MOCO epic 3 and 4 cancled, Strava

weekly MOCO epic training ride didn't happen yesterday and will also be canceled for next weekend... with x-mas and new years there are too many schedule conflicts... im going to use these two weeks get some longer rides in to hopfuly get my fitness to a place where i dont feel like i need to go race pace to keep up with Dylan and Jeff... next MOCO epic ride will be on Jan 7th.

i recived a GPS for Christmas... one of those Garmin ones that you can use with your bike and i set up a Strava account... they are one of the sponsors of are team... Strava lets you download your ride, calculates your power output, shows a map of where you road, lets you compare and compete with others on climbs, gives an easy to read line graph of heart rate, elevation , power, distace and speed.... all in one cart... its also a social networking type of site you can follow other riders and comment on their rides... i am liking it so far... it has made me more motivated to ride.

the Strava site...

http://app.strava.com/about

MOCO epic training ride # 2

this time Jeff, Dylan and i did the loop backwards... we didn't do the official MOCO loop we made some modifications and did a little bit of exploring... it ended up being a 4.5 hour / 50 mile ride like last weekend it felt like plenty...the temp was about the same (about 40) but it was less muddy than last week.

here are some pics...

 crossing a stream

Dylan

me

first MOCO epic training ride

last Sunday (the Dec. 10th 2011) was the first MOCO epic training ride... it was raining most of last week... but the Friday and Saturday before the the ride was dry so i though conditions wouldn't be horribly muddy... it wasn't bad at first but later in the ride it started getting pretty muddy... we ended up cutting off the last 15 miles because of the trail conditions... it ended up being a 4.5 hour ride 47 mile ride... witch felt like plenty at the time... next week we plan to do the loop backwards... my weather channel app tells me it will most likely be clear for the rest of the week... so hopefully trail conditions will be better.

Dylan Johnson dialing in his new Scott carbon 29er before the ride

Jeff Dickey being cold before we got started moving (35 degrees at the start but warmed up to low 40's later)

2011 recap/ update

I didn’t do too much racing in for the 2011 season… I made a goal for myself last winter to ride at least 12 hours a week… I was doing this had some great fitness up till January when I got sick… It was bad strep throat or the flu not sure I didn’t go to the doctor.. but I had a high temp and my waking HR was around 10 beats over normal for about a week… I was sick for about 2-3 weeks till the sore throat went away and I felt safe to ride again…I started to build some fitness again but I seemed to loose it again in spring when I started working more… I was cleaning ponds for work and it was labor intensive … spring is the biggest season for pond work… during this time I was exhausted and only riding 2-4 hours a week… I didn’t start getting reasonable hours of training in till mid summer when I wasn’t working as much… I was feeling like my normal racing self tord the end of summer… I only did 5 races and i only had fitness for the last one… this is the least amount of racing I have done in a year since I was 18.

I just noticed that I made a lot of excuses for my bad race year… at the end of my 2010 season I said 2011 would have less excuses… I failed there.

For 2012 I plan to put a bit more preparation and planning in to having a successful season… ive just purchased a new bike that I will only use for racing.. 

it is the same size and geometry as my current bike just 4 lbs lighter and made of carbon and lighter parts… the weight savings will be nice but the part that I think will help me the most is having new unworn parts that are less likely to fail during a race… fresh tires, fresh drive train and fresh cables.

 I normally have the mentality that don’t replace things till they break… I have gone into races with very worn tires and frayed cables and have probably had more than my fair share of race mechanicals because of it… no more.

For training starting on Dec. 10^th team mate Jeff Dickey and I (plus whoever else wants to join) will be riding the MO CO epic loop… it’s a 62 mile mostly off-road ride that goes through 9 different parks in the WA DC area…we plan to do it every Sunday (weather permitting) till race season starts … every other Sunday we will reverse the loop.

Guy's Neshaminy Classic 2011

Jeff Dickey and i carpooled to this race... we started off a bit late, then ran into traffic, then realized that we were going to the wrong address so are drive ended up being about 45 min longer than we had planned... made it to the race with no time to spare just before regestration cut off (15 min before my race). lucky Scott RC team members Bart and Scott Wilson were there to help me with regestration and to organize my feeds or i would have most likely missed the start.

it was a fun race.. lots of twists, turns , dips and jumps... the weather was good too high 80's but it felt a lot cooler than that in the woods... almost the entire course was in the shade...

started off in the rear and worked my way up to finish mid pack with team mate John Arias. (17th and 18th out of about 35 starters)

overall a great race for Scott RC mountain bike team... we had 3 riders in the top 5... Jeff Dickey was 5th, Cam Dodge 3rd and Aron Snyder 2nd.

here is a truck that Jeff and i were stuck in traffic with... it had country music lyrics written all over it... how lame.

Andrew Mein's Excellent Adventure at Granogue race report

nice day for racing... about 70 degrees and partially cloudy...

i was imminently dropped by the field of about 30 or so riders (in the elite open cat). its normal for me to be floundering off the back for the first quarter of a lap or so then work my way back up to finish 5th -10th... but today i was only able to manage getting up to 15th (where i finished) ... i felt i did as good as i could do... my bike was working well and i was feeling fresh and motivated.

Ive been working more so haven't been able to ride as much... building ponds and cleaning ponds (the job i am doing) is hard labor... i feel like i am in shape and healthy from all the physical labor but i am not in bike riding shape... i normally have no motivation or energy to ride after work... the rides i am able to squeeze in are super easy recovery rides... i might have to lower my standards of what i expect from myself as far as race results till something changes.

Team mates Jeff Dickey,  Gunnar Bergey and Scott Wilson had good showings... Jeff finished 4th Scott and Gunnar also had a top ten finishes.

Scott on cooler...

Sole sandal...Sole makes some nice sandals.

first race of the year...Fair Hill.

this one is in Elkton MD, it was around 60 degrees and cloudy... pretty nice conditions for racing... big turn out, just over 40 riders in my category (open/ elite).

last year i was having bad luck with getting flats during races... my average was a flat every 3rd-4th race...so for this year i want to make more of an effort to avoid flats and mechanicals all together...so i made sure my tires were in solid condition before the race... i replaced my rear tire and replaced my drive train.

during the start of the race i felt super stale from not being able to ride that week, i immediately fell to the back... i wasn't too worried though because i was confident i would start feeling better eventuality and make up some ground... before getting to the single track i noticed i wasn't able to shift with the rear derailleur... i discovered that my cable had snapped... so the rear derailleur was stuck in a 12 tooth gear (the hardest gear)... i put the front in the smallest gear to balance it out... but i still found it very hard to push over the gears... i got too the first short steep climb and my gearing was too difficult and i ran up it.. at this point i was mentally broken and gave up on achieving a good finish... but i decided to finish the race because i was there and dressed up for it... i came in 40th.

hopefully my next race report will have less excuses in it.

article on BIKE RUMOR .com

the article is about my art... click the banner to to see the article...

pro race license photoshoping 2011

every year i photoshop my race license... for 2011 i went with a Dr Manhattan theme...being able to control every partial of matter with my thoughts will give me the edge in the 2011 race season.

2010 i went with a goblin theme...

2009 i went with a devil theme...

2008 i went with a hokey playing neanderthal theme...

flood ride

rained all day yesterday...

first no-snow mtn bike ride of the year

(except one freak patch) and in short sleeves...

warmer weather

seems like the weather is warming up a bit witch is motivating me to get outside and ride more... after being sick for most of January i have been slow to get back into riding...

i am still not at pre-sickness fitness but i should be there in a month or so.

snow ride

first good sized snow fall frederick (MD) has had this year... about 7 inches... did a ride while it was snowing with other Frederick mtn bikers...

a skier was getting pulled behind a car... it looked like fun...

crankskins deal

crankskins is one of are sponsors... they are offering this deal through are team...

crankskins sells sticker protection for parts of the bike that are prone to wear... like the chainstay, the headtube where cables rub and ect... they are used to prevent damage and increase the life and resale value of your bike.

they have a ton of color and design options... they also have clear for the non-adventurous... my favorite is the rasta weed skulls



here is the website...
http://www.crankskins.com/


Jeff Dickey is is one of the riders on are team that's why the code is jdickey

the cold

i just got over a bad cold...i havent rode my bike or done any type of exercise in a week and half... i am feeling better now and plan to try doing a short ride tomorrow to see how my body reacts.