Safety Helmet Bike: 2012

Monday, September 3, 2012

shenandoah 100 race report 2012

race: Shenandoah 100

course description: giant climbs followed by fun decent separated by road and fire roads

weather: raining on and off (mostly on and very heavy at times)

this was my first 100 mile race. i was in about 10-15th place when i flatted on a decent at about the 20 mile piont. i fixed it and tried to keep riding hard. it is a long race so i figured that 6 min it took me to fix the flat wouldn't be that big of a deal in the larger scheam of the race. i was wrong. loosing that 6 minutes meant i missed the opportunity to get in a train of the top riders in the fire road/ road sections between the actual mountain biking sections. team mates Jeff Dickey was right in front of me and Aaron Snyder was right behind me when i had the flat. we could have worked together on the fireroad at the bottom of that decent.

i felt ok up till about mile 60 or so. then some of the people i had passed started passing me. i tried to focus on eating more and i felt a bit better but my pace was definitely slower. at mile 90 or so i broke my chain. it took me a long time to fix because i didn't have the right parts so i had to reuse a chain pin. i tried a power link but i guess power links don't work with shimano chains. it took me at least 20 min to line up the old pin to screw it in to place. just after fixing it teammate Jeff Dickey rode up. he had bonked early and often and was just cruising in. i had lost my motivation to push hard too so we cruised in the last ten miles together. my chain broke again while we were riding those last ten miles. Jeff was patient and helpful as he waited for me to fix my chain again. we came in in about 9.5 hours. Aaron came in 5th!

it wasn't a fun race for me . not that there was anything wrong with the course or the way the race was organized it's just that by about mile 60 my body was feeling uncomfortable enough that having fun was no longer a possibility and the suffering i put myself through for the last 40 made me forget about any fun points in the first 60. if the weather was better and i had put in some longer riders leading up the the race to prepare myself better i feel confident i would have enjoyed myself more.

PS the volunteers at aid stations were great!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Schaeffer trail maintenance plus 40 mile ride

Jeff and I did some trail maintenance at Schaeffer trails in Germantown MD on Sunday July 29th...

Jeff and others

an hour and a half in to are ride, stopping to refill water bottles

Sunday, July 15, 2012

toe injury

i cracked my toe nail a while back...i don't remember exactly when it happened but i am guessing it happened when i was moving around big rocks for the pond building business i was working for last year... i supper glued the crack to hold the nail together...a few months later it started swelling at the base ... i guessed it was an ingrown toenail but i felt around the sides of the nail and it didn't seem to be sticking into my skin... after the swelling got so bad that i wasn't able to use my cycling shoes i went to the doctor (i haven't been to a doctor in about 6 years)... he confirmed it was an ingrown toenail and that the toenail need to be removed... he gave me two novocaine shots on both sides o my toe... they were big needles and it was painful but the removal of the toenail was painless... i am not going to be able to where tight shoes (which includes my cycling shoes) for a at least 2 weeks ( im not sure beyond that)...it doesn't hurt so much any more... i am mostly worried that i might mess up the healing processes and be back to square one... i've been riding with platform pedals the past couple of days... its not horrible but it would be a pretty big handicap in a race.

i was planning on dong the MASS fair hill race today but am missing it... i might miss the bear creek finals at the beginning of next month too... i really hope i am able to ride with cycling shoes September.

before toenail removed

after toenail removed

Sunday, July 8, 2012

2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler

Race: 2012 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler
Where: Gloucester County College, Sewell, NJ
Date:July 7th
Conditions: 105 degrees, twisty rooty short steep ups and downs

I think this was the hottest day of the year. Despite the heat teammates Aaron and Cam pulled off their normal 1st and 2nd that that normally get for MASS (Mid Atlantic Super Series) races. Nick had a great race pulling off a 4th (the best he has done in a MASS race yet!). For some reason the heat seemed to be affecting me (Mike) more than my team mates. I realized half way through the first lap that with the heat this race for me was going to be more about survival than getting a good result. i kept it slow and steady (any pushing hard made my head feel like it was going to pop) and came in 15th.

teammate Jeff Dickey normally dose well in hot races and this course suited his strengths. He was riding comfortably in 5th when he came across a woman who had fallen and broken her collar bone in the middle of the trail. Other riders were going around her and/or telling her to get out of the way. Jeff being the better person stopped, helped her off the trail and waited with her till help came. He came in last after waiting with this woman for 20 min when he could have easily pulled of a top 5 finish if he had not stopped.

Cam collecting his winnings for 2nd place

Aaron getting his 1st place award

Results

Monday, June 11, 2012

photos from the massanutten hoo haa race

massanutten hoo haa mountain bike cross country race

this race was more technical and difficult than i thought it would be... the course had a lot of climbing and some of the rock gardens along the ridge of the mountain were challenging to clean however the majority of the course was pretty flowing... it was a hot day (about 90 or so) but thankfully the majority of the climbing was in the shade.

it was a supper stacked field of riders (especially for a local race)... all the guys in the top 5 were very strong riders that i honestly didn't stand a chance of beating... Jeremiah bishop, nick Waite, a south African wold cup guy, a fast rider from Florida who made the trip up, and Arron Snyder (my team mate)... i was happy with my 7th place finish.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

more photos from fair hill race

Cam 1st, Me 3rd

Nick

Jay, 1st masters class

John

Sunday, June 3, 2012

fair hill moutain bike race report 6/3/12

3 lap 22 mile cross country race in Elkton MD,mostly flat and smooth and about 80 degrees and twisty single track... this race ended up being fast like a road race... a group of about 15 riders stayed wheel to wheel till the last lap then things broke apart when Cam put in an attack going into the singe track for the last lap... the top 15 or so still finished pretty close together less than 30 second between most riders... the Scott team had good results in the elite/open category... Cam won, i came in 3rd, Jeff Dickey came in 6th, Dylan came in 10th, Nick came in 11th, John came in 17th (out of a field of 42 riders)