Blister's mean you're weak, Right?

Well this weekend was a stretch to say the least it all started on Thursday with my hilly road ride. Starting in Ringwood hitting Greenwood lake, Harriman state park and returning on Long Meadow road this ride has 4 climbs over 2.5 miles and If you're not feeling good can eat you alive. Luckily enough I recovered very well from Singlespeed-a-palooza and the ride was a breeze and actually quite enjoyable at tempo, strange huh.
Saturday I woke at 4:45 to leave my house at 6am the plan being ride to Glen Rock where I will meet Steve Mancuso and than we will ride over to Oakland to do the Pedal Sports Saturday morning hammer fest. I pull into Glen Rock around 6:30 no Steve in sight Hmmm, seems Steve sent me a text message saying he's running late and will meet me at Oakland (I always have my phone handy on a road ride.. NOT) No biggie. Get to pedal sports Steve's ready to go, Gerry doesn't show (big surprise) and we are getting looked up and down by the group. The ride shoves off and It seems like no one is willing to drive the pace. Now I didn't come out for a Saturday snooze fest so Steve and I try to incite the group by taking turns on the front, It doesn't work and we end up pulling the whole group for the entire 30 miles, Oh well I was looking for a workout anyway. after the ride we talked to Ken for a while about pack dynamics and stuff and finally set off for home. with the exception of a some verbal threats involving a mini van at a stop light a Ridgewood cop and later a huge flock of geese the ride home was uneventful. Question; Who's more agressive, some jerkoff in a minivan on a Saturday morning or a flock of Canada geese?


Sunday Sunday Sunday. I haven't done a 6hr race in a while and I figured it would be a good way to get some endurance training in so Jocelyn and I packed up the car and headed up to Schenectady N.Y. for Heather Rizzi's 6 hour race the plan being just to get a good ride in and have some fun. Pulling into the parking area I had a short conversation with Joe Yannazo and he said the place is pretty flat so I swapped the 18t for a 17t and with no preride embarked on my 6hr adventure. Some where around lap #2 I caught up with the head of the race and sat on that wheel for a couple laps just to learn the ins and outs of the place. Hour 2 I find myself in the lead not feeling great but not bad either, Ya see I'm a little over geared even though the place is mostly flat it does have some short steep ups and it is quite windy so windy you get dizzy. Around hour 4 I have a fairly commanding lead and I've grooved the track and at one of my pit stops I ask Jocelyn (who called it quits earlier) to give me a accurate count to the next rider, she tells me I'm ahead by 10 minutes. Perfect, I have no plans on doing any more laps than I need to and at 5hrs 25 minutes I set out on my last lap, Ive been doing 30 minute laps all day and I'll just ride easy this last one and come across the finish at exactly 6hrs. Easier said than done. My hands are killing me and I can hardly hold onto the handle bars any more but I manage to roll over the line for the win at exactly 6hrs bloody and bruised and glad its over. :-)



A couple of points to mention...
(1) I now remember why I haven't done a race over 4 hours in 2 years
(2) I officially take myself out of the I want to do a hundred miler club
(3) normally I feel suspension is unnecessary (this is not one of those times)
Also kudos to Gerry for finishing his first 6hr, 6th place 10 laps sweet