tnr, the pics

A great ride this evening. A. Great. Ride.

Count 'em...15 riders converged on Cleversburg for the biggest Tuesday Night Race yet.

(Actually, don't count heads in those pictures. We're missing a few heads...and we had three that showed up a little late.)

Shout outs to:

(students)
ryan
chop
conroy
cody
jon
miller
joe (had to bail early for class...darn professors)
(quasi-students)
aaron
(non-students)
eric
josef (both gettysburg college profs)
dan
dr tom
andy
m. gallagher
rider big e
& goat

the break

the chase

the aaron

more chasers

a lone warrior

Thanks y'all for coming out to ride. It was beautiful weather and a great time. Next week...same time, same place.

Be there or get slower!

tnr 03.17.09

On tap today: The Tuesday Night Races (and temps in the mid 50s). Dee-light-full.

You know the drill. Ride starts at 5:30 pm at the corner of Airport and High...

(links to interactive map and map with explanation)

...four laps = 20 miles. Plus two sprint lines per lap. Five points for first, three points for second, one point for third. Awards (congratulatory fist bumps and SU Cycling blog bragging rights) for both the overall and points podiums.

If you're driving, you can park at Southhampton township park, about one mile directly west of the starting point on Airport Rd, at the corner of Airport and Neil. Easy access to the park from the Walnut Bottom Rd/north Shippensburg exit.

Please comment below if you've questions.

I expect 6-8 of the regular Shippensburg crew. Also, first timers Dan and Dr. Tom have confirmed for tomorrow. The Bateman boys should be there (I hope). M. Laser, M. Gallagher, and C. Woltemade have all been threatening to attend. And will this be the week that the Gettysburg College folks accept our invitation? If YOU (you, the person reading this) come, we could easily have a crew of upwards of 15 riders. Which would be great.

Come support the SU crew. They need to train with you to get fast. (And training with them will make you fast.)

Ride to Big E's

I went out and climbed Big Flat Sunday on a whim... since I missed the Saturday morning ride (which from the pictures, looked awesome). Anyways, I got bored and figured out the elevation and distances for the ride.

It starts from Earl Street (Old Main) and follows King to Queen, Up South Mountain (Big Flat), Down the other side, ~ to Big E's crib, then back the same way.

So if anyone climbs and comes back up the other side, this is what you do.... if anyone cares.

Have Fun, Can't wait to see the crew tomorrow night at the Tues. Night Races!

btogs, a photo shoot

Some of the team was out being noble, helping with the spring clean up at the King's Gap Environmental Education dealy.

The rest of us went for a ride.

The weather wasn't as awesome as I'd hoped, but no rain and no wind, so it's hard to complain.

The crew, posing for their individual photo shoots.

(The cameraman will remain annoynomous...he may or many not have been there. Nothing can be proved.)

Route: Shippensburg to King's Gap via Walnut Bottom and Pine Roads. From King's Gap to Mt. Holly Springs, around the northeast corner of Michaux and then back again on Pine Grove Furnace Road. Over Big Flat on Shippensburg Road then back into town.

Around 60 miles total. Three plus hours ride time.

Next Saturday, University of Delware's Blue Hen Dual State Showdown in Newark, Delaware.

btogs -- 03.14.09

Saturday btogs at 9am. Around 3 hours. Casual pace, but there will be come climbing. Shoot me a note (or text) if you plan on coming and want us to wait.

Meet at the goat farm (116 w king st, shippensburg).

Late Night Boredom

I just spent the last 20 minutes playing around in Photoshop. Joe I will get one of you tomorrow but I'm to tired right now. I'll be putting up all my shots on the yahoo group folder thingy like Cody did. Sometimes I feel like doing a good solo ride, I busted down Queen Street today and climbed that mountain, Big Flat, South Mountain or whatever. I love climbing it, the ride down is always the worst part, due to the cold. I was pretty buzzed at the top but it was good. I tore down and back to ship all in time to make dinner with my girlfriend. I'll be in West Virginia this weekend doing some hiking and tennis so my next ride won't be until Monday.

The Bicycle Advocacy Ode

I (well Jon) found this in his '09' Cannondale catalog and I thought it would be fun to share. I thought it was ironic that I found this as I am thinking of making an old steel frame I have into a single speed for around town. (project delayed due to lack of funds though...)

The Bicycle Advocacy Ode:

Ride a bike. Ride a good one. Pick your route to work, school, or to the grocery store. Skim quietly past the bored multitudes stuck inside tin coffins on the expressway during rush hour. Ride along the street, waving to pedestrians and grinning wildly with the pleasure of riding a bicycle. Remember that Einstein thought of the Theory of Relativity while riding his bicycle. Get on a bike instead of sitting on a sofa at home, stuffing your face with fried foods and farting while watching soul-killing shows about amateurs singing badly. Ride your bicycle for the good of the planet, using it for transportation and recreation. Ride your way to freedom from high oil prices. Ride for self-reliance. Ride Your Bike.

(One depressing thing, Einstein thought of his Theory of Relativity in 1916, and he was not on a bicycle. I just watched an Einstein special on the History Channel today, and It was much later at a different University in Europe where he was seen riding his bike a lot around campus). Oh well....

Big Flat Climb

Well I wasn't able to stay for tonight's TNR as much as I wanted too, especially with some of our special guests Ex:Ryan, ha ha. At least me and Matt were able to climb up big flat to the top and then made our way back down to the valley so Matt could stay for the race.

And here is the true riders from tonights TNR, I took the picture so I wasnt in it.

tnr 03.10.09

I guess the dark skies scared a few off, but too bad for them...the six of us enjoyed dry roads, pleasant weather, and some lung-burning, attack-filled racing. Good stuff.

Here's the crew (Joe showed up for the photo shoot then flew the coop):

Congrats to first-timer Ryan (horn-diggity-dog).

I think we've had a total of nine (maybe 10?) riders at the tuesday night races. Now, if we can just get them all out on the same day. But what's up with all the no-shows? The time changed, but your attendance status didn't... I had verbal commitments from SEVEN riders that didn't show. You know who you are...

...

Somehow it turns out Jon and I are the only ones to finish the four laps each week (well, Cody usually does, but today had bad luck with a cleat, so had to throw in the towel early). Here's a couple of shots of Jon coming in with a strong finish:

(Jon, too fast for the camera...)

ECCC Opening Weekend

OK, Race Report for the Rutgers/Princeton races this past weekend.

We had four strong riders attend the opening of the ECCC race season, we had Jon, Matt, Cody, and Joe. First off I want to say how impressed I was with our accomplishments this weekend, I for one didn't think I had it in myself to complete 3 races in 2 days. For the ITT Men's D race with 122 riders we had Matt with 82nd, Joe with 84th, and Cody with 88th. For Men's C, sorry Jon I forget what exactly you placed but I think it was 40-something. The next race on Saturday, the Men's Crit: Jon raced the Men's C2 (45 racers) pulling in 4th place!!!, for Men's D2 (64 racers) , we had Matt with 14th, Joe with 40th, and Cody 46th. Then finally for the last day the road race circuit, for Men's D2 (52 racers) we had Matt at 28th, Joe at 35th and Cody at 39th. I think we can all walk away this weekend happy with what we did. We can also be glad that no one wrecked, even though we saw our fair share of them for one weekend, and the bikes held up with no problems during the races, except Cody right before the Crit with a wheel/spoke failure. I am excited for the rest of the season to see how we all do and cant wait to get some more time in the saddle....Dr. Goats, you where right...I got hooked.

"Tour of Marysville / Perry County"

Today Chop and I went out for a long and great ride. I have to say, it was a lot of fun! Beautiful day, Chop had a great route with a bit of everything: 3-4 short (but decently steep) climbs, big rolling hills, and some flats. We did 47.5 miles, about 3 hours, and averaged about 16.3 mph. It was good, long and hard enough to get a good work out, but not enough to wear us out for the weekend. I also taught Chop the "Sign" game that Jon and I play every once in a while. (someone yells Sign, the everyone around sprints to the next big road sign).

Pictures will be posted as soon as I get my photo uploading stuff that I left at Ship.

I did learn something today, don't get the Strawberry-Banana Gel Packs. They taste like bad melted rock candy. Chop said the Vanilla isn't to bad, I might invest.

Also, I have a bad habit of coming home after a ride, not stretching, getting a shower, and not eating anything for a long while (Jon yells at me, a lot). Well today I had a protein bar, pork, Chocolate Milk, and Oatmeal and Stretched out well. Also just had a Peanut Butter Milkshake and Steak For dinner. Feeling Good!

Hope everyone is having a good break! See ya'll soon.

Navy Crit. Pictures

Sorry for the delay... there's more pictures of Jon because he was too lazy to take pictures of us. ha ha, jk

D Start / Race

C Start / Race

And Jon's stellar finish.... Mr. I'm too good to sprint the whole way to the finish. ha ha.

Bad Gravel

My friend and I decided to do a nice hour and a half ride today. It was nice to ride in Johnstown again but the roads are covered in gravel. We were cruising on a flat section and decided to pick up the pace, we then made a hard left to start a 1000 ft climb. Unfortunately, I didn't make it around the corner. I went down hard fast going about 25 and did a beautiful slide on my left side with my bike floating on top of me. I jumped up thinking more about my bike but everything looked fine. I think my body protected it, no scratches just a scuffed pedal and bent brake. My Ship bibs survived without tearing but my elbow didn't fair as well. After 10 minites of good strecthing and some yelling at the road we started the climb. My elbow is cut up pretty good, my hip isn't cut but it bruised quite nicely. I'll spin a little tomorrow and see how it feels. I'm just hopeing it won't hinder my performence this weekend. I can't look bad in the season opener.

http://www.velonews.com/article/88926/police-name-zabriskie-burglary-suspect

Pre-Season / Navy Crit

Results can be found here at http://www.acccyling.com/results. Cody, Joe, Chop and I headed out at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning. I think we all had a good time and it was an excellent first race of the season. Hopefully Cody will upload some pictures of the race. I went out and bought a camera today so I can take some more picutres of everyone who dosen't race in my category. I came in fourth place in my race and I was extremely pleased with the results. I feel like I have improved a lot over the last couple of months and was hoping for a result like this. I messed up the sprint at the end and lost third place in the final few feet, I won't make that mistake again. The course was actually a lot of fun to race and half the course was right on the river. I'm already looking forward to next week but doubt I will be riding to much outside for the next couple of days due to the cold.

Got my first race under my belt today....Time to get ready for the next!!!

The Art of Multitasking...

I know Chop has been training like crazy indoors on the trainer, but with the little time I have, I have to improvise and do multiple things at once sometimes... here is an example from the other night:Yes, I was... 1. spinning, 2. studying Accounting, 3. Watching UFC fightnight on tv, 4. and at one point I was on the phone...

The Art of Multitasking!

Getting Fast

Today was another good ride and my last good ride until our first race Saturday. I'm pretty excited to see how our training has prepared us compared to the other schools. Its kind of sad that it came in January but I believe I have biked more outside this month than any month in my short two or so years on the bike. I will be over 400 miles for the month which I'm pleased about. I will hopefully break this record several more times this season. Big E, Cody, Matt, Andy and myself went on a great 50 miler last Saturday. It was a superb ride with three good climbs, Big E and I duked it out on each climb. Hopefully the next free Saturday we have more people will come out.

tnr 02.17.09

We had an impressive crew out yesterday...six riders, a new course record. (And if we count the one Mennonite girl and the dude in the red jacket that were sort of riding the course with us I suppose we can say we had eight.)

Congratulations to first-timer Conroy.

...

Yearbook photos last night. Stay tuned for pics. You'll see them here first.

...

TNR tomorrow looks like a go. It'll be cold (about like yesterday), but with a bit of wind.

...

Finally, it looks like the plan for Saturday btogs is 1pm at my house (116 w king st), subject to weather conditions.

I'm thinking Big Flat, Pine Grove Furnace Rd., 233 north back over the mountain, then back to Ship along Pine and Walnut Bottom Roads. Total mileage should be around 45 miles.

But again, all this depends on weather conditions.

tnr

The weather looks great for the tuesday night races tomorrow. Of course, "great" is relative...but I'd say around 35 degrees with clear skies and a very mild wind is great for mid-February in south-central. Especially compared to this:


Remember, the ride starts at 4:30 (meet at the corner of High and Airport). We loop-the-loop for about an hour. If you get there late it's fine...ride the course backwards until you catch us coming around.

Tell your mom and bring your friends. Worried about cold toes? No more excuses.

btogs 02.14.09

Yesterday:


BTOGS took us out Roxbury, and then towards Timmons Gap to Lower Horse Valley Road. Back over the Upper Strausburg climb then in to Shippensburg. Four of us continued another 50 minutes or so in a loop through Mainsville, Cleversville.

With six riders, yesterday ties (three-way) with the most riders at a Saturday BTOGS. If everyone who has ever come were to come, we'd have 11.

Next week, let's shoot for 10.

Great Ride, Legs Burnin, Feet Warm

The ride this morning was awesome. It had felt great to get out and ride as a big group. I got my but kicked but it fells great. My legs will be burnin into early next week I am feelin it. Thanks to everyone for comin out and ridin. I think the course goates took us on was a great oppurtunity to climb, challenge ourselves and just ride hard. My feet stayed warm today for the first time thanks to Goates innovation. I will post some pics of these miraculous shoe covers. It was so cheap that is always key, and it was easy and worked pretty well. Take a pair of thick socks. put them over your shoes and cut out the clip. Awesome. I think we will have some strong racers this season, things are lookin good.

For Dr. Goates

I was wrapping my handlebars with new tape and I thought of Dr. Goates and his Vanderbilt colors and Kit yesterday. I couldn't resist... as awesome as that looks though, I didn't leave it like that, sorry.

Versus Tour of California Coverage

Found this on Velonews today....

Versus' on-air schedule for the Amgen Tour of California:
February 14 Prologue - Sacramento (live/same-day delay) 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT)
February 15 Stage 1, Davis to Santa Rosa (live) 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT)
February 16 Stage 2, Sausalito to Santa Cruz (live) 12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT)
February 17 Stage 3, San Jose to Modesto (live) 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT)
February 18 Stage 4, Merced to Clovis (live) 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT)
February 19 Stage 5, Visalia to Paso Robles (live) 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT)
February 20 Stage 6, Solvang time trial (live) 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT)

tnr 02.03.09

Cody, laying it all out for a strong finish.

Tuesday / Thursday Race Simulations

Just a quick post, I went to ride on my trainer tonight and I blew my back tire off. Not exactly sure what happened but it scared me so bad I couldn't get mad. Anyways, the point of the story is I did one of my standard 35 minute treadmill hill workouts instead and felt the strongest I've felt in a long time. I would have to say that I always feel that biking helps my running more than running ever helps my biking. More importantly, though its only been a week and only two days of getting my butt dragged around by Dr. Goates that these race simulation things are already having an impact on me (I also lost 5 pounds, boo). Sooooooo, I think more people should try to get out to these things. This week does not look good but I'll be spinning inside instead, if anyone would like to join me let me know.

(In case you want any Lance or Astana backgrounds to remind you cycling is fun)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trekbikesusa/

I Love Riding, Hate Flats

I went out yesterday for a ride with no plan of time, distance or direction, those usually end up being the best rides for me. The weather was great it was roughly 35 to 45 degrees, the sun was shining. That always makes everything super perfect. I was warm everywhere except my feet, I need to invest in a pair of those thermal shoe cover things. Needless to say from my title I encountered a few problems with riders favorite friend the flat tire. Not only did I manage to experience one flat, but two flats in a matter of a half hour and about 8 or 10 miles. I ran out of tubes after my first flat forcing me to ask a farmer for a ride to Merv's Bike Shop. That worked out well, I had Merv fix my flat and give me a quick tune up. I continued to ride, after I was all fixed up, for another 12 or 15 miles. All and all it was a great ride about 27 or 28 miles, beautiful day and good workout.

mabra...and good deals on used gear

There's a link to the MABRA (mid-atlantic bicycle racing association) website on the right-side column of this blog, but you may not be aware that there is also a MABRA listserv. Subscribing to the listserv is helpful to get a general feel for what's going on, to ask questions, and for finding deals on used equipment.

For instance, just today I got a email advertizing an 58cm '05 Cannondale CAAD 8 (frame, fork, stem) and a 58cm LeMond Alpe D'Huez (frame, fork, bottom bracket, headset), each for just $200. That'd be a good deal for anyone looking to upgrade their ride...or build a road bike on the cheap.

The list is hosted by googlegroups. To join, I think all you have to do is send an email to the following:

mabra-uscf-subscribe@googlegroups.com

Or you can go to googlegroups and search for "mabra-uscf."

tnr #2 -- special thursday edition

We again had four riders (but not exactly the same four) out to enjoy the balmy 40 degree weather and the day's last sunshine for four laps around our Cleversburg training course.

Jon and my race ended in a two-up sprint that was decided by mere inches. Good stuff.

Provided it doesn't snow that day, join us Tuesday for round three! (And when I say everyone is welcome, I mean it. You don't have to be a student--or at all fast--to come and play.)

tnr #1

How cold? Twenty degrees. At 4:15. Probably five degrees lower at 5:30.

Whoa.

There was a bit of a mix-up on the route (Cody & Matthew, sorry about that), but I think everything worked out in the end. We'll get it straight next time.

All y'all are studs for braving the weather.

...

tnr #2 on a special night, Thursday, January 22, 4pm. (I think we're going to try to run these twice a week until the racing starts.)

Temps forecast to peak a whooping five degrees above freezing. Come out and play!

MtBing

I would like to get a consensus to see if anyone would be interested in a weekly Mountain Bike Ride, I know some have Mt Bikes and some don't. Anyone have an interest?????

Some New Things and Dates!

Don't Forget: Tues Jan. 20th, 4pm is the first Night Crit Race

Thursday 22nd, we were thinking of all meeting at Knutes @ 7pm to hang out, eat, talk about some possible racing or group rides around ship.

Wed Jan. 28th We had discussed a Ski Trip night. Wednesdays at Ski Roundtop, White Tail, or Liberty are $30 College Student Night (including rental).


April 2nd: 2009-2010 Officer Elections

When it warms up JUST a bit, we were going to have the Friday afternoon rides w/ Dr. Goates and Long Saturday rides again.

I think it's too cold for a ride but I would be up for Hiking or something this Saturday morning if anyone is interested and wants to brave the chill??? We would have to be back by like 12:30 though. (Sunrise for Sat: 7:27am)

a 2009 race calendar

The official ACCC schedule (remember, we're in the ECCC, but it's okay to do races in either conference):

Feb 14-15 North Carolina State University
Feb 21-22 Pfeiffer University
Feb 28-Mar 1 United States Naval Academy
Mar 7-8 College of William & Mary
Mar 14-15 University of Maryland/John Hopkins University
Mar 21-22 West Virginia University
Mar 28-29 James Madison University/University of Virginia
Apr 4-5 Virginia Tech
Apr 11-12 (Easter) Appalachian State University
Apr 18-19 AC Conference Champs-Wake Forest University

The first two races (both in North Carolina) are likely too far for anyone to want to travel to. However, the Naval Academy weekend race (Feb 28 - Mar 1) is close and should be our first team race (unless there's a better option of which I'm unaware).

The ECCC schedule.

As Cody suggested, we need to get together and hammer out a team schedule--the races we want to focus on as a team. This is important not only for a training and a competitive standpoint, but also so that we use our (limited) funds most efficiently.

Here's a tentative schedule, based only on which races are the closest to Ship:

feb 28 - mar 1: (accc) naval academy

march 7 - 8: (eccc) princeton / rutgers

march 14 - 15: (accc) u. of maryland / john hopkins

march 21-22: (eccc) u. of delaware

march 28-29: (eccc) philly phlyer

The next four weekends the races are much further away...and it's also when the local amateur races will start up. So...all y'all will have to decide if it's worth it to drive for the collegiate experience (and if you're competitive in the points standings or have a chance at nationals, it may be worth it) or if you just want to race and keep it closer to home.

april 4-5: (This weekend you've got West Point (eccc) and Virginia Tech (accc), both about the same distance apart, but both about four hours away. You also have the Philly Two-Day (USCF) this weekend.)

april 11-12: (This weekend you've got Yale (eccc) and Applation State (accc), which are both even further away. There's also a USCF race in Lancaster Co.)

april 18-19: (X-Pot in Boston (eccc) and accc conference championships at Wake Forest...even further away than the previous week. Another USCF in Lancaster Co.)

april 25-26 (eccc) Dartmouth (Also the Tour de Ephrata, a two-day, three-stage race near Ephrata, PA)

And, finally, one we'll all want to go to for sure:

may 2-3: (eccc) Nitany Classic at State College...eccc conference championship

Meeting and Races...

We should have a fun get together meeting sometime and see what races people want to do this year. I'm pumped for the season and if we have a good number of people go to the races... we have a chance to do really well. The more people helping you out, the better!

Anyone interested in going to the X-Pot 3D Race at MIT in Boston? That's the furthest I think I'm going...

Plus, thanks to Jon Marshall and his big mouth, we have to compete against IUP (who hate us now, ha ha)

Heart Rate Moniter

Today on Woot, is the same heart rate monitor I bought off the site last year. If your interested in getting one for training or to at least add another number to look at while biking or running its a great deal. I was never sure how accurate it was but it produced the same results as the more expensive one I used in the exercise science dept.

I think the tuesday night rides are a great idea to prepare us all for the intensity of racing that we will need to get confortable with. I'm already getting excited about doing some serious training to prepare for the collegiate season. I've picked up my training a bit in the past two weeks but I'd like to do so even more once I get back to school.