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.