Tag Archive for racing

nick | April 19, 2009
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No Lumberjack for me.

After some thought and consideration, I’ve decided to sell my entry for the Lumberjack 100 this year. I realized that I had already started to stress myself over it. Anytime I thought about riding, I was concerned that I got a good “training ride” in, with lots of miles and hours, because LJ is right around the corner. Same whenever I thought about doing work around the house/yard instead of riding. The need to train for it was starting to sap the fun out of any riding I was doing. When it comes down to having to choose between training rides and fun rides/house stuff, I decided I didn’t want to keep making that decision. So, I’ve made it for the season.

I think it was the right thing to do, because after I decided, I headed out to Stony to just bounce around with some friends. Not having to think about getting miles in was a great weight off my shoulders, and I had the first really fun ride of the season. I think I made the right decision.

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nick | September 30, 2008
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September is over….FINALLY!

At some point early in the month, I was thinking about how glad I would be to see October, because that would mean that I survived the end of September.

The week leading up the Addison Oaks Race was a blur of last minute activity, but in the end, everything came off PERFECTLY.  The race was well attended (333 racers) and the weather was perfect.   I couldn’t be happier about how the race turned out, and I we couldn’t have done it without the help of a WHOLE lot of volunteers.   It would have been a disater without those people who stepped up, and were willing and able to do whatever it took to make the race a success.

Racers starting off their race.

Racers starting off their race.

We were out at Addison Oaks from 7AM till 5PM.  About 10 minutes after the raffle was completed, and the final cleanup began, Marty and I got in our car and headed to Metro Airport to fly to Vegas for Interbike.

Interbike week was a combination of recovering from the prior week, going 10+ hours a day between the show and outdoor demo, and crashing in our room.  We didn’t get a chance to attend the CX race, the Crit, or really do ANY Vegas type stuff.  No partying, no gambling, no adult entertainment.  It was a week of bikes and crashing on the couch.

But, the good news is that by the time we got home on Saturday, we were actually pretty recovered from the last couple of weeks.  Got lots of cool swag, got to check out a lot of cool new bikes and cycling related stuff, and generally had a great week with perfect weather.

So, now it’s back to normal life… We, at least for 3 weeks, then we head off to AMSTERDAMN!

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nick | September 22, 2008
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LONG day finally over

Today, today was a very long day.

We starting out leaving the house a ~6:30AM to head to Addison Oaks for the CPS XC race that the Metro North chapter was holding.  Thanks to a bit of luck, great timing company and land manager, and a LOT of help from a ton of great volunteers, the race was a success, and we had 333 racers.  The chapter should do VERY well off this race, and should set a precident for great races in the coming years.

Then, at 5:00PM, pretty much as soon as the race was finished, and we started cleanup, Marty and I got int he truck and headed to Metro Airport to catch a plane to Vegas.  Couple of beers in the terminal, and we caught our flight.  A little over 4 hour flight, picking up the rental car, and heading to where we were staying, and we finally got in ~11PM (2AM Eastern Time).  So, now we’ve had a bite to each, and are winding down watching a little TV before we totall crash, as it’s heading toward 3AM.  21 hour day, not to shabby.

And not something I want to do very often, even as well as everything worked out.

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nick | May 21, 2008
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Quickie Update

More details later, but quickie update.

Saturday was 12 Hours of Addison.  I decided to do 6 hours solo.  Got 6 laps in, and just didn’t feel like doing more.  One of the hardest things about solo for me so far is the mental aspect of pushing yourself to get back out and ride the same trail again.  I could have probably squeeze at least 2 more laps out, but my back was starting to really hurt, and my legs were getting toasted.  I think the first slow lap burned my legs out, as I wasn’t able to have the momentum on the downhills, and I the climbs were slower because of the 10-15 people in front of me.

Sunday was spent at the Stony Skills park project.  The construction is in full swing, and 2 of the teeter totters stunts are 95% completed.  Some minor adjusting to the stunts is all that’s left to do.  We have the pieces built for 2 more teeters, and most of the decking for 3 other stunts.  We plan on being out there on Friday evening and Saturday this week, so we should make some major progress.

In other news, I decided to sell my Lumberjack 100 entry this year.  After doing Addison, I realized that I wasn’t going to up be up to speed for that race is less then a month, so I was going to recoup my investment and let someone else give it a shot.  We still plan on going to watch and support others, plus we plan to be up there on Friday so we can pre-ride.  (or, must ride at this point).  Marty has never ridden it,  and I haven’t in the new direction.

The Lake Orion HS race series starts tonight, so I’m planning on heading out there and having some fun.  Short course, and probably ~45-60 minutes of total racing.  So, it should be fun.  My son is supposed to be out there racing too, so this will be his first race.

Speaking of which, I should probably head out soon.  CYA!

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nick | May 14, 2008
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30 Days and Counting

30 days before the Lumberjack100, and I really am not ready for this race yet.

I’m finally getting out and getting some miles onto my legs, and I’ve mad a commitment to try to ride as much as I can over the next month, even it’s just out the front door and putting 20+ miles on the local paths.  The biggest thing I can work on is just putting as many miles onto my legs as I can.

I think I’m also going to put the nose to the grindstone and really work on dropping some weight.  I’m heavier then I’d like to be this spring, but I think that if I really push it, I can drop 20# in the next month.  It won’t put me where I’d like to be, but it will put me into a pretty good place anyways.

The course isn’t that difficult, and I’ve heard that the backwards direction is an easier ride then the direction that the race was run the two years I’ve made an attempt.  I recently had a professional fit on my Racer-X, so I’m very comfortable on the bike, and the new position make me feel stronger then I was feeling.

I think one big thing is going to be concentrating on FINISHING the race, and not on RACING the race.  The race can be finished with a < 10 MPH average speed.  If I don’t go out and try to kill myself by being fast, I think I’ll have a good chance of finishing.  Slow and steady wins the race.  I’m not racing anybody else this year, I’m only racing myself.

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