Notes from a Millennial

[jShort]

I was about to call you a sandbagger with those lap times. My times were similar in Cat 1. But then I remembered we did a slightly different loop

Nice job. If you’re getting burnt out, take time off. Seems like a lot of hours you’re riding and a lot of lbs dropped.

 

[Santapez]

Did you gradually move into the higher hours or suddenly?

 

[Cassinonorth]

Did you gradually move into the higher hours or suddenly?

Gradual-ish. I had a jump up in April due to the 4 hour race. Hours riding per month:

December: 10.5 (Surgery kept me off the bike for ~3 weeks)
January: 23
February: 30
March: 30
April: 43
May: 46

I was about to call you a sandbagger with those lap times. My times were similar in Cat 1. But then I remembered we did a slightly different loop

Lol. I was terrified of being one so I'm kinda weirdly relieved I didn't win. We had about half a mile shorter course I believe... By average speed I would've been around 6/7th in Cat 2 I believe.

Nice job. If you’re getting burnt out, take time off. Seems like a lot of hours you’re riding and a lot of lbs dropped.

Definitely something I'm monitoring. I've been eating more the last 3 weeks with less emphasis on weight loss and more on my training.

 

[UtahJoe]

nice work man....I always thought BC was probably the best XC course I have ever raced on. Hard, but rewarding at the same time.

 

[Cassinonorth]

Next up is Lewis Morris Challenge. This is probably as close of a race as I'll get being 25 minutes away which was great to pre-ride the course. They included a bunch of new single track which was a welcome addition. I did 3 laps of the course as a long Z2ish ride on Father's day. A little climby, not technical at all but a couple not so fun gravel turns kept the course interesting. Training happened to fall on a recovery week so I was pretty well tapered for this race, expectations were high.

I convinced my pretty fast riding buddy to give racing a shot and he came with so we left Essex County around 7:45 and arrived in the lot at 8:15, 45 minutes to get situated and warm up. Did 3 warmup loops on Green out to the road and back. Pretty much perfect to get a couple efforts in to test the legs. Felt good, dirt was awesome...roots were slick. Our cat went off at 9 am so not enough time for them to dry out. Saw a familiar friend on the line who was trying racing for the first time too. The variety of skill and fitness levels in Cat 3 is pretty wide I've found.

We got to the corral with 5 minutes to spare but being in the 2nd row I definitely didn't have the start I needed to do well. I really was not prepared mentally for a 35 minute race. I went off hard-ish (256 NP), but not nearly fast enough to get into the lead group. Familiar story as Bear Creek. I ended up in 7th or so hitting the single track and I saw gaps starting to form...crap. Picked off a rider or two and tried to pass another by going high on the roots on the new single track and bam. In the dirt again. Didn't hurt at all, but I was fumbling to get back on my bike. Now I don't know how much time I lost...but it certainly feels like I could've been close to the podium if I didn't make this error. I've had my history at this park during races (Mountain Man 2020, 8 stitches) so the thought definitely crept back in after sliding out. Not sure I was really attacking the downhills like I was in my pre-ride as a result.

Eventually ended up around 4th (thought I was in 6th or 7th) and traded position with the eventual 3rd place finisher a few times. He caught me on the final climb up yellow and I couldn't hold on to chase him. Overall power output was solid. On the 3 "major" climbs I held 280, 286 and 306 NP which was just over threshold.

My buddy ended up taking 1st in our category (which would've been 4th in Cat 3 45+), pretty good being he was riding his backup bike, a 30 lb slack hard tail. Story of the day will definitely be what if unfortunately. Next up is Escape Granogue on July 15 followed by Bulldog Rump at KVSP July 23.

 

[Cassinonorth]

Final 2 race reports from my first season racing XC. First up, H2H Bulldog Rump. Which I did not appear in any pictures so, use your imagination. Opted for Cat 2 for this race as I wanted something a little longer than 7 miles. Course suited me pretty well too. I LOVED the course. Probably my favorite track of the year.

Met @MadisonDan and @Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST in the parking lot beforehand and got a quick warmup on the Sussex Branch Trail. If only all races had such a setup. Lined up 2nd row and got stuck behind a couple riders who dabbed on the first little punchy rock feature....pretty standard at this point for me. Eventually settled in and was around 7th, with a rider in my class in my sights. Caught him right around the start of the 2nd lap with another rider who turned out to be a Milltopper Local like myself, caught up with him after the race.

Lap times were decently consistent but I didn't have many people near me for the 2nd lap to push myself to catch or stave off. Ended up 36:52/39:31.

Finished 6th of 10 riders in my category, 10 minutes behind the winner. Content with that result.

And my season finale, BoxBaum Bash..endurance category. I love Port Jervis, but Peter Pounder was the trails I typically skip around the campground. I heard this course featured Painted Aprons which I was pretty hyped to race. Spent an hour flipping my bike back over from trail mode to XC race mode...not my best decision. It rained ~2" in about 30 minutes the night before the race, making most of the first couple laps muddy as hell, on top of a very rooty system, and a few very techy rock sections to boot.

Also, in my genius bike setup....I put too much air in the fork and too much air in the wrong tires for the race. I love Barzo/Mezcal but holy crap are they terrifying in the wet. May as well be running gravel tires. This was in play for most of the race, but the first 3ish laps were terrifying. I slid off a bridge during lap 2, I'll save you the carnage from that but relatively unscathed.

I did very well with nutrition and since it was such short laps I was able to plant a small cooler at the start to access a few times. Aimed for ~75g carbs/hour. I wasn't starving after this race so going to say I did pretty well with it.

I think that's my final XC race for the year, I may try to sneak in an enduro race if it fits into my Fall. Solid first year, some good, some bad.

 

[xc62701]

Final 2 race reports from my first season racing XC. First up, H2H Bulldog Rump. Which I did not appear in any pictures so, use your imagination. Opted for Cat 2 for this race as I wanted something a little longer than 7 miles. Course suited me pretty well too. I LOVED the course. Probably my favorite track of the year.

Met @MadisonDan and @Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST in the parking lot beforehand and got a quick warmup on the Sussex Branch Trail. If only all races had such a setup. Lined up 2nd row and got stuck behind a couple riders who dabbed on the first little punchy rock feature....pretty standard at this point for me. Eventually settled in and was around 7th, with a rider in my class in my sights. Caught him right around the start of the 2nd lap with another rider who turned out to be a Milltopper Local like myself, caught up with him after the race.

Lap times were decently consistent but I didn't have many people near me for the 2nd lap to push myself to catch or stave off. Ended up 36:52/39:31.

Finished 6th of 10 riders in my category, 10 minutes behind the winner. Content with that result.

And my season finale, BoxBaum Bash..endurance category. I love Port Jervis, but Peter Pounder was the trails I typically skip around the campground. I heard this course featured Painted Aprons which I was pretty hyped to race. Spent an hour flipping my bike back over from trail mode to XC race mode...not my best decision. It rained ~2" in about 30 minutes the night before the race, making most of the first couple laps muddy as hell, on top of a very rooty system, and a few very techy rock sections to boot.

View attachment 220852

Also, in my genius bike setup....I put too much air in the fork and too much air in the wrong tires for the race. I love Barzo/Mezcal but holy crap are they terrifying in the wet. May as well be running gravel tires. This was in play for most of the race, but the first 3ish laps were terrifying. I slid off a bridge during lap 2, I'll save you the carnage from that but relatively unscathed.

I did very well with nutrition and since it was such short laps I was able to plant a small cooler at the start to access a few times. Aimed for ~75g carbs/hour. I wasn't starving after this race so going to say I did pretty well with it.

I think that's my final XC race for the year, I may try to sneak in an enduro race if it fits into my Fall. Solid first year, some good, some bad.

Nice work! Those damn bridges. I slid off of one in March on Painted Aprons and tore my ACL. I was hoping to get back for this race but it wasn't meant to be.

Good job toughing out the slick conditions. In the end, it'll make you a better rider - or make you not want to ride any more 🤣

 

[Cassinonorth]

And with the name of the forum, we decided to start demo on our bathroom Saturday, spent 7 hours inhaling paster and swinging a hammer. But! We did get the bath area down to the studs so worth it in the end. Still a long ways to go but it'll be nice to have a functional bathroom at the end of the project.

View attachment 215129

Update on the bathroom remodel part of the blog. We're ~95% done. Need to attach the random fixtures (towel rack, tp holder, mirror, tub door) but the bathroom is functional 3 months later. Full gut down to the studs, replaced all the plumbing from the basement up, had to move our vent pipe...just a monster project. But now for the first time since we've owned this house (4 years) we can actually shower upstairs)

 

[Santapez]

Ok, maybe dumb question... How do you keep the shower curtain closed? Clasp or something on the wall?

 

[JDurk]

Ok, maybe dumb question... How do you keep the shower curtain closed? Clasp or something on the wall?

Beat me to it.

 

[Cassinonorth]

Ok, maybe dumb question... How do you keep the shower curtain closed? Clasp or something on the wall?

Thats temporary until we get the door in next week... But shockingly it works and stays up to the top. My wife could have it going horizontal across and not spray water out, I do not have that luxury so we have it slanted.

 

[Cassinonorth]

Life Update: my back is not good.

Post race season I was riding some DH, doing whatever trail riding, not keeping up on my core work and I re-herniated my lumbar disc that's been giving me trouble since 2021. This one was another flare up but I didn't think much of it. I had a similar issue last Fall and I got off the bike for a few weeks, did some PT and I was good to go again. That was mid-October which was exasperated by a weekend trip to Killington Bike Park . Eventually went to PT and seemingly was working back to normal, was able to get on the trainer and then do a trail ride or two a week.

As per usual I got overly confident and went on a 3 hour ride on December 17th, following a 2 hour ride at Port Jervis the day prior. I got back from the ride and I knew I screwed up. I had serious sciatic pain radiating down my legs and couldn't stand up for more than 10 minutes at a time. I was basically horizontal on the couch for a few weeks. I found the Dr. Stu McGill method at this time, found a Master Practitioner in Morristown and started PT with him. I can't recommend him enough. After a 3 hour exam he diagnosed a serious herniation L4/L5 and possible nerve impingement with strength loss in my right toes/ankle. He didn't outright say it, but I had a feeling he thought I may need surgery.

I got another MRI a week after my exam with Camisa (last was December 2021) and during my follow up my orthopedist got me in front of a surgeon the same day. My L4/L5 disc is crushing my nerve at this point. Unfortunately this has resulted in a loss of strength in the right leg and I could lose the nerve if I didn't get surgery. Quite a whirlwind of a day. White discs good, black discs bad.

So here I am, 2 weeks and a 2nd surgeon's opinion later, I'm scheduled for a microdiscectomy tomorrow morning. I've read no less than 1000 stories about recovery and what it entails. 2 weeks out of work, 2 weeks WFH and 6 weeks no bending/lifting/twisting. I think I'm about at peace with the surgery as I could be. I never thought I'd end up here. Up until last week I still still convincing myself I could PT my way out of it.

So, what caused this? I wish there was one crash, one lift, one anything I could point to. The reality it's just accumulation of shitty spine hygiene....bad posture, lifting thousands of cases of wine/liquor/beer with terrible form, weak core strength, golfing, baseball, and unfortunately most likely mountain biking. This isn't a death knell but it does probably mean 2024 is going to be a wash for riding bikes. Hoping to be on trails again by Summer (think Six Mile and Allaire) but going to listen to my PT and body most of all. I'll be content on the trainer and doing neighborhood walks again. Take care of your spine health, everyone.

 

[MissJR]

Fuuuuuck...

 

[moose35]

Life Update: my back is not good.

Post race season I was riding some DH, doing whatever trail riding, not keeping up on my core work and I re-herniated my lumbar disc that's been giving me trouble since 2021. This one was another flare up but I didn't think much of it. I had a similar issue last Fall and I got off the bike for a few weeks, did some PT and I was good to go again. That was mid-October which was exasperated by a weekend trip to Killington Bike Park . Eventually went to PT and seemingly was working back to normal, was able to get on the trainer and then do a trail ride or two a week.

As per usual I got overly confident and went on a 3 hour ride on December 17th, following a 2 hour ride at Port Jervis the day prior. I got back from the ride and I knew I screwed up. I had serious sciatic pain radiating down my legs and couldn't stand up for more than 10 minutes at a time. I was basically horizontal on the couch for a few weeks. I found the Dr. Stu McGill method at this time, found a Master Practitioner in Morristown and started PT with him. I can't recommend him enough. After a 3 hour exam he diagnosed a serious herniation L4/L5 and possible nerve impingement with strength loss in my right toes/ankle. He didn't outright say it, but I had a feeling he thought I may need surgery.

I got another MRI a week after my exam with Camisa (last was December 2021) and during my follow up my orthopedist got me in front of a surgeon the same day. My L4/L5 disc is crushing my nerve at this point. Unfortunately this has resulted in a loss of strength in the right leg and I could lose the nerve if I didn't get surgery. Quite a whirlwind of a day. White discs good, black discs bad.

View attachment 232057

So here I am, 2 weeks and a 2nd surgeon's opinion later, I'm scheduled for a microdiscectomy tomorrow morning. I've read no less than 1000 stories about recovery and what it entails. 2 weeks out of work, 2 weeks WFH and 6 weeks no bending/lifting/twisting. I think I'm about at peace with the surgery as I could be. I never thought I'd end up here. Up until last week I still still convincing myself I could PT my way out of it.

So, what caused this? I wish there was one crash, one lift, one anything I could point to. The reality it's just accumulation of shitty spine hygiene....bad posture, lifting thousands of cases of wine/liquor/beer with terrible form, weak core strength, golfing, baseball, and unfortunately most likely mountain biking. This isn't a death knell but it does probably mean 2024 is going to be a wash for riding bikes. Hoping to be on trails again by Summer (think Six Mile and Allaire) but going to listen to my PT and body most of all. I'll be content on the trainer and doing neighborhood walks again. Take care of your spine health, everyone.

Good luck with the surgery. Hope all goes well.

 

[Norm]

Damn dude, sorry to hear. Hope things brighten up for you soon. Obviously you need to find something to occupy your time while you're recovering. Juggling probably not at the top of the list, I imagine.

 

[Ejd]

Good luck and feel better. Wishing you a speedy recovery 🙏

 

[Cassinonorth]

Fuuuuuck...

Just about the same reaction I had when I got the recommendation to go to a surgeon.

Damn dude, sorry to hear. Hope things brighten up for you soon. Obviously you need to find something to occupy your time while you're recovering. Juggling probably not at the top of the list, I imagine.

Yeah, lots of walking and documentaries. Probably reading a few books and maybe pick up a certification for work in the mean time.

Good luck with the surgery. Hope all goes well.

Good luck and feel better. Wishing you a speedy recovery 🙏

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

 

[Patrick]

Looks like you are all schooled-up on what you need to do. Get it done!
Hope you have a quick recovery from surgery, and an uneventful, steady climb back.
🙏🏼

 

[Santapez]

-Ugh, hoping the best on the surgery. Sucks it seems you need it, but you seemed to have gone down the right path with the right doctors.

-I was actually listening to the last Peter Attia podcast which was a long interview with Stu McGill. My dad has a ton of back issues, I tried to get him to look into the McGill method but, well, boomer. Listening to the podcast he was mentioning practitioners that use his method and I was going to look into it. Basically, thanks for doing my homework for me so I can recommend Camisa.

 

[FitmanNJ]

Life Update: my back is not good.

Post race season I was riding some DH, doing whatever trail riding, not keeping up on my core work and I re-herniated my lumbar disc that's been giving me trouble since 2021. This one was another flare up but I didn't think much of it. I had a similar issue last Fall and I got off the bike for a few weeks, did some PT and I was good to go again. That was mid-October which was exasperated by a weekend trip to Killington Bike Park . Eventually went to PT and seemingly was working back to normal, was able to get on the trainer and then do a trail ride or two a week.

As per usual I got overly confident and went on a 3 hour ride on December 17th, following a 2 hour ride at Port Jervis the day prior. I got back from the ride and I knew I screwed up. I had serious sciatic pain radiating down my legs and couldn't stand up for more than 10 minutes at a time. I was basically horizontal on the couch for a few weeks. I found the Dr. Stu McGill method at this time, found a Master Practitioner in Morristown and started PT with him. I can't recommend him enough. After a 3 hour exam he diagnosed a serious herniation L4/L5 and possible nerve impingement with strength loss in my right toes/ankle. He didn't outright say it, but I had a feeling he thought I may need surgery.

I got another MRI a week after my exam with Camisa (last was December 2021) and during my follow up my orthopedist got me in front of a surgeon the same day. My L4/L5 disc is crushing my nerve at this point. Unfortunately this has resulted in a loss of strength in the right leg and I could lose the nerve if I didn't get surgery. Quite a whirlwind of a day. White discs good, black discs bad.

View attachment 232057

So here I am, 2 weeks and a 2nd surgeon's opinion later, I'm scheduled for a microdiscectomy tomorrow morning. I've read no less than 1000 stories about recovery and what it entails. 2 weeks out of work, 2 weeks WFH and 6 weeks no bending/lifting/twisting. I think I'm about at peace with the surgery as I could be. I never thought I'd end up here. Up until last week I still still convincing myself I could PT my way out of it.

So, what caused this? I wish there was one crash, one lift, one anything I could point to. The reality it's just accumulation of shitty spine hygiene....bad posture, lifting thousands of cases of wine/liquor/beer with terrible form, weak core strength, golfing, baseball, and unfortunately most likely mountain biking. This isn't a death knell but it does probably mean 2024 is going to be a wash for riding bikes. Hoping to be on trails again by Summer (think Six Mile and Allaire) but going to listen to my PT and body most of all. I'll be content on the trainer and doing neighborhood walks again. Take care of your spine health, everyone.

I've done two weekend-long seminars for personal trainers with Stu McGill (2003 and 2012). He's brilliant, albeit a little rough/blunt around the edges, reflective of his rural Canadian roots. I've never encountered a back expert with a more evidence-based approach than Stu. Since he's now completed training as a McGill Master Clinician (one of only 16 worldwide/7 in the U.S.), I have the utmost respect for Dr Camisa. I recommended that my dentist see him late last year after experiencing some debilitating back pain. As far as I know, she hasn't reached out to him...what a pity!