looking for ways to keep legs less stressed for quicker recovery

these all look like they would work but i think the scooter or the mobility wheelchair are the only ones that i could afford/ available to the public.

2013 race license

for 2013 i will be going with a Hulk Hogan theme race license... Hulk Hogan quote..."God created the Heavens, he created the earth! He created all the Hulkamaniacs! Then, he created a set of 24-inch pythons, brother!".  with some 24 inch pythons and 29 inch wheels i will muscle out some good results for 2013. whatcha gonna do brother!

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

greenbrier state park trail maintenance

Schaeffer Farms trail work

Jeff and Mike helping to construct some new trails around Schaeffer Farms in Germantown, MD

Hiking in to the new whoop-de-doo section of trails

Laying down pavers to prevent erosion

Testing the lines

We worked with Dave McGill on construction

Adding a new section to Schaeffer Farms' Red trail

We found a downed pilot

Looks like he ejected straight out of the canopy of the remote controlled plane

A little fun riding some underpasses after a day of digging

A well deserved ride on Seneca Ridge

Taking a picture of a picture

We saw a few of these Hooded Merganser ducks at Clopper Lake - first time seeing them  - very cool looking heads

Ride data from Strava:

lance armstrong and doping in general

i have respect for lance but in a different way then back in the early 2000's when i respected him for his riding ability now i respect him for what an great con artist he is.  standing back and looking at what he did it hard for me not to think he did a smart thing by doping and lying.  if he hadn't doped all the other guys that were doping would have taken the money/glory and Lance Armstrong would have never become a household name.

Lance was treated like a rock star for 15 years, got millions of dollars in sponsorship, advertizing and book deals . The risk/ benefit ratio is greatly in the dopers favor because the punishment is so small especially in lances situation when so much money is on the line. Not being able to compete in bike racing (at 41 and pased his prime) is tiny punishment when considering the millions that lance made. he made approximately 125 million through bike racing, he will loose approximately 35 million in lawsuits so in the end he will end up with about 90 million. 90 million dollars made through doping . based on the current punishments it seems that you are a sucker if you don't dope when that much money is on the line.

 I’ve devised a punishment that would be suitable.  Divide out all that money that said doper made with interest to all the pros that weren’t cheating and instead of banning said doper from racing said doper should be made to go to races being a corner marshal or handing out water/feeds to riders while wearing a t shirt that says “ I am a thief who tried to seal your money and glory”.  in reality people who dope should be treated like criminals with jail time. the punishment has to be worse than the potential reward otherwise cyclists will continue to dope.

If I were in Lance’s current position I would just take up another sport like swimming in millions of dollars I made.

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!

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