Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling powered by Pathfinder

Mayfield Road- Didn't expect that climb!

2012-01-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

I recently posted this on my personal blog, but figure it's belongs here too!

I wanted to ride from home today, and I haven't actually done that since we moved to the new place. So I mapped out a route, and decided to take my CX bike over to brookhaven, and then over to Tyrone Rd, and then across Mayfield Rd to Snake hill rd and then back around to our place. I had a 24 mile route mapped out, and I figured at an easy "January" pace, it would take me a little less than 2 hours. Base training right?

I headed out the door into the very sunny 45 degree weather at about 3:15. As you can see from the graph below...that didn't really happen- I only made it 15 miles before I decided to call it quits and head back to the trainer...

This is why. Mayfield Rd...you kicked my butt! How am I so tired after only biking 15 miles!!!

I'll tell you why: I didn't expect the 3.5 miles of climbing, where I reached over 2300ft and a net climb of 1100ft+ in 3.5 miles!!! Not to mention the Garmin told me I hit 35%+ grade more than once...And it wasn't paved, or even dirt: it was rutted, ice covered, sharp rock insanity- huge water holds, and shear rock to clamber up. Yes, I've done Tour of Tucker County (Loved it!), and I've climbed Whymps Gap probably a dozen times...and all the other climbs around Morgantown. But I was prepared for those...this one just came out of no where!

I didn't have to stop once, my Kenda Small Block 8 700x32 tires (pumped to 75psi) kept me rolling just fine; I only really started to slide on the ice once....Man do I love my CX bike! So although I wasn't really prepared to get my heart rate up to 180bpm+ so many times, I had a great little adventure right in my back yard.

It was a blast...even if I did need to come back and ride the trainer for another 40 minutes to get my 2 hours in. I am nice and tired now. But worth it...what a view! Very unexpected!

Training is like a hockey game... sometimes it's a fight, but its usually just about the goals

2012-01-20T22:29:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, the Facebook threads were buzzing about the fantastic Indian Fall weather we were having in January and this week, its blowing up with stories about ice, snow, and cold. We can't really complain since we have been blessed with unseasonably warm weather, but now that we are getting what should be the norm... well, its all to easy to shake our heads and find an excuse to stay on the couch.

Training Buddies

I could very easily fall into that trap, and that's why it is SO important to me to set realistic and achievable goals this time of year. My new years resolution is to ride EVERY road in Greene County PA and my goal for January is to get to 500 miles of riding and 100 miles of running. The running part seems a little easier because I can get out from work at lunch and get about 4-5 miles in, where the riding is usually on the trainer (which I find VERY difficult to get motivated for). Fortunately, Joel has been bringing his bike across the street and will ride alongside me while the Pens are on. Every little bit of motivation helps, even if its just knowing that you're not the only one suffering. On a few rare occasions, I've been treated to the companionship of Taylor. While she doesn't stick around for the full hour, she usually doesn't get dropped like Rick Plowman does.

This year I've also been using Strava to track my workouts and compare them with the workouts of some of my friends. If you aren't familiar with it, I suggest you give it a go. There is the option to pay for the site, but being the cheapskate that I am, I haven't taken that plunge yet and still feel that the site has been extremely helpful. Just knowing that other people are tracking your training progress (or lack there of) is sometimes all I need to get on the old reliable Cannondale go for a spin around the living room. Then again, sometimes it takes the motivation of a couple of cold Sam Adams in the cages where the Podium Chills are supposed to go.

2011 Spring Training Race #1

So far, I think I've picked the right fights and I am on target to meet my goals. I'm up to 27 miles running and 315 miles in the saddle for the year. The County Road Map is looking a little pale, but I'll color in some more roads this weekend and post a picture in the blogs to come. One thing is for certain though... I can't wait to join the rest of my teammates at the first of ABRA Training Races. Just think, its now only 58 days away.

Just to be clear, Mr. Roller you are not a close friend of mine.

2012-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

So where I live the weather has not been that great in January. If it's been raining then it’s been snowing. Needless to say I have been spending a lot of time on the rollers. I defiantly prefer riding rollers over the trainer since it feels more like actually being on the road to me. Plus, I manage to ride off the rollers about once every couple weeks while watching a virtual ride DVD or trying to stand up. I guess that keeps things a little interesting. Sometimes I get so bored that I see how long I can ride the rollers with no hands and I even play catch with my daughter while riding the rollers. Although I have a love / hate relationship with Mr. Roller I do love the banana flavored Honey Stinger gels. In fact, I enjoy them so much that sometimes I put them on my peanut butter sandwiches. I hope the rest of the team has been able to get outside more then I have. I am really looking forward to the weekend training camp in March and to be riding with the Dynamic Physical Therapy powered by Pathfinder cycling team in 2012.

Billy

I'm not really into racing....'

2012-01-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

About a year and half ago, Matt London, Mark Hasbani, and I were headed out for a quick ride down 218. For whatever reason, we altered our normal course and rode a little out of our way to hit 218 from a different access point. In the process, we bumped into another rider who was just coming back from a ride. We unclipped and chatted a few minutes, and it turns out it was Chris Clark, whom I had gone to high school with many years ago. We caught up and shared a few cycling stories. He was primarily a mountain biker but also logged a few road miles on his Specialized Langster. He mentioned something about some Thursday Night Pedal For Pints ride he liked to do in Morgantown, and while the idea seemed to be a fun one, I informed Chris that "I'm not really into racing, I really just ride for the recreational aspect." We made plans to ride together later in the week, exchanged phone numbers, and headed off in separate directions.

Three days later, Matt, Mark, Chris and I were standing in front of my house getting ready to go for a ride together. We decided to try one of my favorite routes (Waynesburg to Oak Forest to Brave to Blacksville back to Waynesburg). The 2 hour ride was filled with alot of catching up, more story swapping, and a lot of cycling talk. He again brought up the Pedal for Pints concept but I tactfully declined. He started asking us if we planned to do any of the cyclocross races and I reminded him that while I had done a couple road races the previous year, I really only rode for fun. But Chris kept going on and on about how much fun it was and I kept giving him excuse after excuse why I couldn't do it or wouldn't do it.

So after finally exhausting my bank of excuses, this self professed roadie found himself headed to White Park to ride mountain bikes. I talked my good friend, Joel Morris, into going down with me and sharing in the newbie experience. Joel had a background in BMX was definitely more confident than I was but I put on a happy face and pretended I was going to have fun. We arrived to a parking lot full of decked out mountain bikers with some of the latest in mountain biking technology. We unloaded our rigs, found Chris and got his input about his recommendations on tire pressure, took a couple laps of the parking lot and with a few last minute adjustments and we were rolling.

I started in the back of the pack and pedaled my tail off. I figured as long as I kept Chris and Joel behind me, I had bragging rights for eternity. I put in my best effort keeping the wheel in front of me and even managed swapping a few positions with a few riders but basically stayed in the back where I belonged. With Chris and Joel close but behind me, I finally rounded a turn and found all the other riders gathered around talking about the course and what they liked, what they didn't like, where they almost lost it, and what big obstacle the schooled. I would have loved to offer my opinion, but I was breathing way too hard to utter more than a few grunts or groans. Plus, given the fact that I had sweat in my eyes and couldn't see anything more than shapes I decided to just keep my mouth shut. That's when I found out that we were only on a parade lap and that we were going back to the starting line to get ready to do two laps, but this time at race pace. I couldn't help but think "What did I get myself into??"

Turns out, Chris beat me by a spot or two and Joel crashed hard but still didn't finish last. As we drove home, Joel and I couldn't help ourselves as we talked about how much fun it was and how we looked forward to next week. We had pretty much the same experience the following Thursday, and every Thursday from there on out. So much fun that in early October I found myself in field next to Chris and 45 other riders preparing for the first cyclocross race of my life. It went well (I beat JR and Chris) and before I knew it, I was watching the Cat 4 series point standings for the Appalachian Bicycle Racing Association. In Mid December 2010, as I was busting Chris's chops for not doing the last local cross race of the season with me, Chris turned my own words back against me... He texted me "sorry, but I'm not really into racing, I really just do it for fun".....

Cat 5 Appalachian Bicycle Racing Association Crit Podium

So I just closed out my cycling journal for 2011 and by quick count, I realized that I logged almost 60 races last calendar year: 28 cx, 9 road races, 9 ovals, 7 Criteriums, 2 time trials, 2 mountain bike races and a stage race. I won 2 of the road races, 1 Crit, and had a bunch of podium finishes which helped me win my 2 ABRA Championship Jerseys (Cat 5 Road & Cat 5 Crit). So much for "I'm not really into racing, I really just ride for the recreational aspect." While all the prizes, medals and trophies were nice, what I liked winning the most was an invitation to join the Dynamic Physical Therapy p/b Pathfinder of West Virginia team for 2012.

Last year, the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling team had impressive results with wins in seemingly every field at every race. I accepted my position on the team with great pride and also with great a deal of pressure to try to continue the performance tradition that has been established by the team. And since we've been blessed with an uncharacteristically warm Saturday this first weekend of January, I feel obligated to push away from the desk and head out and log a few miles. The first race of the year is only 72 days away and I need to be ready to to do my part on the team. See you then.

Christmas [training] in New England

2012-01-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

It's snowing pretty hard outside right now in Morgantown, and it actually seems pretty nice (gasp!). I like snow for a few months of the year, and I like being able to play in it. This probably stems from my roots as a Yankee, not the New York kind, but the Northeast kind. My winters as a child were always spent outside, sledding, snowmobiling, skiing, and building snow forts. I really like it, and it makes me think of home.

I spent last week in a "winter wonderland" in North West Vermont. I always head that way for Christmas with my family and (now) my wife's family. It's so beautiful this time of year (..err...all year!!!). I really like christmas, and I enjoy spending time with my family.

It's also a time to hit the roads of my home town, and enjoy some of my favorite run and ride routes. My sister is training for her first 1/2 marathon next weekend and I agreed to do it with her. Her longest run was last Saturday (12/24) and I said I'd do it with her. Unfortunately the weather is not ideal this time of year for running...especially for my sister who now lives in NC, and hasn't run in temperatures less than 40 degrees yet this year.

When we stepped out the door, it was TEN degrees. 1-0 degrees. At 1pm in the afternoon!!! Needless to say, having to run for 2 hours...we were pretty bundled up. This is a video of my sister Jeanine, ready to go.

The run went well, but I was ready for it to be over. I've only run 5-6 runs in the last 4 months that were over 80 minutes, and the farthest was 95 minutes. I was sure glad to have had plenty of food...including some Honey Stinger gels and chews...not only do they work but they taste great, makes me motivated to eat them. Had 1 Raw-Revolution bar too, left over from CX season. Ate it all! I needed it.

The roads are all dirt where my parents live, and this leads to lots of little slips every step you take. This means your speed is drastically cut- we only got about 11 miles in 2hrs. I stopped my Garmin for a bit in the middle, otherwise I'd have more information. Here's a video about a mile from my house, that's Buck Mountain in the background.

Besides that run, I only ran one other time with my Mom (Cheri) for a 1/2 hour. That was enough. I didn't run again until this weekend, where I had a great 30 minute run in Salem, NY where my grandfather lives. I love running there.

Anyways, enough with the boring running, onto the more exciting sport this time of year!

With snow, brings Nordic skiing. Now, I know this is a cycling team, and I've only written about running so far, but bear with me. Eventually, everyone has to take some time "off" and this is my time. "Time off" is to be used loosely, because I really take most of December "off" and then January is more a time for just building some base fitness and having fun with my wife, Carly. Skiing fits the bill perfectly. It completely crushes me, and there is no other sport that just completely annihilates me like nordic does.

Craftsbury Ski Area, Craftsbury, VT

There's two types of nordic skiing, skate and classical, and I like them both. But, I'm probably a bit better at classic (last year I was the Pennsylvania State Champion in the 6k classical race). I really like skating though, and am steadily getting better at it (I've only been seriously skating for 4 years, I've been classical skiing for 13). It (skating) really works on my weaknesses and I like that- the glutes and lower core muscles just get torched!!! It's also very fast and much more exciting than my experience with downhill- big, wide trails with sharp metal edges and wide skis are just not as fun to me as zipping down a (very) narrow trail at 25mph on skis where your heels aren't even attached!

This is part of the non-groomed portion at Craftsbury.

Carly (my wife) and I have been just absolutely aching to ski! There's been a couple of times where we thought it might happen here in Morgantown, but alas, no dice. However, while at my parents for a few days in Fairfax, VT last week, I had multiple opportunities to get out and get some kick and glide.

First, we got in a great little Christmas day ski in my parents field. They have a 7 acre field with a small pond in the middle, and there was about 4" of snow. After many years of me pushing a lawn mower through the 3ft of brush, and now my dad keeping it up with a tractor, they have some really great little loops to ski, run or even ride the CX bike (why didn't I discover CX earlier in my life!!!). Each loop takes about 10 minutes, so Carly and I did about 30min of just fooling around with our dog Gus.

Carly and Gus

I love to ski!

On Monday of last week we went to craftsbury, where I skied about 15k. I gave my wife some lessons as this was her first time out on her new "race skis"- those that have to be waxed to get grip to propel you forward. Thanks to Pathfinder for mounting the bindings! It was good where they had grooming done...and not so good where they didn't. It's been tough so far up there, and they only had a really good 2.5k loop opened up. But, I skied that probably 3-4x and then did the other non-tracked loop (they put down tracks for you to follow in classical technique, little grooves that your skis stay in).

Then, on Thursday of last week, my mother and I got out and got another 45min of skiing in the field again. This time, in about a foot of snow. We were supposed to only get about 1-2" at most, but it just kept snowing! That's Fairfax for you though- it seems the lake effect snows off of Lake Champlain back up against the Green Mountains and my parents are always getting more than they predict!

1" of snow forecasted; 12" received!

So, while I didn't get to ski 100k like I have in years past, I did get a little skiing in. I will be posting at least once more about this, as I will be racing in the 6k classic and 6k skate Pennsylvania Nordic State Championship again this year.

There was also lots of socializing, time with friends, some consumption of spirits, eating out, shopping, TONS of driving, and an amazing wedding over the week I was in Vermont. It was a great trip, and while relieved to some extent to be home, I miss being there already!

Oh yeah! Who am I??? I'm one of the new members of The Team, Gerald (Jerry) Audet. I have lived in Morgantown now for nearly 3.5 years, and have become fairly active in the local cylcing scene, joining in on the local racin' and ridin'. It's a great community around here, and this team is really great. While I'm a Tri-Dork (triathlete) I also love to road cycle, and look forward to my new cycling Category- should be tough this year, but that's what it's all about. I am excited to continue to grow and improve with Dynamic Physical Therapy powered by Pathfinder cycling team- thank you for the opportunity to share!

-Jerry

2012 Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling p/b Pathfinder

2011-12-20T08:23:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say how excited I am to be part of the 2012 Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling p/b Pathfinder. A very big thank you shout out to all our sponsors. I am really looking forward to racing with all my friends on the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling Team p/b Pathfinder in 2012 and also getting to know my new team members.

Happy Holidays,
Billy

Winter is almost here

2011-12-19T23:48:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks - Mike here as a new addition to the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling p/b Pathfinder team for 2012. I am stoked to be a part of such a visible group of like-minded cyclists - we love to ride our bikes!

Anyway, cyclocross season ended a little earlier than expected this year for some, but that doesn't mean riding the bike is any less of a focus. Nope, drop bars, cantilevers, tubular knobbies, and super-intense hour-efforts have been swapped-out for riser bars, disc brakes, bigger tyres, and one gear for the foreseeable future. Time for long, slow (read: you know, "tempo") rides that take up most of the waning daylight hours (and then some...bring a CamelBak).

Mile 21 - Looking upstream into the Cheat River canyon

For the past few weekends, I've been on the "solo ridge loop kick" as I like to call it. What this means is taking the singlespeed 29er out the front door and getting immersed in the local watersheds here in the good ol' Belgium of North America for 6 hours or so before putting the key in the lock again. I don't really like to ride by myself, but when everybody else is out racin' cross and you can't go - what else are you gonna do?

And now we're looking towards Cooper's Rock State Forest

Plus, we're lucky to have such great riding here, where we can ride from the lowland rivers to headwater streams, over and over again without missing a beat and with a minimum of pavement. So it's good public service to take advantage of it. Traffic isn't bad either. I've done a particular ride the past three weekends and have maybe been passed by 50 cars going in the same direction. 50 might sound like a lot, but seriously - getting passed by an average of 17 cars per 55 miles and 6000' of up and down sounds pretty good to me. Come on over to West Virginia and do some pedaling - there's plenty of miles to be had here off the all-too-beaten path. Get into that rhythm that only long rides can deliver.

Mile 26 - Looking downstream into the Big Sandy Gorge

The winter solstice is just a few days away. Hopefully the weather holds out for at least one more weekend, as the mountains are already getting covered with snow. During my last long ride, I ended up hiking a few miles of uphill singletrack due to this very phenomenon. Then I crashed hard on a steep gravel descent when the entire road surface turned to ice, which resulted in one very bruised elbow and a cracked helmet. The helmet I can replace, the elbow I'm not so sure...

Regardless, it was a great weekend to get out on two wheels before succombing to the skis and the dreaded indoor not-really-riding for the winter. The photos in this post are of the Cheat River Canyon, the Big Sandy Gorge, and the end of a trail that winds through a virgin eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forest up to Chestnut Ridge. Now if only we'd get enough snow to traverse this loop on skis...better get another headlamp.

Up in the Little Laurel Run headwaters - Mile 37...

...and still a long way to go!

Happy holidays all and 'til next time - long live long rides!

That's a wrap!

2011-11-20T07:37:00.001-08:00

Yesterday officially marked the end of a very very long trying race season for me.. Cross you kicked my ass! The whole 3 races I managed to drag myself to. Time for some new lofty goals, shedding of extra poundage and saying Thanks and Bye's to friends until next year.

JR- Thanks for putting together a team this year and for all of the support. I tried my hardest to get to as many races as possible but work and play seemed to get in each others way too often. To the rest of my team mates.. Thanks for loaner shoes and bibs, the rope wrapped around my bars at Hilly Billy and Green County and especially to all of our sponsors.

Honestly I'm glad its over now... all that 'training' and stuff that yer supposed to do prior to racing- well that never happened this year. So I've got some ground to make up over the next few months. Next week all of my bike-packing gear should be in... I'm going to go ponder life in the backwoods and hopefully come out a little stronger and lighter next year. Hopefully-

Thanks again everyone!!

Collegiate Season Recap and Nationals lowdown

2011-10-30T15:57:00.000-07:00

So, since its been a while since my last update, I’ll give the condensed version of what has been going on up until Collegiate Nationals this past weekend.

After pretty much following in step with the ABRA and WVMBA calendars for the entire season, I took a turn and, rather than racing some super fun cross races within an hour of home, decided to spend my weekends high on coffee and nutella driving up and down the east coast to participate in the collegiate racing series. As a student at WVU, I have the awesome opportunity to continue to race mountain bikes until the end of October therefore extending my already long mountain season by about a month.

I posted some serious results during the collegiate season taking multiple wins and never anything less than a 3rd place finish. The season rounded out with the WVU home race at Wisp Resort on October 15-16 serving as the conference championship. Taking an early lead on lap one of the three lap 26 mile XC race, I took the win by around 10 minutes. The course was great and suited me well being fairly climbing with a 2.5 mile long climb leading to the finish. Later that afternoon, I also competed in the short track race on top of the mountain where I tore apart the race by lapping the entire field. The course was, again, great. It was definitely a power course providing huge opportunities to lay down some serious wattage and make some big moves. It also had a nice big rock garden tossed in to keep thing interesting for both racers and spectators alike.

So, after all of the conundrums that come with traveling 4-6 hours every weekend and hosting a race it was time to get focused for the National Championship. Seeing as we would be heading to nearly 9000 feet at Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico, I knew I was going to need to take some serious fitness with me in order to try and negate the effects of the altitude as much as possible. Competing against guys from Colorado means that, all else constant, they have a 10% advantage on me just from living and training at elevation consistently. However, Coach Rob knew this all too well and set me up with a serious workout plan for the two weeks to get me in shape for a National level race. With a painful bliss, I hammered out interval after interval until it was time to hop on the plane to Albuquerque.
After too many hours of plane, airport, and car we arrived at the resort. Upon arrival I received a visual reminder of the elevation. Snow not only dusted but coated the top of the mountain about 1500 vertical feet above the base of the resort. I saw this as no big deal until I came to realize that the XC race snaked its way up through the woods all the way to the peak. That left some decisions to be made on clothing. Too little and I would be a popsicle at the top but too much and I may end up a cold, sweaty gym sock.

I headed out for my initial preride of the course on Wednesday afternoon which my youtube video does a good job of describing and showing. At that point, the course was awesome. Not too muddy and pretty tacky. However, when we woke up Thursday morning it was a different a story. Old man winter paid Angel Fire an early visit and left the town covered in 6ish inches of snow. I headed down to the bike shop to see what was going on in terms of course conditions and was told that they were cleaning the course with shovels and snow blowers. So after waiting a few hours for things to get cleaned up and taking time to throw on a tackier rear tire I headed out for preride number two. This time things proved entirely different. The course was not only covered in snow but also beginning to turn into a quagmire. The climb up wasn’t too bad but the descent was absolutely terrible and left me covered in a sticky, constantly hardening clay. At that point I realized that not only would the race be a physical test of ability but also a mental test of sheer desire.

Our condo was nicely placed two hops and a jump away from the start so there was no rush in the morning to get ready for the race. After getting up around 7 AM to eat, I milled around the place, watched some TV, and slowly got my cloths ready. Around 10:45 I headed down to get warmed up and check out the course and it’s a good thing too! On the ride over I noticed some shifting problems, which ended up being caused by a tweaked hanger. Thanks to the handy guys from Shimano though I had a new hanger slapped on and was warming up by 11:15.

The start went off with a bang at 12:05 and it wasn’t even 30 seconds before I was off the bike. Starting 3 rows deep and in the middle of the pack, I couldn’t get a line to the outside around the madness of lost traction and was forced to dismount with many others on the first climb. I hustled up, went cross eyed, and ran my butt off to get around and in front of most of the madness. Maybe 3 minutes later I was off the bike again, running with everyone else through ankle deep muck. The course had already had 2 races and nearly 100 riders over it 5 times before we hit it so things were just an absolute crap shoot. I ran hard, rode harder, and crashed even harder until I found myself finishing the first lap of three in 12th place. Riding solid behind two University of Colorado guys for most of lap two, I was able to keep a good pace with them and pass one at the top of the climb. I chased the other one, going back and forth with him, for the last lap until he got a lead on me in the final descent and then sealed the deal when I overshot the last muddy turn and hit the deck. Being my first National level event and first event at altitude, I can’t complain about my 11th place finish although I do wish I could have reeled in that UC rider.

Saturday brought the short track and another chance for me to try myself in a huge field. With 71 starters on the line I was more than nervous given the speed of a short track. When the gun went off I punched the gas and immediately began elbowing my way to the outside. We started into a climb again and there was no way I was getting stuck behind a bunch of guys slower than me again! I found a Fort Lewis wheel and let me lead me towards the front. Whoever the kid was, he was riding super well and I was hoping to hold his wheel for most of the race however he gave it a little more gas than I had at one point and I lost him. Midrace or so I made a move for the top five. I was feeling good so I launched an attack, which was unfortunately thwarted by fatigue and the altitude. I ended up dropping back to 12th where I remained for the rest of the race. Again, I am super happy with this result given the many firsts but was a little disappointed that my A game didn’t show up for the short track.

Overall, the mountain bike season was pretty good to me. Being my first “serious” year on the bike and training I have to say I am stoked to look back and see what I accomplished. I don’t think it is quite time to hang up the race shoes for the year yet though…..I mean, there is still cross! Well, back to the airport and homework!

Video Blog #1, Todd at Collegiate Nationals

2011-10-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

Late Season Recap

2011-10-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

After (20+) races in the spring and summer, fall is a nice break for me. I get to spend extra time with the family, go on vacation, and pretty much catch up on all the things I put off all summer and even have surgery so for the most part no bike riding.

Well, as October rolls around, the 1st Abra Cyclocross race is approaching. I got to spin a few times the week before, and can immediately tell it has been awhile since any real riding has taken place. I converted the Cx to SS, and took it racing. I showed up just outside of Mount Morris, PA. It was cold and raining which was a great way for me to fudge my fitness and try to make up with my riding skills. We took off in the single speed race, Marc Glass gets the hole shot, and I’m right behind in 2nd. We run most of the 1st lap like that, until I found myself drifting backwards in the pack, and in the red very quickly. The gear I had chosen was a little steep for the conditions, and with my lack of fitness I just tried to suffer through it. I finished 10th with my teammate, Gunnar, taking the win. I watched the vet race, and considered going home because I was cold and tired from the first race, but about 5 minutes from the start of 3/4 race my buddy Tim (Gregis Insurance) offered to let me race his sweet IBIS. I swapped pedals quickly and to the start line I went. As we took off I got a good start. I battled back and forth with a few guys, and was able to take 4th on the day. I was happy to just be out riding bikes and having fun.

Round 2 of Abra Monster Cross Day 1

After a few more rides during the week, I made my way to the 1st day of Monster Cross just outside of Morgantown (about 15 min drive from my house, Thanks JR). I once again signed up for Single Speed. We took off, and from the gun Stevo and Gunnar have it pinned. I don’t see them long so I decide to ride my own pace. The conditions were cold with a little mud and wind, but overall still a nice day for a bike race. During the middle of the race my Ebb slips and I had a good bit of chain binding, so I decided to pull out. I had brought my new MT bike, and thought I would race it just to try it out in the ¾ race. I got a good call up, and to the line I go. The race started and I’m able to get a great start and take the hole shot. I really cornered the turns with my fat tires well and made a nice lead. I was able to keep for about ½ of the lap. I then started to slowly drift back. After 3 laps on the run up, I went to shoulder my bike and could tell the mud was really packing in so I made a switch back over to my SS cx bike and was able to pick a few spots back up to finish 7th. I worked on Sunday and missed day 2 of Monster Cross.

Round 4 of Abra Bruceton CX

I traveled to Bruceton Mills to the Park’s farm for Round #4 of the Abra CX Series. I decided to skip the single speed race, and put gears back on the caad 9. By the time the 3/4 race started at 1:15 p.m., I was able to slip into shorts and a jersey. I tried to get a good warm up in and then finally I headed to the line with a good group of fast 3/4 ‘s. I once again got the whole shot and held it for about 1./2 a lap. I overcooked it a little trying to stay up front and had to back off a little on the 2nd lap. About 20 minutes into the race, I started to feel a little better and was able to reel a few guys back in. The course was super-fast and fun. I finished 7th once again. I lined up in the 123 race a few minutes later. I started in the back, and pretty much stayed there. A lot of HP in this group, I just worked on spinning and riding the barriers. I even got to make a few laps on my road bike. All in all, it was a great race!

Nate

A great weekend for the team!

2011-10-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

Cyclocross season has just been outstanding so far in 2011 for Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling! This past weekend the team captured 5 out of the possible 9, West Virginia Cyclocross State Championships titles!

Men Cat 1/2/3 - Gunnar Shogren
Women Cat 1/2/3 - Betsy Shogren
Men Cat 3/4 - Derek Clark
Women Cat 4 - Nicole Dorinzi
Single Speed - Gunnar Shogren

That is not all! Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling also after this past weekend leads the high coveted ABRA CX Team Points Competition and many of the individual series classes! Outstanding!

ABRA Team Championship Points Totals After Round # 3
Place TEAM Points
1 Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling 209
2 Breakaway Velo 198
3 Top Gear 171
4 Ag3r/ Butler Health System 149
5 Pathfinder of Morgantown 132
6 Team CF 100
7 Pitt Cycling 78
8 Beaver Valley Velo 62
9 Steel City Endurance 55
10 JBV Coaching 20
11 DPS Penn/Cannondale 31

Here are some photos from this past weekend! Photos by Fred Jordan!

Thanks to our great sponsors who help make it possible!
Dynamic Physical Therapy
Tomac Bikes
Kenda Tires
Red Rose Imports
Nalini Custom
Industry Nine
Camelbak
Swiftwick
Superior Ford of Morgantown
Performance Coaching Services
Gregis Insurance
Raw Revolution
Pathfinder of WV
Mike Miller Dentistry
Edward Jones Investments

Iron Cross - Betsy Shogren 2nd

2011-10-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

Watch more video of NoTubes Iron Cross 2011 on cyclingdirt.org

Iron Cross - Gunnar Shogren 2nd SS

2011-10-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

Watch more video of NoTubes Iron Cross 2011 on cyclingdirt.org

Appalachia Visited Road Race

2011-09-05T05:11:00.000-07:00

The Appalachia Visited Road Race and WV State Championship did not begin as well as I had planned. I had been looking forward to this race all season. The course is great-- 60 miles of nice roads with long climbs, and twisty fast downhills. It has been my favorite road race of JR's since winning it last year as a Cat 5.

Racing Advice: Don't miss the start.

Usually I warm up too early for a race and find that my heart rate has dropped to resting levels by the time the field of riders starts. So, this race I decided to warm up a little later, roll up to the start and begin racing with an elevated heart rate. However, as I rolled into the start I realized by JR's glance back at me that I had just missed it.

I quickly began chasing the field of Cat 4/5, but never got any closer to the front pack than occasionally spotting the wheel car on long straight stretches of road. I managed to pick up a few other racers for some company along the way.

So, with one objective out of reach, I kept my racing efforts with the hope of gaining enough points in the race to move myself from an overall series 17th place into the top 10 of the ABRA Cat 4/5 class. After chasing most of the race, I crossed the finish about as worn out as I have ever been to finish just well enough to pick up the points I needed to finish 10th in the series...preseason goal: met.

ABRA's 2011 Appalachian Road Race Series has been fun. A big thanks goes out to JR and Gina for their hard work organizing the events, Dynamic Physical Therapy for their support, PathfinderWV for the bike and its maintenance, Camelbak for keeping us hydrated, Swifwick for warm arms and comfy feet, and all our other sponsors and volunteers who have helped provide the team with a great road race season.

Appalachia Visited Road Race

2011-08-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Appalachia Visited Road Race was a scenic course throughout some of the best country/river side in the entire state of West Virginia (but could we really expect any less from JR Petsko)! I was looking forward to this race the entire season. I knew with the distance and amount of climbing, this course would give me a great opportunity to end the ABRA road racing series on a high note! I pre-rode the course because I have not ridden the roads in the area much. I was really pumped up after my pre-ride and couldn’t wait for Saturday. During the race, I felt strong and kept up with my eating and water intake. It was great weather. Up the last climb, I felt the work of the last week in my legs but powered through. After getting up the last climb, it was downhill to the finish. While descents are being a part of my riding that I wish to improve upon, I was able to maneuver some tight hair-pin turns and was happy with my finish. I got 3rd place in the race, good for a silver medal in the state as well!

I ended up winning the ABRA road racing Women Category 4 series (I upgraded for the last 2 races of the series) and 3rd place overall for Category 1,2,3 Women series. As I reflect on the season, I am happy with the progress of my racing. From started to cycle just last July to my first road race in May of this year, I have grown as a racer in my mentality and power on the bike. Thanks to the entire Dynamic Physical Therapy Team for giving me this opportunity and creating a family environment with your immense support. As always, thanks to our sponsors this year! We couldn’t have been as successful without you. I am ready for cyclocross!!!

Post by Nicole D.

Stonewall Jackson Triathlon

2011-08-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

So I'm taking a little different approach to this blog post: it's about a triathlon and not a cycling race! Yes, yes. I realize this is a "cycling" team. But JR told me I could! Anyway, just this past weekend I had the pleasure of doing the Stonewall Jackson Triathlon at Stonewall Resort. Overall, Setup Events (which is based in the Carolinas) runs an excellent competition and I've never been let down by their organization. The event was sort of a mutant of a sprint distance and an international distance with a 1000 meter swim, 26 mile bike and 4 mile run. I'm a fan of longer events but I won't turn down a nice triathlon just because it's shorter. Nonetheless, the venue was very beautiful and is probably the best triathlon we have in West Virginia.

I felt a little rushed all morning prior to the race and barely managed to make the 8:00 AM start time for the first wave. Men under 39 would go out first. My swim, which was largely a straight out and back course, would take 14:36. While there was a little rough contact during the swim, I managed to drop several people after the turnaround point, which is good for me because I'm a non-swimmer. I ended up having the 5th fastest swim of the day, which was positive for me in that short of a distance.

My first transition was slow at 1:23 because I was being clumsy with my equipment but once out on the bike I always start to feel a little more comfortable. Initially my girlfriend informed me that I was 90 seconds behind the leader, which I thought was favorable. Almost immediately I began to ride up a gradual and longer climb, making the early transition to cycling a little tougher. I passed two people in the first mile. After that though, I didn't see a single competitor until I was returning at the end of the rolling bike loop. Typically, in large races of 2000-3000 people I'll pass athletes from the start to the finish of the bike ride so to be alone for the entire ride is a little frustrating and makes one question if they are being successful. Ultimately, my ride time would be 1:11:31, for the 4th fastest bike split.

My second transition went much better at 29 seconds. I knew I would have to take the run out hard to have any success. The first mile was somewhere under 6 minutes but didn't feel great. I saw race leader Thomas Wood with a sizable lead prior to the turnaround and realized his gap was to large make up in a such a short run. I caught Andrew Cochran just after the turnaround. My run time would be 23:42, for the 2nd fastest run time and a 2nd overall finish in 1:51:39. Next month I'll be at Ironman Augusta 70.3, which I'm looking forward to because I had a PR for that distance there in 2010.

2011 Appalachia Visited / WV Road Race Championship

2011-08-22T14:06:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was the series finale for the 2011 ABRA Road Series, as well as the West Virginia Road Rac Championship. I lined up with Todd in the 3-4 race, which was started with the 1-2-3 field. There were 20 in my field, as well as 12 1-2-3's. To start out, the pace was average, with the usual Iron City solo attack from mile 0. At about mile 5 2 1-2-3's rolled off the front, which caused a few in my race to attempt to bridge so I went with them. We got right up to the 1-2-3's and started working together real nicely. We soon were out of sight of the main field and kept a fast tempo up the first gradual climb, down the short, steep decent and up the first steep climb of the day. Somewhere in the middle of this fast, 7-man break Jacob Y from Iron City and I pondered what we were doing in this move but kept with it. A group of 3 riders came up to us about 2-miles from the crest of the hill, which upped te pace a little more. Another few riders made it across near the top, too. We rolled over the top of the highest point in the race, having dropped 2 riders from our move and sped down the decent. Once we got to the flat section, we were all back together in our lead group and ratcheted-up the speed once again. We rolled along the flat section into the feed zone and had gained about 5 more riders but kept pushing the pace, knowing that the decisive moves would come on the final climb of the day. As the climb started, Matt Phillips, AKA Michael Rasmussen Jr. Took a flyer and instantly opened a gap. The field gradually picked up the pace and it was game on! I was able to hang on for the first mile but then lost the wheel of the rider in front of me. The gap to the next 3 riders stayed at about 15 seconds for the next 10 minutes, but then started to widen as they kept their form and I lost mine. Knowing I was in the red zone, I tried to ride my own tempo up the rest of the climb so I could hammer the decent to the finish. From this point on, I rode solo, not seeing another racer until the finish. I love the final decent back to town, with its many sharp turns, followed by steep straightaways. I ended up ahead of the series winner, but not far enough to surpass him. I finished 2nd in the state, as well as in the series overall, despite finishing outside the points in 2 races and missing a third all-together! In the end, it was a good race for me - I was active and attentive all day, but just didn't have the legs to stay with the lead group on the final climb. Next up is the state time trial race in September, back in beautiful Rowlesburg, WV.

Thanks for reading,

-Ben

An Ultra Good Time!

2011-08-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I just found this blog in the depths of my Dropbox. Guess I forgot to post right after the race but better late than never! Happy reading.

After fairing well at the Whiteface 100K in Lake Placid earlier in the summer and pulling off a top ten finish, I decided to see if my legs were, in fact, build for the endurance racing scene. So, on August 6th I took an early morning trip up to Big Bear Camplands to take part in the fun, daylong event that is the Big Bear Ultra. The Ultra is a 50 mile mountain bike race but, unlike Whiteface, it is entirely in the woods on twisty, fast singletrack with only maybe a mile total of fire road. Basically, it is two laps that makes use of every trail Big Bear has to offer. Never having done a trail based endurance event, I was a little nervous considering I am not the strongest technical rider. However, I was hoping my peak summer fitness combined with my moderate handling skills would be enough to get me through.
So after a way too early 5 AM breakfast and a 6:30 AM departure, it was off to Big Bear for a long day of fun. I absolutely hate getting up that early to eat but I tend to benefit from a little extra digestion time so its always worth the lost hour of sleep. The hour drive from my parents’ house in Fairmont where I had been the night before only allowed the anticipation and excitement to build even more and by the time I stepped out of the car in Bruceton Mills I was full of energy and ready to hit the trail.
The start lap sent us on a prologue down through the cracked rock trail (pretty sure thats the name). I was less than happy with this considering it is super technical and I have never made it through with less than at least one goof up. I figured that, being 50 miles, at least I would have plenty of time to catch up after this section. As we dropping down into the trail however, I found myself sitting around 3rd or 4th wheel. Being up front, I knew the pressure was on the pay attention and keep the pace as to not cause a disconnect in the group and subsequent pile ups. We were definitely going way out of my comfort zone but I was handling it fairly well. All of the sudden, Montana Miller made some type of uncharacteristic, silly mistake and went down right in front of me. We were not even 5 miles in and people were already dropping like flies! Luckily, I was able to unclip a foot and scooter bike around him but it totally killed my flow. Sure enough, I made it another 100 yards and, like clock work, went over the bars. No damage done, except to my pride, but it really sucked because all of the crashing was letting people get further off the front of the group. After recovering my bottles from the ground and taking some heckling from teammate Gunnar Shogren, I hopped back on my bike and started back down the trail. Luckily, I was close to the end of the trail section so my chances of biting the dust again were lessened. As we climbed out of the valley that the cracked rock trail laid in, I found myself slightly further back in the field sitting around 10th. Normally, I would be worried about being this far back but, with 50 miles still ahead of me, I was not too worried about taking back most of those spots.
The following 6 or so miles of trail proved to be fairly difficult and I found myself hopping off the bike several times to run a rock garden or squeeze through a tight section. However, I did still manage to move myself up in the field during this time and worked into 5th place. Finally, I popped out of the singletrack and onto the long fire road climb that lead back out of the valley we had descended into. Per my usual game plan, I found my favorite gear and started spinning myself up the climb. As I rounded one of the large sweeping turns in the climb I noticed Michael Mihalic up ahead of me. With my legs feeling super fresh, I started to reel him in. After about 15 minutes or so I had pulled myself up to his wheels. After riding alone all morning it was nice to be in a group, be it only a duo, and have someone to chat with. We cruised along and took turns setting a modest pace for the rest of lap one. Near the end of the lap, we even caught back up to Gunnar and were able to all three ride together.
Around what I would guess was 11:00 AM or so we arrived back at the staging area to begin our second lap. After grabbing some fresh bottles and food from my dad (Thanks dad!) I got ready to roll out for lap two. The Shogren-Latocha-Mihalic trio managed to pick up a 4th man on the way out of the staging area as we were joined by Montana Miller who had just gotten into the feed zone right before us. The four of us rolled out and were having a real blast riding together, chatting, and listen to Gunnar heckle Montana who was doing the pace setting. It wasn’t long however until our happy group began to fall apart. At about 20 minutes into lap 2 Mihalic flatted and had to pull off the group. Then, not even 10 minutes later, Gunnar popped his chain off and had to stop to repair it leaving just Montana and myself to work together. Realizing that I was now in 3rd overall and 2nd in my category, I decided to let Montana set the pace and not take and dumb chances. At that point I was not sure if I could hold Montana off for the remainder of the lap. As we came to the next gravel section however, I saw it as a good chance to use my gears to my advantage and took off. I established a good gap before entering the woods again but, still feeling good, I decided to just stay on the gear and see what unfolded. I couldn’t believe how awesome I felt at the point and sort of just wanted to see how long this groove I was feeling would last.
Around mile 30 or so I got a time split from a volunteer of about 3.5 minutes. Still feeling great, I decided to see if I could reel back in Tim Carson who had been off the front alone for most of the day. I figured with no one to relay his gap to him, he would most likely have trouble making sure he held a fast enough pace to stay away. I started to ramp it up at this point and was sort of impressed with myself and how well I was handling the terrain. I had decided at the beginning of the week to take a break from the road bike to get ready for the Ultra. So instead if my usual regimen of hill repeats, sprint workouts, and intervals around town, I spent 12 or so hours of solid time on my mountain bike riding Cooper’s Rock and the like. The time spent on the trails was now paying dividends in the way I was able to speedily get through the rough terrain.
At the next aid station I stopped to get a bottle filled and grab a gel. The volunteer there had been keeping accurate splits and had a time of 2:13 up to Tim. He told me I still had 13 miles left which I figured was more than enough to close down the gap. Not wasting any more time, I clipped back in and blasted down the trail. I was still being amazed at the lack of fatigue in my legs and continued to push myself faster than I generally do.
As I passed through the final aid station, I knew I only had about 5 miles to go. At that point, my hopes of catching Tim were diminishing. To my surprise as a rounded the next turn, Tim was right ahead of me and he was eating a PB&J. Two things went through my head at that point. 1st, what should I do strategically? 2nd, why is Tim eating a sandwich with 15 minutes left in the race? The second though I let go and figured I could ask him personally later. I snuck up on his wheel and stayed there for a minute or so before he noticed me. As soon as he peaked over his shoulder and saw me, it was on. Tim ramped the pace up and started crushing it down the trail. I was having no problem staying with him but was getting a little out of my comfort zone on the more technical stuff. Rather than play it safe and back off a little I decided to just stay on the gas and hold his wheel at all cost. As we crossed the last open section before the final technical trail section, I realized I could most likely take him in a sprint as I was all over him and could tell he was really hurting. We plowed into the final section and, rather than slowing down, Tim just held the speed. We were going 20+ mph through some twisty, moderately technical double track and I was in way over my head. I though about trying to pull through and slow things down but the speed was just too high. However, as we railed it toward the finish, I was thinking of how awesome it was that I was actually holding this speed in the woods. I had never ridden this fast before and was really impressed with myself. Little did I know, I should have been paying more attention to the trail instead of daydreaming. As we entered the last half-mile of trail, we came to a small, easily crossable ditch. Normally, I am used to coming up the trail and hitting the ditch as 8-12 mph. Now I was preparing the gap it at 20+ mph. I launched off of the approach side perfectly. Unfortunately, my landing was less than ideal. My front tire landed slightly before my rear on a wet rock. With that, the tire shot out front under me and I was in the dirt. I instantly knew that my hopes of winning were gone. We were too close to the finish for me to get back up and try to sprint Tim down never mind the fact that my hip felt like someone had just taken a baseball bat to it. I slowly got up, gathered my glasses and gear that had ejected onto the trail, and headed towards the finish. Still taking 2nd, I can’t complain but I was most upset that I had the win in my grips and lost it over a silly mistake. Oh well though, that’s bike racin’! Tim knew my weakness and capitalized on it perfectly. Fitness wise, I have to say I felt awesome. I have to throw a big thank you out to coach Rob Acciavatti for all of his coaching this season. Without him, there is no way I would be where I am in terms of fitness this year. He was able to tap the unknown potential in my legs and I owe him big time for that one! Also, of course a big thanks my dad for getting up way too early to go up to Big Bear just to stand around and make sure everything went well for me. After doing two endurance events this season, I have to say I think I am just more built for the longer events. My engine doesn’t seem to get running until about and hour in but, when it finally quits back firing, it can run for a long time.

Evolution of a cycling jersey

2011-08-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

by Betsy (w/ some help from Gunnar).

It arrives pristine and neatly folded in a hermetically sealed bag, a bag that we save and use throughout the season, because we’re strange like that. The jersey’s colors pop out and the contrast between the bright white and royal blue is startling. "This time", I vow, "my jersey is going to stay nice." The first time I wear it, it still has fold marks, smells fresh, and I wear it with pride. It makes me feel fast and I am happy to represent our sponsors with such a fine piece of apparel. "Dynamic Physical Therapy" screams from the white bubble with sharp tones and crisp font.

After the first few washings, I snatch it out of the laundry basket and carefully hang it in the closet so it stays unwrinkled and ready to go at a moment’s notice. Then, races like the DK200, Blackwater, Black Bear occur, with hours-worth of sweat, dust, dirt, grime, bog water, snot, maybe even a little blood worming their way into the threads of the jersey. Suddenly, it comes out of the wash looking a little grimey, not so crisp, not smelling quite so freshly laundered. When it comes time to pack up for another race, I have to dig around to find it… "Honey, have you seen my jersey?" becomes an oft-repeated inquiry in the Shogren house.
As the mountain bike season wraps up, spots abound on the not-so-bright whitish bubble, I can see where I left gum in the pocket, and where I scuffed the royal blue hitting a tree. The whole jersey has acquired a slightly gray pallor to it and certain smells emit from it, despite repeated soakings.

Some things don’t change, though; I still feel fast when I put it on and I still represent our sponsors with pride. This jersey, I realize, was not meant to stay nice.

Our Swiftwick socks also live a rough live, probably worse in some ways, but being as most of ours aren't white, they come through "looking" a bit better time after time...

Soak, soak, soak. Week in, week out.

Here our are dirty-jersey race results as of late-
July
   24 Blackwater- Betsy 1st, Gunnar 1st Vet (1st SS and 4th overall)
   31 Little Beaver- Betsy 1st, Gunnar 1st Vet (1st SS and 2nd overall)
August
   06 Big Bear Ultra- Betsy 1st, Gunnar 2nd SS (4th overall)
   14 Black Bear WV States- Betsy 1st, Gunnar 1st Vet (2nd overall!, 1st SS)

Some photos from the latest Dirty-Jersy Race, Black Bear WV State Championship where we both won!

Dark, scary, and dirty at Black Bear.

All's well that ends well and dirty.

Smile and the grit feels better.

ABRA Crit Series, these are The Breaks

2011-08-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

By Gunnar.
Photos courtesy of Mike Briggs and Fred Jordan.

Crits are fun. Crits are fast. Crits used to be the mainstay of USCF racing around this Tri-State area and road races were the more difficult ones to find.
Now it seems that road races are more the "norm," and although I do like me some good road racing, I sure do enjoy racing Crits too.
Scroll down far enough and you'll find what was the ABRA Crit Schedule

Though I can sprint well enough, I'd much rather whittle the odds down a bit more in my favor. Why contend w/ 35 guys when 5 is much more mangeable? Course now you do get to choose from your excuses when there are more in the group, i.e. more things can go wrong if you're a bucket of bolts racer, but since I'm more into winning and placing than excuses, I'll try hard to get up the road w/ a few others whenever I get the chance. And w/ this season it has been always!

Start of the WVU Crit, too many, let's get rid of some!

Mountaineer Classic Crit, April 9

Smallish field, mostly the Pittsburgher fellows. W/ the start gun Bob Gottlieb is off and hammering, and I'm close by him, even though he's in the 50+ class. Steve Svoboda is always a good one to be w/ and then there's Motown local Marc Glass who likes to give it a go.
And w/in a few laps that just how it is, the 4 of us working over the rest of the field and then lapping them for good measure. Some try to hang on when we come rolling by, but to no avail.
Close to the end the tactics start but doesn't seem like our group is going to let anyone get away, so we all know that it's gonna come down to the 3rd and 4th corners. The slightly downhill into the narrow stretch of the 3rd and then the slightly-uphill that leads to the curb-coming-up-quick 4th. And so it is, Bob really pins the 3rd, aces the 4th and I can't quite get around him at the end. Good enough for the class win, but I'd still rather beat him.

More like it!

Yeah it's the race w/ the younger kids, but it sure is a nice shot.

South Connellsville Criterium, April 16

Ah the start of the rainy season!
Neat course, more of a short Circuit Race, but we'll call it a Crit anyway. Some neat features: a shallow climb, sweeping turn, fast downhill directly into a painted crosswalk ahd steepish little climb followed by a gently rolling section, a prerequiste 90 degree turn and on to the finishing straight.
Wet and windy, oh boy.
Not really sure what happened in this race. Don't know if the wind and rain just had everyone not wanting to go hard, or whether things just "went my way." Whatever it was, the gang of usual suspects starts off going hard up the shallow climb, but then doesn't after a bit, a little hesitant on that downhill turn into the steepy thing and w/in a few laps I find that I've gotten away from the field and am just rolling away. "Well this is probably okay, so I'll just give it the old college try and wait for someone to come up to me," but no one does.
Maybe it was something in the air, or the oats I ate, or whatever, but though I had no real intentions of doing a solo move, there I am. Commit or regret. So I keep on burying my head and spinning my little legs and try to maintain the speed up the shallow climb, roll into that downhill corner as best I can and try to carry some speed and then keep it going up and over the steep thing. And it worked. Poof, I won!

The Gordon's Fisherman prepares to race!

Too tired to look up, but very pleased w/ the solo effort and win.

Happy older fellows up on the podium.

As I side note, I also did the 1/2/3 race and they approached the course *much* differently. They'd just roll up the shallow climb, but *really* pin it up the steep thing and across the top. Boy did it get strung out across the top there. I rode fine, didn't have much in the legs for the sprint and finished 9th.

Steel City Showdown, April 17

Next day, up in the 'Burgh. No rain, but it is cold and windy. And the big boys from the area are here too as they are throwing the $$ at this race. And it really is a neat course, dahntawn Pixxburg, over two bridges and close to da stadium. And the place is full of vendors and what-not. What a time!
Did I mention that it was a large field and there were all sorts of fast young 40+ers?
The race is off and Freddy Fu is hammering. The field is getting strung out and you can just tell that things are going start popping, so I'm near the front, ready for "the move." One seems likely, doesn't materialize, but then the second one comes, Joe Ruggery (Freddie Fu) and Andy Clark (Panther Trucking?) light it up out of the 2nd corner and up over the bridge. "Oh man, this is it!" and I jump and chase up to them, which takes about 2/3 of a lap. These guys are going *hard* and sure enough we are clear of the rest of the field just like that. But I am struggling from my effort to get there and my general "not as fast as them" feeling. But I pull through and do my work. 4 or 5 laps of that and I can tell that it's just not going to happen for me, try as I might. So off the back I come. Ahh... that's feel much better! Amazing what a little rest does for you. But now I'm in no man's land, but still no pack in sight, so I auger in and do what I can. Another solo, but not for the win, but for 3rd, and that's gonna be okay w/ me if I can pull it off. Lap after excuriating lap, I try to use the same gears for each section, try to stay on top of the gear, try and get close to the bridge for a little wind-relief, anything and everything might just make the difference.
Not soon enough, but soon enough, the race is over, and I have done it. 3rd in that race was really all I could have asked for.
Whew.

Long sleeves, knickers and knee warmers for Joe, Andy, and myself.

Hammerin' across on of the bridges, before I did the reverse breakaway from Joe and Andy.

Pro Bikes Criterium Championship, July 30

Ahh, the lovely Aliquippa Industrial Park course. It's been run clockwise and counter-clockwise, it's had the start/finish on one side and the other. Still a decent physcially challenging course. Not a particularly technical course as most of the corners are plenty wide, but it does have a wee little uphill and then it is usually windy there as well, so on one side or the other you really have the opportunity to fly!
Decent field, some that weren't at the others, but are showing up now, mainly Frankie Ross (Sette Nova) and Jason Zimmerman (Freddy Fu). Frankie is always one to watch as he likes breaks almost as much as me, and w/ his teammate Ray Russell in the race too, but 50+, there will certainly be some action from them. Jason usually doesn't care if he's in a break or field sprint, he's just there to win, and he can.
And off we go!
Roll around, string things out, then bring them back together. Try a few little moves, but the right move just hasn't "happened," will the right group of folks get up the road? It's just not looking like it.
Then old Jeff Guy goes out on a flyer, comes at a decent time, I let him get up the road some, then bridge up. The prior times I did this the rest of the field came along too, but for whatever reason this time they didn't. So pin it we do!
All of a sudden we've got a pretty decent gap, but there are still 6 or so laps of the 1+ mile course to go. Jeff's doing what he can, I can't afford to just drop him, but have to be mindful that he's close to being popped.
5, 4, 3, 2, now we can see that there are 2 riders starting to really whittle at our lead. How much time are they making up, how much time are we losing? Crunch time but I've not got a whole lot left. What I have is out there.
With 1/2 a lap to go we're caught. Poopie pants, but not surprising. It's Frankie and Jason.
Jeff realizes that he's the leadout fellow and so w/ him at the front the rest of us line up and start strategizing.
Frankie jumps first into the 4th corner, I am NOT on him, crap, but I'm trying to hold my own on the long lonely straight to the finish, but alas Jason comes zipping by me, and that's it.

Trying hard to make it happen.

"Come on Jeff, I think we're gonna make it!"

Still was in a fine break that "almost" really made it. But we didn't get caught by the rest of the field, and it was still a good solid race and a nice end to the series.

Happy Boys on the podium.

Yay, I win the 40+ Crit Series with 2 wins and 2 3rds.
ABRA 2011 Crit Standings

Nice jersey, happy boy, and... they shouldn't have given me the champagne before I got to the podium...

My new technique, spraying the podium and photogs before getting on the podium.

Sure was a fine and fun season, and I for one really hope that it happens again, the opportunity to race is always strong w/ this one..

More happiness w/ Jim Yankush, winner of the 50+ Crit series and Jeff.

Mid-Season Catch-Up, 2x12 Too Soon and Hilly Billy Here We Come!

2011-08-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

by Betsy & Gunnar.

The Shogrens last checked in after the Dirty Kanza 200 -
Gunnar's tale of woah
Betsy's tale of inspiration
But have hardly been sitting idle since. In fact, we might benefit from sitting a bit more idle, but there have been too many fun races and we don’t like to sit around getting rusty.

The weekend after the DK200, we jumped right in to do the

Big Bear 2 x 12

This race is not to be missed, at all costs. DO IT!
The Race
The Results

We signed up in the highly-stacked coed-duo category and figured we’d be happy with a top 5, considering our legs/bodies/minds were taking their good old time returning from the dirt roads of Kansas. Well, to make a long story short, we ended up 2nd, which was thrilling. Cassie and Jeremy were not to be beaten on their home court, and we benefited from some bad luck by the Harding Family of Philly and outrode a whole host of others to surpass them all for second!

Gunnar & Betsy about to fill their steins, PeTey hanging out too. Mark handing them out, Julie doing the important part of getting the cheques!

After a rather grim yet understandably poor first lap sitting pretty in 5th we really did get faster and rallied hard for the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, Betsy ended up with a souvenir of some bruised/cracked/broken ribs that occurred just 3-4 miles into her last lap.
Here is her tale of woe (woah) -
"I bodyslammed into a nasty rock garden and immediately felt some inner organs being skewered by my ribs like a shish kabob. Ok, I might be slightly exaggerating, but not really. However, Kathleen was hunting me down on this last lap, as I had already witnessed her unhappiness at being in third place and she was fired up to steal this 2nd place from us. There was no time to speculate on whether or not my kidney was stuck on my rib and I hauled my sorry arse off those rocks and whimpered my way through that lap. Despite this memorable incident, my third lap was faster than my 2nd lap! Here it is 2 months later and I still have to sleep with a pillow under my ribs and have some weird lumps over my rib bones."

Betsy looking a little out of it after her bumpy ride. Luckily there's a big bag of chips close at hand...

For Gunnar's part, he got to choose the gear du jour, and it was 33x19. A tad heavy probably, but we really didn't want to concede anything on the fast sections of the course. This meant that we really have to muscle up the grunts, and he's happy to report that he actually was able to make it up all the climbs in that stiff thing. Bunny did not, but just had to scoot her butt up 1 hill.

Gunnar needing some help, and Sally doing her best.

Turns out our closest real competition at the end was from our team mates, though not class mates, ToddL and JamesB, who both rode very well in the high-speed low-drag Open class. ToddL even had a tangle w/ a Cougar out there on the last lap. No lie!

Our Tomac Flint 29er SSs rode smooth, predictable, fast, and steady right from the get go.
Grrrr means go for us!

Shortly after the BB 2x12 race was another of our favorite races

ABRA’s Hilly Billy Roubaix

HBR Reg Page
HBR Results
This is another DO NOT MISS race!
Big decision beyond what gear to use, was the choice of tyres. Go w/ the fast rolling bomb proof tyres, the Kenda Tendrils that we used for the DK200, or go w/ last years choice and a little lighter 700x35c Kenda Small Block 8? With all the climbing, I decided to go w/ the SB8. Either one would have been a good choice I think though!
Here's Betsy's tale of dumbination -
"In a fine showing of CycleDumb Training, I absolutely insisted to gunnar that I would do this race on my singlespeed cross bike, despite the fact that my ribs were obviously having some issues and stabbing pain ensued every time I stood on a bike. His advice that I should probably race my geared bike was spot-on, but we all know it’s better to endure 5 hours of stabbing pain than to admit to your significant other that he/she was right."

Betsy getting through Little Indian Creek Extension in fine style

Betsy and her trusty SS on the top rung again!

Gunnar’s legs had crawled their way out of the Kansas ditch and hitched a ride back to WV, though he was unfortunately thwarted by 3 flat tires. He still grabbed a second in the SS class! W00t!
Are you ready for Gunnar's tepid tale? -
"After my failed attempt at 200+ miles of gravel grandeur, and the ensuing loss of most of the water in my body, I was determined to get rehydrated, and then try and really keep that weight low.
At BB 2x12 I wasn't totally recovered yet, but I was light, by the next week, I was getting there and then by the time HBR rolled around I was really feeling good.
I was feeling well enough that I actually ran a gear 2 teeth larger than last year, 41x19. Started out in fine shape, after going through Little Indian Creek Extension the break was made and I was in it. Crossed 19 w/ nary another group in sight, headed up the first long climb and the old backend of the bike started getting squishy. Poopie pants.
Got the rear tyre off, started fixing my flat, and others came by. Had a little issue w/ reinflating, more came by. Finally got going again, blasted up, blasted down, got on McCurdysville Rd, sheared some others, climbed up McCurdysville Pike, romped past a few more, made my way down the backside and then back onto Hagans Rd., started that mean old climb there and caught some more chaps. My buddy ChrissyM informed me that teammie NateA and 1st SS BernieS were just up the road. Yay!
By the top of Long Drain I had got them both. Then we all went down that road, heading for Route 7. Good boy Nate was trying to help me shake Bernie, but he just kept on coming back, evidently he was riding pretty well too.
Finally we got to Buckeye Rd, went across the bridge and started going up Ripleys Run, to the "un a fish al" Hilly Billy checkpoint. Going up the shallow grade I was starting to get away from both Bernie and Nate. Hooray!
Got to the top, declined the jello-shot, did take in a Raw Rev bar and some water and... for an instant considered putting a little more air in my rear tyre. 'It'll beallright, I want to keep this gap from Bernie.' So I was now back in 1st for the SS and 4th overall.

Gunnar riding in between fixing flats.

But that was not for long, for right before Ripleys dumps onto Little Shannon, I flatted again. Double poopie pants!
So I crawled down to Little Shannon and went about the business again. Said "Hello" to all those folks that passed me back again, Bernie, Nate, Roger, and a host of others until BenjiK came and I was all kinds of ready to get going again.
Benji and I trundled on, him blabbing like he does so well and me trying to figure out where I was in the group. As the roads meandered up towards Hines Ridge I lost Benji and started catching a lot of those folks that had been so kind as to pass me and ask if I needed a tube or something.
Blow through the 2nd Aid Station, up the stiff climb over I79 and up to "Whatever it is" Ridge. Cruising there was nice and at the end Maggie was there with a sign special for me, pointing the way to the Local Line. Oh how sweet.

Maggie showing me the way. Right before my 3rd and final flat.

And down I went from there, bombing the burned up "road", catching a few more folks, crawling my way back up. Right before I came out to Sperm Loop, it happened again. My third flat. Must have bombed too much, or I'm getting fat, or I'm just running low on good fortune.
This time I was getting my wheel off and my friend Doug M came by, asked the usual "do you need anything" and I replied w/ "yes, I need a tube!" for I had run now out.
Got that flat fixed, put an extra 10 pumps in it just for something to do and was off going yet again. Pedal, pedal, pedal.
Got by MarcG and he offered words of encouragement but thought I was 5th SS, and that was not were I wanted to be. So I disposed of him and kept going.
Stopped at the 3rd Aid Station, at Ma and Pa Petsko's house/Goat Farm, filled up the Camelback water bottles, grabbed some Raw Rev bars, thanked the nice folks, then asked RyanP where the next SS fellow was. He thought he was a couple minutes up the road and didn't think that I'd be able to catch him.
Going up Number 8 Hollow I caught that poor sod, saw a few others on 19 and the fire was reignited, now if only my tyres and tubes would cooperate... Got some help going down Cassville Mt. Morris Rd. from a geared fellow that let me sit in as he drug me to Rt 7, and then once heading up that formidible climb I disposed of him. How mean.
Then it was up to the top, then down, speeding all over, chasing whatever ghosts were ahead of me, namely one Roger Masse and Bernie Shiao.
Finally, going up the last climb before being inside the Mylan Park proper I saw him. A single SSer. Not going too fast. 'I must catch him before or shortly after we turn into the park, if I don't it will be over.' And so I did.
'Hi Roger. :) '
I think we went down the hill pretty much together but I was able to get some time and distance on him before the top and then finish.
2nd place in the SS class. With the unhappy footnote of having 3 flats (and just using a good old fashioned hand pump).

One of us doesn't know what to do, one of us is going a bit crazy, one of us has a steady hand on the rudder.

It was a good day, fun and hard racing."

One of my motos also ran lead. Only got dumped once in Little Indian Creek Extension I was told too!

Heck I'm tired again just having written all this...

Doin' what needs to be done at the end of the day.
Hairwolf, Benji and Sequoya helping out.

Since then we’ve been having a great summer participating in the ABRA and WVMBA series and counting our lucky stars to have such great local racing. Every weekend delivers some sort of new adventure and we wouldn’t have it any other way. While only one more ABRA road race remains, the next 7 weekends have some sort of fun MTB race or another, followed by the ABRA CX Series.

More soon to follow. Pinky promise.

SEQUINS IN YOUR STANS

2011-08-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

“I always start these events with very lofty goals, like I’m going to do something special. And after a point of body deterioration, the goals get evaluated down to basically where I am now – where the best I can hope for is to avoid throwing up in my shoes.”

-Nuclear engineer and ultra runner Ephraim Romesberg, sixty-five miles into the Badwater Ultramarathon

Wilderness 101 is long over and I feel bad taking this long to write a post but I’m not sure even weeks after if I can accurately describe how I felt about the whole thing. All I really know is it was a blast. A week or two prior, we hiked up to Ellicottville, NY for a little race called 6 Hours of Power. The town was adorable, but I was seriously lacking any motivation to race. I was more interested in a new found little game of packrafting; pedaling to some far off exotic location, inflating a sub-five pound kayak, loading bike and gear on front, then paddling off around glaciers, fishing and whale-watching. Big dreams right? Luckily for me they never stop rolling. Guiltily, I lined up at the start next to a really excited Palermo girl, knowing

good and well that I only wanted to do a cross-country race that day. So I rode four laps and hunkered down in the shade while everyone else suffered like dogs in the heat.

The night before Wilderness all I could think was- if this is as hot as 6HOP or as brutal as Stoopid 50, I’m going to die. I felt just okay at Lumberjack, but still by no means ready for another

hundred miler. I haven’t even pedaled a century on the road this year and haven’t slept in two days. Stoopid is one of my all time favorite races but it’s packed full of rocky single track that most people can’t handle for a couple hours. I finished two minutes behind Misty in 6^th place in under six hours. I just can’t stomach the idea of doing that twice in one day. Not yet anyway.

The entire campground was silent by 9pm the night before and everyone was scrambling at 5am when the gong went off. I watched Montana’s girlfriend picking almonds and quinoa out of the lid of an almond can. The whole 90 lbs of her if that made me feel too guilty to eat a ‘hardy’ breakfast before the race. My stomach was in knots anyway so half a bagel and an egg white would have to do.

Somehow after crawling out of the port-o-john I ended up smack on the start line in front of 350 riders. I have absolutely no right being up here, I thought to myself but stayed in front, tucked into the 27mph pace set by the would be leaders and took off grinding up the first climb. After a mile or so, I settled down. This is insane- I can NOT ride this hard this early in a race. God I can’t ride this hard in a thirty mile race! Ruthie and Misty passed me near the top and tore off while I settled into a nice calm chug a lug lug. I thought for sure they’d both beat me as the mojo settled into my feet. I still wasn’t awake yet. Finally after a grueling six mile climb or so, we started down another hill and I slowly started to wake up and grab wheels for short pulls on flat sections. I couldn’t

believe we still hadn’t found any single track but I wasn’t upset with that either. The pine forests and miles of ferns and boulders were great scenery. Even the occasional dead porcupine was better than getting torn apart in rock gardens. By the time I reached the first aid station I had only drank one bottle of water and started feeling better. The next hill was a familiar one. I caught back up to Ruth near the top and excited to finally have someone to ride with she tore off and tried to ditch me. I caught her again on the downhill after picking off a few straggling

guys who got in the way and on the next climb I turned around and she was out of sight. It’s a race, so in a sick sadistic sort of way, that made me feel better. By the time I finally found some single track I also started catching up with a bunch of riders I remembered blowing by me on the first climb. I felt a small grin spreading across my face when I rolled across the three bridges because the photographer, instead of shouting great job, or keep it up Buerkle,

just threw in my face that Rob was waaaay ahead of me. Hmm, I thought…. I’ll go faster then. So I set a goal for the day. I left the single track with a small entourage of guys from CT and Baltimore who had a nice pace going into Aid station two. At this point I didn’t realize we were 40 miles into the race and I was finally starting to feel good, so I took off with one bottle and munched on a few clif blocks.

Shortly after the Magic Carpet Ride we pedaled down a couple hills that literally made my legs quiver. This hill and every hill after that actually. The theme of the race was grind for five miles to the top of a road, then bomb down ¾ of a mile of gnarly single track. Most I recognized from the old Stoopid 50 course and just fell in love with them.

The heat started climbing by the time I got to aid station 3. I had to leave my camelback thinking it’d be good to stretch out a little. I started off with a mouth full of Pringles again oblivious to the mileage and just before the ‘beer station’ I finally caught up to Misty. She really wasn’t feeling well, so happily I trudged up the next climb and grinning ear to ear tore off down the next piece of deer trail. On a downhill, before aid station 4 I think I passed a dozen guys walking their bikes.

When I got to the 4^th aid station, there were a couple women who decided to quit and for the first time that day I was a little curious about where I was placed in ladies field. The shade felt great but I knew if I didn’t keep moving I would blow up. It had finally hit me that this was roughly 70 miles into the race and not once had I thought about quitting. I stuffed another handful of Pringles in my mouth and rolled down around the bend. Just a few hundred yards away a sharp 90 degree turn yielded another disgusting climb. A little chipmunk must have heard me sigh because he started snickering as I started hiking. According to my number plate this would be a long one. I was so completely discouraged and exhausted to care about pedaling or reaching any specific time goal. I didn’t care at this point. I still felt good but was getting really tired. Like sleepy tired but still never thought about quitting. I was really enjoying myself. At the top of that climb Mark Liti caught up to me and we spent the next 30 miles pushing each other on the road sections. There was one final rocky downhill road leading into the last aid station that left my fork saturated in oil and stiff as a board so with numb arms and a grumpy knee I did what any normal person would do- I stopped to pee. I was a little grumpy because I was hungry and got dropped by some chick that talked way too much and was too happy to be 10 hours into a ride. After yet another wonderful mouth full of Pringles, an empty bladder and defending the half a brain I have with the aid station guys over my broken fork, I rolled out again glued to Marks wheel for another ten miles of baking on the rail trail.

By this point I was absolutely exhausted. I didn’t care who passed me or how long it took to finish as long as I didn’t pass out from the heat. I was nauseous and hungry but couldn’t stomach another gulp of water or food. After one final death march I hung on through the last downhill sort of feeling guilty for leaving a guy basically dying from heat stroke at the top. A few gun shots went off as we hiked through the boulder garden and I couldn’t help but muster out ‘geez mister just put me out of my misery’… I was still grinning. After this crappy section of rocks it’d be smooth sailing. I lazily hiked across the narrow railroad bridge and we popped out of the other side of the tunnel this time subtracting nearly taking out a group of kids with rafts and rolled into the finish. Barely rolling, but it felt good to finish. A high five sealed the deal and I ended up 8^th in the women’s field.

A few minutes later I was laying in the babbling stream when some guy decided to throw up in the creek maybe a foot away from me. I just sat there. I couldn’t move I hurt so bad, then finally grossed out went to eat dinner. Twice.

Dynamic Physical Therapy - Specialized Care

2011-08-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

BIcycle Racing, for your (Mental) Health

2011-08-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

Bicycle racing, good for your body and your mind. Being part of this cycling team this season has probably done more good for my mental health than anything else. Having a group of supportive team mates encouraging me to get back in the saddle, as well as so many generous sponsors to facilitate our racing has helped me move past some difficult personal issues this year.

It all began with JR our, team director, dragging me, no ifs ands or buts, all the way to Lake Placid for the Wilmington/Whiteface 100k Leadville Qualifier. I was feeling down on my fitness and mentally unprepared but after spinning around Lake Placid and registering for the race I was starting to feel that familiar pre-race excitement. Early to bed, earlier to rise and we were off to the races. JR, bless his big heart, kept me in the race until my second wind which helped me put in a respectable 4 1/2 hour race finishing 38th

overall.

After a much needed confidence boost Todd LaTocha and I prepared for the Big Bear 2x12. Another excellent showing of personal support and team morale with the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling Team setting up shop in the VIP section. Consistency was key for Todd and I to take 5th place in the Men's Open Pro/Expert Field. This was a great accomplishment and also helped to further boost my self-esteem as a racer. It also brought me closer to my teammates as we cheered each other on to excellent results in their fields.

The most recent, sorry JR, and most challenging race of my season was the Hill Billy Roubaix. Coming off of a head cold I found myself quickly red-zoned and walking some of the very first climbs. After reaching the first aide station I had a lot of quit inside of me. I walked around and decided to wait for fellow teammate and long time cycling buddy, Robbie Loehr.

Robbie had suffered a double flat just a few short miles into the race and knew after that he was out of the running. However, we decided to solider on. We rode the next 55ish miles together talking, joking, dragging each other up the climbs, and down the twisty, narrow decents, drag raced down 50 mile and hour hill. Even though our finishing times were greater than we had hoped we probably had more fun than anyone else that day. For things like that I am greatful.

6 Hours of Cramps!

2011-07-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I headed up to Ellicottville, New York with a posse of cyclist friends from Pittsburgh. Why such a far drive for a bike race you ask? Well it was for a 6 hour mountain bike race and to make it even better they have had a Solo Clydesdale category. That is a big bucket of win if you ask me.

We headed up to camp the night before the race. The camping area held about 20 to 30 other campers/racers if I had to guess, the funny thing was I knew pretty much all of them. That made for a pretty fun evening with a nice group of folks including my wife. The night consisted of dinner in town and Spin Tap projected on a white sheet at the camp site. After that it was bed time and off to dream land.

The next morning it was hot out! The race didn’t start till 10 am so it was just going to get worse and heat is not my friend when I am racing. Drink, drink, drink was the order of the morning to try and be hydrated for the race. After tooling around all morning it was finally race time. It was a running start to our bikes and I found myself lining up at the front. I kinda laughed at myself in my head, “why am I up here”. Steevo was on one side and Tim Carson on the other. It wasn’t like I would be seriously competing with those two. I am more of a third or fourth row kinda guy. LOL.. However I just went with it. As soon as the race director blew his whistle we were off on the short run of around 1/8 mile, then it was onto our bikes.

The course was 8.5 miles long and the goal was to do as many laps as you could in six hours, sounds simple right? The route started climbing pretty much from the get go. Up the Holiday Valley Ski Resort Mountain we went. I found myself feeling not bad despite it being at least 88 degrees already. After a mile or so of climbing we hit the first section of single track and IT happen! I felt a small cramp in my right calf. “This cannot be happening we just started”, I thought to myself. I cramp a lot in endurance events but never 10 minutes into the race. I pedaled through till it passed however I knew once it started it was not going to stop.

Once you finish the climb up the mountain the rest course is 90% single track. It was fast, extremely dry and a boat load of fun. Luckily it was very shaded also because the heat was creeping higher. Again the trails were fun!

After lap one I found myself in second in the solo Clydesdale field and the cramps held off for the rest of the first lap. A fast pit for a new bottle and some food and I found myself headed up the mountain again for lap number two. At the top the cramps in my legs started again but this time they were not just in my calves but also in my hamstrings now. I must admit I started to worry a bit. I drove a long way for this race and I would hate to end my day early. I tried to slow down a bit and pressed on. On lap three I found myself in the lead but the cramps were really starting to set in and I was less than three hours into the race. To be frank, I wanted to call it a day but how the hell do you justify quitting when you’re in the lead? I don’t like DNFing when I am in last let alone first.

Lap four and five of the race hurt really bad. The time on the bike was not an issue but the cramps forced me to stop from time to time and stretch. I was so worried someone was going to bridge up to my while I was doing so. The heat was also really bad at this point and that didn’t help much. I suffered though lap five and when I came into the pit for more water and food Gina total me I was not only leading the Clydesdale class but was in 5th in the normal solo class. I was dumb founded by that. I knew I was riding ok but with all the stopping for the cramps I was amazed to be doing that well. Off I went for the last lap.

I had planned on getting a second wind to help me through the last lap. I kinda figured I would be able to dig deep for the last one to hold my lead. Well the second wind never came. I fell apart on the last lap. The cramps were crushing and the 95 degree heat made it even worse. I thought to myself you just got to keep going. It was only 8 miles to the finish but it was one of the hardest 8 miles ever for me. There was some pushing of the bike but I made it to the finish somehow. I was so happy to be done. I ended up with 53.32 miles with 8,132 feet of climbing. WOOF! GPS DATA.

I was able to hold on for the win in the solo Clydesdale class and would have finished 6th in the normal solo class. I guess the heat was an issue to everyone and I guess I was not the only on suffering out there.

The course and race were a lot of fun. I am sure going to try and make it back next year! Thanks again to all my friends and Gina who went up with me.. What a blast and ass kicker at the same time..

Don’t call it a Comeback

2011-07-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

My last post was sooo long ago. It was about Nicole Dorinzi and I winning the Big Bear 2x12. Things really went downhill after that!!! Robbie and I camped the night of the race and then headed down to Durham, NC the next day to find a place to live. Yes, Robbie and I are moving away from Morgantown! I am starting a new job at Duke next week in the Biology Department, but don’t worry…we won’t be cheering on their basketball team! Anyway, the entire trip down to NC I was having severe back pain. It was so bad that I couldn’t even get it together to drive the car. It was a strange kind of pain, not the usual strained or sore muscle. It was persistence and burning and I couldn’t touch it. Around the same time, my skin around my waist on the left side of my body became really sensitive. Even my shirt brushing against it made my shin itch. Late in the week a rash started to form in the same area and I immediately thought that the Big Bear race had not only given me massive back pain, but also poison ivy. Blisters eventually started and then the inflicted area kept getting bigger and bigger. I just ignored it and assumed it was something I was just going to have to do my best to ignore and just suffer through. Besides, the Hilly Billy Roubaix was my season goal and it was just around the corner. The next weekend Robbie and I pre-rode the first half of the Hilly Billy because I wanted to make sure I knew what I was in for and I wanted to test out my equipment. I decided to ride my Cannondale Caffeine 29er with Kenda Small Block 8 700x35C cyclocross tires. It was so much fun!!! The course was super wet from the recent rains. We had to call JR on the Little Indian Creek extension because we couldn’t even find the road! I got so excited about the race that I called my good friend Tricia Lewis to convince her to race it on her 29er and she agreed. This race was going to be the ultimate ending to my WV racing career.

Monday rolled around and it was 5 days until the Hilly Billy Roubaix. My poison ivy was still spreading and getting worse, so I decided it was time to do something I dreaded…seek medical attention. Robbie and I headed over to MedExpress to see if they could do something to halt my plant-based affliction. I was given a shot of steroids in the rump and a prescription for prednisone. They predicted I would start feeling better in two days and would definitely be ready to race. Later in the afternoon Robbie sent a picture of my nasty blisters to everyone’s favorite cycling physician, Scott Benson. He immediately wrote back and informed us that I had shingles, not poison ivy. I immediately started researching the signs and symptoms of shingles and soon realized Dr. Benson was spot on. Shingle is basically the chicken pox’s revenge. Most of us have had chicken pox as a child. The virus remains dormant in you nervous system. As adults, if we become immunocompromised due to extreme stress (selling a house + starting a new job + finding a place to live + endurance mountain bike racing) the virus can awaken, cause severe nerve pain, and travel along your nerves until it comes out the nerve endings on your skin in the form of super sensitive open sores that ruin your life for a couple of weeks. I was devastated and completely pathetic. I literally couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even wear a T-shirt because the pain was so bad. It took all my energy to make the jello shots I promised as race refreshments. The day of the Hilly Billy Roubaix, I sat in the house with Netflix waited for text messages about my teammates and friends who were racing. Life is so unfair! The first text I got was to tell me that Besty Shogren had come in as the first women in just over 5 hours. Next I found out that Nicole Dorinzi was the second women to cross the finish just 14 minutes later. Robbie, James Braswell and Christina Burkle road together and finished around 6 hrs. Robbie called me a little later and I talked to him and my friend Tricia. They both had a great time racing the hellish course. I decided then, that I would just have to come back next year!
This last week I finally started to feel good enough to get back on the bike. I did a few shorter rides to get my strength up and then I ask JR and a good friend of team Dynamic, Justine Pagenheart, to ride the second half of the Hilly Billy course with me. If I couldn’t race it because of a horrific disease, I could at least ride the entire thing, damn it. We had a blast!

JR was on his new Cannodale SuperX and definitely had a case of new bike legs. I tried my best to keep up with him by taking advantage of his hospitable draft and we finished the ride in just over 3 hours. It was 90 degrees out and I was really missing the aid stations. My CamelBak bottles were empty starting the long climb just past the coal mine on Fort Marin. Luckily aid station 3 was still in effect at the Petsko’s house and Gina had frozen towels, lemonade and popsicles for us!!! Now, I think every ride should include popsicles… or ice cream.

As cyclists we ask a lot of our bodies and, and very often, even more of ourselves. Testing one’s limits both mentally and physically can be extremely rewarding, but I urge everyone to remember to be kind to yourself and your bodies. If you don’t, nature has a really funny way of putting you in your place, and personally, I don’t really want to visit that place every again.
See you next year!

Post by Laura K.

Willmington/Whiteface 100K recap

2011-07-01T07:22:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the good folks over at Cannondale and ABRAracing.com, I was fortunate enough to head up to Lake Placid New York on June 19th to participate in the inaugural Wilmington/Whiteface 100K. The Whiteface 100 is a 100 kilometer race around the greater Lake Placid area that culminates at the massive, 3500’ Whiteface Mountain. Never having done any endurance mountain bike racing before, saying I was a little nervous is a bit of an understatement. My biggest fear was dehydrating or tanking because I didn’t eat or drink enough. The previous weekend at the WVMBA Big Bear 2x12 I had suffered from some serious dehydration that landed me in the hurt locker for a few hours and completely ruined my day. After a lengthy talk with Scott Benson though, I felt that I had things under control pending that I followed his eating and drinking guidelines.
JR Petsko, James Braswell, Ryan Post, and myself headed out of Morgantown on Friday evening and, after a quick night’s layover in Batavia, NY and a run in with the law (Nice cop, expensive ticket), we arrived in Lake Placid around 3 PM on Saturday. We hustled down to the mountain base, got registered, and then headed out for a ride to loosen our legs up. The hour long spin around the area was pretty cool and we even found a little single track, albeit muddy, along the way. After hitting the Chinese buffet, where I am proud to say I out ate everyone, for some prerace carbo loading we headed back to the hotel and to bed. With a 6:30 AM start ahead of us we needed all the rest, and Ambien, we could find.
The 4:15 AM alarm was not too welcoming but after a quick bowl of oatmeal and a banana, I felt coherent enough to head out to the race. After a 30 minute spin around the parking lot and a welcome/good luck speech by mountain bike super hero Dave Weins, I was more than ready for the gun to go off. As the shotgun, seriously a real shotgun, went off we surged off the line. Things went easy for the first hundred feet or so with people trying not to crash into one and other but after that it became a hammerfest out of the resort driveway. I quickly picked a line up the right side of the group and sprinted towards the front so I could avoid the inevitable back of the pack slinky effect. After sitting around the front quarter of the group for the first paved section, I began to move to the front because being even a fourth of the way back was causing me to get slinkied. As we hit the first gravel section things started to pick up and, after getting fed up with people slowing down for the short climbs, I hopped into the ditch where no one else wanted to go. After a short, match burning effort up a small dirt climb, I settled in around 8th wheel.
The front group of 10 riders I found myself in began to move away from the main peloton pretty quickly and by the top of the gravel climb the peloton was out of sight. After bombing down a fire road and hammering back down a paved road, we arrived at the next climb. Knowing Cannondale pro and super nice guy Jeremiah Bishop is much faster and wiser than myself, I decided to do the smart thing and just follow his wheel or at least stay close to it. The pace was pretty steady going up and gave me a chance to have a short conversation with Jeremiah who, sort of to my surprise, knew about the world famous Hilly Billy Roubaix taking place the next weekend!
As we headed back onto the sandy, gravel road our group of now 10 riders formed up into a paceline behind the 3 pros of the group. 4 or 5 of us traded pulls on the front until the next climb. This is where things began to get faster. About midway up the climb, the pace picked up pretty substantially. Knowing I still had about thirty miles to go, I decided to save my matches for later in the race instead of trying to stay with the lead group of 4. After coming across the top of the climb and getting passed by a few riders on the downhill side, I decided it was time to get back on top of the gear. I was probably sitting around 12th at this point but was hoping my “slow and steady then crush it” strategy would work out.
The course, being shaped like a lollipop at the far end, meant that the long gravel decent that several riders passed me on would be a massive gravel climb on the way back. I knew this climb, being long and steady but not steep, suited me well for trying to wheel riders back in. As I started up I settled into a comfortable gear and just spun my legs out. I had saved most of my matches and, with about 13 miles to go, I knew I had better start lighting them. It didn’t take long for me to reel in several riders. It was clear that too many people had gone too hard from the gun and were paying for it now. The looks on their faces was enough to let me know that they were not going to be following my wheel.
As I neared the final aid station before the Whiteface Mountain climb, I found myself in 9th. My legs were definitely feeling the miles but the thought of being top 10 in such a big race helped me block out the aches. After a quick run through some single track, we were back on the pavement heading for the base of Whiteface. As I turned off the pavement and onto the single track that was the start of the climb, I realized just how large this mountain was. It was nearly vertical and seemed to go up forever. Again, I just settled into a gear and spun my heart out. I had been riding with another pro from up around the New York area for the last 5 miles or so but after about the first few hundred feet of the climb he cramped up super bad and dropped off my wheel leaving me alone to tame the beast of a mountain.
I popped out of the woods after a few minutes thinking that now I would get to descend down the mountain, cross the line, and get some real food. So, when I saw a marshal pointing me up a huge, loose gravel climb that went to the top of the mountain I was less than amused. Thank god I had left something in the tank and my water bottles. After having my Flash 29er for about a month or so, I had yet to utilize the granny gear. At this point, I was really glad I had it. I spun up the first section of the climb pretty easily but it was not long until I was walking. Normally I would be ashamed to admit to pushing but, in this case, it was entirely necessary. I even “attacked” for 8th place while pushing! After finding a place to remount my bike I began to spin again. Earlier in the day, on the downhill, a guy on a cross bike blew past me and crushed it down the road out of sight. I now saw him up ahead and decided that I had enough in me to make a move on him. It was an awkward battle for 7th from there. When he was able to ride, he was able to move faster than me. However, when he had to dismount and push I was able to put some time on him. We battled it out up that climb for what seemed like an hour but in reality was only about 15 minutes. Finally, we were side-by-side and he dismounted. I knew if I could beat him to the top there was no way he could get back on my wheel on the downhill so I dug deep and went as hard as I could for about 30 seconds. At the end of the effort I looked back and realized he was done. I kept a steady pace the rest of the way to the top and then began the super fast descent to the finish. After twisting down through the last section of single track, I popped out onto the ski slope and was headed for the few hundred yards to the finish. With the crowd cheering, I crossed the line in 7th and claimed my medal and belt buckle. After a short spin to cool down, I got changed, grabbed some barbeque, and headed over to watch the rest of our team finish. Again, thanks to Cannondale for giving myself and the others the opportunity to go to such a big race. I think endurance racing may be my new found calling.

- Todd Latocha

Who's Idea was this?!

2011-06-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

Suck it up Buttercup!

Hilly Billy- yes thanks to the awesome cross tires that Kenda spared us, I can tack you on to my list of fantabulous finishes this year and best of all I didn't have a single flat!!

I was worried silly trying to decide between using a mountain bike or cross bike. The chosen mountain bike last year felt great and was a fun ride until I scored a three inch slice in the center of the rear tire. DNF. In the end, because of gearing and a comfy saddle I should have rode my mountain bike again.

I can't honestly say that I enjoyed myself entirely. My legs still felt a little tired from Lumberjack the weekend prior, and pre-race jitters inhibit any ability to consume calories in the morning. So I ate a banana and was riding gears that left me struggling up even the 'easy' climbs on the course. Before the first aid station I was hiking up punchy hills, just destroying myself trying to mash up long easy road climbs. Climb, climb, climb!
"JR, Stop treating us like a bunch of babies and add a few more hills next year. Sheesh." - Ryanne Palermo

I was at the unofficial aid station contemplating why in the world I do this to myself, and praying that I wouldn't get any flats when Robbie and James rolled up behind me. "Hey Buerkle!", they shouted... I barely had the energy to muster out a hello, was puzzled to see them behind me and then several miles later, super thrilled that they were dumb enough to ride at my pace realized - Hey, this is what teams are for. At aid station two, Robbie looks at my bike and says "well that there's yer problem, see that ring on the front of your bike, well its not small at all... you need a compact!"
I can't thank them enough for pestering me, and riding alongside up the following climbs. They promised that no matter how hard I tried to sneak off the back of their train they weren't going to drop me. Well, that was until I had to stop and pee. I couldn't wait longer. I promised that I would hang on, and muster my way to the top... at this point our friend Stick passed by and I felt a little more confident that I was going to actually finish this thing. When I finished walking up the hill, I found them picking rhaspberries. We continued along through aid station three. After a half dozen glazed oatmeal cookies and lathering the chains with lube, we rolled out for the last leg of the ride. It was all I could do to keep my legs moving. I had at this point surrendered riding up hills and just walked up most of them. By mile 57 or 64 or whatever it was my stomach was just pissed so I started belching like a fat kid living at McDonalds. Gross. Poor guys. I guess this was the final straw because when we got to the next hill, they finally stopped waiting. The course doubled back on itself at this point and I heard them yell c'mon Buerkle, but when I started up the dirt double track they were out of sight, out of mind.

Something happened when I hit the dirt though. It was dirt, I know what to do here- and I started climbing again. The pedals got a little easier to turn over and only momentarily did I have to walk again when I hit the 'wall'... After getting to the top of a steep section of road and hearing some construction workers laughing at us mustering up this thing, the rest was smooth sailing. I refused to walk up the road to the finish line, ending up 8th in six hours flat. Beer seems to be a fantastic recovery drink, so I had two glasses and went home with a buzz that lasted several hours.

Cheers
CB

BONK! at the Hilly Billy Roubaix

2011-06-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

So, I missed last years Hilly Billy Roubaix with much displeasure. I don't remember why specifically, but I know that all I had to ride was a road bike or a 29er with fat tires. This season has been a blur as the races seem to come by faster than I can prepare. Knowing full well I wanted to race the HBR, I hadn't planned very well to race it.

Two weeks before the race I decided to visit the crew at PathfinderWV about getting a cyclocross frame and cannibalize a road bike for parts to prepare for the HBR and the upcoming cyclocross season, neither of which I had any experience. So, with one week before the race Robbie rolls out my new matte black cyclocross machine....Sweet! Now I just needed a ride or two to dial the fit.

The HBR started out with a downhill start and quickly enters some gravel roads. Before long we were drudging through some seriously deep muddy water holes. Not to worry though, I was sporting my ultra-comfy Swiftwick socks, which would soon dry once we had a few miles on the road again. As concerned as I was about the race beforehand, I was thinking to myself this race couldn't get any better at this point, combining road and mountain bike racing for over 70miles.

I was feeling pretty good through the first half of the race. I passed up the first aid station with plans on having my lunch at the second station. I had spent the about 8 miles riding solo....no one in sight in front or behind. I was beginning to think I had missed a turn. Then, thirty-some miles in I roll in to the second aid station for a little lunch. The volunteers were great. I didn't even get my leg over the top tube of the bike before three different volunteers were grabbing the three bottles I had emptied and filling them with water and energy drinks. A forth handed me some electrolyte capsules. A big thanks to the crew at the second aid station...top-notch service.

A quick bite and I was rolling on to catch teammate Nicole D. who had rolled on past that station. After about 15-20 miles of riding with her and local Scott B., I was beginning to feel the effects of riding distances that I had yet to ride this year. It was obvious that my performance was beginning to dwindle away. I noticed my average speed was falling off quickly even though my effort hadn't let up.

Somewhere between 50-55 miles into the race I hit the "wall", which turned out to be a steep, pea-graveled climb. I felt like I had eaten plenty and drank enough fluids that I couldn't be bonking. I realized halfway up the climb that I could walk faster than I was riding. Besides, walking should allow the numbness in my feet to go away. Once I reached the top and look down to the next checkpoint, I noticed Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling teammate Derek C. and Anne directing the racers on what would soon become the toughest section of the race. Derek (who wasn't racing, but did finish 2nd in the M'town Tri the next day) gave me some sort of energy waffle...tasty...and some fluids.

After about 10-15minutes of hanging out at that checkpoint, the race course turned into a deeply rutted muddy mess of an ATV trail. I was all over the place on that trail. Apparently the newly consume energy hadn't kick in yet. But, at the next checkpoint I would consume a soda (from a crazy hillbilly holding a skunk and a beaver!) before the last 10-12miles. Finally, I had some energy and the last miles rolled by quickly. Although I didn't ride my best, I finished ahead of my first HBR goal of 6 hrs. The race was a blast. Mylan Park was the perfect place for a start/finish. And my new bike may have become my favorite.

Congratulations to all Dynamic Physical Therapy Cyclists for completing this race, as well as some podium finishes by Nate, Gunnar, Betsy, and Nicole.

Thanks to JR for putting on a great and challenging event. A big thanks to our team sponsors, especially PathfinderWV for building up my new race machine. And the biggest thanks to all the volunteers. Aid stations 2 and 3 rock! I'm already looking forward to next years race.

C. Jones

Smoked that Tygart!

2011-06-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 18th brought the 4th round of the 2011 ABRA Road Race Series to Philippi, WV for a hilly 33-mile loop. There were only 3 of us in the 3/4 field, so they combined our start with the 4-5 and 5 racers making our overall field a decent size. Last year, I was dropped on the climb out of Belington, so this year I went into the race knowing I had to be near the front at the start of the climb if I had any chance to claim victory. Teammate Derek Clark, my good friend Billy Slutz and I made up the 3-4 field, and took turns dragging the combined field up the long climb out of Philippi. I had mentioned to Derek before the race that my right knee just didn't feel right - no real pain, but just discomfort. We rode at a moderate pace up the first 3-mile climb, and heading towards Belington, Derek got a nice gap so I sat up at the front of the field and let Billy chase for a few miles until he reeled Derek back in. Once in to Belington, we took a right turn, followed by another right and then across some train tracks. At this point, we all felt bad because the local authorities had actually held up a funeral procession to let us pass...in the pack we all thought that the race should've been neutralized to let the funeral procession have the right of way - it would have been the right thing to do.

Anyhow, as we rolled through Belington, I rode off the front as we approached the climb that I had trouble with previously. Two 4-5 riders came with me but Billy and Derek did not. When I realized this, I really pushed the pace at the base of the climb, trying to see if my knee would be okay with a vigorous pace. It seemed to be doing okay, so I kept it red-lined up the climb. The race really got strung out at this point, so each time I would steal a quick glance over my shoulder and see people trying to catch back on, I would up the pace a little more, knowing that I am a good decender (I think it has more than a little to do with my weight...). I knew that if I could be the first to the top with nobody in sight, I would have a good chance to keep going in TT mode for the rest of the race. With the combining of the fields, one of the wheel trucks became our lead vehicle, so I just spent the next 20 miles with my head down following the blue and white truck in front (team colors, right?). I was guilty of checking my progress on each straight stretch, but luckily did not see any wheels behind me when I did so. Having done this course twice previously, I knew that there were only a few small rises in the final 10 miles, but mostly it was slightly down-hill until the final 2-mile decent to the finish back in Philippi. The last little uphill did give me fits, as I pushed a huge gear to try to maintain my speed. Luckily, with that out of the way, I was able to decend into Philippi at top speed with no traffic, very unlike the previous two years. As the lead truck crossed the second covered bridge into town, I knew I had the victory, and was even able to raise my arms across the line!

My wife, daughter and parents were all in attendance and all cheered me across the line - I was very glad they all decided to see me race this day as it was my first road victory in 2 years. A big shoudout to Derek for stringing out the field from the gun so I could time a counter-move near the base of the big climb of the day! On the day, it was very successful for the team with Gunnar also winning solo, as well as Nicole (nice bike!) taking another victory in her field and Betsy finishing second in hers!

Post by Ben K.

Lumberjack 100 DONE!

2011-06-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

I had zero anticipation for Lumberjack while driving through Torpedo, OH and up through Michigan with all of its flatness. My knees bothered me a bit during Stoopid 50 a week before, so I was also worried about doing my first century this year-in the woods. I basically rolled off the couch in April the morning of Mountwood and decided to start riding my bike again.

I can't count on both hands the number of races I DNF'd last year due to mechanicals and flats. I spent most of the eight hour drive reminding myself that I quit Tour de Lake, Stoopid 50, Hilly Billy Roubaix, bailed on Shenandoah for financial reasons, quit Iron Cross and finally just stopped riding altogether after Thanksgiving. We took a trip to San Francisco for Turkey Day, rented bikes and rolled around the city some, but I even crashed riding up a sidewalk near Golden Gate bridge and got food poisoning from some bad fish we had the first night we got into town.

The night we hopped on the train headed back to San Jose for our flight, my Mom called and told me a good friend of mine had died over the holiday somewhere in Georgia. This really hit hard because of how long I had known this person. He taught me how to drive a car with a 'stick shift' and was a great movie goer person.. just fun all around guy. We were the same age- he died. So, I learned way too quickly that life is very short and I decided that I wasn't making the most of mine and set goals for this year.

Finishing Stoopid 50 was my first goal. Mission accomplished! Lumberjack was the dreaded goal- along with Wilderness 101. I finished Lumberjack. Thank God.

Friday night we pulled into the Big M ski area just outside of Manistee, MI. Immediately we were mauled by skeeters and horseflies. I look like someone was shooting golf balls at me and have the bruises to prove it. We were getting ready to do an easy pre-ride of the course when a group of folks from E. Pa rolled up. I turned around, and Vicki says in her adorable Scottish accent- 'Hello Chrissy, hows it going?'.... I felt like she was saying 'Hello, Chrissy.. I can't wait to beat you by 2 hours tomorrow...' and off we skedaddled into the woods as quickly as they could possibly roll. My legs weren't feeling it. It finally hit me that there were some incredibly strong women here and I really just needed to focus on finishing the race.

Just one glitch... my bike developed the most ungodly ticking noise from around the bottom bracket area. It was aweful.... I fell behind the group in the pre-ride and just started crying. So far from this point, the course looked really boring, sandy and flat. I was positive that this was going to be a bust. I was so livid that my bike was broke again that I bailed on the pre-ride and headed back to the car.

Later that evening we checked into our hotel and headed to town for dinner. The burgers were good. Beer was better. I started to calm down a little and decided that I would just ride the course as far as I could before my bike broke and then buy a new one next week. My goal was 9.5 hours.

I woke up feeling good about the race. I wasn't sold on a hundred miles yet, but I was a little excited to get out and just ride my mountain bike. I lined up somewhere mid-pack among 350 racers. Bottles check. Flat stuff check. Computer check. Song stuck in head check.
We started with little warning and began a one mile race along the road- 25mph on mtbikes then suddenly- singletrack. We herded ourselves into the woods like cattle. If you stepped out of line you were screwed, so I pushed as hard as I could for the first lap. I made a mistake and didn't grab water at the first check point and really cooked my legs on the second half of the course. I was averaging almost 12mph and really happy with how great I felt. I had no idea where I was compared to other women. Daniel Musto passed me on her single speed like I was standing still and I just snickered a little. I was surprised at how much fun this course was.

We weaved in and out of massive pine forests with a carpet of ferns and pine needles cushioning the ground. There were only a couple small sections of double track snowmobile roads, and the only rock garden I rolled through looked like someone dumped a 5-gallon bucket of gravel on the course. There was a surprisingly large amount of climbing- just short steep punchy climbs with fun flowey descents to follow. I was really having fun.

A friend of ours from home who had recently moved to Michigan and runs XXC mag caught up to me and pedaled a good bit of the first lap and a small portion of the second lap.. It was nice having a wheel to follow through the woods and a little motivation. When I know someone is watching, I tend to be a bit more critical of how I'm performing. I felt aweful my second lap though. The pine forests started to feel like being trapped in a cedar chest and my eyes were getting sore from all of the sand. It was all I could do to keep grabbing wheel after wheel and roll around the course as quickly as possible. Normally, I'm busy getting sidetracked looking at the scenery, but it really never changed. So I kept pedaling.

The ticking noise bothered me little. I rolled across the lap line at 6:28 and happy with that I found the motivation to head out for the 3rd lap. I was really having a great time! To top it off, I found Mahokey at the tent when I rolled in for water, happy to finally catch back up to him. The little things right! To my demise, he stopped at that point, happy with the 66 miles he'd already pedaled and I was on my own this lap. Shoot! There goes the tandumb again... I hopped back on my bike determined to finish in under 10 hours and not get beat by the tandumb. I felt great on the 3rd lap. I rode conservatively during the second lap and decided it was easier to run up some of the punchy climbs.. I watched nervously as my average speed continued to drop and an alarming number of welts formed under my kit from skeeter bites. I tried to scream "WHEEEEE" on all the fun little descents and after scrambling up what would be the last climb of the day I gave it everything to get back to the finish line in 10hrs. I was solidly disappointed after how well the first lap went that I came in this late, but I finally crossed the line at 10:06 with the biggest grin on my face. Not only was this my first 100 mile mountain bike race, but it the first century of the year for me. I finished. My bike was still ticking and I got attacked by another horsefly at the finish.

Some guy congratulated me and handed me a Lumberjack 100 patch. Finisher. I drank the first cup of beer I could score in less than one gulp, downed a burrito, a second cup of beer and hazily headed to the lake for an ice bath. I think 27 women started the race. I finished 12th.

The next morning we drove down the western side of Michigan for a change in scenery and stopped for breakfast and a peak of the lake. Water temperature was a whopping 52 degrees. There was an old army tank parked along side one of the roads... I should have climbed underneath it with my jersey on and got a photo taken to demonstrate how my arms felt after riding the entire course rigid. I wasn't incredibly sore... just stiff and amazingly now just a couple days later I feel great.

Post by Chrissy B.

My Tale of Inspiration and Woah

2011-06-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

by Gunnar.
For Jim Cummins, the rest of the folks that help put on the Dirty Kanza 200, and my own well being.

Maybe I've told the story too many times now. Maybe I've not told it enough, and now don't know where to start.
But enough waiting around, might not be the tidiest, but here it is.

I will tell you right now, from the beginning, that I did not finish this race. It was no fault of my bike or equipment. I did not finish because I went turned down a road that I shouldn't have taken, ignored some signs even when they smacked me in the face, really had no alternative but to stop at mile 162, Checkpoint #3.

You can read Betsy's story for why we and how we got there-
Sun-up to Sun-down

When folks ask me what it was like, I usually start off by saying that beyond the heat and wind, it was not the KS that I thought it would be. Big wide gravel roads, rolling hills, some "unmaintained gravel roads" that included some decently gnarly little fields of strewn rocks and ledges and the occasional stream crossing, free ranging cattle, and in quite a few places hardly any trees or "civilization" to be seen. Most definitely less paved road than any (save one) of the 100 Mile MTB races that I've done. Probably more rugged than quite a few MTB races that purport to be "Ultra".
And of course there was the wind and the heat.

It was totally Betsy's idea to be there, but I was mostly in charge of bike preparation, tyre choices, what to bring on the bike, and gear selection. A tall order when wading in such foreign waters.
We heard stories of folks shredding tyres, some running CX race tires, some MTBs, folks walking the hills, of how the race really starts after mile 140. These were things that were part of the daily morning chats, kept us both up late at night, staring up at the ceiling, but ultimately it was to be my call.

I settled on the Kenda Kwick Tendril 700x38c tyres. No knobbies (why do we need knobbies on dirt/gravel roads?), more rubber on the tread and on the sidewall and I really couldn't imagine needing more volume than 38. This was a good choice.

Betsy ran her stock "special purpose" CX bike. Which is really just a CX bike except that she really prefers racing on her SS CX, so the geared one just sits around waiting for things like Iron CX, early season road races, and other what-not. 44/34 in the front, 12/25 in the rear (no need for the 27).
Through chatting w/ folks via the DK200 discussion forums, I decided that I'd probably be fine running somewhere around 42x18. I would opt for the lighter side of this at first just to be sure. Thanks be to Matt Brown and folks at High Gear Cyling, for on our first day in Emporia he kindly chatted w/ us about the course and gave us a map of the DK Lite, which he explained would be a good representation of the roads and hills to be found on the DK200 loop proper. He also gave us a thumbs up on tyre selection.
So off into the windy abyss we rode, me sporting a 44x19 gear, but in our spares I had everything from a 40 on up to a 46 just in case.

Big wide gravel roads, and not just a few, but many. Stress-free riding as Betsy put it. Fields on the left, fields on the right, eventually making it to the tree-less zone too. Riding south was the worst, then west, east wasn't too bad and going north made you feel like a hero.
It was on that first ride that I first felt the twinge of excitement, and the pang of angst or something else too. "These tyres are rolling fine, this gear if anything might be a little light, even after two days of driving, I bet I can do really well."

After that first ride Betsy had decided that she could definitely move here and spend the rest of her days riding these gravel roads.

So the evening was spent excitedly talking and thinking about the other stuff, like how much water to bring, what extra supplies to carry, what to do at the checkpoints, how could we keep my mammy busy all this time, and what the crap is up w/ Pizza Ranch being open till 10 but closing the pizza bar at 8?
We decide to carry the minimum of "stuff": Compass, cycling computer, little headlight, rear blinky light, 3 large water bottles, multi tool, pump, 2 spare tubes, patch kit, chain tool, tyre boot, tyre lever, some gel-type stuff, a Raw Rev bar and a banana. The checkpoints weren't *that* far away from each other...

Friday I finally decided on the 45 for the front. Slightly heavier than then 42x18 but not quite into 42x17 range. This was going to be it, "look at how large that combo looks!"

Friday evening riders meeting, meet & greet and fun time!

Me and Abe, both w/ our trading cards!

Saturday morning rolls around soon enough, but after doing quite a few 100 mile MTB races while camping this is a piece of cake. "Cheese cake, popcorn".
Fresh coffee, oatmeal, other sundry snacks and tidbits and the fast has been broken.
Drive into downtown, find a most excellent parking spot, unload, stuff pockets, make sure mom knows where to go, make sure Betsy and I know what we should do at the checkpoints. Find a spot kind of near the front to start.

And off we go!
Rolling out of town, then onto the first gravel road that we rode on Thursday, it feels good, able to ride near the front, this is gonna be fun! This is gonna be good.
Roll, roll, roll. Folks w/ lots of equipment, folks on road bikes, folks on MTBs, some talking, some looking around, some trying to avoid smacking into the cows.
Somewhere around mile 35 or so some chap says something about the hills and climbing. I reply "These aren't hills!" he counters "Where you from?" to which I tell him "West Virginia", he offers "You don't count" and we laugh. Shortly after that I ride off the front on a climb. Just to see if I can and somewhat cause I can only go so slow w/ the 45x19.

On the way to the 1st Checkpoint, rolling it outThere are people back there beyond what you can see...

Photos stolen from the Chamios Butt'r Facebook page

Around mile 40 or so the hills start coming around a little more in earnest and regularity. I soon find myself w/ one or two riders, again off the front. Fast downhills, carry the speed up the other side and soon enough the first checkpoint is upon me and I'm all alone. Sure was fun getting to the first checkpoint, seeing Jim Cummins there, and being so excited, having a school-girl-giggle moment.
Took some time to eat and drink, like we had planned. Washed my hands, glasses, and legs, then took some time to fix a ding in the rim. I wasn't the first one out, but I wasn't too far behind the leader.
Then the gravel started heading north. That means I'm all spun out and a few folks just blow by me. One fellow is seen fixing a flat not soon after that, but the big buy in dark blue is gone. He came by me in top gear and moving! I felt a little doomed. At that moment I knew I had somehow planted it in my head that I was trying to win this stupid thing. Trying to win a 200 mile gravel road race on a singlespeed. What an idiot, what a buffon, what a ultra-moron.
Off in the distance I could see the guy in dark blue. I had been checking my map and even though the intersection wasn't marked, I knew I needed to be turning left, and soon enough another rider comes up and is wondering what to do, he wondered about the fellow in front of us, going straight. "He is going the wrong way" was all I could say, he was too far off for him to hear a yell.
My fellow rider (we being in 1st and 2nd now) wasn't too awfully sure about all this, course he wasn't carrying a map either... But soon enough Lance Andre and Barbi on the tandumb roll up, we again check our maps, and after verifying and confirming some little bends and a confusing "turn" we were convinced that we indeed were on the right course.
And this is how we 3 (4?) rode for quite a while.
Some fun little side roads, some stream crossings, some chatting, some places where I was hanging on, some places (mostly the climbs) where I would walk away from the others. A lot of pedaling.
Getting to the 100 mile mark I realize that we're going to hit Checkpoint #2 slightly prior to the cut-off for the fist Checkpoint #1, little over 100 miles in about 6 hours! w00t. Lance assures us that we are mostly likely very far ahead of anyone. We decide to ride together.
For whatever reason, I guess another little hill, I ride into Checkpoint #2 first again. Not that it mattered, but it again felt real swell.
Find mom (who now is setup a bit better than the first one, quick learner she is) clean my face, ask how Betsy is doing, eat some, fiddle w/ something, fill up bottles, then I see my comrades getting ready to leave... Noooooo!
This is where the dream turns to nightmare, but only in hindsight. This point, right then. I can remember it very well, those instants.
If only I could relive this moment or the one in 5 minutes or so. If only.
I hadn't drank my large bottle of water, hadn't completed my little "to-do" list. Caraapp.
I was drinking a diet Coke (don't ask) when I saw them leaving, and got too rushed. Finished the Coke, gathered everything else up and off I went. Not to be left behind. I was in it to win it. Go big or go home. All that crap that I usually make fun of.
And I left the map on our little table.
In about 1/2 mile or so, I realized that I left the map. This was my second chance. How far can this false dream drive you Gunnar? How much can you ignore?
I kept going. I can ignore a lot apparently.
Our spirits were high in our little group. A little more chatting. The course also started heading north more. Much to my chagrin.
I was starting to not be able to hang on so well going north, and on the hills I was keeping up w/ the group fine, but was no longer charging up them. Then my belly started feeling non-good. Soon enough I wasn't able to hang on and the belly went to double-plus non-good. This was somewhere around mile 118.
So I go slow, drink some, eat some, go slow some more.
I know that I don't have a map, so I tell myself that I will only go on if the intersection is marked and/or I can see tracks, otherwise I will simply stop and wait for the next rider. No use in doing too many dumb things out here I tell myself. Unfortunately the dumbest things had already been done. As it was, the course was marked and I could see little tracks.
More going slow and feeling bad. So I waddle into a little stream and sit for a bit. Hoping that cooling off will return me to my once vigorous state. My water is almost all consumed and I know that I can't drink from this stream. Any stream around here will be coming off a fertilizered field or cattle grazing areas. No more dumb things...
Enough waiting, I'm not feeling too much better, so I start riding again. It is hot, it is windy, and there is little shade or respite from any of this.
About an hour after getting dropped a rider comes by, I believe it was Dan Huges (ended up winning the Open class, 2nd overall), he says hi or something, I grunt and soon enough he's out of site. Also around this time I find that I can't pedal unless I'm in the drops or sitting real tall or hands-off, such is the state of belly. Just ducky. But I'm still in 4th overall and all this bad feeling will soon pass... Right? Right?
Time doesn't matter anymore.
The belly is really aching and showing no sign of stopping. I have about an inch of water left. I have hopes of walking a little, maybe that will help the belly. Those hopes are dashed as I simply cannot walk w/ my bike. Weirdest thing ever. Whether or not I'm hunched over or standing tall I can't walk while holding my bike. This probably isn't good nor does it seem to be getting better.
Are you tired of reading this? I'm pretty tired of writing it too, but bear w/ me won't you?
So after some shuffling, and trying to get back on the bike and riding some more I pretty much give up on both those notions. My haven is a little rise/climb, a few little bushes around, and it's hot and feeling very exposed.
I try laying down, but can't get comfortable, so I stumble around. Then I take off my helmet, cap, glasses, and jersey. I just *gotta* get comfortable again, cripes! Nothing is working. Some folks ride by. I'm either sitting there, laying there, or stumbling around.
It's at this time that I find that my voice has gone wonky, how can I tell? Because folks are now coming by asking if I'm okay. Talking is a bit difficult, but more so it's really high pitched. I tell them I'm okay. No one has extra water and I'm not begging for it either. I'm gonna be feeling better here anytime now...
Betsy comes by soon enough, she's in 7th or so. She doesn't look very happy. She's shocked at my appearance and then at my voice. She asks what she can do, "there is nothing you can do right now honey". I stumble around some while she's there. Try to poop behind the one nice bush. I can't, everything is bound up and very hard. So I send Betsy on her way, "don't come back for me yet please". So I go back to trying to poop. cause it just *has* to make my stomach better. I'm finally able to "move" a bit, but not w/out "coercion" (ask my friend Scotty Benson about that), but my belly still hurts. And now my little spot to lay in the shade smells bad. Just ducky.
But I still just lay there. Hopeful that things will get better... any day now...
Some guys walking give me a sip of water and some E-tabs. Another fellow gives me some cola-fizzy tabs, says they always make his belly better. One guy asks if he should send someone back, I tell him thanks but not yet.
Lay down some more. Time passes.
I've had enough. Put the now extremely stiff jersey back on, put on the cap and helmet, find my glasses (I was smart enough to put them on the crank, prominently, so as I wouldn't lose them) and start pedaling. 17 miles to go to Checkpoint #3, mile 162.
I make it to the top and can pedal some. Not as awful as it was, but not great either. I also find that besides my voice, I now have a hard time opening my eyes, hard to focus quickly, and my ears feel like they have water in them, swishing back and forth, hearing and not hearing. This is probably a sign of things that I don't want to know about.
Pedal, pedal, pedal. I can still pedal. Counting down the miles, very slowly but counting them down. I decide that if I pass a big truck w/ a contractors water jug on it, that I will ask them for a drink. Other than that I'm still doing it on my own. Some clouds start rolling in, feels like a little rain and I hope, hope, hope that it starts raining. It starts raining very little, not enough for me to stop, lay down w/ my mouth open, open all the bottles and let Mother Nature help me out. She doesn't extend her hand today.
Pedal, pedal, pedal. It feels like uphill, but I'm still moving. Finally I reach mile 158 or so and some road. I'm going to make it.
Soon enough I see a little red Prius. I just shake my head. Mom and Betsy have come back for me. I'm not pleased, I told Betsy to not come back, I told her I was going to make, I shake my fist, I'm gonna make it...
So I do make it. Then I just lay down behind the Prius. I can't drink, can't eat, but I can lay there like a champ. "I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be okay." "Betsy or mom, can you take a picture of me please? Thanks."

In a bad way, but out of the ditch

Can't really remember what happened next. Betsy is worried, mom is worried, I just want to feel better. Eyes don't open, ears are swishing, voice is not my own. Get in to the Prius, turn on the A/C and try to drink a little and cool down. Rains start in earnest, some reports coming in of folks finding refuge under trees, hunkering down. We also get reports that the storm is heading a bit north. Some guys are getting ready to go back out and I tell Betsy to "get going, go w/ those guys, you gotta go now." And she does. It's a bit before 6 pm I think. Still plenty of time...
So I txt my buddy Scotty, then phone him, we talk, nothing emotional, I just tell him what's going on, how I feel. We finally agree that I can't go on and he urges me to get to a hospital and get some IV fluids. We talk some more, I get off the phone, tell mom to tell the folks at the Checkpoint that I am retiring from the race. Mile 162, that's it, no mas.
I start txting things to facebook, it passes the time.
We start packing up in the rain, the rain that now doesn't matter to me. I don't even care enough to shake my fists at the sky for not raining sooner. I know whose fault it is.
Then I start puking. Puke, rain, it's all pretty much water. Puke, rain, repeat.
Yes my race is over.
Prius is packed, me and mom are heading back to Emporia. I'm trying to drink, gonna be okay. "Just get me back to the hotel, turn off the A/C mom I'm feeling chilled." Txt Scotty as mom drives- "No Scotty I'm not going to the ER, yes Scotty it would be the best thing and if you were here and could administer an IV I would take it, but I'm not going to sit in an ER, sure Scotty, you're right, but it's not gonna happen, you know that. Yes I'll keep you posted, yes mom has your number, thank you..."
Make it to the Best Western, I puke some while driving around back. Gonna be okay. Take another photo.

Zombie eyes

Shower feels good, then I get the chills, crawl under the covers, I hate those chills. The chills like when you're sickly and it just comes over you, like some badness. Hate 'em, they are an aquaintence but not a friend.
"Yes mom, I'm gonna be okay, thank you. You need to get to the finish line for Betsy, but before you go can you go out and get me some Ensure? Yes I know you don't want to leave me here alone, but I have my fone, just make sure you have yours on, yes you have Scotty's number, I'll be okay, just need some food that will do me good. Thanks mom."
So I'm sipping water and Ensure. Takes me about an hour to drink one of those small bottles as I writhe back and forth on the bed, pillow on the belly, legs in funny positions trying to keep my legs and things from cramping.
I send the photo out to some friends, then to facebook. It passes time.
Mom calls, makes sure I'm okay.
Soon enough right before dark mom calls, Betsy is in, she finished 9th overall and of course 1st Women. Yay Betsy! I txt her mammy, txt some others. I'm a txt and tweeting fool.
I finish another bottle of Ensure.
I doze off and on, still writhing w/ the belly pillow and legs in funny positions. Mom calls, "yes mom I'm okay, just stay there, you guys just stay there, take care of Betsy, get some photos of the awards, I'm doing just fine, thank you."
And that's really it. Betsy and mom came back, brought some food that I was able to eat a little of, had a little ice cream, listened to Betsy's stories, saw the nice photo on canvas she got for the David Pals Sportsmanship Award, the award that she got cause I buried myself and she was willing to stop her race and try and come back for a stubborn me (ed. note; I had ungrateful in there, but I don't think I was or am or have been ungrateful for her actions :) ). Then we all went to bed.
Woke up the next day, ears, eyes, and voice still a little wonky, but not too terrible. I ate, we packed up eventually, and then started driving. Driving away from KS.

Looking back on it, it all seems so clear and straigh-cut.
Should I have tried so hard? Maybe not quite so hard, but I don't regret that, it's how I am, it's who I am sometimes. Just need to be a little smarter about it.
Should I have left Checkpoint #2 before I was ready? No. Plain and simple this was the decision and moment that sealed my fate and put me in the ditch.
Should I have gone back for the map and finished my refueling? Without a doubt it was my second chance and I completely neglected it.
Next year we plan on taking the Camelbacks for that leg. Next year...
Bottom line is I didn't respect the course enough. It is a long haul from Checkpoint #2 to #3, it's the heat of the day, you've already gone over a 100 miles. No need to be in a super rush right there. Right there, *that* spot. Ugh.
Some folks that I tell the tale to say things like "I can't believe that they don't have a water station out there", or "They need to have more water stops", "they need to do this, they need to do that." I tell them, "no, that's not what it is. They make it clear from the get go what type of an event it is. They're not there to hold your hand, you just don't get it do you? I made the mistakes, me, me, me." Would I ask the event to change the way they do it? No.
As Lance Andre said, somewhere out there "I just love these attrition races!"

Also on post-race reflection and analysis 2 other items are established-
1) Betsy ended up finishing w/ the 1st place SingleSpeed fellow. What if?
2) Looking at the profile of the course it appears that at the top of the hill that I was hanging/lying/stumbling on, the rest of the way to Checkpoint #3 was pretty much all down hill. All I had to do was get to that top... Like the Twilight Zone episode "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim".
(The elevation actually may be a bit off, as the temps were falling from the storm coming in. But it makes for a better story that way... )
Dirty Kanza 200 GPS

The Dirty Kanza 200 is an amazing event. The day before, the way the whole town gets into it, the way the people treat you, the course, the maps, the post-race party (well I wasn't able to attend, but I heard it really was something), the whole dang thing was amazing.
Thank you all that have anything to do w/ this event!
And thanks Mom. That really was super time and I'm so glad you were there.

Will I be back? You can count on it.

Betsy's award and my reminder

Thank you Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling Team and all our great sponsors!

Big Bear 2X12

2011-06-20T05:02:00.001-07:00

Nicole Dorinzi and I were the perfect pair to take on the 2X12 Women’s Duo Sport. We are the only two team members so far who have cracked their team helmet due to spectacular crashes. We pre-rode the course several time in order to get ready for the big event. This would be Nicole’s second mountain bike race, but I knew she was ready for the 2x12 because she is a total rock star. I was really worried it would be hot and humid the day of the race since we were experiencing a serious heat wave in Morgantown. Being from Southern California where humidify is pretty much zero, I completely melt into a useless ball of suffering and sadness in the worst WV summer days. I have proof-- my DNF in the Tour of Tucker County. I overheated on the first climb to the point of chills and poor James Braswell had to drive me home after the awards while I sat with the race bag in my lab hoping I wouldn’t empty my stomach into it. Anyway, enough about my lameness…Nicole and I decided I would do the first lap. Wary of coming off the start too hot, I held back on the first climb up the gravel leading to the single track and soon regretted it. I was the first women in our category into the woods, but I found myself battling to get past crashed riders on the first section of trail and really couldn’t get any kind of flow going for several miles. Plus, the super dry course we had been pre-riding was now slick from the recent rains. I finally started to feel good and I began to pass several male riders on the climbs leading up to the pines. Unfortunately, most of them past me back on the downhill section. Needless to say, I am not fearless or particularly skilled on mountain bike, which makes me pretty slow on the descents. I past them back once we started climbing again and kept my lead until the end of the first lap. I gave the baton to Nicole and she went out for lap #2. I went back to camp dynamic to rehydrate and eat a PB&J. I realized that I felt pretty good and I had perhaps held back a little too much due to my heat paranoia.
Nicole came back in with a great time, but it was obvious she had crashed from her coating of dirt. I made sure she was OK and then headed out. This lap was way smoother and much more fun. I fell into my groove right away and just tried to keep up some momentum. I had watched some of the riders I had passed on the first lap go out just before me, and I made it my goal to pass them. I was feeling better on my mountain bike then I had in a long time. I again passed several riders on my way up to the pines and decided that I wouldn’t let them catch me on the decent this time. Luckily, I was able to hold them off, and I finished the lap faster than my first. Nicole put in another fast lap for us (minus the crash this time) and we clinched 1st place. I don’t really think I need to mention how many teams were in our category.
I was in a great mood and was ready to have some fun and cheer on the rest of Team Dynamic. We had a huge presence this day. Betsy and Gunnar Shogren claimed 2nd in the Coed Open category just one week after the Dirty Kanza 200. Robert Loehr and teammate Marc Glass finished 2nd in Single Speed, and James Braswell and Todd Latocha came in 5th in the Men’s Open. It was really nice to hang out with my teammates after the race and enjoyed the “free” beer and the live music. As my move to North Carolina gets closer and closer, I realize how much I am going to miss the mountains of West Virginia and all my friends who enjoy riding those mountains too. I have one month left. Next week…The Hilly Billy Roubaix

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

2011-06-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Big news from the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling. This week we have learned that our very own Gunnar Shogren has been nominated for the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Lets all wish him luck in the hopes he becomes a 2011 inductee. Want to vote for Gunnar? Well you can? You can Join the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame as a voting member and help our local cycling hero calm his spot in mountain biking history.

Good luck Gunnar! You deserve it!

Ohio State Road Race Championship

2011-06-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I raced today in Shreve, Ohio in the Ohio State Road Race Championship in the category 3 class. Since I had broken my Fuji frame during the Tour of Tucker County, I was racing my brand new Scott Addict R15. I finally figured out how to shift with the SRAM Red shifters (duh!) And went out for a 20-minute warm-up. There were 35 entrants, with 2 teams (Lake Effect and Kenda) with 6 riders each, as well as 4 from Stark Velo. The route was 8.5 miles with a half-mile climb at the start of each lap. The first lap was at a decent pace, as many racers had never been on the route before. The second time up the climb, though, we were really on the gas. At the top, there was a group of around 25 of us and the tempo didn't let up until we crested the hill the third time.

Since I had been without a road bike the past 2 weeks, I wasn't sure how the legs would feel, but so far, so good! I quickly realized that I was clearly the second-best climber in the field, but, being Ohio, the finish line was 7 miles after the climb. On the back side of lap 3, 2 racers attacked and got a good gap. For whatever reason, the 3 teams with numbers decided not to chase, so we kept a high pace, trying to shed riders each time up the climb. On the final run-in to town, I was still feeling good so I worked my way to the front - second wheel with 2 miles to go. One Stark Velo rider poured on the gas up to 500M to go. From there, he pulled off so I gave it full gas, knowing the big teams were massing behind me. The finish was fun for all the spectators, but I finished 12th. I was happy with my result considering I was solo against a lot of the big Ohio squads, but took some solace in knowing I made them suffer each time we went up the climb. Next up - racing in WV the day before Father's Day!

Thanks for reading,

-Ben

Dirty Kanza 200, Sun-up to Sun-down

2011-06-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

by Betsy Shogren, aka Bunny.

For the past couple of years, I have wanted to do the DK200. However, Gunnar (Nars) and I were busy racing the NUE series or planning for our attack on tandumb nationals, or some other such silliness and it was never the right time. This January, I campaigned heavily in the Shogren household that 2011 was our year for the DK200. My relentless nagging finally wore Nars down, and we signed up. To say that I was excited is quite an understatement, so much so that Nars created a House Rule that I was not to speak of the DK200 until much closer to June. That does not mean I did not go to sleep dreaming of it, though.

Sometimes when you look forward to an event so much, it can be a letdown when it finally comes. This was not the case for our adventure to Kansas. It was everything I’d hoped it would be and so much more. In the weeks leading up to the event, we both felt fit and adequately prepared, until the inevitable summer cold struck 2 weeks before. This, in combination with a difficult work trip, left us both disgustingly snotty and plumb-tuckered out. Confidence sunk. Gunnar assured me that all that fitness had not left through our big toes, so we packed up his parent’s Prius with an unreasonable amount of stuff, plus two dogs and our support person, his 79-year old mother, Donna Lee (DL). We left Morgantown Tuesday night, and made our first pit-stop in Dayton, OH to drop off our dogs at my parent’s house. The departure of our hairy shedding panting beasts made DL very happy. Wednesday we made it to Columbia, MO, site of an amazing cicada infestation. Finally, Thursday we arrived at our destination of Emporia, KS! JOY! After settling in a bit, Nars and I suited up and headed down to High Gear bike shop where we met the super helpful and friendly Matt and Stephanie Brown. Matt did wonders for my psyche by uttering these beautiful words – "Those tires should be fine." Whew! I’d heard so many horror stories of tires shredding and whatnot that to say I was a bit worried about our tire selection is to put it mildly. Our Kenda Kwick Tendrils worked beautifully; thank you, Kenda!!!

Off we went on the DKLite course to explore these infamous gravel roads. The wind blew, the hot air shimmered, and our apprehension grew! Our two pre-rides out there could be summed up as such: Southbound = Hell; Northbound = Heaven. Overall, though, we were thrilled to be there riding stress-free under that big blue sky, endless gravel roads, and rolling plains. We were super excited to see our first field of wheat!

Saturday morning finally arrived, and after a not-too-stressful morning, we lined up near the front of 325 racers. Perfect! Off the crowd went, and it was just following wheels for the first chunk of the race. I felt pretty comfortable in the pack and happy with my spot. Around mile 30 it started to get hillier and I didn’t want to bust myself trying to stay with the leaders. So, it was almost a relief when I decided to not dig deep to stay with them and thus I started my own race. This was such a gorgeous leg and it went by way too quickly. Some of the people I rode with on this leg were super funny and I regretted not sticking with them longer. However, one needs to ride her own race at the DK200 and I moved along. I was in and out of CP1 very quickly, thanks to DL’s excellent support. Leg 2 was going swimmingly and I felt like a million bucks flying along, until I see a crowd of people coming back towards me. We’d missed a turn! DOH! After backtracking and much map consultation, and even a stop at a local house for directions, we got going again, though I was still concerned. However, soon enough one of the Jeep Club members came bouncing along the road honking his horn and smoking his ciggy. It was like something out of Tremors, and he looked like he was having a grand old time. He assured me I was on the right route and my spirits improved immeasurably. One thing I learned is that these things are going to happen at the DK200 and it’s better to be delayed by map consultation than it is to go several miles off course. And, it’s no use getting bummed out about any of these small delays.

I was quite happy to arrive at CP2, as I desperately needed a bandaid on my lower back. My third water bottle that I had in my back pocket had gradually worn a big bloody hole in my back as I bumped along those gravel roads. I’ve never been so happy to have a bandaid in my life. I was again in and out quite quickly and rode along with a nice fellow named Bruce for a bit. I am more of a lone wolf, though, and not a big talker, though you’d never guess it from the length of this tome. Soon we were both riding our own pace, though I could see him ahead of me for miles. About this time I saw a small figure off in the distance "walking" up a large hill. I just had this sinking premonition that it was my hubby, who had been having an awesome race, as far I’d heard. As I watched this poor person staggering around the hill, it became clear to me that this was indeed my betrothed and he was in a bad way. Bad bad bad. Let’s just leave it at that. After about 15 minutes of hanging out with him and trying to figure something I could do to help (beyond giving him my water), he told me to carry on. I told him I would send DL back, but he said "not yet." So, I carried on, worrying obsessively and trying to formulate a plan of action. Somewhere along this section I was also passed by Bruce again, who had apparently taken a wrong turn somewhere. Or I had, I still don’t know. After being lax on the 2nd leg about reading the map, I was quite obsessive about following the map on this leg, though. Another guy passed me on this section, and gave me half a water bottle of golden nectar, aka water. Bless that man! We had a discussion about Nars, and he agreed that I needed to do something, as he was in such a bad way. Did I mention he was in a bad way? So, I hustled myself to CP3 and had to break the news to DL that her eldest son was lying in a ditch in the middle of nowhere. We decided that I would wait at CP3 and ask subsequent riders coming in if Nars was up and moving yet… After about 30-40 minutes of this, it was apparent that nobody could say they saw him up and moving, plus a storm was starting to roll in. So, DL and I loaded my bike up on her Prius and we planned to backtrack until she couldn’t drive anymore, then I would ride backward on the course until I found Nars. Fortunately, we found him trundling along in a foul mood (haha) just a mile or two from the CP. I am super impressed that he was able to drag his water-deprived body out of that ditch and make it to that CP on his own volition. After some more time spent hovering over him, taking his picture and just generally worrying, I realized that I better get moving if I wanted to finish and outrun the storm. When I left him, he was lying spread-eagled in the parking lot, looking like a decrepit old man (a preview of our golden years?). However, he was in good hands with his mom. As I left this CP, I was nearly giddy as I had previously come to the conclusion that taking care of Nars was more important than finishing. Unexpectedly being able to ride this last leg made me so happy!

I completely forgot to grab my helmet light, so I was not going to be able to dilly-dally on this last leg. This last leg was absolutely gorgeous, despite the sideways rain and packed-up tires. This only lasted a few miles, though I could see storms off on the horizon for the duration of the leg. Amazing! The rain also forced me to put on gloves for the first time all day. I had started without gloves and didn’t need them until ~ mile 175. Apparently my hands are like rhinoceros hide as I’ve heard some awful stories of blisters and such, though I had no issues at all. I seesawed with Peter the singlespeeder quite a bit during this leg, and the company was nice to have, especially since reading the map became more of a mental challenge at this point in the game. We also rode with the impressive recumbent guy (John) towards the end after we stopped for awhile to consult the map. As we approached the finish and I knew I had less than an hour to ride, I got very sad. I didn’t want it to end! The sun was going down as a giant red orb and I just didn’t want the day to end. If I could just have a pair of shorts with a different seam pattern, I felt that I could ride forever. However, being welcomed across the finish line after 208 miles by what felt like all of Emporia certainly lifted my spirits! I will never ever forget this.

It turns out that Nars had starting throwing up shortly after I left the CP, and thank goodness he did not try to finish. DL took him back to the hotel and then got back to Emporia just in time for me to finish. We had a nice time waiting for the awards ceremony and much to my surprise, they awarded me the David Pals Sportsmanship Award for going back for Nars. If Saturday was a sundae, then this was the cherry on top. I was shocked and thrilled and I still am. The terrain of Kansas could not differ more from the hills of WV; I cannot explain how vast and humbling it is and how much I did not want to leave. This gorgeous canvas picture from the Adventure Monkey is a welcome reminder that this land is out there, just a short 16 hour drive away. Until I can find the time to return, gazing at this canvas will have to be my "fix." I certainly never expected to win this award, but it meant the world to me, way more so than winning the women’s race. My final time was 14:47 for 9th overall; actual riding time was ~13:20, with some time being lost at the checkpoints and map consultation, but most of that downtime spent fretting over poor Nars.

Just saying THANK YOU to Jim, Emporia, Eric Benjamin, Rob, Angela, Joel, The Mohn’s, Lelan, and all the other people who created the DK200 and keep it going for all of us crazies doesn’t seem like enough. I want to give you all a big hug and take you out for ice cream. Also, thank you to all the sponsors for making this event even more special, and to my team sponsors (especially Dynamic PT, Pathfinder, Kenda and Swiftwick) for letting us be a part of it all. Mom and Dad get a giant thank you for watching our sometimes unruly and quirky dogs. Finally, to Donna Lee, thank you for your support! We could not have made this trip without you. Please mark your calendar for next year. :o)

Nars and our wee little support person

We have arrived in Kansas and found it to be windy!

Riding in the Big Sky

Downtime for nanny!

Nars in a bad way, but out of the ditch

Finished!

The David Pals Sportsmanship Award

Zombie eyes

All this crap was in the Prius!

Swiftwick comes out with a good "Vibe"

2011-06-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

I am sure it is not a surprise to any of you out there that we love our Swiftwick socks and arm warmers here on the DPT Cycling Team. Swiftwick's keep our feet dry and comfortable at the races and our training rides. I personally will wear nothing else. Now guess what?! Swiftwick as a new line of socks that I think are their best yet!

You asked for it, we created the most inspired compression sock on the market. Plush, colorful, and agile for performance, the Vibe mixes every element for an optimal finish. The Vibe shares the linked toe heritage of the Aspire, but adds a little color to your life. Who doesn't want that? Look for the white label on our packaging - after all, the sock has all the color.

Get a pair and try them out! They even guarantee you'll love them!

Dentist to the Cyclist Revisited!

2011-06-08T11:48:00.001-07:00

If you're a big baby like me the thought of the dentist's drill always sends a shiver down your spine.
That was the case for me until last year when I needed my first root canal. I was so worried about how much it was going to hurt I almost didn't want to get it taken care of, however the pain from the tooth made me go through with it. Luckily I knew of Dr. Mike Miller from bike racing over the years. Dr. Miller has been around the cycling scene for many years. I first met him as a mountain bike rider as we both competed in the Clydesdale class in the late 90's. I also have to credit Dr. Miller for giving me the idea to finish a road bike race at the top of Sugar Lands Road which is now the Tour of Tucker County. However this was going to be my first visit to see Dr. Miller the dentist, not the cyclist. After that day however I became a big fan of him as a dentist.

He completed the root canal for me and I felt zero pain during and after he was done. It was a miricle in my mind. I had heard some horror stories from other folks about their root canals with other dentists, but my experience was a walk in the park. Between his solid work and his really warm and friendly staff I gave them two thumbs way up!

Fast forward to 2010 and Dr. Mike Miller Dentistry is a sponsor of Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling. Not only is he a sponsor but we are clients of his because of his great work. Unfortunately this week I had a tooth crack in half and another trip to Dr. Miller's office was in my future. I was able to get right in to see him and you are all in luck because he agreed to take some photos for the blog!

"Mike you sure you need that big of a needle?"

Luckily for me he said that he would be able to save the tooth after a quick look over the x-rays. However 1/4 of it was totally chipped off and was only held in place by my gums. "That is going to have to come out!", he said. After my last trip with the root canal I felt pretty safe with whatever he said and wanted to do. "Yank it Doc", I told him.

Just like with my visit before I felt nothing. I was not even sure he had taken it out till he said something about it. Dr. Miller is 2 for 2 when working on me. I will have to go back and get a crown on the tooth and I am thinking a gold crown would be cool. It is all about the bling ya know.

Take my advice, if you have a need for a dentist or know someone who does, it is well worth your time to visit Dr. Miller's office. Dentist to the Cyclist!

Full on racing!

2011-06-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

Cranky Monkey
It’s been a while since I have blogged so I'll go back a couple weeks to 9 Hrs of Cranky Monkey just outside of Cumberland, MD. I originally had planned to race Dirt, Sweat, and Gears in TN as a duo with my “Superstar,” I ride his coat tails to a win J.Pok that weekend, but it was canceled. This race was much closer and didn’t look like it had much of a payout, but there wasn’t nothing else going on so it got the pity vote. I arrived on Saturday morning around 8 o’clock and met up with him and some other P-burg guys and chilled out till start time. I was originally going to do the run and go first but my drunken teammate had a last minute change of heart and decided to go anyway. He came in on the first lap with Montana leading, and made a hand off to me. It took a few seconds, and allowed Montana to get a little bit of a gap. I chased hard, and got the legs firing. Within about 5 minutes I closed the gap on him. We rode together hammering for a while and in a little rock garden I dabbed, and he got another gap on me again. I chased hard toward the end of the lap, and missed a poorly marked turn and went up into a pavement parking lot. As I circled back I get passed by the DCMB team. I made it back and went out for my 2nd lap. It went well and I get us back in to 2nd place overall. I handed off to a sobered up JPok. He went out turned some Smoking Fast laps to put us back in the lead. I then went out for my 3rd lap and about half way threw Ian from DCMB caught me and stepped it up to a blistering pace. We were flying by a lot of lapped people. As we came to the end of the 3rd lap, in a tight spot he got to make a pass and accidentally startled the guy. As that rider jumped off, he kicked my 705 off my bars. I chased it down over the bank into the edge of the lake. I got back on track and finished up the lap. I went out on my 4th lap and just tried to keep the pedals turning and staying smooth, but still managed to flat the rear tire on a long rocky downhill. I hit it with air and it wouldn’t seal. I changed it, but still got passed by DPow in the process. We were in 3rd again. I finished that lap up with 15 psi in my tire and sent JPok back out. He put us up in 2nd, and we stayed there till the end of the race. He did 7 laps and I did 6. Good race by the DCMB Team and Montana and Dpows team for keeping us in check. It started raining after the awards so I decided to go home.

Tour De Lake
I wasn’t planning on racing because my Grandpa was in Hospital and I had been in Cleveland earlier in the week, but at the last minute the wife told me to go for it so I made my way to Spencer WV. I arrived about an hour early. I got registered and got a little warm up in on the SS. The race started and we climbed up the pavement. I got into the wood 2nd behind Brad Schmalzer. We climbed for a bit, and then it flattened back out. I rode 2nd in a small group of about 5 riders for the first 20 minutes. Brad asked if I wanted around and I said sure and laid a small attack down and was able to get a good 30 seconds on the group. I continued to keep the pace high finishing the 1st lap. The 2nd lap had a bit more climbing. As I’m nearing the finish I hit a switch back, and crashed pretty hard. I dusted myself off and finish the race to take the overall win. Good day for a race and the driest I have ever seen it there.

Tour of Tucker.
I hadn’t raced the road bike in about a month going into this race, but I made my way to Tucker County WV for the soon to be famous Tour of Tucker ABRA Road Race #3. The race started a little bit after 12 and off we go. We started from the bottom of the climb on Sugarland Road. The pack of 20+ 123 riders started off at a good pace and reached the bottom of Location road. Shifters clicking, we started climbing up, up, and up. The pace never really was too high. We reached the top, but I miss judged the KOM prime, and somehow a small group got off the front. The group I was in never really worked together very well so it took a while, but we caught them all but 2 riders. We hit the fast down hill and I hit 48.8 mph on it. As we went out for are second climb back up Location road, the moto was telling us splits of 1 min 30 sec to the 2 riders ahead. Bob S of team Gop and I were doing most of the work and no one else was really helping Nearing the top, Bob put in a big dig, and I tried to follow. He made about 10 second gap on me and I had about 10 seconds on the pack. As we got closer to the top, they reeled us both back and we continued to ride at a slow pace around the loop. We hit the down hill and back toward Sugarland we went. As we came to the base of the climb we all stayed close for the first few minutes and then that was when I decided to not dig any deeper and just started spinning my way to the top. I finished 13th on the day. Check out the Link to my GPS data. 7333 ft of climbing in 54 miles.

Race Data!

Next up the Mohican 100 this Saturday in OH.

Post by Nate

I’m happy that I get to ride

2011-05-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

So far this year hasn’t left me with much to write home about. Even my results at Tucker weren’t spectacular. I think I was last- or very near the end of the caboose for the ladies field(s)… This is pathetic I was telling myself as we rolled into the parking lot late. I’m not fit this year, just feel plain fat and didn’t even have drink mix for my bottles. So Tucker got the best of me. I’m some fourteen pounds heavier this year and trailing an hour behind the leaders… I’m not much faster in the woods. But I’m surprisingly okay with this.

Everyone tells me I’m fine- but fine is just average. Yes I want to lose weight and race faster and yes I feel guilty that I’m not a rockstar on our team. But even after looking at the photos from Tucker that Fred took- I still look happy. And I’ve felt like that after every race. Mountwood- I was perfectly content suffering like a dog in the heat and being completely dependent on my camelback for stores of h2o in a measly 24 mile cross country race. Green County was an even bigger wake up call, but after each I felt better. At Wisp I had a new gear ratio on my mountain bike so even though I wasn’t faster I felt like I had better momentum and finally after Tucker I feel like things are starting to fall back together.

Tour of Tucker- I can honestly say that until the final climb I definitely hadn’t given the race my best effort. I was off daydreaming from the start. From the moment I moved into the city I hated it, so racing this year is escape for me from the reprieve of concrete and buses. Every patch of gravel, sight of a small waterfall, running horses, and even miles of farms left me in a odd trance. I felt like I was home again and happy just to be out in the country riding. I actually felt a little homesick- So instead of powering up climbs, I took my good old time, oo’d and awe’d over the scenery then finally cooked myself on the final climb. I finished the race in 2:48. So maybe I got a better workout than the girl who finished in 2:00. I got to ride longer!

Racing- sometimes we forget isn’t always about being first. I’ve been first. Now I’ve been last and both can be equally satisfying. The problem is I’m never satisfied- so I’m going to keep working to get some of my fitness back and try to finish all of the scrawny mountain bike races I DNF’d last year. Up next- Stoopid 50, Lumberjack 100 and Hilly Billy Roubaix. It doesn’t matter to me at this point whether or not I win any of these races or even place on the podium. I’m happy that I get to ride this year and happy that I’m part of the less than one percent of Americans who actively participate in an endurance sport.

cheers
CB
P.S. Thank you so much to the guy in the pickup who shared a bottle of water on that last climb! And thanks to all of the sponsors and everyone who helped put together such a great ride (er- race!) =)

Post by Chrissy B.

Get Up and Finish!

2011-05-23T07:26:00.001-07:00

Sometime around the beginning of last week, I decided to venture to Hagerstown, MD for the Greenbrier Challenge. During the week, I tried to spend more time on the mountain bike, getting more comfortable with that type of race. I went to Coopers a few times and went over a bunch of logs and did a lot of climbs. I know I need to spend more time getting skills for mountain biking since I've only been riding for a couple of months. It's a lot of fun learning! I had a couple of minor crashes during the week on my rides, but nothing major- just some busted shins. My legs look pretty beat up and makes me look like a bad @$$!

So I was debating going to MD on Sat, but decided to get up at 530am and drive over with Justine on Sunday before the race. We are used to getting up at ungodly hours for school anyway. The ride over went smoothly and the skies were sunny and blue (rare lately). Since we drove over in the morning, I knew I would not have a chance to pre-ride the course- I would soon regret this. We arrived about 2 hours before the race and got all of our gear ready to race. We went down and talked some with JR and James about what to expect on the course. Soon, it was time to line up after a short warm up. After arriving on the line, I was feeling a little nervous since I had not seen the course and I'm still learning to mountain bike. But nothing I could do at that point. Ryan blew the whistle and the race went off. The first part of the course was pretty nice, a good climb in the beginning. There was a lot of traffic I had to navigate around on the hill from the racers that started a couple of minutes before my group. Once I made it up the hill and on some single track, the rest of the course not too bad, minus a couple of rock gardens that I was able to maneuver around pretty well. On the way down the mountain, there were a couple of muddy spots, but not too bad.

I was able to pass a good amount of people on the whole course. Overall, I was feeling pretty good on the way back and I knew the course was going to end soon-----then CRASH!!! So there was a mound of logs about 1 mile from the finish, still in the woods. As I approached it coming down the hill at a pretty good speed, I figured I could make it-it didn't look any different from the logs I'd gone over before- except what I could not see on the other side was a steeper drop off than I had expected. It was like slow motion, I went over the bike, knew I was crashing and flipped completely over landed on my head on a log and finally landed on my back. The wind was knocked out of me and I laid on the ground, trying to catch my breath for a good 4-5 min. A couple of guys passed and told me to get to medical help on down the hill. I used my recently acquired medical degree knowledge and made sure I could move all extremities. I was pretty shaken up and against what I would probably tell my patients as an ER doc, I got on the bike and went all out. My neck hurt and I was shaken up, but I wanted to finish. I knew I was still in the lead of my category and I wanted to win, despite the crash and laying in the mud for a while. I went through the rest of the woods with some caution but finally made it to the finish. Once I made it, I checked myself over and found my helmet was cracked in 3 places and my neck was pretty stiff. No major injuries, thankfully! But I made it! All in all, the race was really fun and minus the crash, I had a great day.

Congrats to all of the other Dynamic Team Members for an awesome day of racing!!!

Post by Nicole!

Wisp XC Challenge Recap.

2011-05-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

The 1st, and hopefully annual, Wisp XC Challenge brought the second mountain bike race of my season. After kicking off the mountain bike season at Big Bear in the muck and cold, I was more than happy to only need to pull on my swiftwick armwarmers to keep me toasty. My expectations coming into the day were pretty high given the fact that I am really starting to come on form and also the fact that the course was more not super technical but rather super fast and climby. After a quick tire pressure check with teammate Robbie Loehr, who assured me that it was ok to feel the rim a few times in the race, we were off to the start line.
Having a mediocre start off the line, I was happy that JR had decided to include a nice fast and wide prologue to give the Expert and single speed fields time to spread out. After about 3 minutes or so on ski slope and fire access road we hit the first downhill of the day. Even though it was only a bombed out fire road, I was still happy to find Robbie in front of me who kindly led me to the fastest lines and around slower riders. As we hit the flat fire road at the bottom I started making moves to get up close to the front as to not put myself behind the conundrum that would ensue upon entering the single track. As we made the turn into the first single track section I found myself second in the Expert field and 3rd overall behind Travis Saler and Montana Miller. I don’t exactly remember what happened at this point because Travis was crushing the pace and at that point I could still see him and, for some reason or another, though I may be able to get back on his wheel. After that sort of dumb but fun effort and getting caught by another racer in my category, I decided to settle into my own pace.

At the first climb, I noticed Gerry Pflug starting to bear down on me. Since he was on a single speed, I really didn’t care too much if he passed me or not since it would not hurt me in the Expert standings but I definitely did not want to get outclimbed by a guy churning a big gear. We traded back and forth for the rest of the lap, me taking the long stuff by spinning away and him taking the steep stuff through pure brute strength, but he ended up getting away from me on the last steep climb.
I came through the start/finish to start my second lap in 3rd in the Expert field. Coming up the last climb before the start/finish, I kept noticing another DPT teammate behind me by a bit but could not figure out quite who it was. It was coming through the start finish that I was able to get a good look and realize it was Gunnar Shogren and his new Tomac singlespeed bearing down on me. After bombing down the fire road and back through the single track where Gunnar passed me, I caught back up on the climb. Letting Gunnar set the pace, we motored up the first climb and then….back into the woods. Following Gunnar through the twisting, fast double track was by far the best part of the day. We railed every turn and then crushed it through the flats, which I am pretty sure resulted in my fastest lap of the day. Then it was back to climbing. I again let the single speeder set the pace as I played lookout for any potential competition that could sneak up behind us. After crossing the ski slope and hitting the road, I pulled through to try to give Gunnar a little draft across the flat, paved road. We continued on back through the start/finish where, as Gunnar grabbed a fresh bottle, spectators and crew alike yelled jokingly for me to attack.
I again gave Gunnar the line as I knew I would only slow us down trying to lead the technical sections. After letting Gunnar get a little gap through the woods I was more then ready to latch back onto his wheel during the climb. I shifted down and got ready to put in a little effort to catch back on when, oh no, chain suck! My chain, which later was found to have a pebble lodged in one of the fancy little weight saving cutouts, sucked up into my front derailleur. I tried to back pedal it out but it was too bound and I was forced to stop and spend 30 seconds fixing things. Having to stop really didn’t bug me nor did losing Gunnar but rather the overall funk that having to stop put in my flow. After fixing my debacle and spending 10 minutes bouncing all over the trail trying to get back in my zone, I got a grove going just in time for the start of the last climb. At this point, my legs were really starting to hurt and I was starting to wonder why my bike had two front tires. I really knew that now was when I was going to have to suck it up and just focus on getting up the road but damn was I hurting! I finished off my last bottle of Gatorade, put my head down, and just kept turning the pedals. With less than a mile to go, I had a good view from the top of the ridge to see the gap I had on the next rider back. Upon seeing that he was not gaining any ground, I settled into “no fail” pace and just made sure not to do anything stupid that could cost me the podium. I crossed the line in third and about 15 minutes away from a bonk.
After a quick stop by the car for a post race apple cinnamon raw bar, I hit the showers at ASCI to get ready for the podium. Thanks to ABRA, ASCI, and Wisp for providing a great event and an awesome venue. Also, a big thanks to our sponsors for keeping us clothed, fed, and making sure we always have something to put our beverage of choice in!

Wisp XC Challenge on May 7, 2011

2011-05-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

Uncertain if I would make it to Wisp to take on the inaugural XC Challenge, I started my morning like any other Saturday....2 scrambled eggs and 4 Eggo's. YUMMY! I then get a call to go to the race. The weather looked promising in Fairmont, WV, upper 60's and sun. What the heck I'll throw the bike in the truck and make the trip to McHenry, MD.

As I drove to ASCI on top of Wisp, seeing several cars with race bikes on the roof, I was feeling ready to ride. Then, I opened my truck door to 50degrees and some serious wind. I should have figured...any race of JR's was going to start with less than ideal conditions. Oh well, at least I'm getting to ride some new trails.

Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling was obviously well represented with the familiar black and blue argyle team kits at the start of the 3 lap race. Once given the call, the experts were off on the prologue at a blistering pace. Now, I just had to get myself up to the start line otherwise I'll get stuck in the middle of the pack.

(I'll try to keep this race report short, but this race was too much fun to leave much out!)

Two minutes later, JR starts the 2-lappers. Andrew Brautigam launches from the start with a giant of a racer in second that I later heard someone refer to as Gwadzilla--appropriately named by the way. The prologue was fast and before I knew it we were flying down a pretty sketchy double track with multiple tight switchbacks. At this point I was probably 4 or 5 riders back. Andrew was quickly leaving my sight at the front of the group. Soon I would catch Gwadzilla's wheel on the downhill...until he fishtailed into a 160degree switchback sending me in to the course tape. Lost a couple of positions there.

Once we enter the true singletrack I quickly pass a rider and catch the big dude's wheel. In and out of some tight tree-lined turns, I call out a pass on his left. However, he wasn't ready for me to get around. I convince him that I'm no threat to the Clydesdale race, obviously lacking 35lbs, he then seemed to be willing to let me around. Now, this is not an easy racer to pass...he takes up alot of trail...and he just wouldn't slow down long enough. I try again to make a move until the trail begins to descend again. Gravity is not on my side as he pulls away putting some distance between us. The course opens into another section of double track and I finally make a left-sided pass.

Now I need to find Andrew, but he is nowhere in sight. After some seriously fun singletrack, a few thick mud holes, and a few water crossings (feet stayed dry and comfortable in the Swiftwick's), I see him up ahead of what appears to be the very bottom of the course and the bottom of a long steep climb. The course soon levels to a slightly less steep gradient of fire road. After some self-reminders to be patient and not blow up, I finally catch up to him and exchange a couple trail-side comments hoping he doesn't realize that I'm in the same class.

Too late, he latched onto my wheel. I would much rather be the chaser on a climb than being chased. At this point a little space between us may make me feel a little more comfortable. The trail up ahead hits a steeper grade. Once there, I glance back to see if he is still there. Yep, right on my wheel. However, I noticed his elbows locked straight and he's looking down. Now is my chance...a couple of clicks on the shifter and a standing mash of the pedals gives me a quick 20 yard lead.

The first lap flew by quickly. However, the second lap was more challenging. My arms were getting tired through the more technical sections as I bounced off of every obstacle. I began to think, maybe I got a lead because the others went out too hard from the start. Or, maybe I went out too hard from the start and will eventually lose my position. Maintaining as steady a pace as I could keep, I later crossed the line to here Gina call out my first place finish. Sweet!

Overall, the trail was mostly dry, considering the rainy weather last week, with a few technical sections, tight singletrack, double track, and several sharp switchbacks. The race venue was more than adequate with shower and locker room-equipped restrooms available for some post-ride de-mudding.

As a Dynamic Physical Therapy employee and a member of the cycling team, it was great to see the team so well represented on the podium at Wisp. Congrats go out to Gunnar and Betsy, Todd, Robbie, Chrissy, and Nicole for their success at this race.

Waynesburg Race!

2011-04-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

It was questionable all the way up to race day whether or not I would be able to race Waynesburg. Luckily, my senior resident and attending had some mercy and let me skip rounds to do this race. Yay! I was also fortunate enough to pre-ride the course with JR, Laura and Justine. After the pre-ride I knew JR made an awesome course and was very excited to race. On race day I got up early to some pretty nice weather here in Morgantown, which has been rare lately and that pumped me up. I was hoping for the clouds to stay nice and for no rain. After packing up the car and heading out of town, the clouds came in and rain started. I thought it was gonna be a rainy mess for the race, but then the clouds broke and the sun came back out! So was super happy and hoping that the sun would stay out.

To warm up, I broke out the music and got on the trainer for a bit. I wanted to be good and warmed up for the first climb. I don't remember too much before the race, but anyway, I heard the call to line up and was glad to be starting with a bigger field than last time. I definitely did not want to ride by myself like in Morgantown RR. So the race started and my goal was to just stay with people and hang back and take the hill at a good pace. The ride out to the first climb started out moderate and I just concentrated on pedaling. As the climb approached, it didn't look as bad as it had the night I pre-rode it, so I just was able to spin up it and pass guys on the way up. Over the hill I caught up to a fast group of guys and decided to stay with them. Fellow teammate Betsy was in this group, so I tried to pace myself off of her. I knew that I wanted to show a better performance than at Morgantown RR so that was my goal to just push myself harder and stay with a faster group. I found that the rest of the race felt a lot like the local Wednesday night hammer rides and tried to use the skills I learned from those rides. I felt pretty strong the whole race. My legs felt good. All the way up to the last climb was a good pace and I was happy with where I was standing. Up the final hill I felt strong and then bombed down the last decent, which was super fast. On the stretch to the finish, Betsy, Stephanie and I took some turns going off the front. In the last mile, Betsy was stung by a few bees, I offered to do an emergency airway for her, but luckily she is not allergic. To the finish was a sprint and I came in behind Betsy and Stephanie.

It was really a great race and a great day. I was very happy to race with people and the course was awesome. Thanks to JR and everyone for all of the hard work.

Getting in some quality training at these races

2011-04-24T06:07:00.000-07:00

After having a couple of the last road races result in some less than desirable results, I was hoping to have a little better day at the Greene County Road Race. The morning started out quite rainy but would open up to be great weather as we started. Category 3/4 was combined with Category 1/2/3 as both groups would need to ride two loops of the course. This was certainly a little scary to consider because I don't train like these Cat 1/2 fellas! I'm a triathlete! We rolled out at a moderate pace into a headwind and I situated myself in the middle of the pack while a few guys at the front threw out various attacks that would not take hold, thank goodness. The pace intensified up the first climb and I felt pretty well with that as the grade steepened. Though I was well into my upper red zone, I had moved to the front of the pack during the climb as that felt comfortable. Several guys were already falling off the back as the men at the front were still attacking one after another. I could see my teammate Nathan Annon countering on a couple of these maneuvers and I tried to use him as my pace indicator. As we hit the first big roller at the top of the climb I stood to surge over the top in the big ring and instantly my chain cracked and jumped completely off the gear Andy Schleck-style as I began to endo. My old mountain bike skills kept me from busting my butt and head. I tried in vain to get the chain back on while coasting uphill and eventually had to get off the bike to fix the problem. I finally managed to correct the issue but certainly didn't recover any in the process, and to no surprise, I was passed by several riders. I thought catching back onto the group would be extremely difficult and I was right. There just isn't any room for these types of huge errors against this strong of a field. My riding was alone but in sight of the pack for the next couple miles. Unfortunately, I don't have the body weight and/or anaerobic capacity to surge into a headwind on a flat by myself and bridge a 200 yard gap against this type of group because I'm accustomed to long time trials and climbing. About a mile from the second climb a couple guys who were working together caught me and then together we managed to pick up another rider, eventually coming within 75 yards of the very back of the group going up the second climb. I thought we had done very well at that point and could get back onto the field but our small group had worked so hard that we completely fell apart going up the climb. There goes the efficiency out the window! I found myself back in no-man's-land for a couple more miles and eventually would work with Rob Lochner of Iron City Bikes for several miles in the back half of the loop. We saw a couple guys drop out after the first lap and figured that we were already riding, in need of riding miles, and the weather was beautiful so we should just continue onward. He was certainly a much stronger flatland cyclist than me so at times I was struggling to hang on to his speed. We would separate for a while and then resume pulling one another through the first half of the second loop. In the process we caught Brad Dodson, who had a flat at mile 20, and that train went along well for some time but I was starting to break down a bit after all the higher intensity repeated efforts took their toll. I fell off of Brad and Rob about 10 miles from the finish, which was probably partly the effect of frustration. I went at the rest of the race alone. In the end I would have to settle for 14th place though apparently I was the second Category 4 rider and Rob was the first, so that made me feel slightly better. According to the Garmin software, my average power for this lonely ride turned out to be 220 watts, which earlier this year was my functional threshold power, which I'm hoping is some indicator of performance improvement!

Distance: 64.1 miles

Average speed: 19.1 mph

Max speed: 44.6 mph

Average power: 220 watts

Total ascent: 3100 feet

Fitness coming together right on time

2011-04-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

After spending a few weeks away from road racing and instead suffering through a few crits, I was super excited to head up to West Green High School for the ABRA Green County Road Race. So, after getting lost somewhere in the hills of PA and having to stop and ask for directions at quite possibly the scariest convenience store I have ever encountered (insert banjo music here), I rolled into the parking lot of WGHS about 30 minutes later than I had planned, got my gear together, and headed out for a quick warmup.
Rolling up to the line with teammate Robbie L. about 2 minutes before the start, I made it just in time to catch the tail end of Nick’s prerace speech and we were off. As I got situated and grabbed a quick Raw bar followed by some water, I looked around to check out the field. I noticed a few of my WVU teammates from the collegiate season had shown up. I knew that they were both strong riders and would be excellent to work with if we got into a break.
Things rolled pretty easy up to the first climb but then things started to get a little crazy and much faster. Not bothering to look at another rider’s bib number as he passed, I assumed he was in our field and was attacking so I raised the pace and countered him. As we motored up the climb, I heard Kyle K. from WVU yell up to me so I slowed up to see what was up. It was then that I learned that that rider was not in our field…oops! Oh well, at least now the pack was strung out and maybe a few of us could get away on the ridge.
We cruised along for another five minutes or so and that’s when Michael Appel decided to attack. Watching him go down the road, no one in our group wanted to chase yet but we did raise the pace enough to drop a few guys off the back and leave us with a group of about eight. After chasing Appel at a moderate pace for what seemed like an eternity, I started to get a little nervous about letting him sit out there since the roads were getting more and more winding. I kept thinking about the old “out of sight, out of mind” adage and did not want him to get away simply because we just forgot about him. So as we approached the next climb, I decided to go to the front and raise the pace a little in an effort to bring Appel back by the end of the downhill. I was kind of surprised by how much I gapped the group I was in on the short climb but figured the would be working harder to get up to me and then we could finish reeling in Appel.
After the quick decent I found myself rolling up to Appel’s wheel where I hung out for a minute little to his knowledge. After towing me along for a few miles he noticed I was back there, realized he had been caught, and sat up to let the chase catch back up. From there on out we worked together with everyone taking short, efficient pulls and really working well with each other. I was honestly really impressed with how well everyone cooperated with one and other and how fast we just kept motoring.
Approaching the last climb, I knew this would be my only chance to make a move considering I am no sprinter and am just not big enough to motor on the flats. Not waiting for any grass to grow under my feet, as I knew the climb was not too long, I attacked at the bottom. After getting a decent gap on the group, I settled into a tempo pace and cruised up and over the top.
The first turn out of the decent gave me a good view back up the climb to see where everyone else was. I realized that I had really opened up a big gap and, in the process, broken the group up pretty much entirely. The only thing I could do now was get aero and make myself hurt for the next 4 miles to the finish. For the next 2 or so miles, I just buried my head and tried to really focus. I looked back with about 2 to go and saw Appel starting to close the gap on me. I stood up, trying to loosen my screaming legs some, and then sat back down to try and squeeze every last bit of effort I had out. As we approached the “1 mile to go” sign, I saw Appel coming up on me like a freight train and thought I may be able catch a wheel as he went by and then duke it out in a sprint. He came by and……dang it…he was gone! I have to admit that I was instantly disappointed that I couldn’t hold him off but, of course, didn’t quit considering I was still racing for second which I ended up taking by a minute or so. Well, I guess all I have left to say is thanks to ABRA for yet another great race and a big thank you to Jim Cantore for being wrong.

Post Race Interview

Gunnar Shogren, Greene County Road Race!

2011-04-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

Just left with wet roads.

2011-04-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I found my way to the second race of the ABRA Crit Series just below Union Town. The weather had been pretty nasty all day, and I really wasn’t in the mood to race. The 1/2/3 race started at 4 o’clock, and luckily by that time most of rain had slacked off and just left wet roads. We started the race, and for the most part it was pretty easy for the first few laps which was a good thing for me since I didn’t get much of a warm up. The pace was on and off for most of the race, with there being a small hill that everyone sprinted up every lap. The hill was too short of a climb, and too far from the start/finish line to do much good of anything. With about 5 or 6 laps to go, there was a $20 prime lap. I really didn’t think I had much of a chance of snagging it, but I thought what the hell and pushed to the front. Going in the last turn before the line, I sprinted out and won the prime. I spun for the next few laps, and then it was the final sprint. I finished 10th on the day.

On Sunday, I passed on the Big Showdown in Pittsburgh and made my way to Big Bear Lake. It was cold and windy on top of the mountain. I pulled out the single speed once again and found my way to the 2nd row for the noon start time lined up, behind fast Guy JPok. We took off and after 100 yards had a quick 180 turn. I got out in good position, and hitting the woods section just behind the lead pack of geared guys, and no one really behind me. I found a good rhythm. We got up by the lake, and dropped down into some single track. The markings were not the best and I found myself off the trail and was losing time. I got caught by Marc G., Jeremy R. and Teammate Robbie L. as we hit the next climb. Jeremy and I were able to get a good gap and get away. My plan was just to pace off Jeremy which was working for the most part till we hit the crack trail. I found myself following too close and lipped one of the 2 foot rock drops, and hit a tree. As I got my bearings back and start riding again, I got down to the big boulders and could see Robbie behind me again. Once out of the rocks, there was a pretty good climb back up so I was able to bridge back up to Jeremy and ride with him again. We spun for a while and then hit the top. It was really windy on top, and one of my contact lens decided to fly out. I made it over to the 24 hour course and just kept the pedals turning. As I get back over to the dam, I looked back and could see Robbie. I picked the pace back up and came around the last turn suddenly a stick kicks up and throws my chain off with the finish line in sight. The 2nd place was right behind me and knowing it would take longer to put it back on, I decided run to the finish line. It was my first win of the year with 8th overall on the day and 10 minutes off the winner.

Later, Nate Annon

I'll be off the back also

2011-04-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday it was round #2 of the Appalachian Criterium Series in the South OF Connellsville Criterium. The weather on that morning was something out of the storm from Wizard of OZ. When we got to the race the guys doing the early Cat 5 race had their work cut out for them as the wind had to be at least 25 - 30 mph with driving rain. I was feeling for those guys and was not to excited myself about racing. However I was surprised as the day went on the wind completely disappeared but the rain kept coming. That was a huge improve however from what they saw in the morning and the hunger to race started creep into my brain.

When we lined up at the start I didn't see an "pack filler" like myself. The weather plus fast looking for series points made it a small but super fast guy field. Not good news for me. After commenting on what I saw to the entire group, one other rider said "I'll be off the back also". He was skinny and young, so I doubted his statement. It seemed like the field was at high speed before Nick Rossi finished blowing his whistle to start the race. The first lap was HARD and fast. The small hill plus a second section with a false flat made my heart sky rocked. Lap 2 I was starting to figure out that the pace was to much for me and I knew it was not going to be long before I would get dropped. Then lap 3 it happened, I popped off the back of the field. In fact I was first one to fall off. That was ok however because that has happened before but I always end up picking off a hand full or so as the race went off.

Then the very next lap I saw a solo rider up ahead and was gaining on him. As i got closer it was the guy who said, "I'll be off the back also". Well he was telling the truth after all. So we can stop calling him "that guy", his name is Brenda Murray, as I found out later after the race. Brendan and I took turn pacing lining not going very hard but I think it would be safe to say we would go hard on the hill part to see if we could drop one another. However neither of use could drop the other. I was not to surprised because of who all was in the race but we never came upon any other dropped riders.

Lap after lap Brendan and kept going and with two laps to go he asked,"ya want to sprint for the finish". I was up for it cause neither of us wanted to be last and it just would be fun. Brendan also said he didn't want to be last as well. For us this sprint just as much as a sprint for a win. As we crossed the start/finish area to start the finial lap I went to take a pull on purpose. The thought was I pull now then he would take a pull then I would have his back wheel for the sprint. Around 3/4 of a lap to go I slow and wanted him to come around. I thought he would feel comfortable coming to the front because there was a lot of the lap let and then I would have him. To my surprise he didn't come around. Hmmm I thought. I pedaled on a bit and around 1/2 a lap to go I tried again. My speed was even slower this time as I tried to bate him into coming around. Crap I thought to myself. He is not going to fall for it. Brendan was not going to get off my back wheel and I know it now.

I tried to come up with a new plan. I am so big that I make it easy for anyone to beat me in a sprint as they have to do little work behind me with in my draft. I figured my only hope was to go full throttle out of the final turn to the line. Just maybe if I get a good job I can get a gap and that would be all I needed. As we went through the final 90 degrees turn I hit the gas. I pushed down on the pedals as hard as I could and just hope for the best, but maybe 30 feet from the line I could see a wheel coming up on my left side and I knew it. He got me. It would be my first ever last place finish in a cycling race ever. I have been racing for a long time and never finished last before. After the race I was questioning the cycling license upgrade and what I could do. After a few more minutes I thought that yes I may have gotten last but I am racing with a much faster group of folks now and that in itself is a win for me. I will keep trying and hope for better results but it still was fun, last or not.

kicked off my mountain season

2011-04-18T07:15:00.000-07:00

See, I keep starting reports, but what happens when I go to post a short recap is this:

Today I kicked off my mountain season at Big Bear Lake Camplands. Mark Schooley and the gang had put together another beautiful and challenging course. I was expecting my early-season fitness (which I consider an oxymoron) to be consistent with the "20 minutes of legs, total" that I experienced at the Morgantown Road Race and Mountaineer Criterium over the past couple weeks. In each race I had fun duking it out and maneuvering in the peloton only to blow sky high after ~20 minutes and watching everyone ride away. As such my race tactics were to "get a good start and try to hang on for as long as possible before the sports start passing me".

After a quick warm up and spin to adjust the pressure in the new Kenda Slant Six 29x2.20 tires I'd slapped onto my trusty thrusty I9's we lined up. The expert field was bigger than expected and I was a little late to the start, so I weaseled onto the far end of the 2nd row behind Joey Riddle. Nick Waite lined up to the outside of me since he was even later to the start, so I figure I was good to go. Mark gave a mostly inaudible explanation of the prime available for the first man and woman through the prologue loop, which featured a half mile of jeep road followed by another three quarters mile of tricky single track back to the start before we headed out onto the course proper. With that out of the way, we were sent on our way with a quick "Ready-Set-Go".

I jumped into line, weaving towards the outside of the 180 degree left hand bend that came in the first 50 yards. The wide line let me keep some momentum up and I shot past the large part of the group to put myself into the top 10 onto the jeep road. Another 100 yards later we took a hard left right onto a short but tricky climb, made trickier by a fifty-gallon-drum sized rock at the base of the climb that cut off half the road. This squeeze, a few other awkward rocks, and the regular anaerobic haze sent the single-speed-riding-hot-shot-skiing-blonde-locks-flowing Mike Cordaro into the also-single-speeding-Ken-Doll we all know and love as Marc Glass and they fell into a heap in the middle of the trail. I slipped around to their right, slowed again by WV Night Clubber Morgan Miller slipping a pedal. He kept it together though and we got moving. However, the front group of 5 led by Mr. Waite was putting on a big gap.

For everyone else, remember this:

The key to having a good start to the mountain biking season is to have a good start.

Remember that the next time someone crashes 20 people in front of you right where the single track starts and you spend the next 20 minutes riding along in a stressful and awkward bicycle parade. Or just bring streamers and a bell and make a fun time out of it.

On the way out towards the dam where we'd drop back into single track, Jeremy and Steve Rowand, Joey Riddle, Marc Glass, and Don Powers, caught up with Morgan and I and Nate Annon who had fallen off the leaders. In the singletrack there were bobbles, but out the other end Nate, Marc, Jeremy, and I came out with a gap over the rest.

The next several miles were winding and fun, with some big and small rock features. I hope the beginners all made it through okay because there were definitely some drops that caught me by surprise. There was a long fire road climb where teammate Full Tilt TLT ("Sweet" Todd LaTocha (say Tawd LawTawd)) caught up. Jeremy and Nate disappeared ahead and I spent a lot of time yo-yoing with Joey, Steve, and Todd.

The weather was playing tricks with us. The sun would come out and I'd be overheating then it'd dissapear and a cold wind would bring a splash of rain down before rolling back to the sunshine. When the sun would come out I'd drive ahead. When the rain came out I'd look back and realize that whatever gap i thought I had was not nearly as large. At the end of each power section I could see a long line of riders behind me.

On the next climb, Steve and Todd rode away and Don caught and passed me. It was around here, on the way out to the airport where the Big Bear 2x12 and the now defunct 24 hours are/were staged that I began to question why in the hell I do this every weekend and how was I going to make it to the end.

That used to happen every single race. The "why am I doing this" phase. I usually came through it, decided not to throw in the towel, and eventually I'd get a second wind and be glad that I finished. Now, though, I recognize that it is indicative that I'm doing just what I should be doing--suffering. This is a race after all. Later in the season, the pain will be sharper and will be focused on attacks and counter attacks. The suffering will be the same though. It is always the same.

But now we were to the fun part! The half mile long rock gardens and the high speed swooping rolling single track to the thousand turns through the pines and on to the downhill. Through all of this I stalked Don. Making up time in the technical bits, trying to keep the gap low on the power sections. At the top of the downhill in a hard left hand berm I finally closed the gap and shot past him and Todd whom we had once again caught.

Using two of the tenets from the "Robbie School of Going Fast", namely Go Fast Where It Is Easy, and Brakes Only Slow You Down, I made up some precious seconds on the downhill and had teammate "TooFast" Nate Annon in view on the long climb up.

"Oh heck, now I have to try to catch him." So I lifted the pace and slowly reeled him in by the top of the climb! Except it wasn't him. It was teammate Chris Jones, leading the Sport Expert Field. The experts had done a longer loop than the sports and the courses and come back together a mile or so before the downhill. I guess that was Nate climbing steadily away from me further up ahead. YeeHaw.

So back onto the swoopy fun singletrack, cranking the pace. Marc caught up and passed me just towards the end. I used his smooth riding for motivation and came to the finish just behind him, less than 30 seconds behind Nate, who took the single speed win. 2nd in class, top 10 overall on the first race of the year! Not a bad start. And I was only about 10 minutes down on the 2 Pros who showed up(Nick Waite, Ryan Fawley), so I'll take that as good news too. Todd came in a couple minutes later for his first Expert top 10, though he was 1 out of the prizes at the end of the day. Chris took the win in Sport Vet and Nate and I went 1-2 in the SS.

All in all, a great way to start the season. We'll see where it goes from here. I'm looking forward to the suffering.

Props:

Big Bear for having awesome trails, conditions, and venue support
Everyone in the community for being friendly, courteous, and fun
T-Bott for floating my entrance fee since I forgot my checkbook. I swear I'll pay you back. For real n-stuff.
Kenda for supplying us with the best tires in the business
Chris McGill for his Goonies Never Say Die attitude
Todd for stepping up

Slops:

Me for crashing really hard on my right shoulder on m cooldown ride after the race
Chris for crashing himself out of the race and maybe breaking his finger

First time on dirt for 2011

2011-04-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

After getting beat up on by the big diesels at the South of Connellsville crit, I decided to ditch the asphalt for dirt and head up to Big Bear for the Big Bear Lake Mountain Bike Classic. With a brand spankin’ new Cannondale Flash carbon 29er from Pathfinder with me, I toed up at the line in the Pro/Expert race with teammates Nate Annon and Robbie Loehr. The race started with a short but technical prologue which went down through the valley, back up out, and brought us back through the start/finish where a 30 dollar prime waited for the first rider through. Not being a great technical rider, I had no interest or ambition to attempt the prime. So, I sat in and rode my own pace trying not to get too hung up on any super technical gnar.
As I came through the start finish, I would guess I was sitting around 13th or so but was super excited where I was considering the section of trail we had just gone through. The next section of trail took us out towards the damn and was pretty smooth rolling double track. Being more of a power, endurance rider rather than handling and skill oriented, I decided to make a move and pull off a few passes here and try to move myself up towards the front before we hit the single track and passing became more difficult to find. I must have been in around 8th at this point and was feeling pretty good when I found teammate Robbie Loehr’s wheel. Know that Robbie is a far better technical rider than myself, I stayed right on his wheel and followed his line through the single track. As we continued to roll through the woods, I noticed one of the Rowand boys up ahead about a mile from the climb. Robbie, either knowing I was a decent climber or the fact that I was super energetic for my first mountain bike race of the year, told me to get up there and pass Rowand on the climb. I took a few good digs and got myself up to Rowand’s wheel nearly at the base of the climb. Standing up in front of me like a wall, I grabbed for a lower gear and attacked the climb. About mid way up the behemoth, I noticed an opportunity to make a pass on Rowand and did, putting in a good 30-second effort to gap him by a bike length or so. As we crested the top, I looked back to see I had held the gap but knew I would have to ride my ass off to keep it. Unfortunately, After keeping him behind me for a few miles of double track we hit some technical singletrack and I dabbed out giving him a smooth passing opportunity. However, I was still in 7th place at that point and had no plans of forfeiting another position. Setting myself at a good tempo pace, I cruised down the gnarly rock infested downhill into the valley and climbed back out. My feet did get a little wet in the stream at the bottom, which ticked me off. But, luckily I had on my Swiftwick socks which ,I am sure, kept me a lot more comfy than the other soggy footed riders.
Coming out of the woods and across the dam into the last 2 or so miles, I had a long enough sight range to look back and see if anyone was within 30 to 45 seconds of me. Not seeing anyone back there, I set a smooth, safe pace and cruised on home to the finish. As I came through the finish in 7th place, I was a little bummed that the race was over and I had to hang the mountain bike up for a while but, at the same time, my screaming legs where super happy to be done for the day.

Shogren Racing Update

2011-04-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

by Betsy & Gunnar.
Nice photos by Fred Jordon.

Gunnar and I are excited to again be a part of the Dynamic PT Cycling Team for 2011. We had a great time last year and appreciate the continued support by Dynamic Physical Therapy and others. The 2011 season kicked off with the Amity Training Series, which was a bit of a shock to the system. Gunnar fared better with his 4th place than I did, as I was not ready when the start whistle blew and promptly got dropped in the first 100 yards. Oh well, I can only improve from there, right?

The next race was the Morgantown RR. I think it’s fair to say there was quite a bit of apprehension leading up to this race, as the weather forecast was not promising, not to mention my confidence was quite low after the Amity beating. I am sure you’ve heard the stories of the amazing weather turnaround on race day, but we went from baseball-sized snowflakes to mild conditions in the span of a perfectly timed half-hour delay. The anticipated weather-induced misery was pretty much non-existent. Gunnar had a great race there, finishing fourth in his class, and I was able to pull off the 123 win. I was fortunate enough to get in a break with some very strong cat. 4 racers and we worked super well together to stay away until the finish. I knew if I could just keep with those girls, I had the 123 win locked up and could just let them sprint it out at the end. I know I wouldn’t have outsprinted them, though, as I poured all my energy into keeping our break clear, and was plumb-tuckered out by the finish. As an added bonus, our road bikes worked perfectly, despite their final assembly being completed that morning.

Jackie sure didn't want to step out in that either.

What a difference a week makes!

Finally, this last weekend, gunnar and I both raced twice. He did the WVU Mountaineer criterium, racing both in the 123 class and the master’s class. That boy does like his crit racing. While he didn’t place in the money in the 123 race, he was pleased with his race and felt that he was able to mix things up a bit. As a bonus, he also won the 40+ race a few hours later! Woot! Since my crit race wasn’t scheduled until late afternoon, I got it in my silly head to do the Mountain Duathalon in the morning, and then trundle on down to Clarksburg for my crit race. While all’s well that ends well, it was a bit of a tiring day. I have neglected running for a couple months, so the 4 miles of trail running was painful, especially since it was rocky and rooty. I am thankful I have freakishly strong ankles! Upon completion of this super fun event, I got it together and started my crit race with muddy shoes and mud still on my throbbing legs. I did not feel as awful riding a bike as I did standing around before the race, thankfully. I would not say I had a great race, but I was pleased at the finish to be able to jump before the 3rd turn and finish 3rd overall. I knew I was by far the slowest sprinter in the group, so I was happy to be able to finish in the money.

Not afraid of being at the front, even with the youngin's.

Trail running to Crit racing... all in a days work.

Thanks again to our wonderful sponsors for making this team happen!

First Pain Face of 2011

2011-04-12T04:12:00.000-07:00

After spending all morning working with my guys (and gals) at WVU promoting the race and racing the collegiate C race, I decided I still had enough “get up and go” left in me to pull on my DPT kit and go try my hand at the ¾ crit. As we all lined up, 6 wide and 6 deep, I looked around and realized how much pain I was about to suffer. The field was not the normal group of guys I was use to racing with but rather a mixture of some locals with a large portion of collegiate A and B racers. Being a C level crit racer, I already knew from the gun that I was going to have to work my ass off just to keep from getting spit out the back.

As the whistle blew, we rolled off the line and began to hammer away. Things really were not too crushing for the first two laps as it seemed like everyone was still trying to feel each other out to see who the strong ones were (and weed out the weak). Around lap number 4 or 5 however things began to pick up. With attacks going up the sides out of what seemed like every turn and down every straight away, I knew I was in for one hell of a day.

It didn’t take long for the attacks and accelerations to get to me and, before I knew it, I was getting popped off the back. For about 4 laps, I worked just to keep the field in sight, as my goal at this point was to not get lapped and maybe try to get back on before the finish. Unfortunately, my legs did not agree with me. After a lap or two of chasing, I felt a tinge followed by a twitch in my calf followed by an “ Ohh no..” out of my mouth. I didn’t think the lack of sleep the night before or the lack of food that day would affect me but it was definitely doing so. As I began to get repeated mini cramps in my left calf, I found myself two entire turns behind the pack.

Around the last 12 or so laps, I got lapped by the field along with James and Robbie who I had lapped earlier but then fell back and worked due to the fact that I was dying on my own out there. As the field came blowing by, I noticed JR was on the back of it. Turned out that, as they were lapping him, he was able to dig deep and get on the back of the field to get a tow around the field. As the field finally passed, JR came off the back to work with our little DPT groupetto. The four of us, Robbie, James, JR, and myself, motored around the course with a pretty nice paceline going for the rest of the race. At that point, we were just avoiding the double lap and getting pulled.

Working with my team for the last 12 laps, I was able to stay alive and come away with 20^th place. Not super great but, given my great prerace prep, I’ll take it. Overall, I really did enjoy the day as well as getting a chance to practice some good pacelining with my teammates. See Ya’ll South of Connellsville!

- Todd Latocha

Crit and Single Speed

2011-04-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

After my 16th place the week prior at the Motown Road Race 1/2/3, my next race on the schedule was the ABRA Mountaineer Crit in Clarksburg, WV on Saturday. I showed up when the College KIDS race was going on, and parked beside my team mate Ben K. As Ben and I where getting are things together for a warm up, my front tubular tire pops. I had dug a pretty good size rock out of it earlier in the week from Motown Race. Luckily, I had an extra set of wheels with me and swapped it out. Soon, Ben and I jumped on the trainers. I pumped some Tool in the iPod and was ready to go. Photo by Fred Jordan
As the 1/2/3s rolled out, I had teammates Gunnar and Ben to race with. The pace was set pretty fast from the start. I had to bury myself for the first 25 minutes, and then the pace let up a little. There were a few more attacks that mixed things up. Photo by Fred Jordan
Finally, it was the last lap and coming into turn 3 I was in good position about 6th back. Coming out of turn 4, there was a little up hill and I was able to snag 4th on the day. I was pretty happy with that, especially with all of the fast guys.

On Sunday, I found my way toward Parkersburg WV for the 1st WVMBA/OMBC race of 2011 at Mt Wood State Park. I showed up around 10:30 and the registration line was pretty long (212 racers for the day). I left my geared bike at home and raced the Single Speed. We lined up at noon and off we went. Right from the gun, I found myself chasing fellow Single Speeder Montana Miller and some other Ohio guy that I didn’t know. They were both on a bigger gear then me so I had to work hard to stay with them. The Ohio guy went in the wood with a good 30 seconds up after a long gravel section start. Once in the woods, I started to pass a few of the geared guys. Finally, after about 20 minutes, I bridged up to the Ohio guy. I could still see Montana behind me not too far back. After the road crossing, there was a pretty good climb, so I layed it down a little more and was able to get away from Montana and the other guy. I continued my way around the lake, just trying to stay smooth since this was only my 5th Mt bike ride of the year. Once on the other side and after climbing medicine man, I heard someone behind me. It was Montana… he was closing in. He finally caught up to me and we rode together for a while. I was trying to stay smooth, but I knew he could tell I was pedaling blocks and he attacked. There really wasn’t much I could do; I was out of bottles so I hit another gel and just continued to ride. I started to come back around a little bit, but by that time the race was over. I ended up 2nd Single Speed, 1 minute 24 seconds back; and 3rd overall on the day. Good day with the big field of single speeds and geared guys.

Posted by Nate

First real pain for 2011..

2011-04-11T07:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the Mountaineer Downtown Criterium in Clarksburg, WV. The race was hosted by WVU Cycling as part of their collegiate race weekend. However unlike in years past they had a public race that the rest of us to compete in. w00t! I got to the race just as the college A event was wrapping up. Man they were cooking out there. I set up the team area along the course so while we warmed up on the trainers we could watch some of the racing action. Baswell, Todd, Robbie and I warmed up and were able to cheer on Gunnar, Nate and Ben who were in a extremely fast Men's Cat 1/2/3 race. Watching that sure made the time on the trailers fly by. When even made the local news while warming up Hey look kids we're on TV!

Photo by Fred Jordan
When it was time for us to line up to race it was sure a very cool feeling to have four other teammates lined up beside me. However I was not prepared for how hard the guys at the front went off at the start. In the first lap my heart rate was pegged and snot was running out of my nose as I tried to hold onto the group. It was for sure my first extremely hard effort of the year and I forget how much it can hurt. A few laps later I looked down at my garmin and we were only 8 minutes into a 45 minute race. I was hurting and hurting really bad. I gave it everything I had but was unable to hold onto the main field of Cat 3/4 racers.

Photo by Fred Jordan
Minute or so later I was in a chase group with Ben Stephens and Ted McPherson. The pace was not much slower then the lead pack but it was just enough that I could just hang in there. Ted also did a good job of giving some of the guys on the back heck for not doing their share of the work in the group. As a group we moved around pretty well and even started to pick off one or two folks who also dropped from the main field.

Photo by Fred Jordan
Then with 12 laps to go the main field was getting really to lap us and as it did I was feeling ok so I jump out of the saddle and got on the back of it. Something was different this time. I was able to hold the pace of the field much better this time and sat on the back for 3 to 4 laps with them. Then as we came up one the start finish area with 8 laps togo I saw Todd, James and Rob all riding together and also getting ready to be lapped with by the main field I was with. I was of course already a lap down and my legs were once again just about cooked so I pulled in line with my teammates for the last few laps. We may have not been super fast but we got some good photos racing as a team, lol.. To be honest I really enjoyed riding around with them.

Photo by Fred Jordan
In the end I finished 19th in my first race ever in the 3/4 field. That field is for sure a lot faster but it definitely feels good to be racing in the faster fields now a days!

We made the new clips.

2011-04-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

WVU Cyclists Host Regional Race - WBOY-TV - WBOY.com

Recovery science learned the hard way

2011-04-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

The Morgantown Road Race threw a couple curve balls my way last weekend. It began with a hint of snow and rain that postponed our start time. Ultimately, I just wanted to survive on a day like that. Once we started, I stayed at the front end of the category 3-4 field to avoid road spray and squirrelly riders.

I pulled three times on the way out to Waynesburg and felt pretty well. Unfortunately, on the first major climb out of Waynesburg I started to have some really annoying quadriceps cramps. At first I thought they would be short-lived and I could hydrate heavily to prevent any worsening but that wasn't the case as more and more area of my legs started cramping. I didn't even feel like I was near to using my real aerobic capacity and it didn't even seem like much of a pace increase so I was pretty frustrated. I had done the Charlottesville Virginia 10 Miler (a running race) the weekend prior and had a nice dose of delayed onset muscle soreness until that following Wednesday. I guess I dug a little deeper than I was accustomed to doing because my triathlon runs are longer but not at a 5:50-6:00 per mile pace. Prior to Saturday I hadn't really given too much thought to the true recovery necessary after being so sore because it hasn't happened in such a long time. I had lots of time to think about it once I was dropped at the top of that big climb though! I knew the rest of the race wasn't going to go well at that point so I tried to let off the pace, eat a little and then turn it into a time trial workout. Ugghh.

After another 8-10 miles I realized that wasn't happening very well either. My legs were like lead and still cramping. Every push of the pace was matched with a quad, hamstring or adductor cramp. I finally decided it was going to be better to try to relax and admit it was an all around bad day instead of digging myself into a huge deficit. Cold and wet I finally finished the darn race, mentally ready to take on another warmer, drier, and more recovered day. Fingers crossed. The stats are pretty sad but graphs are still pretty nice:

Distance: 47.88 miles

Time: 2:40:20

Average speed: 17.9 mph

Average power: 216 watts

Average heart rate: 173 bpm

Max speed: 40.7 mph

Total ascent: 2740 feet

Tired lungs and heavy legs

2011-04-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

I write this recap with tired lungs and heavy legs. This weekend the WVU Cycling Team hosted their collegiate home road race weekend. Last year they put on an excellent downtown criterium in Clarksburg, WV, about 30 minutes south of Morgantown. This year the race was open to the public and there was a great turnout. Robbie Loehr and I carpooled in the Cat 4 mobile and showed up in time to watch a very exciting Cat 1/2/3 race with Nate Annon taking fourth place.

Todd Latocha, JR Petsko and I warmed up on the side of the course and remarked how professional the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling Team kits made us. Look fast go fast right? As we lined up for the start of the race the Dynamic Team had a strong representation in the field, five racers, Robbie Loehr, Todd Latocha, Ben Kuhlman, JR Petsko, and myself, James Braswell.

The race started very quickly with hard efforts from the NCVC boys from DC. I struggled to hold the pace through the first lap but quickly found myself off the back. Did I give up? No. I remembered my cornering techniques from my time in the collegiate crit racing circuit and attempted to be fast and smooth around the 1 km four corner course.

As the race progressed the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling Team regrouped for the last ten laps. We team time trialed holding off the main field approaching from behind. A pile up in the last corner on the last lap interrupted what I am sure would have been a spirited field sprint from the 4 man Dynamic contingency. Ben Kuhlman, who had just finished racing the 1/2/3 crit held on for a great top 11 finish.

All in all not a bad second race and first criterium effort for the season. Next time I just hope to hold the initial surge and stay with the pack. Thanks to the WVU Cycling Team, JR Petsko and all the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling Team sponsors. I have a feeling this is going to be a great season.

Not my favorite riding conditions....

2011-04-07T19:22:00.001-07:00

The 2011 ABRA road race series finally got underway this weekend with the Morgantown Road Race. I was a little nervous about racing when I awoke; since this would be my first CAT 4/5 start in my second season of road racing. Once I arrived at Mason-Dixon Park, the nervousness had passed…until the BB30-sized snowflakes began falling.

The race started off with a large pack rolling along from the park to Waynesburg, PA. This was something I was a bit unfamiliar with from Cat 5 experiences last year. My goal was to stay in the top half of racers, watch how the race would unfold, and help fellow teammates Todd Latocha and James Braswell. Twenty-five miles in I would see my younger, faster teammates pull away up the first climb.

This racecourse seemed to have it all...several long, steep climbs with fast flowing rollers between. I felt like I was riding fairly well, cruising along with a few small groups, until it happened. My legs quickly let me know that I hadn’t taken time to refuel and I was dropped with 10 miles to go. Left alone spinning my legs over the next few rollers, I finally crossed the finish line.

Not my best finish and not my favorite riding conditions with the cold and snow, but definitely a fun epic race to remember. Looking forward to the second race of the 2011 season.

By Chris Jones!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
My first road race!

This was my first road race! The weather never made me think twice about doing it. I know I would have felt guilty for not racing it, so why not? At the start of the race, I felt very strong. Probably too much so. I went out a bit too fast. I probabaly should have stayed more conservative and let the race unfold that way. This kind of racing is nothing like running racing like I'm used to. Usually in running races, the gun goes off and you just go, if you're in front, there's not much aof a draft, so it's not going to waste all of your energy. But I've quickly learned (hopefull) that this is not so with bike races. Drafting is huge and 50 miles is a long way. After about mile 25, I did the rest of the ride solo. So that hurt by the end, especially because it was so windy. But as JR and everyone else said this race is a huge learning experience for me and I am looking forward to racing many more. I had a lot of fun and I hope i learned what I needed to learn. Thanks everyone!

By Nicole Dorinzi

Oh well - better things to come...

2011-04-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

Over the first 20 miles, the pack let a lone rider go and he quickly got out of sight. Over the first climb, the pace was very manageable, and the field stayed together, anticipating the next four climbs and the cold weather. I stayed at the front of the field keeping an eye on a few riders I thought would have a good day. Over the second climb, my legs still felt good and I rode at the front again, keeping an eye on the action. At the beginning of the third climb, however, there was an increase in the pace, and my legs just could not respond. I then watched the race go away from me - bad news considering I expected a very good result on the day. Over the next 2 climbs, I stayed with a small group chasing to no avail. On the last small rise I attacked the group I was with and got a small gap over the finish. Oh well - better things to come...

By Ben Kuhlman

2011 Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling team

2011-03-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

Maybe it was the 6 hours of sleep or the miles in my legs

2011-03-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

With temps nearing 60 and the sun poking its way out of the clouds, I decided to head out to Amity for another weekend of fun, fast racing. After a long and needed warm up, we rolled over to the start to line up with what seemed like twice as many people as the week before. With WLC taking up the first row, The Dynamic Physical Therapy boys decided to take the second. With conversations still going and racers still making last minute adjustments, it was clear that no one was prepared for what happened next.
Photos by Fred Jordan - See them here

At the sound of the whistle, WLC exploded off of the front setting an unbelievable pace. Being at the front of our team’s lineup at the start, I found myself flirting with zone 5 trying to pull our team, and the field, back up to the already escaping group. As the gap began to close, I knew I couldn’t pull any longer but luckily, fellow DPT cyclist James Braswell was there to pull through and take up the chase to reconnect us. Soon after this however, the field splintered into a million pieces. As two riders managed to escape off the front, I found myself yet again in a small chase group of 5, which was immediately cut down to 4 after teammate Derek Clark flatted and was forced to withdraw from the race.

Photos by Fred Jordan - See them here

Halfway through lap 3, one of the riders in our chase began to lag and fell off the back followed by another rider towards the end of the lap leaving myself and another rider alone trying to bridge the break. Try as we might, we could not catch them and made the decision to stay at tempo incase we got caught or saw a nearing chase. Working together, we managed to keep away and finished the day with a nice sprint for 3rd and 4th. Maybe it was the 6 hours of sleep or the miles in my legs from Friday and Saturday, but try as I might I could not take the sprint and found 4th place. In the end though, I am happy considering how early it still is in the season and how crazy things went off the line. See ya’ll at Morgantown Road Race.

Success on many levels

2011-03-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

Photos by Fred Jordan - http://fredjordan.smugmug.com/

After a winter of spin classes and trainer workouts, I traveled to PA for the first training race of the year. I got in a decent one-lap warm-up then hid in my car for the warm air. We rolled out for a one-lap neutral cruise to the staging area. From the gun, three riders went immediately off the front, but I sat in the field waiting to see how my legs would adjust to race tempo.

The first time up the climb, I honestly expected everyone to stay in contact, so I made the mistake of staying in my position out of the wind near the rear of the field. This was a mistake because there were instant gaps as the front of the field surged away. I was left passing slower climbers, relegated to a day of hard chasing. At the crest of the hill, I was with 3 others and we worked well together to slowly reel in a rider each lap or so.

In the end, the legs felt very good for this early in the season, and I finished 8th. Next week I will be more alert and stay at or near the front from the start and try my luck. Overall, the day was a success on many levels for me - I got to see a few teammates and quite a few of the guys I raced with all last season.

Posted By Ben K.

Anaerobic isn't in my March vocabulary

2011-03-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

A few members of our Dynamic PT Cycling Team had a frigid start to the 2011 racing season at this past Sunday's Amity training race. I actually watched a cyclist shred his chain into pieces and endo on the first climb on the preview loop. Now that's a real indicator of the wattage needed on these climbs! They aren't super long but they can be steep. The clouds hung low on race morning, as did the 39 degree temperature. The intensity of the men's Category 4/5 race skyrocketed pretty quickly, however. These guys couldn't seem to hold themselves back. Even the course preview/warm up loop took a toll on some of the racers, as the faster riders were a little too anxious to use the speed they had pent up all winter long. Once the race began, most of the men stayed closer together during the first of the five official loops. Things had begun to string out already by the first major climb though. A split in the group was evident by the start of the second loop. Four racers were able to break the gap but were again lost during the major climb. A couple quick and short breaks were attempted only to fail, but Cory Hartman decided to give it all, which paid off. He managed to stay away from everyone else for the entire event, which none of us really expected, particularly for this time of year. The gap from my small group of five men to the racers behind continued to grow for the remainder of the race, particularly into lap three as the intensity remained consistently higher with no really intense attacks attempted from within our group (thank goodness). Fellow teammate Todd Latocha was there in the mix the whole time, pushing the pace and pulling quite a bit. Todd led out a hard effort on the final climb and I took a backseat to watch these guys battle it out on the descent before the finish. He would ultimately finish in third but I know he's going to be capable of much more this season as he is looking quite strong! I was happy with sixth for the day as "anaerobic" isn't typically in my March vocabulary. All in all, here are my geeky ride stats and a couple beautiful graphs:

finish time: 1:20:20

total distance: 25.1 miles

maximum speed: 42.7 mph

average speed: 18.7 mph

altitude change per lap: ~ 380 feet

total ascent: ~ 1814 feet

average heart rate: 166 bpm

maximum heart rate: 184 bpm

Pulled on my big boy pants and went racin'

2011-03-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally decided to pull on my Swiftwicks and big boy pants and go race my bike on Sunday in the ABRA Amity Training Series. With the temps hovering around 40 degrees and no sign of the sun, we rolled down through the twisty valley in Amwell Township towards the start of the 2011 racing season. I’ll admit, I was a little chilled from the cold but as soon as that whistle blew, the cold left my body in a rush and was replaced by the shear excitement of a new year.

The first lap was pretty neutral and rolled along super easy. The break may have went then, I really can’t remember, I just remember no one was willing to chase at that point. Anyways, as we cruised along, midway through the second lap the pace began to pick up. Before I could think about what was happening, I found myself in a five-man chase that was clipping along quickly. After making sure we were well established and away from the pack, I looked around to see who was with me and found myself alongside teammate Derek Clark. We chatted for a minute about how we felt after the ride on Saturday where we both hit it pretty hard with fellow teammate Scott Benson for 54 miles. After that short chat, we got down to business. The pace was not terribly fast but was fast enough to keep your head up. The laps buzzed by and, in no time at all, it was the final lap with 5 miles to go.

As we approached the final and only substantial climb of the day, I knew what I had to do. I knew there was no way my skinny butt could beat the others in the group in a final sprint. With that in mind, I stood up, spun the gear up, and took two more gears from the rear cassette. I put everything into that short, steep climb and, once I came across the crest, I continued to hammer across the top flat section towards the downhill. Looking back as I began the descent, I noticed one rider had managed to keep within about 100 yards of me off of the climb. As we zipped down the hill, I kept my eye out over my shoulder through every turn watching my competition gain small but significant ground. At this point I cursed J.R. for not making this a hill top finish. I can climb and descend fairly well but I knew in a final sprint across the flat I couldn’t hold off my competition.

As the race entered the final few miles of flat, I started to really hammer on the pedals but, about a mile from the finish, realized that I could not hold out for second place. My competitor grabbed my wheel, hitched a ride for about 10 seconds, and then rocketed around me and was gone. As I came across the line, I was slightly disappointed given the effort I had put in on the hill but not too upset given the fact that I just finished 3rd in my first race of the season.

Full Results

Posted by Todd L.

Dynamic team grows for 2011!

2011-01-22T11:41:00.000-08:00

2010 marked the first year for Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling and what a first year it was! The five rider team from last year had a fantastic season with more then 20 wins and 40 podiums collectively. For 2011 the team is taking a huge step forward by signing 13 riders to the roster for the coming season. Back to the team for 2011 are cycling power houses Betsy and Gunnar Shogren, as well as Robbie Loehr and J.R Petsko . This already fast group of riders will be joined by an exciting group of male and female riders from our area, which include 2011 West Virginia State Time Trail Champion Ben Kuhlman, 2010 WV Cat State Champion Chris Jones and Women Cat 4 Cyclocross State Champion Nicole Dorinzi Take a second and get to know your new Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling team for 2011!

Name: Laura Catherine Kelley
Hometown: Orange County, Ca
Favorite Color: Purple
Employment: Post Doc, Mary Babb Cancer Center, WVU
Favorite Movie: Pippi Longstocking (the original)
Favorite Quote: It's cool to give a shit
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks don't know: I can hang six spoons from my face
Favorite Bike Race: Anything at Big Bear
Goals for 2011: Finish the Hilly Billy Roubaix, make better jello shots

Name: Nate Annon
Hometown: Grafton WV
Favorite Color: Blue
Employment: Bombardier Aerospace (Non Destructive Testing Specialist)
Favorite Movie: American Flyers/Step Brothers
Favorite Quote: Shut up Legs (Jens Voight)
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks don't know: When I was 5 I Jumped my BMX bike off a picnic table and knocked my teeth out..
Favorite Bike Race: Anything that inflicts pain Rattle snake, Tour of Tucker,.
Goals for 2011: Go Fast

Name: James Braswell
Hometown: Hedgesville, WV
Favorite Color:Matte Carbon
Employment:You'll find me at Pathfinder!
Favorite Movie:Recently, The Yes Men Fix The World
Favorite Quote:I'm in love with a girl named go.
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks don't
know:I am a triplet, I have a brother and a sister, no we don't look alike.
Favorite Bike Race: Anything from the ABRA series, I especially enjoyed the State Championship Road Race course in 2010.
Goals for 2011: Top 3 in the Mountain Bike Sport Class, Top 5 in the Hilly Billy Under 40 Class, To race a 100 miler on the mountain bike.

Name: Benjamin Kuhlman
Hometown: Parkersburg, WV
Favorite Color: Blue
Employment: Department of the Treasury
Favorite Movie: The Matrix
Favorite Quote: "All I know is that I know nothing."
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks don't
know: I have 3 sisters.
Favorite Bike Race: Sugar Grove Road Race
Goals for 2011: defend 2010 State TT Title, upgrade to cat 2, help the team succeed in every race we enter.

Name: Chris Jones
Hometown: Shinnston WV
Favorite Color: orange
Employment: Dynamic Physical Therapy
Favorite Movie: Lonesome Dove
Favorite Quote: That's what she said...
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks don't know: tore an ear off mtn biking
Favorite Bike Race: Appalachia Visited Road Race, Tour of Tucker, 18hrs of Scouts Honor (Gouchland, Va)
Goals for 2011: no road rash!!, move into my new house (beside Coopers Rock), Firecracker 50 (Breckenridge), race the ABRA series....

Name: Robert Loehr
Hometown: BFE, WV
Favorite Color: Dirt
Employment: Field Engineer, Entek Mechanical Corp.
Favorite Movie: Super Troopers
Favorite Quote: "It never gets easier, you just go faster." ~Greg Lemond
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks
don't
know: I run my own business: SpokeArt.com
Favorite Bike Race: Canaan Valley
Goals for 2011: Develop an infectious smile

Name: Derek D. Clark
Hometown: Morgantown, WV
Favorite Color: Black
Employment: Physical Therapist at Dynamic Physical Therapy
Favorite Movie: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Favorite Quote: Those at the top of the mountain did not fall there.
Tell me something interesting about yourself that most folks don't know: I have two titanium front teeth.
Favorite Bike Race: Appalachia Visited Road Race because there's a ton of climbing
Goals for 2011: 1) Qualify for the Ironman 70.3 Triathlon World Championships again. 2) Break 4:25 at the 70.3 Triathlon distance. 3) At least 3 top 3 finishes within the ABRA series.

Name: Todd Latocha
Hometown: Katy, WV
Favorite Color: Red
Employment: WVU news and information services
Favorite Movie: Bad Company or Band of Brothers
Favorite Quote: Some people can get you in the ballpark but others can get you on the field.
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks don't know: I was a bubble boy for like 6 weeks after I was born.
Favorite Bike Race: Tour of Tucker County
Goals for 2011: Make it through the entire season without adding any more titanium to my body and do well in a few key races.

Name: CB
Hometown: Pennsyltucky err.. Evans City
Favorite Color: Grass Green
Employment: UPMC
Favorite Movie: Along Came Polly
Favorite Quote: Dreams are never destroyed by circumstances. Dreams are born in the heart and mind, and only there can they ever die. Because while the difficult takes time, the impossible just takes a little longer. -Art Berg
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks don't know: I have an invisible fairy... his name is Joe.
Favorite Bike Race: Stoopid 50
Goals for 2011: Too many for one blog...

Name: Gunnar Shogren
Hometown: Morgantown, WV since March 1980
Born in Pittsburgh, PA, lots of growing up in Clearfield, PA
Favorite Color: Red... no Green... Ahhh!
Employment: Self.
Favorite Movie: Too many favs. Ghost Dog, Dead Man and Love Actually come to mind.
Favorite Quote: "Who knows pain? Evel knows Pain."
Tell me something interesting about that yourself that most folks don't know: I've only had two nicknames that ever really stuck. Nars and Hosho.
Favorite Bike Race: The one next weekend.
Goals for 2011: Ride, Race, be Happy, don't get hurt.

Name: Nicole Dorinzi
Hometown: Morgantown, WV
Favorite Color: Blue
Employment: Medical Student soon to be resident
Favorite Movie: Jaws or Goonies
Favorite Quote: Run like hell
Something most people don't know: I love bunnies! and I can clap with one hand.
Favorite Bike race: Dirty Dozen haha
Goals for 2011: prove myself

Name: Betsy Shogren
Hometown: Dayton, OH
Favorite Color: Dynamic PT Cycling Burgundy
Employment: NIOSH
Favorite Movie: Galaxy Quest
Favorite Quote: Variety is the spice of life.
Tell me something interesting about yourself that most folks don't know: Someday I would like to run an animal sanctuary.
Favorite Bike Race: Long, hot, hilly ones with very poor pavement.
Goals for 2011: Don’t get hurt, have fun, try new things!

Name: J.R. Petsko
Hometown: Morgantown, WV
Favorite Color: Blue
Employment: I am really not sure?
Favorite Movie: Star Wars, like you didn't already know.
Favorite Quote: "I love you like a fat kid loves cake"
Tell me something interesting about yourself that most folks don't know: Lived n a tent for 3 months once.
Favorite Bike Race: Iron Cross
Goals for 2011: A win a Greenbrier.

2011 Team Kit Unveiling!

2011-01-17T11:52:00.001-08:00

Team Members Hold Dirty Dozen Records

2010-12-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

Pigg Hill/Rialto St. across from the 31st St. Bridge

DIRTY DOZEN RECORDS
Most wins: 9 by Danny Chew in 83, 84, 85, 87-90, 97, & 03
Most consecutive wins: 7 by Steve Cummings from 2004-2010
Most wins, women: 2 by Betsy Shogren in 2009 & 2010
Youngest winner: 16 year old Josh Smith in 1992
Oldest winner: 41 year old Danny Chew in 2003
Oldest hill winner: 50 year old Billy Kanarek in 2003
Oldest points scorer: 56 year old Oscar Swan in 1998
Oldest finisher: 65 year old Roger Brockenbrough in 1999
Youngest finisher: 13 year, 36 day old Andrew Reay in 2009
Heaviest finisher: 240 pounds by J. R. Petsko in 2009
Longest time between DDs: 23 years from 1984 to 2007 by Jonathan Pratt
Highest low gear winner: 42x23 by Danny Chew in 1988
Highest low gear finisher: 45x22 (also fixed gear) by Gunnar Shogren in 2010
First fixed gear finisher: Montana Miller in 2009
First tandem finisher: Brothers Jody & Adam Lobert in 2000
Highest score to ever win DD: 64 points (out of 65) by Danny Chew in 1988 & women's winner Betsy Shogren in 2009
Most riders: 185 in 2009
Coldest: High of 27 degrees F in 1983 (first DD)
Warmest: High of 66 degrees F in 2006

Event Website - http://www.dannychew.com/dd.html

Best DD Video Ever -

Thanks to Danny Chew and his peeps for doing this every year!

Tomac Bikes Makes it Official for 2011

2010-12-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

When the DPT cycling team hits the dirt in the upcoming 2011 season it will be on a Tomac! We are extremely excited about the news and can hardly wait to take that first ride on our new machines. Why Tomac? They know mountain bikes! Here is what their official website has to say!

Philosophy
We believe in simple, hard core, quality products that are made by the people who use them.

Bikes with exceptional ride quality are the result of spending hours and hours in the saddle, not sitting in meetings discussing the marketing advantages of one technology over another. We don't spend time chasing trends. We do not make road bikes, BMX bikes, city bikes or any of these esoteric bikes.

We ride mountain bikes. We know mountain bikes. We make mountain bikes.

Thanks to Joel and all the staff at Tomac. I see many podiums for 2011 thanks to you and your bikes. Looking forward to working with you for years to come! Go Tomac!

Our Machines, The "Flint 29" Sweet!

See the full line up of 2011 Tomac Bikes now on there website!

Results from our final Cross race of 2010

2010-12-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

MEN 1-2-3-4

PLACE TIME FIRST NAME LAST NAME TEAM
1 0:57:58 Michael Mihalik Freddie Fu Cycling Team
2 0:59:06 Gunnar Shogren Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling
3 1:03:24 Chris Mayhew JBV Coaching
4 1:04:55 Eric Lundgren Iron City Bikes
5 LAP Jason Justi Beaver Valley Velo
6 LAP Brendan Jones Beaver Valley Velo
7 LAP Jeff Guy ChamRakh Cycling / bobsmaps.com
8 LAP Don Splitstone DPS Penn Cycling
9 LAP Rich Allen Ag3r-ButlerHealthSystems
10 LAP Kirk Morrison Ag3r-ButlerHealthSystem
11 LAP Henry Dimmick Ag3r-ButlerHealthSystem
12 LAP Michael Swope Team Athens

MEN 4

1 48:18:00 Jordan Snyder Beaver Valley Velo
2 48:37:00 Joseph Biss Beaver Valley Velo
3 49:27:00 Donald Splitstone DPS Penn Cycling
4 50:43:00 J.r. Petsko Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling
5 51:12:00 Jeff Grimm Beaver Valley Velo
6 52:30:00 Matthew Holloway
7 52:58:00 Jason Samonds Fat Head's
8 54:13:00 Mike Janeiro
9 54:46:00 Greg Flood Steel City Endurance
10 54:48:00 Jeff Gernert Greene County Cycling Club
11 55:04:00 Robert Sedgewick Morningside Velo/Biketek
12 55:12:00 Nicholas Rossi West Liberty Cycles
13 LAP Nathan Hall
14 LAP Kyle Mihalik
15 LAP Dean Brandt Dreaming Ant Cycling Club (of 1)
16 LAP Joel Morris
17 LAP Michael Swope Team Athens

Video from this years Dirty Dozen. We look good!

2010-12-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

Dirty Dozen Records Held by the team.

Gunnar Shogren- Completed the DD on largest gear ever (45x22) (2010). Also has won the event in 1991

JR Petsko - Heaviest Person ever to complete all 13 climbs and finish the DD. (2009)

Betsy Shogren - Two Time Winner (2009, 2010)

One last race for 2010!

2010-12-09T08:17:00.002-08:00

This weekend Gunnar, Betsy and I will be taking part in our last race for 2010. The weather looks to be a bit chilly but that is what CX season is all about. Come join us for a grand old time at Gary Cross II this Sunday! Info - http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=12007

The off season starts on Monday!

Thank goodness for our Swiftwicks!!

2010-12-02T07:38:00.000-08:00

Here in the northern part of West Virginia the snow has finally arrived and the temperature forecast says we will not be climbing past the low 30's for the next week or so. People often ask us how do we handle the cold?! The right gear makes all the difference. Thank goodness for our sock and arm warmer sponsor Swiftwick! They keep our tootsies nice and toasty even when the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Swiftwick socks and arm warmers makes it so we have once less thing to worry about when it is time to ride. Run out now to your local shop and get a few pairs. If they don't carry them, tell them they need to. You will thank me later!

Swiftwick Guarantee:
Purchase a pair of Swiftwick socks and put us to the test. We unconditionally guarantee every Swiftwick product to be the best performance product you have ever worn, or we invite you to mail us the laundered socks and a request for a competitor’s replacement pair of equal value. Visit HERE for more details.
Try a pair. You'll be hooked.