GlancingAft's Blog

Springebuary

2012-02-01T21:55:00.001Z

The skier in me is hating this extremely mild winter, however the cyclists in me is ecstatic! As such my motivation for winter training is at an all-time high. Instead of suffering through ineffective workouts on the trainer due to low motivation I'm instead outside virtually every night riding my bike! I can't wait to see the results of this payoff in the spring! On the flipside though I know my competition is also going to be taking advantage of the weather so it will be a very intense spring race season. Well, off to ride my mountain bike!

Weight Loss

2012-01-26T14:55:00.001Z

As I touched upon in an earlier post, my biggest goal for this season is to work on my weight. I have never really been one for New Year's resolutions but I decided to tackle this one head on starting the first of January. I have done this with a few major changes. First off I have been attempting to eat more, but smaller, meals, with a target of five 400 calorie or less meals a day. I also have been relentlessly calorie counting to track my intake and my burn rate through cycling. Lastly I have been attempting to eat out less, with only eating out 2 meals a week, typically 1 dinner and 1 lunch. I can say that so far it's been successful.
On January 2nd I tipped the scale at 197.2 Ibs. This week I am consistently weighing in at 187.2. 10 pounds in a month, I am impressed with myself.
I hope to keep the good things going, knowing that my rate of weight loss will slow down I have set some new goal:
For my first XC Race of the Season at Fair Hill, 4/22/12, I'm setting a goal weight of 175 Ibs.
For my peak Race, the Mohican 100, 6/2/12, I'm setting a goal weight of 170 Ibs.
From there, we will see what I think is obtainable!

To track my calories I have been using the MyFitness App for my iPhone, iPad, and Computer. It has been a great asset in this endeavor, and it also helps that my girlfriend Christie is also using it at the same time. We have been able to give each other some great encouragement!

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Things for Sale

2012-01-17T04:53:00.003Z

As I get ready for an exciting race season it is time to clear out some of the unused bike part inventory. Additional items will be added to the bottom of this list. Items that have been claimed but not purchased will be ~~striked out~~, and sold items will be deleted from the list. This is on a first come first serve bases, please feel free to contact me with any questions about any item. Thank You, and have a happy bike season!

REVISED 1/31/12 - Updated for what's sold, what didn't sell, and what's no on Ebay

Hayes Stroker Trail Hydraulic Brakeset - Used - MSRP New $280.00 - Asking $75.00

Includes one hayes and one avid rotor.

Skinz Protective Gear Road Bike Portector - MSRP $75 - Asking $50

Used Once for less than 1 hr

The Long Path Guide - 5th Addition - $5

Line Anthem 179 cm - Asking $75

LIB Tech Narrow Ass Snowboards 168 cm - Asking $75

Salomon 1080 163 cm with Tyrolia Bindings - Asking $40

(Warning, these skis are in terrible shape)

2012 Goals

2012-01-13T19:39:00.002Z

So a successful season can't be completed without goals, and while I floated by last season without very well defined ones, this season is rather different. Most training plans recommend 3 Goals for a season, but I am actually giving myself 4. However, my 4th Goal isn't so much a biking goal but more of a lifestyle goal. So here goes it, in this year I would like to:
- Qualify for 2013 Mountain Bike National Championships
- Complete my first 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race
- Podium in Cat 5 in the PACX Series
- Reach a weight of 170 pounds
I'll do my best to break them down.

Qualify for 2013 Mountain Bike National Championships
Back when I first got into mountain bike racing in 2006 USAC national where held at Mount Snow in Vermont. While I had friends who went up I didn't quiet feel ready for it. The alure of racing at a national level has always been there, and I was even kicking around the idea of going out to Sun Valley this year. However, I recently learned that national will be held at Bear Creek Resort in Pennsylvania in 2013 and 2014. Right in my own back yard. So my goal is simple, request an upgrade in my licence to Cat 1 and have a top 15 result in USAC qualifying race, which should be much easier now that the MASS Series has decided to become USAC Sanctioned.

Complete My First 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race
2010 was an embarrassing year. I set a lofty goal to complete my first 100 mile mountain bike race. After 5 Months of training I found myself in central Ohio to compete in the Mohican 100. I was greeted by torrential downpours, thunder, lightning, hail, and the chance of tornadoes. Restless night's sleep hearing the endless storm got the better of me and the mental game left me with a big Did Not Start, my first and only ever.

Podium in Cat 5 in the PACX Series
After years of being intrigued by the sport, I took the plunge this year and bought a cross bike. I was going to take a shot at a few races but before I knew it I was hooked, and raced in 6. Last year I did it for fun as a post season way to race bikes and drink beer. This year, while there will still be beer drinking, will be much more focused. I'm shooting for a podium in our local Pennsylvania series. I plan to finish up mountain bike racing at the beginning of August giving myself a month and a half to prep for a fun and challenging series.

Reach a weight of 170 pounds
My entire adult life has been a weight struggle. I've never been obese, but in college I came close to reaching the 230 pound mark. Around that time I rediscovered my love for running and literally ran the weight off. A few year's later, in 2005 I ran my first marathon, and approached the 168 pound mark. Since then I've seen my weight rise and fall, but mostly rise. Every winter I seem to reach a peak of around 190 pounds and then drop back down to 180ish by summer. This winter seemed to be worst than the past few and I nearly tipped the 200 pound mark. Enough is enough I say, life style changes are in order, and I'm also in a weight loss competition at work. So I've again set the weight goal of 170, and we'll see if I soot for lower when I get there. For now I am doing strict calorie counting, limiting myself to eating out twice a week, and not drinking soda.

So here goes 2012! It'll be fun to revisit this post in a year to see how well I stuck to my goals.And in the mean time I will be talking about them on here.

Top 5 Races of 2011

2012-01-06T18:27:00.000Z

And for my last reflection of 2011 these are my favorite races of 2011. While they don't represent my best results, they do represent the most memorable races I had during the year either for the experience, the accomplishment, or a little bit of both. Years from now when I look back at 2011 these are the races that I will remember.

5) Singlespeed-a-palooza:
What can be said that hasn't been said before. This race is awesome, and Darkhorse Cycles puts on an amazing race. After a strong 6th place finish in the Sport division in 2010 it was time to move up to Expert class. I knew I wouldn't place as well so I went out to have a good time, and good time I had. The course wasn't nearly as fun as some in years past, hopefully that's improved for next year!

4) Bearscatt 50:
So close but so far. I've always wanted to see an endurance race on my home town trails of Ringwood, NJ. However, this was close enough, at Waywayanda State Park. Two 25 mile laps on some rocky rough terrain. Tough enough to make the stupid 50 the next week seem easy. Unfortounitly it falls on the same weekend as Mohican so I wont be back in 2012.

3) Stewart 6 Pack:
My old homies from mtbnj.com put on their first mountain bike race in new york. Say what? NY? But anyways, awesome venue, always love Stewart, one of the best courses I've ever raced there and beer garden run by greek godesses mid lap. I was in training mode though, so I only took a beer on my final lap.

2) Star Rock Cross:
My teammates at The Cycle Works decided to put on our first race this fall as a cross race, on top of that this was my first year racing cross. Everything seemed perfect; great venue on a beautiful Lancaster farm, tough course, great support/help, and then we had a freak October snowstorm. And the race went from great, to insane! I can't wait for next year!

1) Hardcore 24 Solo:
My very first mountain bike race was a 24 hour race in 2006 as part of a 4 man team. Ever since that race I've been in awe of the allure of the solo 24. And while the sport has gone away from 24 hour races and focused on 100 milers I knew one day when I was ready I wanted to do a Solo 24 race. I had a lot of things going on in my personal life at the time so I couldn't focus nearly as much as I wanted to on training, and ultimately didn't meet my goal at the race. But in the end I was proud of my performance and I will be back in 2012

Top 5 Mountain Bike Rides of 2011

2012-01-05T21:24:00.002Z

I spend so much of my year either training, racing, or riding the same old trails, that it's easy for me to loose sight of why I love the sport. Sometimes it is just so great to get out there on the bike. Here is a list of my top 5 Mountain bike rides from 2011.

5) Raystown, PA:
I hadn't been out to Raystown in over a year and it was great to get out there with a new chill group of people. Had fun as always on the swoopy flowy singletrack.

4) Cotton Wood Canyon, NV:
Although I've been to Las Vegas two times before this was my first time Mountain Biking in the area. What goes up, must come down, and what a fun downhill it was!

3)White Clay, DE:
I alyways love riding there and frequently wish I lived a little bit closer. I didn't get to go on too many large group rides with my teammates this year so it was great to do that.

2) Fruita, CO:
This ride turned into a day of doing shuttle runs. The Niner RIP I rented simply destroyed this stuff and I had soooo much fun on it.

1) Whole Enchilada, UT:
Easily the most epic mountain bike ride of my life. Absolutely amazing from start to finish. I still have a GoPro video in the works for this and can't wait to get it out.

I'm looking for an even better year of mountain biking adventure this upcoming year! I'm already day dreaming of Whistler and making a return to Kingdom Trails...

2011 Wrapup

2011-12-31T19:03:00.002Z

Well it's certainly been an interesting year. In terms of cycling while I didn't meet my goals, I did manage to cycle more than any other year of my life.

Memorable races/moments would have to be:
- Moab with the boys
- Hardcore 24 Solo
- Bearscatt 50
- Stewart Six Pack
- Raystown Camping Weekend
- Star Rock Cross
- Vegas Mountain Biking
Cheers to 2012!

24 solo

2011-07-19T19:46:00.001+01:00

So the day is coming! It is now less than 100 hrs until I will be doing my first 24 hour solo race!
I'm trying out a new services to give updates on the race...

Spud Ride

2010-09-25T02:58:00.003+01:00

By popular request I am posting in here once again. How often it will be, who knows....

I just finished prepping for tomorrow's ride, which will be the Spud Ride. This is my third fall living in York and the first time I will get to attend this ride. Basically it's a mountain bike tour of York county, hitting all three parks in York and connecting between the three with rail trail and some road for a total of about 70 miles. Last year they had 53 riders attend, and had a good time riding, drinking beer, and eating burritos. Let's hope tomorrow is just as fun!

rebirth

2010-08-04T21:23:00.002+01:00

So I'm thinking again (after like the 10th hiatus) of resurecting this blog. For anyone out there who may actually follow it what do you think. Should I more or less follow the same subject or change things up a bit? Also should I stick with blogger or jump on board with one of the new trendier blog sites? In the end I do this more as my own diary than anything else, so I guess the call is mine :p Just would like some feedback...

Hempfield Tri

2010-04-15T19:01:00.002+01:00

So this past weekend I partook in my first ever sprint Triathalon. I never have been a strong swimmer, and most would probably still consider me a terrible swimmer. However I gave it my all and had some fun in the process. The format was a 300meter swim followed by a 16 mile bike, and finishing with a 3 mile run. The swim was time trial start and I was positioned as the 126th person to swim. So coming out of the pool I had a lot of catchup to play and I pulled it off incredibly well with nearly a 21 mph avg on the bike. After that it was just a matter of staying the course on the run.

In the end I finished in 19th place out of about 175 people and 7th in my age bracket. Not bad for someone who isn't even a swimmer...

Base 3, Week 1, Midweek Update

2010-03-05T18:56:00.004Z

So I've gotten behind on my posting, and well my training. The endless combination of bad weather and picking to go skiing over biking has set me back. Not that I mind, I'm still feeling great and I think I'm setting up well for a strong season! This week I'm really starting to get into speedwork and hill climbs as I begin to rampup. Although, I still haven't been getting the necisary time in the saddle.

Monday: M1 Tempo Ride, 1hr49min, 26.75 miles,
Tuesday: 1hr Weight Training
Wednesday: F2 Big Ring Hill Climb Repeats, 1hr 2min, 15.04 miles,
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday (today): 2hrs Interval Workout
Saturday: 6hrs F1 Rolling Hill Endurance
Sunday: E1, Skiing and swimming.

Two pieces of good news through all of this! 9 days till daylight savings! Whoop! It means no more night rides! Secondly it's been in the 40s for the past week and that snow pack is really melting. After a month of the mountain bike I expect to get back on it sometime this next week! Also next week I have a 4hr endurance mountain bike race! Should be fun!

Base 2 Week 4, Recap, and Base 3 Week 1 Plan

2010-02-23T03:37:00.002Z

So, things are still all sorts of messed up with scheduling. Between more snow/rain and weekend plans that include skiing coming up I'm really treating this as yet another rest week, for better or for worse. But before I get too far into it, let's talk about last week.
Monday: E2, Recovery Ride on the Trainer, 55:10, 13.81 miles
Tuesday: S4, Form Springs on the Trainer, 1:00:03, 16.39 miles
Wednesday: E2, Cycle Works Night Road Ride, 1:42:47, 18.71 miles,
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: M1, Tempo Solo Road Ride, 1:43:27, 26.07 miles,
Saturday: F1, Hilly Endurance Road Ride, 3:11:51, 45.75 miles,
Sunday: E2, Group Road Ride, 2:50:58, 37.02 miles,

Weekly Total: 11hrs 40min, 157.75 miles

Upcoming Week Plan
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: Personal Trainer
Wednesday: S4, Form Springs, 1hr
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: M1 Road Ride, 1hr 30 min
Saturday: E1, Run, 1hr 30 min & Skiing
Sunday: Skiing

Weekly Target, 4hrs

Base 2, Week 4, late week update

2010-02-20T04:12:00.002Z

So I'm back! The weather is finally starting to turn to favor for this weekend and while the trails are still unrideable I should get some quality road riding in. To give a weekly update.

Monday: 1hr E2, on the Trainer
Tuesday: 1hr, Form Sprints on the Trainer watching Downward Spirl Fight Club
Wednesday: 1hr, 40min, night road ride, E2. This was Alyssa's first time ever on a night road ride and she picked a "great" night to try it out. An hour into the ride it started to snow, and just get worse and worse. It was a long cold ride back.
Thursday: rest day
Friday: 1hr 45min, Tempo pace ride. Short after work ride into the dark. Nice temperatures today, can't complain.

and for this weekend:
Saturday: Skiing in the AM, and a 4hr Endurance Ride in the afternoon
Sunday: Skiing in the AM and a 3hr Hilly Endurance Ride

My training plan is still all fouled up from the snow storms last week so I don't really have a set hourly goal but I'll finish the week with around 11hrs.

Base 2, Week 3 midweek update

2010-02-12T15:48:00.002Z

So yeah, this week just didn't happen. 44" of snow in a 4 day period moved my mind away from biking and on to skiing. Not that I'm minding, I'm having a blast, but my time on the bike has been minimal. So, I'm turning this week into a rest week and seeing what I can do for next week, which was supposed to be a rest week. I figure at this point, as long as I can still get some long rides in, I'll be okay...
Anyways, for your enjoyment is a little helmet camera footage from Wednesday's Blizzard,

Base 2 Week 2, Recap, and Base 3 Week 3 Plan

2010-02-08T20:23:00.005Z

So in the end, the week was a success. Despite a rocky start and well getting a freakin insane amount of snow for this region (27" in a 24hr period) I only missed my hourly goal by an hour!

Pros:
- My number one pro of the week was actually not biking related. It was making it up to our local Mountain Roundtop during the middle of the blizzard and getting to ski some of the best powder of my life (on the east coast).
- Two night road rides. I'm starting to get used to these things.
- Sunday I did a 2 hr trainer ride. This is a record for me for indoor biking.

Pro/Con:

- I got to do my first long mtb ride in a while. Most of my long rides of late have been road rides. It was good to be out on the mountain bike for so long this week. Although I felt really week on some climbs and had way too slow of a pace.

Con:
- Nothing except what mentioned above. I know this shouldn't be a concern right now, but I am still worried.

By numbers:
Planed Hours: 11hrs
Actual Hours: 10hrs

Monday: 1hr, E2 Trainer Ride
Tuesday: Personal Trainer
Wednesday: 1hr55min, E2 Road Ride, 27.51 miles http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23896833
Thursday: 1hr58min, S4 Road Ride, 28.31 miles, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23951686
Friday: 3hr5min, F1 Mountain Bike, 17.37miles, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24015495
Saturday: Skiing
Sunday: 2hr, E2 Trainer Ride

I believe this is the first time I've logged an F1 ride. So to explain an F1 is defined as a hilly endurance ride.

Looking ahead, this next week is going to be a really tough one and a true test. I am scheduled to complete 12.5hrs on the bike. Being that we received all this snow and are expecting another storm to drop 9"-12" tomorrow night riding outside will be near impossible. On top of that I am supposed to go away to the Poconos this weekend with Alyssa's family to go skiing. This will be a near impossible goal to meet. I'm kind of through out my daily training plans out the door but I think I will shoot for this, this week.

Monday: 2hr M1 (Two spin sessions at the gym)
Tuesday: 2hr, E2 Ride on the trainer
Wednesday: 2hr M1 (Two spin sessions at the gym)
Thursday: 1hr, S1- S5 on the trainer
Friday: 2hr, E2 (hopefully outside)
Saturday: Skiing
Sunday: Skiing and 3hr30min F1 ride (hopefully outisde)

If I can pull this off (which I'll tell you right now I wont) it'll bring me to 12 hrs for the week.

Base 2, Week 2, midweek update

2010-02-05T04:43:00.004Z

So I missed getting a post up here earlier in the week, so I will give you a bit of a midweek update. I'm actually thinking of changing the format of how I'm handeling this blog. I think instead of two weekly updates I might just do a shorter daily update. Since I'm doing this more for myself than anyone it might help me keep track of things a bit better. For the two readers out there looking at this, how does this sound? Rather than cloging up your RSS reader with two really long posts a week it'll be 1 short one each day? Hmmmm, might be bad ;)

Anyways, this week started off kind of bad. I was still upset with missing my hour mark by so much last week and have become super burnt out on any trainer rides. Something I know I'll need to get over. Even with this though I still managed to get on the trainer for an hour on Monday. Tuesday was the normal visit to the personal trainer. I had planned on riding the trainer afterwards, but I was still too burnt out on the idea of riding indoors.

Thankfully my week turned around on Wednesday with another great night road ride with some of my cycle works peeps. We managed to tick off 2hrs and about 27.5 miles, at and E2 Base Pace. I kept the good things going and did it again tonight, doing 2hrs and 28 miles, starting things off with s4 form sprints, and going into a E2 ride.
Wednesday's Ride
Thursday's Ride

As for the rest of the week, things are up in the air. We have the impending doom of a major snow storm. I'm still thinking it's going to be less than 9". Anyways, I'm going to try to get a long ride in tomorrow during the beginning of the storm. Hopefully about 4 hrs on the mountain bike. Saturday I'll take advantage of the pow and go skiing if I can make it up to the mountain and Sunday hopefully a little combo of skiing and 2hrs or so on the bike bringing my weekly total to 11hrs.

Base 2 Week 1, Recap

2010-02-01T17:52:00.005Z

Base 2 Week 1, Recap
Planed Hours: 10.5hrs
Actual Hours: 5.7rs

So I don't want to say this week was a bust, far from it I believe. However I did not come close to meeting my goals. This week kind of was a realization of how time committing this training has become and in turn makes me rather stressed in trying to fit in riding time between other aspects of my life. This week I missed out on one strength building workout and a 3 hour endurance ride. It was upsetting to me, but the important thing in the end though is that I still am having fun on my bike and I am feeling great.

Pros:
- I had my first race of the season. A fun event down in Virginia called Snotcycle. I decided to race single speed for the event and went down to have a good time and above all else not to push too hard. We were greeted by 4" +/- of new snow and a lovely 8 mile course (raced 2 laps), it was a blast and despite the cold I had a great time. Of the 60 or so Single Speeders who raced it I finished 29th. Not bad considering I had my bike geared completely wrong at 32 x 20 when it should have been about 32 x 16, and well I wasn't trying to push it. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23581799
- I got my first after work daylight ride of the year in on Friday. I was able to get out of work and ride for an hour or so before dark. It was just nice to MTB in the daylight during the week.
- My longest to date night road ride with 4 other teamates at 30 miles. I'm starting to get the hang of riding at night. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23369433

Cons:
- As I said in my intro, the lack of hours was a bit of a downer and I am questioning how I will do this upcoming week with them.

Daily Workouts (italicized is what was planned):
Monday: 1 hr, intervals on the trainer, 1 hr intervals with the downward spiral
Tuesday: MS Training with Bonnie, MS Training with Bonnie
Wednesday: 2hr, E2 Road Ride, M2, Road Ride, 1:57:09, 29.15 mileshttp://connect.garmin.com/activity/23369433
Thursday: 1hr S2, Isolated legs, Rest Day
Friday: 1.5hr, E2 Road Ride, E2 Mountain Bike, 1:02:33, 9.14 miles http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23487841
Saturday: 2hr, M2, Tempo Ride, C Race Snot Cycle, 1:42:12, 15.55 miles, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23581799
Sunday: 3hr E2 Ride, Road Ride , 2.5 hrs Skiing

My Base Training Plan

2010-01-26T17:13:00.004Z

While the pros these days rely almost entirely on power meters, I can not afford to spend $1,000 on one, so I still do my training with either perseved effort or heart rate. Traditionally heart rate has been split in to five Zones, starting at Zone 1 as a recovery rate and increasing in beats per minute up to a Zone 5 nearing maximum heart rate. Looking at the my most recent statics from a Fitness Test I took in December, I am currently at the following:

Zone 1, Active Recovery Below: 138 (72%)
Zone 2, Extensive Endurance: 138 (72%) to 151 (79%)
Zone 3, Intensive Endurance: 152 (80%) to 159 (83%)
Zone 4, Subthreshold: 160 (84%) to 169 (88%)
Zone 5a, Threshold: 170 (89%) to 175 (91%)
Zone 5b, VO2 Max Intervals: 176 (92%) to 181 (94%)
Zone 5c, Anaerobic Reps: Above 182 (95%)

Lactate Threshold 172 (90%)
Maximum Heart Rate 191 (100%)

So what does this all mean? Not a heck of a lot unless you're under a training plan. The plan I'm following, is under the theory that you build a good strong base for your season now by spending a lot of time doing low intensity workouts. The idea being that your body needs natural rest periods after a long hard race season, and if you were to go all out with your rides this time of year you would simply burn your body out. So over the next few months you'll slowly start to see me build up my intensity. Have more intervals in my workouts, and especially doing hill climb repeats (riding up and down a hill, oh fun).

Since I've been getting questions on it, these are some of the common workouts I'm doing at this period in my base.
E1 - Is a recovery ride, basically staying within my Zone 1 and riding on flat terrain.
E2 - Is the most common one you'll see me doing. These are my long rides to build up endurance and base. On these rides I will average a Zone 2, although you may see me shoot up in to a Zone 3 on climbs.
M1 - Tempo ride. I'm just really starting these up. A Zone 3 ride on a flat course
S1 - Spinups. My version of these is once every 5 min, I will slowly start increasing my cadence (rpms) and then continue at as high of an RPM as possible till failure. Rest for 5 min, and then do it over again.
S2 - Isolated Legs. On my indoor trainer (the spin bikes at the gym are great for these). With a relatively low gear I pedal with one leg only until failure, then switch legs until failure, rest 5 min, and do it over again.
S4 - Form Sprints. At the start of an E2 ride I'll do aproximately 10, 10 second sprints.
Intervals - I really shouldn't be doing much, but have been doing some. I've really been enjoying The Sufferfest Videos on my trainer.

Base 2 Week 1

2010-01-26T03:11:00.002Z

Another week, and another week of planning. Thankfully my required hours aren't as high as I was preveously expecting. I actually only have to ride 10.5 hrs, not 13. Anyways, this week should be a fun one, I have my first mountain bike race of the season at Snotcycle in virginia. I'm racing the singlespeed for it and with 65 other singlespeeders registered it should be a fun time!
So anyway, the weekly plan
Monday: (Already completed) 1 hr, intervals on the trainer
Tuesday: MS Training with Bonnie
Wednesday: 2hr, E2 Road Ride
Thursday: 1hr S2, Isolated legs
Friday: 1.5hr, E2 Road Ride
Saturday: 2hr, M2, Tempo Ride, C Race
Sunday: 3hr E2 Ride, Road Ride

Base 1 Week 4, Recap

2010-01-25T14:44:00.004Z

Base 1 Week 4, Recap
Planed Hours: 5hrs
Actual Hours: 4.5hrs

So restweek, was yeah resting. It was tough not to get on bike as much as I felt like I should be. Although it was nice to not have to dedicate as much time to the cause. Thinking about things though I have decided that I am going to up my annual training hours since I think I have the time to do so. This will mean an increase in weekly hours, and at 13 hrs for next week will be a good test.

Highlights:
- Got to go for a nice fun ride in Ringwood with Elzoler from mtbnj. I always enjoy getting to ride my home trails!
- My work schedule allowed me to get out of work two days this week at 4pm providing some daylight into dusk night road rides. It's always great being out in the sun!

Pros:
- Relaxing and enjoyable riding

Cons:
- I didn't get a test ride in on Saturday. Since I relatively recently had a fitness test done at the shop I don't think it was that big of a loss though.

So let's look at the workouts (italicized is what was planned):
Monday: S4, 1hr Form SprintsS4, 1hr 30min Form Sprints, road bike, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22692003
Tuesday: Rest Day
Wednesday: E1, 1hr 9 min Base Ride E1, 1hr Base Ride, road bike, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22818278
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: 1hr Test, Cross Train (skiing)
Sunday: E2, 2hr Base Ride, E2, 2hr Base Ride, Single Speed Mountain Biking, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23155421

Base 1 Week 4

2010-01-19T02:16:00.003Z

Base 1 Week 4!
REST WEEK! Whoop Whoop! Not that I feel I'm entirely deserving of one since the first week of Base 1 was kind of a joke and I've only really been focusing for the past two weeks. Anyways, they always say rest is the most important and also the hardest thing for an athlete to do.
This week I have on tap.
Planned 5Hrs in the Saddle

Monday: Had planned on doing a 1hr S4, Form Sprints. But at 50 degrees out it was so nice that I stayed out for an hour and a half. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22692003, then I went up to Roundtop and took some skiing runs.
Tuesday: Rest Day, out of town on business
Wednesday: 1hr E1, Base Ride, Up in the air depending on trail conditions if this will be with YAMBA or on the road.
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: 1hr Test, also plan on a full day of skiing.
Sunday: 2hr E2, base ride

In other news my garmin edge seems to have died. Thankfully I can borrow Alyssa's when she's not using it, however I'll need to get a replacement soon... I'd really like to get the Edge 705 with mapping capabilities, however I don't have the cash to spend right now...

Base 1 Week 3, Recap

2010-01-17T21:04:00.003Z

Planed Hours: 9.5hrs
Actual Hours: 9.75hrs
Note: I am not including time weight lifting and skiing within this total. I am including cross training such as running and swimming in this total as E1 events until Base 2 is over.

Highlights:
- Excellent Metric Century ride with some of my teammates on Saturday. We were blessed with temperatures in the high 40s. Really a great day
- Prework Workout. I have trouble working out before work, but on Monday I did manage to wake up at 4:45am to make it to the gym before work. This allowed for a double workout day. Biking/Swimming AM and then skiing in the evening.
- Night Road Riding. I am terrified of night road riding. But I was able to get myself out on Friday night for a bit. I am working on as safe of a route as possible consisting mostly of running paths and neighborhoods that wont bore me to death.

Pros:
- High Motivation
- Stamina is feeling good

Cons:
- Feeling fatigued after this week. Thursday's are going to be a definite trouble day as I progress. With work from 7:30am to 5:00pm, Night Class from 6:00pm to 9:00pm, and working out from 9:30pm to 10:30pm +, it becomes a very long day.
- Hill Climbing, usually a strong point is not feeling great. I know the training plan says I should not be focusing on hills at all at this point, but I'm concerned and throwing up a flag to take note of in a month or two. Even though I have ridden through this winter to date I have lost strength.

So let's look at the workouts (italicized is what was planned):
Monday: S3, 1hr 30 min Isolated Leg Intervals
S3, 20 min S3 Isolated Leg Intervals, E1, 10 min Swim, & 1.5hrs skiing
Tuesday: MS Workout
training with Bonnie for 1hr
Wednesday: E2, 1hr 30 min Base Ride
YAMBA Night Ride at Lake Redman, 1hr32min href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22310894
Thursday: S1, 1hr Spinups
1hr Spinups on the trainer
Friday: E2, 2hr Base Ride
E2, Road Ride apx 2hrs, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22600146
Saturday: Cross Train (skiing)
E2, Road Ride 4hr28min http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22510262
Sunday: E2, 3hr Base Ride
E1, 30min recovery run on the treadmill & MS Lifting

Base 1 Week 3

2010-01-12T03:12:00.002Z

I'm back, hope you enjoyed the time "off" as much as I did. By time off I'm sure your on the same lines as me, mountain biking in 18" blizzards, night riding in sub 20 degree nights, and well yeah doing the best to deal with it....
So yeah, the 2010 mountain bike season is quickly approaching, if I opt to do it my first race might actually be in 3 weeks, and the thing that distinguishes this year form all the others, is I have a plan. Over the past 4 years of racing, my "training" has been to go out and ride, whether it be by myself, with a group, as long as I was hammering I thought I was doing everything I needed to do. Well, stagnant race results has me thinking otherwise, and for the first time ever I have setup a proper Annual Training Plan.
My goals for the season,
To Complete my First 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race
To Complete my First 24 Hour Race
To Upgrade to Expert Category in the MASS Series
To reach these goals I've been following the Mountain Bikers Trainer Bible fairly closely and am setting my A Races as the Mohican 100 in June and then for a second peak for the 24 hours at Seven Springs and the MASS Bear Creek Championship.
I think from this point forward I will try to use this blog as my training log similar to two years ago. The difference being this time I will actually be training with a purpose rather than just writing down group rides. So to cut my rambling short....

For this week's plan I am in Week 3 of Base 1 and am scheduling the following
Total time, 9.5hrs
Monday: S3, 1hr 30 min Isolated Leg Intervals
Tuesday: MS Workout
Wednesday: E2, 1hr 30 min Base Ride
Thursday: S1, 1hr Spinups
Friday: E2, 2hr Base Ride
Saturday: Cross Train (skiing)
Sunday: E2, 3hr Base Ride
I will check back in a week and let you know how I did!

Ringwood Video

2009-12-08T02:54:00.001Z

The edit is a few weeks old now, and the footage is going on a month old, but incase you missed it here is a video from an awesome ride I had up at Ringwood with my friend James.

Ringwood 11/8/09 from Will Weismantel on Vimeo.

Ode to the 2009 Season

2009-10-29T16:43:00.003Z

For the past few years I have always considered daylight savings the end of the mountain bike season. After which my rides are limited to weekends and the occasional midweek night ride. While this winter I hope to ride far more, as mentioned in previous posts, last night I went out to celebrate the close to the '09 bike season. I met up with Alyssa at our local park, Rocky Ridge, for one final ride with a gloomy depressing autumn drizzle coming down. It was sad, and I tried to keep upbeat, but there's no denying how much I will miss daylight after work.
Unfortunately as I reflect back at this year I see far less positives than negatives. A season full of lackluster results and improper training. On the flip side though it was my most fun season. I had many great rides and met many great new people to ride with. Not one to dwell on the past it's all about looking forward, and next season is squarely in my sites.
With a determination to learn to train properly and an effort to build up base already underway it will definitely be my best race season to date, and hopefully a fun one too!

White Clay Skills Trail

2009-10-28T12:58:00.001Z

Here's a little video clip from the skills trail at White Clay this past weekend. Always a fun time!

Fun with the Base!

2009-10-26T17:11:00.005Z

I gotta say, I've been having a ton of fun with my base over the past month. Being that I have decided to step up my game and finally take on a 100 mile race next season I am beginning my buildup now. Over the past few weeks I have gotten at minimum 6 hrs in the saddle, and traveling to such fun places to ride as Raystown, White Clay, Six Mile, and upstate New York.
One of the best parts of this is that during these low intensity workouts Alyssa and I are able to have a lot of fun ridding together. I truly consider myself lucky that she has embraced the sport so much and we really do help to motivate eachother.
This past weekend was no exception.
On Saturday we rode from our place up to our local park, Rocky Ridge, then back home. While it was wet out and we got rained out on the way home we had a great time, getting in 3hrs 10 min moving time and 25 miles.

On Sunday we went down with a crew of team mates to ride White Clay getting in another 3hrs 44 min and 30 miles. This park has quickly become one of my favorite places to ride this time of year with it's minimal climbing and smooth fast trails. Not to mention the awesome skills park! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/17116973

Early Start to Winter

2009-10-19T20:06:00.003+01:00

So if I truly want to achieve the lofty goals I'm establishing for myself next year one thing is certain, and that is that I must train through the winter. In past years I have "trained" in the winter, but nothing close to what I'd like to accomplish this year. Previous years I have generally done one or two mid intensity rides during the week totaling 3 hours max. outside. On top of that I will have 4 hour high intensity rides on the trainer.

This winter I plan to spend about 10 hours outdoors in the saddle each week. I hope to accomplish this with three rides.
- 2 hr mountain bike night ride at Lake Redman that Alyssa and I will be running through YAMBA
- 4 hr road bike ride Team Cycleworks from the shop on Saturday mornings.
- 4 hr mountain bike ride with Alyssa at the park of our choice.
If all goes well, this should add up to a great winter base.

However the weather will be the biggest factor turning this plan to #$@$. As was already the case with this past weekend. After three weeks of doing rather well with this plan, or a variation of it, I was hit with some of the worst indication of what is to come. Everyone who lives on the East Coast knows, but for the past 5 days we were bombarded with terrible cold rain. I tried to get out in it on Saturday, and succeeded with an hour and a half ride. However this is far shot of my lofty self goals.

Thankfully the weather cleared on Sunday and I was able to get a 1 hour run followed by a 2 1/2 hr ride in, in some beuatiful fall weather.

I have set some lofty goals, and one thing is clear, I will be tougher if I stick to them.

Rotten Fruit

2009-10-16T14:08:00.002+01:00

To make a long story shortish my favorite fruit company presented me with something that I see as no more than highway robbery. My hard drive has gone in my iMac and I went in to the Apple store to see what could be done about it. The end result, well I'm a little ticked off at them.... As I see it I have 4 options at this point:

1) The apple store wanted $360 to install a new 320GB hard dive. $275 for the hard drive and $85 for installation. I don't know how they could look me in the face and tell me a 320 GB hard drive is worth $275 right now.

2) I could install the hard drive myself. If this was a tower PC it would be a no brainier and take less than 5 minutes to do. On the iMac it seems far more complex, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzuBW3mu7LI Also once I put 3rd party hardware in my iMac, Apple will no longer service it for anything.

3) I could use my old Compaq laptop for the foreseeable future. I rarely spend more than an hour a day on my computer at home. It's generally spent online which can be done from any computer platform. To social network, do my banking, read about bikes, ect ect. The only drawback is I will miss iPhoto and once in a while I still do put together videos.

4) The most exciting option but one I really wasn't budgeting for this year, and that is to buy a new PC. I was hoping to get 5 years of life out of my iMac and I'm just closing out year 3. I know Apple is days/weeks away from releasing a new lineup of computers, but this experience has me ticked off enough to change my allegiances. I actually kind of wish the google OS was out already.

So, what are all of your thoughts? What would you do in my position? If you were buying a new desktop computer right now, what would you consider?

New Paltz Epic

2009-10-13T20:08:00.006+01:00

Autumn is indeed here, which means fall foiladge road bike rides! This past weekend I found myself in the Catskills region of New York for a 76 mile epic that included 3 major climbs over 1,000 feet with grades over 9%.

All in all I felt great the entire day, while the pace was generally slow my body has gotten very used to endurance rides. What may have been a struggle only a year or so ago can now be accomplished with ease requiring almost no recovery time.

The true story of the day though was that of Alyssa. This shattered her recently established 51 mile record by becoming her longest ride. It wasn't easy for her and she definitely seemed to bonk on the last climb but I have a feeling she will be out for another one of these ride!

For those interested, here is a GPS log of the ride,
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15944453

Winding Down... Thinking Ahead

2009-10-05T18:00:00.003+01:00

For those of you who do follow this blog I apologize for the laps in posts. I kept wanting to post, and then would put it off for a week. What started as a post about one big race soon turned into four to wright about... The good news is, while this season is almost over I have some big plans for next, of which I plan to make this blog a centerpiece. So stay tuned, in the mean time here's a video from riding out at Raystown a week ago,

24 Hour Race Season

2009-08-19T12:57:00.004+01:00

So it appears to be that I am slacking again with my updates on here. Well since I last wrote I will say there has been a bit of a turn around in my season. I have been training a bit harder and have gone in to what is for me a strict diet. I am starting to see results I have lost a few pounds and am getting better race results.
And, for the month of August I have the ultimate test in front of me. I am electing to do two 24 hour races within a 2 week period.
The first race will kick off this weekend and the 24 Hours of Allamuchy in New Jersey where I will be racing on a Co'ed team with Alyssa. I'm very excited for this will be Alyssa's first 24 hr race. Then after two oh so very short weeks of recovery I will be off to the Pittsburgh area for 24 Hours of Seven Springs where I will be racing on a 4man (gulp) expert team with some of my Cycle Works Teammates.
Time will tell how my body does with this, but at least the temps should be dropping some for this weekend.
In the mean time here's a video I made a few weeks ago at my local park. I haven't been too into video editing over the past year or so but I can say this is the first video I'm really proud of in some time,

Life hands you lemons.

2009-07-28T16:13:00.002+01:00

Just when you think you're starting to do good. Life hands you lemons.

Two weeks ago I raced at the Midnight at Milford Hills at Marsh Creek Race. I'm generally not the best night racer and to top things off I had a really bad start. However once out there for the first time in a long time I just felt on top of my game. The entire race was dedicated to passing other racers and at no point did I come close to hitting any sort of a wall. I finished 7th, not great but I swear I could taste podium had it not been for the bad start. So I felt as if my season had finally come full circle and I was close to the shape I had been in at the first Fair Hill Race.

Then, the next morning, I woke up with a terrible itching on my feet and I realized that I had really bad poison ivy on my feet. It just did not let up and a few days latter I went to the doctor to get percaset. I was out of commission, unable to do anything physical. I did during this time get to spend an amazing few days on the outer banks and it was great to relax. However I wanted to be training. French Creek is just a few weeks away and I feel of all the other courses in the MASS series that one calls out to me. It is the race that I can podium in. A week off the bike felt like torcher.

Last night I finally returned to the saddle. It was for a laid back YAMBA group ride. Surprisingly I didn't feel that bad? But at no point was I pushing it. Tonight will be a longer group ride. Infact building up to French Creek I will try to organize a structure with my workouts for the first time in a while.

Marysville 9hr Solo Race

2009-06-30T15:19:00.004+01:00

So after all that planning the race went really well and I had an amazing weekend! The course was challenging, consisting of 8.3 miles of extremely twisty tight single track for the majority with tons and I mean tons of log crossing (and good sized ones) and bridges, ect. The climbs while not very much vert. where really steep. So fun riding at first but made for a really tiring endurance course offering very few places to rest.

The start was a Lamond style start and the first one I have ever done. I really was not a big fan of it. For those of you who don't know that means you run (in this case about 1/4 of a mile) to where the bikes are, and then hop on. The idea is that this spreads out the crowed a little and creates less bottlenecks once you get into the single track. It's works to a certain extent.

Once on the bike I went out relatively strong and metup with some teammates and paced with them for the first half a lap. However they were on teams and not doing it solo and I was averaging about a 170 HR with them which was too high for my tastes so I dropped off. Probably a smart move, but looking back something I probably should have done right away. It took most of the rest of the first lap but I eventually found my groove and went for it for the next few laps.

The course had an interesting setup in that is cut through the campsite about 2/3 of the way through the lap. So I got in the routine of doing my refueling there instead of when I'd finish a lap. Alyssa was doing race support for me and I will say she was amazing. As soon as I'd pull into camp she'd be up and about running to grab me stuff, she's always such a good motivator. The first few laps I went for just hammer and cliff bar refuels but on my third time through I chowed down on some tortalini salad. I wasn't sure how it would sit with me but I didn't really have any problems. While eating one of my teammates who was also racing solo pulled into the campsite. I waited an extra minute for him and we headed out to do a lap together. One lap turned into the rest of the race, which was a really good thing. I'm generally a slightly faster xc racer than him but he is a much better endurance athlete.

Riding with someone else really changed the game, I didn't start playing any of the mental games I normally do and had a lot of fun. Later one when I started to cramp up and have issues having somebody else there didn't seem to make it nearly as bad. The cramps really started for me at around lap 5. I was doing a relatively good job hydrating and taking in as much electrolytes as possible (generally I was doing double feeds of hammer and taking in several endurolyte pills a lap). However at this time it was pushing 85 degrees and looking back at it now i really should have taken the time at the pit to put a second water bottle cage on my bike.

During this time I was really starting to hate those logs. Whenever I'd pull my legs up to bunny hop over one I would just feel the sharp cramping pain running up and down my quads. On the climbs too such sharp excruciating pain. Several climbs I was getting earlier in the race where not even conceivable at this time, as I trudged up them.

So in the end we pulled 7 laps, right around 60 miles. We actually crossed the finish line at 9hr 2 min but had we finished before the 9hr mark we probably would have still called it quits. I was shooting for about 70 miles but given the temps, humidity, and that it was a slow moving course I was happy with this finish. It put us in 16th and 17th place out of around 40 solo open people. Not bad considering there were a lot of pros there. The downside is, although I was able to race the entire time, and have matured a lot with my endurance riding since the Allamuchy days I still don't think I'm ready for Wilderness 101 this year. I'm disappointed in that but I want to do it when I'm completely ready both physically and mentally.

Here is a GPS log of the race, http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.mb?episodePk.pkValue=8536324 the batteries in it died on the last lap.

9hrs of ...

2009-06-25T19:05:00.005+01:00

This weekend I boldly return to my first lap based endurance race after a two year hiatus. While I did have a short endurance race in Michaux back in March this one will be a true test. On Saturday I will be racing in the 9hr Solo race in Marrysville PA as part of the VisitPA.com festival.

Am I ready? Who's to say. I'm a bit heavier than in some years past but I have more miles on my bike than any other year. I have been able to maintain a super positive attitude about biking this year that I didn't always have in the past.

The Weapon? After much debate I am racing on my ever trusty Niner AIR 9, I through some Ignitor tires on it in case there's still some mud out there. I had been seriously debating racing the Felt Single Speed since it's been the bike I've been on most lately but decided since I haven't done one of these in a while to break out the gears.

The Food?
- 1.5 pounds of thin sliced chicken breast
- Hot Dogs
- Buns and Rolls
- Tortellini Salad
- 6 Cliff Bars
- 40 shots worth of Hammer Energy Gel
- 2 Packs Cliff Blocks
- 2 Snickers Bars
- 1 Liter Gatoraid
- 1 Gallon Orange Juice
- 3 Gallons of Water
Probably overkill for sure, but better to be safe than sorry!!!

The Logistics?
Soo much to pack, especially with a night time trial the night before and camping gear!
- Bike - Niner Air
- Backup Bikes - Felt Nine Solo, and Jamis Dakar Expert
- Bike light
- Head lamp
- Bike Stand
- Air Pump
- Bike tools
- Spare Parts (Tubes, tires, chain)
- clothes
- helmet
- bike shoes
- grill
- Tent
- Sleeping Bag

Well, I'm excited! I hope I can find a groove and stick with it, not blow up and stay positive! The weather forecast is looking great, although a little hot, so here's hoping to no cramps!
It's On!!!

National Trails Day Video and Vacation

2009-06-19T14:31:00.003+01:00

Art and Ellen White put together a great little video clip for National Trails Day, get out there and dig!

In other news last week Alyssa and I went on our vacation out West! Riding out there was everything it was cracked up to be and I can't wait to do it again! Check below for some photos,

SingleSpeed-A-Palooza

2009-06-05T17:52:00.008+01:00

So as my racing "career" continues I've managed to get close to 50 races under my belt. Now not to say each race doesn't offer something unique and exciting to the challenge, but for the most part, they start to blur together after a while. However this was not the case with last week's race in Stewart New York at Singlespeed-a-palooza. The concept was simple, a single speed race at one off the best single speed parks around, however the execution of the race was beyond amazing! The Darkhorse Cycle guys know how to pull off a race like no other. Everything from their pre race hype, to their post race celebrations were fun and exciting! Oh, and it helped that the course itself was just a pure blast to ride!

As for the race itself it went relatively well. Alyssa really wanted to do the race but was against using the old Kona Kaboom. So I let her borrow the Felt Nine Solo while I rocked the Kona. I picked a 32x18 gear and I kind of wish I went a little lower. In my starting pack of like 60 I didn't have a great position and on the fireroad at the start I couldn't spin as fast as some of the other guys. When I entered the Single Track sitting in about 30th place. I just went in to it with one goal in my mind, to have fun. I quickly overtook a lot of people, however I was facing my same old problem, I'm too nice when it comes to passing. I was also reminded during the race how much those tiny 26" wheels blow. They just can't track for anything at high speeds and really make you work to get up over things. I got the hang of it but know I would have been a lot faster on the 29er. However, it really didn't matter, I was out there to have fun! In the end I finished in 22nd out of the 60. Not bad considering I'm not usually a single speed racer!

As for Alyssa she did truly awesome and completely blew away my expectations as well as I believe hers. She finished the sport class in 4th place with an avg pace of 8.6mph (her fastest ever pace at any park on a mountain bike, geared or single speed!) The best story of the day though was that of my good friend James. After a terrible crash he spent the better part of a year off of bikes recovering. In recent months he's been road riding a lot but I never really expected to see him at a mountain bike race. After some convincing he came up to race, having never ridden his 29er singlespeed in the woods. Not only did he finish strong, but with a smile on his face, having completed an amazing race!

If you can't tell I was pumped about this event and I can't wait to do it again next year! As for now, tomorrow I'm heading out west for vacation! Can't wait to mountain bike out west for the first time!

changing up the game

2009-05-20T02:13:00.003+01:00

So as I dabble endlessly with the possibility of doing my first mountain bike century this summer I've been spending a lot of time cross training on the road bike. This training culminated this past weekend with my first ever road race. I entered the Conestoga Race in the 4/5 category.
I really thought with all the racing under my belt over the past few years that the days of getting butterflys in my belly were over but I was scared as hell right up until the start line. Thankfully one of my teammates was able to give me a lot of great advice. And before I knew it we were off. Riding in a large pack was amazing, the power of the draft was just unreal and I was able to move up and unfortunately back in it relatively easily. It's incredible to be within 50' of 1st place but yet so far from it. So I made a rookie mistake on one big hill, assuming that if I hung back from the pack and rested I could catch backup on the flats. WRONG. Once you loose the pack you're never getting back to it. Then to make matters worse me and three other guys went of course. We got back on and I rode the hardest I have ever ridden trying to find the pack again. Most of the 2nd lap I was within sight of a group of 10 guys that I tried desperately to catch. I finally got up there and one of the guys was my teammate. We hung for a bit and then finally after a very intense race it was over. And, the final verdict, I'm hooked and can't wait to do it again. I learned so much from this race and can't wait to try it out!

Fair Hill and French Creek

2009-05-01T17:49:00.003+01:00

So the preseason is over a racing is in full force. It seems like every weekend for the next few months I'll be picking and choosing between all sorts of various races I can do.
Two weeks ago on April 19th I saw the kickoff to the MASS series at Fair Hill. This was my first MASS race and a full new field of people to compete against. With the H2H series in New Jersey the Sport 19-29 class would generally have between 20-25 racers, here we had 43! Twice what I was used to, on top of that it was probably the fastest race course I've ever ridden. Knowing that fast races with big packs aren't my strong point I did my best to hold a steady pace and keep as far up in the pack as I could. I had prerode the course and set myself with a finish time goal of an hour and 15 min. I ended up finishing in 1hr 7min, shattering that goal. Unfortunately this meant a 16th place finish, but I will take that and be ready to do better at the next MASS Race.

The next race on my itinerary was on April 26th with the Maryland State Championship in Greenbrier. Never racing this area before I was expecting relatively flat terrain with minimal elevation change. Boy was I wrong, over 700 ft of climb over a 5 mile lap. Add 90 degree temps and the mistake I made of only stocking myself with water for 2 laps when I had to do 3, gave the race it's name, the Greenbrier Challenge. The entire race I felt like I was racing well, my bikes 29er wheels really destroyed all of the 26er full suspension bikes on the climb. Time and time again I'd pass people as if they were standing still. But at other parts it felt like I was getting destroyed. It wasn't until later in the race that I realized that people in other divisions had similar colored race bibs to my division. So, I finished 5th, with one of the best sprints I've ever had and one of the strongest finishes I've ever had in a Sport class race!
Over the next few weeks I have Granogue and French Creek to look forward too.

2009 Felt Nine Solo

2009-04-16T19:48:00.005+01:00

So yesterday I placed an order for a new bike! Always an exciting thing to do, and while I did get a "new to me" bike last year, this is the first new bike I've ordered in almost three years! What I was looking for was a 29er Single Speed for doing leg strength training and group rides. After much debate I decided to go with a 2009 Felt Nine Solo

I was initially going to build up a Niner One but for the price point of this bike I couldn't say no. The bike should do everything I need it to do, including some single speed races.

In other news this weekend marks the start of the MASS series with a race in Fair Hill. While I've gotten a ton of time in the saddle of late I'm not sure I'm ready for a full on sprint race which this course will be. Also there are 37 people preregistered in my age bracket. The most there ever where in an H2H race was about 25, so it's going to be intense.

The Base Just Keeps on Coming.

2009-04-14T19:03:00.002+01:00

Although it might be getting late in the season to be working on it over the past week or so I've really been concentrating on getting as much time in the saddle as possible. So far even with the questionable Spring weather I've been able to get over 16hrs on the bike splitting my time up 3:2 mountain biking to Road Biking, coming in at about 150 miles (81 miles road and 71 miles MTB).

One of the highlights of this month so far was an Easter day ride with alyssa at Lake Redman. While relatively close to home, I rarely find myself getting down there to ride and I still don't know the trails all that well. With beautiful weather and some time on our hands we set out to circumnavigate the lake. Unfortunately we ran out of time and missed the last section, oh well there's always next time.

View Larger Map

A Weekend in DC

2009-04-07T18:49:00.004+01:00

This past weekend I went down to and spent some time in DC with my friend Gabe for the first time in almost a year. It was really great to catchup, but also spend some time in the city lifestyle. Years ago cities used to be such a big part of my life but as my interests turned more and more towards the outdoors I found myself becoming further disconnected with them. It was great to be down there and there are certainly aspects I do miss but it did in some respects solidify my happiness towards the more country lifestyle that I have taken.

Like all the rest of my free time I spent much of the weekend on my bikes and it was great getting to cruise around the city with the near perfect weather and the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Sunday on my way home I also got to revisit one of my favorite parks for a mountain bike ride, Patapsco.

From 4:3:09 to 4:5:09 Visiting DC

Bike Camp

2009-04-02T03:18:00.002+01:00

So this past weekend I partook in the Mid Atlantic Cycling Development Camp out at Michaux. Going into it, and even during it I wasn't entirely sure what to expect but I walked away learning a lot.
First of all, I now know that I don't feel like I want to ever take competitive cycling to the point where I would be racing pro, or maybe even as a competitive expert. The amount of time and lifestyle choices to truly succeed at it would take so much out of the sport that I love that it wouldn't be worth it to me. Don't get me wrong, I love cycling and I will continue to race competitively and train for it, just such a structured training routine is not in my best interest for my own moral.
In many respects the weekend was a wakeup call to some respects and as a result I will be doing the following:
1) I am seriously working on my diet, other than going out to eat for on dinner a week with Alyssa every meal I will eat will be home cooked. I am trying hard to cut out as much sugar as possible from my diet as well as frozen foods with preservatives.
2) I will add two strict training days into my workout. One I have already started this weekend and it was a mountain bike hill climb repeats. The second will be road riding on a 2.5 mile relatively flat loop. 2 miles 95%+ effort, .5 miles 70%, intervals for 1.5 hrs.
3) I will cross train more and work on my core.
As for the camp itself, it was great. We had some really great group rides that worked on sessioning some techy section, some Pro Q and A sessions, and general training lectures. I would highly recommend checking the camp out.

Pine Hill Arms Triathalon

2009-03-27T17:14:00.004Z

So last weekend I partook in one of the most fun and unique races of the year. The Pine Hill Arms Triathalon at Belleayre Mountain in New York. The race consists of a 2.5 mile ski run, a 10 mile +/- hilly road ride, and finishes with a 3 mile run. Last year was my first year doing it and I knew what to expect going into it this time.

The temperatures were warming then last year but the snow held relatively firm and in general the skiing felt faster then last year. I made it to the bottom of the ski run in 4 or 5th. The biking I felt much strong with this year and hammered the climbs as best as I could, I felt a little shaky on the downhills though, I really need to work on my road bikes brakes. Then came the running, this past winter I had been partaking off in on in the York Road Runner Winter series and I felt much better. So all in all I took over 3 minutes off my time from last year and finished the race in an hour and 3 min, which sat me in 2nd Place for Male 19- 29 and 6th Place male overall. Even better than my performance was Alyssa's personal best shattering time. Taking 6 min off her last year time putting her again in 1st for Female 19-29 and 4th Place female overall.

The story of the day though was my friend James. He had raced with us last year but shortly after had a terrible bike crash putting him out for a long period of time. This was his first competitive event since last year's race and it was a joy to see him back out there again.
I am looking forward to next year's race!

Michaux Mash

2009-03-25T16:21:00.004Z

So ski season came to a very rapid and sad end this year. After the thaw that took place just before my Vermont trip it seemed as if winter was going to hang around. We got one last significant snowstorm followed by a sudden and rapid thaw. So now we move on to bike race season, and it's already been a strong start.
So far in March I've done two races, the Michaux Mash and the Pine Hill Arms Triathalon.
The Michaux Mash was a fun 4 hour endurance raced setup with a 9 mile lap. The course had an amazingly fun downhill that was immediately followed by a 2 mile 1,000 ft climb that just killed by the end. All in all I enjoyed the first half of the course much better than the second half but liked it all around. I was shooting for 3 laps since it was early in the season but I felt great after finishing my 3rd lap in 3:35 min or so, so I went out for a 4th. On my final lap I felt my left knee start to swell a bit but I finished strop, with 4 laps in 4:59:52. I was happy to finish in less than 5 hrs since I had been chasing that mark for most of my final lap. Anyway I will definitely be back at this race next year!

My Race Report on the Pine Hill Arms Race will come soon!

Vermont 2009

2009-03-05T12:55:00.005Z

So I had a rather disappointing trip to Vermont. As always with skiing you take a gamble when making a trip in advance. Unfortunately as we get older this seems to be the only way to do it. The past few years I've been very fortunate with west coast trips planning this way but sometimes on the east it leaves a lot to be desired.

So the plan was that Alyssa and I would go to my parents house in NJ and then up to Mt Snow Thursday morning, spend the night in Ludlow, ski Okemo on Friday and meetup with friends at Killington for the weekend. A week before the trip all seemed perfect, Vermont was getting dumped on and the forecast was calling for more snow while we were up there. Then the forecast changed, and "showers" were predicted for Friday.

Fast forward to the trip, and Mt Snow. Nearly a perfect day, Snow showers on the way up to give us some freshness in the morning and sun into the 40s in the afternoon for riding the park. We found some good snow on the north side of the mountain and lapped the lift over there until it got tracked out. We also took a run down ripcord their "steep" run but it was unfortunately a sheet of ice. It was my first time at Mt Snow in years and I have to say that Corinthia was a lot of fun and had some of the best jumps I've hit anywhere. Long decks, and not much vertical pop off the lips, but well built, I seemed to find the landing perfectly every time. After skiing we drove up to Ludlow and ate at a Bar at the base of Okemo that we like. The name escapes me, but I absolutely love the vibe of that place. It's the closest you'll get to a local scene at Yuppy Okemo and the prices are the best in town.

The next morning we woke up to fog, not just fog but fog that liked to leave condensation on you as you skied down. We tried to make the best of it and took some runs at the top of Okemo good stuff, but the cloud line kept descending down the mountain. We scoped out the park but just about all the jumps where unhittable because of the fog. Even riding in the halfpipe at the bottom of the mountain was a nauseating experience with the cloud cover ahead. We made the best of it and stayed till around 1pm. We timed it perfectly cause a few minutes after we got in the car, it started to rain, and it just didn't stop. After skiing we hit up Chastleton College so Alyssa could go to the store and then drove to one of my favorite brewerys Long Trail. There we hung out for a while, while the Jersey contingency showed up.

So the rain probably stopped around 1am Friday Night and then a cold front came in, we awoke to a sheet of ice but were determined to get some turns in. The put most of the lifts on hold and opened the mountain a half hour late. We stuck mostly to low angle turns and tried to find something edgable. It was just about the worst conditions I'd ever ridden on. Several of the trails had these large chunks of baseball sized ice completely covering them that would start rolling down the mountain with you, others looked like an iceskating rink. We had spent the first few runs of the morning with Mike and Ger while the others slept in, while alyssa was deciding if she should call it a day or not we decided to take a run by ourselves.

So we set off up the Killington Gondola. At the top we noticed a run was open that would take you in the direction of bear mountain (which had been closed) we decided to go that way since it is the sunny side of the mountain. The snow was actually much better and we could actually turn on it. When we got to the point of no return there was a patrolman (woman) at the intersection. We saw that the rope was open to go down to bear and thought, well it must be open. As I'm going down the a narrow trail I round the bend to find a snowcat coming right up at me, I was thankfully abble to stop and get to the side. Then the snowcat operator gets out of the cat and starts yelling at me for ducking a rope and poaching. I explain to him that the trail was open and he let us go. As we get further over towards bear we quickly realize that this trail most definitely should not have been open. We ended up on a steep face that was completely unedgable. I ended up having to side slip down about 1,000 feet hoping not to loose control and start tumbling on solid ice. Meanwhile there were snow cats operating all around us. A completely unsafe and unenjoyable experience. When we got over to the base of bear, sure enough the lifts where not running and it seemed that about 15 of us got over there before someone realized these trails shouldn't be open yet, idiots. A long shuttle ride back and we found ourselves in the snowshed office arguing for a refund. Since we had bought our tickets through a group they would not give us one. Killington put our lives in danger yet they would not do anything for us or even admit to a fault, it will be a long time before I go back there.

The rest of the trip was a bit better, I got some great runs in with my friends that afternoon and we had a great dinner at sushi yoshi followed by some dancing afterwards. Sunday turned into more of the same ice but we made the best of it. For the first time in probably 10 years I took a run all the way from the top of killington to skyship base. With most of the black diamonds unskiable and none of the double diamonds open, I figured why not.

So yeah, living down here in central PA I will have to think about my ski trips a little more carefully next year. Since it's impossible to do vermont as just a weekend trip now I'm starting to think I'll shoot for more west coast trips instead of taking the Vermont gamble. We shall see.

Here are some pictures from the trip, and a video,

Vermont 2009 from Will Weismantel on Vimeo.

Christina Entcheva's Gallery Opening

2009-02-24T00:50:00.003Z

I spent the past weekend visiting friends in Central New Jersey, one of the Key highlights was attending a Gallery Opening for Christina Entcheva. Being my first gallery attendance I wasn't sure what to expect, but walked away extremly pleased first of all by her work, but secondly by the entire experience. Here are some photos I took of the event, http://picasaweb.google.com/william.weismantel/ChristinaEntchevaSGalleryOpening#

Big Boulder Park Edit 2/8/09

2009-02-11T04:05:00.000Z

complements of James.

Big Boulder Park Edit: 2/8/09 from James Weitze on Vimeo.

Hello 2009

2009-01-05T15:51:00.004Z

It's been a really long time since I've posted. The holidays have come and gone and it is now time to say hello to 2009. Where does the time go? To think that this year I'll be celebrating my last birthday in my 20s and that I truly am an adult. This year should hopefully be a good one though, with the move and all last year I didn't really get much traveling in, but that should change this year with three potential trips. The first, Alyssa and I may go out west at the beginning of the summer to visit friends and mountain bike. Then at the end of the summer I'll be going to Seattle for Steve and Sarah's wedding. Finally Alyssa and I have been talking about spending the holidays in Europe. We shall see where the year takes us.

As for what's been going on lately. I spent much of December working overtime and eating Christmas cookies. As such I have put on some weight, but all that will hopefully change with my 2009 training routine. Alyssa got a trainer for Christmas and I will be using it on a tight regiment until daylight savings when I can start biking outside. We shall see how it goes.

Well, happy 2009!

Mercer Cup

2008-11-19T17:28:00.003Z

So this season I've been getting an ever increasing interest in cyclocross. A sport I knew almost nothing about a few months ago I find a constant topic of discussion, and I think next year I will definitely be investing in a cyclocross bike. This past weekend while visiting New Jersey I went and checked out the Mercer Cup. I went to it intending to race but due to really crappy conditions I opted to pull the plug on racing and just spectate, cheering on some of the mtbnj crew that where racing. I'm glad I did, I just spent a butt load of money repairing the Niner and had I raced with it, well who knows... Anyway, here's a video I took at the event.

Mercer Cup Cyclocross Race from Will Weismantel on Vimeo.

Marsh Creek Fall Classic

2008-11-14T15:46:00.003Z

So this seems to be a repeating trend here. Wright about the preveous weekends adventures just as the next are about to begin. Well, here it goes.
Last weekend alyssa and I set out for downingtown a suburb of Philly to visit her cousin. We hit up Victory Brewery, which I was very pleasantly suprised with. They had some 20 beers available for sampling, which may be a record for a micro I've been to and I enjoyed just about all of them that I tried. The food was rather good too.

On Sunday we partook in the Marsh Creek Fall Classic Mountain Bike Race. I wondered how a race that is only 4 years in the making can be called a classic, but I'd venture to say it was more with the style of the terrain. The course really through everything at you in it's 9 mile loops. To old school washed out straight down the fall line trails to swooping single track, to farm field riding. While far from a technical course it had enough to keep it interesting. For me it was also the first time that I opted to race in a Single Speed class. For those of you unaware a Single Speed bike is a bike that has one set gear ratio with no mechanisms to change to an easier gear when climbing up a hill. The biggest advantage to it is weight, without shifters the bikes are very light as well as efficiency. A rider with a geared bike will be tempted to change gears going into a hill and during this process some inertia is inevitably lost.

So my race went incredibly well, it took me a bit to find my groove but I felt strong for much of the first lap. I started to back off the gas going into the 2nd lap and I dropped back from the pack I was riding with, and found myself alone. This can be a blessing and a curse. It alowes you to have complete freedom when choosing a line, however it can be hard to maintain base. Soon though another single speeder came up from behind and we spent the rest of the race battling it out. I can happily say I passed him on the last climb and it was a great feeling. I finished 5th in the end and Alyssa finished in a strong 2nd which she was very happy with because she rode very well. Here are two pics from the race.

Perfect Fall Riding

2008-11-07T17:31:00.002Z

So I'm a little late with my updates here but in addition to the new car last weekend led to some amazing biking. After a cold spell during the week the weather warmed up for the weekend and with the fall foiledge at peak it led primo bike conditions.

On Saturday I found myself on a solo ride and I decided to switch things up. I grabed the single speed and from my place rode to downtown York. Once in York I hoped on the Heritage Rail Trail, which runs from york to the Maryland border. After riding on it for about 10 miles I hopped off and road over to Lake Redman. I hit up some of the mountain bike trails there, before turning around and coming home. It was definitly a different style ride then I'm used to, very relaxed so to speak. If I would do it again I would definitily change up my gear ratio for the rail trail section, I found myself spinning at air. Here is the
GPS Route and two photos I snapped with the iPhone. The old Truck-Train was sweeet.

On Sunday Alyssa and I swung down to the Maryland/Delaware border to ride at Fair Hill since there was a festival going on. We had been there once before and had mixed opinions of the place but were totally reamped after riding on our tours. I metup ran into some people I knew from mtbnj.com and went out with them and about 30 others for a 20 mile ride of the place. Absolutely fabulous single track there. I can't wait to race it next year, it'll be a funnnn course! GPS Log

VW Rabbit

2008-11-03T03:15:00.006Z

So through unexpected circumstances, this week lead to the purchase of a new car for me. A 2009 VW Rabbit. She's a fun one. 5 cylinder in line giving 170 hp with 177 Lbs torque.

Home

2008-10-31T18:37:00.003Z

Sometime we just don't realize how good we've got it. Growing up in Ringwood New Jersey I started riding on the trails with my huffy "mountain bikes" when I was in my early teens. I always enjoyed being back there but it wasn't until many years later that I realized just how good I had it. The park just has so much going for it that makes it a mountain bikers dream. The trail network there is huge, and is is possible to easily get 20- 30 mile rides in with only one major road crossing. It is extremely technical with many many rocks. And it is continuing to grow with the help of JORBA and RVCC. The legal new stuff is absolutly amazing as well as rouge trails that have gone in int he past 5 years. This past weekend I was home visiting my parents and I really got to experience Ringwood in all it's glory on two beautiful autumn days. One of the days I metup with some mtbnjers and it was great catching up. Here are some photos.

Patapsco

2008-10-24T04:43:00.006+01:00

Sometimes you find a gem in the least expected place. In this case it's just outside Baltimore. Who would have thought that living in the "wilds" of PA I'd be driving to a city to go mountain bike. But, at this point I have 4 or 5 times. The good things with it? A super developed park with what seems to be an endless trail system and many stunts to play around on. The bad, there's not much vertical change through the park and it can get crowded. Still, I've been enjoying a monthly visit to the park since I moved here. It's also a great midway meeting point with my buddy Gabe whom lives in DC. I think he enjoys the occasional escape out of the city... Here are two photos and a video clip from my most recent trip there.

Patapsco 10-18-08 from Will Weismantel on Vimeo.

The Mystery of Michaux

2008-10-13T14:14:00.003+01:00

Since moving out here Michaux forest has really tipped my cureousity. Here is an absolutly humongous park within an hours drive of my house that offers for the most part completely open trail access to all users. The possibilities seem endless. In July I partook in the Curse of the Dark Hollow a 25 mile mountain bike race through the park and I was blown away by the parks difficulty. The problem, if it can be considered a problem, at least seems to be the parks lack of traffic. The trails are not the well groomed flowy single track that I have become accustomed too and love. They are more reminsint to my early days of mountain biking flying down fireroads covered in loose rocks and shale. While these trails in michaux would qualify as single track most were clearly made by dirt bikers. Yesterday Alyssa and I attempted to ride in the park again, after a failed attempt last year. And we found much of the same, not much flow, a lot of loose rocks, and some hike-to-bike sections. It's a shame, because I really want to love this place, but I don't find myself happy while riding there. Has the adventurer in me been lost? Have I lost my abilities as a technical rider? I just can't place it, and there in lies the mystery of Michaux.

I will add that while we were there this weekend we stumbled upon the Iron Cross, which at 62 miles is the longest cross race in the country. It was really cool to witness and I give mad props to those guys.

GPS log of the ride and a few photos,

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6963032

Michaux Curse of Dark Hollow

2008-07-24T13:50:00.003+01:00

So chatting with the second place SS as he went by me (he was also a newb) and put things best. "No description that you read can prepare you for this course." For the past few weeks I had been going back and forth do I do the 50, or do I go for an easy ride and do the 25. I opted for the 25 and that easy part is the joke now. As you reading this you'll probably say how is a 25 mile race even an endurance race, but trust me the terrain is brutal, but also hell of fun.

So as for my performance the first half I was killing it, and easily in the top 5 in my division. I was proud of myself and didn't blow up out of the start and passed people instead over the first few miles. There was a section with a lot of fractured shale in the first mile and there must of been three people with blowouts in it. Around mile 12 we hit the low spot in the course and started a brutal climb, that lasted till about mile 17. Somewhere in the midst of that climb around mile 16 there was a short descent and going down that I started to get some cramps in my right leg. I hydrated and took hammershot but I knew from that point on in the race I would be on the defensive. I found a dude to pace with for a bit around this time, and hung with him till around 22 when I lost him. The last 5 miles of the race where a true battle though and I was rather embarrassed by how bad I was feeling. After all this was only a 25 mile race!

In the end I believe I finished 23rd out of 80 riders for the 25 milers and 9th in my age bracket. It was a great experience and I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone heading out and giving one of these races a shot. They will redefine technical course for you. There's another race in the series in September (it does not interfere with H2H) so I'm hoping to train and be ready for the 50 miler by then! Can't wait, I see a future in endurance racing, and after this the Dark Horse 40 will be a walk in the park!

Some observations:
- a cammelback and a bottle of water with ultima where not enough with todays temps, I'll have to plan better in the future.
- I have been tossing around the idea of going 1x9 with the rush once I buy my new bike, but this course reminded me that granny gears do have a time and place.
- This was the first race I have been at where 26" bikes may have been in the minority.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6304495

Recovery Rides with James

2008-07-09T15:56:00.003+01:00

About 2 1/2 months ago my roommate at the time had a really bad mountain bike crash. To make a long story short he dislocated his ankle, and broke his fibula in two places. The months after that became a very difficult time for him as he struggled with mobility just to do the simple things in life (commuting to work, grocery shopping, ect). He has come a long way since then and is now driving and even ridding a bike. The past two Tuesday's I met up with him to go for cruising rides, last week in Morristown and this week at the Long Valley Brewery. It's been great getting out there and seeing him really pumped to be on a bike again, but for myself it has also reminded me why I bike, and that's because it's damn fun. All too much I concentrate on getting the fastest times and the most efficient workout, and I forget the simple pleasure of hoping on a bicycle and just cruising around after a long days work. So I have to thank James for these rides.

Morristown Ride

Long Valley Ride

Bulldog Rump

2008-06-30T13:58:00.008+01:00

So even though it is only 30 min from my old place I had never ridden Kittatiny. It just seems like such a waste to me that I went three years without fully exploring three parks so close to me (Allamuchy, Mahrlon, and Kittatiny). However, they are all to the west and going to them after work would entail sitting in a parking lot on Route 80. Why sit in traffic when I could be out on a trail? I wish now that I had atleast spent some time riding out that way. Although an easy park, Kittatiny is a blast.

So this was the State Championship and the last of the H2H races in the spring, if I heard it correctly we had 39 people in my division. The start was in a middle of a field with a good 1/4 mile spring untill you entered the woods. We where off, now I always try to start strong I love the feeling of a good start, but I frequently find myself getting a tad burnt out and then passed fairly quickly. This race was different, I was maybe 6th out of the start and by the time we got to the woods I hadn't been passed once, I knew at that point it was going to be a good day.

These trails where fun, some swoopy single track without much change in vert with a couple of rock gardens to through in the mix. I got annoyed with some of the rock gardens some of the techy stuff people where struggling on and creating a bottlenecks . I tried to use it to my advantage to pass people since I generally am really good in the rock gardens, however at one or two points the first lap I had to get off of the bike.

So things just kept going at a blistering fast pace, I kept trying to keep the fluids coming (it was super hot) and eat a little when I could, midway through my 2nd of 3 laps I was passed by Norm. I tried to hang with him for a bit but lost him after a while.

Then when passing the finish area for the 2nd time I saw Mike coming up from behind me. I was chatting with him when stupidly I went off course at a turn. He whipped past me and I lost another place behind him. I gunned hard to keep him in my sights and for just about the entire third lap I had him within eye sight. Sometimes several 100 feet back and other times within a foot or two, but whenever it seemed I was about to pass him again he pulled out some reserve steam and speed off. In the end he took 6th and I took 7th.

I'm really happy with the results. I felt I pushed myself to my limit given the temperature, the fact that I'm overweight right now, and the weight of my bike. I will be back to the H2H series in the fall for three final races and I hope I can do this well, if not better in all of those races.

GPS Log of the race

Settling In?

2008-06-24T14:58:00.002+01:00

Not really. I've now moved all my furniture and 80% of my belongings to York. What's left is my car, computer, bikes, and some clothes. I'm begining to feel like a drifter, and it will only get worse for me when my lease on my appartment ends this weekend. I'm really looking forwards to getting a normality back in my life, I never thought I'd be one to miss a routine but I do at this point. Right about now the final move can't come soon enough, everything is feeling stretched.

I did get a very enjoyable ride in this past weekend. Alyssa and I did two laps on the York Triathalon course that she is racing in next weekend. It was Alyssa's longest ride bike ride yet and she held a very respectable 16.0mph pace over the 30 miles. I snapped some photos from the ride. It's beuatiful country down there, but man is it going to take some getting used to as a home.

Mini Review - Jamis Dakar Expert

2008-06-18T21:03:00.003+01:00

So while I've played around with it in a parking lot before I had never ridding Alyssa's Jamis Dakar Expert in the woods.

However yesterday I found myself at the starting line of the Dark Horse Gallop with it, having only had a few minutes to set the air pressure and adjust the seat height. The following is my opinion of the bike:

Pros
- The bike climbs incredibly well maintaining great traction with no (for me) noticeable pivot bob
- It corners incredibly well, one turn in particular I would have been down on the ground on my rush but it tracked right out of it.
- It felt fast, and I was able to maintain speed with less effort. I found myself in the third chainring more often than I would be with on my bike thus giving me more speed on the flats.

Cons
- On the downhills I was getting a lot of rear end rebound jolts after the shock had compressed. I assumed that I probably put too much air pressure in the shock and it was rebounding too quickly. I didn't really play around with the pro pedal on it except to lock it out on a fire road climb. As a result I definitely prefer my Rush on downhills.
- Jucy 5s suck, never get them, I think I'd rather have BB7 over them. They just seemed unresponsive.
- Shimanno shifters were a mind fuck at first but I started to get a hang of them...
- My back is killllllling me today, and it was for most of the race. I would assume this is something that I could change if the bike were mine by changing the seat height and stem angle.

In the end I was far more impressed with the bike than I thought I would be. I'm really glad Alyssa picked it up now since I feel she'll have many years before she outgrows it's cababilities. It also made me realize that I need to desperately upgrade my own mountain bike ride. The fact that I could hop on a bike that wasn't properly setup for me and within 5 minutes ride better/faster/more efficiently than I normally would was well, kind of upsetting.

Happenings

2008-06-18T20:51:00.003+01:00

So I haven't been keeping up with my workout logs the past few weeks. You can still keep an eye on my workouts with my motionbased uploads however I don't see myself keeping a detailed weekly log for the foreseeable future. A lot has been going on personally with me lately and I haven't had the full all out training time that I would ideally like. In a few short weeks I am moving to York, PA with Alyssa and there just has been so much involved with that, that it has overwhelmed me. I had many plans this summer for doing the East Coast Championship in Windham, Nationals at Mt Snow, and even Wilderness 101. However I think I may just take a break after Kittatiny, except for a possible duathalon towards the end of July.
I'd like to spend the next bit of time biking for the fun of biking. I also am looking into buying a new bike, so expect more to come on that soon.

Workout Summery 5/25/08

2008-05-27T13:45:00.003+01:00

So I missed a week or so of posting. I had to get my GPS replaced and then I had a week that the weather just didn't cooperate. If you go through my Motionbased you can see some of the rides I had. During that time period was the Tymor Challenge race. I just was feeling very low energy that day and didn't fair so well recently. In fact that's been my trend of late. I've been consistent with my riding and starting to get out there up to pre waywayanda levels (this week 6 days, 7.5 hrs) but I just can't seem to push myself. I thought tapering down post wayway would help but it did not. I also have had other factors in my life contributing to a lot of stress so that could be part of it. I just hope I can make it through the rest of the spring season doing decently well so I don't demoralize myself too much, and then focus on the endurance races. We shall see though. This week I had a few fun rides though, I did a group ride at rocky ridge with yamba and met some cool dudes, also I got out for my first road ride this year with Brian Kelly, and I did a ride from my parent's place to there boat which was fun. I enjoy doing point to point rides, it really adds to the reward factor of finishing the ride (even though this one was so short). Well here is this week's rides:

Monday - 5/19/08
Mountain Bike - 1:03:13 - 6.91 miles - 6.6 mph - Rocky Ridge, YAMBA group ride with alyssa - GPS Log

Tuesday - 5/20/08
Rest Day

Wednesday - 5/21/08
Road Bike - 0:55:04 - 14.62 miles - 15.9 mph pace - Boonton short loop, felt like crap - gps log

Thursday - 5/22/08
Mountain Bike - 1:35:03 - 13.32 miles - 8.4 mph pace - Tourne ride, no summits - gps log

Friday - 5/23/08
Road Bike - 1:08:12 - 18.62 miles - 16.4 mph pace - Boonton mid loop with Brian Kelly - gps log

Saturday - 5/24/08
Road Bike - 1:20:30 - 22.69 miles - 16.9 mph pace - Parents House to Hudson River - gps log

Sunday - 5/25/08
Mountain Bike - 1:21:17 - 10.18 miles - 7.5 mph pace - Tourne ride, 2 summits - gps log

Workout Summery 5/11/08

2008-05-13T15:39:00.004+01:00

So it was a bit of a downer of a week. I was busy most of the weekend and was unable to ride much so my amount of time in the saddle was down some. I did have some really fun rides though, which are important to have in their own respect. I had a really great ride up in Ringwood doing part of the race course and a fun group ride with Ger and Mike at the Tourne. I also got to preride Alyssa's next Tri course with her which is important. It's a hilly one, and I'll wish her the best on it. On the more important end I got out for my longest after work ride of the year on the road bike managing to pull off 35 miles before it gets dark. Rides like this are something I'm going to really have to work on being able to get in if I at all want to take my self seriously when considering one of the 100 mile mountain bike races. Well here is the weekly totals, 4 days in the saddle and about 6 hours in the saddle:

Monday - 5/5/08
Rest Day

Tuesday - 5/6/08
Mountain Bike - 1:000:00 APX - 7.0 miles apx - 7 mph apx - Ringwood Mtn Bike Solo - Partial GPS Log

Wednesday - 5/7/08
Road Bike - 2:07:31 - 34.28 miles - 16.1 mph pace - Longest after work ride yet this year - gps log

Thursday - 5/8/08
Mountain Bike - 1:15:00 APX - 6 miles apx - Tourne ride with Ger and Mike, forgot my GPS

Friday - 5/9/08
Rest Day

Saturday - 5/10/08
Road Ride - 1:29:29 - 20.82 miles - 14.0 mph pace - York YMCA Tri Course Preride with Alyssa. We started on a second lap but got rained out - gps log

Sunday - 5/11/08
Rest Day

Workout Summery 5/4/08

2008-05-05T18:25:00.005+01:00

So race week is here. Did my "training" pay off? Yes, no, maybe?
First off, I bought a new Garmin Edge 305 with Heart Rate monitor. The unit however is defective and garmin is replacing it. As such many of my motion based rides are incomplete for this week so I'll be going off of estimates.
Now on to the race. In many respects it was my best H2H sport race to date. I finished in 7th place, my current next best was also at waywayanda and it was 10th place. I also felt like I stayed with the main pack for the duration of the race. Where things went bad for me though was on the 2nd half of the 2nd lap. I really died off and was riding shitty. Unable to clear things that I was able to ride on every preride and crashed numerous times. I think this coast me a lot, perhaps even a podium shot. My time was also slower this year than lasts on the course, but the conditons were far from optimal this year.
So the points with this training I've been doing of late:
- It's been very time consuming
- I haven't lost any weight
- I am only seeing minor increase in my race performace.
I think it's too early to jump to any conclusions so I will see how Tymor goes in two weeks.
Anyway, here are some pictures from the race.

Monday - 4/28/08
Rest Day

Tuesday - 4/29/08
Road Bike - 1:10:00 APX - 17.0 miles - Boonton Road ride, est distance

Wednesday - 4/30/08
Mountain Bike - 1:15:00 APX - 7 miles apx - Tourne, solo ride, tapering for race - partial gps log

Thursday - 5/1/08
Mountain Bike - 1:15:00 APX - 7 miles apx - Tourne, rode with ryan, no hill climbs, tapering for race - partial gps log

Friday - 5/2/08
Rest Day

Saturday - 5/3/08
Mountain Bike - 59:21 apx - 6.03 miles - 6.1 mph pace - Lewis Morris with alyssa, slow pace pre race ride - gps log

Sunday - 5/4/08
RACE - 1:31:17 - 13.0 miles apx - Spring Cleaning at Waywayanda, 7th place 19-29 sport - partial gps log

Workout Summery 4/27/08

2008-04-28T18:24:00.003+01:00

Lots of Waywayanda this past week. To the point where I'm honestly sick of riding that course! I can say I know it extremely well now though, and all this preriding will be helpful. I'm still not 100% sure if I will be able to beet my last year's time of 1:31:00. I would hope I would be able to with all the riding I've gotten in over the past month but I know I was in much better shape and weighed less. I guess we will see in one week. Anyway, the stats for this week are 5 days on the bike (seems to be the trend right now) with about 7 and a half hours on the bike (most yet in a week this season). Below are the rides. I just got a new Garmin Edge 305, and I'm having difficulties with it shutting off mid ride. I hope to have things sorted out with it soon so this stops happening!

Monday - 4/21/08
Road Bike - 59:25 - 17.41 miles - 17.6 mph pace - Boonton Road ride, new loop - gps log

Tuesday - 4/22/08
Rest Day

Wednesday - 4/23/08
Mountain Bike - 1:30:00 APX - 13miles apx - 9.0 apx mph pace - Waywayanda 2 laps with Bill from mtbnj, gps batteries died, here's his log

Thursday - 4/24/08
Mountain Bike - 1:02:34 - 9.63 miles - 9.2 mph pace - Tourne Solo, no climbs to the top, went for fast pace ride - gps log

Friday - 4/25/08
Rest Day

Saturday - 4/26/08
Mountain Bike - 1:00:00 apx - 6.5 miles apx - Waywayanda 1 lap preride with Alyssa, Mike, and Ger. GPS sucked

Sunday - 4/27/08
Mountain Bike - 3:00:00 apx - 20.0 miles apx - Waywayanda, 1 lap plus many more trails with some of the Team Campmor. Crazy fast pace, on some techy stuff. GPS sucked again.

Workout Summery 4/20/08

2008-04-22T13:50:00.002+01:00

Tappered it off a bit this week towards the end, was feeling tired and drained. Also lost some motivation after a poor performance at my first race of the season. It was a short track race though which is not my style. Had a great preride with Ger of the Waywayanda course and I think I'm on track to do well at that race in two weeks. I still managed to pull 5 days on the bike this week but only 4.5 hours in the saddle.

Monday - 4/14/08
Run - Will Get Data later, apx 5.5 miles

Tuesday - 4/15/08
Mountain Bike - 1:16:05 - 9.75 miles - 7.7 mph pace - Tourne solo ride - gps log

Wednesday - 4/16/08
Mountain Bike - 53:12 - 6.73 miles - 7.6 mph pace - Waywayanda 1 lap on the race course with Ger - gps log

Thursday - 4/17/08
Mountain Bike - 1:12:18 - 8.05 miles - 6.7 mph pace - Ringwood solo, 5 bridge, renegade, part of race course - gps log

Friday - 4/18/08
Rest Day

Saturday - 4/19/08
RACE - 13:59 - 2.17 miles - 9.1 mph pace - Gutbuster @ Rocky Ridge, 16th out of 26place - gps log

Sunday - 4/20/08
Road Ride - 57:38 - 15.98 miles - 16.6 mph pace - Boonton traditional loop - gps log

Workout Summery 4/13/08

2008-04-16T14:26:00.004+01:00

Lots of biking this week. Did my most strenuous hill climb at the Tourne to date. Also did two laps on the Waywayanda course with Alyssa which was good. Sunday was a depressing day though, James took a terrible fall at Allaire which found him in the hospital, I hope for a speedy and good recovery for him. In the end I managed to log another week with 5 days on the bike with about 6 and a half hours on the bike. Still not feeling up to race pace though.

Monday - 4/7/08
Mountain Bike - 1:02:25 - 5.08 miles - 4.9 mph pace - High Mtn w mike - gps log

Tuesday - 4/8/08
Mountain Bike - 1:19:35 - 9.48 miles - 7.2 mph pace - Tourne Hill Climbs - gps log

Wednesday - 4/9/08
Rest Day

Thursday - 4/10/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 59:44 - 6.04 miles - 6.1 mph pace - Ringwood w/ James - gps log

Friday - 4/11/08
Rest Day

Saturday - 4/12/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 2:16:05 - 13.12 miles - 5.8 mph pace - Waywayanda with Alyssa - gps log

Sunday - 4/13/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 1:03:02 - 7.73 miles - 7.4 mph pace - Allaire with Alyssa and james - gps log

Workout Summery 4/6/08

2008-04-07T04:20:00.003+01:00

Lots of biking this week. Despite two storm cycles coming through I was still able to get out on the bike 5 days and log over 7 hours on the bike. Not bad, I hope I can keep it going, and I hope I start to see an increase in my strength (endurance is feeling great right now).

Monday - 3/31/08
Run - 40:54 - 4.32 miles - night denville loop

Tuesday - 4/1/08
Road Ride - 1:21:18 - 21.67 miles - 16.0 mph pace - Modified Boonton Loop - gps log

Wednesday - 4/2/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 47:56 - 5.35 miles - 6.7 mph pace - Lewis Morris w/ James + coworkers - gps log

Thursday - 4/3/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 55:59 - 5.93 miles - 6.4 mph pace - Tourne w/ James & Ryan - gps log

Friday - 4/4/08
Rest Day

Saturday - 4/5/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 1:01:47 - 8.56 miles - 8.0 mph pace - Rocky Ridge First Solo - gps log
Road Ride - 1:10:06 - 16.03 miles - 13.7 mph pace - Lancast Tri course w/ Alyssa - gps log

Sunday - 4/6/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 1:12:54 - 7.26 miles - 6.0 mph pace - Lake Redman w/ Alyssa - gps log

Workout Summery 3/31/08

2008-03-31T14:56:00.003+01:00

I needed a rest day on Monday, then had bad weather on Thursday and Friday. So not the best week, only 3 days on the bike.

Monday - 3/24/08
Rest Day

Tuesday - 3/25/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 1:27:21 - 7.59 miles - 5.2 mph pace - Skyline MTBNJ Group Ride - gps log

Wednesday - 3/26/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 1:5:56 - 4.60 miles - 4.5 mph pace - High Mountain w/ Ger & Mike - gps log

Thursday - 3/27/08
Rest Day

Friday - 3/28/08
Rest Day

Saturday - 3/29/08
Trail Mainteance - 4 hrs - JORBA Ringwood
Mountain Bike Ride - 2:00:00 - 12.00 miles - 6.0 mph pace - Lewis Morris w/ Ger & Mike APX Time

Sunday - 3/30/08
Skiing - 6 hrs - Hunter with James, Mike, Ger, Robert, & Hara

Workout Summery 3/23/08

2008-03-24T14:40:00.003Z

With 6 weeks until the first H2H Mountain Bike Race I've decided that I will write a weekly summery of my workouts to track what I am doing.

Monday - 3/17/08
Road Bike Ride - 59:15 - 15.8 miles - 16.2 mph pace - Boonton Ride - gps log

Tuesday - 3/18/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 58:26 - 6.78 miles - 7.0 mph pace - Single Speed Tourne - gps log

Wednesday - 3/19/08
Rest Day

Thursday - 3/20/08
Road Bike Ride - 1:02:32 - 15.71 miles - 15.1 mph pace - Boonton Ride, first half with James - gps log

Friday - 3/21/08
Skiing - 3 hrs - Mountain Creek With Alyssa, James, and Mike

Saturday - 3/22/08
Pine Hill Arms Triathalon - 1:10:16 - 13.05 miles - 12.0 mph pace - 12th overal, 3rd in age bracket - gps log
Skiing - 3 hrs - Belleayre With Dad, Alyssa, Mike, Ger, James, and Robert

Sunday - 3/23/08
Mountain Bike Ride - 1:42:27 - 6.42 miles - 5.5 mph pace - Single Speed Ringwood w Alyssa, GPS didn't log all - gps log

Mountain Creek Session

2008-03-19T13:35:00.002Z

As I touched base on in my previous post on March 16th, James and I had our best session yet up at Mountain Creek. The downside they have lost a ton of snow and there were some killer bombholes and ruts on the jumps. The plus side, the temperature and snow was perfect for an end of year spring session. Here is the video, enjoy,

The Seasons Winding Down

2008-03-17T20:02:00.002Z

So it's sad to say, but the ski season is coming to a close. A few weeks ago I was kind of looking forward to it because I was feeling rather enjured and I broke my favorite pair of skis. Since then I have recovered though and I purchased new skis. To add to it I just came off of a killer 4 days of skiing.
Last Thursday Alyssa and I hit up Stratton, we left NJ at around 4:45 that morning and made it up in time for close to first lift. Over the night they had received about 3" of snow over what they had previously groomed so we spent most of the morning hitting fresh cruisers. It was great. The only down side was they were gearing up for the US open so the big park was not open. All in all a great day though.
The next two days we spent at Okemo, I hadn't been there in several years and ended up having a great time! The weather couldn't have been better, we had temps getting close to 50 and then at night we received more fresh snow! The park was a blast too and the pipe was amongst the best I had hit all year. While there we also drove up to Killington for dinner one night and Long Trail Brewery on Saturday afternoon. Their new Imperial Stout (not being bottled right now) is AMAZING.
Then yesterday on Sunday I spent the afternoon into evening with James up at the creek. I was a little skeptical since it had been raining that morning but the conditions were perfect for jumping. We ended up sessioning one jump for over an hour and getting some great jumps in, including my first switch 360.
Bellow are some of the best pictures captured during this long weekend as well as a video from Vermont. I'll have a video from Mountain Creek up soon.

Alyssa hitting the Cannon Box at Okemo. I give her so much cred for this:

Me, hitting the Wall Ride QP at the bottom of the Okemo Park:

Alyssa Hitting an Up, flat, drop, flat, down box at Okemo:

Me pulling my fav grab at Mountain Creek during Sunset:

Vermont Video:

All in All, I'm just having way too much fun for the season to end! Well hopefully I can get another month out of it!

Mad River Glen, Ski It If You Can

2008-03-11T13:06:00.003Z

So for the past four years my roommate James and I have been making a yearly pilgrimage (at least once a year) to Mad River Glen. For those of you unformilure, MRG is a small quirky ski area in central Vermont that has let time pass it by. It's the only ski area in the US that is owned by skiers (they have a co'op with shareholders) and the only ski area in the US with a single chair. Also the only place on the east coast that does not allow snowboarders. The reason we love it? Uncrowded slopes, the uphill capacity of the single is so slow that even on a busy day once you're on the mountain you don't see anyone, also they have an open boundary policy, you can literally ski anywhere, and the snow, well it can be crappy at times, but we've gotten some incredible east coast powder on it. Sadly this year it looked like we weren't going to make it up, but I was wrong.
On Saturday in Jersey we received a devastating storm with over 2" of rainfall. Looking at the snow report for MRG that night they were calling for 6"-9" once the rain on saturday turned back to snow. So in hopes of getting some end of season pow we decided to drive up late saturday night. The roads were in terrible shape that night especially in Vermont, and we made it as far as Middleberry sleeping in the car in a gas station parking lot. When we got up to the glen the next morning we found out they only got about 3"- 4" on top of what had become an extremely hard icepack from the day before. To make matters worse the single chair was on an ice/wind hold and never opened during the day. We were debating going down the road to Sugarbush, but as James said, what would be the adventure in that? So we bought a lift ticket and took our first run down the practice slope. It was some of the hardest ice back I'd ever skied on, and all the fresh snow had been wind swept off, so with not much else to do we decided to hike and 2 1/2 hrs later we reached the summit. The snow at the top was suprisingly good (much deeper than at the base) and we got some nice fresh turns (by fresh, we were the only ones up there all day). After that we spend the rest of the day doing cruisers from the top of the double (which had opened during our hike) and made some very fun enjoyable turns.
In the end we made the best of the day, and it seems like despite all of the rain they've been able to maintain most of their base. I'm off to Okemo and Stratton on Thursday so I'll be curious to see how much less of a snow pack they have.

Creek

2008-03-07T14:57:00.002Z

Below is the latest video I threw together from the creek. Taken from shots last week of February. I was up there last night and it was rather devastating how much snow they've lost. Looking at the forecast for tonight and tomorrow it is looking even worse. I don't think they'll be recovering from this. What a short season, many of us feel like it never even started. But don't worry, Bush says Global Warming is a myth and he's always right...

Goodbye Lib Hello Line

2008-03-06T20:07:00.002Z

So yesterday I bought my first pair of line skis in about 8 years, and gulp, the last pair of Line's I bought were skiboards. I've always liked Line for their style, graphics, marketing, and just who they are, however about 5 years ago I demoed a pair of Line 1260s and thought they sucked. At that time I bought Salomon 1080s which I skied on for three full seasons. Well back in December I demoed the new Line Anthems,

I liked them from the start cause of the over-the-top so bad that they are good graphics. At first I wasn't thrilled, I demoed a pair of 178cm while I normally ski on way too short 168cm. After a few runs I really dug them, they popped really well and were nice and stable with their 93mm under foot compared to 86mm that I'm used to.
Well the other week I busted my Lib NAS skis, the edge pulled in a very odd way (vertical separation from the sidewall) so while I'm "hopefully" getting those repaired under warranty I needed a ski fast for my VT trip next week. Right then I noticed that the Anthems had found themselves onto backcountryoutlet for $250 so I had to snap em up.

Niner IMBA Design Contest

2008-03-03T14:50:00.002Z

Now that it's over, I can post up about it (no chance of more competition). Last week marked the final submission for the Niner Bikes IMBA design competition. Basically you had to design a Niner Bike with an IMBA theme. For my submission I chose to use IMBA's four symbols for advocacy in a diamond patten. Keeping it symbol and clean, but still probably too much steeze for a bike frame. They were supposed to announce the winner on Friday but so far nothing on their website. Below is my submission.

Idea

2008-02-28T17:10:00.002Z

So I picked up a new ski flick called Idea the other day. This is my third ski movie purchase of the year which I believe is a record for me. The other two were TGR's Lost and Found and Tanner Hall's Believe. TGR's flick this year was a let down for me this year after the epic scenes in Anomoly. Believe blew me a way with it's powder scenes, especially some of the pillow lines. I decided to check out idea because of stuff I had seen on newschoolers and elsewere.
In the end, after watching it a few times I can say I dig. It might well be my favorite movie of the year. At first the no poles skiing was a turnoff. I'm not a big fan of the style, I had to ride like that for a few weeks this year after my poles were stolen, but that's about the extent of it for me. I can say it's growing on me though, and I just love the slow style moves these guys pull. It's nice to see something different then the typical spin to win off of booters you usually see. At first I wasn't blown away by the composed soundtrack but it grew on me a lot and I dig the overall feel of the movie. In the end, the movie is what skiing is, fun. Watching it makes me want to get out there and enjoy the slopes, and that's what skiing is all about.

Google Maps Bike there option

2008-02-26T20:17:00.001Z

Sometimes I wish I could have a running tally of the number of petitions I've signed that have not accomplished anything vs those that have. I feel it would probably be very upsetting.
Anyways, this proposal is most interesting to me. It would simply be an option to allow google maps users to select a bike there option when getting directions to a place. A very beneficial option I feel.
http://www.petitiononline.com/bikether/petition.html

The Creek

2008-02-26T14:34:00.003Z

So I never thought I'd say this but I've been really enjoying the creek this year. For those of you who don't know they reorganized the mountain so that Mountain Creek South is just a large park. I've been hitting about twice a week this winter with friends and have been having a blast. While I've gained more confidence with jumps, I'd say the area I've improved the most with this winter is boxes. Being how it was a year ago when I first really started to do them, I now do them with style and ease, barely having to think with jumping up on to them. I still have a long way to go though, large step-ups still scare me and I can not do C boxes at all. As for the creek they are going to be opening a half pipe this weekend! About time, but I wont complain! Below is my latest video from a session up there over the weekend.

Snow Day

2008-02-22T18:19:00.002Z

So I woke up this morning to find more snowoutside then I excpected. For somereason the DPW was choosing not to plow my road as well so I knew I wouldn't be making it into work. Ideally I would have loved to find my self on the mountain skiing today but such is the way of things. To make things worse I open my fridge and see just one beer in there. I knew at that point I would have to take things into my own hands. I broke out my Single Speed Kona and saddled up. I took a roundabout way avoiding the major roads as much as possible and also swung by the tourne to see if there was anyway I could bike in the woods. I decided there was too much snow for that, so I headed into town. Bellow are some pics from the journey. Now I'm up to the creek.

February 20, 2008 Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-21T15:27:00.002Z

I was up at Mountain Creek skiing when the eclipse began. It was definitely cool to see since usually I only stick my head out the window every few min to watch one of these things, but this time we were outside the entire time and could really watch the transformation.
We left Mountain Creek right around the time the moon entered complete darkness, and got home as it was starting to clear up. I grabbed the D70 and tried my best to get a few shots. The main problem I faced is that I only have a monopod, which does work great ecept when trying to photograph something directly above you. Additionally I do not own a telephoto lens.
I captured these with manual focus close to infinity, with a 1.5 second shutter, and an ISO 1200. Far from perfect and you can definitely see the camera shake. Oh and it was about 20 degrees out too. Oh well, it was fun trying to get it, especially since I had to setup quickly.

Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-20T19:34:00.004Z

I just got word that the last full lunar eclipse of the decade is going on tonight. I'll be night skiing up at Mountain Creek for the start of it so should be cool to see. If it's clear out when I get home I'll try to get some photos with the DSLR and post them up.

Ski Liberty

2008-02-18T19:34:00.002Z

So this weekend I hit up Ski Liberty for the first time with Alyssa. First impression of the place, small/no vert. However we had some fun. On the "backside" they had been blowing some snow and found some enjoyable "fresh" stuff back there in the morning. As the crowds started to roll in for President's weekend we spent the rest of the morning in the park. The park was small and offered three "runs" the annoying thing is that the tbar servicing the park did not run all the way to the top and you could not access the lift from the bottom of the big park. There where three lines that we hit a bunch.
The first was the small park which had 2 hits in a line. Best run consisted of a 90 onto a flat box, 90 off to switch, switch to small jump, switch 180 off jump with a safety grab.
In the medium park there was a flat down box to two medium size table tops (10- 15ft decks) and a butter box on the bottom. Best run was 90 onto flat down, 90 off to regular, 360 off first table top to mute grab off second, 180 onto butter box, 90 while riding butter box, to 90 off.
We only hit the big park once, and didn't hit any of the jib features. The big table tops were probably in the 20'- 25' range. I through straight airs off of them both.
All in all we had fun although I hurt my knee. I think we'll hit this place up again but it's definitely not worth a long ride to by itself.

No alpine bindings on the hippies

2008-02-18T19:27:00.003Z

So some bad news. Earlier this season I had decided to give up on my attempt to become a telemark skier. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, it's just that whenever I had a choice between alpine skiing or telemark skiing I always went with alpine. So I decided to sell off my telemark boots and bindings, hoping that I could mount my K2 Hippy Stinx skis with alpine bindings.
I just got word from a local shop though that they aren't going to be able to do the mount because of the thickness of the ski being to thin where the rear of the binding would be mounted. I guess I will try to sell the skis on ebay (not looking forward to shipping costs), and I may pick up a pair of Line Anthems. I had demoed the skis earlier in the year and loved how much pop they had, and am hoping that I'll be able to float better in powder with them than with my Lib Tech NAS.

SS, NAS, & Orienteering

2007-11-26T19:10:00.000Z

I decided that I am ages overdue for a new post in this here blog, and coming off of the Thanksgiving weekend I decided to write about my latest adventures:

1) Single Speed Kona, last spring after several failed attempts I built up my first SS Mtn bike out of spare parts and a frame I bought off of ebay. Most of this year I had loaned the bike to Alyssa but after she bought a Jamis Dakar Expert the bike has been back in my hands. I have ridden it a couple of times but recently after a major technical problem with my cannondale Rush I've been riding it constantly. I still can't give a full take on the SS experience. Everyone always says that not having gears allowes you too emerse yourself into the ride. However, going from a very comfortable cushy FS rig to a HT I just don't find the comfort in the ride. I find myself carefully picking my lines of attach and adjusting my approach speed accordingly. I loose the feeling of flow that I love so much on downhills and flats. At the same time I love how light this bike is, and the acceleration is. As it is I'll be riding this bike through the winter till I can afford the new wheelset I'd like to get for my Rush, maybe by then I'll be a convert.

2) First day of skiing. Ah, well I can say I went skiing a month and a half ago out in Colorado. And yes, I did, but this weekend felt like the first true day of skiing for me. I went to Belleayre with my father and met some friends (James, Mike, & Ger) up there as well. It was my first day on my new LIB Tech NAS with magnetraction. They are sick, I was worried that the magnetraction would be gimmicky and that the ski would have been a wastful SAC purchase but I was pleasantly surprised. Previously my every day use ski had been a beetup pair of 1080 skis, I loved them but they were definitely overdue for replacement. I just can not stress how well the new skis held an edge on ice compared to the old. I did however catch an edge a few times riding switch and am thinking of possibly detuning the rear portion of the ski a bit.

3) Orienteering Race. On Sunday I did my first orienteering race with Alyssa and her cousin Adam at Rock Ridge Park put on by Susquehanna Valley Orienteering. I was apprehensive going into it which is just weird given my geochaching days in the past, however as soon as I was in the race my competitive side came out and I had a great time. Basically you are given a topo map with various checkpoints located on the map. Using the map you have to go to said points and stamp a card that they give you. We did the second easiest course out of 6 difficulty levels (I believe about 2 miles in length) and we finished in about a half hour. I believe we came in second place although the results don't indicate that. I'll definitely do it again in the future.

Snowbird

2007-04-16T16:14:00.001+01:00

Click to Play

Video clips from a long Easter Weekend at Snowbird Utah. Alyssa, Ger, Mike, Jeff, and I went out to find some great weather and the snow for some late season riding.

2007-04-11T20:24:00.000+01:00

Trysil Twintip

Try out the Trysil Twintip game!!

Weight Loss

2007-01-25T18:29:00.000Z

So for years my weight has been a constant struggle. During the middle of college I put on a lot of weight and maxed out at close to 225 Lbs. About 3 1/2 years ago though I made a consous effort to loose all that I had put on. I changed my life around and became far more active. At that time I rediscovered hiking, something I enjoyed as a kid but hadn't done in years. I also got back into biking, as well as skied more. The highlight of my efforts came in April of 2004 when I ran the New Jersey Marathon and finished in less then 4 hours. At the time of the race I had gotten my weight down to around 178 lbs. Close to a 50 lbs loss. Since then I've been doing a decent job at staying within the same weight range. During the holidays after the marathon though I did peak out again at just bellow 190 lbs. I lost it quickly the next spring and during last summer I reached my lowest weight right after my first 24 hour mountain bike race at 167 lbs. Unfortunately this winter I've gone back up yet again and now am hovering just bellow 180.
So it's time to take action, through an interesting blog I was reading about someones experiment with looseing weight through playing Nintendos Wii I was introduced to a site called traineo. I've tried diet/exercise sites before but this one throws in a little twist. It allows you to sign up friends or family to be your motivators. Basically they'll see a weekly report of your training and they can give you words of encouragement or tell you you suck.
Who knows if it will work in the end, but right now I've set a target weight of 165 lbs for the beginning of April.

2007-01-16T16:23:00.000Z

So I'll sum it up as briefly as I can.
If you're an expert skier or snowboarder, and have not been to Jackson Hole. Do yourself a favor and go.
Here are some pictures,
a video will come.

Ski Areas I've been too

2006-12-29T20:56:00.000Z

The following is a list of ski areas I've been to as of today, we'll see how many more I add this year :)

Colorado

Arapaho Basin

Breckenridge

Steamboat

Vail

Maine

Shawnee Peak

Sunday River

New Hampshire

Attitash

Cannon

Loon

Pats Peak

Sunape

Tuckerman Ravine

Waterville Valley

New Jersey

Hidden Valley

Mountain Creek

New York

Belleayre

Hunter

Mt Peter

Plattekill

Sterling Forest

Windham

Vermont

Bromley

Jay Peak

Killington

Mad River Glen

Mt Snow

Okemo

Pico

Stratton

Stowe

Sugarbush

Pennsylvania

Camelback

Shawnee

Hunter 12-17-06

2006-12-29T18:30:00.001Z

Click to Play

I hit up Hunter with some friends this past Sunday. It was my first time using the viosport helmet cam with skis. I wanted to get a feel for it before taking it out to Jackson Hole in three weeks. Overall impressed with it, although wish the footage came out a little brighter.

Saddleback Mountain

2006-12-29T16:43:00.000Z

So I came across a ski area I'd never heard of today that could be interesting. It's called Saddleback and located near sugarloaf. It seems interesting, I guess they've run into some problems with the Appellation Trail Conference and the state with eminent domain but things seem to be okay now. They have a fairly ambitious 10 year master plan and if all goes well it could turn into a fairly awesome resort. Even right now it seems good and it's the only place I know if in the east other then sugarloaf with lift access above treeline skiing.
http://www.saddlebackmaine.com/default.asp

Same Name

2006-09-08T16:54:00.000+01:00

I just came across an article about canoe traveling in which someone who shares my last name says this, "Some people want to see show girls. That's not my cup of tea," Weismantel says. "If you put me on a Carnival cruise ship, I'd die." I couldn’t agree more...

24 Hours of Allamuchy

2006-08-29T04:46:00.000+01:00

Lap 1, Inauguration:
12:00pm- 1:11pm, 1:11 lap time
Anticipation, my legs were shacking, I had too much adrenalin flowing through my system, trying to do yoga breathing calming myself. I can’t relax, besides me are other nervous bikers, in front of me is the start line, in front of that watching from the sides are my teammates, parents, and friends, in front of them is an unknown trail. In less than 5 min the start of my first 24 hours endurance mountain bike race will begin.
We’re off, damn my right cleat isn’t clipping in, I had bent the petal slightly from a crash a few days earlier and hadn’t really fixed it, embarrassing, but I finally get it in, as other racers begin to pull ahead. From the sidelines I hear my teammate mike shout “Keep it slow Will” how can I, the adrenalin is all around me it’s engulfing me and I have a mile long hill to climb, full steam ahead.
I’m going strong, getting passed but that’s to be expect, several miles into the course but doing well, the course is a bit mudy but not as bad as I had feared some fun technical section and a few log rollers that are slippery but good. Then just like that my first crash happens, on a downward sloped right hand turn, I had my center of gravity too far forward, shit I’m going over the handle bars, crash… pick up the bike, hop right back on it happens, don’t worry about it I say, then on the next hill I go to downshift into my low range and I hear the grinding sound of major chain slipedge, the chains not grabbing and I have to up shift into my mid again. Not wanting to loose valuable time tinkering with my bike in the field I decide to push on. Somehow I manage to push well, my fresh legs take the extra tension from the higher gears fine and I push well, I remember why I’m out here, because I love mountain biking and onward I go. The last 5 min of the course were a blast, a nice cruising fire road into a sharp dogleg left, did a nice 180 skid out there but recovered. Then a nice rocky drop-off into a stream which I flew off of, then a run through some of the campsites. I swipe in and the first lap is over with, damn I’m tired, and this is just the beginning.

Lap 2, Flow:
4:57pm- 6:13pm, 1:16 lap time
The bikes fixed, and I’m off again, I had felt tired in-between laps and was wondering why the hell I had gotten myself into this but it didn’t matter any more, I was racing. Man was I having fun, the bike was running great, I had such a good flow going in parts, some of the downhill sections of this course rocked. Plus the trail had been compacted from 5 hours of riding and it felt great. No falls this lap and only a slightly slower time.

Lap 3, Into the Darkness
10:17pm- 11:39pm, 1:22 lap time
And I was off, my first night lap, I’ll be honest I didn’t get enough night riding experience before this race, really only 2 times out. So I would just have to learn as I went along. Luckily there was a bunch of people near me for the first half of the course who kept me at a good pace we passed each other back forth, a few times, fell together, and made small talk. The night was going well, but I was definitely starting to feel a little fatigued, I hadn’t really been able to fall asleep between laps yet and it was getting late. I finished with a decent time, only about 10 min slower than my last lap, when I return to camp I learn that we are in a three way tie for second place, happy I go off to bed.

Lap 4, The Graveyard Shift:
4:33am- 6:08am, 1:35 lap time
Cranky, tired, I can’t get the adrenilin flowing, it’s f’n 4am am I really about to go biking, this is insane, I could sleep for hours. My motivation, we have a 20 min lead over the next closest team, I must ride, I must ride the best I can. I’m off, even though I’m not feeling too great but I push. Everything is just a blur, the course is empty at this time of night, my entire time out I see only three other riders. It’s just me, my bike, and the dark lonely woods. One second I’m riding along, then the next I realize that I’m laying on my back on the ground, damn my legs bleeding, I took a fall, it hurt, my second downhill fall this race. Back on my feet, a little deterred but I keep going, however I’m just not making it up some of the uphills, I push, I run, but damn is that bike heavy. Then as I’m about 20 min off from the end my main headlight burns out, stuck using a handlebar light I’m riding mostly with feel, I know my times down and I finish with my slowest lap, an hour and 35 min. Back to bed and pissed.

Lap 5, Final Push
10:27am- 11:48am, 1:21 lap time
Our lead has shrunk to just a few min, or we may already have been passed, not really sure, the team in behind us has had one hell of a comeback and this is going to go till the very end. I’m off, it’s light out, I’m pushing hard and fast, I feel surprising well the adrenalin is flowing amazingly well, I can do this, I know I can, I have a little bit less than an hour and a half to finish in order to let our next rider out the gate for one final lap. Then it starts to rain, and then it pours, undeterred I push onward pushing, hard, hard, feeling great, the flow is good, no crashes, I’m there, I’m done! 5 laps come to a close and Mike was off to try to regain the 5 min we had slipped behind the other team.

In the end we weren’t able to come back but we took a respectable 3rd place! The race was a great introduction for me of what to expect with 24 hour races and I look forward to doing many more in the future!!!

Here are some pictures my Mother took of the event, I’m sure more will follow.

Nike + iPod

2006-08-23T16:28:00.000+01:00

So I’m ashamed to admit it but I’ve found myself to be the proud owner of a Nike product. Yes the Nike with years of sweatshop labor problems, and I’ve purchased a product of theirs… That being the Nike + ipod… it’s basically a wifi pedometer that connects to an ipod nano. While you run it sends workout data to your ipod such as distance, pace, and time. This can audibly be told to you when you tap the select button on the ipod. Also at major points in your run (ie 5 miles) it will tell you the same information. When you sync your ipod to your computer it then uploads your information to the nike + website where it displays all your workouts in a very pretty graphical form. I’m hoping to use this as a training/motivational tool for my NYC Marathon training and so far it seems to be working. I had been training with a garmin foreruner for some time but always had spotty gps reception running in the woodsy area I live, not to mention the weight problems of running with both a gps and music player so this has become a cheap effective alternative. So for anyone out there who has an ipod nano and runs I would highly recommend this.
Oh, and it’s very easy to rig the devise to a non nike pair of shoes…

Boonton to River Horse on bikes

2006-08-17T14:55:00.000+01:00

So last Saturday james and I went on a bit of a biking adventure. Starting at our place in Boonton we rode down on our road bikes to the lambertville/new hope area. It was about a 60 mile ride, with the first half being rather hilly. We made decent time though, averaging just under 15 miles per hour. Once there we treated ourselves to a bunch of drinks at River Horse, calling it the end of a good ride.
To plan our James had done a mapquest direction search selecting no highways, from there we took a look at the route on njbikemap.com and wherever the road did not seem optimized for biking we picked a different route. This required us to reroute much of the northern section of the trip but we were please when riding to go through some very beautiful areas with amazing homes.

Whistler or Jackson Hole?

2006-08-11T20:35:00.001+01:00

So we’ve started in the very early stages of planning an out west ski trip for this winter. I know, I know, it’s the dog days of summer, not even the middle of August yet, so how could we be planning a ski trip. Well skiing is my life, it’s an obsession, no not an obsession, but a lifestyle. If there is one thing I could do every day of my life for the rest of my life without getting sick of it, it would be, skiing….
So for a while, even so much as last winter we had been talking about going to Whistler . And why not? It constantly wins awards for being number 1 in north America, it’s huge, it’s in another country! There are so many great aspects about it.
But then, I started reading up on Jackson Hole, and the more I read, the more I fall in love. It seems to be everything I’d look for in a ski area, sickly steep, sick snow, and an awesome, true hardcore ski scene. Something that whistler has all of, but I don’t think as consistently. Some of my inspirations for the thoughts towards Jackson Hole is the following article and video.

http://www.biglines.com/articles_readmore.php?article=4&read=2757

And of course, there’s Corbet’s Couloir, a trail that’s been implanted in my brain since watching Waren Miller films as a kid. A trail that makes any expert skier or boarder shit their pants at the sight of. A trail, I must ski.

So this year they just took out their 39 year old tram, and a new one wont be built for 2 more years. To get to the summit now consists of riding 4 chairlifts. Some would say it might not be the best year to go, but I say, in the words of my boy Hansel, “I live life on the edge, I rip is and I grip it”.

2006-08-11T20:16:00.000+01:00

So it's been a long time since I've said much of anything in here, so I'll start my first post really back at it with a video update to give a hint as to what I've been up too of late. The first one is way back from the beginning of July.

I went down to the Outer Banks for the first time ever with 11 friends. We rented a 3story house, and it was a great time but just like any bad reality tv show there was some drama. A lot of which I can take the blame for. In any case, one afternoon we found ourselves at the Kitty Hawk Dunes. What was going to be just a walk in the park so to speak turned into the boys being boys. It was great fun though, well minus the fact that I severely hurt my back. Off a little drop off I tried to put a 360, I got fully around but went slightly off axes in the air and landed with my center of gravity way back and crashed into the ground with my tailbone. It took several weeks to recover from that one. You can also see photos from the trip here, http://www.pbase.com/glancingaft/outer_banks

The next video was taken the last weekend of July up at Killington on a mountain biking trip.

I had never been up there during the summer before and have to say it was a great time. Even though we were on our cross country bikes we still managed to find some great terrain, and it was rather reasonable $90 for two days riding, two nights in a condo, and water park access. It was actually Hara's first time mountain biking and she did great. On Saturday afternoon while we hit up Long Trail Brewery, enjoyed their great beer and awesome food. I always love going there, just wish it was open later! As like before here are some pics from the trip http://www.pbase.com/glancingaft/kbike