Season Starts Now

Go Time!!
The 2008 Season started this week, at least training wise. Transition is officially over and yesterday was LT Testing. 20 minutes all out on the trainer to produce a magical power number......the elusive number that I will chase for the coming weeks training sessions, only to try and one up next LT test.
That magic LT number for now 340 watts and a HR of 178, a fair amount off of my power high from last year, but right where things should be this time of year. The important thing, I have recovered from the previous season and am ready to start the next.
The Winter Training Series is going well, attendance has been very consistent for a few people, and not for others. Hopefully after New Years we will see an increase in the number of attendees. Recruitment for our MS Bike Tour Team is on as well, so anyone interested in joining us, please let me know.

-Shawn

Tuesday Night Trainer Sessions

This week marked the official start of the Winter Training Series. A pseudo-event/ major happening that I am putting on as part of my membership with the Charlottesville Racing Club. The first event was a Trainer Session at C'ville Bike and Tri held last night. Eric Fletcher put on a great one. He put us through a series of sub threshold intervals with a few surges thrown in, all in the name of lactate clearance. The turn out was great with a few under a dozen showing. Boris (?) rocked it on a fixey and rollers the whole time.....hardcore. At one point during a high spin session, I thought he was gonna start hovering, or at least melting tires........wow.

Tonight will be the second event in the series, a casual group ride on our family farm. It is presently snowing, with about a 1/2 inch on the trails, so things are really just getting good for some first rate snow riding. This is the type of riding that really sticks in your mind for the rest of the year. When you toe the line come early spring, and the doubts start to hit your mind, all you gotta do is think back to the work you did over the winter: those days on the trainer touching up your LT, and those long cold days of snow drifting down in front of your lights as you plow through hour three of riding........and when you can think back to that, you know you are ready for the season.....and deserve to win. Remember, the guy who is gonna beat you this coming year, is out there training right now..........so go ride.

-Shawn

Vacation is over

Back to the working world today. Time off ended well yesterday. A group from CAMBC (www.cambc.org) met at O-hill and got a bunch of work done. I ran a leaf blower pretty much all morning and got a ton of stuff off of the trails. The place looks great now so go ride....
-Shawn

Ride as you feel

It is that time of year, no structured training, no upcoming race to tweak for, no taper to work through, just time to go ride a bike, have fun, enjoy friends, and look forward to the next season. It is that time of year they call "Transition." These days are great, if you wake up and don't want to ride, then don't, go do something else. It is weird, even on these days, I wake up, look at my mountain bike, and want to go ride. I guess I have this bug really bad.
Today Chris and I rode at O-hill. Part way through we were both busy falling off our bikes on a leaf strewn uphill, and ran into Johanna, a local pro-rider. She rode with us for a bit, always nice to have some one else along, especially Jo-Pro. She rocks.

Tomorrow is a day off, Trails on our farm are getting leafy and I hope to finish clearing them tomorrow.....oh yeah, and Dad wants to put siding on the house.


Go ride, that is my answer,

Shawn

Pre-Turkey Day Ride

So a group of us got together to ride at Walnut Creek today in this great 75 degree weather. What a treat that was. Things were top notch and the only complaint about the trails, there are lots of leaves down, but that did not seem to slow Jeremy and I down. Both of us were on the gas pretty heavy for around two hours. That ride combined with about 3.5 hours yesterday, and I think that I have earned the right to eat really, really big tomorrow.
Best wishes to all our readers for a safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving.
We all have many things to be thankful for this time of year, and every time I get to ride my bike, I am reminded of that......good health, great friends, and incredible place to ride my bike.......to name a few

enough preaching, go ride (or eat)

-Shawn

18 Hours of Cold

First things First-
Thanks to my crew for the night, you guys and gals all rocked. Caleb W., Nolan and Becca L., Denelle G, Dave T., Shannon R, Luther B, Jon C...........

Now the race:
6pm start time.
Line up on the front with the other guys, look around, and realize, this is a large field and most of these people next to me are racing duo or 4-person. Make the decision to not go out guns.
6:01pm Neutral start behind a single speed, roll out on gravel, then grass, start into single track. Pace car out of the way, race on.
6:54pm- First lap done, feeling good. Charles Clarkson and I are together. I pit quickly for a bottle, and back on course. Charles is just out ahead, but soon we are back together.
7:47pm Through on second lap, realize I am not getting enough drink in, start focusing more on eating and drinking.
9:00pm Come through the pit area, get news that Denelle left pit area just ahead of me and I am supposed to go catch her.......
9:10 Find Denelle on course, helping one of the kids from the Boy and Girls Club team. She is riding a lap with him. Sure is great to see these kids started into the sport young....Luther and that group are doing a great job.
9:50? Through pit zone on lap ? No idea what is going on at this point, just know I need a new bike, this one is clicking and crunching funny, Dave latter tells me I broke a middle Chain ring - XTR carbon Titanium- that will be expensive. They set up a new crankset on the bike
10:50? Through the transition, take a slightly longer break to grab a bottle and gel. Back out and rocking. Kevin Cox is off the front, I am third, Charles Clarkson is in third and only slightly behind. The time gaps are all less than 10 minutes though, so really we are all riding together. I arrange for my crew to start warming my next set of clothes for the 6 hour change out.
midnight- In the pit zone- time to change and get dried off. The sweat has started to soak and I am getting chilled. Cycling shoes and shoe covers are swapped for full on winter cycling boots, cold weather gloves, balaclava and fleece lined tights. Dried and warmed, I am out on course, now behind both Kevin and Charles, I set to work.
2am- In for a new bike- Swap the carbon Top Fuel out. Was supposed to go back on the Top Fuel 8, but apparently something is wrong with the cranks and the bolt won't seat right. They have prepped the Fuel EX 8 and put it in service. This bike rocks and will scream. The Jones XR tires are probably the right ones to go to now anyway- the course is starting to get to a churned up peanut butter-frost-slime type consistency, so additional cornering traction on the roots will be good.
3AMish- Charles and I are together, I am riding behind him. He is starting to struggle a bit, so he lets me by and I go. Full on time. Through the pit, hardly a stop for a bottle. Make the request to swap the Revolt Super X tires out on the Top Fuel 9.9 for Jones XRs with the way the conditions are working out, things are really slippery now, roots are treacherous in places.
5:45 AM In the pit zone, nauseated. Too much liquid- drinks and gels have left me with a sloshing stomach, a guaranteed way to get that ill feeling on a mountain bike. I am in the trailer for an extra layer of clothing and a clif bar. Back out on the bike.
6:50ish Through transition, Bike Swap time, back on the Fuel EX, lights out.....day has arrived.
By this time I have managed to lap the field, and I continue to press forward, trying to do the math of when I have done enough. Denelle meets me in the pit zone...kitted out in her Xterra champion garb, ready to go ride a lap. Really nice to have her along for the lap....she sings to me, even askes for any requests, but I have nothing I really want to hear, so she sings what she knows.
8:00amish, Through transition, I now have two laps on Charles and one and a half on Kevin, the rest of the field is at least a lap behind them.
9:05ish. Through transition. Dave comes out on a lap with me. I make him ride every log over and uphill log jump, he does it no problem, I struggle to follow suit by this time. On this lap, I pass Kevin, that give me two laps. I can stop on this lap when I get in.
1000am In my pit, chocolate milk in hand, needing to shower and dry off. My race is done, I have done enough to this point and even stopping now, they would not be able to catch up and get in one more lap. 14 laps done- about 130 miles of single track and 21,000 feet of climbing or more. Time to start recovering.


A great race, a few things learned from the racer side.
1st-Solid food early- Power bars, Clif Bars, Chips, and Pop Tarts----anything to settle the stomach a bit

2nd-Knobby tires as soon as conditions change- Don't wait until you start slipping out a bunch, get the right stuff on early. The Bontrager Revolts hook up great on everything except wet roots and peanut buttery rocks, their low- rolling resistance was great early, but when traction needs to happen. Get on the Jones XR's

3rd And maybe most important- The Fuel EX is perhaps the best bike in my arsenal- This bike can do anything you ask of it. It climbs like a XC machine, descends like downhill bike, and truly is a no-compromise solution to bike choice. The extra travel and stability were much needed at 3am. For all out cross country speed, the Top Fuel still gets the nod, but when it you are talking enduro riding, the Fuel EX design is incredible.

We gonna Barbeque

18 hours of racing solo in the dark. I'll do some quick math for you:

1 hour/lap

18 laps

1500 feet of climbing/lap

That's somewhere around 27,000 feet of climbing over the course of the race.

In the dark.

In the cold.

By himself.

By contrast, and it is indeed a stark contrast, here's what the pit crew will be doing under my keen-eyed leadership:

Two grills and one smoker

two pig shoulders, a venison hindquarter, and some pork ribs.

around 3 gallons of barbeque sauce

space heaters

beanbags

cornbread

trek/VW jersey shaped beer coozies

piggy pops

the tertiary responsiblity of making sure Shawn's bikes are somewhat functional when he comes around the turn. Lights charged. Bottles full. OK, there's some responsiblity here, but in comparison to what he's doing to himself out there all night, we've got it pretty easy.

Racer Forecast:

Partly cloudy. Chance of showers. Snowdrifts in the 2 - 3 foot range. Suffering. 3 AM hallucinations. Intoxicated road hunters with high-powered rifles on the "adjacent" properties, shooting at anything that moves. Whining. Not wanting to take a pee break at midpoint of lap at 5AM because pecker is too cold. Etc.

It's going to be a long tough race. For Shawn.

I'll see you at the grill.

Final Prep for 18 hours-in progress

Today was a rest day, I got to set the Fuel EX up with a new Monarch Shock, but I am waiting for the correct spacers for the Monarch 4.2 that goes on the Top Fuel. It seems that RockShox has tried to go with the same sizing for spacers and bushings that Fox uses. A great thing for converting a bike to Rock Shox, but not so great if you already have older Rock Shox and just assumed that things would fit. But we all know what happens when you Ass-U-Me.
Oh well, the Fuel EX feels good with the Monarch on it, very plush still, firms up nice when the gate is flipped on, but does not truly lock out....a nice feature for a real mountain bike setup. I will get more of a report up on the Top Fuel and the Monarch after a get a ride on it tomorrow as well.
Off to get things packed and ready for the race this weekend.

-Shawn

Walnut Creek Ride

I rode at Walnut today with Chris. It was day three of three hard training days, so I was not inclined to get out and ride, so I was glad when he said he was riding. Having worked all night at Pegasus, meant sleeping all morning, and that alone is enough to kill your 'get up and go'. Chris crashed hard yesterday thanks to some leafy wet bridge incident, so he was in need of a good ride to work out the resulting mental haze. We opened with a great lap around the Dam Side trail, dodging more hikers and riders than we had seen in a while. Chris seemed to be getting his flow back on this section so we headed up towards the back side of the park. I managed to get my 'Tempo pace' intervals done on the climbs and portions of the flats, so I completed my training that Adnan had thrown at me.....plus some. I was really glad I got out, gorgeous weather, felt good to get the final tuning done on the Top Fuel 9.9 for the weekend, and Chris rode really well also.....so great day all around.
Tomorrow is a rest day, so I will try to finish the preparation of the Team Trailer and my bikes for this coming weekend. Inclusive in that: New Monarch Shock for the Top Fuel.....keep tuned about this one, but it looks like it will be a great upgrade.

-Shawn

18 hours is coming

The 18 hour race is right around the corner. I did the pre-ride on Wed. night. What a great course, flowing, fast, good climbs, tight corners, some cool bombing descents. Nothing really technical to have to fight for the 18 hours, but still tough enough to keep you working and make it fun. 1500+ feet of climbing per lap are gonna make it interesting as well.
I think that I am ready to go, bikes are together, mostly dialed in, and the nutrition stuff from Cytomax should be here any day. If you have not tried the new Cytomax Naturals Orange, give it a shot. No added flavors or sweeteners seems to sit better on the stomach on these really long ones, and the taste is really pretty good.
The final decisions on tires choice and pressure will have to wait until race day and seeing the weather in the days ahead, but I am leaning towards the Jones XR's at 25-30 psi, especially given the heavy leaf fall in the past week. Bikes for the race, Top Fuel, hands down, the winner. I will have a Fuel EX in the pit in case I get really clumsy and need the additional stability of longer travel, but the course itself is made for cross country endurance racing, so even a good hard tail would rock on this one....but that Top Fuel suspension is so nice for the long ride.
The race can be followed on the website www.ride424.com My pit crew will be posting audio bits throughout telling just how bad I am suffering and whining. So check it out.

-Shawn

Overdue Paranormal Report

Well, I am sure most that care about the results have seen them now. They are up and linked to from the CAMBC web page. (www.cambc.org) Our team did incredible. We started nine racers, and all nine earned places on podiums by the end of the night.

Denelle Grant 1st place Women's Solo (6 laps)
Kevin Murray 1st Place Men's Single Speed (8 Laps)
Ted Gayle and Jeremy Senn 1st Place Men's duo (11 laps)
Chris Shelley and Mark Gordon 3rd Place Duo Clydesdale (6 laps)
Nolan Lavoie 2nd Place Solo Clydesdale (7 laps)
Shawn Tevendale 2nd Place Men's Solo (10 laps)
David Tevendale 4th Place Men's Solo (9 laps)

Perhaps most impressive was that in this field of 90 plus riders, with both solo and teams included in the placings: Jeremy and Ted had the most laps overall and took 1st place, Shawn was 4th, and Dave was 9th overall. When Solos get mixed in with the Duos on the results, you know they raced hard.

My race started well, from the beginning Charles Clarkson and I were head to head. We both started in the non-costume group and as such, opened with a 4 minute deficit on Mike Walling (the eventual winner of the race). Charles and I held a high pace for the first several laps, trading off who was in front and who was following. He finally came around and put in an attack that held. I watched him ride off ahead, hoping that over the next 4 hours remaining, I would be able to pull him back. He never quite got out of sight though, and by lap 5 or 6 we were back together, and I managed to push past him. All of that effort though on Charles' and my part had taken a toll. I needed a bit to recover and my next two laps slowed perceptibly. Mike pulled away further at this time, as he had apparently seen us behind him at one point, and launched a few really hard laps. By the time I came through on my 7th lap, I was back on track, and started to really go to work. Charles, I learned later, never felt great again and continued to cramp behind me. I started dropping my laps times and even despite a lights out time on the trail, managed to pull some time back on Mike, with my last two laps both being faster than his by a fair margin. Mike never let go of those four minutes he got for his costume though through the entire time and added two minutes by the end of the race to beat me by a total of six minutes. So the margin of victory for Mike by the end was slim, but man, he rode awesome, never letting up and by the end, he really deserved the win. In my mind though, he got me by two minutes only, after racing for six hours!!! (guess what is fueling my interval sessions for the next year)

Thanks to everyone who came out and rode, I had a blast....

Shawn

Super D for Dusty

Two things for certain about the super D on Wednesday:

1) Walnut could use some rain
2) It really was more of a point-to-point race than a super d.

That being said, our king has been de-throned. The Results:

10/17/07 Walnut Super D for Dusty
1 - Jeremy - 11:27
2 - Matt H - 11:50
3 - Dave T. - 12:02
4 - Kev 29er - 12:36
5 - Super D - 12:50
6 - Johanna - 12:57
7 - Al - 13:34
8 - Jason H - 14:42
9 - Mark in the dark - 14:32
10 - Michele - 17:08

PARANORMAL THIS WEEKEND

The Paranormal is this weekend. 6 hours of ghouls, goblins, and ubber-fast mountain bike racing. The Bike Factory Racing team will be out in force. Mark and Chris are gonna tag team it in the Clydesdale Duo. Jeremy and Ted are gonna Tag team the Duo Expert on Single speeds. Kevin is gonna rock the SS solo cat. Dave and I are gonna have at the solo category. It is shaping up to be a gorgeous weather weekend and the competition is looking to be tough. Mike Walling from Arsenal is rumored to be returning to defend his win from last year, Charles Clarkson of Ellsworth is supposed to be making a go at the race as well. Lots of talent with too many competitive riders to even list. Look for some great stuff out of this race.

-Shawn

http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=5252

Cross Crit, 10/10 Results

I'd hesitate to call it a cross course or a mountain bike course - really a hybrid of the two. It consisted of a big field lap followed by some off camber turns, singletrack, and then finally the DFU finish. Suffice it to say it was punishing, especially with so many close finishes and packing the 5 top spots into a free-for-all, 30 second window. Good racing.

1) Jeremy 23:25
2) Steve 23:30
3) Mike 23:40
4) Dave Same Time
5) Kyle 23:50
6) Shawn 27:10
7) Ted 27:30
8) Jason 28:28
9) John Neil Same Time
10) Scott 28:42
11) Will 32:02
12) Blake 35:05
13) Kate DNF

Fingers crossed for a LITTLE rain before the paranormal - sure is dusty out there.

Race this weekend.

Last night was a Brownie Crit on the farm. It was a hybrid cross/mtb style course. Made for some really great riding. Did not totally favor either machine, but allowed both to still be raced well. A Single Speeded Mtb. won it (Jeremy, go figure) with a cross rider in second (Steve Delisle). Overall it made for a good workout for most people. Just prior to the crit I had my last batch of intervals prior to this weekends race in DC. so I was a bit blasted going into it, but had a great time anyway.
This weekends race is shaping up to be a good time. A large portion of the team is going to race, and we are going to give the Team Trailer a first shake down use......so that will be good as well.
We got a new sponsor in the last few days also. Boca Bearings (www.bocabearings.com). They are a manufacturer of high-end ceramic bearings for all kinds of applications, so we are gonna be faster thanks to this one. The first order of Wheel and Pedal bearings arrived this week, they seem really smooth, now I gotta figure out how to install them....although it looks really simple.

Racers for this weekend:
Dave T.
Kevin M.
Denelle G.
Luther B.
Chris S.
Shawn T.

hopefully at least one of us will podium.......most likely Denelle......

On the road/off the road

Not the good kind of on the road. I've been travelling for work for edging up on 10 days. Starting to lose my mind from not being off the bike. Highlight of the week, I saw an old lifted F-250 with an AC/DC custom paint job for sale outside of Richmond. Probably from the early 80s. Get pumped for Dave's next ill-advised automobile purchase.

To the point though, rumors of my demise in a smoke-filled bar in NYC are unsubstantiated and incorrect. I shall return. Wednesday. To the brownie crit. And I'm bringing my 2-weeks-of-cheap-cocktails-in-the-making beer gut with me. Again, Get pumped.

Seriously, I'm psyched about our riders and our sponsors and ready to put in some serious time on the bike again. Next year should be a great year.

A Weekend of Goodness

Wow,
A bunch of great stuff this weekend. Denelle raced at Xterra nationals in Tahoe and took 5th place in her age group. A huge congrats to here on that one. She tore apart the bike leg and was in the times of the top pro riders in that leg.....doubly impressive considering that Jenny Smith and some other Trek-VW riders from the Rocky Mountain Squad were there as well.
On a great note for the team, Albemarle Baking Company let me know they are on board to sponsor the team for the 2008 season as well. Jerry is one of those really giving guys, so a huge thanks to him for this.......that and now I have an even better excuse to go by his shop and get some carbs.
Also Francesca from the Charlottesville Running Company let me know she is on board to support our team for the 2008 season. Things are really starting to come together for us all, I am excited, and ready to train hard all winter to make next season a great one.

-Shawn

Rattlesnake 50

AWESOME RACE!! This one was well worth the 45 dollar entry fee.
Nolan and I met at the Blue Ridge School at 5 am to head the 3 hours to Davis, West Virginia. Bikes loaded and lacking coffee we stopped in H-burg for the mandatory fill up of us and the Suburban. We made great time to West Virginia and on arriving there were a bit astounded that it was only 41 degrees. We both hoped for a quick warming of the air prior to the 10 am start time.
For the race start they closed Main Street in Davis, WV. We all lined up across the two lanes of the road way, and on a shout from the promoter, we were off. No one hit it really hard from the start and we were rolling down the paved road at about 25 mph. Across a bridge and a sharp right onto an old railroad grade. The pace was upped at this point as people started jockeying for position in the 4x4 tracks on the trail. That combined with the puddles of muddy WV. liquid and all of the sudden we are all surging forward trying to find clear ground to ride. I finally settled into a position behind Sue Haywood and we were rolling along strong. After the Railroad grade it was a sharp right onto a short section of pavement, and then the single track started. The best way I can describe this place is Pisgah, NC. Soaked in water.....and i do mean soaked. The rock gardens were great for riding, some of them had well established lines through the moss beds that were easily seen, others had no lines, and were a pure, "pull the front wheel up and hope you ride it out" sort of thing. Many of the local racers were on all mountain style bike, even Sue was on a Fuel EX with a Pike front fork and 2.3 Jones tires.....I felt undergunned at first on my Top Fuel with 2.0 Revolt Super X's. After about 6 miles of epic single track with some great technical sections and some awesome rooty climbs, we were back on pavement for a short time, more railroad grade followed, and then a long road climb of about 4 miles at about 6% or so....nothing killer, unless you had just blown too much energy in the previous rocky stuff. Off the pavement we were straight onto a killer descent. The type of descent that all of us wish we could have in our back yard. Large rocks to dodge, small logs to jump, big drops that when approached at 20 mph, become mandatory hucks. Several stream crossings and I was climbing back out in front of a group on some gnarly single track rock and root garden. Things were feeling great. Then I got that familiar "hiss" from the back tire combined with Stan's spraying everywhere. I had taken something through the tread of the tire and even dear old Stan could not heal this one. I stopped to fix it, placed a tube in, and discovered that my Big Air was empty and I had forgotten my hand pump for the day. So running I went for about 2 miles. Finally a passing racer had a 12 gram CO2 he could spare, I hit the tire with it, and was riding again. But 12 grams won't fill a MTB tube to where it doesn't pinch flat in West Virginia, and soon enough that happened. Now, out of cartridges and with out a pump or additional tube, I was running again. A little over 3 miles later I came out onto the road way and found the check station. My drop bag was there with a tube and some CO2 cylinders. I fixed my flat and was off. By this point I had dropped from 3rd or 4th in the overall and 2nd in my field to about 10th-12th place. The trails only got wetter from here: boggy, West Virginia swamp trail yielded to short sections of burly rock garden and then back again.......awesome stuff to try and ride. Average pace to this point only 7 mph!!!!
I managed to recover a bit from my running through the woods episode and got a good second wind on the bike which allowed me to pull back to a final placing of 7th. I am really pleased with this one. I know that without my mechanical stuff and the three wrong turns that gave me an extra five miles on the day, I would have placed much higher. My legs felt great, I climbed well, and the bike rode great....proof that a Top Fuel can out do most All Mountain Style bikes.
Total Damage for the day:
3 tubes
1 tire
5 CO2 cartridges
one Seat -broke the right rail at about 30 miles or so....made it less comfortable than I like
one set of shoes- I shattered the bottom of the left one into about 3 pieces of carbon. Was still able to pedal, but they are done now.

Nolan's race ended much earlier when he broke BOTH of his Egg Beater Pedals. We gotta get that guy on some mallet down hill pedals or something.

Planning the next Season

So it is that time of year when we all have to look back on what we did this year and what we want to do next year. Coaches want goals and plans and ideas of what to do for the next year.
My ideas:
1-Race more events close to home
2-Get in more quality training time.
3-Don't taper for so many races next season
4-In stark contrast to number 1 above- Race the Crocodile Trophy.
This is an epic race across Australia- 13 stages total.

http://www.crocodile-trophy.com/crocodiletrophy/en/index_en.htm

Events on the local front for this week:
Wednesday- Brownie Crit on our farm.
Thursday will see some trail work on the farm.
Saturday is a 50 mile race in West Virginia
Sunday is a 100 mile Road Century.

This is looking like a great weekend.

BTW- Bike Factory is having a big blowout sale on Forks. All sorts of stuff at killer prices. If ya need something, you should go look.

-Shawn

Paranormal Preview Crit

What a great Brownie Crit that one turned out to be. The course is the same that will be used for the Paranormal race on October 20th with just one tiny reroute. We had a huge turn out, and everyone was psyched by how great the trails were. Times are listed below, this was roughly a 6.5 mile loop----I think. I flagged the single speeders that I knew of as well.

Place Name Time
1 Jeremy S. 29:52 (ss)
2 Mike W. 30:15
3 Shawn T. 31:29
4 Dave T. 31:46
5 Matt H. 33:33 (ss)
6 Jeff 35:33 (ss)
7 Al I. 36:08
8 Scott R. 37:08
9 Tim H 38:13
10 Paul 38:21
11 David P. 38:23
12 James G. 39:56
13 Matt H. 40:10
14 Dennis 41:20
15 Carl 43:23 (in shoes 3 sizes too small)
16 Caleb 47:09
17 Isaac 49:03
18 Mark 53:50
19 Anna 54:48
20 Dave W. 65:04

A big thanks to Denelle for timing us and cheering loudly as we finished.....hope she feels better soon.


-Shawn

Weekend

What a weekend, driving 20 hours out of 32 between Friday afternoon and Saturday night was pretty trying though. I got in a good ride in the Poconos while I was out there. I stopped at a shop called Cedar Bike on the eastern side of Scranton, PA. They gave me great directions and even drew a map of a nice road loop with about 1800 feet of climbing in the first 8 miles. Made for a good solid warm up. Of course the ride down in 50 degree rain was not as pleasant.
Sunday was a longish ride, 70 miles ending right at dark, always nice to be chased in by darkness falling, adds that little extra kick to the finishing stretch. This week is a bunch of shifts at work, people are out of town for a conference, so I am covering extra stuff. Wednesday will be a brownie Crit on the Farm, so that will be fun.

Off to do some homework.

-Shawn

Brownie Crit Results 9/13

Last nights crit went great. Not a huge turn-out, but a group that was on the gas pretty strong. Here are a few pictures and the results from it. The pictures are sure not of "Buffalo-2-Step" Bill quality, but they are what I can do....at least with this camera. Speaking of that guy, Man are we gonna miss him in this area.
www.buffalo2step.com



Place Name Lap 1 Lap2 Total
1 Dave 12:39 12:42 25:21
2 Mike 13:00 12:54 25:54
3 Kyle 13:15 13:38 26:53
4 Scott 15:24 15:15 30:39
5 Denelle 17:29 17:39 35:08
6 Michele 18:05 17:48 35:53
DNF Jason 16:56 -----------



-Shawn

First Ever TevenDu

Do you ever take pictures that make you realize you really need a better camera?


Tonight was the first ever Duathlon on the farm. A Run-Ride-Run moment of zen for all involved. With late notice we only had three runner-rider-runners, but they seemed to have fun anyway. Mostly I just rode around and heckled the three participants with a camera. Dave had a "you-aint-mountain-bikin-if-you-aint-breakin-stuff" moment and snapped his chain----three times. We gotta get that boy on a maintanence plan or something.
Tomorrow is a Brownie Crit here on the farm. I am gonna take the day off the mtn bike, I gotta a road workout to do, and my shoulder is actualy more uncomfortable now than it was five days ago.....I think I have tried to push it too hard too early.

-Shawn

Day of Ease

Today was a day of ease before I fire back into full on training tomorrow. I rode for an hour easy, that was it. I also had a massage therapy appointment with Danielle at Body Revolutions today. What a difference this is making with my legs. It used to be that my IT bands would get tight and painful towards the end of a big ride, but after just a few sessions, things are much smoother, I have noticed less back pain on the bike, less ITB pain, and less fatigue in general on the long rides. I kinda doubted this would make such a big difference, but it really has
I also visited a few potential sponsors today, it seems like the ad line I should really give is, "For the cost of a single ad in the C'ville weekly, you get our jerseys and trailer for a year." But how do you make that sound smooth......good thing I don't work in sales.
On another interesting note, I managed to take the deraileur hanger off of the new EX 8 last night through a moment of shear stupidity, and guess what.....it's non standard. Thankfully Bike Factory had the answer, all will be well soon.
Some new pics will be up on the website tomorrow AM as well. Shannon (our photo queen) emailed me a bunch from different events this past year. Some darn good ones too. I had forgotten about some of the ones in Sedona that she took, you will have to check those out....

-Shawn

Road Riding

I got out on the Trek Madone for a bit today. I always forget how much fun that bike is to ride. Man what a great time. I got in 45 miles with with some good short hill efforts thrown in as well. The legs are feeling strong and the shoulder has come around nicely. We got another sponor on board this past week for the team. SixSixOne stepped up and took us under their wing. They make some really great gloves for cross country riding, so I am psyched by this one. This week will see a big jump in my training. I have a feeling that Adnan (my coach at TrainingPeaks) has some special abuse in store for me. I kinda hope so actually as I need to get some serious work done, mostly for my mental sanity.

There are a number of local to semi local events this weekend that look like fun.
The Cheat Mtn 100 (I think it is up on Active.com)
The Barry Saunders Off-Road Duathlon (http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=4915)

Back in the Saddle

I got back out for my first ride since hitting a tree at the SM-100. It was a short night ride at Walnut Creek Park. I rode solid and I felt good on the bike, at least the legs did. My shoulder let me know about every bump on the way though. I kept thinking I had accidently locked out my Fork on the bike......and that thing is set up soft. Things are going well for the team right now. We have managed to get bikes for almost everyone so far, and new labels went on the trailer the other night as well. It is looking pretty killer. Tonight will be a Brownie Crit on the family farm at 6pm. Look for those results up here soon.

-Shawn

SM-100

Floyd came, Floyd saw, Floyd was beaten. Jeff Schalk, Trek-VW East Coast Regional Rider took him out by a huge margin. Jeff was on a new Fuel EX....infact one of the proto-types that He and Chris Eatough used to win the BC race a month ago. Jeff set a new course record at 7:06. Blisteringly fast, reports were that he was through the 5th rest station at 5 minutes BEFORE noon....incredible.
The local Charlottesville Riders did an incredible job, most hit their goal times or very close. I think every local rider other than myself finished the race.
I managed to separate my left shoulder on a tree at about mile 60 or so. I tried to continue on, but could not grasp the bar and safely climb or descend....so my SM-100 ended at the 75 mile aid station. Needless to say I am down about this one. Some races are just your season standard; They define your performance, your training, and your entire seasonal success .....the Sm-100 is this for me. To take a DNF is devastating. I will have to work through it, but first I gotta get this shoulder better.

On a positive note, My father helped me get things together a bit more in the new Team Trailer. This thing is really coming together, now we just gotta find an event to haul it to....that and a few more sponsors for the group as well.

-Shawn

"Super D" Crit-James Wins Big

What a ride that was. Two full speed "Super D" style runs, no body armor, cross country bikes, lycra clad warriors. Suprisingly we had no crashes or chaos occur. Time adjustments were handed out to some individuals for a creative re-route they decided on. That is reflected by the + next to there Run 1 times. The Time adjustment was 1:30 to bring their run time back in line with the rest of the group, but really we should have just DQ'd them.
James killed us all, and Jeremy took 2nd on a rigid single speed (sicko).
Down Hill Diva Dennelle took the women's Cat with a bomber of a run as well. Thanks for coming out everyone, Look for some other alternative style courses in the coming weeks as well. (Cross, Short Track, Relays, who knows.)

Place...Name...Run 1..Run 2..Cummulative
1 James 4:13 2:51 7:04
2 Jeremy 4:40+2:38 7:18
3 Shawn 4:28 2:57 7:25
4 Josh 4:43+2:43 7:26
5 Dave 4:33 2:58 7:31
6 Craig 4:48+2:46 7:34
7 Jason 4:47 2:56 7:43
8 Kyle 4:54+ 2:44 7:48
9 Nolan 5:11 3:31 8:42
10 Dennelle 6:07 4:04 10:11
DNF Alec 4:46"where did the course go" DNF

The PARANORMAL

The Paranormal race is a go. October 20th is the big date. This race is always a good time. 6 hours of fun on the bike, this years venue is different than in the past, but should still be a rocking good time....it is after all our farm. Nothing can quite compete with a Haloween themed race. Show up in costume and get a time bonus, who can say no to that?

Information is at: http://cvilleracing.blogspot.com/2007/08/charlottesville-racing-club-presents.html

Registration is at: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=5252

New Trailer

The new trailer arrived today. Now I just gotta get it decorated. I am hoping to get some really large decals and sponsor stickers donated so we can make it look like something out of a recent kids movie.

Thursday "Expert" Ride

Jeremy, Mike the hurricaine, and myself all showed up for the ride. Three speed freaks, ready to do battle on a minature scale. All while I was trying to recover from the last two days at the same time. Something about this did not make sense. We had a great ride, Mike showing his great power on the flats, Jeremy just showing his power on the single speed, and me trying to pretend I had not just done the last two days of Time Trial and Hill Repeat intervals.....who was I kidding. In the end we averaged a bit over 10 mph at Walnut, and managed to scope out some new "Super D" style routes for the upcoming CRC Brownie Crit. I can't wait for that one, it will be killer.

The Blue Ridge Extreme (http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=4415) will be this weekend, CRC puts on a top rate event and offers many different distance options.
I will be there. Will you?

-Shawn

Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL

The new bikes are up on the Trek Website. Go check them out. I can't wait to see that new Top Fuel 69er.

www.trekbikes.com

SM-100 is coming

Less than 2 weeks until the Epic. Can't wait. A group of friends and I went to ride the first 50-60 miles of the course yesterday. It is in great shape, we actually did some trailwork as we went along, but they will still need to haul a chainsaw to the top for a few big ones.

18 Hour Race Cancelled

Well, they cancelled the 18 hour race for this weekend owing to some wierd weather that blew through and rocked the eastern part of this state. I guess my focus for the weekend will instead be on getting the trails on our farm ready for the upcoming Paranormal Race......or there is that 100 miler in WVa.


-Shawn

18 hour race prep

As Team Shawn motivational manager and HMFIC, I took the week before the week before the upcoming 18 hour race to handle some important pre-race items. Specifically, I journeyed out to Colorado, 1600 miles away from the actual race site, and I rallied like a banshee around the northern Front Range for a week. What does this have to do with pre-race planning? Well:

1) I picked up a dozen fine, handcrafted Dale Pale Ales with the explicit purpose of drinking all of them Saturday night while Luther takes care of Shawn. Unfortunately, and not entirely all my fault, all were enjoyed while still in Colorado, and I failed to return with a single soda in the suitcase.

2) Put in about 15 hours on the bike over the course of the week, and even squeezed in a round of golf – all around putting my nose to the grind at my new gig. This resulted in:

2A) Broke both my 4-iron and my Top Fuel 110 in same-day, separate occurrences which were definitely not my fault, but that’s what you get when you’ve got guns (belly fat) like this. Productively, I conjured the voodoo powers that be, did a little witchery, and chalked them both up as a sacrifice to the gods of carbon and steel in hopes that they’ll leave Shawn alone until well into the night on Sunday.

3) Had a dream about 24 hour racing where, naked and drunk, I went out for a lap instead of Shawn around 3AM, got lost in the woods, and froze to death.

4) Got drunk dialed by my good buddy, Steve, at midnight Colorado time on Saturday night while I was trying to get some z’s before an early Sunday spin. Vengeance forthcoming, I put an alarm in my phone to return the favor right before dawn on Sunday AM, hopefully when Shawn is coming around for another lap and needs an outlet for his pain.

5) Was unable to locate my cowbell in my garage, although I did find 3 random derailleur hangers that Jeremy might be able to blowtorch into workable form for whatever that mangled, hangerless, black bike of his is. Also found a 6 CO2 canisters. Used ½ of them on one, 30 minute ride. Biggest find – a glow in the dark fender, brought that puppy back with me for sure. Hoping for some rain on Sat PM, writing off trying to find anything else useful in the garage.

So, as you see, things are sizing up pretty well for the race weekend, and I’ve made a lot of good progress towards full preparedness. I’ve made no contact with other support team members. I haven’t seen the course. I don’t actually know where it is. This all, of course, is strategic. The more you know about what you’re up against, the more you realize just how big of an effort racing for 18 hours straight really is. Ignorance really can be bliss. So when I show up dangerously close to start time, sunburned, and with no shoes on – you can rest assured that I’m a professional and I’ve come to support this race with a regime that defines perfection.

It’s going to be a weird weekend – I can feel it already.

18 Hour Race is soon

The 18 hours on the Farm is just around the corner. But first, off to Vermont to spend a weekend raising money for the National MS society with my charity team- Team UVA Pegasus. Check out the blogspot for that as well.

TeamUVAPegasus.blogspot.com

They are recruiting members for the coming year, so please consider joining. More info can be obtained through either Bike Factory or by emailing
TeamUVAPegasus@virginia.edu

-Shawn

Brownie Crit Results

We held another Brownie Crit today on our farm. Even with 100 degree heat, we had a great turnout. Thanks to all who came, it made for a really fun time.

2 mile loop, 2 laps
Results
Place Name Split Final
1st Jeremy (SS) 10:28 20:20
2nd Shawn 10:30 21:05
3rd Scott 12:30 24:35
4th Jeff (SS) 12:40 25:00
5th Jason 13:34 26:45
6th Paul 14:00 27:10
7th Scott 16:20 31:10
DNF's for a camel back mishap-
Caleb and Isaac Both rolled in the first lap at 24:45 after an extensive search for the nozzle from a camelback.

Thanks again everyone,

-Shawn

Wilderness 101

The race started smoothly, 40 miles of rolling fire road, dirt gravel, and the occasional single track traverse or descent left everyone feeling strong, then reality hit. The last porton of this race gets real, real single track climbs, real viscous descents, and real mind numbing dirt gravel roads. All in all, I was riding well, despite the heat and having bonked and cramped a bit....then off came the rear deraileur in a big rock garden. The chain was nearly destroyed in the process, so no single speeding option. After 78 miles of riding, I was now hiking. I hiked into the 86 mile aid station and got a ride back in from there....race done.
Chris Scott put on an incredible event yet again. Awesome food, great people, and well marked trails. If you have not done one of his events, the SM-100 is just around the corner....see ya there. www.mtntouring.com is his site.

50 Rattling Miles Marathon Race

I traveled up to Pennsylvania to race this one. This is one race that truly lived up to its name "Rattling". Rock gardens on rock gardens is how I would describe much of it. Truly a fun event. The new Fuel EX rode like a dream. The newly designed suspension was just the ticket for maintaining control through these rocky sections and I was sure glad to have that little extra travel to take the sting out of things as well. The pedaling efficiency was also great on the flatter sections and the Pro-Pedal on the new Fox RP2 really worked great.
I finished a solid 9th place. A few guys got me at the very end....guess I gotta work on that finishing power. High Speed Cycling put on a top notch event, support at the aid stations was killer, and everyone there was super nice to the out of towner.