Well, it finally happened this month....I logged more miles on the trails than on the roads. Does that officially make me a "Mountain Biker"? Do I have to start growing out my hair? Try growing a beard? Buy camping gear? Wear baggy MTB shorts? How about races and racing? Do I need to purchase a MTB license and start participating in races with names like, "Barnburner", or "12 Hours of Fury", or "The Whiskey Off-Road"? What the heck is the MBAA anyway? OK, seriously though, I have to admit, I'm a fan of the trails, the views, the challenge, and just the overall "newness" of it all. I've talked about entering a few races, at the end of the year, but I'm not overly excited about the idea. I think I'm supposed to be part of a 4 man team on one of those 12 hour endurance races, but nothing is firm right now. I think it'll be fun, and I'll be ready, but I'm entirely OK with just enjoying what I'm currently doing....pressure free riding fun. Before I get into my monthly numbers, here is a pic from a ride I did a few days ago. This is essentially in my backyard (about a 20-30 min flat desert ride from my front door). The pic was taken from a peak on the Sidewinder trail. You can see it's continuation down there below:
SEPTEMBER 2010 TOTALS (IMAZ 2010 TRAINING YEAR):
SWIM = 28150 yards
BIKE = 802.23 miles
RUN = 78.76 miles
SEPTEMBER 2011 TOTALS:
SWIM = 0 yards
BIKE = 352.99 miles
RUN = 82.40 miles
SEPTEMBER 2012 TOTALS (IMAZ 2012 TRAINING YEAR):
SWIM = 29639 yards
BIKE = 458.87 miles
RUN = 63.19 miles
SEPTEMBER 2013 TOTALS:
SWIM = 11625 yards
BIKE = 291.75 miles (tri 97.43 & 194.32 MTB)
RUN = 3.02 miles
So, as summer winds down, and fall/winter creeps up on us, waking up uber early to get in a ride is no longer a necessity....unless, however, you have my schedule. It's this time of year that bringing my bike into work and then heading out for a ride around 3:30PM or 4:00PM is extremely welcome. I can sleep in, wake up with the family, and help get everybody ready for the day. Problem is, that this year, my afternoon/evening schedule is JAMMED! Coaching football from 4:30PM - 6:00PM, or working at the swim studio until 7:00PM, doesn't really allow any time for those glorious afternoon rides. Enter the "dark rides"!
Before I continue, let me give some background on the gear I used when riding in the dark was unavoidable (i.e. Those Stenholm Crit rides that started at 7:00PM year round or IMAZ training when I had to ride in the AM and swim in the PM). When I started cycling, circa 2008, I ended up buying a NiteRider Sol LED headlight that broadcast about 200 lumen. It's done a fantastic job of both letting people see me and allowing me to see things on the road. I've used it religiously every road ride, that has required a light, in the last five years and have been very satisfied with it's performance. It's been soaked by rain, dropped, left on for days, ridden on the bumper of my truck for 20+ miles (I forget I left it there), and even been used by my son when he was learning to ride a bike.
A stock pick of my old light:
OK, getting back to my jammed schedule and the necessity to still ride in the morning darkness. I've made the conscious decision to rack my tri bike indefinitely and start riding the trails more. I've discussed this transformation in previous posts, so I won't rehash my rationale, but I will tell you that it's largely because of the increase in cycling vs. car incidents. Rolling at 5:00AM allowed me to get up to a 26 mile MTB ride if I wanted to be home by 7:00AM. Recently, I've had to roll closer to 5:30AM or 5:45AM and it's only getting worse. My rides have dwindled from 26 miles to around 17 or 18. I'm now going to have to ride my MTB, on the trails, with absolutely no kind of city lights, in the pitch dark. Unfortunately, I didn't think that only 200 lumen would be enough, so I took the advice of my experienced MTB neighbor and purchased TWO 1200 lumen Cree XM Flashlight lights. I wanted to mount one on my helmet and one to the handlebars. The day after ordering them, I ended up taking my old light, on an MTB ride, out to the desert about 15 minutes before sunrise. I must say, she did a satisfactory job, and 200 lumen lit up the desert trails better than I anticipated. At any rate, at $23 per light, how could I pass that up?!?!? I mean, my old NiteRider was $115 five years ago. A quick search of other 1200 lumen lights came up with prices in the $250 - $300 range. I did pay an additional $5 for a helmet set up too. Everything arrived yesterday and this morning was their maiden voyage.
I set off at 5:30AM knowing that I would only be needing the lights for about 30 minutes. I'm still getting used to avoiding rocks, cholla cactus, sandy washes, and slippery turns in the daytime, let alone in the dark, so I wanted to keep the darkness portion of the ride down. Ultimately, when I become more adapt at riding in the dark, I will probably roll at 5:00AM again. WOW! What a huge difference these lights make! I absolutely loved having the one on my helmet as it allowed my to look around instead of concentrating on 5 feet in front of me. The handlebar light was also awesome in that it still kept the path lit even if I was looking off to the side trying to anticipate a turn coming up. I attached one of the relatively small batteries to the underside of my handlebar and slipped the other one into my jersey pocket. I could hardly tell it was there. I can't wait until I get in a group ride that is in complete darkness, as I think that the bouncing lights would look awesome as they travel across the trails. I've also heard that when the group stops, they all turn off their lights and enjoy the environment (listening off into the darkness or looking up at the sky). Gotta love new adventures! Oh, and my trusty old NiteRider? Well, that's now firmly attached to my 7 year old son's bike. It was like Christmas in September when I asked if he wanted it!
The new lights and setup:
In typical fashion, my alarm goes off stupid early.....2:51AM to be exact. Yeah, that's right, 2:51. My snooze button gives me an additional 9 minutes of slumber. I set the coffee timer the night before and double checked that it should start brewing around 2:45AM, but what I didn't check was the current time on the coffee machine itself. Because of my oversight, no go-go juice was waiting for me once I arrived downstairs. Not off to a good start. I flip the switch, sit down in front of the tube, and press play on the DVR. I wasn't able to stay up and watch my Arizona Wildcats football game the night before, so I figured I'd catch up this morning. Side note here....I'm not sure what is better, watching the game live and experiencing the highs and lows, OR watching on the DVR. If I watch it on the DVR, not only can I fast forward through the commercials, I can fast forward until it looks like something happened (TD, field goal, turnover, etc). Somewhere during the 2nd quarter, the coffee maker signals me that she is done brewing. No, we haven't run out and purchased one of those fancy K-Cup makers that everybody has....we are doing just fine with the same maker we've had since our wedding 11 years ago. Anyway, I pour a cup and grab a left over doughnut from the kids juice/doughnut/bagel sale the day before. Chocolate with chocolate icing and chocolate lava inside. After another cup of coffee, and another quarter of football, it's time to relax in "my office." I peruse a few triathlon magazines and a few swimming ones too. In fact, there is also a Sig Sauer brochure, of all of their weapons, in there as well. Before I know it, I've spent too much time rereading the same articles that I have been for the past month and looking at the same guns. It's go time. I assemble what little items need to go (I did most of the major packing the night before) and head out the door to be at James' house by 4. I pick him up without much fanfare and we head off to rendezvous with Ben. Dave stayed at a hotel with his wife near the race course, so he was on his own. We pick up Ben and head off into the still very dark morning. As the sun started to shed light on our surroundings, we could see a number of ominous clouds lurking near by. In fact, some of them were clearly letting some rain fall down. We get closer to our destination and the nerves kick in again. The three of us stop at a convenience store and promptly lay claim to various stalls in the bathroom. I take up residence in the last stall, while James occupies one two over. Ben takes the one between us. James and I carry on a conversation like nothing else is going on. We finish, wash hands, James grabs a coffee, and we see Ben outside. Um, yeah, that person in the stall between us? No idea who that was. Dude must've thought we were creepers for sure! On the way to the race sight, it is very clear that it has been raining for quite some time and there is the possibility of another storm moving in. Finally, we arrive, Dave follows close behind, we set up, and start warming up. Unlike last years 15-20 minutes, we wanted a good 30-45 minutes of trainer time. The rain started coming down good now. In fact, it was coming down sideways, so I had to move my bike/trainer so I wouldn't get drenched. Finally, it was time. With fitness in the bank, a full summer's worth of practicing, and all warmed up, we head to the start line. I run into two athletes that I coach at the swim studio, who are both training for IMAZ 2013, and just about die laughing when I see them. These goofballs love to have fun and their "kits" definitely demonstrated that today. Each had on a Hawaiian shirt and cut-off jean shorts. Classic. Anyway, we finally get to the front line and it's our turn. After this, there really isn't much more to say, so this will be quick. After a few pulls, Dave promptly drops out. I had no idea why, but after the race was over, I learned that he got a flat tire just 3 miles in. Damn. Another year, another 3 man TTT in a 4 man TTT event. Oh well, flats happen, it wasn't his fault, and that's just racing. Me, James, and Ben ended up turning in a time of 58:08 (25.6 mph ave). Compare that to our 2012 TTT with Carlos (57:02 / 26.3 mph ave) and to our state TTT last year with Joel (59:11 / 25.2 mph ave). You can clearly see that having a 4th person cuts approximately 2 or 3 minutes off the time (the only time we actually had all 4 was the regular TTT with Carlos). This year, we finished 4th out of 7. Technically, I guess you could say we finished 3rd because the 1st place team was from Mexico and not state eligible. While they weren't eligible to win state, and the state jersey, they still get the 1st place medal. That means we missed the podium by about 2 minutes. Well, hopefully next year, we will have it together again and finish with all 4 teammates. Seriously, I think that I'd look pretty good in an AZ State Championship jersey, don't you?!?!
This year, as opposed to last year, we came prepared:
Me warming up:
The team warming up:
It wasn't ideal TTT weather:
Awesome:
Waiting to get under the starters tent:
Getting closer. That team in front of us (Octane) ended up winning the state championship because the 1st finishing team was from Mexico and, therefore, not eligible to win said title:
We are up next!:
We started off with four:
But ended with only three after Dave flatted at mile 3:
What do these three things have in common? They are all things that happened to me, or that I saw, on this morning's MTB ride. Originally, I was going to suit up in my new skin suit, put on the race wheels that I borrowed from Carlos (again), and don my aero helmet for a full on dress rehearsal ride. That plan was quickly scrapped when the tubular wheel on the disc wouldn't hold air. It's a good thing that I didn't squeeze into the skin suit before pumping it up, because the guts of the stem were missing. Carlos warned me that he snapped the valve off the last time he tried pumping it up, but it was still holding air....not so much this time. To keep the legs fresh, I opted for a flat, and easy, MTB ride through the desert by my house. A simple OAB totaling 12 miles in Z1 should do the trick, so off I went. Just after the turnaround, I hit a ditch a bit off center and my front tire came un-beaded. I immediately lost air and had my first ever MTB flat. No big deal, but when I took off the tubeless tire, I was surprised to see a big ol' spongy ball of coagulated Stan's tire sealant. I had never seen anything like it and was quite amused. So amused, in fact, that I took a pic of it for everybody to see. Later on, however, I would find out that this isn't a rare occurrence and happens more often than I thought. Oh well, at least I got a kick out of it! OK, I fix 'er up and get rolling again. About 3 miles from home, I caught a glimpse of a white wooden cross out of the corner of my eye. Naturally, I went over to check it out and quickly realized that it is the same pet grave that I mentioned in this post from June 2010 Dog Grave On Trail Run.
As for the gutless valve stem, I took it to Airpark Bikes and they put a new one in (guts) and aired it up (the tire). Hopefully, I won't encounter any more.....wait, never mind, I don't want to jinx anything!
The scene of my flat:
The spongy, coagulated, Stan's tire sealant ball that was tumbling around inside my tubeless tires:
RIP Fido (hopefully it's a Fido or some other animal!)
About 2 months ago, we contacted a kit manufacturer and asked if they would be able to produce custom skin suits in time for our TTT race. The manufacturer said they could, but we would have to submit final mock-ups, purchase 30 pieces (arm warmers, leg warmers, jerseys, bibs, whatever), and pay for half up front. On top of all of this, their production facility was, get this, going to shut down for the entire month of August! They would have to send our design of to a plant in Romania, of all places. James and I were able to put something together, grab a couple of sponsors, and had our company pay for them (advertising). Well, it seems as though all of the planets, stars, moons, juju, yin, yang, and Karma all lined up because they came in today....just 3 days before the event. In fact, we tracked them from Romania, to Germany, to the UK, to Philadelphia, to Louisville, to Scottsdale in just about a 36 hour time frame. Hopefully we are as fast as they are by themselves!!!! Any way, here it is:
Today, I had the distinct pleasure of coaching an Ironman Champion in our Master Spas Michael Phelps endless pool. Joszef Major has been working with Frank and Sole Swim Solutions for quite some time, but today I was able to work with him on his technique. No pictures, just a completely awesome opportunity that I can put on my resume. He is a very gracious, humble, and gifted athlete that took every bit of advice and immediately put it to use. In case you want to check him out for yourself, here are a couple of links to his Facebook pages.
Jozsef Major FB Page
Jozsef Major FB Page 2
And here are his results from 2006 through 2012:
2012
- Ironman U.S. Championship (USA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 3rd place
- Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island (USA) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 4th place
- Ironman 70.3 Syracuse (USA) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 5th place
- Ironman 70.3 Kansas (USA) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 9th place
- Ironman Texas (USA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 4th place
- Rio Salado Olympic Distance Triathlon (USA, AZ) 1st place
- Samui Triathlon (Thailand) (4km/122km/30km) 10th place
- Ironman70.3 Texas (USA) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 4th bbs* 13th place
2011
- IRONMAN World Championship (USA, Hawaii) 19th place
- Nathan Tempe Olympic Distance Triathlon (USA, AZ) 2nd place
- SUPERFROG Half Ironman (USA) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 1st place
- Ironman National Championship (HUN) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) bbs* 1st place
- Ironman Austria-Klagenfurt (AUT) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 6th place
- Ironman Texas (USA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 2nd bbs* 5th place
- Ironman70.3 Texas (USA) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 6th bbs* 9th place
- Ironman70.3 California (USA) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 21st place
2010
- Ironman Cozumel (MEX) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 8th place
- Ironman Arizona (USA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 4th bbs* 5th place
- IRONMAN World Championship (USA, Hawaii) 22nd place
- Ironman National Championship (HUN) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) bbs* 1st place
- Duathlon National Championship (HUN) (10k/40k/5k) 1st place
- Half Ironman National Championship (HUN) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 4th place
- Ironman St George-Utah (USA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 9th place
- Ironman China (CHN) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) qualify* bbs* 2nd place
2009
- SOMA Half Ironman (USA, AZ) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 2nd place
- Ironman National Championship (HUN) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) bbs* 1st place
- Roth Challenge Triathlon (GER) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 28th place
- Rothsee Olympic Distance Triathlon (GER) (1.5k/40k/10k) 2nd place
- Duathlon National Championship (HUN) (10k/40k/5k) 1st place
- Ironman China (CHN) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 3rd place
- Ironman70.3 California (USA) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 10th place
- Desert Classic Duathlon (AZ, USA) (3.5mi/21mi/2.7mi) 2nd place
2008
- Ironman Arizona (USA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) qualify* 4th place
- SOMA Half Ironman (USA, AZ) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 4th place
- IRONMAN World Championship (USA, Hawaii) 35th place
- Ironman National Championship (HUN) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) bbs* 1st place
- Ironman France-Nice (FRA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 7th place
- Half Ironman National Championship (HUN) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 2nd place
- Duathlon National Championship (HUN) (10k/40k/5k) 2nd place
- Arizona Ironman (USA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) qualify* 1st place
2007
- IRONMAN World Championship (USA, Hawaii) 22nd place
- Ironman National Championship (HUN) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 1st place
- Half Ironman National Championship (HUN) (1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi) 2nd place
- Ironman Switzerland (SUI) (3,8km/180km/42km) 3rd place
- Ironman70.3 Switzerland (SUI) (1,9km/90km/21km) 11th place
- Duathlon National Championship (HUN) (10k/40k/5k) 3rd place
- Ironman Arizona (USA) (3,8km/180km/42km) qualify* 5th place
2006
- Duathlon National Championship (HUN) (10k/40k/5k) 1st place
- MÜRZMAN Extrem-Duathlon (AUT) (10k/100k/20k) 1st place
- Ironman France-Nice (FRA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) qualify* 4th place
- Ironman National Championship (HUN) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 1st place
- ElbaMan Ironman (ITA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 1st place
- Ironman Florida (USA) (2.4mi/112mi/26.2mi) 7th place
* qualified for the Ironman World Championship
* best bike split (IMCHN2010 4:36, IMHUN2010 4:15, IMHUN2009 4:24,
IMHUN2008 4:26) *4th bbs within 1 minutes of the fastest bike split
Nothing special to report other than a big lightning/thunder/rain storm woke me up this morning around 4AM. When I heard the first clap of thunder, I immediately reached over and turned off my alarm and decided to skip my ride. Eventually, the rain disappeared, the thunder grew faint, and I was now fairly awake any way. Taking everything into consideration, I ended up saddling up and heading out for a solo ride. Solo rides are often times my favorite. I can go at my own pace, stop for no reason, enjoy the scenery on my time, or call a last second route change with no discussion. This morning was a great ride that produced this awesome pic:
