Mountain biking

2007-03-11T22:07:00.001-04:00

Planned route for 3.12.07

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=764058

Great article on food & nutrition

2007-02-07T10:07:00.000-05:00

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?ex=1170910800&en=06ba851f35f7fdf3&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Need Booties

2006-12-29T14:23:00.000-05:00

Today was deceptively cold, and I paid a bit of a price. I wanted a relatively flat route, and wanted to explore west of here, trying to figure out good roads that connect to the many routes that I ride with Joe. I loved the route, but I'll save it for a warmer day or until I get some booties and some warmer gloves. It was really cold out there.

The gmap-pedometer link below says it was 38+ miles, but my bike computer logged it as 39.66. I stopped at the Stewarts on Route 20 in Duanesburg and the one in Altamont. Just sitting and warming up for 10 minutes made a big difference. It took me until I got home to realize that the reason my feet didn't feel cold was because they had become quite frostbitten. Now I'm sitting here enjoying that deep down itchy feeling that only comes with frostbitten feet. Nice.

I rode today with my new heart monitor. Nice gadget, but I came to hate it pretty quickly, since just riding at an easy pace within the first 2 miles put me over my limit. I guess riding more could help that :).

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=607314

39.66
2:52:18

Capital District Mountain Biking Calendar on line

2006-12-13T15:58:00.000-05:00

The mountain biking wing of the local cycling club has created a Web site with a calender of local mountain bike rides.

Too busy to ride.

2006-12-13T15:51:00.000-05:00

but I'm proud of my kids! Between it getting dark too early and my son getting his black belt and both kids performing in Revels at Emma Willard School I simply haven't been keeping up. It's pathetic, but I think it's time to get going again. I have three weeks off starting on Friday, so it's time to get back in action. I can't blame the weather, so it's all on me

Squirrely Six results are in and I feel great about my results. I came in 14 seconds behind "unknown runner" and was 32nd out of a field of 104. That's better than any open class bike race I've ever done by a longshot!

Squirrely Six

2006-10-29T12:54:00.000-05:00

Ran the Squirrely Six this morning. I was a lot warmer than I expected to be, with temperatures soaring into the low 40s :-). Seriously, I peeled off my jacket before the race, and probably could have been comfortable in a thinner shirt. At lease one guy ran it in a sleeveless shirt and shorts.
I ran the first mile fast because I had fresh shoes waiting for me at the end of a very wet and muddy section at the start of the race. Probably 20-30 people passed me while I was changing my shoes, but I didn't think that was of much consequence. I caught a few of those people, but for the most part ended up running the race with the same 5 people around me. The hills were harder than I thought they would be, but my strategy of taking easy on the hills and putting out a big effort at the top really seemed to work.
When I reached the top and got onto the flat along Beaver Creek Road, I could just see the last of the five I had been with through the race. I caught them all along the flat, and also passed one woman who had passed me on the uphill.
I felt great about the downhill section, and took the "lead" among the five.
The bottom stretch - final mile - was tough. I was running, but not fast. I think I psyched myself out. I took an inventory of how I was feeling, and was fine. My breathing was steady, my legs felt really good, and so I pushed it a bit. Then we hit the last muddy/wet section at the end and I just lost heart. All those little climbs and the cold/heavy feet. Before I knew it, the end was, well, there. You couldn't see it from far off. Just came around a corner and that was it. Too bad. The "sprint" at the end was too short to catch anyone. I feel like I left something on the course because of that last little bit.
The last time I saw before crossing the line was 56:56. I'll have to look up my official finish time.
I stuck around and saw Heidi (my office mate at work) and Erica (her friend who used to work with me at Emma Willard), who were dressed up as Candy Corn and Indian Candy. Then a big surprise came around the corner - the father of a former student of mine who was doing the full half marathon. I took off to run with him, and looked back over my shoulder to see Joe's wife Elizabeth arrive. I gave her a shout, then ran off with Gary. He ran 12 miles up to Thatcher park before the race. Wild. He wanted to get 25 miles in for the day. He runs 40 mile endurance races.
Liz, Heidi, Erica and I hung around a bit. Got warm (actually, I got a lot colder), ate some food then hung to see Joefinish. He came in with a group of three and looked strong and steady at the finish.
So it was cold, wet and I'll probably be sick for a week now, but I had fun. I don't know if I'll be doing any of these "first night" runs. I'm actually looking forward to getting on the eliptical trainer and treadmill indoors where it's warm.

532 Madison Ave

2006-10-25T16:19:00.000-04:00

Well, this was most unexpected.
I left my keys in the car after last night's run, so when my wife took the car to work I was left with a car, but no keys. Not good. I fretted for a bit, then put on some layers of clothing and hopped on the road bike. Not my best ride, but the tailwind made the first half of the ride pretty easy. By the time I got to Troy and had to ride up the hill my legs were feeling pretty heavy.
I think the last few times I rode to work it was 1:30. I lost quite a bit of time on the bike path feeling listless and unable to push the pace with the wind at my side.

Ah, so the title of this post? That's where I was when I hit my 1000th mile. That's 1000 miles since I bought the cycle computer in February. It's been a good 1000 miles!

Route map
24.86
1:37:11

Thatcher

2006-10-24T22:13:00.000-04:00

So I ran with a belly full of burritos this evening with Joe. What a terrible run. Ugh. My gut felt bloated the whole run, and by the time we hit the top my legs were heavy and slow. I guess I'll eat better on Saturday night before the Squirrely Six race.
The course is cool. There's a 1 mile flat terrain run before you hit the big climb. The climb isn't the steady Long Path road that I thought it would be. The climb takes you up the steep, technical portions that I usually ride down. The nice thing about this is that you don't have the climb the whole thing at once. You climb a steep burst, then it's flat for a bit. The bad thing is that those steep portions are quite steep.
After the run I hopped on my mountain bike and followed Joe along while he did Hairy Gorilla portion of the race. I've ridden out there before but never seen the conditions so bad. Mud and standing water everywhere. I could barely move. Wish I had ditched the bike and run again.
I hope this is the bad dress rehearsal before the performance. One more run this week, and maybe a 1 mile job on Saturday and that's it. Wish me luck (I'm going to need it).

Fast!

2006-10-13T20:55:00.000-04:00

I ran again tonight while my son was in Tae Kwon So. Same route as last week, but I tried to add about a mile using some side roads. I didn't feel like I was going particularly fast, but in the end I logged just under 6 miles in 45 minutes. Since my goal for the Squirrely Six is 54 minutes (6x8 minute miles), that felt pretty good. If I run again this weekend it will be at Emma Willard on Saturday. Hope to get one more in...

Black belt training

2006-10-10T22:00:00.001-04:00

Tonight both of my kids had a Tae Kwon Do class. They both went to the first class, then I took my son out for a run. I thought we'd do about 2 miles. We ran a short but hilly out and back route that I've done a few times, but we shortcut out a bunch of stuff. I was really proud of him - he ended up running 2.35 miles in the end. Great job for an 8 year old. His pace is good, too.

Track & stairs

2006-10-09T19:53:00.001-04:00

I ran with my son again today. He was off from school, so he was with me all day and then after work we just went to the track. He really struggles on the track, pretty much stopping 3-4 times per mile. When we go on the road he's nothing like that. 1 mile in he had to use the bathroom so we ran back to the gym. I ran stairs while he did his thing. That felt pretty good. I was winded near the end, but my legs felt fresh.
We both finished with a half mile on the treadmill...

Pretty good

2006-10-06T22:50:00.000-04:00

I ran tonight while my son was at his two hour Tae Kwon Do class. There is a 4 mile loop that I spotted, so I gave that a try. Very hilly. Probably the best run I've done. I still had a lot left at the end, my strides felt long, and I finished the whole thing in a lot less time than I thought it would. Well, at least I think I did - I didn't time it :-)

Hope to run at least one day next week...

Where you been?

2006-10-06T18:54:00.000-04:00

I've been so busy. Holy cow. Every year I think that the return to work will be better than the last. This year I looked forward to a return with a number of things going for me:

1. I was in better shape than I had been in a long time

2. Both my kids are going to the same school.

3. On a good day, I could wait until 6:00 to go pick up my kids at their after school program

4. TONS of opportunities to ride with friends, acquaintances, buddies, whatever

I admit that as August came to an end, I started to look forward to riding less. I planned to do a race one weekend and decided to just ride instead. There was a century ride in Saratoga, but I had a soccer game to coach. The third Masters of the Mountains race conflicted with the opening days at my school. I feel like in July I would have bailed on the soccer game, called in sick to work and done whatever I could have to get in a ride. Ah well, I'm sure I will get inspired again soon.

So what have I been doing? I've been running as much as I find the time for. I don't like running, but it is easier and less time-consuming than biking. My son has to run 50 miles (with 39 to go) in order to satisfy the requirments for his black belt, so I've been running with him and then going for a run for myself. In this way I can get in 5-6 miles, but the first 2 are very slow.

I did go for a ride with Joe a couple of Saturdays ago. I would say that it didn't feel right. I started with my bike computer at 955 miles and with nothing to do until about 6:00. 25 miles in, though, and I was feeling out of gas. Joe was understanding, and didn't need the miles. He's been preparing for a marathon and had already run that morning. We only got about 35 miles in. I never even looked at the computer to see how far I'd gone.

Three weeks ago I brought the mountain bike out to Grafton on a Friday afternoon. The regular Friday night crowd was scheduled to arrive at 5:00, and I got there at 3:00 to get some riding in before they got there. Less than a mile in I picked up a stick which went right through my spokes and broke off two of them. I left before anyone knew I had been there.

And tonight the Mountain Bike is still sitting there with 1 wheel off. I've got the replacement spokes, I just haven't put them on yet. Again, I know in July I would have been out in the garage at 9:00 at night getting all greasy and getting it done.

So I'm hoping to do the "Squirrely Six," a 10K trail race up at Thatcher Park the last weekend of October. I've been increasing my miles, but haven't run a full consequetive 10k yet. I'm excited, though, it's the first running race I will ever be in.

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Just a ride

2006-08-22T16:18:00.000-04:00

Took an afternoon ride to celebrate my semi-annual physical. Not that it went all that well, but it felt like an appropriate thing to do. I rode my "standard" road loop, which I haven't ridden since June. Through Altamont, up the hill, through Thatcher, back down, and home along Swift road. I had good times, but felt like I was bonking at the end - guess it was the heat.
The most exciting thing along the way was that Beaver Dam road has been freshly paved. I thought I would add a climb in as an extra session, but I wasn't up for it. I .2 mile climb at 4 MPH, and I didn't feel much like doing more.
31.03 miles in 1:53:45
Altamont: 29:57
Corner of Thatcher park road: 1:00:03

Short ride

2006-08-19T16:01:00.000-04:00

Nothing special. I rode home from the Car Dealership. It's a short ride, so I really pushed it. I had my average up over 20 mph with 3 miles to go home and then hit Grant Hill on Grant Hill Road and dropped it back down under 19. God I suck at climbing. I actually felt good on this climb, never dropping
11.77 in 37:44

Masters of the Mountains 2 pictures

2006-08-19T15:59:00.000-04:00

Pictures taken by photographers at the Masters of the Mountains have been published through Hunter Mountain. I hunted through them and found all the pictures of me and made a photo album.

Road ride

2006-08-12T19:25:00.000-04:00

I hooked up with Joe for a midday road ride. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and I'm very glad to have done that instead of racing today. I rode out from my house and met Joe on King's road. We biked back past his house, up Balltown road and then east on River road. What a pretty ride.
Joe was moving on his fully geared up tri bike with aero bars and ridiculously fast wheels. It was all I could do to keep up while drafting off of him into a strong headwind. We were going 25 mph on a fairly flat road for about 10 minutes and that was all I had in me. At least I had that! I'm pretty sure I would not have been able to do that earlier this summer.

Thatcher park expanding

2006-08-10T23:22:00.000-04:00

I read today that New York State has purchased 188 acres to add to Thatcher park. It's the "High Point" section that is the highest point in the park, and in which I rode last night. Jason at EMS announced that he has permission from the park and wants to try and build some trails there. Excellent. Now we won't have to climb straight up a dirt road in order to get to the peak.
I know as a mountain biker I should be more involved in access issues and trail building, but who has the time?

Thatcher Park Ironhorse Demo

2006-08-09T23:09:00.000-04:00

Tonight the folks at EMS arranged to have a demo of Ironhorse mountain bikes available. I showed up early and hooked with Ed for a quick pre-ride. We rode up the hill, around the loop by Beaver Dam and back just in time for Ironhorse to have run out of bikes. The rep offered to let me use his, which was an Ironhorse Azure geared for speed. I really liked it. It didn't act like or weigh as much as a full suspension bike. He had a carbon suspension fork, carbon handlebars, 1.8" tires and some other goodies on it to make it light.
I would love to buy one, currently on sale through Performance Bikes, plus 20% off with a coupon I could get one for $1030.00. Seems like a steal, but there are a few other priorities firts:
- Replace my wedding ring which I lost 2 years ago :-(
- Family vacation
- New windows for the house
- Landscaping for the backyard.

So, yeah, I guess I'll just be patching together my $450 Tassajara for a few more years.
Anyway, the ride. I headed out with an EMS groupride mostly filled with young kids on downhill bikes. It was slow, but Lego Andy and Veggie Girl were there to chat with so it was okay. Rode 'til dark then went out for beer & pizza after. Good times...

Darkhorse 40 results

2006-08-07T18:00:00.000-04:00

Darkhorse cycles posted the results today (whoa, they're fast). The winner in my category was only 19 minutes off of the fastest overall time of 2:50:04. The first finisher was an expert in the 40-49 age group. Unbeleivable.
My final time was 4:02:12, and I placed 24th out of 29 with 2 DNFs. I was 3:01 behind the next finisher in my age/category. If I had raced beginner, I would have placed 6th out of 15. Wow. I guess I just have to keep riding...

40

2006-08-06T16:16:00.000-04:00

I just got back from Darkhorse 40. What a blast. Here are some highlights while I go mow the lawn :-)
- I was stunned to have finished in 4:05
- The overall winner finished in 2:50
- I think I was the dirtiest racer at the finish line
- I navigated a steep, technical climb with 1/2 mile to go while another rider in my category got stopped on the same climb
- A bee slammed into my face full speed in the same place on both laps
- My bottom bracket and left pedal have had their final journey with me. They're both toast
- I had a horrible face plant fall on a downhill with 7 miles to go
- I have blisters on my hands

I'll give a more thorough report once the lawn is mowed. Thanks for reading.

Cursed?

2006-08-05T22:47:00.000-04:00

I went out for a ride with Joe this morning, eager to get my legs going after a week's rest. I didn't plan to rest, and in fact have done very little this week, but it felt great to get back out on the road. On my way out the door I checked my email and learned that my carpool partner for tomorrow's dressers 40 crashed last night and lacerated his liver. Yes, I said lacerated his liver <gross>.
I pull into the parking lot at SCCC, later than I wanted to because I wanted to write down the hospital info so I could go visit Doug and his lacerated liver, and hook up the pump to my back tire to top it off. It promptly gives a "pop," and deflates. I call Joe to leave a message that I'll be late, then attend to my tire. I finally hit the road at 10:05, 5 minutes after I was supposed to meet Joe some 4 miles away.
We haven't seen each other in a while so we chat for a bit, and I mention Doug. He says, "Hey, weren't you supposed to do the Xterra race at Grafton tomorrow?"
"Yes," I say, but the guy I was supposed to ride with broke his finger."
At some point we begin talking about my two weeks in Connecticut, and I mention that one guy who was supposed to ride with me broke his foot and couldn't ride. At this point, Joe is sweating, and not because of the heat. He's wondering when it's going to be his turn to have an injury.
So after a great ride with Joe (39 miles in 1:53), I head off to the hospital to visit Doug. He looks awful, is very weak, and has obviously suffered a major injury. He will certainly recover, but as of my visit at 2:30 this afternoon is in pain, and really needs to recover. Doug is expecting Jen, aka "Veggie Girl," at 5:00, so I head out a 5:05 figuring she will show up any minute. I head out the front door and to my car and there are 4 ambulances, a fire truck and a police car about 1 block up. I think, Hmmm, I hope that's not Jen. Well, to make a long story short it is Jen. She got blindsided by an ambulance. She was trying to turn left off of New Scotland Road and didn't see the ambulance speeding along and passing her on the left. Boom!
So I stuck around to make sure she was alright. She's fine. I finally escorted her up to Doug's room at around 8:40. She had a ride home, so I took off to go home, had some dinner, and now it's 11:00 and I'm going to bed.
Wish me luck in the Darkhorse 40! Or better yet, hope for everyone else's sake that I'm not really cursed.
More tomorrow...

Masters of the Mountains 2

2006-07-30T16:14:00.000-04:00

It was such a beutiful day to race, and the course was a lot of fun. I left the house earlier than I thought I needed to, and was glad I did because the major road into Hunter was closed. I arrive at 9:00, registered and had time to preride. I didn't want to preride too hard, but didn't want to race cold either.
Anyway, first lap was great. I started off nervous and couldn't get a breath, but calmed down before the first sttep climb. I climbed just about everything, but was surprised by the rocky technical section in the middle. Then there was the section at the top. I had dreaded this, and had bad memories of it from the year before. No sweat this year. In the end I climbed it all 3 times, the 2nd time in the middle ring. I think the last two years I expended so much energy to get to the top I didn't have anything left.
The descent is largely open, but has two section with some very exciting rocky sections. The first if filled with banked turns, and gets really rocky at the end. The second one starts off rocky and gets worse. Both have big drops, and you have to pick your line carefully. I flew through these parts. It was my best part of the race. One spectator yelled "Yeah, work that suspension!" Too which I replied "Hardtail!!"
It was a great race. I placed 11th, and finished in under 2 hours (1:58:04). I beat 6-7 guys, with no DNFs in our group. The leader came in at around 1:30, so all I need to do is figure out how to take off 10 minutes per lap and I'll be competitive :-)

Not liking CT Mountain Biking

2006-07-27T23:26:00.000-04:00

After hitting so many unridable sections on Wednesday night, I thought I would try a new park for Mountain biking. According to the director of the workshops, there was another state park "just up the road." 40 minutes of driving later, I arrived annoyed but ready to go. This park, Mt. Tom State Park, was small, and the climbing was similarly impassable. I ended up finding a 1 mile section that was pretty much ridable going up, and a good challenge going down. I went up and down that section 4-5 times, and was feeling good when it was time to go. Another 40 minute drive and I was back, too late for dinner...
That's probably my last ride before the race on Sunday. I'm not totally confident, but I'm hoping to do better than last year.

The importance of sleep

2006-07-26T17:10:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a difference a week makes. I rode 4 times last week in 4 days. My goal was to ride 12 out of 14. I took Thursday off so that I could finish up my week of running workshops and didn't get back on the bike for a week.

Anyway, I am in desparate need of sleep, struggling through the workshop I am offering, and feel stressed because Masters of the Mountains 2 is 4 days away. Yikes. The workshop ended at 2:00, so I figured I had better get the mountain bike out and go. I went to the state park where last year I broke my freewheel 1 week before the Masters of the Mountains race. It's a good park, with ridiculously steep climbs. I rode to the top of the hill twice, then raced around the lower section for a bit, and hit the wall. My legs felt good, but I had that feeling again of being about to fall asleep at the wheel. I turned around, headed home and now I'm sitting here sweating in the air conditioning. So, a good night's sleep a few days in a row seem to be in order. I hope to ride on Saturday morning, then the race is on Sunday.
The map looks like the exact course as last year. My goals for this race are:

Finish
At the top of the mountain, there is a section where you come out on a ski trail and face an easy, gentle climb along the smooth, grass trail. Last year when I did this race, I had so little left at the top of the first climb I ended up walking this easy section. My goal is to ride it at least once this year.

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Yeah!

2006-07-20T00:16:00.000-04:00

Today's ride left me tired but fired up! I want to scream like Howard Dean!!

So the day at Taft ended early and I was able to leave at 2:30 looking up at a beautiful blue clear sky, and with the perfect temperature. My riding partner since Sunday was game, so we headed out to duplicate the ride that we took yesterday. We got wicked lost trying to find a loop without using a map, were made to feel totally insignificant by the ostentatious homes on "Tranquility road," and ended up riding 19.1 miles in 1:31.
I wanted to ride for about 3 hours today, so I had planned a route through Litchfield that would take 2 hours. I stubbornly didn't want to give up on the route I had chosen, so off I went on my chosen route. After stopping for water, I headed out for a 2 mile steady-but-not-steep climb, followed by a very refreshing 3.5 mile 35MPH+ descent down to Black Rock state park in Thomaston. Left turn at 109, hook up with Litchfield road and on into Litchfield.
Heading out of Litchfield I caught up to an incumbent rider who showed me some better roads than the major roads I had chosen. We were probably together for 15 minutes, and it was great to have a riding partner for a short time. After leaving him and heading for the little town of Bethlehem (sorry, couldn't help it) I really started to feel the hills, the heat and the distance. I stopped for more sustenance, but even with a quick sugar boost and some cold gatorade, I was definitely hurting with 7 miles to go. I'm so psyched that I pushed through it. I cramped up later that night, which was painful and annoying, but ended up with a great ride that has me wanting more.
With a riding partner:
19.1 miles in 1:31:31
Without:
34.37 miles in 2:16:53

97 degrees

2006-07-18T22:06:00.000-04:00

The temperature kept rising and rising until I finally headed out at 5:15 to a balmy 97 degrees with 66% humidity and the threat of sever thunderstorms. I once again had a riding partner, and having learned about a local rail-trail, we headed out to explore some new roads. After an initial steep climb, we rode quite a bit flatter than we have been, finally finding the rail-trail 5 miles from the start. Rode the rail-trail for a bit, then headed back the same way we came. I'm eager to check that out some more, but have a different route in mind for tomorrow.
Tomorrow we get out at 2:00, so I'm heading out for a longer ride. My riding partner will come out for the first hour, then I'll head out on the smooth winding roads out around the state park. I'm hoping to get a little more than 3 hours in. What kind of mileage I'll cover who knows, but I'll be out there. I hope you're all riding, too!

Slow ride then hammer time

2006-07-17T22:10:00.000-04:00

The only word for the weather here is sweltering. I think it's 95 and very humid. It's not really effecting me all that much, though, and riding feels like a great way to beat the heat rather than get beat up by it. I went out with my riding partner from yesterday. She was dogged from the heat and the previous day so we cut the route shorter to 11 miles, which we covered in about 45 minutes. One memorable descent featured big frost heaves that made the drop feel like a roller coaster. I was glad to have my mountain biking skills for that one.
I dropped off my partner with a little bit of time to spare so went out on my own. At the traffic light the driver gave me a friendly "You're nuts for riding in this weather" and then I was off. I started off with a mile of steady climbing, then headed for more of the rollers. I really wanted to get a lot out of this ride, so I pushed it hard. A steep climb up a dirt road slowed me up a bit, but then it was flat or downhill from there. I ended up doing a little under 5 (4.87?) in 15 minutes flat.
Tomorrow I'm meeting my partner again, but Wednesday she's busy and we get out early and I have a 3 hour solo ride planned. Nice.

Two weeks in Connectict

2006-07-16T23:05:00.000-04:00

So I am in Watertown, CT for two weeks teaching some AP Computer Science workshops. It can be a grind, but the people this year are stellar which is helping my attitude a bit. My goal for these workshops is 12 rides in 14 days. I usually get about two hours in the early afternoon, but I was hoping today I would have more. Not the case.
I spotted a workshop attendee driving in the gate with her bike on the car and chased her down. She was excited as I was to hit the road, so we agreed on 5:15. Ended up doing 13 hilly miles at a pretty slow pace, which was okay given the amount of riding I did yesterday. I haven't found a killer ride yet, but what we rode was fun. Nothing flat, but no super climbs either. A couple of memorable (and scary) descents. It's not hard to hit 35 MPH for an extended period. Maybe I'll try the same route backwards.
It's funny, I usually get to these things and drink a little too much, sleep too little and stay fairly blue all week. With the goal of riding more it's easier to manage all that. Maybe it's nothing to do with riding at all, but whatever it is I'll take it.

Grafton Rocks!

2006-07-15T19:14:00.000-04:00

So today was the Grafton Rocks! Mountain Bike Festival. What a great time. The weather was incredible, and every trail seemed to be in absolutely outstanding shape. I was blown away by the number of new faces and the great spirits everyone was in. I led a 9:00 AM ride with 4 novice riders. Three were roadies, and one was a young fellow who is just getting started. I checked out a sweet Jamis XC bike and took it for a spin. Other than a flat near the end it was a dream. I then got my own bike and went out with the intermediates for a quick spin up water tower before picking up my son and taking him out on the 11:00 kids' ride. He did such a great job.

I hung out with the family, got some sustenance and then led a 1:30 ride of novices. Only 1 roadie this time, and this time I got a full 5" travel suspension Jamis to test ride. Great bike, but a little soft for me. We hauled up Mill Pond road, then up fire tower to Little Johnny's/Chet Bell. The intermediate ride blasted past us halfway down a long descent, then we regrouped with them at the bottom and never saw them again. Finishing off on Johhny Cake was a bit much for these beginners, but we had fun anyway.

So, I rode about an hour at my own pace when I could and about 3 hours with the beginners. Not a bad day.

Pictures from Jen Harvey

Busted

2006-07-09T21:04:00.000-04:00

So at 4:20 I dutifully changed my clothes, got some water ready and grabbed my mountain bike. I Walked out of the garage to the car, picked up the bike and placed it gently on the roof rack and ... *snap*! One of my drop-outs snapped right in half! Aaaargh!!!

So now I am learning more than I thought I would ever have to about suspension forks and their measurements. I doubt that a 4 year old fork will still be covered by any kind of warrenty, but given how strange this break was, I'm going to give it a try.

I did hop on my road bike and go out for an hour and half. I figured I would try the Pinnacle climb I have been warned about, and the warnings were all well founded. In order to get to Pinnacle I had to climb Beaver Dam Road, which was remarkably steep. Then Pinnacle starts off with a 165' climb in .26 miles, flattens out, and then climbs again. There were a few times when I thought I'd be walking, but I did manage to climb it all.

24.38 miles

1:33

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Good Saturday morning ride

2006-07-08T13:08:00.000-04:00

Joe and I headed out for what has become highly enjoyable Saturday morning routine. Today I thought I was feeling pretty good, but was afraid that I might have had too big of a breakfast. Joe and I headed out on the route that he took me on the first time we rode together. Big hills, a couple of steep spots and amply rewarding downhills. This time the hills didn't seem quite so bad, and I didn't feel quite as bad for Joe as he waited at the top of the hills. We descended and climbed again pretty quickly and I started feeling stronger. By the time we hit downtown Rotterdam and started heading back east on 5S, I was very pleased with the groove that I was in. We covered a fair amount of rolling hills on 5S in short order, and then headed up the same climb I did with the group ride last Thursday. That was enough for me, and I'm sure I'll feel this ride tomorrow. The final climbs were hard fought, and standing up for 2 and a half minutes for one steep climb really didn't feel very good; I couldn't really stand out of the saddle for more than a few seconds after that.

Rock on, I'm riding again tomorrow!

49.01 miles 2:52:45

Thatcher Park Ride

2006-07-06T21:32:00.000-04:00

Hoping for better mountain biking results than I had on Monday, I headed out to Thatcher park for a group ride. I failed to meet the group, but spent 2 hours exploring the trails south of the Paint Mine parking lot. It's a decent climb to Beaver Dam Road, but it's short. From what I can estimate on Google Earth, it's about 250' of climbing in 1 mile. Terrain varies between ATV trail and jeep road. There are no logs to hop, but there are some reasonably technical rocky spots and a lot of good, steep, short, climbs with roots & rocks.
While riding I discovered where the group I came for had parked, so I kept swinging by there and eventually ran into them as they were coming back to their cars. Jason from EMS was the ride leader, and he said he was canceling Sunday's ride because he's out of town. I was going anyway, so I told him not to cancel and that I would lead it.
So, anyone want to ride? 5:00 PM on Sunday. Park on Beaver Dam road. From Albany take route 85 to Thatcher Park Road (route 157). The second left is Beaver Dam. 2.3 miles from the intersection you will see a fence on the left, and a small parking area on the right. Park on the right.
We will hash around on the trails near Beaver Dam to get warmed up, then head down to the Paint Mine trails. We will probably drop down to Hop Field, climb back up, and then go to Paint Mine. From there we'll head west until we run into Beaver Dam. We'll ride along the road a bit until we hit Long Trail. I reckon it's a 6-8 mile loop that we'll try to do twice. There are at least 4 bailout points if your legs get tired. Hope to see you there.

Ah, that's better

2006-07-04T14:45:00.000-04:00

I was definitely dreading this morning's ride, but ended up feeling great and having one of my better road rides. Maybe I just needed sleep. Or maybe I've been riding the Felt too much and the Fisher not enough.
We met up at SCCC and headed West on 5. Right turn on some road I didn't get the name of and 800' of climbing. Not bad. Two very steep spots, and all of it was definitely uphill with pretty much no break, but I felt good. I did the whole climb in about 15 minutes. I would guess it was 3-4 miles. Then it was decision time, head back or go back down and climb another 800' to the same ridge on a different road. I went for it and it paid off.
We dropped back down to Route 5 and headed back up Washout road. Joe and I had done this climb before, and I had a rough time with it. It was much less steep than the previous climb, and I ended up pleased with my effort. We passed the spot where I had dehydrated the last time we climbed it, and it was pretty much gravy all the way home.
We caught another rider, Scott, who is trying to get back into riding. Nice guy, hopefully we'll see him again.
39.76 miles
2:16:45
1980' climbing

Back, but hardly in action

2006-07-03T21:38:00.000-04:00

So we're back from vacation. It was nice. I ended up running every day instead of biking. There's a long story behind that, but I'll spare you. So, yeah, I thought I'd head out to Gibb's farm and give that a try. It was a little wet in the beginning section, but I was feeling okay. I made it through the downhill switchbacks and then felt pretty good coming back up. I did an end-o over some roots, and right after that fell at high speed because of the overgrowth. It's my own fault for not attending the Gibb's farm cleanup day :-(. The high speed fall was worse because I fell right on the same elbow as I did on the end-0, so I was hurtin'.
I approached the powerline feeling like I should push myself, so I pushed up the ATV trail and hit the powerline climb with little left in the tank. I made it about halfway up and just couldn't get the pedals to go around. I almost cried. I can't remember ever not being able to get up that hill. The rest of the ride was horrible, I had no push left, no energy, and everything seemed harder than it should have. I arrived hoping to do two laps and then hoping to run into someone else to do a slower lap with, and ended up taking an hour to do one lap and going home.
After the lap I laid down and actually fell asleep for a couple of minutes. I guess staying up late during vacation plus working outside all day today caught up with me and I was just tired. I'm supposed to ride with Joe tomorrow, and will go to bed tonight hoping that it will rain.

Away

2006-06-23T18:56:00.000-04:00

I'm going on vacation for a week. No bike, no hills, too much sun.

Air conditioning, good food, family and relaxation are good for you too, though. Talk to you in a week.

Group ride

2006-06-22T22:04:00.000-04:00

I finally got a night to ride and hooked up with a group ride at Schenectady County Community College. I went out with the 'fast' group with some trepidation, but was happy I did. We rode out route 5S, then turned left and headed for the hills. I heard someone say we climbed 1000' but it didn't feel like that much. I got dropped right away on the first climb, and finally caught up with the group as the waited for us. I saw Art from spin class. He and I and one other rider worked up one hill together, then down a huge, fast descent. Naturally, we missed the turn, so had climb back up a bit to get back to a secondary road that brought as back to the route.

On one descent I hit a new personal land speed record of 49.8 MPH. Felt pretty good, but some idiot put a stop sign right at the fast part of the road.

I bought a new tire to replace the cracked one just before the ride. I tried to forget that I was riding on a new tire that someone else had installed. I'm annoyed at having been outclimbed so badly. I guess that's the thing I'll be working on.

5 weeks to MOTM #2 with 700' of climbing per lap!

39.6 miles

2:25

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Changes

2006-06-21T22:37:00.000-04:00

It was a day of changes. I had my stitches removed, worked for a bit in the morning and then rode my road bike in the afternoon. I had planned to repeat the hilly loop I did yesterday, but 3.5 miles into the ride I got a flat on my front tire. While changing it, I couldn't help but notice that my front tire was quite noticably splitting on one side. That made the thought of a 45 mph descent down route 85 seem unwise, so I changed my plans and kept to the flats at the foot of the escarpment. Each little downhill left me nervous, but I made it through without another flat. Staying on the flats let me focus on cadence, but left me a little sore from never changing position to standing.

I also found a nice little ride from Altamont back home. Get to Altamont and follow the signs for 146, which will take you right at some point. Turn right at the stop sign. This road goes slightly downhill for 1-2 miles, then intersects with Becket Road, which is also slightly hilly. Both are comfortable, even back roads with few cars. I even rode for a mile or so with an antique car on my tail.

I hope to get the mountain bike out on a trail somewhere tomorrow. I need to clean and lube some cable housing first, though.

20.6 miles

1:10

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Proud Dad!

2006-06-20T22:41:00.000-04:00

My son came home today with a President's council on physical fitness award* which was awarded him by his school for running a mile in 7:52, the best in his class. He's quite a kid. I asked him once why he thought he was so fast, and he said it's because his legs are so long. He's the smallest boy in his class (which in 2nd grade means you're the smallest kid). I think he's got a tremendous competitive streak and I know he works hard. Wow, I'm so proud.

* this is in no way an endorsement of the person we are all curretnly forced to call 'President' for another 2 and a half years.

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Nice ride!

2006-06-20T12:16:00.000-04:00

I debated on riding today or not since I am giving blood this afternoon. So far, I am glad I went. The temperature was just right, there was no traffic (except for one very large dog) and it made me feel great after the disasterous ride on Saturday. I took the most direct route from my house to the Thatcher park climb, and began by climbing up route 85 from New Scotland. The first half of the climb went really well. I was following Joe's advice and staying seated for 2 minutes, then standing for 1 minute. Just after the turn onto Thatcher Park road, I turned off onto Indian Ledge Road and climbed that. Indian Ledge added another 200' to the 400' I had already climbed. I fortunately took the first left onto Wolf Hill Road, because if I hadn't, the next turn back to 443 was 3-4 miles down the road. I hooked back up with route 85, which is an incredibly fun descent. Funny how some of the short climbs on the way back were a piece of cake averaging 18 MPH, but some were nigh impossible, and it was all I could do was get up it at 6-8 MPH. I guess it's a matter of energy level or something.

Stats:
18.81
1:09.11 - includes stopping for pictures and to say hi to my son as I passed his school.
600' climb in 2.5 miles took about 14 min

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=522883

Riding attempt

2006-06-18T22:48:00.000-04:00

Tried to ride this afternoon in the extreme heat (90 degrees and wicked humid). From the start I felt like I had already been riding for 3 hours, all of it uphill. I hoped that the "the hardest part of every ride is the first 20 minutes" rule would apply, but other than an easy flat section that was pretty painless, it seemed like the whole ride was the hardest part. I rode the loop at the wildlife preserve just South of Thatcher Park starting at Ryan Road. I rode the loop once, yelping for bears all the while, then rode the loop to the steep downhill that heads back to the park. Altogether I guess I rode 6-8 miles.
After that I rode 6 miles round trip to Nichol's Market with my son so he could get a snack he has been dying for. Easy ride on the mountain bike.
Anyone have any advice for riding two days in a row without the 2nd day feeling like you can hardly move your legs?
Looks like the rain is coming back starting tomorrow :-(

Riding

2006-06-17T21:10:00.000-04:00

I took a road ride with Joe today. Great day for riding despite the rain early on. I'm sore from dancing on Wednesday night, and my face doesn't look great, but the ride was a good one nonetheless. Joe wanted to go for two hours, so I got him to come here and we did my standard route, but continued straight on 157, turning on Knox Cave Road. What a beutiful, fantastic road. It adds some climbing, but some great twisty drops, too. Very nice. We came out on Thatcher Park road all the way down where it meets route 443. That's a pretty good spot, but there is a huge hill to climb. So, yeah, I felt good enough to put in my fastest average time yet. I did draft for a couple of sections, but feel like I did it on my own for the most part.
I found that on downhills without pedaling I was going a bit faster than Joe . This made me feel good about it until I realized that it's probably gravity pulling harder on my body than it does on Joe's. Oh well.
Downtown Altamont: 28:45
Total miles 36.1
Time: 2:06

You should see the other guy...

2006-06-15T11:23:00.000-04:00

To be dramatic, I had surgery this morning to remove some cancerous cells from my face.
To play down the drama, the "surgery" took about 20 minutes and a local anesthetic and the "cancer" were just Basal Cell Carcinoma, which are harmless 99.44% of the time. Still, I get some cool stitches, don't you think?
According to my buddy who's in med school, something like 70% of new cancers reported each year are Carcinomas like this. They are caused by being an idiot and refusing to use sunscreen when you are a teenager.
According to the Doc who removed the cells, I waited too long to do something about these and need to be more careful. Will do.

Biking home

2006-06-14T16:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's bike home was pretty straightforward. I'm continue to measure my strength & fitness by which gears I use when climbing. From that standpoint this was a good ride. I never dropped below the 4th gear in the back except when I was stuck in traffic or at a red light. I did discover the beuty of Madison Avenue, which is a much better route than New Scotland road. For one thing, the pavement looks like it's been worked on sometime this millenium. For another, there are two lanes for cars so they have room to zip on past.
No wind today, so I think that helped my time.
Stay tuned for pictures. I'm having surgery tomorrow.
Distance: 29.61
Time: 1:32.20

Commuting

2006-06-12T09:14:00.000-04:00

Rode to work. I tried turning off of New Scotland road onto side streets. I don't know if it was any better. The one way streets are okay, but not well paved. I think Madison Ave might be the way to go. I felt good up until I hit the bike path, and then was not able to average more than 14-15 mph through that section. I felt really good on the climb at the end. I stood through the whole climb, and climbed it all in the 4th ring in the back. 25.27 miles in 1:36

Masters of the mountains 1

2006-06-11T16:16:00.000-04:00

June 11, 2006. Placed 13th in a field of 20 in the Masters of the Mountains race at the Winter Clove in at Round Top. I wish I could do better. I was 30 minutes off of first place. Ugh. I did meet my goals, though, so I am happy. I just can't beleive how much faster people are than I am.
I passed one guy in my class (Brett?) about 300 yards before the finish line, and another guy from my class (Django) sprinted to catch me at the end, but I sprinted and beat him by a nose. In the standings, they gave me a 10 second lead over him. I stayed after and watched Terry, Brynna and Doug. Brynna was on the tail of another woman in her class for the first 3 laps, but when I last saw her she was about 18 seconds back. I also saw a pro rider who asked how far ahead the guy in first was, I told him about 90 seconds but didin't bother to tell him that the guy had done the climb he was riding in his middle ring and not the granny gear :-).
Course description: It started on a short but steep and soft (pine needles) uphill that separated the pack. Then around a turn, on the road and then back into the woods for a short, steep drop followed by a long climb, including a section along a small ridge line. Beutiful, but a little scary. After the climb, the reward is a fast, rocky descent with only a few turns, which bottomed out at a stream with a tough little bump to get back out. I pre-rode it and figured out to just hit it fast and be in the granny gear on the approach. It worked great, and I climbed it every time except the last time when I was too tired to do much of anything. Coming out of the stream was the long, hard slog. It was a long uphill that just kept getting muddier the more you went. Finally, the mud would get so thick you just had to get off and haul your bike for about 200 yards. On the first lap and the preride you could ride this section, but by the time I hit the second it was impassable. I went and watched the pros ride it and they were walking it, too. Not much of a reward for this section. A short drop and then a climb back out to the road and to the "8th hole" which was an impossibly steep climb. Well, not impossible. I'm disappointed I didn't ride it. On the preride I made it past the root only to hit a rock and slip out. I should have been able to climb it. After that there was a nice long double-track descent with a couple of turns, but not much technical about it.
Thanks to Doug for the photo!

Training ride

2006-06-10T22:03:00.000-04:00

I rode my standard loop with strong winds. Strong enough that on the back stretch, I hit a top speed of 46.5 mph on a fairly level section with one brief downhill. I also rode most of the Thatcher Park Road at 20+ MPH with a strong tailwind. The headwind at the end, after the downhill on route 85 really slowed me down, as did the headwind at the beginning. I was slower getting to Altamont, but felt better on the climb and finished it faster than last time by a few minutes. I was able to stand out of the saddle longer and with more strength. 29.36 miles in 1:51.
Altamont: 36 minutes
Corner: 1:07

Caught a group ride

2006-06-08T22:12:00.000-04:00

Aiden and I rode bikes to the baseball field only to find the game was cancelled. On the ride back I saw a group at Guilderland High getting ready to go out and ride. I brought Aiden home then headed out with them. I saw Jen Harvey on her new road bike and enjoyed a good, but short, ride. It was nice to be riding in a pack. 19.27 miles in 1:10.

Gibbs farm

2006-06-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

Rode at Gibbs farm. I showed up early and did a lap. It was wet, but not as wet as I was riding. I did ride up the climb I never make it up, but wasn't getting much done. I guess I need to mountain bike more. After that lap I led a group out on a ride. There was one guy who was pretty good, and another who was on more of a commuter bike than a mountain bike. Chris led a group that included a 10 year old kid getting ready for a race. They were quite slow. I hung out for quite a while afterward. So, 2 laps at Gibbs farm in 2 and a half hours. Not my fastest time :-)

Riding

2006-05-28T16:11:00.000-04:00

Rode the Thatcher park route that I rode on April 21. I guess that's my new workout route. Out Depot to Meadowdale to Altamont road, then West to Altamont and up the hill, past thatcher park and back down. Today I added that I go straight on 85, and continue on to Swift road. Probably adds a mile or two. The ride was 28 miles altogether, and took me 1:47. I would like to get to the point where I'm doing that faster. I felt good on the climb, standing with good speed for 3+ minutes, and then alternating sitting & standing after that, but by the time I got to the top I didn't have much burst left. I just need to ride more (and lose a few lbs - my legs are hitting my gut when I'm down in the drops. Gross).
Altamont: Exactly 30 minutes.
Thatcher Park Road: Exactly 63 minutes.

tailwind is better than traffic

2006-05-24T11:24:00.000-04:00

Rode my bike in to work with a nice tailwind. The worst part was New Scotland road, which has way too many lights. I did better than the cars, but still got slowed down a lot. I'm looking for an alternative...

Rode home

2006-05-23T22:22:00.000-04:00

Rode my bike home against a very strong headwind. The trip ended up taking 1:40 instead of the normal 1:30.

Taking the long way to work

2006-05-20T11:45:00.000-04:00

Rode my bike in to work for weekend duty against a strong headwind, adding another 20 miles by taking route 32 all the way up to the Broad street bridge, then heading east from there up Northern BLVD to an unnamed road (I meant to take Plank road but turned wrong) to route 142, coming out on Route 7 a couple miles south of 278. North to 278, across there and then back to Eagles Mills on Route 2. At Eagles Mills I took Garfield road (beutiful road) to 355, then 355 to Spring ave and to Emma Willard with time to spare. 46 miles altogether. Not my best ride, I was sore the next day and in some pain near the end, but it's a start.
In Albany I lost a water bottle at the bottom of Madison ave. I was going 30 mph at the bottom of the hill only to discover that the crosswalks had been cut out and there was a 1" deep pit at both ends of the intersection. I jumped the first one, but hit the 2nd one hard with the rear wheel sending the water bottle flying.

Five Boro Bike Tour

2006-05-07T23:48:00.000-04:00

I can't say enough about what a great experience this was. I barely slept, stood waiting to go for hours and hours, and never rode faster than about 10 mph, but I had such a good time I can hardly stand it. The girls were fantastic. Responsible, appreciative and fun. I'm sure in a few weeks I'll be ready, but right now I'm too tired to every try anything like this ever again.

More Five Boro Bike tour training

2006-04-30T22:03:00.000-04:00

Led 4 Emma Willard girls on the same route that I took on the 24th. I couldn't even tell that I had ridden the day before and felt really strong. Had a lot more wind. The girls on this ride scared the crap out of me on the road. They always looked 1 move away from disaster. The worst was trying to get off of route 2 onto Creek Road. Soccer had just let out and there was a ton of traffic. We blocked up the bridge and then the girls didn't know where to go. Half ended up on Pinewoods and the other half in the ditch on the right. They don't always make good decisions, one of them crossing over the other lane with a car coming right at her. There are some girls that we will need to stay close to during the bike tour.
Thought of an important safety tip. When travelling around a right hand turn and being passed by a car, be ready to ditch if there is another car coming towards you. The car passing you won't be able to see them and will choose to hit you instead of take a head-on collission.
It was fun at the end. I knocked into each girl in turn to see how they would handle the bike in an emergancy. Fun.

60 miles!

2006-04-29T23:01:00.000-04:00

April 29, 2006. Went for a 60 mile ride with Joe on a route he planned. It was nice and flat with strong headwinds both ways. I drafted Joe nearly the entire time so that wasn't so bad. We meandered through Schenectady to Scotia then headed straight out on 5S. Just past route 30 we turned off onto Florida road, battled traffic through Amsterdam and took 5 to hilly but quiet roads that ran us along the path of route 67. None of the hills were terribly bad, but I was definitely feeling it on the climbs. About 45 miles in I got cramps in my right leg and left hip. I was totally out of drink and needed to use nearly a whole bottle of Joe's. With some liquid and stretching I felt a lot better, but never felt confident in putting the hammer down. I could feel the cramps just waiting to come back and get me. It was a good day and made me feel better about riding, though I am obviously not in great condition. Hopefully I will ride more this week and begin to get some back.

Riding with Emma Willard girls

2006-04-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

Took 5-6 EW girls out for a training ride this afternoon. It was long weekend so we were able to ride on a Monday. We travelled about 15 miles, heading straight out from campus on Spring avenue all the way to route 351 in Poestenkill. Not a bad ride, with very little traffic. The girls did great. We headed up 351 and came back along Dater Hill road. There's a good 200' climb there that none of the girls struggled with. As for me, I did a couple of sprints in an effort to keep the pack together. Those felt good, but I wish I had more wind to be able to hold a conversation while riding uphill.

Why are people so stupid?

2006-04-21T14:37:00.000-04:00

I took some time this afternoon and went for a ride. It's the first ride where I really feel like I am over being sick. Thank goodness. I felt like I messed up my eating or someting before I went on the ride, or maybe it's just that I'm totally out of shape. I did my standard "from home" ride, with some extra exploring of some side roads.
Ride description: From my house I went west with a tailwind onto Depot road. The wind rarely comes from the east, so this was strange and I was moving along at 20+ with little effort. I turned onto Meadowvale and instead of taking Fredrick to Gardner to 146, I stayed on Meadowvale to Altamont road. Lots of climbing on Meadowvale. Short bursts great for a workout. After those little climbs I felt confident so I went the hard way up Berne-Altamont road instead of the "easy" way up Township. I felt good, but would say I "bonked" halfway through. I felt so good up that beginning steep stretch. I was standing, using my legs and felt like I could do it all day, but after I sat down when it shallowed out I couldn't get back up again. Then my stomach started to roll and I felt a little shaky. I climbed the rest and enjoyed the ride at an easy pace after that until Carmel called and was stressed that I wouldn't be home in time.
I was at Thatcher (8 miles from home) and felt pressure to move it along. Easy because I was at the top of the hill. I felt stronger than I had through the ride doing the momentum uphills through the park, then hit the big downhill. I hit 40 MPH and moved out to the center of the lane, tucked in and hit 45. Two cars decided to pass me by going over the other lane, then promptly pulled back into the lane and put on the brakes to get down to the speed limit and forcing me to use the brakes. Very frustrating. I'm sure I could have hit 50 MPH. Why do people drive so stupid?

2006-04-11T19:34:00.000-04:00

I wouldn't say I'm really over being sick yet. I felt better today, but I can still feel that tightness in my chest. I read that drinking lots of water helps a congested throat, so I'm giving that a try. I'm hoping that I will be able to ride on Wednesday with the Plaine's crew.

Too sick for Sweat 'n

2006-04-09T12:32:00.000-04:00

Today was the Sweat 'n Century in Clifton Park. I had really been lookiing forward to it. Even if I was well I wouldn't have been able to go since my wife has a big paper due at school. We're also having people over next weekend for Easter and the house needs some work. Our basement looks better now that it is painted. Next, I'll install the carpet tiles.

Too sick to ride

2006-04-08T20:45:00.000-04:00

Scheduled to lead an Emma Willard ride this afternoon at 1:00, but I'm too sick even to do that. What started as a fever and cough has turned into a cought that I can feel down in my lungs. The weather isn't helping, but at least it's gross enough that I don't feel like I'm missing on such great riding.

sick

2006-04-04T09:11:00.000-04:00

Well, that's that. Now I'm getting sick. My daughter brought home the bird flu or something so now I'm cooked.

Schlepping is not riding

2006-04-02T23:26:00.000-04:00

I was looking forward to riding this weekend, but got caught up with a bunch of family things and organizing the Emma Willard trip to the Five Boro Bike tour in May. I brought my bike and my wife's bike to Emma Willard and brought them and some girls down to the bike path so they could ride. Another adult led the ride, so schlepping bikes is as close as I got to riding :-(

2nd place!

2006-03-26T14:59:00.000-05:00

I raced the mountain bike race in Central Park again, this time riding in the novice category. I felt SO much better today. I had legs all the was through, and ended up lapping some people who lapped me the week before. I took second, which was very pleasing. Especially nice was Heather's presentation of my placing 2nd. She seemed proud that I was one her spin class participants, said I was "incredibly good looking," (blush) announced that I had ridden the metric century the day before and seemed psyched for me. Nice moment.

Many thanks to Jen for taking so many great pictures.

Relaxing metric century

2006-03-25T13:24:00.000-05:00

Nothing like a metric century to get you ready for a race :-). Jason (man can he ride) and Justin from Plaine's met "Veggie Girl" Jen at Plaine's at 8:30 in the morning and we rode out to aurisville and back. Only two big hills, other than that perfectly flat Mohawk river road. Very nice and relaxing.

Not doing Johnnycake again this week

2006-03-23T10:04:00.000-05:00

I took a quick hour long ride to gear up for the weekend. Down Relyea to route 155, up the big hill and tooling around on the hills from there.
I decided not to do Johnny Cake again. I need to ride more before I do more of those road rides.

Heather!

2006-03-22T22:18:00.000-05:00

Back to spin class. This weather won't give up! Heather gave us a scare. She was in so much pain she pretty much fell off her bike. Dr. Rob and Wiley took her off to the hospital. The rest of the night was pretty mellow, as you can imagine. I hope there is word on her soon...

Mountain bike race in Schenectady

2006-03-19T13:16:00.000-05:00

Mountain bike race at Central park in Schenectady, thanks to Heather. I rode the open category and had very liitle left after racing yesterday. I DFL'd. Next week I think I'll go novice instead. I've never been colder.

Johnnycake did not go as expected

2006-03-18T18:31:00.000-05:00

I'll keep this brief. Johnny Cake did not go as expected. There are a lot of guys out there working a lot harder than I am at this. Joe says it takes a few years of training to get up to speed. I guess that's what I will look forward to. I am proud to have finished. I rode all but a couple of miles solo with strong headwinds. It was quite a workout.
I really need to do a lot of group rides. Riding in a pack was nothing like what I expected. It felt like more work rather than less.
Goals: Ride more! Who cares about racing? Well, I kind of do, but I will definitely keep it cool.

Getting ready for Johnny Cake road race

2006-03-16T11:11:00.000-05:00

It's cold but I'm out. I need to do a tune up before the Johnny Cake road race so I rode from home to Emma Willard via the Mohawk Hudson bike path. 42 miles. I averaged 15.87 MPH which I think is really good considering I got lost twice, had to ride through Troy city streets and had one stretch of dirt bike path that I wasn't expecting. I'm ready to kick some butt at Johnny cake!

Not as strong as I thought I was

2006-03-15T21:46:00.000-05:00

Damn this cold weather. Back to spin class. I thought I was feeling strong and then came to class. Man this is hard.

Good class

2006-03-13T22:08:00.000-05:00

Good spin class tonight. I feel strong

Cold, but happy

2006-03-12T16:16:00.000-05:00

It's gotten so COLD. No releif in sight! I lead a ride at the Pine Bush today which was a lot of fun. Tequila Doug, Lego Andy and Samantha showed up and we rode for about 3.5 hours. Doug showed us some new trail (well, new to me) out by the graveyard and I impressed everyone by riding over the "skinnies" out on what I call the "garbage pile" trail which is off of the blue trial. It was a great ride, including Lego Andy offering to look at my resume.

Not riding

2006-03-11T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sad because everyone is biking today and I am home. Mountain biking at the Pine Bush, and a beutifual 55 degree day for riding road. Joe and many others have made sure to tell me what a perfect day it was. Carmel's birthday was yesterday so we are enjoying the day with Fran and Joey in town. We hiked around Thatcher for a bit so that was cool. Also, spring break is here so I'll be riding a lot.

February was a blur

2006-02-27T22:59:00.000-05:00

Alright, things are busy and I haven't been able to keep up with this journal. Long story short - I've been going to lots of spin class. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mostly. I also had a chance to go to Joe's on a Saturday morning and spin with him. It was cool, but the trainer wasn't adjustable so the resistance was higher than what I'm used to. It is very cool hanging out with Joe, though. Poor Heather got a DNF at a 24 hour race in Arizona. She banged up her foot pretty good, but she's healed.

Birthday ride

2006-02-04T13:17:00.000-05:00

The day after my birthday and the sun is OUT. It's unseasonably warm and I am psyched to be out on my road bike. I'm extending my "normal" 20 mile loop up to Thatcher park by going out through Knox and back on Helderberg Trail road. Bit of a mistake. The road is a 55 MPH highway. Plenty of shoulder, but a little too much fast moving traffic for my taste. I did enjoy "Street Road' which is a dirt road up at the top half. Yum. I got chased by a dog on the lower half. Scared the crap out of me. He was sleeping in the bushes by the side of the road and heard me go by and gave chase. I squirted my water bottle into his face and that slowed him down enough for me to move on. I felt kind of bad because I could see a little girl looking out the window while I did it. I imagine she was kind of upset that some mean man squirted her sweet pooch, but he was looking like fangs and snarl from where I sat. I was pretty proud of this ride. Lots and lots of hills. Usually the 20 mile loop I take takes me two hours and today I did 30 in two hours!

Century a month club ya-yas

2006-01-28T13:21:00.000-05:00

Heather is running a "Century a month" club and today was the first. Not a bad day, really, but it was remarkably cold. Heather, Wiley "Veggie Girl" Jen and someone she met (Mark) at the Grafton Winter festival went out for a low speed ride around a 25 mile loop. Heather bailed after the first because she was frozen, and Wiley had to go to work. I led Jen and Mark around the 2nd loop and got us good and lost on the way back. The worst was that we ended up on route 146, which is a fairly busy road. I didn't feel safe until we got back to the bike shop. I had to leave at noon so I bailed on Jen and Mark who rode another 12 to make it a metric century.

Back in action

2006-01-20T21:19:00.000-05:00

I came back to give it a try. Heather is away so someone else led the class and it was fairly easy. I didn't make it through the ride, though, I wasn't feeling well enough yet I guess.

Sick

2006-01-13T15:56:00.000-05:00

Great, now I'm sick. I feel like crap and guess it will be a while before I go back to spin class. I've had a fever and actually stayed home from work one day.

Wednesday night classes are amazing

2006-01-11T21:44:00.000-05:00

My first Wednesday night class. Unbeleivable! She killed us. I guess Wednesday night is the hard night. She is incredibly strong to be able to lead us through class like that. I'm amazed.

First spin class

2006-01-02T22:02:00.000-05:00

First spin class. The instructor is the infamous "Heather" I've heard about from the Troy riders. I'm a little intimidated, but she seems cool and the class is certainly a workout. I'm paying my fee and going!

Spin class

2005-12-29T00:11:00.000-05:00

I don't remember how I heard about it, but apparantly there is a spin class being offered at Plaine's in Schenectady. I don't know much about Plaine's. I went there looking for my road bike, but they had little inventory and the salesman was a real doofus so I ended up at Clarsfeld's instead. Anyway, spin class membership is $30 for unlimited classes through April 1. What a bargain.