Cross Training in Tucson

After El Tour, the kids have all been in and with Thanksgiving, Teenie and I have gained a little weight.   With Linz help, we have started some cross training which includes Sumo Wrestling.

We hope to get a few pounds off before camp.

See ya out there soon!

Winter Camp

That's Pusch Ridge towering above the Maddox's Casa del Tucson site of our January winter camp with elevations rising to above 9,000ft.   It was a great weekend of riding in Tucson culminating with Teenie's first place female over all finish in the El Tour de Tucson 60 mile event (over 1,600 cyclists in the 60 miler alone..and a total of 6,000 riders doing the 111, 85, 60, 42 mile events) a truly epic event.   Our plan was for Randall, Mark (Kansas City Headstrong affiliate rider) and myself to ride for Teenie delivering her to take the Queen's crown..

Race start..... 2 miles out a rider hits a road barricade on the left careening through the pack creating a domino effect taking DS out and stopping T and Mark in their tracks as the lead group is charging up Swan Rd.  (DS may very well take the team asphalt award... although I may be a close second)

Well as Winston Churchill said "no war is won without a plan, then again, no war is won according to that plan".  I am in the lead pack wondering who went down when a rider tells me DS went down.... Where's Mark? T?  hold pace ... some serious little climbing efforts in the first 15 miles at race pace.... hold on... mass of riders bad traffic miss the break at a turn across a 4 lane... sit up and wait for team.... the Maddox's neighbor, Roger Kennedy, team comes up and I get with Allajandro (Dominican Republic Pro) to help set pace...no T, no Mark... work with Allahandro...like moose and squirrel... 6'3" and 5'3" rotating at the front  (riding with Giselle has prepared me for this).... keeping Roger focused and out of the wind for his goal of winning the 60+... after 24 miles I am spent and sit up spinning thinking that Mark and Teenie should be coming up if they did not go down and just like that I hear "bird!"... Mark is at the front of a large pack pulling T along in second position..I slide back and check the pack and see no woman who is doing the 60..ride back up to the front . "T you OK.... I'm GOOD!"  GAME ON.... back on plan... (I had seen no woman in the front pack and there was no one my group so we just need to deliver T to the finish.)...

Mark is controlling the pace, no one coming around... I sit in and then head to the front to relieve Mark and send them back to rest for the final run in...... 1.5 miles to go we execute the plan as defined.... leading up to the final turn, Mark going to the front setting the pace, then I go and accelerate Mark and T on my wheel til I see the banner then pulling off with Mark taking T all the way to the banner...... perfect....... one for all, all for one.......awesome.... T left no matches in the pack on this one.....

Mark demonstrated a true team mate with his unselfish work at the front for so many miles.   If was a victory for all of us.... I would recommend Mark be added to the Headstrong race team roster as a Headstrong Remote Racer....

Congratulations to Teenie for a herculean effort and for being at the top of the podium.....

Teenie Wins Women's Overall - El Tour de Tucson

The results have been corrected and Teenie has won the Women's Overall!!

You rock Teenie!

Rain Rain Go Away

Cycling is a hard sport. It requires you to push yourself beyond reason to reach your full potential. You have to ignore the pain in your legs and explore the depths of the unknown to maximize your performance. The sport is full of hard-nosed athletes that are willing to brave the elements no matter what Mother Nature has to throw at them. I’m not one of those…ha ha.

Sure, I like to push myself to the limit, and I know how to dig deeper than the next guy to get the most out of my body. I love the thrill of competition and that dog-tired feeling you get after a super hard ride or workout. But…ahhhh…well…not if it’s raining. Yeah, I’m definitely a fair weather rider.

I am comfortable with my reputation as a wimp in bad weather. Most of my teammates know that I hate getting wet on the bike. I love this sport as much as the next rider, but I do this for fun. And it’s not fun for me if it’s raining. Especially in November when most of us are not “training” yet and we’re just riding for the pure enjoyment of riding. So, when Sam and I were heading downtown for the 2011 Ride with George Hincapie to raise money for new MTB trails to be built in downtown Greenville (near the YMCA and Cleveland Park) and I had the windshield wipers going on the Suby, I knew it was going to be a miserable day in the saddle. We quickly decided to donate our money for the trails and do an indoor workout on the computrainers at the Edge.

Brian T. and Debbie S. joined Sam and I for our indoor hammer-fest at the Edge and we had a nice time. We tried to get in touch with Giselle and Mel who were both scheduled to be at the ride, but we were unsuccessful. Thanks to some help from Debbie, we were able to load up our bikes and start pedaling on the computrainers.

If you’ve never done a computrainer class, you should check them out this winter. You plug in your weight and functional threshold power and the computer does all the adjustments for you during your ride. You hold your cadence and the machine varies the tension on your bike to match the action on the big screen TV. We chose a “Spirited Club Ride” for our session, and with almost 2 hours of zone 3-4 work, it was definitely spirited. I think we had fun, but I will say that it was a pretty hard workout.

After the ride, we headed over to mingle and eat lunch with those that braved the rain. There was a silent auction, food and beer from Thomas Creek Brewery. Big props to Brian Myrick for hosting and executing the ride and celebration afterwards. If you still want to donate money to the fund to build trails on city land downtown, send it to Brian.

If you braved the rain on Sunday, I commend you. If you didn’t, I certainly won't make fun of you. Thanks to Sam, Brian and Debbie for helping me get my ride in without risking the rain. Give the computrainers a try if you want to really tune up your performance this winter. It’s never raining inside at the Edge Endurance Training Center.

Edge Open House and Plank Off

We hosted our official Open House at The Edge Endurance Training Center on Saturday night and we were pleased with the turnout. We wanted to do something to open our doors and invite people to come meet our staff and see what we were all about. Quite a few people stopped by to enjoy the fun.

Since Team Headstrong has adopted The Edge as its official team training headquarters, the business has been growing steadily. Now that daylight savings time has limited the sunshine most of us can experience, our facility has become a valuable asset for every endurance athlete. Computrainer classes are filling up and our group strength and conditioning classes are becoming more popular as well. If you haven’t stopped by to check out the amenities, please do so soon.

Our main goal with the open house was to show off our facility and our staff. People got a chance to see what we do and talk to us about how we do it. One of our fun activities for Saturday night was a Plank Off. I’m not talking about the kind of plank that the pirates make you walk. I’m talking about the basic core strength builder that benefits every athlete regardless of age and activity. We invited everyone to hold a plank as long as they could for a chance to win a new foam roller and a 1 hour sports massage with Samantha Smith. Team Headstrong planked better than any.

Sam was the judge to make sure everyone held their form. Everyone was welcome and we had a nice mix of ages and genders for the competition. Rules were simple. Hold the plank for as long as you can. Heckling and cheering was legal so the crowd got into it as well. After a couple minutes the beginners realized how hard it is to hold that position for any significant length of time. Somewhere after 3 minutes I was toasted myself, so I started cheering on the other candidates.

Team Headstrong’s Catherine James and Joe Lehner were looking rock solid right on through 5 minutes. Catherine has been doing lots of group classes at the Edge and Joe has just been doing super secret training on his own. 6 minutes in and we lost most of the other competitors. At 7 minutes is was down to just Catherine and Joe. As Sam called out 8 minutes, beads of sweat started falling off their faces. The crowd was cheering loudly now, egging them both on into new territory. Finally (maybe mercifully...ha ha), somewhere around 9 min 30 sec, Catherine claimed victory in the Plank Off! Even after all that, she had the strength to hold her hands up in victory. Ok, maybe it was just one hand, but she had proven her metal. Catherine, you’re one strong gal.

Overall, it was a great evening of food, fun and conversation with some of the area’s best athletes and coaches. Thanks to everyone that attended. Thanks also to everyone that has been spreading the word about our facility. We love helping people achieve their performance goals. With a little work, we can all be as strong as Catherine and Joe.

EL TOUR DE TUCSON RESULTS

It was a beautiful partly cloudy day with perfect temps and 15-18 mph winds.   A record 1600+ turned out for the 60 mile event.   Mark Schleish, a big TEAM supporter who many of you know, joined us for the big event

We arrived 1.5 hours early to get a spot up front.   We had two goals:
#1 - Take Teenie to the Women's Overall Championship.
#2 - All finish in the Top 10.

The start found us in great shape with me setting pace up the initial climb but 2 miles from the start the course of the race changed fast.   To my left a rider center punched a road barrier causing him to careen right and take out 6-7 riders.   I went down immediately but Teenie stayed up even though she ran over a man on the ground.  With a broken cleat, I was finished.   She and Mark, collected themselves for the chase to get back on the lead group.  Bird was ahead as I headed for the car and then a mid point on the course.

Mark and Teenie spent the next 45 minutes on the rivet, getting very close to the lead pack untila red light stopped them for over 1 minute.

At mile 27 the race passed me with Bird 2 minutes off the lead in the second grupeto and Teenie and Mark in the 3rd, another 3 minutes back.   I saw no woman in front of her.   I yelled and headed for finish.  Mark took almost all the pulls with Teenie on his wheel and a large group of wheelsuckers behind her.  Bird dropped back with about 18 miles to go and took some work.   He also thought Teenie was in the lead!

At the finish the leaders crossed.  Again, I saw no woman.  Soon I saw the TEAM coming up the long straight away with the distinctive kits.  Mark pulled away and Teenie sprinted across the timing mat.

UNBELIEVABLE:

ELAPSE TIME: 2:44 and change
COMPUTER TIME: 2:42:12 (bike time without the stops)
Speed: 22.6 MPH

We hugged........we laughed.

Soon the computer chips times came up.   Teenie was 36th overall and 2nd in the Overall Women.   She will receive a commemorative 2nd place medal for accomplishment.   I guess I just missed the woman leading?

With the crash and two long stoplights, this was a great individual and TEAM accomplishment.  Mark was a great team mate, giving up what could have been a top finish.  Bird overcame injuries of  the last weeks just to be here.   I am bruised and cut but not broken.

And Teenie, well, she IS the TEENZANATOR

I was proud to wear the jersey today as I am every day.

El Tour Recon

I  know you are asking, why all the hubba hubba about a cookie ride?   Well, all I can say is this ain't no ordinary cookie ride.   Just in our group, we have people coming from SC, Kansas, Ontario, CA, Florida, NY and Colorado.....you get the idea.

Teenie, Roger, Craig and I rode over to the Start today as it presents the first selection on the 60 mile course.   We go up into the foothills on Swan Rd.   A 2 mile climb of 300 vertical feet makes about a 2.8% grade.   The climb starts about 1/2 mile from the start line.   We will be at the start at least one hour prior to start time to get our spots up front.......yea, no warm up.  Urg!

As in any event like this, the start brings crit like speed.   The four of us hit the little climb pretty hard today and it took about 7 minutes at 17+ MPH.   I am sure the peleton will move much faster but we will enjoy more draft.   Teenie looked very strong as she allowed us guys to set pace and hit the last pitch standing.  She got away from us a little.....not any big deal, but showed me she had powder left in her gun.

The course rolls for about 12 miles to the Rancho Vistoso area near where we live.   Then, there is a 4 to 5 mile section that rolls mostly uphill.   This section will be a big separation area as we will face several testers.   We are going to ride this Thursday.  Although we ride it often, we will be thinking 'race' on Thursday.

Friday, I hope to look over the finish which is about a 1000 meter straight, flat runout.  Barricades were set up last year and there might have been 20,000 people at the finish.......biggest thing I have ever experienced!

We heard today that the winds were forecast to be high on Saturday....just a rumor at this point.   This should help us, as we will be well organized and the roads are wide enough to set up echelons.   Last year we were blessed with a 20 mph 'breeze'.

Plan, plan, plan...........you know me, I love the run up to something like El Tour as much as I do race.  Make no mistake, for 15-20% of the riders, this is a race.  We have some great dinners and festivities planned......it won't be all racing.   You guys know, you gotta talk a lot about the race, before and after!   That is what bike racers do.

I am anxious to see how I ride in comparison to last year.  These events are good benchmarks and my perceived level of fitness is high right now.   Our main goal is to place Roger in the Top 10 overall (13th last year) and place Teenie among the top of the women's field.  About 1:30 PM Saturday, all the planning and racing will be over.....only celebrating left.

Bird hits here tomorrow just after lunch.........I will report back.

Forgetting Something?

After our super-fun trip to DuPont last weekend, Ray and I were keen to get back to the promised land on Saturday. We hooked up with Brian and my buddy JJ and headed north for some fat tire fun. We got a late start, so we were greeted by sunshine and warm temperatures at the Reasonover Parking Lot. We made good time out of Greenville, even though we didn’t use Brandon’s dirt road short cut.

We all pumped up, suited up and started to discuss our route for the adventure. Most of us were ready to go when we heard Ray utter the dreaded, “oh no!” When you hear a fellow cyclist speak those words, you immediately go through a laundry list of things in your head that you think they forgot. Sure enough, Ray had forgotten his helmet. We quickly decided that it was not smart for him to ride without it. If it was a road ride, maybe, but an MTB ride with rocks and trees and slippery surfaces…not so much. I must say, he took it pretty well. I would have been jumping up and down, punching at the air and using every nasty word I learned from my high school football coach. Ray was one class act while facing a lonely, solo drive back to town.

Just as we were putting Brian’s stuff in my car so Ray could go back to Greenville and play with one of his other 2-wheel toys, we noticed a couple guys unloading a bunch of kids from a truck. The light bulb went off. Ray asked if they had an extra skid lid he could buy, rent or borrow. They had one! Not only did they have one, but they had one that matched his kit perfectly! It wouldn’t have mattered what it looked like, because Ray was determined to tuck his locks up under that hard hat and head out with us. They gave him some redneck instructions to put it in the bed of an old pickup truck parked by the back porch at Mother’s restaurant…and don’t pet the dog or something like that. We were stoked…but more importantly, we were riding.

We knew it was going to be an awesome day after the helmet gods smiled on us. We set off on our four hour tour hitting every cool trail we could think of. We rode lots of stuff we love and found some new stuff we could learn to love with a little more practice. I won’t bore you with all the crazy details of jumping off this or bombing down that or carving around here or climbing up there. Let’s just say it was AWESOME!

I would like to propose that all of us join the Friends of DuPont Forest to help support the trail system up there. They do an amazing job of maintaining the trails. Whether you ride bikes, horses or like to walk in the woods, DuPont is an amazing asset to everyone. And, if you’re interested in scoring a sweet new purple helmet for the upcoming season, check out these options from Bell, Giro and Specialized. Or take your chances with the mutt guarding grandpa’s truck out behind Mother’s restaurant in Cedar Mtn.

Cats Away Mice Will Play

Sam took a trip to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to see some friends, leaving me to fend for myself for the entire weekend. I can take care of myself ok, but I took the opportunity to invite a few of my new soon-to-be Cat 3 teammates over for some Friday night food and fun. Our plan was simple. Eat lots of yummy food and watch a totally, ridiculous movie. We succeeded on both fronts.

I immediately put Ray in charge of the meat. (You can’t have a man’s meal without some sort of tasty meat.) I knew that Ray would opt for something a little off the standard path. I was thinking he would choose grass fed beef or maybe some organic chicken, but he wowed us with some very nice Bison NY Strip steaks. If you’ve never tried it, give it a go.

I baked up some sweet potatoes and lightly stir fried some veggies to accompany our kill. The boys agreed with me that they were great, because there was not a single morsel left when we finished our feast. I think we even won a few races during our meal. At least that’s how it felt as we discussed tactics and told stories between bites.

Brian was assigned desert and he took up the assignment with the great enthusiasm. After consulting his personal recipe vault, he showed up with all the fixins to make Rice Crispy Treats. Yum! Half way through the preparations we called and audible and added some dark chocolate chunks into the mix. Man, you want to tune up those regular old RCT’s you have been making? Throw in a few chocolate chunks to upgrade your squares. They were awesome.

After dinner we burned off a few of those calories rolling with laughter as we watched Step Brothers, starring Will Farrell and John C. Riley. It doesn’t get much sillier, but it kept us in stitches half the time. Sometimes you just want to laugh at some stupid humor and these guys can deliver.

Following the movie we made our plans for hitting the trails in DuPont on Sunday. Good food and good friends equals good fun in my book. Best of all…we still have some of those Rice Crispy Treats left for the ride on Sunday!

It Never Rains in California

Not sure if the title is true but it would make a great name for a song!   It certainly does rain in Arizona and all day long.   The desert has been charming today as clouds hung over the Catalina and Tucson Mountains.    It rained most of the day and sometimes hard!   I know, is this a big deal?   Well, this is not Greenville.

We had a great day hangin' out  today after Teenie double flatted in the Shootout yesterday.  She started as the only woman in about a 80 person pack.   About 12 miles in, she flatted on the front.  We changed it and thought we would cut across and pick up the peleton but after about 2 miles her back flatted....oh well!

That pretty much finished us for the day for bike riding.

We are headed thru Gates Pass tomorrow.   This takes us out by Old Tucson Studios where most of the Western films were shot until about 1980.   We then pass through Saguaro National Park West.   You will make this ride if you attend camp in January.   It is an epic 70-75 miles depending on the exact route.   Roger the rocket is going and sunny skies with temps of 55F-65F are forecasted.

The whole town is getting excited about El Tour de Tucson, next Sat the 19th.   Bird hits here Wednesday to assemble custom made bunk beads and ride in El Tour.  Team friend Mark Schleish, from Kansas City, will be in Thursday.   Roger has a total of 8 riders.   We will have several thousand other 'friends' joining us.

We are in the house and comfortable.   There is long punch list, furniture is still arriving and we are fine tuning things.   We entertained last night and had a wonderful time.

Hope to see you out on the bike soon!

 

DuPont MTB Fun

This is one of the most beautiful times of the year to be in the woods. It really doesn’t matter if you’re hiking, riding a mountain bike or just standing still. The air is crisp and clean and the leaf color is beautiful. With this philosophy in mind, Ray, Brandon and I hit the trails for some fat tire fun at DuPont State Forest.

I won’t say which one of us screwed up the time change “move your clocks back” thing, because it really doesn’t matter. That’s one of the most enjoyable things about mountain biking to me. People are far less hung up on times, speed, distance, so a little delay in the plan is taken with a smile.

Since Ray and I are the least experienced DuPont adventurers, Brandon was keen to show us a dirt road “short cut” on the way to the venue. Let’s just say that was taken with a smile too. Big B swears it’s shorter, but, well, maybe if measured in MTB time. I will say that it was a very pretty drive and the road was totally new to Ray, so there was no reason to get excited. It also gave us time to scarf down a few more of Brandon’s pre-ride donut holes. Shhh, don’t tell coach we were eating donut holes. In the interest of full disclosure I should say that Ray resisted the little sweet treats the entire day. And me…well, I was forced to eat them by Brandon.

I was pleasantly surprised to find warm temperatures when we got to the Reasonover parking lot. Brandon was wearing shorts, but then again, he always wears shorts. I think it has to be snowing for him to wear knee warmers, so I was reluctant to take a bearing on how he dressed. I just couldn’t believe I could go without warmers on a November day in the mountains until I saw Ray rolling around with bare legs. You see, even after 25 years of riding and racing bicycles, I still take some cues from those around me when it comes to dressing for cold weather. You would think you could get it right after all these years.

We headed out in search of some gnarly single track and incredible scenery. I’m pleased to report that this is just what we found. The DuPont State Forest is an amazing place! The trails are very well made and taken care of. The trails are marked with attractive, easy to read signs that match the waterproof map you can get at any bike shop or ranger station in the area. And there are more beautiful sights and sounds to experience than you will have time to enjoy. If you haven’t been there, you have to change that soon. If nothing else, get your but to one of the many waterfalls you can get to in a flash on foot or on a bike. You’ll thank me when you get there.

Brandon led our adventure on his single speed 29er. That should not give you the impression that the trails are flat or easy. What you should be thinking instead is that Brandon is a beast on his S-Works SS! He’s like following a deer in the woods on that thing. Ray and I did our best to keep him in sight. However, back to that MTB attitude I mentioned before, no one really cared who kept up with whom. No one’s keeping score and we all had a blast in our natural playground.

Lunch was on our mind when we got back to the car and we had a plan to meet Sam and a friend at Hubba Hubba BBQ in Flatrock, NC. We packed up our stuff and headed back down the dirt road, but it was my turn to provide the “short cut.” I directed Ray to turn left on Pinnacle Mtn Rd. and we were off on our second journey of the day. Ray was stoked to be driving down another dirt road to an unknown destination, so we all just sat back and continued to enjoy the day. The cloudy morning had opened up into a bright sunny day and we were just continuing our adventure.

Eventually my short cut proved to get us where I said it would, but like Brandon’s route, we didn’t set any speed records on the way. No matter. This is mountain biking and we couldn’t think of anything better to do.

We met Sam and Deirdre in Flatrock to find the Hubba Hubba has adopted new winter hours and they are closed on Sundays. We instead ordered a couple pizzas from the bakery on the corner and continued to tell each other glory stories. We did take the more traditional paved way back to Greenville. We all had a fantastic time and I’m already thinking about my next adventure into the dirt. Thanks guys for an awesome day of fun and fitness. The question is when are we going to do it again?

Cross in the Park Race 2

Last Saturday Team Headstrong sponsor Carolina Triathlon hosted the second cyclocross race of its four race series at Cleveland Park in downtown Greenville. The weather was perfect with sunny skies and 60 degree temperatures, so Sam and I decided to pin on a number and make our cyclocross debut. It really wasn’t my first cross race, but I hadn’t raced a cross race in about 10 years. That’s a long enough time to remember how to do the skills and forget how bad it hurts. 2012 Teammate Debbie Gillespie (in her Kenda kit) raced also, but she’s practically an old pro at cross racing now.

Sam raced her mountain bike which is definitely recommended if you’re just getting into it. Having a special cross bike makes a difference on many courses, but you shouldn’t let the lack of a particular bike hold you back from exploring the edges of the sport. Cross bikes are lighter and therefore easier to carry over the barriers and up hills and obstacles too steep to ride, but mtb’s work well enough to have a good time. On some courses, they are rumored to be an advantage too.

Cyclocross racing is a sport made popular by road racing cyclists in the countries of northern Europe during the cold, sloppy winter months. It was a way of keeping fit and competing when the muddy dirt roads got covered with snow. It’s traditionally raced on a road bike with wider tires, lower gearing and cantilever brakes. It involves a mix of pavement and dirt, the latter often turning to mud in the wet winter months. Courses also typically include a few obstacles that can’t be ridden through or over. Stairs, steep muddy hills, logs, wooden barriers, etc. are all fair game for course designers. It’s definitely a mix of road and mountain biking and requires a fair bit of bike handling ability. It also requires some running and this is where the lighter, suspension-less, road-style cross bikes can provide an advantage.

Cross racers (and cross fans for that matter) are…well, fanatical nuts. They love the cold and mud. They love to make noise and cheer on the competitors. They sometimes dress up in funny costumes, and most of them enjoy beer. These are not requirements, but they certainly help make the racing fun. We didn’t have to deal with sloppy, cold conditions this weekend, but we were treated to some rabid cross fans cheering on the action.

I made my Team Headstrong debut this weekend in a borrowed kit and flew my new colors proudly. Neil Browne was nice enough to let me borrow his sweet Cannondale Optimo cross bike, so I didn’t have to lug around my mtb. This was an awesome decision until I started to miss the suspension comfort of my Giant Anthem while navigating the bumpier sections of the course.

Overall, it was a great day for Team Headstrong. We raced hard and gave it our all in front of the home town crowd. In the end, Sam finished 3rd in the women’s open race and collected a nice pair of DeFeet WoollyBully socks as a reward for her suffering. Debbie placed 2nd and scored some oversocks to protect her shoes. I had to settle for an inner satisfaction instead of a prize with my 5th place finish in the master’s race. It was a good effort and we supported Randy and Carolina Triathlon in the process. I encourage everyone to come out and enjoy the next 2 races in the series (Nov 12 and Dec 3 in Cleveland Park). If you don’t want to race, I know Randy can use some help with set up and tear down of the courses. Let’s hope for bright sunshine again for the remaining events.

Forethought in the Silly Season

Joe Friel calls this time of year, the Silly Season.  You may have fitness and you can enjoy it, just having fun.   This 'season' will last until January for most of us.   Forethought still comes into play if you are going to get out of bed in the morning and get going.  Here are just few things happening:

Nov 6 - Cross in the Park - Sam and Ray are declared and looking for support - go-greenevents.com/event/id/481

Nov 20 - Initial ROGCC Weekly Ride - http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103244936438-24/ROGCC.pdf

Dec 3 - UWBL - initial ride on this perennial series.

Dec 9 - TEAM MEETING - Details to be announced.   UWBL ride on Sat after for you 'out of towners'.

Many TEAM rides are floating around on TEAM email!

So, use your forethought and come on out!