My son just likes things that blow other things up

German Panther Tank WW II

My son is a typical boy; baseball, basketball, riding his bike and an appreciation for all things large and explosive . Today we spent the day at Aberdeen Proving Grounds; a local military base that happens to have the coolest collection of military vehicles.

They are renovating the museum and a lot of the vehicles have been moved for some cleansing before being put back on display.

They have everything from V2 rockets to a German railway gun and everything in between. It takes a good 2 hours to really go through and check everything out. The base does have a Subway when you get hungry enough.

British Mark I WWI

I remember as a kid coming here and just being overwhelmed by the size of these vehicles. I would bring my guns and pretend to play war while running in and out of the what seemed like and endless chessboard of fun. I still get all giddy inside when seeing these things. He really loves to read the history behind the tanks as well. One of the few places left that doesnt charge any admission; just walk around and enjoy.

If you get a chance to come by this way and you enjoy military history, check it out.

Sometimes you just have to say...

Needless to say, my ride time and intensity have been low for the last month. I have only been riding between 100 and 125 miles a week. Most of the rides are relatively easy, but the  body still thinks they are much harder than they should be. For the first time, I can honestly say I cant wait to get some medicine in this here 45 year old body and get back to normal.

Today was our weekly Bike Doctor group ride and as usual 12 AFC guys including myself started off at a much faster pace than I had hoped. My goal was to ride a little harder, but not try and maintain the usual 20+ mph pace. Well...that didnt quite go as planned. I did find myself moving at 22+mph for the first 15 miles; I even had a pull up one of the tougher climbing segments. I felt ok, but not anywhere near normal. I ended up at 19.9 mph for the ride and 1600ft of climbing for 28 miles.

Overall, I am ok with how I rode, but cant wait to get back to normal (physically, anyway). Tomorrow is the last CM race at Fountainhead and I am not as bummed as I thought I would be. I guess knowing I cant ride like I want makes it a little easier to not be there. Good luck to all.

Lyme Disease Sucks PT Deux

Well, quite a bit has been going on with me physically in the past 3+ months. Lets recap shall we? I have decided to give it one big long supercalifragi... kinda name-ConcusiRhabdoAppendiLymeasucks. After a series of MRI's and blood work, Lyme's is the winner; I unfortunately find myself on the short end again. I dont know what all of the numbers mean on the report, but more positives than negatives isnt good. The results also showed a low red blood cell count (limiting oxygen in the blood); which explains the whole feeling like I am gonna die when I put forth any hard efforts- kinda like anti-EPO

I was diagnosed with Lyme a few years back and was thought then that we caught it early on and all was good with the world. Needless to say ( envisioning a Jack Nicholson moment) Im baaack.

With the race season over-for me anyway-I find myself not even wanting to ride. I really have to force myself to get out and tell myself to saddle up pardner. Once I am out, all is good-mentally anyway. At least I know now what the heck is wrong now. It doesnt make my season go any smoother, but I know now what I am up against. The dizziness, fatigue, etc. now has a face; and I think it is rather ugly.

So, I am just going to go out and ride and maybe, just maybe see some things I missed before. I may try to race the last race at Fountainhead and do it for fun; for fun is a hard statement to make, but I will try.

What Race Season?

Well, this year has been a big fat ugly wash for me. What started out to be the most promising season for me has just taken a big dump in the toilet of cycling life. I have been off the bike since monday and eating crap food to boot; if I keep this up I will look like White Goodman at the end of Dodgeball.

I have decided to pull the plug on this years race season. It will be the first time I havent been in the Cranky Monkey series since 2006. CX season will be a no show either. My body just isnt responding to what my brain wants it to do...stupid body. I am going to try and do our bike shop ride tomorrow and see what happens. I havent done anything hard in over a week so this should be interesting.

My MRI results came back negative, so that is good; but the neurologist seems to be pointing to Lyme's...again. I had my blood drawn a few days ago and awaiting the results. I had that crap a few years back and was able to catch it in time with antibiotics so no harm done. I also have to go for an eye exam because of some blurriness in my left eye-should "eye" go on? That was bad. Anyway, I am thankful I can at least still ride; just not to the degree I was able to before.

Maybe with some time (steady rising horns with a touch of synth and tribal beat) I SHALL OVERCOME THESE TEMPORARY SETBACKS AND LIKE THE PHOENIX RISING FROM THE ASHES...DEFEAT THE ENEMY AND REGAIN MY RIGHTFUL POSITION AS THE SINGLESPEED MORON! Uh, what was that all about? So in a nutshell, I am coming back to ride more betterer than before.

Ah...Push it

Simply ravishing!

Oh baby baby...bababy baby... Hey, I am an 80's retro grouch and proud of it.  Some things get better with age and those two gorgeous ebony lovely's are it. They can season my turkey burgers anytime. Uh, ok...

Today I was determined to go out and hit some hills, push it a little and throw caution to the wind-like spitting but less messy and embarrassing in front of others. My power has been as consistent as a politician in office. I cant find any rhythm nor recovery after any hard efforts.

I was overall pleased with the results today and although the dizziness was there even with headwinds most of the ride; it was minimal or maybe I just decided to ignore it.  Wow, they are simply beautiful...(weird cartoon sound shaking my head-eyeyeyeyeye). Onward to the bike stuff. Most of the climbing today was relatively short, but averaged 4%-9% grades. I aended up in some places that I havent been before and found some very nice steep stuff to test the head. I was able to put down good power, but the recovery was still way too long; but I survived.

My legs are a bit rough afterwards, but I was glad that I went out and tried to hammer as best I could for now. I think the race season is done for me at this point. I may decide to go  to Fountainhead for the last race of the series, but I will wait to see how I feel.

Anyway, Salt n Pepa, you should change your names to Hot n Spicy, but they have nothing on my wife for sure.

Not hard to figure out

  

and darn tired of it!

The Hybrid

This really should have an explanation, but I think the pics are all that is needed.
The funkiest hybrid ever to grace the streets of middle river. It is missing bar ends pointed at the sky and an adjustable stem... all in good time... all in good time.

Today was the first time that this here bike has touched asphalt in over 2 years; it has been my indoor trainer bike for that time. I have to say, this is the twitchiest frame ever. Even when it had drop bars, it felt as if the bike was always going into spasms. The original flexible flyer. Just one reason that it is relegated to the trainer.

This was a hand me down from my friend Phil. So get a laugh or two from it and move on wit your bad self and dream of only having a cooler hybrid than this.

Just a Lousy Day

Ugly...just plain ugly

Well, it was bound to happen. The dreaded DNF. I havent even seen those 3 letters in quite some time. Never thought I would see them again either. Unfortunately, yesterday at the first Cranky Monkey race of the year, it came back to bite me in the... Temperatures were close to 100° and I thought I was feeling ok. 15 looney singlespeeders lined up to beat each other up to get into the singletrack first. Off we went and the pain began. Dust flying, heavy breathing and...wait a minute, that was on the Nat Geo channel last night on the mating rituals of the Rhino. BAck to reality here...focus man. Anyway, Jon took off and I was much obliged to answer his first attack. First dizzy spell. We were out in front with about a 20 second gap from 3rd. I could tell Jon was feeling the effects of the heat as I was as well. Around mile 7 I felt the dreaded feeling of passing out and dizziness again. I thought, I will get through this, I am in 2nd place right now and I will prevail...uh I didnt. I decided to call it quits at the start of the 2nd lap and still 2nd place.

I tell you what, nothing is more painful than putting out an effort only to not finish; it sucks big time. I thought about going back out, but I just didnt want to end up on the side of the trail passed out or worse yet, falling and hitting my noggin on a rock and having everyone running over my lifeless body and laughing as they did. Visions of Tom Hanks in the Money Pit as the tub fell through the floor.

So today I went for an MRI and wont know anything until wednesday. In an odd way, I hope they find something so at least I know what the heck is going on.

Now I have to decide whether or not to pull the plug on the rest of the race season.

It might be time to slow down a bit

Well, it took me 12 months to do what I have done in 8 so far this year. This is just a comparison and what can be done with a family and 3 kids.

To race or not to race...that is the question

3k in 14.4 miles

Today I hit the trails trying to get a hard ride in before Schaeffer Farm this weekend. At 9am, it was already 86° and super humid. The goal was to get as much climbing as I possibly could in a short amount of time. Merrymans is the best place for mountain bike intervals-if you are akin for that sort of thing I suppose. The first climb, which incidentally starts immediately, is a rocky, steep grinder. Now, as you may already know, I am "suffering" from a case of dizziness-no not old age, AARP dizziness-and a bit of vertigo. Everytime I put in some hard efforts, my body seems to not listen to my brain. Anyway, the heat was suppressing which didnt make todays goals any easier. Funny how some of your technical skills seem to diminish the more time spent on the road bike. It was sketchy at times trying to navigate some areas, mainly due to the fact I hadnt ridden some of the section at all or it has been a very long time.

I decided to gear down to a 16 to make the climbing that much tougher. I was pleasantly surprised at the results I got despite struggling a bit at times with the feeling of blacking out. Cant imagine having narcolepsy.

I never go out to take KOM's on purpose. If I did, my whole training...wait did I say training? Hmmm-ok, I am back. If they come as a result of my training, so be it. It does feel good though. The thing about Merrymans is that there are no "easy" climbs; you have to really work hard. Lots of rocks, roots and steep grades, some as much as 15-20%.

So back to my title. Though the results show a good ride, my body is just not recovering well right now. Not that it wasnt difficult before, but it seems I am working alot harder than I should be. I have an appointment with the neurologist on the 22nd to see if there is something going on. My vision has been taking a hit as well. Seems the left eye-which is the side I hit my noggin at Bakers-is getting blurry. Maybe he will see that I am really a moron or at least a little on the insane side.

Eh, so I will have to see how I feel the morning of the race and decide from there. Stay single and ride hard.

Rough Day in the Saddle

Ugh! Thats about it. Rough day today. No power, no endurance and an average HR of 170 with a max of 193. The max, eh I can live with, but the average of 170 is way to high. I usually hit 165 for an average, so I may need to take a break. Legs felt horrible from the start and couldnt recover on any of the climbing sections at all. I usually average 20.5 on this route, so almost a mile an hour slower isnt a good sign.

GASP!!!

What is that you say? Those wheels look... well a bit... uh... like TWENTY SIX INCHers! Why yes, yes they are. Now before you go all Bolshevik Revolution on me, hear me out. This came about by sheer chance. My cool boss Jeff needed something I had I wanted something he had-voila! Red cranks for Ferrous frame. No, I am not going back in time and ditching my 29er beliefs. Nothing could be further from reality. It was in the shop, I saw, I liked, I have.

It's sole purpose is to just play and have fun and give my other bikes a break. I outfitted it with some good and some just ok and 1 surprise. The surprise being the Sram X7 wheels mated to Disc Jockey rims. These arent the lightest wheels but man are they smooth and bomb proof. They are set up ghetto tubeless. I have a Bontrager race fork and Race X Lite stuff where needed. Comes in at 20.8 lbs, not too shabby at all.

It went out for the first real ride today. 22 miles and 2300ft of climbing. My legs werent feeling great to begin with but the smaller wheels did help a bit on some of the tougher climbs. The OX II frame-like its big brother in the garage is just splendid. Anyway, the ride went pretty good. I certainly noticed the difference on the rougher stuff; the small wheels feel as if they need walkers with little tennis balls on the ends.

There are a few 15% grade technical climbs that really tested the small hoops and they did well; not sure, but I think I would have been faster on the 29er. My tire selection isnt the best, but it is the only 26" tires I had. All in all it was fun, but just didnt have that same flowing feel the 29er has. Plus I look like a Carney in a mini car parading down main street on the small rings.

It was certainly fun, but nothing could make me switch back to the smaller wheels. Well, maybe one thing, but Joe Strummer is gone so it looks like I will be forever big, er uh favoring 29ers.

Gettin' Ready for Cranky Monkey Race 1

Well, it is that time of year again. Pigs are starting to fly; hell is freezing over and monkeys are flying...uhhhhh, onward. So, my favorite race series is upon us here on the east coast. I have to admit, I am not as excited as I usually am. This year has been a rough one for me, at least from a physical stand point. I have only raced once since my episodes with a 6th place finish at Fairhill (although I wasnt supposed to be on the bike), so I feel a bit intimidated. I did real well at last years series winning the series in the SS class...duh. I will get to catch up with some old friends like Hans and Mark Hagen.

I feel pretty good right now. I feel almost as good as I did in april. My power is almost 100% with my endurance getting close. Last week I put in some long road rides with hard efforts. I have been doing limited MTB rides to try and focus more on smooth, out of the saddle mashing, so we will see how it all plays out next weekend.

Thar be a Tarnaduh in them thar hills

Well, I am back from Cherokee and alive. I didnt get hit this year; makes for a good story, but painful. I did manage to ride into what we now know was a tornado in the Smokies? Chris and I headed up to Clingmans Dome (the highest elevation that you can ride on a bike on the east coast-6500 or so ft.). Halfway up the winds picked up and the hail ensued and we were not in a good place. 3500 ft up the mountain and 14 miles downward to any respite. Ever try to race down a mountain at 40+ mph in hail, rain and 70 mph crosswinds along with limbs and debris? I dont recommend it. http://app.strava.com/rides/12596200 We were coming down and about 300 yards in front of us a tree had just fallen. We barely missed that one! I think what saved us was the fact that we saw taillights around the corner, so we had to slow down. It was the most frightening encounter with nature to date. As we descended, we could hear trees and limbs snapping in the forest. Now, 441 is one road up and down, no shortcuts, once you are on your on. Luckily for us, we sought refuge in a bathroom at the mill near the OconalufteeVillage. after few very close lightning strikes made it too dangerous; too dangerous? 


So, for 45 minutes, two guys in bike outfits hanging out in the bathroom-nevermind.
I will catch up with other stories later, but I thought this one would get you started.

A Brief History of my Finding Love on the SS

I know, it is really just some filler until North Carolina, but it seems fitting. I have been riding for about 20 years now; more competitively for the last 5 or so. I will get right to the point; the last "full time" 26er I had was my beloved Fuel 100 dualie. I loved that bike. I put quite a few miles on it, but never won a race on it, came as close as 7th, but that was it. I can remember, and most of this was due to my fitness level at the time, just being tired and inefficient when riding hard or for long periods of time. The bike felt great and fit me well, but there was something that always bugged me, and I could never figure it out. I can remember one day at Patapsco with my friend Mike and a guy passing us on a SS like we were standing still. The only thing I could think of was that guy was a freak of nature.

I guess it was fall of 2006 and I was volunteering at the Seagull Century and I remember seeing a guy on a Raleigh MT700 that he converted to ss. We got to talking and he let me take it for a ride. I thought it was cool, but really didnt see what the benefit was. It ran out to fast and climbing out of the saddle seemed to hard. Never gave it much thought after that and continued to always being befuddled with my Fuel.

Spring of 2007 I was browsing around ebay and came across a new Redline Flight Monocog 26er frameset. The price was right at 100 clams, so I bought it. Funny thing was I remember not being real excited at first when it came. I threw on some parts and rode it a few times around the neighborhood and that was that.

I thought this would be good bike to use as a training tool. I remember taking the SS out on the trails for the first time on a night ride to see what it-and more importantly-I was capable of. I thought to myself this thing is hard to ride! These climbs are killing me! What I didnt realize at the time was that I was riding sections faster than I ever did on my Fuel. The pain was from using leg muscles in a way I never had before. I was hooked.

I started riding it more, but alas, the 26er SS was not meant to be. In the store was a shiny new Haro Mary SS 29er in Carolina Blue...GORGEOUS! It didnt take long for me to sell the Redline and the Fuel to make room for my new love. I was a little nervous at first, I mean what was I to do without gears? This would be the one bike.

My first ride, as it is forever known as "The Liberator", not that Liberator, gutter mind! Anyway, I was forever changed; both mind and body after that ride. I mean I felt like Superman. I climbed better then I had ever climbed before. Some training still needed to be done, but this was the way to go. I never thought, ever that I would be riding a SS full time...ever.

Well, it has been almost 6 years since I first threw a leg over that Redline and I havent lost that love. I am 44 and I have been getting stronger every year since. I dont shave seconds off of race times, but minutes. I know at some point that it will plateau and my legs and knees are not going to handle the constant stress that the SS places upon them, but I intend to ride the wave until it takes me under.

So if you have never given the SS a thought, switch your thought patterns and get one. Build a cheap one and have fun with it-even a 26er if you have too. Just be aware that you will also become Singlespeed Moron like myself-enjoy!

Cherokee, NC...My home away from home

Well, this time next week, I will be in what hopes to be our future home. It is my favorite place to be with the family and the bikes. We have been going there for 20 years now and it never gets old-ever. It is full of history-albeit not so pretty, and the cycling is amazing. The Tsali and Pisgah trails are some the best around.
http://main.nc.us/graham/hiking/tsali.html

Of course it is a hikers, equestrians, kayakers, canoes, etc. mecca as well. I feel all giddy inside just thinking about it. No, wait...I have to go to the bathroom.

Feeling the Power Again

This past week, I have really shown great improvements in my recovery; especially with climbs. Thursday I rode Patapsco for the first time since April and I felt really good; unfortunately, the trails are still a bit rough from some storms that blew in a few weeks ago. I had great power and took back one of the hardest climbs at the park-Reggies Demise. With a 13.8% avg grade, this one is a tough cookie. The fact that it is a loose gravel fire road climb doesnt help. The overall ride was a respectable 10.7 mph avg on the Ferrous 32/18. I am putting out some really good power numbers as well. The HR is starting to come down and I have better sustained power.

Today I was really put to the test at the Bike Doctor Shop ride. There are some super fast guys that come out for this every week. 6 of them from our AFC team. It is the first time in a month that I decided to test my fitness level. As usual, there isnt any warm up-just go. We averaged 23.2 mph for the first 10 miles...and I was actually doing some of the pulls! The first test for the climbs was Dunkin Donuts, my previous best was 18.1 mph. Today, not only did I shatter that with a 20mph effort, but passed 5 people on the way up-great sign. I recovered well and it was off to the next test-Race road climbs. My previous best there was a 19.3mph effort at 3:13. Today ripped it by 13 seconds and ended with 20.7 mph speed. Again, recovered fairly well.

Overall, I ended up with a 20.5 mph avg over 29.2 miles and 1700 feet of climbing and 3 pulls at the front.Today was one of the best rides I have had in a long time. It felt good to get out and stay in the front and lead pack. Most of all, it is good to have my climbing legs almost back to normal. Actually, they are feeling better than they did earlier this year. I cant wait to see what the rest of the race season is going to throw at me.

Great Weekend for Baseball

This weekend was awesome! Short summation of events-Friday, Alex was in his first all star game. Saturday and Sunday, Alex played in all 3 games on the travel tournament team. The cool thing is that this is Alexs' first season playing baseball-he is the only first year player on the team. He shows so much potential that it is weird at times. He throws hard and is accurate to boot. He just knows what needs to be done and does it. He is a super competitive kid...hmmm wonder where that comes from? He isnt at all boastful. He is very quiet about how he plays and doesnt like any attention brought to himself.

During the regular season, Alex pitched 18 innings. He allowed 3 hits and struck out 40-without allowing a run. Unfortunately, as soon as Alex gave way to the pitching machine, the runs started pouring in and his team ended up 2-8.

The Alexander Express

I was worried about his hitting though. He was not confident at all in his ability to hit. He was 6 for 20, which is still .300, but this weekend he was amazing. 3 for 3, 1 rbi, a walk and 3 runs. All 3 hits were line drives over short. In 7-8, they pitch the 1st and 6th inning and the dreaded pitching fills in the rest. He had such a hard to switching back and forth. In travel, there isnt any pitching machine; the pitchers pitch all 6 innings. This is just what he needed to get him back in the game. He is a great kid and the best part is he still comes over to me after a hit or an inning after pitching and gives me a hug and a kiss and says thanks for helping him. Man...the best.

Feeling a bit better

Well today was my first attempts at "real" hill repeats in a month. After pushing hard on yesterdays ride, I wasnt sure what to expect. I was surprised at the results.

I was very consistent with time, speed and HR-almost perfect. My times were very close to my previous best efforts in march. I was able to push a 53x17 gear on a 3.2 % grade climb (long repeats) and 53x21 on the 12.8% short repeats. These were all done while standing. If you had read any of my previous banterings on SS specific workouts, you know that hills are the key to your success. They suck, I know, but this is where we have the advantage over those girly men geared guys! Seriously, if you want to be competitive or at least a stronger rider overall, fit these into your schedule; but remember, if you cant maintain your power or cadence levels around 10% or so, stop the workout; you wont get any benefits from a workout that doesnt push your limits without pushing your limits to the limit ????-makes sense to me.

Rough Day at Fairhill, but a nice 6th Place finish

As you already know by my previous writings, I have been recovering from Rhabdo and an Appendectomy; so this race was to be the first real hard attempt since Bakers Dozen. I am not really supposed to be on the bike now buuuut...This morning I got up and really thought of just staying home. I didnt have the desire nor the "kick em while their down mentality. Needless to say, I did decide to head out to Fair Hill and see just how bad I could hurt myself.

My warm ups were a good indication of how this race was going to go...pain cave all day. At the line-where I usually line up at the front, I was about mid pack. Not at all nervous or anything, the bell went off and we start by going up a grassy climb. I was feeling bad already at this point-good sign 100 yards into the race, eh? I settled in around 12th or so and kept my eyes on Bernie and Jon for as long as I could. Now mind you, my mind was saying to just finish this race and be ok with that. I think the neurons missfired somewhere along the way and my body that was saying "oh please no, not the competitive side, were not ready for that!" kicked in and the race was on.

I have been have trouble maintaining any sort of lengthy power, but struggled on and tried to keep the lead guys in sight. To my amazement, I started to pass a few guys here and there. My first lap was 33:03, which I was not shooting for at all. I was going for 35:00 or so.

My second lap started to come undone. I felt really bad, but pride kept me from slowing too much. I hadnt ridden here since 2010, and the course changed a bit with the addition of a few very steep climbs. I geared the bike down to a 32/17 set up not knowing of the new course-I am a moron, remember? So those few climbs started to wear on me. I finished the 2nd lap with a dismal 34:48, but no one passed me. The 3rd lap started to feel like the 2nd. About 3 miles in, I pushed a bit into the pain cave and just went for it. My legs felt like concrete, but my lungs were ok-again just no power. I had no idea where I stood in the overall grand scheme of things, but I just wanted to finish. The 3rd lap ended up being 34:10, which was faster than my second lap, which has never happened before for me.

Much to my surprise, I ended up 6th and 3 minutes out of first for 22.3 miles. It was my first time out of the top 5 in over a year. I think overall I did much better than expected, but disappointed in the fact that had I felt like I did in april, I would have been in the running for 1st, but thats how racing goes sometimes.