iLoveDannyChew
I spoke with Danny yesterday. I love the energy that he brings. After talking to him I get the same feelings that I get when I hang out with my little Somali buddies. They are so wide eyed and happy. Danny is too. The speech he gave the other night after bicycle dreams was awesome. An old friend who happened to be at the movie, but does not know Danny said that it was "the best lecture he had ever been to." Danny Rulz.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
36.5 mile hike with 7200 feet of climbing
So the last few years, while not riding my bike, I went for a few hikes. They have been fun. This year I wanted to do another. I think that with cycling, it is pretty hard to get in over my head anymore. I would have to do a 24 solo I think to get the feelings that riding a double century used to get me. Who knows. So I wanted to d0o something fun and get in a bit over my head. Mission accomplished.
The Rachel Carson Trail is a long hiking trail that skirts around pittsburgh. It is pretty brutal, traverses tons of power lines, and climbs 7200 feet over 37 miles. Sounded pretty ideal. Many were supposed to start, however it ended up just being me and super endurance athlete jared babik.
Summary: Started in the dark. Finished in the dark. Walked a freaking ton. I should have trained more (I trained by doing yoga 4 times and walking 1.5 miles to work 1 time).
Garmin File. Temp is wrong, it was in my pocket.
Healthy.
Water crossings in the dark. We had to take our boots off twice in the first 5 miles.
We made a few bridges. The water was usually just deep enough that it would suck to walk through in 31 degree temps. Glad I brought ski poles or whatever.
Powerline climb.
This was a 500 foot climb. If you look closely on the left above the low trees you can see a dot of blue, that is a guy on a dirt bike.
The actual Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale PA.
The only time I remember New Kensington looking nice.
The Rachel Carson Trail is a long hiking trail that skirts around pittsburgh. It is pretty brutal, traverses tons of power lines, and climbs 7200 feet over 37 miles. Sounded pretty ideal. Many were supposed to start, however it ended up just being me and super endurance athlete jared babik.
Summary: Started in the dark. Finished in the dark. Walked a freaking ton. I should have trained more (I trained by doing yoga 4 times and walking 1.5 miles to work 1 time).
Garmin File. Temp is wrong, it was in my pocket.
Healthy.
Water crossings in the dark. We had to take our boots off twice in the first 5 miles.
We made a few bridges. The water was usually just deep enough that it would suck to walk through in 31 degree temps. Glad I brought ski poles or whatever.
Powerline climb.
This was a 500 foot climb. If you look closely on the left above the low trees you can see a dot of blue, that is a guy on a dirt bike.
The actual Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale PA.
The only time I remember New Kensington looking nice.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
One of those things you will watch and be like "wtf?"
An Agreeable Sound: Steevo from Matt Dayak on Vimeo.
I guess this is what people do when they have tons of energy and dont race bikes.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
On racing Nationals and Worlds.
Obligatory "cycling season is officially over" post. People act like it is a job or something.
Nationals: So I have not raced a national championship since I was 13. It was in Louisville KY on a BMX bike and the results were lackluster. Mr Brett, Amy my wife, and I rolled up to Wisconsin for my first cyclocross nationals. It was Amy's first real cross experience. Up until this point she had only officiated local races.
30-34 National Champs. 2nd row start. 3rd wheel for a distance. First technical turn I dismount to run as a lot of others are doing. I fall flat on my face.
Cycling Dirt Video at 20 seconds in or whatever I just totally slip. Whoops.
The rest of the day was spent getting dropped back to 12th. Rough day.
Elite Nationals. Start too hard as usual. Blow up a bit, work my way back. I started feeling a bit better but got pulled. 43rd. Not really too much else to say about it other than it was a great experience and I wish I was able to race into it.
30-34 WORLDS. Ha. UCI says that anybody with UCI points cant do age group worlds. I am generally the 2nd or 3rd person after the UCI points run out at MAC races, so I figured that I could have a shot at doing well. Again, I wish that I could have raced more leading up to it. Random draw start = me last. Warming up an hour before the race, I crashed and bent my hanger and tweaked my finger. I sucked in the start and struggled to get up to the leaders. I burnt a few matches to do so and they were attacking each other. I went back and forth with some guys. It was all frozen ice ruts, so half of the race was just about not crashing. That was hard. Ended up 5th. In my heart I know that I could have done better, but oh well.
This is all ice. It was post holes. I was worried I would break my ankles running up it.
Nationals: So I have not raced a national championship since I was 13. It was in Louisville KY on a BMX bike and the results were lackluster. Mr Brett, Amy my wife, and I rolled up to Wisconsin for my first cyclocross nationals. It was Amy's first real cross experience. Up until this point she had only officiated local races.
30-34 National Champs. 2nd row start. 3rd wheel for a distance. First technical turn I dismount to run as a lot of others are doing. I fall flat on my face.
Cycling Dirt Video at 20 seconds in or whatever I just totally slip. Whoops.
The rest of the day was spent getting dropped back to 12th. Rough day.
Elite Nationals. Start too hard as usual. Blow up a bit, work my way back. I started feeling a bit better but got pulled. 43rd. Not really too much else to say about it other than it was a great experience and I wish I was able to race into it.
30-34 WORLDS. Ha. UCI says that anybody with UCI points cant do age group worlds. I am generally the 2nd or 3rd person after the UCI points run out at MAC races, so I figured that I could have a shot at doing well. Again, I wish that I could have raced more leading up to it. Random draw start = me last. Warming up an hour before the race, I crashed and bent my hanger and tweaked my finger. I sucked in the start and struggled to get up to the leaders. I burnt a few matches to do so and they were attacking each other. I went back and forth with some guys. It was all frozen ice ruts, so half of the race was just about not crashing. That was hard. Ended up 5th. In my heart I know that I could have done better, but oh well.
This is all ice. It was post holes. I was worried I would break my ankles running up it.
Monday, January 02, 2012
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