Two weeks and counting.

Less than two weeks to the Mohican 100. To update things, here's what's been happening. I decided not to go to the normal WVMBA xc races I usually do in the spring. Two reasons really. One - I've been concentrating on longer sustained rides for Mohican. Two - rain, rain, and more rain. I really had no energy to drive a couple of hours to race in the mud.



So what have I been doing? On the rare occasion that it's not been raining, I've been getting out on my road bike as often as I can. Finally bought a real road bike this year, a Cervelo RS. About 16 pounds and a standard crank - what a difference it's made in my riding. I bought it at Big Bang Bikes, and the best part was I truly have a bike that fits me. Can't say enough about my positive experience at Big Bang. Heck, I walked in and the guy says with your build, you must have an Irish or Scottish background. I think he was a seer.

I've gotten in a lot of 4-6 hour rides in. No real breaks, just good solid pedaling. The downside is that 4-6 hours is the longest length of time in between rain storms. I really had hoped to get in a couple of eight hour rides by now.

But at least I've been on my road bike. I've only been on my mountain bike like four times this spring. But the times I have been on my mtb, I have felt really strong. I certainly don't have much cross country explosive power in my legs, but I do feel like I could ride a long time.

So now the mental calculations begin. Do I have enough training in me to do a 100 miles? I'm not sure. I feel like the 100K is doable, but 100 miles? Not really sure. On the road bike, doing a century was more a psychological hurdle than physical. I'm afraid on a mtb the problem will be both psychological and physical. I think we'll make a game time decision. Get out on the course and see how it goes, and then decide when the courses split.

And the training continues

Well the training for the Mohican 100 continues. There's been so much rain (insert ark joke here) that I've been mostly putting in road miles. I think I've been on the mountain bike twice so far. The picture above was a training ride two weeks ago, rode out to prospect and back. Took about five hours and 56 miles; not bad for April.

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I'll have to be on my mountain bike for like 11 or 12 hours at Mohican. I've tried to be a bit more organized about my training lately. Mostly trying to get in one long ride a week, one day of intervals, and at least one other day of some type of riding - but the rain is the x factor. I also did p90x this winter, gained a bunch of muscle. I'm just maintaining right now with the p90, just doing it once or twice a week, and trying to ride a lot more. I really hope the muscle will help help at Mohican as well.

Ok, that's about it for right now.

2010 look back

I meant to do this back in January, but just plain forgot. I wanted to write down some memories and thoughts about the last year when it comes to riding. Last winter started with good base miles (slacked off on the intervals though) and before I knew it was I kicking off the race season at Big Bear as usual. Rode pretty strong.

24 Hours of Big Bear was canceled, so instead I went way down south West Virginia and rode the 24 Hours of Creek to Peak. Big lightning storms. We got second place, but I'm not going to tell you how many teams were in our category.

Spring quickly moved into summer, and my goal was to ride the Bike the Wilds series. That series started off with the epic Dash for Cash. Just once I'd like to race that course when it was dry. This past year, the "creek" crossings were more like river crossings of death. Lots of rain made for very high creeks.

Summer hit full force, and I can't remember a hotter or more humid summer. Started off by going down to Davis, WV, with Mark and Hubert. We rode Canaan area. Rode Moon Rocks and Hoo Doo Rocks. We happened to arrive at the bike shop just in time to hook on with a group that was being guided by one of the shop's employees. Worked out great. Moon rocks is very unique to say the least.

Stayed at Hubert's "cabin" that night, and then got up the next day to be greeted by some serious rain.

Headed over to ride Plantation Trail. Never thought it would be rideable with all the water, but it actually was. Rode that rocky trail for what felt like forever, epic. Then at our farthest point from the van, got caught in a torrential downpour. Crazy.

Later that summer that three of us did a one day road trip to Raystown. Took a little under three hours to make it there. Rode the super fast, flowy trails of Raystown. Did about 18 or so miles. Someone described it as a 30 mile pump track, and it's a very apt description. The danger of the place comes from going too fast. And it's easy to go too fast, I know, I met a tree while there. Afterward, we grilled up some sausages at a local pavillion. That was a tough drive home.

Back to the hot and humid summer I arrived. I never had the heat hit me so hard. I was always out of energy. Did some very hot races in Bike the Wild, got lost in two of them. Then went on vacation, didn't ride for two weeks, came home and tried to race and thought I was going to die.

The low point of last summer was making it to the top of the first hill in North Park and collapsing. I had to call it quits, and I had gone like only two miles. No energy, no legs.

Finally the fall came around, and I got all my energy back. Rode the Month of Mud races with Mark. Mark was riding really strong, but it kept me riding faster than I normally would have. I started peaking around in December. Joe Friel would be so disappointed in me.

That wraps it up. Not exciting for the three people that read this, but I didn't want to forget when some of this stuff happened.

Mohican 100 or What was I thinking?

So I did it. I signed up for my first 100 mile mountain bike race. Or to be more precise, mountain bike ride. I signed up to do the Mohican 100. My only goal, to finish. Two and a half years ago I did a 100 mile road ride. Didn't think I could pull that off, but I did. Now, I fear, a much harder goal to accomplish. I've started to train a bit more seriously, but the weather here is really not helping much. But I have gotten in a good number of three hour rides on the road, need to up that to four hour rides if the weather will allow.

Here's a little video from Tinker's site that gives some great perspective of last year's Leadville 100. A good motivator I think.

Month of Mud - Moraine

Moraine - 11th Masters - 7th overall for series - 2:00

Almost forgot to write this up. Got to Moraine, and it was a beautiful fall day. I knew that I would finish in 7th place in the series as long as I finished. That took a lot of the pressure off. I decided I would ride a strong ride, but try to enjoy the day and the trails.

The experts started, and about five minutes later the rest of started. Almost instantly, the guy in front of me goes down hard. I saw his helmeted head bounce off the gravel road. I barely got the brakes on in time, and I just missed him.

The route this year was different. We quickly headed uphill, turned left in to some rocky uphill switchbacks. This section was packed with riders, things hadn't spread out enough. This section was built for me. Short sections that needed power, then stretches where I could catch my breath.

We got to the top of the hill and things started spreading out as we headed downhill. I caught the guy in front of me, but he was going slow. Finally, I found a place to pass him, and I could hear three guys behind me follow. I then stayed off the brakes and in no time at all we caught the pack again. Whew, time to catch my breath.

Had to do two laps, and like always when I was done with the first lap I couldn't imagine doing a second lap. But like always, I got in a groove and it wasn't too bad. And like always, I ended up not seeing a lot of people, I thought I must be dead last when I finished. Found out that I did okay actually, especially since I didn't push quite as hard as I could have.

Saw a lot of mechanicals, and saw a number of people totally cramping. Moraine's 12 miles feels like 22 miles by the time you're done. The rocks are awesome, very rideable, but you have to be on your game.

The series was a lot of fun this year. Got to see a lot of friends, the weather was awesome. A big thank you to the Month of Mud gang, great job.