Tuesday, January 20, 2009

29er Love


I have been riding my cannondale 29er for over a month now and while I knew it was a perfect fit for me on the very first ride, I can now say for sure that I am in love with this bike. Since Cara has inherited my old hardtail, when I gave back my team bike last fall I decided to get the 29er as my own bike for training and what I thought would be a "different" bike to use for some of the endurance races I am planning on doing in 09. It didn't take but a few rides to determine that I wanted to race the 29er exclusively for the coming season. Why?...and why would I rather race this bike than the scalpel I raced last season??? Good questions.
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The scalpel is an amazing state of the art race bike, no doubt...but there are several things about the 29er that just fit my rider profile even better. What is my rider profile? Well first off I am NOT a "punchy" rider.....basically I seem to have a switch that is either "on" or "off"...steady if you will. The 29er seems to carry this sort of momentum that just feels right for me. I was afraid that the big wheels would be slow on climbs...but I was wrong. In fact I feel like I can climb as fast , or faster on the big wheels...again, I think this has to do with my steady riding style. Next is that I am a bit slow in the handling department. I am not the kind of rider who comfortably flicks the bike around direction changes on a twisty course....I have a tendency to do more "carving" around turns....and again the big wheels give me that flow. Confidence: In general I am not the most confident in my technical abilities...or maybe I would more accurately characterize this as too much of a survival instinct. When I dive into a rocky/ rooty technical section, or go over a drop-off I usually have a sense of tentativeness....and this is where the big wheels seem to help me most. The 29 inch wheels give me a sense of confidence in the rough stuff and taking on bigger drops. The wheels roll over rocks and roots substantially easier....with less tendency to "catch". On technical uphills I seem to be able to get up and over obstacles with greater ease....and I can say for sure that I have been able to clear more tough, steep uphill sections than I could on any of the 26 inch bikes I have ridden.
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Is a 29er the best choice for everyone or every trail/ course? Certainly not. Punchy riders will find the acceleration slower with the big wheels and the handling "sluggish" while trying to make quick directional changes on tight twisty trails....but for me it is perfect...and I am very happy to say that I will be racing the c-dale 29er all year! Now I am basically using the stock 29er 1 model. I did have to change the stem to a longer and steeper down angle ...and get a longer seatpost....and of course change the saddle....but that is it.
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The pic above is from the first of the snake creek gap TTs a couple weeks ago. It was foggy, rainy and wet.....yet I felt fully confident on the new bike...even on the rocks.
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a2

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Baby It's Cold Outside

Ok, so it seems it is cold pretty much everywhere in the sates this week..excepting maybe so cal and the greater southwest... but the rest of us are stuck with conditions not exactly conducive to riding outside...so here are a few reasons you might just want to get on with your workouts inside on a stationary trainer.....rather than skippping them:

1. because you KNOW your competition is doing it

2. because you need the endorphins and you will feel miserable if you don't get your daily dose.

3. because to accomplish your race goals for next year, you need to build your fitness...and these workouts build your fitness!

4. because in many cases you can actually get a BETTER workout on the trainer since it is easier to precisely control intensity vs. the same workout on the open road

5. because in one of your past lives you MUST have done something to deserve this type of punishment :)

6. because your coach told you to

7. because if you don't you will be grumpy and your family and/ or co-workers will suffer the brunt of your grumpiness

8. because it will help you improve your mental toughness and focus

9. because you love to ride your bike....no matter when or where, inside or out

10. because RIGHT NOW your competition is doing a tough 2x20 min threshold workout on the trainer thinking of how they are going to crush you next season....and you know the only way to combat them? GET ON THAT TRAINER AND GET YOUR WORKOUTS DONE!

:)
a2

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

PRO !

Yes that is right. After almost 20 years of racing I am offically a professional bike racer in the eyes of USA Cycling....on a mountain bike. I find this absolutely hilarious. I would have given my right arm to get a pro mtb license 10 years ago, and now at the young racing age of 43, I am a neo-pro. How did this happen???
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A little history:
I started racing mountain bikes in 1992. I was not very good. In fact at my first race as a "beginner" I finished square in the middle of the pack ....something like 52nd out of about 100 riders. Stellar right?...but I was instantly in love with racing. Exactly one year later at the very same race I was an "expert" racer in the pro/expert category. I finished 3rd. OK, so that was not bad. After another year on the east coast racing expert I moved out to Boulder, CO thinking I was going to be the next Tomac...or Tinker...or maybe Shogren :). I trained hard ...maybe too hard...had some great early season results, followed by a serious bout with overtraining (whoops so much for that season). I got my act together and moved back east in 96. I had a great season that year and was ready to upgrade...but that was the year the "semi-pro" category was introduced. This was the heyday of MTB racing and the pro races were overcrowded....another category was needed to bridge the gap between expert and pro racers. At the time this worked, but unfortunately that gave me an extra step. I raced as a semi-pro, mostly in New England for a couple of seasons when the races were huge, the competition unbelievable and the prize money outstanding. I was a solid top 10 new england series guy, but at the national level (which is where the upgrade results were needed) I was nothing but mediocre.
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In 1999 I got my first road team contract (NOT pro) and switched over to racing on the pavement full time....which I did for the better part of 10 years as an elite amateur.
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Now I am back to racing mostly in the dirt and the powers that be decided to scrap the semi-pro category entirely....giving us the choice of getting a pro license or dropping back down to expert. You might think it would make more sense for an old codger like me to drop back to expert....and you would probably be right. The trouble is that at 40+ years old, as an expert, the cross country races are usually short....too short. That and I like chasing around the fast young guys...and making fun of them on the rare occasion that I might beat a couple of them. Also, since my primary race objectives are endurance races (where there is really just an "open" race with no categories), the ability listed on my license is pretty much irrelevant.
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Now, many people have asked me : weren't you a road pro?? No, never was and never will be. While the road team I have been associated with has taken out a uci pro license for 2009, I am most decidedly NOT on the pro roster....no way I am good enough for that :) let alone being at least 15 years too old.
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So there you have it...the reason I may very well be the world's oldest neo-pro.
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a2