Discharge!

After 4 years of active duty service and 4 years of inactive service in the Army I have finally received my honorable Discharge. Many dudes I served with got yanked back, and a few made the ultimate sacrifice. For those who are still serving I salute you!

Recovery........

The Sky Is puking snow right now, and as much as I would like to be tearing it up on the mountain bike Friel has ordered me to rest.......so after a little spin on the trainer for some active recovery its to time to indulge......

On a Long and Lonesome Highway, West of Emmaus

Yeah... I Iike the Metallica version.....After completeing my saturday morning ritual of drinking massive amounts coffee, i began to apply the layers for a February Road ride...
I left the house at 10 with plans of riding up to Emmaus to meet Dan and Company at South Mountain Cycles for a road ride. As I made my way down my street I linked up with two riders, from the neighborhood that I have never met before. We chatted it up for a bit and I told them of my plans to meet Dan at SMC, Jacob asked if he could tag along, Sure no problem.

Jacob was pretty much a pure roadie and could really put the hammer down, we made our way up Rte 29 and 27 Miles later we were at South Mountain Cycles. We rode the Powder Valley loop and in between some of the big climbs I got to chat it up with Some people that I hadn't had the oppurtunity to talk too. Jacob linked up with John and they talked about some roadie geek stuff. It seemed like worlds were coming together today. After the group ride was finshed, we headed back home. Taylor gave us a much better route for the way home. It was way more scenic, had way more climbing and was loaded with Zen. Zen and pain, Jacob really turned the screws on me. It was 35 degrees and I was sweating like a hoar in church. After 5 hours and 45 minutes of riding we hit the intersection where we met and went our seperate ways......now its time for some beer.

Early Season Race Schedule

Milestones for March, April and May.

11 March Camp Hilbert 5 Hour Race VA
21 April Leesburg Bakers Dozen 13 Hour Race VA
29 April Greenbrier Challenge Marathon MD
06 May Michaux Maximus 50 Miler PA
13 May French Creek XC PA
20 May Granouge Marathon DE

Early Dismissal

I got some looks from the neighbors today, its not too often that I get to ride in daylight midweek, but we were released from work due to the dangerous driving conditions.


I got home and jumped on the bike, the roads by my house were clear but as I got closer to the farms it turned out none of the roads were plowed which added to the fun and intensity of the workout. Prior to leaving I suited up with some wool socks, chemical toe warmers, my sidi shoes and two pairs of outer booties. The wind was blowing something fierce as I passed the corn fields.

I headed down to Spring Mountain where the lifts were turning and the locals were enjoying some of the goods, I started to head back to the house, as I made my way up a hill a guy shoveling his drive way cheered out load and yelled " all right yeah man dedication woo hoo!" I guess he must be a rider also. Time to drink some well deserved cheap Canadian beer with a side of bacon.

2007 Training Plan:Drinking Beer and Single Speeding

Im begining my second year of Racing and I pretty much threw the Mountian Bikers Training Bible and my Heart rate monitor out the window....actually I just can't seem to find the heart rate monitor, so i need to buy a new one. My strategy is to make training as enjoyable as possible, so Instead of freezing my ass of on the road I have been putting in high volume on the dirt, mostly on the single speed.

Ive been on the Single speed for 5 months now, all dirt miles have been without gears. It seems to be working out well. Today was the first day i busted out my geared race bike. What a wild feeling going back to the gears. My latest aquistion is picutred above.