Wheezing like Heisenberg

My "Team" a rag tag group of friends and bicycle nuts have been accepted into the Rapha Gentlemen's Race.  This is awesome because the route is very much the roads I play on often.  It is going to be difficult.  

The course is long and quite hilly.  I "MAY" have seen the course.  This possible sighting has done nothing to quell my fears.  The group that I am riding with are all of friends of mine.  We don't ride together on a regular basis and do have some varying abilities.  This poses a bit of a problem as we are to start as a team of 6 and end as a team of 6.  

The other MAJOR (not really) issue is team kit.  Most of the invited teams ride or race together on a regular basis.  We are most likely going to be a rag tag mish mosh of kits.  Maybe this is rock and roll?  Maybe it's bad form?  

I was thinking we could wear T-shirts with "CUTTERS" written in black sharpie and old gym shorts or jorts, but most of us are partial to our taints.

Truthfully my biggest issue has been my health.  I have been going backwards since December.  Not because I haven't been trying.  Breathing has been an issue.

I got sick in December and have never bounced back.  In January at Worlds,  It seemed every time I went for a really hard surge I went backwards.  That was easy to write off to racing against fast guys.  After that I took a little rest and tried to continue training.  Intervals made me feel like I was going to black out.  Trying an uphill interval I almost did black out at the beginning of March.

First world problems right?  When I push too hard I cant ride as fast as I want... Waaah.  That's what I kept telling myself.  I started riding with Skinny Joe in preparation for the Hell of Hunterdon.  Joe was beating up on me but that is to be expected.  What wasn't expected was on one ride he looked at me and said "You need to get that checked out.  You were riding so much stronger at the beginning of cross season"

That was a little bit of a wake up call but being a stubborn dude I didn't do anything about it.  Then Hell of Hunterdon came.  This is in my wheelhouse.  80 miles, lot's of dirt roads and rolling hills.  Is tarted with a good group at the front.  One I should be comfortable in, especially given the fact that I have been training.  Then I promptly went backwards the longer I rode.  I was sliding from group to group like I water through a colander.

Normally I get stronger as the day goes on.  Or at least steady.  Double centuries, 12 and 13 hour MTN bike races have taught me this.  But not that day.  I knew something wasn't right.  Afterwards at a party when I was coughing and hacking like Walter White from Breaking Bad I really knew something wasn't right.

For some reason I still put off getting an appointment with my doctor for 2 weeks.  I figured it would get better.  I rode with CW twice.  Both longish difficult rides.  He walloped me.  I should at least be able to keep that young buck in my sights.

So I made the appointment.  After a minute of describing my issues breathing and hacking like Heisenberg the doc started nodding.  He believes I have Reactive Airway Disease/Syndrome as a lingering symptom from my wicked cold in December.  He also believes that it can be knocked relatively easily and somewhat quickly with an inhaler.

Why did I wait this long?  Not sure.  If you have something going on and that little birdie is chirping in the background to do something about it.... Listen to it.

Now I hope I a can be a help to the guys at Rapha Gentlemens Ride, and not a boat anchor.

RGR Lottery

Since Jed Kornbluh (The RAT) (I kid because I love) didn't include me on his Rapha Gentlemen's Ride team I decided to enter with my own rag tag team of misfit's and miscreant's.  I think Jed was (rightfully) worried about me not keeping up with his task-master pace. I believe we have a good team.

Here is the application...

And here is our official team photo...

Let's see if we make the lottery to get accepted.

Simpler Times

Oh Hey!  How are you?  Me?  I'm fine.  Thanks for asking.  How's the family?  Good, good.  Oh Mine?  They are good as well.

Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way lets get down to blogging.  

There have been many activities that have been blog-worthy and I often think that I will post up what's happening.   Luckily for me I have been busy enjoying my experiences and my life more than I have writing about them.  I have been updating the Facebook page on a somewhat regular basis.  See that Facebook logo over on the left of your screen?  Yep that's the spot.

Since we last have spent quality blog time together I have....

Peddled bicycles (No pictorial evidence)

Raced Cyclocross Masters World Championships

Raced SS race at World's   (No pictorial evidence)

Peddled bicycles (No pictorial evidence)

Spectated at Cyclocross World Championships

Attended a sales meeting (No pictorial evidence)

Peddled bicycles (No pictorial evidence)

Rode Perry Kramer's mountain bike in San Diego with some good people

Peddled bicycles (No pictorial evidence)

Raced my first Crit's in more than 12 years

Worked an amazing sale at Bicycle Garage Indy  

Caught up with my friends from Giant Bicycles and watched a Jeff Lenosky stunt show at BGI

Peddled bicycles (No pictorial evidence)

Enjoyed some simpler times while being a bit less connected

More in-depth albeit delayed posts on some of these happenings to follow.

Ride your bicycle, have a good weekend, and ride your bicycle.

The Crazy Train

When I was a kid in middle school I couldn't get enough of riding my bicycle.  My internal clock was wired to get me up early to go to school.  Everyone else in my house was able to sleep in late.

My brother and I had to do chores on the weekend before we could go play.  Mom tells the story of me waking her up with a fresh brewed cup of coffee on her nightstand and asking what my chores were.  She always thought it was so I could get the easiest chores.

That was probably partially what was going on.  The real reason was I wanted to go ride my bike.  All. Day. Long.  Pick up my buddies and ride around town, ride to soccer, ride home, go to the pit and jump, go to Mercer and jump, find new spots.  You get the picture.  Go have fun.  Mike, Karl, Dave, Doug Champy, Bill, Barker, and an ever changing cast of characters probably knew the back allies and woods of Doylestown better than most at that time.

Lone Wolf Cycling's Crazy Train was a lot like that.  We assembled early in the parking lot and milled around.  Touching base with friends and being introduced to some new ones.

When we took off it was a lot like I remember childhood.  We chased each other around and wound through the woods and streets exploring.  Jordy and Lone Wolf Jason put together a great route.  It wound through trails and into neighborhoods, trails that may not have been trails, around factories, next to train tracks and ultimately on train tracks.  A few stops for nutrition and possibly a barley pop were thrown in for good measure.

Hanging with Brian.

This pretzel was still warm and at that moment was the best thing I had ever eaten

SaSaSandy made the trip out and actually was riding a bike with Shifty bits.

Clandestine spot in the woods over the tracks.

Hats off to them on keeping it fun and adventuresome.  Isn't that why we ride bicycles?  Does the latest doping scandal in the news affect your ability to have fun on two wheels?  If so you need to ride with friends more.  There is room for the fast folks, the slow folks, the jokers, and every one in between.  One big disfunctional, functional family.

Ultimately my day was cut short by tearing off my derailleur which was not a big deal. 

I had a chance to chat with some friends in the woods and have a beer while doing the single speed conversion. 

Having the conversion not work wasn't that big of a deal either. I got to meet Damien (of the broken handlebar) and hang out and wait for Lone Wolf Tim to ferry us back. 

I figured his day was worse than mine at that point.

Cleaning the bike 2 days later and finding I broke the seat stay on my frame that was kinda a big deal.  I still had a ball and would do it in a heartbeat. Although probably on a SS.  

That crack at the end of the pen goes all the way around the tube.   

For once I remembered my GoPro and set it on Time Lapse.  One of my favorite captures is at the top.  Here are a few more.

This was steep and the heckles surely were flying.  Most heard was the unoriginal "Ride It!"

I threw together a time lapse of the day.  It ran until just before I stopped for the day.  You can see the extended stop to attempt a fix towards the end and a very handsome Matt Hagen milling about.  

The accompaniment of 9 year old guitar virtuoso Yuto Miyazawa seemed oddly appropriate.

Things haven't changed too much since middle school.  I still want to go ride my bike all day and goof off with friends.  

Thank you Lone Wolf Cyling for keeping it fun.

Sliding head first into 2013

I kicked off the New Year right this year.  Many times in the past I have done a New Years century.  This year I wasn't feeling.  After the Bilenky Junkyard Cross I came down with a case of the creeping junkyard crud and hadn't ridden since then.

Two weeks being ridiculously sick was not the prep I wanted to suffer through 100 miles in the saddle. Instead some fiends and I rolled out for a few hours riding a combination of dirt roads and regular roads.  This ride was hot on the heals of a good late night New years celebration.

There are no pictures being posted here of the New years eve party in order to protect the non-innocent.

Bicycle ride photos are about all I am going to post up.

Photo bombing my own picture

The group minus the photo bomber

Pauly and Martin.  Martin actually brought gears out

Steve, Dave, and Judith

Steve won the Rooster-tail of the day award (I used a fender)

It was a little mucky, or as I like to call it... Fun

There are logo's under that muck

When we got done the LRHG had made a feast of Pulled Pork and other good stuff.  Again these pictures are web free to protect the non-innocent.   We started 2013 with a party.  We ended 2012 with a party.  The year is looking good already.

Plus I got a beer

This is fun. Right?

The makings of a proper time trial.

Cyclocross has been a blast this year. I have raced half as many races but still had fun.  I didn't skip things to race but made racing fit my schedule.  Because of this I missed a few venues I like.  Crossasaurus Awesome and Kutztown which was now a two day race.

My goals for the season were just one.  Get faster.  That cut into some fun rides and longer just wandering rides.  But on the average it did help.  In the beginning it was difficult to tell.  I did the "Right" thing. (in my mind) and upgraded to the B race.  This meant I was getting thumped!

I raced a few of the NJ series and they had a 40+ Cat 4 series.  Since I was technically still a 4 I raced in that cat.  Then I realized I was moving up some.  The placing's were more to my liking.

Still a little something was missing.  I raced a singlespeed event at the very beginning of the season and enjoyed the party like atmosphere.  Most of these races were at the end of the day.  I figured I could race early, go hard, keep some fitness, then party race later in the day.  That never worked out.

Luckily Beth invited me to a running of the original 5th street.  This turned things around.  Hanging out with a bunch of like minded people and "playing" bicycle is good for the soul.

We started the days Stage Race with an up-hill TT with a twist.  Everyone was assigned an item and then had to carry that item uphill to the finish.  These weren't just any items.  Look at the picture above.  I felt lucky to only have to carry the lug wrench laying on the snowboard.  How do you ride up-hill with a snowboard?  Like this.

Killer shows us how it's done.

YARNALL did despicable things to the snowman.

Watching Cush ride up hill with a VCR tied to his seatpost and dragging behind him made me laugh harder than possibly any transport up the hill.

There were several other race's through the day.  Hotly contested and possibly a bit of foul play involved.

The LRHG even saved the day on the Miss and Out with a photo finish.

Then my biggest chance of standing top step of the podium on the season presented itself.  The Slow Race.  Slow Race?  That sounded tailor made for me.  Being a bit of an unknown in the crowd I sat back and let everyone roll off the line.  I probably sat at the start line track standing for 5 or more minutes before slowly rolling up the driveway a safe distance from everyone else.

The race was mine.  I patiently sat and waited.  Thorpe tried to freak me out.  He rode circles around me, blew in my ear, and hollered a bit, but I stayed put.  Others fell at getting antagonized.

Waiting.

Finally I got close enough to see it was a 3 man race.  Topher and Peet-o were close to the line.  They seemed to be wavering a bit.  All of the time as a youth practicing BMX gate starts and long winters staying occupied in the bike shop was finally paying off.

Truth be told it was getting a little tedious.  We all could have gone several minutes more.  Then the officials added some obstacles.  We had to pound a beer.  Nothing left in the can and no putting a foot down.  Acting professional we all acheived this.  There may have been a second added.  There may have been a flask obstacle.

I could see Peet-O and Topher.

This had gone on long enough. I figured it was time for aggressive slow racing.  I sprinted at Topher and straight armed him as hard as I could to knock him over.  It didn't work.  My foot hit the ground.

At that point it seemed only appropriate that I give them a bit of the Thorpe treatment.

After the protest. It was decided that Peet-O won

Thanks Beth and Bill for injecting the fun back into the season.

A few weeks later this happened.  Fun definitely describes it best.

Thankful words

As I sit here and think about what bicycle related to be thankful for I keep coming back to something non bicycle related.

I am thankful for my children.  They have made me a better person.  I am far more tolerant and easy going because of them.  They may have trouble believing that but, I certainly recall thinking my mom was tough and a bit of a witch.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

Most likely the thankful words keep coming back to my children because my eldest scared the living daylights out of me last week.

I was sitting on my sofa feeling sick.  That morning I had missed my first cx race in three years because I was feeling ill.  Thank goodness I did.  When I got the call that said "Daddy??" in that questioning voice I knew this wasn't a normal phone call.

She told me she was laying still in a field because she had been thrown from a horse and was scared to move.  I got directions and hauled over there.  The entire time I had no idea what to expect.  Was she fine?  Was it really that bad?

As it turned out it was bad, but not as bad as it could have been in the long run.  A trip to the ER determined she had a fractured vertebrate.  This prompted a transfer to Children's Hospital and a five day stay.  I have hurt myself before and I can deal with that ok.  Seeing her in pain was awful.  There was nothing for me to do.

Once the damage control wore off from my brain and I started to think about the situation instead of "manage" it, is when it truly hit me.  I was scared.  Scared and thankful.  The Doctor described it as best case scenario and assured us that she would heal up but it was a lengthy process.  Four months and she should be good as new.

Having time to reflect may have been good for me.  Of course I love my girls.  Most parents have that deep within them and can relate.  Having them scare the living daylights out of me re-affirms that and makes me glad that I have them in my life.

So to finish as I started... I am thankful for my health and the health of my children and loved ones.  Fortunately I can ride my bike and figure out what is going on inside my head, or even use it to forget for a bit and just ride.

Take a moment and reflect on what makes you complete as a person.  Let the ones you love know you love them, and have a Happy Thanksgiving.