I had to get Jay’s bike ready for this race. I decided to run 34×18 and let it all hang out for Sunday. Talked to Lou and Mandi rode to Halters to meet me and hang out for a little. Talk a bunch. I really wanted to get out; Lou was heading to Six Mile and it would have been a great time to test out the Seven, but I figured we are doing that tomorrow and I don’t have too much interest in it. I didn’t want to get home late again. I knew that it was going to be too close, so I bag it and we head home and try and figure out what we are going to do for dinner. And then everything changes.

My phone rings; Usually means its my parents because they are the only ones who really call me. I turn my phone over and it’s Lou. Great, means he flatted and I need to pick him up at Six Mile. No biggie. I pick up and as usual, Lou is kind of distracted and talking to someone else. Dude really needs to remember that YOU CALLED ME, I’m giving you my full attention. Anyway, he says he forgets why he called me.

Hmm, Okay.

All the sudden someone else’s voice. “Hey, this is Todd, your friend took a pretty good spill….” I think, how bad could it be? He’s walking around and called me, He isn’t dead. I tell Todd I will meet him at South Middlebush/Trailhead and pick him up. As I drive over there I keep thinking, man, can’t believe he broke his bike or flatted, etc etc. I assume that’s why he needs a ride.

We park at SMB and I see the MTBNJ colors and some other guy with a dog. Lou is angry and cursing and frustrated, still semi normal. He turns around to me and I see the left side of his face, he’s got a nice cut on his face and some blood, but still, nothing too crazy. He’s talking to me, standing and seems like this guy is really just blowing this out of proportion. Walk over to my car and make sure I have all of his crap, put him in the front seat, load the bike, etc etc. Once we are all in the car I figure we will goto Casa and get some dinner.

I make him look me in the eye and see where he is mentally. I say “How do you feel, seriously?” Todd said he needs to goto the hospital. Lou knows himself and I know Lou pretty well, so we can figure this out. He says “I called you?”

Okay, this is scary. I figure we drive back to the 27 lot and he will drive home IF I think this is a good situation. The drive from SMB to 27 is about 10 minutes. In that 10 minutes, I realize he is completely screwed up and took a huge hit to the dome piece. Uh oh. He has no idea what happened and can’t remember why I came to get him.

We roll into the 27 lot and I’m 90% sure we are going to the hospital. I park behind his car and he sees his Scalpel on the car. He is completely confused. Almost like a magician put the bike on his rack. Okay, Hospital here we come.

Mandi follows me and I try and talk to Lou. He keeps trying to figure out what is happening and why he is with me here. How I got here. It was a broken record. I’m trying not to smile because I know this is serious. Lou calls his Mom and I can tell just by what he is saying, that she is completely confused. I force him to give me the phone and talk to her.

RWJ here we are! Almost get our cars towed, but get all checked in. Lou is completely frustrated at this point, but this is how he normally would be.

Lou doesn’t remember this.

While we are waiting, I tell Lou to give me his phone. I need his moms number, but also I wanted to see what else happened. I noticed Lou called me, then his favorite Pho place, and then Paypal. All have P’s in them, but why would he try and call them after he spoke with me?

It all makes sense, he couldn’t remember if he even called me. Oh man.

Get the cars situated, and we get taken in pretty quick. Lou can’t remember what year it is and wasn’t 100% sure what month it was. He did remember Obama was the President. Show the nurse his helmet and I chill with Lou before and after his CAT scan. His sister shows up, followed by his Mom. I fill her in and let her know what is going on, but I can’t stay because only one person is allowed in the room at a time. No need for me to be here. I head home and try and digest everything.

It’s a lot to digest, it’s 11:30PM and I still haven’t ate dinner; Just running on adrenaline at this point.

It really comes down to just wearing a helmet. Lou has no idea how he fell, but I have no idea what would have happened without one of these devices. The other thing I’ve learned from this is that people need to know where you are. I always make sure one person (99% of the time it’s Mandi) where I’m going and some sort of time frame. If I’m not back by then, call me. Having your phone on you is now mandatory. If he didn’t have a phone, maybe he gets back to the car. The Edge 510/810 syncing this is a great option too.

I’ve always gotten on people for not wearing them, but now it seems like I need to do more to make sure these people are safe. If this Todd guy came up on Lou without a helmet, could he have just been laying down dead? No one wants to find someone like that.

Saturday
Impossible to sleep in with this cat, even though I needed it. I see Lou texted me at 2AM and he’s home, so that is good. His mom calls and fills me in a little and is very thankful. At the same time, I don’t think I need to be thanked, this is just something you are suppose to do. When your friends need you, you show up.

We meet Robin and Jeremy for a little SS shakedown. I was really feeling this gear here. As always, Six Mile always makes you feel like a superstar. Such a great spot to feel like a pro. Jeremy and I take turns turning up the pace and were totally in the zone. Meet the girls back at the lot because I didn’t think we were playing nice, but they didn’t seem to mind

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/304156579

Chat it up, it was a beautiful day in the sun.

We saw this dog driving a car in the lot too.

Even though we parked at the Canal lot, we drove all the way to 27 for some tacos.

Always. So. Good.

I forgot the rest of the day, but I’m sure it was awesome. Tried to rest from last night. I know we went to bed pretty early, because 5:30AM is going to come regardless of if we are ready for it or not.

Sunday comes, and I love waking up earlier than the cat, because then SHE is the one who is pissed. Sucker. Pump my own gas in NY and get all set up. Warm up with Dan Strum on the fire road and ask what gear he is running. 34×16. LOL, WTF!? Scouted out where the pot holes were on the road and headed back to the line. Okay, the juicy stuff.

The Plan
Blow up at the top of Major Mike and hold on for dear life. I would hope that I don’t need to ride that hard after that. Suck the wheels of people for the first 2 miles and take me to the promise land. Blow up just like all my peers, but just in front of them and keep that gap.

We line up and I find myself in the 4th row, with eyes on Jeremy, Iggy, Eric O all within arms length. We go off and Holy crap, we are flying. I leap frog from rider to rider and find myself near the front of this race.

Okay, so far so good.

We get to Major Mike and I can still see the front of the race, Iggy in front of me, and Eric O behind me. We all churn up and I’m slowly losing Iggy pace. I real him back in at the end of MM, and let Eric jump in front and close the gap 100%. Iggy is starting to get a little more of a gap, and Eric takes a berm too hot and eats it. Make sure he is okay and he is, gets up and leads us on.

I eventually get disconnected from EricO and his 2:1 on a fire road and I’m kind of in no mans land. Billy Big Pants passes me and tells me he lost all his water. Ouch. I try to latch back on and tell him I have an extra bottle, but he drops me.

A couple of other faster people pass me, and eventually Jeremy is behind me. Just like last week. We ride together and chat a little, but realize not many people are around us. Plan is a success, but now I just need to stay on my bike. I feel recovered and totally feeling it today.

We dump out onto a FR and I smash a Gu. Jeremy asks if I have another one. He had to fix his wheel lost his Gu’s. He says he loves me and we press on.

Luke was in a great spot to showboat a little. You could tell he was set up right infront font of a sweet jump.:

Love how Jeremy slowed down a bit so he could J-Whip the shit out of it.

We battle with 2 other guys the rest of the race, some guy with a Moots jersey and Bikeman.com jersey. Both of these guys are strong than me, but I’m able to stick them on the FR and hold on for dear life. The gearing allowed me to close the gaps on the fire roads in a heartbeat, and recover.

The four of us (oh yeah, Jeremy wouldn’t leave me alone) Swap spots and pull away at certain points.

We jump onto the last section of FR and the Bikeman guy comes by on the fire road and wants to take the lead. I’m cool with that. I sit on his wheel HARD up this hill and actually rub tires with him. I apologized and we headed off.

We end up passing Mandi on the side of the road and she yells “Yeah that’s right, use him like a Hooker!”

That’s my soon-to-be-wife!

We see the arrows that lead us to Schofield, and I hear this loud sound of dirt exploding. All the road riding I’ve done lets me konw that Jeremy is coming around. he comes around the left and I jump on his wheel, right before we enter the water uphill that is the entrance to Schofield. I think about following Jeremy, but I decided to say screw it and jump back on the lead. I remember this trail is a nice gradual climb and hard to pass on the DH, so I had to stay in front. It hurts, bad.

I figure I dropped Jeremy on the uphill along with the Bikeman guy, but Jeremy is still here. Damnit. Can’t see Bikeman, I assume his lead out killed him and left us to battle it out. We reach the top and out of nowhere, Bikeman blows buy me on a risky spot, but with less than a mile to go, no one gets a free/easy pass. I’m hoping somehow I can get that spot back, but he takes the good lines and takes the spot.

I start hearing noise and see white tents and make sure I don’t crash.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/304718332

Great race for me. My strategery worked and I somehow kept it together to finish 23rd. Chat it up with the peeps and I see that I’m not too far behind my peers, which excites me. Iggy and I both agree that Battenkill hurt worse than this. Sure it was painful, but nothing will top that as of today.

I already wrote too much, thought I would speak more about how the rest of the afterparty went down, but I won’t, so I will just leave it at that. Well except my allergies got really bad. Holy crap, I thought I was going to die later on once we got home.

Riding a singlespeed is rough. Mandi wanted to ride CR so I figured I would keep the wheels moving on this singlespeed up there. Ran into woodsters group and headed out.

Man, CR is rough. Or is my Scalpel just that nice to ride here? I’ve unlearned a lot of singlespeed skills over the past year. It is really hard to keep the flow going uphill on the SS with the babyheads. I don’t really miss this. If this is how Stewart was, I wouldn’t even think about this race

I get hung up on a couple of spots I would normally clear with gears, mostly because to momentum lost. It seemed like I kept falling in the cracks and getting jammed up. Gave more props to woody and Schilling for riding these things all the time. I say out loud up a climb “I’m not cut out for this shit anymore! Not sure how I did it for so long. Woody reminded me “you used to be!”

Eventually over on the IMBA trail I hear some creaking that sounds like the BB is moving, I keep pressing on and eventually my (Jay’s) chain snaps. Woops. Woody saves the day and we are able to make it back to the lot without any issues.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/303282787

That’s five rides in a row for Mandi, which may be a record, we would have to go back to the books to look. I think she is going for six, because she made me take her helmet, bike and shoes out of the car today. I’m curious if I could top my record of 10 in a row this year. :hmmm: The hardest part is for sure keeping up with the laundry.

All the thoughts of putting a harder gear on here went out the window from this ride…. But then I remembered that the trail network and race course is buffed compared to CR. Then I remembered how fast Stewart was. Then I realized I am going to put a harder gear on. #YOLO. Mentally this was rough on my SS psyche (spelling?) but I think it did me some good.

No pictures, but I’m good for it. I promise.

So I took Jay up on his offer for his spot and his bike. Strategically planned picking that up and meeting Mandi at the Canal lot to let her rip. I’ve been really loving my decision of getting the Scalpel as my only mountain bike. I was worried I wasn’t going to enjoy riding this bike. Lou saved the day by bringing extra pedals to replace Mandis rust buckets. Ran out of the shop and hit the Canal lot around 5.

Lou was meeting OG Madness at the 27 lot, so I knew we would run into them eventually and ride most of the loop with them.

We chat it up all the way until we run into the dudes on the 27 side somewhere. We turn around and we let Mandi lead, and she ends up dropping us

First time for Lou on the CX bike at Six Mile, I think he had a good time. Mandi has to jet because she’s doing some wedding stuff, so we continue on the white/red/blue enjoying ourselves.

The handlebars became loose on Jays bike, so I stop to fix them. I think the fork needs a little more air in it too. Every time I was going to jump something it would bottom out.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/302870535

I loved it. Felt good to ride one gear again. I appreciate the weight savings now. With a harder gear I think this thing will fly. Hope jdog still has some magic on this bike left over for me

I was thinking “Man I could ride one of these again” then I look down and forget how dialed this freaking bike is. Somehow without adjusting anything, it fits me perfectly. No seat or reach adjustments, anything. I can’t afford one like this.

I also ate way too much chinese food after our ride.

Blue – Cat 2 Outlaw

Friday was a big day for the weekend; Really depended on what Mandi wanted to do. Just was itching to race Sunday, so we did Blue. I really did not feel like spending all day up in NY, and the 9AM Cat 2 start and 11:30 Cat 1 start were not really interesting me. I decided to do Cat 2 Outlaw after speaking with Jeremy. It makes the most sense right now.

My body really needed a day off, my legs felt heavy Thursday and decided Friday would be the day I head over to Halters and try to have the boys fix fix Mandis bike. She has a wicked chain suck issue. Trip tells me its the hub and she needs a new rear wheel. Lame. All weekend we tried to tell her she needs some carbon hoops

Think she could also use some new pedals; but we have 8 pairs of SPD’s around, just need to swap them around

I decided to take a quote from woody; “I’m not going to let a race ruin my ride”. If I was halfway serious about being 100% for a race, I probably wouldn’t do this ride, but why the hell not? it’s suppose to be beautiful.

I headed out Saturday to meet up with Lou and OG Madness at his Bakery ride. Madness is a OG at Six Mile and was ripping it up when I first started to ride bikes. He always tells me we need to link up on the road. The stars finally aligned. I didn’t know what to really expect, but I figured it would be a B+/social sort of ride. I was pretty close.

Couple times we would turn up the pace and hammer out a couple of sections. Recognized one guy from the PFW A rides at Cranbury; There was about 4-5 of us that would turn the screws every once and a while. I tried to grab some KOMs on this loop but only had a 50% success rate. They also paved Coppermine which means it is now extremely fast to go uphill on.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/300608633

Later we went to get some tacos at Casa. Man they are delicious. Glad to catch up with Madness. I’m sure I’ll be out again. After this I cleaned my bike and man, it was filthy. It had dirt in places I couldn’t imagine. Enjoyed the warm sun but not the cold north wind that was making it chilly.

Mandi than filled out one of these:

We were approved for an amount we were comfortable with, and interested to see how far this gets us to staying in NJ. I will update you on the slow progress which is looking at houses. Probably will get more serious around June/July? No idea what to expect really.

Sunday, 515AM and man, its cold outside. And dark. Who’s idea was this? Oh yeah Mandis. right.

Arrive at Blue way too fast; GPS says 1:50, I think I made it in 1:25? Chill with Dustin, Jeremy, ChrisRU, and then the whole world shows up. It was FREEZING. Jeremy lends Mandi a really nice hat since she didn’t bring one.

Blue Race, yes. Me, Jeremy and Chris all lined up together. They let the Outlaw class off after the 50+ men. Interesting. We start picking through the traffic and man, this course is a mountain bikers dream! Not many places to really open it up and with the traffic, you really just hoped the person in front of you made the feature. We did a lot of CX moves in order to move up places from fumbled riders. I remember the courses from prior years having a lot more fire road and downhill. Jeremy only brought bottles so I was curious to see where he would be drinking.

At one point on this baby head uphill climb, Jeremy puts about 10 seconds into me and it takes me the last half mile to catch back up to him before the S/F. Or maybe he just didn’t want to ride alone and wait for me. I realize I need to be in front of him at that point in order to have any real chance of beating him.

We are together through lap 1 and I felt relatively calm. My legs hurt, but nothing that I haven’t experienced before. I still felt good.

Lap 2 starts and I take the point from here; Not sure I should have, but we pass a couple more people and we stick together. We come around to the same spot where I got gapped before, and Jeremy just drills this section. This time its 15-20 seconds. Ouch.

I try my hardest to make up the time that I lost on the climb, but it’s hard. You can really only go so fast on this stuff. I up the risk factor and try to turn it up a notch. I eat it pretty hard and go down on some rock section, but land in the dirt. Somehow the zipties break my garmin mount right off of the stem. Never though I could crash so hard I snap zipties. I grab my Garmin, throw it in my pocket, and realize I need to go back into the same flowy zone I was in before I crashed just to stay alive.

The fun downhill section back to the road shows up and open it up. Pass one more SS rider and I decided to hammer the road for good measure. I look up and see Jeremy coasting to the finish. Lame! Probably would have been 30 seconds, but the score sheet says 10

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301651148

Felt good and I feel like I still have some rock skills. After my fall at Skyline, I lost a bit of it, but now I think I have it back. Except the uphill tech climbing. Jeremy went by like I was standing still.

Turn around and cheer on the rest of the riders coming in.

They let the ladies and juniors go first for awards, which I think was a nice gesture. The way it should be IMO!

All the ladies grabbed the bike pumps and posed for a PG-13 picture.

Headed to get some pizza down the street and home. Mandi made steak and potatoes for dinner. We took the 86 Lebaron to the grocery store

So thats two back to back weekends of waking up early and doing race things. I think next weekend we will be local.

Wow, I really don’t know where to start. I rode my bike 33 miles, half of it on dirt, and I get no response from that; but once I mention I may move, the thread goes crazy. Glad to see some peoples reading! I love reading all the input and information you have, as I’m still a young buck and I don’t know enough about real estate and stuff like that.

A Place To Call Home
We have lived on our own for 3 years in a one bedroom apartment and know we could make that work. I know I could rent forever, but I don’t think that is the best option in that case. I think I used the cost of living as a bad example of moving; I agree that most of the things you will be buying will be the same price. The difference is the extra in taxes. Maybe I’m not looking into this deep enough;

House A: 2000’s construction house (hell, could be new at this price), 3br, 2 bath, 2 car garage, community swimming pool:

$159,000 with taxes around $1,500

House B: Built in 1970’s, ranch, windows falling apart = $200,000 with taxes around $6,500

The mortgage rate will be the same, the gasoline will be the same, but that looks like a $5,000 a year savings, Plus a house I don’t have to invest into for up to 10 years. Lets not look at the $41,000 price difference in the house itself (Lets say $1,300 a year savings), is that not true?

Lets face it, I have a great job and work for a great company, but I don’t have a college fund for my future kids, and I’m sure no one at my age does. We don’t have 1%er jobs. I live comfortably as of now and get by just fine. I could easily find a job with the same income I currently make now anywhere else. Fact. From what I think, I could essentially make $6,300 less than I do now and live the same life I could live here in New Jersey as I could in North Carolina. I would have a nicer house and less money out of pocket to pay for it.

I’ve also thought about the schooling. Where we would be able to purchase a house in NJ; Franklin, Manville, New Brunswick, The schools suck. Maybe they suck in NJ and are blue ribbon somewhere else. I also think a blue ribbon school isn’t going to make my future offspring a Albert Einstein while he is in Kindergarden. I would say we have at least 5-8 years to figure out school issues. At the same time, I don’t want to buy a house and say “we are moving in 10 years, don’t unpack your shit”.

Also, We wouldn’t be flying blind down south, We would have an in from a family member for possible employment. I have no doubt I could make the same amount of money down south as I do here.

I would love to reply to each response but I think it is too taxing (pun?) and I would have another 3 post blog update. We can continue the discussion though.

Okay, Bikes. Believe it or not; Mandi and I rode bikes yesterday. I hit up Mike (IRideBikes) and AL. They are about a stones throw across Old York Rd from my place, so I figured we would link up. We hit CR at 6 and ran into Glenn in the lot. One thing was standing out; Al is going to rip it. Insanely strong up and downhill on that rigid SS. Was a great group ride where everyone rode in the front at some point. Both Mandi and I had a moment of firsts, we both cleaned sections we haven’t in the past. SCORE!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/299523597

Man, my MTB doesn’t climb like my road bike. I wouldn’t say I got soft on the MTB, but I forgot how much of an effort CR is in climbing

We chatted in the parking lot until it was dark about Blue, CX and other fun things. Found out AL was a Honda man like I was back in the day. How bout that. Talked Mike into racing Blue, I think. I think I may race too :hmmm:

I happened to have my cheeseburger socks on at Five Guys:

As you all know, Mandi and I are getting married in September. I’ve spoke with a lot of people close to me about this situation and we are looking to buy a house once we are married. We are both afraid that with our incomes, we could only afford the smallest and shittiest of houses in New Jersey. We are just about to get the ball rolling on looking and seeing what we could afford. We have thought and spoke about relocating down south to the Charlotte area for multiple reasons. Cost of living, weather, how far your money goes, etc. We are planning a weekend down south to check it out and see if it’s something we could consider. We would love to stay and want to see if its possible. You cannot replace the friends and comforts of your home town. The pros and cons are so different on both ends of the scale. Once we have more information about both, we will figure out what is possible and what is out of reach.

Once Battenkill started I was relieved. A lot of stress went into the weekend, but once we were riding it all went away. I was only really worried about crashing or hurting myself in someway. I brought whatever legs/game I had to the table, whatever happens is going to happen. Once I crossed the finish line I was happy to be done, but part of me wanted to give it a go again. The road racing intrigues me. While I was riding I spoke to a couple other guys and said “Man, I wish I was riding my mountain bike” because riding the mountain bike is just so much more fun to me. I’m excited to let it rip on the big wheels.

I have not thought about allergy shots. Sometimes I think I’m a prisoner in the world. I have to lock myself up in a room with the air conditioning on in order to breathe and see straight. This is the second day I have taken my Benadryl Allergy first thing in the AM. I’m able to kick the effects of the drowsiness (or they dont seem as obvious since I’m just waking up) and it seems to be working. On Tuesdays ride, I never had one issue with boogies or itchy eyes. I guess it comes down to spending money for these shots, but I guess I should look into it. This time of the year sucks for me.

Tuesday afternoon and it drizzles a little on my drive home. WTF. Six Mile is mint, so I figure I go check it out. Capers is in, Lou I’m not sure of. I wanted to give the Ridley a spin and get some dirt on it. Rode to Six Mile and head straight to the 27 lot on ST. I forgot how much canti brakes suck. I warm up to the ride and start getting a feel for it. Run into Capers and Lou (yay!) in the twisties. We lay down a pretty good pace the rest of the way. Run into Jay digging with JJ. She just seems to love being outside and in her little carrier back pack thingy. I almost kill myself a couple of times not being able to stop or jumping things on the bike I shouldn’t. We run into Mark (wonderturtle) and head on out. I eventually leave the dudes at SMB and head back on the road. Run into Mark again in the canal lot and chat a little bit.

One of the things that stood out to me was Mark hates riding the road. He said he had some bad experience about it and ever since has stuck to the woods. Kinda made me sad. I was a MTBer before a roadie; Well I don’t think I’m a roadie, but the jury is still out. He has since only stuck to dirt. I think he needs to give it a go again and maybe with a good group of people on a solid loop.

I throw my light on my bike as it is dusk now. I should still be able to make it home before its pitch black. I didn’t feel like throwing my new-to-me bike over a chain link fence, So I enjoyed the tail wind and hit the road for portion of the ride back. Turn the light on right at Colonial Park and enjoy the sunset

It was prettier than my phone makes it look.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/299069387

It was a good day to be out and I made the most of the sunlight. My legs feel just about back to normal.

Battenkill 2013 – Cat 5

So here it is. I took off on Friday in order to get my crap together for this event. I was hoping to ride, but what difference would it really make? And I’m not going to go outside and get soaked.We half packed the morning before, but didn’t think of putting the good stuff in the car before the rains came. We got soaked loading the car. Wet socks and all. Blah. Thankfully the weather was going to be in our favor by the time we rolled up.

Bens cheat sheet

The ride up is uneventful in the pissing rain. It was windy as all hell too. I think it said 20-30mph winds. Would have been pretty epic if the race was today. It gets colder and colder, and I start to wonder if I packed enough cold weather stuff. I also was curious if I forgot my helmet and shoes. I was going to pull over and check, but I was pretty sure I was good to go. We ran into Jim Vreeland and Joe Mundi as we checked into our hotel. I was glad we were not next to Jim, sure he was up all night blasting metal music in order to get ready for tomorrow.

It’s fair to say I was extremely nervous about this weekend. I was venturing into something I have never done before. I’ve done enough A rides and I get the whole road riding in lines thing, but this is real. No ones going to be making sure I was safe at every turn. I thought I rode more and prepared myself more than I have. I feel like I was stronger than last year. I have no idea what to base this experience on. I think that is what really got to me. I have no idea what to expect from myself. I kept my routine as normal as possible, but still found myself staying in the shower longer, or eating dinner slower; anything to make the day longer.

Mandi and I settle into our hotel and head over to the Blue Benn Diner, which was an old school diner cart. Had some big ass meat balls and spaghetti.

Man, it’s freaking cold up here.

Utah is rooming with us and we wait around for him and watch some TV. We end up chilling down in the lobby with Jim and Joe and talk until the wee hours of the morning. Okay maybe 10:30. I some how have to go to sleep and unplug.

Saturday morning is here; My alarm didn’t go off, but Utah is up reading on his phone and everyone else is ready to rock and roll except me. I think I could have stayed in that bed the whole time, went down to the swimming pool and did nothing all god damn day.

One thing I love about the Hampton Inn is the breakfast. And this waffle maker.

Utah stuffs his face and I kind of stay in my normal breakfast comfort zone. Pounding water and wishing the clock would just stop.

Parking was a mess at the lot, it smelled like cyclocross; wet fields and grass that turned into roads. Short ride with my helmet and hipster gear and get my number.

I pinned my number, but Mandi ended up having to fix it. I really just wanted to hang it on the front of my bike, but that wasn’t going to work.

Short 20 minute warmup with Capies. Not sure how I’m going to feel after this, but it was cloudy and cool.

Fred telling us a bunch of stuff neither of us would need to worry about; but thankful for his distraction

I think the best way to recap the race is by using Bens cheat sheet and trying to remember everything.

We head off and become familiar with the people around us. This would make up for the short warm up, because the blood got flowing. One other thing that got flowing was the nervousness I had. Once we headed out, I wasn’t nervous at all. It all just went away. It felt like a normal day on the bike. Those first 5 miles went by very fast and slow at the same time. I was ready to rock and roll, but could have just sat in and enjoyed it as well.

5.8 – Roberson Rd
I really don’t remember much of this as a hill or a turning point. It was something to be aware of, but we as a group just kind of mowed right up it. We were back on pavement before we knew it. Two guys rubbed elbows with each other and it was a little sketchy. Couple people didn’t know about the yellow line rule and got yelled at.

11.1 – Juniper Swamp Rd
The most dangerous part about this road was not the climb, but the flat pavement leading up to it. About 2-3 rows up in front of me I hear “WHOA WHOA WHOA” and someone is sliding on the pavement at 20MPH. I see another ride tangled up with him and falling. I slam on my brakes and hit the guy with my front wheel. I’m now 100% stopped. Holy crap. Now what? I see Capers and the split this has consumed. I’m not sure whats going to happen now, but I hammer it out up this short pavement climb and look down; my HR is at 200BPM. I hit the dirt of Juniper Swamp and I’m pretty spent, but my legs are not dead. I make it up Juniper Swamp in the front of the group, and down the other side. We were 1’s and 2’s at this point, but we all come together.

14.6 – Rich Rd
The group relaxes between then and now, We kind of take a count and see who is here and who isn’t. I remember at some points we were going pretty damn slow. I’m cool with that. I look around and see that Capers didn’t make this final cut of 20 or so. Bummer.

We circle through the lines and I found myself second to the front. WTF? We are only doing 19MPH, but I cycle through and take my 30 seconds at the front, and take the crew through a right hand turn and peel off. Man this is crazy.

22.5 – Feed Zone #1

Holy crap, the first feed is here. The time is really flying by. Jim said that time flies last night, but I didn’t believe him. You agonize over all these seconds of the race, but they really go by fast. I’m so excited and don’t really slow down to grab a bottle from Mandi, and end up dropping it. No worries; I didn’t need it. The more important one is the second one. Chat up with a couple of the guys and calm myself down more before we head onto the next climb

26 – Joe Bean Road
I had a feeling this would do me in. It ends up doing me in, but not where I thought it would. I tried to employ my start at the front and drift back into the pack. I’m doing this flawlessly all the way up the climb. I’m 3-4 from the back and feel fine. The road starts to flatten out and onto some dirt of

28.6 – Ferguson Rd
This road was damp and energy sucking. I look back and the 3-4 behind me are now gone. WTF? I look up and I have about 10 bike lengths from the group. Crap. I need to close this gap, now. But I’m already doing 33MPH on this dirt road downhill. The gap isn’t getting any bigger, but it isn’t getting any closer. I really could use a hill or something here to slow down the group. I hear the wheel truck on my ass and it feels like he is the grim reaper, trying to take my soul. I try to hold him off as long as I can. I just don’t have the power to hammer out more on these spoungy dirt roads. I see one lone rider by himself and I assume he’s with my race. He isn’t. Just another earlier race who was swallowed up. The truck passes and I’m alone; No one behind me, no one in front of me. The rider I passed say they were right here, go get em!

33.7 – Carney Cassidy Rd
I’m by myself and I think about Eric O saying wait until some people catch you to work together. But they aren’t coming. I keep figuring a train of people would come up behind me, but they don’t. They never come. Reminds me of being dropped on the HG A ride. Now what?

37.9 – Cambridge-Battenville Rd
I start finding other riders from other classes (and I think some from mine) and try to motivate people to jump on with me, but no one can. It seems like these people are just dead. I’m not dead, but I got dropped. I still had something in the tank. I end up finding 2 people before we hit Feed Zone 2, and we just rotate to keep each other company.

42.8 – Feed Zone #2
I tell everyone I’m taking a feed and that we should stick together through this feed zone. We all agree and regroup. I DON’T MISS THE BOTTLE THIS TIME! Woo. Been pounding gels every hour and the GU brew mix has been tasty so far. We end up going up a slight climb and lose one of the guys in our group. Oh well.

44.4 – Mountain Rd
Up Mountain Road and we are 2. The rotation isn’t fair though. It’s more 80% me, 20% dudeman. I would move over and he wouldn’t take his pull. Fair enough. I keep a steady pace I know I can hang with and just keep it on keeping on. It’s now dirt flats and I feel at home on this. Once it turns to pavement, Dudeman takes over and pulls me onto a main road and before the next short, steep climb. He lets me go by and I don’t really put in a huge effort, but just the standard uphill effort. The tail wind was nice too. I look back and this man dropped like a bag of bricks. Part of me was happy, but I will also miss the company.

At this point I’m really just riding. I really have no mental capacity to pick off people in any group, and feel I’m either going to be swallowed up by the chase group behind me, or this is where I will finish.

51.1 – Meeting House Rd
The famous roads of Battenkill. I guess at a regular ride pace, this isn’t too bad. Then I see some guy walking and I see flash backs of the photo of Rob walking. No way I’m walking this. I keep spinning and stand up when I need to I make it up the climb and just keep it rolling.

58.6 – Stage Rd
Waved in by the police cars and they say this is the last one. WOO! Pick up some other racers from another Cat and we have a group of 4. We are really just counting down the miles until the finsh line. I think we were only going 18-19mph. It was nice to see the 3KM to go sign. KM’s count off much faster than miles.

We take the right onto the main drag and I have a nice burst of energy. I stand up and want to hammer these last couple miles out. I have no desire to really sprint with these guys for nothing, So I eventually just sit up and coast it in.

Whoa. I’m done.

I finished 13th out of 43 starters. I look at the gap times and realize I would have more than likely finished here, even if I made it up after Joe Bean. I felt as ready as I could be for this. Sure I wish I could go back and change somethings during the race, but I can’t. It played out and I couldn’t be happier with how I rode. I was happy I didn’t die or have someone take me out. I was also happy that I felt extremely comfortable in the situations I was in during the race. WOOO!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/297424325

I was also surprised I wasn’t as taxed as I thought I would be. I figured I would just collapse at the end. I didn’t. I think it had to do with the fact I was riding by myself after mile 35 and in my comfort zone.

Food with Iggy. Mandi said this was some sort of grass-fed beef, I’m not sure I tasted any of it. I’ll take her word for it that it was good.

I had to pay for my chocolate milk. It was delicious.

This is a photo of pure joy. RobG finishing second. Glad Mandi was able to capture this!

The ride back to the car was cold and long, I wish I could have just teleported. Nothing else was really recap worthy after we left the venue. I bought a shirt and headed back across the border to Vermont. We smashed some Chilis and I passed out. I really wanted to go into the pool but didn’t feel like going down the elevator.

We woke up earlier than I thought we would and packed up and headed home. It was too cold to stay up here. We headed home and unpacked, and went for a ride. I figured it would do me good. I was completely empty. I wasn’t in pain, just nothing available to power my bicycle. It was beautiful and nice to feel the sunshine after a gloomy 48 hours. Stop to get some ice cream.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/298059709

You go from feeling like a bike racing celebrity, staying at hotels, eating continental breakfast, blowing snot rockets, to sitting behind a desk and punching a clock. I guess that is how it goes. For 3 days you feel like a million bucks, then back to normal.

I don’t think you’ll be by yourself in Cat 5 Brad. No way I do more than 2 road races this year. I may not live in NJ next year, but I think one of my friends weddings is around this time next year, so maybe I make it a Battenkill/wedding weekend if I move

I don’t think I am a roadie in that sense, but after seeing how the road races play out, I see the interest. I see the rush and enjoyed it for sure. Things like Battenkill seem less dangerous. I also signed up for it because it was such a huge event. That is kind of my goal this year, hit the biggest gatherings in the area. I could see myself doing something like High Bridge or that Colts Neck race I bailed on last year to race my mountain bike.

The picture up Meeting House is very deceiving. Seeing all these photos made it seem like this was a long, steep wall. In a sense it was over very quickly; Even at the solo pace I was at. Sure it was painful, I’m sure the front of the race murdered it up this hill. I may have inherited some of Fred-steez when I bought the bike from him. I think this bike has done Battenkill before, I cannot confirm that though I noticed once I bought it I felt faster. I was worried it was going to wear off, but it hasn’t. I think it’s a freak bike.

I was very happy to be part of your moment Rob; I didn’t see your finish but the fact you had to lean against a curb and me in order to not fall over was amazing. Your eyes were glazed over in tears of joy or numbing pain through your limbs, not sure which one.

I was never victim of Capers antics, but always came within a few inches of death. Some of my favorite moments are when (as mentioned already) calling out a road hazard and hitting it, Me pointing out something in advance and he still hits it. I still think the one person who got it the worst was Dustin, who Capers break checked over one of the higher wooden bridges at Six Mile, and Dustin took a pretty good fall because of it. I wasn’t part of that ride but man, That dude is crazy.

Sick ass weather for a BBQ today. Almost too warm. Summer like. I prefer the 60’s-70’s.

A nice ice cold Coca-Cola would have hit the spot today, but I resisted. A burger and a dog will suffice.

I wanted to get out again after work today, making it 9 days in a row for me. I forget what my longest length of riding is. Anyway, I wasn’t doing anything special. More along the lines of spinning my legs out for from yesterday. Felt good to spin along. The first 2 minutes we head out and it starts raining. This is a sunshower, but man, this sucks. It started and we debated on bailing, but I felt that this was going to pass. About 2 minutes later, it stops and the roads are dry. Good call.

We spin around for the first 20 minutes and my legs are starting to feel nice. I tell Mandi (who recently started uploading her rides to Strava) that Colonial Park West was a segment. She did Insanity before our ride, so I wasn’t sure if she was going to take the bait. We make the turn and she takes off. I on the other hand, enjoy the false flat downhill and sniff the roses.

That road: http://app.strava.com/activities/48214816#844378917

We don’t know this until after, but she beats my time. WTF! I actually tried to hammer this section before and she got me. The rest of the ride is uneventful. She takes the lead and I just draft and enjoy the free ride all the way home. Drafting Mandi still has some effect, but I still feel the wind on my face

Hanging at home with the little nephew man and he tires everyone out. He also is becoming a face grabber; when he wants to get put down, he just grabs your face and tries to piss you off. It works. Then he gets mad. Suck it up kid.

Thursday Morning
One thing that is really starting to suck for me is allergies. What I thought was allergies was just me (and Mandi) being sick. Which is kinda good I guess, but man. I think I sneezed 7 times in a row. I found that Benadryl (why does this forum think Benadryl is misspelled? I actually thought I spelt it wrong) stops some of these symptoms, but then I’m kind of drifting throughout the day. Hoping that spring hasn’t sprung up in Cambridge. I don’t sneeze or have itchy eyes when I’m on my bike. I’m also sure when I’m on the verge of throwing up, my body won’t be reacting to allergies. I haven’t gotten to the point where I just want to hide inside, so I guess that is good. The rain is helping out too.

Not sure if I should have my bike looked over one more time before the weekend, but everything seems to work fine. Doesn’t miss gears, has new brake pads, etc. I think I’m just going to let it fly.

 

Capers antics equal:

Headed over to Knapps in Cranbury and talk to my buddy Drew to kill some time. Always good to get up with some homies for a little. Eventually my time has come to jet. Arrive to a 3/4ths full parking lot and a couple of familiar faces.

We started with 15-20 people or so. I noticed right away the group. We head out and I noticed once we cross over 130, the pace is already hot. Not uncomfortably hot, but I don’t remember hammering this hard out of the gate before. I’m feeling pretty good and don’t feel too shocked by the situation. It stayed hot and we start to shred some people. One sketchy dude actually tips over at a stop sign. He was strong though. At one point in the ride we point out the next turn is to the right, and he slams on his brakes and almost kills the group. One group of 5 that met us at the lot splits off, and we head home with about 6 people total.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/295841247

I noticed sitting in the line my heart rate was pretty damn high, but I didn’t feel as taxed. Sure, we were going 28MPH in that line at times. There was a group of 4 of us that had a really nice pace at 23mph on the flats, very relaxed. Once we rotated, it jumped to 27-28 and felt like death. I know Battenkill won’t be like that. If it is, I know I can at least do my share and sit in.

I only really “popped” at one of the sprint points on the ride, trying to go for it. I went a little too early and coasted back to the group. I’m cool with that. I’m not a sprinter but it’s fun to pretend

So the Garmin made it through the whole ride. We didn’t hit any big pot holes or death roads, so I really have no idea what to expect. I guess I’ll roll with it. Damn, I forgot photos. I’ll get better, I promise

Not really sure where the title came from, but I can get into that later in the year I guess. I’m excited to really test these tires out. A couple of rides around home and they feel solid and a lot comfier than the 25’s I was running before (these are 24’s). I just need to figure out what to do with my Garmin. The stupid SystemSix stem is shaped in such a weird way I cannot get the mount to zip tie to it. I bought an K-Edge mount and Utah gave me his well used adapter that was on its last leg. Looks pretty trick:

This lasted about one ride until like all things I borrow from Utah, they break. I text Utah while he is on vacation and ask him if he is the Walmart of 3d printing. He always blames me. I’m sure you all remember that wheel he let me borrow and I “broke” it. My options are to:

1) Buy a new, normal stem.
2) Hassle Utah. (which is fun btw)
3) Find a way to make this mount to the SystemSix stem and NOT move.

So Tuesday, just decided to lay low again with Mandi yesterday. Really enjoying the short ride on the canal path to Six Mile, then doing the canal side. Double back on white to enjoy more ST and then head straight home. This place has now turned into dust. It did look like it drizzled over night, so that will be good for it. Throwing bikes over fences is getting kind of lame, need to finish that spillway crap!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/295402191

Mandi had some chicken marinating and the grill was in full force after our ride

Still not enough light to eat outside after, but still nice to get some propane through your gills.