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January 9th 2007
sorry, it’s obviously been 4-Eva since anyone has posted anything. I guess it shows that it is indeed the offseason and not much has been going on other than training. That Iceman race went alright. I didn’t do as well as I wanted and anthony didn’t either. I got 7th in Sport 25-29 and Anthony got like 13th or 14th overall, that’s out of over 2000 riders. he still wasn’t happy though because a couple people beat him that he didnt’ really feel were faster than him. Same happened to me. I wanted to get top 3 but I really didn’t have it after about mile 18. Needless to say, I’m really trying to work on my endurance.
We’re both being coached now. We signed on with Dave Grisgby at Everybodysbikecoach.com and I definitely think I’m going to be significantly faster in this upcoming season as long as I can stick with the prescribed work-outs. We went down to London, KY and rode around with dave. he also did a little bit of bike fitting with us. I was surprised to find that my saddle was too high by more than a few millimeters.
I got a new road bike just before christmas. It’s a schwinn peloton. Full carbon fiber shimano 105 10 speed goodness. It’s compact geometry and feels so much faster in the turns and all around than my old faithful 1991 cannondale. Now I’m working on trying to get a new mountain bike. I want a full-suspension and I kind of want a new fork too so it is going to take quite a bit of extra money. It’s getting so hard to find full susp frames and forks that are v-brake compatible. I may just have to try to swing for a whole new bike and try to ebay my trusty old hard-tail. I’ve been working a second job for extra money solely for bike stuff but I need to quit that soon since the training hours will soon be stepping up even more and a few races will start up here and there, like the schabobole race I want to do on Feb. 10th.
We may have a new sponsor or two or three so that’s cool although I still don’t think we’re going to be loaded with cash this year, mostly product.
Yesterday me and anthony and john hughson did a little ride around cherokee and part of the tuesday night worlds loop. I was scheduled to do a couple of attacks so I felt kind of silly charging off really hard like I was breaking away when anthony and john were just sitting there letting me go. After 3 or 4 minutes on the first one john stepped it up and reeled me back in, probably rather quickly cause I blew my load on the initial effort. I did another one a little later on on mockingbird since that is where an attack always happens on the group rides. Other than that I took my turns pulling but I think anthony did a majority of the longer pulls even though he was riding his cyclocross bike with the knobby tires on he didn’t have any probelms keeping up and pulling us around at various points all this in spite of the fact that before the ride even began he said his legs were broken from hill repeats the day before. I’m just glad that neither john or anthony counter attacked cause they would’ve had to have turned around and wwait for me shortly afterwards.

That’s all for now, I’ll try to keep this updated a little more in the future.

Bald Eagle Challenge

I got to the Welcome center late. Anthony was stressing to get loaded up so we could get down the road to the starting point. About half way there he realized he forgot his helmet so we turned around and got it. When we got to the starting area the pros were lined up waiting on him so he had to get ready and take off in about 4 minutes time. I got to ride around for a few minutes to make sure everything was working.
I took the inside on the start because of the 90 degree left hand turn so when we took that I was inside and it forced Landon Wilson to brake so I got the hole shot into the woods. I didn’t necessarily want it but it was there so I went. I probably would have smarter for me to just let others set the pace but I don’t think I would have ridden the whole 31 miles strong regardless of who was setting the pace.
So, after a minute or two I notice that I have a gap of about 10 seconds or so I’m pretty stoked by that hoping that I can just get away and stay away. Obviously, I was already having delusional thoughts. Thoughts of being the first one to finish. Maybe it was during one of those thoughts that I misjudged the amount of brake I needed on one particular section of trail. I guess I clipped a small tree with my front wheel. All I remember is flying over the handlebars while still holding on with my left hand. I turned around to see my bike lying in the middle of the trail and the rest of my class barreling towards me. It must have been funny for Landon to see me standing there with birds flying around my head and my bike in the middle of the trail.
I moved out of the way to let Landon another young wood n waver through then I got on his wheel. At that point I was thinking to myself, okay, this is good. Ride his wheel and make sure no one gets away. So I ride like this for a while noticing that the pace was more than tolerable and wondering whether we were going a little too slow and just keeping everything together. On one climb a few miles in Landon just kind of petered out and took a foot off, so did his compatriot so I went around them both.
Once again, I’m in front dictating the pace. That goes on for a while till some point where I was feeling a bit labored and annoyed with the guy behind me that kept getting into my wheel, (pretty hard at one point almost taking me down) course he apologizes but it’s still annoying, hell anything is annoying when your heart is trying to escape your chest. Anyway he eventually says, “here, I’ll pull for a little bit.” He comes around and appears to have plenty of power. I think to myself, “yeah, you’re going to pull away.” So, as soon as he comes around he starts to gap me and rides off into the unknown.
At a road section a few others come around and my life started to suck. I guess I was riding 4 or so when I realize my front tire is flat. I get off and put some air in both tires and notice how much easier it is to roll. No longer feeling like I’m on a trainer with the resistance cranked. The problem is that all those chatty little bumps become even more noticeable on my ultra-light hardtail. About 5 people come around me while I’m putting air in my tires, some of them from the 30-39 class so I figure my day is over. I get back on pass a few guys and try to just keep it steady.
Around about mile 18 I start to notice that my muscles are getting a little argumentative. My back has been aching since mile 6 (not sure why) but now my legs are starting to get fussy.
I tell myself I need to drink, drink, drink, so I take a little sip and put my bottle back in the cage.
At mile 22 I was really hating life. I wanted to quit the race, and possibly quit life for a little while. I was so frustrated with my body. It was so tired, even my arms. The last time I did 31 miles on a mountain bike in one day was when I did BEC last year. The only thing that kept me from quitting was the fact that there wasn’t a convenient spot to do so. I also kept hoping that my odometer on my mtb was really bad off and that when it said 25 miles it was actually more like 29. So with each new climb I was trying to convince myself it was the last one. Finally I got to the section that I knew was the end because it was part of the canal loop. I had caught someone and I wanted to tell them not to worry about me at the finish but I was too tired. He was going pretty hard at the finish and kept looking over his shoulder but I wasn’t trying, it was pretty obvious. I was done, I had been done for at least 10 miles. I don’t know how I finished. It wasn’t in the top 3 so I didn’t stick around after the race.
So, it was an awful time for me even though the race was run very well and the trails were epic. Races like the BEC make me want to buy a full suspension before next season arrives. Now, I’m scared about Iceman which is somewhere around 29 miles, although I much easier trail. I think my season was over at Otter Creek. There is only so much you can expect out of your body in a season. Don’t worry though I’m sure I’ll go off just as hard and stupidly at Iceman as I would at any regular xc race. I still want to podium up there.
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September 18, 2006
Finally had a good race
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 11:25 am
The last race of the Kentucky Mountain Bike series was yesterday and I finally felt like I had a good race. So many races throughout the season have left me feeling like I could have done better. I got beat by people that I didn’t really feel like should have beaten me. I was really worreid about the race yesterday though because I got a cold on Wednesday and still was having problems with it Saturday night. I showed up to the race just hoping to get enough points to finish first in the series but I ended up haveing my best result of the year. I got 3rd overall in sport class. That’s my best overall result, possibly ever. I don’t really know what was different about that race for me to have done better. I don’t think I’ll ever figure this racing stuff out.
After my warm-up I felt awful, like the race was going to suck terribly. We line up, I’m dreading it. Molnar says go and we ride through wet grass, it felt like a sprinkler. No one was being too aggressive on the start so I ened up getting into the woods around 6th without evcen putting up much of a fight. I was on Zach’s wheel and we all stayed pretty close down the first technical hill. Once we get through most of the tech stuff and start to climb the first big hill there were a couple times I would have to let off because my wheel was getting too close to his so h when we got to the first flat section I picked a spot and went around him. I quickly caught up to todd nix who was just a few seconds ahead of zach. todd asked if I wanted around and I said sure. I kept the pace up for about a minute but Todd didn’t want to let me out of his sight.. At the next clearing I look back and his is a little behind me but I don’t see zach anymore. I asked todd how many wer up front, he said two, that being john grant from dogfish and rigoberto aguilera, but todd thought it was gavin. I continue to see john he is probably about 10 seonds ahead, maybe less.
we get to a long flat open section and todd comes back around. he continues to lead me through the end of lap one and into part of lap 2. That ended at a rock crossing. he got off to let me around and I just tried to stay steady so I could get away from him. I kept telling myself if I let up he was going to catch me. I got a little gap on him and caught up to John Grant. At the top of the big climb Johan asked if I wanted around. I said no. I think if I would have went he would’ve just caught me later because he really poored in on 3rd lap. When I came through for 3rd lap I nI dont think I saw anyone too close behind me. I wasnn’t looking too much though. I just tried to keep my head down and ride smart and smooth. I soon lost John and didn’t see him again. So 3rd lap was spent riding alone except for the ocassional person I passed. I enede up finishing in 3rd a little less than 2 minutes off of 1st and second. John and Rigoberto were .5 seconds off of each other and it was a sprint for the finish. Poor rigoberto thought the finish line was the same as the start line. he didn’t understand the explanation at the beginning of the race. I can imagine he was a bit bewildered to have some guy sprinting him after he thought he had already crossed the finish line.
So I got 3rd in that race and 1st in the series
avg hr was 180 that is about as high as it gets for my average. max was 190.
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July 10, 2006
cave run lake 7/9/2006
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 10:05 am
I got to admit I was nervous about the mass start. At least they did say, “experts up front followed by sport and then beginners clydes, and single-speeders. It didn’t turn out to be such a big deal for me though.
So the guy starting the race holds up this silver pistol, a real pistol and fires it. I yell, “I’m hit,” as we all clip in and take off. It’s a flat start with some tricky spots because of mudholes. As we’re rolling along I think to myself, “man, this isn’t too bad of a pace, I’m not dieing or anyting yet.” Ethan and Gavin are pushing harder though are somewhere up with the expert class riders who are going a bit faster than me and the sport riders around me. Brian Phillips rides up beside me (doubletrack) and I ttell him he can get in front of me. He does and we roll along. He is doing a smart pace so I’m happy. I’m not dieing and at the same time we’re slowing getting away from the other riders. Dan Delph is just behind us and Mikey Combs is ahead of us.
Pretty soon Todd Nix comes rolling past us going kind of hard and I consider getting on his wheel but then I say screw it cause I was content to be where I was rolling the pace I was. Todd gets away but he stays in view on certain turns and corners probably 15-20 seconnds ahead.
After a mile or so Dan comes around us both but doesn’t really get away so a mile or two later we go back around him. Shortly after Bo King catches on to my back wheel and he seems content to stay there, not really trying to come around me or yell at me or anything, so that’s cool. Brian was taking it easy on some of the climbs (which was smart of him) so I come around him on one of them. Not because I want to drop him. I just want to take my turn setting pace and I’m anxious to get around Mikey Combs. He and I did our first race ever together, he got 2nd I got 3rd so I wanted to beat him one time. So I catch mikey and get around, Brian and Bo do as well. Mikey stays on Bo’s wheel. I’m starting to ask myself if it was wise oto be impatient and catch him so quickly because we would have caught him eventually at the pace we were going anyway. I ease up a little so I can settle back down and everyone stays behind me. Through one of the ditches mud flies into my eye, getting under my glasses somehow and I can’t see anything out of my right eye for a few seconds but I blinked it away. I thought I was going to havve to stop. Next ditch we come through I shift down immediately after it but I get some bad chain suck and can’t pedal. I have to unclip and spin my crank wiht my hand to get things back in order. Brian, Bo and Mikely all go past. Bo says, “come on buddy” not in a shithead kind of way, he was encouraging me. After I get my chain back in order I get ready to get back on but first I let JoDoba (Joe Sohm) through cause he was rolling fast I didn’t want to cut him off.
I start pedaling, the bike seems okay now but the group I want to ride with have about ten seconds on me and sincie I had just been setting pace I couldn’t really find the enrgy to charge after them. A few miles later I catch back up with mikey and get around him but Brian, Bo and Joe are gone. I won’t see Joe again until about 16 or 17 miles into the race. I won’t see Brian and Bo until the race is over. I see Todd Nix a few minutes later though, apparently he had a flat. I think he dnf’ed.
Shortly after I get around Mikey I start getting to the point where I think I’m almost done with lap 1 so for whatever reason I’m kind of not pushing myself very hard. Turns out I still have about 2 miles left before the start of lap 2. I continue to forget that I’m racing until shortly after the feed zone.
I get my bottle take some good chugs and try to get back to business but someone is coming. I take a look over my shoulder and see Don Parr (LBC rider) about 15 seconds back but gaining. At first I push to keep him away but then I decide to let him catch me and set pace for a while since I wasn’t going very hard while riding by myself. I’m determined not to let him beat me though even though he continually beat me last year. He gets around I get on his wheel and after a mile or so he gets a little gap so I eat a gu. hah. Then I regain focus and tell myself I’m going to bring him back so I start pushing a bigger gear and just really concentrate on maintaining my speed through the little dips. Slowly I bring him back and he lets me around, then he gets on my wheel and we catch Joe Sohm. We pass Joe and there is only a mile or two left.
Don is hanging on my wheel and I know he is thinking of waiting till the finish to come around me. It aggravates me, I don’t really know why, it’s a perfectly acceptable tactic. I think of maybe letting him around on the finishing straight and tell him that he can have it but then secretly going balls to the wall while I’m behind him to get back around. So finally, we get to the finishing straight and just as I thought he is breathing down my neck, it doesn’t matter if he wins too much because he is over 30 but it is a matter of pride. The trail opens up a little and he is right on my wheel, so close he actually nicks my tire and I yell at him. It’s wide open double track there is no need or reason for him to clip my tire, I think he lost a bit of control in the process as I see him run off in the grass a bit. I got a bit pissed about it all and put it in the biggest gear I had on my middle chain ring and pushed as hard as my legs would allow. As I approach the finish like I see the guy running to look at the stop watch and I’m wondering if Don is still on my wheel or on the verge of making a pass. I don’t look back. I just keep cranking as hard as I can. I don’t let up until I’m a good 10 yards past the finshi like. He never came around. I felt like puking so I spun around a bit to cool down. I think I finished around 1:35. Good enough for 3rd in my class and I think 5th overall. All that work and don still made $20 more than me. I guess they were paying out per class. I don’t really care about the money, I’m surprised they even gave money back to my class, hardly anyone does that. Overall probably lookes something like 1. Ethan 2. Gavin 3. Brian Phillips 4. Bo King 5. Me 6. Don Parr 7. Joe Sohm 8. Maybe Nick Leonard.
I was happy with the way I finished the race but I do need to work on not taking a temporary time-out half way through the race. I do that a lot I think.



July 5, 2006
DINO
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 8:52 am
STXC- road hard and fast when i needed to. it worked out. as usual, a small field for the DINO stxc, prolly cuz you pay $20 with the hope of winning and thats about it. but, i need the workout so, me matt batin and jean-luc go in as the early faves with an unknown from st. louis as the potential spoiler. we pretty much shared pace-making for the first 10-15 minutes. i tested the waters once and created a gap but didnt try to keep it. jean-luc dropped off, but st. louis came back on. i realized that drafting didnt seem to affect my output on this short course, so with 6 minutes to go, i went. i managed to open up a pretty solid gap and ride it in.
overall, felt good.
xc sunday. for the effort i put out last night, i felt good, legs didnt seem tired or nuthin. i went into the woods 3rd, a little slow off the start, but i had a secret plan; the first big, steep, greasy climb. i found a gear and a line and was the only one to climb it. this opened up a big gap right off and allowed me to rest more and force the others to chace.i didnt feel like i had a big attack in me, but everytime we hit the section of the stxc course, i opened it up just to keep the others chasing rather than sittin in and on the defensive. after that, i tried to ride the whole course like a diesel and just churn it out. being hotter than turpins panty-hoes, i made sure to drain 1 bottle every lap and a couple gus on the last couple to be safe.so anywho, the end of lap 2 was marked by battin’s tire blowing out. while i would rather win by crushing all comers and makin them cry (it could happen), its hard to get too sad about the person you see as your biggest threat having to pull off rather than force you to have to push it for the next 3 laps.as i said, i tried to just ride smooth and consistent, keeping the rubber on the trail. knowing each time up that climb, i was puttin in some seconds, and knowing jean-luc knew the same, made me feel better as well.it was a good race. i felt pretty good all day and managed to ride the whole thing the way i wanted. most of all, it is nice to feel like i am comin into some sorta from again.


July 3, 2006
hot like a biscuit
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 1:05 pm
Yesterday we raced in North Vernon, Indiana for race # 4 of the D.IN.O mountain bike series. Anthony also raced there on Saturday for the short track. He won. Yesterday it was somewhere in the 90’s. Race started at 12 so we were all in a hot lather before brian even blew the horn for us to start. The field was big enough to split the fields into a pro class and then an expert class. There were plenty of sport riders too. I’ll tell you a little bit about the race of the sport 19-29′ers since that’s the class I’m in.
Brian blows the horn, we take off. It’s a pretty short sprint to the single track with few trees that has some riders going left some going right. I stuck to the left because it felt like the faster line too me. We enter the single track and I’m in 4th which is good enough for me. The first section is a pretty fast downhill section with a couple sharp turns in a little up or two. The two guys in 1st and 2nd start to open a gap the 1st place rider is also gapping the 2nd place rider. They’re still in sight though. We make the sharp turn to go up this really steep section which is also wet. I gave it one try during pre-ride and decided to give it up after not seeing anyone else clean it either. So we get to that hill and I unclip at the very bottom. I start running up the left side, off of the trail a little bit. I had already scoped it out and it looked to give better traction plus I wouldn’t be in anyone’s way if they wanted to ride it. So I’m running up the hill and I get past the guy in front of me. So now I’m in 3rd but the guy in front of me was a junior rider I’m pretty sure so technically I’m in 2nd place in my group. As soon as the steep section ends I get on the bike and ride up the rest of the climb. Immediately I’m getting away from the guy behind me but I’m not doing to much to bring back the junior rider or the guy in front of him who is a good deal ahead of me by this point.
I remain in this spot for probably 4 miles of the first lap, I think laps were around 5 miles. Nearing the end of the first lap though I was really starting to feel like I was in over my head. I wasn’t feeling any better about the fact that there were 4 riders pretty close behind me. SAt a few points they were on my wheel but on some of the switchback climbs I would open a little gap on them. Why I didn’t seal the deal has to do with the fact that I was already in the red zone. We would get to the top of the climbs and I’d ease off trying to get a drink of water or whatever and they would catch back on. At one point the guy immediately behind me asks, “how you feeling up there?” I said, “gasp, gasp, kind-a tire-d.” What I percieved as him being a cocky put a little fire in my gut and I pushed it for probably 10 seconds then I forgeot what I was mad about and remembered that I was hurting. After a few more climbing sections we get to the top of one pretty long climb that came out near the camp ground, I think it was the climb that jo and jenn were standing on, well at the top I decide I’ve had enough setting the pace and let them around pretty much knowing that I don’t even have it in me to stick with them. I let one around and the one behind him says one more, I let him through and the one behind him says two more I let them both through so all four are in front. One giga pip rider, one purdue rider and I didn’t recognize the other two. I know the purdue rider has me in fast sections but I think I can outclimb him. At that point though I couldn’t outtclimb a…a…something that doesn’t climb well. Okay so they go around and after a minute they’re putting a few seconds on me until eventually they’re no longer in site. I’m still really hurting.
Self-preservation had set in and I was unable to talkk myself into doing anything but chilling for a while. My riding had become pretty sloppy as well. Get to the finsh of the first lap and I’m creeping through the start/finsih area not even caring that people are watching me go slower than molasses. Ben’s girlfriend gives me mmy bottle and I throw my empty one down, she laughted, I guess I looked like crap. I think I told someone I was done, I don’t know. I eat my little gu, take a drink and get back to riding. I get back to the downhill part wehere rob kendall is standing, he gives me some encouraging words and I try to get back to work. This time I walk up the steep slippery hill. Another rider gets on my wheel. He gets around at the top and leaves me on anotehr fast downhill section. At one switchback turn going down there are some big rocks. I choose a bad line in hit a rock that is sticking pretty far out of the ground. My tail end flies up but I unclip in time and one of my spokes bangs against a rock as i stand there. I think, dang, hope nothing broke but don’t even bother to check. Rode down that hill and around. Then I come out to an open section notice that my stem is crooked but keep on riding. Go under a real low tree that I practically have to limbo under. Tyhen I’m on a flat section throught there that you can hammer on for a minute. I try but as I go up a little up (witha big root sticking out of the ground) my right foot goes under the root and I stop rolling, flying into my handlebars and going over them a little and then onto my side, on the side of the trail. Two people pass me as I lay there trying to unclip my foot that is underneath the bike. I get back on take off and about fifty yards down the trail I regain composure and adjust my jersey in the back. I notice that th tools I keep in my left pocket are gone. My thoughts, “shit, should I leave them? I don’t want to go back. Damn, my car remote is in that bag. I can’t leave it till the end of the race hoping to find it.” So, I stop, decide I can’t walke my bike down the trail backwards and I don’t want to try to ride it backwards. I lean my bike against a fence and walk, yes I said walk, back to the scene of the accident. Fortunately I quickly find my bag with my stuff in it. Walk back to my bike. During this time countless people go past, including Brian Phillips, so these are the guys from the 30-34 class. One of the guys said, “hey man, I think you forgot your bike.” I should have clotheslined him but instead I said, “yeah, thanks.” So I fix my stem and I get back to my bike get on, take off, and immediately run of the side of the trail into a nice patch of briars, they mauled my arm, they went so deep I thought they were going to pull me off my bike, I yell and keep riding, half a lap later I pull a couple of the thorns out of my arm. Today it looks like a cat kicked my ass. So that little walk lets my heart rate come back down to a modest 175 or so and I’m able to slowly spped back up to a good pace. It’s too late for me to make any kind of showing though. I just push myself as hard as I can for the remaining lap and I half. Results didn’t get recorded for me, third time this year that has happened. I don’t know, maybe I died and didn’t know it, maybe I’m still dead, I mean, I can’t expect them to record the time of a ghost. That was it for me. No cramps but I was getting cold chills from the end of the first lap thorughout the remander of the race.
I stopped my hr monitor shortly after exiting the finsihing area at 1:32.56 avg. hr 179 mx hr 189, in zone 4 for 1:06:42 in zone 5 for 0:21:51 below zone 4 for 0:4:23 so I think I pushed myself hard enough but I didn’t reide as well as I would have liked to. I made some pretty big mistakes. But man, those kids in my field are so fast, I don’t know if riding better would have helped me beat them at all, It seems like I just don’t have the fitness for them. I’m considerably faster than last year but still getting the same results.
In the pro class Anthony won but a considerable margin, Jean Lu Sierrer got 2nd and then my other teammates German Bermudez (nano), and Ben Richardson got 3rd and 4th. Anthony was crushing souls this past weekend in memory of our friend Jan Ullrich who got screwed out of a race for potentially doping when it’s pretty obvious that everyone in the whole peleton is doping. Have a good week kids, don’t burn yourself on fireworks.
-Robert

June 26, 2006
diary of a sore loser
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 7:10 am
The small firecracker landed in the parking lot and sizzled as I watched the wick trying to determine how close it was to exploding. “Oh, shit I better clip my left foot in.” BANG, I hope that my helmet doesn’t get snagged on the large red bull starting gate/arch. At the same time I push off and start cranking. Immediately I’m up front with only Bo King in my field of vision. Someone yells, “get out of the way Dan.” I think to myself, “aww, that sucks for him.” I’m following Bo a little while longer and he sort of eases up for a second because I guess he didn’t want to be in front so I get in front and nobody contests it. Hindsight tells me that was a dumb idea. I was glad to get in the woods first though because of the couple of potential problem spots that I didn’t want to ride through right behind someone. I get through the first section along the woods fine and it sounds like I have a gap of maybe 3 seconds or something, not really a gap, but people aren’t breathing down my neck. So I roll through the start area, cross the creek (somehow without endoing over and landing on my face) cross the creek bed again (somehow missing the stump at the top) make a sharp left and stare at the slick, slime like mud that sits on the first big climb of the day. I pedal to the point where it kicks up just a bit, which isn’t very far up on the hill at all and immediately dismount. I try to sort of jog with the bike for a second but I can’t do it very long so I resign to walking it up the hill and then everyone is behind me and I start to feel like I’m in the way so I let Brian Phillips through and RJ and I don’t know who else. This was all around that first switchback. I guess Brian was the last to come around me in that section because I remember seeing him make a little mistake on a piece of trail where there were a few weird rocks and roots, it ws kind of sketchy, anyway, I didn’t see what he did wrong but I did see his bike buck him off and he went rolling down the side of the hill. He fell pretty far down. I knew it would just piss him off and make him ride harder. The next steep part came up and again when I tried to pedal my bike tire just spun so I got off and waklked and let more people past. All of those people excluding one or two beat me. The rest of the race I was pretty much riding alone except for when I would roll up on someone on the side of the trail brushing themselves off after taking a spill and then from lap 2 on I kept yo-yo’ing on and off with Duane.
I don’t know. The race was over for me at the top of that climb when all the people that I let around rode away and I didn’t have the energy to get back up with them. I don’t even know where I finished. I can think of at least 5 people in my age group that finished ahead of me. 3 of them being people I’d never really raced against before. It was a disheartening race for me. I’m siginificantly faster than last year but somehow I’m getting same results against different people.
All in all, Yestarday’s race proved to be quite frustrating for me. The frustration didn’t really set in until after the race sometime around the award ceremony seeing the people who won. It made me fume for some reason. Is it because 1st 2nd and 3rd have all raced expert class before and then moved back down for some reason or is it because I’m mad at myself for letting them beat me so bad? I guess it’s more of the latter than the former. I went to bed thinking about it and woke-up thinking about it. I don’t even know why it matters that much, I mean I missed out on a little medal. Guess I’m a bit competitive at heart. I refuse to admit to myself that some of the people who consistently beat me are actually faster than me. Funny how that works. Guess someone is in denial. I’m going to try to focus on working hard so I can prove myself right, to use my frustration as fuel for the fire. We are getting pretty far along in the season though so I dunno. Damn it. At least my teammates got first second and third in the pro/semi/expert class race.
-Robert


June 19, 2006
Lumberjack 100
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 9:32 am
so i traveled to the land of ted nugent, militias and ky’s adopted son, john the sea-foam warrior (thats michigan btw) for my second attempt at a 100 mile race.
i’ll cut to the chase, Chris Eatough is a bad man. lap 1 was 25 miles in 1:43. that hurt. well, actually, it didnt hurt real bad till i thought “i gotta do this 3 more times!”. each 25 mile lap was 100% all single track no fire-roads, no road sections, just 25 miles of single track. it sucked. well, the trail itself was awesome. but, 100 miles without any kinda break to just sit an spin, take a drink or eat, plus temps in the 90’s made for one of the hardest races i’ve done.
Chris Eatough’s attendance definitely made many of us ride harder than we needed to. i hung back after chris took us from fast to “OMG this man is a friggin alien!” around mile 23. 1/4 into lap 2, i caught the other 4 riders that went with him as they started droppin off fast. i didnt realize it then, but, it was too late for me, i already rode way over my head for havin to do 100 in that heat. myself and Harlin Price rode a good pace for the next 40 miles or so trading off turns up front and keeping the tedium of the ride at bay by havin some company. i was pretty happy being in 2-3 in my 2nd 100 just two weeks after doin a 72 mile race. i was feelin ok and we had a big gap to #4, then it happened. i just popped. no real warning, just got real sick an dizzy. i pulled over and took several breaks but couldnt eat or drink, my back and arms felt like lactic acid factories. oddly enough, my legs didnt feel real bad. i finally got a bit of powerbar down an some water in me. Ross Clark passed me, shouted some encouraging words and i was like “oh yeah, im back” as i hung on his wheel for the next mile or so. then a repeat of earlier. i pulled off again and knew my day was over. the next few miles i crawled with my heart-rate around 100 bpm. i crossed the line, told em i was done i crawled back in the car opened all the windows and went to sleep.
after riding like an idiot at my first 2 100’s, i think i may have learned something, but that remains to be seen. all in all, it was still a good w/e with old an new friends, good food an beer, and 75 miles of sweet michigan singletrack i will be seeing in my nightmares for a while.

June 7, 2006
Not going to NORBA Nationals
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 11:20 am
So this has been the big bright star marked on my calender ever since the first night I made out my training plan back in November or December. I really wanted to go to the Nationals to see where I stand among other strong riders and to get a chance to watch the big name pros race. I was determined to make it to this race and even put part of my tax return money in the bank just to be able to afford to go to this race. Sadly, I just realized yesterday that I’m not going to go.
Things started to decline back when I had my first operation over the winter and the recovery time was a little longer than anticipated, this forced me to push back my peak by 3 weeks or so meaning I would not be peaking for the NORBA race.
I was still determined to go but then I find out tahta hardly anyone from around here is going except for Nano and his races are on Friday and Sunday so that means I would have to go down Thursday and stay till Sunday. Okay, I’ll still go, but then I get home yesterday to find that I have a bill from the oral surgeon for $118 and that just kinda of broke my back. I started thinking about how I don’t even feel 100%. I haven’t felt 100% since I had my wisdom teeth removed 2 or 3 weeks ago. Part of it is that I caught a cold last weekend and have continued to cough some and I’ve just felt strange lately. I don’t know exaclty why but it just seems like too many negatives before the race for me to spend quite a bit of money and go that far. I really don’t feel that I would do as well as I am capable of if I raced this weekend, so whats the point in going to see how I stack up. I will miss getting to watch the pors and I’m kinda bummed about it all, but I guess I’ll get over in. There is plenty more racing to do around here and in Indiana and there is plenty of competition as well. I guess I don’t really see myself winning a National race if I’m not winning the regional ones.
It’s a recovery week for me so I’m just gonna take it pretty easy and have a good time watch the local road races this weekend. Maybe try to get out on the mtb a littl. See you at Fort Duffield.

was wet and 72 miles, just an extra 10 over the 100k designation. about 3 inches of rain the previous 48 hours made my hubs ask what in the world we were doin on some of the lower trails, but most of the rest was all ridable, just slick. some new sections felt like riding in quicksand, but all things considered, we, at least, were able to ride.that said, if you ever wanna do some awesome riding, mohican is only about 4.5 hours from the ‘ville and has some of the sweetest single-track around. really. some big climbs, sweeping corners, smooth pine forests, this place rivals a lot of the “mecas” out there.
i won here last year, but this year was different. the course was harder, my form is questionable and brian schworm was joining in on the 100k fun. we started at the front establishing the 2 two man lead groups for the rest of the day in the 100 mile and 100k races. so, after 27 miles of singletrack, we roll out to a campsite where some yahoo had decided to take down the direction arrows. in a nutshell, this resulted in the top 8 overall riders going in circles on the road for about 25 minutes. once we all got righted and hit the first checkpoint, we found no places had been lost. the only damage done was lossing gaps we had established, this didnt end up being a problem though.
so back on track, schworm an i rode together all day along with the two 100 mile racers off and on. at the 47 mile split/checkpoint, we went one way, they went another and the race was on for the last 25. a killer 1.5 mile fireroad was the first big test. i felt brian was pushin it and i was doin everything to stay close. i knew it was gonna be a struggle. the next 10 or so miles was just yo-yoing back n forth on fire-road and bits of singletrack. coming up to the last checkpoint, we road past a turnoff. i was like “oh crap”, hit the brakes hard, and sorry to say, brian didnt as he ran right into my back wheel and hit the pavement.
no major damage done, we hit the last aid station with 11 miles of punishment to come. the next 9 was all woods. i felt i had been riding the singletrack a bit better all day, so i knew this was my only chance to get a gap and a win. there was no attack. after 60 miles, its just a wind-up. so i wound it up an rode as hard a pace i felt i could withstand and hoped it was enough to put some distance in. throughout those miles, the gap grew, shrank, and luckily grew again before we came out at the bottom of the damn. the damn. yes, the damn. a dam holds water, but this is a damn cause it also holds pain, and lost of it. i dont know how long or how high the steps are, but i do know they are cinderblocks set into the grass and it feels like a frigging wall. brian said, i think, it took just over a couple minutes to walk up, but my quads still say it took an hour.
fighting outright exhaustion, but needing to keep my lead, i marched as fast as i could (which was slowly) up. the next mile or so was road. this was my big screw-up. i didnt find out the exact finish. so i pressed on up the long, long road climb back to the lodge keepin an eye out for any markers for a turn-out. brian just kept an eye on me and shrank the gap. as we got close to the lodge, the previous year, we had turned into a bit a of singletrack before this point. i was afraid i missed it, but b was still behind me, so if i did, so did he, so screw it. then, i saw an arrow, sweet, still on course. a short climb through some grassy slop turned to reveal the line. i stood up to sprint, wrong answer. i sat back down and ground out those last 30-40 yards uphill inthe grass as hard as i could and prayed i wouldnt see that green an white jersey come past me. 11 seconds. good enough for david sommers (if youy dont know who that is, watch more bad cycling movies) and me. i dropped the bike and flopped over, spent. brian soon joined me. he is a great competitor (hence why he’s called the terminator, boy wont quit) and a great guy. the fact it came down to 11 seconds, i think, rocks. the guy at the line couldnt believe it was that close after that far.
thanks to tom brockman for drivin and bringing a keg of bbc’s finest (he finished 12th in the 100k). bill kennedy (he finished!) for makin the arrangements and providing the commentary. good times. the planned rockin party with said keg fell well short as i think everyone passed out by 11pm. not so much from the suds but from being 100% spent.
gotta also thank ryan an garth for doin it up right another year. put this on your calander folks, well worth the suffering. or check out another race in the ulta-endurance series. http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=features/2006/ultra-endurance_series


fontana (late one)
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 9:30 am
kinda sucked. but, i finished and didnt hurt myself in any way, so it didnt suck real bad. actually, it was a lot of fun. i forgot my hrm, so i kinda dogged my last lap which prolly cost me 5th place, but hey, the form may be comin back, but best of all, that place is a blast to ride and i had a blast doin so.

D.IN.O. #2 Wapehani Park
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 6:06 am
The goal of this race was to get 3rd in my group, sport 19-29. The start was a paved hill about as wide as a golf cart track. Brian gives us the signal and we’re all off. I get about 12 good cranks in and realize I need a bigger gear so I sit for a second change gears and get back up. We get to the woods and I’m running 4th. The trails wer pretty sloppy so everyone was being pretty cautious. The guys running 1st and 2nd soon start to gap the guy in 3rd and me and even more surprising is that there isn’t anone riding with us. I guess I didn’t really have the initiative to immediately pass the guy in front of me and go after 1 and 2, I was content to just try and hang with him but as soon as we get to the first few climbs I realize I could be going a little faster so I get around him and drop him at some point. I come through for the 2nd lap running 3rd place, this is where I want to be but the thought of doing 2 more laps has me a bit scared of bonking. It wasn’t a real long course but it was pretty tuff, I guess the muddy trail added to that. There were two hills I had to walk up each lap cause if I tried to ride up them my rear wheel just sspun.
So I come through for lap 2 get a bottle from Ms. Lovely and try to drink some. I now have a guy from Purdue on my tail probably a few seconds back. With each climb I get away from him a little but then when we get to a faster section he catches back up. So I decide I need to try to hold him off and drop him. Two riders came around him and were riding with me for a while one was a juniour.
So at one sketchy spot I take a bad line off to the left and they both go right which was a rooty drop and they get around me in the process. I ride with them for a while and realize after a while that the guy from Purdue is finally gone.
I’m hanging with the two guys in front of me, they’re running 3rd and 4th but the junior doesn’t count in my age group so I’m running 4th. Then at the top o one of the climbs, which they walked up and I rode up they got away from me. I guess I took a little too long to recover at the top and they snuck off.
Near the end of the 2nd lap the guy that got in the woods 3rd came around. I guess he recovered and got back to business. I ride with him through the beginning of the 3rd lap and he opened up a little gap on me but then wrecked so I got back around him but he is soon back on my wheel so I let him around again. I don’t know why I do shit like that. He goes off and I remain content to finish the race without my legs seizing up. I did catch a guy that started 2 minutes ahead of me that beat me every race I entered that he was in last year, but I finished 5th. So I guess I’m okay with that result but not content. I did have a cold last weekend and kept coughing during this race so maybe I’ll just tell myself that the cold slowed me down a bit . Maybe if I started making my goal to win I’ll get 3rd. The guy who won my age group had the fastest time in Sport class so he might have to move up to sport open for next race. Avg hr for the race was 176 was max 187. Took me around 1:23 to finish so it wasn’t very long, but it hurt just the same. There were a few steep climbs but nothing too long.
Next weekend are NORBA nationals. I want to go check that out but all my teammates are unable to go, except nano (german bermudez), he might go. He did well at this DiNo race and so did Ben Richardson.
Expert/Pro finish
1. Matt Battin
2. Craig Wohlscheaeger
3. Jeremy Rodriguez
4. German Bermudez (Nano)
5. Brian Mountjoy
6. Ben Richardson
7. Don Galligher
8. Dave McComb
9. Michael Feske
10. Jacob Prater


May 23, 2006
Stump Jump
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 11:58 am
Back in the saddle. After Clemson, this was my first race and first time back on the mtb in 3 weeks. I’m still hurting a bit (low back weekness/pain) and have not really put together a long block of training in a while, but hey, when you gotta shot to hang with a beautiful girl all weekend and get a race in, who gives a rats rear how your form is? you just go.
so, from the gun, i knew trouble was on the horizon. earl from the trek sw team went 110% off the line, we followed. he blew up. another took his place and we again followed. after a lap at a pace that would later claim 1/2 that group, (about 7 of us), i knew i had to drop back, but it was to late already, the damage was done. by the end of lap 2, i was unraveling. the fast pace was also playin tricks on my recently ingested powerbar (stomach cramps) and i wasnt able to drink till the end of lap 1, so muscle cramps mid-way through lap 3 started kickin in. i caught 2 of the pain inflictors from lap 1 part way into #3, that gave me a short-lived boost, but i was resigned to callin it after 3 of 4, it was gonna do more harm than good to finish. so comin to the edge of the woods at the end of that lap, a course marshall said “race is called, stroms movin in, youre done.” i woulda stopped to kiss him, but he didnt seem like he woulda dug it, so i just professed my love verbally.
i think i came in 6th at the end, didnt bother to check, i just wanted to get outta there and go be horizontal and clean.
what about the girl you ask? jenn won her race aboard a 35lb liquid with 1 broken pedal. glad at least one of us is tough.
so thats it till i go suck somewhere else, like fontana, next weekend.


May 17, 2006
dope
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 2:54 pm
i see what they are drivin at; boosting red blood cells is boosting, whether if thats done by needle or tent or whatever, the same result is gained, and i think altitutude tents are unfair, mainly cause i cant afford one. but really, if wada bans them, would they also force riders to all live below some arbitrary height above sea-level? or say, if you live in denver, you cant compete anywhere below 3500 feet? screw it all, i say we just go with the 80’s SNL “all drug olympics” kinda thing. we all know what the risk/reward factor is, so if you want a heart the size of a cantaloupe and die at 35, cool, “rode fast died young”. also could help solve part of the social security crisis. i may run for office._________
WADA delays action on altitude tentsBy VeloNews InteractiveThis report filed May 14, 2006The Executive committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency, meeting in Montreal this week, has delayed a decision on whether to include the use of so-called “altitude tents” on its banned practices list until at least September of this year.
The tents, and other equipment designed to mimic high-altitude hypoxic conditions, have been used by some athletes to artificially elevate their red blood cell counts.
The committee issued the following statement in connection with a proposed review of the agency’s position on the use of such equipment:Artificially-Induced Hypoxic ConditionsThe Executive Committee decided to seek broad stakeholder comment on the question of whether artificially-induced hypoxic conditions should be placed on the 2007 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods (List). The consultation process on hypoxic conditions will occur in parallel to the process implemented for feedback on the draft 2007 List which is currently in circulation. Following the consultation period, stakeholder feedback will receive full review by the WADA List Committee in September 2006, which will then consider the appropriate next steps.


May 8, 2006
D.IN.O. #1 Warsaw, IN
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 6:24 am
Yeah the course is a little over 4 hours away, but man what a fun course it is. Probably not ideal for my skills but I still have a great time up there.
Standing on the starting line I’m telling myself that I’m not going to let the whole pack get in the woods before me like I did in S.C. I’m a little surprised at the amount of fit looking sponsored riders sitting on the line with me. There were around 25 of us because juniors and 19-29 started at the same time. Brian blew the horn on his megaphone and we took off. I got in a good little jump and did see anyone in my perephial for the first few cranks, but then we had to make a sharp left-handed turn and the grass was a little wet, then it was right into the woods. I got in 4th and was perfectly happy with that. We come up to the first jump and the officials are making us bypass t becaus apparently some guy was layed up at the bottom from the expert field I guess he wrecked going down it. After a few minutes the kid in front of me is starting to annoy me a little because he is all over the trail in certain sections and killing my momentum. Eventually I get by him but the guy who got in the woods 1st is already somewhere out of site. Eventually I get around the guy that was 2nd getting in the woods too and I pull a string of about 5 riders around for most of the first lap, yet I neve see the guy who was out front. He could’ve been the one that broke a chain and was walking out I don’t know. I caught a few sport open riders within the first lap which was a little suprising to me since they started 2 minutes ahead and are supposed to be faster than the average sport class rider. On a climb into an open field two guys get around me and I stay in contact with them for a little while but eventually let them slip off in a twisty section. Then at a section along the creek a guy askes to get around and he has been on my wheel long enought so I let him around and another guy went with him. As soon as they were around me they got away pretty fast.
Second lap I rode mostly by myself but it was a good lap I still had sections where I pushed pretty hard. I felt good and thought that I could possibly bring back the guy in the Purdue jersey that passed me. I didn’t though. I think I ended up in 5th place in my age group and 22nd overall that’s out of 90 riders, even though the results poseted say my time was actually a minute and something slower than what my watch and calculations tell me my time was. They didn’t even have results posted for me at first. I know the time is wrong though because according to the way it is now Brian Phillips would have had to have passed me to finish that far ahead of me but he didn’t. He was pretty close to catching me though. The big stat for me is that last year my time for 2 laps on this course was 1:49 this year it was right around 1:31. That’s like 9 minutes per lap faster. Awesome.
My teammate German (nano) Bermudez got 7th overall in the expert field so he made a little money.
Other louisvillians that drove up were Mike Purvis (10th in the expert field) and Keith Lucas (first in the 40+ expert group).
Now I don’t race again till the first week of June. I’m glad to go into a little break with some confidence. Hopefuly I can get in a few good weeks of training, aside from the painful week I’ll be having the weekend after this one when I get my wisdom teeth pulled.


May 3, 2006
Tuesday Night Worlds
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 10:22 am
I did my first Tuesday night Worlds ride last night. This is the local road scrimmage/crit type ride around the city. Plenty of traffic laws broken and a lot of bones are broken as well. I wanted to avoid both if I could. Anthony told me just to stay up front which is easier said than done. I knew I would be getting dropped but I had no idea that it would be as fun as it was to totally get my ass kicked like that. Most of the people in the group were Cat 1/2/3 riders/racers. I’ve never entered a road race and if I did it would be as a Cat 5. I’ve never ridden my road bike around that fast for more than a 5 minute span. I want to continue to do these rides because its great interveal training and I think it would help me on the hole shot sprints quite a bit. Hopefully I don’t break any bones in the process.

May 1, 2006

rowbear’s clemson
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 7:59 am
Warm-up was pretty good. I found a long sustained gravel climb and got my heart-rate up on that. Got to the starting line and there were a ton of riders standing around. I was little scared that I would not be at the line when it was time for my class to go because I didn’t really no the order other than pros were going first but I didn’t know if experts were included in that field too or what. There was nobody at the line with a bullhorn to tell you who was up, just some guy on a motorcylce (a very small one) to say go and lead us to the single track.
There were a lot of fast sections at this course and a fair share of rooty bumpiness (my kidneys hurt). I didn’t want to get in the woods first but I did want to be one of the first 5 or so.
Dude on the small motorcycle blows the whistle and we take off I have a little trouble finding my pedal and IJ had to gear up real quick. I probably should have started in big ring. I actually knocked into a guy a few times because there were about 25-30 of us starting. At least 10 riders get to the single track before me, probably more. So I’m in the woods looking ahead and I’m seeing little gaps opne up all over the place. This is bad. We’re going alright but I’m thinking if I were up there I wouldn’t be letting tose gaps open up quite so early. I’m not riding as fast as I could be if I weren’t stuck behind someone. I pass afew riders over time on climbs and whatnot but it wasntt until the end of the first lap or so before I found myself nt being frustrated by a rider in front of me. There is a big climb to the feed zone and at the top I get my bottle from anthony (surprise, he crashed out of his race). After drinking some and doing a shot of gel I just don’t get back into race mode. Some guys from my class catch me, guys I had previously passed and I just didn’t have the firre toget on their wheel. They were passing me in the fast downhill sections. I was just thinking well as soon as we start climbing again I’m going catch them. But it just really wasn’t in me to fight for 10th place. ON the last big climb there was a group of like 4 or 5 guys from my class probably 15 seconds in front of me but I didn’t have the eye of the (turtle) and even though I gained on them some I didn’t really dig to catch them. I got to the top of the fire road climb and got back into the final section of singeltrac. on the first turn my tire starts to roll a little, I ooko doown and it’s barely got any ari in it prolly 15 psi or something. So each turn I have to take real slow with a foot down. but there is only a few hundred yards worth of trail left before the finish so I roll through with a low tire. I think I ended up 14 out or 26 or more riders. Definitely not happy with myself especially after driving all that way. It was a beautiful day down there though. Maybe I can kick myself enough to make myself ride harder next time.
18 miles took 1:31 for me. Avg. hr 174 max 190
Jamie Godfrey won my class, no surpirse, followed by that Oziano or whatever his name is guy from Florida.
Pro finishes worth noting
1. Thomas Turner
2. Ryan Woodall
3. Brian Schworm
4. I think some Canadian guy
5. I think shawn Altizer
8. Dustin Greer


clemson
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 7:23 am
was good an bad. the pre-ride, sa-weeeet. weather? nice. the accommodations? a-1. the race. horrid. had a good start, right where i wanted to be. unfortunately, my brain was not fully engaged and i clipped a tree on a slight downhill which caused a series of bad things, none of which i remember since by the time i came to, there was a pile of riders on top of me. the race was over at that point, i couldnt get up or talk, just laid there hoping the next wave wouldnt be coming soon. i eventually pulled myself up and walked back to the start/finish and got some ice and cleared my head a bit.brian schworm put on a hell of a show being the last one back on after the pile-up and managing to kick it back up to 3rd by the end of the lap.many thanks to our hostess who went well above and beyond in many ways, especially keeping this injured fool company until it was time to head out.


April 24, 2006
logging miles
Filed under: Blog — redpytho @ 10:31 am
I had a pretty good week this week lots of sunshine and a little rain. I didn’t get a chance to get out on the mtb any but I did put in some good mileage on the road bike. While reading some training stuff I was reminded about the importance of cadence and started to consider my own. I think that I’ve probably been riding at a little bit too low of a cadence most of the time. I’m not like Anthony, I don’t have thighs the size of tree trunks. So I did a few rides with a higher cadence or just paying attention to my cadence a little more to see if it made a difference. It did seem to keep my legs feeling not so fatigued but at the same time my heartrate stays a little higher so its a bit of a trade off I guess. I noticed that at white lightening when I tried to hang on the wheel of the 2nd place rider I was using a big gear and mashing to turn the cranks over. Ten minutes later my legs are busted and I have to watch him slip away up a climb. Maybe I learned a little something there.
I also bought some spirulina which is supposed to be the wonder drug for vegetarians. It is a blue green algae that has all the vital amino acids in it. It’s a little hard to talk myself into taking it though. Maybe I should’ve gotten the pills instead of the powder. I mix a tablespoon of this powder in with a glass of v8 and it turns it all greaenn. It doesn’t throw the flavor off a whole lot but the appearance is not so appetizing.
Yesterday I did my longest ride ever, just barely, but I’m always glad to set my own bars a little higher. Hopefully I can go to Clemson this weekend.
-Robert