Friday, June 29, 2012

Sweat Shaker

Decided to hit up a mtb race at MMCC last Saturday.  The weather was warm and the new singletrack was pretty rough but that course is fun.  With the hot weather I was very concerned that my awesome cramping legs would rear their ugly head again.  I wasn't wrong but had done a lot to manage things.  

The start of the Expert 29 and under category was new to me as we took the pavement to a walking trail before first hitting the singletrack.  That was a nice change as it allowed for everything to string out.  The pace was fairly fast for the first lap but I kept things at a reasonable pace.  I think I had figured a few minutes before the race that this would be in my top five longest MTB rides for the year...  Not exactly confidence inspiring.  

At the start of the second lap I noticed my quads were starting to twinge.  That's a long lap to start with cramping.  I took things easy for a bit and pushed the pace when I could.  At this point I was fairly sure I was sitting in third and I hoped not to get caught for the last push.  

Rolling into the finish I had gone through a total of three full large bottles over a race that was just under two hours.  And drinking on that course isn't exactly easy to do.  But the cramps still seem to come back no matter what I do.  It'd be nice to actually race a mtb race some time!

Third was it for me, but I made some cash.

Have you registered for the Ithaca GP yet?

Monday, June 11, 2012

Tour de Mont Pleasant

My job - fill and hand up bottles.

Pro 1/2 start
Jake Rytlewski 
The early break, heading south on Whiteville Rd. 
The break that stuck
Jake rolling to his claim his second KOM
Jake rolling in solo for the win
Is this the start or the finish of the race?


Article HERE.

Thursday, June 07, 2012

TT

TT

Decided after a long spring of no racing to try and stretch my legs with the Tour de Mont Pleasant TT last night.  It was without a doubt the hardest effort I've made on a bike over the past six months, as riding has been hit and miss lately.  The course was about as much fun as a 4.1 mile course can be, and there were a lot of volunteers on the course keeping things safe.  Registration took 45 minutes which severely cramped my warm-up, but did provide the opportunity to stand in line and catch up with a few friends.  

I believe my time was 10:28, good enough for 12th in the cat 4's.  There were some flyin' guys in my category - I believe the winner beat my time by almost a minute.  Regardless, it was fun.  Looking forward to helping Jake on Sunday at the water stations.