Biscotti Madness

as the only person on this board in a category all by themself i say hold off. you so earned this it's not even funny. enjoy the fruits of your labor, collect some stuff and evaluate later. bump when they make you. at this point i don't think anyone would say your a "sandbagger"...and if they do, refer to the guy that won tymor. you've been pretty open about all this stuff. it's not like your wearing a different kit to stay under the radar or anything.

i'm more pist that friendly's didn't give you a reese pieces sunday on the house for making lower ny state your b!tch. 🙂
 
bonefishjake said:
i'm more pist that friendly's didn't give you a reese pieces sunday on the house for making lower ny state your b!tch. 🙂
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F'n right man. I mean this is Friendly's. I'm only helping their popularity by even going in there.

I would also be remiss if I didn't credit Ben for several very helpful moments in this process. In 2007, Fred, Ben, and I went up to Blue Mountain. It was Ben's first race back and he entered sport SS, and won. I was like 34th again, I think this was September, so barely 1.5 years ago in "bike season" years. I had a very tough race. Without question the only thing that kept me out there for lap 2 was the idea of having to come onto the board and say I quit. This was the first race after we started the team, basically underground at the time, and Fred and I were new members even though he was in his Halter's kit and I was in my (maybe) pink kit. I don't even remember.

After the race we were having pizza and Ben said that you need to do 2 things:

1. Go out hard, and stick with the front runners as long as you can.
2. If you catch someone, pass them. This is the piece of advice I now give everyone who complains about passing people.

The next race I went out hard. It was Jungle Habitat. I came in 7th. I couldn't hold it of course, but I was 2nd out of the gate I believe. That's when things started to really change. The next race I blew a chain at Tymor and came in 16th. I ended the year 6th at Ringwood.

The second moment was more or less the end of last year. Ben pretty much drilled it into my head that all this goofy stacked training and 4:00 am intervals weren't going to be maintainable if I didn't lose weight. So finally at the end of last race season, I got it into my head to ride a lot and lose weight. The job situation helped for sure. But we can always find time to ride and I took a lot of opportunity I had.

Anyway, those have been keys moments in my going from Sport pack fodder to winning a race by 4 minutes.
 
You've said numerous times, YMMV. That makes me think you speak from experience and that it wasn't quite so simple for you to just loose weight. At what point did you really start to loose? Was it the mileage, the intensity, the chanting of the mantra? What were the keys for you?

And congratulations. It's simply inspiring.
 
Ok, I have yet to get on my bike this morning so I'll extend my Winning Grace Period another few minutes...

Rob

How do you "feel" after a day like yesterday?

I think I covered that enough already. I feel good, realistic, like racing again, and more or less the same.

Is the high so great that the muscles don't hurt today?

Interesting that my legs actually didn't hurt quite as much yesterday, until I had to walk up the subway steps and they hurt again.

Were you cranking the radio and singing on the way home a la Tom Cruise?

I listened to My Morning Jacket, which is as close to Phish as I could get. They were playing some jam-band music at the race when I left and I really wanted to know what it was. Moe? I don't think it was Phish. MMJ was a good replacement. I wore headphones but kept the volume reasonable. I sang a little.

Did you sleep with the handlebar? (not that way)

Nope, nothing silly like that.

Did you sleep last night or did you replay the race over and over in your head?

I replayed Fair Hill much, much more in my head. That was the start of the "holy crap you might win a race this year" thinking. Sunday was the 4th race and it's part of the process now. I know that any race I show up at I have a shot now, so winning isn't so unexpected that I replay it over and over. Having said that I did replay the part where I was passing experts.

Did you wake up and wonder if it really happened or if it was a cruel dream until you felt the handlebar under your back?

Nah, but I did wonder if having to get up early and go to work was.

Did you drink that stuff whatever it was you won?

Yes, that didn't last long. Saisson isn't my favorite style but I like it, and the beer didn't make it to 9:00 pm that night. I drank it out of my DH40 glass that Mike gave me last year. I gave up temporary right to the SSaP glass for the sake of the DH guys, and maybe that karma won me the race. 🙂

Mike

Yes, I'm still challenged. I need to go out and do it again in 3 weeks, then again at LM, which is going to be super difficult, then KVSP. I don't expect to win any of those races. I do expect to battle for a podium in all of those races. I think I could stick in Sport all year and still be challenged to be honest. I was 4 minutes faster than that specific pack of riders who showed up. Not all the big names were there. I beat a guy who rides in my class by 5 minutes. The first 2 H2H races I beat him by 4 minutes both races. So I was on, but not astonishingly on.


Cyclopath

I started to lose more weight when I started riding a ton. I went from 195 to 180 over the winter, roughly. I've been bouncing in the 177-180 realm the past month, and my experience is allowing me to keep it there. Last year I got to 182 but once heavier training started it climbed back up. Many people have said that adding intensity makes losing weight extremely hard, and I've experienced exactly that. I'm battling it again this year. When you amp up the intensity, your hunger goes out of control. Knowing that's coming makes it easier to deal with, and also makes it easier to stop from overdoing it.

As for inspiring, maybe when this chapter of the year's story runs its course, I'll picture of what I looked like 10 years ago. If anyone thinks they can't get to this point they need to take a look at that and reassess their opinion.
 
I would like to chime in that Norm-ie was killing it out there.

This was the most fun that i can remember having in a mt bike race. I still like cross racing the best , but this was really really fun.

Since this is Norms page..


I was on the line opposite of Norm and I knew that he was going to do well. I knew about the insane amount of miles he had been putting in and how few I had. The uphill start shouldn't favor me, but it worked well for me at fair hill so I thought it might again. I got over the hill with 3-4 guys out in front and simply rolled past them all to be the first guy into the woods. I knew the 3d guy (myles) who was at the front of the 1st climb. I have ridden with him on the road a bunch and i knew he had more motor than me but I somehow stayed away.

That really felt great.

I was catching the slower NY guys in a hurry and I was ringing my bell like an a-hole to get around 3-4 guys at a shot. I heard Norm's voice behind me and I knew he was on fire. I knew it was only a matter of time but it felt great to give it all I could and do some major passing work for Norm.

This course was almost built for my skill set. I was making up so much time in the corners and I was having so much fun. This place was like six mile with 3800 feet of elevation gain instead of 150ft. All the climbs but one were ride-able.

I battled back and fourth a bit with the 2nd place finisher but mostly I was bumming that he wasn't really helping me as much as I felt that I was helping him. I finally blew up a bit more and let him go. I continued to see him out in front a few more times but i just didn't have the extra push to make it happen.

On the second lap I came across Ellen and she was riding very well. I was impressed by her bike handling and composure on the bike. I saw her from a long way off and I slowly caught her by not touching the brakes on the downhills. She was climbing like a champ. I happened to catch her at the sign that read "mile 6". In my head I thought "that sign means something".. I gave it all I could for the next 4 miles. As I passed Ellen she asked if she could buy a membership at 6 mile.

At about mile 18 my left quads started to lock up and I thought I was done. I somehow held it together and cruised to the finish with an expert rider. Never before have I caught an expert in a race.


I was ecstatic about my third place finish. This was my best finish ever. (I once soloed to 3rd in the 24 hrs of A) I was expecting to get passed by a few more guys but I think that the good work I did early on served me well.

Norm looked like he wasn't even working out there. I give him a lot of credit for the miles and time he put in.

On the expert move up.. I would wait as long as possible. It must feel better to be a really fast sport than a mid pack Expert?? I don't know and I most likely never will.
 
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jdog said:
I was catching the slower NY guys in a hurry and I was ringing my bell like an a-hole to get around 3-4 guys at a shot. I heard Norm's voice behind me and I knew he was on fire. I knew it was only a matter of time but it felt great to give it all I could and do some major passing work for Norm.
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This was definitely helpful for me. I was content to let you help separate the 3 of us from the pack and lead the passing train. That 2nd guy actually borked a root section in the first ST and you started to get away, and I was pretty harsh with him when I said not to let you get out of sight. He wanted to hold that 2nd spot, which was fine. But I made sure he pressed it to catch you. I sat on his wheel and we got you back in the small bit of fire road after the first mile of ST (after the Major Mike section).

It's no secret how many miles I've put in. Combine that with the pace you were keeping and I knew you were going to have to ease up and I would be able to jump in front. But the thing is, you did exactly what Ben said to me 2 years ago. Go hard, and hold as long as you can. I had ridden almost 25 hours in the 2 weeks leading up to the race. I've just got a ton of base miles to fall back on.

Hearing that you held on to 3rd was really awesome and surprising to me. I figured that some of the other slower start guys would catch you. Being able to hold that 3 spot is awesome, and just shows how important a fast start is. The course fit your skills, and the tires that we both run help tremendously. I have to actually give you major credit for that suggestion. Those Geax tires allow me to descend like a total idiot and have total confidence. I was running them both sub-24. I bottomed out the rear once I believe.

On that note, I added almost half a pound to each wheel in going to those tires. But I make up so, so much time on the downhills it's insane. Also, I'm braking much less on the corners and overall losing much less speed on downs and turns. Having the right tires and pressure helps tremendously. For the guys who run near 40 - you probably know what I'm talking about because you likely lose speed on every turn. It's invaluable.

JDog, hope to see you at more races going forward. Stewart again on 6/21!

And so far everyone has suggested I not upgrade until I have to. So that's what I'm going to do.
 
Back to work today:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8362145

Motivation

Motivation is never an issue after race days. I lined up the Kill HIll Volume 2 ride, which may be my regular-ish Tuesday ride. It's all about hills, 4500+ vertical in 40 miles. I ride this the same way you ride a SS off-road. Basically you warm pedal to the hills then try to kill it on the hills. The efforts are in the climbing, not the between riding. I changed it a little today thinking I was adding a big hill, but it turns out the smaller hills in the other direction add more vertical. Whatever, I'm keeping the big climbs in. More consistent is better.

HRM

Wore it again today and averaged 143 BPM. This is starting to get up there, as much of the ride was out of zone on the upper end. In all I spent an hour out of zone, which means total time above threshold plus total time under 120 bpm, which is just where I have it set. More of the hour was above zone, which means that was a solid L5 workout. I'm now starting to think this HRM is actually a good thing to have as it lets me see roughly what I'm doing.

I'll need to get a better idea what my LTHR is though.

Calf/Knee

Nothing, gone. Not sure where it came from but it's gone now. I'm fine with that. I'll chalk it up to a tweak from last Sunday and that it needed a few days rest, which it got last week.

24 HoA Solo

I'm scrapping this idea and focusing more on XC racing for the rest of the year. I'll still do long rides but the 8-10-12 hour rides aren't going to be necessary. I'm starting to put feelers out around the team in an effort to put together a 4 man team to compete for the overall title this year. I think the Mutant Century and the 12 Hour ride up at 909 just fell off the radar.

Expert

I'm biding my time for now. Someone even suggested I petition the USAC and try to stick in Sport for the Series Title. But I'm not planning on doing that. Things could always change in the next 3 races so you never know. But for now I'm still a Sport, sport.

Tomorrow

In the office tomorrow but I may go in late and bang out some L4/Threshold work early in the morning. Again, motivation to get up and ride comes in spades after race days. I'm not content to sit and let it be. I want to continue to get faster. While I'm feeling good I'm going to ride it for the next few days and press myself. Putting work in the bank which will hopefully pay off later.
 
Sleep

Woke up at 5:00 today and it was raining. Knew I had to go into the office so I didn't have it in me to ride at 5:30 in the rain for 2 hours then scramble for 30 minutes to try and make a train. I'm sure my body is fine with a day off anyway.

At this point I've only had 2 tough workouts over the last 6 days so I'm probably lined up to put some good riding in over the next few days.

24 Hours of Allamuchy

I'm trying to put together a team of MTBNJ riders to compete for the 4 man title :getsome:

Tomorrow

If I'm going to use the HRM more, I need to get a better idea what my LTHR is, as opposed to using a 5+ year old estimate. So I may be doing some form of L4/Threshold riding and trying to estimate it. I may do the 30 minute test and take the last 20 minute average.

Another option is to just do an hour of threshold riding and see what I can maintain in that 10-30 minute realm. I don't need it to be precise - it's always just an estimate anyway. I just need to be close enough +/- 2 or 3 BPM either way.
 
Norm said:
Sleep

Woke up at 5:00 today and it was raining. Knew I had to go into the office so I didn't have it in me to ride at 5:30 in the rain for 2 hours then scramble for 30 minutes to try and make a train. I'm sure my body is fine with a day off anyway.

At this point I've only had 2 tough workouts over the last 6 days so I'm probably lined up to put some good riding in over the next few days.

24 Hours of Allamuchy

I'm trying to put together a team of MTBNJ riders to compete for the 4 man title :getsome:

Tomorrow

If I'm going to use the HRM more, I need to get a better idea what my LTHR is, as opposed to using a 5+ year old estimate. So I may be doing some form of L4/Threshold riding and trying to estimate it. I may do the 30 minute test and take the last 20 minute average.

Another option is to just do an hour of threshold riding and see what I can maintain in that 10-30 minute realm. I don't need it to be precise - it's always just an estimate anyway. I just need to be close enough +/- 2 or 3 BPM either way.
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I would be in for the 24 hrs, but I have to work that Sat since Chris is racing in the 2 man for sure. I could get there do night laps on Sat and Sunday. Let me know.
 
jdog said:
I would be in for the 24 hrs, but I have to work that Sat since Chris is racing in the 2 man for sure. I could get there do night laps on Sat and Sunday. Let me know.
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Cool, will do. I'm thinking we will have enough for 2 men's teams, which solves the problem of racing on a team when it's the middle of the night and nobody is alive. Having 2 teams means there's a good chance *someone* will be awake.

I also am roughly thinking about how to do lap turns. Doing 1-2-3-4 the whole race sucks. After the first lap or 2 we need to double up so that might work well. You could pull a double to start as soon as you get there.
 
Norm said:
24 HoA Solo

I'm scrapping this idea and focusing more on XC racing for the rest of the year. I'll still do long rides but the 8-10-12 hour rides aren't going to be necessary. I'm starting to put feelers out around the team in an effort to put together a 4 man team to compete for the overall title this year. I think the Mutant Century and the 12 Hour ride up at 909 just fell off the radar.
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Wilderness is August 1st - Care to dabble in another discipline?
 
xc62701 said:
Wilderness is August 1st - Care to dabble in another discipline?
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I'm interested, but I don't know if those stars align this year.

Jersey_Girl_Rides said:
I'd be interested in knowing what you mean by how you looked 10 years ago - no pics needed unless you want to share, but I'm not familiar with your past history of weight loss/gain, etc.
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I used to be closer 300 than 250. At my worst, I was probably closer to 300 than 280. I've lost about 110 pounds in 10-ish years or so. I saw 175 this year, currently holding at 177-180. Next yera I hope to be holding at 170 for the race season.

Pictures would just scare people 🙂
 
Norm 100 Pounds Ago

Jersey_Girl_Rides said:
I'd be interested in knowing what you mean by how you looked 10 years ago - no pics needed unless you want to share, but I'm not familiar with your past history of weight loss/gain, etc.
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Norm said:
Pictures would just scare people 🙂
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I've got a pretty good pic of Norm in his 'prime' at college. Trying to decide whether to share it with the board, or Blackmail him with it...:hmmm:
 
Go for it. The people who read this thread deserve to see me in all my glory. I actually have some pics on my Flickr page. But I also have something like 500 or more pics up there, so you'll need to look through. I think there are 3 pics of me really looking dreadful.
 
Norm said:
I would also be remiss if I didn't credit Ben for several very helpful moments in this process.

After the race we were having pizza and Ben said that you need to do 2 things:

1. Go out hard, and stick with the front runners as long as you can.
2. If you catch someone, pass them. This is the piece of advice I now give everyone who complains about passing people.
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I'm glad that you were paying attention. To benefit others, I'll elaborate.
Tip #1:
Get to the front ASAP.
There is always a mad dash to get to the first challenging area of the race course. (first single-track or first climb, etc.) Those at or near the front have a better view of the course and less traffic to distract them. They control their own destiny. This is also where the fastest guys will be. Pay attention, these guys are offering you a free skills clinic. Watch what they do, their approach to obstacles, the lines they choose, the body position, cadence and style. This is why racing reduces your learning curve. Learn by watching others. Make note of where you loose and gains seconds on the riders around you. That indicates your strengths and weaknesses.

If you are stuck behind in traffic, you are fucked. You now have to navigate the course and the other riders. This mental distraction is huge. They will interrupt your rhythm by forcing you to slow down and then speed back up. You end up wasting mental and physical energy while those at the front are riding away.

Tip #2
Make the pass as quickly as possible.
When you catch up to a rider on the course there is often a moment of easing. You slow down and wait. You expend mental energy thinking about when to pass. Some racers may even think, "Cool, this guy can show me the lines and I'll just follow him". This is BAD. Remember...There is a reason why you caught up to this rider. He is SLOWER than you.

While passing rules and etiquette apply, you need to make that pass as quickly as possible. If you are closing that gap fast, make that pass without having to slow down. You loose time slowing down and then have to expend additional energy to accelerate around the rider. Be sportsmanlike but assertive with the slower rider and get it done. Then move on.
 
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