have to go for an MRI on my knee though. I haven't been able to run since the accident due to the pain.

I know...blah, blah, blah.

Tom Bamford Classic

2008-02-27T20:37:00.007-05:00

With the Tom Bamford Classics exclusion from the Commerce Bank Triple Crown it is now open to us mortals. You know, the ones with 40+ hour jobs. This is a fantasic race. A super short 6 block lap criterium with four 90 degree turns. Simple right? While Lancaster is by no means a mountainous region, it's not dead flat either. This crit is no exception to this general rule. The first few laps shouldn't do much to those of us racing but by the end you will certainly see struggling faces climbing towards turn 4. They will be greeted with the begining phases of a construction project on the Lancaster Square that ARRO is designing/engineering. I was already excited for this race because it is the first year I will be able to race it and it goes past the downtown Issac's (it's actually just before the start/finish line) about 5000 times. Now we will see ARRO signs pulling us up that little incline for even more motivation.
At our team meeting everyone was on board to race this race (before we even knew about the ARRO deal) so this should peek their interest even more. I'm sending them an e-mail now. Out.

Is it spring yet?

2008-02-23T15:01:00.004-05:00

It's been a long winter and I can prove it. Today, while cutting my pizza with the pizza cutter, I wondered how well it would work if it had ceramic bearings. I'll contact Enduro about that on Monday.

The pizza was good. I'll be heading to Philthy tonight to see the Flyers (hopefully stop losing) against the Panthers. Let's cross our fingers.

***UPDATE***
Trouble reared it's ugly head to me again...While at the game a ceiling tile fell from the sky, striking me on the head. I'm fine and the Flyers assured me I would "taken care of". I hope they don't mean in the mafia sense. Although at this point maybe someone should just put me down.

Redeeming Myself

2008-02-22T17:56:00.002-05:00

After our team meeting at one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at (Issac's Deli), I came home with a brand new pair of Ritchey Carbon 58mm wheels. You would think that I would be over taken by joy, but some thing was missing. I did not realize what was missing until just yesterday. It was a thing that Dan showed me at Issac's, A Van Dessel Rivet! Due to me not having one but wanting one more then ever, but not having the money, I decided to try to make myself feel better and try to redeem myself in the eyes of the beholder of the Van Dessel. What a better way but to show him my collection of bikes. Maybe 4 bikes can make up one of the Rivets? I'll let you be the judge of that. Here is a little about every bike. Red bike is my commuter/fun bike, blue is my training/race bike, blue and white is my TT rig, and save the best for last, the Green and Black is my 15lb committed climbing/kick a$$ and take names later bike. It's a snow day so I am going to go train on the rollers. Out

Chad

2008-02-20T18:53:00.002-05:00

It's been three weeks and I barely have even received a phone call back from the bus company. I had no choice but to contact a lawyer. Seeing as the driver got a ticket, I have witnesses, and damage to my bike (for a little extra proof) Mr. Lawyer seems to think it would be worth persuing. I'm not a person who ever felt like I should sue someone. Maybe now is my time. I just find it amazing that one of their drivers wasn't paying attention and I'm the one ignored when I want my stuff paid for (parts, clothes, medical bills). Maybe I'm the one that is messed up but shouldn't they be kissing my saddle sores (I don't actually have any just so you know)? Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought but if I were them I'd see my offer as very reasonable seeing as all I ever wanted was compensated for my stuff. We'll see how this pans out...

It's Official...

2008-02-10T21:36:00.000-05:00

Being that we are a small team we have to allocate our resources with efficiency. We decided to have a meeting at Isaac's Deli in downtown Lancaster. This turned out to be an expensive meeting for Joel since he got a ticket on his way from the Philly area. Joel, racing bikes is ok. Racing cops, not ok. Got it? Our goals in 'cross are always the same...to win. Road and mountain get more complicated due to the fact that the seasons are longer. All in all I say we covered a lot of important items and came to resolutions on some of the logistics for certain races. It looks as though a website will exist in the near future too.
There were lots of pictures taken. Mostly of the candid variety but the team photo was finally taken. We couldn't have picked a more wonderful day either. Mid 20's with a 20-30mph wind. We braved it (most of us in the short sleeve jerseys). These photos should be available in a few days.
If you are a veggie (like a few of us on the team), Isaac's has your back. I think there are about 10 or so different sandwiches to choose from. Plus there is always a veggie soup. So our meeting was amist pita wraps, pretzel sandwiches, and the Creamy Pepperjack Tomato soup. YUM! Not only was the food in the picture but also the President of Isaac's himself. It's was nice to see him get excited when we presented him with a team jersey and cap. I think our waiter was jealous.

Super Tuesday...

2008-02-06T10:55:00.000-05:00

All that seems to be decided is that no one has really decided. My guy dropped out a few weeks ago but still managed a few votes, though not as many as Edwards. I never really liked politics because everyone of them lies. You have to. It's all the blame game, like, our schools are failing. It must be the teachers union. All they care about are their pensions...BULL ONY! It can't be because our schools are underfunded in the BILLIONS! "No Child Left Behind" is a complete failure due to the way it is implemented. I guess that is a teacher problem though. It has nothing to do with the fact that the top percentage of students stay stagnent, those that are close to the minimum requirements are focused on, while those at the bottom are forgotten.
Since when does the United States attack other countries preemptively? That's a few billion coins we could've spent on education. A few years ago I thought one person can not ruin this country. Congress would make sure of that. After all our founding fathers set it up that bureaucracy would slow things down so much that one couldn't do that much harm. They did it that way on purpose. But hey, who am I? I just work for a living and ride my bike as stress relief. Before I completely impode, I decided to figure out my schedule for the season. Being that I orginized this rag tag group of riders I have many obligations...

3-15 Strasburg Road
3-29 Kirkwood Road
4-6 MASS XC Team Relay MTB
4-12 Mt. Joy Road
4-13 Fair Hill MTB XC
4-19 Bakers Dozen MTB Enduro
4-20 Hibernia STXC
4-26 Deep Blue STXC MTB
4-27 Greenbrier XC (Nationals Qualifier) MTB
5-3 Granogue XC MTB
5-10 French Creek XC MTB
5-17 Union Grove Road
5-31 D&Q XC MTB
6-1 Tom Bamford Crit Road
6-8 Tour De Tykes XC MTB
6-21 Peiffer Hill Road
6-22 Neshaminy XC MTB
6-28 Brownstown Road
7-4-6 Marysville Weekend MTB
7-12 Mt. Penn Road
7-13 Fair Hill XC MTB
7-27 Nottingham STXC MTB
8-16 Iron Hill XC MTB
8-30-31 24hr Seven Springs MTB Enduro

Throw in a few CX races from Oct-Dec and you have a very full season. In some stretches I have 4 races in 9 days. It should be a blast though since all the riders on the team are close friends. I know I can rely on them to pull their share.