Can't seem to shake this weird feeling for the past couple of weeks.  Something like being sick, fatigued, or plain unmotivated.  Or some depressing combination of all three.  I struggle every year to fill my off-season with something.  Anything.  While it seems like every other pro is off taking vacations or decompressing in some epic location, most Octobers and Novembers I don't do much of anything.  I've got school which is finishing up this semester, which is a little bittersweet.  I leaned on that crutch pretty hard for a while so that will shake things up but I think for the better.  And maybe I'll have some money too.

But maybe that's it.  Maybe my thing is not doing much during the off season.  I feel like I put a lot of energy into my MTB season so when October and November roll around, I need a healthy dose of downtime.  I look forward to snowshoeing and eventually hitting the gym later on but in general I think a deep recharge is in order.  Sleeping in, short and easy rides,  and yoga all feel really, really good.  And feeling good is the name of the game right now.  So I'll stick with that.  If there's one thing my experience tells me its that a good season starts with and good off-season.  And a good off-season is whatever you want it to be, as long as you feel good about it.

Some game changing news about to hit the local MTB scene!!  Gotta keep the lid on it for now though.

Bear Creek MASS Finals

For once a race season hasn't flown past.  For me, 2011 started on March 12 down in Danville, VA and it actually feels like that was almost 7 months ago, not just last week.  The MASS series wrapped up this last weekend at Bear Creek.  I love everything about Bear Creek.  It's a mountain biker's course with a little bit of everything thrown in.  It's intense and it's not watered down at all, and rewards those who get their flow on, relax, and let it roll, and just let your X-fusion take care of it.  Basically, you need skills and it's the kind of course that will exploit you if you don't, which I think is good, because that's what makes if off-road racing.

I had a good races on both Saturday and Sunday taking the W on both days.  Brandon kept me honest on Sunday where I really had to stay on the gas all day.  Its so cool to be so competitive with but still be really good friends.  I think we really feed off of each other and make sure the other never gets too comfortable.  We get along great off the bike, but once the gun goes off, it's game on and I think we're both better because of it.  He was just within sight most of the race but I kept my head down, mashed the pedals, hit my lines, and prayed for no mechanical problems like the last few weeks.  With the win this weekend I locked up the Overall Elite title for the series which I can now say that I've won.  I probably would have won it the year or two if I would have just registered for the series...

Letting the body english take over.

I only had about 5 minutes to sit down after the XC until I had to pull race support for my nephew Ryan who made his racing debut in the kid's race on his sick Lightning McQueen whip.  We did a little course recon, scoped out the major climbs of days and decided where the most of the major attacks for the day would be.  A couple hot laps through the techy log section and he was ready to rage.  I'm pretty sure I saw him marking the other kids on the line.  

Met up with Scott Wilson, the new East Coast Marketing dude for SCOTT to test out the new 2012 Spark 26 and put it through the paces in Michaux.  I have to say, the changes from the last edition to the 2012 is noticeable.  The back end is much stiffer with the 142x12 thru axle, the rear shock pedal way better than the original NUDE, and the tapered head tube is (for a lack of a better cliche) confidence inspiring.  Changes to the geometry were huge too.  Travel is up from 100mm to 120mm and the chainstays felt noticeably longer which make a super stable ride.  The kicker is in the rear pivot design that drops the BB by 8mm and slackens the headtube by half a degree by flipping two small chips on the rear shock pivot.  A two minute adjustment turned a full-out XC bike feel more of all day trail riding rig.  Nice.

Terror of Teabery on Sunday!

BC Bike Race

Just booked all travel plans for my one big trip of 2011.

I made the decision to jump on the stage racing bandwagon after day 2 of the TSEpic last summer.  I wasn't even there, but thats exactly want made me want to do it.  I was so jealous watching the race interviews of everyone being toasted from riding awesome trails for days.  I totally wanted in on it.  My first choice of racing TSE was squashed because of scheduling conflicts with a summer course that I need to take so I can graduate in the winter.  That leaves me with my second, but equally awesome choice of BC Bike Race instead.  TSE was enticing because it was close, cheap, wasn't at 7,000+ feet of elevation, and involved rocks, roots, and other proper mountain biking features.

BC fits all but two of those criteria, which are covered by my credit card and relatively high credit limit.

I'm expecting nothing less than an epic week.  The day to day endurance/recovery part I'm not too worried about.  I'm good at recovery.  I'm more concerned with being able to hang towards the front of the race each day.  But whatever, we'll see what happens. I feel somewhat fit, and I've got some decent motivation, so it's looking good.  There's a lot of hype around this event.  Naming yourself the 'Ultimate' stage race takes some balls, so I hope it doesn't disappoint.  Come to think of it though, I've never heard anyone say anything about BC that didn't make it sound like the 'Ultimate'.

Jen and I are having a little role reversal going down this weekend where I get to pull support crew duty for her half marathon.  She says she just wants to finish, but I think she's just playing it cool and gunning for the win.

I have been unbelievably tired for the past week.  Maybe more.  I think its a combo of allergies and maybe getting sick.  I hear a lot of people coughing like crazy around me in the library right now.  I probably shouldn't be here, but I think its too late.

Yesterday was a pleasant surprise.  It's exciting to have some gas in the tank when you your expecting it to be empty.  The last couple weeks have been stressful (me, stressed?!?!), lost a lot of sleep and subsequently felt like a piece of garbage all week.  I got dropped on the local race ride and had to bail halfway on two other rides this week.  Oh, and I cut a brand new tire with about 15 miles on it.  Do I have to race this weekend?

I haven't had a 5am wake up call for a race for at least 6 years (probably false), so I almost bailed on that too.  With all that stuff going on, I had a little bit of luck on my side, in the sense that the MASS season opener at Fair Hill wasn't a total sufferfest for me.  The Fair Hill course has been the same for the last few years.  Its crazy fast, with not that much climbing which means that there's always a lot of pack racing and small gaps which makes for an exciting race.  Racing is so much more fun when you have some control over whats going on.  Or at least when it feels like you do.  Maybe the white wheels helped me out??  Or my new X9 group??  That stuff's race ready isn't it?

Here's go the detailed race report-

We started really hard and went pretty fast for a while.  A few position swaps in the lead group of 5 and we kept riding trails pretty fast.  Kept going pretty fast until the end of the last lap, where we stopped going fast.  I was the 4th person to stop going fast.  Lots of heavy hitters were present.

Tried to be all pro and stuff, by trying to dial in the bike this week.  I tried to get a 1x10 setup going on but the spacing for the new SRAM cranks and big chainring wasn't jiving with the MRP guide, so I put that on hold and worked on the suspension setup.  I've had my X-Fusion Velvet RL setup pretty well dialed in over the last few seasons, but it seems like every time I play around with it, it just keeps getting better and better.  It's crazy how a click or two of rebound and some air pressure adjustment can make your bike feel like a rockstar. Without trying to sound overwhelmingly cliche, I love this fork.  I would buy it over any other fork on the market.  Its way less expensive and works way better.  I can't wait to get the 120mm version on the race bike soon!

Thinking about a double header this weekend...thinking about the big show.

Out.

Two race weekends are in the books.  It feels good to finally to get that first one out of the way.  For some reason it didn't feel like it was my first race of the year though, like it normally does.  Usually the first time I pin it, I'm stuck racing at 80% but it feels like I'm going 110%.  This time for whatever reason, it felt like I was almost 100% already.  I actually had some gas in the tank.  Not sure why, since I'm so far behind in my training schedule because of the whole knee deal, but I'll take it.

That's not to say I won the race, cause I didn't.  The hefty prize list attracted some heavy hitters.  Nick Waite, Rob Marion, and Scott Frederick were the three that made up the lead group with me just a few seconds back. Rode the whole race by myself and came home 4th, doesn't sound impressive, but it's a super good sign for me this early.  Plus those guys live down south and don't have to deal with quite the same weather all winter, so really, I was the first placed yankee.

The second race this last weekend was my first 'drop handlebar' bike race.  I hit up the Philly Phlyer collegiate road races with some of the other guys from the Ship cycling team.  Having never done a single road event in my life, they would only let me race in the B field...

To keep from feeling like a total sandbagger, I figured I needed to work pretty hard for whatever placing I got so I took a shot at a solo breakaway in the 4 lap circuit race, which ended up working.  I went off the on the first climb of the first lap and held a fairly steady gap of 30sec to 1 min to the finish.  Feeling pretty smoked from that effort, I did what I could to repeat in the crit on Sunday.  I got away for 2 or 3 laps towards the beginning but couldn't hold anything, so I resorted to sitting on the front of the group taking pulls that lasted an entire lap.  Made one last solid surge to the front at the start of the last lap, and held the lead through the last corner to take second in the sprint.

And thats all I got.

Drove from PA to almost Cuba

My last spring break.  Well, its supposed to be...

Daytona has always been a sort of home away from home.  I've coming down here since I can remember. (15 years?)  My grandparents have lived here for years, and my parents just bought a place a few years ago so I have grown some psuedo-roots down here.  I just wish the riding was better.  Last spring, I came down for a week with the Experience to get in a good mini training camp culminating with a sweet XC race.  We did put in a solid week, but we used up just about all the rides that I know of around here.  Without spending 3 hours round trip in the car, we're limited to either a sandy 5 miles of singletrack or going shoulder to shoulder with traffic on 4 lane highways.

This year, I set up my schedule so that I didn't have to worry about getting in a ton of saddle time while I was down here.  Rest weeks really lend themselves to having a worthwhile vacation.

We're just getting back from a few days in Key West with the spring break crowd.  Had a super good time with Jen and the parents.  (Doesn't everyone spend spring break with they're parents??)  Rented a scooter for the day and enjoyed some throttle twisting for the day, while also confirming the notion that it won't be long until I get a moto.  Probably the new Triumph Tiger 800 that I saw in the demo fleet last week at the speedway during Bike Week.  Street shows, live music, beach bumming, huevos rancheros, and trying not to be a victim of a huge tourist trap.  Its hard to stop eating all the key lime pie that I bought.

Two more days in Daytona, then leaving towards home on Friday to hit the first MTB race of 2011.  Can't wait. Lots of driving.

So whats been going on?

The off season was a good one.  I started back at school, with only 2 more semesters left.  I should be graduating by December '11.  It only took 6 years...

I kept busy with a moderate amount of snowshoeing whenever possible, did some weight lifting, and kept on the bike at least a day or two per week so I didn't get too slow this year.

The biggest addition to my training this year has been a pilates class at the Rec Center twice a week.  That is the hardest thing I have ever done!  I feel like I'm in pretty good shape even when it comes to doing things that aren't just riding a bike, but I struggled with finishing these sessions for weeks.  It took about 2 months until I could finish the whole class without stopping and taking a break, but now I can't get enough of it.  Hopefully the benefits will be noticeable on the bike with a more stable core but I already seem to have a lot less upper-body movement too throughout the ride.  Plus my whole body doesn't feel worked over after a ride, just my legs which makes recovery easy too.

I just got back on the bike about 3 weeks ago, after a banged up knee from a crash at the beginning of January.  It was just a stupid little crash having fun on snow covered trails, but it ended up being a little bit more and kept me on the couch for a bunch of weeks.  I'm glad thats over.  So I jumped right back into the big miles and just finished my first big block of the season.  It's awesome to see past years of training starting to come back and pay dividends now.  Last year during the winter, I bumped up my base block to quite a bit more than I've ever done before, more than I thought I could even handle but its starting to pay off.  What was hard for me to finish last year, seems like cake this year, mostly in the way of day to day recovery and being able to handle a series of 4 or 5 big hard days strung together in a block.  I think its proof that going beyond what your used to really pays off, even it happens a little ways down the road and even if it feels like way too much at the time.  Know the difference between your head being tired and your body being tired.

My race schedule for 2011 will be a lot more local than the last 2 years.  Partly because of the whole school thing and needing to take summer courses, and because of where at the ProTour events are this year.  I'll have a couple of big events, like the Wisconsin ProTour, some Triple Crown events, and a bunch of AMBC's.  Plus one other thing that isn't totally finalized but would be kinda a big deal.

Now that the snow is all gone and temps are getting warmer, its not taking as much coaxing to get myself out the door and the miles are coming a lot easier.  This week won't take any coaxing though, I'm in Daytona Beach just in time for a rest week.  Lots of easy spinning, napping, laying by the pool, and tan-line work.  I've only been here for 10 hours and there already burned in.