I have been very fortunate throughout the past few years and 2011 was yet another great year! Sarah and I were on a mission of achievements in which we accomplished them all. I started my venture in the cycling scene with an actual local cycling team, completing 1/2 of my administration internship and Sarah accomplished her goal of training and then running a FULL marathon. We also celebrated our 1yr anniversary in Philadelphia raising money for the LIVESTRONG foundation and riding 72 hilly miles with incredible individuals who were affected by cancer in some way… TOGETHER! It was a great year of support, trial and error along with completing things that at once seemed impossible. After riding 70 miles today and not feeling the greatest it was great to think that I am able to come home to a loving wife, I’m fortunate to have a good job, I’m able to live a comfortable life and able to do what I enjoy – I am thankful for everything and take nothing for granite! We are also very fortunate and look forward to our little one arriving in June…THOR2012! Only the best is yet to come!
As 2011 end… 2012 begins!!!
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Tour of the Battenkill 2012
Last night I logged onto the computer anxiously waiting for my spot to register for The Tour of the Battenkill 2012, which is scheduled for April 14th. When the clock hit 7, the bikereg website went blank until 7:08pm. That’s when it became available for me to sign up for one of the most epic races around our area. Last year I attempted this race and felt that I did quite well for being only my second race. This year I’m preparing harder and more consistent. I feel better than ever and I’m going into this race knowing that I’m sticking to a plan and doing everything that I possibly can to hopefully produce a decent result. Training has been fun and it’s only going to get better. Thanks to everyone who has helped me in this area!!! Tour of the Battenkill… April 14th, 2012…62 miles… 10:30am!
Filed under Cycling
Winter Training
Throughout the past 7 weekends I’ve been heading out to the Park Ave Fixie group ride located in Pittsford. This has been part of my winter training for the upcoming cycling season. I’m really trying to put in the time to hopefully get better results than last year. I’ve learned a ton and I’ve been feeling great. This is the first weekend of snow but luckily the roads south of Webster were clear and rideable. The previous 6 weekends have been absolutely perfect. Today I rode with teammate Eric to and from Webster and then our newest teammate Kenny met us there for the duration of the ride. I’ve also been riding my Cannondale Capo, which is an absolutely great bike!!! I’ve enjoyed riding this bike a ton!! It was also great day of riding – an averaged paced group, waiting for each other during flats, dropped chains and those being dropped on hills. Not a lot of yelling either – which is great! There are a lot of great cyclists out there training and it’s going to be an exciting 2012 season. Here are a couple of pics from today’s ride:
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2008 Cannondale Capo
Last night I won an intense bidding war for a 2008 Cannondale Capo. I’ve been looking for a fixie bike to train on outside during the winter months for a while. I’ve really only looked at the Specialized Langster but when I was talking to Rob he gave me the great advice to look into finding a Cannondale Capo. He also found one on ebay for me to watch and to eventually purchase. It’s a new old stock bike that hasn’t been ridden. I can’t wait to get it and ride it many many miles during the cold and snowy winter months. I’ll be back riding on a red Cannondale with my blue QCP kit. My 2007 has been tuned and will be nicely placed in the warm house on the trainer. Here’s a pic of the made in America 2008 Cannondale Capo:
Here’s some information about the Cannondale Capo
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End of the year QCP team ride
Last Sunday, team QCP (Shannon, Kevin, Bill, Dwight, Myself) gathered for a team ride around the Webster, Walworth, Palmyra areas. This was a year end gathering getting everyone together, which allowed us to talk cycling. It was great to ride with the sea of blue and talk about our future goals and interests. One of our teammates Eric Giehl wasn’t able to ride with us but was able to attend that after ride food fest. He’s out riding in cyclocross races and is doing quite well. He’s already placed 2nd in a race in which I believe was only his second race ever. After the ride we relaxed for a bit, ate some food and then talked more about the upcoming season. I believe that we have great goals and everyone one wants the same thing – WINS!!! Even though I really hate our winters, I’m getting excited for those Saturday and Sunday winter fixie rides. It’s quite the accomplishment to ride 60-70 miles during the dreadful winter months. Now I just have to find a fixie 
or it’s back to the trusty caad8. Here’s a map of our team QCP ride:
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Cycling Season 2011 in Review
This year included 14 events and races, which resulted in many, many miles and hours on the bike. I was able to be included on a great team – Quality Care Pharmacies Cycling team – which included great teammates. It was a very different season, which included a lot of events but a season of enjoyment, making new friends and learning tons. I’m planning on taking some time to just enjoy the sport and the rest of our weather, going to some CX races with my love and our Dunkin/Starbucks coffee, cheering on friends while wearing stinkin’ sweatshirts and pants, taking the month of October off of the bike completely and then focusing on the 2012 season.
Thanks again as always to my wife for her support and for being my biggest fan and to Shannon for being a great friend and the mastermind behind our team. I’d also like to thank those who have helped me this year in this sport and have been open with giving me advice. This really makes a difference and I wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about this sport if it weren’t for you guys. If you’ve been in the sport for a while and belong to a team, it really impacts a newbie cyclist when a simple “Hi” is said to them, whether on the Latte or though a tweet. This might also bring up conversations on how to make rides and events safer; teaching those who are not as experienced. I’ve learned a ton and I’m very thankful for the guidance of our areas own mtnjet and rouge_rob – thanks guys!!!
As far as the year of 2012 – Gotta put in the work to get the result!! I typed a blurb underneath each pic but you have to click on the pic to see it but the pics below show my 2011 cycling year in review.
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LIVESTRONG Philly Challenge pt2
After each of my rides I really enjoy looking at the data my Garmin provides. The Garmin 500 is well worth the money and hopefully one of these days I’ll be able to add some sort of power meter to the data analysis. Anyways, here’s more information about the 70 mile LIVESTRONG ride. According to the LIVESTRONG website, the total climbing elevation for the 70 mile course is 2,702 feet. My Garmin stated that we had a total elevation of 4662 ft. It’s still hard to believe that it’s over and very glad that we were able to complete our course due to the severe weather. Some of the information is provided below:
LIVESTRONG Philly 2011
This time last year Sarah and I were getting married and headed off to the Playa del Carmen for our honeymoon. It’s been a great year and has surely gone by fast. We made it our goal to raise money and to participate in the LIVESTRONG event in Philly the following year. Sarah and I are very fortunate to have found each other and very fortunate to have great friends like Shannon and Carrie. Shannon had been cured from cancer for 6 years and has defeated cancer twice. Their story is quite inspiring!!! Another friend and cycling partner that was affected by cancer is teammate Kevin Hill and his wife Kathy Hill. Another inspiring couple who were both affected by this deadly disease. Sarah and I also have other friends and family members who in some way was affected by cancer. Knowing all this, there really wasn’t any other place to celebrate our 1st year anniversary other than with our great friends and raising money for the LIVESTRONG event. Sarah and I raised a total of $1085 which is amazing!! We both would like to say THANK YOU for your generous donations and we are very grateful. We also know that it can be annoying to see numerous FB and twitter postings along with being emailed numerous times about donating. We would like to THANK YOU for your patience during this time and your willingness to fathom the idea of donating. There are a lot of great causes and a lot of people asking for donations during times of financial stress. So it means a lot to the both of us that we were able to go above and beyond our goal.
Our group that went to LIVESTRONG Philly included myself and my wife, Shannon and Carrie along with Kevin Hill. As a team we were able to raise $6070, with Kevin raising $4020 of that total. We started our trip early Saturday morning hoping to get there in time to get our packets. The night before they had to cancel the packet pickup due to thunderstorms. We made great time and was able to see a lot of the festivities going on before it closed Saturday, along with being able to get our packets. After experiencing the LIVESTRONG festivities we headed out to find our hotel – Homewood Suites. This was a beautiful hotel found by Shannon at an inexpensive price. We were too early to check into our rooms so we went to get some lunch at a great pizza place. Once our rooms were ready we relaxed for a bit and then went looking for some pasta. We found a great place that filled our appetites. It was now time to get some rest and then wake up for the event we have been waiting for – LIVESTRONG Philly.
I woke up around 4:30, not really being able to sleep and just excited about the day. Everyone was gathered and ready by 6:15 and we drove to the event. Traffic wasn’t that bad and we were able to find a great parking spot. After getting on our gear, filling up our water bottles, checking our tires we were then ready to ride. The event was set to start around 7:30am and was suggested to be at the start line by 7:15am. We took some pics and then divided off into our mileage categories. Kevin was riding the 100, Sarah and I were riding the 70 and Shannon and Carrie were riding the 45. Kevin was supposed to leave before us but for some reason they were mixing the 100 and 70 together. Kevin ended up catching us and then missing the cut for the 100 mile, which is very unfortunate but in the end seemed to be for the best. We rode with Carrie and Shannon for a while and then Sarah and I were spit off to ride the 70. I highly dislike driving through the state of Pennsylvania because of all the hills but I really enjoyed cycling through this state. Sarah has never ridden 70 before, especially with such elevation gain. The website stated that the elevation gain was around 2600+ft and my Garmin stated that it was more like 4600+ft. This has been the second time that the website providing the information was wrong. We ended up riding the 70 mile course together, enjoying 2 of the 7 power stops, riding through rain and various climbs. The views were very scenic and at times picturesque. We rode the last 5 miles in pouring rain, which stopped at the last mile. We headed towards the finish together, completing our goal together. This is probably my 14th event since April and is definitely my most favorite. It’s fun riding and racing but it’s different when your riding with a cause and especially with the one you love. Sarah and I were both able to get off our gear and pack up before the rain started again. The ride ended with having torrential downpours with lightening strikes around the area. As we headed home we actually observed transformers being blown with riders who were completing the event right below them . Hopefully the SAG wagons were picking up these poor individuals because it was extremely unsafe to be on the road at that time. Having said this, Kevin would have still been out there if he was able to ride the entire 100 mile so it was a good thing that he missed the cut off by 3 minutes. We definitely would have went to pick him up. It was a bummer that we didn’t get to enjoy the after event festivities but we were glad that we were able to complete the event.
It was a great weekend and we’ll remember this one forever. There are pics in the photos section. Thanks again for your support and to those who donated. This is a great cause and your donations are helping individuals affected with this deadly disease.
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Tour of the Catskills – Assault on Devil’s Kitchen
Yesterday, some members of the Quality Care Pharmacies cycling team headed out to the Catskills to expereince the Devil’s Kitchen. Throughout the year we’ve heard and watched video on the difficulty of this race. Everything everyone said was true! Teammates Shannon Case, Eric Giehl, Kevin Hill, Ryan Braeger along with myself headed out to experience this tough race. It was a great road trip which also included my love Sarah. We left late Friday afternoon and ended up getting there around 9:30pm. By the time we were able to get situated and to bed it ended up being around 11pm. The day itself was long because it involved our schools first ever 5k event, which ended up being perfect! We stayed at the Swiss Chalet located in Tannersville, which was right around the corner from the start line.
The following morning our team had a nice breakfast at a Diner. We were all excited and had our own little strategies. After breakfast we went to pick up our bib number but were a little too early. It was great being able to go back to our hotel to get changed and then ride out from there. It was now race time! We finally got our bib numbers and it was just a waiting game until it was our turn to head off for a grueling 65 miles. I wasn’t really nervous because during the month of July I prepared myself the best I could for this race. I had no idea what to expect and was just going to do the best I could. I really thought though that I could be in the top 10. The first 20 miles were great and I was right up front within the first 5-7 riders. My plan was to stay right there until the Devil’s kitchen and then see what I can do when I get there. When I just about got to the top of the first KOM I felt a huge knot in my left hamstring. My left just gave out and I just had to spin it out. It was the weirdest feeling that I have ever had because I have never cramped. My legs are usually the last things to ever give me problems, so I was kind of nervous. As the peloton faded away I was quite disappointed, but now I just had to survive what was going on and finish this race. I was able to catch up with another group of 8-9 riders and hung in with them until the Devil’s Kitchen. During this time my legs felt good again and I drank just about all I had for liquid. I left a half of water bottle for the remaining of the race. As were going around turns I can feel the roads just increasing in elevation and when I looked down at at my mileage it read 57.2 – I thought to myself “ok, here we go, it’s time to experience what we’ve heard about for the past year – Devil’s Kitchen”. As we went around another bend there it was – Devil’s Kitchen. It was the most amazing climb that I have ever experienced. I began my venture up this climb, just thinking to myself that I need to pace and just get through it. I was able to get through about half way and then yet again my leg just cramps up and wouldn’t move. It felt like someone punched my hamstring and then injected a golf ball into it. I had to get off my bike and I just stood there until it went away. I was crushed that I had to stop and my group continued up the hill. I drank what I had left, gathered myself and walked up this climb. I have never walked up a hill until I rode the Devil’s Kitchen – it defeated me. My walk seemed as if it took forever and then other muscles started cramping. My calves tightened up, my rib cage area was intense at times. I was really contemplating whether or not I can finish. I just kept walk and thought to myself – Sarah is at the finish and I know that she wants me to finish. I didn’t want to worry her so I just kept walking. I finally made it to the top and at this point I was unsure that my legs were able to pedal anymore. There were only 4 miles left but they seemed like 60. My body was just done but my mind was determined to make it to the finish to see Sarah there taking my picture. The rest of the ride was absolutely horrible. I coasted down all of the hills and then just spun up the remaining hills. I made it to the turn and then saw the finish and just focused to find my wife. I saw her and she was right there – taking my picture. This race was now over and I was relieved. I needed water immediately and just stood there for quite a while. It started to rain, which felt good for the moment but was a hassle because it was getting everything wet. I was just so grateful I had my wife there with me.
My Garmin said that I the elevation gain was 4,872 feet, which is much more than the course map stated, with a total distance of 65.39 miles.
On a good note, the teammates that we had there really helped each other out. Eric Giehl had a very respectable 14th place finish and rode a great race. Ryan Braeger and Kevin Hill finished this monster of a race and Shannon Case gave everything. This was a great experience and those riders who race the three day event – AMAZING!!! Especially the Pro’s 1, 2. They are just amazing riders and I’m lucky to know one of them – Brendan Housler. We stayed for the finish of his race and Team BikeReg took 1, 2, 3. I was waiting for mtnjet to head for the finish because I knew he’d be right there. I few groups went through and then here he comes heading for the finish, except his kit was destroyed. He tweeted that a MOTO took him out making him crash after he climbed the Devil’s Kitchen. He looked pretty beat up but he was able to finish the race with one of the groups. This was amazing to me because his bike was messed up, his kit was torn up but he still finished with one of the main groups. He’s also racing today, which involves more climbing. Cyclists are not given enough respect and after I witnessed the Devil’s Kitchen, Housler finishing with a main group while crashing because of the MOTO and then heading out today for more climbing – it’s just unbelievable and hopefully someday I’ll be able to complete a three day stage race at the Tour of the Catskills. Pics are in the photos section…
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NYS TT Championship.. it’s tt helmet time
Today Team QCP headed out to compete in the NYS TT Championship. This was a race where I was just going to go, check things out and support my team – not race! Instead I decided to give it a try and race with a road bike. This was a no joke race and being a championship, people were all business. Time trial bikes, helmets, disks, aero wheels, skin suits and more. I tried this event with my road bike and road gear – I guess that it’s the effort that counts. The course was changed this year due to chip seal, so went to the course used back in 2003. It was flat, with very little climbing but the challenge was the wind. It seemed to change directions and it was in my face the entire time. I ended up with a disappointing time for a 40k, which was 1:07:30 but when I looked at my Garmin and my data it showed that my average heart rate was 183 and an average speed of 22mph. During a TT I typically range from 175-180avg, so this was quite high for me. At least it wasn’t down in the 160′s low 170′s because then I would be even more disappointed. The quick road trip that Braeger and I took was fun and I’m glad that I was able to experience it. I do enjoy pushing myself for and extended length of time but I’m thinking though that I might skip the TT’s from now on or until I figure something out about getting more aero. Teammates Ryan Braeger, Shannon Case and Kevin Hill did quite well in their 20k and showed great efforts. It was a long drive to Owego, NY, disappointing results but I was able to see some great TT’ing. Up next… Tour of the Catskills and the Devils Kitchen Road Race – lots of climbing!
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