IGVENTURE

[Arwen's Mom]

😀

then ouch (at the xray)

fenders...yum...riding my new bike without fenders = "hey! why am I getting so much sand in my face!" fenders on my GT are actually old Azonic fenders that a friend gave me waaayyyyy back in the day. Broke a chunk off the front at Mt Creek 🙁 but still functional

((Hugs))

 

[Clapper]

That blows...at least you didn't break it.

You single speeders don't use your brakes, you should be good to go today 😉.

 

[Mitch]

You single speeders don't use your brakes, you should be good to go today 😉.

You heard him! Do it.. I hope to see you there brother..

 

[UtahJoe]

Bummer Iggy, but it's good to hear that nothing was broken. Hope to see you there today

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[soulchild]

broken bones suck, glad it's not though...

 

[pooriggy]

KVSP SS Open Recap

Well as you can see from the above picture I decided to race Sunday. The finger was sore but not terrible, I just didn't use the brakes much. I really enjoy seeing everyone at these races and I have become addicted to the high I get from racing. It would have been way to depressing for me to sit home Sunday and think about the race and read re-caps.

The 1:00 pm start is weird, thats the only way I can describe it. I mean it was good because it gave my finger a little extra healing time but It also allows you more time to be nervous. Also I didn't ride in with Kirt, which is something I have done at just about every race. Then there is the eating thing, you don't know whether to eat lunch or brunch or slam 15 gu's. I tell you the hole 1:00 start is just weird.

Ok, so the horn goes off and we race, pedaling like jack rabbits around the field, onto the gravel road and up to the single track. As usual Segundo is at the front leading the pack in his 3 minute 200% interval. He quickly explodes less then half way up the climb and I go around him with 4 other guys ahead of me. Van Wart takes the lead with Swift, a bulldog guy and Mitch in the mix. This is pretty much how things play out until lap 3.

After the 1st lap my head felt hot, but by the 2nd lap there was more clouds then sun so this cooled things down a bit. I could see Mitch ahead of me as I chugged along, I figured he would fade on lap 3 and I would make my move or I should say move's since I was sitting in 5th place.

After the climb at the beginning of lap 3 I see a SS Bulldog rider ahead of me and I am closing the gap on him. On one of the downhills with a sweeping left turn he fumbles it and I whip around him. As I come out onto the field I can see Mitch ahead but he doesn't seem to be fading.

As we head into the twisty tech single track section I come to the conclusion that I am not going to over take Mitch who is sitting in 3rd. I am not closing the gap on him and I am running out of trail. Despite this I don't give up, knowing anything can happen when racing.

Finishing up the lap I am really enjoying the course and into a good flow, bombing down the last technical rocky descent on the course. At the bottom I find Mitch standing next to his bike with tube in hand and cursing loudly. KVSP scores another tire and Mitch is off the podium, bummer. Now for the next .50 mile to the finish I am sitting comfortably in 3rd and I carefully pic my way to the finish line to finish the race.

Once in the open field area the skies open up and rain comes down in buckets for less then 10 minutes. To cool off I let the rain soak me which feels refreshing after the heat.

Post race shower

Someone on FB mentioned I look like a celebrity in this pic. Carson you're usually good with these things, who do I look like? and don't say Fish.

 

[Carson]

Looks like the pic didn't load. Should I still guess? The Invisible Man?

 

[pooriggy]

really?, i can see pic. its the same one thats on fb with me on podium.

 

[Carson]

Got it now.

Doesn't stand out to me as anyone...

Maybe Dean Martin? The rat pack was around when you were a kid, right?

 

[pooriggy]

if I were Dino I'd have cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other...c'mon kid.

I think Norm started this celebrity sighting, I'd like to hear his take. or at least a clue so we can guess.

when i was younger people would say i look like bud bundy.

 

[Norm]

I think Norm started this celebrity sighting, I'd like to hear his take. or at least a clue so we can guess.

Hervé Villechaize?

 

[UtahJoe]

Nice Job iggy and sorry for getting antsy when we caught you in the red section. Next time when you see me chasing brian just say "sit back there asshole before you kill yourself in 1 lap" 🙂

Your brother looks like a thin version of Rick Harrison....he in the pawn shop business?

 

[Mitch]

Nice recap Chriggy. You're a pretty steady rider and seem to always run a clean race. I on the other hand ride with too much emotion at times and let things get away from me, I'm a not as smooth and get sloppy at times which I guess is what cost me a podium. After I moved into 2nd I was on a tear for David and was just hitting everything hard, a little to hard. I should have been content with 2nd and just rode out the course but I thought 1st was in sight and went for it. Oh well what could I say. Next time I guess.
The one complaint I have is there are too many of you orange and blue guys. Every time I looked back I would see like 3 of you and think my eyes were going bad.:hmmm:
Great race and see you soon. Let's try for that "TofMCGC" one day. (Tour of Monmouth County Golf Course's)

 

[pooriggy]

Nice Job iggy and sorry for getting antsy when we caught you in the red section.

You guys were fine. I think it was a mistake to start us SS'ers before all the Cat 1's. We had to deal with leader's from every group catching and passing us. When you caught us on the 1st lap we were in the twisty rocky single track, which is the toughest spot to pass people...I just didn't want to hold you guys up as I searched for a spot to slide over.

I'm a not as smooth and get sloppy at times which I guess is what cost me a podium. After I moved into 2nd I was on a tear for David and was just hitting everything hard, a little to hard.

KVSP is tough on tires, even Kirt who is really smooth flatted.(but i would get rid of the racing ralph's) You ride with a lot of power and had a great race, you're gearing really worked well for you. 34-17?

 

[pixychick]

Great race Iggs! ... and thanks for coming out after a finger dislocation, and supporting NJ races. 🙂

 

[pooriggy]

Thanks for the well wishes and post race praise peeps. For me race day is what its all about. You show up, see friends and challenge yourself and try to beat the hell out of the guys next to you.😀

I laid low in the heat that we saw earlier this week. One thing I learned from last year is to try and pace myself and put in smarter training. I work out doors, (remember those golf course pics from a couple posts ago) being outside all day then to go beat myself up on a bike after work really starts to wear me out. Not a good training tired but digging myself into a hole tired. I remember showing up to the DH40 at the end of July last year and cramping after the 1st lap and kinda felling lifeless. At this point in the season after doing like 15 races and putting in the training miles I am not afraid to take days off and be selective with my rides. I've learned that I will do more harm then good if I don't.

Yesterday

I managed to squeeze in 50 minutes at Chimney Rock before the rain. When I say rain I mean torrential down pour. I hid in the smelly port a john for 20 minutes after my ride until the heavy stuff moved out because I didn't want to get my bike soaked on my roof rack for the ride home. I texted like 10 people from that shit hole during my wait, so it was productive.

50 minutes was just enough time at CR to get the feel of my Cdale Flash back. Riding this is so much different then my Rig, it takes me some time to get used to it again. I want to be comfortable on the Cdale since I am heading to French Creek Saturday with Woody, Kirt and Utah.

Today I went Big and Fast...like you're mom. I haven't done a century since the spring when Capers and I did a hilly 100 near his place near New Hope. Part of the reason for laying low in the heat was to hit hard today. Fortunately I have enough time banked so I was able to take off today and do this ride in ideal conditions, the avg. temp was 77 degrees and I didn't see that ball of fire up in the sky all day.

The last time I did the Hill and Dale century was late October, I have done this ride about 4 times. Today was my fasted avg. coming in at 18.9/18.8mph. I am not sure of the exact average because the battery on my Garmin died at mile 85. 18.9 was what my avg was when it died but conservatively I know it would not have been below 18.8. With 5200 ft of climbing its no flat wimpy century. To train for SS riding I pushed a bigger gear then I normally would for the whole ride, I only used the granny ring up front twice. 3.5 hours into it I did feel the start of some cramps but pedalled through it and never had an issue after that.

Finally I did have an encounter with a motorist on Felmley Ave. The guys who do the HG A ride know this road, its the one that brings us to the Hippo. Well I take it in reverse of the A ride and I come up behind this guy from Maine driving 15 mph. This is a tight twisty road and I can't pass the guy so I yell at him to move it as I am closing in on him doing 20+mph. He decides to do a brake check which forces me to grab hold of brakes and try to avoid flying into the back of his car. In the process my rear wheel starts to skid out but I manage to keep the bike upride and ride it out into the grass on the side of the road, luckily there is no curb. Oh and during the whole time I am cursing at the guy. He drives up the road then pulls a u turn in some ones driveway. At this time I approach the guy and tell him to never do a brake check in front of a road bike, you could have killed me. His relpy, that's you're problem. After that I said look asshole I have just as much right to be on the road as you do, then pedalled on. He didn't yell anything back at me so at least I got the last word in.

No pics today but I got this. its my new favorite song for today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC2rH9O7OGw

 

[Pampa]

Finally I did have an encounter with a motorist on Felmley Ave. The guys who do the HG A ride know this road, its the one that brings us to the Hippo. Well I take it in reverse of the A ride and I come up behind this guy from Maine driving 15 mph. This is a tight twisty road and I can't pass the guy so I yell at him to move it as I am closing in on him doing 20+mph. He decides to do a brake check which forces me to grab hold of brakes and try to avoid flying into the back of his car. In the process my rear wheel starts to skid out but I manage to keep the bike upride and ride it out into the grass on the side of the road, luckily there is no curb. Oh and during the whole time I am cursing at the guy. He drives up the road then pulls a u turn in some ones driveway. At this time I approach the guy and tell him to never do a brake check in front of a road bike, you could have killed me. His relpy, that's you're problem. After that I said look asshole I have just as much right to be on the road as you do, then pedalled on. He didn't yell anything back at me so at least I got the last word in.

This is the kind of stuff that I don't like about riding in the road around here.

 

[pooriggy]

This is the kind of stuff that I don't like about riding in the road around here.

Well I wasn't exactly riding conservativley on this road, I was more offensive then defensive. If you ride defensively you will be safer.

but regardless, when driving a car you don't brake check motorcycles or bikes...ever.

 

[pooriggy]

Hey its Fred's ride. There is always at least one really good team group ride that comes together at Fred's house, last Saturday was one of them. Me, Utah, Kirt, Norm and Ben got together to have Fred lead us around Hunterdon County.

Originally a bunch of us planned to road trip to French Creek to mtb but weather was questionable and conditions unpredictable so we opted to join in on a road ride out of Fred's. The scenery was beautiful and the roads bucolic, we saw very few cars. I think road rides from Fred's get's 4 stars, just a notch above Capers place in Lambertville. The reason being that at Caper's place you have to deal with a couple busy roads coming into the beautiful town on the Delaware.

We ended up covering 67 miles, with some good climbs along the way. The first climb, Federal Twist, was steep in the beginning with some spots that level off only to rise up sharply again. I felt as fresh as I could be despite having done a century ride two days ago. I took off on the steep part but later on up the climb I heard the freight train of Utah and Norm powering up behind me. Utah makes really loud breathing noises to let you know he's coming. Those guys blew by me near the top as I was maxed out, once at the top we peed on bush's and made manly noises.

Climb up Federal Twist

Moving on we were rotating in and out of a moderate pace-line with Norm taking most of the pulls up front. At one point we came to a wide intersection and proceeded to roll thought it cautiously as we spotted a red pick-up truck approaching this ambiguous intersection. Kirt took his eyes off the wheel in front of him and rolled into the back of Norm's bike. No real damage other then a popped spoke but we decided to re-group and pee on some bushes again.

Pedalling on we stopped at the local cigarette & scratch off store for some provisions... Water, Gatorade, pack of Camels unfiltered. The girl behind the counter thought Utah was serious about a pack of Camels he requested as she grabbed for the cigarette's.

The next big climb was Rick's road. Not steep but just long, like 4 miles long. Utah and I started chasing Norm once he took off up the hill but I was gassed about half way up and could offer anything to the chase. Utah managed to catch Norm while I dangled in between them Kirt, Ben and Fred.

This was about the 2.5 hour mark and I was pretty much spent as far as attacking any hills. After this climb Ben and Utah managed to flat after they ran over something on the road. We hate flats boo hoo.

After we repaired flats and wiped the tears from our eyes we had a tailwind to guide us home for the last 35 minutes. Everyone was looking to get back a this point after having already 3hrs of saddle time.

The ride home.

And just to prove that I ain't no roadie fag I met 26er with Kirt on Sunday to ride some rocks at Mahlon. It was fun to get back on some rocks after the Lewis Morris and KVSP race.

 

[UtahJoe]

That ride was awesome....Fred lives in NJ road biking paradise.