oh, i desire...

the dr. offered the reigns, so who am i do refuse?

in short, it was one hell of a ride (A1, we missed you). post-flat, which by the way, more resembled a railroad spike than a picture framing nail, we pushed on towards pinkham notch, and had a relief/water reload break at great glen trails. i, for the most part, caught a break in sven and the judge's wake as they hammered on towards gorham. i was then witness to what one would describe as a phyrric victory.

as the dr. explained, town lines are reason (T-reason?!) for an all-out, saddle-busting sprint to said line that i'm not in the position to vie for, so i usually spend my time watching more adept riders battle for bragging rights.

but i'm not a braggart.

what i am is a journalist, and what i'll record here is that a certain judge made a questionable sprint towards the gorham, NH WELCOME SIGN. did he get there first? yes. was it a legit sprint? no. so, you heard it here first, there are certain liberties certain members of team weak and feeble will take with markers and sprints... but i digress...

so, after a quick peanut/candy bar/water/oatmeal treat break at the gorham cumby's (not to mention an unsuccessful trip to micucci's bike shop, which was unfortunately closed) we made towards the maine border, where the dr. showed me what sprinting was all about by making me his bitch via a 100-yard sprint where i had the lead until he blew past me like i was carrying a few spare tires (which i am, but that's neither here nor there) en route to evans notch.

once we hit evans notch, judge judy became the engine, hitting the low gear and motoring up the notch... while sven rallied and kept it close and i made the realization that i was about 25 miles past the longest ride i'd ever done. it was humbling. after a screaming downhill through the other end of the notch, i bonked hard, the stow store was closed, depriving us of much-neede pastries, and the judge left the dr. and nK en route to home, leaving sven to pull me back to conway.

but, the bottom line was, 90 miles later we rolled into the dr.'s humble abode and felt a sure sense of accomplishment. one HELL of a ride, one gorgeous day (as the dr. said, it started sub-freezing, but it ended up sub-tropical), and one sunday fully carpe'd.

what a great time.

korea slim

A Good Weekend of Riding

Well Team Weak and Feeble didn't really live up to it's name with the group (san's our Vermont rep) spending quite a few hours in the saddle this weekend. I got in my first mountain bike ride of the season with Judge Judy on Sat, even collecting some fine trail booty (I know that sounds bad)- but we found a 10pt moose antler- and I strapped it to the pack and rode it out. Of course that was about an hour into a three hour ride- so I guess I got in some weight training as well- those suckers a heavy! JJ and I found what could be either the start of a new trail or we found very old flagging, it ended up in a clear cut and we couldn't figure out where it went next. That and we said we'd be back around 8am and it was 8am when we realized we were somewhat lost (it wasn't my fault this time!)

Either way it was good to get out on dirt, the bike is running fairly well- but it'll need to spend a touch of time in the stand for a bit of TLC.

Sunday was fairly epic, we left at 6am, and had temps in the 20's. A1, NK, and I meet JJ at Sears and were on our merry way. I think I heard a bit of gripping about the pace but I was cold and needed to generate some heat, besides if there able to talk we couldn't have been going that fast! About 15 minutes into the ride NK lost feeling in his hands and no amount of body heat from other regions could bring back his hand, so we went to Sids and had coffee and I had a donut. Then we were off. The battle for town lines began in earnest. The first big line race was for the Jackson line, which A1 looked to be running away with, tossing the fact we had two major climbs to go I burried myself to chase him down and caught him about 20 meters from the line, but then I was cooked. A1 had to get back so he peeled off and headed back over Thorne, JJ, NK and I pressed on.

About five minutes later NK got a flat- a nice picture frame nail (or that is my guess) so we did a quick change and were off. Pinkham was actually pretty nice, despite the headwind.

I'll pass the rest of the story telling to the others that were there- if they so desire....


cheers,


the Dr.

Nice knuckle boom

Referring to Josh's new crane. I think he should nickname it "Bennett".

A1.

On a lighter note

The weekend is here, and there is riding to be done. We have a big road ride set for Sunday, but due to other obligations and realities for us to go out for 5+ hours we need to leave at half past the monkey's ass- in other words 6am. Judge Judy hits me this morning with what am I going to wear- yes we are like a group or girls sometimes- but his question is valid- 5 hour ride- starting with temps in the 20's and us finishing with temps in the upper 60's- it would be fine if it was only going to be cold for a half hour or so- but it'll be cold for a couple hours- thank god for tech clothing.

Oh and if A1 reaches out to shake your hand- run screaming in the other direction

the Dr.

the passing of the king of crux

whoa. svengali's post rocked me (no, not the crane). doug coombs? he's really gone?!

this is the same guy, back in the early 90s, who redefined what extreme skiing was (back when it was called 'extreme') when he rolled into valdez, AK and took the first World Extremes. and he said crazy things like, 'finding the crux of the line.'

he seemed like he was on a different level—like someone who took the act of calculating a crazy line and making it almost spiritual.

this is a sad day for me (three weeks after the fact, as well, sven), and now i'm definitely a bit down. i have a ton of sympathy going out to emily coombs and their son, who's going to find out, like kye peterson did about his dad, trevor, that dad was a hero to a lot of people.

and my iTunes just queued up 'while my guitar gently weeps', done by phish from 95. it's fitting...

Korea Slim

A legend falls

I just saw it today, but considering who it is I felt that despite being three weeks after the fact I would drop a line of repect. I just read that Doug Coombs died earlier in the month. A legend in the skiing and alpine world- thoughts go out to his family.

peace

the Dr.

Josh's New Rig

Where are his priorities? He could have bought all of us new rides, but instead he drops crazy money on a new crane!


the Dr.

JJ's thoughts on Sunday's ride

I guess I'm just trying to bank enough suffering pre-Jay to survive as I did Hurricane & Red Tail on Friday afternoon and had a pretty nasty slow speed endo resulting in partial shoulder dislocation and mucho pain.

I followed that up with an early Saturday morning (6a.m.) ride with Dr. Ass. We thought a short 2 hour ride to work out the kinks in the woods would do us good. Well we made a minor miscalculation and got back at 3 1/2hrs. Luckily avoided violating hall pass privileges. Ride was very good, still suffering with shoulder from previous day but it was tolerable. Was cold but clear. So much for ride taking it easy prior to the planned long ride on Sunday.

Well Sunday morning came and it was 27 degrees when I left the house at 6a.m. So much for sleeping in on the weekends. I met the rest of the NH contingent to the W&F crew at Sears and the day really began. I was having real trouble keeping up the pace into North Conway and was wondering how the day was going to go as I was getting dropped after 6 miles. My legs were dead from the riding Friday and Saturday. Lucky for me, Slim was not prepared fro the cold and his hands were freezing. We made a pit stop at Sids to warm up. I found a Red Bull as I needed any help I could get. We headed north into Jackson and the town line racing began. Without me, Abe made a valiant effort, but our Team W&F designated sprinter reeled him in and nipped him at the line.

Abe then bid us farewell and the 3 of us kept moving north, that is until about 2 miles later we were dealing with our first and fortunately only mechanical of the day. NK had picked up a nail. Once back on the road we headed to Pinkham and the notch. Well it was nice, with a good breeze in our faces we hit the top with the Dr in the lead to take the first climbing points of the day. The ride to Gorham was nice and after a short stop at GGTOC was had a couple more sprints which were contested, but the good Dr continued his winning ways racking up more points.

So as we approach the village of Gorham I see the Welcome to Gorham sign and race towards it. Apparently my fellow compadres didn't feel as though it was warranted. Oh well, I have to take my victories where I can find them. Even if they are not recognized. WE hit the local gas & sip and refueled. Turning East in Rt 2 we stared towards Evan's.

The temps were warming up nicely as we all started to shed layers and started to resemble hunch-backs with our jersey pockets bulging with rolled up jackets and winter gloves. The ride over to 113 was nice, North Road was a sort of relaxing roller coaster getting us ready for the climb ahead. One last stretch on Rt 2 and a run to the State Line. NK had a good 100 yards on Dr & I and we saw him start to make his dash for the line. The good Dr found another gear and tracked him down and got him with about 15 yards to go. If NK had a different gearing he probably would have held him off, but not today, Sven was bound and determined to win every test.

We made a right onto Rt. 133 and turned South towards Evan's Notch. A mere 8 miles of climbing to the top. It stared at a nice easy pace with the three of us chatting and enjoying the ride. After a bit I decided to see if I could go for the top and get a little glory from Dr win it all. I started spinning along and I could hear NK and Dr behind me talking and soon I couldn’t hear them anymore. I kept spinning along, keeping the cadence high. When I made my break my HR was cruising along about 140, about another mile or so and it was 155, another mile further and I was over 160. I knew there was a lot to go with no breaks, keep the pace I told myself. I was still feeling good, HR was 164 and holding. I was afraid to look back I didn't want to know how close the Dr was. I kept moving up and up. Then the last steep section came. I was starting to feel it. I couldn’t maintain the gear I was running anymore, to keep the cadence I had to downshift. I figured as soon as I did I would be caught. I decided it was time to look and see how close they were. I stood up and turned my head, just as I did my bike turned a little and I hit something in the road, I almost crashed in the middle of the road. I got back straight and tried to remember if I saw anyone. I didn't. I knew I had a shot. If they couldn't see me they didn't know how far I was ahead of them. It gave me what I needed and I got out of the saddle for the rest of the climb. I hit the top feeling good, but spent. I finally scored some real points on the day. I stopped at the memorial at the top and waited for the others. It was pretty cool sitting up there alone for a bit.

We headed down the south side of the notch and were ripping along pretty fast, it’s a hairy descent to say the least. We were now all looking forward to the next pit stop at the Stow store, unfortunately we were disappointed as it was closed. After assessing our water and food we decided to make the dash for home. 15 or so miles to go. No more town lines really, but one more State line was up for grabs. I sat behind the Dr as we approached. He stared to go for it and I sat on his wheel waiting to pull out and try to go by him. with 50 yards to go I made my move and as I did the road turned to shit, for both of us. Instead of being a mad dash to the line it was half that and half try not to hit this hole or that crack....at the line I nosed him by a hair. We were all pretty much done by then. We continued at a good pace as we split up at Shermans and made our way home.

It was my longest ride yet, had a great time with super folks. Thanks fellas.

JJ

Sunday's ride from my POV

I guess I'm just trying to bank enough suffering pre-Jay to survive as I did Hurricane & Red Tail on Friday afternoon and had a pretty nasty slow speed endo resulting in partial shoulder dislocation and mucho pain.

I followed that up with an early Saturday morning (6a.m.) ride with Dr. Ass. We thought a short 2 hour ride to work out the kinks in the woods would do us good. Well we made a minor miscalculation and got back at 3 1/2hrs. Luckily avoided violating hall pass privileges. Ride was very good, still suffering with shoulder from previous day but it was tolerable. Was cold but clear. So much for ride taking it easy prior to the planned long ride on Sunday.

Well Sunday morning came and it was 27 degrees when I left the house at 6a.m. So much for sleeping in on the weekends. I met the rest of the NH contingent to the W&F crew at Sears and the day really began. I was having real trouble keeping up the pace into North Conway and was wondering how the day was going to go as I was getting dropped after 6 miles. My legs were dead from the riding Friday and Saturday. Lucky for me, Slim was not prepared fro the cold and his hands were freezing. We made a pit stop at Sids to warm up. I found a Red Bull as I needed any help I could get. We headed north into Jackson and the town line racing began. Without me, Abe made a valiant effort, but our Team W&F designated sprinter reeled him in and nipped him at the line.

Abe then bid us farewell and the 3 of us kept moving north, that is until about 2 miles later we were dealing with our first and fortunately only mechanical of the day. NK had picked up a nail. Once back on the road we headed to Pinkham and the notch. Well it was nice, with a good breeze in our faces we hit the top with the Dr in the lead to take the first climbing points of the day. The ride to Gorham was nice and after a short stop at GGTOC was had a couple more sprints which were contested, but the good Dr continued his winning ways racking up more points.

So as we approach the village of Gorham I see the Welcome to Gorham sign and race towards it. Apparently my fellow compadres didn't feel as though it was warranted. Oh well, I have to take my victories where I can find them. Even if they are not recognized. WE hit the local gas & sip and refueled. Turning East in Rt 2 we stared towards Evan's.

The temps were warming up nicely as we all started to shed layers and started to resemble hunch-backs with our jersey pockets bulging with rolled up jackets and winter gloves. The ride over to 113 was nice, North Road was a sort of relaxing roller coaster getting us ready for the climb ahead. One last stretch on Rt 2 and a run to the State Line. NK had a good 100 yards on Dr & I and we saw him start to make his dash for the line. The good Dr found another gear and tracked him down and got him with about 15 yards to go. If NK had a different gearing he probably would have held him off, but not today, Sven was bound and determined to win every test.

We made a right onto Rt. 133 and turned South towards Evan's Notch. A mere 8 miles of climbing to the top. It stared at a nice easy pace with the three of us chatting and enjoying the ride. After a bit I decided to see if I could go for the top and get a little glory from Dr win it all. I started spinning along and I could hear NK and Dr behind me talking and soon I couldn’t hear them anymore. I kept spinning along, keeping the cadence high. When I made my break my HR was cruising along about 140, about another mile or so and it was 155, another mile further and I was over 160. I knew there was a lot to go with no breaks, keep the pace I told myself. I was still feeling good, HR was 164 and holding. I was afraid to look back I didn't want to know how close the Dr was. I kept moving up and up. Then the last steep section came. I was starting to feel it. I couldn’t maintain the gear I was running anymore, to keep the cadence I had to downshift. I figured as soon as I did I would be caught. I decided it was time to look and see how close they were. I stood up and turned my head, just as I did my bike turned a little and I hit something in the road, I almost crashed in the middle of the road. I got back straight and tried to remember if I saw anyone. I didn't. I knew I had a shot. If they couldn't see me they didn't know how far I was ahead of them. It gave me what I needed and I got out of the saddle for the rest of the climb. I hit the top feeling good, but spent. I finally scored some real points on the day. I stopped at the memorial at the top and waited for the others. It was pretty cool sitting up there alone for a bit.

We headed down the south side of the notch and were ripping along pretty fast, it’s a hairy descent to say the least. We were now all looking forward to the next pit stop at the Stow store, unfortunately we were disappointed as it was closed. After assessing our water and food we decided to make the dash for home. 15 or so miles to go. No more town lines really, but one more State line was up for grabs. I sat behind the Dr as we approached. He stared to go for it and I sat on his wheel waiting to pull out and try to go by him. with 50 yards to go I made my move and as I did the road turned to shit, for both of us. Instead of being a mad dash to the line it was half that and half try not to hit this hole or that crack....at the line I nosed him by a hair. We were all pretty much done by then. We continued at a good pace as we split up at Shermans and made our way home.

It was my longest ride yet, had a great time with super folks. Thanks fellas.

Sunday's ride from my POV

I guess I'm just trying to bank enough suffering pre-Jay to survive as I did Hurricane & Red Tail on Friday afternonn and had a pretty nasty slow speed endo resulting in partial shoulder dislocation and mucho pain.

I followed that up with an early Saturday morining (6a.m.) ride with Dr. Ass. We thought a short 2 hour ride to work out the kinks in the woods would do us good. Well we made a minor miscalculation and got back at 3 1/2hrs. Luckily avoided violating hall pass privileges. Ride was very good, still suffering with shoulder from previous day but it was tolerable. Was cold but clear. So much for ride taking it easy prior to the planned long ride on Sunday.

Well Sunday morning came and it was 27 degrees when I left the house at 6a.m. So much for sleeping in on the weekends. I met the rest of the NH contingent to the W&F crew at Sears and the day really began. I was having real trouble keeping up the pace into North Conway and was wondering how the day was going to go as I was getting dropped after 6 miles. My legs were dead from the riding Friday and Saturday. Lucky for me, Slim was not prepared fro the cold and his hands were freezing. We made a pit stop at Sids to warm up. I found a Red Bull as I needed any help I could get. We headed north into Jackson and the town line racing began. Without me, Abe made a valient effort, but our Team W&F designated sprinter reeled him in and nipped him at the line.

Abe then bid us farewell and the 3 of us kept moving north, that is until about 2 miles later we were dealing with our first and fortunately only mechanical of the day. NK had picked up a nail. Once back on the road we headed to Pinkham and the notch. Well it was nice, with a good breeze in our faces we hit the top with the Dr in thelead to take the first climbing points of the day. The ride to Gorham was nice and after a short stop at GGTOC was had a couple more sprints which were contested, but the good Dr continued his winning ways racking up more points.

So as we approach the village of Gorhan I see the Welcome to Gorham sign and race towards it. Apparently my fello compadres didn't feel as though it was warranted. Oh well, I have to take my victories where i can find them. Even if they are not recognized. WE hit the local gas & sip and refueled. Turning East in Rt 2 we stared towards Evan's.

The temps were warming up nicely as we all started to shed layers and started to reseble hunch-backs with our jersey pockets bulging with rolled up jackets and winter gloves. The ride over to 113 was nice, North Road was a sort of relaxing roller coaster getting us ready for the climb ahead. One last stretch on Rt 2 and a run the the Satte Line. NK had a good 100 yards on Dr & I and we saw him start to make his dash for the line. The good Dr found another gear and tracked him down and got him with about 15 yards to go. If NK had a different gearing he probably would have held him off, but not today, Sven was bound and determined to win every test.

We made a right onto Rt. 133 and turned South towards Evan's Notch. A mere 8 miles of climbing to the top. It stared at a nice easy pace with the three of us chatting and enjoying the ride. After a bit I decided to see if I could go for the top and get a little glory from Dr win it all. I started spinning along and I could hear NK and Dr behind me talking and soon I couldnt hear them anymore. I kept spinngin along, keeping the cadence high. When I made my break my HR was cruising along about 140, about another mile or so and it was 155, another mile further and I was over 160. I knew there was a lot to go with no breaks, keep the pace I told myself. I was still feeling good, HR was 164 and holding. I was afraid to look bakc I didn't want to know how close the Dr was. I kept moving up and up. Then the last steep section came. I was starting to feel it. I couldnt maintina the gear I was running anymore, to keep the cadence I had to downshift. I figured as soon as I did I would be cought. I decided it was time to look and see how close they were. I stood up and turned my head, jsut as I did my bike turned a litted and I hit something in the road, I almost crashed in the middle of the road. I got back straight and tried to remember if I saw anyone. I didn't. I knew I had a shot. If they couldn't see me they didn't know how far I was ahead of them. It gave me what I needed and I got out of the saddle for the rest of the climb. I hit the top feeling good, but spent. I finally scored some real points on the day. I stopped at the memorial at the top and waited for the others. It was pretty cool sitting up there alone for a bit.

We headed down the south side of the notch and were ripping along pretty fast, its a hairy descent to say the least. We were now all looking forward to the next pit stop at the Stow store, unfortuately we were disappointed as it was closed. After assessing our water and food we decided to make the dash for home. 15 or so miles to go. No more town lines really, but one more State line was up for grabs. I sat behind the Dr as we approached. He stared to go for it and I sat on his wheel wating to pull out and try to go by him. with 50 yards to go I made my move and as I did the road turned to shit, for both of us. Insteard of being a mad dash to the line it was half that and half try not to hit this hole or that crack....at the line I nosed him by a hair. We were all pretty much done by then. We continued at a good pace as we split up at Shermans and made our way home.

It was my longest ride yet, had a great time with super folks. Thanks fellas.

Sunday's ride from my POV

I guess I'm just trying to bank enough suffering pre-Jay to survive as I did Hurricane & Red Tail on Friday afternonn and had a pretty nasty slow speed endo resulting in partial shoulder dislocation and mucho pain.

I followed that up with an early Saturday morining (6a.m.) ride with Dr. Ass. We thought a short 2 hour ride to work out the kinks in the woods would do us good. Well we made a minor miscalculation and got back at 3 1/2hrs. Luckily avoided violating hall pass privileges. Ride was very good, still suffering with shoulder from previous day but it was tolerable. Was cold but clear. So much for ride taking it easy prior to the planned long ride on Sunday.

Well Sunday morning came and it was 27 degrees when I left the house at 6a.m. So much for sleeping in on the weekends. I met the rest of the NH contingent to the W&F crew at Sears and the day really began. I was having real trouble keeping up the pace into North Conway and was wondering how the day was going to go as I was getting dropped after 6 miles. My legs were dead from the riding Friday and Saturday. Lucky for me, Slim was not prepared fro the cold and his hands were freezing. We made a pit stop at Sids to warm up. I found a Red Bull as I needed any help I could get. We headed north into Jackson and the town line racing began. Without me, Abe made a valient effort, but our Team W&F designated sprinter reeled him in and nipped him at the line.

Abe then bid us farewell and the 3 of us kept moving north, that is until about 2 miles later we were dealing with our first and fortunately only mechanical of the day. NK had picked up a nail. Once back on the road we headed to Pinkham and the notch. Well it was nice, with a good breeze in our faces we hit the top with the Dr in thelead to take the first climbing points of the day. The ride to Gorham was nice and after a short stop at GGTOC was had a couple more sprints which were contested, but the good Dr continued his winning ways racking up more points.

So as we approach the village of Gorhan I see the Welcome to Gorham sign and race towards it. Apparently my fello compadres didn't feel as though it was warranted. Oh well, I have to take my victories where i can find them. Even if they are not recognized. WE hit the local gas & sip and refueled. Turning East in Rt 2 we stared towards Evan's.

The temps were warming up nicely as we all started to shed layers and started to reseble hunch-backs with our jersey pockets bulging with rolled up jackets and winter gloves. The ride over to 113 was nice, North Road was a sort of relaxing roller coaster getting us ready for the climb ahead. One last stretch on Rt 2 and a run the the Satte Line. NK had a good 100 yards on Dr & I and we saw him start to make his dash for the line. The good Dr found another gear and tracked him down and got him with about 15 yards to go. If NK had a different gearing he probably would have held him off, but not today, Sven was bound and determined to win every test.

We made a right onto Rt. 133 and turned South towards Evan's Notch. A mere 8 miles of climbing to the top. It stared at a nice easy pace with the three of us chatting and enjoying the ride. After a bit I decided to see if I could go for the top and get a little glory from Dr win it all. I started spinning along and I could hear NK and Dr behind me talking and soon I couldnt hear them anymore. I kept spinngin along, keeping the cadence high. When I made my break my HR was cruising along about 140, about another mile or so and it was 155, another mile further and I was over 160. I knew there was a lot to go with no breaks, keep the pace I told myself. I was still feeling good, HR was 164 and holding. I was afraid to look bakc I didn't want to know how close the Dr was. I kept moving up and up. Then the last steep section came. I was starting to feel it. I couldnt maintina the gear I was running anymore, to keep the cadence I had to downshift. I figured as soon as I did I would be cought. I decided it was time to look and see how close they were. I stood up and turned my head, jsut as I did my bike turned a litted and I hit something in the road, I almost crashed in the middle of the road. I got back straight and tried to remember if I saw anyone. I didn't. I knew I had a shot. If they couldn't see me they didn't know how far I was ahead of them. It gave me what I needed and I got out of the saddle for the rest of the climb. I hit the top feeling good, but spent. I finally scored some real points on the day. I stopped at the memorial at the top and waited for the others. It was pretty cool sitting up there alone for a bit.

We headed down the south side of the notch and were ripping along pretty fast, its a hairy descent to say the least. We were now all looking forward to the next pit stop at the Stow store, unfortuately we were disappointed as it was closed. After assessing our water and food we decided to make the dash for home. 15 or so miles to go. No more town lines really, but one more State line was up for grabs. I sat behind the Dr as we approached. He stared to go for it and I sat on his wheel wating to pull out and try to go by him. with 50 yards to go I made my move and as I did the road turned to shit, for both of us. Insteard of being a mad dash to the line it was half that and half try not to hit this hole or that crack....at the line I nosed him by a hair. We were all pretty much done by then. We continued at a good pace as we split up at Shermans and made our way home.

It was my longest ride yet, had a great time with super folks. Thanks fellas.

Sunday's ride from my POV

I guess I'm just trying to bank enough suffering pre-Jay to survive as I did Hurricane & Red Tail on Friday afternonn and had a pretty nasty slow speed endo resulting in partial shoulder dislocation and mucho pain.

I followed that up with an early Saturday morining (6a.m.) ride with Dr. Ass. We thought a short 2 hour ride to work out the kinks in the woods would do us good. Well we made a minor miscalculation and got back at 3 1/2hrs. Luckily avoided violating hall pass privileges. Ride was very good, still suffering with shoulder from previous day but it was tolerable. Was cold but clear. So much for ride taking it easy prior to the planned long ride on Sunday.

Well Sunday morning came and it was 27 degrees when I left the house at 6a.m. So much for sleeping in on the weekends. I met the rest of the NH contingent to the W&F crew at Sears and the day really began. I was having real trouble keeping up the pace into North Conway and was wondering how the day was going to go as I was getting dropped after 6 miles. My legs were dead from the riding Friday and Saturday. Lucky for me, Slim was not prepared fro the cold and his hands were freezing. We made a pit stop at Sids to warm up. I found a Red Bull as I needed any help I could get. We headed north into Jackson and the town line racing began. Without me, Abe made a valient effort, but our Team W&F designated sprinter reeled him in and nipped him at the line.

Abe then bid us farewell and the 3 of us kept moving north, that is until about 2 miles later we were dealing with our first and fortunately only mechanical of the day. NK had picked up a nail. Once back on the road we headed to Pinkham and the notch. Well it was nice, with a good breeze in our faces we hit the top with the Dr in thelead to take the first climbing points of the day. The ride to Gorham was nice and after a short stop at GGTOC was had a couple more sprints which were contested, but the good Dr continued his winning ways racking up more points.

So as we approach the village of Gorhan I see the Welcome to Gorham sign and race towards it. Apparently my fello compadres didn't feel as though it was warranted. Oh well, I have to take my victories where i can find them. Even if they are not recognized. WE hit the local gas & sip and refueled. Turning East in Rt 2 we stared towards Evan's.

The temps were warming up nicely as we all started to shed layers and started to reseble hunch-backs with our jersey pockets bulging with rolled up jackets and winter gloves. The ride over to 113 was nice, North Road was a sort of relaxing roller coaster getting us ready for the climb ahead. One last stretch on Rt 2 and a run the the Satte Line. NK had a good 100 yards on Dr & I and we saw him start to make his dash for the line. The good Dr found another gear and tracked him down and got him with about 15 yards to go. If NK had a different gearing he probably would have held him off, but not today, Sven was bound and determined to win every test.

We made a right onto Rt. 133 and turned South towards Evan's Notch. A mere 8 miles of climbing to the top. It stared at a nice easy pace with the three of us chatting and enjoying the ride. After a bit I decided to see if I could go for the top and get a little glory from Dr win it all. I started spinning along and I could hear NK and Dr behind me talking and soon I couldnt hear them anymore. I kept spinngin along, keeping the cadence high. When I made my break my HR was cruising along about 140, about another mile or so and it was 155, another mile further and I was over 160. I knew there was a lot to go with no breaks, keep the pace I told myself. I was still feeling good, HR was 164 and holding. I was afraid to look bakc I didn't want to know how close the Dr was. I kept moving up and up. Then the last steep section came. I was starting to feel it. I couldnt maintina the gear I was running anymore, to keep the cadence I had to downshift. I figured as soon as I did I would be cought. I decided it was time to look and see how close they were. I stood up and turned my head, jsut as I did my bike turned a litted and I hit something in the road, I almost crashed in the middle of the road. I got back straight and tried to remember if I saw anyone. I didn't. I knew I had a shot. If they couldn't see me they didn't know how far I was ahead of them. It gave me what I needed and I got out of the saddle for the rest of the climb. I hit the top feeling good, but spent. I finally scored some real points on the day. I stopped at the memorial at the top and waited for the others. It was pretty cool sitting up there alone for a bit.

We headed down the south side of the notch and were ripping along pretty fast, its a hairy descent to say the least. We were now all looking forward to the next pit stop at the Stow store, unfortuately we were disappointed as it was closed. After assessing our water and food we decided to make the dash for home. 15 or so miles to go. No more town lines really, but one more State line was up for grabs. I sat behind the Dr as we approached. He stared to go for it and I sat on his wheel wating to pull out and try to go by him. with 50 yards to go I made my move and as I did the road turned to shit, for both of us. Insteard of being a mad dash to the line it was half that and half try not to hit this hole or that crack....at the line I nosed him by a hair. We were all pretty much done by then. We continued at a good pace as we split up at Shermans and made our way home.

It was my longest ride yet, had a great time with super folks. Thanks fellas.

Please welcome the fine Doctor to our crew...

Press Release:

Team Weak & Feeble welcomes the arrival of the world renowned, nationally recognized, Dr. Sphinctor Asspistol.

Another nice morning.

So Korea Slim and I decide we'll meet rain or shine this morning, ended up being great outside. Peaked up and over to the powerlines and back out to North South Road. Good ride. Took my first header of the year. Nice mild one really. Climbing the steep on Peaked it was wet and it actually just spun out beneath me, leaving me lying on my stomach/side. Good one to get out of the way with. I even had a camera so if I can figure out how to download them off it I'll post some of Korea in his dead sexy knickers. Sounds like an afternoon ride may be forming and one back in tomorrow AM. Good times, and glad to hear Sven suffered on his commute in. That's what you get for taking a week off in France.

A1

Callibration and Thank you to NK

So I'm laughing pretty hard about A1 and JJ's post. So after I got done laughing (had to check the blog before even unpacking) I stripped down and jumped on the scale. Turns out I still wight 193, but that's after a day of travel and a bit of Ossippee Mc'd's

So I'm in la la land, ready to get back on the bike.

more soon.


sc

Oooh Bother...

You know Sven is OK with his manhood when he wears lycra anywhere and references an episode of Pooh. Good analogy though, sad thing is I could totally envision it. Good episode.

I'm with Judge Judy, Sven is probably secretly training in France, 180ish pounds? By the way, when he said he went for a run he actually meant "I threw the bottle and ran from the rubber bullets". I guess that's considered a workout.

Another good ride this morning, glad it's Friday. Sounds like Judge Judy still wants to brave the elements Sunday morning, I'm with you Judge.

A1 Steak-out.

Sven's vacation poundage

I'm beginning to wonder if sven is secretly training in France instread of sampling cheese. 1 kilo = 2.2 lbs, so if my conversion is correct, sven is tipping the scales at a mere 184.14 lbs. Not hardly a clyde at that rate. Maybe the scale was not calibrated for americans. Who knows. Guess we;ll all see next week.
d2

10 Pounds?

hell at the rate I'm eating all this French cheese I'll be weighing in a good plus 20 lbs! By the way how much is 83.7 kilo? That is what my lard butt weighed this morning. I did run last night, chasing the cheese truck down the road- could'nt catch the bastard though- he squeezed that truck down some alley and my love handles got stuck at the entrance and there I was stuck like Pooh Bear in rabbit's hole after eating too much honey.

So off to Paris, I'll catch up with you guy's soon- can I borrow somebody's training wheels?

cheers

sc

i thought...

the peanut butter was to help her take her medicine.

i was wrong.

nK

Where do you think Molly learned about the PB??

A1, where do you think Molly learned about the whole peanut butter thing? It wasnt NK's idea I bet. He's just enjoying the hospitality while he's sleeping in SC's bed. I'm sure Molly walked in with the jar of PB in her mouth with her tail wagging and NK couldn't refuse.

d2

Sven, don't worry about the dog...

In fact Molly may not want you to return. I stopped by the house last night and Nick was lying on the floor and Molly was scratching his belly. Not sure what all the peanut butter was for though?

A1.

c'est bon, SC

all the animals are alive.


...even the dog.

nK

Laughed at

First and unrelated to my subject, I hope sven is having a good time drinking wine and smoking cigs in France. I also hope he comes back 10 pounds heavier and slower.

Now, on to the real matter at hand. So I get up early this morning, look outside and decide it's a nice morning for a jaunt. So I drive up to the office, gear up and head out. Decided to head up Hurricane (gulp) to see how the climbing legs really feel. Had my mp3 player jamming out to some Ram Jam and Skynard, feeling good. I'm about 3/4 to the top on one of the last really steep pitches and a car is headng down towards town. As the woman gets by me she starts laughing and shaking her head at me. Am I crazy? Wait a minute, it's 7:00 on a beautiful sunny day, the views are amazing and I'm out enjoying the valley, let alone doing something healthy. And this woman (who didn't look to fit to be politically correct) is friggin laughing at my insanity of climbing this mtn. on a bike. Anywho, it sort of pissed me off, so the last part of the climb was much easier. Thanks lady in a white care whoever you are. I wonder if she would go to Jay and stand on the really long climbs on the course and laugh at us. Aah, inspiration. 100 days...

A1

Bonjour

yup, hanging out in France- having a good time, but not riding is having an impact. NK will have a chance to extract his climbing revenge on me when I get back. Speaking of NK, how's the house and the pets?

So today we're going to walk around Troyes and then tomorrow we head into Paris for the last part of the trip. We'll see you guys soon.

cheers-

sc

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

What a morning for a ride. Since North Korea is bitter about the 6am Sunday ride we figured we'd get out this morning for a ride around Peaked and finally Judge Judy decided he could join. Good times, certainly could have skipped out of the office today but we need to save our vacation days for the hospital time after Jay. 101 days...

A1

it's getting serious

by serious i don't mean desperate, i just mean that we're creeping ever closer to THE DAY. and, by god, if Steak Sauce doesn't put those pounds back on, we're going to have to start looking for a red and white bike with streamers and a basket for him to ride at jay. mekka-lekka-hi, mekka-hiney-ho.

however, with all of us getting out (except for sven, who's learning the international word for 'surrender' while in france, and powder jew, who's probably logging more miles than all of us, A1, dennis and myself have apparently been doing our part to at least give ourselves a chance at finishing the challenge on two wheels instead of two feet.

the word around the campfire is a Steak Sauce, dennis and nK rendezvous for an assault on the kanc at six in the f*****g morning sunday. god, i hate married people who have children.

let's do it.

nK

Inspiration

When your out training and feeling glum, just remember this poster, and by Axis they are referring to the Jay Challenge.

So we all did our own thing this weekend, but at least got out for some rides. For me, I'm back in the gym. After stepping on the scale and losing a few (8) pounds it's probably a good time to add some poundage and stay in the Clydesdale category. My Pee Wee Hermanesque look isn't cutting it with the "clean" ladies. Plus, added strength should help fight the Axis powers.

A1.

spring rears its ugly head

and all is good!

much love to the svenster for seeing fit to give big bad jonny at drunk cyclist a little message and, what do you know? we got some face time on drunkcyclist.com. that's how you kick off the spring season.

either that, or you get dragged up thorn hill, then up hurricane, all because of sven harboring childish grudge because i made him run up hurricane this winter. i think we've found someone who loses about as well as i do... or someone who knows the PRECISE moment to exact revenge on someone. it is a dish best served in the saddle, apparently.

and, since steak sauce and i are de facto neighbors due to sven bringing the missus to frogland and me taking over as MAN of the house, we'll be hitting some night rides next week, as well as some road jaunts, i'm sure!

dennis is planning a 70-miler saturday, hopefully A1 can join him and they can punish each other in a way only teammates can, while i'm getting my candy ass whupped on the rugby pitch, but i'm still planning to pedal into buxton (45-miler) on easter sunday to gorge with the fam!

mahalo, spring is here and the time is ticking!!!

nK

Hell Yeah

NK is on to something now. Sunday's ride was good, but this morning was a lot better. For a few reasons I guess, 1) Only an hour ride 2) In the woods 3) Did I mention in the woods. Pretty good way to start the morning out, climb Peaked then navigate the beaver damn. Only one problem is the cold morning, it sucked Sunday for the first hour trying to stay warm, this morning it was cold, especially dodging every drop of water making sure not to get wet. So on that note I'm going to let my anti-environment mobile (as Korea Slim calls it) idle all day long. Maybe I can speed this global warming thing up and not have to deal with cold mornings.

Kind of funny really, Korea looks over to me at the top of our climb this morning and says "this is fun" even as our lungs are screeching from the 20 degree air. Yup I agree, and that's pretty cool to be gasping for air and enjoying it. Jay is 110 days away...Hell Yeah!

A1.

a good couple of days

ok, so i know i'm not reinventing the wheel, or even been out for my "come to jesus" moment yet, but i've had a rebirth of sorts in the past couple of days.

i'll admit it, i'd been in a rut. but, believe it or not, it was getting on the road that snapped me out of it. well, that and an umphrey's mcgee podcast serenading my ears during the ride. it wasn't that long (out upper west side road over to 302, to the fields of attitash, about face there and down 302 to 16A, then over to intervale crossroads to kearsarge), but it just felt good. maybe it's because i got my fat ass to do it alone, maybe it's because it was such a nice day, maybe it's because i really liked going out with just spandex shorts on; i dunno. it just felt really good.

and then when i got home, Steak Sauce gave me a call: we were on for a quick morning jaunt. awesome, let's do it. 6:30am rolls around, alarm bashes me over the head, i'm up. and it's chilly! but, there's A1, ready to go in his anti-environment mobile (that's not a slam, i want one). and during the climb up peaked, when i'm realizing that it's OK to be in granny gear, it really hits me again: this is fun! it truly is!

will it be fun in 15 weeks? i don't know. but i sure hope we're at least ready enough to say that we, to paraphrase 'dazed and confused', "did it the best we could when we were stuck in that place."

tally ho, bitches.
nK

'Recovery Ride"

I get the hall pass to commute this morning, figuring a short half hour in the am and maybe an hour for pm "long" route home would be good for my legs. I grabbed the Surly fixed to try and work out some pedal stroke issues- and wouldn't you know that at 7:30 in the morning it doesn't dawn on me that I've grabbed the bike with the saddle affectionatley known as the "ass razor" (for those who care it's a Sella SLR, basically a chunck of carbon with ti rails). So it wasn't long before I was really thinking my decision was a bad one.

The best part of the a fixed is that when your bum is hurting and your nuking along it's damn hard to stand up- cuz you'll have a hard time keeping up with the pedals. So once again I found myself looking for a hill. Yesterday it was to get warm, today it was to be able to stand up.

The long and short- my easy spin into work was a touch more painful then I had planned, wah me.

That all being said I'm getting psyched for the ride home- it's looking super nice outside. Anyone want to spin this pm?

sc

a karmic speedbump

hey now... while i freely admit that bailing on the ride was an act of wussiness and is subject to a host of ribbing and undefendable potshots, bad karma it was not. bottom line is, i was entertaining friends this weekend, and knew damned well that saturday night was going to be a long one. it was long enough, as a matter of fact, that had i gone on the ride sunday a.m. i would have had 2 1/2 hours of sleep before getting up to go punish myself.

i put fun ahead of training, which will surely come back to haunt me in less than 16 weeks, but i felt that i had to hang out with the bros, show them a good time in the Valley and not drag steak sauce and the sveninator on a slow, plodding, vomit-filled ride.

as a matter of fact, i think what i did was very positive, karmically speaking. i allowed you to get out there without having to pick up my carcass from the pavement. congrats on a good ride, though. i don't plan on missing another one.

karmically sound,
nK

What happend to Nick?

So the big group ride on Sunday turned into Steak Sauce and I going out for a four and half hour jaunt by ourselves. Dennis had an excuse, NK didn't. Bad karma bailing on the team, worse yet having the boss call to let us know he wasn't going. Hmmmm.

Either way Steak Sauce and I went our for mellow 70+ miles (that's the estimate), fell short of the five hours I had hoped for but considering A1's longest ride so far this year had been an hour and a half, I think 4.5 hrs is a good ride. Of course that's about the half-way mark for Jay!

It was cold for the first hour or so but once the sun got up the temps got fairly comfortable. A1 nabbed a good state line sprint at the end- just before Weston's bridge. He's catching on. Should be interesting once we get Dennis back in the mix for town and state line sprints.

All in all a great day out on the bike.

later-

sc

Where's our release

Team Weak and Feeble not feeling the love. Sweet 6 miles further, 1,600 ft extra to the finish. Legs are already burning.

Pretty cool be be racing (I mean in the same race) as Tinker.

A1 Love Train Out

Jay Challenge Press Release

Tinker at the Jay Challenge

Contact: Dan Des Rosiers Race Director
rd@jaychallenge.com

(Jay, Vermont, April 2006) World Class Mountain bike racer, Tinker Juarez, has confirmed his presence for the Jay 70 Miler coming up on July 30th, 2006. “I read the description, talking about 'you'll cry, you'll hurt, 10,000 feet of climbing.' Perfect! I'm looking forward to a good day of Vermont singletrack!” enthused Tinker.

This is very exiting news, especially as we have organized a Live Music Festival on Saturday, July 29th, to celebrate our 5th anniversary.

Some of the best riders in New England attend the race. Race Director Dan Des Rosiers says “The race has reached a new level of professionalism. This is an amazing turn of events; we will have a world class athlete who will be able to autograph the kids’ t-shirts. It’s not every day that an Olympian and world class rider will shake your hand.”

For more info on Tinker, you can visit his web site at www.Tinkerjuarez.com

The Jay MTB Race remains a relatively small race due to its degree of difficulty. We are expecting 400 bikes or so. The course has changed with more Single Track as well as more climbing. The race will finish with a 1,600 foot climb back to the finish line, (from Jay village back to the base of Jay Peak Resort). A truly excruciating experience.

Dan Des Rosiers is known for designing extreme courses. “I pay close attention to mother nature. Every up and down that I could use on the span of 70 miles is part of this race. This is going to be a true mental game.”

16 weeks left

Good times. So with that in mind, Nick and I rode out after work. North/South to the lights at 302. Nick spun back to get to Rugby. I road out past the new house, turned onto Ol Mill then threw in a lap around Davis for good measure. 40ish mminutes. Decided later that evening to lift, so chest and triceps, after that I was ready for nigh-night. Still feeling the need to lift so I don't weigh 100 lbs. This morning still with the realization of 16 weeks, decided to ride in. Home to office in 25 minutes. Dropped off the backpack at work and headed out Old Bartlett to the end back to office, then back down Old Bartlett turned around and came back up to work. Total time about 50 minutes. Felt good, waiting for shower and coffee.

Funny how a simple number can motivate, 16 weeks fellas.

A1.

Much better

SC, thanks for checking with the Pro. I was getting concerned that I bit off more than I can chew. Not that I haven't. But at least I don't have to quit my day job to train.

d2

admitting that I'm wrong

so on Dennis's request I called Ward about his training, he's logging between 20 and 25 hours a week now and during the race season it gets scaled back to 15 to 18 hours a week (that includes racing). So if we're hitting 12 to 18 a week then we're doing pretty damn good. His comment is that the Sunday long ride will be key to get those hours up there just so your body isn't shocked by the 9+ hour effort. Mix up the shorter rides with recovery and some very hard interval efforts.

I agree with D2.

No balls Cole.

A1

no balls cole

I see you don't have the balls to post an unedited photo as he did before. Maybe he got in trouble at home for it. Regardless, its telling when someone can't defend their position and has to resort to personal attacks instead.

d2

How'd D2 score that invite?

Must have to call on some favors to get the invite to the premier of Brokeback Mountain. Looks like D2 had a good time.

A1

Dennis has a new nickname

The Voice of Reason

leading me to post this photo of "The Voice of Reason" one more time.


sc

just making a point

I doubt any of us, even the single one, could commit to the 20-24hrs a week of training. Assuming we wanted to. I know SC is sitting there with a shit eaten grin on his face thinking he has stoked some sort of fire, but I don't see any of us adopting some sort of insane training plan where we spend that amount of tim training. I wonder what a pro spends on thier bike to train, Sven, call up Ward and ask him how many hours he spends on his bike a week. cut that number in half and I'm ok with it. I just want us all to be realistic. I don't see it making a lot of sense saying we are going to train x number of hours when it just wont happen. You never know when confusion might set in and you unexplicably go home.

d2

bailing?

i think not, dennis. in for a penny, in for a pound.

and if you try to bail, we'll find you and force you into it. we have ways of making you ride, mr. morgan...

-dennis: "do you expect me to ride?"
-nK: "no, mr. morgan, i expect you to die!"

nK (aka auric goldfinger)

and furthermore

If it is going to take 24 hours of training per week, call me confused, but I'm bailing now.

d2

My point is made even clearer

SC, you break out a plausable weekly training schedule and it appears pretty time intensive. It is however as amny as six hours shy of what the poster says he's doing in January. I guess I just find it difficult to think that aside from a pro, who has this time, and in mid janusary, where are you riding 24 hrs in a weeks? I'm not saying that we do not need to put in the hours training, I just get a feeling that there was a substantial amount of bs in the post. As soon as you get 24 hours of hall pass per week for the six solid months, let me know, I'll do the divorce for free.

d2

Before we dismiss the poster

A 20 hour training week is heavy, no doubt but I wouldn't call it totally out of whack with reality (maybe our reality but that's another story). For example if we were to look at a schdule such as:
Sunday: 5+ hours
Monday: 2 hours
Tuesday: off
Wed: 2.5 hours
Thur: 2 hours
Friday: 3 hours
Sat: 3.5 hours

That would be 18 hours in a week. If we were to then break the workouts up into AM and PM I think we would find it to be a very busy, but doable training load. Hell, even toss in a lunch time workout for good measure!

I'm throwing that out there just to keep the conversation rolling.

sc

i'm with A1 and D2

if only because never mind the overtraining factor, but that's almost every waking hour taken up by training... unless the poster is an unemployed bum who has no life outside of training for this insanity.

...that's not a bad idea. who wants to sponsor my impending doom?

nK

I'm with D2

I don't buy it, remember the guys name and we'lll see where he finishes. Then base next year's training on that.

So I'm standing by the confused theory, seriously. I'm not feeling the love from D2 though, questioning my commitment.


That being said, Nick and I set out this morning for our first real ride on dirt. So much for the dirt idea with the new snow. Climbed Peaked around back down the power lines and out to North South road. Very suprised at how dry it was, both stream crossings were fine, beaver dam was dry and rideable below it. So who's in for tomorrow morning, for snowshoeing I mean.

A1.

I Don't buy it

I read the same post SC did, I have to wonder about its veracity. The poster has never riddent he race before and he was supposedly training 20-24hrs per week in January for a race in late July? Can you say BS or at the least overtraining? Further, his post was never replied to letting me think no one who has ridden the race thought much of it either. JMHO.

d2

oh my

Just checked the Jay Forumn and they're talking about training for the race. 20 plus hours a week, hmmm that's a lot of hours. So I took a look at my week (I had been feeling pretty good about the hours I was putting in)- around 12. So I did a schedule with 20 hours- damn- looks like I've got to start getting up early so that I can do an AM ride and then do a PM ride as well- anyone game?


sc

Confusion or hemmorhoids? It had to be something....

con·fused ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kn-fyzd)
adj.
Being unable to think with clarity or act with understanding and intelligence.

Lacking logical order or sense: a confused set of instructions.
Chaotic; jumbled: a confused mass of papers on the floor.


Not sure of Abe's rationale, I don't want to call it an excuse, cause its not that good, in saying he was confused. He knew what time it was, even considering the whole daylight savings time thing, He knew what time his hall pass expired and what his ride window was, and I figured he knew how long it would take him to drive home since he drove to the ride. I cant figure out the whole confused thing. I don't think anyone else is buying it either. I guess I was hoping for something a little more creative. Something like an injury or a hemmorhoid or my wife is calling me, but no, we get some lame confusion excuse. It may leave one to wonder about Abe's committment to this whole deal. One thing in his defense, at least he isn't walking funny or not sitting as uncomfortably as I am today, unless it was a hemmorhoid.

Ummmmmm.

Other than being thoroughly confused I have no idea why I didn't join in for Part 2. No excuses other than being baffled. I got about 1/2 mile down the road and realized it was only 8:30 even though I knew that when I left. Confused. Anyone want to join me tomorrow around 6am for an early morning pre work ride.

A1

Training log

Great day today, plenty of wind, plenty of hills, plenty of hours in the saddle- yup I'm sore.

The day started with Abe, Dennis, and I intending to ride for four hours. Abe and my boss, Nancy was going to join us for the first loop and then the rest of us would reload on water and food and head out for the remaining ride. We started off with a trip up Thorne Hill, which I'm not sure was appreciated by everyone- but hey we're going to climb 10,500 feet in one day in July- we'd better get used to things going up!

The ride was good, but there were so vicious sections of headwind. Of course there were also sections of tailwind but I usually like to think that when I'm flying along it has to do with my legs not the 25mph tailwind. Wishful thinking.

We wrapped up our first loop in about an hour and twenty minutes. We knew Nancy was peeling off- but much to our surprise Abe bailed as well. He had to be home around 11am (it was 8:30am)- I'm sure Abe will post his defense- but it should be known his bailout created good fodder for conversation between Dennis and I for the next two and a half hours. We cruised up Westside to Passaconway and rode that up to the Kanc- the gates not open but it's passable- just watch all the road debris. Once we hit the Kanc we kept going uphill until Rocky Gorge. We spun around to head back down to Conway and from just west of Albany Bridge down to Abenaki Way we FLEW. It was fun- I'll be the first to admit it was a tailwind as we were riding along at close to 40mph for about ten minutes- that felt good. Then Dennis or I, I'm not sure which, decided to ride up to Darby Field Inn to see if we could find our buddies new house up there- did anyone know there's a major hill there- damn! After a good cyclocross section and a downhill townline sprint (point to Dennis) we came back out to RT 16 and began heading back to town. All was good until about 3 and half hours in- I was starting to get mentally fatigued- but we managed to keep it going and didn't wrap things up until we hit 4:01 of actual ride time. So that's the long ride so far for the season- just think we only need to add about another five hours for Jay.

Oh yeah- Dennis and I both hit McDonalds for a post ride snack- oh yeah.


sc

I get it....

APRIL FOOLS....but seriously

d2

Clarification

I wanted to clarify my comment about the time it will take to complete the Jay Challenge. The point I'm trying to make is that we need to think a bit about how long this is going to take, and train in such a way that we get used to and are able to ride at an ok pace for a long period of time. My concern is that if we take a "just to finish" mindset then we won't have a good understanding of the pace we need to sustain to actually finish. Does that make any sense? Of course it doesn't hurt that this conversation seems to have kickstarted everyones training a bit- so that's a good thing. The challege we'll face is once we get to six or seven hours- the temptation will be to take longer breaks at the aid stations- and that could be the death of us. Another point- our amount our asses will hurt will be based on total number of hours So back to the time goal- nine hours isn't exactly race pace but it puts us within a few of hours of the top guys and on paper reads like a very reasonable pace- 8.5 hours of saddle time (7.5mph) and a half hour of total time in the aid stations.

So that's my theory. Yes it's just a theory and come race day it may be a very different story- we'll know soon enough! Oh and by the way- nine hours still puts us at the back of the pack (last year 74 finishers were under 9 hours)- so we're not exactly looking to set the world on fire!


sc